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Nanny's Dream 313
frost and the rain off the outside of them?' 'Oh!' he said, ' it's quite easy. There are ladders all about. You've only got to go out at the door, and climb about. There are a great many windows you haven't seen yet, and some of them look into places you don't know anything about. I used to clean them myself, but I'm getting rather old, you see. Ain't I now?' ' I can't tell,' I answered. 'You see I never saw you when you were younger.' ' Never saw the man in the moon?' said he. * Not very near,' I answered—'not to tell you how young or how old he looked. I have seen the bundle of sticks on his back.' For Jim had pointed that out to me. Jim was very fond of looking at the man in the moon. Poor Jim! I wonder he hasn't been to see me. I'm afraid he's ill too."
"I'll try to find out," said Diamond, "and let you know."
"Thank you," said Nanny. "You and Jim ought to be friends."
" But what did the man in the moon say, when you told him you had seen him with the bundle of sticks on his back?"
"He laughed. But I thought he looked offended too. His little nose turned up sharper, and he drew the corners of his mouth down from the tips of his ears into his neck. But he didn't look cross, you know."
" Didn't he say anything?"
"Oh, yes! He said: 'That's all nonsense. What you saw was my bundle of dusters. I was going to clean the windows. It takes a good many, you know. |
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