Next morning the clock went off. We were both rather frightened, and it was
very cold and the room looked funny, as the blinds hadn't been pulled up,
but we put our dressing-gowns on. Then Angela said that she had heard that
if you woke a person who was walking in their sleep they sometimes called
out, so I took a pair of stockings from the basket that had just come back
from the wash to hold over Father's mouth while we woke him. They were
waiting to be mended and had a hole in them, but that didn't matter much,
as I screwed them up tight, and then we went into Father's room. They were
both asleep, and Father had his mouth open all ready for the stockings,
which was very lucky, as I was wondering how I could get them in.

We crept up to the bed, and I know I shivered, and I think Angela did too,
as I was holding her hand. Then she called out "Boo" as loud as she could,
and I stuffed the stockings into Father's mouth, and then they both woke
up, and everything went wrong.

Mother thought the house was on fire and screamed, and it made Angela begin
to cry. I quite forgot to tell Father to say "Rabbits," and just pressed
the stockings further into his mouth.

Father struggled and made awful noises, and when he did get the stockings
out the things he said weren't a bit like "Rabbits," and the only thing
that he did say that I could write down here was that he thought he was
going to be sick. The rest was dreadful.

We were both sent back to bed, and that morning as a punishment we were not
allowed into the dining-room until Father and Mother had finished their
breakfast; and Angela, who often thinks quite clever things, said that we
had better not do "Rabbits" again for a good long time. But after all it