`` If I put it off any longer it will be too late . I 'm growing so fast , Aunt Olivia says I 'll have to wear ankle skirts next summer . If I begin to look grown-up he 'll get frightened of me , and then I 'll never find out the Golden Milestone mystery . '' `` Do you think he 'll ever tell you who Alice is ? '' I asked . `` I have a notion who Alice is already , '' said the mysterious creature . But she would tell us nothing more . When the jelly cookies were all eaten it was high time to be moving homeward , for when the dark comes down there are more comfortable places than a rustling maple wood and the precincts of a possibly enchanted spring . When we reached the foot of the orchard and entered it through a gap in the hedge it was the magical , mystical time of `` between lights . '' Off to the west was a daffodil glow hanging over the valley of lost sunsets , and Grandfather King 's huge willow rose up against it like a rounded mountain of foliage . In the east , above the maple woods , was a silvery sheen that hinted the moonrise . But the orchard was a place of shadows and mysterious sounds . Midway up the open space in its heart we met Peter ; and if ever a boy was given over to sheer terror that boy was Peter . His face was as white as a sunburned face could be , and his eyes were brimmed with panic . `` Peter , what is the matter ? '' cried Cecily . `` There 's -- SOMETHING -- in the house , RINGING A BELL , '' said Peter , in a shaking voice . Not the Story Girl herself could have invested that `` something '' with more of creepy horror . We all drew close together . I felt a crinkly feeling along my back which I had never known before .
If Peter had not been so manifestly frightened we might have thought he was trying XXXXX `` pass a joke '' on us .
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