"But why _kidnapper_?" insisted the little old man.

"I suppose because he naps kids. My uncle Will calls Roger and me
'kids.' It is n't very nice of him, is it?" she asked, glad to air her
grievance.

"Child-stealer would be more to the point, I think, or
infant-abductor," remarked the old gentleman, who saw, perhaps, how
anxious Betty was for sympathy, and was determined not to give her
another opportunity of considering herself injured.

He seemed to be very busy considering the subject for a second or so,
and then he said suddenly: "But if you want to go, why, come along, for
I must be off. But don't make a practice of it, mind, when you get
back."

"You have n't told me where yet," suggested Betty.

"True; so I have n't," said the old gentleman, setting his
three-cornered hat firmly on his head and settling the fine laces at
his wrists. "It's to By-and-by. And now, if you 're ready, off we go!"

He took Betty's hand, and she suddenly found herself moving through the
air in a most remarkable manner,--not touching the ground with her
feet, but seeming to skim along quite easily and with no effort at all.

"If you please, Mr.--" She paused because she suddenly remembered that
she did not know the name of the gentleman who was conducting her on so
delightful a journey.