"The clock must have stopped!" she said, bending her ear to
listen.

But it hadn't, and Marjorie suddenly realized that a whole day,
solitary and alone, is an interminable length of time.

"Oh, dear," she sighed, putting her head down on her arms on the
step above, "I do wish I had gone up the Other Stairs! This day is
going to last forever! I just know it is! But if it ever DOES get
over, I never want to see the Front Stairs again!"




CHAPTER X

A LONG DAY


Marjorie had expected to derive much satisfaction, during her
sojourn on the stairs, from playing with her kitten. But Puff ran
away almost immediately, and no amount of calling or coaxing could
bring her back.

Sighing deeply, Marjorie tried to amuse herself reading the books
she had brought. But the light was not very good on the stairs,
and somehow, too, the books seemed to have lost their interest.
Thinking over what she could do to make the time pass, she
remembered her paint-box. She was fond of painting, and concluded
she would try to paint a little sketch of the stairs to put in her