was all he wanted.  After a quarter of an hour he became sleepy and went back to bed quite satisfied with his experiment.  Two days later he repeated it, with the same success and with no sign of impatience on my part.  When he kissed me as he lay down, I said to him very quietly, “My little dear, this is all very well, but do not try it again.”  His curiosity was aroused by this, and the very next day he did not fail to get up at the same time and woke me to see whether I should dare to disobey him.  I asked what he wanted, and he told me he could not sleep.  “So much the worse for you,” I replied, and I lay quiet.  He seemed perplexed by this way of speaking.  He felt his way to the flint and steel and tried to strike a light.  I could not help laughing when I heard him strike his fingers.  Convinced at last that he could not manage it, he brought the steel to my bed; I told him I did not want it, and I turned my back to him.  Then he began to rush wildly about the room, shouting, singing, making a great noise, knocking against chairs and tables, but taking, however, good care not to hurt himself seriously, but screaming loudly in the hope of alarming me.  All this had no effect, but I perceived that though he was prepared for scolding or anger, he was quite unprepared for indifference.

However, he was determined to overcome my patience with his own obstinacy, and he continued his racket so successfully that at last I lost my temper.  I foresaw that I should spoil the whole business by an unseemly outburst of passion.  I determined on another course.  I got up quietly, went to the tinder box, but could not find it; I asked him for it, and he gave it me, delighted to have won the victory over me.  I struck a light, lighted the candle, took my young gentleman by the hand and led him quietly into an adjoining dressing-room with the shutters firmly fastened, and nothing he could break.

I left him there without a light; then locking him in I went back to my bed without a word.  What a noise there was!  That was what I expected, and took no notice.  At last the noise ceased; I listened, heard him settling down, and I was quite easy about him.  Next morning I entered the room at daybreak, and my little rebel was lying on a sofa enjoying a sound and much needed sleep after his exertions.

The matter did not end there.  His mother heard that the child had spent a great part of the night out of bed.  That spoilt the whole thing; her child was as good as dead.  Finding a good chance for revenge, he pretended to be ill, not seeing that he would gain nothing by it.  They sent for the doctor.  Unluckily for the mother, the doctor was a practical joker, and to amuse himself with her terrors he did his best to increase them.  However, he whispered to me, “Leave it to me, I promise to cure the child of wanting to be ill for some time to come.”  As a matter of fact he prescribed bed and dieting, and the child was handed over to the apothecary.  I sighed to see the mother cheated on every hand except by me, whom she hated because I did not deceive her.