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All at once I stopped short, for I heard a peculiar scratching noise and

a whispering, and, though I could hardly distinguish anything, I was

perfectly sure that so there with a leg over our side, for I heard it rustling aht," hispered; and then there was , and

it seemed to me that some one else had climbed up

Then another and another, and then they seemed to pull up another one,

so that I believed there were five people on the wall

Then ca, and I felt sure that they were boys, for one

said: "Now, then, all together!" in a boyish voice, when there was a lot of

rustling and scratching, and I could hear the plu right off, as the intruders dropped

over into our garden

For the moment I was puzzled Then I knehat it nation came into my cheeks

"Boys after our pears!" I said to hly at ho to me, and I felt it was my duty to defend it

I listened toon as the

ooseberry

bushes, and went farther into the garden

"They're after the Marie Louise pears," I thought; and I was about to