But the sun and the moon had got close together and were talking very earnestly, and all the stars had gathered round them.

I could not hear a word they said, but I concluded that they were talking about my little brother.

"I suppose I ought to be sorry," I said to myself; and I tried hard, but I could not feel sorry.

Meantime I observed a curious motion in the heavenly host.

They kept looking at me, and then at the corner where the ladder stood, and talking on, for I saw their lips moving very fast; and I thought by the motion of them that they were saying something about the ladder.