He awoke to the feeling of her fingers as she picked him up. It felt lovely.

"Strictly speaking, you're trespassing in my house," said Miss Balfour in a friendly voice, which made him feel so excited and thrilled, as he already knew what she was going to do with him, "However, I will not be reporting you. I'm very pleased to find you actually. Are you a fairly young Leprechaun?"

"Yes. I'm just a boy," he answered, pleased that his tiny face with dyed hair seemed to be no longer familiar to her full sized eyes.

"Did you sneak out of the Leprechaun Kingdom in the night?"

"I snuck out late last night," he said truthfully.

"I suppose the other Leprechauns haven't told you about me so far. My name is Miss Balfour, and I have been trying to catch one of you little Leprechauns for most of the time I’ve had this house."

He realized that he needed to stay in character.

"What for?" he asked.

"To eat," she replied, "I'm going to have the most precious meal of my life, when I'm eating you. I can imagine how you must be feeling about that. However, your apprehensions will make no difference to my intentions. I don't mean to dwell on the helplessness of your position. I'm sure you're a nice little person. So I don't mean to be impolite or unpleasant. I am only trying to save us both a lot of unnecessary discussion, which cannot alter your situation."

"I think I understand, Miss Balfour. I promise I won't argue with you about this at all," he responded.

"Thank you. I think that shows a very wise young mind," she said, "Since you have accepted the situation, I would like to tell you about the good side of things. I am going to use my tongue both for licking your tasty young limbs, and for swallowing you whole. So you don't need to feel any pain from being bitten."

"Thank you, Miss Balfour. You're a lot kinder to me than a cat would be to a mouse," said Henry.

"You're welcome, little Leprechaun. Under the circumstances, I think you have been extremely polite and well-mannered. Now I won't be able to eat you today.”

Miss Balfour took down a cage from the top of a cupboard.

"I've been saving it all this time. Now that you're here, I'll have to put you inside it. I'll put some comfortable furniture from my old dolls house into the cage, while we're waiting. You'll need a bed for tonight."

"I'll be alright then," he said, "You're looking after me well, Miss Balfour."

"Well I would like to be friends with you, little Leprechaun. It's a pity that fulfilling my latest aspiration is going to demand such a costly contribution from you, and I'm very grateful that you're being so charitable and amicable about it.”

"Well I think there's something very nice about you, Miss Balfour, regardless of what you're going to do to me."

"I try to be nice to everyone," she said, "I've taught many children, without using a harsh word. I use pleasant phrases in my English classes, and ask the students to do the same. I'd like to make your time here as nice as I can as well. So how long have you been in my house?"

"Since about 11:30pm," he answered.

"I'll go upstairs and lie down on the bed. You can rest beside me on the pillow, and we shall talk some more."

She took him up and placed the furnished cage on her bedside table. Then she put Henry on the pillow beside her face.

"Don't worry. I won't ask you any more difficult questions ... Henry," she said.