They all sat
round the fire on the wet grass, and shared the large, thick mugs of tea
and sugar, and stared at the little strangers.
All the children were up, too, and rubbed their eyes and tried hard not
to look sleepy, but the little ones were cross and peevish. Each child
had a large slice of bread, and a piece of cold pork, and even the
little, sore-eyed baby held a crust of bread and a piece of pork in his
hand, which he tried to stuff into his mouth.
The twins, because they were the guests, were given each a hard-boiled
egg. Dumpty was getting over her shyness now, and tried to behave as
mummie does when she is out to tea. "Eggs are very dear now," she
announced gravely, during a lull in the conversation; "how much do you
pay for yours?" How the men and women laughed! It seemed as if Bill
would never stop chuckling, and repeating to himself, "Pay for our eggs!
That's a good un"; and every time that he said "Pay for our eggs!" he
gave his leg a loud slap with his hand. When breakfast was over--and you
may be sure that the twins ate a good one, although they did not much
like the strong tea, without any milk--the woman said it was time for
them to be starting home.
"Please," begged Dumpty, summoning all her courage--"please, may the
piebald pony take us?" and in a few minutes Bill drove it up, harnessed
to an old rickety cart, and the two children were packed in.
Pages:
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338