"Caught you there," retaliated Ernest.
"It was in this way that a bird of the Moluccas has restored the clove tree to the islands of this archipelago, in spite of the Dutch, who destroyed them everywhere, in order that they might enjoy the monopoly of the trade."
"Still, I must fall back upon my original idea; by sowing a brick, we ought to reap a wall."
"And if a wall, a house," suggested another of the young men.
"Or if a turret, a castle," proposed a third.
"Or a hall to produce a palace," remarked the fourth.
"There are four wishes worthy of the four heads that produced them! What do you think of those four great boys, Mrs. Wolston?"
"Well, madam, as they are wishing, at any rate they may as well wish that chinchillas and marmots wore their fur in the form of boas and muffs, that turkeys produced perigord pies, and that the fish were drawn out of the sea ready roasted or boiled."
"Or that the sheep walked about in the form of nicely grilled chops," suggested Becker.
"And you, young ladies, what would you wish?"