"Auntie, why does Chris learn Latin, and me not?"
"You may perhaps learn Latin some day, my dear. It is not necessary for you at present."
Hecla managed five stitches in silence.
"Auntie, isn't it most dreadfully cruel of the blackbirds to eat worms? Why don't they eat crumbs—that would be ever so much nicer? I do think it's cruel, don't you?"
"No more cruel than it is of Hecla to eat mutton."
Another pause. Hecla pushed her needle in and out.
"Auntie—"
"Go on with your work, dear."
"I'm going. Auntie—"
"My dear child, you will finish much sooner if you do not talk. Try now!"