"I'd rather be a builder," said Chuckles, looking across at his aunt with his mouth full of bread and butter. "I'm specially intellested in building just now. Miss Sid is talking a lot to me about it."
"What does she say?" asked Randolph, laughing at the child's solemn eyes.
"We've all got to build," Chuckles said. "I'm practisin' on the sand, but I always put a big stone first at the bottom of my castles. That's the funation, you know. It must be a stone—rock, the Bible says. The funation is awfully differcult. Miss Sid says we're all builders. Fancy! God put us in the world to build! Did you know that?"
"Well, I'm going to do a bit of Empire building, I trust," said Randolph, looking across at Monica with a queer smile, "so I shall be fulfilling my destiny."
"Yes," she answered gravely, "and I, in my corner, building up a prosperous heritage, I trust, for a certain small boy, who may defeat and disappoint my hopes."
"Not if Miss Urquhart is as successful a builder in her corner as you are," returned Randolph.
"Yes, I'm a better builder at farms than characters," said Monica with a little sigh.
"So we're all building something, Chuckles," said Randolph, looking at the small boy with a twinkle in his eyes. "I've been an unsuccessful builder so far; two of my cherished castles have toppled over."
Chuckles clapped his hands exultantly.
"That's acause you didn't have a stone funation, like the man on the sand. The winds blew, and the flood came, and the big sea washed it over."