"Remember it's fragile."
"There, I knew you'd smash it! Oh, pick the other half out, quick! It's burning!"
"What a Johnnie-fingers you are! It's done for."
In the end—and it was Gerda's quiet suggestion—the tongs were placed over the fire like a gridiron and the biscuits successfully popped on the top and turned when one side was done. Everybody appreciated them down to the last crumb, and awarded Betty a vote of thanks for her brilliant idea.
"The worst of it is, they're finished too soon," sighed Evie, "and we've nothing else to fill up the gap till tea-time. I want to do something outrageous—break a window or smash an ornament, or damage the furniture! What a nuisance conscience is! Why does the 'inward monitor' restrain me?"
"Probably the wholesome dread of consequences my dear. You might cut your hand in a wild orgy of window smashing and there'd be bills to pay afterwards for reglazing and medical attendance."
"But can't we do anything interesting?"
"Let's play a trick on Va," suggested Annie. "It would do them good and shake them up. My conscience gives me full leave."
"It's celebrated for its well-known elasticity!" chuckled Evie.
"But what could we do?"