It was no wonder that Mrs. Robin needed help. And seeing Grandfather Mole one morning, she explained her difficulty to him, asking if he wouldn't be so kind as to capture angleworms for her.
[p. 26]"Why, certainly! Certainly!" said Grandfather Mole.
And Mrs. Robin breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that her troubles were ended.
"Will you begin to help me at once?" she asked Grandfather Mole.
"I'm sorry that I can't do that," he told her. "You see, I haven't had my breakfast yet. So of course I must catch a few angleworms for myself."
Mrs. Robin was a bit disappointed. But she told Grandfather Mole that it was all right—that she knew a person of his age ought not to go without his breakfast.
So Grandfather Mole went back into the hole through which he had lately come up, first saying however that he would return after he had breakfasted.
Mrs. Robin then set to work herself, to find what she could to feed her clamoring[p. 27] family. Though she hurried as fast as she could, by the time the morning was almost half gone her children were still hungry; and to Mrs. Robin's distress Grandfather Mole had not yet showed himself again.
Mrs. Robin had been watching for him. And she had about given him up in despair when all at once he rose out of the ground.
"Good!" she cried. "Now you can help me, for you must have had your breakfast by this time."