"I know," said Lowboy, "we'll pretend that this is a midnight spread in boarding school. Jeremiah and Grater will be teachers who try to catch us and——"
"All you have to do is to eat your thirteen cookies," said Hortense, "all but a little piece of the last one which you must save and put in your pocket."
"After twelve to begin with, I can do that," joked Lowboy.
"If it kills me," said Highboy, "tell them I died a pleasant death."
Then nobody said a word for a while, and all ate their cookies. At the tenth, Highboy remarked that thirteen would be all he would want.
"I'll break my top off or lose a handle," said he, "but it's a nice game."
"What's happening to me?" asked Lowboy, after taking a bite of his thirteenth.
"Don't eat any more," Hortense warned him.
"How could I?" asked Lowboy. "I'm not a storeroom or a wardrobe trunk! Besides, your Grandmother has me half filled with her knitting and things. I must say I prefer cookies."
"I wish," said Highboy to Hortense, "that you hadn't packed away that last dress in my bottom drawer."