“Well, I’ve got a sponge cake for you here.”

Letizia worked her way laboriously through half the cake, and then gave it up with a sigh.

“Oh, dear, everyfing seems to be all crumbs to-day.”

“Try some of the lemonade. Be careful, darling, not to choke, because it’s very bubbly.”

Letizia made a wry face over the lemonade.

“It tastes like pins, muvver.”

The nun who overheard this criticism put down her book and said, with a pleasant smile, that she had a flask of milk which would be much better for a little girl than lemonade. She had, too, a small collapsible tumbler, from which it would be easier to drink than from a bottle.

“Is that a glass, muvver?” Letizia exclaimed. “I was finking it was a neckalace.”

“Thank Sister very nicely.”

“Is that a sister?” Letizia asked incredulously.