George sat in a high chair looking as proud as a king. Kings always look proud, and queens, their wives, look proud too, but in quite a nice way. If you have ever seen them riding by in a carriage drawn by six white horses in gold harness you will understand exactly why you cannot really look proud in a cab with one horse, or in a taxi-cab which flies along with a fizz and a bang. You only just have time to get the eighteenpence ready for the driver. If you were a king you wouldn't ever have to do that.
After the speech George cut the cake and Father helped, so that everybody, grown-ups and all, had a slice.
Then George had to speak. "Thank you very much," he said. "I hope you've enjoyed the party. I know I have, and so has Alexander. Now we're going to have the fireworks!"
It was not dark yet, so there were games and races, followed by a little rest, during which Mother told them stories. Then Uncle William, the funny man of the party, gave an imitation of all the animals in a farmyard, which was even better than the real thing, of a railway train coming out of a tunnel, and, last of all, of Father getting up in the morning.
Father laughed so much at this that Mother had to pat him very hard on the back for several minutes. Uncle William was not allowed to tell the story of the two cats on the wall, because Alexander did not like cats—even cats which weren't real.
At last it was time for the fireworks, and all the children seated themselves at one end of the garden and waited patiently. Suddenly bang! up went a red star, then a green one; then showers and showers of little green ones. Then bang! bing! bang! fizz! crack! jumped the crackers. Rrrrrrr! whirled the Catherine wheels, slowly at first, then fast, faster, and so fast that they made your eyes quite sore watching them.
Hiss! Whizz! Bang! went a rocket with a tail as long as from here to the end of the next street. Higher and higher it flew, until, all of a sudden, just as you thought it was quite out of sight, it burst, and—ah!—hundreds of little stars lit up the sky and made it look lighter than even the lightest day.
But there was something better to come still. At the end of the shrubbery a light shone faintly and then went out. Then shone more and more lights, until you could see that great big letters as tall as yourself were growing up. And then—all of a sudden—in a blaze of light there was spelt out for all to see, GEORGE.
Such crackings and bangings, such shouts and cheers from all over the garden you never heard, nor anyone else either.