‘I hope it’s not poison,’ said Charles; ‘you’ll remember I told you——’
‘Of course it isn’t,’ said Caroline. ‘I’ve often licked ferns, and I’m not dead. I say—I daresay nothing will happen—but think how silly we should feel if we hadn’t tried it. And this is the only night. He said so.’
‘Oh, all right,’ said Charles. ‘At any rate, if we do it you can’t be always saying we ought to have.’
‘Chew,’ said Charlotte; and the clock began to strike.
‘One, two, three, four, five, six,’ said Mrs. Wilmington’s highly ornamented pink china clock; and each child thrust a little bunch of fern fronds into its mouth.
‘Seven,’ said the clock.
‘Now,’ said Caroline.
And each child.... But you picture the scene.
‘Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, purr,’ said the clock, and said no more.
‘I don’t like to take it off,’ said Charlotte, her hands to her eyes. ‘Suppose we did see something.’