'How long will it take to march the troops here?' the Town Clerk asked.
'Fully six months,' said the Liglid, 'and then they must be drilled. They don't fight Flamps every day, and they may find it difficult to fix upon a mode of attack. What a pity it is,' he added, 'that Ule has no army.'
'It will be expensive,' said the Town Clerk.
'Money,' the Liglid remarked, 'is no object where the circumvention of the Flamp is concerned. The city has suffered long enough.'
'True,' said the Town Clerk.
Tilsa now ventured to interrupt. 'Grandpapa,' she said, 'I've come to say good-night.'
'Eh!' said the old man, now seeing her for the first time. 'Good-night? Oh yes! good-night, my dear'; and after his wont he kissed the air an inch from her cheek.
Tilsa did not at once run out of the room as she generally did, rather glad to have done with the ceremony; instead, she spoke again. 'Grandpapa, I think I know what the Flamp wants when he comes to the town.'
'Eh!' cried the Liglid, who was intent on his Bill again. 'Eh! I thought you'd gone to bed. You know what the Flamp comes for?' he continued.
'Yes,' said Tilsa, 'it's not to eat people at all, or to do any harm; it's for sympathy.'