"Goodness!" said the reader, "I don't know whether I dare eat another cake after that. I'm already bursting with pride; Miss Billy, won't you share this with me?" He held out the last pancake on the plate invitingly. Miss Billy's knife divided it evenly and a slender circlet tinkled out on the dish.
"The ring!" said Marie Jean. "You'll have to draw lots."
"Or else share your fate," suggested Margaret.
"Now me," said Ted in a tone of mock anticipation. "You haven't seen my souvenir yet." He unrolled a box of French bonbons, and passed it around the table, as he read:
"There was a young person named Ted.
'I'll write some fine doggerel,' he said.
But his verse read aloud
In the midst of the crowd
Was all pronounced mongrel instead."
"And that's the truest one of all," said Margaret.