“All right, Peter, I’ll promise,” said the little sister. The absence of the front teeth made her lisp slightly, and Peter was alarmingly apt to make fun of this defect when she used the letter “s”; but he was too much engrossed with his subject at present to remark upon it, greatly to Sophy’s relief. A wave of gratification filled her heart, both because of this and because her brother was apparently about to make a confidante of her.
“I’ll promise,” she repeated solemnly. “What is it?”
“When I grow up,” said Peter, “in a very few years, I’m going to write a book.”
“Peter! A real printed book?”
“Of course, child. What other kind of a book could it be?”
“And what will it be about? A story like Alice in Wonderland or Little Women?”
“Little Women! A girl’s story! No indeed. There won’t be a girl in the book, that is one thing certain. But it is to be about everything else. You know I really know a lot about all sorts of things, and I intend to write about everything that I know the least thing about.”
“Goody me!” exclaimed the astonished Sophy. “It will be an awful big book, Peter!”
“Of course it will. It will probably be in a great many volumes, all bound alike. It will be a regular Encyclopedia, and people will probably look into it when they want to find out about anything. I’m going to tell about squirrels and birds and mushrooms and muskrats and ants and bees and boys’ games and schools—I’m going to tell a lot about schools, how to keep them, and all that—and travels—I mean to travel as soon as I get enough money and have made enough for you girls to live on, and I shall write about every place I visit, and oh, everything!”
“I should think you would have a little room in so many volumes to say something about girls,” murmured Sophy.