'Oh, I thought you did,' said the clown, 'I beg your pardon;' and he threw the rest after them as he spoke.
'You're a beast!' cried Tommy, indignantly; 'I've done with you, after this.'
'Oh, no, yer ain't,' he returned.
'I have, though,' said Tommy; 'we're not friends any longer.'
'All right,' said the clown; 'when I'm not friends with any one, I take and use the red-'ot poker to 'em,' and he put it in the fire to heat as he spoke.
This terrified the boy. It was no use trying to argue with the clown, and he had seen how he used a red-hot poker. 'Well, I'll forgive you this time,' he said hastily; 'let's come away from here.'
'I tell you what,' said the clown, 'you and me'll go down in the kitchen and make a pie.'
Tommy forgot his injuries at this delightful idea; he knew what the clown's notion of pie-making would be. 'Yes,' he said eagerly, 'that will be jolly; only I don't know,' he added doubtfully, 'if cook will let us.'
However, the clown soon managed to secure the kitchen to himself; he had merely to attempt to kiss the cook once or twice and throw the best dinner service at the other servants, and they were left quite alone to do as they pleased.
What fun it was, to begin with! The clown brought out a large deep dish, and began by putting a whole turkey and an unskinned hare in it out of the larder; after that he put in sausages, jam, pickled walnuts, and lemons, and, in short, the first thing that came to hand.