“No,” said Maggie, opening her mouth and shaking her head.
“Sunt etiam volucrum,” said Tom, very slowly, as if the next words might be expected to come sooner when he gave them this strong hint that they were waited for.
“C, e, u,” said Maggie, getting impatient.
“Oh, I know—hold your tongue,” said Tom. “Ceu passer, hirundo; Ferarum—ferarum——” Tom took his pencil and made several hard dots with it on his book-cover—“ferarum——”
“Oh dear, oh dear, Tom,” said Maggie, “what a time you are! Ut——”
“Ut ostrea——”
“No, no,” said Maggie, “ut tigris——”
“Oh yes, now I can do,” said Tom; “it was tigris, vulpes, I’d forgotten: ut tigris, volupes; et Piscium.”
With some further stammering and repetition, Tom got through the next few lines.
“Now, then,” he said, “the next is what I’ve just learned for to-morrow. Give me hold of the book a minute.”