“Isn’t it just as well to read such a book? Why should you want to write one?”
“Because then I should have it go just as I wanted it! I am always—almost always—disappointed with the thing that comes next. But if I wrote it myself, then I shouldn’t get tired of it; it would be what pleased me, and not what pleased somebody else.”
“Well,” said Donal, after thinking for a moment, “suppose you begin to write a book!”
“Oh, that will be fun!—much better than learning verbs and nouns!”
“But the verbs and nouns are just the things that go to make a story—with not a few adjectives and adverbs, and a host of conjunctions; and, if it be a very moving story, a good many interjections! These all you have got to put together with good choice, or the story will not be one you would care to read.—Perhaps you had better not begin till I see whether you know enough about those verbs and nouns to do the thing decently. Show me your school-books.”
“There they all are—on that shelf! I haven’t opened one of them since Percy came home. He laughed at them all, and so Arkie—that’s lady Arctura, told him he might teach me himself. And he wouldn’t; and she wouldn’t—with him to laugh at her. And I’ve had such a jolly time ever since—reading books out of the library! Have you seen the library, Mr. Grant?”
“No; I’ve seen nothing yet. Suppose we begin with a holiday, and you begin by teaching me!”
“Teaching you, sir! I’m not able to teach you!”
“Why, didn’t you as much as offer to teach me the library? Can’t you teach me this great old castle? And aren’t you going to teach yourself to me?”
“That would be a funny lesson, sir!”