“I forgot ’em last night till I’d got to bed, and when I come down here for ’em, I declare I couldn’t scurce find ’em in that cupboard. But I got ’em locked away now an’ I guess you won’t be so free with ’em.”
At this Agnes was attacked by “a fit of the giggles,” as Aunt Sarah expressed it. But the girl was not laughing at Aunt Sarah. Her thought was:
“My goodness me! was that what the burglar was after—Aunt Sarah’s peppermints?” But she missed seeing Barnabetta’s face at this juncture.
Dot cried: “Oh, my, Miss Barnabetta! don’t you feel well a-tall this morning?”
“Oh, yes, my dear, I am quite well,” said the circus girl, hastily.
Tess said doubtfully: “I—I hope we didn’t tire you last night asking for stories?”
“No, indeed.”
“But you just did look as though you were going to faint,” said Dot.
“There, there,” said Mrs. MacCall. “Appearances aren’t everything. The looks of a toad don’t tell how far he’s goin’ to hop.”
“No-o,” agreed Tess. “And, anyway, toads are very useful animals, even if they are so very ugly.”