“Oh, look!” she cried. “How perfectly wonderful! It’s coming to life! It’s turning into a real one!”
And so it was.
It raised its head, and looked round in a calm and dignified way, opening its languid eyes a little wider, and then—catching sight of the children—smiled broadly.
“What a duckie little thing!” exclaimed Coppertop. “Oh, do look! It’s simply screaming with laughter now!”
“Oh, crikey!” laughed Tibbs. “It’s a lively little beggar!”
“Yes. It’s tiggling so!” giggled Coppertop. “I can hardly hold it!”
For Miss Smiler was now racing round and round her hand as fast as her legs would carry her.
“She’ll grow to any size we want her, I believe,” said Coppertop.
“Ough!” exclaimed Kiddiwee; “I’d like her as big as a real one, I would!”
“Hush!” warned his sister; “don’t let her hear you say that! She IS a real one, or, at least, she thinks she is. And she’d be terrifikly angry and hurt if she thought that you thought that she wasn’t—see?”