"I must tell you," said Mrs. Danforth, picking up a book from the table, "that this is a very short one and must be guessed within five minutes after I have read it." Whereupon she read slowly:
"'Just where the heavens grew blue and high,
My first that was so pure and bright,
Ere it could rise into the sky,
Passed in my second out of sight;
Before it vanished from the earth
My whole rose through it at their birth.'"
"Only five minutes!" complained George; "I don't think that's long enough. I didn't understand what the first was."
Patiently Mrs. Danforth read the first two lines, then the second, and finally, at Lucy's request, the last.
"I have it," cried Marcus, before three minutes had passed.
"Can't we have five minutes more? I know I could guess it, if we had time enough."
"You never guess anything, George, no matter how much time there is," exclaimed Marcus.
"Neither does Priscilla," rejoined George; "but if we had more time—"
"Six minutes have passed; you see I have given more than the allotted time," called Mrs. Danforth at last.
"What did you make it, Marcus?"