“Hi, stop that!” Dicky called. For Delia had discovered the little bundle that Maida had placed on a chair, and was busy trying to tear it open.
“Let her open it,” Maida said, “I brought it for her.”
They watched.
It took a long time, but Delia sat down, giving her whole attention to it. Finally her busy fingers pulled off so much paper that a pair of tiny rubber dolls dropped into her lap.
“Say ‘Thank you, Maida,’” Dicky prompted.
Delia said something and Dicky assured her that the baby had obeyed him. It sounded like, “Sank-oo-Maysa.”
While Delia occupied herself with the dolls, Maida listened to Dicky’s reading lesson. He was getting on beautifully now. At least he could puzzle out by himself some of the stories that Maida lent him. When they had finished that day’s fairy-tale, Dicky said:
“Did you ever see a peacock, Maida?”
“Oh, yes—a great many.”
“Where?”