First of all there is an explanatory paragraph.
“As you don’t ask any questions about ‘The Demon of the Pit,’ I suppose you understand it all. So please answer these questions just as you would do if a younger child (say Mollie) asked them.”
Mollie. Please, Ethel, will you explain this poem to me. There are some very hard words in it.
Ethel. What are they, dear?
Mollie. Well, in the first line, “If you chance to make a sally.” What does “sally” mean?
Ethel. Dear Mollie, I believe sally means to take a chance work.[2]
Mollie. Then, near the end of the first verse—“Whereupon she’ll call her cronies”—what does “whereupon” mean? And what are cronies?
Ethel. I think whereupon means at the same time, and cronies means her favourite playfellows.
Mollie. “And invest in proud polonies.” What’s to “invest?”
Ethel. To invest means to spend money in anything you fancy.