"We'll go down to your place an' try an' fix things up; then you can leave us there—"
"But you want somethin' to eat as well as I do."
"I guess I can get along without anything, for a spell. It's the princess I'm thinkin' about; she's got to have somethin' fine, you know. Stew'd never do for her."
"How's custard pie? I know where they've got some that's great,—two inches thick, with the crust standin' up 'round the edge so the inside won't fall out while you're eatin' it."
"Perhaps the princess might like the custard; but I ain't so sure about the crust. It seems to me she's been fed mostly on candy, an' sich stuff as that. Anyhow, you take my money an' buy whatever you think she'd like. Got any candles down to your place?"
"I did have one last week; but the rats ate most of it, an' I don't s'pose it would burn very well now."
"Take this nickel, an' buy some in that grocery store."
"Why don't you come, too?"
"I don't believe the princess would like to go into sich a place, an' besides, folks might want to take hold of her. I ain't goin' to have any Dutch groceryman slobberin' over her."
Master Plummer took the nickel and crossed the street in his ordinarily slow fashion, while Joe and the princess held a long and animated conversation, to the evident satisfaction of the little maid and the mystification of the boy.