"It meant, 'that is a very nice apple, and I would like to have some.'"
"Did it?"
"Of course."
"Suppose, then, it had been a crab-apple, and the baby had still said 'um, um,' what would it then have meant?"
"Plainly this: 'that is not a nice apple, and I would not like to have any.'"
"That is perfectly satisfactory," said Ralph;"'um, um,' expresses either the desire to possess a sweet apple, or the objection to a sour one. I have heard of delicate shades of language before, but this is the sublimity thereof."
And Ralph laughed.
"I never saw such a person," said Fanny, pouting.
"By the bye," said Ralph.
"Well, sir?"