“Well, stand up for a minute; I want to whisper to you.”
Maggie, who never lost a chance of ingratiating herself with any one, obeyed.
“Jack dear, don’t be troublesome,” said his mother.
“I am not,” said Jackdaw. “She loves it, the duck that she is!”
“Be quick, Jackdaw; it’s very difficult for me to keep my hold standing up,” said Maggie.
“How many chocolates can you eat at a pinch?” whispered Jackdaw in her ear.
“Oh, forty,” replied Maggie; “but I should be rather ill afterwards.”
“We’ve got some in our pockets. They’re a little bit clammy, but you don’t mind that?”
“I don’t want any just now, dear boy; and I’ll tell you 60 why. I want to be really starving hungry when the picnic begins.”
“That’s a good notion, isn’t it?” said Jackdaw.—“I say, Andrew, she wants to be starving hungry when the picnic begins!”