“Oh, no I won’t!” cried Flossie.
“If she spills the bread, that wouldn’t break,” laughed Freddie.
“No, but she might drop the plate, and that would crack,” Nan said. “Flossie, dear, go back to your place!”
But Flossie did not want to do this. She had made up her mind to help about the meal in some way. So she reached up to take the plate away from Mrs. Pry, and the old lady, naturally, held the plate out of Flossie’s grasp.
“I’ll jump up and get it!” the little girl cried. “Mother said I was to be good and help Dinah all I could. And now Dinah’s gone, I’ll help you, Aunt Sallie!”
“But I don’t need to be helped, my dear,” said Mrs. Pry. “I can carry this plate of bread.”
“Oh, let me do it!” begged Flossie.
Her first jump was not quite high enough, so she leaped a second time, and, though Mrs. Pry held the plate above Flossie’s head, the little girl got hold of it. She pulled it from the old lady’s hands, but, instead of keeping hold of it herself, Flossie let it slip from her fingers.
Down fell the plate of bread to the floor. The slices tumbled off and the plate itself was broken in three pieces.
“Oh, now you’ve done it!” cried Freddie. “Oh, look what Flossie did! She broke a plate! Flossie broke a plate! Flossie broke a plate!” he cried in a sing-song voice.