"Anything pretty?" asked Roger.
"Of course something pretty," defended Helen. "Don't you remember the beauty box he made Margaret?"
"I certainly do. Its delicate openwork surpassed any of my humble efforts."
"It was pretty, wasn't it?" murmured Margaret. "The yellow silk lining showed through."
"What I've been doing lately was the very simplest possible toy for the orphans." Tom disclaimed any fine work. "I've just been cutting circles out of cigar boxes and punching two holes side by side in each one. Then I run a string through the two holes. You slip it over your forefinger of each hand and whirl the disk around the string until it is wound up tight and then by pulling the string you keep the whirligig going indefinitely."
"It doesn't look like much of a toy to me," said Della crushingly.
"May be not, ma'am, but I tried it on Dad and Edward and they played with it for ten minutes apiece. You find yourself pulling it in time to some air you're humming in the back of your head."
"Right-o," agreed James. "I had a tin one once and I played with it from morning till night. I believe the orphans will spend most of their waking hours tweaking those cords."
"I'm glad you think so," said Tom. "Roger was so emphatic I was afraid I'd been wasting my time."
"What's Dorothy been up to this week?" asked James.