“And Farmer Stebbins was so pleased with Mr. Tip Top that he said he should sit up on top of the big old clock in the kitchen. And there he is now, I suppose!” finished Polly with a flourish.
[XV.]
[THE ROBBERS AND THEIR BAGS.]
“Oh, dear me!” exclaimed Polly, “what shall I tell about?” She had just run into the library after her music lesson was over, and Monsieur had tripped off on the tips of his toes, his waxed mustache-ends trembling with delight in his enthusiasm over Mademoiselle Peppaire and her progress. “I can’t think of an earthly thing to make a story of;” and she wrinkled her brows in dismay.
“Let her off, Van,” cried Jasper.
“No, no, no!” cried Van, in alarm; “she said she’d tell a story as soon as she got through her music lesson.”
“Yes, she did,” said Percy; “and it rains, and we can’t go out, you know, Jasper,” and he gazed dismally from the long window.
“Oh, I’ll tell it!” Polly made haste to say. “I did promise it, boys, and you shall have it, so come over here;” and she ran to the corner with the cushioned seats under the windows. “Now, then, let me see,—oh, I’ll tell you about the Robbers and their Bags,” she announced, saying the first thing that came into her head.
“Oh! oh! oh!” screamed the boys in the greatest glee, while little Dick, quite overcome with the idea, rushed out in the hall to proclaim the fact to the first person he might meet, who chanced to be his grandfather.