"I can't get on if you keep talkin' to me," said William, sternly. "How can I get on if you keep takin' all the time up sayin' get on? I can't get on if you're talkin', can I?"
"It was the Hesper Schoonerus that sailed the wintry sea an' I'm not goin' on if Ethel's goin' to keep gigglin'. It's not a funny piece, an' if she's goin' on gigglin' like that I'm not sayin' any more of it."
"Ethel, dear!" murmured Mrs. Brown, reproachfully. Ethel turned her chair completely round and left her back only exposed to William's view. He glared at it suspiciously.
"Now, William dear," continued his mother, "begin again and no one shall interrupt you."
William again went through the preliminaries of coughing and clearing his throat.
"It was the schooner Hesperus that sailed the wintry seas."
He stopped again, and slowly and carefully straightened his collar and smoothed back the lock of hair which was dangling over his brow.
"The skipper had brought——" prompted Aunt Jane, kindly.
William turned on her.
"I was goin' to say that if you'd left me alone," he said. "I was jus' thinkin'. I've got to think sometimes. I can't say off a great long pome like that without stoppin' to think sometimes, can I? I'll—I'll do a conjuring trick for you instead," he burst out, desperately. "I've learnt one from my book. I'll go an' get it ready."