William had learnt tact.
“Oh,” he said, “you just walk round and look at things.”
“What sort of things do you look at?” said Aunt Jane.
“Oh, just stalls of gingerbreads an’ lemonade.”
It sounded harmless. Aunt Jane’s face cleared.
“Very well,” she said. “Of course, I could stand outside while you walked round....”
But upon investigation it appeared that William’s parents had not that perfect trust in William that William seemed to think was his due, and objected strongly to William’s walking round by himself. So Aunt Jane steeled herself to dally openly with the evil power of Pleasure-making.
“We can be quite quick,” she said, “and it doesn’t sound very bad.”
William reported progress to his council.
“It’s all right,” he said cheerfully. “The ole luny’s going to the fair.”