Nipper Donnan shook his head. He had a fine natural contempt for all religious services in the abstract, but when one was brought before him as a ceremony, his sense of discipline told him that it must somehow be valuable.
"Better say it yourself," he suggested.
Whereat Prissy devoutly clasped her hands and shut her eyes.
There was a smart smack and something fell over. Prissy opened her eyes, and saw a boy sprawling on the grass.
"Right," said Nipper Donnan cheerfully, "go ahead—Joe Craig laughed. I'll teach him to laugh except when I tell him to."
So Prissy again proceeded with a grace of her own composition:
"God bless our table,
Bless our food;
And make us stable,
Brave and good."
After all was over Prissy left the Castle of Windy Standard, without indeed obtaining any pledge from the chief of the army of occupation, but not without having done some good. And she went forth with dignity too. For not only did the robber chieftain provide her with an escort, but he ordered the ramparts to be manned, and a general salute to be fired in her honour.
Prissy waved her hand vigorously, and had already proceeded a little way towards the stepping-stones, when she stopped, laid down her basket, and ran back to the postern gate. She took her little tortoise-shell card-case out of her pocket.
"Oh, I was nearly forgetting—how dreadfully rude of me!" she said, and forthwith pulled out a card on which she had previously written very neatly: