“Oh, nothing; a little secret between Jack the Giant Killer and his pa.” Lyndsay had a pretty distinct notion that fighting hornets as a Sunday distraction would not be altogether to his wife’s taste.
“Don’t tell, Jack.”
“No, sir.”
“Honor bright!”
“All right, sir.”
“Won’t you tell us?” asked Ned of his father.
“No.”
“But I have an irresistible curiosity,” said the boy.
“And I have an impenetrable resolution to hold my tongue. You are to sail under sealed orders.” One of his delights was to offer problems to this sturdy young intellect. “Suppose, sir,”—and he put the old scholiast question,—“If the impenetrable were to meet the irresistible, what would happen?”
“That would be a row,” said Jack.