halfpenny; it seemed to her, therefore, that Tommy was defrauding her of
a halfpenny.

Tommy liked her cheek. You got the dominoes for threepence halfpenny,
but the price on the box is fivepence, so that Elspeth would really owe
him a penny.

This led to an agonizing scene in which Elspeth wept while Tommy told
her sternly about Reddy. It had become his custom to tell the tale of
Reddy when Elspeth was obstreperous.

Then followed a scene in which Tommy called himself a scoundrel for
frightening his dear Elspeth, and swore that he loved none but her.
Result: reconciliation, and agreed, that instead of a gun and dominoes,
they should buy a porous plaster. You know the shops where the plasters
are to be obtained by great colored bottles in their windows, and, as it
was advisable to find the very best shop, Tommy and Elspeth in their
wanderings came under the influence of the bottles, red, yellow, green,
and blue, and color entered into their lives, giving them many delicious
thrills. These bottles are the first poem known to the London child, and
you chemists who are beginning to do without them in your windows should
be told that it is a shame.

In the glamour, then, of the romantic battles walked Tommy and Elspeth
hand in hand, meeting so many novelties that they might have spared a
tear for the unfortunate children who sit in nurseries surrounded by all
they ask for, and if the adventures of these two frequently ended in the
middle, they had probably begun another while the sailor-suit boy was
still holding up his leg to let the nurse put on his little sock. While
they wandered, they drew near unwittingly to the enchanted street, to