really.

You know it was a tan shoe button, and if your eyesight isn't very good,
why it does look like a grain of corn, especially if you're very hungry
and in a hurry. So Mr. Wibblewobble wasn't feeling very well when Jimmie
and Lulu came in to ask him if they could stay home from school, and he
was the least bit cross, perhaps, because his indigestion was really very
bad at that moment. So he answered them:

"No, indeed, you can't stay home. Go to school at once! Quack!"

Now when a duck says one quack, instead of a double quack-quack, you may
know he is feeling very, very miserable, and you don't want to bother him
any more than you can help.

Lulu and Jimmie knew this, and they hurried out of the pen to go to
school. Then their papa felt sorry for them, because, you see, he did not
really mean to be cross, only he knew it was best for them to learn all
they could. So he said "Quack-quack," which meant he was feeling better,
and he added: "When you come home, my dears, you may each have a penny.
Run along now, like good ducks."

So, though Jimmie felt badly about not being able to get up a ball nine,
he waddled along with his sisters, and pretty soon they were at the owl
school, where they met Sammie and Susie Littletail and Billie and Johnnie
Bushytail, and Sister Sallie and Bully, the frog. Yes, they were all
there, and, what's more, they had their lessons, too, so they were not
kept in.

They hurried home after school, Alice and Lulu and Jimmie, I mean, because