"And I dare say it was just as bad to have your head cut off a hundred
years ago as it would be to-day," said nurse--"I mean for the people
themselves."

"Do you think," said Susie, "that the Jews and people who had their teeth
pulled out by the king for fun felt it just as much as we do when we go
to the dentist?"

"_For fun!_" said Dick, in a horrified voice.

"Did they have gas?" said Amy.

"Gas!" said Susie, with a superior smile. "How silly you are, Amy! They
had no gas then--only candles, or perhaps lamps. And I don't see how they
could pull out teeth with lamps; do you?"

"No," said Amy, in a small, mortified voice.

"I daresay," nurse went on, as if there had been no interruption, "that
it would have been easier for Miss Susie to have been brave in a history
book than if the trial came to her here."

"I don't see why," argued Susie.

"Well, we are made so," said nurse. "Other people's trials are a deal
easier to bear than our own. Now you've been good children to-day, and
I'll make a surprise for tea as a reward. I'm going to leave you Master
Dick for an hour, Miss Susie; and you'll look after him well, and when I
wave you'll bring him in. Don't sit down any longer, but have a bit of
play on the sand; it's getting chilly, and it looks like more rain."