"How do you know?"

"I counted them."

"COUNTED them? Mercy! What for?"

Galusha's spectacles gleamed. "For fun," he said.

On another occasion his aunt found him still poring over Ancient Nineveh
and Its Remains; it was the fifth volume now, however.

"Do you LIKE to read that?" she asked.

"Yes, Auntie. I've read four already and, counting this one, there are
five more to read."

Now Aunt Clarissa had never read Ancient Nineveh herself. Her bookseller
had assured her that it was a very remarkable set, quite rare and
complete. "We seldom pick one up nowadays, Mrs. Bute. You should buy
it." So Aunt Clarissa bought it, but she had never thought of reading
it.

She looked down over her nephew's shoulder at the broad page with its
diagram of an ancient temple and its drawings of human-headed bulls in
bas-relief.

"Why do you find it so interesting?" she asked.

Galusha looked up at her. His eyes were alight with excitement.