"After which--" concluded he, with a wink and another grin.

"After which, I shall expect you to be better still," was Aunt Judy's
emphatic rejoinder. And peace being now completely established, she
commenced: "There was once upon a time--what do you think?"--here
she paused and looked round in the children's faces.

"A giant!" exclaimed No. 8.

"A beautiful princess!" suggested No. 6.

"SOMETHING," said Aunt Judy, "but I am not going to tell you what at
present. You must find out for yourselves. Meantime I shall call it
SOMETHING, or merely make a grunting--hm--when I allude to it, as
people do to express a blank."

The little ones shuffled about in delighted impatience at the notion
of the mysterious "something" which they were to find out, and Aunt
Judy proceeded:-

"This--hm--then, lived in a large meadow field, where it was the
delight of all beholders. The owner of the property was constantly
boasting about it to his friends, for he maintained that it was the
richest, and most beautiful, and most valuable--hm--in all the
country round. Surely no other thing in this world ever found itself
more admired or prized than this SOMETHING did. The commonest
passer-by would notice it, and say all manner of fine things in its
praise, whether in the early spring, the full summer, or the autumn,
for at each of these seasons it put on a fresh charm, and formed a
subject of conversation. 'Only look at that lovely--hm--' was quite