d have gone well with our house, but I
should not have liked it from him. He thumped the watch down when I
refused, and Mr. Storm bought it under his nose. I will tell you by and
by what happened about it and the model ship.

We took our _dejeuner_ at a place of the queerest name of all; or, no,
it was the lake that has the name; we were in a restaurant on the shore,
with a flowery terrace shaded by pines. Could you pronounce the word
"Ronkonkoma," if nobody told you how, and you had not Indian ancestors
haunting your heart? When we were at our tables--two, drawn near
together--Peter Storm called out that Mrs. Winston offered a prize for
the person getting the right pronunciation. She knew, because her
husband had learned it in some book. We all tried, and Mr. Caspian and I
spoke it the same way--at least, it sounded to me the same. But Molly
made Peter Storm umpire (that means a person who decides when there is a
dispute; and is hated if in baseball or football), and Peter decided for
me, because I put the emphasis in the right place--"Ron_kon_koma." What
do you suppose the prize was? The fat watch I had wanted! It seemed that
Peter (I would not call him Peter to his face) had bought it for Molly.
And I may as well tell you at this same time, she gave me the ship for a
present that evening. It was for my birthday, she explicated. Though it
was passed by some weeks, she had wanted to find a thing I liked; and
she had gone behind the back of Mr. Caspian to bargain with the shop
woman, so it could be a surprise. She knew it would be spoiled to come
through Mr. Caspian. I shall not dare to put the ship at home where he
can see, but it will be in my room, where he can never come. His face
looked so cross about the watch of the Georges! I couldn't help to be
pleased.

If Peter Storm were not the man he is, above caring much for girls,
maybe I should think he had arranged these two things to happen with the
help of Molly. But that is not possible. It would only be a great
conceit of mine.

We had quite a splendid _dejeuner_ at the lake of the prize name, with
Blue Point oysters, which you will have heard of because they are of an
importance like royalties. They are born close by Ronkonkoma Lake, at a
place named after them. I will not say they are named after it!

When we started again, I was allowed to drive for miles--not ordinary
common miles, but a spin through a kind of motor heaven ruled by the god
of "Things as The