m, but if I let him begin first
he would drink it all up.
The big doll Godmamma gave me this birthday, and the chair she gave me
the year before.
(I haven't many toys, but I take great care of them, and every birthday
I shall have more and more.)
You've no idea what a beautiful doll she is, and when I pinch her in
the middle, she can squeak;
It quite frightened Towser, for he didn't know that any of us but he
and I and Charles were able to speak.
I've taken her for my only sister, for of course I may take anybody
I choose;
I've called her Cinderella, because I'm so fond of the story, and
because she's got real shoes.
I don't feel so _only_ now there are so many of us; for, counting
Cinderella there are five,--
She, and I, and Towser, and Charles, and the Prince of Wales--and
three of us are really alive;
And four of us can speak, and I'm sure the Prince of Wales is
wonderful for his size;
For his things (at least he's only got one thing) take off and on,
and, though he's nothing but wood, he's got real glass eyes.
And perhaps in three birthdays more there may be as many of us as the
Smiths, for five and three make eight;
I shall be seven years old then (as old as Joe), but I don't like
to think too much of it, it's so long to wait.
And after all I don't know that I want any more of us: I think I'd
rather my sister had a chair
Like mine; and the next year I should like a collar for Towser if
it wouldn't rub off his hair.
And it would be very nice if the Prince of Wales could be dressed
like a Field-marshal, for he's got nothing on his legs;
And Cinderella's beautifully dressed, and Towser looks quite as if
he'd got a fur coat on when he begs.
Joe says it's perfectly absurd, and that I can't take a Pomeranian
in earnest for my brother;
But I don't think he really and truly knows how much Towser and I
love each other.
I didn't like his saying, "Well, there's one thing about your lot,--you
can always have your own way."
And then he says, "You can't possibly have fun with four people when
you have to pretend what they say."
But, whatever he says, I don't believe I shall