"And they
are every one of them devoid of humour, except of the most obvious
kind--no subtlety."
"When _I_ was your age," said poor Louisa gently, "I used to laugh
very heartily over the adventures of _Tom Thumb_."
Claude seemed touched. "There are some capital situations in certain
of them," he conceded, "which might be quite effectively treated."
"How?" we asked weakly.
It was Drusilla, the most alarming of the children, who finally
undertook to sketch us out an example.
After a short meditation, "Something like this," she said. "The
situation, of course, you have met with before, but as remodelled you
might call it--
THE TRIUMPH OF VIRTUE;
OR,
THE BAD FAIRY FOILED.
A certain King and Queen had one daughter, to whose christening
they invited a large company, forgetting as usual a particularly
important and bad-tempered Fairy, who signified her annoyance in
the usual manner.
The attendants of the little Princess (having read their
story-books) were preparing dolefully enough to fall asleep for a
hundred years, when the Fairy, with a contemptuous sniff, remarked
that the spell would not take effect for some time yet.
They breathed again and had almost forgotten the affair by the
time the Princess had grown up.
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