Nurse smiled. "There's time enough to see about that," she said, "get on with your breakfast, Master Carrots; you'll never grow a big boy if you don't eat plenty." "Nurse," said Floss, suddenly, "what's the dearest thing we eat? what costs most?" "Meat, now-a-days, Miss Flossie," said nurse. "Could we do without it?" asked Floss. Nurse shook her head. "What could we do without?" continued the child. "We couldn't do without bread or milk, I suppose. What could we do without that costs money?" "Most things do that," said nurse, who began to have a glimmering of what Floss was driving at, "but the money's well spent in good food to make you strong and well." "Then isn't there anything we could do without--without it hurting us, I mean?" said Floss, in a tone of disappointment. "Oh yes," said nurse, "I daresay there is. Once a little boy and girl I knew went without sugar in their tea for a month, and their grandmother gave them sixpence each instead." "Sixpence!" exclaimed Floss, her eyes gleaming. "Sixpence each," corrected nurse. "Two sixpences, that would be a shilling. Carrots, do you hear?" Carrots had been listening with might and main, but was rather puzzled. "Would two sixpennies pay for two hoops?" he whispered to Floss, pulling her pinafore till she bent her head down to listen. "Of course they would. At least I'm almost sure. I'll ask nurse. Nurse, dear," she went on in a louder voice, "do you think we might do that way--Carrots and I--about sugar, I mean?" "I don't see that it would do you any harm," said nurse. "You must ask your mamma." But Floss hesitated. "I shouldn't much like to ask mamma," she said, and Carrots, who was listening so intently that he had forgotten all about his bread and milk, noticed that Floss's face grew red. "I shouldn't much like to ask mamma, because, nursie, dear, it is only that we want to get money for something for ourselves, and if we told mamma, it would be like asking her to _give_ us the money. It wouldn't be any harm for us not to eat any sugar in our tea for a month, and you could keep the sugar in a packet all together, nurse, and _then_ you might tell mamma that we had saved it, and she would give us a shilling for it. It would be quite worth a shilling, wouldn't it, nurse?" "Oh, yes," said nurse, "I am sure your mamma would say it was." Then she considered a little. She was one of those truly trustworthy nurses whose notions are strong on the point of everything being told to "mamma." But she perfectly understood Floss's hesitation, and though she might not have been able to put her feeling into words, she felt that it might do the child harm to thwart her delicate instinct. "Well, nurse?" said Floss, at last. "Well, Miss Flossie, I don't think for once I shall be doing wrong in letting you have a secret. When will you begin? This is Thursday; on Saturday your mamma will give me the week's sugar--suppose you begin on Sunday? But does Master Carrots quite understand?"