“Oh, Bruno!” Sylvie exclaimed, “_you’re_ not telling the story! So he opened the door, and behold, there were no Apples! So Bruno said ‘Eldest little Fox, have _you_ been eating the Apples?’ And the eldest little Fox said ‘No no no!’” (It is impossible to give the tone in which Sylvie repeated this rapid little ‘No no no!’ The nearest I can come to it is to say that it was much as if a young and excited duck had tried to quack the words. It was too quick for a quack, and yet too harsh to be anything else.) “Then he said ‘Second little Fox, have _you_ been eating the Apples?’ And the second little Fox said ‘No no no!’ Then he said ‘Youngest little Fox, have _you_ been eating the Apples?’ And the youngest little Fox _tried_ to say ‘No no no!’ but its mouth was so full, it couldn’t, and it only said ‘Wauch! Wauch! Wauch!’ And Bruno looked into its mouth. And its mouth was full of Apples! And Bruno shook his head, and he said ‘Oh dear, oh dear! What bad creatures these Foxes are!’” Bruno was listening intently: and, when Sylvie paused to take breath, he could only just gasp out the words “About the Bread?” “Yes,” said Sylvie, “the Bread comes next. So he shut the door again; and he went a little further; and then he thought he’d just peep in once more. And behold, there was no Bread!” (“What do ‘behold’ _mean_?” said Bruno. “Hush!” said Sylvie.) “And he said ‘Eldest little Fox, have _you_ been eating the Bread?’ And the eldest little Fox said ‘No no no!’ ‘Second little Fox, have _you_ been eating the Bread?’ And the second little Fox only said ‘Wauch! Wauch! Wauch!’ And Bruno looked into its mouth, and its mouth was full of Bread!” (“It might have chokeded it,” said Bruno.) “So he said ‘Oh dear, oh dear! What _shall_ I do with these Foxes?’ And he went a little further.” (“Now comes the most interesting part,” Bruno whispered.) “And when Bruno opened the hamper again, what do you think he saw?” (“Only _two_ Foxes!” Bruno cried in a great hurry.) “You shouldn’t tell it so quick. However, he _did_ see only _two_ Foxes. And he said ‘Eldest little Fox, have you been eating the youngest little Fox?’ And the eldest little Fox said ‘No no no!’ ‘Second little Fox, have _you_ been eating the youngest little Fox?’ And the second little Fox did its very best to say ‘No no no!’ but it could only say ‘Weuchk! Weuchk! Weuchk!’ And when Bruno looked into its mouth, it was half full of Bread, and half full of Fox!” (Bruno said nothing in the pause this time. He was beginning to pant a little, as he knew the crisis was coming.) “And when he’d got nearly home, he looked once more into the hamper, and he saw——” “Only——” Bruno began, but a generous thought struck him, and he looked at me. “_Oo_ may say it, _this_ time, Mister Sir!” he whispered. It was a noble offer, but I wouldn’t rob him of the treat. “Go on, Bruno,” I said, “you say it much the best.” “Only—but—_one_—Fox!” Bruno said with great solemnity. [Illustration: ‘WHIHUAUCH! WHIHUAUCH!’]