asked his mother , trying to look stern . `` No ; but I thought you 'd feel better to see me right here , '' responded the insinuating little party . `` I had much rather see you in bed , so march straight up again , Robin . '' `` Everybody that comes in here has to tell a story , and you ca n't so you 'd better cut and run , '' said Emil . `` Yes , I can ! I tell Teddy lots of ones , all about bears and moons , and little flies that say things when they buzz , '' protested Rob , bound to stay at any price . `` Tell one now , then , right away , '' said Dan , preparing to shoulder and bear him off . `` Well , I will ; let me fink a minute , '' and Rob climbed into his mother 's lap , where he was cuddled , with the remark `` It is a family failing , this getting out of bed at wrong times . Demi used to do it ; and as for me , I was hopping in and out all night long . Meg used to think the house was on fire , and send me down to see , and I used to stay and enjoy myself , as you mean to , my bad son . '' `` I 've finked now , '' observed Rob , quite at his ease , and eager to win the entree into this delightful circle . Every one looked and listened with faces full of suppressed merriment as Rob , perched on his mother 's knee and wrapped in the gay coverlet , told the following brief but tragic tale with an earnestness that made it very funny : `` Once a lady had a million children , and one nice little boy . She went up-stairs and said , ` You must n't go in the yard . ' But he wented , and fell into the pump , and was drowned dead . '' `` Is that all ? '' asked Franz , as Rob paused out of breath with this startling beginning . `` No , there is another piece of it , '' and Rob knit his downy eyebrows in the effort to evolve another inspiration . `` What did the lady do when he fell into the pump ? '' asked his mother , to help him on . `` Oh , she pumped him up , and wrapped him in a newspaper , and put him on a shelf to dry for seed . ''
A general explosion of laughter greeted this surprising conclusion , and Mrs. Jo patted the curly head , as she said , solemnly , `` My son , you inherit your XXXXX 's gift of story-telling .
breath children coverlet family lap merriment mother pump shelf tale