Page:The Story of the Treasure Seekers.djvu/167

Rh "I wish we could secure that partnership," said Oswald. He is twelve, and a very thoughtful boy for his age.

Alice looked up from her painting. She was trying to paint a fairy queen's frock with green bice, and it wouldn't rub. There is something funny about green bice. It never will rub off; no matter how expensive your paintbox is&mdash;and even boiling water is very little use.

She said, "Bother the bice! And, Oswald, it's no use thinking about that. Where are we to get a hundred pounds?"

"Ten pounds a week is five pounds to us," Oswald went on&mdash;he had done the sum in his head while Alice was talking&mdash;"because partnership means halves. It would be A 1."

Noël sat sucking his pencil&mdash;he had been writing poetry as usual. I saw the first two lines&mdash;

I wonder why Green Bice Is never very nice.

Suddenly he said, "I wish a fairy would come down the chimney and drop a jewel on the table&mdash;a jewel worth just a hundred pounds."

"She might as well give you the hundred pounds while she was about it," said Dora.