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 children at once; ‘talk no more about your stories, but begin.’

‘Sit down, then, every soul of you,’ said Eustace Bright, ‘and be all as still as so many mice. At the slightest interruption, whether from great, naughty Primrose, little Dandelion, or any other, I shall bite the story short off between my teeth, and swallow the untold part. But, in the first place, do any of you know what a Gorgon is?’

‘ I do.’ said Primrose.

‘Then hold your tongue!’ rejoined Eustace, who had rather she would have known nothing about the matter. ‘Hold all your tongues, and I shall tell you a sweet pretty story of a Gorgon’s head.’

And so he did, as you may begin to read on the next page. Working up his sophomorical erudition with a good deal of tact, and incurring great obligations to Professor Anthon, he nevertheless disregarded all classical authorities, whenever the vagrant audacity of his imagination impelled him to do so.