y."

"We won't let any harm happen," said Floss, "and we are _so_ tired of
the garden, nurse. There is nothing to play at there. The little waves
are so pretty this morning."

There was certainly very little to play at in the green, at the back of
the house, which was called the garden. Being so near the sea, the soil
was so poor, that hardly any flowers would grow, and even the grass was
coarse and lumpy. Then there were no trees, and what is a garden without
trees?

Nurse looked out of the window again.

"Well," she said, "if you will really be very good, I think I might
trust you. Now, Master Carrots, you will promise to do exactly what Miss
Floss tells you?"

"Yes, I promise," said Carrots, who had been listening with great
anxiety, though he had not hitherto spoken--he was not a great
talker--"I promise, nurse. I will do exactly what Floss tells me, and
Floss will do exactly what I tell her, won't you, Floss? So we shall
both be _kite_ good, that way, won't we?"

"Very well," said nurse gravely, though she felt very much inclined to
laugh, "then run and get your things as fast as you can."

And, oh, how happy the two were when they found themselves out on the
shore all alone! They were so happy, they did not know what to do; so
first of all, they ran races to run away a little of the happiness. And
when they had run themselves quite hot, they sat down on a little heap
of stones to consider what they should do next. They had no spades with
them, for they did not care very much about digging; children who live
always by the sea never care so much about digging as the little
visitors who come down in the summer, and whose very first idea at the
sight of the sea is "spades and buckets."

"What shall we play at, Carrots?" said Floss, "I wish it was warm enough
to paddle."

Carrots looked at the little soft rippling waves, contemplatively.

"When I'm a man," he said, "I shall paddle _always_. I shall paddle in
winter too. When I'm a man I won't have no nurse."

"Carrots," said Floss, reproachfully, "that isn't good of you. Think how
kind nurse is."

"Well, then," replied Carrots, slowly, "I _will_ have her, but she must
let me paddle always, when I'm a man."

"When you are a man, Carrots," said Floss, solemnly still, "I hope you
will have something better to do than paddling. Perhaps you'll be a
soldier, like Jack."

"Killing people isn't better than paddling," retorted Carrots. "I'd
rather be a sailor