to perform at all. (Avrillia
whispered to Sara that Pirlaps, as toastmaster, had spent days and
days preparing them; so Sara suspected that Pirlaps, at least, had
known all along that she was older than the Snoodle.) The speeches, on
the other hand, were marvels of variety and interest. The Snimmy's, of
course, was sad--even heartrending; and he was sniffing before he had
finished saying, "How do you do, Toast?" and shedding gum-drops like
hail-stones before he was half through. His Toast, however, was
orange-cake, unusually delicious; and the wine served with it was a
sparkling cherry-colored beverage marked "Cardinal." It was so heady
that it even had a topknot, and it served admirably to counteract the
depressing effect of the Snimmy's speech. The next Toast was responded
to by the First and Second Gunki; and its subject was, "Sara's
Tears--May There Be No Mad and Few Sad." The speech was in the form of
a duet, rendered by the Gunki with deep feeling, and accompanied by
the Plynck and her Echo with liquid-sounding arpeggios on their lyres,
that were most appropriate. The Toast was old-fashioned jelly-cake,
with Robinsong wine. Avrillia responded to a thin slice, whose subject
was "Nothing"; everybody clapped when this subject was announced, for
they felt that the subject was in the hands of an authority, and would
be handled in a masterly manner. Nor were they disappointed;
Avrillia's speech was in the form of a long poem, which she recited
from memory, looking very wild and lovely. The Toast was silver-cake,
with Veerie wine. Pirlaps himself, although he was toastmaster,
responded to a Toast called "Sara's Questions--Bless Their Hearts!"
and his Toast was chocolate-cake, with Wren wine. The Snoodle was too
young to make a speech, but they had taught him to respond to a simple
little Toast, "On Being Older than Snoodles," and it was very charming
to hear him lisp, "How do you do, Toast?" like the others. His Toast
was a plum-cake; and you should have seen how pleased he was when Sara
took out the little silver plum-extractor, and used it like an adept!
And the Teacup, having responded to a Toast with the subject, "If Only
My Saucer Could Have Known Sara," made a very graceful but agitated
little speech that brought out many cobweb pocket-handkerchiefs.

Of course that is not all the Toasts, nor even half of them; they kept
it up until it was growing quite late, and at last Pirlaps said,

"Sara, Schlorge did not brin