now, and that she hoped he would forget the
oyster patties by the time dinner was ready. In the meantime she took
all the pains she could to amuse and please him, and as fast as he
grew tired of one toy she brought out another.

At last, after some hours, she gave him a beautiful toy for which she
had paid fifteen shillings. It was a sand toy of a woman sitting at a
spinning-wheel, and when it was turned up the little figure began
spinning away, and the wheel turned round and round as fast as if the
woman who turned it had been alive. Alfred wanted to see how it was
done, but, instead of going to his mother to ask her if she would be
so good as to explain it to him, he began pulling it to pieces to look
behind it. For some time he was very busy, and he had just succeeded
in opening the large box at the back of the figure when all the sand
that was in it came pouring out upon the floor, and when he tried to
make the little woman spin again, he found she would not do it any
more. She could not, for it was the sand dropping down that had made
her move before.

Now, do you know that Alfred was so very silly that he began to be
angry even with the toy, and he said, "Spin, I say! spin directly!"
and then he shook it very hard, but in vain. The little hands did not
move, and the wheel stood still. So then he was very angry indeed,
and, setting up a loud cry, he threw the toy to the other end of the
room. Just at this very moment the servant opened the door and said
that dinner was ready, and that Alfred's cousins were arrived.

"Come, my dear child; you are tired of your toys, I see," said his
mother, "so come to dinner, darling. It is all ready under the tree."

So away they went, leaving the room all strewed with toys, with broken
pieces, and the sand all spilt in a heap upon the floor. When they
went under the dark spreading branches of the fine old cedar-tree,
there they saw the table covered with dishes and garnished with
flowers. There were chickens, and ham, and tongue, and lobsters,
besides tarts, and custards, and jellies, and cakes, and cream, and I
do not know how many nice things besides. There was Alfred's high
chair at the head of the table, and he was soon seated in it, as
master of the feast, with his mother sitting by him, his cousins
opposite to him, his nurse standing on the other side, and the two
footmen waiting besides.

As soon as his cousins were helped to what they liked best, his mother
said: