Mary went off with her Mother to talk about what sort of clothes they would all want. Mary was ten; and when you are ten and the eldest, almost everything depends upon you. John was three and the youngest, and sometimes Mary was not quite sure whether she was John's mother or not. If you could have two mothers, then she was one of them.
"The great question," said Mr. Merryweather next day, "is, where shall we go?"
John looked at him as if he could hardly believe. "I fort we were going to the thea," he said, almost crying.
"Silly, of course we are," said Mary. "But there are lots of places by the sea. Let's go to a place where there are heaps of lovely shells."
"And sand," said Margaret.
"And rocks," said Joan. "And pools."
"SHELLS—SAND—ROCKS—POOLS,"
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