'I gather,' it said, 'that you have some tidings of a fatal nature
to communicate to our degraded black brothers who run to and fro
for ever yonder.' It pointed a claw at the cupboard, where the
blackbeetles lived.
'Canary TALK,' said the Lamb joyously; 'go and show mammy.'
He wriggled off Anthea's lap.
'Mammy's asleep,' said Jane, hastily. 'Come and be wild beasts in
a cage under the table.'
But the Lamb caught his feet and hands, and even his head, so often
and so deeply in the holes of the carpet that the cage, or table,
had to be moved on to the linoleum, and the carpet lay bare to
sight with all its horrid holes.
'Ah,' said the bird, 'it isn't long for this world.'
'No,' said Robert; 'everything comes to an end. It's awful.'
'Sometimes the end is peace,' remarked the Phoenix. 'I imagine
that unless it comes soon the end of your carpet will be pieces.'
'Yes,' said Cyril, respectfully kicking what was left of the
carpet. The movement of its bright colours caught the eye of the
Lamb, who went down on all fours instantly and began to pull at the
red and blue threads.
'Aggedydaggedygaggedy,' murmured the Lamb; 'daggedy ag ag ag!'
And before any one could have winked (even if they had wanted to,
and it would not have been of the slightest use) the middle of the
floor showed bare, an island of boards surrounded by a sea of
linoleum.
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