With Catlings something, which is the best, she got into capital _C_s; _y_s are found easily when you know where to look for them (they hang on behind); _N_s are never found singly, but often three at a time; _Q_ is so aristocratic that even Tommy had only heard of it, doubtless it was there, but indistinguishable among the masses like a celebrity in a crowd; on the other hand, big _A_ and little _e_ were so dirt cheap, that these two scholars passed them with something very like a sneer.
The printing-press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, one sometimes forgets which.

Elspeth's faith in it was absolute, and as it only spoke to her from placards, here was her religion, at the age of four: "PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
HAPPY ARE THEY WHO NEEDING KNOW THE PAINLESS POROUS PLASTER." Of religion, Tommy had said many fine things to her, embellishments on the simple doctrine taught him by his mother before the miseries of this world made her indifferent to the next.

But the meaning of "Pray without ceasing," Elspeth, who was God's child always, seemed to find out for herself, and it cured all her troubles.

She prayed promptly for every one she saw doing wrong, including Shovel, who occasionally had words with Tommy on the subject, and she not only prayed for her mother, but proposed to Tommy that they should buy her a porous plaster.

Mrs.Sandys had been down with bronchitis again.
Tommy raised the monetary difficulty.
Elspeth knew where there was some money, and it was her very own.
Tommy knew where there was money, and it was his very own.
Elspeth would not tell how much she had, and it was twopence halfpenny.
Neither would Tommy tell, and it was twopence.
Tommy would get a surprise on his birthday.
So would Elspeth get a surprise on her birthday.
Elspeth would not tell what the surprise was to be, and it was to be a gun.
Tommy also must remain mute, and it was to be a box of dominoes.
Elspeth did not want dominoes.
Tommy knew that, but he wanted them.
Elspeth discovered that guns cost fourpence, and dominoes threepence halfpenny; it seemed to her, therefore, that Tommy was defrauding her of a halfpenny.
Tommy liked her cheek.