“Yes, but, father, it is time that he had learned.  Tea isn’t near ready yet; and if he is allowed to sit here, he will pull and haul every thing about,” responded Mrs. Pelby.

“Oh, never mind, mother!  Give him some meat, and he’ll be quiet enough.  I never like to see little folks made to wait for grown people; they cannot understand nor appreciate the reason of it.”

And so little Henry was permitted to remain at the table, picking first at one thing and then at another, much to the discomfort and mortification of his mother, who could not see in this indulgence any thing very interesting.  Mrs. Little was relieved, although her collar was disfigured for the evening past hope.

After a while tea was announced, and the company sat down.

“Me toffee! me toffee!” cried Henry, stretching out his hands impatiently.  “Me toffee, ma! me toffee, ma!” as soon as Mrs. Pelby was seated before the tea-tray, and had commenced supplying the cups with cream and sugar.

“Yes—­yes—­Henry shall have coffee.  H-u-s-h—­there—­be quiet—­that’s a good boy,” she said, soothingly.  But—­

“Me toffee, ma! me toffee, ma! me toffee, ma!” was continued without a moment’s cessation.  “Ma! ma! ma! me toffee! me toffee!”

“Yes, yes, yes! you shall have coffee in a moment; only be patient, child!” Mrs. Pelby now said, evidently worried; for Henry was crying at the top of his voice, and impatiently shaking his hands and vibrating his whole body.

But he ceased not a moment until his mother, before any of the company had been served, prepared him a cup of milk and warm water, sweetened.  Placing his lips to the edge of the cup, Henry drank the whole of it off before the table was more than half served.

“Me more toffee, ma!”

Mrs. Pelby paused, and looked him in the face with an expression of half despair and half astonishment.

“Me more toffee, ma!” continued Henry.

“Yes, wait a moment, and I’ll give you more,” she said.

“More toffee, ma!” in a louder voice.

“Yes, in a moment.”

“More toffee, ma!” This time louder and more impatiently.

To keep the peace, a second cup of milk and water had to be prepared, and then Mrs. Pelby finished waiting on her company.  But it soon appeared that the second cup had not really been wanted, for now that he had it, the child could not swallow more than two or three draughts.  His amusement now consisted in playing in his saucer with a spoon, which being perceived by his mother, she said to him—­

“There now, Henry, you didn’t want that, after all.  Come, let me pour your tea back into the cup, and set the cup on the waiter, or you will spill it;” at the same time making a motion to do what she had proposed.  But—­

“No! no! no!” cried the child, clinging to the saucer, and attempting to remove it out of his mother’s reach.  This he did so suddenly, that the entire contents were thrown into Mrs. Little’s lap.