The Toad. 33

“JT said, boy, how do you do?” And if you
can believe me, the voice was the toad’s voice,
and it was he who had spoken! Reginald, who
had never heard a toad speak before, and in fact
did n't know that they could, was so much
astonished that he fairly gasped.

“That mushroom,” continued the toad, calmly,
“is mine, and you cannot have it. Go and pick
those toad-stools.”

“ But,’ said Reginald, who had somewhat
recovered from his astonishment, “I don’t want
any toad-stools.”’

“Well, then,” said the toad, ‘of course, that is
not my fault, now is it?” .

“No,” said Reginald, somewhat timidly.

“Then the best thing for you to do, boy, is to
go home.”

“But, I came to pick mushrooms for my
mamma, and I certainly shall not go home because
a toad tells me to do so. Jam not ready to go.”

“Qh,” said the toad, “I beg your pardon; I
thought perhaps, you were ready. If you are not,
then why don’t you stay here? And if you stay,

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