"Whatever is Tattine doing, talking to herself like that?" whispered Mabel,
and then they came near enugh to hear what she was saying.
"She's out of her head," said Rudolph, wh‚n they had listened'some moments,
and then Tattine turned round and saw them.
"No, I'm not out of my head at all," she laughed; "I was just practicing a
little while I waited for you."
"Practicing your GRANDMOTHER," which as you have observed was a pet expression
with Rudolph, whenever he wished to intimate that he considered your remarks
to be simply absurd.
"Yes, that's exactly it," Tattine answered good-naturedly. "I am practicing my
Grandmother. Grandma Luty, that's Mamma's mother, has come to make us a visit,
and Mamma has discovered that I'm not very polite to old people. Children used
to be taught, you know, to say, 'Yes'm,' and 'Yes, sir,' but now that is not
considered nice at all, and you must always say the name of the person you are
speaking to, especially if they are older people, to whom you ought to be
respectful," and Tattine sounded quite like a little grandmother herself as
she talked.
"Yes, we know, and it's an awful bother," sighed Rudolph. "We're fairly nagged
about it, Mabel and I, but Mother says she's going to keep it up until we
always do it. Perhaps we would get on faster if we practised by ourselves as
you do, but really, Tattine, it did sound as though you were out of your head,
to hear you saying all those sentences over to yourself.
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