"'First William, the Norman, Then William, his son; Henry, Stephen, and Henry, Then Richard and John; Next Henry the Third; Edwards one, two, and three, And again after Richard Three Henrys we see; Two Edwards, third Richard, If rightly I guess, Two Henrys, sixth Edward, Queen Mary, Queen Bess, Then Jamie, the Scotchman, Then Charles, whom they slew, Yet received after Cromwell Another Charles, too; Next James the Second Ascended the throne; Then good William and Mary Together came on; Till Anne, Georges four, And fourth William, all past, God sent Queen Victoria, Who long was the last; Then Edward, the Seventh But shortly did reign, With George, the Fifth, England's present sovereign.'
There you have it--with an original four lines at the end to complete the list," laughed the lady.
Dot's eyes were big; she had lost the sense of the rhyme long before; but Tess was very earnest. "I--I believe I _could_ learn 'em that way," she confessed. "I can remember poetry quite well. Can't I, Dot?"
"You recite 'Little Drops of Water, Little Grains of Sand' beautifully," said the smallest Corner House girl, loyally.
"Of course you can learn it," said the lady, confidently. "Now, Tess--is that your name--Theresa?"
"Yes, ma'am--only almost nobody ever calls me by it _all_. Miss Andrews used to when she was very, very angry. But I hope my new teacher, Miss Pepperill, won't be angry with me at all--if I can only learn these sovereigns."
"You shall," declared the lady in gray. "I have a pencil here in my bag. And here is a piece of paper. I will write it all out for you and you can study it from now until the day school opens. Then, when this Miss Pepperill demands it, you will have it pat--right on the end of your tongue."
"I hope so," said Tess, with dawning cheerfulness.
"'First William, the Norman, Then William, his son;'
I believe I _can_ learn to recite it all if you are kind enough to write it down."
The lady did so, writing the lines in a beautiful, round hand, and so plain that even Dot, who was a trifle "weak" in reading anything but print, could quite easily spell out the words.
"Weren't there any more names for kings when those lived?" the youngest Kenway asked seriously.
"Why, what makes you ask that?" asked the smiling lady.