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Full download Spectrum Grade 4 Critical Thinking For Math Workbook Multiplying And Dividing Fractions And Decimals Measurement Conversions Geometry Classroom Or Homeschool Curriculum 128 Pgs Spectrum ebook online full chapter pdf docx
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4
GRADE 4
®
GRADE
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No matter your need, Spectrum is with you every step of the way.
Spectrum is available in these titles for fourth grade success:
• Measuring angles
• Answer key
carsondellosa.com
carsondellosa.com/spectrum
Grade 4
Published by Spectrum®
an imprint of Carson Dellosa Education
Greensboro, NC
© 2017 Carson Dellosa Education. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored, or distributed in any form or by any means (mechanically, electronically,
recording, etc.) without the prior written consent of Carson Dellosa Education. Spectrum® is an imprint of
Carson Dellosa Education.
Chapter 2: Numeration
Check What You Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Lessons 1–4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25–30
Check What You Learned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Chapter 5: Measurement
Check What You Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Lessons 1–11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73–83
Check What You Learned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chapter 6: Geometry
Check What You Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Lessons 1–6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87–93
Check What You Learned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3. Audrey works at a garden shop. This year, she sold 2,429 seed packs, 1,339
indoor plants, and 2,117 outdoor plants. How many items did Audrey sell in all?
Use the partition method to show your work.
CHAPTER 1 PRETEST
Adding and Subtracting Through 5-Digit Numbers
6. A baseball team gave away free hats to some of the fans that attended the game.
There were 13,786 people at the game, and 2,959 fans did not get hats. How
many fans did get hats?
7. At the same baseball game, the concession stand sold 1,245 hot dogs, 2,974
orders of nachos, and 3,945 ice cream sandwiches. How many total food items
did the concession stand sell?
Jackie has 46 stamps in her collection, and Irene has 23 stamps. How many
stamps do Jackie and Irene have altogether? Jackie will get 10 more stamps
for her birthday. How many stamps will Jackie and Irene have after Jackie’s
birthday?
Jackie and Irene will have 79 stamps altogether after Jackie’s birthday.
Yuri’s soccer team is in the State Cup Tournament. There were 78 goals made in the
entire tournament. Yuri’s team made 29 of the goals. How many goals did the other
teams make?
Elena’s team scored 16 goals in the tournament. How many goals did Yuri’s team
and Elena’s team score altogether?
Find the unknown value. Write the subtraction problem you used.
Adrian had 155 marbles. Her friend Beth also had some marbles. Together, Adrian
and Beth had 481 marbles. How many marbles did Beth have? How many would
they have if Adrian found 5 more marbles?
in a subtraction problem,
minuend 175 175
subtrahend – ? – 38 175 – 137 = 38
subtract the given numbers.
difference 38 137
1
To find an unknown minuend
minuend ? 115 132 – 17 = 115
in a subtraction problem, subtrahend – 17 + 17
add the given numbers.
difference 115 132
Bobbi saved some money from doing chores. He bought a computer game that cost
$28. Now, Bobbi has $70 left. How much money did Bobbi have to begin with?
Does Bobbi have enough money left over to buy a new pair of sneakers that costs
$35 and a hat that costs $27?
You can use subtraction to find an unknown when adding three or more numbers.
1 + ? + 9 + 7 = 22
Solve to find the unknown value. Write the addition and subtraction sentences
you used.
Three friends had a picnic in the park. They each brought some fruit for dessert.
One friend brought 6 bananas, one friend brought some pineapples, and one friend
brought 4 apples. Altogether, the three friends had 12 pieces of fruit. How many
pineapples were there?
If a fourth friend joins them and brings 5 peaches, how many pieces of fruit will
there be altogether?
You can use a number line when adding three or more numbers.
87 + 78 + _______ = 206
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10
87 165
1
10 10 10 10
165 206
206 – 165 = _______
87 + 78 + 41 = 206
Connor, Drew, and Jason are comparing their baseball card collections. Connor has
48 cards and Drew has 68 cards. Jason also has some cards. Together, the boys
have 194 baseball cards. How many does Jason have?
Jeremy joins them. He has 18 baseball cards in his collection. How many cards do
the boys have with Jeremy’s collection?
1
10 10 10 10 10 10 10
67 138
138 – 71 = 67 67 + 71 = 138
Write the correct addition and subtraction sentence for each number line given.
__________
1 1 1 1 1
10 10 10 10 10
__________ 651
__________
1 1 1 1 1
100 1,000 1,000 1,000
__________ 3,475
__________
1 1 10 10 10
100 100 100 1,000
__________ 57,291
You can use a number line to find unknown addends in an addition problem.
148 + ? = 464
Using tens and ones, count backward to the amount of the given addend.
148
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 10 10 10 100
316 464
Subtract to find the missing addend. Use a number line to show your thinking.
trade
To find an unknown value when adding numbers, you can draw a picture.
At the state fair, the candy booth had a swimming pool filled with chocolate-covered
candies and fruit-flavored candies. A total of 88,547 candies were in the pool. At
the end of the weekend, there were only 7,856 candies left. How many candies were
given away at the state fair?
If 4,533 of the leftover candies were chocolate covered candies, how many were
fruit-flavored candies?
Earth is 7,926 miles wide. Saturn is much wider. The total width of Earth and Saturn
is 82,926 miles. How many miles wide is Saturn? Write the number sentence you
used to solve.
If you add the width of Neptune, which is 15,125 miles, how many miles wide are
all 3 planets?
You can use the partition method when adding three or more numbers.
Last year, 10,738 teenagers lived in Travis County. This year, 922 more teenagers
moved there. How many teenagers live in Travis County now? Next month, 25
teenagers have birthdays and will no longer be teenagers. How many teenagers
will live in Travis County after next month?
First, add how many teenagers lived in Travis County last year, and how many
moved there this year: 10,738 + 922 = 11,660
Then, subtract the number of teenagers that have birthdays from the total number
of teenagers in Travis County: 11,660 – 25 = 11,635
Over the weekend, the Dumon Theater sold 7,615 buckets of popcorn, 1,207 bottles
of water, and 1,152 boxes of candy. How many food items did the theater sell?
How many more buckets of popcorn than boxes of candy did the theater sell?
10,738 + 1,327 =
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Write a word problem to go with this addition problem. Then, solve using the
partition method.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Use addition to check the problems. If the answer is incorrect, solve the problem
again and recheck. Write the addition sentence you used to check.
Use subtraction to check the problems. If the answer is incorrect, solve the problem
again and recheck. Write the addition sentence you used to check.
Read the problem carefully and solve. Show your work under each question.
Four Boy Scout troops collected canned goods to donate to the Rossville food bank.
At the end of the week, Troop 151 had 92 cans. Troop 152 had 213 cans. Troop
153 had 88 cans and Troop 154 had 105 cans.
1. H
ow many more cans did Troop 152 and 154 collect than Troop 151 and 153?
CHAPTER 1 POSTTEST
2. T he scouts in Troop 154 brought in more cans the following week, raising their
total to 366 cans. How many cans did the students add in the following week?
Draw a picture to show your work.
Read the problem carefully and solve. Show your work under each question.
CHAPTER 1 POSTTEST
Reese 963 48,599
and spring.
3. H
ow many more pennies did the club donate in the spring than in the fall? Use
the traditional methods to show your work.
5. W
hat is the total of the 3 highest amounts of pennies donated in the spring? Show
your work using the partition method.
Numeration
Andrew is thinking of a number. The number has a 3 in the tens place. The number
in the ones place is three more than 5. There is a 6 in the ten thousands place. The
number in the hundreds place is between 0 and 2. The number in the thousands
place is 5 less than 10.
___________ ___________
Numbers are made up of the digits 0–9 in different places. The place value of
whole numbers goes from right to left. The chart below shows the place value of
each digit in the number 1,359,264.
Isabella is thinking of a number in the hundred thousands. The first digit is equal
to the number of digits in the number. The number has 20 tens and twice as many
thousands. The number of ones is an odd number that is less than 5 and greater than
the digit in the hundreds place. What is Isabella’s number?
Using the digits 7, 8, 5, 9, and 2, write three numbers: the smallest number
possible, the largest number possible, and a number between the largest and
smallest numbers.
Number name Using words, include each digit as well as its place value:
twenty five thousand eight hundred forty five
Expanded form Shows how each digit is multiplied by its place value:
(2 x 10,000) + ( 5 x 1,000) + (8 x 100) + (4 x 10) + (5 x 1)
number name
expanded form
standard form
expanded form
standard form
number name
187,349 58,045
567,503 285,393
Sir John, who, it would seem, never did things by halves, had
within the week transformed that exquisite work of art, known at
Paris and Versailles as Sir John Dering, into a very ordinary-looking
Mr. Derwent. In place of flowing peruke, embroidered coat and
perfumed silks and laces, Mr. Derwent wore a small, unpowdered
scratch-wig and a sober, snuff-coloured suit extremely unpretentious,
and instead of gold-hilted small-sword, carried a serviceable holly-
stick. Indeed, Mr. Derwent’s whole appearance was so eminently
unnoticeable and his bearing so ordinary that he might have been
termed “insignificant,” except perhaps for a certain tilt of his chin and
the brilliance of his long-lashed eyes.
It was a hot, languorous afternoon, birds chirped drowsily,
butterflies hovered, and Sir John, or rather Mr. Derwent, seated upon
the lofty summit of Firle Beacon, breathed an air fresh from the sea
yet fragrant of the wild thyme of the Downs, and hearkened to the
larks that soared high above and all around him, filling that same air
with their joyous, trilling music: insomuch that he grew joyous also,
since this was England and home. Beneath him the majestic Beacon
swept down to the wide vale below in great, billowing, green curves
of sweet, springy turf where a myriad flowers bloomed; away to the
south rose the mighty shape of Windover, and between, a far-
stretching vale where homestead and hamlet nestled amid trees that
bosomed time-worn tower and ancient spire, backed by shady
copse, denser wood and the dark, far-flung forest of Battle; a fair and
wide prospect where brooks sparkled, a winding river gleamed and
white roads ran between shady hedgerows and flowery banks; a
vast expanse where the unwearied gaze might rove from distant
Lewes away to Pevensey Level and a haze that was the sea.
So lost was Sir John in the ever-changing wonder of the scene
that he started suddenly, beholding one who had approached
unheard upon the velvet ling, a man who also surveyed the
widespread landscape with eyes of awed delight. A man, this, of no
great size yet of powerful build, a man in weather-stained coat,
open-kneed breeches and rough shoes and stockings, yet who wore
these garments with an unconscious ease, while the face beneath
shapeless hat was well-featured and arresting; indeed, there was
about his whole person an air of breeding and refinement that Sir
John was quick to heed: in one hand he bore a long-barrelled
musket, in the other a newly slain rabbit and upon his broad back a
small colour-box.
“A glorious prospect, sir!” quoth Sir John.
“Indeed!” nodded the stranger, his gaze still upon the distance.
“’Tis a sight to fill a man with wonder, a country to leave that a man
may come back to it, to paint because it is so unpaintable ... so
simple that it awes a man with its mystery ... a country to live in and
die in ... ’tis the Down-country, sir!”
“You know it well, I perceive, sir.”
“Aye,” answered the stranger, seating himself upon the grass. “I
know every ring, barrow and tumulus far as you can see—and
farther. I have fished every bend o’ yon river and have painted it all
so often that I begin to know that I never shall paint it ... no hand
ever will! Though, to be sure, I have come nigh doing so once or
twice! But what brush can suggest all the sublime majesty of these
everlasting hills, yon sweep of valley? So when I’m tempted to try
again, I generally bring Brown Bess here that my day be not wholly
in vain.” And he patted the long weapon across his knees.
“Do you always shoot conies with a musket, sir?”
“Always!” nodded the painter, with sudden smile. “’Tis a little
irregular, mayhap, but ’tis more sport to myself and fairer to the cony.
If I miss, which is seldom, my cony is unharmed; when I hit, which I
generally do, my cony is swiftly and very completely dead.... You are
a stranger hereabouts, I think, sir?”
“Extremely!” answered Sir John.
“Aye, to be sure,” nodded the painter, smiling grimly. “Folk in these
parts don’t take kindly to new faces——”
“Being all staunch believers in—free trade.... ‘True-believers’?”
suggested Sir John.
“Aha, you’ve heard o’ that elusive craft, then?” inquired the painter,
with a keen glance.
“And sailed aboard her a week ago!” nodded Sir John.
“What—the trip they crippled the Seahorse? Were this known
’twould make you at home wi’ all the Down folk hereabouts. For,
egad, sir, we’re all smugglers, more or less, and are, on the whole, a
very orderly, peaceable community—with the exception of that
damned scoundrel, my Lord Sayle, whose life is a scandal in every
way.”
“I’ve heard of him, sir; he is said to be a dangerous fellow—an
inveterate duellist?” said Sir John.
“Aye, as notorious as Dering of Dering, whose empty house
stands in the valley yonder. ’Twould be a blessing to the world in
general if these two fine gentlemen could meet and exterminate
each other; they have cumbered the earth too long—especially my
Lord Sayle, one o’ your merciless rake-hells ... a very masterful
libertine of whom I’ve heard such shameful tales—faugh!” and the
painter spat in sheer disgust.
“And is my lord a smuggler also?”
“Why, at first he winked at ‘the trade’ and took many a bale and
cask as a bribe, but later he demanded a percentage on every
cargo, and, being refused, promptly ratted and set the law in motion,
with the result that there’s been wild doings hereabouts o’ late and
may be wilder yet. The excise officers will find theirs a hard task, for,
as I say, we’re all ‘in it’ more or less. I’ve drank many a glass of right
Nantzy, and even Parson Hartop, godly soul, has smoked tobacco
that hath paid no more duty than the laces on my daughter’s
petticoat. Are ye travelling far, sir?”
“To High Dering.”
“Ah, ’tis a village over yonder!” said the painter, with a jerk of his
head. “’Tis a village, sir, that labours under a blight, a disease, a very
effective curse.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed Sir John, a little startled.
“Yes, sir. The name of this particular disease is Dering—Sir John
Dering.”
“Ah,” sighed Sir John, “I have heard of him also——”
“And little to his good, I’ll warrant!” quoth the painter. “Dering of
Dering is the biggest landlord in these parts—and the worst.”
“How so, sir?”
“Owning so much land, he consequently owes a duty to the county
and to his tenants—a debt he hath never paid and never will, being a
poor fool, sir, a miserable wretch who takes and gives nothing, who
passes his life in riot and debauchery shut up in Paris salons when
he might be walking these hills a free man, honoured by his
tenantry.... Are you staying long hereabouts?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Sir John. “And my name is Derwent.”
“Then, Mr. Derwent, should you find yourself Alfriston way, come
and see us. My daughter shall brew you a dish of such tea as you
seldom drank before and that never passed the excise ... and I’ve
some French brandy——We will smoke a friendly pipe and talk, sir,
for to talk is to be alive!” So saying, the painter got lightly to his feet
and stood a moment to survey the widespread prospect.
“Look around you!” quoth he. “In the brooding silence of these
immemorial hills the long-forgotten dead may find voices to speak of
vanished peoples whiles here we stand, you and I, alive for a little
space, yet soon to pass and vanish, as they. How glorious, then,
whiles we have life, to worship the Infinite God within and around us,
here amid these fragrant solitudes ... and to poach an occasional
rabbit!” saying which, the painter laughed, shouldered his musket
and strode off, leaving Sir John to pursue his solitary and pensive
way, filled with a strange new sense of responsibility, until, having
descended the Beacon, he reached a stile and, seated thereon, fell
to profound meditation.
Across undulating park, shaded by ancient trees, rose the stately
pile of Dering Manor, his home; in the valley hard by, sheltered
beneath lofty Firle, nestled Dering village; all around him, far as eye
could see, the land was his: thus, as he surveyed this goodly
heritage, his sense of responsibility grew, a feeling unknown until
now.
From these reflections he was suddenly aroused by feeling a
sharp prod in the back, and, glancing sharply around, beheld an old
man who peered up at him from under a well-brushed, wide-eaved
hat and poked at him with a knotted stick; a small, wrinkled, rosy-
cheeked, exquisitely neat old man in spotless frock and highly
polished boots, and who now addressed him in querulous tones,
though his bright eyes held a lurking twinkle.
“Lord, young master, lordy-lord!” he quavered; “there ’ee du set s’
quiet an’ still as Peter Bunkle’s ’og as was killed day afore yesterday
’s ever was, that ’ee du!”
“I was thinking,” answered Sir John, almost apologetically.
“Well, I be thinkin’ tu ... I be thinkin’ ’tis toime ’ee comed off’n stile
an’ mak’ way fur a old, ancient man as wur a-buryin’ folk older’n ’ee
afore ’ee was born, I reckon.”
Down got Sir John forthwith and, seeing the old man so feeble,
reached out a hand in aid, whereupon the ancient man swore at him,
though a little breathlessly by reason of his exertions as he climbed.
“Dang’ee—lemme be!” he gasped. “Du ’ee think as oi caan’t
cloimb a little bit of a stoile as I’ve clumb, man an’ bye, for seventy
year? Lemme be—an’ dang’ee twoice!” Gasping these words and
with infinite exertions the old man mounted the stile, seated himself
on the top bar in Sir John’s place and, mopping wrinkled brow with
the end of a newly washed and ironed neckerchief of vivid hue,
nodded at Sir John in very fierce and determined fashion. “Look’ee
naow,” he panted. “I’ve set ’ere on this yer stoile fur six-and-sixty
year—ah, p’r’aps longer—every sunny arternoon, off an’ on, and ’ere
I be a-goin’ to set ’cording to custom, so oi be—an’ dang you an’ arl!
An’ what do ’ee say naow?”
“That you are very welcome,” smiled Sir John. “I hope you live to
sit there for many a long day; you look hale and hearty——”
“Wot—me?” croaked the old man fiercely. “Me ’ale an’ ’earty!
Lordy-lord, young man, ’ee must be a gert fule not t’see as oi du be
waastin’ away an’ perishin’ wi’ a disease no doctor nor ’poth’cary can
cure. There be ’poth’cary Mayfield, over tu Lewes, sez tu me: ‘’Osea
Dumbrell,’ ’e sez, ‘if I wuz tu give ’ee arl th’ drugs in my shop they
wouldn’t do ’ee no manner o’ good!’ ’e sez. An’ no wonder, for my
disease bean’t no ordinary disease—no! My disease, young man, be
a musket-ball in my in’ards as won’t come out no-’ow!”
“A musket-ball!” exclaimed Sir John, staring.
“Ah—in me in’ards!” nodded the old man triumphantly; “as won’t
come out! An’ ’twixt you an’ me, a preventive bullet it were. Ketched
me ’ere ’twixt wind an’ watter, it did! Six-an’-fifty years ago come
Martinmas, an’ brings up agin me backbone wi’ a crack as nigh
deafened me; ah, it be gert wonder as it didn’t kill oi stone-dead!”
“Indeed, yes!” murmured Sir John.
“An’ theer it du bide ever since, young man. I can feel it!
Whens’ever oi walks tu fast or coughs a spell, that theer old musket-
ball goes a-rollin’ an’ a-rattlin’ about in me pore old in’ards summat
crool, lordy-lord! Las’ toime I seed Doctor Blake, t’ surgeon, about
’un, ’e shook ’is ’ead solemn-loike: ‘You’m a-goin’ t’ die, ’Osea
Dumbrell,’ ’e sez. ‘Aye,’ I sez, ‘so be you, doctor, but as fur oi—
when?’ ‘When ye du,’ ’e sez, ‘’twill be mortal sudden!’ ’e sez. That
wur years an’ years ago, an’ ’ere be I alive an’ kickin’.... Doan’t seem
right some’ow, fur doctor be mortal knowin’. But I doan’t look much
loike dyin’, du I?
“No, indeed!” answered Sir John. “And you are surely the neatest,
smartest——”
“That’ll du—that’ll du!” croaked the ancient man angrily. “’Tidn’t my
fault! Don’t ’ee go a-blamin’ of oi—blame me granddarter Ann! Her
du be for ever a-washin’ an’ a-breshin’ an’ a-cleanin’ o’ me, till it be
gert wonder ’er don’t scrub me into me grave! Combed all th’ ’air
off’n me ’ead, she ’ave, an’ now combin’ out arl me whiskers—what
be left of ’em! ’Tidn’t respectful—no! ’Ef ’ee du get dirty,’ ’er sez tu
me, ‘no baccy!’ ’er sez—a crool ’ard creeter be me granddarter Ann!
Look at me boots, so bright an’ shinin’—I dassent go a-nigh a bit o’
mud! An’ I loike mud—leastways a bit o’ mud don’t nowise ’arm
nobody, an’ when it be forbid I could waller in it, j’yful—ah, an’ I will
one o’ these days an’ dang arl! A crool, flinty-’earted, brimstone witch
be my granddart——”
“Granfer!” called a soft voice at no great distance. “Granfer!”
“By goles!” ejaculated the ancient; and skipping down from the
stile with surprising agility, he was in the act of brushing imaginary
dust from his immaculate smock-frock when round a bend in the lane
there appeared a shapely young woman who, coming thus
unexpectedly upon Sir John, blushed very prettily and dropped him a
curtsy, then turned to glance at one standing immediately behind her,
a tall, square-shouldered, powerful-looking fellow who, meeting Sir
John’s quick, bright glance, flushed also, from square chin to the
curls of very neat wig that showed beneath neat hat, and, flushing,
bowed, though remarkably stiff in the back about it.
“Come, Granfer,” said the girl, “it be toime ye took your egg-an’-
milk!”
“Cruel and flinty-hearted?” murmured Sir John reproachfully. “O
Mr. Dumbrell!”
“Hesh-hesh!” whispered the ancient fiercely.
“Are ye catchin’ cold, Granfer deary?”
“Brimstone witch? O Mr. Dumbrell!”
“Who be the man ahint ye, Nan?” demanded the old man, pointing
with his stick.
“Only the gentleman as took my part’s marnin’ agin Mr. Sturton,
Granfer.”
“Sturton!” snarled the ancient, flourishing stick in tremulous hand.
“Sturton—dang ’im! Ef I ketch ’im tryin’ t’ kiss ’ee, lass, I’ll break ’is
’ead for ’im so old as I be—aye, I will, an’ ’e can turn us out o’ th’
ow’d cottage arter if ’e loikes—dang ’im! Doan’t ’ee forget pore Mary
Beal as drownded ’erself las’ year arl along o’ Sturton——”
“There, there, Granfer, you be gettin’ arl of a shake! That’ll du now,
that’ll du or—no puddin’ fur your supper, mind that.”
“Arl right, lass, arl right! Only when I du think o’ that Sturton——”
“Then don’t ’ee, Granfer, or not a scrinch o’ sugar or nutmeg in y’r
egg-an’-milk an’ nary a spot o’ rum. So be a good lad an’ come ’long
o’ me!”
“Well, Robert,” quoth Sir John, seating himself on the stile again
so soon as they were alone, “my letter reached you in time, then?”
“And I’m here in conse-quence, sir!”
“What is all this about Sturton?”
Ex-Corporal Robert shifted his right foot slightly, and raising stiff
arm, coughed deprecatingly behind a discreet hand.
“Sir,” he answered, “I regret to be obleeged to inform your honour
that I opened hostilities this morning without your honour’s orders,
feeling myself obligated thereto by reason of a young fe-male——”
“I suggest ‘maid,’ Robert.”
“Maid, your honour, which young female crying out——”
“Damsel, Robert.”
“Damsel, your honour ... crying out, sir, I observed said young fe
——”
“Nymph, Robert.”
“Yes, sir. I ob-served same a-struggling with Mr. Sturton.
Whereupon, your honour, judging the ser-cumstances called for indi-
vidual action, I opened hos-tilities forthwith.”
“Did Mr. Sturton receive any—injuries, Robert?”
“Only super-facially, sir. His right ogle, your honour; otherwise he
retreated in fairly good order, sir.”
“Whiles you comforted the distressed damsel, Bob?”
“I did my endeavour, sir,” answered the ex-corporal, imperturbable
as ever.
“Extreme commendable in you, Robert, for hitherto you have not
been precisely a ‘squire o’ dames.’”
“Heretofore, sir, I have preferred horses.”
“And egad,” sighed Sir John wistfully, “’twould almost seem you
were the wiser, Bob! For though horses may balk they cannot talk,
they may break your neck but they cannot break your heart.... ’S life,
Bob, ’tis subject suggestive for a lampoon on the Sex!... ‘The Jade
Equine and Feminine,’ or ‘The Horse the Nobler Animal.’ ... It
promiseth, Robert, it promiseth!... Hum! Though horses may balk,
women will talk; break your necks, falsest sex. Though horses
unseat ye they cannot ill-treat ye. What though they be glandered no
fame ha’ they slandered. Though horses go lame they never
defame. Yes, it promiseth exceeding well!” and out came Sir John’s
memorandum. And after he had been thus busied for some minutes,
Robert the Imperturbable spoke:
“Pray what are your honour’s orders?”
“Orders?” repeated Sir John, glancing up a little vacantly. “Though
they be spavined ... spavined? ’Twon’t do—’tis a devilish awkward
word—eh, Bob?”
“Yes, sir ... and your orders?”
“Aye, to be sure,” sighed Sir John, “you will pursue every inquiry
and research in regard to Mr. James Sturton ... and inquire for me at
the ‘Dering Arms’ about six o’clock this evening.”
“As Mr. Derwent, your honour?”
“As Mr. Derwent. And, by the way, Bob ... concerning the
granddaughter of our ancient Mr. Dumbrell—her name is Ann, I
think?”
“So I am give to understand, sir.”
“She is a fine, handsome creature, Robert?”
“Yes, your honour.”
“With a neat foot and a low, sweet voice.”
“Yes, your honour.”
“Some sage philosopher hath it, Bob, that ‘a pretty foot is the one
element of beauty that defieth Time,’ but I, who pretend to some little
discernment in such matters, incline to the belief that a low, soft-
sweet voice may endure even longer.”
“Indeed, your honour?”
“Remembering which ... and Mr. Sturton’s apparently unwelcome
attentions, I think ’twere as well you should keep an eye on old Mr.
Dumbrell’s granddaughter, Robert.”
“Very good, sir!” answered the ex-corporal, and with a movement
that was something between bow and salute, he wheeled and strode
away, leaving Sir John, perched upon the stile, hard at work upon his
lampoon.