shop how much too much he wanted for it, I saw the charm in a
sort of tray, with a lot of other things. If you can only buy
THAT, you will be able to have your heart's desire.'

The children looked at each other and then at the Psammead. Then
Cyril coughed awkwardly and took sudden courage to say what
everyone was thinking.

'I do hope you won't be waxy,' he said; 'but it's like this: when
you used to give us our wishes they almost always got us into
some row or other, and we used to think you wouldn't have been
pleased if they hadn't. Now, about this charm--we haven't got
over and above too much tin, and if we blue it all on this charm
and it turns out to be not up to much--well--you see what I'm
driving at, don't you?'

'I see that YOU don't see more than the length of your nose, and
THAT'S not far,' said the Psammead crossly. 'Look here, I HAD to
give you the wishes, and of course they turned out badly, in a
sort of way, because you hadn't the sense to wish for what was
good for you. But this charm's quite different. I haven't GOT
to do this for you, it's just my own generous kindness that makes
me tell you about it. So it's bound to be all right. See?'

'Don't be cross,' said Anthea, 'Please, PLEASE don't. You see,
it's all we've got; we shan't have any more pocket-money till
Daddy comes home--unless he sends us some in a letter. But we DO
trust you. And I say all of you,' she went on, 'don't you think
it's worth spending ALL the money, if there's even the chanciest
chance of getting Father and Mother back safe NOW? Just think of