Explore "Ultima Thule" by Henry Handel Richardson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The almond-trees that grew in a clump at the bottom of the garden had shed their pink blossom and begun to form fruit. At first, did you slily bite one of the funny long green things in two, you came to a messy jelly. bah! it WAS nasty. you spat it out again as quick as you could. But a little later, though you could still get your teeth through the green shell, which was hairy on your tongue and sourer than ever, you found a delicious white slippery kernel inside. Cuffy made this discovery one afternoon when Mamma had gone to the Bank to tea, and Miss Prestwick was busy writing letters. He ate freely of the delicacy; and his twin shadows demanded to eat, too. Their milk teeth being waggly, he bit the green casing through for them; and they fished out the kernels for themselves.
That night, there were loud cries for Mamma. Hurrying to them, candle in hand, Mary found the children pale and distressed, their little bodies cramped with grinding, colicky pains. Green almonds?--"Oh, you naughty, NAUGHTY children! Haven't I told you never to touch them? Where was Miss Prestwick?--There! I've always said it: she isn't FIT to have charge of them. I shall pack her off in the morning."