`` Oh , tell us , what is it ? '' everybody entreated . `` Well , it 's a trial by ordeal , and we 're to see which of us can pass it . The ordeal is to eat one of the bitter apples in big mouthfuls without making a single face . '' Dan made a face to begin with . `` I do n't believe any of us can do that , '' he said . `` YOU ca n't , if you take bites big enough to fill your mouth , '' giggled Felicity , with cruelty and without provocation . `` Well , maybe you could , '' retorted Dan sarcastically . `` You 'd be so afraid of spoiling your looks that you 'd rather die than make a face , I s ` pose , no matter what you et . '' `` Felicity makes enough faces when there 's nothing to make faces at , '' said Felix , who had been grimaced at over the breakfast table that morning and had n't liked it . `` I think the bitter apples would be real good for Felix , '' said Felicity . `` They say sour things make people thin . '' `` Let 's go and get the bitter apples , '' said Cecily hastily , seeing that Felix , Felicity and Dan were on the verge of a quarrel more bitter than the apples . We went to the seedling tree and got an apple apiece . The game was that every one must take a bite in turn , chew it up , and swallow it , without making a face . Peter again distinguished himself . He , and he alone , passed the ordeal , munching those dreadful mouthfuls without so much as a change of expression on his countenance , while the facial contortions the rest of us went through baffled description . In every subsequent trial it was the same . Peter never made a face , and no one else could help making them . It sent him up fifty per cent in Felicity 's estimation .
`` XXXXX is a real smart boy , '' she said to me .
Cecily Dan Felix Peter contortions cruelty everybody face morning mouthfuls