Their first words always were as they ran to greet him, "What have you got for me, daddy ?" and he had nothing.

He would have to buy them some sweets at the station.

But that was what he had done for the past four Saturdays; their faces had fallen last time when they saw the same old boxes produced again.
And Paddy had said, "I had red ribbing on mine bee-fore!" And Johnny had said, "It's always pink on mine.

I hate pink." But what was William to do?
The affair wasn't so easily settled.

In the old days, of course, he would have taken a taxi off to a decent toyshop and chosen them something in five minutes.