"Well! what colour shall our ponies be?" began Jock, in an attempt at a whisper.
"Oh! shall we have ponies?" cried the little ones.
"Zebras if we like," said Jock. "We"ll have a team."
"Can"t," growled Bobus.
"Why not? They can be bought!"
"Not tamed. They"ve tried it at the Jardin d"Acclimatisation."
"Oh, that was only Frenchmen. A zebra is too jolly to let himself be tamed by a Frenchman. I"ll break one in myself and go out with the hounds upon him."
"Jack-a.s.s on striped-a.s.s--or off him," muttered Bobus.
"Oh! don"t, Jock," implored Babie, "you"ll get thrown."
"No such thing. You"ll come to the meet yourself, Babie, on your Arab."
"Not she," said Bobus, in his teasing voice. "She"ll be governessed up and kept to lessons all day."
"Mother always teaches us," said Babie.
"She"ll have no time, she"ll be a great lady, and you"ll have three governesses--one for French, and one for German, and one for deportment, to make you turn out your toes, and hold up your head, and never sit on the rug."
"Never mind, Babie," said Jock. "We"ll bother them out of their lives if they do."
"You"ll be at school," said Bobus, "and they"ll all three go out walking with Babie, and if she goes out of a straight line one will say "Fi donc, Mademoiselle Barbe," and the other will say, "Schamen sie sich, Fraulein Barbara," and the third will call for the stocks."
"For shame, Robert," cried his mother, hearing something like a sob; "how can you tease her so!"
"Mother, must I have three governesses?" asked poor little Barbara.
"Not one cross one, my sweet, if I can help it!"
"Oh! mother, if it might be Miss Ogilvie?" said Babie.
"Yes, mother, do let it be Miss Ogilvie," chimed in Armine. "She tells such jolly stories!"
"She ain"t a very nasty one," quoted Jock from Newman Noggs, and as Janet appeared he received her with--"Moved by Barbara, seconded by Armine, that Miss Ogilvie become bear-leader to lick you all into shape."
"What do you think of it, Janet?" said her mother.
"It will not make much difference to me," said Janet. "I shall depend on cla.s.ses and lectures when we go back to London. I should have thought a German better for the children, but I suppose the chief point is to find some one who can manage Elfie if we are still to keep her."
"By the bye, where is she, poor little thing?" asked Caroline.
"Aunt Ellen took her home," said Janet. "She said she would send her back at bed-time, but she thought we should be more comfortable alone to-night."
"Real kindness," said Caroline; "but remember, children, all of you, that Elfie is altogether one of us, on perfectly equal terms, so don"t let any difference be made now or ever."
"Shall I have a great many more lessons, mother?" asked Babie.
"Don"t be as silly as Essie, Babie," said Janet. "She expects us all to have velvet frocks and gold-fringed sashes, and Jessie"s first thought was "Now, Janet, you"ll have a ladies" maid.""
"No wonder she rejoiced to be relieved of trying to make you presentable," said Bobus.
"Shall we live at Belforest?" asked Armine.
"Part of the year," said Janet, who was in a wonderfully expansive and genial state; "but we shall get back to London for the season, and know what it is to enjoy life and rationality again, and then we must all go abroad. Mother, how soon can we go abroad?"
"It won"t make a bit of difference for a year. We shan"t get it for ever so long," said Bobus.
"Oh!"
"Fact. I know a man whose uncle left him a hundred pounds last year, and the lawyers haven"t let him touch a penny of it."
"Perhaps he is not of age," said Janet.
"At any rate," said Jock, "we can have our fun at Belforest."
"O yes, Jock, only think," cried Babie, "all the dear tadpoles belong to mother!"
"And all the dragon-flies," said Armine.
"And all the herons," said Jock.
"We can open the gates again," said Armine.
"Oh! the flowers!" cried Babie in an ecstasy.
"Yes," said Janet. "I suppose we shall spend the early spring in the country, but we must have the best part of the season in London now that we can get out of banishment, and enjoy rational conversation once more."
"Rational fiddlestick," muttered Bobus.
"That"s what any girl who wasn"t such a prig as Janet would look for,"
said Jock.
"Well, of course," said Janet. "I mean to have my b.a.l.l.s like other people; I shall see life thoroughly. That"s just what I value this for."
Bobus made a scoffing noise.
"What"s up, Bobus?" asked Jock.
"Nothing, only you keep up such a row, one can"t read."
"I"m sure this is better and more wonderful than any book!" said Jock.
"It makes no odds to me," returned Bobus, over his book.