The eventful day came at last, and Freda and Daffy were dispatched by Nurse at a quarter to nine. Jane was to take them as far as the gate, and they were to be trusted to come home by themselves.
When they arrived at the Dower House, Carrie showed them into a little cloak-room in the hall where they could hang up their coats and hats.
"Has she come?" Daffy asked eagerly.
"Yes, miss."
"What's she like?"
"A nice-spoken lady," was all that Carrie could tell them.
Then they went upstairs to the room that had been turned into a schoolroom, and found Dreamikins sitting at the table by the side of Miss Fletcher, who was looking through some old lesson-books. Dreamikins, of course, was talking hard. She stopped when Freda and Daffy came into the room; but she evidently had forgotten their quarrel, for she put up her face to be kissed as usual when they came up to her.
"This is Freda and Daffy, Miss Fletcher," she said; "they live next to us, and are very nice."
Miss Fletcher shook hands with them. She had a bright face, fair hair coiled round her head, and was dressed in a dark blue gown. Freda and Daffy liked her at once, for she did not wear spectacles, and they never liked people who did.
"Come along and sit down," she said brightly. "We will not do much this morning, for I am going to pick your brains, and find out how much you know."