"Did you have a nurse?" asked Dreamikins.
But Nurse changed the conversation.
When tea was over, Jane cleared away the tea, and Nurse and she left the nursery for a short time. Then the children's tongues ran fast.
"Show me your house; it's such a big one. Let us play hide-and-seek in the passages."
"Nurse won't let us. We can never do anything nice. What is H.D.?"
"Haughty Dragon," said Dreamikins, laughing gaily. "Fibo and I always call people H.D.'s who look like your nurse does. Oh, we must play hide-and-seek. I'll go and ask her."
Away darted Dreamikins, peeping into every room and dancing up and down the passages as if it were all a game. She found Nurse, and actually coaxed the permission she wanted out of her.
"It's a wet afternoon, and if you promise not to spoil or disarrange anything, you can do it," said Nurse.
Then followed a lovely hour. Freda and Daffy and even Bertie were as excited and happy as their little guest. At last the time came when Dreamikins could not be found. Every corner and cupboard in the few rooms in which they were allowed to hide were ransacked. The passages with their queer corners were searched again and again, and the children came to Nurse in the nursery with troubled faces.
"We're quite tired out," said Freda gloomily, "and we think she's climbed up one of the chimneys and got on to the roof."