"Now do you think we were any wickeder than Dreamikins? What's the difference between us?"
"Why," said Dreamikins, "I've got an A.M. for my uncle, and you have a H.D. for your nurse. That's what makes the difference."
"Now look here," said Fibo, rousing himself, as he saw Freda's and Daffy's anxious faces. "I think I must give you all three a good talking to, because none of you are quite as wise yet as we grown-up people. Astonishing, isn't it? Now come and sit down, and we'll be thoroughly comfortable before I begin."
The little girls sat in a circle upon the grass round Fibo's chair, then Dreamikins insisted upon having Grinder and Drab.
"It'll do them good to hear you, Fibo dear, and after we've all listened hard, you must give us one choc each for good behaviour. Cherubine is going to listen too. I know she'll say 'I told you so!' when she hears you."
"Now then, here we go. First of all, I must remind you that those words were addressed to grown-up people, not to children. If you look in your Bibles, our Lord was speaking to His disciples."
"Oh, Fibo dear," said Dreamikins reproachfully, "can't children be disciples?"
"Yes, they can, but they are not able to do everything that grown-up people do. And this taking in of strangers is not for them, because they don't own a house or a bedroom; nor is food even, if taken from the kitchen, theirs to give, as B.B. and E.E. know."
"But," said Freda eagerly, "we did think the house and bedroom belonged to Bertie; Nurse said it did, and we got him to give it to us, only Mums says it belongs to her."
"Yes; you see, you made a mistake; that's where you showed you were not quite wise enough to manage such a big undertaking. The fact is, though none of you like to hear it, you mustn't act on your own. Ask advice of older people."