"Did he prick you?" he asked impishly.
"I should think not. He thought he was in a prison with hot, heavy clouds suffocating him. First he thought he was under the earth, but he couldn't burrow a way out. Then he turned head over heels, and was preparing to give a squeal, when suddenly the clouds lifted, and then he was lifted. In a few minutes, he was back again in his usual bedroom, and if you asked him about it this morning, he would tell you it was a bad dream."
"We must come to breakfast."
Justin spoke abruptly. He very gently put Ruffie back upon his couch amongst his cushions, and Anstice left the room saying to Ruffie:
"We will see each other later on."
Justin and she had hardly taken their places at the breakfast table in the library, when the door was flung open, and the two little girls, arm in arm, came in most defiantly.
"Good morning," said their father gravely, "come and speak to this lady. She is going to be a second mother to you."
They stood perfectly still, astonishment and disgust plainly discernible on their faces.
"She's only another governess. You're pretending, Dad."
The taller of the two, Josephine by name, was spokeswoman.