"Let's be truants to-day."
"Oh, jolly! When? How?"
Jill came in and sat on the bottom of the bed.
"We must go before breakfast, or we shan't be able to get away without being seen. Miss Falkner sends Bumps and me down at half-past seven, and breakfast isn't ready till eight, so we shan't be missed. You get the food ready and dress as quick as you can."
"And where shall we go?"
"Anywhere. What does it matter? I'll go back and wake up Bumps and tell her."
Jill crept back to her room, and Bumps, a sleepy fat bundle, was shaken into consciousness.
When she understood she was delighted, and was full of fuss and importance at once.
"I'll take my best china mug on the mantelpiece to get some water from a thtream; and do you think I might take a umblella, because it might come on a thunderstorm; and thall I take my thpade and bucket I took to the thea?"
"Hush," whispered Jill; "you'll wake Miss Falkner. You needn't take anything, you little stupid! Keep quiet, and do what I tell you."