Captain Willoughby was busy releasing Bumps from her bonds.
"It strikes me there has been a bit of bullying going on here," he said, eyeing Jack severely. "Is this the way you generally treat your small sister?"
"She likes it," asserted Jack eagerly. "On my honour she does—don't you, Bumps?"
"Yeth, I does!" sobbed his victim.
"Nurse has no business to leave you," said Mona Baron decisively, as she gave a sharp pull to the nursery bell. "Now, Jill, pick up some of these things at once. Why can't you keep Jack quiet? I don't know which is the worse of you. It is six of one and half-a-dozen of the other!"
She did not speak angrily, for these three pickles always afforded her considerable amusement. But she felt that a limit must be drawn somewhere, and when the nurse appeared, considerably ruffled by her sudden recall from the servants' hall, she was spoken to so sharply by her young mistress that she gave notice on the spot.
Mona went back to the drawing-room with Captain Willoughby.
"That makes the fifth nurse we have had in ten months," she said. "What can be done with them? They are too small to go to school."
"Can't you get a governess?"
"I suppose I must try. But I was made so miserable myself as a small child by one, that I resolved never to give them the chance of such an experience. I must talk it over with Miss Webb."