"Where is your monkey, and parrot, and coco-nuts?" asked Diana.
Noel stared at her.
"Shut up!" said Chris, giving his sister a nudge. "I was only pulling your leg. I didn't see them really."
Nurse came into the room at this moment. She took possession of Noel at once.
"Come along, your mother says you'd best go to bed as you're tired out, and I'll bring you your supper, when you've had your bath."
"No, fanks, I'll stay here."
Noel put his hands in his pockets and looked at Nurse defiantly. She said nothing, but she was a big woman and Noel a tiny boy. She simply took him up in her arms and carried him off to bed. And Noel was so astounded that he said nothing. His ayah had been left behind in India, and a young girl who wanted her passage home had taken charge of him on the voyage. The consequence was that he had had things pretty much his own way.
"I rather like him," said Diana when the door had closed upon them. "He's a funny boy."
"He's too cocky," said Chris loftily. "I'll soon teach him!"
"But it's Mother I'm interested in," said Diana. "Oh, Chris, I think she's lovely, and she dresses like a queen, and she's so tall and thin, not fat like Granny, and she had buckles on her shoes that were sparkling like her rings. I wish we could see her again to-night. Do you think we will?"