So Chris and Diana set off, and Mrs. Inglefield sat down in a big chair in her tiny hall and gave a sigh.
"I wish my three children pulled together better, Nurse. Whose fault is it, do you think?"
"They'll get on all right after a bit, ma'am. It's early days yet. Master Noel has been accustomed to have things all his own way, so it comes difficult to him. I think he wants a little taking down at times, but Master Chris deserves to be tired, leaving him in the lurch like that."
"I shall not let them go out together again. It was an experiment."
It was a long time before the children came home.
Tea-time passed, and Mrs. Inglefield was getting seriously uneasy.
And then, about half-past six, they appeared. Mrs. Inglefield met them at the door with great relief of mind.
Noel was in the middle of them, and looked tear-stained and defiant.
"We've had to drag him along," Diana said breathlessly. "He wasn't trying to come home, he was just sitting there expecting you to fetch him, determined not to walk home at all by himself."
Noel flung himself in his mother's arms with a burst of sobs.