"So am I," said Inez, dancing lightly up and down on the tips of her toes. "I'm the eldest, and I'm the youngest, too, for there's nobody older or younger than me. I'm the only one."
Chris looked at her with some interest.
"Come along upstairs, and I'll show you where I live, and then we'll have a jolly racket all over the house and garden!"
She pulled hold of Diana's hand; the children followed her through a very large and lofty hall, up a broad staircase, and then along some stone passages through low doorways, until she pushed open the door of a room.
It was not a very cheerful-looking room. There were two windows, but they were small, set in thick grey stone. The carpet was a dingy brown. There was a round table with a red cloth, a horsehair sofa, a glass bookcase with a cupboard underneath it, a few very gloomy-looking pictures. Four chairs stood against the wall.
"You're very tidy," Diana observed as she looked round. "Where do you keep your playthings? You should see our nursery! It's littered all over the floor."
"I haven't got any playthings," said Inez; "I don't care for that sort of thing, and Julia keeps this room tidy. I'm never in it, and if she locks me in I just climb out of the window and walk along the gutter till I get to the battlements. I like playing in the stables and lofts. I have some rabbits I'll show you. I only come up here for meals."
"There's not much to do here," said Diana.
"No, and tea will come very soon. Take off your gloves and things, and come on down to the garden."
This they did, and all agreed that the gardens and shrubberies and stables were the best places to be in.