When they reached home they found their mother waiting for them. She was soon taken into their confidence, but as Diana said, she did not feel angry with Inez, only very, very sorry for her.
"I'm not afraid of her doing you harm, for I hope you will do her good."
"But we don't like being prigs," said Chris.
"No. You need not be. Be your own happy bright little selves, and show her that you are happier doing right than when you are doing wrong. That is all."
The children said no more. Diana had been rather afraid that their acquaintance with Inez might be stopped, and she was looking forward to pouring out some of the imaginations in her brain to her. Now she felt quite happy.
"Mother always understands," she said to herself as she laid her head down on her pillow that night, "and if Inez had a mother like ours, I expect she'd be as good as gold!"
[CHAPTER VIII]
The Little Rescuers
"Come on, you little duffer! You're only picking rubbish. We want to get to the wild strawberries!"
"I'm tarred, and moss isn't rubbish! I fink I shall put it round my Chris'mas tree."