Mrs Hipgrave sighed pathetically, and added, with a slight shudder:
‘They say she carried a dagger.’
‘They’ll say anything,’ I reminded her.
‘At any rate,’ said Mrs Hipgrave, ‘she will be quite unused to the ways of society.’
‘Oh, we shall teach her, we shall teach her,’ said I cheerfully. ‘After all, it’s only a difference of method. When people in Neopalia are annoyed, they put a knife into you—’
‘Good gracious, Lord Wheatley!’
‘Here,’ I pursued, ‘they congratulate you; but it’s the same principle. Won’t you wish me joy, Mrs Hipgrave?’
‘If you’re really bent upon it, I suppose I must.’
‘And you’ll tell the dear children?’ I asked anxiously.
‘The dear children?’ she echoed; she certainly suspected me by now.