"Couldn't say, sir," said the butler, with faint disapproval in his tone.
Graeme gazed at him with undisguised panic in his face.
"Look here, Hobbes," he said, "I'm not going to face those man-eaters alone. You can show 'em in here. I suppose they'll have to have tea."
Then to the children, who sat wide-eyed and silent during this confab, he appealed. "You'll all help me, won't you?"
"Rather!" exclaimed Cornelius James, all his martial instincts aroused by the reference to man-eaters, but quite at a loss as to what was expected of him.
"Course we'll help," echoed Georgina, with something nearer comprehension.
"Well, then, you must just pretend I'm your father."
"What fun!" cried Jane, and they rose as the door opened and the Misses Smedley stood, somewhat taken aback, on the threshold.
"How d'you do," said Graeme advancing. "I hope you don't mind a schoolroom tea round the dining-table, but the fact is, I—when the children are here—we always have tea together."
The Misses Smedley bowed confusedly to Miss Mayne.