CHAPTER IX.
FLORA AN EXILE.
lora did not wait to receive her perfumery. When Jack appeared on the field she left it, to express her views to Dinah on the subject of bad boys; and as Dinah had not the power of expressing her sentiments in return, she was not disturbed by the spirit of contradiction.
When she got tired of talking to Dinah, she walked over to state her grievance to Grandma, and to be on hand when the tarts were distributed. Flora was not old enough to go to school. Her troubles in that direction had not yet begun, but lunch with her was a very important matter, and she never failed to be present when it was passed round. Grandma always had something good ready for the children. "The dear things get so hungry studying," she said. When she was young, three months schooling in the winter was enough for any one.
It was early in the day for lunch, (breakfast was a little more than an hour old), but Flora could not be put off. She did not possess the virtue of patience. So when the children happened in as they were going to school, she stood at the window eating her way through an enormous tart, which had been made expressly for her: but why the Baby Pitcher should have the largest tart, only Grandma could tell. The children came in bringing the full odor of musk in their clothes and in their hair, and Bertie had the little bag in his pocket. Grandma gasped and opened all the windows, for she could not breathe the stifling air.
"Bless the dear things!" she exclaimed. "How they do smell, to be sure!"
"Smells good!" said Flora, holding out her hand for the "'fumery."