But my brother is not one of those people whose submissive patience is always apparent to the naked eye, and all he said was, quite politely, but quite firmly,—
'You're going to do nothing of the kind.'
'I quite definitely am,' I said.
So then there was a little gust of temper.
'Oh, do stop fussing, Meg. You and Sam really are the limit. Anybody would think that I was "going to leave this mortal world of sin, and hatch myself a Cherubim," the way you both go on! When you hear me begin to chip the shell you can both sit up, but not before.'
So then the feathers underneath my skin got ruffled, and I said that he was simply hateful and delighted to worry people who only wanted to be kind to him.
And then he turned into a glacier, so I tried thawing it.
'Please, Ross.'
'No, darling.'
'But if you had something to do in the night it wouldn't seem so long.'