‘Then I should stay there instead of coming back to school! I say it is horrid, and beastly, and abominable, and—’
‘Come, come, Fergus,’ here put in Gillian, ‘that is very wrong.’
‘You don’t hear Gill and me fly out in that way,’ added Valetta, ‘though we are so sorry about Mysie and Fly.’
‘Oh, you are girls, and don’t know what is worth doing. I will say it is beast—’
‘Now don’t, Fergus; it is very rude and ungrateful to the aunts. None of us like having to stay here and lose our holiday; but it is very improper to say so in their own house, and I thought you were so fond of Aunt Jane.’
‘Aunt Jane knows a thing or two, but she isn’t Wilfred.’
‘And Wilfred is always teasing you.’
‘Fergus is quite right,’ said Miss Mohun, who had been taking off her galoshes in the vestibule while this colloquy was ending in the dining-room; ‘it is much better to be bullied by a brother than made much of by an aunt, and you know I am very sorry for you all under the infliction.’
‘Oh, Aunt Jane, we know you are very kind, and—’ began Gillian.
‘Never mind, my dear; I know you are making the best of us, and I am very much obliged to you for standing up for us. It is a great disappointment, but I was going to give Fergus a note that I think will console him.’