‘Hush! hush! boys,’ said Lady Merrifield. ‘I do not mean to interfere with your pleasure, ‘but I had rather our discussions were not entirely selfish. Suppose, Gillian, we walked down to Casement Cottages, and consulted Miss Hacket.’
This was done, in the company of all the little girls, for Miss Hacket’s cats, doves, and gingerbread were highly popular; moreover, Dolores was glad of a chance sight of Constance.
‘My dear,’ said Lady Merrifield, as Gillian walked beside her, ‘you must be satisfied with giving Miss Hacket the reversion of our tree, and you and Mysie can go and help her. It will not do to make these kind of works a nuisance to your brothers.’
‘I did not think Jasper would have been so selfish as to object,’ said Gillian, almost tearfully.
‘Remember that boys have a very short time at home, and cannot be expected to care for these things like those who work in them,’ said Lady Merrifield. ‘It will not make them do so, to bore them, and take away their sense of home and liberty. At the same time, they must not expect to have everything sacrificed to them, and so I shall make Jasper understand.’
‘You won’t scold him, mamma?’
‘Can’t you, any of you, trust me, Gill?’
‘Oh! mamma! Only I didn’t want him to think. I wouldn’t do everything he liked, except that I don’t want him to be unkind about those poor girls.’
Miss Hacket was perfectly enraptured at the offer of the reversion of the Christmas-tree and its trapping. Valetta’s birthday was on the 28th of December and the tree was to be lighted on the ensuing evening for G.F.S. Moreover, the party would go to Rockstone as soon as an appointment could be made with Miss Mohun, to make selections at a great German fancy shop, recently opened there, and in full glory; and the Hacket sisters were invited to join the party, starting at a quarter to eight, and returning at a few minutes after seven, the element of darkness at each end only adding to the charm in the eyes of the children, and Valetta, with a little leap, repeated that it would be a real secret expedition.
‘Very secret indeed,’ said her mother, ‘considering how many it is known to—’