"Has he got his kneeler?" asked Mrs. Grey.
Pauline rushed to the window again.
"Mother says 'have you got your kneeler?'"
The Rector paused vaguely, and Birdwood tried to indicate by kicking himself that he had the kneeler.
"Ah, thoughtful Birdwood," said Mrs. Grey in a satisfied voice.
"And now do you think we might have the window shut?" asked Margaret, resignedly.
Monica was quite deliberately thumping at the piano part she was practising. Mrs. Grey sat down and began to tell a long story in which three poor people of Wychford got curiously blended somehow into one, so that Pauline, who was the only daughter that ever listened, became very sympathetic over a fourth poor person who had nothing to do with the tale.
"And surely Janet came in to say something about the drawing-room," said Mrs. Grey, as she finished.
"She said a gentleman," Pauline declared.
"Oh, how vague you all are!" exclaimed Margaret, jumping up.