"She doesn't go to school, does she?"
"No, I am afraid I am not quite a believer in school for girls. Besides, she has such a delightful governess, Miss Richards."
Joey supposed "How nice for her" was the proper thing to say, and said it; and that remark brought them to Mote Court.
Gracie met them at the door, a pretty but delicate-looking girl, very beautifully dressed. When Joey shook hands with her she suddenly realised that her own stockings were darned in the leg, where the darn showed a good deal.
However, Gracie was quite polite, and carried her guest off to her own room to take off her coat and hat and wash her hands for luncheon, and then to the schoolroom, where Miss Richards was sitting, playing Halma with a spare, freckled boy who was lying on the sofa, covered with a rug.
Gracie introduced Miss Richards, and then the boy as "My Cousin John."
Joey liked the look of John, though his best friends couldn't have called him anything but plain. But he had a pleasant and companionable grin, and a much more vigorous way of shaking hands than either Gracie or Miss Richards.
"We had better put away the Halma men, John," said Miss Richards. "The luncheon gong will go directly, and you will like to talk to Gracie's little friend."
Joey wriggled inwardly at this description, but went and sat down by John's sofa. Anyhow, he looked easier to talk to than Gracie. "I didn't know you lived here," she said.
"I don't," John told her. "But I had a smash-up, you see, and Aunt Greta asked me here to get fit again!"