She had long ago told Rose that they must be very particular never to let any mis-statement from Cecil pass unchallenged. It was their one hope, she explained, of inculcating the habit of truthfulness. Cecil now looked confused and alarmed, and as his grandmother fixed her eyes upon him severely he said: “I meant once, Grandmama.”
“Try and always say what you mean, my dear,” she told him.
Cecil was silent for the rest of the drive, but when they reached the keeper’s lodge in the wood he pulled Rose into a corner:
“Are you angry, Mummie?”
“No, of course not.” She kissed him resoundingly.
“I did, really and truly, carry the rabbits for Uncle Ford.”
“But not lots of times, Ces.”
“Three times,” he said, nodding his head. “That first time of all, when Dr. Lucian was there too, and once the day that Miss Wade came, and the day before yesterday. That makes three.”
Rose suddenly remembered. It was true that Cecil had performed the office three times for Ford.
“But then—you told Grandmama just now that you meant only once!”