"Now, you'd better run back to the nursery, hadn't you, darlings? or Nurse will be comin' down in search of you. I've got the most invaluable old dragon for them," she generally added to her friends. "She's been with us since Alex was a baby, and rules the whole house."
"Oh, don't send them away!" one of the visiting ladies would exclaim politely. "Such darlings!"
"Oh, but I must! Their father won't hear of my spoilin' them. Now run along, infants."
Cedric and Barbara were only too ready to obey, though it was understood that Lady Isabel's "run along" only meant a very ceremonious departure from the room, Barbara taking little Archie by the hand and leading him to the door, where they both dropped the obeisance considered "picturesque," and Cedric making an unwilling progress to execute his carefully practised bow before each one of the ladies scattered about the big room.
If Alex, however, was enjoying herself, and getting the notice that her soul loved, she always said in a pleading whisper, loud enough to be heard by two or three people besides her mother:
"Oh, do let me stay with you a little longer, mummy. Don't send me upstairs yet!"
"How sweet! Do let her stay, dear Lady Isabel."
"You mustn't encourage me to spoil her. She ought to go up with the others."
"Just for this once, mummy."
"Well, just for this once, perhaps. After all," said Lady Isabel apologetically, "she is the eldest. She'll be comin' out before I know where I am!"