“I’m not; I’m only thinking,” he answered when Robert asked him what he was so grumpy about. “I’ll tell you when I’ve thought it all out.”
“If it’s about the Amulet I don’t want to hear it,” said Jane.
“Nobody asked you to,” retorted Cyril mildly, “and I haven’t finished my inside thinking about it yet. Let’s go to Kew in the meantime.”
“I’d rather go in a steamer,” said Robert; and the girls laughed.
“That’s right,” said Cyril, “be funny. I would.”
“Well, he was, rather,” said Anthea.
“I wouldn’t think, Squirrel, if it hurts you so,” said Robert kindly.
“Oh, shut up,” said Cyril, “or else talk about Kew.”
“I want to see the palms there,” said Anthea hastily, “to see if they’re anything like the ones on the island where we united the Cook and the Burglar by the Reverend Half-Curate.”
All disagreeableness was swept away in a pleasant tide of recollections, and “Do you remember...?” they said. “Have you forgotten...?”