‘Oh yes,’ said Charles, ‘rub it in.’
‘I expect it has spoiled it all,’ said Caroline. ‘Oh, Charles, how could you?’
‘I’m much more sorry than you are,’ said Charles wretchedly, ‘because the magic had begun. She’d gone out of the frame.’
‘Gone!’ said the girls together.
‘Quite gone. It was all black behind the curtain. She wasn’t there.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Certain sure.’
Both girls sprang towards the curtain, and both stopped short as Charles hastily grabbed an arm of each.
‘Don’t!’ he said; ‘you wait. I’ve thought about it a lot. I haven’t had anything else to do, you know.’