‘Hist!—not a word.’
‘Shut up,’ said Charles, recognising at once the voice of his sister Charlotte. ‘I’m asleep. Don’t be a duffer. Go to bed.’
‘No, but,’ said Charlotte in the dark, ‘Caroline and I have been talking about the fern-seed. And we’re going to try it—putting it on our eyes, I mean. To see whether we can see invisible things.’
‘Silly,’ said Charles briefly.
‘All right. Only don’t say we didn’t ask you to join in.’
‘There isn’t any fern-seed,’ objected Charles.
‘Yes, there is. Mrs. Wilmington’s got some in the room they call the housekeeper’s room. Under a bell-glass. Stupid little ferns; but I expect the seed’s all right. Caro saw them when she went in to ask the Wilmington if we might get up at seven instead of half-past because of everything being so new and lovely. She meant because of the charm-book, of course. And she saw the ferns then.’
‘Are you really going to?’ asked Charles, warm in bed.
‘Yes,’ said Charlotte in a take-it-or-leave-it tone.