Mr. Glanville glanced at his wife, who shook her head. Kitty had been in disgrace that morning, having left her bedroom untidy and been impertinent to Mary, who had remonstrated with her about it; consequently she had been given some sewing to do by her mother for a punishment, and the duster she was hemming was not half done yet, though she might have finished it before if she had liked.
"It's miserable being a girl," she murmured dolefully, as the boys followed her father from the room. "I do so hate sewing—nothing makes me so hot."
Tim enjoyed his walk exceedingly, and, before it was at an end, he had found out a great deal about his companions—that Mr. Glanville was a retired tea-planter, and that both Bob and Kitty had been born in Ceylon; that Bob now attended the B— Grammar School, and that Kitty went to a private school for girls. In return, he told what a very dull time he was having with his uncle, who kept him all day by himself.
"What do you think of him, Bob?" whispered Kitty to her brother when Tim was talking to her mother after tea.
"I don't fancy he's a bad sort," was the unexpected reply.
"Don't you?" she questioned dubiously.
"No. He improves upon acquaintance. I say, you might show him your rabbit, I think."
"Have you told him about it?"
"No. I'll ask him to come into the garden; shall I?"
"If you like."