“I must say I’d swap Jerry for even a two-seater,” Stella sniffed. “Where is mother! Talking of horses, I know exactly what we’ll do. It’s a million times better than seeing Jerry unharnessed. That’s tame! Mother!”
An exceedingly obedient and indulgent mother appeared suddenly on the rectory terrace at the sound of the second call.
“Stella! Here you are!”
“I say, mother, here’s Margot. And, mother, she’s got to be back by six! And it gets dark so soon; so we want to go along the Cliff road before tea.” Stella permitted herself to be embraced while Margot stood rather awkwardly by.
“So here is the little girl from the Bush!” exclaimed Mrs. Hill kindly. “I am so glad that Miss Slater allowed you to come to tea.”
But Margot had not come from the Bush. Her shyness disappeared instantly, as she rectified the mistake. “The Bush! Oh, no. Nobody lives in the Bush, you know. We’ve gone through. Once we camped there. But nobody, except kangaroos and....”
“Oh, mother; talking of kangaroos,” the impatient Stella burst in, “Margot’s most awfully interested in horses, and she told us all kinds of things in the dorm. She even likes Jerry. And I want to take her straightaway, before tea, to see those horses on the gipsies’ camping-ground. There were a dozen, quite, last week-end, and....”
“But, my dear Stella!” Her mother, though certainly anxious to fall in with the arrangements of her returned daughter, looked quite aghast at the suggestion. “I don’t think you could go there alone. The horses might be dangerous. And dad’s out. Besides——” Mrs. Hill gave quite a gasp of relief as remembrance came to her.
“Besides, they’re gone. There was a fair at Rowsley this morning, and I heard the horses going by before we were up, with the gipsies in charge.”
“Oh, bother!” Stella looked as disgusted as she felt. “Well, if they’re gone, of course we can’t! But how could horses possibly be dangerous? Margot says....”