“No; the doctor says I mustn’t do any yet; but I read in the Squire’s study sometimes.”
“I wish I mightn’t do any either,” said Queenie, enviously; “but I don’t suppose I shall do much, now Phil is at home, so we shall have plenty of time to play together.”
Here Phil came rushing up, full of plans for future fun. David had said that his father’s boat would soon be back now, and that then they could go out rowing or sailing together. David knew all the creeks and islands along the coast, the cliffs where the sea-gulls bred, and all the places where fun was to be obtained.
Phil was utterly and entirely delighted, and as he went home he confided to Queenie that running away from school was the best thing in the world.
CHAPTER X.
BERTIE’S NEW FRIENDS.
THE friendship between the children in the two adjoining houses, begun under rather exceptional circumstances, led to a considerable degree of intimacy as the summer wore on.
The Squire encouraged the friendship, as likely to be of advantage to Bertie. Sir Walter Arbuthnot had no objection to it, and his wife soon became convinced that her children could take no harm from associating with the little waif.
So Bertie went as often as he chose to the other house, and his nurseries were always open to his new friends, so that hardly a day passed without a meeting at one place or the other.