Almost as she did so a strange voice exclaimed, "Well, children, are you holding a Fenian meeting?" The words were accompanied by a little laugh, but they had the effect of putting a complete stop to the children's mirth.
Nessa looked round, and standing by the low wall she perceived a lady. By her side stood a fashionably dressed girl of sixteen, whose face wore an expression of amused contempt.
"Or have you quite given up civilized life," continued the lady, with a series of little laughs, "and resolved to live up here with your select circle of friends? I thought you were to have some one to take care of you. How do you get on with the new cousin, eh, Murtagh? Oh, I'm sure I beg your pardon," she added, suddenly perceiving Nessa, and making up for her first oversight by a fixed and deliberate stare.
The color deepened in Nessa's cheeks as she bowed.
"So you have a new playfellow, children. That must be very nice for you. You have good strong nerves, I suppose, and don't mind noise," she added, addressing Nessa. "Well, you are quite right; it's no good having delicate ways and ideas when you have to live with a big family. Those things do well enough where there's only one or two."
At this point Murtagh seemed to think that she had monopolized the conversation long enough, for he now walked up to her, and holding out his hand said gravely:
"How do you do, Cousin Jane? How do you do, Emma?"
The three other children followed his example with automatic regularity, and no social extinguisher could have been more effective. Cousin Jane was completely silenced.
"It is no use our staying here any longer, mamma," exclaimed Emma. "We shall see them all when they are quiet and tidy in the house this evening. We could not imagine," she said, turning politely to Nessa, "what all the noise was. That is why we came up."
"It is a birthday," said Nessa, smiling, as she glanced at the groups of followers, "and we are en grande fête."