"What a pity you have to go," said Rosie; "it is so nice talking."
"Would you like to come to the drawing-room after dinner?" said Nessa. "Uncle Blair does not come till nine o'clock."
"Don't you mind us coming?" asked Murtagh. "Emma always said we're such a nuisance!"
"Oh, no; indeed you are not to me!" replied Nessa, with an earnest warmth that made the children look up at her with pleased faces.
"When we've finished tea," said Rosie, as the door closed behind Nessa, "we might get some hot water and wash our hands and faces, don't you think, Murtagh?"
"All right!" said Murtagh, nodding his head.
The result of their resolution was that Nessa found in the drawing-room four shiny little faces reflecting the lamplight, four tightly brushed heads, and four pairs of hands as beautifully clean as such weather-beaten little hands could be.
The children had, in fact, made themselves so clean that they felt half-ashamed, but Nessa appreciated their little attention.
"How nice you all look!" she said kindly, and then she sat down amongst them, and they spent a very happy hour chatting round the fire. It was so nice talking, as Rosie said, and they were very happy to be thus possessed of Nessa's undivided attention. So when bed-time came they ran gaily enough up their little staircase, and as they separated on the landing Murtagh exclaimed:
"You were quite right, Win, things always do come right in the end; only to-morrow morning and all our troubles'll be over!"