"My dear little boy, how can I possibly tell? I was not there."
Deryck, the younger, was arranging that a bear who could only sit—who had been born sitting and stiffened in that position—should ride, in the procession, on the wide back of an elephant.
But he stopped the procession at this, set the bear down, and came and stood opposite his mother, surveying her gravely, with his hands deep in the pockets of his velvet breeches. She sat on the floor beside the sofa, her lovely head thrown back against a cushion, looking up at him with eyes full of love and almost wistful tenderness.
His little face at first was rather hard and stern, but, as he looked at her, it softened. Her ignorance of Noah's domestic arrangements seemed to matter less. She was so-lovely that it seemed unreasonable to expect her to be other things!
"You are not much use at answering questions, darling, are you?" he said gravely. "I must let the point stand over until father comes home. You see, you never seem to know about anything you have not done yourself."
"YOU ARE NOT MUCH USE AT ANSWERING QUESTIONS, DARLING, ARE YOU?"