“Thanks,” said Lalage. “But it wasn’t the chocolates I was thinking of. The scoop I mean is going to school. It’s a jolly sight better than rotting about here with a beastly governess.”
“You can’t expect any governess to enjoy being robbed of her glycerine and cucumber,” I said. “You wouldn’t like it yourself.”
“That wasn’t the real reason,” said Lalage. “Even Cattersby had more sense than that.”
“She means,” said the Canon, “that it didn’t begin there.”
“No,” I said, “it began with the character of Mary.”
“It didn’t,” said Lalage. “She’d forgotten all about that and so had I. What really began it was my birthday. For three weeks I had suggested a holiday for that day from the tyrant. Her answer had ever been: ‘A half will do you nicely.’ If pressed: ‘You are very ungrateful. I may not give you even that.’ So I acted boldly. It was breakfast time and we were eating fish——”
“Trout,” said the Canon. “I remember the morning perfectly. Tom Kitterick caught them the day before. I took him out with me. The Archdeacon had been over to see me.”
“Laying down my fork,” Lalage went on, “I said to no one in particular——”
“Excuse me, Lalage,” I said, “but is this a quotation from the last number of the Anti-Cat?”
“It is. I had an article about it. How did you guess?”