‘He’s an idle scamp! If some one ‘ud give him a good thrashing, that’s what he wants.’
‘Shall I ask him to dinner to-morrow?’
‘You can if you like, of course,’ Richard replied with hesitation. ‘I shouldn’t have thought you cared much about having him.’
‘Oh, I am always very glad to have him. I have meant to ask you to let him dine with us oftener. I am so afraid he should think we neglect him, and that would be sure to have a bad effect.’
Mutimer looked at her with satisfaction, and assented to her reasoning.
‘But about the fairy tales,’ Adela said presently, when Richard had finished his cigar and was about to return to the works. ‘Do you seriously object to them? Of course I could find another book.’
‘What do you think? I am rather surprised that Wyvern suggested reading of that kind; he generally has good ideas.’
‘I fancy he wished to give the children a better kind of amusement,’ said Adela, with hesitation.
‘A better kind, eh? Well, do as you like. I dare say it’s no great harm.’
‘But if you really—’