“Must I go, ma!” whispered Eddy.
“Yes, my dear, certainly. Papa wishes it, and you must behave like a young gentleman to your guest.”
“Come, Eddy,” shouted Sir James from the conservatory.
Master Edgar went out sidewise in a very crabby way, and found Sir James waiting.
“There, no more shyness,” said Sir James bluffly. “Go out and enjoy yourselves till dinner-time.”
He nodded and smiled at them, gave his son a push toward Dexter, and returned to where Lady Danby was seated, with her brow all in wrinkles.
“They will soon make friends,” said Sir James. “It’s Grayson’s whim, of course, and really, my dear, this seems to be a decent sort of boy. Very rough, of course, but Eddy will give him polish. This class of boy is very quick at picking up things; and if, after a few weeks, Grayson is disappointed and finds out his mistake, why, then, we have behaved in a neighbourly way to him and Helen, and there’s an end of it.”
“But it seems so shocking for poor Eddy, my dear,” remonstrated Lady Danby.
“Fish! pooh! tchah! rubbish! not at all!”
“Eddy may pick up bad language from him, and become rude.”