"Oh, dear! they needn't have gone to ask. Can't they go two steps without getting leave? I should think they were babies. They looked as old as I am."
"They're older, Master Arthur," replied Flora. "I think they are as much as thirteen: the girl is, at any rate."
"Is the boy nice?" asked Arthur.
Flora laughed.
"He's funny," she replied. And then she told Arthur what Rob had said when she asked him if he and his sister lived there.
Arthur smiled faintly: he hardly ever laughed. His back ached all the time, so that he could very seldom forget it; and this constant pain made him very nervous and irritable.
"You go up to the house and ask their mother to let them come," he said.
"Well, dear," Flora replied, "I will, if they don't come in a few minutes. But I'm sure they'll come, for they said their mother had told them they might come this afternoon; and I'm sure she'll let them come now instead."
"They can come in the afternoon too," said Arthur. "I want them all the time."
"Well, well: I dare say they'll like to stay with you, and read your books, and see your things, very much," said Flora.