“Oh, I didn’t run round it to please him!” Jeremy said indignantly. “I don’t want to please him, of course. But he said that I wouldn’t do it and he would, whereas, as a matter of fact, I did and he didn’t.”
“As a matter of fact,” picked up from the drawing-room, was just then a very favourite phrase of his.
“Well, you’ll get it hot from your father,” said Miss Mackenzie, “when he knows about it.”
“Oh, but perhaps he won’t know,” said Jeremy eagerly. “The house looks all dark, and perhaps Hamlet didn’t wake up.”
“Hamlet?” repeated Miss Mackenzie.
“Yes; that’s my dog.”
“Oh, that hateful dog that sometimes looks through the railings into my garden as though he would like to come in and tear up all my flowers. He’d better try, that’s all.”
“He isn’t hateful,” said Jeremy. “He’s a splendid dog. He had a fight a little while ago, and was nearly killed, but he didn’t care. He just grinned.”
“He won’t grin if I get hold of him,” said Miss Mackenzie. “Now what are you going to do about it when your father knows you’ve been out like this?”
“Oh, he mustn’t know!” said Jeremy. “You’re not going to tell him, are you?”