The lecture was interrupted by the appearance of the governess cart.
“By Jove, he has come,” ejaculated Challis in the middle of one of Lewes’s periods. “You’ll have to see me through this, my boy. I’m damned if I know how to take the child.”
Lewes flushed, annoyed at the interruption of his lecture. He had believed that he had been interesting. “Curse the kid,” was the thought in his mind as he followed Challis to the window.
II
Jessop, the groom deputed to fetch the Wonder from Pym, looked a little uneasy, perhaps a little scared. When he drew up at the porch, the child pointed to the door of the cart and indicated that it was to be opened for him. He was evidently used to being waited upon. When this command had been obeyed, he descended deliberately and then pointed to the front door.
“Open!” he said clearly, as Jessop hesitated. The Wonder knew nothing of bells or ceremony.
Jessop came down from the cart and rang.
The butler opened the door. He was an old servant and accustomed to his master’s eccentricities, but he was not prepared for the vision of that strange little figure, with a large head in a parti-coloured cricket-cap, an apparition that immediately walked straight by him into the hall, and pointed to the first door he came to.
“Oh, dear! Well, to be sure,” gasped Heathcote. “Why, whatever——”