On arriving at a hotel for the night, Mrs. Gray is to take her choice first of all the rooms shown, for herself and Rosie. Then from the other rooms Mr. George is to choose the bed that he will sleep in. Then the two boys are to choose from the beds that are left, each to have the first choice alternately, beginning with Josie.
"Why should Josie begin?" asked Rollo. "I am the oldest."
"True," said Mr. George; "but it is of no consequence at all which begins, and as we are drawing up the rules, it is polite and proper to give Josie the precedence in such a point."
"Very well," said Rollo; "go on. How about Susannah?"
"O, it is not necessary to make any rule about Susannah," replied Mr. George. "I suppose that Mrs. Gray will take her into her room, if there is a spare bed there. If not, they must make some other arrangement for her."
III.
Every evening before the party separate for the night, Mrs. Gray shall decide at what hour we shall set off the next morning, and also at what hour we shall breakfast, after first hearing what Vittorio's opinion is as to the best time for setting out.
"Why can't we have a fixed time for setting out every day?" asked Rollo, "and agree about it once for all beforehand."
"Because we have different distances to go on different days," said Mr. George, "so that sometimes we shall have to set out much earlier than will be necessary at other times."