This was evident, for Fay had not attempted to interfere with her daughter beyond saying, "I expect she's hungry, that's why she's so fretty, poor dear."
That afternoon Peter went to the flat and was shown as usual into the sitting-room.
Jan and the children were in the verandah, all with their backs to the room, and did not notice his entrance as Jan was singing nursery-rhymes. Fay sat on her knee, cuddled close as though there were no such thing as tempers in the world. Tony sat on a little chair at her side, not very near, but still near enough to manifest a more friendly spirit than in the morning. Peter waited in the background while the song went on.
I saw a ship a-sailing, a-sailing on the sea,
And it was full of pretty things for Tony, Fay and me.
There was sugar in the cabin and kisses in the hold——
"Whose kisses?" Tony asked suspiciously.
"Mummy's kisses, of course," said Jan.
"Why doesn't it say so, then?" Tony demanded.
"Mummy's kisses in the hold," Jan sang obediently—
The sails were made of silk and the masts were made of gold.
Gold, gold, the masts were made of gold.
"What nelse?" Fay asked before Jan could start the second verse.