She had laid a hideous iron tray on the table, and with a noisy clatter she put the cups and saucers on it.
“When people have lost their senses they say and do all sorts of queer things, don’t they?” I asked.
“My word, child, they do!”
“And other people, when they know that they have lost their senses, don’t believe them?”
“Believe ’em? Who’d ever believe what people who have gone crazy say and do?”
I rushed up to Hannah and hugged and kissed her.
“I’ll be in time for school,” I said, “for I’ll run all the way. Get me a little chop for dinner—please do, Hannah; and—and to-night we’ll have supper, and we’ll ask Von Marlo, and you shall come and have supper with us, dear, darling Hannah!”
Hannah grinned.
“You’re wonderful coaxing in your ways just now, Dumps. I can’t make out what sort of maggot you’ve got in your head. But there! you shall have your chop; it’s as cheap as anything else.”
I always brought my hat and jacket down with me when I came to breakfast; now I put them on and went off to school. I really was very ridiculous; but I always was wanting in common-sense. I forced myself to believe that father’s letter was a sort of practical joke, and I was comfortably conning over the fact that we would have another jolly evening to-night, and that he doubtless would have forgotten all about having ever put pen to paper when he returned home, when I saw a number of my schoolfellows waiting for me just round the corner which led into the great school. Amongst them was Augusta Moore. But Augusta Moore, who might have been a sort of refuge from the ordinary girls, was now flanked on the right hand by Rita Swan and on the left by Agnes Swan; and there were several other girls behind this trio. When they saw me they all shouted, “Here she is! Here she is!” and they made for me in a body.