“I see’d such a very, very funny thing!”
“What is it, Pen? Why are you teasing your sister?” said Miss Tredgold.
“I aren’t!” cried Penelope. “I are telling her something what she ought to know. It is about something I—— Shall I go on, Paulie?”
“No; you make my head ache. Aunt Sophy, may I go in and lie down?”
“Certainly, my dear. You look very pale. My poor child, you were over-excited yesterday. This won’t do. Penelope, stop teasing your sister, and come for a walk with me. Pauline, go and lie down until dinner-time.”
Pauline went slowly in the direction of the house, but fear dogged her footsteps. What did Penelope know, and what did she not know?
Meanwhile Miss Tredgold took the little girl’s hand and began to pace up and down.
“I have a great deal to correct in you, Pen,” she said. “You are always spying and prying. That is not a nice character for a child.”
“I can be useful if I spy and pry,” said Penelope.
“My dear, unless you wish to become a female detective, you will be a much greater nuisance than anything else if you go on making mysteries about nothing. I saw that you were tormenting dear little Pauline just now. The child is very nervous. If she is not stronger soon I shall take her to the seaside. She certainly needs a change.”