“I’m more. I’m seven and a half—Katie is only eleven.”
“Quite so! Katie is young compared to you, isn’t she, Firefly. Still, I don’t see my way. You wished to join the grown-ups, but I found you sobbing on the damp grass under one of the shrubs near the avenue. Is it really under a damp arbutus shrub that the grown-ups intend to take counsel?”
“Oh no, father, no—” here the sobs began again. “They were horrid, oh they were horrid. They locked me out—I banged against the door, but they wouldn’t open. It was then I came up here. I wouldn’t have minded if it hadn’t been for Katie.”
“I see, my child. Well, run to bed now, and leave the matter in father’s hands. Ask nurse to give you a hot drink, and not to scold, for father knows about it.”
“Darling father—oh, how good you are! Don’t I love you! Just another kiss—what a good father you are!”
Firefly hugged the tall doctor ecstatically. He saw her disappear into the house, and once more pursued his way down the avenue.
“Good!” he echoed to himself. “Never did a more harassed man walk. How am I to manage those girls?”