"Annie will be gay and light-hearted to the end of the chapter!" exclaimed Hester.
"But she was naughty when she was my age, wasn't she?"
"She is not naughty now."
"Well, no more will I be when I am sixteen. Now, good-night, Het. Am I to sleep in your room?"
"Yes."
"How scrumptious. Look out for a fine waking early in the morning."
Nan hugged Hester in her usual rough-and-ready manner, and danced upstairs, singing as she went—
"Old Daddy-long-legs wouldn't say his prayers,
Catch him by his left leg and throw him downstairs."
This was one of Nan's rhymes which Sir John detested. Her voice was loud and somewhat piercing. He heard it in the drawing-room, and went deliberately and shut the door.