Jack flushed and looked defiantly at Maggie.
Maggie raised her eyes and gave him a sweet glance. “Are you really Jack?” she said. “I am so glad to know you. I have been making friends with your brother Andrew, whom I call Peterkins. I want to call you Jackdaw. May I?”
Jack felt a great lump in his throat. His face was scarlet. He felt unable to speak, but he nodded.
“I have been looking at Peterkins’s rabbits,” continued Maggie. “I want to see yours after lunch.”
“They’re beauties!” burst from Jack. “They’re ever so many times better than Andrew’s. I’ve got a cream-colored Angora. His name is Fanciful, and I’ve got––”
“Hush, my boy, hush!” said the rector. “Not so much talking during meals. Well, Maggie, my dear—we must, of course, call you by your Christian name––”
“Of course, Mr. Tristram; I should indeed feel strange if you didn’t.”
“We are delighted to see you,” continued the rector, “and you must tell the girls all about your new school.”
“And you too, sir,” said Maggie, in her soft, rich voice. “Oh! you’ll be delighted—delighted; there never was such a woman as Mrs. Ward.”
“I took a very great liking to her,” said the rector. “I 15 think my girls fortunate to be placed under her care. She has been good, very good and kind, to me and mine.”