“Oh Nursey! those nice children from the Rectory are coming over to-day, and I mean to give them such a jolly time. The whole four are coming, and we mean to have hide-and-seek in the grounds and in the house. We’ll be a bit wild and we’ll be a bit noisy, but you don’t mind, do you, Nursey?”
“No, darling,” replied Nurse, “I don’t mind; I am glad you have something to cheer you now that the Squire has gone.”
“Oh, I forgot that!” said Phyllis. “I shall miss my darling father, but I am all the more glad that the Rectory children are coming.”
Phyllis rose in high spirits, and presently she and Miss Fleet met in the schoolroom.
In the Squire’s absence they were to have their meals in the schoolroom, and the table was laid now and placed in the cheerful bay-window, and the schoolroom maid was bringing in coffee, toast, and other good things for breakfast.
“I am hungry,” said Phyllis.—“Good-morning, Miss Fleet.”
“Good-morning, my dear,” said Miss Fleet. “Take your seat quietly, please—not quite so noisily. Shall I give you a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, please,” said Phyllis.
As a rule she rather resented Miss Fleet’s remarks, but she was in such good spirits to-day that she determined, as she expressed it, to be extra well-behaved.
“I have been thinking, Phyllis,” said the governess as she slowly ate her own breakfast, “that this is an excellent opportunity for us to begin a more exhaustive routine of work.”