It was several hours before her mandate was obeyed. The packing took a considerable time. During those hours the monkey crept more and more into their affections.
"I think," opined Nell, "it's positively wicked to send him on a long, cold journey with a nasty little cough like that!"
"I shall feel as if I'm murdering one of my own relations," Denis agreed.
Sheila Pat put a protecting arm round the monkey.
"Jimmy O'Driscoll," Denis said suddenly, "you have an artful countenance. Could you make yourself scarce whenever our respected aunt appeared on the scene? James, could you remember to remember that you're actually and bodily in Kilbrannan?"
"Oh, Denis!" Sheila Pat broke in ecstatically. "Oh, I do love Patsy's cousin!"
That night Miss Kezia said, "I am thankful that your pets have left my house, and I beg that you will not spend your money in that ridiculous and wicked way again!" There was a sarcastic inflexion on the word "pets."
CHAPTER XI
Denis stood upon a chair and declaimed. His audience consisted of Sheila Pat and Jim O'Driscoll.
"'Literature of the Elizabethan Period.' Pause, Sheila Pat, with an inward gaze. By the way, how d'you gaze at your innards? Then you fling back your hair," he tried ridiculously to fling back his short locks. "Meant to let them grow long for the happy occasion. Then you begin: 'The Elizabethan Period was one of grand, of glorious prolificacy in the realms of literature. What names the mere mention of the period conjures up, names that still ring, and will always ring'—ha! ha! ha!"