"Are you going with us?" he called out.
"I have not yet been asked."
"Thou naughty Rose," exclaimed Agapit; but she had already hurried up-stairs to invite Mrs. Nimmo to accompany them. "Madame, your mother, prefers to read," she said, when she came back, "therefore Narcisse will come."
"Mount beside me," said Agapit to Vesper; "Rose and Narcisse will sit in the background."
"No," said Vesper, and he calmly assisted Rose to the front seat, then extended a hand to swing Narcisse up beside her. The child, however, clung to him, and Vesper was obliged to take him in the back seat, where he sat nodding his head and looking like a big perfumed flower in his drooping hat and picturesque pink trousers.
"You smile," said Agapit, who had suddenly twisted his head around.
"I always do," said Vesper, "for the space of five minutes after getting into this cart."
"But why?"
"Well—an amusing contrast presents itself to my mind."
"And the contrast, what is it?"