“Father says that’s the one thing a gentleman can’t do,” said Judy, who had no intention of letting the mere accident of sex exclude her from the knightly code. “He says that even when a secret is made public it isn’t the square thing to let on that you knew about it beforehand.”
My father had taught us the same thing. I felt my heart warm towards the absent Mr. McNab.
“Judy and I swore a Hearty Oath about it,” said Jack, who was lying full length on the hearth-rug. “We said, cross-our-hearts we’d never do it. It’s awful tempting, too, sometimes.”
“Yes, isn’t it?” Judy agreed. “I’d just love to be able to say, ‘Oh yes, I knew all about that long ago!’ with my nose in the air, very often. But it isn’t done, in the Band. Father’s a Member of the Band, too, you know. He won’t let us swear many Hearty Oaths, ’cause he says they’d get cheap, and they ought to be solemn. But he approved of that one, and he swore it, too.”
“He told us lots of secrets,” Jack said. “ ’Cause he knew jolly well he could trust us not to split.”
“Yes, he said it was good practice for us, even if we were pretty young. He’d say, ‘This is confidential, kids,’ and of course that was all there was about it.” Judy’s eyes were very bright. “Father’s awfully splendid, you know, Miss Earle. He never asked us to promise to be good before he went away——”
“I spec’s he knew that wasn’t a bit of use!” Jack interposed.
“That was why. But he said, ‘You’re awful scamps, but I know I can trust you.’ And we’d just rather die than let him down.”
“Well, that is something to live up to,” I said. “Bayard hadn’t anything better. I think I like being a Member of the Band. Shall we have that meeting in Melbourne when your father comes back, so that Colin can meet him too?”
“You do have the splendidest ideas!” Jack said. They beamed on me; and when I went to tuck them in, later, they hugged me vigorously. My charges were not, as a rule, demonstrative people, and I was fairly dazzled by the honour.