"Barbara is five. And, oh dear me, Janet is seven."
"Is that such a very formidable age?"
She laughed uneasily. "Yes. That's the age when they begin to take notice, isn't it?"
"Oh, no, they do that when they're babies. Even Barbara's grown out of that. I say, Kitty, what a lot you know."
"Don't, Robert." She looked at him imploringly and put her hand in his.
"I won't, if you'll only tell me what I'm not to do."
"You're not to tease me about the things you think I don't know. I used to nurse my little sisters, when I wasn't very big myself. I can't nurse Janet, or Barbara, can I?"
"They wouldn't let me. They're too old. It won't be the same thing at all."
"Well," said Robert, and paused, hiding from her the thing that was in his mind.