"Oh!" said Peggy, "was it about our new frocks? Mamma and you is always very busy when we need new frocks, I know."
"Yes, dear," said nurse, but that was all.
Then Peggy and Hal and nurse and Baby went out for a walk. They did not go very far, for it was what nurse called a queer-tempered day. Between the gleams of blue sky and sunshine there came sharp little storms and showers. It was April weather, though April had not yet begun.
"Which way are we going?" Peggy asked, as they set off, she and Hal hand-in-hand, just in front of nurse and the perambulator. She hoped nurse would say "up Fernley Road," because Fernley Road led straight on towards the hills—so at least it seemed to Peggy. Their street ran into Fernley Road at one end, so that Fernley Road was what is called at right angles with it, and Peggy felt sure that if you walked far enough along the road you could not but come to "the beginning of the hills."
But to-day Peggy was to be disappointed.
"We can't go far, Miss Peggy, and we must go to Field's about Master Hal's new boots. It looks as if it might rain, so perhaps we'd better go straight there. You know the way, Miss Peggy?—right on to the end of this street and then turn to the left."
Peggy gave a little sigh, but trotted on quietly. Hal began grumbling.
"What is I to have new boots for?" he said. "I doesn't want new boots."
"Oh, Hal," said Peggy, "I think it's very nice indeed to have new boots. They shine so, and sometimes they do make such a lovely squeaking."
But Hal wasn't in a humour to be pleased with anything, so Peggy tried to change the subject.