Her little face had got quite rosy. Aunt Mattie was pleased to see it, pleased too that Rosamond had evidently already begun to make friends with Justin—girl-despiser though he was.
'Yes, dear,' she said, 'I love the moor, and I am very glad you do. I love it all the year round, though it's pretty cold up here in winter, isn't it, boys?'
Pat came forward a little. He wanted to please his aunt by being nicer to Rosamond.
'It's awfully cold going to the vicarage some mornings,' he agreed, 'but there's some nice things in winter. Can you skate, Miss Mouse?'
The little girl shook her head.
'No, but I'd like very much to learn,' she replied.
'Then I'll teach you,' said Pat, his face getting a little red, for it was not certainly his way to put himself about to be amiable. And he had to suffer for it.
'How polite we are growing all of a sudden,' said Justin, with a laugh. But he could not mock at Pat's offer, for skating was the one thing of outdoor exercises in which the younger brother outshone the elder.
Aunt Mattie was quick to scent any approach to a quarrel.
'It must be getting near tea-time,' she said. 'Are you going to invite us to your schoolroom tea, Justin?'