'You funny little boy,' she said. 'You may call me "Miss Mouse" if you please, but wouldn't you like to know my proper name?'
Ger shook his head.
'No thank thoo. I like Mith Mouse best.'
'But we'd like to know your real name,' said Archie. 'Wouldn't we—Justin and Hec, and—oh Pat's asleep over a book again, I suppose.'
'I'm not,' growled a voice from an opposite corner.
'Well then, behave properly. Come out of there, can't you? Aunt Mattie, make him.'
'Patrick,' said Aunt Mattie, and Pat got up and came slowly forward. He was not like Justin, and Hec, and Ger, who were all fair and ruddy; he was dark-haired and dark-eyed and pale, while Archie, the best-looking of the five, came between the two, for he had bright brown hair and merry hazel eyes.
'Now,' said Aunt Mattie, 'now, dear, you see them all— Ger, you have shaken hands with, or rather, kissed. Ger is three and three quarters, and his real name is Gervais. Hector is—let me see—six and a half—no, seven, just struck. Shake hands, Hec, if you're too big to be kissed.'
'I'm not,' said Hec, and he stretched up his rosy mouth to Miss Mouse, and then, like Ger, he stroked her chinchilla muff softly.
'And Archie,' Aunt Mattie proceeded. Archibald is nearly ten,' and Archie held out a rather grimy paw and shook hands heartily. 'Next comes Patrick, eleven past.' Pat's mouth was shut tight, and he only just touched the little girl's fingers. 'And, last and eldest, Justin, who is thirteen and——' she hesitated.