“Why do you have the brutes in your room?”
“Why, to keep the boogaboos from getting me of course. Aren’t you afraid of the boogaboos getting you? But you’re so big, you wouldn’t mind. You’d just hit them. And they’re not brutes—are you, darlings? You’re angels, and you nearly burst yourselves with joy because auntie had come back from England, didn’t you? Father, did they miss me when I was gone? Did they pine away?”
“They got like skeletons. We all did.”
“You?”
“I should say so.”
“Then why did you send me away?”
“I wanted you to see the country. Did you like it?”
“I hated being away from you.”
“But you liked the country?”
“I loved it.”