"I think so, sir."
"Will he think so? I have not told him of this affair."
"Yes, sir. He will think what madame would have thought of anything that you do." He added under his breath: "As we all think, sir."
There was a pause, broken abruptly by the sudden quavering appeal of Janet at the door once more:
"Mr. Cleland! Th' young lady is all over the house, sor! In her pajaymis and naked feet, running wild-like and ondacent——"
Cleland stepped to the door:
"Where's that child?"
"In the butler's pantry, sor——"
"I'm up here!" came a clear voice from the landing above. Cleland, Janet and Meacham raised their heads.
The child, in her pyjamas, elbows on the landing rail, smiled down upon them through her thick shock of burnished hair. Her lips were applied to an orifice in an orange; her slim fingers slowly squeezed the fruit; her eyes were intently fixed on the three people below.