“Who? What?” cried Rose.
“That was because of Master Commodus,” said Ned.
“I’d like to have licked him,” remarked Jack, whose remedial measures were always combative.
“He was not a nice boy, like me,” said Dick with a grin.
“Like who? I hope he spoke Latin with decent correctness. Out with you!”
“I had almost forgotten about Marc. Aurelius, aunt,” said Rose, aside. “I was really taken in for a moment.”
It was a family fiction, and still a half belief, that Archibald Lyndsay would some day publish a great commentary on the famous emperor’s philosophy; meanwhile it served a variety of humorous purposes.
“I shall provide myself with a book and sunshine,” said Miss Anne, “and then with a good field-glass, I shall own the world,—mental and physical.”
“But are the books unpacked?” said Rose.
“No, but I have all I want. I must go and see.”