The captain laughed.
“I hope she’s like her brother,” said he.
The two culprits laughed vociferously. It was worth anything to them to get the captain in a good-humour.
“Well, if that’s the case,” said Ainger, “I shan’t have anything to do with you. You’ve no right on this floor; you know that. If he chooses to let you be, he’ll have to keep you in order. I don’t pity him in the room underneath.”
“I say, do you think he could hear us easily—when we were playing?”
“Oh, no, not at all,” said the captain, laughing.
“Really! I say, Ainger, perhaps we’d better have a study up-stairs, after all.”
“Thanks; not if I know it. You might pitch over my head instead of his. I suppose, too, he’s allowed you to set up that dog?”
“Yes; it’s a present from Dig’s mother. I say, he’s not a bad-looking beast, is he?”
“Who? Dig? Not so very,” said the captain, quite relieved to be able to wash his hands of this precious couple.