"Oh!" said Bee, interested in this sidelight on the classics. "Why?"
"He said he was 'without doubt a-a gadget-contriver, and that Penelope was probably very glad to be rid of him for a bit. I wish liver wasn't so smooth."
Eleanor came in and helped herself from the sideboard in her usual silent fashion.
"Pah!" said Ruth. "What a smell of stables."
"You're late, Nell," Bee said, inquiring.
"She'll never ride," Eleanor said. "She can't even bump the saddle yet."
"Perhaps loony people can't ride," Ruth suggested.
"Ruth," Bee said, with vigour. "The pupils at the Manor are not lunatic. They are not even mentally deficient. They are just 'difficult. "
"Ill-adjusted is the technical description," Simon said.
"Well, they behave like lunatics. If you behave like a lunatic how is anyone to tell that you're not one?"