"What on earth——" began Cecilia.
I managed a watery smile. "Here we are," I said to Dorothy.
Dorothy looked at us in surprise.
"You are untidy," she said. "Whatever have you been doing?"
Christopher swallowed indignantly. "We were playing 'Hide and Seek' with you," he said.
"Oh, I stopped playing a long time ago," said Dorothy. "I'm reading now." She turned to our book again. Cecilia began to laugh.
"Come and have a wash, Christopher," I said in a strangled voice, and we moved off sheepishly.
"Aren't girls funny, Uncle Alan?" said Christopher.
"Christopher," I answered, "girls are the very——" Well, I told you at the beginning what we said to each other.