'Well, when I was in London I was always asking Auntie May to take me to the Zoo—teased her, she said, and gave her no peace—and she kept putting off and putting off, saying she was too busy. She never seemed able to fix a day. But one afternoon when we were out paying calls—'
'I suppose she left you in the hall then? She did me sometimes.'
'Not often,' said Amerye, 'and if there were children in the call I always went up to them. We got into a bus—'
'Is that a kind of trap?' said Kitty.
'All carriages are traps, but all traps aren't carriages, dear Kitty,' said Rosamond. 'Don't interrupt till the end. Go on, Amerye.'
'We bundled along for many miles and then stopped at the garden gate of a house, and got out and paid a shilling and a sixpence and went in. It was a very railey garden with walks between, and I said, "Is it a long walk up to the house?" and Auntie May said it was. There were some long-legged birds walking in the grass beside us and some deer, but I didn't notice them much, for I was anxious to find out if any children were there. There were several gardeners in livery walking about. Then we came to a cage with some owls in it bobbing up and down—'
'Like that dear brown one,' said Kitty, 'that lived in the crooked tree for three months and then went to the devil, father said.'
'And I said to Auntie May, "Your friends seem very fond of animals," and she said, "Oh yes, perfectly mad on beasts, they are!" Then we went under a low archway, and there we met two lots of children carrying buns, and I must say I thought them very rude carrying away their teas like that. But I said nothing out loud, only I hoped I should be allowed to go up to nursery tea at the house, as there seemed quite a lot of children about, and it would be fun—'
'Now you have gone on long enough,' said Rosamond. 'Tell her what it was.'
'It was the Zoo. For I then saw a camel and a bear much too large for any private house, and I said to Auntie May, "Oh, Auntie May, you have brought me to the Zoo after all."'