natured to mind; still, there was something in
her manner when she answered that stopped any more questions from Pete.

'Yes,' she said, 'there are no other children in that house, or in the
terrace, except some very tiny ones, almost babies, at the other end. I
see them pass in their perambulators, dear little things.'

It was quite dark by the time we had finished tea, and the lamps were
lighted upstairs in the drawing-room, where Mrs. Wylie showed us some of
the curiosities and things that I have already written about.

They were rather interesting, but I think we've got to care more for
collections and treasures like that, now, than we did then. Perhaps we
were not quite old enough, and, I daresay, it was a good deal that the
great reason we liked to go to Mrs. Wylie's was because of the parrot
and the mysterious little girl. At least, _Peterkin's_ head was full of
the little girl. I myself was beginning to get rather tired of all his
talk about her, and I thought the parrot very good fun of himself.

So when the clock struck six, and Mrs. Wylie asked us if mamma had fixed
any time for us to be home by--it wasn't that she wanted to get rid of
us, but she was very afraid of keeping us too late--we thought we might
as well go, for mamma had said, 'soon after six.'

'Is any one coming to fetch you?' Mrs. Wylie said.

I didn't quite like her asking that: it made me seem so babyish. I was
quite old enough to look after Pete, and the fun of going home by
ourselves through the lighted-up streets was one of the things we had
looked forward to.

But I didn't want Master Peterkin to begin at me afterwards about not
being polite, so I didn't show that I was at all vexed. I just said--

'Oh no, Peterkin will be all right with me!'

And then we said good-bye, and 'thank you very much for inviting us.'
And Pete actually said--

'May we come again soon, please?'

His ideas of politeness were rather original, weren't they?

But Mrs. Wylie was quite pleased.

'Certainly, my dear. I shall count on your doing so. And I am glad you
spoke of it, for I wanted to tell you that I am going to London the end
of this next week for a fortnight. Will you tell your dear mamma so, and
say that I shall come to see her on my return, and then we must fix on
another afternoon? I am very pleased to think that you care to come,
and I hope you feel the same,' she went on, turning to me.

She was so kind that I felt I had been rather horri