tion of parting, that they would not be out after six at night,
except on Saturday, when they were to go to the bazaar, and were pledged
to put on their best clothes, to wash themselves to the uttermost, and
to clean their nails--not with scissors, which are scratchy and bad,
but with flat-sharpened ends of wooden matches, which do no harm to any
one's nails.

'Let's go and see the Lamb,' said Jane.

But every one was agreed that if they appeared suddenly in Bournemouth
it would frighten mother out of her wits, if not into a fit. So they
sat on the carpet, and thought and thought and thought till they almost
began to squint.

'Look here,' said Cyril, 'I know. Please carpet, take us somewhere where
we can see the Lamb and mother and no one can see us.'

'Except the Lamb,' said Jane, quickly.

And the next moment they found themselves recovering from the
upside-down movement--and there they were sitting on the carpet, and
the carpet was laid out over another thick soft carpet of brown
pine-needles. There were green pine-trees overhead, and a swift clear
little stream was running as fast as ever it could between steep
banks--and there, sitting on the pine-needle carpet, was mother, without
her hat; and the sun was shining brightly, although it was November--and
there was the Lamb, as jolly as jolly and not whooping at all.

'The carpet's deceived us,' said Robert, gloomily; 'mother will see us
directly she turns her head.'

But the faithful carpet had not deceived them.

Mother turned her dear head and looked straight at them, and DID NOT SEE
THEM!

'We're invisible,' Cyril whispered: 'what awful larks!'

But to the girls it was not larks at all. It was horrible to have mother
looking straight at them, and her face keeping the same, just as though
they weren't there.

'I don't like it,' said Jane. 'Mother never looked at us like that
before. Just as if she didn't love us--as if we were somebody else's
children, and not very nice ones either--as if she didn't care whether
she saw us or not.'

'It is horrid,' said Anthea, almost in tears.

But at this moment the Lamb saw them, and plunged towards the carpet,
shrieking, 'Panty, own Panty--an' Pussy, an' Squiggle--an' Bobs, oh,
oh!'

Anthea caught him and kissed him, so did Jane; they could not help
it--he looked such a darling, with his blue three-cornered hat all on
one side, and his precious face all dirty--quite in the old familiar
way.

'I love you, P