o sought the sofa in the drawing-room for a quiet hour before dinner
and lit a cigar. He had hardly realised his pleasantly tired and rather
somnolent condition when his daughter entered carrying a large
Teddy-bear, two dolls, a toy trumpet and a box containing a wooden
tea-set. She dropped several of these articles just inside the door.
"Come and help me pick up my sings," she commanded. "I've come to play
wis loo, Daddie."

Hugo did not move. He was fond of little Fay; he admired her good looks
and her splendid health, but he didn't in the least desire her society
just then.

"Poor Daddie's tired," he said in his "saddest" tone. "I think you'd
better go and play in the nursery with Tony."

"No," said little Fay, "Tony's not zere; _loo_ mus' play wis me.
Or"--she added as a happy alternative--"loo can tell me sumfin
instastin."

"Surely," said Hugo, "it's your bed-time?"

"No," little Fay answered, and the letters were never formed that could
express the finality of that "no," "Med will fesh me when it's time.
I've come to play wis _loo_. Det up, Daddie; loo can't play p'oply lying
zere."

"Oh, yes, I can," Hugo protested eagerly. "You bring all your nice toys
one by one and show them to me."

"'At," she remarked with great scorn, "would be a velly stupid game. Det
up!"

"Why can't Meg play with you?" Hugo asked irritably. "What's she doing?"

Little Fay stared at her father. She was unaccustomed to be addressed
in that tone, and she resented it. Earley and Mr. Burgess were her
humble slaves. Captain Middleton did as he was told and became an
elephant, a camel, or a polar bear on the shortest notice, moreover he
threw himself into the part with real goodwill and enjoyment. The lazy
man lying there on the sofa, who showed no flattering pleasure in her
society, must be roused to a sense of his shortcomings. She seized the
Teddy-bear, swung it round her head and brought it down with a
resounding thump on Hugo's chest. "Det up," she said more loudly. "Loo
don't seem to know any stolies, so you _mus'_ play wis me."

Hugo swung his legs off the sofa and sat up to recover his breath, which
had been knocked out of him by the Teddy-bear.

"You're a very rude little girl," he said crossly. "You'll have to be
punished if you do that sort of thing."

"What sort of sing?"

"What you did just now; it's very naughty indeed."

"What nelse?"

Little Fay stood with her head on one side like an inquisitive sparrow.
O