Part 45 (1/2)

”Now,” he said, ”show me how you play with them.”

His cigar had gone out and he struck a match to light it again. Little Fay scrambled to her feet and blew it out before he had touched his cigar with it.

”Adain,” she said joyously. ”Make anozer light.”

He struck another match, but sheltered it with his hand till he'd got his cigar going, his daughter blowing vigorously all the time.

”Now,” she said, ”you can be a nengine and I'll be the tlain.”

Round that drawing-room the unfortunate Hugo ran, encouraged in his efforts by blasts upon the trumpet. The chairs were arranged as carriages, the dolls as pa.s.sengers, and the box of tea-things was luggage. None of these transformations were suggested by Hugo, but little Fay had played the game so often under Meg's brilliant supervision that she knew all the properties by heart.

At the end of fifteen minutes Hugo was thoroughly exhausted and audibly thanked G.o.d when Meg appeared to fetch her charge. But he hadn't finished even then, for little Fay, aided and abetted by Meg, insisted that every single thing should be tidily put back exactly where it was before.

At the door, just as they were on the point of departure, Meg paused.

”You must enjoy having her all to yourself for a little while,” she said in honeyed, sympathetic tones such as Hugo, certainly, had never heard from her before. ”I fear we've been rather selfish about it, but for the future we must not forget that you have the first right to her.... Did you kiss your dear Daddie, my darling?”

Through the shut door Hugo heard his daughter's voice proclaiming in lofty, pitying tones, ”Pooah Daddie velly stupid man, he was a velly bad nengine, he did it all long.”

”d.a.m.n!” said Hugo Tancred.

During dinner that night Jan talked continually about the children. She consulted Hugo as to things in which he took not the smallest interest, such as what primers he considered the best for earliest instruction in reading, and whether he thought the Montessori method advantageous or not.

As they sat over dessert he volunteered the remark that little Fay was rather an exhausting child.

”All children are,” Jan answered, ”and I've just been thinking that while you are here to help me, it would be such a good chance to give Meg a little holiday. She has not had a day off since I came back from India, and it would be so nice for her to go to Cheltenham for a few days to see Major Morton.”

”But surely,” Hugo said uneasily, ”that's what she's here for, to look after the children. She's very highly paid; you could get a good nurse for half what you pay her.”

”I doubt it, and you must remember that, because she loved Fay, she is accepting less than half of what she could earn elsewhere to help me with Fay's children.”

”Of course, if you import sentiment into the matter you must pay for it.”

”But I fear that's just what I don't do.”

”My dear Jan, you must forgive me if I venture to think that both you and your father, and even Fay, were quite absurd about Meg Morton. She's a nice enough little girl, but nothing so very wonderful, and as for her needing a holiday after a couple of months of the very soft job she has with you ... that's sheer nonsense.”

There was silence for a minute. Hugo took another chocolate and said, ”You know I don't believe in having children all over the place. The nursery is the proper place for them when they're little, and school is the proper place--most certainly the proper place, anyway, for a boy--as soon as ever any school can be found to take him.”

”I quite agree with you as to the benefit of a good school,” Jan said sweetly. ”I am painfully conscious myself of how much I lost in never having had any regular education. Have you thought yet what preparatory school you'd prefer for Tony?”

”Hardly yet. I've not been home long enough, and, as you know, at present, I've no money at all....”

”I shall be most pleased to help with Tony's education, but in that case I should expect to have some voice in the school selected.”

”Certainly, certainly,” Hugo agreed. ”But what I really want to know is what you propose to do to help me to attain a position in which I _can_ educate my children as we both should wish.”