The performance elicited such a rapture of
applause that the door had to be fast locked against the incursion of
the little ones to learn the cause of the mirth. When Mother Carey
asked at tea what they were having so much fun about they only
blushed, sniggled, and wriggled in their chairs in a way that would
have alarmed a more suspicious mother, but only made her conclude
that some delightful surprise was preparing, for which she must keep
her curiosity in abeyance.
"Nor was she dismayed by the creaking of boots on the attic stairs
before dawn, and when the boys appeared at breakfast with hellebore,
blue periwinkle, and daffodils, clear indications of where they had
been, she only exclaimed—-
"Forbidden sweets! O you naughty boys!" when ecstatic laughter alone
replied.
She heard no more till the afternoon, when the return from school was
notified by shouts from Allen, and the boys rushed up to the verandah
where he was reading.
"I say! here's a go. He thinks Richards has done it, and has written
to Ogilvie to have him expelled."
"How do you know?"
"He told me himself."
"But Ogilvie has too much sense to expel him!"
"Of course, but there's worse, for old Barnes means to turn off his
father. Nothing will persuade the old fellow that it wasn't his
work, for he says that it must be a grammar-school boy.
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