"
"You've only to have a grain of sense," said Bobus, who had at last
recovered Joe, and proceeded to give them a lecture on the two main
arteries, and the passages communicating with them, so that they
might always be able to recover their bearings.
They were more sober after that. Rob drove his mother home, and the
Colonel made the round to inspect the dilapidations, and estimate
what was wanting. The great house had never been thoroughly
furnished since the Bradfords had sold it, and it was, besides, in
manifest need of repair. Damp corners, and piles of crumbled plaster
told their own tale. A builder must be sent to survey it, and on the
most sanguine computation, it could hardly be made habitable till the
end of the autumn.
Meantime, Caroline must remain a tenant of the Pagoda, though, as she
told the eager Janet, this did not prevent a stay in London for the
sake of the classes and the society, of whom she was always talking,
only there must be time to see their way.
The next proposition gave universal satisfaction, Mother Carey would
take her whole brood to London for a day, to make purchases, the
three elder children each with five pounds, the younger with two
pounds a-piece. She actually wanted to take two-thirds of those from
Kencroft also, with the same bounty in their pockets, but to this
their parents absolutely refused consent.
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