george read the letter out loud. it was not very long, and had evidently been written in a greathurry.

dear george,

your mother has been taken very ill. i am going with her to the hospital. i shall not leave her till sheis getting better. that may be in a few days' time, or in a week's time. i will telephone you each day atnine o'clock in the morning to tell you how she is. mrs. stick will look after you all. try to manageall right till i come back.

your loving

father

"oh dear!" said anne, knowing how dreadful george must feel. george loved her mother dearly, andfor once in a way the girl had tears in her eyes. george never cried - but it was terrible to come homeand find her mother gone like this. and father too! no one there but mrs. stick and edgar.

"i can't bear mother going like this," sobbed george suddenly, and buried her head in a cushion.

"she - she might never come back."

"don't be silly, george," said julian, sitting down and putting his arm round her. "of course she will.

why shouldn't she? didn't your father say he was staying with her till she was getting better- and that would be probably in a few days" time, cheer up, george! it isn't like you to give way likethis."

"but i didn't say good-bye," sobbed poor george. "and i made her ask mrs. stick for the sandwiches,instead of me. i want to go and find mother and see how she is myself.""you don't know where they've taken her, and if you did, they wouldn't let you in," said dick, gently.

"let's have some tea. we shall all feel better after that.""i couldn't eat anything," said george, fiercely. timothy pushed his nose into her hands, and tried tolick them. they were under her buried face. the dog whined a little.

"poor timmy! he can't understand," said anne. "he's awfully upset because you are unhappy,george."

16

that made george sit up. she rubbed her hands over her eyes, and let timmy lick the wet tears offthem. he looked surprised at the salty taste. he tried to get on to george's knee.

"silly timmy!" said george, in a more ordinary voice. "don't be upset. i just got a shock, that's all!

i'm better now, timmy. don't whine like that, silly! i'm all right. i'm not hurt."but timothy felt certain george was really hurt or injured in some way to cry like that, and he keptwhining, and pawing at george, and trying to get on to her knee.

julian opened the door. "i'm going to tell mrs. stick we want our tea," he said, and went out. theothers thought he was rather brave to face mrs. stick.

julian went to the kitchen door and opened it. edgar was sitting there, one side of his face scarlet,where george had slapped it. mrs. stick was there, looking grim,"if that girl slaps my edgar again i'll be after her," she said, threateningly.

"edgar deserved what he got," said julian, "can we have some tea, please?""i've a good mind to get you none," said mrs. stick. her dog started up from its corner and growledat julian. "that's right, tinker! you growl at folks that slap edgar, said mrs. stick.

julian was not in the least afraid of tinker. "if you are not going to get us any tea, i'll get it myself,"said the boy. "where is the bread, and where are the cakes?"mrs. stick stared at julian, and the boy looked back at her steadfastly. he thought she was a mostunpleasant woman, and he certainly was not going to allow her to get the better of him. he wished hecould tell her to go - but he had a feeling that she wouldn't, so it would be a waste of his breath.

mrs. stick dropped her eyes first. "i'll get your tea," she said, "but if i've any nonsense from you i'llget you no other meals."

"and if i have any nonsense from you i shall go to the police," said julian, unexpectedly. he hadn'tmeant to say that. it came out quite suddenly, but it had a surprising effect on mrs. stick.

she looked startled and alarmed.

"now, there's no call to be nasty," she said in a much more polite voice. "we've all had a bit of ashock, and we're upset, like - i'll get you your tea right now."julian went out. he wondered why his sudden threat of going to the police had made mrs. stick somuch more polite. perhaps she was afraid the police would get on to his uncle quentin and"he would come tearing back. uncle quentin wouldn't care for a hundred mrs. sticks!

he went back to the others. "tea's coming," he said. "so cheer up, everyone!"17

it wasn't a very cheerful company that sat down to the tea mrs. stick brought in. george was nowfeeling ashamed of her tears. anne was still upset. dick tried to make a few silly jokes to cheereveryone up, but they fell so flat that he soon gave it up. julian was grave and helpful, suddenly verygrown-up.

timothy sat close beside george, his head on her knee. "i do wish i had a dog who loved me likethat," thought anne. timmy kept gazing up at george out of big brown devoted eyes. he had no eyesor ears for anyone but his little mistress now she was sad.

nobody noticed what they had for tea, but all the same it did them good, and they felt better after it.

they didn't like to go out to the beach afterwards in case the telephone bell rang, and there was newsof george's mother. so they sat about in the garden, keeping an ear open for the telephone.

from the kitchen came a song.

"georgie-porgie, pudding and pie,

sat herself down and had a good cry,

georgie-porgie . . ."

julian got up. he went to the kitchen window and looked in. edgar was there alone.

"come on out here, edgar!" said julian, in a grim voice. i'll teach you to sing another song.

come along!"

edgar didn't stir. "can't i sing if i want to?" he said.

"oh yes," said julian, "but not that song. i'll teach you another. come along out!""no fear," said edgar. "you want to fight me.""yes, i do," said julian. "i think a little bit of good honest fighting would be better for you than sittingsinging nasty little songs about a girl who is miserable. are you coming out? or shall i come in andfetch you?"

"ma!" called edgar, suddenly feeling panicky. "ma! where are you?"julian suddenly reached a long arm in at the window, caught hold of edgar's over-long nose, andpulled it so hard that edgar yelled in pain.

"led go! led go! you're hurding me! led go by dose!"mrs. stick came hurrying into the kitchen. she gave a scream when she saw what julian was doing.

she flew at him. julian withdrew his arm, and stood outside the window.

18

"how dare you!" yelled mrs. stick. "first that girl slaps edgar, and then you pull his nose!

what's the matter with you all?"

"nothing," said julian, pleasantly; "but there's an awful lot wrong with edgar, mrs. stick. we feel wejust must put it right. it should be your job, of course, but you don't seem to have done it.""you're downright insolent," said mrs. stick, outraged and furious.

"yes, i dare say i am," said julian. "it's just the effect edgar has on me. stinker has the same effect.""stinker!" cried mrs. stick, getting angrier still. "that's not my dog's name, and well you know it.""well, it really ought to be," said julian, strolling off. "give him a bath, and maybe we'll call himtinker instead."

leaving mrs. stick muttering in fury, he went back to the others. they stared at him curiously.

he somehow seemed a different julian - a grim and determined julian, a very grown-up julian, arather frightening julian.

"i'm afraid the fat's in the fire now," said julian, sitting down on the grass. "i pulled old edgar's nosenearly off his fat face, and ma saw me doing it. i guess it's open warfare now! we shan't have a verymerry time from now on. i doubt if we'll get any meals.""we'll get them ourselves then," said george. "i hate mrs. stick. i wish joanna would come back. ihate that horrid edgar too, and that awful stinker.""look - there is stinker!" suddenly said dick, putting out his hand to catch timothy, who had risenwith a growl. but timmy shook off his hand and leapt across the grass at once. stinker gave a woefulhowl and tried to escape. but timothy had him by the neck and was shaking him like a rat.

mrs. stick appeared with a stick and lashed out, not seeming to mind which dog she hit. julian rushedfor the hose again. edgar skipped indoors at once, remembering what had happened to him before.

the water gushed out, and timothy gave a gasp and let go the howling mongrel he held in his teeth.

stinker at once hurled himself on mrs. stick, and tried to hide in her skirts trembling with terror.

19

"i'll poison that dog of yours!" said mrs. stick, furiously, to george. "always setting on to mine.

you look out or i'll poison him."

she disappeared indoors, and the four children went and sat down again. george looked reallyalarmed. "do you suppose she really might try to poison timmy?" she asked julian, in a scaredvoice.

"she's a nasty bit of work," said julian, in a low tone. "i think it would be just as well to keep oldtimmy close by us, day and night, and only to feed him ourselves, from our own plates."george pulled timothy to her, horrified at the thought that anyone might want to poison him.

but mrs. stick really was awful - she might do anything like that, george thought. how she wishedher father and mother were back! it was horrid to be on their own, like this.

the telephone bell suddenly shrilled out and made everyone jump. they all leapt to their feet, andtimmy growled. george flew indoors and lifted the receiver. she heard her father's voice, and herheart began to beat fast.

"is that you, george?" said her father. "are you all right? i hadn't time to stay and tell youeverything."

"father - what about mother? tell me quick - how is she?" said george.

"we shan't know till the day after next," said her father. "i'll telephone tomorrow morning and thenthe next morning too. i shan't come back till i know she's better.""oh father - it's awful without you and mother," said poor george. "mrs. stick is so horrid.""now, george," said her father, rather impatiently, "surely you children can see to yourselves andmake do with mrs. stick till i get back! don't worry me about such things now. i've enough worry asit is."

"when will you be back, do you think?" said george. "can i come and see mother?""no," said her father. "not for at least two weeks, they say. i'll be back as soon as i can. but i'm notgoing to leave your mother now. she needs me. good-bye and be good, all of you."george put back the receiver. she turned to face the others. "shan't know about mother till the dayafter next," she said. "and we've got to put up with mrs. stick till father comes back - and goodnessknows when that will be! it's awful, isn't it?"