she comes downstairs in the middle of the
day, too, for she's sure to have dinner early, and the parrot will be
out then, if we choose a fine day.'

'But we always have to be in for our own dinner by half-past one,' I
said.

'Well, p'raps _she_ has hers at one, or even half-past twelve, like we
used to, till you began going to school,' said he hopefully. 'And a
_very_ little talking would do at the first beginning. Then we could be
very polite, and say we'd come again to see the parrot, and p'raps--'
here Peterkin looked rather shy.

'Perhaps what? Out with it!' I said.

'We might take her a few flowers,' he answered, getting red, 'if--if we
could--could get any. They're very dear to buy, I'm afraid, and we
haven't any of our own. The garden is so small; it isn't like if we
lived in the country,' rather dolefully.

'You wouldn't have known anything about Rock Terrace, or the invisible
princess, or the parrot, if we lived in the country,' I reminded him.

'No,' said Pete, more cheerfully, 'I hadn't thought of that.'

'And--' I went on, 'I daresay I could help you a bit if it really seemed
any good,' for I rather liked the idea of giving the little girl some
flowers. It made it all look less babyish.

Peterkin grinned with delight.

'You _are_ kind, Gilley!' he exclaimed. 'I knew you would be. Oh,
bother! here's nurse coming, and we haven't begun to settle anything
properly.'

'There's no hurry,' I said; 'you've forgotten that we certainly can't go
there again till Mrs. Wylie's out of the way. And she said, "the end of
the week"; that means Saturday, most likely, and this is--oh dear! I was
forgetting--it's Sunday, and we'll be late.'

Nurse echoed my words as she came in--

'You'll be late, Master Giles, and Master Peterkin, too,' she said. 'I
really don't think you should talk so much on Sunday mornings.'

It wasn't that we had to be any earlier on Sundays than any other day,
but that dressing in your best clothes takes so much longer somehow,
and we had to have our hair very neat, and all like that, because we
generally went down to the dining-room, while papa and mamma and Clement
and Blanche were at breakfast, after we had had our own in the nursery.

There would be no good in trying to remember all our morning talks that
week about Peterkin's plans. He did not get the least tired of them, and
I didn't, for a wonder, get tired of listening to him, he was so very
much in earnest.

He chopped and cha