ere. The servants will do it."

She sat up, gave a rapid, eager order to Ayah, and in a few minutes Jan
heard her bed being wheeled down the passage. Every room had wide
double doors--like French rooms--and there was no difficulty.

Fay sank down again among her cushions with a great sigh of relief: "I
don't mind now how soon I go to bed. I shan't be frightened in the long
dark night any more. Oh, Jan, you _are_ a dear daylight person!"

CHAPTER V

THE CHILDREN

Jan made headway with Tony and little Fay. An aunt who carried one
pick-a-back; who trotted, galloped, or curvetted to command as an
animated steed; who provided spades and buckets, and herself, getting up
very early, took them and the children to an adorable sandy beach,
deserted save for two or three solitary horsemen; an aunt who dug holes
and built castles and was indirectly the means of thrilling rides upon a
real horse, when Peter was encountered as one of the mounted few taking
exercise before breakfast; such an aunt could not be regarded otherwise
than as an acquisition, even though she did at times exert authority and
insist upon obedience.

She got it, too; especially from little Fay, who, hitherto, had obeyed
nobody. Tony, less wilful and not so prone to be destructive, was
secretly still unwon, though outwardly quite friendly. He waited and
watched and weighed Jan in the balance of his small judgment. Tony was
never in any hurry to make up his mind.

One great hold Jan had was a seemingly inexhaustible supply of rhymes,
songs, and stories, and she was, moreover, of a telling disposition.

Both children had a quite unusual passion for new words. Little Fay
would stop short in the midst of the angriest yells if anyone called her
conduct in question by some new term of opprobrium. Ayah's vocabulary
was limited, even in the vernacular, and nothing would have induced her
to return railing for railing to the children, however sorely they
abused her. But Jan occasionally freed her mind, and at such times her
speech was terse and incisive. Moreover, she quickly perceived her power
over her niece in this respect, and traded on the baby's quick ear and
interest.

One day there was a tremendous uproar in the nursery just after tiffin,
when poor Fay usually tried to get the sleep that would partially atone
for her restless night. Jan swept down the passage and into the room, to
find her niece netted in her cot, and bouncing up and down like a