fat, and we tried to talk to
her, though we did not like her. (She was covered in red velvet like
an arm-chair.) But she wouldn't. We thought at first she was from a
deaf-and-dumb asylum, where her kind teachers had only managed to teach
the afflicted to say 'Yes' and 'No'. But afterwards we knew better, for
Noel heard her say to her mother, 'I wish you hadn't brought me, mamma.
I didn't have a pretty teacup, and I haven't enjoyed my tea one bit.'
And she had had five pieces of cake, besides little cakes and nearly
a whole plate of plums, and there were only twelve pretty teacups
altogether.

Several grown-ups talked to us in a most uninterested way, and then
the President read a paper about the Moat House, which we couldn't
understand, and other people made speeches we couldn't understand
either, except the part about kind hospitality, which made us not know
where to look.

Then Dora and Alice and Daisy and Mrs Pettigrew poured out the tea, and
we handed cups and plates.

Albert's uncle took me behind a bush to see him tear what was left
of his hair when he found there were one hundred and twenty-three
Antiquities present, and I heard the President say to the Secretary that
'tea always fetched them'.

Then it was time for the Roman ruin, and our hearts beat high as we took
our hats--it was exactly like Sunday--and joined the crowded procession
of eager Antiquities. Many of them had umbrellas and overcoats, though
the weather was fiery and without a cloud. That is the sort of people
they were. The ladies all wore stiff bonnets, and no one took their
gloves off, though, of course, it was quite in the country, and it is
not wrong to take your gloves off there.

We had planned to be quite close when the digging went on; but Albert's
uncle made us a mystic sign and drew us apart.

Then he said: 'The stalls and dress circle are for the guests. The hosts
and hostesses retire to the gallery, whence, I am credibly informed, an
excellent view may be obtained.'

So we all went up on the Roman walls, and thus missed the cream of the
lark; for we could not exactly see what was happening. But we saw that
things were being taken from the ground as the men dug, and passed
round for the Antiquities to look at. And we knew they must be our Roman
remains; but the Antiquities did not seem to care for them much, though
we heard sounds of pleased laughter. And at last Alice and I exchanged
meaning glances when the spot was reached