ht
be going to cry. But, on this occasion, Robin was too full of news to
trouble himself about possible bruises.

'She's come; I've seen her!' he gasped. 'There's a carriage an' pair, big
spanking chestnuts with red rosettes; and a man--a man with pink tops to
his boots and a brush at the side of his hat----'

'Get on, Bobbin!' urged Egbert, impatiently. 'We've all seen a carriage
and pair before. What about the dragon?'

'Saw her too!' said Robin, panting for breath. 'Got a long black silk
thing on, and a bonnet that's rather like a hat, with pink feathers in it,
and a walking-stick with a blue knob to it, an' white kid gloves,--no, I
mean grey kid----'

'Oh, get on, do!' interrupted Egbert again. 'Never mind about her clothes,
stupid! What is she _like_?'

'Don't know what she's like,' said Robin, a little sulkily. 'Couldn't see
everything from the back staircase, could I? There was a girl with her,'
he added, as a concession to the general curiosity.

'The adopted kid!' exclaimed the others in a chorus.

Babs pressed forward eagerly. 'Does she look nice, Bobbin? Is she tall or
short? Are her dresses _quite_ long, and is her hair done up?' she cried,
pouring out her questions in a jumble.

'Oh, yes; her skirts trail all along the ground for miles,' answered
Robin. 'And she sort of rustled like tissue paper. Didn't see her face,
'cause it was all tied up in a veil,--but she's awfully tall,' he added,
looking round the circle with his head poised on one side. 'She's taller'n
any of us--even Egbert,' he concluded viciously, remembering his recent
snubbing.

Egbert put out a long arm, laid the boy dexterously on the flat of his
back in the middle of the floor, and pinned him there with his foot. 'Say
that's a cram!' he commanded in a stern voice. 'Say I'm a head taller than
the adopted kid, or else I'll----'

What he would have done to him remained unheard, for Robin set up a
wail that completely drowned the end of his sentence. The other boys
only shrugged their shoulders; the thing seemed to them a necessary
incident in the education of a younger member, and they were not going
to interfere. But Barbara sprang forward passionately. That was the kind
of thing that did rouse her.

'Leave him alone, Egbert!' she cried, but she did not wait to see whether
he would. She scarcely supposed that he would stop teasing any one for
her; besides, she never stayed to think, when once anything had roused
her. So she put