es are always like that,' chuckled Mrs. Crofton.

'Large families are rather exhausting then, aren't they?' said Jill.
'The boys are rather rough too, and they seem so proud of having scars
on their hands, and of being able to see a pig killed without feeling
bad--at least, Peter was. Kit is different from the others: I like Kit.
And they _are_ frank! They were not ashamed of calling me the "adopted
kid" to my face; and they even owned to having nicknamed you "the dragon"!'

The old lady laughed. 'So I am, as far as they know!' she replied. Then
she patted the girl caressingly on the hand. 'My dear, it does us all good
to be with people who are frank, even if they are a little rough with it.
And I want you to help me to put as much love and gentleness as we can
into the Berkeleys' lives, for it strikes me that spoiling is what this
large family wants.'

'Then it's what this large family will certainly get, if _you_ have
anything to do with it,' answered Jill, softly.

In the schoolroom they had just left, the criticisms were brief and to
the point.

'She'll do,' said Peter, condescendingly, 'when she's got over that silly
way of gaping at us, as though we were beasts at the Zoo.'

'She's stunning to look at, and her clothes are just ripping,' said
Egbert, the eldest; 'but, of course, you kids couldn't be expected to
notice that.'

'Oh, you think you're everybody, just because you stayed with a chap last
holidays who had a grown-up sister who called you _Mr._ Berkeley,' cried
Wilfred.

Robin said he liked her soft way of speaking, and she reminded him of
Nurse, which set them all laughing, as they recalled that homely-looking
person in cap and spectacles. Christopher put in his opinion, when they
had all had their say.

'She wants knowing,' he said briefly. 'There's too many of us in a lump to
let her give herself away. When she takes us separately, or in pairs, we
shall get on as right as rain. And she really does know something about
stamps.'

But the Babe, who sat away in a corner by herself, said nothing. She
had forgotten Jill for the moment, forgotten her own fit of jealousy and
her shyness of the interloper, and she did not even hear what the others
were talking about. She was going to school at last, and nothing else
was of any consequence. Indeed, all through the week of whirl and
preparation that followed, Barbara went about in a kind of dream. She
could hardly yet believe in her good luck. A few sh