ob had to join in the ensuing boohoo, which went on and on till
Laura thought the Uncle would fall down in a fit. Then for the third
time he invited those present to join him in summoning the cats,
murmured something about "humping his bluey", and went out into the
hall, where they heard him swinging Thumbby "round the world".

It was all the Aunt could do to mollify Tilly, who was enraged to the
point of tears. "I've never worn a bustle in my life! Uncle's a perfect
FOOL! I've never met such a fool as he is!"

Still boiling, she disappeared to nurse her ruffled temper in private;
and she remained absent from the room for over half an hour. During
this time Laura and Bob were alone together. But even less than before
came of their intercourse: Bob, still smarting from his father's
banter, was inclined to be stand-offish, as though afraid Laura might
take liberties with him after having been made to look so small; Laura,
rendered thoroughly unsure to begin with, by the jocular tone of the
luncheon-table, had not recovered from the shock of hearing her
parentage so bluffly disclosed. And since, at this time, her idea of
the art of conversation was to make jerky little remarks which led
nowhere, or to put still more jerky questions, Bob was soon stifling
yawns, and not with the best success. He infected Laura; and there the
two of them sat, doing their best to appear unconscious of the terrible
spasms which, every few seconds, distorted their faces. At last Bob
could stand it no longer and bolted from the room.

Laura was alone, and seemed to be forgotten The minutes ticked by, and
no one came--or no one but a little grey kitten, which arrived as if
from nowhere, with a hop and a skip. She coaxed the creature to her
lap, where it joined head to tail and went to sleep. And there she sat,
in the gloomy, overfilled drawing-room, and stroked the kitten, which
neither cracked stupid jokes nor required her to strain her wits to
make conversation.

When at length Tilly came back, she expressed a rather acid surprise at
Bob's absence, and went to look for him; Laura heard them whispering
and laughing in the passage. On their return to the drawing-room it had
been decided that the three of them should go for a walk. As the sky
was overcast and the girls had no umbrellas, Bob carried a big one
belonging to the Uncle. Tilly called this a "family umbrella"; and the
jokes that were extracted from the pair of words lasted the walkers