not ripen green gooseberries off the bushes," said Aunt
Charlotte.

"'Deed, then, ye just can," said Fly; "ye squeeze them till they're
soft, an' then ye suck them till they're sweet."

"I am sure your nurse cannot allow you to do anything so disgusting,"
said Aunt Charlotte.

At this moment Lull came out of the schoolroom, where she had been
laying the table for breakfast.

"M'Leary!" said Aunt Charlotte--they had never heard Lull called that
before--"surely you cannot allow the children to eat such poisonous
stuff as unripe gooseberries?"

Lull's eyes flashed fire for a second, then she said: "You lave them to
me, mem," and took Fly and Patsy off to the kitchen, where they
squeezed and sucked the gooseberries in peace.

At breakfast Aunt Charlotte asked questions about everything: who their
neighbours were; where they visited; where they went to church.

"You see," she said, "I have not been here before, so you must tell me
everything about your surroundings now."

"Why didn't ye come afore?" said Jane eagerly. "When ye were wanted
sore, what kept ye then?"

"Little girls cannot understand the motives of their elders," Aunt
Charlotte said sharply. "I was far from well, and the country was
disturbed."

"What's disturbed?" said Patsy.

Her back stiffened. "Your fellow-countrymen were in a wicked state of
rebellion against the powers ordained by God," she said.

"'Deed, an' who wouldn't fight the polis?" said Patsy. "Ye should 'a'
seen the gran' fight we had last week on the twelfth."

"I understood that everything was quiet," Aunt Charlotte murmured.

"Lull was prayin' night an' day for ye to come. She was clean dimented
for the want of ye," Jane went on, hoping Aunt Charlotte would explain.
But Aunt Charlotte did nothing of the kind.

"We will not discuss the matter," she said; "I have told you it was
impossible for me to come."

"I'm tellin' ye it got ye an ill name about the place," said Honeybird,
looking up from her porridge; "there's many's a one has it agin ye to
this day."

The children looked at each other in surprise. Honeybird had a way of
repeating things she had picked up; but only Jane knew where she could
have heard this, and a kick from Jane told her to be quiet. Aunt
Charlotte's knife and fork dropped with a clatter on her plate. Her
face was white as chalk. For a minute no one spoke. Aunt Charlotte
drank some coffee, and shut her eyes. The children thought she had
forg