my
dear. It will sound miles better. Your accent leaves much to be
desired. Aren't we grown-up to-day? Aunt Maria _would_ be impressed!
A little stay in Paris just to put on the accent, and it's wonderful to
think of what you might do! _En rapport_! Bet you daren't say that to
Dan! Dare you to tell him that you are not _en rapport_!"

Clemence was seized with agitation, discerning through the innocent
words a thinly veiled threat. If she didn't, Darsie _would_!

"Darsie!" she cried loudly. "You mustn't tell; you must _not_! It's
mean. Only sneaky children repeat what is said in private. Promise
this minute that you won't say a word!"

But Darsie, like her brothers, was keenly alive to the privilege of
holding a rod in pickle over an elder member of the family. So long as
Clemence lived in fear of humiliating disclosure, so long might she
herself walk in safety, free from rebuffs. She laid her head on one
side and smiled sweetly into her sister's face.

"I shouldn't like exactly, positively, to _promise_, don't you know, for
I _am_ such a creature of impulse. If it rushed over me suddenly, it
might pop out, don't you know, bang! before I knew what I was about! Of
course, on the other hand, I _might_ not--"

"Very well," snapped Clemence sharply, "then I stay at home! It would
be no fun for _me_ to go for a picnic with that sort of thing hanging
over my head all the time. I know very well how you'd behave--rolling
your eyes across the table, and beginning half-sentences, and
introducing `_en rapport_' every other moment. If I'm going to be made
miserable, I'll be miserable at home. You can go to our last picnic as
an undivided family without me, the eldest of the family, and I only
hope you'll enjoy it; that's all!"

"Oh, Darsie!" pleaded Lavender tragically, moved almost to tears by the
pathos of those last words, and Darsie shrugged her shoulders,
philosophically accepting her defeat.

"All right, I promise! I'll hug the remembrance secretly in my own
breast. It will cheer me through the dullest hours!"

Clemence bridled, but made no further protest. To think of Darsie
chuckling in secret was not agreeable, but it was as nothing compared
with the humiliation of meeting Dan's grave stare, and seeing the curl
of his lip at the repetition of her high-sounding phrase. As the
quickest way of changing the conversation she suggested an adjournment
to the morning-room, where mother sat busy ove