"Who, Mummy and Daddy? They didn't care. There was only a couple of weeks till the summer hols and they'd have had me on their hands soon enough anyhow and this gave them a good excuse to send me off to stay with some people in Wales for the whole summer. I say, let's play Truth and Consequences, seeing Balmy Almy isn't here." Erna, Jackie, and Sally agreed vociferously. Flip looked across at Solvei and watched her quietly eating her potatoes. She liked the Norwegian girl who was the Class President and who seemed able to assume responsibility without putting on any airs. Now Solvei said, "Let's wait till after lunch. Black and Midnight's been cocking an ear over here and looking disapproving, and you know how she hates games at the table." Gloria stuck out her lower lip. "That old minge. Always poking her nose in other people's businesses. Why can't she leave us alone?" "She has a special 'down' on our class," Sally said. "And she says the middle school's more trouble than the lower and upper schools together. What a dreep. Oh, my golly, will you look! Suet pudding again. You can feel every bite of that stuff hit the soles of your feet five seconds after you've swallowed it. I'd like a good American banana split." "Here it is dessert," Gloria wagged a finger at Flip, "And Pill hasn't said a single word since we sat down. What's the matter, Pill? Cat got your tongue?" "No," Flip answered, blushing. "I don't think I've ever heard Pill say anything." Sally grinned at Flip, but somehow there seemed to be nothing pleasant about the grin. "Can you talk, Pill?" "Yes," Flip said. "Well, say something, then." "There isn't--I don't--I haven't anything to say," Flip stumbled. "Don't we inspire conversation?" Sally asked. "A lot you must think of us. Does she ever talk in the room?" Erna was gobbling her suet pudding. "She sometimes answers if you ask her a question, if you insist. Yes, or no. That's all." "What do you do when you go out on a date, Pill?" Sally asked. "Or don't you ever go on dates? Hi! kids, what kind of a line do you think Pill uses on a boy?" Flip said nothing. "Well, what kind of a line _do_ you use, Pill?" Sally persisted. "Maybe you could teach us something. Well, for john's sake say something, can't you!" "Oh, do leave her alone," Solvei said impatiently. "If she hasn't anything to say she hasn't anything to say." "But how can someone _not_ have something to say!" Gloria exclaimed incredulously. "There's _always_ something to say. Any time I can't talk I'll be dead." "Well, maybe Pill's dead," Sally suggested. "How about it, Pill. Are you dead?" "No," Flip said. Solvei interfered again in her behalf, but Flip felt that it was only from a sense of duty, that privately Solvei considered her just as much of a 'pill' as the rest of the girls did. "Madame Perceval says your father's an artist, Philippa." Flip nodded, then said, "Yes. He is." "How'd Percy know? Did you tell her?" Erna asked.