"I thought of you, you see, and not of the servants. It never occurred to my mind that you could be ashamed of me, whatever I did!" said Bridgie quietly. "I'm not in the least ashamed of you, I'm ashamed of the basket! You ask Jack when you go home, and he'll tell you 'twas a foolish thing to do, and you walking, too, and not driving to the door. We won't talk about it any more, or we shall both get angry, and it's done now and can't be helped. What do you think of this room? Geoffrey is quite proud of his books, and we mean to make this our private little den, and retire here when we are tired of living in public. Here's the electric light, you see, switched on to these movable lamps, so that one can read comfortably in any position!" "Very nice! So convenient! It looks most comfortable!" Bridgie's voice sounded formal and ill-at-ease, and both sisters felt the position a trifle strained, and were unaffectedly relieved to see Pixie strolling towards them at this critical minute. She was smiling to herself as at a pleasant remembrance, and lost no time in entering into conversation. "I don't know how it is about butlers--they all love me!" she announced thoughtfully. "The Wallace one turns his back to the sideboard when I talk, and the vegetable-dishes wobble when he hands them round. He tries hard not to laugh, because it's rude for servants to see a joke, but he really appreciates them frightfully much. Your one has whiskers, too, and isn't he pleasant to talk to? Not half as proud as he looks. We have just been talking about the basket, because he'd got chickens already, and he asked what he should do with ours. I said we'd take it back, of course, because it would be a treat to us to-night. That was quite right, wasn't it, Bridgie?" "Yes, darling, perfectly right!" said Bridgie. Esmeralda frowned, bit her lip, and finally succumbed, even as the butler had done before her, and laughed with a good grace. She hugged Pixie, and Pixie hugged her back, and chattered away so freely and naturally that it was impossible for restraint to live in her presence. Esmeralda as usual avoided a formal apology, but when Geoffrey arrived and the little party were seated round the luncheon-table, she made the _amende honorable_ by telling him of the basket incident in the presence of three men-servants with as much unction as if it had given her the most unmitigated delight. "Thank you, Bridgie, you _are_ a brick! How jolly of you to have taken so much trouble! If I'd known of that chicken before I began lunch, nothing would have induced me to eat anything else!" cried Geoffrey heartily. There was no snobbishness about him at any rate, and to judge from the glance which his wife cast upon him it was evident that she was quite able to appreciate a quality that was lacking in her own composition.