"No, seriously," Eleanor went on. "I was just going to wire and ask if I could send the kiddies down to the country. Lambton wants me for a six weeks' tour before Xmas, and I can't leave them with Georgie. You see, if this piece catches on, it means a good shop for me in the new year." "Yes, I quite understand your point of view," John said. "But what I don't understand is why Bertram and Viola can't stay with their father." "But George is ill. Surely you got my letter?" "I didn't realize that the presence of his children might prove fatal. However, send them down to Ambles by all means." "Oh, but I'd much rather not after the way Hilda wrote to me, and now that you've come back there's no need." "I don't quite understand." "Well, you won't mind having them here for a short visit? Then they can go down to Ambles for the Christmas holidays." "But the Christmas holidays won't begin for at least six weeks." "I know." "But you don't propose that Bertram and Viola should spend six weeks here?" "They'll be no bother, you old crosspatch. Bertram will be at school all day, and I suppose that Maud or Elsa will always be available to take Viola to her dancing-lessons. You remember the dancing-lessons you arranged for?" "I remember that I accepted the arrangement," said John. "Well, she's getting on divinely, and it would be a shame to interrupt them just now, especially as she's in the middle of a Spanish series. Her _cachucha_ is ..." Eleanor could only blow a kiss to express what Viola's _cachucha_ was. "But then, of course, I had a Spanish grandmother." When John regarded her barbaric personality he could have credited her with being the granddaughter of a cannibal queen. "So I thought that her governess could come here every morning just as easily as to Earl's Court. In fact, it will be more convenient, or at any rate, equally convenient for her, because she lives at Kilburn." "I dare say it will be equally convenient for the governess," said John, sardonically. "And I thought," Eleanor continued, "that it would be a good opportunity for Viola to have French lessons every afternoon. You won't want to have her all the time with you, and the French governess can give the children their tea. That will be good for Bertram's accent." "I don't doubt that it will be superb for Bertram's accent, but I absolutely decline to have a French governess bobbing in and out of my house. It's bound to make trouble with the servants who always think that French governesses are designing and licentious, and I don't want to create a false impression." "Well, aren't you an old prude? Who would ever think that you had any sort of connection with the stage? By the way, you haven't told me if there'll be anything for me in your next." "Well, at present the subject of my next play is a secret ... and as for the cast...."