The gong began to boom as the two girls came into the room, and the rest of the family dropped in through the open windows at the same moment, Aunt Betsy bringing up the rear. There was no nursery dinner at The Knoll. Colonel Wendover allowed his children to dine with him from the day they were able to manage their knives and forks. Save on state occasions, the whole brood sat down with their father and mother to the seven o'clock dinner; as the young sprigs of the House of Orleans used to sit round good King Louis Philippe in his tranquil retirement at Claremont. Even the lisping girl who loved pigs had her place at the board, and knew how to behave herself. There was a subdued struggle for the seat next Ida, whom the Colonel had placed on his right, but Reginald, the elder of the Winchester boys, asserted his claim with a quiet firmness that proved irresistible. Grace was said with solemn brevity by the Colonel, whose sum total of orthodoxy was comprised in that brief grace, and in regular attendance at church on Sunday mornings; and then there came a period of chatter and laughter which might have been a little distracting to a stranger. Each of the boys and girls had some wonderful fact, usually about his or her favourite animal, to communicate to the father. Aunt Betsy broke in with her fine manly voice at every turn in the conversation. Ripples of laughter made a running accompaniment to everything. It was a new thing to Ida Palliser to find herself in the midst of so much happiness. After dinner they all rushed off to play lawn tennis, carrying Ida along with them. 'It's a shame,' protested Bessie. 'I know you're tired, darling. Come and rest in a shady corner of the drawing-room.' This sounded tempting, but it was not to be. 'No she's not,' asserted Blanche, boldly. 'You're not tired, are you, Miss Palliser?' 'Not too tired for just one game,' replied Ida. 'But you are never to call me Miss Palliser.' 'May I really call you Ida? That's too lovely.' 'May we all call you Ida?' asked Horatio. 'Don't begin by making distinctions. Blanche is no better than the rest of us.' 'Don't be jealous,' said Miss Palliser, laughing. 'I am going to be everybody's Ida.' On this she was borne off to the garden as in a whirlwind. There were some bamboo chairs and sofas on the grass in front of the bay window, and here the elder members of the family established themselves. 'I like that schoolfellow of Bessie's,' said Aunt Betsy, with her decided air, whereupon the Colonel and his wife assented, as they always did to any proposition of Miss Wendover's. 'She is remarkably handsome,' said the Colonel. 'She is good and thorough, and that's of much more consequence,' said his sister. 'She takes to the children, and that is so truly nice in her,' murmured Mrs. Wendover. CHAPTER IV. WENDOVER ABBEY.