"She stood, a tall, and bony queen, And eyed her subjects very keen." "What’s wrong with us at all?" demanded the Atom, indignantly. "No hats! No coats! No gloves! House-shoes—" "Ought we to have put on our outdoor things just to go next door?" exclaimed Nell, opening her eyes wide. "Of course you ought! It is most reprehensible! You are not in the wilds now! No one thinks of going into the street in London without being properly clothed—" Nell almost chanted aloud:— "’Her tongue it wagged, her tongue it wogged, Her subjects then she up and flogged!’" "Eileen," Miss Kezia broke off sharply, "don’t look so idiotic! You look as if you think it is funny!" "Do I, aunt?" said Nell, meekly. "I cannot think how you, at least, did not know better," pursued her aunt. "You see at home we are as often without hats and things as with them." "Well, please to remember you are in London now!" Miss Kezia turned and marched up the stairs. "’The Queen turned tail and up she went, Her subjects then their clothes did rent!’" chuckled Nell, and sank down laughing on to a hall chair. The Atom disappeared in the direction of her Pearl. It was a cherished conviction, on her part (and on no one else’s), that the Pearl moped in her absence. "Where’s that boy Denis, I wonder?" Nell ran up stairs two at a time. In the Stronghold she found a torn slip of paper on the table: "Off to Lancaster’s to dine. Who sneaked my nail-brush?" "Molly, was it you?" "Oh, yes, I meant to put it back. Mine tumbled into the slop-pail full of dirty water." Nell wandered into Denis’s room. "Just like Molly’s, only it’s masculine chaos instead of feminine!" She laughed softly, and began to tidy up. When Miss Kezia heard of his absence she drew down her long upper lip. "Who is this Mr. Lancaster?" "A friend of Pennington’s—" "_Mr._ Pennington, if you please. Is that all you know about him, Eileen?" "Well," said Nell, demurely, "’decent sort of chap, I should think ... awfully quiet ... father’s got a pot of money—’" "Eileen O’Brien, how dare you speak vulgar jargon like that to me!" "Me, aunt?" with injured innocence. "I was only quoting Denis." "Then kindly do so no more. I object strongly to the tendency of the modern girl to use slangy, slipshod, vulgar English. I will have none of it in my house. "I hope Denis will not come home late," she pursued. "I do not like his going out in this way—without my permission." "He isn’t a baby, Aunt Kezia! And, anyway, you were out this afternoon." "Some boy of whom I know nothing—" Nell interrupted impatiently, "He’s a friend of Mr. Tellbridge’s! Denis met him there." "Why didn’t you explain that before? Of course Mr. Tellbridge would have no one—Sheila, are you feeding that dog again?" "Yes, Aunt Kezia." "Then leave the room at once! You really are a most tiresome little girl!"