"Oh, you put everything out in the passage first of all," said Nell, confidently, "then you tie your head up in a duster or something, because of the dust, you know, and then you begin to sweep and fill the room with dust. Oh, and the big things you cover over with dusting sheets. I’ll get all the things we’ll want from Sarah. You go and tie up your head." "Oh, miss!" Sarah was in a state of horror bordering on lunacy. "You young ladies to do my work!" But Nell got her way in the end. The Atom helped in a silence that was ecstatic. She pinned up her pig-tail, and tied a clean duster round her head. Molly followed suit, and then the supply being exhausted, Nell twisted a pale blue silk scarf round hers, and they set to work. They brushed and brushed; silence reigned in the Stronghold. Sheila Pat broke it to observe in a rather breathless but deeply content voice, "We’re gettin’ a fine dust now!" Denis came in with a rush. "Hulloa! I say, old man," he called over his shoulder, "rather a choking atmosphere!" Nell’s greeting froze on her lips. Her laughing glance met a pair of well-remembered grey eyes looking straight at her over Denis’s shoulder. She stood quite still; the hot colour dyed her face red. "I’ll go—really, O’Brien, I’d rather—another time!" The uncomfortable murmur reached her ear; she forgot all about her unfortunate visit—all about her sense of antagonism. She went swiftly forward, hand outstretched, smiling charmingly. "Please don’t go! Really, we’ve almost finished. The dust is dying down already." "After manoeuvring the barricade outside successfully you’ve got to stay, old man," Denis declared. "Tell us what you’re doing, anyway, Nell." But Nell was interested to see the ruefulness in her visitor’s face change suddenly to keen amusement. She followed his look to the head of Sheila Pat, which, adorned dusterwise, was crowned with her pig-tail sticking straight up on top out of the duster. She gave a little laugh, and he laughed too. She turned to Denis and explained why they were cleaning out the room. Then Ted Lancaster astonished them all. "I say," he burst out eagerly, "I wish you’d let me stay and lend a hand!" Sheila Pat, squatting on her heels in the middle of the floor, with a short brush, looked up at him approvingly. "Come along in and shut the door, there’s a good boy!" The good boy’s eyes twinkled as he obeyed. He removed his extremely smart coat and professed his readiness to begin. "By the way," observed Denis, the corners of his mouth twitching humorously, "I’d better introduce him first!" "Oh—yes," said Nell, blushing suddenly. Ted Lancaster bowed gravely to her and with almost deeper gravity to Sheila Pat. "That’s another sister over there in the cupboard," Denis remarked. "Molly’s fond of cupboards." The two boys set to work and raised a fearful dust. Nell observed ruefully that the parts they were sweeping had been gone over once already.