“We’ve not got a house, but a Cretan labyrinth,” said Babie.

“Or the bewitched castle mother told us of,” said Allen, “where everybody was always running round after everybody.”

“You’ve only to have a grain of sense,” said Bobus, who had at last recovered Joe, and proceeded to give them a lecture on the two main arteries, and the passages communicating with them, so that they might always be able to recover their bearings.

They were more sober after that.  Rob drove his mother home, and the Colonel made the round to inspect the dilapidations, and estimate what was wanting.  The great house had never been thoroughly furnished since the Bradfords had sold it, and it was, besides, in manifest need of repair.  Damp corners, and piles of crumbled plaster told their own tale.  A builder must be sent to survey it, and on the most sanguine computation, it could hardly be made habitable till the end of the autumn.

Meantime, Caroline must remain a tenant of the Pagoda, though, as she told the eager Janet, this did not prevent a stay in London for the sake of the classes and the society, of whom she was always talking, only there must be time to see their way.

The next proposition gave universal satisfaction, Mother Carey would take her whole brood to London for a day, to make purchases, the three elder children each with five pounds, the younger with two pounds a-piece.  She actually wanted to take two-thirds of those from Kencroft also, with the same bounty in their pockets, but to this their parents absolutely refused consent.  To go about London with a train of seven was bad enough; but that was her own affair, and they could not prevent it; and they absolutely would not swell the number to thirteen.  It would be ridiculous; she would want an omnibus to go about in.

“I did not mean all to go about together.  The elder boys will go their own way.”

But, as the Colonel observed, that was all very well for boys, whose home had always been in London, but she would find his country lads much in her way.  She then reduced her demand by a third, for she really wished for Johnny; but the Colonel’s principles would not allow him to accept so great an indulgence for Rob.

That unlucky fellow had, of course, failed in his examination, and this had renewed the Colonel’s resentment at his laziness and shuffling.  He was, however, improved by contact with strangers, looked and behaved less bearishly, and had acquired a will to do better.  Still, it was not possible to regret his absence, except because it involved that of his brother; and, with a great effort, and many assurances of her being really needed, Jessie’s company was secured.

Never was the taste of wealth sweeter than in that over-filled railway carriage, before it was light on the winter morning, with a vista of endless possibilities contained in those crackling notes and round gold pieces, Jessie being, of course, as well off as the rest, and feeling the novelty and wonder even more.