the morning, when Diana proves to him that it was the only thing
to do, and that it was really quite wonderful, the way in which he
was led to buy it. He had had no idea of doing so. Not the
slightest! And yet something within him urged him to buy it.
Absolutely urged him!

Then, Diana said, it was clearly meant. If a man deliberately set
out on a fine morning, bent on spending more than he could afford,
then --! Diana's "then" is always so comforting.

I am so afraid you will spoil the children, she said; "they expect
presents, which is so dreadful. Hugh bet sixpence at lunch that
you would bring him something, and he said to poor Mr. Hardy, You
didn't."

"But he will next time, Diana," I said.

"Of course he will; that is the dreadful part of it."

It is right that Diana should feel like that. A mother's point of
view and another's, an aunt's, for instance, are totally different
things, and I told Diana that, while fully appreciating her
anxieties regarding the characters of her children, considered
that to destroy a child's faith in an aunt was little short of
criminal. But I promised that the next time I came I would,
perhaps, not bring them anything. "But I shall give them fair
warning."

Diana admitted the justice of this, and she said, with a sigh of
relief, "I can't bear the children to be disappointed; a