peacefully inclined, poor thing, only Rosy could never believe any
good of Manchon, and when he purred, or, as she called it, "froo'ed,"
she at once thought he was mocking her. She really seemed to fancy the
cat was a fairy or a wizard of some kind, for she often gave him the
credit of reading her very thoughts!

The door opened, and her mother came in, leading Fixie by the hand and
Colin just behind.

"Oh, you're ready, Rosy," she said. "That's right. They should be here
very soon."

"Welly soon," repeated Fixie. "Oh, Fixie will be so glad to see Beenie
again!"

"What a stupid name," said Rosy. "_We_'re not to call her that,
are we, mother?"

She spoke in rather a grand, grown-up tone, but her mother knew she
put that on sometimes when she was not really feeling unkind.

"_I_ shall call her Bee," said Colin. "It would do very well, as
we've"--he stopped suddenly--"as we've got a wasp already," he had
been going to say--it seemed to come so naturally--when his mother's
warning came back to his mind. He caught her eye, and he saw that she
couldn't help smiling and he found it so difficult not to burst out
laughing that he stuffed his pocket-handkerchief into his mouth, and
went to the window, where he pretended to see something very
interesting. Rosy looked up suspiciously.