o.'
On the other side of the paper was written very neatly, still in
Archie's writing:
'3 LINDEN MANSIONS, CADOGAN SQUARE, KNIGHTSBRIDGE. _Second Floor_
1. Mr Bruce Ottley (FO) 2. Mrs Bruce Ottley 3. Master Archibald Bruce
Ottley 4. Little _beast_ 5. Mary Johnson housemaid 6. Miss Thrupp Cook
7. Marie maid
8. Dorothy Margaret Miss Townsend governess 9. Ellen Maud Parrot
nurse.'
'Do you see?' said Miss Townsend. 'It's his way of slyly calling poor
Dilly a beast, because he's angry with her. Isn't it a shame? What
shall I do?' Both of them laughed and enjoyed it.
'Archie, what is the meaning of this? Why did you make this census of
your home?' Edith asked him gently.
'Why, I didn't make senses of my home; I just wrote down who lived
here.'
Edith looked at him reproachfully.
'Well, I didn't call Dilly a beast. I haven't broken Miss Townsend's
rules. She made a new rule I wasn't to call her a beast before
breakfast--'
'What, you're allowed to call her these awful names after breakfast?'
'No. She made a rule before breakfast I wasn't to call Dilly a beast,
and I haven't. How did you know it meant her anyway? It might have
meant somebody else.'
'That's prevaricating; it's mean--not like you, Archie.'
'Well, I never called her a beast. No-one can say I did. And besides,
anybody would have called her a beast after how she went on.'
'What are you angry with the child for?'
'Oh, she bothers so.
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