"So do I," said Phyllis.
It looked like trouble.
"Can we go and see the tin soldiers before they go to bed?" said
Lillah.
"The horseback ones," added Phyllis.
Oh, this was too simple: a nice quiet look at the guardians of
Whitehall, with perhaps a glimpse for the infant mind of the vast
resources of the British Empire; a word in season, perhaps, from Uncle
James; and a detailed report to Margaret of instruction combined with
amusement.
Of course we went.
"This," I said, as Phyllis gazed round-eyed at one of the motionless
warriors--"this is but a symbol of the dignity of that great Empire
upon which the sun----"
"Soldiers," said Phyllis with a wisdom beyond her years, "like girls
to look at them ever so long."
Then she went away to Lillah, and I saw them with their heads close
together. A wonderful thing, the child-mind. Only beginning perhaps,
but they were learning doubtless to think imperially. The foundation
of that pride of race----? I broke the thread of thought and looked
up. Instantly I was gibbering with horror.
Phyllis, standing on tiptoe and clinging precariously to his
saddle-cloth, was dropping a roll of paper neatly into the jackboot of
Hercules.
"Phyllis!" I gasped. "What are you doing?"
She turned to me happily.
"That's what Nannie does," she said, without a blush for her sex. "I
put 'I love you.--PHYLLIS.' Do you think he'll be pleased?"
I seized both girls and hurried into the Park. My soul cried out for
the open spaces. I stole a look at Hercules over my shoulder, but he
was granite.
On Olympus the Olympians are above shame.
"Phyllis," I said gravely, "don't you think that was very naughty of
you?"
"No," said that small Delilah firmly; "soldiers like it."
The even voice of Lillah broke in.
"And soldiers ought to have what they like, oughtn't they?"
"Certainly," I answered patriotically.
"Well, then," said Phyllis crushingly.
"If I had done that I should feel very much ashamed of myself," I
said.
"Well, you didn't," said Lillah, and that finished it.
They evidently had an offensive and defensive alliance against this
sort of thing.
"If your mother," I began.
"Sand!, Sand!" shrieked Phyllis.
"Sand,", echoed Lillah, and both children were gone.
They had just noticed the present possibilities of the empty lake as
a substitute for Margate. Two best frocks! Essentially a moment for
efficiency.
I stepped firmly across the railings. And there the British Government
stepped in. I turned to regard a policeman (out-size).
"May I call your attention to this, Sir?" he said.