THE WOULDBEGOODS
Their train got in at 12.27. We all went to meet them. Afterwards I thought that was a mistake, because their aunt was with them, and she wore black with beady things and a tight bonnet, and she said, when we took our hats off, "Who are you?" quite crossly.
We said, "We are the Bastables; we've come to meet Daisy and Denny."
The aunt is a very rude lady, and it made us sorry for Daisy and Denny when she said to them:
"Are these the children? Do you remember them?"
We weren't very tidy, perhaps, because we'd been playing brigands in the shrubbery; and we knew we should have to wash for dinner as soon as we got back, anyhow. But still—
Denny said he thought he remembered us. But Daisy said, "Of course they are," and then looked as if she was going to cry.
So then the aunt called a cab, and told the man where to drive, and put Daisy and Denny in, and then she said:
"You two little girls may go too, if you like, but you little boys must walk."
So the cab went off, and we were left. The aunt turned to us to say a few last words. We knew it would have been about brushing your hair and wearing gloves, so Oswald said, "Good-bye," and turned haughtily away, before she could begin, and so did the others. No one but that kind of black, beady, tight lady would say "little boys." She is like Miss Murdstone in
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