The two children ran obediently downstairs, followed by Ronald, who had just finished dressing; and by the time Anne appeared in the hall with the breakfast-tray, bringing with her a most tempting odour of bacon and eggs, the cloakroom was quite tidy, and the last armful of toys, rugs, and cloaks had been carried into the schoolroom.
‘I think we had better take up our caps and greatcoats, Vivi,’ said Ronald taking his own garments down from the peg where they were hanging. ‘You know mother told us to keep our things all together in our own bedroom, so that we might find them easily when we come to pack. Your things are all over the place already; I saw your woollen gloves in the schoolroom, and your silk neckerchief on the window-ledge in the back hall.’
‘What a nice time you would have if Miss Ritchie were here!’ laughed Isobel, trying to see how long she could hop on one foot without losing her balance; ‘she always fines us a halfpenny for everything that we leave about. She warns us once, then if we don’t put it away we have to pay the fine.’
‘I’m afraid that I’d lose an awful lot of money if mother did that to me,’ said Vivian. ‘Somehow I never can remember to put things in their right places. As for Ronald, I think he must have been born tidy, for he can always find anything he wants, even in the dark.’
‘You are much quicker, though,’ said Ronald, not to be outdone in brotherly generosity; ‘you can do things in half the time that I take to do them. But hurry up, old chap; run along and find your things, or the bell will ring before you get down again.’
‘All right,’ answered Vivian; and as he spoke he threw his coat over his arm, and ran across the front hall, and disappeared through the swing door which separated it from the back staircase, in order to gather together the rest of his belongings as he went upstairs.
But although Ronald had plenty of time to go upstairs and hang everything in his wardrobe in his leisurely way, and come down again and join the others in the dining-room before the breakfast-bell rang, it was fully five minutes before Vivian reappeared.
‘Whatever can he be doing?’ asked Uncle Walter, as he rapidly cut slices of bread and served out the bacon and eggs. ‘His coffee will be quite cold.’