Seven
On the following day Mrs. Sprot went up to London.
A few tentative remarks on her part had led immediately to various of-fers on the part of the inhabitants of Sans Souci to look after Betty.
When Mrs. Sprot, with many final adjurations to Betty to be a very goodgirl, had departed, Betty attached herself to Tuppence, who had elected totake morning duty.
“Play,” said Betty. “Play hide seek.”
She was talking more easily every day and had adopted a most fetchinghabit of laying her head on one side, fixing her interlocutor with a be-witching smile and murmuring “Peese.”
Tuppence had intended taking her for a walk, but it was raining hard, sothe two of them adjourned¹ to the bedroom where Betty led the way to thebottom drawer of the bureau where her playthings were kept.
“Hide Bonzo, shall we?” asked Tuppence.
But Betty had changed her mind and demanded instead:
“Wead me story.”
Tuppence pulled out a rather tattered² book from one end of the cup-board—to be interrupted by a squeal³ from Betty.
“No, no. Nasty .?.?. Bad. .?.?.”
Tuppence stared at her in surprise and then down at the book, whichwas a coloured version of Little Jack⁴ Horner.
“Was Jack a bad boy?” she asked. “Because he pulled out a plum?”
Betty reiterated⁵ with emphasis:
“B-a-ad!” and with a terrific effort, “Dirrrty!”
She seized the book from Tuppence and replaced it in the line, thentugged out an identical book from the other end of the shelf, announcingwith a beaming smile:
“K-k-klean ni’tice Jackorner!”
Tuppence realised that the dirty and worn books had been replaced bynew and cleaner editions and was rather amused. Mrs. Sprot was verymuch what Tuppence thought of as “the hygienic mother.” Always terri-fied of germs, of impure⁷ food, or of the child sucking a soiled toy.
Tuppence, brought up in a free and easy rectory life, was always rathercontemptuous of exaggerated

分享到：