‘Do you know, it’s May the fifth already!’ said Jack¹, in a very gloomy voice. ‘All the fellows willbe back at school today’
　　‘What a pity, what a pity!’ said Kiki the parrot, in just as gloomy a voice as Jack’s.
　　‘This awful measles²!’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘First Philip had it as soon as he came home for the hols,then Dinah, then she gave it to me, and then you had it!’
　　‘Well, we’re all out of quarantine now,’ said Dinah, from her corner of the room. ‘It’s just sillyof the doctor to say we ought to go away and have a change before we go back to school. Isn’t itenough change to go back to school? I do so love the summer term too.’
　　‘Yes – and I bet I’d have been in the first eleven,’ said Philip, pushing back the tuft of hair hehad in front. ‘Golly, I’ll be glad to get my hair cut again! It feels tickly, now it’s grown so long!’
　　The four children had all had a bad attack of measles in the holidays. Jack especially had had avery nasty time, and Dinah’s eyes had given her a lot of trouble. This was partly her own fault, forshe had been forbidden to read, and had disobeyed the doctor’s orders. Now her eyes keptwatering, and she blinked in any bright light.
　　‘Certainly no school work for Dinah yet,’ the doctor had said sternly. ‘I suppose you thoughtyou knew better than I did, young lady, when you disobeyed orders. Think yourself lucky if youdon’t have to wear glasses a little later on!’
　　‘I hope Mother won’t send us away to some awful boarding-house by the sea,’ said Dinah. ‘Shecan’t come with us herself, because she’s taken on some kind of important job for the summer. Ihope she doesn’t get us a governess or something to take us away.’
　　‘A governess!’ said Philip in scorn. ‘I jolly well wouldn’t go. And anyway she wouldn’t staynow that I’m training young rats.’
　　His sister Dinah looked at him in disgust. Philip always had some kind of creature about him,for he had a great love of animals. He could do anything he liked with them, and Lucy-Annsecretly thought that if he met a roaring tiger in a jungle, he would simply hold out his hand, andthe tiger would lick it like a dog, and purr happily like a cat.
　　‘I’ve told you, Philip, that if you so much as let me see one of your young rats I’ll scream!’
　　Dinah said.
　　‘All right, then scream!’ said Philip obligingly. ‘Hey, Squeaker, where are you?’

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