"How kind of you, Master Percy, who could have told you that? I'm all right, and the girls have gone to see their grand-mother at Becton and won't get home much before dark, so I'm alone; no-one ever comes so see me. Thank you so much. Won't you come in and sit down for a rest?"
"That I will, Phoebe, and I feel done up carrying that basket. You might draw the cork and give me a glass of port, and a drop will do you good."
The cork was soon drawn, and she drank to my health with her "Best respects to you, Master Percy. How you have grown, I shan't like to kiss you now."
"Why not, Phoebe, what harm can it be? I have often sat on your lap and kissed you when my mother was here, and I mean to again."
"Oh, no, it isn't proper only with little boys. They're harmless you know; now you're so b
