‘Oh, mother, need I?’ she exclaimed.
‘I only thought it might be an interesting change for you,’ said Mrs. Barton, mildly.
‘It would be lovely,’ said Alice, ‘only I don’t know if Julian will have finished. He said it might take weeks, or months, or even years to do a really good picture. Oh, mother, I can’t go away if he needs me.’
‘Well, we’ll see,’ said her mother. ‘If it takes weeks we might manage, but months and years seems rather a lot. What was it that Roddy did to Julian? It sounded rather alarming and not a bit like Roddy.’
‘Oh, he was rather horrid to him. Rather brutal,’ said Alice impressively.
‘No, Alice, I can’t think Roddy was brutal. Or if he was Julian must have been very annoying.’
‘It was only something he had done, not a bit on purpose, and Roddy was angry, and he
