“Are they very good-natured and easy-going, Helen? Or will they be firm with Rex?”
“They have heaps of sense,” Helen said slowly. “Of course they haven’t been tried out at school yet, but I should think, from their way with the juniors, that they wouldn’t stand any nonsense.”
“Rex needs firmness,” Mrs. Forester said, a little anxiously. “He has got rather out of hand lately—Father has had to be away so much, and I have been busy preparing the house for being shut up. He has had no lessons since Miss Green left.”
“Well, there will be Mr. Weston. I don’t suppose he is likely to let Master Rex think he can do as he likes.”
“Not if he has time to be bothered with him. However, Rex is less likely to get his own way in a household like the Westons’ than with a governess in a boarding-house; and we were beginning to face that possibility. If the twins are sensible with him, he will be all right—I mean, if they don’t pet him. Not that Rex is altogether pettable!”
“You needn’t worry about that,” Helen said decidedly. “They have a little brother of their own—I fancy the ways of small boys are quite well known to them.”
“Yes, that’s a great help,” her mother said. “Well, I shan’t worry—except as to the possibility of Mr. and Mrs. Weston putting a veto on the proposal altogether.”
So Helen carried back a hopeful message to the anxiously awaiting twins; and next evening they rushed into her study with excited faces, waving a letter.
“It’s all settled, Helen! What a nice mother you’ve got!”
“I’ve suspected it for some years,” remarked Helen, laughing. “What has she done now?”
“Listen! It sounds too splendid to be true.
“‘Your letter has relieved my mind of a very pressing problem. Of course, I understand that you wrote without referring to your parents, but I hope that when they realize how much Mr. Forester and I would value the arrangement they will not refuse their consent. We shall be delighted to leave Rex with you; I trust you won’t find him a great nuisance—he has had rather too much of his own way lately, and needs a firm hand.
“‘When I hear from your mother I will write more fully about him. Just now, I would like to arrange the business side with you girls—we wish to pay at the rate of £150 a year for the privilege of leaving Rex with you all. And I am making so certain that Mr. and Mrs. Weston won’t refuse that I have ceased making inquiries for a governess or any other way of arranging for him.