Barbara looks suspiciously from one to the other.
'Dering, I believe you are complaining to the Colonel about my watering
the flowers at the wrong time of day.'
'Aha! Aha!' The Colonel thinks she is even wittier than Dering, who is
properly abashed.
'I did just mention it, miss.'
'You horrid!' Barbara shakes her mop of hair at the gardener. 'Dear,
don't mind him. And every time he says they are _his_ flowers and
_his_ apples, you tell me, and I shall say to his face that they
are _yours_.'
'The courage of those young things!' says the happy Colonel.
Dering's underlip becomes very pronounced, but he goes off into the
garden. Barbara attempts to attend to the Colonel's needs.
'Let me make you comfy--the way granny does it.'
She arranges his cushions clumsily.
'That is not quite the way she does it,' the Colonel says softly, 'Do
you call her granny, Barbara?'
'She asked me to--for practice.' Barbara is curious. 'Don't you remember
why?'
Of course the Colonel remembers.
'I know! Billy boy.'
'You _are_ quick to-day. Now, wait till I get your cane.
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