Jeremy had been promised that he should conduct Hamlet, and it had seemed, when the promise had been made, as though it would be a very simple thing to carry out.

Hamlet no sooner saw the cord than he began his ingenious protests, sitting up and smiling at it, suddenly darting at the recumbent Miss Noah and rushing round the room with her, finally catching the "lead" itself in his teeth and hiding with it under Miss Jones's skirt.
The result was that Tom Collins's bus arrived when no one in the schoolroom was in the least prepared for it.

Then what confusion there was! Mrs.Cole, looking strange in her hat and veil, as though she were dressed up for a play, came urging them to hurry, "because Father was waiting." Then Hamlet tied himself and his "lead" round the leg of the table; then Mary said in her most tiresome manner, apropos of nothing at all, "You do love me, Jeremy, don't you ?" just at the moment when he was trying to unlace Hamlet, and her lip began to tremble when he said, "Oh, don't bother," so that he was compelled to add "Of course I do"; then Father came running up the stairs with "Really, this is too disgraceful.
We shall miss that train!" Then Uncle Samuel appeared, looking so queer that Jeremy was compelled to stare at him.

Jeremy had seen very little of Uncle Samuel during these last months.

He had hoped, after that wonderful adventure of the Christmas Pantomime, that they were going to be friends, but it had not been so.