And it isn't only Mother either.

There's Father out there all among the fighting.

I don't howl about it, but I THINK--Oh, bother the soap!' The grey-lined soap had squirted out under the pressure of his fingers, and had hit Anthea's chin with as much force as though it had been shot from a catapult.
'There now,' she said regretfully, 'now I shall have to wash my face.' 'You'd have had to do that anyway,' said Cyril with conviction.

'Now, my idea's this.

You know missionaries ?' 'Yes,' said Anthea, who did not know a single one.
'Well, they always take the savages beads and brandy, and stays, and hats, and braces, and really useful things--things the savages haven't got, and never heard about.