"What for ?" "Dad's got to go to England on some silly business or other," explained Neil gloomily, "and he wants me to stay with mother.

Of course I ought to.

Mother's sort of an invalid and there's no one else.

But it's rotten luck." He stowed the letter in his pocket and stared disappointedly at the passing traffic.

"I was having a bully time, too," he muttered disconsolately.
"That's a shame," said Ossie sympathetically.