So Mother asked Chris why he was so naughty about having his face washed, and he said, quite gravely, "I do think it would be _such pity_ if the water got into my head again by accident." Mother did not know he had ever heard about it, but she said, "Oh, Chris! Chris! that's one of your excuses." And he said, "It's not my _'scusis_.

She lets a good deal get in--at my ears--and lather too." But, with all his whimsical ways, Lady Catherine is devoted to Christopher.

She likes him far better than any one of us, and he is very fond of her; and they say quite rude things to each other all along.

And Father says it is very lucky, for if she had not been so fond of Chris, and so ready to take him too, Mother would never have been persuaded to leave us when Aunt Catherine took them to the South of France.
Mother had been very unwell for a long time.

She has so many worries, and Dr.Solomon said she ought to avoid worry, and Aunt Catherine said worries were killing her, and Father said "Pshaw!" and Aunt Catherine said "Care killed the cat," and that a cat has nine lives, and a woman has only one; and then Mother got worse, and Aunt Catherine wanted to take her abroad, and she wouldn't go; and then Christopher was ill, and Aunt Catherine said she would take him too, if only Mother would go with her; and Dr.Solomon said it might be the turning-point of his health, and Father said "the turning-point which way ?" but he thanked Lady Catherine, and they didn't quarrel; and so Mother yielded, and it was settled that they should go.
Before they went, Mother spoke to me, and told me I must be a Little Mother to the others whilst she was away.