The Chalet School and the Island #742177

“Jack, my lamb, what ages you’ve been! Come along and sit down. I’ll ring for tea, and then we can be cosy and talk.”
Dr. Jack Maynard grinned as he sat down in the big armchair his wife had pulled up for him, and stretched out his legs with a sigh of relief. “That’s better! Hurry up with that tea, Jo; I’m ready for it, I can tell you! Where are the kids, by the way?”
“Upstairs in the nursery. I said they might have a tea-party with the dolls’ tea-things. Len is to pour out, and they’ve promised me to be good. I had to do something with them. We can’t talk school business with the girls sitting with their ears waggling with curiosity, and I simply can’t wait till I know what you’ve done about Halsden House.”
“I can relieve your anxiety on that score, anyhow. It’s off!”
“Off?—Tea, please, Anna——” Then as Anna, her faithful Tirolean maid, left the room to bring in the tea, Jo Maynard turned to her husband, dismay in her face. “My good man, what do you mean? Have they backed out or something?”