"I'll try," she said; "but it doesn't much matter for that. The thing is
for you to be safe at home yourselves."
Then she said it was time to go back. It was quite dark by now, and the
children kept very close to her as they found themselves again in the
rabble of the behind-the-scenes of the fair. People there too were
beginning to shut up for the night, for most of them, poor things, had
been working hard all day.
As they came up to where Mick's party had encamped, Diana said something
in the queer language the children did not understand to some of the
gipsies who were hanging about. Their answer seemed to relieve her.
"Come, children," she said; "you must be tired. I'll get you to bed as
quick as I can; and try to get to sleep. It's the best thing you can
do."--"They'll not be coming just yet, maybe," she added to herself, "if
they've got to drinking over their bargain; so much the better perhaps.
If only the children are asleep they'll perhaps be none the wiser, and
I'll hear all there is to hear."
The preparing for bed was a different thing indeed from the careful
washing, hair-brushing, and attiring in snow-white nightgowns that was
called "undressing" "at home." All that Diana could manage in the way of
washing apparatus was a rough wooden tub with cold water, a bit of
coarse soap, and an old rag by way of a towel! And even this she had
done more to please the children than because she saw any need for it.
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