“Good old Joan,” said Dick. “She’s like Timmy — her bark is worse than her bite.”

“Timmy’s got a good bite, though,” said George, helping herself to three tomatoes at once. “And his bite came in useful heaps of times for us.”

They ate steadily, thinking of some of the hair-raising adventures they had had, when Timmy and his bite had certainly come in very useful. Timmy came in after a while, licking his lips.

“Nothing doing, old chap,” said Dick, looking at the empty dishes on the table. “Don’t tell me you’ve chomped up that bone already!”

Timmy had. He lay down under the table, and put his nose on his paws. He was happy. He had had a good meal, and he was with the people he loved best. He put his head as near George’s feet as he could.

“Your whiskers are tickling me,” she said, and screwed up her bare toes. “Pass the tomatoes, someone.”

“You can’t manage any more tomatoes, surely!” said Anne. “You’ve had five already.”

“They’re out of my own garden,” said George, “so I can eat as many as I like.”

After lunch they lazed on the beach till it was time for a bathe again. It was a happy day for all of them — warm, lazy, with plenty of fun and romping about.

George looked out for the ragamuffin girl, but she didn’t appear again. George was half sorry. She would have liked a battle of words with her, even if she couldn’t have a fight!

They were all very tired when they went to bed that night. Julian yawned so loudly when Joan came in with a jug of hot cocoa and some biscuits that she offered to lock up the house for him.

“Oh, no, thank you, Joan,” said Julian at once. “That’s the man’s job, you know, locking up the house. You can trust me all right. I’ll see to every window and every door.”

“Right, Master Julian,” said Joan, and bustled away to wind up the kitchen clock, rake out the fire, and go up to bed. The children went up, too, Timmy, as usual, at George’s heels. Julian was left downstairs to lock up.

He was a very responsible boy. Joan knew that he wouldn’t leave a single window unfastened. She heard him trying to shut the little window in the pantry, and she called down:

“Master Julian! It’s swollen or something, and won’t shut properly. You needn’t bother about it, it’s too small for anyone to get into!”

“Right!” said Julian, thankfully, and went upstairs. He yawned a terrific yawn again, and set Dick off, too, as soon as he came into the bedroom they both shared. The girls, undressing in the next room, laughed to hear them.

“You wouldn’t hear a burglar in the middle of the night, Julian and Dick!” called Anne. “You’ll sleep like logs!”

“Old Timmy can listen out for burglars,” said Julian, cleaning his teeth vigorously. “That’s his job, not mine. Isn’t it, Timmy?”