Lily and Margaret were very much surprised that they had to ring the bell in order to be let into their own house. They thought surely their mother would have been waiting impatiently for their return, and perhaps a little angry with them for staying out so late. Mrs. Sheffield Smith had told them the Bishop would be late for his supper and that she would be blamed, but she smiled and they knew she was making a joke. They waited, looking up at the door as though their mother’s face, when she appeared in answer to their ring, would be at least a foot higher than usual. They could not remember how tall she was, and they looked far up, like Bennie, bending their necks back. They each carried a very large box of chocolates with a picture on the lid of children in old-fashioned clothes.

When the door was opened, Bennie ran out excitedly and the children ran into the sitting room where the Bishop was standing up and arranging his sticks for his journey out to the car. Mrs. Bagot presented the children to the Bishop and then hurried out to greet Mrs. Sheffield Smith and thank her for taking the children driving.

Mrs. Bagot said, “It was a great occasion for them.”

Mrs. Sheffield Smith said, “And for us, too, a great occasion. I hope you have no objection to chocolates. One at a time, I told them. They are charming little girls. At first they would not speak, and then they talked a good deal. You must be very proud of them.”

“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Bagot said. “And Mrs. Sheffield Smith, thank you for bringing the Bishop here today. It meant everything in the world to us, to have him in the house.”

When Mrs. Bagot returned to the sitting room, the Bishop smiled at her before he spoke.

“Two great talkers you have here,” he said. “I told them that on Mondays I saw more lions than monkeys, and on Thursdays I saw only giraffes.”

Then he straightened himself and moved his sticks into his left hand. “And now,” he said, “I will give you my blessing.”