Before a few years ago, Kaatjie was unused to this tone in adults — she had a tendency to follow her mother like a duckling or a small shadow, and her grandfather was not the ordering type. Her governess didn't use the tone because she knew her instructions were as likely to be overruled by one of Mama's whims as not. Her uncle and aunt, though, did run a house that was ordered and tell her what to do in it, so she tugged on her other sleeve and walked to the floo. She folded her arms back over her chest.
"Now this'll really get me in trouble," Kaatjie said, daring to back-talk as she rarely did at home, because it was not as if her father could make her write lines as a punishment.
"Now this'll really get me in trouble," Kaatjie said, daring to back-talk as she rarely did at home, because it was not as if her father could make her write lines as a punishment.