Antonia Forest fans

I'm certainly no fan of Miss Redmond, but I do think that when she says "That's a silly excuse; no one gives an order unless they mean it," she's got a point; if Lois was "only saying No for show", as Lawrie puts it, why did she send Marie after them? The impression the book gives (to me at least) is that Lois decides (too late) that keeping the Patrol together and arriving late is the lesser of two evils, not "Well, it's useful that they've taken the short-cut, but I'd better make it look like I disapprove".

ARB.