"You would have liked to see her."
"One cannot think of one's own wishes in such a matter," I said.
"And you only know Mrs. Romilly,—not the husband or daughters?"
"Except that I have heard so much about them all from Mrs. Romilly,—I can hardly feel myself a stranger."
"Are Mr. and Mrs. Romilly rich?" was the next question.
"Yes,—very comfortably off. And I suppose still more so since the death of a great-uncle of Mrs. Romilly's last autumn. An estate in Yorkshire came to them then. Mrs. Romilly spoke in a letter of their intention to go there every summer: though Glynde House will still be their home for the greater part of the year."
"And you will have the entire education of several girls! Housekeeping too?"
"I really don't know, Albinia. My notions as to what I shall have to do are hazy in the extreme. That is the worst of not seeing Mrs. Romilly. No, not the entire education. There are masters for accomplishments, I believe; and there is a nursery governess for the two youngest. Besides, Maggie must be pretty well out of the schoolroom."
"Oh, then of course she will be housekeeper."
"Craven predicts more need for the exercise of a 'beneficent influence' on my part than of actual teaching."