“Oh, no,” and Lilian explained. They had a bell double quartette and made lovely music by striking some sweet-toned bells with small wands, and they were allowed to go down town. One evening a week there were dances.
“Oh, do you dance? You look that way?”
Lilian colored. “You see I spend a good deal of my time with my mother. Then I have lessons to learn—”
“And I don’t study, I read delightful books. For you must know I can never get about or do things like other children. I draw and I paint over pictures, and I have an autoharp, and a beautiful big doll that I make believe is alive and we go traveling. Edith reads about journeys.”
Mrs. Trenham had been adding a few last touches to the table which had been mostly prepared in the morning, the real cooking having been done the day before. Claire was lifted out in a cushioned chair and insisted that Lilian should sit next. Miss Benson was on the other side and took a turn with Lilian.
“Yes, she had worked her way through college. She had studied type-writing and done work for the professors and copied essays for the girls and coached backward girls, and trimmed hats, as she had a genius for millinery. Then, in vacation she had been a sort of summer governess when parents wanted to take journeys. It had all been very interesting, too, but it had taken longer, and now she was studying medicine in New York and teaching some hours a day.”
“I like to teach but I don’t believe I want to be a doctor, I think I should like to go to college.”
“It is a fine discipline and broadens out one’s mind. It makes excellent teachers, as well, and you do have many happy times. Think of a settlement of hundreds of girls!”
“Mrs. Barrington will only have twenty boarders and there are about twenty day scholars.”
“Not a very large family to be sure, but enough to give you some variety. You look as if you might be a good student.”