"See that red mark; she hits me with the ruler when I make awful mistakes. And she makes me cry when she laughs at Prince Charlie—she likes me to cry, I know she does."
"Oh, Flora darling, I'm sure she cannot."
"But she does. I don't talk to her now, for I won't be laughed at!"
There was a vindictive tone in her voice that made Rowena draw her close to her. And then Mysie, always so self-controlled, surprised Rowena by beginning to sob.
Clasping her round the neck she cried:
"Oh, get Dad to send me to school. I'd like it better than Miss Falconer. She's too heavy upon me. I feel I can't rise up. I think, do you know, that she stamps upon my soul inside. She always seems to know what I'm thinking, and then she mocks me!"
No more could be said, for Mysie's father returned. She and her governess walked home first, General Macdonald was going on to a farm. When they had gone Rowena suddenly resolved to speak.
"General Macdonald, do you think that Mysie is happy with Miss Falconer?"
"Certainly I do. Do you doubt it?"
"The child seems to have lost her joyous spirits. From Miss Falconer's talk to me, I should think her more fitted for older girls than a child of Mysie's age and sensibilities. She doesn't understand imaginative children. She seems to me, if I may criticize, an admirable machine, capable of managing and controlling girls en masse, but having no love for individuals."