"Your book must be very absorbing," she said smilingly as Helen obeyed.
"No, it isn't," returned the girl abruptly. "I think it is the dullest book I ever read."
"Why don't you put it down then and talk to us?"
"Because," began Helen, with an ominous look in her stepmother's direction, "because"—but just then that lady, who had been listening to her husband with one ear and to Helen with the other, broke in:
"What is the dullest book you ever read?"
"This. Amy Herbert."
"That is grateful, Helen, seeing the pains I took to get it for you."
"And such a gorgeous-looking book too," put in the colonel, always eager to make peace.
Helen said nothing, but drew back her chair a little with a grating sound, while Mrs. Desmond frowned and went on:
"Amy Herbert is a book that has delighted hundreds of children. I can remember that when I was a girl, I knew every line of it. It is a pity that you do not lay to heart some of the lessons it teaches. But young people won't be taught nowadays."