‘We enjoyed it very much,’ said Adeline politely.
‘We were thankful to have a chance of knowing the young people,’ added Jane. ‘I am only glad you did not come home at Christmas, when I was not happy about the two girls.’
‘Yes, Valetta got into trouble and wrote a piteous little letter of confession about copying.’
‘Yes, but you need not be uneasy about that; it was one of those lapses that teach women without any serious loss. She did not know what she was about, and she told no falsehoods; indeed, each one of your children has been perfectly truthful throughout.’
‘That is the great point, after all. Lilias could hardly fail to make her children true.’
‘Fergus is really an excellent little boy, and Gillian—poor Gillian—I think she really did want more experience, and was only too innocent.’
‘That is what you really think,’ said the father anxiously.
‘Yes, I do,’ said Jane. ‘If she had been a fast girl, she would have been on her guard against the awkward situation, and have kept out of this mess; but very likely would have run into a worse one.’
‘I do not think that her elder sisters would have done like her.’
‘Perhaps not; but they were living in your regimental world at the age when her schoolroom life was going on. I think you have every reason to be satisfied with her tone of mind. As you said of the boy, a person may commit an imprudence without being imprudent.’