‘Not I,’ said Emily, ‘why should he interest us?’
‘Because he is to tutor the boys,’ said Jane.
‘When did you hear that he is to tutor the boys?’ asked Lily.
‘When you did, I suppose,’ said Jane, blushing.
‘You did, did you?’ said Claude. ‘I feel convinced, if so, that you must really be what you are so often called, a changeling. I heard it, or rather read it first at Oxford, where the Baron desired me to make inquiries about him. You were, doubtless, looking over my shoulder at the moment. This is quite a discovery. We shall have to perform a brewery of egg-shells this evening, and put the elf to flight with a red-hot poker, and what a different sister Jane we shall recover, instead of this little mischief-making sprite, so quiet, so reserved, never intruding her opinion, showing constant deference to all her superiors—yes, and to her inferiors, shutting her eyes to the faults of others, and when they come before her, trying to shield the offender from those who regard them as merely exciting news.’
Claude’s speech had become much more serious than he intended, and he felt quite guilty when he had finished, so that it was not at all an undesirable interruption when Phyllis and Adeline asked for the story of the brewery of egg-shells.
Emily and Lilias kindly avoided looking at Jane, who, after fidgeting on her chair and turning very red, succeeded in regaining outward composure. She resolved to let the matter die away, and think no more about it.
When Mr. Mohun and William came home, they brought the news that Lady Rotherwood had invited the whole party to dinner.
‘I am very glad we are allowed to see them,’ said Emily, ‘I am quite tired of being shut up.’
‘If it was not for the Westons we might as well live in Nova Zembla,’ said Jane.