"I find it very monotonous, and so would you if you were in my place."
"I daresay." There was indifference in Violet's voice and manner.
"You have the best of it, Violet. Anyone can see you have a very good time with the Reeds."
"They are such very kind people," Violet replied, heartily.
"I suppose they let you do as you like in every way?" suggested Agnes.
"There you are quite wrong. I am treated just as Ann is, but she can't do exactly as she likes always."
"At any rate she can ask her friends to tea with her on Saturdays, if she likes, can't she?"
"Oh, yes! The Garrets came last week."
The Garrets were two girls whose parents were in India. They were boarders at Helmsford College and spent their holidays with their grandmother, their father's mother, who lived in a fine, old country house about three miles from Barford. They were pleasant, unaffected girls, the younger about the age of Ann herself, the elder a year her senior.
"I wish you'd get Ann Reed to ask me to tea on Saturday, Violet," said Agnes, in a coaxing tone, perceiving that she would not acquire her end by hinting, and, accordingly, speaking out, "I should like to see what her home is like."