"He is fond of her," declared Caroline, "and she's fond of him. But if ever a girl found a master she has. He makes her work as I never expected to see Rosa work. Not at housework, dear me, no! She is not to waste her precious strength on such things. She is to devote herself to art, which is to make her reputation and his living. That's all there is to it."
"Perhaps it is not the worst thing that could have happened to her," mused Minnie. "There is a kind of nature that needs to be compelled to make the best of itself."
"Don't you want some brute of an Englishman to compel you to make the best of yourself?" snapped Caroline.
"No," answered Minnie, quietly. "What would do for Rosa would never suit me."
"Well, I think we had better go in and take some peaches and straighten up that disorderly house," said the elder sister.
They found Rosa sitting absorbed over a beautiful screen which was a piece of ordered work, to cost a hundred and fifty dollars, while Brent stood at the kitchen door, smoking placidly as he contemplated a tableful of unwashed dishes.
"Come in, sisters both," he said, gaily. "But don't stop Rosa just now; she hates to be interrupted when she is at work."