“There are a thousand things you should have done,” Lavarcham replied.
“What are they?” Deirdre demanded.
But Lavarcham did not know.
She certainly felt within herself the necessity for doing a thousand things. She felt so busy that there must really be a thousand things to be done. But she knew also that nothing remained for her to do, and, consequently, that Deirdre was to blame.
The real thing she had to do was to master her own excitement, and she perceived at a glance that Deirdre was in a very excited condition indeed.
“You must sit quietly, my treasure,” she counselled. “You must not move from one place to another, taking things up and putting them down. You will become fidgety yourself and will give every one about you the fidgets also.”
“But——” Deirdre expostulated.
“And you must not give back-answers. When you are told to do a thing you must do it cheerfully and patiently——”
“But——” cried Deirdre.
“For,” Lavarcham continued, “lacking this self-control and gentleness of movement no girl can become a lady.”