“Pretty well,” said Tom, “but I am not much of a judge of it.”
“I have taken lessons for three years,” said Imogene complacently.
“Have you? Do you like it?”
“I am passionately fond of it,” said the young lady.
“Does your cousin play, too?”
“A little,” said Imogene ungraciously. “She hasn’t much taste for it, but it is really necessary for her to learn.”
“Why?”
“Because she is to be a governess,” said Imogene. “She is very poor—in fact she has nothing of her own. Pa kindly agreed to take her and give her an education, so as to qualify her to earn her own living. She’ll be a governess, or teach school, or something of the kind, when she’s old enough.”
“Perhaps she won’t have to,” said Tom, who liked to annoy his companion.
“She has got to earn her living.”