"I don't think she will be able to stand that. I don't see how you can expect it."
"Well, I do expect it, and I don't mean to discuss the point now. Agnes comes with me, does she not, to Mrs. Merriman's school?"
"She does. Rosamund's mother is paying for her during this term."
"And Miss Frost goes, too?"
"Yes, dear, certainly."
"Well, now, there is Hughie. Miss Frost says that she cannot give him the education sufficient to make a gentleman of him. But, mother, he is a nice boy—he is, really."
"He is quite a plain boy," said Lady Jane—"very different from his little sister—a little rough, I call him."
"But he is quite nice, all the same. Anyhow, mother, I wish it—I want him to be made a gentleman. I want him to be sufficiently educated, and I want us to help Miss Frost. We needn't take all the burden off her shoulders, for I know you pay her very well indeed; but I want him to be left at school until he is old enough to take up some profession. I don't know what he would like. I'll run and ask him now; may I?"
"But, first of all, let me consider. Why should I have this on me? I have—although you never seem to remember it, you naughty little Irene—a great many expenses."
"Yes, but you are rich, and I am your only child. I want Hughie, just because he is Agnes's brother, to be a gentleman. Agnes's brother can't be a counter-jumper, can he, mothery?"