"What a horrid expression! Where did you learn it, Irene?"
"Oh, I picked it up from one of the servants; her cousin was a counter-jumper. She always made me laugh when she spoke about it. She described how he doled out yards of ribbon, and she said that his figure was all gone to nothing, but he was very genteel-looking. I used to make her tell me about him, because I used to frighten her with spiders and wasps if she didn't. But I don't do that sort of thing now. I'll take to it again, though, if you don't do what I wish."
"Then I am sure I will do what you wish, although I am rather puzzled."
"Well, we'll settle it, and at once," said Irene.
She ran out of the room and met Miss Frost, who was crossing the hall.
"Frosty," said the little girl, going up to her governess, "I want to ask you a question. How much money do you pay a year for Hughie's schooling?"
Miss Frost turned painfully red.
"That is scarcely your affair, is it, Irene?" she said.
"I am not naughty, really; I want to know for a most serious, important reason. Do you pay much, or do you pay little?"
"I pay what is really very little. I pay fifty pounds a year. It is not a good school, but it is the best I can afford. It is a commercial school. I trust to get Hughie a place in a shop when he is sixteen—that is, in two years' time. I think I can manage his school for the present."