'Oh yes, her eyes and her chin and the roses in the cheeks,' said Jasmine. 'Father calls me the comfort of his life. No one ever, ever said I was ugly before, Aunt Agnes.'
'I perceive that you are an exceedingly vain little girl; but that will be soon knocked out of you.'
'How?' asked Jasmine.
'When my dear friend, Mrs Macintyre, starts her noble school.'
'School!' said Jasmine, turning a little pale. 'But father says he will never allow any of us to go to school.'
'He will do what I wish in this matter. Dear, dear, what a dreary room, so large, and only half-furnished! No wonder poor Lucy died here. She was a timid little thing. She probably died in the very bed that you are putting me into—so thoughtless—so unkind.'
'It isn't thoughtless or unkind, Aunt Agnes, for father sleeps in the bed where mother died, and in the room where she died. But now I hear the boys all arriving. The water in this jug is nice and hot, and here are fresh towels, and Magsie'——
'Who is Magsie?'
'She's a maid; if you ring that bell just there, she 'll come to you, and unpack your trunks. By the way, what a lot of trunks you have brought, Aunt Agnes! I thought you were only coming for a couple of days.'
'Polite, I must say,' remarked Miss Delacour.