'Well, we 'll say eight boys,' said Mrs Maclure. 'I suppose they are quite babies?'
'Not at all. Jasper is fifteen. He is the eldest boy in the school, but will only stay for a year, as he has been very well taught by his gifted mother and by Mr Lennox, the father of my sweet little Flower Girls, as I call them.'
'Elsie, you are becoming sadly romantic. It runs in the blood. You must be careful. Fancy a big boy of fifteen in a girls' school.'
'He's a gentleman and my right hand,' said Mrs Macintyre.
'That has nothing whatsoever to do with it. He's fifteen, and ought to be in a public school.'
'He wants a year's training before he can go to Eton. He is a singularly gifted lad, and is the life of the house.'
'He must be the life of some other house. Now, then, for the girls. How many of them have you got?'
'To begin with, I've got Lucy, Margaret, Rose, and Dorothy Lennox; their father is the Honourable George Lennox, who lives in a house called The Garden close by.'
'Well, go on. I suppose you have more girls than that. That makes four. Now proceed with the rest.'
'Well, there's Lady Leucha Villiers.'