“Well, I can see that mother is,” replied Jessie; “and suppose, Molly, she eats with her fingers, or does anything dreadful before the servants?”
“I don’t suppose for a single moment she’ll do that,” said Molly; “and, even if she does, we’ll have to tell her not, and then of course she’ll never do it again. She is in great luck to come to a beautiful house like ours, and we’ll soon train her. I think on the whole it will be fun. I’ll look upon it as a sort of adventure.”
“I have a terrible fear,” said Jessie after a pause.
“Whatever can that be, Jess?”
“This. You know how determined our darling dad is, and when he makes up his mind to do a thing he’ll do it in spite of all the rest of the world. You know what poor mother said, that if Peggy goes to school, she goes to our school—our nice, refined school. Oh, that would be awful!”
Molly was silent for a minute, then she said, “Well, when the trouble comes it will be time enough to fret about it. Now, I suppose they’ll be here soon after eleven o’clock. I tell you what it is, Jessie, let’s be awfully nice to her, just like real sisters, and let’s pretend not to notice any of her funny ways, then she’ll soon cease to be shy. And let’s go out after breakfast and pick a lot of flowers to put into her bedroom. There’s nothing like flowers to comfort a person if that person is inclined to be homesick.”
“Homesick after a cabin!” said Jessie, a look of contempt spoiling her nice little face for a moment.
“But,” answered Molly, with a wider comprehension, “you must not forget, Jess, that the cabin, however humble, was her home.”
Mrs. Wyndham, having got over her first sense of dismay, was now fully determined to do all that was kind and right for the orphan girl. She acquainted her maid Ford with a few of the circumstances of the case, and told her that if the new young lady was a little eccentric at first, the servants, especially the men who waited at table, were to take no notice. In short, the good lady acted very judiciously, and enlisted her servants on the side of the new-comer, telling Ford how sad was her story and how right it was that they should all do their best for her.
A room was selected for Peggy’s accommodation next to that occupied by Molly and Jessie. It was a pretty and daintily furnished chamber, the paper was of pale green and the curtains and draperies to match. There was a moss-green carpet on the floor, and, in short, the little white bed, the charming view from the windows, and the dressing-table with its tall vases of flowers, all looked most inviting for any girl.