“Don’t you love her very much?” asked Merry.
Maggie flashed round an excited glance at her companion. “Love her? Yes,” she said, “I love her.”
“But you must love her tremendously,” said Merry—“as much as I love my mother.”
“As a rule all girls love their mothers,” said Maggie. “We are not talking about that now, are we?”
“What do you want to say to me in particular, Maggie?” was Merry’s response.
“This. We shall meet at school on the 20th of September. There will be, as I have told you already, twenty boarders at Aylmer House. You will arrive at the school as strangers; so will Molly and Isabel arrive as strangers; but you will have two friends—Aneta Lysle and myself. You’re very much taken, with your cousin Aneta, are you not?”
“Taken with her?” said Merry. “That seems to me a curious expression. She is our cousin, and she is beautiful.”
“Merry, I must tell you something. At Aylmer House there are two individuals who lead the school.”
“Oh,” said Merry, “I thought Mrs. Ward led the school.” 68
“Of course, of course, Mrs. Ward is just splendid; but, you see, you, poor Merry, know nothing of school-life. School-life is really controlled—I mean the inner part of it—by the girls themselves. Now, there are two girls at Aylmer House who control the school: one of them is your humble servant, Maggie Howland; the other is your cousin, Aneta Lysle. Aneta does not love me; and, to be frank with you, I hate her.”