"But it's long ago," said Dot. "Three years ago since the baby died. You must have forgotten."
"I'd promised my mother, when she was dying, to be a mother to them. Father and aunt made me go to school, and all the time I was counting on when I should leave, and be an elder sister."
Dot opened her eyes very wide.
"Why did you want to be an elder sister?" she asked.
Mona still looked red and ashamed.
"You should read The Flower of the Family," she said, and "The Eldest of Seven, Holding in Trust. You'd know then."
Dorothea had read the last, and she began to see and understand.
"You've got your mother and sisters," said Mona shyly.
And then for the first time it occurred to Dorothea that she herself was an elder sister, that she was the eldest of five, and that infinite possibilities lay before her.
"There's only my father and my aunt and brother when I go home," said Mona. "And I've only twenty-nine days, too, and then, oh! Thea darling, I have to lose you."