"There is always something to do, in every properly conducted household. Let her dust the china-closet."
"I'd as soon put a tornado into a china-closet as that girl! She ought to be turning a windmill," Miss Eliza said.
Her cousin gave her a grateful look, but the other lady was very serious. "I thought her manner to her grandmother most unpleasant. Youth should respect Age—"
"Not unless Age deserves respect!" cried Miss Eliza, tossing her old head.
Arthur Weston had seen that same flash in Fred's eyes. ("How young she is!" he thought.) But her sister was plainly shocked.
"Oh, my dear Eliza!" she expostulated. "I am not drawn to Mrs. Holmes myself, but—"
"Neither is Fred drawn to her," Weston interrupted; "and she is so sincere that she shows her feelings. The rest of us don't. That's the only difference."
"It is a very large difference," Miss Graham said; "this matter of showing one's feelings is as apt to mean cruelty as sincerity. It's the reason the child has no charm."
"I think she has charm," he said, frowning.
There was a startled silence; then Miss Eliza said, heartily: "Don't worry about her! Just now she thinks it's smart to put her thumb to her nose and twiddle her fingers at Life—but she'll settle down and be a dear child!"