"It was mamma who would not take you," said Ethel. "She said she had some private business there, and did not want you with her."
"She would have taken me: you know she would; but for your telling her I had not done my French exercise, you ugly, spiteful thing."
"Mamma asked me whether you had done it, and I said no."
"And you ought to have said yes! You ill-natured, wicked, interfering dromedary!"
"Be still, Flora," interposed Miss Castlemaine. "Unless you are, I will call your papa. How can you so forget yourself?"
"You have no business to interfere, Mary Ursula! The house is not yours; you are only staying in it."
"True," said Miss Castlemaine, calmly. "And I shall not be very much longer in it, Flora. I am going away soon."
"I shall be glad of that," retorted the rude child; "and I am sure mamma will be. She says it is a shame that you should be let take up the best bedroom."
"Oh, Flora!" interposed Ethel.
"And she says----"