“You’ll find her somewhat odd,” she explained as she nibbled the seed-cake, with a silly little d’oyley of Miss Jean’s contrivance on her knee, and the doves fluttering round her as timid of settling down as though they had actual feathers and she were a cat. “She has got a remarkably quick intelligence; she is quite unconventional,—quite unlike other children in many respects, and it may be difficult at first to manage her.”
“Dear me!” said Miss Jean. “What a pity she should be so odd! I suppose it’s the American system; but perhaps she will improve.”
“Oh, it’s nothing alarming,” explained Miss Ailie, recovering the d’oyley from the floor to which it had slid from her knee, and replacing it with a wicked little shake. “If she didn’t speak much you would never guess from her appearance that she knew any more than—than most of us. Her mother, I feel sure, was something of a genius—at least it never came from the Dyce side; we were all plain folk, not exactly fools, but still not odd enough to have the dogs bite us, or our neighbours cross to the other side of the street when they saw us coming. She died two years ago, and when William—when my brother died, Lennox was staying with professional friends of himself and his wife, who have been good enough to let us have her, much against their natural inclination.”
“The dear!” said Miss Jean, enraptured.
“Quite a sweet romance!” cooed Miss Amelia, languishing.
“You may be sure we will do all we can for her,” continued Miss Jean, pecking with unconscious fingers at the crumbs on her visitor’s lap, till Ailie could scarcely keep from smiling.
“She will soon feel quite at home among us in our little school,” said Miss Amelia. “No doubt she’ll be shy at first—”
“Quite the contrary!” Ailie assured them, with a little mischievous inward glee, to think how likely Bud was to astonish them by other qualities than shyness. “It seems that in America children are brought up on wholly different lines from children here; you’ll find a curious fearless independence in her.”
The twins held up their hands in amazement, “tcht-tcht-tchting” simultaneously. “What a pity!” said Miss Jean, as if it were a physical affliction.
“But no doubt by carefulness and training it can be eradicated,” said Miss Amelia, determined to encourage hope.