'Papa, will not that make me a great deal more expense to you than I need be?'
'Not much difference, my dear, as to that. If you came back every night
I should have to keep a horse; now that will not be necessary, and
Christopher will have more time to attend to other things.'
'But, papa, it will leave you all the week alone!'
'That must be, my child. I must be alone all the days, at any rate.'
'Papa, you will miss me at tea, and in the evenings.'
'I must bear that.'
It troubles me, papa.'
'And that you must bear. My dear, I do not grudge the price I pay. See you only that I get what I pay for.'
'Yes, papa,' Esther said meekly. She could go no further.
Miss Fairbairn was a tall woman, but not imposing either in manner or looks. Her face was sensible, with a mixture of the sweet and the practical which was at least peculiar; and the same mixture was in her manner. This was calm and gentle in the utmost degree; also cool and self-possessed equally; and it gave Esther the impression of one who always knew her own mind and was accustomed to make it the rule for all around her. A long talk with this lady was the introduction to Esther's school experience. It was a very varied talk; it roved over a great many fields and took looks into others; it was not inquisitive or prying, and yet Esther felt as if her interlocutor were probing her through and through, and finding out all she knew and all she did not know. In the latter category, it seemed to Esther, lay almost everything she ought to have known. Perhaps Miss Fairbairn did not think so; at any rate her face expressed no disappointment and no disapproval.