Lady Merrifield hushed this at once, and
the girl read in a bewildered manner, and as one affronted. She saw he
aunt looking at her piece of hemming, which, to say the truth, would
not have done credit to Primrose, and the recollection came across her
of all the oppressed orphans who had been made household drudges, so
that her reading did not become more intelligible. As the clock struck
one, a warning gong was heard; everybody jumped up, the work was folded
away, and with the obeisance at the door, Gillian and Val ran away.
Mysie stayed a little longer, it being her turn to tidy the room; and
Lady Merrifield said to Dolores--
'I must teach you how to hold your needle tomorrow, my dear.'
'I hate work,' responded Dolores.
'Val does not like it,' said her aunt; 'nor indeed did I at your age;
but one cannot be an independent woman without being able to take care
of one's own clothes, so I resolved that these children should learn
better than I did. Do you like a take a run with Mysie before dinner?
Or there is the amusing shelf. Books may be taken out after one
o'clock, and they must be put back at eight, or they are confiscated
for the ensuing day,' she added, pointing to a paper below where this
sentence was written.
Dolores was still rather tired, and more inclined to make friends with
the books than with the cousins. There were fewer than she expected,
and nothing like so many absolute stories as she was used to reading
with Maude Sefton.
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