So the day after the New Zealand letters came, just as the
historical reading and needlework were in full force, the schoolroom
door was opened, and a brisk little figure stood there in sealskin coat
and hat.
Up jumped mamma. 'Oh! Jenny! Brownie indeed! How did you come? You
didn't walk from the station?'
'Yes, why not? Otherwise I should have been too soon, and have
disturbed the lessons,' said Aunt Jane, in the intervals of the
greeting kisses. 'All well with the Indian folks?'
'Oh yes; they've come back from the emerald valleys of Cashmere, and
Alethea has actually sent me a primrose--just like an English one--that
they found growing there. They did enjoy it so. Have you heard from
Maurice?'
'Yes, I thought you would like to hear about Phyllis, so, having
enjoyed it with Ada, I brought it over for further enjoyment with you.'
'That's a dear old Brownie! We've a good hour before dinner. Shall we
read it to the general public, or shall we adjourn to the drawing-
room?'
"Oh! I assure you it is very instructive. Quite as much so as Miss
Sewell's 'Rome.'"
And Aunt Jane, whom Gillian had aided in disrobing herself of her
outdoor garments, was installed by the fire, and unfolded a whole
volume of thin, mauve sheets in Mr. Mohun's tiny Greek-looking
handwriting.
It was a sort of journal of his voyage. There were all the same
accounts of the minute creatures that are incipient chalk, and their
exquisite cells, made, some of coral, some of silex spicule from
sponges; the some descriptions of phosphorescent animals, meduse, and
the like, that Dolores had thought her own special treasure and
privilege, only a great deal fuller, and with the scientific terms
untranslated--indeed, Aunt Jane had now and then to stop and explain,
since she had always kept up with the course of modern discovery.
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