I had to work hard for them, though!
Yes, I like him, Aunt Daisy, and I mean
he shall like me."

"I don't suppose he will find any
difficulty in liking you, or will need any
making. But if it were not his will and
pleasure to like you, I don't think you
would find it easy to bend him to your will
and pleasure as you have, I suppose, been in
the habit of doing with younger and more
frivolous-natured men."

"I assure you it is not only by young
and frivolous men I have been admired, but
also by men quite old and very learned. I
don't think I should find Mr. Stewart
difficult to subdue, if I set my will to doing
it."

"What age are you, Myrrha?"

"Just past nineteen, Aunt Daisy."

"And not engaged, as I gather from
your talk—"

"Not exactly engaged."

"And you have never been in love?"

"Not exactly, but—"

"What does 'not exactly' mean?"

"It means, Aunt Daisy, that I am wiser
than you think me. The fact is, there are
so many of them—"

"So many with whom you are almost in
love, to whom you are 'not exactly'
engaged?"

"There are so many of them in love
with me, I mean. And there is more than
one with whom I have felt I might fall in
love, if I didn't take care. I know I ought
to be a rich man's wife. I wished to see
what I could do in England before
committing myself to any one—so I ran away.
Wasn't that wise?"

"Quite wise."

"Aunt Daisy, I'm afraid your headache
is getting much worse. Now, do lie down,
and let me take care of you. Let me bathe
your forehead with eau-de-cologne. You
don't like eau-de-cologne? How strange.
What do you do when you have a bad
head-ache?"

"Keep quiet. Nothing more."

"Perhaps I've tired you, as you're not
used to me; but I know I shall do you a
great deal of good in the end. Do you
think my room is ready? Because if so, I
should like to unpack some of my things
and to change my dress. Which of the
servants can help me?"

"Not either very well this morning. I
have only two; Mrs. Moss, who is
housekeeper and manager, and a young girl,
Jane. Jane can help you in the afternoon.
What help you need now, I must give you."

"Of course, Aunt Daisy, I couldn't think
of troubling you." Then with a blank
look: "If you have so few servants, Aunt
Daisy, who will do my needlework?"

"There's a very fair seamstress in the
neighbourhood."

"Oh, horror, a country seamstress! By
my needlework, I don't mean making linen,
that wouldn't matter. I mean little tasteful
things—putting on laces, and running on
ribbons, and altering trimmings, and that
sort of thing."

"Can't you do those yourself?"

"I've never tried."

"Suppose you marry a poor man?"

"Aunt Daisy, I'm not a fool."

"I know, my dear, you don't mean to
do that if you can help it, but if you should
be so unhappy as to love a man who was
not rich."

"I shouldn't marry him; but I don't
believe in falling in love against one's will
and conviction. My mind is, I hope, too
well regulated for there to be any danger
of my doing that." She said this standing,
hat in hand, very erect, full of the
sense of her own dignity and wisdom, the
pretty gleeful eyes fired with resolve.

"She is pretty," thought Daisy, as she
admired the flower-like set of the head on
its slender white stalk, the slight gracious
figure, the lovely colouring. "Such a child,
too, and evidently so badly brought up.
There is no hidden harm in her, I should
say; all the folly and worldliness are
outspoken. I wonder if we can be of any use
to her Kenneth and I. Kenneth, if he got
influence over her, might improve her." A
heavy sigh. " How could I hope to
improve any one? Let her be vain and worldly
as she may, she must still be a more true
and innocent creature than I am!"

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