Her eyes were so full of tears that she could hardly see to unpack, but she wiped them away presently, and took out her prettiest dress, a white muslin, with blue embroidery on the front and a wide sash of blue silk. She put this on, because she thought she might as well look her best, and went down to the drawing-room to wait for her stepmother’s return.
In a little while she heard the crunching of wheels on the drive outside, and then the banging of the front door, and the sound of high-pitched voices. It seemed as though a quarrel were going on, for the voices were very loud and very bad-tempered.
“I tell you, he bowed to me.”
“Stuff and nonsense! I’ll warrant he never even noticed you. He looked straight at me as he walked by the carriage, and I smiled in return.”
“Forward creature!— when you had never been introduced.”
“Minx!”
“Cat!”
And so the two went on, snapping and snarling, until a deeper voice put in, “For goodness’ sake stop your bickering, you two; do now, and help me off with this turban. I don’t expect he bowed to either of you; and
