Lady Keith urged the school plan.
"Not a boarding-school," said Mrs. Lindsay; "I will not hear
of that."
"No, but a day-school; it would do her a vast deal of good, I
am certain; her notions want shaking up very much. And I never
saw a child of her age so much a child."
"I assure you I never saw one so much a woman. She has asked
me to-day, I suppose," said he, smiling, "a hundred questions
or less; and I assure you there was not one foolish or vain
one among them; not one that was not sensible, and most of
them singularly so."
"She was greatly pleased with her day," said Mrs. Lindsay.
"I never saw such a baby face in my life," said Lady Keith,
"in a child of her years."
"It is a face of uncommon intelligence!" said her brother.
"It is both," said Mrs. Lindsay.
"I was struck with it the other day," said Lady Keith — "the
day she slept so long upon the sofa upstairs, after she was
dressed; she had been crying about something, and her
eyelashes were wet still, and she had that curious, grave,
innocent look you only see in infants; you might have thought
she was fourteen months instead of fourteen years old;
fourteen and a half, she says she is."
"Crying?" said Mr. Lindsay, "What was the matter?"
"Nothing," said Mrs. Lindsay, "but that she had been obliged
to submit to me in something that did not please her."
"Did she give you any cause of displeasure?"
"No; though I can see she has strong passions.
Pages:
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875