"We won't go in the boat till after tea. I want to talk to you."
"I wonder why I am obeying you?" said Irene, slipping her hand inside Rosamund's.
"I couldn't let you go. It seems to me the whole world is different since I got you. But do tell me, you are not very good yourself?"
"I am not at all so good. Ask the people at Sunnyside what they think of me. There is my dearest friend lying at death's door--that is not my fault, of course; but when I can smile at all when I remember her, you must see for yourself that there is a great deal that is very far from good in me. But there, now, I want to talk about Miss Frost."
"Now, why?" said Irene. "That horror! That dreadful stick-in-the-mud! Oh, she is detestable! I cannot tell you how I loathe her."
"You do, because you don't understand her."
"I understand her more than you do; and in any case I could not be cruel to her."
"I thought you didn't mind about people's appearance. You said so a minute ago."
"Well, I didn't; but it seems to me that you have opened my eyes. If I am so beautiful I ought to be with beautiful people, like you, Rosamund; for, now I come to look at you, you are very beautiful."
"It is by no means necessary that you should be with beautiful people; but you should give pleasure to people who are not beautiful, because they would like to look at you, and hear your voice, and be refreshed by your kind actions."
"Good gracious me! Kind actions!" said Irene.
"In future I believe they will be kind. Now, please understand you have been exceedingly cruel to Miss Frost."
"How do you know? I did think those wood-lice would finish her. I thought and thought, and the happy idea came to me this morning. I was quite certain she'd give notice, just as Carter did. They could take her on at the Merrimans'. It seems to me that my governesses always find a berth near, so as to spread the fame of my dreadful character."
"Well, she is not going. She can't go. She has a little brother and sister, and she has got to provide for them."
"She has got to feed and clothe them, and to put them to school, and do everything for them. If she left your mother's house she would have no money, and might find it difficult to get another post. So she is not going. I asked her to stay, and she is going to teach me as well as you."