enthusiasm at the beginning, and
willing to promise any mortal thing you like--and then,"--she snapped
her fingers in illustration--"Snap! the balloon bursts, and I collapse
into nothing. It will be the same thing with lessons!"

Miss Drake held up her hand imperatively.

"Stop!" she cried clearly. "Stop! Never say that again, never _allow_
yourself to say it. You know your failing in your own heart, and that
is enough! Every time that you put it into words, and talk about it to
others, gives it added strength and power and makes it more difficult to
fight. My dear girl, you are not a child--how feeble to take for
granted that you are going to continue in your old baby failings! Take
for granted instead that you are going to live them down, and trample
them beneath your feet. You'll have to fight for it, and to fight hard,
but it will do you more good than any lessons I can teach. That's the
best education, isn't it, to achieve the mastery over ourselves?"

Now, if meek Miss Bruce had delivered herself of similar sentiments,
Dreda would have tilted her chin and wriggled contemptuously in her
chair, muttering concerning "preaching," and wishing to goodness that
the tiresome old thing would stop talking and get on with her work, but
Miss Drake wore such a young and gallant air, as she strode along the
country lane with her head thrown back, and her uplifted hand waving
aloft, that the girl's ardent nature took flame; she tilted her own
head, waved her own arm, and felt a tingling of martial zeal. Yes, she
would work! Yes, she would fight! She would tread her enemies under
foot and emerge from the conflict victorious, untrammelled, a paragon of
virtues. She turned a dazzling smile upon her companion and heaved an
ardent sigh.

"How beautifully you talk! Our old governess was so different! She did
not understand my nature. I have wonderful ambitions, but I am so
sensitive that I can't work against difficulties. I need constant
encouragement and appreciation. A sensitive plant--"

"Oh, Dreda, please spare me that worn-out simile! Not work against
difficulties, indeed! What nonsense you talk! It is not work at all
when everything is easy and smooth. Don't deceive yourself, my dear--
you are going to find plenty of difficulties, and to find them quickly,
too. This very afternoon they will begin, when you tackle the new
subjects and realise your own ignorance. You won't enjoy being behind
your comp