line.

She frowned, and the thought of the gooseberries and the hard crusts that
used to constitute tea on many days when there was no Aunt Sophia came
back to her with a sense of longing and appreciation of the golden past.

Nevertheless the girls were hungry, and the tea was excellent; and when
Miss Tredgold had seen that each plate was piled with good things, and
that every girl had her cup of tea made exactly as she liked it, she
began to speak.

"You know little or nothing of the world, my dear girls, so during tea I
intend to give you some pleasant information. I attended a tea-party last
year in a house not far from London. You would like to hear all about it,
would you not?"

"If you are sure it is not lessons," said Briar.

"It is not lessons in the ordinary acception of the word. Now listen.
This garden to which I went led down to the Thames. It was the property
of a very great friend of mine, and she had invited what I might call a
select company. Now will you all listen, and I will tell you how things
were done?"

Miss Tredgold then proceeded to tell her story. No one could tell a story
better. She made her narrative quite absorbing. For these girls, who had
never known anything of life, she drew so vivid and fascinating a picture
that they almost wished to be present at such a scene as she described.
She spoke of the girls of the London world in their pretty dresses, and
the matrons in their richer garments; of the men who moved about with
polite deference. She spoke of the summer air, the beautiful appearance
of the river, the charming punts and boats which disported themselves on
the bosom of the waters.

"It must have been pretty; but rather stiff, wasn't it?" said Verena.

"To you, my dear, it would have been stiff, for you are not yet
accustomed to self-restraint, but to those who belong to that world it
was nothing short of enchantment."

"But you were in fetters," said Pauline; "and I should hate fetters
however jolly they looked."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why, you know you are putting them on us."

"Hush, Paulie!" said Verena.

"You are, Aunt Sophy; and you can't be angry with me if I speak. I can't
imagine any one getting accustomed to fetters; it is quite beyond me."

She shrugged her shoulders, and looked with her downright face full at
Miss Tredgold.

"Never mind," said that lady after a pause. "I can't expect you to
understand everything all at once; but my description