elves were no longer in rags. The
furniture dealer's was not the only shop which Miss Tredgold had visited
at Southampton. She had also gone to a linen draper's, and had bought
many nice clothes for the young folks.

The house being so much improved, and the girls being clothed afresh, a
sufficient staff of servants arrived from a neighboring town. Betty was
helped in the kitchen by a neat kitchen-maid; there were two housemaids
and a parlor-maid; and John had a boy to help in the garden.

"Now, Verena," said Miss Tredgold on the evening of the day when the new
servants were pronounced a great success, "what do you think of
everything?"

"You have made the place quite pretty, Aunt Sophia."

"And you like it?"

"I think you mean to be very kind."

"My dear Verena, do talk sense. Don't tell me that you don't feel more
comfortable in that pale-gray, nicely fitting dress, with the blush-rose
in your belt, and that exceedingly pretty white hat on your head, than
you did when you rushed up to welcome me, little savage that you were, a
fortnight ago."

"I was so happy as a savage!"

"And you are not happy now?"

"I think you are kind, Aunt Sophia, and perhaps--I shall get accustomed
to it."

Her aunt whisked round with some impatience.

"I hope so," she said; "for, whether you like it or not, you will have to
put up with it. I fully intend to be kind, but I also mean to be very
firm. I have now got the home in which you live into decent order, and
you yourselves are respectably clothed. But I have not yet tackled the
most important part of my duties, my dear Verena."

"Oh, please, Aunt Sophia, what else is necessary?"

Miss Tredgold threw up her hands.

"A great, great deal more," she cried. "I have not yet touched your
minds; and I fear, from the way you speak, that I have scarcely touched
your hearts. Well, your bodies at least are attended to, and now come
your minds. Lastly, I hope to reach the most important of all--your
hearts. Verena, I must probe your ignorance in order to stimulate you to
learn. You, my dear, will be grown up in three years, so that you in
particular have a vast lot to do."

"But I hate learning, and I shouldn't like to be a learned woman," said
Verena. "Mother knew a lot of things, but she wasn't learned like
father."

"Good gracious, child! I don't want you to be like your father. To tell
the truth, a bookworm such as he is is one of the most irritating persons
in existence. Bu