t there! What am I saying? I oughtn't to speak against
him in your presence. And your poor mother loved him, oh, so much! Now
then, dear, to return to yourself and your sisters. I presume that you
would like to be a useful and valuable member of society--a woman who has
been trained to do her best, and to exercise the highest influence over
all those with whom she comes in contact. Influence, which springs from
character, my dear Verena, is the highest power that any one can get.
Now, an ignorant person has little or no influence; therefore, to be kind
and sympathetic and useful in the future, you must know many things. You
have not a minute to lose. I appeal to you for your mother's sake; for my
dear, dear sister would have liked her eldest child to be--ah,
Verena!--so good and so true!"

"You touch me, Aunt Sophy," said Verena, "when you talk of mother. You
touch me more than words can say. Yes, I will try to be good; but you
must bear with me if I don't take the yoke too kindly at first."

"Poor child! I will try to make it light for you. Now what is the matter,
Penelope?"

"Please, please, Aunt Sophy," said that young person, rushing up at the
moment.

"Hold yourself erect, my dear; don't run quite so fast. There! you have
got a rent already in your new frock. Now what do you want?"

"May I be a schoolroom little girl in the future?"

"What are you now?"

"Nursey says I'm nursery. But I don't want to be nursery; I want to stay
always with my own good Aunty Sophy. That is what I want. May I be a
schoolroom child?"

"In the first place, you are not to call me 'aunty.' I am Aunt Sophia to
you. I dislike abbreviations."

"What's them?"

"Say, 'What are they?'"

"What are they?"

"I will tell you another time. How old are you, Penelope?"

"I wor seven my last birthday, one month agone."

"Your grammar is disgraceful, child. Please understand that the
schoolroom has its penalties."

"What's them?"

"Again I shall have to correct you. 'What are they?' is the sentence you
ought to use. But now, my dear, I don't approve of little girls learning
much when they are only seven years old; but if you wish to be a
schoolroom girl you will have to take your place in the schoolroom, and
you will have to learn to submit. You will have to be under more
discipline than you are now with nurse."

"All the same, I'll be with my own aunt," said Penelope, raising her bold
black eyes and fixing them on Miss Sophia's fa