Jasmine had quickly to
remember her fine, or she would have given a very deep sigh when Miss
Slowcum pointed a comparison between them. In the delight, however, of
going into real London all these minor considerations and discomforts
were forgotten.

CHAPTER XVIII.

IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

Miss Slowcum was right in saying that she was very particular with
regard to her company. She prided herself on having select taste. She
thought it well to assume distant airs to the other inmates of
Penelope Mansion--Mrs. Dredge she thought quite beneath her notice,
Mrs. Mortlock was slightly more tolerated, but Miss Slowcum never
really unbent to either of these ladies. As she said to herself, she
could never forget that she came of the Slowcums of ----shire that her
father had been Captain Slowcum of the Royal Navy, and that, all
things considered, her true position in society was with the county
folk. What, therefore, could a lady of such patrician birth have in
common with a Mrs. Mortlock or a Mrs. Dredge? Alas! however, Miss
Slowcum was poor--she was very poor, and she was a great deal too
genteel to work. The terms at Penelope Mansion were by no means high,
and in order to live she was obliged to put up with uncongenial
company. She was a very tall and angular person--her face was long and
thin, her eyes small, her mouth undecided, but in her heart of hearts
she was by no means wanting in good nature; and when, the night
before, Jasmine, with her charming little face, offered her some of
the country flowers, she began to take an interest in the fresh girls
who had come to the rather antiquated house in Wright Street.

It was really good-natured of Miss Slowcum to offer to accompany the
girls on their first walk in London. She had the greatest horror of
ever appearing remarkable and she felt really alarmed at the thought
of taking four unsophisticated country lasses abroad. It was bad
enough to offer to escort the Mainwarings, who, however _gauche_ they
might appear, were undoubtedly ladies, but to take Poppy, _alias_
Sarah, as well, was really trying. Without Poppy, however, the girls
refused to stir. There was no help for it, and Miss Slowcum only
trusted that their first walk might be short and uneventful.

"It is an unpleasant arrangement, but I do not see any help for it,"
she said, addressing her little party as they assembled in the hall;
"we must sally forth as though we were a school. You, Miss Jasmine,