et would do wonders!"

"Thank you, indeed! You _are_ kind!" The sisters bridled and tossed
their heads, by no means appeased by such prognostications of their
future charms. "Certainly if she took _you_, she might teach you to be
modest!"

"Oh, dear, oh, dear, I don't want _any_ of you to go!" Vie, the
peacemaker, rushed to the rescue. She was just sixteen, younger than
Clemence, older than Darsie, attached almost equally to the two.
Lavender, of course, was quite too young for a companion, but then
Lavender and Hannah paired together; if she were absent, Hannah at a
loose end would demand entrance into those three-sided conferences which
made the joy of life. The fear of such an incursion made Lavender at
that moment seem even more precious than her sisters. Vie continued her
lament with bitter emphasis--

"_Too_ bad--_too_ hard--stupendous! Spoil everything. Horrid
interfering old thing! If I were your parents I wouldn't--not for all
the money in the world, I wouldn't sacrifice a child to an old ogre like
that! I'd keep my own children and let them be happy while they could,
but, of course, if she talks of duty...! If there's one thing more
stupendous than another it's being put on one's honour! It gives one
_no_ chance. Well, you'll have to go, I suppose, and our holiday is
spoiled. I've never been so disappointed in my life."

"Think of how _we_ feel!" croaked Clemence tragically, but this time the
tragedy did not ring so true, for since plain Hannah's verdict her
spirits had risen considerably. Hannah was the shrewdest and cleverest
of all five girls, and her prophecies were proverbially correct.
Clemence felt sufficiently reassured to reflect that as the eldest in
years, she would do well to show an example of resignation. She
lengthened her face, and added solemnly--

"I don't think you ought to talk like that about honour, Vie! It ought
to be an incentive. If I go, the only thing that will console me most
is the feeling that I am doing my duty!"

Vie stared, and the younger girls coughed in derisive chorus.

"Isn't it easy to be resigned for somebody else?" demanded plain Hannah
of the ceiling. "You are _not_ going, my dear, and you know it. Darsie
likes well enough to queen it as a rule, and now she's got to pay the
price. That's the cost of good looks. Thank goodness no one will ever
want to run off with _me_!--not even a staid old aunt. Tell us about
your aunt, by the way--you'