Frosty is terribly afraid of me,
but she has stayed with me longer than any other governess. They mostly
go at the end of a week or a fortnight; but Frosty has been with me for
close on four months. She is very worried. She was quite fat when she
came, and now she is a sort of walking skeleton, and it is all owing to
me, because I do work her so hard and terrify her so; and she can't
teach me anything, however hard she tries. I tell you I'm a changeling,
and changelings can't be taught. She told me the other night that she
believed me. She looked as white as a sheet when she said the words, and
I did laugh so, and clapped my hands. I woke mother, and mother came
into the room; and Frosty told mother what I had said, and poor mother
cried. I said, 'Never mind, mother. I am fond of you, but I like
frightening Frosty.'

"Then Frosty went away to her own room, and I thought, of course, she
would give notice the next day, but she didn't. She is very poor, and
has to earn her own bread somehow. I expect that is why she stays."

"Well," said Rosamund stoutly, "I will say this, Irene, that you
are--whether changeling or not--an exceedingly naughty girl. There,
now!"

Irene opened those deep sapphire-blue eyes, which were one of her
greatest charms, to their fullest extent; her little mouth pouted, and
some pearly teeth showed beneath. She clinched her small hands, and then
said stoutly, "Hurrah! I admire your courage. They never dare tell me I
am naughty. I rule the house; they are all quite terrified of me."

"Well, I am not a scrap afraid of you," said Rosamund.

"Aren't you? What a relief! Well, come on; I can't sit still any longer.
I have got to order our tea to be sent to the boat, and we will get into
mid-stream and keep all the world at bay. Can't you tell me there what
you wanted to say?"

"No; I will tell you now, and I am not at all sure that I am going in
the boat with you, for Lady Jane said I had done wrong to come here; and
if I did wrong to come, I suppose I must try and do right, for I can't
talk of your faults while I have such a lot of my own."

"Oh, hurrah! You are nicer than ever. I am glad you are full of faults
too. Do say why you think I am not a changeling."

"Because my mother told me that long ago your mother was rather naughty,
although she is so good now. So I think, perhaps, when you are her age
you will be good too."

"Oh, horror! Heaven preserve us!" cried Irene. "That is the final str