nd he wished her to have everything
the most fortunate little girl could have; and so, when the polite
saleswomen in the shops said, "Here is our very latest thing in hats,
the plumes are exactly the same as those we sold to Lady Diana Sinclair
yesterday," he immediately bought what was offered to him, and paid
whatever was asked. The consequence was that Sara had a most
extraordinary wardrobe. Her dresses were silk and velvet and India
cashmere, her hats and bonnets were covered with bows and plumes, her
small undergarments were adorned with real lace, and she returned in the
cab to Miss Minchin's with a doll almost as large as herself, dressed
quite as grandly as herself, too.

Then her papa gave Miss Minchin some money and went away, and for
several days Sara would neither touch the doll, nor her breakfast, nor
her dinner, nor her tea, and would do nothing but crouch in a small
corner by the window and cry. She cried so much, indeed, that she made
herself ill. She was a queer little child, with old-fashioned ways and
strong feelings, and she had adored her papa, and could not be made to
think that India and an interesting bungalow were not better for her
than London and Miss Minchin's Select Seminary. The instant she had
entered the house, she had begun promptly to hate Miss Minchin, and to
think little of Miss Amelia Minchin, who was smooth and dumpy, and
lisped, and was evidently afraid of her older sister. Miss Minchin was
tall, and had large, cold, fishy eyes, and large, cold hands, which
seemed fishy, too, because they were damp and made chills run down
Sara's back when they touched her, as Miss Minchin pushed her hair off
her forehead and said:

"A most beautiful and promising little girl, Captain Crewe. She will be
a favorite pupil; _quite_ a favorite pupil, I see."

For the first year she was a favorite pupil; at least she was indulged
a great deal more than was good for her. And when the Select Seminary
went walking, two by two, she was always decked out in her grandest
clothes, and led by the hand, at the head of the genteel procession, by
Miss Minchin herself. And when the parents of any of the pupils came,
she was always dressed and called into the parlor with her doll; and she
used to hear Miss Minchin say that her father was a distinguished Indian
officer, and she would be heiress to a great fortune. That her father
had inherited a great deal of money, Sara had heard before; and also
that some day it