ish still in hand, till she brought herself opposite the
next room door. The long kitchen was rather dark, as the plates were
being washed by the light of one candle, but in the next room Captain
Rexford and his family were gathered round a table upon which stood
lamps giving plenty of light.

The mother addressed the family in general. "The dentist," said she,
"talks to Eliza when she goes to the shop. Blue and Red! if he should
speak to you, you must show the same sense Eliza did, and take not the
slightest notice."

Sophia had asked what the dentist said to Eliza, and Mrs. Rexford had
reproved the girls for laughing, while the head of the family prepared
himself to answer in his kindly, leisurely, and important way.

"To 'take not the slightest notice' is, perhaps, requiring more of such
young heads than might be possible. It would be difficult even for me to
take no notice whatever of a young man who accosted me in a place like
this. Severity, mild displeasure, or a determination not to speak,
might be shown."

"If necessary," said Sophia; "but--"

"If _necessary_," the father corrected himself, emphasizing his words
with a gentle tap of his fingers on the table. "I only mean if
necessary, of course."

"People have such easy-going ways here," said Sophia. "Don't you think,
mamma, a little ordinary discretion on the girls' part would be enough?
Blue and Red have too much sense, I suppose, to treat him as an equal;
but they can be polite."

Eliza, overhearing this, decided that she would never treat the young
American as an equal, although she had no idea why she should not.

Let it not be supposed that Mrs. Rexford had idled over the dish she was
wiping. The conversation was, in fact, carried on between the family in
the bright sitting-room and an intermittent appearance of Mrs. Rexford
at the door of the shady kitchen. Twice she had disappeared towards
Eliza's table to get a fresh plate and come again, rubbing it.

"Ah, girls," she now cried, "Sophia is always giving you credit for more
sense than I'm afraid you possess. No giggling, now, if this young
fellow should happen to say 'good morning.' Just 'good morning' in
return, and pass on--nothing more."

The father's leisurely speech again broke in and hushed the little
babble.

"Certainly, my dear daughters, under such circumstances as your mother
suggests; to look down modestly, and answer the young man's salutation
with a little primness, and not to