nxious and desponding temperament, by large doses of calomel, her
malady increased with painfully rapid strides. On this particular
morning she had been busy since five o'clock, and neither she nor the
girls (who rose at six) had had anything to eat, and they were all
somewhat faint for want of a breakfast which was cooling on the table.
Meanwhile a "humming in the head," to which _she_ was subject,
rendered Maria mercifully indifferent to the proposal to add an extra
half-hour to her distasteful labours; and Miss Blomfield corrugated
her eyebrows, and was conscientiously distressed and really puzzled
that Mother Nature should give different gifts to her children, when
their mother and teachers according to the flesh were so particular to
afford them an equality of "advantages."

"Signor Rigi told me that Maria has not got so good an ear as Jane,"
said Mrs. Ascott. "However, perhaps it will be well to let Maria
practise half an hour, and Jane do half an hour at her arithmetic on
Saturday afternoons."

"Certainly, Mrs. Ascott."

"And now," said my aunt, "I must introduce the girls to Reginald. This
is Maria, your eldest cousin, and nearly double your age, for she is
twelve. This is Jane, two years younger. This is Helen; she is nine,
and as tall as Jane, you see. This is Harriet, eight. And this is
Mary--Polly, as papa calls her--and she is nineteen months younger
than you, and a terrible tomboy already; so don't make her worse. This
is your cousin, girls, Reginald Dacre. You must amuse him among you,
and don't tease him, for he is not used to children."

We "shook hands" all round, and I liked Polly's hand the best. It was
least froggy, cold, and spiritless.

Then Mrs. Ascott departed, and Maria (overpowered by the humming)
"flopped" into her chair after a fashion that would certainly have
drawn a rebuke from Miss Blomfield if an access of eye-dimness had not
carried her to her own seat with little more grace.

Uncle Ascott had a large nose, and my cousins were the image of him
and of each other. They were plain, lady-like, rather bouncing girls,
with aquiline noses, voices with a family _twang_ that was slightly
nasal, long feet terribly given to chilblains, and long fingers, with
which they all by turns practised the same exercises on the old piano
on successive mornings before breakfast. When we became more intimate,
I used to keep watch on the clock for the benefit of the one who was
practising. At half-past