in protest, but was at once
interrupted.

'Oh! that isn't what I want. You must call me Louise, or Lou, if you
like, and just say what you really think. Yes, I see, I _am_ rather
vulgar, and what can you expect? Look at mother; and if you saw Mr.
Higgins, oh! The mistake I made was to leave school so soon. I got
sick of it, and left at sixteen, and of course the idiots at home--I
mean the foolish people--let me have my own way. I'm not clever, you
know, and I didn't get on well at school. They used to say I could
do much better if I liked, and perhaps it was more laziness than
stupidity, though I don't care for books--I wish I did. I've had
lots of friends, but I never keep them for very long. I don't know
whether it's their fault or mine. My oldest friends are Amy Barker
and Muriel Featherstone; they were both at the school at Clapham,
and now Amy does type-writing in the City, and Muriel is at a
photographer's. They're awfully nice girls, and t like them so much;
but then, you see, they haven't enough money to live in what _I_
call a nice way, and, you know, I should never think of asking them
to advise me about my dresses, or anything of that kind. A friend of
mine once began to say something and I didn't like it; after that we
had nothing to do with each other.'

Emmeline could not hide her amusement.

'Well, that's just it,' went on the other frankly. 'I _have_ rather
a sharp temper, and I suppose I don't get on well with most people.
I used to quarrel dreadfully with some of the girls at school--the
uppish sort. And yet all the time I wanted to be friends with them.
But, of course, I could never have taken them home.'

Mrs. Mumford began to read the girl's character, and to understand
how its complexity had shaped her life. She was still uneasy as to
the impression this guest would make upon their friends, but on the
whole it seemed probable that Louise would conscientiously submit
herself to instruction, and do her very best to be "nice."
Clarence's opinion was still favourable; he pronounced Miss Derrick
"very amusing," and less of a savage than his wife's description had
led him to expect.

Having the assistance of two servants and a nurse-girl, Emmeline was
not overburdened with domestic work. She soon found it fortunate
that her child, a girl of two years old, needed no great share of
her attention; for Miss Derrick, though at first she affected an
extravagant interest in the baby, very soon had enoug