s'----

Jacinth hesitated a little. It is sometimes rather confusing to remember
relations so far back.

'I know,' said Frances; 'it was More'----but here she too stopped.

'Moreland?' said Lady Myrtle.

The girls' faces cleared. Yes, that was it.

'But the Christian name--"Jacinth"--satisfied me,' said the old lady.
'The name, and your face, my dear,' to Jacinth herself. 'Thank you, for
answering my questions. Perhaps I must not keep you any longer to-day,
but I will write to your aunt--Miss Mildmay--Miss Alison Mildmay--I
think I have heard of her at Thetford--and ask her to allow you to come
to see me again very soon. If I keep you longer just now, she may be
uneasy.'

'Oh no,' said Frances, 'she won't be at home when we get back. It's one
of the days she's out all day--till after we're in bed, generally.'

'Dear me!' said Lady Myrtle, 'she must be a very busy person.'

'Yes,' said Jacinth, 'she is. She is very, _very_ useful, I know. And
one couldn't have expected her to give up all the things she'd been at
so many years, all of a sudden, when we came. We don't mind, except that
it seems a little lonely sometimes; but--I don't think Aunt Alison
cares much for children or girls like us. She says she's got out of the
way of it. But she's quite kind.'

'You have a governess, I suppose?' asked Lady Myrtle.

'No,' said Jacinth, 'we go every day but Saturday to Miss Scarlett's
school.'

She coloured a little as she said it, for she had an instinct that
'school' for girls was hardly one of the things that her hostess had
been accustomed to in _her_ youth, and notwithstanding Jacinth's
decision of character, she was apt to be much influenced by the opinions
and even prejudices of those about her. But still she knew that Miss
Scarlett's was really a somewhat exceptional school.

'To Miss Scarlett's,' repeated Lady Myrtle. 'I have heard of it. I
believe it is very nice, but still--I prefer home education. But perhaps
I should not say so. No doubt your parents and guardians have acted for
the best. I should like you to tell Miss Alison Mildmay all I have asked
you, and I will write to her. And in the meantime, that she may not
think me too eccentric an old woman, pray tell her that I was--that your
own grandmother--I like you to call her that--Lady Jacinth Moreland,
afterwards Lady Jacinth Denison, and I, were the--yes, the very dearest
of friends when we were young. It is possible that Miss Alison Mildmay
may h