r turban more indignantly
than ever. In fact, it was a little battle between the young lady and
the old one, and the latter was worsted.

"Come away, Becky," said Miss Jemima, pulling the young woman away in
great alarm; and the drawing room door closed upon her forever.

[Illustration: The Parting.]

Then came the struggle and parting below. Words refuse to tell it. All
the servants were there in the hall--all the dear friends--all the young
ladies--even the dancing master, who had just arrived; and there was
such a scuffling and hugging, and kissing, and crying, with the
hysterical _yoops_ of Miss Schwartz, the parlor boarder, as no pen can
depict, and as the tender heart would feign pass over.

The embracing was finished; they parted--that is, Miss Sedley parted
from her friends. Miss Sharp had demurely entered the carriage some
minutes before. Nobody cried for leaving _her_.

Sambo of the bandy legs slammed the carriage door on his young weeping
mistress. He sprang up behind the carriage.

"Stop!" cried Miss Jemima, rushing to the gate with a parcel.

"It's some sandwiches, my dear," she called to Amelia. "You may be
hungry, you know; and, Becky--Becky Sharp--here's a book for you, that
my sister--that is, I--Johnson's Dixonary, you know. You mustn't leave
us without that. Good-by! Drive on, coachman!--God bless you! Good-by."

Then the kind creature retreated into the garden, overcome with emotion.

But lo! and just as the coach drove off, Miss Sharp suddenly put her
pale face out of the window, and flung the book back into the
garden--flung it far and fast--watching it fall at the feet of
astonished Miss Jemima; then sank back in the carriage, exclaiming, "So
much for the 'Dixonary'; and thank God I'm out of Chiswick!"

The shock of such an act almost caused Jemima to faint with terror.

"Well, I never--" she began. "What an audacious--" she gasped. Emotion
prevented her from completing either sentence.

The carriage rolled away; the great gates were closed; the bell rang for
the dancing lesson. The world is before the two young ladies; and so,
farewell to Chiswick Mall!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: From "Vanity Fair," by William Makepeace Thackeray.]

[Footnote 4: "Madam, I have come to tell you good-by."]

EXPRESSION: By many able critics, Thackeray is regarded as a
greater novelist than either Dickens or George Eliot. Compare this
extract from one of his best works with the two sel