anor, do not say
No. Just think how dull and dreary my life has always been, and do not
deprive me of the chance of having just a little enjoyment like other
girls of my age."

The implication that sheer selfishness only made her hold out against
this scheme struck Eleanor as being distinctly funny.

"But I don't suppose for a minute there is going to be much enjoyment
for me at Seabourne," Eleanor protested. "Mrs. Danvers said I must be
prepared to work pretty hard."

"Well, I shall like that as long as it is not lessons," Margaret said
quickly. "Why, even to see other people and to watch them, and to listen
to them talking will be enjoyment for me. And think of Madame Martelli
and the singing lessons."

"I am thinking of them," Eleanor returned desperately, "and I am trying
hard not to." Then all of a sudden her resolution gave way. It had been
too unequal a fight to last very long, for there were too many forces
arrayed against her conscience to give it a fair chance of gaining the
day. Margaret's persuasions counted for little really, but the thought
of the lessons was, of course, all-powerful with her, and there was, too,
a spice of adventure about the scheme that appealed strongly to her
high-spirited, mischief-loving nature. "But it's on you that the trouble
will fall in the end, Margaret," she warned her. "When we are found out I
shall be turned out of the house as an imposter, of course, but that will
be all that can happen to me. It's you who will have to bear the brunt of
both Mrs. Murray's anger and of your grandfather's."

But be the consequences what they might, Margaret refused to look so far
ahead or to consider for a moment the time when the trick they were about
to play must inevitably be discovered.

That belonged entirely to the future; it was the present that occupied
her mind now, and the keen zest and animation with which she entered into
every detail of the scheme, foreseeing and guarding against every
obstacle that might wreck it, came as a positive revelation to Eleanor.
She could not have believed that Margaret had it in her to plot and plan
in such a shrewd, capable manner, and she could only nod her head in
acquiescence to most of the suggestions that were made. She was simply
swept off her feet by Margaret's impetuosity. And so, carried along
by the flood of her eager eloquence and nearly off her head with joy at
the intoxicating thought that she was attaining her heart's desire, and