"You'll always find me ready to
oblige you, miss, if you'll only try to please Miss Harley; and you
won't mind my saying that I hope you'll be comfortable here, and manage
to stay, for it's frightful lonely in the house sometimes, and some one
young about the place would do the mistress and me good, I'm sure."
[Sidenote: A Great Improvement]
"Oh, thank you!" said Edith again. She could not trust herself to say
more, for the words, that she felt were kindly meant, almost made her
cry.
"Now you had better go down to the parlour," Stimson went on. "Miss
Harley and your papa won't expect you to be long, and the tea is ready,
I know."
With a beating heart Edith stepped down the wide, old-fashioned
staircase, and went shyly in at the door which Stimson opened for her.
She found herself in a large, handsomely-furnished room, where the table
was laid for tea; and Miss Harley sat before the tray, already busy with
cups and saucers.
"Come here, Edith, and sit where I can see you. Yes, that is a great
improvement. Your hair looks tidy and respectable now."
After this greeting, to Edith's great relief, she was left to take her
tea in peace and silence, the doctor and his sister being occupied in
conversation about their early days, and continually mentioning the
names of persons and places of whom she knew little or nothing.
Only once the girl started to hear her aunt say, "I always told you,
Henry, that it was a great mistake.
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