"
"Mrs. Crofton won't care how _you_ look," observed Jack irritably. "If we
didn't now live in such a huggery-muggery way, I should always dress. I
do everywhere else."
Betty looked at him, and her face deadened. Though she would hardly have
admitted it, even to herself, she regretted the way in which everything
at Old Place was now allowed to go "slack." She knew it to be bad for her
sisters. It wasn't as if they did any real housework or gave useful help
in the kitchen. Dolly tried to do so in a desultory way, but in the end
it was she, Betty, who kept everything going in this big, rambling old
house, with the help of the old nurse and a day girl from the village.
Timmy gave a little cackle, and Jack felt annoyed. He looked across at
his half-brother with a feeling akin to dislike. But Jack Tosswill was
truly attached to his step-mother. He was old enough to remember what a
change she had made in the then dull, sad, austere Old Place. Janet had
at once thrown herself into the task of being sister, rather than
step-mother, to her husband's children, and bountifully had she succeeded!
Still, with the exception of Betty, they all criticised her severely, in
their hearts, for her weakness where her own child was concerned.
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