"You are improved, little ones," she said: "Did Cousin Aurelia teach
you?"
"And Mammy Rolfe," said constant Fay.
"She must teach you next not to stare," said Lady Belamour. "I intend
to take one to be a companion to my boy, in the country. When I saw
them before, they were rustic little monsters; but they are less
unpresentable now. Call your sister, children." And, as the two left
the room, she continued: "Which do you recommend, cousin?"
"Fidelia is the most reasonable, madam," said Aurelia.
"But not the prettiest, I trust. She is too like her father, with
those dark brows, and her eyes have a look deep enough to frighten
one. They will frighten away the men, if she do not grow out of it."
Here the door burst open, and, without any preliminary bow, Master
Archer flew in, crying out "Mamma, mamma, we _must_ stay here. The
galleries are so long, and it is such a place for whoop-hide!"
His sisters were following his bad example, and rushing in with equal
want of ceremony, but though their mother held the boy unchecked on
her knee, Aurelia saw how she could frown. "You forget yourselves,"
she said.
Amoret looked ready to cry, but at a sign from their young instructress,
they backed and curtsied, and their mother reviewed them; Letitia was
the most like the Delavies, but also the smallest, while Amoret was on
the largest scale and would pair best with her brother, who besides
loudly proclaimed his preference for her, and she was therefore elected
to the honour of being taken home.
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