Senior Wrangler,' said Claude, 'will you tell me
where is the difference between a half-penny and half a penny?'
After a good laugh at Jane's expense, Emily went on, 'Now, Claude, I
will tell you how it happened; Phyllis is so slow, and dawdles over
her lessons so long, that it is quite a labour to hear her; Ada is
quick enough, but if you were to hear Phyllis say one column of
spelling, you would know what misery is. Then before she has half
finished, the clock strikes one, it is time to read, and the lessons
are put off till the afternoon. I certainly did not know that she
was about her sum all that time, or I would have sent her out as I
did on Saturday.'
'And the reading at one is as fixed as fate,' said Claude.
'Oh, no!' said Jane, 'when we were about old "Russell," we did not
begin till nearly two, but since we have been reading this book, Lily
will never let us rest till we begin; she walks up and down, and
hurries and worries and--'
'Yes,' said Emily, in a murmuring voice, 'we should do better if Lily
would not make such a point of that one thing; but she never minds
what else is cut short, and she never thinks of helping me. It never
seems to enter her head how much I have on my hands, and no one does
anything to help me.
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