mistake," says my mother. "When I come upon a woman in a book, the first thing I want to know about her is whether she was good-looking, and the second, how she was put on."
The woman on the path was eighteen years of age, and of remarkable beauty.
"That settles you," says my sister.
"I was no beauty at eighteen," my mother admits, but here my father interferes unexpectedly. "There wasna your like in this countryside at eighteen," says he stoutly.
"Pooh!" says she, well pleased.
"Were you plain, then?" we ask.
"Sal," she replies briskly, "I was far from plain."
"H'sh!"
Perhaps in the next chapter this lady (or another) appears in a carriage.
"I assure you we're mounting in the world," I hear my mother murmur, but I hurry on without looking up. The lady lives in a house where there are footmen—but the footmen have come on the scene too hurriedly. "This is more than I can stand," gasps my mother, and just as she is getting the better of a fit of laughter, "Footman, give me a drink of water," she cries, and this sets her off again. Often the readings had to end abruptly because her mirth brought on violent fits of coughing.
Sometimes I read to my sister alone, and she
