think that India and an interesting bungalow were not better for her
than London and Miss Minchin's Select Seminary. The instant she had
entered the house, she had begun promptly to hate Miss Minchin, and
to think little of Miss Amelia Minchin, who was smooth and dumpy, and
lisped, and was evidently afraid of her older sister. Miss Minchin was
tall, and had large, cold, fishy eyes, and large, cold hands, which
seemed fishy, too, because they were damp and made chills run down
Sara's back when they touched her, as Miss Minchin pushed her hair off
her forehead and said:

"A most beautiful and promising little girl, Captain Crewe. She will be
a favorite pupil; quite a favorite pupil, I see."

For the first year she was a favorite pupil; at least she was indulged a
great deal more than was good for her. And when the Select Seminary went
walking, two by two, she was always decked out in her grandest clothes,
and led by the hand at the head of the genteel procession, by Miss
Minchin herself. And when the parents of any of the pupils came, she was
always dressed and called into the parlor with her doll; and she used
to hear Miss Minchin say that her father was a distinguished Indian
officer, and she would be heiress to a great fortune. That her father
had inherited a great deal of money, Sara had heard before; and also
that some day it would be hers, and that he would not remain long in the
army, but would come to live in London. And every time a letter came,
she hoped it would say he was coming, and they were to live together
again.

But about the middle of the third year a letter came bringing very
different news. Because he was not a business man himself, her papa had
given his affairs into the hands of a friend he trusted. The friend had