"I think you look jolly," he said; "and that's better than looking
nice."

"I think they mean the same thing," she replied; "except that a girl
says 'nice' and a boy says 'jolly.' I like the word 'jolly' best, only
I get scolded when I use it. Shall we go into the garden?"

Altogether Ralph Conway had a very much pleasanter time than he had
anticipated. Except at meals he saw little of the Miss Penfolds. His
opinion as to these ladies, expressed confidentially to Mabel Withers,
was the reverse of flattering.

"I think," he said, "that they are the two most disagreeable old cats
I have ever met. They hardly ever open their lips, and when they do it
is only to answer some question of their brother. I remember in a
fairy story there was a girl who whenever she spoke let fall pearls
and diamonds from her lips; whenever those women open their mouths I
expect icicles and daggers to drop out."

"They are not so bad as that," Mabel laughed. "I generally get on with
them very well, and they are very kind in the parish; and altogether
they are really not bad."

"Then their looks belie them horribly," Ralph said. "I suppose they
don't like me; and that would be all well enough if I had done
anything to offend them, but it was just as bad the first day I came.
I am sure Mr. Penfold does not like it. I can see him fidget on his
chair; and he talks away with me pretty well all the time we are at
table, so as to make it less awkward, I suppose. Well, I am stopping