herself and her sisters--the rules were so playful and so light that
the others, for mere fun, followed them--thus they insisted on their
mother hearing them their daily tasks; they insisted on going
regularly twice a week to a certain old Miss Martineau, who gave them
lessons on an antiquated piano, and taught them obsolete French.
Primrose was considered by her sisters very wise indeed but Primrose
also thought Jasmine wise, and wise with a wisdom which she could
appreciate without touching; for Jasmine had got some gifts from a
fairy wand, she was touched with the spirit of Romance, and had a
beautiful way of looking at life which her sisters loved to encourage.
Daisy was the acknowledged baby of the family--she was very pretty,
and not very strong, was everybody's darling, and was, of course,
something of a spoilt child.

Primrose had a face which harmonized very well with her quaint, sweet
name; her hair was soft, straight, and yellow, her eyes were light
brown, her skin was fair, and her expression extremely calm, gentle,
and placid. To look at Primrose was to feel soothed--she had a
somewhat slow way of speaking, and she never wasted her words. Jasmine
was in all particulars her opposite. She was dark, with very bright
and lovely eyes; her movements were quick, her expression full of
animation, and when excited--and she was generally in a state of
excitement--her words tumbled out almost too quickly for coherence.
Her cheeks would burn, and her eyes sparkle, over such trivial
circumstances as a walk down a country lane, as blackberry-hunting, as
strawberry-picking--a new story-book kept her awake half the
night--she was, in short, a constant little volcano in this quiet
home, and would have been an intolerable child but for the great
sweetness of her temper, and also for the fact that every one more or
less yielded to her.