amusement and her uncultivated taste also led to her associating
habitually with companions beneath her socially. She was a thoroughly
good girl. A vulgar allusion would have shocked her, an impertinence
she would have quickly resented; yet she seemed of a coarser fibre
than the rest of the family, the reason for which, seeing that both
girls had equal advantages and opportunities, only an expert
psychologist could explain. She had gone through school mechanically
as an unpleasant task to be gotten over with as soon as possible,
taking no interest in her work, and when she came out her brain was a
sluggish and unresponsive as one might expect. Well aware of her
shortcomings, she made light of them, insisting laughingly that she
was the dunce of the family and Virginia its genius. She would do the
drudgery of housekeeping while her sister went to college.

There was no bitterness, no jealousy in this apparent rivalry. Fanny
was devoted to her little sister and proud of her cleverness. She
declared that one day Virginia would make a brilliant marriage and
then she could pay it all back. That Virginia should ultimately go to
college had been fully determined on. Everything attracted her to a
liberal education. She was ambitious; she craved knowledge and showed
talent in almost everything--in music, composition, painting. To her a
liberal education would mean everything--the widening of her mental
horizon, the initiation into keen, intellectual delights. No matter
what sacrifice was to be made, to college the girl should go. So
declared the parents.

Now all was changed. This blow which robbed her of her father also
shattered her hopes for the future. All this flashed through
Virginia's mind as they sat there, waiting. Turning to her sister, she
said through her tears: