wanted Clementina to do that, too. But Clementina would not do that; she
had tried often enough at home, when her brother Jim was drawing, and her
father was designing the patterns of his woodwork; she knew that she
never could do it, and the time would be wasted. She decided against
piano lessons and singing lessons, too; she did not care for either, and
she pleaded that it would be a waste to study them; but she suggested
dancing lessons, and her gift for dancing won greater praise, and perhaps
sincerer, than her accent won from Mademoiselle Blanc, though Mrs. Lander
said that she would not have believed any one could be more
complimentary. She learned the new steps and figures in all the
fashionable dances; she mastered some fancy dances, which society was
then beginning to borrow from the stage; and she gave these before Mrs.
Lander with a success which she felt herself.

"I believe I could teach dancing," she said.

"Well, you won't eve' haf to, child," returned Mrs. Lander, with an eye
on the side of the case that seldom escaped her.

In spite of his wish to respect these preoccupations, Fane could not keep
from offering Clementina attentions, which took the form of persecution
when they changed from flowers for Mrs. Lander's table to letters for
herself. He apologized for his letters whenever he met her; but at last
one of them came to her before breakfast with a special delivery stamp
from Boston. He had withdrawn to the city to write it, and he said that
if she could not make him a favorable answer, he should not come back to
Woodlake.

She had to show this letter to Mrs. Lander, who asked: "You want he
should come back?"