more. I do so much want a friend of my own age. It is the only want
I have. I have tried to make a friend of Leonora, but I cannot; she
never cares for what I do. If she saw these Mays she would look down
on them. Dear Mrs. Larpent is better than any one, but then she is
so much older. Flora May shall be my friend. I'll make her call me
Meta as soon as she comes. When will it be? The day after
tomorrow?"

But little Meta watched in vain. Dr. May always came with either
Richard or the groom, to drive him, and if Meta met him and hoped he
would bring Flora next time, he only answered that Flora would like
it very much, and he hoped soon to do so.

The truth was, it was no such everyday matter as Meta imagined. The
larger carriage had been broken, and the only vehicle held only the
doctor--his charioteer--and in a very minute appendage behind, a
small son of the gardener, to open gates, and hold the horse.

The proposal had been one of those general invitations to be
fulfilled at any time, and therefore easily set aside; and Dr. May,
though continually thinking he should like to take his girls to
Abbotstoke, never saw the definite time for so doing; and Flora
herself, though charmed with Miss Rivers, and delighted with the
prospect of visiting her, only viewed it as a distant prospect.

There was plenty of immediate interest to occupy them at home, to say
nothing of the increasing employment that Cocksmoor gave to thoughts,
legs, and needles. There was the commencement of the half-year, when
Tom's schoolboy life was to begin, and when it would be proved
whether Norman were able to retain his elevation.