Elizabeth; 'it may turn out a great deal worse than if we had left it
to the unassisted taste of the maids.'

The four girls continued to arrange the flowers: Elizabeth, inquiring
after many of the plants at Merton Hall; Anne, telling how the myrtle
was prospering, how well the geraniums had flowered, describing a new
fuchsia, and triumphing in the prize which the salpiglossis had
gained from the Horticultural Society; Helen, comparing the flora of
Merton Hall with that of Dykelands; Mrs, Woodbourne, rejoicing in
cuttings to be saved from the branches gathered by Anne's unsparing
hand; and Lady Merton, promising to send her seeds and young plants
by Rupert, when he should return to Oxford.

When the forest of flowers had been dispersed in the epergne, and in
various bowls and glasses, to ornament the drawing-room, the three
sisters began to collect the green leaves and pieces of stalks
remaining on the table, and as they bent down to sweep them off into
a basket, their heads chanced to be almost close together.

'Why, Lizzie,' said Lady Merton, 'where are your curls? Have you
made yourself look so very different from Kate, to prevent all future
mistakes between you? and, Helen, have you really become a Pasha of
two tails?'

'Is it not very silly of Helen to wear them, Aunt Anne?' said
Elizabeth.

'Indeed, dear Aunt Anne,' said Helen, 'my hair never will curl well,
and Mrs. Staunton always said it made me look like an old woman in
the way I wore it before, so what could I do but try it in the way in