disabilities, had something of a presence. This was obtained from
the authority they had wielded over the many pupils who had passed
through their hands.

Nearer inspection showed that Miss Annie Mee was a trifle stouter
than her sister, if this be not too robust a word to apply to such a
wisp of a woman; that her eyes were kinder and less watery than
Helen's; also, that her face was less insistently marked with lines
of care.

The Miss Mees' dispositions were much more dissimilar than their
appearance. Miss Helen, the elder, loved her home and, in her heart
of hearts, preferred the kitchen to any other part of the house. It
was she who attended to the ordering of the few wants of the humble
household; she arranged the meals, paid the bills, and generally
looked after the domestic economy of the college; she took much
pride in the orderliness of her housekeeper's cupboard, into which
Amelia never dared to pry. In the schoolroom, she received the
parents, arranged the fees and extras, and inflicted the trifling
punishment she awarded to delinquents, which latter, it must be
admitted, gave her a faint pleasure.

Annie Mee, her sister, had a natural inclination for the flesh-pots
of life. She liked to lie abed on Sunday and holiday mornings; she
spread more butter on her breakfast toast than Helen thought
justified by the slenderness of their resources; she was indulgent
to the pupils, and seized any opportunity that offered of going out
for the evening. She frequented (and had been known to enjoy)
entertainments given in schoolrooms for church purposes she welcomed
the theatre or concert tickets which were sometimes sent her by the