"Since Miss Freeman left I have had no governess; but I read a good
bit alone. I am very fond of reading," answered Nora.

"Distasteful as it all is to me," said Mrs. O'Shanaghgan, "I must
take you in hand myself. But I do wish your Uncle George would
invite you over to stay with them at The Laurels. It will do Terence
a wonderful lot of good; but you want it more, you are so unkempt
and undignified. You would be a fairly nice-looking girl if any
justice was done to you; but really the other day, when I saw you
with that terrible young person Bridget Murphy, it gave my heart
quite a pang. You scarcely looked a lady, you were laughing in such
a vulgar way, and quite forgetting your deportment. Now, what I have
been thinking is that we might spend some hours together daily, and
I would mark out a course of instruction for you."

"Oh, mammy," answered Nora, "I should be very glad indeed to learn;
you know I always hated having my education stopped, but father
said--"

"I don't want to hear what your father said," interrupted Mrs.
O'Shanaghgan.

"Oh, but, mother dear, I really must think of father, and I must
respect what he says. He told me that my grandmother stopped her
schooling at fourteen, and he said she was the grandest lady, and the
finest and bonniest, in the country, and that no one could ever put
her to shame; for, although she had not much learning to boast of,
she had a smart answer for every single thing that was said to her.
He said you never could catch her tripping in her words, never--never;
and he thinks, mother," continued Nora, sparkling and blushing, "that