not seem to know anything."

"Some of the mothers were angry," said Hope. "But Aunt Jane
told her that it was perfectly true, and that her ladyship had
not yet seen the best-educated girls in America, who were
generally the daughters of old ministers and well-to-do
shopkeepers in small New England towns, Aunt Jane said."

"Yes," said Kate, "she said that the best of those girls went
to High Schools and Normal Schools, and learned things
thoroughly, you know; but that we were only taught at
boarding-schools and by governesses, and came out at eighteen,
and what could we know? Then came Hope, who had been at those
schools, and was the child of refined people too, and Lady
Antwerp was perfectly satisfied."

"Especially," said Hope, "when Aunt Jane told her that, after
all, schools did not do very much good, for if people were born
stupid they only became more tiresome by schooling. She said
that she had forgotten all she learned at school except the
boundaries of ancient Cappadocia."

Aunt Jane's fearless sayings always passed current among her
nieces; and they drove on, Hope not being lowered in Philip's
estimation, nor raised in her own, by being the pet of a
passing countess.

Who would not be charmed (he thought to himself) by this noble
girl, who walks the earth fresh and strong as a Greek goddess,
pure as Diana, stately as Juno? She belongs to the unspoiled