Page:A Kentucky Cardinal.djvu/73

55 “Did she tell you to come?”

“No; but she didn’t keep me from coming. Whenever any one of us does anything improper we always say to each other, ‘It’s Georgiana’s fault. She ought not to have taught us to be so simple and unconventional.’”

“And is she the family governess?”

“She governs the family. There doesn’t seem to be any real government, but we all do as she says. You might think at first that Georgiana was the most light-headed member of the family, but she isn’t. She’s deep. I’m shallow in comparison with her. She calls me sophisticated, and introduces me as the elder Miss Cobb, and says that if I don’t stop reading Scott’s novels and learn more arithmetic she will put white caps on me, and make me walk to church in carpet slippers and with grandmother’s stick.”

“But you don’t seem to have stopped, Miss Sylvia.”