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 could, and had even nailed up some of the pictures on the walls; but there was hardly room to turn round, and when Ella sat on the bed her toes almost touched the opposite wall. What a change from the pretty, airy room that had once been her own!

Her eyes were so full of tears that she could hardly see to unpack, but she wiped them away presently, and took out her prettiest dress, a white muslin, with blue embroidery on the front and a wide sash of blue silk. She put this on, because she thought she might as well look her best, and went down to the drawing-room to wait for her stepmother’s return.

In a little while she heard the crunching of wheels on the drive outside, and then the banging of the front door, and the sound of high-pitched voices. It seemed as though a quarrel were going on, for the voices were very loud and very bad-tempered.

“I tell you, he bowed to me.”

“Stuff and nonsense! I’ll warrant he never even noticed you. He looked straight at me as he walked by the carriage, and I smiled in return.”

“Forward creature!— when you had never been introduced.”

“Minx!”

“Cat!”

And so the two went on, snapping and snarling, until a deeper voice put in, “For goodness’ sake stop your bickering, you two; do now, and help me off with this turban. I don’t expect he bowed to either of you; and