"
"I shall do my duty, Katharine," was all the answer she obtained; and
she pinched her chair with suppressed passion.
Lady Barbara was right in saying that it was her duty to see that the
child under her charge learnt what is usually expected of ladies; and
though Kate could never acquire music enough to give pleasure to
others, yet the training and discipline were likely not only to
improve her ear and untamed voice, but to be good for her whole
character--that is, if she had made a good use of them. But in these
times, being usually already out of temper with the difficult answers
of the Catechism questions, and obliged to keep in her pettish
feelings towards what concerned sacred things, she let all out in the
music lesson, and with her murmurs and her inattention, her yawns and
her blunders, rendered herself infinitely more dull and unmusical
than nature had made her, and was a grievous torment to poor Mrs.
Lacy, and her patient, "One, two, three--now, my dear."
Kate thought it was Mrs. Lacy who tormented her! I wonder which was
the worse to the other! At any rate, Mrs. Lacy's heavy eyes looked
heavier, and she moved as though wearied out for the whole day by the
time the clock struck nine, and released them; whilst her pupil, who
never was cross long together, took a hop, skip, and jump, to the
dining-room, and was as fresh as ever in the eager hope that the post
would bring a letter from home.
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