Would the Lord Chancellor be after her if she did? Her heart quite
yearned for those games, or even to be able to talk to one of those
little damsels; and one day when a bright-faced girl ran after her
with a piece of weed that she had dropped, she could hardly say
"thank you" for her longing to say more; and many were the harangues
she composed within herself to warn the others not to wish to change
places with her, for to be a countess was very poor fun indeed.
However, one morning at the end of the first week, Kate looked up
from a letter from Sylvia, and said with great glee, "Aunt Barbara!
O Aunt Barbara! Alice and the other Sylvia--Sylvia Joanna--are
coming! I may play with them, mayn't I?"
"Who are they?" said her aunt gravely.
"Uncle Wardour's nieces," said Kate; "Sylvia's cousins, you know,
only we never saw them; but they are just my age; and it will be such
fun--only Alice is ill, I believe. Pray--please--let me play with
them!" and Kate had tears in her eyes.
"I shall see about it when they come."
"Oh, but--but I can't have them there--Sylvia's own, own cousins--and
not play with them! Please, Aunt Barbara!"
"You ought to know that this impetuosity never disposes me
favourably, Katharine; I will inquire and consider."
Kate had learnt wisdom enough not to say any more just then; but the
thought of sociability, the notion of chattering freely to young
companions, and of a real game at play, and the terror of having all
this withheld, and of being thought too proud and haughty for the
Wardours, put her into such an agony, that she did not know what she
was about, made mistakes even in reading, and blundered her music
more than she had over done under Lady Barbara's teaching; and then,
when her aunt reproved her, she could not help laying down her head
and bursting into a fit of crying.
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