A Duet (with an occasional chorus) | Page 8

some one would jump up like a Jack-in-the-box and
make a scene in the church. How relieved I was when he changed the
subject! I sank my face in my hands, but I know that I was blushing all
down my neck. Then I looked at you between my fingers, and there you
were sitting quite cool and cheerful, as if you rather liked it. I think that
we shall go to evening-service next week. Papa has given up going
altogether since the new organist came. He says he cannot face the
music.
What a sweet time we had together. I shall never, never forget it! O
Frank, how good you are to me! And how I hope you won't regret what
you are doing. It is all very well just now, when I am young and you
think that I am pretty. I love that you should think so, but I am
compelled to tell you that it is not really so. I can't imagine how you
came to think it! I suppose it was from seeing me so often beside papa.
If you saw me near Nelly Sheridan, or any other REALLY pretty girl,
you would at once see the difference. It just happens that you like grey
eyes and brown hair, and the other things, but that does not mean that I
am really pretty. I should be so sorry if there were any
misunderstanding about this, and you only found out when too late.
You ought to keep this letter for reference, as papa always says, and
then it will be interesting to you afterwards.
I should like you to see me now--or rather I wouldn't have you see me
for the world. I am so flushed and untidy, for I have been cooking. Is it
not absurd, if you come to think of it, that we girls should be taught the
irregular French verbs, and the geography of China, and never to cook
the simplest thing? It really does seem ridiculous.
But it is never too late to mend, so I went into the kitchen this morning
and made a tart. You can't imagine what a lot of things one needs even
for such a simple thing as that. I thought cook was joking when she put
them all down in front of me. It was like a conjurer giving his

performance. There was an empty bowl, and a bowl full of sliced
apples, and a big board, and a rolling-pin, and eggs, and butter, and
sugar, and cloves, and of course flour. We broke eggs and put them into
a bowl--you can't think what a mess an egg makes when it misses the
bowl. Then we stirred them up with flour and butter and things. I
stirred until I was perfectly exhausted. No wonder a cook has usually a
great thick arm. Then when it had formed a paste, we rolled it out, and
put the apples in the dish, and roofed it in, and trimmed the edges, and
stuck flat leaves made of paste all over it, and the dearest little crown in
the middle. Then we put it into the oven until it was brown. It looked a
very nice tart, and mamma said that I had made it very solidly. It
certainly did feel very heavy for its size. Mamma would not taste it,
because she said that she thought Dr. Tristram would not approve of
her doing so, but I had a piece, and really it was not so bad. Mamma
said the servants might have it at dinner, but the servants said that the
poor window-cleaner had a large family, and so we gave it to him. It is
so sweet to feel that one is of any use to any one.
What do you think happened this morning? Two wedding-presents
arrived. The first was a very nice fish slice and fork in a case. It was
from dear old Mrs. Jones Beyrick, on whom we really had no claim
whatever. We all think it so kind of her, and such a nice fish-slice. The
other was a beautiful travelling-bag from Uncle Arthur. Stamped in
gold upon it were the letters M.C., I said, 'Oh, what a pity! They have
put the wrong initials.' That made mamma laugh. I suppose one soon
gets used to it. Fancy how you would feel if it were the other way about,
and you changed your name to mine. They might call you Selby, but
you would continue to feel Crosse. I didn't mean that for a joke, but
women make jokes without intending it. The other day the curate drove
up in his donkey-cart, and mother said, 'Oh, what a nice tandem!' I
think that she meant to say 'turn- out'; but papa