“Oh, you have come!” she exclaimed; “Primrose is in the village—­she has gone to Mr. Danesfield about our money.  Please come into the drawing-room.  We are rather upset, for we are beginning to pack, and Hannah is washing out the anti-macassars and the white muslin curtains, for we think the muslin curtains will look so nice in our cheap lodgings.  We are very busy, awfully busy, but do come in and sit down.  Eyebright, here is Mrs. Ellsworthy.  Mrs. Ellsworthy, isn’t Eyebright a silly?—­she is quite fretting because she won’t see those last seeds of hers come up in the garden.  Now, if she was asked to leave the Pink I would say nothing, but of course the Pink comes too.”

“Yes, dear, and Daisy shall have plenty of garden ground for fresh seeds.  Oh! my dear children,” continued Mrs. Ellsworthy, “I shall be so delighted to welcome you all to Shortlands, only I think you might have replied to my letter.”

Mrs. Ellsworthy was by this time seated in a low arm-chair by the window, and Jasmine was standing before her, while Daisy sat demurely on the floor, and folded up the anti-macassars.

“We might have answered your letter?” repeated Jasmine.  “Well now, do you know, to be quite frank and open, your letter was a little bit of a lecture.  You did give it to darling old Primrose, and somehow or other you made Daisy cry.  You spoke about a plan, and you said it was a delightful plan, but—­but before we read that part of your letter Primrose thought of another plan of her own, and it was so exquisite, so perfect, that we tore up your plan for fear we should be tempted by it.  We don’t know your plan, Mrs. Ellsworthy, and we don’t want it, for we have made our own, and ours is—­yes, ours is lovely!”

Mrs. Ellsworthy had an expressive face, and while Jasmine was talking it changed and grew anxious; her husband’s words, “She is not our Jasmine yet,” returned to her.  Like many rich and pretty women, she was unaccustomed to opposition, and when it came it but whetted her desire, and made her also feel irritable.

“It is rude to tear up the letters of kind friends,” she said.  “I made a proposal which would have been in every way suitable to you girls, and you did not even trouble yourselves to read it.  No, my loves, I am not angry.  Daisy, come and give me a kiss; Jasmine, hold my hand.  Now shall I tell you the little plan which you would not read about last night?”

“Oh, we would not be rude to you for the world,” said Jasmine.  “Daisy, come here, and give Mrs. Ellsworthy one of your sweetest kisses.  Of course I will hold your hand—­I love you, and so does Daisy, and so does—­”

“No, so does not Primrose,” answered Mrs. Ellsworthy.  “Primrose is the opposing element—­still I trust I may conquer her.  Now, my children, may I tell the plan?”

“Oh yes, do tell us,” they both answered; but Jasmine added, “It will not be of the slightest use, for we have made our own.”