Mrs. Phillips’s only objection to Miss Melville was her Scotch accent; but, before six weeks had passed she had got over that, and thought being in London had softened it down very considerably, and she did not think the children were at all inclined to pick it up.  She began to wonder if the governess would not give her some help or some hints, for she was going to visit her husband’s relations in Derbyshire for a second time—­her first visit had not been very long—­and she hoped and wished that she might get on better than she had done before.  Her husband had never found any fault with her in the bush of Australia; but her blunders before his father, brother, and sisters had distressed him so much that he had spoken to her many times rather sharply in private about them.  Though she was a woman of a very indolent character, now that Jane managed all her housekeeping and her servants, wrote all her notes—­that, however, was a saving of time to her husband rather than to herself—­and relieved her a good deal from the worry of the children, she felt that she had some time on her hands, in spite of her going out a good deal to see and to be seen.  She was no reader, and had no taste for needlework; but she had the gift of being able to sit in an easy chair thinking of nothing in particular, and doing nothing at all, but looking so beautiful that one might have fancied her thoughts to be of the most elevated description.

One day, while in this state of luxurious ease, she asked Jane how long she had been at school, and opened her eyes a hair-breadth or two wider when she was told of the education so peculiar, so protracted, that Mr. Hogarth had given to his nieces, and that even after she had left off regular study, Jane had never ceased to be learning something.  Even now she was keeping up, partly for Tom Lowrie’s sake, and partly for her own gratification, some of those branches of learning that were likely to be useful to him, and corresponding with him every week on those subjects.

Mrs. Phillips sighed, and said she had been married at sixteen, and had been very little at school all her life.  She had always been moved from place to place when she was a girl, and there were no schools in the colony that were fit to teach young ladies then.  Even now, it was the children’s education that had been Mr. Phillips’s great inducement to come to England, and she liked it very much herself, there was so much to see in London.  But would Miss Melville think it very absurd if she were to propose to take lessons now?  Jane said she would not think it at all absurd; she was sure Mrs. Phillips would find it very pleasant.  But she was rather perplexed when the lady said that her chief ambition was to learn the pianoforte and how to make wax flowers.  She had no particular taste for music, and no artistic taste at all; but music and wax flowers were expensive, fashionable, and showy accomplishments, and these Mrs. Phillips desired to acquire.