Isabel.  Oh, no, no! we won’t be diamonds, please.

L, Yes, you shall, Isabel; they are very pretty things, if the jewelers, and the kings and queens, would only let them alone.  You shall make diamonds of yourselves, and rubies of yourselves, and emeralds; and Irish diamonds; two of those—­with Lily in the middle of one, which will be very orderly, of course; and Kathleen in the middle of the other, for which we will hope the best; and you shall make Derbyshire spar of yourselves, and Iceland spar, and gold, and silver, and—­Quicksilver there’s enough of in you, without any making.

Mary.  Now you know, the children will be getting quite wild we must really get pencils and paper, and begin properly.

L. Wait a minute, Miss Mary, I think as we the schoolroom clear to-day, I’ll try to give you some notion of the three great orders or ranks of crystals, into which all the others seem more or less to fall.  We shall only want one figure a day, in the playground, and that can be drawn in a minute:  but the general ideas had better be fastened first.  I must show you a great many minerals; so let me have three tables wheeled into the three windows, that we may keep our specimens separate;—­we will keep the three orders of crystals on separate tables.

(First Interlude of pushing and pulling, and spreading of baize covers.  Violet, not particularly minding what she is about, gets herself jammed into a corner, and bid to stand out of the way; on which she devotes herself to meditation.)

Violet (after interval of meditation).  How strange it is that everything seems to divide into threes!

L. Everything doesn’t divide into threes.  Ivy won’t, though shamrock will, and daisies won’t though lilies will.

Violet.  But all the nicest things seem to divide into threes.

L. Violets won’t.

Violet.  No; I should think not, indeed!  But I mean the great things.

L. I’ve always heard the globe had four quarters.

Isabel.  Well; but you know you said it hadn’t any quarters at all. 
So mayn’t it really be divided into three?

L. If it were divided into no more than three, on the outside of it, Isabel, it would be a fine world to live in; and if it were divided into three in the inside of it, it would soon be no world to live in at all.

Dora.  We shall never get to the crystals, at this rate. (Aside to Mary.) He will get off into political economy before we know where we are. (Aloud.) But the crystals are divided into three, then?

L. No; but there are three general notions by which we may best get hold of them.  Then between these notions there are other notions.

Lily (alarmed).  A great many?  And shall we have to learn them all?

L. More than a great many—­a quite infinite many.  So you cannot learn them all.