'
'I have not time for it,' said Elizabeth, 'nor patience if I had
time. It is all I can persuade myself to do to keep my clothes from
being absolute rags.'
'Yes,' said Katherine; 'you always read with Meg in your lap, when
you have no mending to do; you have been six months braiding that
frock.'
'Oh! that is company work,' said Elizabeth; 'I began it at Merton
Hall for Dora, but I believe Winifred must have it now. But now it
is so nearly done, that I shall finish while you are here.'
Elizabeth did not however long continue working, for as soon as tea
was over she proposed to play at the game of Conglomeration, as she
had talked of doing in the course of the walk. 'I give notice,
however,' said she, 'that we are likely to laugh more than will suit
the gravity of the elders, therefore I recommend adjourning to the
inner drawing-room.--Mamma, may we have candles there?'
Consent was given, and while the candles were being brought, and
Elizabeth was looking out some paper, Anne whispered to her brother,
'Rupert, pray say nothing about Fido, or the Mechanics' Institute, or
something unpleasant will surely come of it.
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