At the table were seated seven little girls, of ages from eight to thirteen, all poorly clad, yet all looking remarkably joyous, and eating with much evidence of appetite.

At the head of the table was a woman of middle age and motherly aspect--Mrs.
Mapper.

She had the superintendence of the convalescents whom the lady of the house received and sent back to their homes in London better physically and morally than they had ever been in their lives before.
The children did not notice that Mrs.Ormonde and her companion had entered; they were chatting gaily over their meal.

Now and then one of them drew a gentle word of correction from Mrs.Mapper, but on the whole they needed no rebuke.

Those who had been longest in the house speedily instructed new arrivals in the behaviour they had learned to deem becoming.