The coming visit had been spoken of almost with awe, and there was a general conviction in the dovecote that an evil thing had fallen upon them.

Consequently, their affection to the new-comer, though spoken in words, was not made evident by signs and manners.

Lizzie herself took care that the position in which she was received should be sufficiently declared.
"It seems so odd that I am to come among you as a sister," she said.
The girls were forced to assent to the claim, but they assented coldly.

"He has told me to attach myself especially to you," she whispered to Augusta.

The unfortunate chosen one, who had but little strength of her own, accepted the position, and then, as the only means of escaping the embraces of her newly-found sister, pleaded the violence of a headache.