She was a very beautiful young woman, but her expression was a little more serious than her twenty-two years warranted.
"You know I am not like that, mother," she protested.

"I have found one thing in life which interests me more than all this frivolous business of amusing oneself.

I shall never be happy--not really happy--until I have settled down to study hard.

My music is really the only part of life which absolutely appeals to me." Lady Ashleigh sighed.
"It seems so unnecessary," she murmured.

"Since Esther was married you are practically an only daughter, you are quite well off, and there are so many young men who want to marry you." Ella laughed gaily.
"That sort of thing may come later on, mother," she declared,--"I suppose I am only human like the rest of us--but to me the greatest thing in the whole world just now is music, my music.