Miss Buckston felt it, indeed, more than Althea, whose attitude towards her own native land had always been one of affectionate apology.
'Nice creatures,' said Miss Buckston, 'undisciplined and mannerless as they are; but that's a failing they share with our younger generation.

I see more hope for your country in that type than in anything else you can show me.

They are solid, and don't ape anything.' So by degrees a species of friendship grew up between Miss Buckston and the girls, who said that she was a jolly old thing, and more fun than a goat, especially when she sang Bach.

Mildred and Dorothy sang exceptionally well and were highly equipped musicians.
Althea could not have said why it was, but this progress to friendliness between her cousins and Miss Buckston made her feel, as she had felt in the Paris hotel drawing-room over a month ago, jaded and unsuccessful.
So did the fact that the vicar's eldest son, a handsome young soldier with a low forehead and' a loud laugh, fell in love with Dorothy.

That young men should fall in love with them was another of the pleasant things that Mildred and Dorothy took for granted.