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‘What blindness!’ cried her aunt; ‘how can people shut their eyes to such a treasure? And–and may I just have one look? What, you really don’t want them?–I may keep them for my very own? You precious love! Ah, I know a humble home where you would be appreciated at your proper worth. What would I not give for my poor naughty Belle and Cathie to have the advantage of seeing more of such a cousin!’

‘I don’t know whether I could do them much good,’ said Priscilla, ‘but I would try my best.’

‘I am sure you would!’ said Aunt Margarine, ‘and now, dearest sweet, I am going to ask your dear mamma to spare you to us for just a little while; we must both beg very hard.’

‘I’ll go and tell nurse to pack my things now, and then I can go away with you,’ said the little girl.

When her mother heard of the invitation, she consented quite willingly. ‘To tell you the truth, Margarine,’ she said, ‘I shall be very glad for the child to have a change. She seems a little unhappy at home with us, and she behaved most unlike her usual self at lunch; it can’t be natural for a child of her age to chew large glass beads. Did your Cathie and Belle ever do such a thing?’

‘Never,’ said Aunt Margarine, coughing. ‘It is a habit that certainly ought to be checked, and I promise you, my dear Lucy, that if you will only trust Priscilla to me, I will take away anything of that kind the very moment I find it. And I do think, poor as we are, we shall manage to make her feel at home. We are all so fond of your sweet Priscilla!’

So the end of it was that Priscilla went to stay with her aunt that very afternoon, and her family bore the parting with the greatest composure.

‘I can’t give you nice food, or a pretty bedroom to sleep in such as you have at home,’ said her kind aunt. ‘We are very plain people, my pet; but at least we can promise you a warm welcome.’

‘Oh, auntie,’ protested Priscilla, ‘you mustn’t think I mind a little hardship! Why, if beds weren’t hard and food not nicely cooked now and then, we should soon grow too luxurious to do our duty, and that would be so very bad for us!’

‘Oh, what beauties!’ cried her aunt, involuntarily, as she stooped to recover several sparkling gems from the floor of the cab. ‘I mean–it’s better to pick them up, dear, don’t you think? they might get in people’s way, you know. What a blessing you will be in our simple home! I want you to do all you can to instruct your cousins; don’t be afraid of telling them of any faults you may happen to see. Poor Cathie and Belle, I fear they are very far from being all they should be!’ and Aunt Margarine heaved a sigh.

‘Never mind, auntie; they will be better in time, I am sure. I wasn’t always a good girl.’

Priscilla thoroughly enjoyed the first few days of her visit; even her aunt was only too grateful for instruction, and begged that Priscilla would tell her, quite candidly, of any shortcomings she might notice. And Priscilla, very kindly and considerately, always did tell her. Belle and Catherine were less docile, and she saw that it would take her some time to win their esteem and affection; but this was just what Priscilla liked: it was the usual experience of the heroines in the books, and much more interesting, too, than conquering her cousins’ hearts at once.

Still, both Catherine and Belle persistently hardened their hearts against their gentle little cousin in the unkindest way; they would scarcely speak to her, and chose to make a grievance out of the fact that one or other of them was obliged, by their mother’s strict orders, to be constantly in attendance upon her, in order to pick up and bring Mrs. Hoyle all the jewels that Priscilla scattered in profusion wherever she went.