The two young ladies smiled upon her, and reassured her. “You must not be discouraged. I am sure you have talent. It only wants a little hard work to master the principles; and then you go on so much easier afterwards,” they said. It puzzled Frances much that they did not produce their own sketches, which she thought would have been as good as a lesson to her; and it was not till long after that it dawned upon her that in this particular Maud and Ethel were defective. They knew how to do it, but could not do it; whereas she could do it without knowing how. “How is it, I wonder,” said one of them, changing the subject after a little polite pause, which suggested fatigue, “that Mrs Winterbourn is not here this year?” They looked at her for this information, to the consternation of Frances, who did not know how to reply. “You know I have not been long--here,” she said: she had intended to say at home, but the effort was beyond her--“and I don’t even know who Mrs Winterbourn is.” “Oh!” they both cried; and then for a minute there was nothing more. “You may think it strange of us to speak of it,” said Maud at length; “only, it always seemed so well understood; and we have always met her here.” “Oh, she goes everywhere,” cried Ethel. “There never was a word breathed against---- Please don’t think _that_, from anything we have said.” “On the contrary, mamma always says it is so wise of Lady Markham,” said Maud; “so much better that he should always meet her here.” Frances retired into herself with a confusion which she did not know how to account for. She did not in the least know what they meant, and yet she felt the colour rise in her cheek. She blushed for she knew not what; so that Maud and Ethel said to each other, afterwards: “She is a little hypocrite. She knew just as well as either you or I.”