I knew, but I would not enlighten her. I knew that it was the excellent food that I now had, and the warm rooms to live in, and the good influence of a comfortable home. I was not going to betray myself, however. "You must be having a jolly time," said Hermione. "Oh! if anything were to give me a step-mother, I should pine and long for a sort of Grace Donnithorne." "She is a dear," I said. Hermione looked at me very gravely. "Dumps," she said, "you don't like her in your heart." "Hermione, how dare you say it?" "You know you don't. The moment I saw you I was certain of it." "I wish you wouldn't read people like that," I said. "I saw it, and I was sorry; for the fact is, you have only known Grace for a little--a very little--time." "For two months," I said. "And I have known her ever since I have known anybody at all." "Then, of course, it is natural that you should be fond of her." "Not at all. There are other people I have known, so to speak, from my birth. There is old Mr Chatterton, and there is Mrs Frazer. Now, I detest fussy Mrs Frazer, and I run away a mile from Mr Chatterton. It isn't the time I have known Grace, but because she is what she is." "Well, I suppose," I said, "you are going to give me a lecture about her?" "No, I am not; but I am simply going to say this--that you are in rare luck to have got the most amiable woman in the whole of Essex to be your step-mother. And then, Dumps dear, she is so jolly rich! She can give you all sorts of comforts. And what is more, she is awfully fond of you; she said so." "Fond of me? She couldn't be!" "She is, poor darling! She said so in such a loving and sad way just now. I know why she is sad; it is because you won't return her love." "Never mind," I said, jumping to my feet. I went over to the window and looked out. "Hermione," I said, "let us talk of something else." "Of course. For instance, how will you like your new school?" "What new school?" I sprang towards her; I took her by her shoulders; I turned her round. "Oh! have I let the cat out of the bag?" said Hermione. "Didn't you know you were going?" "There!" I said; "and yet you tell me to like her. Has she been planning this?" "It is awfully wrong of me to speak of it; but I thought, of course, you knew." "But I don't want to go." "Oh, won't you, though? Now look here, Dumps. You mustn't make a fuss; you must be patient; you must--you really must--for I am going with you. It's to a jolly, jolly school in Paris. We'll have a nice time--I know we shall." "Paris?" I said. Now, what London girl doesn't own to a secret hankering for Paris--Paris the gay, the fascinating, the beautiful? Nevertheless, after my first shock of pleasure I was very wary. I said after a pause, "Perhaps you had better not say any more." "No, I won't, as you didn't know. It's very odd; you'll be told probably to-morrow." "I suppose so," I said.