“They certainly are alike,” he thought. “They would do splendidly in a picture as ‘_Les Sœurs_,’” and then, as Edith was ready, he walked by her side with Gertie in attendance, until they reached the place where their paths diverged, and Gertie said “good-by,” while Edith and Robert went leisurely toward the house. CHAPTER XXX. COMPANY AT SCHUYLER HILL. In the course of two or three weeks nearly everybody of any social standing in Hampstead called upon the bride. Mrs. Barton and her daughter Rosamond from the Ridge drove over at a very early day, much to the discomfiture of Miss Rossiter, who had told her nieces in confidence that “Mrs. Barton had no intention of calling upon a governess,” that “Mrs. Schuyler need not expect much attention from the _beau monde_.” Great, then, was her surprise when she went down to meet them; and greeted them a little coldly even while affecting to appropriate their call to herself. But neither Mrs. Barton nor Rosamond seemed to notice her perturbation, and both were delighted with Mrs. Schuyler, who looked and appeared as if all her life had been passed amid just such surroundings as these at Schuyler Hill. Miss Rossiter saw this, and thought best to change her tactics altogether; and when, as she accompanied her friend to the door, the latter said to her, “I find your sister-in-law very charming,” she replied: “Yes, I am glad you like her; and it was so kind in you to call. I appreciate it, I assure you.” And this was the ground she constantly took. Whoever called came expressly for her sake and the sake of the family, rather than from any desire to be polite to the bride. “The Schuylers are so highly respected, and sister Emily was such a favorite with everybody that you must expect attention, of course,” she would say to Edith, who smiled quietly, and understood what was meant quite as well as if it had been put in plainer words. Miss Rossiter did not like her, but had she been asked a reason for her dislike she could not have given one or brought a single accusation against Edith, except that she was not to the purple born, and was there in Emily’s place. That was all, and that was enough. She had declared war against her, and she meant to carry it out.