"No," said Lavinia, who was of a straightforward, not to say blunt, nature, "I don't. It's not like England, and though my aunts are very kind, they're not like my grandmother." "You mean your grandmother Lovell, I suppose?" said Chester. "Yes," said Lavinia--"my father's mother." "My father's mother, too," said Ladybird. "But I don't care a cent about her; I'd rather have my aunties, who are no relation to me, than all the mothers my father ever had." "Ah, but you don't know Grandma Lovell!" said Lavinia. "No, I don't," said Ladybird, "and I don't want to." "But she's such a dear!" said Lavinia, with almost the first spark of enthusiasm she had shown since coming to America. "Why is she?" said Ladybird. "What does she do?" "Oh, she has such a jolly place in London, and we go out driving, and shopping, and even calling. I sit in the carriage while she goes in. Oh, we had beautiful times, and it's very different from this dull, stupid, farmy old place!" "Yes, it _is_ different," said Ladybird, seriously, "I know. I know all about shopping, and calling, and all those things. I did it in India, but I didn't like it one bit; and I think it's a thousand times nicer to be at Primrose Hall, with orchards and brooks and trees and birds and sunshine, and my aunts." "Oh, _do_ you?" said Lavinia. "Well, I'd rather have one year of London life than a thousand years of Primrose Hall." "Well, then, you're all right," said Ladybird, "for probably you can get one year of London life again before you die." "I hope so, I'm sure," said Lavinia, so earnestly that they all laughed. "And if I can help you in any way," said Ladybird, "I shall be very glad to." "I never saw anybody you couldn't help," said Stella; whereupon, for some reason, Chester kissed Ladybird, and they all went back to Primrose Hall for dinner. After dinner, the Flint ladies asked Stella and Mr. Humphreys into the drawing-room for a conference, from which Ladybird and Lavinia were excluded. "I have had a letter," began Miss Priscilla, "from London--from Mrs. Lovell, the mother of Jack Lovell, who married our sister Lavinia. In it she says that she is old and alone, and that she wants one of her son's daughters to live with her. She suggests that Ladybird should come, because, she says, we will naturally want to keep our own niece ourselves. She seems so positive of this that she takes the situation quite for granted and says that we are to send Ladybird over to her at the first opportunity. Now, of course, she is quite right in stating, as she does, that Lavinia is our own blood-niece, while Ladybird is no relation to us whatever; but she is not right in assuming that for those reasons we love Lavinia best." "Lavinia seems to be a very sweet girl," said Stella. And Miss Dorinda said: "She is indeed a sweet, modest, amiable young girl."