"There isn't a great deal of news to relate," replied Brenda. "I am invited to spend the eighth of July with my dear sister at that celebrated school, Hazlitt Chase. She has simply written me an itinerary of trains. I fear I shall have to leave here very early in the morning, and you--my dear _petites_--will be deprived of your governess for the entire day, for I shall not be home until midnight." "Oh dear!" cried Nina. "We thought you were going to spend the night away!" She looked slightly disappointed and glanced at her sisters. "Any little fun on?" asked Brenda, interpreting the glances between the three according to her own sweet will. "No, no--nothing in particular--nothing at all in particular; only we thought you would have so much to tell us when you came back again." "I shall have a good deal to tell you. Do you know; that my wonderful young sister is to be Helen of Troy?" "Whoever is she?" yawned Fanchon. "Never heard of her, and never want to," cried Nina. "Is she one of the dead-and-gones?" exclaimed Josephine. "I hate all dead-and-gones, don't you, girls?" "Yes--loathe them!" exclaimed the other sisters. Brenda laughed. "Look here," she said. "I must have a special dress, and a very, very pretty one to go to Hazlitt Chase. I was thinking of getting a pale blue silk--" "Blue--silk!" exclaimed all three. "Silk, Brenda? But surely your money--I mean your salary, poor darling, doesn't run to that!" cried Nina, who had a more caressing way than her sisters. "Whether my salary runs to it or not, I mean to get it," said Brenda--"a very pale shade and plenty of white lace with it, and a white lace scarf, such as is worn so much now, on my shoulders. Ah, your governess will look one of the prettiest girls at the fete, and won't you be pleased, _mes enfants_?" Brenda scarcely knew a word of French, but was fond of interlarding her conversation with a few simple sentences. These had an excellent effect as far as the Reverend Josiah was concerned, but the girls had no respect for them, being well aware of the shallowness of their darling Brenda's pretensions with regard to the French tongue. "Well," said Nina--"and how are you going to get the dress?" "I am going now--in a few minutes--to see your father, and will ask him to let us have the pony and trap. Then we can all drive to Rocheford, where there is a very good draper's shop. There I will buy a silk and get Madame Declasse, in the High Street, to make it for me in time." "But father won't know you in blue silk." "I don't want him to. Do you suppose, for a minute, you little geese, that I am going to tell him it is on my account I want the pony and trap? Is it likely he would accede to the wishes of a poor little governess? Not I, _mes enfants_--not I. You three dear things are to be the innocent cause of our drive to Rocheford. Don't you suppose that you want any cotton frocks for the seaside?"