"A friend in my mother's house?" he
asked.
"Certainly!"
"Who is it?"
"Miss Minerva."
"What!" His tone expressed such immeasurable amazement, that Carmina's
sense of justice was roused in defence of her new friend.
"If I began by wronging Miss Minerva, I had the excuse of being a
stranger," she said, warmly. "You have known her for years, and you
ought to have found out her good qualities long since! Are all men
alike, I wonder? Even my kind dear father used to call ugly women the
inexcusable mistakes of Nature. Poor Miss Minerva says herself she is
ugly, and expects everybody to misjudge her accordingly. I don't
misjudge her, for one. Teresa has left me; and you are going away next.
A miserable prospect, Ovid, but not quite without hope. Frances--yes, I
call her by her Christian name, and she calls me by mine!--Frances will
console me, and make my life as happy as it can be till you come back."
Excepting bad temper, and merciless cultivation of the minds of
children, Ovid knew of nothing that justified his prejudice against the
governess. Still, Carmina's sudden conversion inspired him with
something like alarm. "I suppose you have good reasons for what you
tell me," he said.
"The best reasons," she replied, in the most positive manner.
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