"Now, tell me, child, tell me," he said. "What did they do? What class
did they put you into?"
"I am in the third remove; a very good class indeed--at least they all
said so, grandfather."
"I don't understand your modern names; but tell me what you have got to
learn, dear. What sort of lessons are they going to put into that smart
little head of yours?"
"Oh, all the best things, grandfather--French, German, English in all
its branches, music, and Latin if I like. I am determined to take up
Latin; I want to get to the heart of things."
"Quite right--quite right, too. And you are ever so pleased at having
got in?"
"It does seem a grand thing for me, doesn't it, grandfather?"
"Most of the girls are ladies, aren't they?"
"It is a big school--between three and four hundred girls. I don't
suppose they are all ladies."
"Well, you are, anyhow, my little Ruth."
"Am I, granddad? That is the question."
"What do you think yourself?"
"I think so; but what does the world say?"
"Ruth, I never told you, but your mother was a lady. You know what your
father was. I saved and stinted and toiled and got him a commission in
the army. He died, poor fellow, shortly after you were born. But he was
a commissioned officer in the Punjab Infantry. Your mother was a
governess, but she was a lady by birth; her father was a clergyman. Your
parents met in India; they fell in love, and married. Your mother died
at your birth, and you came home to us.
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