Doris at this time is much taken up with needlework, her five pounds having been expended chiefly in materials for underclothing, boots and shoes, and other really necessary things for a prolonged visit abroad.
"I would far rather your aunt found you a little badly off as regards dresses or hats, than in linen and such things," said Mrs. Merivale sensibly. "Your aunt is a generous woman, and if she finds that her present has been wisely spent, I do not suppose she will let you suffer in the matter of dresses."
So between them all they had managed to cut out these garments, and Mrs. Merivale and Doris are busily engaged in making them, with occasional assistance from the others.
Doris, therefore, is often to be found upstairs also; and Honor and Molly, having suddenly awakened to the necessity of their sister being able upon her arrival on foreign shores to say a sentence or two in French without utterly disgracing herself, they form a sort of class, which Doris (under protest) is made to join.
"And for one whole mortal hour," said Doris, complaining to Hugh Horton afterwards, "did we sit like three noodles, hammering away at French conversation, Molly with a huge dictionary at her elbow, and both she and Honor pretending they liked it. You may imagine that _my_ remarks were few and far between. They call it 'rubbing up' my French, you know; and I'm sure it is all labour thrown away, for all the rubbing up in the world, even with the best French polish, would never make me express myself decently in any language but my own. And to tell you the truth, Hugh," lowering her voice, "I am not always so _very_ confident of doing that. It's dreadfully shocking, of course, but none the less true."
And so there is often quite an industrious party to be found up in the attic studio, with the windows wide open, letting in the sweet soft air, laden with the scent of the rich grass (so soon to fall beneath the scythe), and the multitudes of early summer flowers; and the girls feel that they are happier in their busy useful life, even though there are still crosses and trials for all to bear at times, than in former days, when living a life of luxury and ease. There is one never-to-be-forgotten sorrow which all share, however, and though some time has elapsed now since their kind and indulgent father passed away, his memory is still as fresh as ever in their young minds. It is, indeed, a common thing with them all, even still, to study what probably would have been his wishes in settling little matters concerning their own affairs, saying to themselves, "I wonder if father would have approved," or "I think that would have pleased father," showing, therefore, that the good influence of his gentle though firm training still remains with them.