She did not like to give up her argument. "It's so
very low-lived to get up with the sun. I don't think real ladies ever
do it."
"You think 'real ladies' wait until the sun has been up a few hours and
warmed the earth for them?"
"Y--es," said Caroline. But it was not spoken very readily, for she had
a suspicion that Miss Channing was laughing at her.
"May I ask where you have acquired your notions of 'real ladies,'
Caroline?"
Caroline pouted. "Don't you call Colonel Jolliffe's daughters ladies,
Miss Channing?"
"Yes--in position."
"That's where we went yesterday, you know. Mary Jolliffe says she never
gets up until half-past eight, and that it is not lady-like to get up
earlier. Real ladies don't, Miss Channing."
"My dear, shall I relate to you an anecdote that I have heard?"
"Oh, yes!" replied Caroline, her listless mood changing to animation;
anecdotes, or anything of that desultory kind, being far more
acceptable to the young lady than lessons.
"Before I begin, will you tell me whether you condescend to admit that
our good Queen is a 'real lady'?"
"Oh, Miss Channing, now you are laughing at me! As if any one, in all
England, could be so great a lady as the Queen."
"Very good. When she was a little girl, a child of her own age, the
daughter of one of the nobility, was brought to Kensington Palace to
spend the day with her. In talking together, the Princess Victoria
mentioned something she had seen when out of doors that morning at
seven o'clock.
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