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to go there again. I will have a word to say to Helen! Why I ever listened to her— "

"But I will go back," Nefret said quietly "Not soon, but after I have learned what I must know, when I have read the books and learned their silly languages, and how to stick myself with a needle." She leaned toward me and put her hand on mine— a rare and meaningful gesture from so undemonstrative a girl
"I have been thinking, Aunt Amelia. This is my world and I must learn to live in it. The task will not be
so painful, there are many things I desire to learn. I must go to school. Oh, not to a place like that, it cannot teach me quickly enough, and I am not— quite— brave enough to face girls like those every day. You say I have a great deal of money. Will it pay for teachers who will come to me?"

"Yes, of course. I was about to suggest something of the sort, but I thought you needed time to rest and accustom yourself to— "

"I did, and I have had it These weeks with you, and the professor, and my brother Ramses, and my friends Gargery and the cat Bastet have been like the Christian Heaven my father told me about. But I cannot hide in my secret garden forever You had thought, I believe, to take me with you to Egypt this winter."

"Had thought . . ." For a moment I could not speak. I conquered the unworthy, contemptible emotion
that swelled my throat, and forced the words out. "We had, yes. You seem interested in archaeology— "

"I am, and one day, perhaps, I will pursue that study. But first it is necessary to learn many other things. Would Mrs. Evelyn and Mr. Walter Emerson let me stay with them this winter, do you think? If I have
so much money, I can pay them."

Tactfully, as is my wont, I explained that friends do not accept or offer payment for acts of kindness,
but in every other way the plan was exactly what I would have suggested myself, if I had dared to propose it. I could have hired tutors and teachers who would have stuffed Nefret with information like
a goose being fed for foie gras, but she could not learn from them what she really needed— the graciousness and deportment of a well-bred lady. There could be no better model than Evelyn, nor a more sympathetic guide. Walter could feed the girl's lust for learning while satisfying his own In short,
the solution was ideal. I had not proposed it because I did not wish to be accused, even by my own conscience, of neglecting my duty. Besides, I had not imagined for a moment that it would be considered acceptable by any of the parties concerned.

Now Nefret herself had proposed the scheme, and she stuck to her decision with a quiet determination that was impossible to combat. Emerson did his best to persuade her to change her mind, especially after Ramses, to the astonishment of everyone but myself, concluded that he would also remain in England
that winter.

"I don't know why you persist in arguing with him," I said to Emerson, who was storming up and down the library as is his habit when perturbed. "You know that when Ramses makes up his mind, he never changes it. Besides, the scheme has a number of things to recommend it."

Emerson stopped pacing and glared at me. "I see none."

"We have often discussed the one-sidedness of Ramses's education.

In some ways he is as ignorant as Nefret. Oh, I grant you, no one mummifies mice or mixes explosives better than Ramses, but those skills have limited utility. As for the social graces— "

Emerson let out a growling noise. Any mention of the social graces has that effect on him. "I told you,"
I went on, "about how the girls taunted Nefret."

My husband's handsome countenance reddened. Thwarted choler was responsible, he had been unable,
in this case, to apply his favorite redress for injustice. One cannot punch young ladies on the jaw or
thrash a respectable middle-aged headmistress. He looked rather forlorn as he stood there, his fists clenched and his shoulders squared, like a great bull tormented by the pricks and stabs of