"
"I skated with Miss de Vigne nearly all the afternoon," observed Sir
Eustace. "But she is a regular ice-maiden. I couldn't get any enthusiasm
out of her. Tell me, is she like that all through? Or is it just a pose?"
"Oh, I don't know," Dinah said. "I've never got through the outer crust.
But then of course I'm far beneath her."
"How so?" asked Sir Eustace.
She laughed up at him with the happy confidence of a child. "Can't you
see it for yourself? I--I am a mere guttersnipe compared to the de
Vignes. They live in a great house with lots of servants and cars. They
never do a thing for themselves. I don't suppose Rose could do her hair
to save her life. While we--we live in a tumble-down, ramshackle old
place, and do all the work ourselves. I've never been away from home in
my life before. You see, we're poor, and Billy's schooling takes up a lot
of money. I had to leave school when he first went as a boarder. And that
is three years ago now. So I have forgotten all I ever learnt."
"Except dancing," he suggested.
"Oh, well, that's born in me. I couldn't very well forget that. My
mother--" Dinah hesitated momentarily--"my mother was a dancer before she
married."
"And she taught you?" asked Sir Eustace.
"No, no! She never taught me anything except useful things--like cooking
and sewing and house-work. And I detest them all," said Dinah frankly.
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