CHAPTER I.

OPENING THE SCHOOL.


Mrs. Merriman and Lucy were standing at the white gates of Sunnyside,
waiting for the arrival of the girls. Mrs. Merriman had soft brown hair,
soft brown eyes to match, and a kindly, gentle face. Lucy was somewhat
prim, very neat in her person, with thick fair hair which she wore in
two long plaits far below her waist, a face full of intensity and
determination, and a slightly set and formal way of speaking.

"Aren't you at all excited about their arrival?" said Mrs. Merriman,
turning to her daughter as she spoke. "It will make a great change in
the house, will it not?"

"How many of them are there, mother?" was Lucy's response.

"Oh, my dear child, how often I have explained all to you! There's Laura
Everett, my dear friend Lady Everett's only daughter; then there is
Annie Millar, whom I do not know anything about--but she is a friend of
Laura's, and that alone is recommendation enough."

"Laura Everett, Annie Millar," quoted Lucy in a low tone. "Have you seen
either of them, mother?"

"No, dear, of course not."