He surveyed us in silence a little while, and then he
said, 'My young friends, you have played your little game pretty well,
especially you, Zoe, that are a novice in the fine arts compared with
Miss Dover.' Histrionic talent ought to be rewarded; he would relent, and
take us abroad, on one condition: there must be a chaperone. 'All the
better,' said we hypocrites, eagerly; 'and who?'"
"'Oh, a person equal to the occasion--an old maid as bitter against men
as ever grapes were sour. She would follow us upstairs, downstairs, and
into my lady's chamber. She would have an eye at the key-hole by day, and
an ear by night, when we went up to bed and talked over the events of our
frivolous day.' In short, he enumerated our duenna's perfections till our
blood ran cold; and it was ever so long before he would tell us who it
was-- Aunt Maitland. We screamed with surprise. They are like cat and
dog, and never agree, except to differ. We sought an explanation of this
strange choice. He obliged us. It was not for his gratification he took
the old cat; it was for us. She would relieve him of a vast
responsibility. The vices of her character would prove too strong for the
little faults of ours, which were only volatility, frivolity,
flirtation-- I will _not_ tell you what he said.
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