SCHOOL DAYS AT ST. MARY'S.

 "cc Oh, I know she is. You know Major Symonds,
Susan, he lives near us ? Well, once at a dinner party,
there, mamma and Anna met Miss Wilmot (she was
staying in the house), and Anna said the way she went
on was unbearable."
 "How ?" said the others.
 "Why, old Major Symonds has a fancy for curious
ferns and flowers, and all that sort of thing; and when
the gentlemen came into the drawing-room after dinner,
of course, no one expected that little Lucy Wilmot
would engross all the attention, or nearly all; but she
did. A gentleman was there who was talking about
the bee orchis, and no one had seen one; and then
Major Symonds said, 'Oh, Lucy is sure to know all
about it,' and so he came for her; and there they were
looking through a horrid old musty Hortus siccus-
she and three or four gentlemen; mamma said she
was quite horrified."
 And did she know about the bee orchis ?"
 "Oh, yes, of course; because she comes from
Wiltshire, and it grows on chalk downs I suppose;
but Anna said really it was insufferable the way she
talked."
 "I dare say she would have liked to be in her
place," said Lydia, maliciously.
 "Not she, indeed !"
 Well, but if she was referred to she was obliged
to talk," said Susan.
 "She might have come away sooner; but there
she stood, and chattered like anything, till some one
asked for some music; and then, actually young Mr.
Morton, Sir Edward Morton's son, you know, took
her to the piano, and she only a curate's daughter !"
 She plays very well," said Lydia.
 "Yes, she does, in a certain style; but then, you