Clara Hopgood

'Bootmaker!' said Miss Hannah with great scorn. 'I am surprised that

you venture to hint the remotest possibility of such a contingency.'

At last it was settled that the line should also be drawn outside the

druggist. Miss Hannah, however, had her revenge. A tanner in

Bermondsey with a house in Bedford Square, had sent two of his

children to Miss Pratt's seminary. Their mother found out that they

had struck up a friendship with a young person whose father

compounded prescriptions for her, and when she next visited Brighton

she called on Miss Pratt, reminded her that it was understood that

her pupils would 'all be taken from a superior class in society,' and

gently hinted that she could not allow Bedford Square to be

contaminated by Bond Street. Miss Pratt was most apologetic,

enlarged upon the druggist's respectability, and more particularly

upon his well-known piety and upon his generous contributions to the

cause of religion. This, indeed, was what decided her to make an

exception in his favour, and the piety also of his daughter was 'most

exemplary.' However, the tanner's lady, although a shining light in

the church herself, was not satisfied that a retail saint could

produce a proper companion for her own offspring, and went away

leaving Miss Pratt very uncomfortable.

'I warned you,' said Miss Hannah; 'I told you what would happen, and

as to Mr Hopgood, I suspected him from the first. Besides, he is

only a banker's clerk.'

'Well, what is to be done?'

'Put your foot down at once.' Miss Hannah suited the action to the

word, and put down, with emphasis, on the hearthrug a very large,

plate-shaped foot cased in a black felt shoe.

'But I cannot dismiss them. Don't you think it will be better, first

of all, to talk to Miss Hopgood? Perhaps we could do her some good.'

'Good! Now, do you think we can do any good to an atheist? Besides,

we have to consider our reputation. Whatever good we might do, it

would be believed that the infection remained.'

'We have no excuse for dismissing the other.'

'Excuse! none is needed, nor would any be justifiable. Excuses are

immoral. Say at once--of course politely and with regret--that the

school is established on a certain basis. It will be an advantage to

us if it is known why these girls do not remain. I will dictate the

letter, if you like.'

Miss Hannah Pratt had not received the education which had been given

to her younger sister, and therefore, was nominally subordinate, but

really she was chief. She considered it especially her duty not only

to look after the children's clothes, the servants and the accounts,

but to maintain TONE everywhere in the establishment, and to stiffen

her sister when necessary, and preserve in proper sharpness her

orthodoxy, both in theology and morals.