Lady Bertram made no opposition. It was indeed a fine excuse to visit the attic more often. The little white attic—oh, if only they knew what treasure reposed just next door—

“I hope she will prove a well-disposed girl,” continued Mrs. Norris, “and be sensible of her uncommon good fortune.”

“Should her disposition be really bad,” said Sir Thomas, “we must not, for our own children’s sake, continue her in the family. But there is no reason to expect so great an evil. We shall probably see much to wish altered in her. We must prepare ourselves for gross ignorance, some meanness of opinions, and very distressing vulgarity of manner. But these are not incurable faults. Nor, I trust, can they be dangerous for her associates. Had my daughters been younger than herself, I should have considered the introduction of such a companion as a matter of very serious moment. But, as it is, I hope there can be nothing to fear for them, and everything to hope for her, from the association.”

“That is exactly what I think,” cried Mrs. Norris, “and what I was saying to my husband this morning. It will be an education for the child. Merely being with her cousins; if Miss Lee taught her nothing, she would learn to be good and clever from them.”

“I hope she will not tease my poor pug,” said Lady Bertram; “I have but just got Julia to leave it alone. She must also be very careful of the Egyptian items of my fine collection, taking great care not to touch or smear with unclean fingers, or, Heaven forbid, drop and break anything so precious and costly.”

“There will be some difficulty in our way, Mrs. Norris,” observed Sir Thomas, thinking in the meantime that an Egyptian thing or two dropped and broken would not be such a bad thing, “as to the distinction proper to be made between the girls as they grow up. How to preserve in the minds of my daughters the consciousness of what they are, without making them think too lowly of their cousin. And how, without depressing her spirits too far, to make her remember that she is not a Miss Bertram. I should wish to see them very good friends, and would not authorise in my girls the smallest degree of arrogance towards their relation. But still they cannot be equals. Their rank, fortune, rights, ability to catalogue entrails extraction tools from Luxor, and expectations will always be different. It is a point of great delicacy, and you must assist us in chusing exactly the right line of conduct.”

Mrs. Norris agreed with him as to its difficulty but encouraged hope that it would be managed.