Always trotting , chatting , and bustling , she was a regular Martha , cumbered with the cares of this world and quite happy in them . Rose was right ; and while she softly read psalms to Aunt Peace , the other ladies were talking about her little self in the frankest manner . `` Well , Alec , how do you like your ward ? '' began Aunt Jane , as they all settled down , and Uncle Mac deposited himself in a corner to finish his doze . `` I should like her better if I could have begun at the beginning , and so got a fair start . Poor George led such a solitary life that the child has suffered in many ways , and since he died she has been going on worse than ever , judging from the state I find her in . '' `` My dear boy , we did what we thought best while waiting for you to wind up your affairs and get home . I always told George he was wrong to bring her up as he did ; but he never took my advice , and now here we are with this poor dear child upon our hands . I , for one , freely confess that I do n't know what to do with her any more than if she was one of those strange , outlandish birds you used to bring home from foreign parts . '' And Aunt Plenty gave a perplexed shake of the head which caused great commotion among the stiff loops of purple ribbon that bristled all over the cap like crocus buds . `` If my advice had been taken , she would have remained at the excellent school where I placed her . But our aunt thought best to remove her because she complained , and she has been dawdling about ever since she came . A most ruinous state of things for a morbid , spoilt girl like Rose , '' said Mrs. Jane , severely . She had never forgiven the old ladies for yielding to Rose 's pathetic petition that she might wait her guardian 's arrival before beginning another term at the school , which was a regular Blimber hot-bed , and turned out many a feminine Toots . `` I never thought it the proper school for a child in good circumstances an heiress , in fact , as Rose is . It is all very well for girls who are to get their own living by teaching , and that sort of thing ; but all she needs is a year or two at a fashionable finishing school , so that at eighteen she can come out with eclat , '' put in Aunt Clara , who had been a beauty and a belle , and was still a handsome woman . `` Dear , dear ! how short-sighted you all are to be discussing education and plans for the future , when this unhappy child is so plainly marked for the tomb , '' sighed Aunt Myra , with a lugubrious sniff and a solemn wag of the funereal bonnet , which she refused to remove , being afflicted with a chronic catarrh . `` Now , it is my opinion that the dear thing only wants freedom , rest , and care . There is look in her eyes that goes to my heart , for it shows that she feels the need of what none of us can give her a mother , '' said Aunt Jessie , with tears in her own bright eyes at the thought of her boys being left , as Rose was , to the care of others .
Uncle Alec , who had listened silently as each spoke , turned quickly towards the last sister , and said , with a decided nod of approval , `` You 've got it , XXXXX ; and , with you to help me , I hope to make the child feel that she is not quite fatherless and motherless . ''
Blimber George Jessie Martha Rose doze left right wag year