COMPARISONS. 
377 
“ Confess now, Matilda, don’t you think it 
is very good fun to take walks and run 
races and so on?—better fun than it is to 
sit still in the house all day and only take 
a stiff walk in the street, just for exercise ?” 
“ I didn’t at first,” said Matilda. “ I 
thought it was awfully stupid living in the 
country, and used to wish myself back 
twenty times a day. But now I like it 
better; though, to tell you the truth, Sid¬ 
ney, taking the year round, I shall always 
like the city best.” 
“I don’t,” said Antoinette. “I should 
like to stay here forever.” 
“Forever is a long day,” remarked Kate, 
smiling. 
“You had better tell mother so when she 
comes back, and get her to leave you,” said 
Matilda, tossing her head in her usual 
fashion. “I dare say she would be willing 
to do so if she knew how much you prefer 
any society to her’s. I am sure we could 
do without you at home well enough.” 
Six weeks before, this not very kind 
speech would have brought on a snip-snap¬ 
ping contest between the sisters an hour 
long; but Antoinette, with all her other 
