tainly don't like the carcarâ to-day, but it does not follow that Eunane is in fault."
The rest, Eunane included, looked their annoyance at this appeal; but Eveena's temper and kindness were proof against petulance.
"The carcarâ is in fault," she said; "but I don't think Eunane is. In learning cookery at school she had her materials supplied to her; this time the carve has probably given her an unripe or overripe fruit which has spoiled the whole."
"And do you not know ripe from unripe fruit?" I inquired, turning to Eunane.
"How should she?" interposed Eveena. "I doubt if she ever saw them growing."
"How so?" I asked of Eunane.
"It is true," she answered. "I never went beyond the walls of our playground till I came here; and though there were a few flower-beds in the inner gardens, there were none but shade trees among the turf and concrete yards to which we were confined."
"I should have known no better," observed Eveena; "but being brought up at home, I learned to know all the plants in my father's grounds, which were more various, I believe, than usual."
"Then," I said, "Eunane has a new life and a multitude of new pleasures before her. Has this peristyle given you your first sight of flowers beyond those in the beds of your Nursery? And have you never seen anything of the world about you?"
"Never," she said. "And Eveena's excuse for me is, I believe, perfectly true. The carve must have been stupid, but I knew no better."
