CHAPTER XXIII.
CONCLUSION.
Of our story little remains to tell. Augusta
was driven to her sister's lodgings and put to
bed. In less than twenty-four hours she had
arrived once more at the time of life she had
temporarily abandoned. Her experience had
been a disappointment, but her intense relief
in feeling that she was once more in command
of the helm, prevented her dwelling on
that. It was delightful to array herself once
more in her own clothes, to be no longer a
helpless infant, pinched, tweaked, starved,
insulted to her face. The joy of being able
to speak was in itself so intense that Miss
Semaphore was in a constant flow of good
humour, and in all her experience of her
sister, Prudence never had so good a time.
After the first excitement had cooled down, she feared that Augusta would be morose, soured by the failure of her experiment; but
