"There goes the 'Pampered Pet' again! Got its little keeper with it, as usual. Why don't they lead her by a chain, and be done with it?" Miles stood by the schoolroom window, hands jingling in pockets, as he surveyed a prospect, sufficiently grey and drear to make any diversity doubly welcome, and at his words there came the sound of a general pushing-back of chairs, as the four other occupants of the room dashed forward to share in the view. They jostled each other with the scant courtesy which brothers and sisters are apt ...
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"There goes the 'Pampered Pet' again! Got its little keeper with it, as usual. Why don't they lead her by a chain, and be done with it?" Miles stood by the schoolroom window, hands jingling in pockets, as he surveyed a prospect, sufficiently grey and drear to make any diversity doubly welcome, and at his words there came the sound of a general pushing-back of chairs, as the four other occupants of the room dashed forward to share in the view. They jostled each other with the scant courtesy which brothers and sisters are apt to show each other in early days; five big boys and girls, ranging between the ages of eight and nineteen. Miles kept his central position by reason of superior strength, a vigorous dig of his pointed elbow being enough to keep trespassers at a distance. Betty darted before him and nimbly dropped on her knees, the twins stood on either side of the window-sill, while poor Pam grumbled and fretted in the background, dodging here and there to try all positions in turn, and finding each as unsatisfactory as the last. The Square gardens looked grey and sodden with the desolation of autumn in a city, and the road facing the window was empty, except for two female figures-a lady, and a girl of sixteen, who were slowly approaching the corner. The lady was dressed in black, the girl was noticeably smart, in a pretty blue costume, with dainty boots on her tiny feet, and a fur cap worn at the fashionable angle on her golden head.
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Seller's Description:
None. Good. An illustrated novel with frontispiece Illustrated with seven full page plates. Jessie Bell (1857 23 January 1917), later Jessie Mansergh, was an English writer born in Liverpool, who wrote under her married name Mrs George de Horne Vaizey. As her biography at Athelstane Books notes, "She often used her own varied experiences in her books. She used situations from her early life in a large family, her first husband"s addiction and death, and her own illnesses in her novels." De Horne Vaizey's daughter Gwyneth, nicknamed Kit, was the inspiration for the character Kitty in her 1902 work "A Houseful of Girls". The author mentions that Gwyneth really did share lessons with a family of five sisters, who "in many ways were like the hook Rendells. Chrystabel is as like as I could make her and they all talk In that funny way, emphasising every second or third word." In a pictorical cloth binding. Externally some rubbing and wear to the extremities. Internally the half title page is loose but generally firmly bound otherwise. Pages are generally clean with only minor spotting and browning to the edge of the page. Good.
