" She signed
herself "Your affectionate sister Zara," and on her arrival explained
that, tired of continually instructing people in the pronunciation of
her name, she had decided to alter the spelling and be done with it.
Moreover, a little bird had whispered in her ear that, under its new
form, it fitted her rather "FRENCH" air and looks a thousand times
better than before.
Descending from the coach, Zara eyed Polly up and down and vowed she
would never have known her; and, on the way home, Polly more than once
felt her sister's gaze fixed critically on her. For her part, she was
able to assure Zara that she saw no change whatever in her, since her
last visit--even since the date of the wedding. And this pleased Zara
mightily; for as she admitted, in removing hat and mantle, and passing
the damped corner of a towel over her face, she dreaded the ageing
effects of the climate on her fine complexion. Close as ever about her
own concerns, she gave no reason for her abrupt determination to leave
the country; but from subsequent talk Polly gathered that, for one
thing, Zara had found her position at the head of John's establishment--
"Undertaken in the first place, my dear, at immense personal sacrifice!"
--no sinecure. John had proved a regular martinet; he had countermanded
her orders, interfered about the household bills--had even accused her
of lining her own pocket. As for little Johnny--the bait originally
thrown out to induce her to accept the post--he had long since been
sent to boarding-school.
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