The Moat House, or, Sir Jasper's Favourite Niece

Excerpt: Joy, I wish you'd put down that stupid book, and talk! You can't think how curious I feel! And how you can sit there reading so quietly when mother's in the next room with that strange gentleman, I can't imagine! I wonder what he's saying to her! I don't believe you're in the least curious to know! Joy, whose real name was Joyce, shut her book, and looked at the speaker?her sister Celia?with thoughtful, grey eyes. Her mind was still occupied with the entrancing story she had been reading; and it took her several minutes to realise that her companion was in a state of feverish impatience to ascertain the business of the visitor who had requested a private interview with their mother, and still kept her in earnest conversation in the drawing-room. Joy had admitted the stranger into the house nearly half an hour before.