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CHAPTER II
Ella Goes to School
What a change came over the house now that there was no mother to keep things in order! Ella’s father shut himself up in his library more than ever. The servants gossiped on the stairs instead of attending to their work, and Ella wandered about the house with nobody to talk to and nothing to do. Even the garden did not seem the same place, and the fruit that grew upon the south wall in the orchard seemed to have lost its flavour. There was no longer any fun in having picnics in the summer-house, for nobody swept it out nowadays, and all sorts of creepy-crawly things, such as spiders and earwigs, which Ella hated, came and made their homes there. How can you enjoy a picnic if you are always picking spiders and long-legged gnats out of your teacup? This state of things was the fault of the gardener, who had become very lazy, and who used to spend the whole day leaning on his spade and smoking a long clay pipe.
And then a worse thing happened, for one day Ella’s father told her that she must go away to school. She did not like this in the least, and begged to be allowed to stay at home and do lessons in the morning, as she had done when her mother was alive.
“All is for your own good, my dear,” said her father. “There is nobody to teach you now, and you will be all