tion. Although less original and less ambitious than Toru, she was not less amiable, and she had equally profited by the educational advantages she had enjoyed. Both the sisters were good musicians. They played well on the piano, and sang with much sweetness, having good contralto voices. They kept up their accomplishments, but at the same time they did not disdain the more useful domestic duties which, in Indian homes, are usually performed by the ladies of the family; and their father, writing after their death, speaks with deep emotion of the exemplary manner in which they discharged these household duties.
In general society Toru shone more than her sister, who was of a gentle, retiring disposition, and inclined to keep in the background, while she listened with sisterly pride and admiration to Toru's lively and intelligent conversation. The younger sister had a very remarkable memory, and could remember every piece of poetry she had ever translated. She read much and deeply, and whenever she met with a difficult passage, she worked at it thoroughly, till she had mastered not only its meaning, but its bearing on the subject in hand.
Aru occasionally tried her hand at translation, but her most decided talent was for drawing, and the sisters' dream was to produce a novel, which one should write and the other illustrate.