Otherwise she could have slept on
for another hour or more. But once awake further sleep was impossible.
Not only were her neighbours exceedingly noisy--from snatches of
conversation shouted across the passage as they dressed, Margaret
gathered that most of the junior members of the house were going down to
the sea to bathe--but her own thoughts were of themselves sufficient to
keep her awake. She had fallen asleep the night before with the dismal
thought in her mind that though her long desired wish to stay in a house
full of young people had been most unexpectedly realised, the very first
thing she had done was to declare enmity with all of them, and the
depressing fact came vividly before her mind the instant she awoke. She
found herself wishing most fervently that she had been content to remain
Margaret Anstruther, and had never met Eleanor Carson, or conceived the
mad idea of changing places with her. However, as it was obviously too
late to entertain reflections of that sort now, she made an effort to
dismiss that unprofitable wish from her mind, and in order to divert her
thoughts the more effectually, resolved, early though it was, to get up.
As soon as the sound of many feet clattering noisily downstairs told her
that the coast was clear, she found her way to the bathroom, and having
bathed and dressed felt more courage to face the trials of the day that
lay before her.
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