The Fortunes of Philippa

The Fortunes of Philippa (1906) is a schoolgirl novel by Angela Brazil. Excerpt from the book: My father looked me up and down with a glance of despair which would have been comical if it had not seemed at the same time somewhat pathetic. 'I can do the fifth proposition in Euclid,' I objected, 'and the Latin Grammar as far as irregular verbs.' My father shook his head. 'That might help you a little if you were a boy in a public school, but it's not all that your mother would have wished. You've not been taught a note of music, you can't speak French or dance a quadrille, and if it came to a question of fine sewing, I'm afraid you'd scarcely know which was the right end of your needle!' The list of my deficiencies was so dreadfully true that I had no excuse to bring forward, and my father continued. 'Besides, it's absurd to attempt to educate you in this spot, where you've no opportunity of mixing with cultured people. I wish you to see England, and to have companions of your own age.'