We have
opinions and principles of our own; we are not so thick-skinned as
some good people, nor as cold-blooded as others.
When two of us quarrelled (and Nurse used to say that no two of us
ever agreed), the provocation always seemed, to each of us, great
enough amply to excuse the passion. But I have reason to think that
people seldom exclaimed, "What grievances those poor children are
exasperated with!" but that they often said, "What terrible tempers
they all have!"
There are five of us: Philip and I are the eldest; we are twins. My
name is Isobel, and I never allow it to be shortened into the ugly
word _Bella_ nor into the still more hideous word _Izzy_, by either
the servants or the children. My aunt Isobel never would, and neither
will I.
"The children" are the other three. They are a good deal younger than
Philip and I, so we have always kept them in order. I do not mean that
we taught them to behave wonderfully well, but I mean that we made
them give way to us elder ones. Among themselves they squabbled
dreadfully.
We are a very ill-tempered family.
CHAPTER II.
ILL-TEMPERED PEOPLE AND THEIR FRIENDS--NARROW ESCAPES--THE
HATCHET-QUARREL.
I do not wish for a moment to defend ill-temper, but I do think that
people who suffer from ill-tempered people often talk as if they were
the only ones who do suffer in the matter; and as if the ill-tempered
people themselves quite enjoyed being in a rage.
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