"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Merlion." Against her better judgment, Ida was taken by the boy's pleasing manners, for that was a quality sorely missing from many young wizards but always present in the books she so loved to read; she even suppressed a giggle! Her governess would have something to say about the influence of too much reading on a girl's mind. "Are you really not excited for school? Are you afraid?" she asked, suddenly more sensitive in her tone of voice than before.
![[Image: IMG-0021.png]](https://i.ibb.co/fVTn7LYf/IMG-0021.png)


