Mr Crewe smiled, but he was not happy. He loved his little daughter Sara very much, and he didn’t want to be without her, but it was time for her to go to school. Sara’s mother was dead, and Sara was his only child. They spent a lot of time together, talking and laughing about things. He didn’t have many other people to spend his time with. Soon they got to Miss Minchin’s School For Girls and went into the big house. Miss Minchin was a tall woman in a black dress, with a very serious face. Sara was not beautiful but her father was rich, and Miss Minchin liked girls with rich fathers. She thought other rich people would send their children there. Mr Crewe told Miss Minchin that Sara was a good girl. He explained that her mother was dead but that she had been French, and that was why she spoke French so well. She spent a lot of her time reading and had read all the important books a girl of her age should have read. He was very proud of her for that. Mr Crewe stayed in London for a week. He and Sara went to the shops, where he bought many beautiful, expensive dresses for his daughter. He also bought books, and flowers for her room and a big doll with beautiful dresses. He hoped she would like her room and her new school, and not miss her old home very much, although he knew he would miss her. Miss Minchin was not pleased about this. She felt that spending so much money for a girl of seven was a waste. That was clear by looking at all the rooms in the school where the other girls slept. Sara would not have liked her room at all if her father had not bought all those nice things for her.