ey not settle some money on her?"

"That would be a difficult matter to arrange, dear. Almost all Mrs.
Rushton's property has gone to her husband's brother, who is not a very
generous man, I fear, and the rest, which returns to your father, is in
trust for his children. He does not feel himself called upon to deprive
you of what is lawfully yours in order to give a fortune to a foundling
child."

"I would rather give her some of my money than have her here," said
Phyllis bluntly.

"You must get over that feeling, Phyllis. It is perhaps a little trial
to us all to have a stranger among us, but we will endeavour to be kind,
and all will be for the best."

"And is Hetty to be our own, own sister?" said Nell, fixing her blue
eyes on her mother's face and speaking for the first time.

"No, my love, not quite. That would not be fair to Hetty, as we cannot
make her one of our own children. She will be a companion for you and
join in all your studies. But it is to be understood that such
advantages are to be given to her only to fit her to be a governess. I
am anxious that every one should be good to her, but I do not intend her
to have such luxuries as would but prepare her for great unhappiness
later on in her life."

"Hetty will never get on with that sort of thing," said Phyllis. "She is
too proud and too impertinent."

"My dear Phyllis, I believe she has a good heart; and she has been, and
will be, severely tried. Any failure of generosity on the part of my
good little girl will disappoint me sadly."

Phyllis closed her lips with an expression which meant that for reasons
of propriety she would say no more, but that nothing could prevent her
from feeling that justice and right were on her side; that she had a
better apprehension of the matter in question than mother or father, or
any one in the world.

When Hetty arrived that afternoon she was led straight into the
school-room, where tea was just ready, Mrs. Enderby judging that it
would be well to set her to work at once, giving her no time for
moping. When she appeared, looking pale and sad in her black frock, her
eyes heavy and red with weeping, even Phyllis was touched, and the
school-room tea was partaken of in peace and almost in silence. Hetty was
so full of the recollection of the last time she had been brought in
here by Mrs. Enderby, and so conscious of the change that had come upon
her since then, that she could scarcely raise her eyes for fear of
cr