mischievously at
her grave brother and sister-in-law. "Look up, my darling, and show your
pretty brown velvet eyes. Did you ever see such a tint in human cheeks,
Isabel, or such a crop of curling hair?"

"Do you really mean that this is the village child, Amy?" asked her
brother.

"Yes, little Hetty is here!" said Amy with a gleeful laugh; "but then,
William, Lady Harriet is gone. If I had asked you to meet her to-day
instead of little Miss Gray from Wavertree, I wonder what you would have
done to find a more disagreeable expression of countenance."

"Do you wish us to understand that you have adopted this 'nobody's
child,' Amy?" said Mr. Enderby, looking more and more troubled.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I did not mean that quite," said Mrs.
Rushton; "but now that you suggest it--"

"_I_ suggest it!" cried Mr. Enderby.

"How horrified you look! But all the same you have suggested it, and I
think it is a capital idea."

"Do not come to any hasty conclusion, I implore you, Amy. Think over it
well. Consider the child's interests more than your own momentary
self-indulgence!"

Mrs. Rushton coloured with displeasure.

"I see you are determined to be as disagreeable as usual," she said
angrily. "As if the monkey could fail to be benefited by my patronage!
Pray, will she not be better in my drawing-room than getting under
horses' feet about the Wavertree roads, or losing herself in the
Wavertree woods?"

"Frankly, I think not," said Mr. Enderby stiffly.

Mrs. Rushton's eyes flashed, and she did her brother the injustice of
thinking that he feared her adoption of little Hetty would in some way
interfere with the worldly interests of his own children. She was not
accustomed to seek far for other people's meanings and motives, and
generally seized on the first which presented itself to her mind. She
knew that she only wanted to amuse herself, and had no intention of
wronging her nieces and nephew by playing with this charming babe. Why,
then, should William take such fancies in his head? In this flash of
temper she instantly decided on keeping little Hetty always with her.
Was there any reason in the world why she should not do just as she
pleased? Hetty should certainly stay with her and be as her own child
from this day forth.

"What have _you_ to say about my adopting little Hetty?" she said,
turning to her sister-in-law with a slightly defiant and wholly
triumphant smile.

"I shall say nothing," said Mr