At last, after some time which seemed to the little girl quite a year at
least, Mrs. Enderby rang the bell and asked if the young ladies had come
in from walking. The servant said they were just going to tea in the
school-room, and Mrs Enderby turned to Hetty, saying:
"Go, my dear, with Peter, and he will show you the school-room. Tell
Phyllis and Nell that I sent you to play with them."
Hetty followed the servant; but as she went across the hall and up the
staircase she felt with a swelling heart that had she been the real
cousin of these children, and not an "upstart" (Grant's favourite word),
they would perhaps have been sent for to the drawing-room to be
presented to her.
Accustomed as she was to be alternately petted and snubbed, she had
acquired the habit of watching the movements of her elders with
suspicion, and now concluded that because no fuss was made about her she
must therefore be despised. A hard proud spirit entered into her on the
moment, and she resolved that though she had been humble in her
demeanour towards Mrs. Enderby she would hold her head high with girls
who were not very much older than herself.
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