If you were
not shy then you cannot be so now."
Hetty could not explain that it was just because she was older now that
she was shy. Long ago she had been too small to realize the position she
was placed in. She felt ready to weep at being found so disobliging, yet
when she thought of the performance required of her, her tongue clove to
her mouth with fright.
The hostess now crossed the room to Phyllis, who had been watching what
had passed between her and Hetty from a distance.
"I have been trying to persuade little Miss Gray to recite for us, or to
do some of her amusing characters, but she has all sorts of reasons why
she cannot oblige me. Is she always so obstinate?"
Phyllis hesitated.
"I think she has a pretty strong will of her own," she said. "I am
afraid she will not yield."
"Well, my dear, you know her better than I do, and it is nice of you not
to be too ready to blame her. But I like little girls who do as their
elders bid them. And I confess I expected to find her agreeable when I
invited her here this evening."
Now if Phyllis had been as generous as she would have liked to believe
herself she would have said, "I know my mother does not approve of
Hetty's performances, and Hetty knows it too.
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