"She is pretty, amiable,
clever--and ever so rich. Only think, Hetty--to be an heiress at
twenty-one without anyone to keep you from doing just as you please! She
has a country house in France, and a house in London, with a good old
lady to take care of her, who does exactly what she bids her."
"Mother did not say all that," said Phyllis.
"Oh! but I gathered it all from what she did say."
"Is she an orphan then?" asked Hetty.
"She has neither father, nor mother, nor brother, nor sister. Now,
Hetty, don't look as if that was a misfortune. It is natural for you to
feel it, of course. But if you had houses, and horses, and carriages,
and money, you would not think it so bad to be able to do what you
liked."
"Nell, I am shocked at you," said Miss Davis. "Would you give up your
parents for such selfish advantages as you describe?"
"Oh dear no!" cried Nell. "But if I never had had them, like Reine
Gaythorne, and did not know anything about them, I daresay I could
manage to amuse myself in the world."
This was the first mention of the name of Reine Gaythorne in the
Wavertree school-room, and it was certainly far from the last.
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