“But governesses are ladies,” said Edith; “a dear friend of ours is a governess, and there never was a nicer lady.”

“Oh, I know,” said Hetty; “Miss Davis is quite the same.  But I mean, I am not to be the kind of lady that goes out to parties.”

“Well, I will try and get you leave to come to our party,” said Edith.  “We are going to have one before the holidays are over.”

“I don’t think you will get leave from Mrs. Enderby,” said Hetty; “and then I have no frock.”

“They must get you a frock somewhere,” said Grace; “I could send you one of mine.”

“That would give offence, I am sure,” said Hetty smiling.  “It is not for the trouble of getting the frock that Mrs. Enderby would keep me from going.  She does not wish me to get accustomed to such things.”

“Then she is horrid,” cried Edith; “making you just like Cinderella.”

“No, no,” said Hetty, “you must not say that.  Cinderella was a daughter of the house, and I am nobody’s child.  That is what the village people say.  And only think if they had sent me to a charity school!”

Edith and Grace gazed at her gravely.  Hetty stood with her hands behind her back, looking them in the eyes as she stated her own case.

“And you have nobody belonging to you, really, in the whole world?” said Edith.

“Nobody,” said Hetty, “and nothing.  At least nothing but a tiny linen chemise.”

“Did you drop down out of the clouds in that?” asked Grace with widening eyes.

“No,” said Hetty laughing; “but I came out of the sea in it.  I was washed up as a baby on the Long Sands.  There were great storms at the time and a great many shipwrecks.  And nobody ever asked about me.  They must have been all drowned.  John Kane, one of Mr Enderby’s carters, picked me up.  So you see I am not the kind of girl to be going out to parties.”

“You will have to be very learned if you are going to be a governess,” said Grace; “I suppose you are always studying.”

“I work pretty hard at my books,” said Hetty; “but I am not clever.  And how I am ever to be as well informed as Miss Davis I don’t know.  Some things I remember quite well, and other things I am always forgetting.  I am sure if I ever get any pupils they will laugh at me.  I wish I could live in a little cottage in the fields, and work in a garden and sell my flowers.”

“I should always come and buy from you,” said Grace; “what kind of flowers would you keep?”

“Oh, roses,” said Hetty; “roses and violets.  When I was in London I saw people selling them in the streets.  I would send them to London and get money back.”

“I think I will come and live with you,” said Grace eagerly.

“Grace, don’t be a goose,” saith Edith; “Hetty has not got a cottage, and she is going to be a governess.”

“Yes,” sighed Hetty; “but I shall never remember my dates.”

A few days after this conversation occurred, an invitation to a children’s party came from Edith and Grace to all the children at Wavertree Hall, including Hetty Gray.  Mrs. Enderby did not wish Hetty to know that she had been invited, but Nell whispered the news to her.