When the maids came to dust the school-room they found Hetty hard at work upon a new wreath of ivy which she had hastily snatched from the garden wall and hung against the curtain, and they thought she was doing some penance at Miss Davis’s bidding.  By eight o’clock the drawings were hid away, the flowers and wreaths disposed of in the jars, and Hetty was sitting at the table with a book in her hand.  No one need know, she thought, of how she spent those early hours when everybody else was in bed.  And so day after day she worked on steadily with her pencil, and there was a strange and unutterable hope in her heart, and a new light of happiness in her eyes.

After some time she became more daring and attempted to bring colour into her designs.  Using her school-room box of paints, the paints intended only for the drawing of maps, she placed washes of colour on her leaves and along her stems, making the whole composition more effective and complete.  Day by day she improved on her first ideas, till she had stored up a collection of really beautiful sketches.

With this new joy tingling through her young veins from morning till night, and from night till morning again, Hetty began to look so glad and bright that everyone remarked it.  Miss Davis looked on approvingly, thinking that her own excellent discipline of the girl was having an effect she had scarcely dared to hope for.  Nell was full of curiosity to know why Hetty had become so gay.

“May I not have the liberty to be gay as well as you?” said Hetty laughing.

“Of course; but then you are so suddenly changed.  Miss Davis says it is only because you are growing good.  But I think there must be something that is making you good.”

“I am glad to hear I am growing good.  Something is making me very happy, but I cannot tell you what it is.”

Nell, always on the look-out for a secret, opened her eyes very wide, but could get no further satisfaction from Hetty, who only laughed at her appeals to be taken into confidence.  That evening, however, she told Miss Davis that Hetty had admitted that there was something that was making her so happy.

“I knew she had a secret,” said Nell mysteriously.

“Then it is the secret of doing her duty,” said Miss Davis.  “She has made great improvement in every respect during the last few weeks.”

“I know she gets up earlier in the mornings than she used to do,” said Nell, “and I don’t think she is at her lessons all the time.”

“I hope she has not been making any more friends in the village,” said Phyllis.

“I am sorry such thoughts have come into your minds, children,” said Miss Davis; “I see nothing amiss about Hetty.  If she is happier than she used to be, we ought all to feel glad.”