Reine looked in her face with that long strange gaze which had so impressed Hetty’s heart and imagination, smothered a sob, snatched a kiss from her sister’s quivering lips, held her a moment in a close embrace, and then turned abruptly and was gone.

“Miss Gaythorne seems a rather impulsive young lady,” said Miss Davis disapprovingly.  “I wish she had taken a fancy to some one else than my pupil.  You must try to forget her, Hetty.  Girls like her, with wealth and power and nobody to control them, are apt to become capricious, and work mischief with people who have business to attend to.  I hope you understand me, Hetty.”

“Yes,” said Hetty with a long sigh.

“You must not expect to see Miss Gaythorne again.  She will probably have forgotten you to-morrow.”

Miss Davis was not in the secret which was occupying the minds of several of the inmates of Wavertree Hall.

CHAPTER XX.

HAPPY HETTY.

About three weeks had passed away.  Hetty had endured the worst throes of her disappointment, and had almost succeeded in banishing Reine out of her thoughts.  She had steadily turned away her eyes from looking back at that beautiful evening, when, as if by enchantment, a girl who looked and spoke like a sister had held her in a loving embrace, lavishing kisses and loving words upon her, Hetty, who was known to be nobody’s child.  The quiet studious days went on as if no brilliant interruption had ever flashed in upon them.  Miss Davis, at Mrs. Enderby’s desire, kept Hetty more than ordinarily busy, and hindered her from paying her customary visits to Mrs. Kane.  Mrs. Enderby distrusted the good woman’s ability to keep a secret, and, with that prudence which had always distinguished her in her dealings with Hetty, she was resolved that the girl should hear no whisper to disturb her tranquillity till such time as her identity should be considered satisfactorily proved.

At the end of three weeks’ time, however, news came from London to Mr. Enderby which placed it beyond a doubt that Hetty was Helen Gaythorne, the baby who had been supposed to be drowned.  Although Mrs. Enderby and her daughters had been prepared for this result of the inquiries that had been on foot, yet the established fact, with its tremendous importance for Hetty, seemed to come on them with a shock.  The child who had been protected in their house, no longer needed their protection.  The girl who was to have been sent out soon as a governess to earn her bread, would henceforth have pleasant bread to eat in a sister’s luxurious home.  The dependant, whom it had been thought judicious to snub, was now the equal of those who had so prudently dealt with her according to their lights.

Mr. and Mrs. Enderby were extremely pleased at the child’s good fortune, and thankful that they had not been induced to send her to a charity school.

“You are always right, dear,” said Mrs. Enderby, looking at her husband with pride.  “When I was a coward in the matter you insisted on having her here.  And if she had gone elsewhere she would never have met Reine, and her identity could hardly have been discovered.”