HETTY'S FUTURE IS PLANNED.
This was the severest trial Hetty had ever encountered. Longing for
special love, and delight in reproducing the beautiful, were part of one
and the same impulse in her nature, and, crushed in the one, all her
heart had gone forth in the other direction. Now both had been equally
condemned in her as faults, and she fell back, as before, on the mere
dull effort towards submission which had already carried her surely, if
joylessly, over so many difficult years of her young life. She worked
patiently at her books and fulfilled her duties; and she grew thinner
and paler, and the old sad look became habitual to her lips and eyes.
Another year passed, and as Phyllis and Nell approached nearer and
nearer to the period for "coming out" they were more frequently absent
from the school-room, and Hetty's days were more solitary than they used
to be.
All her mind was now fixed on the idea of fitting herself as soon as
possible for some sort of post as governess. She knew she never could
take such a position as that which Miss Davis filled, and had meekly
admitted to herself that a humble situation must content her.
She often wondered how it would be with her when the Enderby girls
should no longer need Miss Davis; and decided according to her own
judgment that she ought to be ready to seek a place for herself in the
world as soon as the elder girls should have completed their studies.
One evening she sat opposite to Miss Davis at the school-room fireside.
Phyllis and Nell were in the drawing-room with their mother. Miss Davis
was netting energetically, and Hetty, who had been studying busily,
dropped her book and was gazing absently into the fire.
"Hetty," said Miss Davis presently, "put away your book, I want to talk
to you."
Hetty obeyed, and looked at her governess expectantly.
"My dear, you know very well that in another year I shall no longer be
needed here. Phyllis and Nell will then be eighteen and seventeen, and
their mother has decided that they shall come out at the same time. When
I am gone there will no longer be any object in your staying in this
house. And yet, as you will then be only sixteen, you will be young to
begin your life among strangers."
"Yes," said Hetty with a sinking of the heart; "but it is very good of
you to think about me like this. Of course I shall have to go. I suppose
I can get in somewhere as a nursery governess."
"I have been thinking of something else. Of course it will remain for
yourself to decide."
Hetty's heart leaped. A wild idea crossed her mind that perhaps Miss
Davis was going to suggest some way by which she might study to be an
artist. Though she had never spoken on the subject since Mr. Enderby had
pronounced sentence upon her hopes, still the dear dream of a possible
beautiful future had always lain hidden somewhere in the most distant
recesses of her brain. Now a sudden bright light shone into that
darkened chamber. What delightful plan had Miss Davis been marking out
for her?
"I have made up my mind," said Miss Davis, "that instead of entering
another family I will open a school in the town where I was born. My
mother is getting old and she is lonely. If I succeed in my project I
shall be able to live with her and continue to make an income at the
same time."
"How delightful!" murmured Hetty.
Miss Davis smiled sadly. "I don't know about that. The plan will have
its advantages, but there are many difficulties. However, I think it is
worth a trial."
Hetty said nothing, only wondered why Miss Davis was not more wildly
glad at the thought of being always with her mother. She could not
realize how long years of trial and disappointment had made it
impossible to the governess to feel vivid anticipations of delight.
"Now as regards you--" Hetty started. She had so completely thrown
herself into Miss Davis's personality for the moment that she had
entirely forgotten her own. "As regards you, I have been thinking that
you might come with me and help me as an under teacher. In this way you
might begin to be independent at the age of sixteen, and at the same
time continue your own studies under my superintendence. Later, when you
were more thoroughly fitted to be a governess, I could endeavour to
place you out in the world."
"Oh, how good of you to think of it! You are very, very kind!" said
Hetty, though tears of disappointment rushed to her eyes. She crushed
back the ungrateful feeling of dismay which pressed upon her at the
thought of trying to teach in school. Her common-sense told her that
nothing could be more advantageous for her interests than the plan Miss
Davis had sketched for her. And she keenly appreciated the
thoughtfulness for her welfare which had led the governess to include
her in the scheme for her own future.
"You would only have little children to teach at first," Miss Davis went
on, "until you grow accustomed to the work and gain confidence in
yourself. Of course this is only a suggestion which I make to you, that
you may turn it over in your thoughts and be ready to make arrangements
when the moment shall arrive. Perhaps by that time, however, Mr. Enderby
will be able to provide you with a pleasanter home."
"I do not think so," said Hetty. "He could recommend me only as a
nursery governess, and if I were once in that position I could never
have any further opportunity to improve. With you I can continue my
studies."
"This is precisely what I think," said Miss Davis, "and I am glad you
take such a sensible view of the matter. However, we need not speak of
this for a year to come."
And so the conversation ended. Hetty longed to put her arms round Miss
Davis's neck and thank her warmly for her kindness, but she felt
instinctively that the governess would rather she abstained from all
such demonstrations. It was only when she went up to bed that she
allowed her thoughts to go back to the beautiful moment when she had
fancied Miss Davis might have been thinking of making her an artist; and
then she cried sadly as she thought of how foolish she had been in
imagining even for a second that such a wild improbability had come
true.
However, Hetty awakened next morning with a wholesome feeling of
satisfaction in her mind which she could not at first account for. In a
few moments the conversation with Miss Davis rushed back upon her
memory, and she knew that her contentment was due to the prospect of
independence that had been put before her as so real and so near. Once
installed under Miss Davis's roof, teaching in school and earning the
bread she ate, neither servants nor companions could taunt her with
being a charity girl any more, Mr. Enderby's fears for her would then be
laid to rest, and the dread of disappointing him would be lifted off her
mind. In Miss Davis's school she could live and work until she had
acquired all that learning which to her was so hard to attain.
With a sweet and brave, if not a glad, look on her face, Hetty came into
the school-room that morning and found Phyllis and Nell chatting more
gaily than usual at the fire.
"Oh, Hetty," cried Nell, "you must hear our news! We are going to have
such a delightful visitor in the house."
"How you rush to conclusions, Nell!" said her sister. "You have not seen
her yet, and you pronounce her delightful."
"I know from what mamma told us," cried Nell. "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. Mrs.
Enderby had met the young lady at a neighbouring country house, and had
thought she would be a desirable acquaintance for her daughters. There
was something interesting about the circumstances which had placed a
young, beautiful, and wealthy girl alone, and her own mistress, in the
world. Mr. and Mrs. Enderby had been greatly attracted by her, and had
invited her to pay a visit at their house.
In the course of a few days she arrived at the Hall, and then Phyllis
and Nell were but little in the school-room.
Hetty and Miss Davis went on as usual filling their quiet hours with
work in their secluded corner of the house. A week passed away during
the visit of the charming stranger, and Hetty had never once seen Miss
Gaythorne.