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."

Phyllis did not like the implied rebuke, and at once began to hope that
she might be able to prove Miss Davis in the wrong. If Hetty could be
found to have a secret, as Nell supposed, Phyllis decided that it ought
to be found out. Her mother did not approve of children having secrets.
Even if there was no harm in a thing in itself, there was a certain harm
in making a mystery of it. So, having arranged her motive satisfactorily
in her mind, Phyllis, feeling more virtuous than ever, resolved to
observe what Hetty was about. The next morning she got up early and came
down to the school-room an hour before her usual time. And there was
Hetty working away at her drawing with a wreath of flowers pinned before
her on the wall.

Phyllis came behind her and was astonished to see what she had
accomplished with her pencil; and Hetty started and coloured up to her
hair, as if she had been caught in a fault.

"Well, you are a strange girl," said Phyllis; "I did not know drawing
was a sin, that you should make such a mystery over it."

"I hope it is not a sin," sai