bed-room door.

Nell was awakened out of a sound sleep by the opening of her door.

"Don't be frightened, Nell; I'm not a burglar--only Reine."

"What's the matter?" said Nell, rubbing her eyes. "Have you got the
toothache?"

"I never had toothache. I want to know something."

"I often want to know things," said Nell, now sitting bolt upright in
her little bed; "I'm sometimes _dying_ of curiosity. But it never
routed me out of my sleep in the middle of the night."

"It's about Hetty," said Reine, sitting on the floor in a faint streak
of moonlight, and looking like a spirit--if spirits have curly hair.

"You've gone Hetty-mad!" said Nell; "wouldn't Hetty keep till morning?
We're not going to transport her or lock her up. You will have all next
week to sit looking at her."

"Where did you get her?" asked Reine. "I know she is a foundling; but
she must have had a beginning somewhere."

"Of course she had; and a most peculiar one. She was found on the Long
Sands. That is a place three miles from Wavertree on the sea-shore,
where wrecks often come in. John Kane, one of the carters, found her,
and Mrs. Kane took her home. Then Aunt Amy, who is dead, fancied her and
adopted her. When Aunt Amy died she was left unprovided for, and papa
brought her here; and here she is."

"Found on the shore where wrecks come in! And she is just fifteen. Oh,
Nell, are you sure you are telling the truth?"

There was a sound in Reine's voice that startled Nell.

"The plain truth. Every village child knows it. What has it got to do
with you?"

"I don't know. I don't know. I am afraid to think. Why, Nell, listen to
me. When I was a child of seven years old, my mother and father took me
to France. They had inherited a property there and were going to take
possession of it. They were fond of the sea, and they long travelled by
sea. While still near this coast the vessel was overtaken by storm and
wrecked. My father, mother, and myself were saved. But my little baby
sister was washed out of my mother's arms and drowned."

"Well?"

"Well!"

"If she was drowned how can she be Hetty, if that is what you mean?"

"They thought she was drowned. We were taken into another vessel and
carried on to France."

"And never asked any more questions about the baby?"

"I don't know. My father and mother are both dead," said Reine
pathetically; "I am sure they did all they could. But I know they
thought they saw her drowned before their eyes.