"Poor Bridget! I didn't like you in your free days, but I'm willing to own that I pity you now."
"Thank you, thank you; but I hate pity. Whoever would think of offering pity to Bridget O'Hara at home?"
"But Bridget O'Hara is no longer at home; she is a captive in a strange land. Don't cry, Biddy. Let us leave sentimentalities now, and come to facts. Whom do you think you owe this severe treatment to?"
"I am sure I can't tell you."
"I can tell you, however. You owe it entirely—to Evelyn Percival."
"Now what do you mean? that nice girl whom I nearly killed?"
"You didn't nearly kill her; that's all stuff! Bridget, you don't know Evelyn Percival, but I do. Had any other girl been in the carriage when you and the children startled the horses, you would have been forgiven. Mrs. Freeman would still have remembered that you were unaccustomed to rules, and she would have tried to break you in gently and considerately; but as Evelyn happened to be the person whose delicate nerves sustained a shock, Mrs. Freeman was incapable of showing any mercy. Evelyn Percival poses in the school as a sort of saint. Nearly everyone bows down to her; Mrs. Freeman, head mistress though she is, is so influenced by her that you are sure to have a bad time in future."
"I shan't stand it; it isn't likely."
"You will be forced to stand it. If Evelyn gives the smallest suggestion about you, it will be certain to be followed out. I pity you, Bridget, but you are certainly likely to have a lively time."
"You don't mean to tell me," answered Bridget, "that I have to thank Miss Percival for this punishment; that it is at her instigation I am here?"