They all went down into the street. Sylvia found herself casting shy glances at Betty. It seemed to her that her sister was changed—that she scarcely knew her. Dress did not make such a marked difference in Hetty’s appearance; but Hetty too looked a different girl.
“And now we are going to the Zoological Gardens,” said Mrs. Haddo, “where we may find some spiders like Dickie, and where you will see all sorts of wonderful creatures.”
“Oh Mrs. Haddo!” exclaimed Betty.
They spent an hour or two in that place so fascinating for children, and arrived back at Haddo Court just in time for supper.
“We have had a happy day, have we not?” said Mrs. Haddo, looking into Betty’s face and observing the brightness of her eyes.
“Very happy, and it was you who gave it to us,” answered the girl.
“And to-morrow,” continued Mrs. Haddo, “must be just as happy—just as happy—because lessons will begin; and to an intelligent and clever girl there is nothing in the world so delightful as a difficulty conquered and knowledge acquired.”
That evening, when the Vivian girls entered the room where supper was served, every girl in the upper school turned to look at them. The change in their appearance was at once complete and arresting. They walked well by nature. They were finely made girls, and had not a scrap of self-consciousness.
“Oh, I say, Fan,” whispered Susie in her dear friend’s ear, “your cousins will boss the whole school if this sort of thing goes on. To be frank with you, Fan, I have fallen in love with that magnificent Betty myself. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”
“You ought not to whisper in English, ought you?” was Fanny’s very significant response, uttered in the German tongue.