“I will send Tom with it the instant I get home. He runs like the wind. You may expect to find it waiting for you in half-an-hour.”
“Thank you. And you will take great care of the thimble, won’t you?”
“Of course I will, child. It is a beauty.”
Without more ado Nancy slipped the thimble into her pocket, and then nodding to Pauline, and telling her that she would wait for her at the wicket-gate at half-past seven, she left her.
Nancy swung her body as she walked, and Pauline stood and watched her. She thought that Nancy looked very grown-up and very stylish. To look stylish seemed better than to look pretty in the eyes of the inexperienced little girl. She could not help having a great admiration for her friend.
“She is very brave, and so generous; and she knows such a lot of the world!” thought poor Pauline. “It is a shame not to be allowed to see her whenever one likes. And it would be just heavenly to go to her to-night, instead of spending hungry hours awake in my horrid bedroom.”
CHAPTER X.
DISCIPLINE.
The other girls were miserable; but Miss Tredgold had already exercised such a very strong influence over them that they did not dare to disobey her orders. Much as they longed to do so, none of them ventured near poor Pauline. In the course of the afternoon Miss Tredgold called Verena aside.