"Come," she said; "we must be great chums, mustn't we?"
"Oh, if you would be kind to me!" said poor Christian.
Her shyness was getting worse; the tears were very near her eyes, but she did not dare to let them appear.
"I will introduce you to some of the others," said Louisa. "The sooner you know us all the better. First of all, how old are you?"
"I shall be fourteen in three months' time."
"Oh, we make a great fuss about birthdays here; but yours is some way off yet. You are only thirteen at present. Do you know that I am nearly sixteen, and I am not much taller than you."
"I always knew that I was very tall," said Christian. "I hate it myself; I'd much rather be a little girl."
"If you happened to be a little girl you would anything but wish it, I can assure you. But now here we are; here is a whole bevy of the girls, all so curious about you, and so anxious to be nice and kind."
"Well, Twine dear," said a merry-looking girl of about fourteen years of age, bounding forward when she saw Louisa issuing out of the hall accompanied by Christian, "so you have got her. You are the privileged one. Now, I wanted to be. It's most unfair that you should have all the plums, Twiny."