"More butter?" piped Nancy; then taking a leaf from Cyril's book—"Don't bover to eat it if it's nasty; we will. Have some jam astead."
And Betty, in the silence of her bedroom, was drinking cold water and eating dry bread, without any one asking solicitously "if she would have a little more, or leave that if she did not like it, and have something nicer."
"Yet I was trying to earn money for them all," she said aloud. "I won't try any more. Dot only spends it, but they love her more than me."
It was while these thoughts were busy in her mind that Dot ran down the passage and opened the door suddenly. Such a dainty pretty Dot, in her new blue muslin dress that almost reached to the ground, and fitted closely to her slender little figure, and a new white straw hat with a new white gossamer floating out behind waiting to be tied when the kisses were all given and taken.
The girl's face was like a tender blush rose; her eyes were shining with actual excitement (rare thing in placid Dot), and her hair hung down her back in a thick plait tied with blue ribbon.
It was the plait which caught Betty's attention.
"Oh!" she cried in disappointment, and then stopped, remembering the silence that had been imposed upon her.
Dot ran to her and kissed her.
"It's all right," she said. "You may talk to me. I asked mother, and she says yes until I go."
"I can't when you're gone," said Betty; but she brightened up very much.