But cheerfulness which is built on the suffering of others is not likely to be very lasting, and a new cause of trouble soon appeared. Notwithstanding, Etty's so-called talents, she was backward in her lessons; and reading till twelve o'clock the night before did not tend to make her head clear. She found her sums in arithmetic unusually puzzling, and made so many mistakes in her Latin rules that she had to study them over again. She could not make sense of her reading lesson, and declared there was no meaning in it, and she was all the more cross that Stella's Latin lesson was unusually good. By the end of the school hours, she was once more in a thoroughly bad humor.
"Well, are the lessons finished?" asked Mrs. Grey, entering the school-room at twelve o'clock. "Come then, girls, hurry and dress yourselves, that you may be ready when the carriage comes."
"Where are we going, aunt?" asked Stella.
"Wait patiently, and you will see," replied Mrs. Grey, smiling. "Only be sure you are ready by one o'clock, for there will be no time to lose in waiting. Put on your gray skirts, and dresses that can be easily washed. Your ginghams will be the best."
"I shall not wear my gingham dress—so!" said Etty, as they went up-stairs. "I shall wear my new muslin."
"I am afraid aunt will not like it," replied Stella. "She said anything that would wash."
"Well, and won't the muslins wash, stupid?"
"Yes, I suppose so, but you would hardly want to have your new dress done up so soon. I shall put on the gingham."
"I declare, I won't go with you, if you do, Stella Grey," said Etty, stamping her foot.
"You will not look fit to be seen."