"Hope must have taken a great dislike to her."
"Why should you think that?"
"Because I never knew Hope Benham to set herself up on her violin-playing before, and refuse to play with anybody."
"Nobody has ever asked her to play a violin duet. It is she who has asked one of us to play an accompaniment for her now and then. You know that we should never have thought of going forward and offering to play for her."
"Oh, well, we knew all about her playing from Miss Marr. But you say nobody has ever asked her to play a violin duet. How about that little Vernon girl who left last term? Hope used to play with her a great deal, and Milly used to ask her too. Hope didn't care particularly for Milly Vernon."
"But she wanted to help her."
"And she wanted to be obliging too. Hope Benham has always been one of the kindest and most obliging girls in school."
"And she is now, but she has some sense and spirit, and probably doesn't mean to have a new-comer like Dorothea Dering take full possession of her on short acquaintance."
"Yes, it is a pretty short acquaintance," responded Anna, thoughtfully.
"That last remark of mine was a happy hit," thought Kate, triumphantly. "It has disposed of all the surmises about Hope's dislike, but," she further thought, "I wonder how this violin business is going to end. I prophesy that Miss Dorothea Dering will carry the day, and Hope will play that duet with her yet."