"Well, I will try and get you leave to come to our party," said Edith. "We are going to have one before the holidays are over."
"I don't think you will get leave from Mrs. Enderby," said Hetty; "and then I have no frock."
"They must get you a frock somewhere," said Grace; "I could send you one of mine."
"That would give offence, I am sure," said Hetty smiling. "It is not for the trouble of getting the frock that Mrs. Enderby would keep me from going. She does not wish me to get accustomed to such things."
"Then she is horrid," cried Edith; "making you just like Cinderella."
"No, no," said Hetty, "you must not say that. Cinderella was a daughter of the house, and I am nobody's child. That is what the village people say. And only think if they had sent me to a charity school!"
Edith and Grace gazed at her gravely. Hetty stood with her hands behind her back, looking them in the eyes as she stated her own case.
"And you have nobody belonging to you, really, in the whole world?" said Edith.
"Nobody," said Hetty, "and nothing. At least nothing but a tiny linen chemise."
"Did you drop down out of the clouds in that?" asked Grace with widening eyes.