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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78051 ***
+
+Transcriber's notes: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
+
+New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
+public domain.
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+                         BORROWED FEATHERS.
+
+
+                                 BY
+
+                             RUTH LAMB
+
+
+
+                  The Girl's Own Annual Illustrated
+                           VOL. VII. 1886.
+                  "LILY LEAVES" EXTRA SUMMER NUMBER
+                      THE LEISURE HOUR OFFICE
+                    56, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
+
+
+
+                              CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+    I.
+
+   II.
+
+  III.
+
+
+
+                         BORROWED FEATHERS.
+
+                               —————
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+"THAT dreadful bell again, and I am almost certain I heard wheels
+on the gravel! If it should be one of mamma's grandee friends, and
+only Cinderella to answer the door! I have a great mind to let the
+individual ring on until he or she is tired. To-morrow I will have all
+the front blinds down until evening, then no one will think there is
+anybody at home. And," added the speaker, "as, socially speaking, I am
+nobody, they will be right."
+
+Annette Clifford was talking to herself. She had two good reasons for
+doing it, the first being that she had nobody else to talk to at the
+time. The second, that being a bright lively girl possessed of great
+intelligence, overflowing spirits, and a gregarious temperament, she
+found it difficult to hold her tongue for hours together. During
+most of the day she was all but alone in a large house, its only
+other inmate being a make-shift servant, who, in addition to general
+incapacity, was so deaf as to render any attempt at conversation
+laborious.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Whilst Annette thus communed with herself, she was also moving swiftly
+and noiselessly towards a window whence she could command a view of the
+person who was demanding admittance at the hall door.
+
+There was a vehicle standing opposite to it, but it was a humble cab
+instead of the dreaded carriage. There was luggage on the top, and the
+driver was in the act of ringing the door bell a second time.
+
+"Mamma and Laura, come back before their month is over," was Annette's
+first thought, but the sight of a lady's face which belonged to neither
+of the relatives named sent the girl flying to the entrance with all
+possible speed.
+
+Rushing past the cabman, and opening the door of the vehicle, she had
+her arms round the neck of the solitary passenger in a moment.
+
+"Aunty," exclaimed the girl. "Is it really you? It seems quite too good
+to be true that you are actually here, and with boxes which indicate a
+possible stay."
+
+The new arrival smiled at Annette's vehemence, and returned her embrace
+in the most affectionate manner.
+
+"My stay depends upon yourself, dear child," she replied. "I know you
+are in sole charge at present, and, from a whisper which reached me, I
+am inclined to think that your domestic staff is below the average."
+
+"Domestic staff! Why, aunty, I have neither staff nor crutch. Nothing
+but a broken reed, on which I cannot lean for a single instant.
+Nevertheless, 'I' am here, and I have a couple of fairly capable hands,
+the work of which shall be devoted to insuring your comfort, whatever
+else may be left undone."
+
+Then turning to the cabman, Annette said, "Please get down the boxes
+and bring them inside the hall."
+
+The man obeyed, and then the girl seized some of the smaller matters
+which were inside the vehicle, and saying, "Do come in, aunty, and let
+me carry the rest," she tripped lightly into the house with her burden,
+and soon returned for what remained.
+
+"I suppose you will not want the larger things upstairs just yet, shall
+you?" she asked. "This old man is not strong enough to carry them to
+your bedroom unassisted, but when the boys come home, the boxes will
+be whisked upstairs in a few seconds. Will you rest for a few minutes,
+or go straight to your room? It is quite ready, though it would be
+difficult for me to say what possessed me to see that it was kept so,
+from day to day."
+
+"I shall not want my boxes at present, dear; and I would rather go
+straight to my room," replied Mrs. Worsley, the lady whom Annette
+called "aunty," though she was no relation to the girl, only her
+godmother. "But where is the 'reed' aforesaid? Surely she could
+carry up my dressing bag, and the odds and ends with which you are
+overloading yourself."
+
+"The 'reed,' 'Sarah Jane,' by names—and she insists on being called by
+both—is at this moment engaged in what she calls 'cleaning herself.'
+The operation occupies most of each afternoon, and is unsatisfactory as
+regards results. She goes upstairs with honest black patches about her
+face, garments, and person generally. She comes down with an appearance
+of profuse dinginess, which gives you the idea that the black patches
+have been diluted by the application of water, and thus diffused over
+a larger surface. Sarah Jane objects to soap, aunty—on her face, I
+mean—as calculated to injure her complexion. The 'cleaning' process of
+which she talks so much is, I think, done in chapters, and ought to be
+continued."
+
+The girl laughed merrily as she deposited her load in the bedroom. Then
+she brought hot water, undid straps, and paid the welcome guest all the
+little attentions which thoughtful love could suggest.
+
+"Thank you, darling," said Mrs. Worsley. "You take care that I shall
+not be conscious of any lack of servants." And drawing the girl's
+glowing face to her own, she kissed it again and again.
+
+Annette allowed her head to rest on her friend's breast for a few
+moments. "It is very sweet to be petted now and then," she said, "but
+I must not stay long now; that would be too selfish. Shall we have our
+afternoon tea in the drawing-room or the den?"
+
+"The den, by all means, dear; I will be down in a quarter of an hour,"
+replied Mrs. Worsley.
+
+After glancing round, to convince herself that she had done all in her
+power for the guest's comfort, Annette went downstairs and removed
+the pretty tea equipage from the state room to the smaller one, which
+the younger members of the family usually occupied. Knowing that no
+dependence was to be placed on Sarah Jane, Annette had taken care to
+have everything ready for afternoon tea in case of callers, and a very
+few minutes sufficed to arrange a tempting little meal for the tired
+traveller. Cake and bread and butter were already on the table; to
+these Annette added two or three daintily cut sandwiches, a couple of
+peaches, and some cream.
+
+The tea-table stood within a large bay window, one side of which was
+open, and let in the sweet summer air, laden with the scent of roses. A
+few flowers were in tiny vases up and down, just a bloom or two amid a
+mass of variegated ivy leaves, like jewels in a setting of plain gold.
+The tea equipage was pretty—a harlequin set made up from a collection
+of fine old china. The kettle in which the water was boiling over a
+spirit lamp was of massive silver, exquisitely chased, and everything
+prepared for the visitor's entertainment suggested refinement and
+loving thoughtfulness.
+
+Yet the room and its furniture were emphatically shabby. Each article
+had been good and handsome in its day, but the day was many a year
+back. Even the fine engravings on the walls were in this room because
+the frames had become too hopelessly dingy to permit of their remaining
+in what Annette called the state apartments.
+
+As Mrs. Worsley entered the den, she was first struck with its general
+air of dilapidation, then charmed with the pretty picture presented by
+that one little nook which held the tea equipage and Annette.
+
+The girl's face was all aglow with happy anticipation, and she
+exclaimed, "Come, aunty, dear, the tea is just in perfection, and
+I hope you feel ready for it. Here are some sandwiches, which will
+perhaps sustain nature until—I had nearly said dinner-time, but I must
+own the truth. Having no cook, we have no formal dinners. The boys get
+a substantial lunch in the middle of the day; I have something here,
+and at seven we have a sort of mongrel meal, which combines dinner,
+tea, and supper."
+
+"I could wish nothing better than what you have prepared for me,
+Nettie," said Mrs. Worsley. "Why, my dear, this is a meal for a
+princess. How have you arranged and prepared all so quickly?"
+
+"The tea-things were in the drawing-room, and the water had boiled
+once, and only required a renewed blaze to make it boil again. I have
+to exercise a little diplomacy seeing that I am at the head of domestic
+affairs, but with nobody to obey orders."
+
+"Not even the 'reed,' my dear?" asked Mrs. Worsley.
+
+"Not even Sarah Jane, aunty. She hears, sometimes, in spite of her
+deafness, but never obeys. And when she finds it inconvenient to hear,
+her natural infirmity increases fourfold. There is always a possibility
+of callers, in spite of mamma's absence, and I must be prepared to
+entertain them thus far—" with a wave of the hand to indicate the tea
+equipage. "Well, Sarah Jane and I are agreed on one subject, namely
+that she is unpresentable to any caller of higher degree than the
+butcher's boy. Should there be a ring at the hall door, Sarah Jane's
+tousled head is pushed in at this, and she says,—
+
+"'Please, miss, there's that door again, and I'm not fit to be seen.'
+
+"I assent, for the fact is self-evident, and I answer the door myself,
+trying the while to look as if I had been accidentally crossing the
+hall, and recognised a friend in the applicant for admission. During
+the afternoon, matters are easily managed. The tea-things are in the
+drawing-room, the bread and butter cut and covered with a second plate,
+so that it may not get dry, and so placed that I can whisk away the
+upper plate unperceived. I do it so cleverly, aunty, that the operation
+is like a conjuring trick. Then I lie in wait, sometimes indoors, at
+others in the garden, the hall door being kept hospitably open. And if
+people come, I meet them quite naturally, bring them in for rest and
+tea, then stroll with them to the entrance if they are driving, to the
+gate itself if they are pedestrians. I had only to bring the tea-things
+from the other room to this, you see, aunty."
+
+"And to cut the sandwiches, and gather the peaches, for I presume these
+are not generally found on the tea-table. Well, my dear, you see how
+thoroughly I appreciate these additions. I never felt more grateful for
+a meal, or enjoyed one more than I am doing this. Now tell me how it is
+I find you alone?"
+
+"Mamma and Laura are at Scarborough, and the boys do not reach home
+until nearly six. They still attend the Grammar School, and they have a
+long walk home after the work is done."
+
+"True, dear, but the servants—where are they? Your mamma keeps three
+usually, does she not?"
+
+"Two and a half. We have really only two efficient servants, and a girl
+who does the most disagreeable items of household work, and waits upon
+and is scolded by the other two," replied Annette, promptly.
+
+"Where are the efficients?" asked Mrs. Worsley.
+
+"Bolton, the housemaid-waitress, is at Scarborough with mamma and
+Laura, promoted for a full month to the dignity of ladies' maid."
+
+Mrs. Worsley looked perplexed.
+
+"I do not understand," she said. "I thought you told me in a letter
+that Mrs. Clifford and your sister were staying at the principal hotel."
+
+"They are. Mamma said that Scarborough lodgings in the only part that
+she could possibly elect to stay in were extremely expensive, and that,
+by arranging to remain the whole time at the hotel, she would be able
+to make favourable terms. That, in fact, the cost of staying there
+would not be much greater than in private rooms, to say nothing of the
+isolation of lodgings and housekeeping worries which would be avoided."
+
+"Then is Bolton at the hotel too?"
+
+"Of course, aunty. She would be useless anywhere else," said Nettie.
+
+"But Mrs. Clifford and Laura have no maid when at home! It seems so
+strange to take one for a month to an expensive hotel, when—"
+
+Mrs. Clifford paused. She was very nearly adding, "when they are always
+complaining of poverty and the difficulty of making ends meet." She
+might have further said, "and borrowing without troubling much as to
+how or when the money will be repaid." But she did not say this. She
+only stopped, and Annette took up the subject.
+
+"When there is not much money to spare, aunty, you would say. It
+is quite true. There is none to spare, but mamma is rather fond of
+appearing 'en grande dame' when she is from home. Here, in spite of
+narrow means and perpetual pinching, she is a great lady, you know. Was
+she not Miss Heydon, of Heydon Hill, before she became Mrs. Clifford?
+Everyone knows that in this neighbourhood, and knows, also, that she
+was a great heiress before she married a handsome, penniless captain of
+dragoons, who lived nearly long enough to leave his wife and children
+in the same condition. Does it sound wicked to say so, aunty? I never
+saw my father, you know, after I was three years old, and I have been
+more accustomed to hear him blamed than lamented."
+
+"Unfortunately this has been the case, dear," said Mrs. Worsley, "but I
+presume you would not say this to any ordinary acquaintance?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Annette. "You are far better informed of all
+these particulars than I am, and therefore I did not think my alluding
+to them would matter in the least. Besides, you are a dear, true friend
+to us all—best and dearest to me."
+
+"I should like to prove myself one, Nettie," and the speaker laid her
+hand caressingly on that of the girl. "Now tell me about Bolton. I
+interrupted you."
+
+"Mamma cannot quite forget what she was accustomed to have as a girl,
+and she is unwilling to do without it still. When at the seaside, for
+instance, she likes to see 'Mrs. and Miss Clifford and maid' in the
+visitors' list. I sometimes wish she did not care so much for keeping
+up appearances. She pays pretty dearly for that word 'maid,' and it is
+but an empty sound after all. But I suppose it would be hard for her to
+change," added Annette, meditatively.
+
+"Now you have accounted for the absence of one efficient servant. Where
+is the cook?"
+
+"Oh! Williams is gone home for her annual holiday."
+
+"Does your mamma give her the whole month?"
+
+"No, aunty, a fortnight. Then Williams will come back, and, with Sarah
+Jane's assistance, do some cleaning down before mamma's return. Mamma
+hates an upset house, and thinks it is better to have such work done
+when she and Laura are absent, so that everything may be in apple-pie
+order when they come. By letting cook take her holidays now, we have
+our whole available staff when we settle down in winter quarters.
+Bolton has no friends she cares to go and see, so her stay at the
+seaside with mamma, as maid, gives her a double holiday."
+
+"There is still the half—the girl, to be accounted for."
+
+"She was not even half efficient, so as mamma would have parted with
+her soon in any case, she said she might as well go before she and
+Laura went away. Sarah Jane was sure she could manage by herself, and
+mamma said she might try."
+
+The girl gave a weary little sigh, though the expression of her
+face was humorous enough. In fact, Sarah Jane's eccentricities and
+incapacity served one good purpose. They kept Annette alive by giving
+her food for fun. During the day, she carefully garnered every
+experience, and, despite her daily difficulties, met the boys with a
+bright face, and furnished material for laughter with the evening meal.
+
+"When do you expect Williams?" asked Mrs. Worsley.
+
+"On Friday evening, and on that day, the boys' vacation begins. They
+hope to enjoy it, for Colonel Cracroft has invited them to spend the
+whole time at Fox Howe, his charming country home in the Lake district.
+The boys—ours and the two Cracrofts—are to take little walking tours
+between Mondays and Saturdays, weather permitting, and their own
+inclinations being in harmony with the plan. But anybody who chooses
+may stay at home, as it is to be Liberty Hall for the young people. I
+wish I were going on tramp for days together, aunty. Girls do it now
+as well as boys, and the Cracrofts are so nice. But the colonel is a
+widower with no daughters, or else, perhaps, he might have asked me,"
+said Annette.
+
+"Where are you going for your summer outing, dear?"
+
+"Nowhere. When the boys are out of the way, I shall not be at home any
+longer. The blinds will be down, and 'the family are away' will be
+the reply should anyone, undeterred by the desolate appearance of the
+premises, be rash enough to call."
+
+At this moment there was a knock at the door, and Annette asked to be
+excused for a few minutes, and left the room.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MRS. WORSLEY was not long alone. Annette soon returned, flushed and
+panting with exercise.
+
+"Sarah Jane and I carried up your boxes quite easily," she said. "I had
+forgotten when I spoke of the boys that they are playing in a school
+cricket match, and as there will be a supper afterwards, they will not
+be home till late. Your eyes are wandering round the den, aunty. It is
+so desolate. It did not matter when we were less, but it would be nice
+to have it made into a really charming room. A few pounds and a good
+deal of handiwork and contriving would make it lovely. But there are no
+pounds to spare for what would give lasting home comfort."
+
+There was a shade of bitterness in the girl's tone which told Mrs.
+Worsley whither her thoughts were tending. If only Mrs. Clifford
+had been content to do without a maid at Scarborough, her children
+would have reaped the benefit of her abstinence in years of increased
+comfort. Fresh prettiness would have taken the place of dingy finery,
+and much that was good and handsome might have been utilised by
+renovation.
+
+Mrs. Worsley did not answer directly. She showed her sympathy by
+drawing Annette to her side, and holding her in an affectionate embrace.
+
+At length she said, "It does seem rather hard for you to be left alone
+in this way, darling."
+
+"I was not thinking of that. Indeed, I have now the most delightful
+companion," and she lifted her honest face to Mrs. Worsley's for a
+kiss. "And I mean to make the most of my privileges, before I assume my
+rôle of Cinderella during the cleaning down season. Of course it would
+be impossible for you to stay in the midst of a muddle, aunty."
+
+"Quite, Nettie; I shall stay until Saturday, and when the boys' backs
+are turned, I must turn mine."
+
+Annette's countenance fell.
+
+"Do you know," she said, "I was just wondering if it would be possible
+to keep a little nook, a sort of small house in a large house,
+comfortable enough to induce you to stay another week. Cinderella
+grieves at the thought of so soon parting with her fairy godmother."
+
+"I am afraid it would be as impossible for me to remain as to exercise
+the powers of a fairy godmother, Nettie. Now if I could dress you in
+all sorts of braveries with a mere touch of my wand, and send you out
+to meet the prince, with the retinue of a princess, I might deserve the
+name."
+
+"I should not like you to do it if you could. I hate shams of every
+kind, and I have already had too long an experience of them. Some
+Cinderellas would ride with a light heart in a carriage that might
+at any moment turn into a pumpkin again, but not 'your' Cinderella,
+godmother, dear."
+
+The young lips quivered, and Annette, while smiling bravely into Mrs.
+Worsley's face, had to turn aside to brush away a rebellious tear.
+
+To lead the girl's thoughts to something pleasanter, the visitor
+suggested a stroll through the grounds.
+
+"I thought I had never seen them look so beautiful," she said. "How you
+must revel amongst fruit and flowers!"
+
+"Shams again, aunty. Not the fruit and flowers; they are provokingly
+real, but only to be revelled in by two senses—those of sight and
+smell. The grounds are let out to a gardener and florist, who pays
+a rent for them. It is true that fruit and vegetables, to a certain
+weekly market value, are bargained for, and our table is fairly
+supplied; but each article is sent in by mamma's tenant. We cannot
+bestow a bouquet on a friend, or give one permission to cull blossom
+or fruit for herself. The addition to the income is very useful, and
+supplies more shams, but this state of things is dreadful when one
+thinks of what used to be. Stay, though, aunty, I stood out for my own
+garden—the plot I called mine when I was a tiny toddles, and mamma had
+not the heart to take it from me. In it are some old-fashioned flowers,
+a wealth of ivy on the wall, and some lovely yellow gooseberries with a
+flavour better than that of half the grapes grown in the houses."
+
+Towards this favourite corner Mrs. Worsley and Annette strolled
+arm-in-arm, and the girl's eyes grew brighter as aunty fastened a rose
+in her dress, and ate of the yellow champagnes with manifest enjoyment.
+
+
+Bed-time brought the boys—victorious, noisy, and full of delight,
+as they talked of the approaching holidays and the enjoyable visit
+to which they were looking forward. They were not, however, wholly
+self-absorbed. Mingled with these gleeful anticipations were regrets at
+the thought of leaving their favourite sister behind them and alone.
+
+"If we could only take Nettie, we should have nothing to wish for,"
+said Lionel.
+
+"Oh, Nettie, why were you not a boy?" cried Fred. "You would have been
+such a jolly boy, and the Cracrofts could have asked the three of us."
+
+"I am by no means sure of this. Two such boys must be quite enough to
+have at once. Besides, you would not like me half so well if I were a
+boy. You squabble almost daily about some nonsense or other; how would
+you get friends again if you had each a second brother to quarrel with,
+instead of a sister to reconcile your differences? Considering all I
+do for you, it is very ungrateful to suggest that I could be improved
+by a change of sex," said Nettie, with a little pout of the lip, which
+deceived nobody.
+
+"We should never get on without you, as you are, yet for your own
+sake, we cannot help wishing to have you with us. Is it not horrid to
+think of her being left at home by herself?" said outspoken Lionel,
+addressing Mrs. Worsley. "Why did not mamma take Nettie to Scarborough
+instead of Bolton? She does all sorts of things both for her and Laura,
+when they are at home?"
+
+"Hush, Lionel!" said Nettie.
+
+"It is not for you boys to settle what your mother ought to do," said
+Mrs. Worsley, "though I can well imagine that you would like to have
+Nettie's enjoyment provided for as well as your own."
+
+"And Laura's," interposed Fred. "It does not seem fair that Laura
+should always be first and foremost, and Nettie left out in the cold."
+
+"Mamma knows that I care less about gaieties than Laura does; and
+besides, she is the eldest of us all."
+
+"Don't tell fibs, Nettie. At least, do not pretend to be better than
+you are. You may not care about parties and balls, and finery, but
+never say you do not mind about being left here to see to the turning
+out of rooms, the shaking of carpets, and with only the society of
+Williams and Sarah Jane, for a fortnight after next Saturday. Do not
+tell me that you are not longing for a whiff of the sea breeze, and the
+sound of the waves as they tumble in. Heydon Hill is very beautiful,
+with its flowers that we must not pluck, and its fruit that we are
+forbidden to taste; but just ask us, now, whether we would not rather
+go scrambling across the fells or boating on the lakes than have Heydon
+Hill all the year round, even with free run at everything? As to Laura,
+of course she is the eldest. She likes to claim all the privileges of
+her present age. But wait a year or two, and she will be only too glad
+for people to think she is the younger."
+
+Lionel nodded sagaciously as he finished his long speech.
+
+Nettie made no answer until Sarah Jane left the room.
+
+Then she remarked, with a little laugh, "I think the 'reed' must be
+less deaf than usual. I am almost certain she heard you, Lionel, she
+looked so knowing. Now, dear boys, understand that there are many
+reasons why I should stay at home. As the maid, Bolton, only counts for
+half in the hotel bill, I might do a maid's duties, but I should cost
+the same as mamma or Laura. I should have wanted some new gowns had I
+accompanied them; my old ones are good enough for home use."
+
+"Laura got new ones; so did mamma," said Fred.
+
+"When I go away for a holiday, I shall have them, too," insisted Nettie.
+
+"When? I should like to know when?" replied Lionel, in a tone of
+disgust.
+
+"And you shall know, my dear boy," said Mrs. Worsley. "Nettie's holiday
+will begin on Saturday next. When she and I have seen you two safe off
+these premises, we shall prepare for our own departure. If there had
+been no other reason for her staying here until then, you boys would
+have furnished two substantial ones. You are to blame for the fact that
+one sister is gone to the seaside, the other is left to take care of
+you."
+
+The speaker's face expressed no little amusement as she observed the
+effect of her words.
+
+"Aunty, what do you mean?" asked Annette. "It cannot be true that I am
+to go somewhere with you. What would mamma say?"
+
+"She has said you may go, dear."
+
+"But when? How did you hear from her? I do not understand," replied
+Nettie, more bewildered than ever.
+
+"I had a letter from your mother about a week ago, in which she told me
+that she and Laura were at Scarborough, and you here with the boys. She
+suggested my joining them on my way home, for I was then in Scotland. I
+did spend a single night under the same roof for I wanted to run away
+with you, Nettie, and I thought I could negotiate for that purpose
+more successfully in person than by letter. After a little talk, it
+was arranged that as soon as the boys were off I might have you. The
+method of taking possession was left to myself. I might write for you
+and enclose this, or do as I chose about communicating your mother's
+consent to my plan."
+
+Mrs. Worsley handed a note to Nettie.
+
+And the girl exclaimed, "How kind of you, aunty! To think of you
+travelling so far out of your way on my account, first to Scarborough,
+then to this place! How can I thank you?"
+
+"Do not try, dear. Read your mother's note," said Mrs. Worsley. "But
+please do not put me down as another sham, because I asked you so many
+questions when I already knew the answer to some of them. I wanted to
+have a peep into your mind. As to Bolton, I inquired after her in all
+good faith, for neither your mother nor Laura told me that she was with
+them, or how very much you had been left to yourself."
+
+Nettie gave her godmother a girlish hug and a little shower of kisses,
+then applied herself to the letter, whilst the boys expressed their
+delight at her improved prospects, after the manner of their kind.
+
+They repeatedly embraced their sister, showered thanks on Mrs. Worsley
+in rather slangy English, and finally gave relief to their exuberant
+spirits by dancing round the den in a sort of wild Indian style, which
+was not calculated to render the reading of the letter an easy task to
+Nettie.
+
+The purport of it was, however, soon mastered. Mrs. Clifford wrote
+warmly of Mrs. Worsley's kindness, and told her daughter that she must
+consider herself at liberty to leave Heydon Hill as soon as Williams
+returned and the boys were gone. There were loving messages and a
+promise of another letter to follow by post, and that was all.
+
+
+Annette's dreams were pleasant ones for that night, but the waking was
+less agreeable. The morning brought the promised letter, with detailed
+instructions as to certain matters for the house and the boys, and a
+cheque to meet the expenditure involved by their coming journey, and
+the domestic supplies alluded to. But for Annette herself there was
+nothing, not even a hint as to possible wants. The girl thought she
+must be mistaken, that there must be another enclosure; but a further
+examination revealed the fact that the envelope contained nothing more.
+
+"How can I go?" she exclaimed. "Mamma knows that I need at least a
+couple of new gowns to make me fairly presentable, and it would be
+a dreadful scramble to get one in the short time there is. Besides,
+Laura's last are unpaid for, and I will not go for more on credit,
+though I suppose that is what she must have meant me to do. Mamma must
+feel that I cannot go away without even the means to pay my travelling
+expenses, or a spare pound in my pocket."
+
+Annette's self-communings had reach this point when Mrs. Worsley
+entered the den, where breakfast awaited her coming.
+
+"I thought you were still asleep, aunty," said the girl. "I have been
+twice to your door, but everything was so quiet that I stole softly
+down again. The boys had to go, you know, to be in time for school, so
+I shall have you all to myself. Have you rested well?"
+
+"Delightfully, Nettie, and I am quite ready for breakfast, and work to
+follow, for we must begin our preparations for the journey without an
+hour's delay."
+
+Annette's face flushed and paled as she turned her mother's letter
+round in her fingers in an absent fashion. Then she said, "I am afraid
+I can make none. Mamma has written about everyone but me. She must know
+that I need more than her permission to go with you."
+
+"My dear, I am sorry that you have had a moment's anxiety on that
+score, which I might have prevented by a word. Your mother and I
+arranged everything on your behalf when we met at Scarborough. This is
+for you, Nettie, to meet any minor expenses, and after breakfast we
+will see what sort of a substitute for the fairy godmother I shall make
+in providing the more substantial portion of your outfit."
+
+Mrs. Worsley handed Annette an envelope addressed in her mother's
+handwriting.
+
+And on opening it, she found, to her utter amazement, a ten-pound note.
+
+"For me, aunty? How has mamma spared it? Did she really send it?" asked
+Annette, half ashamed of her question.
+
+"I saw Mrs. Clifford place the note in the envelope, which she
+addressed, and then handed to me, for your sole use, my dear, if that
+is what you mean. And she sent her love, and hoped you would spend it
+judiciously."
+
+The young face brightened again at these words.
+
+"Mamma is very kind; I did not expect this," she said. "Now I can
+manage quite nicely. But how disgracefully selfish I am, to keep
+you talking about my concerns when you must be famishing for your
+breakfast!"
+
+"Not famishing, dear, but with a good healthy appetite to enjoy this
+tempting breakfast," replied Mrs. Worsley. "But, Nettie, you have not
+asked whither we are bound when we leave Heydon Hill."
+
+"I thought I was going home with you, aunty."
+
+"Home in one sense, dear, but not to the one I call my very own. We are
+going to my brother's."
+
+"To Broadlands! You cannot mean it?"
+
+"I am quite in earnest. My brother and his wife have given you a warm
+corner in their warm hearts, Nettie. Your last year's visit established
+you as first favourite with them and the children, and I believe if I
+were to make my appearance alone, I should be sent back to fetch you.
+The people at Ferndene are having a large party of young guests, too. I
+believe almost the same who were there twelve months ago, so you will
+meet a host of old young acquaintances."
+
+Mrs. Worsley was looking straight at Nettie as she spoke, and, lo!
+across the girl's face stole a look of indescribable gladness, along
+with a rich rosy glow that spread from cheek to brow; a sort of
+dancing, happy light, the reflex of some deep-seated joy, brought to
+the innocent young heart by her friend's words.
+
+Nettie turned away quickly and shyly, as if afraid that secret of hers
+should be read, and she could not have borne a significant look just
+then, much less a jesting word. That expression, however, set Mrs.
+Worsley thinking and wondering whether, amongst the guests at Ferndene,
+Cinderella might have met her prince.
+
+Truly the girl was very young in her ways and simple in her tastes,
+as innocent of flirting and coquetry as the most loving mother could
+desire her child to be. But time had not been standing still with
+Nettie any more than others; she would keep her nineteenth birthday
+during the visit to Broadlands.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BREAKFAST was over, and Nettie was standing in Mrs. Worsley's bedroom,
+speechless and overwhelmed at the sight which met her view. Spread
+around her were the contents of one of those large boxes which she
+had assisted Sarah Jane to carry upstairs on the preceding evening.
+There were braveries of all kinds suited to a girl like herself, and
+fit for wear in such a home as Broadlands. Nothing very costly, but
+all beautiful, dainty, and suggestive of refined taste and a sweet,
+pure-minded girl wearer.
+
+It was not the first time that Mrs. Worsley had supplied deficiencies
+in Nettie's wardrobe, and the measures taken a year before would, she
+knew, still be near enough to go by. She shrewdly suspected that her
+request for the girl's company would be cheerfully acceded to if no
+demand were made on the mother's purse to furnish the needed outfit.
+Even that ten-pound note which had called forth such fervent gratitude,
+though nominally sent by her mother, had first been given to Mrs.
+Clifford by Mrs. Worsley for the purpose.
+
+"She is rich, and has neither chick nor child. All her own relatives
+are richer still, so why should not Nettie be the better for having a
+wealthy sponsor?" said Mrs. Clifford to her eldest daughter. "Besides,
+by having nothing to buy for Nettie, I shall be able the better to
+supply your wants."
+
+So Laura, too, had cause to rejoice, for she benefited indirectly by
+Mrs. Worsley's gifts, in having money spent upon her wardrobe, some of
+which must otherwise have gone for Nettie's.
+
+Standing amidst a wealth of pretty things, Nettie said—"These are all
+far too handsome, and you are much too kind, aunty, darling. I cannot
+thank you as I ought. I feel that I shall be a grand sham myself
+amongst the dear friends at Broadlands—'a daw with borrowed feather.'"
+
+"Not borrowed, Nettie; these things are truly your own. Not shams any
+more than you are, my dear, honest-hearted lassie. They are fashioned
+by human fingers, not transformed by the touch of a fairy's wand, so
+you can wear them without fear that they will resume some uncanny
+shape. And they come from one who loves you dearly, Nettie, and who has
+too much of this world's gear, and no kindred of her own who need to
+share it. I settled about these trifles before I even saw your mother.
+I never dreamed that I might find you too proud to accept at once, and
+without misgivings, your godmother's little gift."
+
+Nettie burst into tears, and flinging her arms round her friend's neck,
+begged to be forgiven.
+
+"Of course it is hateful pride and horrid ingratitude," she cried. "But
+I did not see it in that way before; I only felt overwhelmed with your
+kindness, and that it was all too much for you to do for my sake. I
+have had shamefully ungrateful thoughts about being left here, and have
+felt angry at mamma and Laura, and generally rebellious on account of
+my lot, instead of just accepting it as from God's hand, and making the
+best of it. And all the while, He was ordering everything for my good,
+putting it into your heart to be so kind to me, and planning that I
+should be invited to the place I longed to visit above every other in
+the world. I am ashamed of myself."
+
+"That is right, darling," replied Mrs. Worsley. "Now you are looking
+at things in a proper light, and there is nothing to be done but to
+continue our preparations."
+
+
+After this, the hours seemed to fly, so much had to be done, but
+further help was obtained to sustain the reed. Williams returned in due
+time.
+
+The boys set out for Cumberland in the highest of spirits.
+
+And a couple of hours later, Mrs. Worsley carried off Nettie, and
+arrived in the early afternoon at the station nearest to Broadlands.
+
+On the platform were three or four of Mrs. Worsley's nephews and
+nieces, wild with delight at seeing her with Nettie in charge. And at
+the cry of the first, "Here's Nettie! Hurrah!" the shout was taken
+up by the others, who each cheered in a different key, and made the
+station resound with their shrill young voices.
+
+There was another person who met the train, and handed the ladies out,
+and who, though he did not join in the cheer raised by the juniors,
+managed to express his pleasure at sight of the travellers in no less
+eloquent language. Truly if ever eyes spoke of gladness, the fine grey
+ones of Arthur Boyd told Nettie Clifford that the sight of her bright,
+blushing face had vastly increased his present feeling of happiness.
+
+What halcyon days followed! Broadlands itself, with just its regular
+inmates, would have been a paradise to Nettie, nestling, as it did,
+among glorious woods which sheltered without hiding it, and yet within
+walking distance of the sea on one side and a lovely undulating country
+on the other three. There were endless drives and plenty of pleasant
+neighbours within reach, nearest of all Ferndene, the residence of old
+Sir Henry Boyd, Arthur's uncle, with whom Nettie was a prime favourite.
+He and his dear old wife were deeply attached to their nephew and heir,
+very anxious for him to marry, and yet in great dread lest he should
+fall a victim to a mere pretty face.
+
+They had a horror of fastness and flirtation. They believed in one
+true, ever-growing holy love which should become stronger and more
+self-devoting through each year of wedded life, as theirs had done.
+Their nephew would be independent of money considerations; they wanted
+him to have a fortune in the wife herself. And so, when twelve months
+before, they thought their nephew was learning to care for Nettie
+Clifford, they were ready to give their hearty consent if he would only
+ask it.
+
+"Just the girl for Arthur," they had said to each other. Well born
+and educated, with good health, good looks, a pure mind, and habits
+untainted by fashion and folly, yet as bright as a bird; one in whose
+society young and old found pleasure. What could they desire better?
+Yet the girl's visit had come to an end, and Arthur had not spoken. The
+hopes of the old couple had died away, and twelve months had come and
+gone in the meanwhile.
+
+Now Nettie was again at Broadlands, and day by day she and Arthur met.
+Lookers-on began to whisper, and some that had hoped Sir Henry's heir
+would seek a wife in a different direction, lost hope.
+
+At last, a day came when the young man opened his heart to the
+relatives who had been as father and mother to him, and asked their
+consent and blessing on his union with Nettie Clifford, provided he
+could win hers.
+
+They answered him together: "May God bless you as we do, and speed
+your wooing! 'A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.' We could
+desire no better fortune for our boy than to win such a wife as Annette
+Clifford."
+
+With a light heart, Arthur set out for Broadlands. There was to be a
+garden party in the lovely grounds that afternoon, and he had no doubt
+that he should find an opportunity of telling Nettie all that was in
+his mind. He did not, however, see her immediately on his arrival. The
+grounds were extensive, and before Arthur Boyd made one amid the crowd
+of guests who kept pouring through the wide gateway, Nettie had been
+pounced upon and carried off to take part in a game at tennis.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The decisive set was just at an end when he caught sight of her,
+flushed and smiling, after a hard-won victory. But bright as was the
+colour on the girl's cheek, it deepened at his approach, and it was
+with a look of frank pleasure that she laid her hand in his and bade
+him welcome.
+
+But while Nettie's roses deepened, those on Arthur's face died away,
+and he became deadly pale as he glanced at the girl's extended hand,
+for there, glittering on her "engaged finger," was a superb diamond, a
+beautiful single stone of bluish white, a stone of great value, as the
+merest ignoramus could tell. Surely the presence of such a jewel in
+such a place could have only one meaning.
+
+Arthur hardly knew what he said. He knew that Nettie looked
+half-frightened, and asked if he were ill, and that he had answered
+in the negative, and got away out of sight. True, she seemed to look
+wistfully after him, and her lips moved as if she were begging him to
+stay. Probably she was shocked at what she had done, and wished to
+deprecate the grief and resentment his face must have expressed.
+
+All their happy hours, all her sweet girlish ways, all the tell-tale
+blushes at his coming, all that he had thought he read in the shy eyes
+that were wont to droop when he looked too steadily in their direction,
+all these things were as nothing to him any more than others.
+Someone—Arthur thought he knew who—had offered, and been promptly
+accepted by the portionless girl, who was bound to marry well, whether
+true love were included in the bargain or not.
+
+Arthur could not leave Broadlands at once, as he longed to do, for his
+aunt and uncle, with other friends, were to come later, and he had
+promised to wait for and return with them. So he strolled away to a
+lonely part of the grounds, and having passed a miserable hour there,
+once more bent towards the entrance gates, where he met Nettie.
+
+Surely the girl must have been miserable too, for she looked pale and
+troubled, and there were signs about her usually bright eyes that were
+suggestive of recent tears. And lo! as he glanced at her hand which
+held up a parasol, he saw that it was unadorned. The ring was gone.
+
+"There must have been some stupid mistake," he thought. "I have taken
+for granted what had probably no reality. Only Nettie's own lips shall
+convince me that she is other than the pure, true-hearted girl I have
+ever judged her to be."
+
+To think was to act. There was no one else very near, so Arthur joined
+Nettie, and a new light came to her sweet face, and new roses sprang
+into being on her cheeks. He began to tell his tale, strolling the
+while into a by-path, and had got as far as the ring.
+
+"I came on purpose to speak to you to-day, Nettie, bringing with me
+the blessing and approval of my dear aunt and uncle, who would welcome
+you with open arms as my wife," he said. "There was only one person
+for me amongst all the gay guests, and when I you, darling, sweet, and
+fair, and true, I longed to clasp you to my heart and tell you that I
+gave you my whole best love a year ago. And then I looked at something
+sparkling on your finger, and saw a ring, and feared that someone had
+been beforehand with me, so went away miserable, without a word. What
+did the ring mean, dear, for you wear it no longer?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Nettie glanced at her hand as Arthur alluded to the ring, and gave a
+cry of horror.
+
+"What shall I do?" she cried. "I did not know it was gone. I would not
+lose it for anything. Please do not stop me."
+
+Away fled Nettie towards the house, leaving Arthur with his love story
+unfinished, and to put what construction he chose upon her precipitate
+retreat. To pursue the girl would have been to cause remark. And Arthur
+went more slowly in the direction taken by Nettie, his mind full of
+half-formed plans for an immediate voyage to the Antipodes.
+
+Mrs. Worsley was sitting on the terrace, and Annette must have passed
+her on her way to the house. Arthur stood by her for a little while,
+talking of the party, the lovely weather, and the manifest enjoyment
+of the guests, but his manner was constrained, and his answers often
+irrelevant. He was on the point of turning away, when Annette once more
+appeared, tripping lightly towards them, with a radiant face.
+
+"Aunty, dear aunty, please take this back with my best thanks, and
+never, if you love me, ask me to wear borrowed feathers again. I have
+been in dreadful trouble. I missed it from my finger, or rather Mr.
+Boyd did, and I thought I had lost it in the park. Then I remembered I
+had been to my room to wash my hands after preparing some fruit for the
+children, and I left Mr. Boyd, very unceremoniously, to see if I had
+laid it on the dressing table. It was not there, and I was almost in
+despair, when where do you think I found it?
+
+"Exactly fitted into the centre hole of the drainer which covers the
+sponge bowl. How glad I was! I am not fit to be trusted with valuables,
+you see, for, being unaccustomed to them, I forget that I have them.
+Thank you a thousand times for the loan of the ring, aunty, and most of
+all for freeing me from the awful responsibility of having valuables,
+not my own, to take care of. I will never wear borrowed feathers again
+as long as I live."
+
+As Nettie spoke, she placed the ring which had caused Arthur's misery
+in Mrs. Worsley's hand, and then gave a sweet, shy, upward glance at
+the young man which seemed to say that the story he had begun to tell
+would now find an attentive listener.
+
+Mrs. Worsley, with a laughing face, told Arthur how she had insisted on
+Nettie's wearing one of her rings, because the girl possessed scarcely
+any ornaments of her own.
+
+"It will be hers some day," she added, "but I must take care of it
+until she is fit to be trusted with the custody of valuables."
+
+Arthur mentally dissented from Mrs. Worsley's statement that Nettie
+possessed few ornaments. He thought that truth, modesty, unselfishness,
+a pure, tender nature, and a warm, faithful heart were better
+adornments and possessions than all the jewels in the world. But he did
+not trouble to tell her so, for some friends were approaching, whom
+Mrs. Worsley joined. And Arthur told his thoughts to Nettie instead,
+and completed the story begun a little while before.
+
+He must have had faith, too, in Nettie's powers to take care of a
+ring, for when the young people met the party from Ferndene, there
+glittered on the girl's engaged finger a most beautiful specimen of
+the jeweller's art, the diamonds in which were worthy to follow the
+borrowed gem.
+
+Thus Arthur Boyd won Nettie for a wife, and the dear old couple at
+Ferndene rejoiced that their adopted son would soon give them the
+daughter they coveted above all others. And there was rejoicing at
+Scarborough, and Mrs. Clifford wrote that her darling Nettie had more
+than fulfilled her most cherished hopes by making so wise a choice.
+
+That Mrs. Worsley played the true mother's part to her goddaughter
+need hardly be told, or that it was on her breast that the girl shed
+the glad tears which came from a heart almost too full of happiness as
+she said, "How can I be thankful enough for God's great goodness to
+me? How be ashamed enough of my old want of faith, my repinings, and
+discontent?"
+
+Mrs. Arthur Boyd has no lack of jewels now, and has long since been
+accustomed to the charge of articles of value of her very own. But
+if she had never possessed any, her friends think that those better
+ornaments which her husband valued most would have been conspicuous in
+her life and actions. Also that the one lesson would have sufficed to
+prevent her from ever making a second appearance in "borrowed feathers."
+
+
+                          [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78051 ***
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+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      Borrowed Feathers, by Ruth Lamb │ Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78051 ***</div>
+
+<p>Transcriber's notes: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p>
+
+<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
+public domain.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 30.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h1>BORROWED FEATHERS.</h1>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+BY<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t1">
+RUTH LAMB<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+The Girl's Own Annual Illustrated<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+VOL. VII. 1886.<br>
+<br>
+"LILY LEAVES" EXTRA SUMMER NUMBER<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+THE LEISURE HOUR OFFICE<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+56, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+CONTENTS.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>CHAPTER.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I.</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II.</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III.</a></p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+<b>BORROWED FEATHERS.</b><br>
+<br>
+—————<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h2><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"THAT dreadful bell again, and I am almost certain I heard wheels
+on the gravel! If it should be one of mamma's grandee friends, and
+only Cinderella to answer the door! I have a great mind to let the
+individual ring on until he or she is tired. To-morrow I will have all
+the front blinds down until evening, then no one will think there is
+anybody at home. And," added the speaker, "as, socially speaking, I am
+nobody, they will be right."</p>
+
+<p>Annette Clifford was talking to herself. She had two good reasons for
+doing it, the first being that she had nobody else to talk to at the
+time. The second, that being a bright lively girl possessed of great
+intelligence, overflowing spirits, and a gregarious temperament, she
+found it difficult to hold her tongue for hours together. During
+most of the day she was all but alone in a large house, its only
+other inmate being a make-shift servant, who, in addition to general
+incapacity, was so deaf as to render any attempt at conversation
+laborious.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Whilst Annette thus communed with herself, she was also moving swiftly
+and noiselessly towards a window whence she could command a view of the
+person who was demanding admittance at the hall door.</p>
+
+<p>There was a vehicle standing opposite to it, but it was a humble cab
+instead of the dreaded carriage. There was luggage on the top, and the
+driver was in the act of ringing the door bell a second time.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma and Laura, come back before their month is over," was Annette's
+first thought, but the sight of a lady's face which belonged to neither
+of the relatives named sent the girl flying to the entrance with all
+possible speed.</p>
+
+<p>Rushing past the cabman, and opening the door of the vehicle, she had
+her arms round the neck of the solitary passenger in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunty," exclaimed the girl. "Is it really you? It seems quite too good
+to be true that you are actually here, and with boxes which indicate a
+possible stay."</p>
+
+<p>The new arrival smiled at Annette's vehemence, and returned her embrace
+in the most affectionate manner.</p>
+
+<p>"My stay depends upon yourself, dear child," she replied. "I know you
+are in sole charge at present, and, from a whisper which reached me, I
+am inclined to think that your domestic staff is below the average."</p>
+
+<p>"Domestic staff! Why, aunty, I have neither staff nor crutch. Nothing
+but a broken reed, on which I cannot lean for a single instant.
+Nevertheless, 'I' am here, and I have a couple of fairly capable hands,
+the work of which shall be devoted to insuring your comfort, whatever
+else may be left undone."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to the cabman, Annette said, "Please get down the boxes
+and bring them inside the hall."</p>
+
+<p>The man obeyed, and then the girl seized some of the smaller matters
+which were inside the vehicle, and saying, "Do come in, aunty, and let
+me carry the rest," she tripped lightly into the house with her burden,
+and soon returned for what remained.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you will not want the larger things upstairs just yet, shall
+you?" she asked. "This old man is not strong enough to carry them to
+your bedroom unassisted, but when the boys come home, the boxes will
+be whisked upstairs in a few seconds. Will you rest for a few minutes,
+or go straight to your room? It is quite ready, though it would be
+difficult for me to say what possessed me to see that it was kept so,
+from day to day."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not want my boxes at present, dear; and I would rather go
+straight to my room," replied Mrs. Worsley, the lady whom Annette
+called "aunty," though she was no relation to the girl, only her
+godmother. "But where is the 'reed' aforesaid? Surely she could
+carry up my dressing bag, and the odds and ends with which you are
+overloading yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"The 'reed,' 'Sarah Jane,' by names—and she insists on being called by
+both—is at this moment engaged in what she calls 'cleaning herself.'
+The operation occupies most of each afternoon, and is unsatisfactory as
+regards results. She goes upstairs with honest black patches about her
+face, garments, and person generally. She comes down with an appearance
+of profuse dinginess, which gives you the idea that the black patches
+have been diluted by the application of water, and thus diffused over
+a larger surface. Sarah Jane objects to soap, aunty—on her face, I
+mean—as calculated to injure her complexion. The 'cleaning' process of
+which she talks so much is, I think, done in chapters, and ought to be
+continued."</p>
+
+<p>The girl laughed merrily as she deposited her load in the bedroom. Then
+she brought hot water, undid straps, and paid the welcome guest all the
+little attentions which thoughtful love could suggest.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, darling," said Mrs. Worsley. "You take care that I shall
+not be conscious of any lack of servants." And drawing the girl's
+glowing face to her own, she kissed it again and again.</p>
+
+<p>Annette allowed her head to rest on her friend's breast for a few
+moments. "It is very sweet to be petted now and then," she said, "but
+I must not stay long now; that would be too selfish. Shall we have our
+afternoon tea in the drawing-room or the den?"</p>
+
+<p>"The den, by all means, dear; I will be down in a quarter of an hour,"
+replied Mrs. Worsley.</p>
+
+<p>After glancing round, to convince herself that she had done all in her
+power for the guest's comfort, Annette went downstairs and removed
+the pretty tea equipage from the state room to the smaller one, which
+the younger members of the family usually occupied. Knowing that no
+dependence was to be placed on Sarah Jane, Annette had taken care to
+have everything ready for afternoon tea in case of callers, and a very
+few minutes sufficed to arrange a tempting little meal for the tired
+traveller. Cake and bread and butter were already on the table; to
+these Annette added two or three daintily cut sandwiches, a couple of
+peaches, and some cream.</p>
+
+<p>The tea-table stood within a large bay window, one side of which was
+open, and let in the sweet summer air, laden with the scent of roses. A
+few flowers were in tiny vases up and down, just a bloom or two amid a
+mass of variegated ivy leaves, like jewels in a setting of plain gold.
+The tea equipage was pretty—a harlequin set made up from a collection
+of fine old china. The kettle in which the water was boiling over a
+spirit lamp was of massive silver, exquisitely chased, and everything
+prepared for the visitor's entertainment suggested refinement and
+loving thoughtfulness.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the room and its furniture were emphatically shabby. Each article
+had been good and handsome in its day, but the day was many a year
+back. Even the fine engravings on the walls were in this room because
+the frames had become too hopelessly dingy to permit of their remaining
+in what Annette called the state apartments.</p>
+
+<p>As Mrs. Worsley entered the den, she was first struck with its general
+air of dilapidation, then charmed with the pretty picture presented by
+that one little nook which held the tea equipage and Annette.</p>
+
+<p>The girl's face was all aglow with happy anticipation, and she
+exclaimed, "Come, aunty, dear, the tea is just in perfection, and
+I hope you feel ready for it. Here are some sandwiches, which will
+perhaps sustain nature until—I had nearly said dinner-time, but I must
+own the truth. Having no cook, we have no formal dinners. The boys get
+a substantial lunch in the middle of the day; I have something here,
+and at seven we have a sort of mongrel meal, which combines dinner,
+tea, and supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I could wish nothing better than what you have prepared for me,
+Nettie," said Mrs. Worsley. "Why, my dear, this is a meal for a
+princess. How have you arranged and prepared all so quickly?"</p>
+
+<p>"The tea-things were in the drawing-room, and the water had boiled
+once, and only required a renewed blaze to make it boil again. I have
+to exercise a little diplomacy seeing that I am at the head of domestic
+affairs, but with nobody to obey orders."</p>
+
+<p>"Not even the 'reed,' my dear?" asked Mrs. Worsley.</p>
+
+<p>"Not even Sarah Jane, aunty. She hears, sometimes, in spite of her
+deafness, but never obeys. And when she finds it inconvenient to hear,
+her natural infirmity increases fourfold. There is always a possibility
+of callers, in spite of mamma's absence, and I must be prepared to
+entertain them thus far—" with a wave of the hand to indicate the tea
+equipage. "Well, Sarah Jane and I are agreed on one subject, namely
+that she is unpresentable to any caller of higher degree than the
+butcher's boy. Should there be a ring at the hall door, Sarah Jane's
+tousled head is pushed in at this, and she says,—</p>
+
+<p>"'Please, miss, there's that door again, and I'm not fit to be seen.'</p>
+
+<p>"I assent, for the fact is self-evident, and I answer the door myself,
+trying the while to look as if I had been accidentally crossing the
+hall, and recognised a friend in the applicant for admission. During
+the afternoon, matters are easily managed. The tea-things are in the
+drawing-room, the bread and butter cut and covered with a second plate,
+so that it may not get dry, and so placed that I can whisk away the
+upper plate unperceived. I do it so cleverly, aunty, that the operation
+is like a conjuring trick. Then I lie in wait, sometimes indoors, at
+others in the garden, the hall door being kept hospitably open. And if
+people come, I meet them quite naturally, bring them in for rest and
+tea, then stroll with them to the entrance if they are driving, to the
+gate itself if they are pedestrians. I had only to bring the tea-things
+from the other room to this, you see, aunty."</p>
+
+<p>"And to cut the sandwiches, and gather the peaches, for I presume these
+are not generally found on the tea-table. Well, my dear, you see how
+thoroughly I appreciate these additions. I never felt more grateful for
+a meal, or enjoyed one more than I am doing this. Now tell me how it is
+I find you alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma and Laura are at Scarborough, and the boys do not reach home
+until nearly six. They still attend the Grammar School, and they have a
+long walk home after the work is done."</p>
+
+<p>"True, dear, but the servants—where are they? Your mamma keeps three
+usually, does she not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two and a half. We have really only two efficient servants, and a girl
+who does the most disagreeable items of household work, and waits upon
+and is scolded by the other two," replied Annette, promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are the efficients?" asked Mrs. Worsley.</p>
+
+<p>"Bolton, the housemaid-waitress, is at Scarborough with mamma and
+Laura, promoted for a full month to the dignity of ladies' maid."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley looked perplexed.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand," she said. "I thought you told me in a letter
+that Mrs. Clifford and your sister were staying at the principal hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"They are. Mamma said that Scarborough lodgings in the only part that
+she could possibly elect to stay in were extremely expensive, and that,
+by arranging to remain the whole time at the hotel, she would be able
+to make favourable terms. That, in fact, the cost of staying there
+would not be much greater than in private rooms, to say nothing of the
+isolation of lodgings and housekeeping worries which would be avoided."</p>
+
+<p>"Then is Bolton at the hotel too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, aunty. She would be useless anywhere else," said Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>"But Mrs. Clifford and Laura have no maid when at home! It seems so
+strange to take one for a month to an expensive hotel, when—"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clifford paused. She was very nearly adding, "when they are always
+complaining of poverty and the difficulty of making ends meet." She
+might have further said, "and borrowing without troubling much as to
+how or when the money will be repaid." But she did not say this. She
+only stopped, and Annette took up the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"When there is not much money to spare, aunty, you would say. It
+is quite true. There is none to spare, but mamma is rather fond of
+appearing 'en grande dame' when she is from home. Here, in spite of
+narrow means and perpetual pinching, she is a great lady, you know. Was
+she not Miss Heydon, of Heydon Hill, before she became Mrs. Clifford?
+Everyone knows that in this neighbourhood, and knows, also, that she
+was a great heiress before she married a handsome, penniless captain of
+dragoons, who lived nearly long enough to leave his wife and children
+in the same condition. Does it sound wicked to say so, aunty? I never
+saw my father, you know, after I was three years old, and I have been
+more accustomed to hear him blamed than lamented."</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately this has been the case, dear," said Mrs. Worsley, "but I
+presume you would not say this to any ordinary acquaintance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," replied Annette. "You are far better informed of all
+these particulars than I am, and therefore I did not think my alluding
+to them would matter in the least. Besides, you are a dear, true friend
+to us all—best and dearest to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to prove myself one, Nettie," and the speaker laid her
+hand caressingly on that of the girl. "Now tell me about Bolton. I
+interrupted you."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma cannot quite forget what she was accustomed to have as a girl,
+and she is unwilling to do without it still. When at the seaside, for
+instance, she likes to see 'Mrs. and Miss Clifford and maid' in the
+visitors' list. I sometimes wish she did not care so much for keeping
+up appearances. She pays pretty dearly for that word 'maid,' and it is
+but an empty sound after all. But I suppose it would be hard for her to
+change," added Annette, meditatively.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you have accounted for the absence of one efficient servant. Where
+is the cook?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Williams is gone home for her annual holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"Does your mamma give her the whole month?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, aunty, a fortnight. Then Williams will come back, and, with Sarah
+Jane's assistance, do some cleaning down before mamma's return. Mamma
+hates an upset house, and thinks it is better to have such work done
+when she and Laura are absent, so that everything may be in apple-pie
+order when they come. By letting cook take her holidays now, we have
+our whole available staff when we settle down in winter quarters.
+Bolton has no friends she cares to go and see, so her stay at the
+seaside with mamma, as maid, gives her a double holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"There is still the half—the girl, to be accounted for."</p>
+
+<p>"She was not even half efficient, so as mamma would have parted with
+her soon in any case, she said she might as well go before she and
+Laura went away. Sarah Jane was sure she could manage by herself, and
+mamma said she might try."</p>
+
+<p>The girl gave a weary little sigh, though the expression of her
+face was humorous enough. In fact, Sarah Jane's eccentricities and
+incapacity served one good purpose. They kept Annette alive by giving
+her food for fun. During the day, she carefully garnered every
+experience, and, despite her daily difficulties, met the boys with a
+bright face, and furnished material for laughter with the evening meal.</p>
+
+<p>"When do you expect Williams?" asked Mrs. Worsley.</p>
+
+<p>"On Friday evening, and on that day, the boys' vacation begins. They
+hope to enjoy it, for Colonel Cracroft has invited them to spend the
+whole time at Fox Howe, his charming country home in the Lake district.
+The boys—ours and the two Cracrofts—are to take little walking tours
+between Mondays and Saturdays, weather permitting, and their own
+inclinations being in harmony with the plan. But anybody who chooses
+may stay at home, as it is to be Liberty Hall for the young people. I
+wish I were going on tramp for days together, aunty. Girls do it now
+as well as boys, and the Cracrofts are so nice. But the colonel is a
+widower with no daughters, or else, perhaps, he might have asked me,"
+said Annette.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going for your summer outing, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nowhere. When the boys are out of the way, I shall not be at home any
+longer. The blinds will be down, and 'the family are away' will be
+the reply should anyone, undeterred by the desolate appearance of the
+premises, be rash enough to call."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment there was a knock at the door, and Annette asked to be
+excused for a few minutes, and left the room.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image004" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image004.jpg" alt="image004">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h2><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>MRS. WORSLEY was not long alone. Annette soon returned, flushed and
+panting with exercise.</p>
+
+<p>"Sarah Jane and I carried up your boxes quite easily," she said. "I had
+forgotten when I spoke of the boys that they are playing in a school
+cricket match, and as there will be a supper afterwards, they will not
+be home till late. Your eyes are wandering round the den, aunty. It is
+so desolate. It did not matter when we were less, but it would be nice
+to have it made into a really charming room. A few pounds and a good
+deal of handiwork and contriving would make it lovely. But there are no
+pounds to spare for what would give lasting home comfort."</p>
+
+<p>There was a shade of bitterness in the girl's tone which told Mrs.
+Worsley whither her thoughts were tending. If only Mrs. Clifford
+had been content to do without a maid at Scarborough, her children
+would have reaped the benefit of her abstinence in years of increased
+comfort. Fresh prettiness would have taken the place of dingy finery,
+and much that was good and handsome might have been utilised by
+renovation.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley did not answer directly. She showed her sympathy by
+drawing Annette to her side, and holding her in an affectionate embrace.</p>
+
+<p>At length she said, "It does seem rather hard for you to be left alone
+in this way, darling."</p>
+
+<p>"I was not thinking of that. Indeed, I have now the most delightful
+companion," and she lifted her honest face to Mrs. Worsley's for a
+kiss. "And I mean to make the most of my privileges, before I assume my
+rôle of Cinderella during the cleaning down season. Of course it would
+be impossible for you to stay in the midst of a muddle, aunty."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite, Nettie; I shall stay until Saturday, and when the boys' backs
+are turned, I must turn mine."</p>
+
+<p>Annette's countenance fell.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," she said, "I was just wondering if it would be possible
+to keep a little nook, a sort of small house in a large house,
+comfortable enough to induce you to stay another week. Cinderella
+grieves at the thought of so soon parting with her fairy godmother."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it would be as impossible for me to remain as to exercise
+the powers of a fairy godmother, Nettie. Now if I could dress you in
+all sorts of braveries with a mere touch of my wand, and send you out
+to meet the prince, with the retinue of a princess, I might deserve the
+name."</p>
+
+<p>"I should not like you to do it if you could. I hate shams of every
+kind, and I have already had too long an experience of them. Some
+Cinderellas would ride with a light heart in a carriage that might
+at any moment turn into a pumpkin again, but not 'your' Cinderella,
+godmother, dear."</p>
+
+<p>The young lips quivered, and Annette, while smiling bravely into Mrs.
+Worsley's face, had to turn aside to brush away a rebellious tear.</p>
+
+<p>To lead the girl's thoughts to something pleasanter, the visitor
+suggested a stroll through the grounds.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I had never seen them look so beautiful," she said. "How you
+must revel amongst fruit and flowers!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shams again, aunty. Not the fruit and flowers; they are provokingly
+real, but only to be revelled in by two senses—those of sight and
+smell. The grounds are let out to a gardener and florist, who pays
+a rent for them. It is true that fruit and vegetables, to a certain
+weekly market value, are bargained for, and our table is fairly
+supplied; but each article is sent in by mamma's tenant. We cannot
+bestow a bouquet on a friend, or give one permission to cull blossom
+or fruit for herself. The addition to the income is very useful, and
+supplies more shams, but this state of things is dreadful when one
+thinks of what used to be. Stay, though, aunty, I stood out for my own
+garden—the plot I called mine when I was a tiny toddles, and mamma had
+not the heart to take it from me. In it are some old-fashioned flowers,
+a wealth of ivy on the wall, and some lovely yellow gooseberries with a
+flavour better than that of half the grapes grown in the houses."</p>
+
+<p>Towards this favourite corner Mrs. Worsley and Annette strolled
+arm-in-arm, and the girl's eyes grew brighter as aunty fastened a rose
+in her dress, and ate of the yellow champagnes with manifest enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Bed-time brought the boys—victorious, noisy, and full of delight,
+as they talked of the approaching holidays and the enjoyable visit
+to which they were looking forward. They were not, however, wholly
+self-absorbed. Mingled with these gleeful anticipations were regrets at
+the thought of leaving their favourite sister behind them and alone.</p>
+
+<p>"If we could only take Nettie, we should have nothing to wish for,"
+said Lionel.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nettie, why were you not a boy?" cried Fred. "You would have been
+such a jolly boy, and the Cracrofts could have asked the three of us."</p>
+
+<p>"I am by no means sure of this. Two such boys must be quite enough to
+have at once. Besides, you would not like me half so well if I were a
+boy. You squabble almost daily about some nonsense or other; how would
+you get friends again if you had each a second brother to quarrel with,
+instead of a sister to reconcile your differences? Considering all I
+do for you, it is very ungrateful to suggest that I could be improved
+by a change of sex," said Nettie, with a little pout of the lip, which
+deceived nobody.</p>
+
+<p>"We should never get on without you, as you are, yet for your own
+sake, we cannot help wishing to have you with us. Is it not horrid to
+think of her being left at home by herself?" said outspoken Lionel,
+addressing Mrs. Worsley. "Why did not mamma take Nettie to Scarborough
+instead of Bolton? She does all sorts of things both for her and Laura,
+when they are at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Lionel!" said Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not for you boys to settle what your mother ought to do," said
+Mrs. Worsley, "though I can well imagine that you would like to have
+Nettie's enjoyment provided for as well as your own."</p>
+
+<p>"And Laura's," interposed Fred. "It does not seem fair that Laura
+should always be first and foremost, and Nettie left out in the cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma knows that I care less about gaieties than Laura does; and
+besides, she is the eldest of us all."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't tell fibs, Nettie. At least, do not pretend to be better than
+you are. You may not care about parties and balls, and finery, but
+never say you do not mind about being left here to see to the turning
+out of rooms, the shaking of carpets, and with only the society of
+Williams and Sarah Jane, for a fortnight after next Saturday. Do not
+tell me that you are not longing for a whiff of the sea breeze, and the
+sound of the waves as they tumble in. Heydon Hill is very beautiful,
+with its flowers that we must not pluck, and its fruit that we are
+forbidden to taste; but just ask us, now, whether we would not rather
+go scrambling across the fells or boating on the lakes than have Heydon
+Hill all the year round, even with free run at everything? As to Laura,
+of course she is the eldest. She likes to claim all the privileges of
+her present age. But wait a year or two, and she will be only too glad
+for people to think she is the younger."</p>
+
+<p>Lionel nodded sagaciously as he finished his long speech.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie made no answer until Sarah Jane left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Then she remarked, with a little laugh, "I think the 'reed' must be
+less deaf than usual. I am almost certain she heard you, Lionel, she
+looked so knowing. Now, dear boys, understand that there are many
+reasons why I should stay at home. As the maid, Bolton, only counts for
+half in the hotel bill, I might do a maid's duties, but I should cost
+the same as mamma or Laura. I should have wanted some new gowns had I
+accompanied them; my old ones are good enough for home use."</p>
+
+<p>"Laura got new ones; so did mamma," said Fred.</p>
+
+<p>"When I go away for a holiday, I shall have them, too," insisted Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>"When? I should like to know when?" replied Lionel, in a tone of
+disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"And you shall know, my dear boy," said Mrs. Worsley. "Nettie's holiday
+will begin on Saturday next. When she and I have seen you two safe off
+these premises, we shall prepare for our own departure. If there had
+been no other reason for her staying here until then, you boys would
+have furnished two substantial ones. You are to blame for the fact that
+one sister is gone to the seaside, the other is left to take care of
+you."</p>
+
+<p>The speaker's face expressed no little amusement as she observed the
+effect of her words.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunty, what do you mean?" asked Annette. "It cannot be true that I am
+to go somewhere with you. What would mamma say?"</p>
+
+<p>"She has said you may go, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"But when? How did you hear from her? I do not understand," replied
+Nettie, more bewildered than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a letter from your mother about a week ago, in which she told me
+that she and Laura were at Scarborough, and you here with the boys. She
+suggested my joining them on my way home, for I was then in Scotland. I
+did spend a single night under the same roof for I wanted to run away
+with you, Nettie, and I thought I could negotiate for that purpose
+more successfully in person than by letter. After a little talk, it
+was arranged that as soon as the boys were off I might have you. The
+method of taking possession was left to myself. I might write for you
+and enclose this, or do as I chose about communicating your mother's
+consent to my plan."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley handed a note to Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>And the girl exclaimed, "How kind of you, aunty! To think of you
+travelling so far out of your way on my account, first to Scarborough,
+then to this place! How can I thank you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not try, dear. Read your mother's note," said Mrs. Worsley. "But
+please do not put me down as another sham, because I asked you so many
+questions when I already knew the answer to some of them. I wanted to
+have a peep into your mind. As to Bolton, I inquired after her in all
+good faith, for neither your mother nor Laura told me that she was with
+them, or how very much you had been left to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie gave her godmother a girlish hug and a little shower of kisses,
+then applied herself to the letter, whilst the boys expressed their
+delight at her improved prospects, after the manner of their kind.</p>
+
+<p>They repeatedly embraced their sister, showered thanks on Mrs. Worsley
+in rather slangy English, and finally gave relief to their exuberant
+spirits by dancing round the den in a sort of wild Indian style, which
+was not calculated to render the reading of the letter an easy task to
+Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>The purport of it was, however, soon mastered. Mrs. Clifford wrote
+warmly of Mrs. Worsley's kindness, and told her daughter that she must
+consider herself at liberty to leave Heydon Hill as soon as Williams
+returned and the boys were gone. There were loving messages and a
+promise of another letter to follow by post, and that was all.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Annette's dreams were pleasant ones for that night, but the waking was
+less agreeable. The morning brought the promised letter, with detailed
+instructions as to certain matters for the house and the boys, and a
+cheque to meet the expenditure involved by their coming journey, and
+the domestic supplies alluded to. But for Annette herself there was
+nothing, not even a hint as to possible wants. The girl thought she
+must be mistaken, that there must be another enclosure; but a further
+examination revealed the fact that the envelope contained nothing more.</p>
+
+<p>"How can I go?" she exclaimed. "Mamma knows that I need at least a
+couple of new gowns to make me fairly presentable, and it would be
+a dreadful scramble to get one in the short time there is. Besides,
+Laura's last are unpaid for, and I will not go for more on credit,
+though I suppose that is what she must have meant me to do. Mamma must
+feel that I cannot go away without even the means to pay my travelling
+expenses, or a spare pound in my pocket."</p>
+
+<p>Annette's self-communings had reach this point when Mrs. Worsley
+entered the den, where breakfast awaited her coming.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were still asleep, aunty," said the girl. "I have been
+twice to your door, but everything was so quiet that I stole softly
+down again. The boys had to go, you know, to be in time for school, so
+I shall have you all to myself. Have you rested well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Delightfully, Nettie, and I am quite ready for breakfast, and work to
+follow, for we must begin our preparations for the journey without an
+hour's delay."</p>
+
+<p>Annette's face flushed and paled as she turned her mother's letter
+round in her fingers in an absent fashion. Then she said, "I am afraid
+I can make none. Mamma has written about everyone but me. She must know
+that I need more than her permission to go with you."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I am sorry that you have had a moment's anxiety on that
+score, which I might have prevented by a word. Your mother and I
+arranged everything on your behalf when we met at Scarborough. This is
+for you, Nettie, to meet any minor expenses, and after breakfast we
+will see what sort of a substitute for the fairy godmother I shall make
+in providing the more substantial portion of your outfit."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley handed Annette an envelope addressed in her mother's
+handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>And on opening it, she found, to her utter amazement, a ten-pound note.</p>
+
+<p>"For me, aunty? How has mamma spared it? Did she really send it?" asked
+Annette, half ashamed of her question.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw Mrs. Clifford place the note in the envelope, which she
+addressed, and then handed to me, for your sole use, my dear, if that
+is what you mean. And she sent her love, and hoped you would spend it
+judiciously."</p>
+
+<p>The young face brightened again at these words.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma is very kind; I did not expect this," she said. "Now I can
+manage quite nicely. But how disgracefully selfish I am, to keep
+you talking about my concerns when you must be famishing for your
+breakfast!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not famishing, dear, but with a good healthy appetite to enjoy this
+tempting breakfast," replied Mrs. Worsley. "But, Nettie, you have not
+asked whither we are bound when we leave Heydon Hill."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I was going home with you, aunty."</p>
+
+<p>"Home in one sense, dear, but not to the one I call my very own. We are
+going to my brother's."</p>
+
+<p>"To Broadlands! You cannot mean it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite in earnest. My brother and his wife have given you a warm
+corner in their warm hearts, Nettie. Your last year's visit established
+you as first favourite with them and the children, and I believe if I
+were to make my appearance alone, I should be sent back to fetch you.
+The people at Ferndene are having a large party of young guests, too. I
+believe almost the same who were there twelve months ago, so you will
+meet a host of old young acquaintances."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley was looking straight at Nettie as she spoke, and, lo!
+across the girl's face stole a look of indescribable gladness, along
+with a rich rosy glow that spread from cheek to brow; a sort of
+dancing, happy light, the reflex of some deep-seated joy, brought to
+the innocent young heart by her friend's words.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie turned away quickly and shyly, as if afraid that secret of hers
+should be read, and she could not have borne a significant look just
+then, much less a jesting word. That expression, however, set Mrs.
+Worsley thinking and wondering whether, amongst the guests at Ferndene,
+Cinderella might have met her prince.</p>
+
+<p>Truly the girl was very young in her ways and simple in her tastes,
+as innocent of flirting and coquetry as the most loving mother could
+desire her child to be. But time had not been standing still with
+Nettie any more than others; she would keep her nineteenth birthday
+during the visit to Broadlands.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h2><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>BREAKFAST was over, and Nettie was standing in Mrs. Worsley's bedroom,
+speechless and overwhelmed at the sight which met her view. Spread
+around her were the contents of one of those large boxes which she
+had assisted Sarah Jane to carry upstairs on the preceding evening.
+There were braveries of all kinds suited to a girl like herself, and
+fit for wear in such a home as Broadlands. Nothing very costly, but
+all beautiful, dainty, and suggestive of refined taste and a sweet,
+pure-minded girl wearer.</p>
+
+<p>It was not the first time that Mrs. Worsley had supplied deficiencies
+in Nettie's wardrobe, and the measures taken a year before would, she
+knew, still be near enough to go by. She shrewdly suspected that her
+request for the girl's company would be cheerfully acceded to if no
+demand were made on the mother's purse to furnish the needed outfit.
+Even that ten-pound note which had called forth such fervent gratitude,
+though nominally sent by her mother, had first been given to Mrs.
+Clifford by Mrs. Worsley for the purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"She is rich, and has neither chick nor child. All her own relatives
+are richer still, so why should not Nettie be the better for having a
+wealthy sponsor?" said Mrs. Clifford to her eldest daughter. "Besides,
+by having nothing to buy for Nettie, I shall be able the better to
+supply your wants."</p>
+
+<p>So Laura, too, had cause to rejoice, for she benefited indirectly by
+Mrs. Worsley's gifts, in having money spent upon her wardrobe, some of
+which must otherwise have gone for Nettie's.</p>
+
+<p>Standing amidst a wealth of pretty things, Nettie said—"These are all
+far too handsome, and you are much too kind, aunty, darling. I cannot
+thank you as I ought. I feel that I shall be a grand sham myself
+amongst the dear friends at Broadlands—'a daw with borrowed feather.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Not borrowed, Nettie; these things are truly your own. Not shams any
+more than you are, my dear, honest-hearted lassie. They are fashioned
+by human fingers, not transformed by the touch of a fairy's wand, so
+you can wear them without fear that they will resume some uncanny
+shape. And they come from one who loves you dearly, Nettie, and who has
+too much of this world's gear, and no kindred of her own who need to
+share it. I settled about these trifles before I even saw your mother.
+I never dreamed that I might find you too proud to accept at once, and
+without misgivings, your godmother's little gift."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie burst into tears, and flinging her arms round her friend's neck,
+begged to be forgiven.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is hateful pride and horrid ingratitude," she cried. "But
+I did not see it in that way before; I only felt overwhelmed with your
+kindness, and that it was all too much for you to do for my sake. I
+have had shamefully ungrateful thoughts about being left here, and have
+felt angry at mamma and Laura, and generally rebellious on account of
+my lot, instead of just accepting it as from God's hand, and making the
+best of it. And all the while, He was ordering everything for my good,
+putting it into your heart to be so kind to me, and planning that I
+should be invited to the place I longed to visit above every other in
+the world. I am ashamed of myself."</p>
+
+<p>"That is right, darling," replied Mrs. Worsley. "Now you are looking
+at things in a proper light, and there is nothing to be done but to
+continue our preparations."</p>
+
+
+<p>After this, the hours seemed to fly, so much had to be done, but
+further help was obtained to sustain the reed. Williams returned in due
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The boys set out for Cumberland in the highest of spirits.</p>
+
+<p>And a couple of hours later, Mrs. Worsley carried off Nettie, and
+arrived in the early afternoon at the station nearest to Broadlands.</p>
+
+<p>On the platform were three or four of Mrs. Worsley's nephews and
+nieces, wild with delight at seeing her with Nettie in charge. And at
+the cry of the first, "Here's Nettie! Hurrah!" the shout was taken
+up by the others, who each cheered in a different key, and made the
+station resound with their shrill young voices.</p>
+
+<p>There was another person who met the train, and handed the ladies out,
+and who, though he did not join in the cheer raised by the juniors,
+managed to express his pleasure at sight of the travellers in no less
+eloquent language. Truly if ever eyes spoke of gladness, the fine grey
+ones of Arthur Boyd told Nettie Clifford that the sight of her bright,
+blushing face had vastly increased his present feeling of happiness.</p>
+
+<p>What halcyon days followed! Broadlands itself, with just its regular
+inmates, would have been a paradise to Nettie, nestling, as it did,
+among glorious woods which sheltered without hiding it, and yet within
+walking distance of the sea on one side and a lovely undulating country
+on the other three. There were endless drives and plenty of pleasant
+neighbours within reach, nearest of all Ferndene, the residence of old
+Sir Henry Boyd, Arthur's uncle, with whom Nettie was a prime favourite.
+He and his dear old wife were deeply attached to their nephew and heir,
+very anxious for him to marry, and yet in great dread lest he should
+fall a victim to a mere pretty face.</p>
+
+<p>They had a horror of fastness and flirtation. They believed in one
+true, ever-growing holy love which should become stronger and more
+self-devoting through each year of wedded life, as theirs had done.
+Their nephew would be independent of money considerations; they wanted
+him to have a fortune in the wife herself. And so, when twelve months
+before, they thought their nephew was learning to care for Nettie
+Clifford, they were ready to give their hearty consent if he would only
+ask it.</p>
+
+<p>"Just the girl for Arthur," they had said to each other. Well born
+and educated, with good health, good looks, a pure mind, and habits
+untainted by fashion and folly, yet as bright as a bird; one in whose
+society young and old found pleasure. What could they desire better?
+Yet the girl's visit had come to an end, and Arthur had not spoken. The
+hopes of the old couple had died away, and twelve months had come and
+gone in the meanwhile.</p>
+
+<p>Now Nettie was again at Broadlands, and day by day she and Arthur met.
+Lookers-on began to whisper, and some that had hoped Sir Henry's heir
+would seek a wife in a different direction, lost hope.</p>
+
+<p>At last, a day came when the young man opened his heart to the
+relatives who had been as father and mother to him, and asked their
+consent and blessing on his union with Nettie Clifford, provided he
+could win hers.</p>
+
+<p>They answered him together: "May God bless you as we do, and speed
+your wooing! 'A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.' We could
+desire no better fortune for our boy than to win such a wife as Annette
+Clifford."</p>
+
+<p>With a light heart, Arthur set out for Broadlands. There was to be a
+garden party in the lovely grounds that afternoon, and he had no doubt
+that he should find an opportunity of telling Nettie all that was in
+his mind. He did not, however, see her immediately on his arrival. The
+grounds were extensive, and before Arthur Boyd made one amid the crowd
+of guests who kept pouring through the wide gateway, Nettie had been
+pounced upon and carried off to take part in a game at tennis.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image005" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image005.jpg" alt="image005">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>The decisive set was just at an end when he caught sight of her,
+flushed and smiling, after a hard-won victory. But bright as was the
+colour on the girl's cheek, it deepened at his approach, and it was
+with a look of frank pleasure that she laid her hand in his and bade
+him welcome.</p>
+
+<p>But while Nettie's roses deepened, those on Arthur's face died away,
+and he became deadly pale as he glanced at the girl's extended hand,
+for there, glittering on her "engaged finger," was a superb diamond, a
+beautiful single stone of bluish white, a stone of great value, as the
+merest ignoramus could tell. Surely the presence of such a jewel in
+such a place could have only one meaning.</p>
+
+<p>Arthur hardly knew what he said. He knew that Nettie looked
+half-frightened, and asked if he were ill, and that he had answered
+in the negative, and got away out of sight. True, she seemed to look
+wistfully after him, and her lips moved as if she were begging him to
+stay. Probably she was shocked at what she had done, and wished to
+deprecate the grief and resentment his face must have expressed.</p>
+
+<p>All their happy hours, all her sweet girlish ways, all the tell-tale
+blushes at his coming, all that he had thought he read in the shy eyes
+that were wont to droop when he looked too steadily in their direction,
+all these things were as nothing to him any more than others.
+Someone—Arthur thought he knew who—had offered, and been promptly
+accepted by the portionless girl, who was bound to marry well, whether
+true love were included in the bargain or not.</p>
+
+<p>Arthur could not leave Broadlands at once, as he longed to do, for his
+aunt and uncle, with other friends, were to come later, and he had
+promised to wait for and return with them. So he strolled away to a
+lonely part of the grounds, and having passed a miserable hour there,
+once more bent towards the entrance gates, where he met Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>Surely the girl must have been miserable too, for she looked pale and
+troubled, and there were signs about her usually bright eyes that were
+suggestive of recent tears. And lo! as he glanced at her hand which
+held up a parasol, he saw that it was unadorned. The ring was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"There must have been some stupid mistake," he thought. "I have taken
+for granted what had probably no reality. Only Nettie's own lips shall
+convince me that she is other than the pure, true-hearted girl I have
+ever judged her to be."</p>
+
+<p>To think was to act. There was no one else very near, so Arthur joined
+Nettie, and a new light came to her sweet face, and new roses sprang
+into being on her cheeks. He began to tell his tale, strolling the
+while into a by-path, and had got as far as the ring.</p>
+
+<p>"I came on purpose to speak to you to-day, Nettie, bringing with me
+the blessing and approval of my dear aunt and uncle, who would welcome
+you with open arms as my wife," he said. "There was only one person
+for me amongst all the gay guests, and when I you, darling, sweet, and
+fair, and true, I longed to clasp you to my heart and tell you that I
+gave you my whole best love a year ago. And then I looked at something
+sparkling on your finger, and saw a ring, and feared that someone had
+been beforehand with me, so went away miserable, without a word. What
+did the ring mean, dear, for you wear it no longer?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image006" style="max-width: 30.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image006.jpg" alt="image006">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Nettie glanced at her hand as Arthur alluded to the ring, and gave a
+cry of horror.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" she cried. "I did not know it was gone. I would not
+lose it for anything. Please do not stop me."</p>
+
+<p>Away fled Nettie towards the house, leaving Arthur with his love story
+unfinished, and to put what construction he chose upon her precipitate
+retreat. To pursue the girl would have been to cause remark. And Arthur
+went more slowly in the direction taken by Nettie, his mind full of
+half-formed plans for an immediate voyage to the Antipodes.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley was sitting on the terrace, and Annette must have passed
+her on her way to the house. Arthur stood by her for a little while,
+talking of the party, the lovely weather, and the manifest enjoyment
+of the guests, but his manner was constrained, and his answers often
+irrelevant. He was on the point of turning away, when Annette once more
+appeared, tripping lightly towards them, with a radiant face.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunty, dear aunty, please take this back with my best thanks, and
+never, if you love me, ask me to wear borrowed feathers again. I have
+been in dreadful trouble. I missed it from my finger, or rather Mr.
+Boyd did, and I thought I had lost it in the park. Then I remembered I
+had been to my room to wash my hands after preparing some fruit for the
+children, and I left Mr. Boyd, very unceremoniously, to see if I had
+laid it on the dressing table. It was not there, and I was almost in
+despair, when where do you think I found it?</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly fitted into the centre hole of the drainer which covers the
+sponge bowl. How glad I was! I am not fit to be trusted with valuables,
+you see, for, being unaccustomed to them, I forget that I have them.
+Thank you a thousand times for the loan of the ring, aunty, and most of
+all for freeing me from the awful responsibility of having valuables,
+not my own, to take care of. I will never wear borrowed feathers again
+as long as I live."</p>
+
+<p>As Nettie spoke, she placed the ring which had caused Arthur's misery
+in Mrs. Worsley's hand, and then gave a sweet, shy, upward glance at
+the young man which seemed to say that the story he had begun to tell
+would now find an attentive listener.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Worsley, with a laughing face, told Arthur how she had insisted on
+Nettie's wearing one of her rings, because the girl possessed scarcely
+any ornaments of her own.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be hers some day," she added, "but I must take care of it
+until she is fit to be trusted with the custody of valuables."</p>
+
+<p>Arthur mentally dissented from Mrs. Worsley's statement that Nettie
+possessed few ornaments. He thought that truth, modesty, unselfishness,
+a pure, tender nature, and a warm, faithful heart were better
+adornments and possessions than all the jewels in the world. But he did
+not trouble to tell her so, for some friends were approaching, whom
+Mrs. Worsley joined. And Arthur told his thoughts to Nettie instead,
+and completed the story begun a little while before.</p>
+
+<p>He must have had faith, too, in Nettie's powers to take care of a
+ring, for when the young people met the party from Ferndene, there
+glittered on the girl's engaged finger a most beautiful specimen of
+the jeweller's art, the diamonds in which were worthy to follow the
+borrowed gem.</p>
+
+<p>Thus Arthur Boyd won Nettie for a wife, and the dear old couple at
+Ferndene rejoiced that their adopted son would soon give them the
+daughter they coveted above all others. And there was rejoicing at
+Scarborough, and Mrs. Clifford wrote that her darling Nettie had more
+than fulfilled her most cherished hopes by making so wise a choice.</p>
+
+<p>That Mrs. Worsley played the true mother's part to her goddaughter
+need hardly be told, or that it was on her breast that the girl shed
+the glad tears which came from a heart almost too full of happiness as
+she said, "How can I be thankful enough for God's great goodness to
+me? How be ashamed enough of my old want of faith, my repinings, and
+discontent?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Arthur Boyd has no lack of jewels now, and has long since been
+accustomed to the charge of articles of value of her very own. But
+if she had never possessed any, her friends think that those better
+ornaments which her husband valued most would have been conspicuous in
+her life and actions. Also that the one lesson would have sufficed to
+prevent her from ever making a second appearance in "borrowed feathers."</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image007" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image007.jpg" alt="image007">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78051 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #78051
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78051)