'
Mysie knew it was her turn, but she also knew that nurse always
favoured Gillian and snubbed her. She had a devouring longing to be
with her dear Fly, and a certain sense that she was the preferred one.
Must another pleasure be sacrificed to that very naughty Dolores, whose
misdemeanours had deprived them of the visit to Rotherwood. She looked
so dismal that Gillian said good-naturedly, 'Really, Mysie, I don't
think mamma would mind Dolores's being left a little while; I must go
down to see about the Tree, because mamma gave me a message to old
Webb, but I'll come back directly. Or perhaps Dolly is going to
sleep, and does not want any one. Go and see.'
Mysie on this crept quietly into the room, full of hope of escape, but
Dolores was anything but asleep. 'Oh, are you come, Mysie? Now you'll
go on with the story. I tried, but my eyes ache at the back of them,
and I can't.'
Mysie's fate was sealed. She sat down by the fire and took up the
book, 'A Story for the Schoolroom,' one of the new ones given from the
Tree. It was the middle of the story, and she did not care about it at
first, especially when she heard Fly's voice, and all the others
laughing and chattering on the stairs.
'Didn't they care for her absence?' and her voice grew thick, and her
eyes dim; but Dolores must not think her cross and unwilling, and she
made a great effort, became interested in the girls there described,
and wondered whether staying with Fly would have turned her head, after
the example of the heroine of the book.
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