If Hetty could be found to have a secret, as Nell supposed, Phyllis decided that it ought to be found out.

Her mother did not approve of children having secrets.
Even if there was no harm in a thing in itself, there was a certain harm in making a mystery of it.

So, having arranged her motive satisfactorily in her mind, Phyllis, feeling more virtuous than ever, resolved to observe what Hetty was about.

The next morning she got up early and came down to the school-room an hour before her usual time.

And there was Hetty working away at her drawing with a wreath of flowers pinned before her on the wall.
Phyllis came behind her and was astonished to see what she had accomplished with her pencil; and Hetty started and coloured up to her hair, as if she had been caught in a fault.
"Well, you are a strange girl," said Phyllis; "I did not know drawing was a sin, that you should make such a mystery over it." "I hope it is not a sin," said Hetty in a low voice.