Oh, Hetty, my mother, my mother!" And Reine leaned her arms on the table, and laid her head on them, and wept.
Hetty stood by wondering, and stroked her head timidly for sympathy.
"Don't think me a great goose," said Reine, looking up.

And then suddenly silent again she sat staring at Hetty.

After a few moments she sprang up and folded her arms round her and held her close.
"You strange darling, where have you come from; and how am I ever to let you go again ?" A step was heard at the door, and Reine and Hetty instinctively withdrew from each other's embrace.

There was something sacred about the feeling which had so suddenly and unexpectedly overpowered them both.
Nell came in.
"Reine, I have been looking for you everywhere." "I came here to thank Miss Gray for her design," said Reine, "and I don't think I have even mentioned it yet." "You are as pale as death," said Nell.

"What has Hetty been saying to you ?" "Nothing," said Reine absently, her eyes going back to Hetty's face and fixing themselves there.
"How you stare at each other!" said Nell, "and I declare your two faces are almost the same this moment." "Nell!" "I always said you were like each other, though Phyllis could not see it.