She had been snarling with two or three of her classmates over the afternoon preparation, and had flounced off in a rage by herself. She felt a touch on her arm, and turning round saw Emily Mence, a rather uncouth, clever girl, whom she hardly knew. "I just came to say, Why _are_ you such an idiot?" "Me?" "Yes, why do you lose your temper like that? All the girls are laughing at you; they always do when you get cross." "Then I think it's horrid of them." "Well, you can't be surprised; of course people won't stand you, if you're so cross." "Won't they?" said Henrietta. "And the one thing I want in the world is to be liked." "Do you really? Fancy wanting these girls to like you; they're such silly little things." "I shouldn't mind that if only they liked me." "_I_ like you," said Emily. "Do you remember you said Charles I. deserved to have his head cut off because he was so stupid, and all the others gushed over him?" "Did I?" "I don't like the other girls to laugh at you; that's why I thought I would tell you." They walked up and down the path and talked about Charles I. Here there seemed the beginning of a friendship, but it was nipped in the bud, for Emily left unexpectedly at the end of the term. Henrietta received no further overtures from any of the girls. Emily's words had made an impression however, and for six weeks Henrietta took a great deal of pains with her temper. For this concession on her part she expected Providence to give her an immediate and abundant measure of popularity. It did not. The Symons family had not the friend-making quality--a capricious quality, which withholds itself from those who have the greatest desire, and even apparently the best right, to possess it. The girls were kind, kinder, on the whole, than the grown-up world, and they were perfectly willing to give her their left arms round the garden, but their right would be occupied by their real friends, to whom they would be telling their experiences, and Henrietta would only come in for a, "Wasn't it sickening, Etta?" now and then. She was disappointed, and she relaxed her efforts. She had missed the excitement of saying disagreeable things. The day had become chilly without them. By the middle of the term she was as disagreeable as ever.