“Oh, Belinda,” sobbed Ella, when her sister at last had gone away. “I am the most unhappy girl in all the world. Whatever shall I do?”
“Put a bold face on it, missy,” said Belinda, “and keep up your courage. Perhaps they don’t mean all they say, and will be kinder to you when they have worked off their spite. At any rate, nothing is to be gained by crying your pretty eyes out.”
“You will be good to me, won’t you, Belinda, and let me stay here? I never want to go upstairs again while my stepmother and my stepsisters are in the house. We can be quite cosy together, and I’ll help you all I can, and teach you some of the things I have learnt at school.”
“That would be very nice, missy,” answered Belinda, “and you may stay here and welcome, but I’m afraid you won’t have my company, because I’m leaving at the end of the week. All the house servants are under notice to leave. The mistress says she means to economize and to stop the waste that has been going on for years. I expect she wants the money to buy jewels to hang on herself and her ugly daughters. Ugh, the nasty creatures!” And Belinda shook her head and walked away muttering.
Ella was very dejected at the prospect of losing one whom she had come to consider her only friend in the world; but before a week had gone by she discovered that Belinda’s words were only too true. One by one the servants left, until there was nobody left in the kitchen but Ella herself and a little scullery-maid who
