CHAPTER IV 47
It was Bessie, I knew well enough; but I did not stir; her light step came tripping down the path.
" You naughty little thing!" she said. " Why don ' t you come when you are called?"
Bessie ' s presence, compared with the thoughts over which I had been brooding, seemed cheerful; even though, as usual, she was somewhat cross. The fact is, after my conflict with and victory over Mrs. Reed, I was not disposed to care much for the nursemaid ' s transitory anger; and I WAS disposed to bask in her youthful lightness of heart. I just put my two arms round her and said, " Come, Bessie! don ' t scold."
The action was more frank and fearless than any I was habituated to indulge in: somehow it pleased her.
" You are a strange child, Miss Jane," she said, as she looked down at me; " a little roving, solitary thing: and you are going to school, I suppose?"
I nodded. " And won ' t you be sorry to leave poor Bessie?" " What does Bessie care for me? She is always scolding me."
" Because you ' re such a queer, frightened, shy little thing. You should be bolder."
" What! to get more knocks?"
" Nonsense! But you are rather put upon, that ' s certain. My mother said, when she came to see me last week, that she would not like a little one of her own to be in your place.-- Now, come in, and I ' ve some good news for you."
" I don ' t think you have, Bessie."