They were talking too busily about the fete of their mother, I think, which was to be in a few days, and of what they were to prepare for her.

And the poor little girl sat up there for more than an hour watching them with longing eyes, but not daring to call out more loudly.

It made me quite melancholy to see her, and when at last our young ladies went in, and she had to give up hopes of gaining their attention, it made me more melancholy still, she looked so disappointed, and her eyes were full of tears; and I felt quite upset about her, and kept turning over in my head what I could do to make her happier.

I thought about it for some time, and at last I decided that the first thing to do was to find out more about the little stranger and the cause of her grief.

For this purpose I stationed myself the next morning just below the window of the kitchen of her house, which, by hopping from the balcony, I was easily able to do, and by listening to the conversation of the servants I soon learned all I wanted to know.
She was, as I had supposed, a little English girl.