imagined. Mr. Gibson had been a friend in need to her family, so Miss
Eyre restrained her complaints, sooner than annoy him. And she had her
reward. Betty would offer Molly all sorts of small temptations to
neglect Miss Eyre's wishes; Molly steadily resisted, and plodded away
at her task of sewing or her difficult sum. Betty made cumbrous jokes
at Miss Eyre's expense. Molly looked up with the utmost gravity, as if
requesting the explanation of an unintelligible speech; and there is
nothing so quenching to a wag as to be asked to translate his jest into
plain matter-of-fact English, and to show wherein the point lies.
Occasionally Betty lost her temper entirely, and spoke impertinently to
Miss Eyre; but when this had been done in Molly's presence, the girl
flew out into such a violent passion of words in defence of her silent
trembling governess, that even Betty herself was daunted, though she
chose to take the child's anger as a good joke, and tried to persuade
Miss Eyre herself to join in her amusement.

'Bless the child! one would think I was a hungry pussy-cat, and she a
hen-sparrow, with her wings all fluttering, and her little eyes aflame,
and her beak ready to peck me just because I happened to look near her
nest. Nay, child! if thou lik'st to be stifled in a nasty close room,
learning things as is of no earthly good when they is learnt, instead
o' riding on Job Donkin's hay-cart, it's thy look-out, not mine. She's
a little vixen, isn't she?' smiling at Miss Eyre, as she finished her
speech. But the poor governess saw no humour in the affair; the
comparison of Molly to a hen-sparrow was lost upon her. She was
sensitive and conscientious, and knew, from home experience, the evils
of an ungovernable temper. So she began to reprove Molly for giving way
to her passion, and the child thought it hard to be blamed for what she
considered her just anger against Betty. But, after all, these were the
small grievances of a very happy childhood.