The Australian Heiress by Margaret Way

bottom of what happened to your kitten,” Camille said.
    “My mother adored me,” Melissa said out of the blue. “She said I was the most beautiful girl in the world. Her precious darling. She loved me to bits.”
    “I’m sure she did.” Camille felt strangely upset For herself. For the child. “You haven’t lost her altogether. You could speak to her in your prayers. Speak to God. Tell Him how you feel.”
    “I have bad feelings about God,” Melissa said. “He’s not kind. He’s dreadful.”
    Camille tried desperately to come up with the right words. “It must seem so, Melissa, with all the suffering in the world. Perhaps God can’t do all that much about this world. But He’s promised something better. Maybe the answer is inside ourselves. All of us have to weather the storms of life. I lost my mother when I was your age.”
    “Did you?” Melissa looked at Camille very closely as though trying to spot a falsehood.
    “Would I lie to you?”
    “I think…no. Were you angry?”
    “Oh, yes.” Camille nodded her head emphatically. “The anger takes a while to go. It’s important to remember Mommy is safe with God, who loves her.”
    “It’s so quiet now,” Melissa said with a sigh. “She used to laugh and laugh. She was at parties all the time. Daddy and Mommy knew a million people.”
    “I bet they did.” This child was breaking her heart.She tried to change the subject. “Looking at you, I would say you’re very smart.”
    Melissa gave an odd little smile. “Miss Larkins thinks I’m an airhead. So do the kids at school. Only that’s not what’s the matter with me.”
    “Could you tell me what is then? I’m really interested.”
    Melissa’s small thin body tensed. “I’m smart enough to do anything I want, only I don’t want to do anything. Isn’t that awful?”
    “I can understand it, Melissa,” Camille said after a pause. “You’ve been very sad because you’ve lost your mommy. You need time for things to feel right again. We each have to work out our path in life. Even little girls like you. Being clever isn’t enough. You can decide to hide all your smartness. Or you can show it and make the wrong opinions go away. You can start working to show Daddy, your teacher, Miss Larkins and the other children at school just how clever and capable you really are. You have to decide which is the best way for you. Something good always comes of striving. Do you know what striving means?”
    Melissa nodded. “What Daddy has been doing for a long time. Working very hard.”
    Indeed, her Daddy had been working very hard— to bring Harry to his knees, Camille thought.
    “Sometimes I’m afraid of being clever,” Melissa confided. “I’m different enough already.”
    Troubled, Camille asked, “In what way?” Obviously Melissa was concealing her capacities.
    “I’m ugly and I fly into tantrums. I’m a bad person. I’m a sneak and I’m secretive. I tell lies. I’m spoiled rotten.”
    With so many attacks on her, no wonder she was striking out in self-defense. “Oh, Melissa, this is terrible! You didn’t make all this up. Who’s accused you of such things?”
    Melissa wrenched her fine lawn nightgown over her knees. “It was a terrible shock for Mommy to have such an ugly daughter,” she said, her voice grim.
    Camille was almost too distressed to answer. “But you said your Mommy adored you.”
    “Oh, yes, she called me her precious princess. She always wanted me beside her. Her lovely little girl. One day I heard Miss Larkins and Clare talking. They were talking about me, so I hid behind the sofa. Miss Larkins said those things. Clare said that how I got to be so very plain she’d never know. She loves Daddy, I’m sure. She’s supposed to be a friend, but I know better. Daddy is so handsome. Everyone thinks so. Mommy was beautiful. I’m a big disappointment.”
    “No, that’s not true!” Anger caught in Camille’s throat. “Your father—”
    “Please don’t do