William and Alice are twins; they are both tall and good-looking, but they fight terribly. William has perfect manners and is much liked; Alice is arrogant, self-centred, uncaring and has no warmth; although she is very beautiful she has, unsurprisingly, very few friends. William has many. 

Although Alice is bright, her self-confidence got in the way of her learning and I was appointed her tutor to try and rectify the situation. Not an enviable task, as she really was very unpleasant as a person. I lived with the family full time and realized that it was her character that was the problem and not her academic ability. Her teachers were not able to see this because they only saw her at school.

However I took on the task and by starting off by praising her, which she loved. Somehow or other I managed to get her to like me and we actually became good friends. I became her confidant. 

Then I let her have it – I told her how stupid she was, how the reason that she had no friends was that she was so arrogant and self-centred. She was an unpleasant person. Fortunately, mostly because she is very bright, she came to understand and slowly her character changed. She started being nice to people, taking an interest in what they were doing and thinking and peoples’ attitude to her changed. 

Next I started on the scholastic side – I made her realize that not all her teachers were arrogant swines; that in fact they were very considerate people who cared very much that she should learn. Once her attitude changed, her school work improved immediately. 

As soon as I arrived in the house I had got on very well with her parents and I told them that I thought that I could persuade Alice to change her ways and I managed to do so! LW