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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13992 ***
+
+KITTY TRENIRE
+
+by
+
+MABEL QUILLER-COUCH
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+I.      Fate and a Rusty Nail.
+
+II.     The News, and how they received it.
+
+III.    A Drive and a Slice of Cake.
+
+IV.     Storms at Home and Abroad
+
+V.      In Wenmere Woods.
+
+VI.     Tea at the Farm.
+
+VII.    The "Rover" takes them Home.
+
+VIII.   A Bad Beginning.
+
+IX.     The Coming of Anna.
+
+X.      Lessons, Alarms, and Warnings.
+
+XI.     Poor Kitty!
+
+XII.    Those Dreadful Stockings.
+
+XIII.   An Exciting Night.
+
+XIV.    Mokus and Carrots
+
+XV.     Missing!
+
+XVI.    Banished.
+
+XVII.   "Good in Everything".
+
+XVIII.  Threatening Clouds.
+
+XIX.    Betty's Escapade.
+
+XX.     Kitty's Hands are Full.
+
+XXI.    The Last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+FATE AND A RUSTY NAIL.
+
+On such an afternoon, when all the rest of the world lay in the fierce
+glare of the scorching sun, who could blame the children for choosing to
+perch themselves on the old garden wall, where it was so cool, and
+shady, and enticing?  And who, as Kitty often asked tragically in the
+days and weeks that followed, could have known that by doing so "they
+were altering their fates for ever"?
+
+The four of them talked a great deal in those days of their "fates;"
+it sounded so mysterious and grand, and so interesting too, for, of
+course, no one could know what lay in store for them all, and the most
+wonderful and surprising events might happen. They did happen to some
+people, and why not to them?
+
+"I am quite sure something will happen to me some day," said Betty, with
+a very wise and serious look.
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised," said Dan with mock seriousness,
+"if something did."
+
+"I mean something wonderful, of course," added Betty.  "Don't," with a
+superior air, "be silly, Dan.  Things must happen to somebody, or there
+would never be any."
+
+Later that same day they realized for the first time that small events
+could be interesting and important too, and that while they were
+thinking of their "fates" as something to be spun and woven in the
+mysterious future, the shuttle was already flying fast.
+
+As I said before, the old wall was particularly cool and
+tempting-looking that sunny afternoon, for the high, untrimmed laurel
+hedge on the other side of the path behind them threw a deep broad
+shadow over the flat top of it, and shade was what one appreciated most
+on that hot day.  All the ground in Gorlay sloped, for Gorlay was built
+on two hills, while the gardens of all the houses on either side sloped
+either up or down another and a steeper hill.  Dr. Trenire's house was
+on the left-hand side of the street, as one walked up it, and it was the
+steep slope up of the garden behind it that made the old wall so
+fascinating.
+
+To reach the garden from the house one had to pass through a cobbled
+yard, with the back wing of the house and a stable on one side of it,
+and a coach-house and another stable on the other.  The garden and the
+garden wall were at the end.  From the yard the wall ran up to a good
+height--to the children it seemed immense, as high as the tower of
+Babel, though were they to go back now and look at it I dare say they
+would find it quite insignificant, for walls have a curious way of
+decreasing an inch or two with every year one grows older.
+
+To the children, though, its two chief charms were that it had a broad
+flat top on which one could sit and dangle one's legs over the abyss
+below, and that from the garden it was so low that by just walking over
+a flower-bed one could step right on to it, while from that eminence one
+could command a view of the back door, the side door, the stables, and
+all that went on in the yard.  So that, in addition to being cool and
+shady, it really was a most attractive and alluring spot.
+
+A vine with a wealth of pretty leaves and long graceful tendrils covered
+the front of the stable and side of the house, and some years there
+would be a few bunches of little green grapes hanging amongst the
+leaves.  Through the open stable window, festooned by the vine, dear old
+Prue, Dr. Trenire's well-beloved and faithful mare, would thrust out her
+head and gaze dreamily at the life in the yard, or at nothing; and the
+children, if they were about, would rub her nose and fondle her
+lovingly, and bring her handfuls of grass, or carrots, or sugar.
+Sometimes, too, "Pinkie," the yellow cat, would seat herself on the
+narrow sill of the stable window, close to Prue's cheek, until, finding
+the air too chilly, or the children too noisy, or sleep overcoming her,
+she would go inside and curl herself up on Prue's back for a nap.
+
+To-day, though, neither Prue nor Pinkie were to be seen.
+Apparently they were both indulging in an afternoon nap in the shady
+stable, for it really was a very hot day, and the sun fell full on the
+vine and the stable window.
+
+Unfortunately it fell on the door too, and showed up a most inviting and
+enticing-looking spot where the sun had once raised a blister on the
+paint.
+
+Every one will admit that there is a wonderful fascination about a nice
+soft paint-blister, and busy fingers had quickly peeled this one off,
+with the result that to-day there was a spot which made as good a target
+as any one could possibly desire, and just within range of their perch
+on the wall.  There was also, unfortunately, quite close at hand a
+supply of perfect ammunition in the shape of a heap of small stones and
+rubbish which they had swept together a few days before when seized by a
+sudden mania for tidying up the garden.  Of course, had they been really
+good children, they would have finished their job by shovelling up the
+heap and carrying it away; but they grew very tired, and the work was
+hard, and they felt they really had done a great deal for one day.
+So the heap was left in the path until, on this hot afternoon, they
+found a new and not at all tiring way of disposing of most of it.
+
+They kept up such a sharp fire, and made such a noise, that presently
+Jabez, the coachman and general factotum, was dancing with rage in the
+yard below--rage at the noise they were making and the litter he foresaw
+he would have to sweep up before "the master" saw the place, and added
+rage at the calm unconcern with which they ignored his commands.
+
+The children, though really very much attached to Jabez, unfortunately
+felt no fear of him, and above all things they loved to tease him.
+They would not willingly have hurt him on any account whatever, but, as
+they said afterwards, when he deliberately placed himself between them
+and their target, and dared them to throw another stone, why of course
+he had to put up with what he got; and what he got most particularly was
+a nasty blow on the forehead from a piece of old wood that Dan threw at
+him.
+
+Dan, as he explained at the time, really selected the wood out of pure
+humanity, because he thought it would be softer than a stone if it
+should happen to strike any one; and, as he argued emphatically,
+"it was ridiculous to think he could have known that Jabez was going to
+duck his silly head at the very wrong moment, and it was even more
+ridiculous of Jabez to accuse him of knowing that there was a large
+rusty nail in the wood, for Jabez knew as well as possible that he, Dan,
+would have been only too jolly glad to have had the nail, for he was
+collecting old iron as hard as he could, intending to sell it the very
+next time the 'old-iron' man came round."
+
+Instead of which it was taken by Jabez, along with his bleeding head,
+straight into the presence of Dr. Trenire, who happened at the moment to
+be sitting in his study, trying to get a little sorely-needed rest.
+The doctor had been out all the previous night at a most trying case,
+and body and brain were weary, his nerves all on edge, his patience
+nearly exhausted, and he had no time or inclination for unpleasant
+interruptions and unnecessary worries.  Altogether there could not have
+been a much more unpropitious moment for any one to have gone to him
+than that which Jabez chose.
+
+As a rule Dr. Trenire was only too gentle and kind and patient with his
+four motherless children; but to-day, when they slowly, and at a
+discreet distance, followed Jabez into the study, Kitty felt a sudden
+conviction that things were not going to be quite as simply and easily
+got over as usual.  She saw a look cross her father's face such as she
+had never seen on it before, and for the first time in her careless,
+happy-go-lucky life realized with keen compunction what a sad, tired,
+patient face it was, and suddenly she found herself wanting to do things
+for him to try to cheer and help him, and wished most heartily that they
+had done anything but bring fresh worry and unpleasantness to him.
+
+But before he inquired into the particulars of the squabble, Dr. Trenire
+attended to the wound.  It was only a surface one, but the skin was torn
+rather badly, and Jabez was bleeding a good deal, and groaning with all
+his might.
+
+"Get me some hot water."
+
+Only too glad to be able to do anything to help, Kitty ran off; but to
+run for hot water was one thing, to get it was quite another.  The fire
+was out, the kitchen was littered with dishes and pots and pans, and
+Fanny the cook, with a dirty apron on and no cap, was fast asleep in her
+chair by the window, just as though she had not a care or a duty in the
+world.  The squalor and muddle of the whole place could not fail to
+strike any one, even casual Kitty;  and to her it brought a deeper
+feeling, one of trouble and remorse, for, in response to her own
+pleading, her father had made her his housekeeper--and this was how she
+had fulfilled her duties!  In fact, she had given herself no duties; she
+had shirked them.  She had left everything to the servants, and as long
+as she had been free and untroubled, and meals of a kind had been served
+at more or less regular intervals, had bothered no further.
+
+"Fanny!" she called sharply, "do wake up!  Why haven't you got a fire,
+and a kettle boiling?"
+
+Fanny awoke with a start, which in itself is enough to make a person
+cross; and to have been caught asleep, with her work not done, made her
+crosser.  "I don't want a great fire burning on a hot afternoon like
+this," she answered sharply.  "You wouldn't like it yourself if you had
+to sit by it, Miss Kitty; and if it's your tea you'm wanting, well, it
+isn't tea-time yet.  When 'tis, you will find 'tis ready."
+
+"Um--m!" said Kitty loftily, in a tone that expressed most emphatic
+doubt of Fanny's statement.
+
+"What is it you're routing about in the cupboards for, miss?  I don't
+like to have folks coming into my kitchen, turning everything over and
+rummaging round.  I shan't know where to find a thing when I wants to.
+What is it you'm looking for?"
+
+"The methylated spirit and the little stove," said Kitty.  "I _must_
+have some hot water, Fanny, and quickly.  Father wants some.  There has
+been an accident."
+
+Fanny changed her tone, and her expression grew a little milder.
+"We haven't got a leak, miss.  We ran out of it a week ago.  I told
+Emily to tell you--but there, I might as well talk to the wind as talk
+to her--"
+
+"Oh dear," interrupted Kitty, "whatever shall I do?  Jabez is bleeding
+so he will bleed to death--"
+
+"Jabez!  Oh my!  Whatever has happened, Miss Kitty?"  Suddenly Fanny's
+whole manner changed to one of anxious eagerness and deep concern.
+"Is it--is it dangerous, miss?  How did it happen?  What's he done?"
+Fanny had been so sound asleep that she had not noticed the noise in the
+yard, or the little procession pass the kitchen window on its way to the
+study.
+
+"I don't think it is very bad," said Kitty.  "Dan threw a piece of wood,
+and it--it hit Jabez on the forehead, and--and oh, Fanny, what will
+father think?  I believe he is angry with us already, and you know he
+was out all night and is very tired, and he will be more angry if
+there's no hot water or anything he wants, and I--I did so want to help
+him."
+
+Fanny, who appeared more concerned about Jabez than about her master,
+was, with a lavish use of sticks, kindling a big blaze under a small
+kettle, and soon had water ready as hot as it was needed.  Kitty,
+greatly relieved, ran back with it to her father.
+
+"I suppose, as usual, there was none," he said gravely, "though I have
+said until I am tired that in a doctor's house there should always be a
+supply;" and Kitty could find nothing to say.
+
+Jabez by this time was seated in a chair, facing the light.  He was
+looking very pale and subdued.  The thought of having his wound
+washed and dressed upset him far more than did the wound itself.
+Betty and Anthony were sitting on two of the stiffest and most
+uncomfortable-looking chairs in the room, with very grave expressions
+on their pale but not too clean faces.  Dan was standing by the window
+looking intensely nervous and uncomfortable.  He glanced frequently from
+Jabez to his father, and back again, and Kitty could see he was longing
+to say something, but did not know how to.  She was very sorry that it
+had been Dan who had dealt the fatal blow.  She almost wished that it
+had been she herself who had done it, for their father was never quite
+so severe with her or Betty as with the boys.
+
+With the feeling still on her that trouble was coming, she fried to make
+herself as useful as possible; but as she knew little or nothing as to
+where anything was kept, she was more of a hindrance than a help, and
+her hopes were blighted by her father's order to them all to leave the
+room.
+
+"I will see you presently," he said sternly.  "I will either come to you
+or send for you when I am ready;" and, feeling very crushed, they made
+their way to the old nursery, now called "the schoolroom," and there
+waited with curiously mingled feelings for what was to happen next.
+They did not expect it to be anything _very_ serious; but they hated to
+vex their father, and they felt that now they really had vexed him.
+
+Oh how slowly the minutes passed, and what a lot of them there were!
+It seemed to them that time enough had elapsed in which to have set
+every limb that Jabez possessed, and to hear the recital of every wrong
+he had ever received at their hands; and by the time they heard their
+father's footstep coming their hopes and fears had gone up and down
+again many times, and they had pictured themselves sentenced to every
+possible and impossible punishment that their minds could imagine.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+THE NEWS, AND HOW THEY RECEIVED IT.
+
+When the door opened and Dr. Trenire came in with the heavy tread of a
+very weary man, and the face of a very worried one, another and a larger
+wave of shame and remorse rushed over them all.
+
+Dan stepped forward at once to put his feelings into words.  "I am
+fearfully sorry, father," he said impetuously.  "I--I was a brute to
+throw the things at Jabez; but I--I never meant to hurt him.  Is it very
+bad?"
+
+"It is not a serious wound by any means," said the doctor slowly;
+"but, of course, the wood was old and dirty, and the nail rusty, and
+there is always danger of blood-poisoning."
+
+"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," said Dan, looking alarmed.
+
+"No, that is just it," sighed the doctor; "you don't think.  No one in
+the house thinks, it seems to me.  I suppose, though, it isn't your
+fault; you have no one to teach you," and he sighed a heavy, harassed
+sigh.
+
+The children's mother had died nearly five years earlier, when Kitty was
+nine, and Anthony but a year old.  For a time a housekeeper had been
+employed to manage both children and servants; but so uncomfortable had
+been her rule, so un-homelike the house, so curbed and dreary the
+children's lives, that when Kitty reached the mature age of thirteen her
+father, only too glad to banish the stranger from their midst, had given
+in to her pleading, and with high hopes of a home which would be happy
+and homelike once more, allowed her to become housekeeper and mistress
+of the house.
+
+Unfortunately, though, Kitty had had no training.  Her mother had been
+an excellent manager; but Kitty was only a little thing when she lost
+her, and her life had mostly been spent, happily enough, in nursery and
+schoolroom.  Mrs. Trenire's wish had been that her children should have
+a happy childhood, so all family troubles, all anxieties, domestic
+worries and details, were kept from them, and the result was that,
+beyond the nursery and schoolroom life, they knew nothing.  Kitty had
+not the least idea how rooms were cleaned, or meals provided, or
+anything.  Then had come the housekeeper, who for other reasons had kept
+the children to their own quarters.  She resented any interference or
+questioning, and objected to any trouble they might give her, but as
+long as they amused themselves and kept out of her way, they were free
+to do pretty much as they wished.
+
+Under the circumstances it was not greatly to be wondered at that when
+Kitty took up the reins of management, life at Dr. Trenire's was not
+well-ordered and free from muddle, and that the doctor himself looked
+worried, and sad, and careworn.
+
+The pity of it was that Kitty did not try to learn even the very
+simplest things in housekeeping, and in that lay the root of the trouble
+and the cause of all that followed.  Though when four wild young
+spirits, that have been bottled up and corked down for years, suddenly
+find themselves free and able to do what they like when they like,
+without having to render an account to any one, it would be rather
+wonderful if they did settle down and become quite staid and steady all
+at once.
+
+Kitty it was, though, who was most at fault.  She had begged to be
+allowed to manage the house, and, having got her wish, she just seized
+the advantages and revelled in the freedom, but ignored the
+responsibilities; and no one was more acutely aware of this fact than
+was Kitty herself during the next half-hour, when their father talked so
+gravely to them all in the schoolroom.
+
+"I have been thinking a great deal," he said, as he dropped wearily into
+the roomy old chair by the fireplace--the chair where their mother used
+to sit and tell them stories, and hear them say their prayers before
+they went to bed.  "I have thought over the whole situation, as well as
+my tired brain will let me, and I have come to the conclusion that for
+all our sakes I must get some one to come and look after us."
+
+"O father!" gasped Kitty in utter dismay.  She had never thought that
+anything as dreadful as this could happen.
+
+"Evidently the management of the house and all of us is beyond Kitty,"
+went on Dr. Trenire; "and that is not to be wondered at.  We are a large
+family on the whole, and a doctor's house is not an ordinary one, and it
+is not surprising that everything should have got into a state of muddle
+and confusion."
+
+Kitty felt, but could not say, that she had never really tried to manage
+it; that as long as things had gone on without any open fiasco, and they
+had been able to enjoy themselves, and the servants had not been
+bad-tempered, she had been quite content.  She could not make that
+confession now, and if she had it would not have done any good.
+
+"The house _must_ be orderly and well managed, the meals properly
+arranged and served, and the servants kept in order, and I should be
+very culpable if I did not see that it was so," went on her father
+slowly.  "So, after much thought and hesitation, for I am very reluctant
+to admit even a comparative stranger into our midst again, I feel that
+the only thing to be done is to write to your dear mother's cousin, Mrs.
+Pike, and ask her to come and make her home with us.  She once offered
+to, and I think now, if she is still willing, it will be well to accept
+her kind offer."
+
+A stifled cry of dismay broke from the four shocked listeners--a cry
+they could not repress.  "Aunt Pike!"  Aunt Pike, of all people, to come
+to live with them!  Oh, it was too dreadful!  It could not be--they
+could never bear it!  She had stayed with them once for a fortnight, and
+it might have been a year from the impression it had left on their
+memories.  When she had left they had had a thanksgiving service in the
+nursery, and Betty--solemn Betty--had prayed aloud, "From Aunt Pike,
+pestilence, and famine, please deliver us."
+
+And now this dreaded aunt was to be asked to come again--not for a
+fortnight only, but for many fortnights; and not as a guest, but as head
+and mistress of them all, to manage them, to order them about, to make
+them do as she chose.  Oh, it was overwhelming, appalling, too appalling
+to be  true!
+
+"But there is Anna!" gasped Kitty.
+
+"I know," said Dr. Trenire, who really felt nearly as bad about it as
+did his children.  "Anna will live here too, probably.  Of course we
+could not expect her mother to leave her."
+
+This was the hardest blow, the final drop of bitterness their cup could
+hold, the last straw on four overburthened camels.
+
+"But we all hate Anna," said Betty with slow, deliberate emphasis;
+"and we shall hate her more if she is here always, wanting to play with
+us, and go about with us, and--and--"
+
+"Betty, those remarks are unworthy of you," said her father gravely.
+
+"But they are quite true, daddy," said Tony  solemnly, "and we've _got_
+to speak the truth and shame the devil.  Jabez told us so."
+
+Dr. Trenire did not feel able or inclined to argue the point then.
+Betty drew nearer to him and leaned against his shoulder.  "Daddy," she
+said in her grave, confiding way, "you won't like it either, a bit.
+When Anna was here before you often used to say, 'Oh, that child!' and
+you looked quite glad, as glad as we did, when she went away.  I am sure
+you will be sorry if she comes, nearly as sorry as we shall be, only you
+will be able to go your rounds and get away from them every day; but
+we," pathetically, "can't do that."
+
+Again Dr. Trenire was silent.  He sometimes wished his younger
+daughter's memory was less acute, and her love of reasoning less strong.
+No one spoke, and until some one did, remarks would go on dropping from
+Betty's lips.  It was a way she had.  She had never been known to cease
+talking without being forcibly made to do so.  "It does seem dreadful,"
+she went on thoughtfully, "that just because Jabez got his head hit we
+must have Aunt Pike and Anna here for ever and ever, and be made very
+unhappy.  I am sure Jabez would rather have us punished in some other
+way.  Shall I ask him what he would like done to us instead?" she
+finished up eagerly.
+
+"I don't want to punish you," said Dr. Trenire.  "Don't run away with
+the idea, children, that I am doing it for that purpose.  It is that I
+think it will be the best plan for all of us--for our comfort and
+happiness, and your future good.  I can't have you all growing up like
+savages, untrained, uneducated, uncared for.  What would you all say to
+me when you grew up?" looking round at them with a smile.
+
+"I would say, 'Thank you,'" said Betty gravely.
+
+"I'd rather be a savage than anything," said Tony eagerly.
+
+Kitty and Dan were silent.  Dan was old enough to realize something of
+what his father meant; Kitty was altogether too upset to answer.
+She was thinking that it was she who had brought all this on them; that
+she might have saved them from it.  The others blamed Jabez and his
+tale-bearing; but Kitty in her heart of hearts felt that Jabez with his
+cut forehead and his tale of woe was but a last link in the long chain
+which she had forged--a chain which was to grapple to them Aunt Pike and
+the unwelcome Anna.  At the same time the injury to Jabez was a last
+link, without which the chain might never have been completed.
+
+It was completed though, for that their father's mind was made up, his
+decision final, they recognized only too clearly, and the glorious
+summer day turned suddenly to blackest, dreariest night for all of them.
+
+By-and-by, though, after their father had left them, and they had talked
+things over amongst themselves, some of Kitty's remorse gave way to a
+rebellion against fate.  "How could they have known," she demanded
+tragically, "that by just sitting on the garden wall that afternoon they
+were changing and spoiling their lives for ever, and giving Aunt Pike
+the chance she had been longing for, the chance of coming there to
+'boss' them?  How was one to know what one might do and what one
+mightn't?  What was the use of trying?  There was no going against
+'fate'!  If it was their fate to have everything spoilt by her, she
+would have come even if Jabez had never been hurt at all, and everything
+had been quite right and perfect."
+
+"I shall never sit on that old wall again without expecting something to
+happen," said Betty in solemn tones.
+
+"And you will never be disappointed after _she_ comes," Dan foreboded
+gloomily, "so it is just as well to be prepared."  At which they all
+groaned in miserable chorus.
+
+By-and-by they straggled downstairs again and out into the yard.
+The house was really unbearably hot, and seemed too small to allow their
+minds to grasp all they had to grasp.  They had a sort of gloomy
+longing, too, to revisit the spot where so much had happened, to go over
+the familiar ground and see if the bright outer world looked different
+at all; there surely must be some sign of the tragedy that had befallen
+them.
+
+In the outer world things had changed very much.  The sun had
+disappeared, and the sky was heavy and overcast with threatenings of the
+storm that had been brewing all the day; the old wall looked gray, and
+sad, and uninviting.
+
+"Just as though it knew," thought Kitty.
+
+In the yard Prue was standing somewhat dejectedly, evidently waiting to
+be harnessed; Jabez was creeping about, getting out the carriage in
+preparation for a journey.  He looked quite imposing with his bandaged
+head, and he was taking himself very seriously.  He glanced furtively at
+the children, and bore himself with an air of patient but superior
+resignation.  In his heart he was really vexed with himself for having
+complained of them, though he felt it would not do to let them know it.
+
+Betty, Dan, and Tony felt so bitterly the ill turn he had done them that
+they walked through the yard and up into the garden without a word or a
+glance--a cut on the forehead seemed so trifling compared with what they
+had to bear.  Jabez, who had expected anger or teasing on their parts,
+felt this coldness greatly; he was not used to that kind of treatment,
+and it hurt him.  Kitty, though, was so struck by the sight of his
+preparations that for the moment she forgot him and his injuries.
+
+"Father hasn't to go out again to-night, has he, Jabez?" she asked
+anxiously, staying behind while the others strolled on.
+
+"Yes, miss, he hev.  He've got to go to Welland to once.  They've just
+sent in."
+
+"Are you going too?" looking at his bandaged head.
+
+"No, miss," with a resigned air.  "Master says I'm to go 'ome and 'ave a
+good night's rest--that is if so be as I can get to sleep."
+
+"But who is going to drive father?" interrupted Kitty.
+
+"Master said as 'ow he'd drive hisself."
+
+Kitty remembered the weary look on her father's face, the sleepless
+night he had had, the long, busy day.  "Jabez," she said with quiet
+firmness, "I am going to drive father; then perhaps he will be able to
+sleep a little in the carriage.  Don't say anything to him, but I'll be
+in the carriage when you drive it round for him, and then I expect he
+will let me go."
+
+Jabez looked dubiously first at the sky and then at Kitty.
+
+"I can drive; you know I can," she said eagerly.  "Now don't be nasty,
+Jabez; we have got trouble enough as it is."
+
+"'Tis my belief there's a nasty storm brewing--"
+
+"I love a storm, especially when I am driving through it."
+
+"I was putting in the old mare on purpose, 'cause she stands thunder and
+lightning better than what Billy does, but--"
+
+"Jabez, you may say what you like, but I am going, unless father stops
+me; so don't bother to say any more about it.  I know the way, and
+father trusts me to drive."
+
+"I wasn't going against 'ee, Miss Kitty.  If you'm set on it you'm set
+on it, and 'tisn't no manner of use for me to talk."
+
+Dan and the others came sauntering down from the garden again.
+"Jabez, you might give me the nail out of that bit of wood," said Dan;
+"every half-ounce counts, and I want to get enough iron to sell."
+
+Jabez shook his head knowingly.  He would rather not have had any
+further reference made to the affair, for he was really devoted to them
+all, and was ashamed of his part in it.  He always made a point, though,
+of seeming to distrust them; he thought it safer.
+
+"Ah, I ain't so sure," he began, "that it'd be wise of me to let 'ee
+'ave it.  I dunno what more 'arm you mightn't be doing with it."
+
+"We couldn't do more harm than you have done already," snapped Dan.
+"You've nailed Aunt Pike fast to the house with it, and it will take
+more than we can do to get her away again."
+
+"What be saying of, sir?" asked Jabez, bewildered, and suddenly
+realizing that their sombre faces and manner meant something more than
+usual.  "Mrs. Pike--"
+
+"Father is going to send and ask Aunt Pike to live here, and it's your
+fault," said Betty concisely.  "It was your complaining about Dan that
+did it."
+
+Jabez gasped.  He knew the lady well, and preserved a vivid recollection
+of her former visit.  "She hain't a-coming visiting here again, is she,
+sur?" he groaned.
+
+"Visiting!  It's much worse than that, a thousand times worse.  She is
+coming here for good, to manage all of us--and you too!" they gasped.
+
+Jabez dropped helpless on to an upturned bucket, the picture of hopeless
+dejection.  "There won't be no peace in life no more," he said, "and I
+shan't be allowed to show my nose in the kitchen.  I'd have had my old
+'ead scat abroad every day of my life and never have told rather than
+I'd have helped to do this.  Was it really me telling on 'ee, sur, that
+made the master settle it so?"
+
+"Yes," nodded Dan, "that finished it."
+
+Jabez groaned again in sheer misery.  "I dunno, I'm sure, whatever made
+me take and do it.  I've stood so much more from all of 'ee and never so
+much as opened my lips.  I reckon 'twas the weather made me a bit
+peppery like--"
+
+"It was fate," interposed Kitty gravely.  "It must have been something,
+for sure," breathed Jabez, with a dreary shake of his head.
+
+"Make haste and get Prue harnessed," said Kitty, "or the storm will
+begin before we start, and then father won't let me go;" and Jabez, with
+another gloomy shake of his head, rose from the upturned bucket and
+proceeded with his task.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A DRIVE AND A SLICE OF CAKE.
+
+With one thing and another Jabez was so agitated as to be quite
+incapable of hurrying, and Kitty, who could harness or unharness a horse
+as well as any one, had to help him.  She fastened the trace on one
+side, buckled up the girths, and finally clambered up into the carriage
+while Jabez was still fumbling with the bit and the reins.  She caught
+the braid of her frock in the step as she mounted, and ripped down many
+inches of it, but that did not trouble her at all.
+
+"Have you got a knife in your pocket, Dan?" she asked calmly; and Dan
+not only produced a knife, but hacked off the hanging braid for her and
+threw it away.
+
+"I do wish I could go too," said Betty wistfully.  "I'd love to drive
+all over the downs at night, particularly if there was a storm coming.
+May I come too, Kitty?"
+
+But Kitty, for several reasons, vetoed the suggestion.  For one thing
+she wanted to be alone with her father, to try her powers of argument
+and persuasion against the summoning of Aunt Pike and Anna into their
+midst; for another, she felt that to be driving in the dark, and
+probably through a storm, was responsibility enough, without the care of
+Betty added; and she felt, too, that though her father might be induced
+to let one of them go with him, he would, under such circumstances,
+shrink from the pleasure of their united company.
+
+"No, Bet," she answered firmly, "you can't come to-night.  I--I want to
+talk things over with father;  but," with sudden inspiration, "I tell
+you what you can do, and it would be awfully sweet of you.  You coax
+Fanny to get something very nice for supper by the time we come home,
+and see that Emily has the table properly laid, and that the glasses are
+clean, and that there are knives enough, and--oh, you know, all sorts of
+things."
+
+"I know," said Betty, quite as delighted with the responsibility thrust
+on her as she would have been with permission to go for the drive.
+
+Dr. Trenire came out presently with some letters in his hand, which he
+gave to Jabez.  "Post those without fail," he said, then mounted to his
+seat.  He was so absorbed, or bothered, or tired, that he did not at
+first observe Kitty's presence, or, at any rate, object to it; and when
+he did notice her, all he said was, "O Kitty, are you going to drive me?
+That is very good of you; but isn't it rather late for you?"
+
+"No, father," said Kitty, relieved by his tone.  "I love driving by
+night, and I--I thought it would rest you to have some one to drive.
+Perhaps you will be able to have a nap on the way."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if I did," said her father, with a smile.
+"I feel as though my head is asleep already.  Have we got the lamps?"
+
+"Yes, I think everything is right," and, gathering up the reins, off she
+drove down through the street.
+
+Every one they met smiled and saluted them in some way, and Kitty smiled
+back, well pleased.  To be perched up on the box-seat, with the reins in
+her hand, in a position of real trust, gave her the happiest thrills
+imaginable.  Horses, and riding and driving, were passions with her.
+
+At the bottom of the street they branched to their left, and went more
+slowly up a steep hill, which wound on and on, gradually growing steeper
+and steeper, past villas and cottages and pretty gardens, until at last
+all dwellings were left behind, and only hedges bordered the wide road;
+and then  the hedges were passed too, and they were out on the open
+downs with miles of rough level grassland stretching away on either side
+of them, broken only by the flat white road along which they rolled so
+easily.
+
+Up here, on this height, with nothing to intercept it, a little breeze
+met them.  It was a very faint little breeze, but it was refreshing.
+Kitty drew in deep breaths of it with pleasure, for the closeness and
+thunderousness of the atmosphere were very trying.  The sky overhead
+looked heavy and angry, black, with a dull red glow burning through here
+and there, while a hot mist veiled the horizon.
+
+For a time they drove on without speaking, Prue's regular footfalls, the
+noise of the wheels, and the sharp, clear calls of the birds alone
+breaking the silence.  Kitty was thinking deeply, trying to summon
+courage to make her earnest, final appeal, and wondering how to begin.
+
+"Father," she began at last, "I--I wish you would give us one more
+chance--trial, I mean.  We would try to behave better, really we would;
+and--and I will do my best to look after the house and the servants
+properly.  I am sure I can if I try.  There shall always be hot water,
+and--well, you see I feel it is all my fault, and I have brought it all
+on the others--"
+
+Dr. Trenire came back with a start from his drowsy musings, and tried to
+gather what it was that his daughter was saying, for she was rather
+incoherent.  Her voice shook at first with nervousness.  "Eh, what?" he
+stammered.
+
+It was disconcerting to Kitty to find that he had not been taking in a
+word of what it had cost her such an effort to say.  "I will do my best
+to look after the house and the servants," she repeated desperately,
+"if--"
+
+"But I am afraid, child, you really don't know how.  It is not in anger,
+Kitty, that I am making this new arrangement.  I am doing it because I
+feel you have a task entirely beyond your power, and for all your sakes
+I must see that you have an orderly and comfortable home, and--"
+
+"It won't be _comfortable_," said Kitty pathetically.  "It will never be
+that any more."
+
+"You must not begin by being prejudiced against your aunt," reasoned her
+father gently.
+
+"I am not, father, really; we are not prejudiced," she answered; "but we
+know, and--and every one else knows that--that--well, when I told Jabez
+what was going to happen, he sat down on a bucket and he looked--he
+looked at first as though he were going to faint, and then as though he
+would leave.  I feel nearly certain he will not stay, I really do,
+father.  Aunt Pike was always down on him."
+
+Dr. Trenire felt a little uneasy.  He hated changes amongst his servants
+when once he had grown used to them, and Jabez was a faithful and
+valuable one in spite of his peculiarities.  "You should have thought of
+all this sooner," he said, rather crossly, "and not have made such a
+step necessary."
+
+"But--but, father, if we promise now, and really mean it, and begin at
+once, and--and--" Kitty was so excited she could hardly get her words
+out, for she had quickly caught the signs of wavering in her father's
+voice and manner.  Already she felt as though victory were near.
+"Anyhow, father, give us six months, or even three months more, just to
+let us show that--"
+
+With an exclamation, Dr. Trenire leaned forward and pulled the right
+rein sharply.  "Take care, child," he cried; "you will have us over in
+a moment.  You have almost got this wheel over the edge of the ditch.
+You _must_ learn to attend to the business in hand, or you will never
+succeed in anything.  Another inch and you would have upset us, and
+probably have broken a spring."
+
+Dr. Trenire's nerves were on edge, and he spoke more sharply than was
+usual with him.  Kitty felt that she had made a bad beginning, her
+spirits sank, and she lapsed into silence.  But when they were once more
+bowling smoothly along, her father's thoughts returned to her appeal.
+
+"I am afraid it is too late now," he said gently, sorry for his
+momentary irritability.  "I have already written to your aunt."
+
+Kitty turned a stricken face to him, and her hold of the reins loosened
+again.  "Written to Aunt Pike--already!" she gasped.  "Oh!"  But hope
+rose again a moment later.  "But you haven't posted it?"
+
+"Yes, I have.  At least, I gave it, with some others, to Jabez to post.
+It will have gone by the time we reach home."
+
+"Oh, how dreadful!"  Kitty's fingers tightened on the reins.
+Her impulse was to turn and drive back furiously to try and intercept
+that fatal letter.  "Father, do let me just drive quickly back and stop
+it," she pleaded; but her father shook his head.
+
+"I must get on to see Sir James as speedily as I can.  It would take us
+nearly an hour to go home and reach this far again; the old gentleman
+would think I wasn't coming to-night.  Look at the sky, too; we must try
+and get to Welland, if not home again, before the storm bursts.  It will
+be a bad one when it comes, and anything but pleasant or safe to be
+driving through over an exposed road such as this; and even now I am
+afraid it will be dark before we get home."
+
+Kitty knew that; but everything seemed trifling in comparison with this
+affair of Aunt Pike, and she drove on in a state of mutiny and misery
+very hard to bear, until by-and-by another comforting thought came to
+her.  If she could not recall that letter, perhaps she could induce her
+father to write another to her aunt, telling her that after all he had
+made other arrangements, and that there was no occasion to trouble her.
+She would not say anything about it now though, and presently other
+things occurred which helped to banish for the moment this particular
+trouble from her mind.
+
+By the time they reached Welland it was very nearly dark, and Kitty felt
+not a little nervous as she guided Prue through the gate leading into
+the Manor grounds; for the turning was an awkward one, and the gate not
+wide.  She managed it, however, and drove along the drive and drew up
+before the door in quite a masterly fashion.
+
+"I had better light the lamps by the time you come out," she said to her
+father as he got down from the carriage; but before he could tell her
+that One of the stablemen would probably come and see to the lamps and
+Prue too, the hall door was opened by an anxious-faced maid.
+
+"We are glad you have come, sir," she exclaimed.  "The master seems very
+bad, and the mistress is very anxious."
+
+"I will be with your master in a moment," said the doctor cheerfully;
+then, turning again to Kitty, "Hadn't you better come inside, dear?
+You--"
+
+"Oh no," cried shy Kitty, to whom the suggestion was full of horror.
+"Oh no.  I would _much_ rather stay here, please, father.  It is cooler
+now, and I am very comfortable;" and Dr. Trenire, understanding her
+nature, let her have her way, and followed the impatient maid to the
+sickroom.
+
+Kitty, greatly relieved, was fastening the reins to the splashboard
+before getting down to light the lamps, when a man appeared around the
+corner of the house, and came towards her.
+
+"You had better go inside, miss, hadn't you?" he said, speaking as
+though he were bidding her to go rather than asking her a question.
+"I'll look after the mare."
+
+"Thank you," said Kitty decisively, "I would rather stay here."
+
+"I think we'm going to have a storm, and you'll get wet through before
+the doctor comes out.  I reckon he'll be some time."
+
+Kitty felt strongly inclined to say she would like nothing better than
+to get wet through, and that she preferred sitting out in a storm to
+anything else in the world.  Why couldn't people let her do as she liked
+best?  It seemed to her that it was only for her to want to do one
+thing, for every one to conspire to make her do another.  And how
+aggravating it was to have the man glued to Prue's bridle all the time,
+as though Prue ever needed holding, or Kitty were absolutely incapable!
+He was not at all a pleasant man; he spoke very sulkily and never
+smiled.  She wished for his departure even more fervently than he, she
+felt, was wishing for hers, but she could not summon up courage to tell
+him to go, nor could she get over her irritation with him sufficiently
+to talk to him.  So there they stayed in gloomy silence, and Kitty, to
+add to her annoyance, was made to feel that she was acting foolishly,
+and ought to have done what she particularly objected to doing.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+A sudden vivid flash of lightning drew the exclamation from her, and
+made even quiet old Prue toss her head; and immediately after the flash
+came a violent peal of thunder just above their heads, so violent that
+it seemed as though the heavens themselves were being rent and shaken
+and the house tumbling about them.  Then came a quick patter, patter,
+patter, swish, swish, and a storm of rain descended on them.
+
+"If you'll get out, miss, and go into the house, I'll take the mare and
+the carriage round and put them under shelter, or the cushions and
+things'll be soaking wet by the time the doctor comes out."
+
+There was a tone in the man's voice that Kitty could not ignore, though
+she disliked him intensely for it--the more so, perhaps, because she
+felt that he was in the right.  He addressed her as though she were a
+little wilful child, whose foolishness he had endured for some time, but
+was not going to endure any longer.
+
+Kitty was _so_ annoyed that for a moment she felt that nothing would
+induce her to dismount, and that if he chose to put the carriage under
+shelter he could take her there along with it; but the prospect of
+having to endure his society the whole time made her pause, and while
+she paused the hall door was opened, and a lady appeared, peering out
+into the darkness.  Standing outlined against the lighted hall Kitty
+could see her distinctly, while she, her eyes  dazzled for the moment by
+the light, could see nothing.
+
+"Did Dr. Trenire bring one of his little girls with him, Reuben?"
+
+"Yes'm."
+
+"Do come in at once, child.  Which is it?  Kitty?"
+
+"Yes," answered Kitty reluctantly.
+
+"Then do come in.  Whatever makes you stay out in the storm?" cried Lady
+Kitson.
+
+Kitty obediently, but most unwillingly, scrambled down from her seat.
+Even from the carriage, and through the darkness, she could see how
+charming and dainty Lady Kitson was looking.  She had on a soft, flowing
+gray silk gown, with white lace about her shoulders and arms, and her
+beautiful golden hair gleamed brightly in the lamplight.  Kitty, at
+sight of her, suddenly realized with overwhelming shame that in her zeal
+to drive her father and make her appeal, she had neither brushed her own
+hair nor washed her hands, nor changed her old garden hat or morning
+frock.  She was, she knew, as disreputable-looking and untidy a daughter
+as any father could feel ashamed of.
+
+"How stupid of me--how stupid of me," she thought, full of vexation with
+herself, "when I knew I was coming here, too."
+
+There was nothing to be done, though, but to go in and live through this
+ordeal as best she might.  "Why do these things always happen to me?"
+she groaned miserably.  "If I had wanted very much to go in, and had had
+on all new beautiful clothes, I should have been left out here to spoil
+them.  I wish father would come; he must have been gone quite half an
+hour, I am sure, and Sir James can't want him any longer."
+
+In the hall Lady Kitson held out a delicate white hand, with sparkling
+rings on her fingers, and took Kitty's grubby one in hers.  Some persons
+might not have noticed the roughness and stains and marks made by the
+reins, but Kitty knew that Lady Kitson did.  Her keen eyes missed
+nothing, and probably before very long she would be retailing to Dr.
+Trenire all his daughter's shortcomings, and the crying necessity for
+sending her away to a good boarding-school at once.
+
+None of the Trenire children liked Lady Kitson, though they could hardly
+have told you why.  Poor Kitty felt now that she disliked her
+exceedingly.
+
+"Come into the drawing-room; the girls are there."
+
+"The girls" were Lady Kitson's step-daughters.  They were both of them
+older than Kitty, but were inclined to be very friendly.  The Trenire
+children, though, did not respond much to their advances; they found
+them uninteresting and silly, and never felt at home with them.
+The truth was, they had no tastes in common, and probably never would
+have.
+
+Kitty felt glad of their presence now though, for anything would be
+better, she thought, than to have to sit for a long time with Lady
+Kitson alone.  At least she felt glad until, having been directed to a
+low easy-chair facing them all, she suddenly caught sight of the two
+jagged ends of braid hanging from the front breadth of her dress--the
+braid Dan had hacked off with his knife.  Both ends hung down two or
+three inches, and no eye could avoid seeing them.  From them her glance
+travelled to her shabby old shoes, the spots on her frock, her hands.
+Her face flushed a fiery red and her eyes filled.  Not for any
+consideration could she at that moment have raised her eyes.  She knew,
+she felt those gimlet glances, the looks and meaning smiles that were
+being exchanged, and she writhed under them, while her heart felt very
+full and sore.  She could not talk, her mind was weighed down.  In her
+embarrassment she could think of nothing to say, and her hostesses were
+apparently too absorbed to make an effort either.  Moment after moment
+of overwhelming wretchedness dragged by.
+
+"I shall never, never forget this," thought Kitty, "all the rest of my
+life.  It will make me miserable whenever I think of it."
+
+At last, to every one's relief, Lady Kitson went upstairs to join her
+husband, and with her departure some, at least, of the stiffness was
+removed.
+
+"Aren't you hungry?" asked Lettice, the elder of the two girls.
+"I am sure you must be after that long drive."
+
+"No, thank you," said Kitty soberly.
+
+"Oh, I think you must be.--Maude, do go and ask Parkin to give us some
+cake for Kitty.  Be sure and say it is for Kitty."
+
+"Can't you go yourself?" asked Maude.  "Parkin is in a fearful temper
+with me because I told mother about her giving things to Reuben."
+
+"Bother!  You are always rubbing the servants the wrong way.  I let them
+do as they like, for the sake of keeping them amiable.  I am awfully
+hungry, and so is Kitty, if she would only admit it; but if she refuses
+to, I suppose I must go hungry."
+
+"We shall have dinner soon," said Maude sharply.  "I should think you
+could wait until then."
+
+"I will have some cake, if you really want me to," said Kitty, looking
+up at Lettice with a smile, the first she had been able to call to her
+lips.  She liked Lettice the better of the two girls.
+
+"Will you?" cried Lettice delightedly.  "Then I will go and ask for
+something nice for you.  I am sure Parkin will give me something if I
+promise her my little pansy brooch;" and off she went, returning a
+moment later with a plateful of huge slices of orange cake.
+
+Kitty looked at the slices in dismay.  "I can't eat a whole one," she
+said.  "I shouldn't have time either, for I expect father will be down
+soon."
+
+"Nonsense! you must.  There is no knife to cut them smaller," cried
+Lettice, already making marked inroads on a slice herself.  "Quick, take
+some, or I shall drop the plate."
+
+Kitty unwillingly did as she was told, only to regret it bitterly as, at
+the first mouthful, a shower of crumbs descended on the polished floor.
+After that experience it took her so long to make up her mind to take a
+second bite, that just as she did so voices were heard outside the door,
+the handle was turned, and Lady Kitson, followed by Dr. Trenire, entered
+the room.  At the first sounds Lettice had seized the plate of cake and
+made a hasty exit through the conservatory, but for Kitty there was no
+such escape.
+
+"Well, dear, are you ready to face the storm?" asked her father, smiling
+down at her.
+
+"I think I must lend you a wrap of some sort," said Lady Kitson.
+"I suppose you have none?"
+
+Kitty, her mouth full of cake and one hand grasping the remainder, tried
+to swallow it hastily that she might reply, and, of course, choked.
+As she often remarked afterwards, the misery of that visit would not
+have been complete without that final blow.  Covered with shame and
+confusion, she rose awkwardly from her chair, looking about her for some
+place whereon to deposit that dreadful cake.  There was none.
+The tables were covered with books and frames, vases and ornaments, but
+the vases were full of flowers, and there was not even a friendly
+flower-pot saucer.  There was nothing for her to do but carry it with
+her.
+
+"Don't hurry," said Lady Kitson politely; "stay and finish your cake."
+
+"I can't," said Kitty desperately.
+
+She could not even say "thank you."  In fact, there seemed so little to
+give thanks for that it never entered her head to do so.
+
+"Then we will start at once," said her father briskly; and to her
+immense relief she soon found herself, her farewells said, mounting once
+more the dear homely carriage.  With the reins between her fingers, and
+the responsibility on her of driving through the storm and darkness,
+some of her courage and self-respect returned, but not until she had
+flung that wretched cake far from her into the darkness.
+
+"I shall hate orange cakes all the rest of my life," she thought.
+
+"It was kind of Lady Kitson to take you in out of the storm," remarked
+her father absently.
+
+"Was it?" she questioned doubtfully.  "I suppose it was.  But--another
+time I--I would rather stay out in the very worst storm that ever was,"
+she added mentally.  "Nothing _could_ be worse than what I have gone
+through, and what I shall feel whenever I remember it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+STORMS AT HOME AND ABROAD.
+
+Time might soften Kitty Trenire's recollections of that embarrassing
+visit of hers, but it could never dim her remembrance of the drive home
+that night over that wide expanse of moorland which stretched away black
+and mysterious under a sky which glowed like a furnace, until both were
+illuminated by lightning so vivid that one could but bow the head and
+close the eyes before it.  A gusty wind, which had sprung up suddenly,
+chased the carriage all the way, while the rain, which came down in
+sheets, hissing as it struck the ground, thundered on the hood drawn
+over their heads, but left their vision clear to gaze in wondering awe
+at the marvels which surrounded them.
+
+Dr. Trenire presently took the reins from Kitty, and tucking her well up
+in the wrap that had been lent her, left her free to gaze and gaze her
+fill.  Prue did not relish the din and uproar in the heavens, the
+flashing lightning, or the rain beating on her; but though she shook her
+head and flapped her long ears in protest, she stepped out bravely.
+
+When they came at last to the houses and the more shut-in roads the wild
+beauty was less impressive, and Kitty's thoughts turned with pleasure to
+home and dry clothes, and the nice meal Betty had undertaken to have in
+readiness for them.  How jolly it all was, and how she did love her
+home, and the freedom and comfort of it.
+
+The first sight of the house, though, decidedly tended to damp her
+pleasant anticipations, for there was not a light to be seen anywhere.
+All the windows were gaping wide to the storm, while from more than one
+a bedraggled curtain hung out wet and dirty.
+
+Dr. Trenire drove straight in to the stable-yard, expecting to have to
+groom down and stable Prue himself.  But Jabez had changed his mind
+about going home and early to bed, and was there ready to receive them.
+At the sight of his bandaged head Kitty's thoughts flew to the events of
+the day, to Aunt Pike and the fatal letter, and she simply ached with
+anxiety to know if Jabez had posted it or not.
+
+While she was waiting for an opportunity to ask him Dr. Trenire solved
+the difficulty for her.
+
+"Have you posted those letters I gave you, Jabez?" he asked, with, as it
+seemed to Kitty, extraordinary calm.
+
+"Oh yes, sir," said Jabez cheerfully, very proud of himself for his
+unusual promptness.  "I went down with 'em to once.  When there's a
+hubbub on in the kitchen I'm only too glad to clear out."
+
+For once Dr. Trenire did not appear particularly pleased with his
+assiduity, and Kitty turned dejectedly away.  The letter, the fatal
+letter, was gone, her hopes were ended, fate was too strong for them.
+And to add to her trouble there had been a hubbub in the kitchen, which
+meant a quarrel.  Oh dear, what could be the matter now?  Emily was in a
+bad temper again, she supposed.  Emily generally was.
+
+As she went up to her room to change she met Emily coming down, and
+whatever else she might be in doubt about, she was in none as to the
+signs on Emily's face.  It was at "very stormy," and no mistake.
+
+"I am wet through," said Kitty brightly, hoping to smooth away the
+frown; "but oh it was grand to see the storm across the downs.
+I did enjoy it."
+
+But Emily was not to be cajoled into taking an interest in anything.
+"I'm glad somebody's been able to enjoy themselves," she said pertly,
+and walked away down the stairs.
+
+Poor Kitty's brightness vanished.  Was there never to be anything but
+worry and unpleasantness?  All her excitement, and interest, and
+hopefulness evaporated, leaving her depressed and dispirited.
+The memory rushed over her of former home-comings, before the dear
+mother died; the orderly comfort, the cheerfulness and joy which seemed
+always to be a part of the house in those days; and her eyes grew misty
+with the ache and loneliness of her heart, and the sense of failure
+which weighed her down.  There rose before her that dear, happy face,
+with the bright smile and the ready interest that had never failed her.
+
+"O mother, mother," she cried, "I want you so, I want you so!
+Everything is wrong, and I can't get them right.  I am no use to any
+one, and I--I don't know how to do better."
+
+The hot tears were brimming up and just about to fall over, when flying
+footsteps sounded on the stairs--Betty's footsteps.  Kitty closed the
+door of her room, though she knew it was of no use.  It was Betty's room
+too, and nothing, certainly not a mere hint, could keep Betty out; and
+she sighed, as she had often sighed before, for a room of her very own,
+for some place where she could be alone sometimes to think, or read, or
+make plans, or hide when the old heartache became too much for her.
+
+But Betty shared her room, and Betty had every right to walk in, and
+Betty did so.  She was quiet, and vouchsafed no account of her doings,
+but she was quite calm and unperturbed.
+
+"What has made Emily in such a bad temper?" asked Kitty wearily.
+
+"Emily always is in a bad temper, isn't she?" asked Betty placidly.
+"I don't take any notice of her."  Then with some slight interest,
+"What did she say to you?"
+
+"She didn't _say_ anything," answered Kitty, "but she looked temper, and
+walked temper, and breathed temper.  Have you got a nice supper for us?
+I am starving, and I am sure father must be."
+
+Betty did not answer enthusiastically; in fact, she gave no real answer
+at all, but merely remarked in an off-hand manner, "I shouldn't have
+thought any one could want much to eat in this weather."
+
+"Is it ready?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Well, will you go down and see, and tell them to take it in at once if
+they haven't done so? I know father wants his supper."
+
+"I--think," said Betty thoughtfully, "--p'r'aps you had better go
+yourself.  Fanny said--Fanny's manners are awful; I think father ought
+to send them both away--"
+
+"What did Fanny say?"
+
+"Fanny told me--well, she said she would rather I--didn't go into the
+kitchen again--yet."
+
+Kitty groaned.  "What have you done to vex them both so, Betty?"
+
+"I only tried to see that the table was nicely laid, and everything just
+as you told me; and because I took out all the glasses and told Emily
+they were dirty, she got as cross as anything; and they really were
+dirty, for I showed her all the finger-marks, so it wasn't as if I was
+complaining about nothing.  If I'd 'cused her wrongly I shouldn't wonder
+at her getting mad; but I hadn't, and she couldn't deny it.  The forks
+were dirty too; at least I showed her six that were."
+
+Without any comment Kitty left the room and descended to the kitchen.
+All the way she went she was dreading what she should find when she got
+there, and wondering how she should best approach matters, and it was a
+relief to her on opening the kitchen door to find that Fanny was alone.
+Fanny was looking cross enough at that moment to daunt any ordinary
+courage, but, somehow, Kitty never felt as alarmed of her as of Emily.
+
+"Well, Fanny," she began, intending to ignore the hints and rumours that
+had reached her, "we have got back.  We were wet through nearly, and now
+father and I are longing for our supper.  Have you got something very
+nice for us?"  She tried to speak cheerfully, but it cost her a great
+effort.
+
+Fanny took up the poker and made an attack on the stove.  "You never
+ordered nothing, Miss Kitty, and 'tisn't my place to say what you should
+have."
+
+"Oh but, Fanny, you generally do," said Kitty, half inclined to be
+indignant at Fanny's injustice, for she could not help remembering how
+Fanny, as a rule, resented any attempt on her part to order or arrange
+the meals.  She knew, though, that her only chance now was to be
+patient, and to ignore a good many things.  "And you manage so well, so
+much better than I can."  She felt she must say something to restore
+peace and amiability, if they were to have any supper at all that night,
+and not incur greater disgrace than she had already.
+
+"I don't want to boast," said Fanny, "'tisn't my nature to do so, but if
+I'm gived a free hand, well--I can turn out a passable meal; but when
+one doesn't like this and the other doesn't like that, and nothing I do
+is right, and there's nothing but rows and squabblings in the kitchen,
+and no peace nowhere--well, I gives it all up!  P'r'aps somebody else
+could manage better."
+
+Fanny's voice rose more and more shrilly.  Poor Kitty's head by this
+time was aching badly, and her nerves were all on edge.  "Fanny, what
+_is_ the matter?" she asked despairingly.  "What has happened while
+we've been away?  I thought we were coming home to a nice comfortable
+meal and a happy evening, and when we drive up the house is all dark,
+and the rain beating in at the windows.  Emily is in a fury, and--and oh
+it is all so miserable.  I--I'd rather be out alone on the downs in the
+storm without any home at all, or--or--"  Here Kitty's voice faltered,
+and once more the tears brimmed up in her eyes--a most unusual
+occurrence with her; but the events of the day, the storm, and the
+difficulties that beset her, were proving too much for her.
+
+Fanny, hearing the break in her voice, looked round quickly, just in
+time to see the tears, the white, tired face, and the look of dejection.
+"Why, Miss Kitty," she cried, her soft heart touched at once, "don't 'ee
+take it like that.  Why, 'tisn't nothing to fret about; it'll all come
+right again, my dear," and she put her big red arm round her little
+mistress, and drew her head down to rest on her shoulder.  But Kitty,
+completely overcome now, shook her head mournfully.
+
+"No, it won't, Fanny; it is too late now.  Aunt Pike is to come and live
+here to look after us.  Father says we must have some one, and--and I
+think he is right.  I don't seem able to manage things, everything goes
+just as I don't want it to," and the tears brimmed over again and fell
+on Fanny's shoulder.
+
+"Mrs. Pike!" gasped Fanny.  "Mrs.--Pike--coming here--for good!  Oh my!
+Miss Kitty, you don't really mean it!"
+
+"Yes, I do," groaned Kitty.  "It is really true.  Father has written to
+her, and--oh I never dreamed such a thing _could_ happen, or I would
+have tried and tried to be more careful.  It must be fate, though, as
+well as our bad managing, for I've never before known Jabez post a
+letter when he was told to; but he must have gone right down to the post
+at once with the one to Aunt Pike that sealed all our fates.  If he
+hadn't I do believe I could have got father not to send it, or at least
+to give us another chance."
+
+Fanny shook her head solemnly.  "It do seem like it," she groaned.
+
+"What has happened while I have been out, Fanny?  Has Betty been rude to
+Emily?"
+
+"Well, you see, Miss Kitty," said Fanny, anxious to tell, but softened
+sufficiently to wish to make the best of the matter, "Miss Betty is so
+tackless.  Emily's temper really wasn't so bad till Miss Betty kep' on
+with her.  So soon as Emily had put the things on the table for supper,
+Miss Betty 'd bring them all out again one by one, and put them down
+before Emily, and every time she'd say, in that way she's got, 'Emily,
+that glass is filthy; you must wash it at once.  I wonder you ain't
+ashamed to lay the things in such a state.'  When she brought out the
+third lot Emily got mad, and when Miss Betty come out with the forks
+too--well, the storm bursted.  Emily was cheeky, I don't deny, and Miss
+Betty was rude, and I had to tell 'em at last that they must go out of
+the kitchen if they was likely to go on like that.  I wasn't going to
+have my place turned into a bear-garden."
+
+"Emily shouldn't have put down dirty things," said Kitty, loyal to her
+sister.  "She is always doing it, and she ought to know better."
+Her sympathies were all with Betty.  She may have been "tackless," as
+Fanny called it, but however kindly Emily had been told of her
+carelessness she would have been certain to fly into a rage; and they
+had put up with so much from her without complaining, that no one could
+accuse them of being fidgety or captious.
+
+As a matter of fact, Emily, who needed a very firm mistress of whom she
+would stand in awe, should have been sent away long before.  Kitty could
+not manage her at all, and as she thought of all they had endured daily
+at Emily's hands, she felt almost thankful that soon the management of
+her would fall to Aunt Pike's lot.
+
+"Did you say, Miss Kitty, that the master had asked Mrs. Pike to come
+here to live altogether, to look after us?"
+
+Kitty nodded despairingly.  After all, the managing of Emily seemed but
+a very trifling advantage to weigh against the Pike invasion and all
+that would follow on it.  "O Fanny," she sighed brokenly, "if only--if
+only mother were alive!  Nothing has gone right since, nor ever will
+again; and I feel it is almost all my fault that Aunt Pike has got to
+come, and--and--"
+
+"Now don't take on like that, Miss Kitty," said Fanny, sniffing audibly,
+and not entirely able to throw off a sense of her own guilt in the
+matter.  "'Tisn't nothing to do with you, I'm sure.  If things _'as_ to
+be, they _'as_ to be, and we'll manage some'ow.  I'm going to set about
+getting a nice supper so soon as ever I can.  I think we'm all low with
+the thunder and the 'eat, and we'll be better when we've had some food.
+Now don't 'ee fret any more, that's a dear," and she wiped Kitty's eyes
+and then her own on her very soiled apron, but Kitty bore it gladly for
+the sake of the warm heart that beat beneath the soiled bib.
+
+"Thank you, Fanny; you are a dear," she said gratefully; "and I will go
+and light some lights about the house by the time father has done with
+that patient he has in with him now."
+
+Kitty had a great idea of making the house bright and cheerful, but in
+her zeal she forgot the heat of the night.
+
+"Phew! my word!" gasped Dr. Trenire as he came presently to the
+dining-room.  "Why, children, how can you breathe in this atmosphere?
+I have been turning down the gas all the way I've come.  But how nice
+the table is looking, and how good something is smelling.  I want some
+supper pretty badly; don't you, little woman?" with a friendly pull at
+Kitty's curls.
+
+Kitty was not hungry now, but she was delighted by her father's
+appreciation, and she cut the bread very zealously, and passed him
+everything she thought he could want.  It was not until she had done all
+that that the silence and the emptiness of the table struck her.
+"Why, where is Dan?" she cried.
+
+"And where is Anthony?" asked Anthony's father.
+
+Betty gave a little jump, but as quickly controlled herself again.  "Oh,
+I'd quite forgotten about him," she said calmly.  "Tony is in bed."
+
+"In bed?" cried Dr. Trenire and Kitty at the same moment.  "Isn't he
+well?"
+
+None of them had ever been sent to bed for being naughty, so that
+illness was the only explanation that occurred to them.
+
+"Oh yes, he is all right; but I made him get under the feather-bed
+because of the lightning--"
+
+"The what?"
+
+"The lightning.  They say it can't strike you if you are covered with
+feathers, and of course I didn't want it to strike Tony, speshally with
+nobody here but me to--to take the 'sponsibility," looking at her father
+with the most serious face imaginable.  "So I made him get into the
+spare-room bed, 'cause it's a feather-bed, and then I put all the
+eider-downs over him, and I expect he's as safe as can be."
+
+Dr. Trenire gave a low whistle and started to his feet.
+"Very thoughtful of you, child," he said, trying not to smile, "and I
+expect Tony is safe enough, if he isn't cooked or suffocated.  For my
+part, I should prefer the risk to such a protection in this weather.
+I'll go and rescue him."  But Kitty had already flown.
+
+"I forgot to tell Kitty," went on Betty thoughtfully, "that I think the
+moths have got into the eider-downs, such a lot of them flew out when I
+moved the quilts."
+
+Dr. Trenire groaned.  "I suppose the quilts have never been attended to
+or put away since we ceased to use them?"
+
+"No," said Betty gravely.  "You see, if they are on the spare-room bed
+they are all out in readiness for when we want them."
+
+"And for the moths when they want them," sighed her father.  "I expect
+they will not leave much for us."
+
+Kitty, her father's half-jesting words filling her with a deep alarm,
+had meanwhile raced up to the spare room.  Somehow, on this dreadful
+day, anything seemed possible, certainly anything that was terrible, and
+she remembered suddenly that the spare bedroom was the very hottest room
+in the house.  It was over the kitchen, and caught every possible gleam
+of sunshine from morning till evening.  Also she knew Betty's
+thoroughness only too well, and her mind's eye saw poor little Tony
+buried deep and tucked in completely, head and all.
+
+The whole house was stiflingly hot.  Kitty's own face grew crimson with
+her race upstairs, and when she opened the door of the spare bedroom the
+heat positively poured out; but a terrible load was lifted from her
+mind, for, mercifully, Tony's head was uncovered.  He was the colour of
+a crimson peony, it is true, but at any rate he was not suffocated,
+unless--Kitty stepped quickly forward and touched his cheek.  It almost
+made her sick with dread to do so; but the red cheek was very, very hot
+and lifelike to the touch, and at the same moment Tony opened a y pair
+of large sleepy eyes, and stared up at his sister wonderingly.
+
+"I'm not struck, am I?" he asked half nervously.  "I am very hot, Kitty.
+Is it the lightning?"
+
+"No," said Kitty cheerfully, "it is feathers," and she flung back the
+pile of quilts.  "Poor Tony.  Get up, dear, and come down and have some
+supper.  It is all ready, and father was wondering where you were."
+
+Tony slipped with grateful obedience from his protection and followed
+Kitty, but rather languidly, it is true, for he was very hot and
+exhausted, and very rumpled, all but his sweet temper, which was quite
+unruffled.
+
+"Is Dan come back?" he asked eagerly, as he crept slowly down the
+stairs.
+
+"Dan!" cried Kitty, stopping and looking back at him anxiously.
+She remembered again then that she had not seen Dan since her return.
+"Did he go out?"
+
+"Yes, he went to catch some fishes for daddy's supper.  He heard you
+tell Betty to have a nice one ready, and he said, 'There's sure to be
+nothing nice in the house; there never is.  I'll go and catch some
+trout,' and he went.  Do you think he was out in all that funder and
+lightning?"  Then, seeing Kitty's startled look, Tony grew frightened
+too.  "You don't fink he is hurt, do you, Kitty?" he asked anxiously.
+"You don't fink Dan has been struck, do you?"
+
+But at that moment, to their intense relief, Dan himself crossed the
+hall.  From his appearance he might have been actually in the stream,
+getting the trout out without rod or line.  Water was running off his
+hat, his clothes, and his boots.  Tony heard it squishing with every
+step he took, and thought how splendid and manly it seemed.
+
+Kitty called out to him, but Dan did not stay to talk.
+
+"Where's father?" he asked, turning a very flushed but very triumphant
+face towards them, and waving his basket proudly.
+
+"In the dining-room," said Kitty, and Dan hastened on.  His face fell a
+little, though, when he saw the table, and his father already eating.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry I'm late," he said disappointedly.  "I thought I
+should have been in heaps of time.  I've got you some jolly fine trout,
+father.  I meant them for your supper.  Just look!  Aren't they
+beauties?" and he thrust his basket over the table and held it right
+under his father's nose.  The mud and green slime dripped on tablecloth
+and silver and on the bread, and even on Dr. Trenire's plate and the
+food he was eating.
+
+The doctor's much-tried patience gave way at last.  "Look at the mess
+you are making--all over my food too!  Look at the filth you have
+brought in!" he exclaimed angrily.  "Take it away! take it away!
+What do you mean by coming into the room in that condition, bringing a
+filthy thing like that and pushing it under my very nose when you see I
+am eating?  And why, Dan, once more, are you not here and decently neat,
+when a meal is ready?  It is perfectly disgraceful.  Here am I, and
+supper has been on the table I don't know how long, and only one of you
+is ready to sit down with me.  Anthony is in bed, or somewhere else,
+Kitty is racing the house to find him, and you--I am ashamed of you,
+sir, for coming into a room in such a condition.  You are perfectly
+hopeless.  Here, take away my plate, take everything; you have quite
+spoilt my appetite.  I couldn't eat another mouthful at such a table!"
+and Dr. Trenire rose in hot impatience and flung out of the room.
+
+For a second Dan seemed unable to believe his ears, then without a word
+he closed his basket and walked away.  He was more deeply hurt than he
+had ever been in his life before, and his face showed it.  Kitty and
+Tony, hesitating in the hall, saw it, and their eyes filled with tears.
+"Throw it away, will you?" he said in a choked voice, holding out the
+unfortunate basket to Kitty.
+
+Kitty, knowing how she would have felt under similar circumstances, took
+it without looking at him; instinctive delicacy told her not to.
+"Father didn't mean it," she whispered consolingly.  "You will come down
+and have some supper when you have changed, won't you?"
+
+They were not a demonstrative family; in fact, any lavishly expressed
+sympathy or affection would have embarrassed them; but they understood
+each other, and most of them possessed in a marked degree the power of
+expressing both feelings without a word being spoken.
+
+Dan understood Kitty, but it was too soon to be consoled yet.  "No," he
+said bitterly, "I have had supper enough, thank you," and hurried away
+very fast.
+
+It really did seem as if Kitty was not to reach the Supper-table that
+night.  Telling Tony to go in and begin his meal, she flew off with the
+basket, and, heedless of anything but Dan's request, was just about to
+fling it away--fish, basket, and all--when she paused.  It was a very
+good basket, and Dan had no other.  Kitty hesitated, then opened it and
+looked in.  Six fine trout lay at the bottom on a bed of bracken and wet
+moss, evidently placed so that they could look their best.
+The sight of Dan's little arrangements brought the tears to her eyes.
+No, she could not throw away what he had taken so much pride in.
+
+She turned back and went to the kitchen.  "Fanny," she said, "will you
+cook these for father's breakfast?  Dan has caught them for him."
+
+"And fine and proud he was too," said Fanny, looking in at Dan's catch.
+
+"He was, but he isn't now.  I wish," with a deep sigh, "we didn't always
+do things the wrong way.  I wonder why nothing ever comes quite right
+with us?"  Then she turned away hastily, that Emily, who at that moment
+came into the kitchen, might not see the tears that would start to her
+eyes.
+
+When at last Kitty sat down to the meal which she no longer wanted,
+every one else had left the table.  She was not sorry, for it saved her
+from having to make a pretence of eating, and left her free to indulge
+in her own moods.  It gave her time, too, to think over all that had
+happened, and might yet happen.
+
+Before she went up to bed, though, she got a tray, and collecting on it
+a tempting meal, carried it to Dan's room.  She hoped he would let her
+in, for she badly needed a talk with him, but just as she was about to
+knock at his door the murmur of voices within arrested her attention.
+Whom could Dan have got in there? she wondered in great surprise.
+Tony was in bed, and Betty was in her room.  She listened more closely,
+and nearly dropped the tray in her astonishment, for the voice she heard
+was her father's, and she had never before known him go to their rooms
+to talk to them.
+
+For a moment her heart sank with dread.  Was he still angry?  Was he
+scolding poor Dan again? he could hardly think so, for it was so unlike
+him to be harsh or severe with any of them.
+
+Then, as the voice reached her again, though she caught only the tone of
+it, and not a word that was said, she knew that all was right, and with
+a sudden lightening of her heart, and a sense of happiness, she quietly
+crept away to her own room.  All the time she was undressing she
+listened alertly for the sound of her father's footsteps, but she had
+been in bed some time before they passed down the corridor.  "They must
+be having a nice long talk," she thought, as she lay listening, in a
+state of happy drowsiness; and she was almost in the land of Nod when a
+sudden thought turned her happiness to dismay, and drove all sleep from
+her.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, springing up in her bed, "oh, how stupid of me!
+How perfectly dreadfully stupid of me!"
+
+"Whatever is the matter?" demanded Betty crossly.  "I was just beginning
+a most beautiful dream, and now you have sent it right away."
+
+"Never mind your dream," groaned Kitty.  "That's nothing compared with
+that letter.  I did mean to get him to write it to-night, and I would
+have posted it, so that it could reach almost as soon as the other,
+and--and I _never_ did it, I never even asked him to write it, and now
+the post has gone, and--"
+
+"Whatever are you talking about?" interrupted Betty impatiently.
+
+"Why, the letter to Aunt Pike, of course.  I was going to coax father to
+write another letter to her to-night, to say it was all a mistake, that
+we didn't want her, and--"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," answered Betty coolly.  "Don't worry.  I have
+written to Aunt Pike and told her all that, and I posted it myself to
+make sure of its going.  She will get it almost as soon as she gets--"
+
+"Betty, you haven't?"
+
+"Yes, I have," said Betty quietly.  "Why not?  I am sure it was best to.
+Fanny wouldn't live  with her, I know, and Jabez said it would be more
+than his life was worth, and you know father hates changing servants, so
+I wrote and told her exactly all about it.  I wrote quite plainly, and I
+think she will understand."
+
+"O Betty, you shouldn't have.  What _will_ father say?"
+
+"Father will be very glad, I think.  He hates writing letters himself."
+
+"Um--m!" commented Kitty dubiously, but said no more, for at that moment
+Dan's door was opened, and she heard her father's steps pass lightly
+along the corridor.
+
+A few moments later she slipped out of bed and carried Dan's tray to his
+room, but she did not go in with it.  Her instinct told her that he
+would rather she did not just then; so, laying it on the floor, she
+tapped lightly at his door, told him what was there, and crept back to
+bed again.
+
+"What a day it has been," she thought to herself as she nestled down
+under the cool sheet.  "Yet it began like all the others.  I wonder how
+all will end.  Perhaps it won't be so bad after all.  I hope that
+Betty's letter won't do more harm than good.  I shouldn't be at all
+surprised, though, if it made Aunt Pike make up her mind to come.  But
+I'll try not to think about it," and turning over on her pillow, Kitty
+had soon forgotten Aunt Pike, Anna, torn braid, orange cake, and Lady
+Kitson, and was once again driving dear old Prue across the moor with
+the storm beating and roaring about them, only this time it was a
+dreamland moor and a dreamland storm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+IN WENMERE WOODS.
+
+"I could not think, for the moment," said Kitty, sitting up in bed and
+clasping her knees, "why I woke with a feeling that something dreadful
+had happened.  Of course it is Aunt Pike that is on my mind.
+
+"She needn't be, then," said Betty, stretching herself luxuriously in
+her little bed.  "My letter will settle all that worry."
+
+"Um!" remarked Kitty thoughtfully, with none of the confidence shown
+by her young sister.  "If your letter doesn't make her come by the very
+first train, it will only be because she missed it.  I shouldn't be at
+all surprised to see her walk in, and Anna too."
+
+"You don't _really_ think she will?"  Betty, struck by something in
+Kitty's voice, had stopped stretching herself, and looked across at her
+sister.  "Kitty, you don't really mean that?  Oh no, of course you
+don't; she couldn't really come to-day, she would have lots to do
+first--packing and saying 'good-byes.'"
+
+"I should think she hadn't a friend to say 'good-bye' to," said Kitty
+naughtily.  "Any way, I am not going to worry about her.  If she doesn't
+come--oh, it'll be perfectly lovely; and if she does--well, we will get
+all the fun we can beforehand, and after, too, of course; but we will
+try and have some jolly times first, won't we?  What shall we do to-day?
+I wonder if Dan has planned anything."
+
+What Dan's plan might be was really the important point, for according
+to him the others, as a rule, shaped their day.
+
+"I don't know if Dan has made any," cried Betty with sudden alertness,
+"but I know what would be simply lovely.  Let's spend the day in Wenmere
+Woods, and take our lunch with us, and then have tea at the farm--ham
+and eggs, and cream, and cake, and--"
+
+"Oh, I know," interrupted Kitty; "just what Mrs. Henderson always gives
+us--"
+
+"No," interrupted Betty anxiously, "not what she always gives us; we
+will have fried ham and eggs as well, because, you see, it is a kind of
+special day."
+
+"Very well, we will if we have money enough.  I wonder if Dan will
+agree."
+
+"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight," clanged out the town
+clock viciously.  Betty sprang up in bed at once.  "It is time to get
+up, Kitty," she said peremptorily.  "We've got to do everything right
+to-day, and be very punctual at meals, and very tidy and all that sort
+of thing, so that father will see that Aunt Pike isn't wanted.  Do you
+think he will be vexed when he knows about my writing to her?
+P'r'aps she won't tell."
+
+Kitty scoffed at such an idea.  "Aunt Pike is sure to tell; but father
+is never _very_ angry."
+
+"But he might be," said Betty wisely; "he looked so last night when all
+the mud dropped on his plate; but, of course, this is different--there
+is nothing very bad about my writing the letter.  I did it to save
+him trouble."
+
+"Perhaps you had better tell father so," said Kitty dryly.
+"Honour bright, though, Betty, I really would  tell him, and not let him
+first find it out from Aunt Pike."
+
+"Um!" ejaculated Betty thoughtfully, as she collected Kitty's sponge and
+bath-towel before departing to the bathroom.  But there was nothing very
+hearty in her tone.
+
+When she returned, looking very fresh and rosy, and damp about the
+curls, she found Kitty sitting on the side of her bed, and still in her
+night-gown.  Hearing Betty's returning footsteps, she had managed to get
+so far before the door was flung open, but that was all.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful," she sighed wearily, "to think  that day after day,
+year after year, all my life through, I shall have to get up in the
+morning and go through all the same bother of dressing, and I--I hate it
+so."
+
+"P'r'aps you won't have to," said Betty cheerfully;  "p'r'aps you'll be
+a bed-lier like Jane Trebilcock, and you won't have to have boots, or
+dresses, or hats."
+
+But the prospect did not cheer Kitty very greatly.  "I didn't say I
+didn't want dresses and things.  I do.  I want lots of them, but I don't
+want the bother of putting them on."
+
+"Well, they wouldn't be much good if you didn't put them on," retorted
+practical Betty.  "I hate getting up too"--Betty never failed in her
+experience of any form of suffering or unpleasantness--"but I try to
+make it a little different every day, to help me on.  Sometimes I
+pretend the bath is the sea, and I am bathing; other times I only paddle
+my feet, and sometimes I don't bath at all--that's when I am playing
+that I am a gipsy or a tramp--"
+
+"Betty, you nasty, horrid, dirty little thing!" cried Kitty, looking
+shocked.
+
+But Betty was quite unabashed.  "I've known you not wash either," she
+remarked calmly.
+
+Kitty coloured.  "But--but that was only once when I forgot; that is
+quite different."
+
+"But I don't see that it is," said Betty firmly.  You are not cleaner
+because you forget to wash than if you don't wash on purpose.  Hark!
+O Kitty!"
+
+"What shall I do?" cried Kitty despairingly as the boom of the
+breakfast-gong sounded through the house.  "I haven't begun to dress,
+and--Fanny might have told me she was going to be punctual to-day."
+
+"P'r'aps she didn't know it herself," said Betty, tugging away at her
+tangle of curls with a comb, and scattering the teeth of it in a shower.
+"I expect it is an accident."
+
+"Then I wish she wouldn't have accidents," snapped Kitty.  "It is
+awfully hard on other people."
+
+Try as hard as one may, one cannot bath and dress in less than five
+minutes.  Kitty declared she could have done it in that time, if Dan had
+not had possession of the bathroom, and Betty had not used her
+bath-towel and left it so wet that no one else could possibly use it.
+
+"But I couldn't use my own," protested Betty, when the charge was
+brought against her, "for I hadn't one, and of course I had to use
+something."
+
+When the discussion had proceeded for some time, Dr. Trenire looked up
+from his paper with a half-resigned air.  "What is the matter, children?
+Haven't we bath-towels enough to go round?  Kitty, you should tell me
+when things are needed.  But never mind; your aunt will see to
+everything of that sort now."
+
+"I don't think she will," murmured Betty knowingly, but her father did
+not hear her.  Kitty felt too dismayed to speak; there was something so
+final in her father's tone, it made the coming of the dreaded aunt seem
+quite inevitable.
+
+"What are you children going to do to-day?" he went on kindly.  "It is a
+glorious morning after the storm.  You ought to be out as much as
+possible, all of you.  You should start as soon as you have finished
+your work with Miss Pooley."
+
+Miss Pooley was the governess who came daily from ten till one to
+instruct them.  At least she instructed them as often as she had the
+opportunity, but it very frequently happened that when she arrived she
+was told that the children had gone out for the day, or even oftener a
+little note to the same effect reached her, adding that as they would be
+engaged all day they wished to save her the trouble of coming for
+nothing.
+
+This morning they had intended to do the same thing.  Kitty was to write
+the note, and Tony to deliver it, but their father's remark, and his
+look, touched their consciences.  Dan, too, for some reason or another,
+was against it; he said he thought that after all it was a bit sneaky
+and underhand, and he wasn't going to have any more of it.  Betty felt
+the foundations of her world shake, and life bristled with new
+difficulties; but Dan had said it, so no one questioned.  After Dan had
+put things in that light, Kitty suddenly realized that their conduct in
+the matter had been neither honourable nor honest.
+
+"We will have our lessons and leave directly after," she planned
+cheerfully.  "I will ask Fanny to let us have some food to take with us
+for our dinner, and then we will go to the farm for tea, and come home
+in time for supper.  Won't it be jolly!  And we will have our dinner
+down by the river--by that dear little silvery, sandy beach, you know."
+
+"It sounds fine," said their father, returning to the room just in time
+to hear the arrangements.  "I wish I could go too."
+
+"I wish you could," cried Kitty.  "Wouldn't it be fun to see father
+exploring the woods, and catching beetles and minnows, and paddling in
+the river, and--daddy, can't you come, just this once?"
+
+"No, child, there is no paddling for me to-day, or playing wild man of
+the woods or anything else.  I have a long round in the morning, and
+another in the afternoon.  I have just been out interviewing Jabez."
+
+"Oh," gasped Kitty, "I had forgotten Jabez.  Of course he can't drive
+you, his head is all bandaged.  I will go, father; I'd love to drive
+you."  And she meant it.  She would quite readily have given up her day
+in Wenmere Woods to go with him.
+
+Dr. Trenire laid his hand tenderly on her shoulder.  "It is all right,
+dear; I shall have Jabez.  He has discarded his bandages, and is quite
+presentable.  He says he took them off last night to have a look at the
+wound, and when he saw what a little bit of a place it was, he made up
+his mind he wasn't going about with his head tied up for people to poke
+fun at him later on when they saw what he had been bandaged up for.
+Go and enjoy yourself, child, and tell me all about it to-night; and do
+try to keep out of mischief, all of you."
+
+In the kitchen, when Kitty at last reached it, Fanny was making pasties;
+and when Fanny chose she could make a pasty to perfection.  She made
+them one each now with their initials on them, made of curly bits of
+pastry, and promised to have them baked and ready by the time Miss
+Pooley was gone.  Emily was in a good temper too.  The prospect of being
+free from the children all day, and of having  no meals to get for them
+till supper, quite cheered her.  She even, without being asked, cut them
+some sandwiches, filled a bottle with milk, and produced a store of
+apples, which she packed in their basket.  When the children, having
+escaped from patient, easy-going Miss Pooley, rushed out to the kitchen
+for their pasties and milk, and found things in this unusually happy
+state, they marvelled at their good fortune, and accepted it thankfully.
+
+"Fanny and Emily are quite nice sometimes," remarked Betty, as they left
+the house, "only the worst of it is you never know when they are going
+to be.  Sometimes they laugh at everything one says, and another time
+they grumble."
+
+"To-day they are like people are when you are ill and they are sorry for
+you," said Tony, who had been puzzling himself for some minutes to know
+how to express what he wanted to.  "I fink they are sorry for us 'cause
+Aunt Pike is coming."
+
+"'O wise young judge!'" said Dan, "I shouldn't be surprised if you were
+right."  Dan had begun to read Shakespeare, and was full of quotations.
+"It is rather like living in the shadow of the gallows.  I expect people
+in the French Revolution felt as we do."
+
+"I don't feel the least little bit like French Revolutions, or gallows,
+or shadows, or even Aunt Pike and darling Anna, on such a glorious day
+as this," cried Kitty joyfully.  "I can't think of them, and I am not
+going to--yet.  Now, if you are all ready, let's race."
+
+Their way led them down a steep hill almost opposite their own house--
+a hill with just a house here and there on either side of it, and a
+carpenter's shop, whence wafted out a sweet, fresh scent of newly-cut
+wood.  The children raced to the very foot of it, and then retraced
+their steps to gather up the fragments of the milk-bottle, which had
+come to grief within the first twenty yards.  Then on they went again,
+past more cottages and sundry turnings, until at last they reached a
+curious old rough-and-tumble wharf on one side of the road, where the
+coal which had been brought by train was piled up in great stacks for
+the coalmen to take round presently in their carts.  Here, too, was
+drawn up a train--one such as only those who lived in those parts have
+ever been privileged to see.  It was composed of an old-fashioned squat
+little engine called the "Rover," and a few open carriages, with seats
+along the sides for passengers, and some trucks for any goods that might
+be needed.
+
+No passengers occupied the seats at that moment; in fact, they were
+generally conspicuous by their absence, save once a year, when the whole
+accommodation was bespoken for the Brianite Sunday-school treat.
+The "Rover," in fact, spent most of her noble life in drawing coal,
+clay, and sand up and down the seven miles which lay between Gorlay and
+Wenbridge.  It seemed a limited sphere, but only to the ignorant, who
+knew nothing of her services to the dwellers by the roadside, the
+parcels she delivered, the boots she took to be mended and restored
+again to their owners, the messages she carried, and the hundred and one
+other little acts of usefulness which filled her daily round.  I say
+"her," for to every one privileged to know her the "Rover" was a lady;
+one who deserved and received all men's deference and consideration, and
+the gentlest of handling too.
+
+As Kitty and Dan lingered now by the gate to look at her, they saw
+Dumble, the driver, lovingly passing a cloth over her, as though to wipe
+the perspiration from her iron forehead, while Tonkin, the fireman,
+stood leaning against her, with his arm caressingly outstretched.
+Behind Dan and Kitty, on the farther side of the road, grew a high
+hawthorn hedge, under the shelter of which was a seat where people sat
+and sunned themselves by the hour, and at the same time gazed at the
+life and bustle with which the wharf woke up now and then.  There were
+two old men on the seat now.  They touched their hats to Dan and his
+sister, and with a melancholy shake of their old heads sighed in
+sympathy with Kitty as she cried, "O Dan, I wish we could all go by
+train, all the way to Wenbridge.  It will be perfectly lovely down the
+line."
+
+But Dan seemed less eager than Kitty or the old men.  "We shall reach
+the woods before they do, if we walk on," he said, moving away;
+"and there is such a lot to see on the way."
+
+Tony and Betty--who was carrying the basket because she felt she could
+trust no one else with it--were nearly out of sight, so Dan and Kitty
+hurried after them.  One side of the road was lined by fields, the other
+by houses, and at the foot of their gardens ran the railway line until
+it emerged through some allotment gardens on to the open road, after
+which, for a while, train and foot passengers, and sometimes a drover,
+with a herd of cattle, meandered along side by side in pleasant talk or
+lively dispute--the latter usually, when Dan was on the road--until,
+about a mile farther on, two more cottages, and the last, having been
+passed, the road came to an abrupt end, and only the railway was left,
+with a rough footpath along its edge, which pedestrians had worn for
+themselves.
+
+The quartette wandered on contentedly, stopping when they pleased, and
+that was every few minutes.  Overhead the sky was a deep pure blue, and
+the larks were singing rapturously; the sun shone brilliantly, drawing
+out the smell of the tar from the "sleepers," and the scent from the
+flowers.  Under the hawthorn hedges which bordered most of the way the
+petals lay in a thick carpet.
+
+On one side of the road, just before it terminated, was a well, buried
+deep in a little green cave in the hedge, while the pure water from it
+flowed generously over the floor of the cave, and ran in a never-failing
+stream along one side of the way, past the gardens of the cottages, from
+which at one time a root or maybe a seed only of the "monkey plant" had
+been thrown, and taking root had flourished and flourished until the
+stream now was hidden beneath a mass of lush green leaves and stems
+crowned by tawny golden blossoms speckled and splashed with a deep rich
+brown.
+
+At the well a halt was always called, for the water of it had healing
+properties, and from their babyhood the children had, as a matter of
+duty, tested its powers by bathing their eyes; but to-day, as they
+stooped over it, a weird shriek in the distance brought them to their
+feet again.  Then came a great racket, as though a pile of all the loose
+iron in the world were tumbling over, the ground vibrated, and the noise
+drew closer and closer.
+
+"The 'Rover';" cried Dan.  "She is coming!  Here's sport!  I'll duck
+them."
+
+Betty's was the only hat that would hold any quantity of water, and she
+lent it gladly; but the brim was limp with age and hard wear, and a
+broad-brimmed straw hat at its best is not an ideal vessel from which to
+throw water over a flying foe.  The larger share of it Dan received in
+his own shoes amidst the derisive laughter of his two intended victims
+on the engine; and so completely mortified was he that Dumble, for a
+wonder, refrained from his usual revenge, that of squirting hot water
+from the engine over him.
+
+Dan looked red and foolish, Betty was furious, Kitty wished they had let
+the men alone, but at the same moment began to wonder how she could
+avenge this humiliation they had put upon Dan.
+
+After this little episode they walked on again, and for a while very
+soberly, Tony busily engaged in picking up stones and spars in search of
+some rare specimen that might please his father, Betty still clinging to
+the basket, though her arm was aching with the weight of it.  By the
+time they at last reached the woods they were all rather tired and
+distinctly hungry, but they were never too tired or hungry to be roused
+to enthusiasm by the sight that met them there.  No mere words can
+depict the charm and beauty of Wenmere Woods.  No one can thoroughly
+appreciate them who has not actually seen them.  No one who has seen
+them can forget them.  To see them was to stand with a glad heart,
+speechless, wide-eyed, wondering, and thanking God for such a sanctuary,
+yet half incredulous that such a spot was real, was there always,
+untouched, undefiled, waiting for one.  It might have been a fairy
+place, that would fade and vanish as soon as one turned one's eyes away.
+
+The woods were of no great extent, the trees were of no great size, but,
+tall and graceful, they clothed the side of the hill without a break
+down to the very edge of the river which ran through a valley which was
+fairyland itself, and on the opposite side stretched away, almost from
+the river's brink, up, and up, and up, until to all seeming they met the
+sky.  Delicate, feathery larches and quivering birches they were for the
+most part, and here and there, underneath their spreading branches, were
+open spaces carpeted with wind-flowers and bluebells, primroses and wild
+orchids, while ferns, large and small, grew in glorious profusion, some
+as tall as Tony, others as fragile and tiny as a fairy fern might be.
+In other spots large lichen-covered rocks raised their heads out of a
+tangle of bracken and bushes, while here and there, down by the river's
+brink, gleamed little bays of silver-white sand.
+
+In Dr. Trenire's library were several large bound volumes of Tennyson's
+"Idylls of the King," illustrated by Gustav Dore, and Kitty had never a
+doubt in her mind that these were the woods the artist had depicted.
+There could be no others like them.  Here Enid rode with Launcelot by
+her side; on that silvery beach, where the old bleached tree trunk lay
+as it must have lain for generations, Vivien had sat at Merlin's feet.
+There, in that space carpeted by wind-flowers and primroses, Queen
+Guinevere and Launcelot had said their last farewells.
+
+To Kitty the whole beautiful spot was redolent of them.  They had been
+there, ridden and walked, talked and laughed, loved, wept, and parted;
+and in that beauty and mystery and silence it seemed to her that some
+day, any day, they all would come again.  They were only sleeping
+somewhere, waiting for some spell to be removed.  She was sure of it, as
+sure as she was that King Arthur sat sleeping in his hidden cave,
+spellbound until some one, brave and good and strong enough, should find
+him and blow a huge blast on the horn which lay on the table before him,
+and so waken him from his long magic sleep.  In her heart of hearts she
+had a secret conviction that some day she would find the magic cave, and
+Dan it would be who would possess the power to blow the magic horn.
+
+She pictured herself dressed in flowing robes of white and gold, with
+her hair in long plaits reaching to her knees, riding away beside the
+king through those very woods, with the sunlight gleaming through the
+trees and flashing on the water, and on her other hand would ride Dan in
+shining armour, a second Sir Galahad.  She saw herself a woman, such a
+beautiful, graceful woman, with earnest eyes and gentle face.  She saw a
+knight, oh! such a splendid, courtly knight, and he looked at her and
+looked again, and--
+
+A little way up the hill she sat alone, her chin on her hand, gazing
+down at the sun-flecked river, the shining sand, the fairy-like trees,
+and saw it all as plainly as though it were then happening.  She saw the
+graceful steeds, richly caparisoned, daintily picking their way through
+underwood and rocks.  A stick cracked somewhere near.  Could they be
+coming?  She hardly dared look about her lest she should be
+disappointed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+TEA AT THE FARM.
+
+"Kitty, _are_ you coming, or _are_ you not?  It is very mean of you to
+keep us waiting all this time when you know how hungry we are!"
+
+With a deep, regretful sigh and a little shake Kitty rose and made her
+way to the large flat rock by the water's edge, on which the others had
+grouped themselves in more or less easy attitudes, with the food as a
+centrepiece.  Betty had spread a sheet of white paper, and on it had
+arranged the pasties according to their length.
+
+"You need not have waited for me," said Kitty, annoyed at having her
+dreams so broken in upon.  "We have each got our own, and can eat them
+when we like."
+
+"But we never do begin until we all begin together," said Betty
+reproachfully, "It would seem dreadfully mean; besides, we want you to
+say which is my pasty and which Dan's.  The letter has been broken on
+one, and knocked right off another.  I carried them ever and ever so
+carefully, so it can't be my fault.  Don't you think this is meant for a
+'D,' and that one"--holding out the largest--"without any letter at all,
+is mine?"
+
+Dan felt so sure of getting his rights that he lay quite undisturbed,
+throwing bits of moss into the water, and left the others to settle the
+dispute.
+
+"No, I don't," said Kitty, without the slightest hesitation.
+"Dan always has the largest, whether there is a letter on it or not, and
+you always have the smallest but one."
+
+Betty accepted the decision without dispute.  She had really not
+expected any other, but she liked to assert herself now and then.
+
+"I can't see," she said musingly, "why you should be expected to want
+less to eat if you are only ten than if you are twelve.  It seems to me
+so silly.  It isn't your age that makes you hungry."
+
+As a rule the others left Betty to find the answer to her own arguments,
+so she expected none from them.  She got none now.  They were all too
+busy and too hungry to argue.  Tony alone was not eating.  He was
+sitting with his pasty in one hand, while the other one was full of
+anemones that he had gathered on his way, intending to take them home to
+Fanny; but already the pretty delicate heads had begun to droop, and
+Tony was gazing with troubled eyes at them.  He loved flowers so much he
+could never refrain from gathering them, but the clasp of his hot little
+hand was almost always fatal, and then he was grieved and remorseful.
+
+Kitty, watching him, knew well what was in his mind.  He looked up
+presently and caught her eye.
+
+"I think I would put them in the river, if I were you, dear," she said.
+"You see we shan't get home for hours yet, and they will be quite dead
+long before that.  If you put them in the river they will revive."
+
+"Won't it be drowning them?" asked Tony anxiously.
+
+"No; they will float."
+
+"I know what I will do," he said, cheered by an  idea that had come into
+his head.  He laid down his pasty and trotted down to the edge of the
+river.  In the wet sand he made little holes with his fingers, put the
+stems in the holes, and covered them up as though they were growing;
+then, greatly relieved, he returned and ate his pasty contentedly.
+
+A pasty, even to a Cornish child, makes a satisfying meal, and when it
+is flanked by sandwiches, and apples, and a good draught of river water,
+there is no disinclination to remain still for a little while.  The four
+sat on quietly, and talked in a lazy, happy way of the present, the
+future, and the past--of what each one hoped to be, and of Dan's career
+in particular; whether he would go away to school, and where.  Aunt Pike
+came under discussion too, but not with that spirit of bitterness which
+would have been displayed at home, or before a less satisfying repast.
+Here, in the midst of this beauty and peace, everything seemed
+different.  Wrongs and worries appeared so much smaller and less
+important--any grievance was bearable while there was this to come to.
+
+They talked so long that a change came over the aspect of the woods.
+The sun lost its first clear, penetrating brilliancy, and took on a
+deeper glow.  Dan noticed it first, and sprang to his feet.
+
+"Let's move on," he cried, "or it will be tea-time before we have done
+anything."
+
+"If we are going to have ham and eggs for tea," said matter-of-fact
+Betty, "I think one of us had better order them soon, or Mrs.  Henderson
+may say she can't cook them in time."
+
+The appeal did not touch them so keenly as it would have done had their
+last meal been a more distant memory.  But, at the same time, the ham
+and eggs and cream tea was to be a part of their day, and they were not
+going to be deprived of it.  So they clambered up through the woods
+again till they reached the railway line, and strolled along it until
+they came to the farm.
+
+Kitty, being the eldest, was chosen to go in and order the tea, while
+the others hung over the gate and sniffed in the mingled perfume of the
+roses, the pinks, and all the other sweet-scented flowers with which the
+little garden was stocked.  Across the garden, in the hedge, was another
+gate through which they could see a steep sunny field stretching away
+down to the river bank, which was steeper here and higher, with old
+gnarled trees growing out of it, their large roots so exposed that one
+wondered how they managed to draw sustenance enough from the ground to
+support the great trunks and spreading  branches.
+
+"I have ordered ham and eggs, and cream, and jam, and cake," said
+Kitty, as she rejoined them, "and it will all be ready in an hour.
+It is three o'clock now."
+
+"Only three!" sighed Dan in mock despair.  "One whole hour to wait!
+Will it take all that time to  get it ready?"
+
+"I think it is a good thing," said Betty, "that we have to wait, for we
+are not _very_ hungry now--at least I am not; and you see we've got to
+pay the same however little we eat, and it does seem a pity to waste our
+money."
+
+"What a mind she has!" cried Dan, pretending to be lost in admiration.
+But at that same moment there once more reached their ears sounds as of
+an approaching earthquake.
+
+"The train!" cried Betty, and seizing Tony's hand, drew him carefully
+back close to the gate.
+
+Dan cast a hasty look around him for handy missiles.  Kitty saw it, and
+knew what was in his mind.
+
+"Don't throw things at them, Dan, please!  Think of yesterday, and
+Jabez, and Aunt Pike.  _Don't_ throw anything to hurt them."
+
+The "Rover" was lumbering nearer and nearer.  The two men on it had
+already caught sight of the quartette at the gate, and were grinning at
+them derisively.  It really was almost more than any human boy could be
+expected to endure.
+
+"Ha, ha!" jeered the men, as they lumbered by, "be yer boots dry yet,
+sir?  Wonderful cooling to the brain a wet 'at is--cooling to the feet,
+too, sometimes!"
+
+Dan's blood rose.  He felt he simply had to throw something, or do
+something desperate.  Betty's basket, still well supplied, was hanging
+on her arm close beside him.  With one grab he seized the contents, and
+first an apple went flying through the air, then a paper packet.
+Tonkin, the fireman, caught the apple deftly; the packet hit Dumble on
+the chest, and dropped to the floor.  Dumble himself was too fat to
+stoop, so Tonkin pounced on it.  The engine was at a little distance
+now, and aim was easier.  Another apple, well directed, hit Tonkin fair
+and square on the top of his head, while a third caught Dumble with no
+mean force full on his very broad nose, making him dance and shout with
+pain.
+
+As the engine disappeared round the bend, with the two men grasping
+their spoils and their bruises, Dan felt himself avenged, and the one
+cloud on his day was lifted.
+
+Kitty drew a deep sigh of relief that the episode was ended; Betty, one
+of regret.
+
+"There were six large sandwiches in that packet,"  she said
+reproachfully, "and the apples were beauties.  I wish now I had eaten
+more.  I am sure I could have if I had tried."
+
+Though there was plenty to do in the woods, that hour to tea-time seemed
+somehow a very long one, and quite ten minutes before it was up they
+were back at the farm to inquire if it was four o'clock yet.
+Mrs. Henderson smiled knowingly as she saw them gathered at the door,
+but she noticed that the eager faces were flushed and weary-looking, and
+she asked them in to sit down and rest, promising she would not keep
+them long.
+
+As they were to have "a savour to their tea" they were to have the meal
+in the house, instead of in the garden, and glad enough they were to
+sink into the slippery, springless easy-chairs, which seemed to them
+then the most luxurious seats the world could produce--at least they did
+to Kitty and Dan, who took the only two; Betty got on the window-seat
+and stretched herself out; Tony, a very weary little man indeed,
+scrambled on to Kitty's lap; and all of them, too tired to talk much,
+gazed with interest about the long, low room.
+
+It was not beautiful, and they knew it well, yet the fascination of it
+never failed.  On the walls were hung large framed historical and
+scriptural scenes, worked in cross-stitch with wool's of the brightest
+hues, varied by a coloured print of a bird's-eye view of the battle of
+Tel-el-Kebir, an almanac for the current year, and a large oleograph of
+a young lady und a dog wreathed in roses that put every flower in the
+garden to shame for size and brilliancy.  But none of these could give a
+tithe of the pleasure the worked ones did; there was such fascination in
+counting how many stitches went to the forming of a nose, how many red
+and how many white to the colouring of a cheek, or the shaping of the
+hands, and fingers, and toes.
+
+"I didn't know that Robert Bruce had six toes!" said Betty, very solemn
+with the importance of her discovery, her eyes fastened on a
+representation of that hero asleep in a cave, while a spider as large as
+his head wove a web of cables across the opening.  "Did you, Dan?"
+
+"Didn't you?" answered Dan gravely.  "Don't you know that in Scotland
+they have an extra toe in case one should get frost-bitten and drop
+off?"
+
+"Of course I know it is very cold up there," said Betty, who was never
+willing to admit ignorance of anything; "but supposing two got
+frost-bitten and dropped off, what would they do then?"
+
+Dan, pretending not to hear her question, strolled over to the bookcase.
+
+"Surely it must be tea-time!" he exclaimed.
+
+Betty, seeing that no answer was forthcoming, slipped from her seat to
+examine more closely some wax fruit which, under a glass case, adorned a
+side-table.
+
+"I do think it is wonderful how they make them," she said impressively;
+"they are so exactly like real fruit."
+
+Mrs. Henderson, coming into the room at that moment, heard the remark,
+and her heart was won.  She had more than once had a suspicion that some
+of her visitors laughed at her treasured ornaments, and made jokes about
+them, and the thought had hurt her, for her affections clung to them,
+and particularly to the was fruit, which had been one of her most prized
+wedding gifts, so Betty's remark went straight to her heart.  She beamed
+on Betty, and Betty beamed back on her.
+
+"You have such a lot of beautiful things, Mrs. Henderson," she said in
+her politest manner.  "I can't help admiring them."
+
+"It's very kind of you, I'm sure, miss.  Of course we all get attached
+to what's our own, specially when 'tis gived to us; and I'm very proud
+of my fruit, same as I am of my worked pictures."
+
+"I think they are wonderful," breathed Betty, turning from the wax fruit
+to gaze at Eli and Samuel.  "Did you"--in a voice full of awe--
+"really work them yourself, Mrs. Henderson?"
+
+"I did, missie, every stitch of them," said their owner proudly;
+"and all while I was walking out with Henderson."
+
+"While you were walking!" gasped Betty.  "But how could you see where
+you were going?"
+
+Mrs. Henderson laughed.  "No, missie; I mean the years we was courting."
+
+"How interesting," said Betty solemnly.  "I think I shall work some for
+my house when I am married.  Do you work them on canvas?  Can I get it
+in Gorlay?"
+
+"Yes, miss; but you needn't hurry to begin to-night," said Mrs.
+Henderson, laughing.  "If you want any help, though, when you do begin,
+or would like to copy mine, I'll be very glad to do what I can for you."
+
+"Oh, thank you very much.  I should like to do some exactly like yours,"
+cried Betty excitedly.  "Then, when I'm far away, they'll always remind
+me of you and the farm, and--and I'd like to begin with Robert Bruce and
+his six toes, and--"
+
+"You would never have patience to do work like that," interrupted Dan
+cruelly, "nor the money either; and I don't suppose you will ever go out
+of Gorlay."
+
+"You wait," said Betty, very much annoyed by his humiliating
+outspokenness.  "You wait"--with a toss of her head--"until I am grown
+up, then I shall marry some one, and I shall travel, and--"
+
+"All right," said Dan, "I will wait; and I hope I never have a headache
+till it happens."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+THE "ROVER" TAKES THEM HOME.
+
+Tony was nearly asleep on Kitty's shoulder, and Kitty herself was
+distinctly drowsy, but the arrival of the teapot and the ham and eggs
+roused them effectually.  Kitty took her place before the tea-tray, Dan
+before the hot dish, Betty got as near the cream as she could, and Tony
+drew a chair close to Kitty, and very soon their spirits began to rise
+to their highest, and their tiredness vanished.  The tea was refreshing,
+the ham and home-made bread and everything on the table were perfectly
+delicious, and they ate, and ate, and talked and laughed until Kitty
+wondered how it was that Mrs. Henderson did not come in and ask them to
+be quiet.  They had all, at the same moment, reached that mood when
+everything one says, or thinks, or does, sounds or seems amusing; and
+they laughed and laughed without being able to check themselves, until
+at last Kitty found herself with her head in the tea-tray, while Dan
+hung limply over the back of his chair, and Betty and Tony laid their
+heads on the table and held their aching sides.
+
+"Oh dear!" cried Kitty, straightening herself and trying to compose her
+face.  "They say it is unlucky to laugh so much.  I wonder if it is
+true.  It does seem hard, doesn't it?"
+
+The thought sobered them a little, and they gave themselves up to their
+tea.
+
+"I never know," said Betty thoughtfully, after a somewhat long silence,
+"whether it is better to begin with ham and end with cream and jam, or
+to begin with cream and then have the ham, but it seems to me that it is
+just the same whichever I do--I _can't_ eat much of both.  I have tried
+and tried."
+
+"I call that a real affliction," said Dan soberly.  "Of course there is
+just a chance that you may grow out of it in time, but it is hard
+lines."
+
+"Yes," sighed Betty, "it really is," and lapsed into quietness.
+"Another time," she said at last, very gravely, "I think I shall come
+twice, and not have both at the same tea."
+
+"Perhaps you would like Mrs. Henderson to save you some till to-morrow,"
+suggested Dan ironically.
+
+"No--o," said Betty seriously, "I don't think I will.  I don't expect I
+shall want any more as soon as to-morrow, but--"
+
+"You aren't feeling ill, are you?" asked Kitty anxiously, as she studied
+Betty's face.
+
+"No--o," answered Betty slowly, "not ill; but it's funny that what is so
+nice to think about before tea isn't half as nice after."
+
+"If I were you," said Dan pointedly, "I would go and sit in the meadow
+for a bit, and keep very still until it is time to go home."
+
+"I think I will," said Betty gravely, and started; but they had all
+finished their meal by this time, and following Dan's advice, strolled
+out once more to the scented garden, and down through the sloping meadow
+to the riverside.  It was nearly time to wind their way homewards, but
+they must have a little rest first, and one more look at the river and
+the woods, so they perched themselves about on the old tree roots, which
+formed most comfortable and convenient seats--all but Dan, who seemed to
+prefer to perch on a rock which stood in the middle of the river, which
+was shallower here and wider.  To get to it he had to take off his shoes
+and stockings and wade, which perhaps made up for the uncomfortableness
+of the seat when he reached it, and soon sent him wading back through
+the cool rippling water again.
+
+The handkerchiefs of the family having been commandeered in place of a
+towel, and Dan's feet clad once more, they all sat on in a state of
+lazy, happy content, playing "Ducks and Drakes," or talking, until at
+last Kitty, looking at the sky, saw with a shock that the sun was
+already setting, and realizing that they still had the long walk home
+before them, roused the party to sudden activity.
+
+They were all on their feet in a moment.  "I think we had better get out
+on the road by this gate, instead of going back to the house again," she
+said, hurrying towards one at the end of the field which brought them at
+once out on to the road.
+
+"But hadn't you better pay Mrs. Henderson?" questioned Betty, as she
+panted after her hurrying sister.
+
+"Oh!" Kitty stood still and gasped, "I had quite  forgotten!  How stupid
+of me!  I am glad you remembered, Betty," and they all streamed back to
+the farm again and into the little garden, more heavily scented than
+ever now as the flowers revived in the dew and cooler air.
+
+Mrs. Henderson came out to them quite smilingly, and apparently not at
+all concerned about their debt to her.  In her hand she was holding a
+flower-pot with a sturdy-looking little rose bush flowering in it.
+The children eyed it admiringly.  It had two delicate pink roses in full
+bloom on it, and several little buds.  "I was wondering, missie," she
+said, turning to Betty, and holding out the rose to her, "if you would
+be pleased to have this little plant; 'tis off my old monthly rose that
+I've had for so many years.  I planted this one last year and it has
+come on nicely.  Would you be pleased to accept it?"
+
+Betty gasped.  For a moment she was so surprised and overjoyed as to be
+speechless.  "Me! For me!" she cried at last.  "Oh, how lovely!
+Thank you _so_ much, Mrs. Henderson.  I'll keep it always, and 'tend to
+it myself every day.  I have never had a plant of my own before, and I
+shall love it," and Betty took her rose in her arms and hugged it in
+pure joy.
+
+"You have made Betty very happy now, Mrs. Henderson," said Kitty,
+without a trace of envy in her heart.  "Thank you for all you have done
+for us.  Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, and thank you for our fine tea," said Dan, and one by one
+they passed out of the scented garden, and on their homeward way.
+
+A soft evening mist was creeping slowly up over the river and the
+sloping meadow; the distant woods looked desolate, and almost awesome.
+Kitty could nut picture them now peopled as they had been in the
+morning, and her efforts to do so were soon interrupted by a little
+piteous voice beside her.
+
+"My feets do hurt me," said Tony plaintively.  "I s'pose I mustn't take
+off my boots?"
+
+"Poor old Tony," cried Dan.  "Here, let me carry you," and he hoisted
+his tired little brother on to his shoulders.  But Dan was tired too,
+and the way was long, and they had either to walk in single file along
+the tiny track worn beside the sleepers, or over the sleepers
+themselves, and that meant progressing by a series of hops and jumps,
+which might perhaps be amusing for a few minutes at the beginning of a
+day's pleasuring, but is very far from amusing when one is tired and the
+way is long.  The summer evening was warm too.
+
+"I wish the old 'Rover' would come along," panted Dan at the end of
+about a quarter of an hour's march.  "I'd get those fellows to give us a
+lift for part of the way at any rate."
+
+"Oh," sighed Betty, "how lovely that would be!  But things don't happen
+when you want them to, do they?"
+
+Miss Betty's sad and cynical view of life was wrong though, for not so
+very much later the familiar rumbling and shaking, and puffing and
+rattling, reached their ears once more, and coming, too, from the
+direction of Wenbridge.
+
+In a state of anxious excitement they all stood to await it.  "Hadn't we
+better hold up a pocket-handkerchief for a white flag to show them we
+are friendly?" asked Betty anxiously.
+
+"They wouldn't understand if we did," said Dan impatiently.
+"They'd only think we were trying to frighten them.  Kitty, if you go
+back towards them, holding up your hand, they will know it's all right.
+They will trust you.  It's only me they are down on, really."
+
+Kitty went back at once, and fortunately, just as she was trying to
+attract their attention and make them understand that she had only
+friendly intentions, they brought the engine to a standstill for Tonkin
+to get down and collect some faggots which lay beside the way.
+The engine snorted, and spit, and panted, and Dumble watched Kitty's
+approach with an eye which was not encouraging; but Kitty, though her
+heart was quaking a little, advanced bravely.
+
+"Dumble," she called to him, in a friendly, conciliating voice,
+stretching up to him confidingly--"Dumble, we are _so_ tired.  My little
+brother Tony can hardly get on at all, his feet are hurting him so
+badly, and he is too heavy for Dan to carry all the way; and Dan is
+tired too, and--and we wondered if--if you would give us a lift, even
+if it is only for a little way.  Will you?"
+
+Dumble, his face rather flushed, straightened himself.  "Look at my
+nose, miss," he said meaningly.  "Look at my nose," pointing to that
+poor feature, which certainly looked red and swollen.  "That's your
+brother's doings, heaving apples and not caring what he strikes with
+'em, and yet after that you can come and ask me to take 'ee all aboard
+of my train."
+
+"I am very sorry, Dumble, that you got hit, I am really, but--well, you
+did get the apples and some nice sandwiches too, you know; and when you
+aim at Dan it is never with anything nicer than hot water, and you know
+you did really scald him once but he never told how it was done."
+
+Dumble looked rather foolish.  "Didn't 'ee now?" he said, but his tone
+was less indignant.  "Yes, we had the apples, and fine ones they were
+too.  Well, come along.  Tell 'em all to look sharp and hop up, for 'tis
+'bout time we was to 'ome, and the 'Rover' put up for the night."
+
+Gladly enough the others obeyed her eager signals.  Joyfully they
+scrambled up into the high carriage and dropped on the dusty, gritty
+seats.  Dan and his enemies exchanged broad, sheepish smiles, but they
+were amiable smiles.  Tonkin flung up the last of the faggots and
+climbed up on the engine, and off they started.  And _what_ a journey it
+was!  All about them stretched the country, vast and still and empty,
+they themselves, seemingly, the only living creatures in it, the panting
+and rumbling of the engine the only sound to be heard, for it drowned
+all such gentle sounds as the "good-nights" of the birds, the distant
+lowing of cows, the rippling of the brook beside the way.
+
+Daylight was fading fast.  Here and there the way was narrow, and the
+hedges so high that the hawthorns almost met overhead; and here and
+there, where tall fir trees lined the road on either side, it was very
+nearly dark.
+
+By two of them, at least, that journey in the fading light was never
+forgotten.  It had been such a happy day, so free from worries and
+naughtiness or squabbles, or any cause for regret; and now they were
+going home, happy but tired, and longing to be in the dear old untidy,
+shabby home again.  Kitty, with Tony nestling against her, leaned back
+in her corner restfully, and thought of her home with a depth of feeling
+she could not have defined.  "If it could only be like this always," she
+said to herself, "and there is no reason why it shouldn't if only we
+were good and every one was nice.  I wonder, I wonder if I cannot make
+it so that father wouldn't want any one to live with us."
+
+On they rattled and jolted, past the two cottages, with their windows
+lighted up now and the blinds drawn; past the little well, its cave
+looking dark and mysterious under its green canopy.  Kitty, lost to the
+others and their talk, gazed with loving eyes at everything.
+"Dear little well," she thought.  "Dear old 'Rover,' and Gorlay, and
+home, how I do love every inch and stick and stone of it!  I think I
+should die if I had to leave--"
+
+"Kitty, _have you got_ a shilling?" Dan shrieked in her ear with such
+vigour that Kitty really leaped in her seat.
+
+"What _is_ the matter?" she demanded crossly.  It was not pleasant to be
+roused from her musings and brought back thus to everyday, prosaic
+matters; and it happened to her so often, or so it seemed.
+
+"I have asked you three times already.  Have you got a shilling?
+We shall have to get down presently, or we shall be seen, and the men
+and all of us will get into a row because we are travelling without
+tickets.  We had better get down when they come to the 'lotment gardens,
+and we must tip them; but Betty has only got tuppence, and I have only
+fourpence, and that is all in coppers, mostly ha'pennies.  I don't like
+to offer it to them."
+
+"I haven't a shilling," said Kitty regretfully.  "I have only eightpence
+left; the tea cost a good deal," and she produced from her purse a
+sixpenny bit and two pennies.
+
+Dan looked at their combined wealth disgustedly.  "They'll think we've
+been saving up for this little go," he said in a mortified voice;
+"but I'll give them the lot, and tell them it is all we have left."
+
+"I don't suppose they will mind ha'pennies," said Kitty consolingly.
+
+"Of course they won't," said Betty, who was rather cross at having to
+lay down her beloved rose and dive for her purse; "they aren't so silly.
+Besides, they have had our apples and sandwiches already."
+
+"Well, don't remind them of that again," said Kitty anxiously, for it
+was just the kind of thing Betty would do; but before she could extract
+a promise the engine slowed down and they hastily prepared to dismount.
+
+Dan coloured as he put the sixpenny bit and the coppers into Dumble's
+grimy hand.  "I am sorry there's such a lot of pence," he said shyly;
+"but it is all we've got left, and--and--"
+
+"Aw," said Dumble, who had expected nothing, and was rather embarrassed
+than otherwise by their generosity, "thank 'ee kindly, sirs, and young
+leddies; there wasn't no 'casion to give us nothing; but thank 'ee very
+much all the same, and 'nother time we'll be glad to 'blige 'ee with
+'nother lift."
+
+"Thank you very much," said Dan.  "But it isn't as much as it looks; it
+is only fourteen pence altogether.  I--I thought I'd tell you for fear
+you'd be disappointed;" and thankful for the darkness which hid his
+embarrassment, he joined the others, and with many friendly
+"Good-nights" to the "Rover" they started on the last stage of their
+journey.
+
+Briskly enough they started; but their pace soon changed; their feet
+were weary, and there was really no great need to hurry now.
+There would be no scoldings or punishments when they got home, even if
+they were late, for no one there was very particular as to time, and
+there was so much to see that they did not usually see that they stopped
+repeatedly to look about them. The cottages were all lighted up now,
+and in some of them the blinds had been left undrawn and the windows
+open. Even the old wharf, too, had here and there a light gleaming out
+of its blackness, adding to the weird mystery of the place, and then in
+rattled the "Rover," and drew up panting and throwing out deep breaths
+of steam and smoke and sparks, as though she had come at breakneck speed
+on urgent business from the extreme limits of the earth, and could
+scarcely be restrained from starting off again.  In the dim light they
+could see Dumble and Tonkin wandering round and lovingly criticizing
+their fiery steed.  "'Er 'ave gone well to-day," they heard Dumble
+saying proudly.  "'Er 'ave gone like a little 'are."
+
+"Ay, ay, proper!" responded Tonkin with solemn emphasis.  "Since 'er was
+cleaned I'd back 'er agin all the new-fangled engines in the world.
+Give the 'Rover' a fair bit of line to travel over, and 'er'll--well,
+'er'll do it."
+
+The children chuckled to themselves and moved on.  "To-night, with the
+'Rover' drawn up in it, it doesn't look quite so much like Quilp's Wharf
+as usual," said Kitty, looking back lingeringly at the black, ramshackle
+collection of old tarred sheds; "but I am sure I shall see Quilp's boy
+standing on his head there one day."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+A BAD BEGINNING.
+
+On again they went, past more cottages with groups of people gossiping
+at their doors, or sitting about on low steps or the edges of the
+pavement, enjoying the cool and calm of the summer evening; up the steep
+hill where the milk-bottle had come to grief in the morning, past the
+carpenter's shop, fast closed now, all but the scent of the wood, which
+nothing could keep in.
+
+It was a stiff pull to the top for tired people, but it was reached at
+last.  With a deep sigh of satisfaction they crossed the quiet street in
+leisurely fashion to their own front door, where, summoning what energy
+they had left, they gave a friendly "whoop!" to let their arrival be
+known, and burst into the house pell-mell; then stopped abruptly, almost
+tumbling over each other with the shock, and stared before them in
+silent, speechless amazement at a pile of luggage which filled the
+centre of the hall.  Betty stepped back and looked at the plate on the
+door to make quite sure that they had not burst into the wrong house;
+but Kitty, with a swift presentiment, realized to whom that luggage
+belonged and what it meant, and her heart sank down, down to a depth she
+had never known it sink before.
+
+Before she could speak, though, Emily appeared from somewhere, her face
+a picture of rage, offended dignity, and fierce determination; but as
+soon as she caught sight of the bewildered, wondering quartette, her
+whole expression changed.  She came to them, as Kitty said afterwards,
+as though there had been a death in the family and she had to break the
+news to them.  But it was an arrival she had to announce, not a
+departure, and she announced it abruptly.
+
+"She's come!" she gasped in a whisper more penetrating than a shout; and
+her face added, "You poor, poor things, I am sorry for you."
+
+For once Emily's sympathies were with them, and even while staggering
+under the blow they had just received, Kitty could not help noticing the
+fact.
+
+"What?--not Aunt Pike?--to stay?" gasped Dan.
+
+Emily nodded, a world of meaning in the action.  "You'd best go up and
+speak to her at once, or she'll be crosser than she is now, if that's
+possible.  She's as vexed as can be 'cause there wasn't nobody to the
+station to meet her, nor nobody here when she come."
+
+"But we didn't know.  How could we?  And who could have even dreamed of
+her coming to-day!" they argued hotly and all at once.
+
+"A tellygram come soon after you'd a-gone," said Emily, with a sniff;
+"but there wasn't nobody here to open it.  And how was we to know what
+was inside of it; we can't see through envelopes, though to hear some
+people talk you would think we ought to be able to."
+
+Kitty knew it was her duty to check Emily's rude way of speaking of her
+aunt, but a common trouble was uniting them, and she felt she could not
+be severe then.
+
+"Doesn't father know yet?" she asked.
+
+"No, miss."
+
+"Poor father!  Has Aunt Pike really come to _stay_, Emily?"
+
+"I can't make out for certain, miss; but if she isn't going to stay now,
+she is coming later on.  I gathered that much from the way she talked.
+She said it didn't need a very clever person to see that 'twas high time
+somebody was here to look after things, instead of me being with my 'ead
+out of win--I mean, you all out racing the country to all hours of the
+night, and nothing in the house fit to eat--"
+
+Kitty groaned.
+
+"I've got to go and get the spare-room ready as soon as she comes out of
+it," went on Emily.  "A pretty time for anybody to have to set to to
+sweep and dust."
+
+Kitty, though, could not show any great sympathy there; having to sweep
+and dust seemed to her at that moment such trifling troubles.  "Where is
+she now, Emily?"
+
+"In the spare-room."
+
+"Oh, the dust under the bed!" groaned Kitty.  "She is sure to see it; it
+blows out to meet you every time you move!"
+
+"Never mind that now," said Dan; "it is pretty dark everywhere.  But we
+had better do a bunk and clean ourselves up a bit before she sees us,"
+and he set the example by kicking off his shoes and disappearing like a
+streak up the stairs.
+
+In another moment the hall was empty, save for eight very dirty shoes
+and the pile of severe-looking luggage.
+
+To convince Aunt Pike that her presence and care were absolutely
+unnecessary was the one great aim and object which now filled them all,
+and as a means to this end their first idea was to dress, act, and talk
+as correctly and unblamably as boys and girls could.  So, by the time
+the worthy lady was heard descending, they were all in the drawing-room,
+seated primly on the stiffest chairs they could find, and apparently
+absorbed in the books they gazed at with serious faces and furrowed
+brows.  To the trained eye the "high-water marks" around faces and
+wrists were rather more apparent and speaking than their interest in
+their books.  Their heads, too, were strikingly wet and smooth around
+their brows, but conspicuously tangled and unkempt-looking at the back.
+
+However, on the whole they appeared well-behaved and orderly, and the
+expression of welcome their faces assumed as soon as their aunt was
+heard approaching was striking, if a little overdone.  It was
+unfortunate, though, that they and Emily had forgotten to remove their
+dirty shoes from the hall, or to light the gas, for Aunt Pike, groping
+her way downstairs in the dark, stumbled over the lot of them--stumbled,
+staggered, and fell!  And of all unyielding things in the world to fall
+against, the corner of a tin box is perhaps the worst.
+
+The expression of welcome died out of the four faces, their cheeks grew
+white; Kitty flew to the rescue.
+
+"I'm jolly glad it isn't my luggage," murmured Dan, preparing to follow.
+
+"She shouldn't have left it there," said Betty primly.
+
+"I expect it's our shoes she's felled over," whispered Tony in a scared
+voice.  "I jumped over them when I came down, but I don't 'spect Aunt
+Pike could."
+
+Dan and Betty looked at each other with guilty, desperate eyes.
+
+"Well, you left yours first," said Betty, anxious to shift all blame,
+"and you ran upstairs first, and--and we did as you did, of course."
+
+"Oh, of course," snapped Dan crossly, "you always do as I do, don't you?
+Now go out and tell Aunt Pike that, and suck up to her.  If she's going
+to live here, it's best to be first favourite." At which unusual
+outburst on the part of her big brother Betty was so overcome that she
+collapsed on to her chair again, and had to clench her hands tightly and
+wink hard to disperse the mist which clouded her eyes and threatened to
+turn to rain.
+
+But a moment later the entrance of Aunt Pike helped her to recover
+herself--Aunt Pike, with a white face and an expression on it which said
+plainly that her mind was made up and nothing would unmake it.
+Betty and Tony stepped forward to meet her.
+
+"How do you do, Elizabeth?--How do you do, Anthony?  I should have gone
+to your bedrooms to see you, thinking naturally that you two, at least,
+would be in bed, but I was told you were still racing the country.
+Anna goes to bed at seven-thirty, and she is a year older than you,"
+looking at Betty very severely.
+
+"Is Anna here too?" asked Kitty, saying anything that came into her head
+by way of making a diversion.
+
+"No, she is not.  She will join me later.  We were just about to move to
+another hydropathic establishment when your poor father's letter reached
+me, and I felt that, no matter at what sacrifice on my part, it was my
+duty to throw up all my own plans and come here at once."
+
+"Then the postman must have missed my letter," said Betty indignantly.
+"What a pity! for it would have told you we didn't want--I mean, it
+would have saved you the trouble--"
+
+"It was your letter, Elizabeth, which decided me to come," said Mrs.
+Pike, turning her attention to poor Betty.  "It reached me by the same
+post as your poor father's, and when I read it I felt that I must come
+at once--that my place was indeed here.  So I confided Anna to the care
+of friends, and came, though at the greatest possible inconvenience, by
+the next train.  And what," looking round severely at them all, "did I
+find on my arrival?  No one in the house to greet me!  My nephews and
+nieces out roaming the country alone, no one knew where!  One maid out
+without leave, and the other--well, you might almost say she was out
+too, for her head protruded so far from her bedroom window that I could
+see it almost from the bottom of the street."
+
+"Emily _will_ hang out of window," sighed Kitty.
+
+"And when I reprimanded her she was most impertinent.  Is she always so
+when she is reprimanded, Katherine?"
+
+"We--we don't reprimand her," admitted Kitty.  "I am afraid she would be
+if we did," she added honestly.
+
+At that moment Dan burst into the room carrying a bottle.  "If you put
+some of this on the bruises," he said, offering it to his aunt, "it'll
+take the pain out like anything.  Jabez has it for the horses, and I've
+used it too; it is capital stuff."
+
+Mrs. Pike looked at the bottle with an eye which for a moment made Kitty
+quake, for Dan had brought it in with the fine crust of dirt and grease
+on it that it had accumulated during a long sojourn in the coach-house.
+But something, perhaps it was Dan's thoughtfulness, checked the severe
+remark which had almost burst from her lips.
+
+"Thank you, Daniel," she said, almost graciously.  "If you will ask one
+of the servants to clean the outside of the bottle, I shall be very glad
+of the contents, for I feel sure I have bruised myself severely."
+
+Betty was about to offer her pocket-handkerchief for the purpose when
+she remembered that she had not one with her, and so saved herself from
+further humiliation.
+
+"At what hour do you dine--or sup?" asked Mrs. Pike, turning to Kitty.
+
+"We have supper at--at--oh, when father is home, or we--or we come home,
+or--when it is convenient."
+
+"Or when the servants choose to get it for you, perhaps," said Aunt Pike
+sarcastically, but hitting the truth with such nicety that Kitty
+coloured.  "Well," she went on, "if you can induce the maids to give us
+a meal soon I shall be thankful, for I have had nothing since my lunch;
+and I really feel, with all the agitation and shocks and blows I have
+had this day, as though I were nearly fainting."
+
+Poor Kitty, with a sinking heart, ran off at once, glad to escape, but
+overwhelmed with dread of what lay before her.  To her relief she found
+that Fanny had returned; but Fanny was hot with the first outburst of
+indignation at the news that awaited her, and was angry and mutinous,
+and determined to do nothing to make life more bearable for any of them.
+
+In response to Kitty's meek efforts to induce her to do her best to make
+the supper-table presentable, and not a shame to them all, she refused
+point-blank to stir a finger.
+
+"There's meat pasties, and there's a gooseberry tart, and cheese, and
+cold plum-pudding, and cake, and butter and jam," she said, enumerating
+thing after thing, designed, so it seemed to Kitty, expressly for the
+purpose of giving Aunt Pike a nightmare; "and I've got some fish for the
+master, that I am going to cook when he comes, and not before."
+
+"O Fanny, do cook it for Aunt Pike, please.  It is just the thing for
+her, and I am sure father would rather she should have it than that she
+should complain that she had nothing to eat--"
+
+"Well, Miss Kitty," burst in Fanny indignantly, "I don't know what _you_
+calls nothing.  I calls it a-plenty and running over; and if what's good
+enough for us all isn't good enough for Mrs. Pike, well--"
+
+"It is _good_ enough, Fanny," urged Kitty; "only, you see, we like it
+and can eat it, but Aunt Pike can't.  You know the last time she was
+here she said everything gave her indigestion--"
+
+"Them folks that is so afflicted," said Fanny, "should stay in their own
+'omes, or the 'ospital.  I'm sure master don't want patients indoors so
+well as out, and be giving up the food out of his own mouth to them.
+The bit of fish I've got for master I'm going to keep for master.
+If anybody's got to have the indigestion it won't be him, not if I knows
+it; he's had nothing to eat to-day yet to speak of, and if nobody else
+don't consider him, well, I _must_," and with this parting thrust Fanny
+left the kitchen to go to her bedroom.
+
+Kitty longed to be able to depart to her room too, to lock herself in
+and fasten out all the worries and bothers, and all thoughts of supper
+and Aunt Pike, and everything else that was worrying.  "I wish I had
+stayed in the woods," she thought crossly; "there would be peace there
+at any rate," and her mind wandered away to the river and the little
+silvery bays, and the tree-covered slopes rising up and up, and she
+tried to picture it as it must be looking then at that moment, so still,
+and lonely, and mysterious.
+
+"I'll see that it all looks nice, Miss Kitty," said Emily with unusual
+graciousness.  She felt really sorry for Kitty and the position she was
+in, and having quite made up her mind to leave now that this new and
+very different mistress had come, she was not only beginning already to
+feel a little sad at the thought of parting from them all, but a lively
+desire to side with them against the common enemy.  She failed quite to
+realize that her past behaviour had reconciled Kitty more than anything
+to the "enemy's" presence, and made her coming almost a relief.
+"I'll get Fanny to poach some eggs, or make an omelette or something.
+Don't you worry about it."
+
+Kitty, immensely relieved and only too glad to follow Emily's last bit
+of advice, wandered out and through the yard towards the garden.
+She felt she could not go back to the company of Aunt Pike again, for a
+few moments at any rate.
+
+Prue was standing with her head out of her window, anxiously wondering
+where Jabez was with her supper.  Kitty spoke to her and passed on.
+She strolled slowly up the steps, past the fateful garden wall and the
+terrace above to the next terrace, where stood a pretty creeper-covered
+summer-house.  It was a warm night, and very still and airless.
+Kitty sat down on the step in the doorway of the summer-house, and
+staring before her into the dimness, tried to grasp all that had
+happened, and what it would mean to them.  She thought of their lazy
+mornings, when they lay in bed till the spirit moved them to get up; of
+the other mornings when they chose to rise early and go for a long walk
+to Lantig, or down to Trevoor, the stretch of desolate moorland which
+lay about a mile outside the town, and was so full of surprises--of
+unexpected dips and trickling streams, of dangerous bogs, and stores of
+fruits and berries and unknown delights--that, well though they knew it,
+they had not yet discovered the half of them.  She thought of their
+excursions, such as to-day's, to Wenmere Woods, and those others to
+Helbarrow Tors.  They usually took a donkey and cart, and food for a
+long day, when they went to this last.  Her mind travelled, too, back
+over their favourite games and walks, and what she, perhaps, loved best
+of all, those drives, when she would have the carriage and Prue all to
+herself, and would wander with them over the face of the country for
+miles.
+
+At those times she felt no nervousness, no loneliness, nothing but pure,
+unalloyed happiness.  Sometimes she would take a book with her, and when
+she came to a spot that pleased her, she would turn Prue into the hedge
+to graze, while she herself would stay in the carriage and read, or
+dismount and climb some hedge, or tree, or gate, and gaze about her, or
+lie on the heather, thinking or reading; and by-and-by she would turn
+the old horse's head homewards, and arrive at last laden with
+honeysuckle or dog-roses, bog-myrtle, ferns, or rich-brown bracken and
+berries.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+THE COMING OF ANNA.
+
+The next week or two were full of change, excitement, and unrest.
+No one knew what the next day might bring forth, and the children never
+felt sure of anything.  Any hour might bring a surprise to them, and it
+was not likely to be a pleasant surprise--of that they felt sure.
+One of the changes decided on was that Dan was to go very soon--the next
+term, in fact--to a public school as a boarder.
+
+To all but Dan the news came as an overwhelming blow.  Katherine and
+Elizabeth, as their aunt persisted in calling them, considered it one of
+the most cruel and treacherous acts that Mrs. Pike could have been
+guilty of.  Of course they blamed her entirely for it.  "Dan was to be
+turned out of his home-banished--and by Aunt Pike!" they told each
+other.
+
+"I expect she will banish us next," said Betty.  "If she does, I shall
+run away from school and become something--a robber, or a gipsy, or a
+heroine."
+
+But the cruellest part, perhaps, of the blow was that Dan himself did
+not resent it.  In fact, he showed every sign of delight with the plan,
+and was wild with excitement for the term to begin.  To the girls this
+seemed rank treachery, a complete going over to the enemy, and they felt
+it keenly.
+
+"I didn't think Dan would have changed so," said Kitty dejectedly, as
+she and Betty lay in their beds discussing the serious state of affairs.
+
+"I don't know," said Betty darkly.  "_I_ thought he was very odd the
+night Aunt Pike came.  First there was the rude way he spoke to me about
+my making up to her, and then _he_ went and got that bottle of
+embercation for her.  _I_ called _that_ sucking up to her."
+
+"But Dan is always polite," said Kitty, warm in defence of him at once.
+She might sometimes admit to herself that there was a flaw in her
+brother, but she could not endure that any one else should see one;
+"and he is always sorry for people when they are hurt, and it was our
+fault that she was hurt."
+
+"Yes, it was his fault really," said Betty, whose memory was a good
+one--too good at times, some said--"for he was the first to kick off his
+boots and leave them there."
+
+"I know; but he didn't tell us to do the same.  And you see we had all
+agreed to be polite to Aunt Pike, and you could have got the embrocation
+for her if you had liked."
+
+"But I don't see why it should be called 'polite' if Dan does it, but
+'sucking up' if _I_ do it," argued Betty.
+
+Kitty sighed.  She often wished that Betty would  not want things
+explained so carefully.  She never made allowances for changes of mood
+or sudden impulses.  Kitty herself so constantly experienced both, that
+she could sympathize with others who did the same, and as she put it to
+herself--"What can you do if you feel sorry for a person that you hated
+only a little while before?"
+
+Kitty could not understand the right and the wrong of these things, or
+what to do under such circumstances.  She wished she could, for they
+made her feel mean to one side or the other, and nothing was really
+further from her intention.
+
+The next arrangement made--and this was an even greater blow to them
+than the "banishment" of Dan--was that Kitty and Betty were to go as day
+girls to school, instead of having Miss Pooley to the house.
+
+The plan, being Aunt Pike's, would probably have been objected to in any
+case; but to Kitty, with her shy dread of strangers--particularly girls
+of her own age--the prospect was appalling, and she contemplated it with
+a deep dread such as could not be understood by most girls.
+
+Betty complained loudly, but soon found consolation.  "At any rate," she
+said, "we need not walk to school with Anna, and we needn't see as much
+of her there as we should have to at home; and I think it will be rather
+jolly to know a lot of girls."
+
+"Do you?" sighed Kitty, looking at her sister with curious, wondering
+eyes, and a feeling of awe.  "I can't think so.  I can't bear strange
+girls."  It seemed to her incredible that any one should _want_ to know
+strangers, or could even contemplate doing so without horror.
+She envied them, though, for being able to.  "It must make one feel ever
+so much more happy and comfortable," she thought, "to have nothing to be
+afraid of."  She would have given a very great deal not to feel shy and
+embarrassed when with strangers, and to be able to think of something to
+say to them.  But she never could.  Nothing that she had to say seemed
+interesting or worth saying.  Betty, with her self-confidence and fluent
+tongue, was a constant source of admiration to Kitty.
+
+"You will get on all right," she said, with another sigh; "but I was
+never meant to go where there are other people."
+
+"That is why you've got to go.  It is good for you; I heard Aunt Pike
+saying so to father.  She said you were growing up shy and _gauche_.
+I don't know what _gauche_ means; do you?"
+
+"No," said Kitty, colouring.  "I expect I ought to, and I expect it is
+something dreadful; but if I am happier so, why can't I go on being
+_gauche_?"
+
+"Father said you were very shy, but he didn't think you were the other
+thing--_gauche_."
+
+"Did he?" cried poor Kitty, brightening; but her face soon fell again.
+"Father doesn't notice things as quickly as some people do--Aunt Pike,
+and Lady Kitson, and others; and I expect they are right.  It is always
+the disagreeable people and the disagreeable things that are right.
+Did Aunt Pike say the same thing of you?"
+
+"No; she said I had too much--it was a long word--too much self--self--
+oh, I know, confidence--self-confidence.  I don't know what it means,
+but I am sure I haven't got it; and if I have," wound up Betty
+defiantly, "I _won't_ get cured of it.  Do you know what it means,
+Kitty?"
+
+"Yes," said Kitty thoughtfully, "I think I do; but I don't see how going
+to the same school can cure us both."
+
+At the end of a few days Mrs. Pike went away to get Anna, and to collect
+their numerous belongings; and the doctor's household felt that it had
+before it one week of glorious freedom, but only one.
+
+In anticipation of this, their last happy free time, the children had
+made plans for each day of it, intending to enjoy them to the utmost.
+Somehow, though, things were different.  There was a shadow even over
+their freedom--if it was not there in the morning, it fell before
+night--and they returned home each day weighted with a sense of
+weariness and depression.  There was the shadow, too, of Dan's
+departure, and a very deep shadow it was.
+
+"Things will never, never be the same again," said Kitty sagely.
+"Dan won't know about all that we do; and when he gets a lot of boy
+friends he won't care very much."
+
+There was also the shadow of their own school and the constant
+companionship of Anna, and this was a dense shadow indeed.
+
+"It wouldn't be so bad if she was jolly and nice, but it will be like
+having a spy always with us," said Betty.  "She will tell Aunt Pike
+everything."
+
+"You don't know," said Dan, to tease them.  "Anna may have grown up
+quite different from what she was, and be as jolly as possible." But the
+suggestion did not console the girls; to them it only seemed that Dan
+was already forsaking them, that this was but another step over to the
+enemy.
+
+"She couldn't be jolly," said Betty firmly.  "She wouldn't know how, and
+Aunt Pike wouldn't let her if she wanted to.  And even if she seemed so,
+I shouldn't feel that I could trust her."
+
+"Bosh!" said Dan emphatically.  "One can always tell if a person is to
+be trusted or not."
+
+"Well, I can tell that I shall _not_ trust Anna _ever_," cried Betty
+viciously, roused to deep anger by Dan's championship of Anna Pike.
+
+But Dan was not impressed.  "Oh well," he said, turning carelessly on
+his heel, "if you are so narrow-minded and have made up your mind not to
+like her, it is no use to say anything more."
+
+"I am not narrow-minded," cried Betty hotly.  "I don't know what you
+mean."
+
+"I don't suppose you do," laughed Dan.  "Never mind.  Cheer up,
+Elizabeth, I will give you a dictionary on your birthday."
+
+"No, you won't, 'cause you won't have money enough," said Betty; "and--
+and I wouldn't accept it if you got it."
+
+"I'll leave you my old one when I go to school, and I advise you to
+study it well before you go to Miss Richards's.  It may save you from
+putting your foot in it sometimes."
+
+"I wonder," said Betty, with a sudden thought, "if it would tell me what
+self-confidence is?"
+
+"I can tell you that," said Dan.  "Why do you want to know?"
+
+"Oh--oh, because--but tell me first what it means, and then I will tell
+you--perhaps."
+
+"Well, it means--oh--you know--"
+
+"No, I don't; and--and I don't believe you do either," nodding her head
+very knowingly at her brother.
+
+"Yes, I do," cried Dan hotly.  "It means having a too jolly good opinion
+of yourself, and thinking you can do anything.  Now, tell me why you
+wanted to know."
+
+But Betty was walking away with her head held very high, and her cheeks
+very red.  "I think it is quite time you started for the station to meet
+Aunt Pike and Anna," she called back over her shoulder.
+
+"Don't be late, whatever you do."
+
+"But you are coming too, Bet, aren't you?"
+
+"No," she answered frigidly, as she closed the door, "I am not," and to
+herself she added, with proud indignation, "After Aunt Pike's calling me
+such a name as that, I shouldn't think of going to meet her."
+
+Kitty, Dan, and Tony were on the platform when the train arrived.
+Their father had expressly wished them to go to meet their aunt and
+cousin, as he was unable to; so they went to please him, they told each
+other.  But they would put up with a good deal for the sake of a jaunt
+to the station, and there really was some little anxiety and excitement,
+too, in their hearts as to what Anna would be like.
+
+When she had stayed with them before she had been a little fair, slight
+thing, with a small face, frightened restless eyes, and a fragile body
+as restless as her eyes.  Anna Pike gave one the impression of being all
+nerves, and in a perpetual state of tremor.  She was said to be very
+clever and intellectual, and certainly if being always with a book was a
+proof of it, she was; but there were some who thought she did little
+with her books beyond holding them, and that it would have been better
+for her in every way if she had sometimes held a doll, or a
+skipping-rope, or a branch of a tree instead.
+
+"She was rather pretty, I think, wasn't she?" said Kitty musingly, as
+they strolled up and down the platform waiting for the train.
+
+"She was awfully skinny," said Dan.
+
+"Will Anna be bigger than me?" asked Tony, who did not remember her.
+
+"Oh yes, she is as old as Dan, I think; but I always feel as though she
+were older even than I am.  She used to seem so grown-up and clever, and
+she always did the right thing; and, oh dear, how dreadful it will be if
+she is still the same."
+
+Tony sighed.  "I wish there was somebody little, like me, to play with,"
+he said wistfully; "somebody as young as me."
+
+"But, Tony darling, you don't feel you want some one else, do you?
+Why, we all play with you," cried Kitty reproachfully.
+
+"Yes, I know; but you only pretend.  You don't think things are
+really-truly, like I do."
+
+"But I do, dear, I do, really; only yours are fairies and giants, and
+mine are knights and kings and ladies," and her thoughts flashed right
+away from the busy station, with its brick platform and gleaming rails,
+the ordinary-looking men and women pacing up and down, and the noise and
+rattle of the place, to the quiet, still woods and hurrying river, with
+their mystery and calm, and to those other men and women pacing so
+stately amidst the silence and beauty.  But Tony, tugging at her hand,
+very soon brought her abruptly back to her real surroundings.
+
+"It is coming! it is coming!" he cried.  "I hear it."
+
+And a moment later, with a fast-increasing roar, the engine rounded the
+curve, and gradually slowing down, drew up alongside the platform.
+
+Mrs. Pike was one of those persons who keep their seats until all other
+passengers have left the carriage, and make every one belonging to them
+do the same; and Kitty and Dan had twice walked the whole length of the
+train, and were just turning away, not quite certain whether they felt
+relieved or not at seeing no sign of their travellers, when they heard a
+well-remembered voice calling to them, and, turning, saw their aunt
+standing in a carriage doorway, beckoning to them as frantically as an
+armful of parcels and bags would allow her.  She retreated when she had
+attracted their attention, and in her place there stepped from the
+carriage a tall, lanky girl, who was evidently very shy and embarrassed
+at being thrust out alone to greet her strange cousins.
+
+It was Anna.  Though she had grown enormously, they knew her in a
+moment, for the thin white face was the same, the restless eyes, the
+nervous fidgeting movements of the hands and feet and body.
+Her straight, light hair had grown enormously too; it was a perfect mane
+now, long, and thick, and heavy--too heavy and long, it seemed, for the
+thin neck and little head.  Kitty eyed it enviously, though; her own
+dark hair was frizzy and thick as could be, but it never had grown, and
+never would grow more than shoulder length, she feared, and she did so
+admire long, straight, glossy hair.
+
+But when she looked from her cousin's hair to her cousin, a sudden sense
+of shyness came over her, and it was awkwardly enough that she advanced.
+
+"Ought I to kiss her," she was asking herself, "on a platform like this,
+and before a lot of people?  She might think it silly;" and while she
+was still debating the point, she had held out her hand and shaken
+Anna's stiffly, with a prim "How do you do," and that was all.
+
+Her aunt she had overlooked entirely, until that lady recalled her
+wandering wits peremptorily.  "Well, Katherine, is this the way you
+greet your aunt and cousin?  Have you quite forgotten me?  Come and kiss
+us both in a proper manner.--Well, Daniel, how are you?  Yes, I shall be
+obliged to you if you will go in search of our luggage;" for Dan,
+fearing that he, too, might be ordered to kiss them both, had shaken
+hands heartily but hastily, while uttering burning desires to assist
+them by finding their boxes.--"Anthony, come and be introduced to your
+cousin Anna.  I dare say you scarcely remember her."
+
+Tony kissed his severe-looking cousin obediently, but his hopes of a
+playmate died there and then.
+
+"Elizabeth, I do not see her!"
+
+"No--o; she has not come, Aunt Pike," said Kitty lamely.  She felt
+absolutely incapable at that moment of giving any reason why Betty had
+absented herself, so she said no more.
+
+"Anna was particularly anxious to meet her cousin Elizabeth," continued
+Mrs. Pike.  "Being so near of an age, she hopes to make her her special
+companion.--Don't you, Anna?"
+
+"Yes, mother," said Anna, rubbing her cotton-gloved hands together
+nervously, and setting Kitty's teeth on edge to such an extent that she
+could scarcely speak.  But somehow the enthusiasm of Anna's actions was
+not echoed in her voice.
+
+Dan, who had rejoined them, smiled to himself wickedly as he thought of
+Betty's last speech about her cousin.
+
+"The porter is taking the luggage out to the omnibus," he said.
+"Will you come out and get up?"  He led the way, and they all followed.
+The big yellow 'bus with its four horses stood in the roadway outside
+the platform palings.  The driver and conductor, who knew the Trenires
+quite well, beamed on them, and touched their hats.
+
+"I've kept the front seat for you, missie," said Weller, the conductor,
+to Kitty, and he moved towards the short ladder placed against the 'bus
+in readiness for her to mount.  "Will the other ladies go 'pon top,
+too?" he asked; and Kitty, with one foot on the lower step, looked round
+at her aunt to offer her her seat.
+
+"Katherine! Katherine! what _are_ you doing?  Come down, child, at once.
+You surely aren't thinking of clambering up that ladder?  Let Dan do so
+if he likes, but you will please come inside with Anna and me."
+
+Kitty's face fell visibly.  She could hardly believe, though, that she
+had heard aright.  "I feel ill if I go inside, Aunt Pike," she
+explained.  "Father always lets us go on top; he tells us to.  He says
+it is healthier; and it is such a lovely evening, too, and the drive is
+beautiful.  I am sure you would--"
+
+"Katherine, please, I must ask you not to stand there arguing in that
+rude manner with me," said Mrs. Pike with intense severity,  "Get inside
+the omnibus at once.  I will speak to your father on the subject when I
+get home."  And poor Kitty, so long mistress of her own actions, walked,
+bitterly humiliated, under the eyes of the many onlookers, and got into
+the hot, close 'bus, where the air was already heavy with the mixed
+smell of straw and paint and velvet cushions, which she never could
+endure.
+
+"Anthony, you may go outside with Daniel if you prefer it, as the 'bus
+is rather full inside," said Mrs. Pike, stopping him as he clambered in
+after Kitty.  But Tony declined the offer.
+
+"I would rather go with Kitty, please," he said loyally.  "I'd--I'd
+rather."  He had a feeling that by so doing he was somehow helping her.
+
+Kitty, with compressed lips and flashing eyes, took her seat.  She did
+not notice who was beside her; her only object was to get as far as
+possible from her aunt, for, feeling as she felt then, she could not
+possibly talk to her.
+
+"It is a _shame_ to make us go inside.  It always makes me feel ill too;
+but I've always got to," whispered a low, indignant voice through the
+rattling and rumbling of the 'bus.  With a start of surprise Kitty
+turned quickly to see who had spoken, and found that she had seated
+herself beside her cousin Anna.
+
+For a moment Kitty stared at her, bewildered.  It could not have been
+Anna who spoke, for Anna was staring absorbedly out of the window
+opposite her, apparently lost in thought, or fascinated by the scenery
+through which they were passing.  But just as she had determined that
+she had made a mistake, a side-long glance from Anna's restless eyes
+convinced her that she had not.
+
+"Are you feeling ill now?" asked Kitty, but Anna in reply only glanced
+nervously at her mother, and bestowed on Kitty a warning kick; and
+Kitty, indignant with them both, could not bring herself to address
+another remark to her.  All through that long, wretched drive home
+Kitty's indignation waxed hotter and hotter, for she kept her gaze
+studiously on the window, and the glimpses she got of all the beauty
+they were passing through only served to increase it.  Here the way lay
+through the soft dimness of a plantation of young larches, their green,
+feathery branches almost meeting across the road; then came a long steep
+hill, up which the horses walked in a leisurely way--quite delightful if
+one were outside and able to gaze down at the glorious valley which
+spread away and away below, until a curve in the road suddenly cut it
+off from view, but infinitely wearying when every moment was spent in a
+hot, stuffy atmosphere, with nothing before one's eyes but the hedge or
+one's fellow-passengers.
+
+Oh the relief in such case when the top of the hill was reached, and the
+driver stirred up his horses to a canter, and the heavy 'bus covered the
+level ground quickly and rumbled down the next steep hill at a good
+pace.  How Kitty did hate it all now, and how she did love it
+ordinarily!  Winter and summer, hitherto, she had always gone to and fro
+mounted high up on the front seat, and knew every curve and corner, and
+hill and dip; but best of all, perhaps, did she love that quick run down
+the steep hill, when the horses cantered along at their smartest, and
+the 'bus came rumbling and swaying after them, as though at any moment
+it would break loose entirely and go its own wild way.  And then would
+come the demurer pace as they came to the town, and the narrow streets
+where sharp corners had to be turned carefully, and where, from the high
+'bus-top, one could quite easily see into the funny little rooms of the
+old houses on either side.  Then came the main street--to the Trenire
+children fit to vie in breadth and beauty with any street in any city in
+the world--and then home!
+
+To Kitty it had always been the greatest joy to come home.  No matter
+where she had stayed, or how delightful the visit had been, she had
+always been glad to get home again, and her heart beat faster, and her
+breath caught with something that was not merely excitement or pleasure,
+at the sight of the low, broad old house in the bare, wind-swept street,
+that was the only home she had known, or wanted to know.  But now, for
+the first time, she felt no joy, only misery and indignation, and a
+sense of hopeless, helpless resentment that all the old joy and freedom
+was ended, that everything was to be altered and spoiled for them.
+
+By degrees the 'bus emptied of all passengers but themselves, and Aunt
+Pike drew nearer to Kitty.  "I hope," she said, "that things have gone
+on nicely while I have been away, and that the house has been kept in a
+neat and orderly fashion."
+
+Kitty did not answer for a moment, for the simple reason that she had no
+answer to give.  They had all been too much occupied in making the most
+of their spell of freedom to observe how the house was kept.  "I--I
+believe so," she stammered at last.
+
+"And I hope you have arranged a nice little meal for us," went on Mrs.
+Pike, "to welcome Anna on her first arrival in her new home.  I did not
+say anything about it, as I thought it would be so good for you to have
+the arranging of it."
+
+At this Kitty really did jump in her seat, and her heart beat fast with
+shame and dismay, for she had not only not arranged a "nice little
+meal," but had never given a thought to any meal at all.
+
+It is fair to say she had never been told that it was left to her to do
+so.  When first her aunt had come Kitty had handed over to her the reins
+of government, willy-nilly, and she had not thought it her duty to take
+them up again in Mrs. Pike's absence; but it is to be feared that in any
+case she would not have prepared a feast of welcome for Anna.  And the
+result was that they would arrive tired and hungry after their long, hot
+journey, and probably find no preparations at all made for them, no
+welcome, not even food enough for a meal--certainly no special feast.
+
+Kitty had not been wilfully careless.  She would have seen to things had
+she thought of it; but the obstinate fact remained that, if not
+wilfully, she had been culpably careless, and her heart sank with shame.
+She hoped--oh, how devoutly she hoped--that Fanny had been more
+thoughtful; but the prospect was slight, and for the rest of the way she
+sat in a perfect panic of dread and shame.
+
+The very moment the omnibus drew up before the house she sprang out of
+it, and, regardless of what her aunt might think, rushed in and through
+the house to the kitchen.
+
+"O Fanny," she cried, desperation in face and voice; but even in that
+distressful moment she remembered a former occasion when Aunt Pike's
+arrival had thrown her into just such a frantic state, "what about
+supper?  Aunt Pike has asked about it, and I hadn't even thought about
+it; and--oh, what _can_ I do?  I suppose there is nothing in the house?"
+
+For a second or two Fanny went on calmly and deliberately with what she
+was about.  "Well, miss," she said at last in her severest tone, "there
+is something, and a plenty, thanks to me and Miss Betty.  If there
+'adn't a been, it wouldn't 'ave been no manner of use to come rushing
+out to me now, when it's time for it to be on the table.  Of course,
+when folks comes unexpected that's one thing, but--"
+
+Kitty in her great relief did not heed Fanny's lecture in the least.
+"O Fanny, you are a dear," she cried joyfully.  "I will do something for
+you some day.--Hullo! Betty," for Betty at that moment came tiptoeing
+into the kitchen.
+
+"'Twas Miss Betty as first thought of it," said Fanny honestly.
+"I s'pose 'twould 'ave come into my 'ead some time, but I'm bound to say
+it 'adn't till Miss Betty mentioned it."
+
+Betty beamed with pleased importance, but tried to look indifferent.
+"I wanted Aunt Pike to see that we do know how to do things.  What is
+Anna like?" she broke off to ask anxiously.
+
+"She is like Anna exactly," said Kitty bluntly, "and no one else; she
+never could be.  She'll never change, not if she lives to be eighty.
+Come along up, and get ready.  Oh, I _am_ so glad you thought about the
+supper, Betty dear.  How clever you are!  Aunt Pike would have thought
+worse of me than ever if you hadn't, and--"
+
+"Um!" responded Betty, with a toss of her head, "perhaps if Aunt Pike
+knew that if it hadn't been for me she'd have had no supper, she
+wouldn't say rude things about me again.  I think it's awfully hard.
+If you don't do things you are scolded, and if you _do_ do them you are
+called too self--self-confidential."
+
+"I wouldn't mind what I was called," said Kitty, as she hurried away to
+get ready, "as long as I could manage to do the right thing sometimes,
+and not always forget till too late."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+LESSONS, ALARMS, AND WARNINGS.
+
+The days that followed were strange and very trying.  It was not at all
+easy for any of them to settle down to the new life.  Kitty, though, did
+not feel the giving up of the keys and the _role_ of housekeeper as much
+as she had expected to; for, in the first place, the keys had generally
+been lost, and in the second, she had never really "kept house" in the
+true meaning of the term, and it really was a great relief to find the
+meals appearing regularly and satisfactorily without any effort on her
+part, or, perhaps, one should say, without any remorse, or occasion for
+remorse, for not having made any effort.
+
+It was really a comfort, too, not to have to try to manage the servants,
+or blame herself for not doing so.  But, on the other hand, they all
+missed their freedom dreadfully--their freedom of speech and act, their
+freedom in getting up and going to bed, in their goings and comings; for
+Aunt Pike believed, quite rightly, of course, in punctuality and early
+rising, and keeping oneself profitably employed, and she disapproved
+strongly of their roaming the country over, as they had done, as
+strongly as she disapproved of their sitting on garden walls, wandering
+in and out of stables, coach-house, and kitchen, talking to the
+servants, or teasing Jabez.
+
+Jabez grew quite moped during the weeks that followed, for he was not
+even allowed to come into the kitchen for a comforting cup of tea as of
+old.  "And if anybody can't have a bit of a clack sometimes," groaned
+poor Jabez, "nor a cup of tea neither, why he might so well be dumb to
+once.  I've ackshally got to talk to the 'orses and the cat to keep my
+powers of speech from leaving me."
+
+Life seemed very dull and dreary to all the household, except, perhaps,
+to Mrs. Pike and Dr. Trenire.  The latter was too busy just then to
+realize the changes going on in his home; while Mrs. Pike was fully
+occupied with all that lay at her hand to do.
+
+Anna's presence did not add at all to the liveliness of the house.
+She was shy and nervous.  Of Dan she was, or pretended to be, quite
+afraid, and if she happened to have blossomed into talk during his
+absence, she would stop the moment he appeared--a habit which annoyed
+him extremely.  To Betty, who was to have been her special companion,
+she showed no desire to attach herself, but to Kitty she clung in a most
+embarrassing fashion, monopolizing her in a way that Kitty found most
+irksome, and made Betty furious, for hitherto Kitty had been Betty's
+whenever Betty needed her.  Now she was rarely to be found without Anna.
+But Kitty, along with the others, never felt that she could trust Anna;
+and they could not throw off the feeling that they had a spy in their
+midst.
+
+And, worst of all, the beautiful summer days glided away unappreciated,
+and there were many bitter groans over what might have been had they
+been alone.  They thought longingly of the excursions and picnics, the
+drives, and the free happy days in the open that they might have had.
+
+"I do think it is so silly," cried Betty, "to have one's meals always at
+the same time, sitting around a table in a room in a house, when one can
+enjoy them _ever_ so much more if they come at all sorts of times, and
+in all sorts of places."
+
+"Oh, but it wouldn't be right to have them like that often," said Anna
+primly.  "You would have indigestion if you didn't have your meals at
+regular hours."  Anna was always full of ideas as to what was right and
+good for her health.
+
+"I didn't know I had an indigestion," said Betty shortly, with a toss of
+her head, "and you wouldn't either, Anna, if you didn't think so much
+about it."  Which was truer than Betty imagined.  "I think it is a pity
+you talk so much about such things."
+
+In September Dan went off to school.  He was very homesick and not at
+all happy when the last day came--a fact which consoled Kitty somewhat
+for all the pleasure and excitement he had shown up to that point.
+"If it hadn't been for Aunt Pike and Anna I believe he would have been
+frightfully sorry all the time," she told herself, "instead of seeming
+as though he was quite glad to go."
+
+"You'll--you'll write to a fellow pretty often, won't you, Kit?" he
+asked, coming into her room for about the fiftieth time, and wandering
+about it irresolutely.  He spoke in an off-hand manner, and made a show
+of looking over her bookshelves whilst he was speaking.  But Kitty
+understood, and in her heart she vowed that nothing should prevent her
+writing, neither health, nor work, nor other interests.  Dan wanted her
+letters, and Dan should have them.
+
+But it was after he was gone that the blow of his departure was felt
+most, and then the blank seemed almost too great to be borne.  It was so
+great that the girls were really almost glad when their own school
+opened, that they might have an entirely new life in place of the old
+one so changed.
+
+"Though I would rather go right away, ever so far, to a boarding
+school," declared Betty, "where everything and everybody would be quite,
+quite different."  But Kitty could not agree to this.  It was quite bad
+enough for her as it was; to leave Gorlay would be more than she could
+bear.
+
+"Hillside," the school to which they were being sent--the only one of
+its kind in Gorlay, in fact--was about ten minutes' walk from Dr.
+Trenire's house.  It was quite a small school, consisting of about a
+dozen pupils only, several of whom were boarders; and Miss Richards (the
+head of it), Miss Melinda (her sister), and a French governess
+instructed the twelve.
+
+"It is not, in the strict sense of the word, a school," Miss Richards
+always remarked to the parents of new pupils.  "We want it to be
+'a home from home' for our pupils, and I think I may say it is that."
+
+"If our homes were in the least bit like it we should never want any
+holidays," one girl remarked; but we know that it is almost a point of
+honour with some girls never to admit--until they have left it--that
+school is anything but a place of exile and unhappiness,--though when
+they have left it they talk of it as all that was delightful.
+
+Amongst the boarders, and loudest in their complaints of all they had to
+endure, were Lettice and Maude Kitson, who had been placed there by
+their step-mother for a year to "finish" their education before they
+"came out."  It was a pity, for they were too old for the school, and it
+would have been better for themselves and every one had they been sent
+amongst older girls and stricter teachers, where they would not have
+been the leading pupils and young ladies of social importance.
+They laughed and scoffed at the usual simple tastes and amusements of
+schoolgirls, and, one being seventeen and the other eighteen, they
+considered themselves women, who, had it not been for their unkind
+stepmother, would have been out in society now instead of at school
+grinding away at lessons and studies quite beneath them.  Their talk and
+their ideas were worldly and foolish too, and as they lacked the sense
+and the good taste which might have checked them, they were anything but
+improving to any girls they came in contact with.
+
+Kitty had never liked either of the Kitson girls; they had nothing in
+common, and everything Lettice and Maude did jarred on her.  They seemed
+to her silly and vulgar, and they did little petty, mean things, and
+laughed and sneered at people in a way that hurt Kitty's feelings.
+Yet now, so great was her nervous dread of the school and all the
+strangers she would have to meet, she felt quite pleased that there
+would be at least those two familiar faces amongst them.  "And that will
+show how much I dread it," she said miserably to Betty the night before.
+"Think of my being glad to see the Kitsons!"
+
+"Oh well," said Betty cheerfully, "they will be some one to speak to,
+and they will tell us the ways of the school, so that we shan't look
+silly standing about not knowing what to do.  They won't let the others
+treat us as they treat new girls sometimes either, and that will be a
+good thing," which was Betty's chief dread in going to the school.
+
+Anna expressed no opinion on the matter at all.  She was more than
+usually nervous and fidgety in her manner, but she said nothing; and
+whether she greatly dreaded the ordeal, or was quite calmly indifferent
+about it, no one could tell.
+
+But the feelings of the three as they walked to the school that first
+morning were curiously alike, yet unlike.  All three were very nervous.
+Kitty felt a longing, such as she could hardly resist, to rush away to
+Wenmere Woods and never be heard of again.  Betty was so determined that
+no one should guess the state of tremor she was in, lest they should
+take advantage of it and tease her, that she quite overdid her air of
+calm indifference, and appeared almost rudely contemptuous.  Anna,
+though outwardly by far the most nervous of the three, had her plans
+ready and her mind made up.  She was not going to be put upon, and she
+was not going to let any one get the better of her; at the same time she
+was going to be popular; though how she was going to manage it all she
+could not decide until she saw her fellow-pupils and had gathered
+something of what they were like.  In the meantime nothing escaped her
+sharp eyes or ears.  All that Kitty or Betty could tell her about the
+school, or Miss Richards, or the girls, especially the Kitsons, she
+drank in and stored up in her memory, and they would have been
+astonished beyond measure could they have known how much her hasty
+wandering glances told her, resting, as they did, apparently on nothing.
+
+Before the first morning was over she knew that Helen Rawson was admired
+but feared; that Joyce Pearse was the most popular girl in the school,
+and had taken a dislike to herself, but liked Kitty and Betty; that
+Netta Anderson was Miss Richards's favourite pupil, and that she herself
+did not like Netta; and that Lettice Kitson was not very wise and not
+very honourable, and that Maude was the same, but was the more clever of
+the two.
+
+To Betty the morning had been interesting, though alarming at times; to
+Kitty it was all dreadful, and she went through it weighed down by a
+gloomy despair at the thought that this was to go on day after day,
+perhaps for years.
+
+The most terrifying experience of all to her was the examination she had
+to undergo to determine her position in the school.  Anna was used to
+it, so bore it better, and to Betty it was not so appalling, but to
+Kitty it was the most awful ordeal she had ever experienced.
+"Having teeth out is nothing to it," she said afterwards, and her relief
+when it was over was so intense that she thought nothing about the
+result, and was not at all concerned about the position assigned her,
+until Anna came up to her brimming over with condolences, and apologies,
+and scarcely concealed delight.
+
+"O Katherine, I _am_ so sorry, but it _really_ wasn't my fault.
+I didn't know I was doing so well, and--and that they would put me in
+the same class as you!  Of course I thought you would be ever so much
+higher than me--being so much older."
+
+Kitty had scarcely realized the fact before, certainly she had not been
+shamed by it, but Anna's remarks and apologies roused her to a sudden
+sense of mortification, and Anna's manner annoyed her greatly.
+
+"Did you, really?" she said doubtingly.  "Well," proudly, "don't worry
+about it any more.  If you don't mind, I don't," and she walked away
+with her head in the air.  "I can't understand Anna," she thought to
+herself; "she pretends to be so fond of me, but I feel all the time that
+she doesn't like me a bit really, and she will work night and day now to
+get ahead of me."  Which was exactly what Anna meant to do.  "But," she
+added, with determination, "I will show her that I can work too."
+Which was what Anna had not expected; but for once she had overreached
+herself, and in trying to humiliate Kitty she had given her the very
+spur she needed, and so had done her one of the greatest possible
+kindnesses.
+
+Betty, to her disgust and mortification, was placed in a lower class
+altogether.  She had not expected to be with Kitty, but she certainly
+had not expected to be placed below Anna, and the blow was a great one.
+"But I'll--I'll beat her," declared Betty hotly.  "I will.  I don't
+believe she is so awfully, awfully clever as they say, and nobody knows
+but what I may be clever too, only people haven't noticed it yet.
+I am sure I feel as if I might be."
+
+It was unfortunate, though, for the Trenire girls that Mrs. Pike had
+settled all the arrangements for their going to "Hillside;" it was
+unfortunate for them too that Miss Richards and Miss Melinda placed
+unquestioning reliance on what was told them, and had no powers of
+observation of their own, or failed to use them, for it meant to them
+that they started unfairly handicapped.  Miss Richards was warned that
+she would find Dr. Trenire's daughters backward and badly taught, and
+entirely unused to discipline or control.  "Of course the poor dear
+doctor had not been able to give them all the attention they needed, and
+he was such a gentle, kind father, perhaps _too_ kind and gentle, which
+made it rather trying for others.  It was to be hoped that dear Miss
+Richards would not find the children _too_ trying.  She must be very
+strict with them; it would, of course, be for their own good
+eventually."  "Dear Miss Richards" felt quite sure of that, and had no
+doubt that she would be able to manage them.  She had had much success
+with girls.  She was glad, though, to be warned that there was need of
+special care--in fact, dear Lady Kitson had hinted at very much the same
+thing.
+
+So the paths of Katherine and Elizabeth were strewn with thorns and
+stumbling-blocks from the outset, and, unfortunately, they were not the
+girls to see and avoid them, or even guess they were there until they
+fell over them.
+
+Anna, having been brought up under her mother's eye, was, of course,
+quite, quite different; Anna was really a credit to the care which had
+been lavished on her.  Miss Richards and Miss Melinda did not doubt it;
+they declared that it was evident at the first glance, and acted
+accordingly.  Which was, no doubt, pleasant for Anna, but, on the
+whole, turned out in the end worse for her than for her cousins.
+
+Anna certainly had been well trained in one respect--she could learn her
+home lessons and prepare her home work under any conditions, it seemed,
+and she always did them well.  Kitty had an idea, a very foolish one, of
+course, that she could only work when alone and quiet, say in her
+bedroom, or in the barn, or lying in the grass in the garden, or in the
+woods.  All of which was inelegant, unladylike, and nonsensical.
+Kitty must get the better of such ideas at once, and must learn her
+lessons as Anna did, sitting primly at the square table in the playroom.
+
+Anna learnt her lessons by repeating them half aloud, and making a
+hissing noise through her teeth all the time.  The sound alone drove
+Kitty nearly distracted, while the sitting up so primly to the table
+seemed to destroy all her interest in the lesson and her power of
+concentrating her mind on the study in hand.
+
+"I can't learn in this way, Aunt Pike," she pleaded earnestly; "I can't
+get on a bit.  I dare say it is silly of me, but my own way doesn't do
+any one any harm, and I can learn my lessons in half the time, and
+remember them better."
+
+"Katherine, do not argue with me, but do as I tell you.  It is the right
+way for a young lady to sit to her studies, and it will strengthen not
+only your back-bone, but your character as well.  You are sadly
+undisciplined."
+
+So Kitty, irritated, sore, and chafing, struggled on once more with her
+lessons.  But to get her work done she had, after all, to take her books
+to bed with her, and there, far into the night, and early in the
+morning, she struggled bravely not only to learn, but to learn how to
+learn, which is one of the greatest difficulties of all to those who
+have grown up drinking in their knowledge not according to school
+methods.
+
+Nothing but her determination not to let Anna outstrip her could have
+made her persevere as she did at this time, and she got on well until
+Anna, whether consciously or unconsciously she alone knew, interfered to
+stop her.
+
+"Mother! mother!" Anna in a straight, plain dressing-gown, her hair in
+two long plaits down her back, tapped softly in the dead of night at her
+mother's door, and in a blood-curdling whisper called her name through
+the keyhole.
+
+Mrs. Pike roused and alarmed, flew at once at her daughter's summons.
+"What is the matter?  Are you ill?  I thought you were drinking rather
+much lemonade.  Jump into my bed, and I will--"
+
+"No, it isn't me, mother, I am all right; it's--it's the girls.  I saw a
+light shining under their door, and I was so frightened.  Do you think
+it's a fire?"
+
+Considering the awfulness of that which she feared, Anna was curiously
+deliberate and calm.  It did not seem to have struck her that her wisest
+course would have been to have first rushed in and roused her cousins,
+and have given them at least a chance of escape from burning or
+suffocation.  Now, too, instead of running with her mother to their
+help, she crept into the bed and lay down, apparently overcome with
+terror, though with her ears very much on the alert for any sounds which
+might reach them.  Perhaps she shrank from the sight that might meet
+her eyes when the door was opened.
+
+Mrs. Pike, far more agitated than her daughter, without waiting to hear
+any more, rushed along the corridor and up the stairs to the upper
+landing where all the children's rooms were, and flinging herself on
+Kitty's door, had burst it open before either Betty or Kitty could
+realize what was happening.  Betty, seriously frightened, sprang up in
+her bed with a shriek.  Kitty dropped her book hurriedly and sprang out
+on the floor.
+
+"What is the matter?" she cried, filled with an awful fear.  "Who is
+ill?  Father?  Tony?"  But at the violent change in her aunt's
+expression from alarm to anger her words died on her lips.
+
+"How dare you!  How dare you!  You wicked, disobedient, daring girl,
+setting the place on fire and risking our lives, and wasting candles,
+and--and you know I do not allow reading in bed."
+
+"I wasn't reading," stammered Kitty--"I mean, not stories.  I was only
+learning my lessons.  I _must_ learn them somehow, and I can't--I really
+can't--learn them downstairs, Aunt Pike, with Anna whistling and hissing
+all the time; it is no use.  I have tried and tried, and I _must_ know
+them.  I wasn't setting the place on fire; it is quite safe.  I had
+stood the candle-stick in a basin.  I always do."
+
+"Always do!  Do you mean to say that you are in the habit of reading in
+bed?"
+
+"Yes," said Kitty honestly, "we always have.  Father does too."
+
+"Even after you knew I did not allow it?" cried Aunt Pike, ignoring
+Kitty's reference to her father.
+
+"I didn't know you didn't allow it," said Kitty doggedly.  "I had never
+heard you say anything about it; and as father did it, I didn't think
+there was any harm."
+
+"No harm! no harm to frighten poor Anna so that she flew from her bed
+and came rushing through the dark house to me quite white and trembling.
+She was afraid your room was on fire, and was dreadfully frightened of
+course.  She will probably feel the ill effects of the shock for some
+time."
+
+Betty, having got over her fright, had been sitting up in bed all this
+time embracing her knees.  When Anna's name was mentioned her eyes began
+to sparkle.  "If Anna had come in here first to see, she needn't have
+trembled or been frightened," she remarked shrewdly.
+
+"Anna naturally ran to her mother," said Mrs. Pike sharply.
+
+"Anna naturally ran to sneak," said Betty to herself, "and I don't
+believe she really thought there was a fire at all, and I'll tell her so
+when I get her by herself."  Aloud she said, "I wonder what made her get
+out of bed and look under our door.  She couldn't have smelt fire, for
+of course there wasn't any to smell."
+
+"Be quiet, Elizabeth.--Remember, Katherine," her aunt went on, turning
+to her, "that if ever I hear of or see any behaviour of this kind again,
+I shall have you to sleep in my room, and put Anna in here with
+Elizabeth."  Which was a threat so full of horror to both the girls that
+they subsided speechless.
+
+"I think," whispered Betty, as soon as their aunt's footsteps had ceased
+to sound--"no, I don't think, I know that Anna is the _very meanest_
+sneak I ever met."
+
+"I hope I shall never know a meaner," groaned Kitty; "but I--I won't be
+beaten by her.  I won't! I won't!"
+
+"And I'll beat her too," snapped Betty.
+
+"I am ashamed that she is a relation," said Kitty in hot disgust.
+
+"She isn't a real one," said Betty scornfully, "and for the future I
+shan't count her one at all.  We won't own such a mean thing in the
+family."
+
+"I wonder why she is so horrid," sighed Kitty, who was more distressed
+by these things than was Betty.  "We never did her any harm.
+Perhaps she can't help it.  It must be awful to be mean, and a sneak,
+and to feel you can't help it."
+
+"Why doesn't Aunt Pike teach her better?  She is always telling us what
+to do, and that it is good for us to try and be different, and--and all
+that sort of thing."
+
+"But Aunt Pike wouldn't believe that Anna is mean; she thinks she is
+perfection," said Kitty.
+
+"Oh, well, I s'pose a jewel's a duck in a toad's eye," misquoted Betty
+complacently; "at least, that is what Fanny said, and I think she is
+right.  Fanny often is."
+
+When they met the next day Betty gave her cousin another shock, perhaps
+more severe than the one she had had during the night, for frankness
+always shocked Anna Pike.
+
+"I do think, Anna," she said gravely, "it is a pity you let yourself do
+such mean things.  Of course you didn't really think our room was on
+fire last night, and every one but Aunt Pike knows you were only
+sneaking.  If you go on like that, you won't be able to stop yourself
+when you want to, and nobody will ever like you."
+
+Anna's little restless eyes grew hard and unpleasant-looking.  "I have
+more friends than you have, or Kitty either," she retorted, "and I am
+ever so much more friendly with the girls at school than you are."
+A remark which stung Miss Betty sharply, for though she did not like
+either Lettice or Maude Kitson, she resented the way in which they had
+gone over to Anna, with whom Lettice in particular had struck up a
+violent friendship--the sort of friendship which requires secret
+signals, long whisperings in corners, the passing of many surreptitious
+notes, and is particularly aggravating to all lookers-on.
+
+Kitty saw it all too, of course, but instead of feeling annoyed as Betty
+did by it, she felt a sense of relief that Anna had ceased to be her
+shadow, and had attached herself to some one else.
+
+"If Anna isn't sorry some day for being so chummy with Lettice," said
+Betty seriously, "Lettice will be for being so chummy with Anna."
+But Kitty could not see that.  She did not care for Lettice, but it
+never occurred to her that her behaviour was worse than foolish, or that
+she should warn Anna against the friendship.  Not that it would have
+done any good, probably, if she had.
+
+It might have been better for them all, though, if Kitty had been more
+suspicious and alert, for she might then have seen what was happening,
+and perhaps have avoided the catastrophe to which they were all
+hastening.  But, of course, if you have no suspicions of people, you
+cannot be on your guard against something that you do not know exists;
+and Kitty suspected nothing, not even when Betty came home one day with
+an unpleasant tale of foolishness to tell.
+
+"I won't walk home with Anna any more," she cried hotly.  "She asks me
+to go with her, and then tries to get rid of me.  I know why she wanted
+to, though: she had a letter to post and didn't want me to see it.
+I suppose," indignantly, "she thought I would try to read the address,
+or would sneak about it!"
+
+"You must have made a mistake," said Kitty.  "It is too silly to think
+she should want to get rid of you while she posted a letter.
+Why shouldn't she post one?  I don't see anything in it."
+
+"Well, _I_ do," said Betty solemnly.  "To tell you isn't really
+sneaking, is it?  Anna posts letters for Lettice Kitson--letters to
+people she isn't allowed to write to--and she takes letters to her.
+She does really, Kitty, and I think Anna ought to be spoken to.
+Lettice was nearly expelled from her last school for the same thing.
+Violet told me so."
+
+"Nonsense," cried Kitty scornfully.  "I believe the girls make up
+stories, and you shouldn't listen to them, Betty; it is horrid."
+
+"I am sure Violet wouldn't make up stories," said Betty; "and if Lettice
+does such things, Anna ought not to help her.  You should stop her,
+Kitty.  Tell her we won't have it."
+
+"O Betty, don't talk so.  Don't tell me any more that I ought to do.
+It seems to me I ought to do everything that is horrid!  And why should
+I look after Anna?  She never takes any notice of what I say; and after
+all it is nothing very bad--nothing to make a fuss about, I mean.
+I haven't seen anything myself."
+
+"Well, _I_ think it is a good deal more than nothing," said Betty
+gravely; "and I wish you would see, Kitty, I wish you would notice
+things more."
+
+"But what good could I do?  What can I say?" cried Kitty distractedly,
+growing really distressed.
+
+"Say?  Oh, say that we won't stand it, and let her see that we won't,"
+said Betty.  "We ought to be able to do that."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+POOR KITTY!
+
+Only a few days later Kitty's eyes were opened for her, and opened
+violently.  Autumn had come on apace.  The days were short now, and the
+evenings long and dark.  Already the girls were counting that there were
+only five or six weeks before Dan came home; and at school there was
+much talk of the break-up party, and the tableaux which were to be the
+chief feature of the festivity this year.  Kitty was to take part in one
+tableau at least.  She was to be Enid in one of her dearly loved
+Arthurian legends--Enid, where, clad in her faded gown, she met Queen
+Guinevere for the first time, who,
+
+    "descending, met them at the gates,
+   Embraced her with all welcome as a friend,
+   And did her honour as the prince's bride."
+
+And Kitty was to wear a wig such as she had always longed for, with
+golden plaits reaching to her knees, and she was almost beside herself
+with joy.
+
+On the evening that the storm broke, she, little dreaming of what was
+coming, was doing her home work and taking occasional dips into her
+volume of Tennyson.  Betty had finished her home lessons and was curled
+up in a chair reading.  Anna was not in the room; in fact, she had left
+it almost as soon as they had settled down to their work after tea as
+usual.  It was now nearly supper-time.
+
+Mrs. Pike was absent at a Shakespeare reading.  Dr. Trenire had been out
+all day, a long round over bleak country, and had not been home more
+than an hour.  Kitty had heard him come, and had longed--as she had
+never longed in the days when she was free to do as she liked--to go and
+superintend his meal, and hear all about his day.  But she knew what a
+to-do there would be if she did not stay where she was and do her
+lessons, and she had just lost herself again in the story of "Enid,"
+when, to her surprise, she heard her father's footsteps coming along the
+passage and stopping at the door of the school-room.  She was even more
+surprised when, on opening the door, he said very quietly and gravely,
+"Kitty, will you come to me in my study at once?  I wish to speak to
+you."
+
+She had looked up with a smile, but the expression on her father's face
+caused her smile to die away, and left her perplexed and troubled.
+
+"What was it?  Was Dan in trouble--or ill--or--or what had happened?"
+
+It never occurred to her as she got up and hurried after her father to
+his room that the trouble might be of her causing.  When she reached the
+study she found Dr. Trenire standing by the table holding a letter which
+he was reading.  He looked up from it when she entered, and in answer to
+the alarmed questioning in her eyes, he, after hesitating a moment, put
+the letter into her hand.  "Read that," he said sternly, "and tell me
+what it means."
+
+Kitty took the letter, but she was so bewildered and troubled by her
+father's manner, and the mystery, and her own dread, that she gazed at
+it for seconds, unable to take in a word that it contained.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I--I haven't read it yet, father," she stammered.  "Do tell me; is it--
+is it anything about Dan?"
+
+Dr. Trenire looked at her very searchingly.  "This is not the time for
+trifling, Kitty," he said.  "The letter is about you, I am sorry to say.
+I am so shocked, so grieved, and astonished at what it tells me, that
+I--I cannot make myself believe it unless you tell me that I must.
+Read it."
+
+Kitty read it this time--read it with the blood rushing over her face
+and neck, her eyes smarting, her cheeks tingling; and as she more and
+more clearly grasped the meaning, her heart beat hot and fast with
+indignation.
+
+When she looked up, her hurt, shamed eyes struck reproach to Dr.
+Trenire's heart.  "Father, you didn't--you didn't think that I--I--that
+what that letter says is true?"  The feeling that he had, if only for a
+moment, done so hurt her far more than did the letter, which was from
+Miss Richards.
+
+"It had been discovered," wrote Miss Richards, evidently in a great
+state of wrath and indignation, "that one of the boarders had been in
+the habit of writing to and receiving surreptitious letters from a
+person with whom she had been forbidden to correspond.  This she could
+only have accomplished with the aid of some one outside the school.
+On that very evening a letter had been intercepted, and the messenger
+almost caught; but though she had escaped she had been partially
+recognized by the governess, who had fortunately discovered these
+shocking and flagrantly daring misdoings, and the governess had no doubt
+in her mind that the culprit was Dr. Trenire's elder daughter."
+Miss Richards was deeply grieved to have to write such unpleasant
+tidings to him, but she begged he would make strict inquiries into the
+matter at once.  In the meantime Miss Lettice Kitson, who was forbidden
+to leave her room, refused to make any communication on the matter.
+
+"How dare she!" cried Kitty.  "How dare she accuse me of doing such a
+thing!  I hardly ever speak to Lettice.  We are not at all friendly, and
+Miss Richards knows it.  I have never liked her, and--and," she broke
+off hotly--"as if, even if I did like her, I would behave so.
+Father, you know I wouldn't; don't you?" she entreated passionately.
+
+"Have you any idea who the real culprit is?" asked her father, greatly
+troubled.  In his heart he implicitly believed her, but he had to
+inquire into the matter without prejudice.  "If you have a suspicion, do
+give me the clue, that you may be cleared.  Of course it wouldn't be
+Betty--"
+
+"Oh no, of course not," cried Kitty emphatically.  "She has been in the
+playroom with me all the evening; besides, Betty wouldn't behave so.
+Why, only the other day she was fearfully disgusted with--"
+
+Kitty stopped abruptly, a flood of colour pouring over her face as a
+sudden suspicion rushed over her mind with overwhelming force.
+
+Dr. Trenire was watching her closely.  "You have some suspicion?"
+
+Kitty opened her lips, then closed them.  "I--I have nothing I can say,
+father," she said at last in a muffled tone.
+
+"But you must clear yourself, Kitty," he said gravely.
+
+"Lettice Kitson can clear me," she replied.  "She knows, and of course
+she will tell Miss Richards when she hears that they are accusing me.
+You believe me; don't you, father?" she asked again, looking up at him
+pleadingly.
+
+"Certainly, Kitty," he said heartily, unable to withstand the appeal in
+her gray eyes.  "I would not believe you capable of such dishonourable
+conduct unless you yourself told me you were guilty."
+
+In the joy and relief of her heart Kitty forgot all about any suspicions
+others might entertain, until Dr. Trenire mentioned Mrs. Pike.  At the
+mention of that name her heart sank down and down.  "O father," she
+cried, "Aunt Pike need not know anything about it, need she?"
+
+"Of course she need, dear.  Why should she not?  You have nothing to
+fear from her knowing it.  When you deny the guilt there will be an
+inquiry into the matter, of course, so that it must come to the
+knowledge of, at any rate, the elder girls and the parents, and Anna
+will be amongst the elder ones, I suppose.  At any rate she is as tall
+as you are, and in your class."
+
+"As tall as you are."  The words struck Kitty with a new suggestiveness.
+She remembered suddenly that Anna had not been with them all the
+evening; that she had left the schoolroom soon after they had begun
+their work, and had not returned.
+
+"Oh, where was she?  What had she been doing?  Where had she been?"
+Kitty was in a fever of alarm, and could barely conceal her dismay.
+
+"Well," said Dr. Trenire, "that will do, dear.  I shall write to Miss
+Richards at once, and tell her that you absolutely deny any knowledge of
+or part in the matter, and that you have given me your word that you
+have not left the house since you returned from school at four-thirty.
+That should settle the matter as far as you are concerned."
+
+"Yes," said poor trusting Kitty, "that must set it all right for me, of
+course."  It did not occur to her then that any one could refuse to
+accept her word; and with no further fears for herself, she hurried away
+in search of Anna.
+
+First she went to her bedroom, but a glance showed her that no one was
+there; and as it never occurred to Kitty to look under the bed, she did
+not see a pair of shoes covered with wet mud, and a splashed skirt and
+cloak.  All, to her, looked neat and orderly, and with puzzled sigh she
+went thoughtfully down to the schoolroom again.  If Anna had not been in
+her bedroom all the evening, where had she been? she thought anxiously.
+And when, a second later, she opened the schoolroom door and saw Anna
+sitting at the table facing her, her books spread out before her, her
+head bent low over them, she really wondered for the moment whether she
+was mad or dreaming.  Betty was in her big chair, just as she had left
+her, her book in her hand, but she was glancing beyond it at Anna more
+than at the pages, and her face was full of grave perplexity.
+
+"Anna has such a cough," she said, when Kitty appeared, "and she can't
+breathe, and her face is so red.  I'm sure she has got a bad cold."
+
+Anna was certainly very flushed, and she held her handkerchief up to her
+face a good deal.
+
+"Have you a cold?" asked Kitty.  She could not control her feelings
+sufficiently to speak quite naturally, and her voice sounded
+unsympathetic.  She was vexed, and puzzled, and full of fears as to what
+might be to come.  She could not help feeling in her heart a strong
+distrust of Anna, yet she felt sorry for her, and dreaded what might be
+in store for her.
+
+"No--at least I don't think so.  Perhaps I have, though.  I don't feel
+well," she stammered.  She spoke confusedly, and did not look at Kitty.
+
+"I should think you had better go to bed and have some hot milk," said
+Betty in her serious, old-fashioned way.
+
+"Oh no.  I am all right, thank you," said Anna, shrinking from the
+thought of her mother's visits to her room, and her searching inquiries
+as to how she could possibly have got a cold.  "Do be quiet, Betty, and
+let me do my work.  You know it is nearly bedtime."
+
+"Well, you haven't seemed in a hurry till now," said Betty sharply.
+"You haven't been learning your lessons in your room, because I saw your
+bag and your books on your bed just now, and you hadn't touched them
+then."
+
+"I do wish people wouldn't always be prying after me," said Anna
+angrily, and this time it was Kitty who looked guilty.
+
+Supper was a very silent meal that night, and soon after it the three
+went to bed, scarcely another word having been spoken.
+
+Kitty and Betty had been in bed an hour perhaps, and Betty was fast
+asleep, when Kitty, restless and sleepless with the new trouble she had
+on her mind, was surprised by the gentle opening of the door of the
+room.  Half alarmed, she rose up in bed, peering anxiously through the
+gloom.  Then--"O Anna!" she cried, "what is the matter?  Are you ill?"
+
+"No--o, I don't think I am, but I--I am sure I shall be.  O Kitty, I am
+in _such_ trouble.  I _must_ tell some one."
+
+"I think I know what it is," said Kitty gently.
+
+"Oh no, you don't," groaned Anna.  "You can't.  It is worse than copying
+my sums, or--or cribbing, or anything."
+
+"I know," said Kitty again.
+
+But Anna did not hear her.  She was looking at Betty.  "Come to my room,
+do!" she said.  "Betty may wake up, and I don't want her to hear."
+
+"Very well," said Kitty, slipping out of bed and into her dressing-gown.
+"I expect, though, she will have to know.  It is bound to reach all the
+girls.  I only wish it wasn't."
+
+Anna, creeping back to her room, did not answer till she got there.
+Then she turned round sharply.  "What do you mean?  Know what?" she
+demanded.
+
+Kitty looked surprised.  "Why, about Lettice and--and you, and those
+letters, of course."
+
+Anna dropped on to a chair, her face chalk-white, her eyes starting.
+"Lettice and--and--and me--and--who told--what do you mean?  I don't
+understand."
+
+"Anna, don't!" cried Kitty, ashamed and distressed.  "Don't try to
+pretend.  There is no mistake, and every one must know soon about
+Lettice.  Whoever it was who nearly caught you made a mistake, for she
+thought it was me, and Miss Richards wrote to father accusing me, but,
+of course--"
+
+"Accusing you!" cried Anna in astonishment.  But her voice had changed.
+It was less full of terror than it had been.  For a moment after Kitty
+ceased speaking she sat lost in thought.
+
+"Of course father does not believe it, and he has written to tell Miss
+Richards so, and that I was at home all the evening, so there would have
+to be an inquiry of course, to try and find out which of the other girls
+it was, and everybody would have to know all about it; but now, when you
+tell Miss Richards that it was you, it needn't go any farther.
+Of course there will be a row, and probably you and Lettice will be
+punished, but no one else need ever hear anything more about it."
+
+"Oh, but I couldn't!" cried Anna.  She was so intensely relieved to find
+that, as yet, she was not suspected, that much of her courage and
+boldness came back.  "And, of course, I shouldn't, unless they asked me,
+and--and for mother's sake it would be very foolish to--to get myself
+into a scrape when I needn't."
+
+"But--but, Anna"--Anna's speech left Kitty almost voiceless--"it is--it
+is so dishonourable, so dishonest, so--"
+
+"No, it isn't," snapped Anna crossly.  She bitterly regretted now that
+she had taken Kitty into her confidence.  She had done it in a moment of
+panic when she felt that detection was certain, and she must get help
+from somewhere.  As soon as she knew that she was not suspected her
+courage and hopes had rallied.  "You need not mind; you will be cleared;
+and they can't find and punish any one else, for there is no one else to
+find, so it can't do any one any harm."
+
+"There is Lettice," said Kitty coldly.  "You know you can't trust her,
+and if she tells, things will look ever so much worse for you than--"
+
+"I don't think Lettice will tell," interrupted Anna meaningly.
+"She knows that if she tells tales I can tell some too."
+
+"You count on other people having some honour, though you have none
+yourself," said Kitty scathingly, and she turned away, choking with
+disgust.  Anna made her feel positively ill.  When she got to the door
+she stood and looked back.  Her face was very white and stern, her eyes
+full of a burning contempt.  "I do think, Anna," she said slowly and
+scornfully, "that you are the meanest, most dishonourable girl I ever
+heard of in all my life.  You are going to leave all the girls in the
+school under suspicion because you haven't the honesty or courage to own
+up."
+
+"It isn't anything to do with honesty," muttered Anna, very white and
+angry and sullen.  "You have no right to say such things, Kitty.  If you
+didn't do it, it can't do you any harm; and if no one suspects me, it
+isn't likely that I shall make them.  I shan't be telling a story.
+I simply shan't say anything."
+
+"I see no difference between telling a lie and acting one," flashed
+Kitty, and she walked back to her own room without another word.
+She had not been there long, though, before Anna came creeping in again.
+
+"Kitty," she said anxiously, "you won't tell any one, will you, even if
+you are mad with me?  You know I never _said_ I--I--you accused me, but
+I didn't say--"
+
+"I am not a sneak," said Kitty coldly.  "Now go away.  Go out of my
+room.  I don't like to see you near Betty.  Go away, do you hear!" and
+Anna vanished again into the darkness.
+
+Though strong and secure in her own innocence, Kitty awoke in the
+morning with the feeling weighing heavily on her that though the matter
+would soon be ended, yet something very painful had to be faced first.
+Kitty, though, was counting too much on her own guiltlessness, and the
+certainty of others believing in it; and she had more cause than she
+imagined for waking with a weight on her mind.
+
+When the dreaded inquiry took place, and all the senior girls were
+called into the "study" to undergo a rigorous cross-examination, she
+soon found that Miss Richards was very far from accepting her
+unsupported denial as conclusive.
+
+"Yes, but who can bear out your statement that you did not leave the
+room or the house throughout the evening?" she asked sternly.
+
+"Betty can," said Kitty.  "Betty was in the room with me all the time."
+
+"Ah! Betty!  But she is very young, and very attached to you, and would
+of course be prejudiced."
+
+Kitty's cheeks flamed with indignation, and she had to set her teeth to
+keep herself from answering.
+
+"Have you no older--more responsible witnesses?"
+
+"No one could be more honest and truthful than Betty," said Kitty
+proudly.  "She wouldn't dream of saying I was there if I wasn't."
+
+"But your father, or your aunt--"
+
+"They were both out," said Kitty.  "Anna saw me go to the schoolroom,
+and saw me begin my lessons, and I never moved until father came to me."
+
+So Anna was called.
+
+"Can you support your cousin's statement that she was in the schoolroom
+all the evening, and never once left it?"
+
+Anna was about to say "yes," when she hesitated, and grew very red and
+confused.  "I--I couldn't say," she stammered, and those listening
+thought she was embarrassed by her desire to shield Kitty, and at the
+same time tell the truth.  Kitty looked at her with wide, horrified
+eyes.  Surely Anna would say why she could not give the required
+assurance.  But only too soon the conviction was borne in on her that
+Anna did not mean to tell, and Anna was an adept at saying nothing, yet
+conveying a stronger impression than if she had said much.
+Those looking on read in Kitty's horrified eyes only a fear of what Anna
+might admit, and opinion was strengthened against her.
+
+"Speak out frankly, Anna," said Miss Richards encouragingly.  "Did you
+notice her absence?"
+
+"She--a--Kitty wasn't there once when I went back to the room," murmured
+Anna, apparently with great reluctance.
+
+Kitty's head reeled.  She could not believe that she had heard aright.
+Anna was not only concealing her own guilt, but was actually fastening
+it on to her.  "I think I must be going mad, or going to faint," she
+thought to herself.  "I can't take in what they are saying."
+"But, Anna," she cried, in her extremity forgetting judge and jury,
+"you know father had come to me with Miss Richards's letter.  I was with
+him when you came in."
+
+"No," said Anna, with a look of injured innocence, "I didn't know.
+You didn't tell me.  Of course I--I knew you were somewhere," she
+stammered lamely.  "I don't say you were out of the house, only--well I
+couldn't say you were in the room if you weren't, could I?" with a
+glance at Miss Richards for approbation, and a half-glance at Kitty,
+whose gray eyes were full of a scorn that was not pleasant to meet.
+
+Kitty could not speak for a moment, her indignation and disgust were too
+intense.  She felt herself degraded by stooping to ask for evidence as
+to her own innocence.
+
+Miss Melinda whispered to Miss Richards.  Miss Richards looked at Kitty
+and bade her turn round.  Kitty, wondering, obeyed.
+
+"How do you account for the fact that your dress is splashed to the
+waist with mud?"  Miss Richards asked frigidly.  "Yesterday was quite
+fine until after you had all gone home from school, then heavy rain
+fell."
+
+Poor Kitty.  Here was Nemesis indeed!  Two days ago that skirt had been
+put aside to be brushed, and now, to-day, without giving a thought to
+the mud on it, she had put it on and worn it.  With crimsoning cheeks
+she wheeled around.  "That mud has been there for days, Miss Richards,"
+she said shamefacedly.  "I ought to have brushed it yesterday, but I
+didn't, and to-day I forgot it."  But she saw and felt that no one
+believed her, and Betty, the only one who could have borne out her
+words, was not there.
+
+"You can all go back to your classes--all but Katherine Trenire," said
+Miss Richards, ignoring her speech; and the girls, with looks of
+sympathy or alarm, filed out, leaving Kitty alone.
+
+"Now, Katherine," said Miss Richards firmly, "be a sensible, honest girl
+and tell the truth, and my sister and I will consult together as to the
+punishment we feel we must inflict.  We do not wish to be too severe,
+but such conduct must be punished.  Now, tell us the truth."
+
+"I have told the truth," said Kitty proudly, "and I have no more to
+tell.  Lettice can clear me if she likes, so can--the girl who was with
+her, but I can't do any more.  If you won't believe me, what can I do?"
+and suddenly poor Kitty's proud eyes filled with tears.
+
+Miss Melinda took this as a sign of relenting.  She thought confession
+was coming, and unbent encouragingly.  "There, there, that is better,
+Katherine.  Now be advised by us, and get this dreadful load off your
+mind.  You will be so much happier when you have."
+
+Kitty drove back her tears and her weakness, and her gray eyes grew
+clear enough to show plainly the hurt and the anger which burnt in her
+brain as she listened to this insulting cajoling, as she termed it in
+her own mind.
+
+"How dare you!" she cried indignantly.  "How dare you fasten it on to
+me!  I know who the girl was, and she knows that I know, but you _want_
+to believe that I did it, and--and you can if you want to.  You are both
+very wicked and unjust, and--and I will never set foot in your house
+again!"  And Kitty, beside herself with indignation, her head very
+erect, her face white, her eyes blazing, marched out of the room and out
+of the house, and not even her mud splashes could take from the dignity
+of her exit.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+THOSE DREADFUL STOCKINGS.
+
+Dr. Trenire was extremely annoyed and very indignant when he heard of
+the inquiry and the result--so indignant that Kitty's words came true,
+and she never did set foot within the doors of Hillside again, for her
+father removed her, and Betty too, from the school at once.  Of course
+Betty could not continue there after all that had happened.
+
+He did not tell the girls what he thought about the matter, but he told
+Miss Richards plainly that he considered the inquiry was a prejudiced
+one, and that an injustice had been done.  They had made up their minds
+that Kitty was guilty, and had not made sufficient inquiries as regarded
+the other pupils.
+
+Miss Richards was, of course, indignant and greatly upset, and Aunt Pike
+was in a great dilemma.  She scarcely liked to keep Anna at the school
+after her cousins were withdrawn from it, yet she was very loth to
+deprive her of the companionship of such desirable friends as she
+considered she was thrown amongst there.  Also, in her heart of hearts,
+Aunt Pike did not feel at all sure that Kitty was innocent.
+
+"They are such extraordinary children," she said to herself, "I would
+not be surprised at anything they did--not from bad motives, perhaps,
+but from sheer ignorance of the difference between right and wrong."
+
+So Anna was to stay on at Hillside, at any rate until the term and the
+term's notice should be up; and Miss Pooley came again to teach Kitty
+and Betty and Tony, greatly to Tony's delight, for he had been having a
+dull time, poor little man, and had not found much joy in doing lessons
+with Aunt Pike.
+
+So the rest of the term wore away, and time healed the wound to some
+extent; and by-and-by the Christmas holidays drew near and the date of
+Dan's return, and that was sufficient to drive unwelcome thoughts from
+their minds and lighten every trouble.
+
+"When the day comes, the real right day," said Kitty, "I shall be quite
+perfectly happy--"
+
+"Touch wood," said Betty anxiously; "you know it is unlucky to talk like
+that.  Fanny says so."
+
+"Pooh! nonsense!" cried Kitty, growing daring in her excitement.
+"What could be lovelier than for Dan to be coming home, and Christmas
+coming, and the holidays; and oh, Betty, it does seem too good to be
+true, but it _is_ true, and I am sure nothing could spoil it all."
+
+But Kitty had not touched wood, and had reckoned without Aunt Pike; and
+even when that lady came into their room with a paper parcel in her hand
+they suspected no harm--in fact, they looked at the parcel with pleasure
+and excitement for a moment, even after she had said, "Children, I have
+got you some winter stockings, and you must put them on at once, the
+weather has become so cold."  They even agreed heartily, and Betty
+plumped right down on the floor there and then, and bared one foot in
+readiness by the time the parcel was opened.
+
+And then the parcel was opened, and dismay and horror fell on them, for
+the stockings were not only of an ugly pale gray, with white stripes
+going round and round the legs, but they were woollen ones!--rough,
+harsh, scratchy woollen ones!  The colour was bad enough, but that was
+as nothing compared with the awful fact of their being woolly; for two
+children with more painfully sensitive skins than Katherine and
+Elizabeth Trenire could not be found in the whole wide world, and for
+them to wear anything in the shape of wool was a torture more dreaded
+than any other.
+
+Betty instinctively drew her pretty bare feet under her for protection,
+and looked from Aunt Pike to Kitty with eyes full of horror.  Kitty was
+desperate.
+
+"I am very sorry, Aunt Pike," she said, quite gently and nicely, but
+very emphatically, "but we cannot wear woollen stockings.  They drive us
+nearly mad--"
+
+"Nonsense," interrupted Aunt Pike, with the complete indifference of a
+person not afflicted with a sensitive skin.  "You will get over that in
+an hour or two.  If you don't think about it you won't notice anything.
+Try them on at once.  I want to see if they fit."
+
+"It--it would really be better not to put them on," urged Kitty,
+"for we really couldn't wear them if you bought them, aunt, and the
+people won't take them back if they are creased."
+
+"They will not be required to take them back," said Mrs. Pike firmly.
+"I have bought you six pairs each"--Betty groaned--"Don't make that
+noise, Elizabeth--and if they fit they will be kept.  They are very fine
+and quite soft; any one could wear them quite comfortably, and so can
+you, unless, of course," severely, "you make up your minds not to."
+
+Persons who are not afflicted with sensitive skins cannot, or will not,
+be made to understand how great and real the torment is, and young
+though Kitty was, she had, already learned this, and her heart sank.
+
+"I hate light stockings too," said Betty; "they look so ugly with black
+shoes."
+
+It was an unfortunate remark to make just then.
+
+"Ah," said Aunt Pike triumphantly, "I suspected that vanity was at the
+bottom of it all!  Now try on this one at once, Katherine; make haste."
+She went to the door.--"Anthony," she called, "come here to Kitty's
+room, I want you," and she stood over the three victims until their poor
+shrinking legs were encased in the hideous, irritating gray horrors.
+
+Oh, the anger of Kitty and the dismay of Betty!  Oh, the horrible, damp,
+sticky feeling that new stockings seem never to be without!
+Betty's blue eyes filled with tears of helpless misery, Kitty's gray
+ones with rebellion.  Why should they be tormented in this way?  It was
+so cruel, so unjust!  They had not suffered from the cold more than had
+other people, certainly they had not complained of it--not half as much
+as had Mrs. Pike and Anna, who were clad in wool from their throats to
+their toes.
+
+Tony sat looking at his poor little legs disgustedly, but it was the
+ugliness of his new footgear that struck him most; he did not feel the
+torment as his sisters did.  Then quite suddenly Betty stripped off the
+detestable things.
+
+"Thank you," she said, "I'll wear my old ones.  I prefer the cold."
+
+Mrs. Pike coloured with annoyance and set her lips firmly.  "How dare
+you defy me in that way, Elizabeth!" she cried.  "I have told you to
+wear those stockings, and you _are_ to wear them.  Remember, I mean what
+I say.  I wonder your father has not insisted long before this on your
+wearing flannel next your skin.  Don't you know that by going about in
+flimsy cotton things in all weathers you are laying up for yourself a
+rheumatic old age, and all kinds of serious illness?"
+
+Kitty shuddered, but not at the prospect drawn for her by her aunt.
+"Father knows that we can't," she said seriously, "so he never tried to
+make us."
+
+Betty, who had been absorbed in thought, looked up eagerly.  "I would
+much rather have rheumatism than itchy stockings," she protested quite
+gravely.  "I don't mind a bit, Aunt Pike.  And--well, you see we can't
+be sure that we shall have an old age, or rheumatics."
+
+Mrs.  Pike grew really angry.  "Put on those stockings at once, miss,
+and fasten them to your suspenders.--Kitty, fasten yours too."
+
+"Oh, please let me wait," cried Kitty, "before I pull them tight; it is
+so awful."
+
+"Nonsense!  It is more than half of it fancy.  Remember you are to wear
+them until the warm weather comes," and with that Aunt Pike walked away
+triumphant.
+
+"Oh, how hideous they are!" groaned Kitty, as she looked disgustedly at
+her striped legs; "how perfectly hideous!  I shall be ashamed to go out
+in them.  What will Dan say when he sees them?"
+
+"It is worse for me," wailed Betty, "my dress is so short.  O Kitty, how
+can we ever walk in these dreadful things?"
+
+"I don't know," said Kitty bitterly, "but we've _got_ to.  It is a good
+thing we have something nice to do to-day, for it may help us to
+forget."  But nothing made them do that; the discomfort went with them
+everywhere, and destroyed their pleasure in everything.
+
+Earlier in the day Dr. Trenire had said that they might all go to the
+station to meet Dan; and they went on top of the 'bus, and alone too,
+for Anna did not break up until the next day, and the weather was
+lovely, and everything might have been perfect, if only they could have
+forgotten their tortured legs.  But to do that was more than they were
+capable of, for, in addition to the torture of them, there was the
+consciousness of their extraordinary ugliness, an ugliness which caught
+every eye.
+
+"What on earth have you all got yourselves up in?" was almost Dan's
+first greeting.  "I say, you aren't going to do it often, are you?"
+
+And Betty straightway explained with much vehemence and feeling the
+torment of mind and body to which they had been condemned.
+
+"They look like Aunt Pike," said Dan.  "No one else could have unearthed
+such things.  There is one comfort--we shall always be able to see you
+coming when you have them on.  Now then, mount, or we shan't get outside
+seats."
+
+But when Kitty, more than ever conscious after Dan's comments, looked at
+the steps and the little crowd of people who would witness her ascent,
+and thought of her dreadful stockings, her heart failed her.
+"I--I think I will go inside," she said hastily.
+
+"So will I," said Betty, shamefaced too.
+
+"Nonsense," cried Dan, guessing at once what was the matter.  "You two
+skip up first, and I'll follow close to hide your le--retreat, I mean.
+I am not going to be done out of our drive home together.  Now then,
+courage--up you get!"
+
+And up they did get, but it did require courage: and the getting down
+was even worse--their cheeks blazed and their hearts grew hot with
+anger, and oh! the irritation of their poor unhappy legs.
+
+"Kitty," whispered Betty eagerly, as they hurried into the house, "come
+upstairs, quick; I've thought of something.  It's a splendid idea!"
+
+With the excuse that they were going to take off their hats and coats,
+they rushed up to their bedroom and shut themselves in.  Aunt Pike was a
+little surprised at their neatness; Dan was a little hurt at being left
+so soon, but Betty could not think of that then.
+
+"Kitty," she breathed, as she closed the door and leaned against it,
+"I know what we will do.  We will wear our cotton stockings underneath
+these horrors!  They won't scratch us then, will they?  And our holidays
+won't be spoilt, and Aunt Pike won't know, and--don't you think it's a
+perfectly splendid idea?"
+
+"Splendid," cried Kitty enthusiastically, dropping on to the floor and
+beginning to unlace her boots that very moment.  "Oh, quickly let us
+make haste and change them; I cannot, cannot endure this torment a
+minute longer.  O Betty, why didn't you think of it sooner?"
+Then, holding up one of the offending gray stockings between the tips
+of her fingers, "Did you--did any one ever see anything in all this
+world so hideous?"
+
+"We can do away with their itchiness, but we shall never, never be able
+to hide their ugliness," said Betty ruefully.  "_Nothing_ could do
+that."
+
+But the ugliness did not seem to matter so much when the irritation was
+stopped; and they had such a grand time that evening, there was so
+much to tell, and hear, and do, and show, that all other things were
+forgotten, at least for the time.
+
+And how lovely it was to wake in the morning and remember at once that
+the holidays had come, and Dan was home; and then to wander about the
+house and garden with him, looking up old haunts, and visiting Prue and
+Billy and Jabez in the stables; for Aunt Pike had allowed them that much
+licence on this the first day of the holidays.  Then after dinner they
+all went up to Dan's room to help him to unpack, and there was no end of
+running backwards and forwards, looking at new treasures and old ones,
+and talking incessantly until the afternoon had nearly worn away without
+their realizing it.
+
+"Um!" said Dan at last, pausing on the landing to hang over the
+banisters and sniff audibly.  "A--ha! methinks I smell the
+soul-inspiring smell of saffron!  For thirteen long, weary weeks I have
+not smelt that glorious smell.  Oh yes, I have though, once.  There was
+a saffron cake in the hamper.  Fanny's own, too.  Why," with sudden
+recollection, "I haven't had a good talk with Fanny yet.  Aunt Pike was
+about all the time, and dried up the words in my throat.  I'm going down
+to see her this very moment as ever is."  And that moment he went.
+
+The other three followed swiftly but silently, for Anna was at home and
+in her bedroom, resting, preparatory to going to a party that evening--
+the break-up party at Hillside--at least she was supposed to be resting.
+Her sharp ears, though, were ever on the alert, and if she guessed what
+was going on, she would come out and spoil everything.  Mrs. Pike was
+shopping--buying gloves, and elastic for Anna's shoes, and a few trifles
+for herself, for she too was going to the party.
+
+The kitchen was very snug and warm and full of business, as well as
+savoury odours, when they reached it.  Fanny had a large Christmas cake
+out cooling on the table, and mince pies and tartlets all ready to go
+into the oven, while on a clean white cloth at one end of the table were
+laid half a dozen large saffron cakes and a lot of saffron nubbies to
+cool.
+
+"O Fanny, how I adore you!" cried Dan, hugging her warmly.  "No one in
+the world reads my thoughts as you do.  The one thing I wanted at this
+moment was a nubby, and here it is."  And seizing a couple he began to
+eat them with a rapidity that was positively alarming.  "I know, though
+you don't say much, that you are overjoyed to see me home again; I can
+see it in your eyes.  The house is a different place when I am home,
+isn't it?"
+
+"It is _different_ certainly," said Fanny with emphasis and a sniff, but
+not quite the emphasis Dan had asked for.  Her coolness did not put him
+out, though.  Fanny had a soft spot in her heart for him, and he knew
+it, the scamp; but though Dan was perhaps her favourite, at any rate for
+the moment, the others benefited by the favour shown to him.
+
+"I knew you would feel it," he said sympathetically; "I was afraid it
+would tell on you.  How thin you have gone, Fanny," with an anxious
+glance at Fanny's plump cheeks.
+
+"Get along with your iteming.  Master Dan," she said severely.
+"I should have thought they'd have learnt you better at school; and if
+anybody'd asked me, I should have said that the kitchen wasn't the place
+for young gentlemen."
+
+"But nobody has asked you," said Dan.  "And how," melodramatically,
+"could you expect me to keep away when you are here, and I smelt new
+saffron cake?"
+
+"And how do you expect me to do all I've a-got to do with the lot of you
+thronging up every inch of my kitchen?" she went on, ignoring his
+flattery.
+
+"Ask me another," said Dan, handing nubbies the while to all the others.
+"I give that one up.  But I knew you would be frightfully cut up if I
+didn't come."
+
+Fanny snorted in a most contemptuous manner, and tossed her head with
+great scorn.  "Oh! I'd have managed to survive it, I dare say, and I
+don't suppose I should break down if you was to go."
+
+"Do you know, Fanny dear," said Dan, suddenly growing very serious,
+"when I went away I never expected to see you still in this dear old
+kitchen when I came home, and the thought nearly broke my heart; it did
+really.  I didn't think you could have stood--you know who, so long."
+
+"Well, I reckon you won't see me here next time you comes home," said
+Fanny, trying hard not to look pleasant; "and as for this 'dear old
+kitchen,' as you call it--dear old barn, I call it, with its draughts
+and its old rough floor--it isn't never no credit to me, do what I will
+to it, and Mrs. Pike is always going on at me about the place.  I says
+sometimes I'll give up and let it go, and then some folks'll see the
+difference."
+
+Kitty remembered the time when Fanny, not so many months back, had let
+it go, and she had seen the difference.  But she said nothing, and
+munched contentedly at her nubby; and Fanny, who really loved her big,
+homelike old kitchen almost as well as she did the children, continued
+to talk.
+
+"I wish Jabez would come in," said Dan.  "He used to love hot cake, and
+I have hardly had a chance to say anything to him since I came."
+
+"Nobody gets a chance to nowadays," said Fanny sharply.  "He gets his
+head took off--not by me--if he so much as sets foot inside these doors;
+and Jabez isn't partial to having his head took off."
+
+"I should think his foot should be taken off, not his head," giggled
+Betty; but no one but herself laughed at her joke.
+
+Kitty, who had been sitting on the corner of the table which stood in
+the window, munching her nubby and thinking very busily, suddenly looked
+up, her face alight with eagerness.
+
+"Fanny," she cried, "don't you want to do something very, very nice and
+kind and--and lovely, something that would make us all love you more
+than ever?"
+
+Fanny glanced up quickly; but as she was always suspicious that some
+joke was being played on her, she, as usual, made a cautious answer.
+She was not going to be drawn into anything until she knew more.  "Well,
+I dunno as I wants to do more than I'm doing--letting 'ee eat my cake so
+fast as I bakes it."
+
+"But, Fanny, listen!" Kitty was so eager she scarcely knew how to
+explain.  "You know that Aunt Pike and Anna are going out this evening?"
+
+"Yes, miss," with a sigh of relief; "from four to ten."
+
+"Well," springing off the table in her excitement, "let us have a party
+too; a jolly little one at home here by ourselves.  Shall we?"
+
+Betty slipped down from her perch on the clothes-press, Tony got off the
+fender, and all clustered round Kitty in a state of eager excitement to
+hear the rest of her plan.  They felt certain there was more.
+Fanny could not conceal her interest either.
+
+"And what will be best of all," went on Kitty, "will be for you to ask us
+to tea in the kitchen, and we will ask Jabez too, and Grace, of course"
+--Grace was Emily's successor--"and we will have a really lovely time,
+just as we used to have sometimes.  Shall we?  O Fanny, do say yes!"
+
+"Seems to me," said Fanny, "there isn't no need.  'Tis all settled, to
+my thinking." But there was a twinkle in her eye, and a flush of
+excitement on her cheek, and any one who knew Fanny could see that she
+was almost as pleased as the children.
+
+"You are a Briton!" cried Dan, clapping her on the back resoundingly.
+
+"I ain't no such thing," said Fanny, who usually thought it safest to
+contradict everything they said to her.  "I'm a Demshur girl, born and
+bred, and my father and mother was the same before me.  I ain't none of
+your Britons nor Cornish pasties neither, nor nothing like 'em."
+
+"No, you are a thoroughbred Devonshire dumpling, we know," said Dan
+soothingly, "and not so bad considering, and you can make a pasty like a
+native, though you aren't one, and never will be.  It is a pity too, for
+Jabez only likes--"
+
+"I don't care nothing about Jabez, nor what he likes, nor what he
+doesn't," cried Fanny, bending down over her oven to hide a conscious
+blush which would spread over her round cheeks.  "There's good and bad
+of every sort, and I don't despise none.  I only pities 'em if they
+ain't Demshur."
+
+"That is awfully good of you," said Dan solemnly.  "We can cheer up
+again after that.  Fanny," more eagerly, "do tell us what you are going
+to give us to eat."
+
+But Fanny could not be coaxed into that.  "I haven't said yet as I'm
+going to give 'ee anything," she said sharply; but there was a twinkle
+in her eye, and matters were soon settled satisfactorily.  There was to
+be a substantial "plate tea" in the kitchen at half-past five, which
+would allow plenty of time for the laying of the cloth and other
+preparations after Mrs. Pike and Anna had departed.  Then they were to
+have games and forfeits, and tell ghost stories, and anything else that
+came into their minds to do, and a nice supper was to wind up the
+evening, and by ten o'clock all signs of their feast were to be tidied
+away, and the children were to go as quietly to bed as though Aunt Pike
+stood at their doors.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+AN EXCITING NIGHT.
+
+Had Aunt Pike had even the faintest suspicion of what was to happen
+during her absence he would have given up her party then and there and
+have remained at home, even though Anna was to receive a prize and to
+recite.
+
+But, fortunately for her peace of mind, she suspected nothing, and they
+both went off quite cheerful and excited through the cold and mist of
+the December evening to the scene of the triumph of Anna's genius--
+Anna with her head enveloped in shawls, her feet in goloshes, her muslin
+skirts covered with a mackintosh and a fur-lined cloak.
+
+When it came to the moment of departure she felt so sorry for those left
+behind that she could not help expressing it.  "I wish you could have
+come too, and had some of the fun," she said excitedly.
+
+"Do you?" said Betty bluntly.  "Well, I don't.  So you needn't feel
+unhappy about it.  We would rather have 'bread and scrape,' or nothing
+at all, at home.  We shall enjoy ourselves, you may be quite sure.
+Don't worry about us," which was wickedness on Betty's part, for she
+knew that Anna always suspected that they enjoyed themselves more
+without her, and resented it.
+
+And there was no denying that Anna's suspicions were correct.
+Before she and her proud mamma had reached the gates of Hillside, Kitty
+and Betty had stripped off the detested stockings, and were arraying
+themselves in their last summer's muslin frocks, intending to be quite
+as partified as Anna; and Kitty tied her hair with a red ribbon, and
+Betty's with a blue one to match her turquoise locket, and down they
+went to the feast.
+
+Jabez had not yet arrived, but he was momentarily expected.  Dan was
+already there in his new "Eton's," with a sprig of mistletoe in his
+button-hole.  Tony was in his best white sailor suit, and Fanny and
+Grace had holly in their caps, and wore their Jubilee medals.  The table
+was loaded with cakes and pasties, and "splits" with cream and jam on
+them; and then, just as they were getting tired of waiting, Jabez
+arrived.  He was in his best suit, and was very shy, very embarrassed,
+yet very pleased at having been invited.
+
+"Simmeth like old times, don't it!" he gasped, seating himself on the
+extreme edge of the hard chair nearest the door, a chair and a position
+no one ever dreamed of occupying at any ordinary time.
+
+To Kitty, who always felt shy if others were, it was as little like old
+times as could be, for every one seemed borne down with an unnatural
+politeness and quiet, and of them all Jabez suffered most.  He had never
+been asked to a party before, not a full-dress party, and he found it
+embarrassing.  But Dan came to the rescue, and with his jokes and his
+laughs and his funny stories soon made them all feel more at ease, so
+that by the time the first cups of tea were drunk, and the dish of
+"splits" emptied, the ice had been melted and all was going well.
+
+"Jabez," said Dan, turning to him with a very solemn face, "it is you we
+have to thank for this feast."
+
+Jabez stared, bewildered.  "I don't take your meaning, sir," he answered
+in a puzzled voice.  "Tedn't nothing to do with me.  I am the invited
+guest, I am, and proud so to be.  I only wishes I'd a-got a bit of a
+place fitty for to ask 'ee and the young leddies to come to, sir."
+
+"Never mind, Jabez; we can wait.  Perhaps you'll have one soon," said
+Dan consolingly, and he glanced knowingly round the table, letting his
+eye rest for a moment longer on Fanny than any one else.  "By another
+Christmas we may--dear me, I think this room must be very hot," he
+remarked, breaking off abruptly to look at Fanny's rosy cheeks.  But
+Fanny rather tartly told him to "go on with his tea and never mind
+nothing 'bout hot rooms, nor anything else that didn't concern him," and
+quite unabashed he turned to Jabez again.
+
+"You see," he explained, "if you hadn't gone to father that day I shied
+the wood at you, we shouldn't have had Aunt Pike here, and Fanny
+wouldn't have asked us out here to tea because Aunt Pike was out,
+because, you see, she wouldn't be here to go out, and we couldn't be
+glad about her going, for we shouldn't know anything about it to be glad
+about, and so there wouldn't be anything special to ask us here for, and
+so--"
+
+"Master Dan," cried Jabez piteously, "if you don't stop to once, the
+little bit of brain I've got'll be addled!  Iss, my word, addled beyond
+recovery, and me a poor man with my living to get."
+
+"It do put me in mind of my old granny," said Grace, laughing, "when
+poor grandfather died, and she was getting her bit of mourning.  'Well,'
+she saith, 'if my poor dear Samuel had died a week sooner or later, and
+Miss Peek had put her clearance sale back or fore a week, I should have
+missed that there remlet of merino and lost a good bargain, whereas now
+it'll always be a pleasure to me to look at and feel I saved two
+shillings on it.'"
+
+"Now, Fanny," cried Dan, "a story from you, please."
+
+Fanny demurred a little, of course.  People never like to be told to
+tell stories.  They prefer to drift naturally into them, without a lot
+of people waiting expectantly for what they are going to say.
+
+But Fanny had such stores of tales of ghosts, fairies, witches, and
+other thrilling subjects, that she never failed to fascinate her
+listeners.  She did so now, when once she had begun, until they were all
+almost afraid to look round the dim kitchen, and Jabez wished, though he
+would not have owned it, that he had not got that walk home in the dark.
+
+Then they burnt nuts, and melted lead in an iron spoon and poured it
+into tumblers of cold water, and Fanny's took the shape of the masts and
+rigging of a ship, though Jabez declared it wasn't nothing of the sort,
+but was more like clothes-postens with the lines stretched to them, yes,
+and the very clothes themselves hanging to them.  All but Jabez, though,
+preferred to think it a ship; it was more exciting.  Grace's lead formed
+tents of all sizes, and Grace seemed quite pleased.
+
+Of Kitty's they could make nothing at all.
+
+"That looks to me like a rolling-pin lying at the bottom," cried Dan
+excitedly, "and a beautiful palace, almost like a fairy palace, and--but
+I don't know what all those little pieces can be meant for.  I think it
+must mean that you are going to be a cook in a large house--a palace,
+perhaps."
+
+"I fink those are fairies," chimed in Tony thoughtfully, "and that's a
+fairy palace, and--and--"
+
+"And the rolling-pin is me in the midst of it all," cried Kitty,
+throwing her arm round her little brother.  "Tony, you are a dear; you
+always say something nice."
+
+"I shouldn't think it very nice to be called a rolling-pin," said Betty.
+"But do tell me what mine is, Kitty!"
+
+"I really can't," said Kitty, after they had each gazed at it solemnly.
+"I can't tell whether it is meant for a ship, or an iceberg, or a tent.
+Perhaps it is all three, and means that you are going to travel,
+Bettikins."
+
+"Oh yes," said Betty, "I shouldn't be surprised.  I mean to travel when
+I am grown up, and I always feel that I shall do something some day."
+
+"I feel I shall do something to-night if I don't get something to eat
+soon," interrupted Dan, in a tone intended to touch Fanny's heart.
+"It is half-past eight, and tea has been over for more than two hours."
+
+"Well," said Jabez, as the tumblers and the mysterious lead figures were
+whisked away, "'tis just as well nobody couldn't attempt to tell what
+mine was, for I wouldn't 'ave 'urt anybody's ingenooity with trying to.
+If 'twasn't a blacksmith's shop, 'twas a vegetable stall; and if
+'twasn't that, 'twasn't nothing; and things when they'm like that is
+best left alone, it's my belief."
+
+"P'r'aps it was the table with supper laid on it," suggested Kitty.
+
+"P'r'aps 'twas, Miss Kitty; but I'm sorry for us all if 'twas, for the
+dishes, if dishes they was, was empty, and that wouldn't suit us at the
+present minute."
+
+But it exactly depicted the state of the dishes half an hour later, for,
+as Fanny said when they wanted the kitchen cleared for games, "there
+wasn't nothing to clear but empty things."
+
+By that time all stiffness had worn away, every one was in the highest
+spirits, and the games went on furiously, so furiously that the striking
+of the hall clock and the town clock were overlooked, and the first
+thing that recalled them to themselves was a loud ringing of the
+front-door bell.
+
+For one second they stood looking at each other in utter dismay, then--"
+The back stairs," whispered Dan.  "Fly, children, scoot, and hop into
+bed as you are.--Jabez--"
+
+But Jabez had already vanished through the back door and had shut
+himself in Prue's stable.  Up the back stairs the children scuttled,
+shoes in hand, and melted away into their various rooms without a sound.
+Kitty stayed a moment with Tony to help him into bed, and as she crept
+out of his room the sound of voices in the hall reached her.
+
+"Grace needn't have hurried so to let them in," she thought.  "She could
+at least have pretended she was asleep and didn't hear the knock, and so
+have given us a few minutes more."  But Grace's promptness was such that
+Kitty had barely time to draw her nightgown on over her frock and creep
+into her bed before she heard her aunt's footsteps on the stairs.
+
+Mrs. Pike went first to Tony's room, and Kitty, leaning up, listened in
+a perfect tremor of nervousness for what might follow.  Tony was no good
+at pretending, but, as good luck would have it, there was no need of
+make-believe on his part, for he had been so tired he had fallen fast
+asleep as soon as he had cuddled down under the bedclothes, and Mrs.
+Pike, after just a glance, came away quite satisfied.  Then Kitty heard
+her approaching their room.
+
+"Oh!" she thought with dismay, "she is bringing Anna with her;" for
+Mrs. Pike was talking to some one in a low voice.  "What bad luck; Anna
+sees through everything.  I wonder if Betty hears too.  If she doesn't
+she is sure to jump.  Betty! Betty!" she called, as loud as she dared,
+but the next moment the door opened and Aunt Pike entered with a candle
+in her hand, and followed by Anna.
+
+"Dear, dear," she said, as she tripped over something, "how untidy!
+What is it, Anna?"
+
+Anna stooped and picked up one of Betty's discarded gray stockings.
+For once Betty's untidiness served them a good turn.  Seeing the
+stockings on the floor, it never occurred to Aunt Pike but that they had
+both undressed and got into bed in the usual fashion.  The first thing,
+though, that caught Anna's eye was the red bow in Kitty's hair.
+
+"I--I didn't know--" she began, then glanced quickly at Betty's head,
+where the blue bow showed up against the pillow, but instead of
+remarking on it she suddenly grew silent.  Kitty marvelled, for she had
+remembered their hair ribbons almost at the same moment as Anna had
+caught sight of them, and it was all she could do not to put up her hand
+and grab hers off.  With the remembrance she almost gave up hope of
+escaping detection, and wished devoutly that they had stayed downstairs
+and faced the consequences; for to be found out now, hiding in bed in
+this fashion, made a discreditable matter of what was really not a very
+bad one.  But, to her increasing amazement, Anna said nothing, not even
+when Aunt Pike said, "I must speak to Katherine in the morning.  She has
+either neglected to brush her hair at all, or she is very extravagant in
+tying it up for the night with a good piece of ribbon.  Now come away,
+darling; it is quite time you were in bed.  I am sure you must be quite
+exhausted.  You know I did tell you I thought you would not be able to
+show them your prize to-night."
+
+"Prize!" gasped Betty, sitting up in bed as soon as ever their visitors'
+backs were turned.  "Has she _really_ got a prize?  I didn't think it
+could be true when Aunt Pike said she would get one.  Anyhow, I wonder
+she isn't ashamed to show it, for she knows it would have been yours if
+she hadn't behaved so disgustingly.  But Anna is never ashamed of what
+she does, no matter how bad it is."
+
+"Oh yes, she is," said Kitty thoughtfully.  "I think she is dreadfully
+ashamed sometimes of some things, and very sorry."
+
+"Then why doesn't she say so?" snapped Betty crossly.
+
+"I believe she doesn't know how to.  She is shy, or--or something; but I
+do believe she would like to be able to."  And she thought of the abject
+way in which Anna had followed her about for days after that affair at
+Hillside, and had tried to do things for her; and in her heart she knew
+that it was Anna's curious way of expressing her gratitude to her for
+not exposing her meanness.  "I believe," she went on musingly, "that if
+she could undo all that--that fuss in any other way than by owning up,
+that she would; but there isn't any other way, and she hasn't got pluck
+enough to do it in the right one.  I believe she would rather die than
+have Aunt Pike know how she behaved.  Oh dear, I do wish I hadn't to get
+up again and undress."
+
+"So do I," agreed Betty.  "I really can't brush my hair to-night, I am
+_so_ sleepy."
+
+"I wouldn't," said Kitty, who had a little habit of saying the most
+comfortable thing.  "Give it an extra brushing to-morrow; that will do."
+
+"Very well," agreed Betty, "I will remember," and in another moment was
+fast asleep.
+
+Kitty lay down and drew the bedclothes cosily about her until a few dark
+curls and a scarlet bow were all that were visible, but go to sleep she
+could not.  Thoughts went racing through her brain in the most
+distracting manner--thoughts of the school and all the unpleasant ending
+of her short connection with it; thoughts of Anna and her mother, and
+Anna's want of courage.
+
+"I believe she isn't really a bad sort," mused Kitty, "and yet--and yet
+she does do such mean things, and doesn't seem to see that they are
+mean; and she thinks that the only way to please people is to say nasty
+things of some one else to them; and then, of course, one feels that to
+other people she says the same of oneself.  One can't help it.  I do
+wish she was different.  I believe I could like her if she was."
+
+Presently her thoughts merged into dreams, but such unpleasant ones that
+she was quite glad to awaken from them; and so, constantly dozing and
+half-waking, and dozing again, the hours wore on until at last she awoke
+really wide awake, with a very strong and alarming feeling that
+something was amiss, or that something unusual was happening.  She had
+not the faintest idea what it could be, and though she sat up in bed and
+listened, she could not see or hear anything.  The house seemed quiet
+and still, and yet there were sounds--curious, mysterious sounds that
+ceased while she listened for them, and left her wondering if she were
+still dreaming, or if her ears were playing her tricks.  Her first fear
+was that there might be something the matter with Tony; then she thought
+of Dan.
+
+"I must go and see," she thought, and slipped very gently out of bed and
+into her dressing-gown.  When she was outside the door she paused to
+listen.  Yes, there certainly were sounds, and they came from Dan's
+room, sounds of whispering and movements, and--yes, there was a curious
+smell.  "I believe it is fire!" she gasped, and ran down the  corridor.
+Dan's room was nearly at the end of it,  and faced the staircase.
+Tony's was a tiny room between the girls' and Dan's, while Anna's room
+was beyond Dan's again.  Kitty looked in at Tony, and found him safe,
+and sleeping comfortably; then she hurried on.  Dan's door was slightly
+ajar, and there was a dim light within; here also was the curious smell
+which had greeted Kitty's nose, only stronger, and here also was Anna,
+in her gray dressing-gown, sitting on the floor, and apparently hugging
+herself in an agony of pain.  "What has happened?  What is the matter?
+Dan, tell me!"
+
+At the first sound of her voice Dan wheeled round, and Anna started up
+with a scream.
+
+"How you did startle me!" cried Dan in a hoarse whisper.  "But I'm
+awfully glad you've come."  Dan's face was perfectly white, and he was
+trembling visibly.  "Kitty, what _can_ I do?  I have been such a--such a
+fool; worse than a fool.  Look!" holding up a paper partly burnt, and
+pointing to a scorched mark on the curtain.
+
+"Oh!" gasped Kitty.  "O Dan, how did it happen?  What were you doing?
+Reading in bed?  You might have been burnt to death."
+
+"I should have been--we all should have been, and the house burnt down,
+if it hadn't been for Anna," groaned Dan.  "It'll teach me never to read
+in bed again.  I thought I was quite wide awake too.  But look at Anna;
+do try and do something for her.  She has burnt her hands horribly, and
+I didn't know what to put on them.  What can I do?  Kitty, do do
+something; she is in frightful pain, and she was so plucky."
+
+Even in her great pain Anna looked up gratified by this praise.
+Kitty gently lifted her hands and looked at them, then laid them down
+again with a little shocked cry, for the whole of the palms and the
+fingers were covered with burns.
+
+"Oh you poor, poor thing!" she cried.--"Dan, do creep down to the
+surgery, and bring up the bottle of carron oil.  You will find it on the
+floor by the window.  Father always keeps it there.--O Anna," putting
+her arms round her cousin's quivering shoulders, "how you must be
+suffering!  I am _so_ sorry.  I wish I could bear it for you."
+
+Anna was almost beyond speaking, but she laid her head back against
+Kitty's arm with a sigh of relief.  "O Kitty, I am so glad to have done
+something for you--that's all I think of.  I don't mind the pain.
+You have done so much for me, and I--I wanted to make it up to you
+somehow."
+
+"Don't you ever think of that again," said Kitty solemnly.  "You have
+saved Dan's life, perhaps all our lives, and that wipes out everything.
+But oh! poor Dan, won't he be in a scrape to-morrow when this is all
+found out!"
+
+"But it won't be found out," said Anna.  "We can easily get rid of the
+paper, and the mark on the curtain won't show unless one looks for it;
+and, you see, it won't be taken down till the winter is over, and
+then--"
+
+"But your hands," cried Kitty.  "How can we explain about your burns?"
+
+"Oh--h," said Anna slowly, as she tried to think of some plan, "I will
+just say it is an accident--I needn't explain."
+
+"But I shall," said Kitty firmly.  "I am not going to have any
+deceitfulness.  We will all stand together, but you aren't going to
+suffer for Dan.  Dan wouldn't stand it, and I should be ashamed of him
+if he did."
+
+Anna did not answer, and Kitty thought she had won.  Dan returned with
+the oil, and from his own drawer produced a generous supply of torn
+handkerchiefs.
+
+"How did you find out about the fire?" questioned Kitty, as she bound up
+the poor hands as skilfully as she knew how.  Her "skill" would have
+made a surgeon or a nurse smile, but the result was soothing and
+comforting.
+
+"I woke up suddenly and thought I smelt burning;  then I was sure I did,
+and I got out and opened my door and saw a bright light shining under
+Dan's door."  Here Anna had the grace to blush, for she remembered
+another occasion when she had seen a light shining under a door, and had
+_not_ flown in a frenzy of fear to save those inside.  "I crept down the
+passage, and then I knew that the smell of burning was coming from Dan's
+room.  I knocked, but he didn't answer, and the light grew so bright
+that I got frightened, and I rushed in and snatched the paper out of his
+hand, and beat out the flames."  Her face, which had been very flushed,
+was now deadly white.  "I think I will go back to bed now," she said
+faintly, "I am dreadfully tired."
+
+And dreadfully tired she was too, thoroughly exhausted and overcome.
+Kitty helped her to her room and tucked her in her bed, and as she was
+bending over her, Anna raised her usually restless eyes to her very
+pleadingly.
+
+"Kitty, you must let me have my own way, or I shan't feel that I've done
+anything towards--towards wiping out--you know what I mean."
+
+"I know," said Kitty.  "We won't talk any more about it to-night.
+We will wait until to-morrow.  Good-night, Anna," and for the first time
+in her life she kissed Anna willingly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+MOKUS AND CARROTS.
+
+Kitty heard Dan go downstairs the next morning just as she was finishing
+dressing, and her heart thumped painfully, for she knew he was going to
+confess.  When confessions had to be made Dan always made them as
+quickly as possible so as to get them off his mind.  Kitty hurriedly
+finished her dressing, and followed him with some vague idea in her mind
+of helping him.
+
+But when they got down there was no one else about, and before they had
+seen any one to whom to confess, Mrs. Pike burst into the dining-room
+where they stood, miserably enough, waiting.
+
+"Kitty, Dan, do either of you know where your father is?  I want him to
+come to Anna.  She is so unwell, and in some extraordinary way has burnt
+her hands dreadfully.  Oh dear! oh dear! what troubles do come upon me.
+I suppose it was foolish of me to leave her last night to put herself to
+bed when she was so tired.  I might have known she would tumble over the
+lamp, or do something equally careless.  It was kind of you, Kitty, to
+attend to her burns for her, poor child, but you should have come and
+called me."  There were tears in Aunt Pike's eyes as she turned to thank
+her niece.  "You--she--Anna need not have been afraid.  I did not know I
+was so harsh with her that she was afraid to--" and poor Aunt Pike broke
+off, quite overcome.  The shock of finding Anna feverish and ill, and
+with her hands bandaged, had upset her greatly.
+
+Dan, sincerely touched and conscience-stricken, stepped forward.
+"Aunt Pike," he began, "I--"
+
+But Kitty with a look and a sign checked him.  "Wait," she whispered.
+"I think you had better wait, or you may make things worse for Anna."
+
+Dan looked distressed.  "I don't think I shall," he answered testily, as
+Aunt Pike went out of the room.  "I hate mystery.  Why can't we speak
+out and have it over?  I am going to, Kitty."
+
+"I want you to, as much as you do," she answered in a troubled voice,
+"but we have to think of Anna.  She did so much for us last night, and--
+well, I believe if we were to tell Aunt Pike all about it now, it would
+hurt her more than ever, because she would think Anna had been deceiving
+her; and Anna did not mean to, she only meant to be kind to us."
+
+So Dan, though most unwillingly, had to agree.  It annoyed him, and hurt
+his dignity, and offended his sense of honour to have to let Anna bear
+the weight of his misdoing; but he still hoped that when he could see
+Anna she might consent to his making a full confession.  Here, though,
+he was again doomed to disappointment, for Anna only turned to him
+pleadingly.  "Don't say anything about it," she cried.  "O Dan, don't!
+If mother was to know now she would be more angry than ever, and she
+would never trust me again, or forgive either of us."
+
+So Dan, out of his gratitude to her, had to give in; and there the
+matter rested for the time at least.  But it had brought about two
+important changes--it cured Dan, and all of them, for some time, of
+their love of reading in bed; and it made them more tolerant in their
+feelings towards Anna.
+
+Christmas, since that last one their mother had spent with them, had
+never been a festive or a happy season in Dr. Trenire's house.  To the
+doctor it was too full of sad memories for him to be able to make it gay
+or cheerful for his children, and the children did not know how to set
+about making it so for themselves, while Aunt Pike had no ideas on the
+subject beyond sending and receiving a few cards, giving Anna a
+half-sovereign to put in the savings bank, and ordering a rather more
+elaborate dinner on Christmas Day.
+
+Kitty, Dan, and Betty this year felt a real yearning for a Christmas
+such as they had read of, and discussed all manner of impossible plans,
+but there it all ended.  Dr. Trenire gave them a book each, and they sat
+around the schoolroom fire reading them and munching the sweets they had
+clubbed together to buy, and that was all the festivity they had that
+year.
+
+It was a damp, mild season, unseasonable and depressing, pleasant
+neither for going out nor for staying indoors; and Dan, who had less
+than five weeks' holidays, and had already had one of them spoilt by the
+weather, grumbled loudly, fully convinced that he had every reason to do
+so.
+
+But with January came a change to high, cold winds, which dried up the
+mud, and, having done that much service, departed, to be followed by
+days of glorious sunshine.  Just about the middle of the month Mrs.
+Pike had to go away for a week or two to visit her sister in Yorkshire,
+and with this circumstance, and the lovely weather combined, the
+children's spirits rose.  Dan had but a fortnight's holiday left, it is
+true, but they meant to enjoy every possible minute of that fortnight,
+and to begin with they decided on an expedition to Helbarrow Tors, one
+of their most beloved of picnic places.  Anna had never seen that
+wonderful spot, and Anna, who did not accompany her mother on her
+Yorkshire visit, was to be introduced to all its beauties on the very
+day after her mother's departure.
+
+As though knowing what was expected of it, the day broke most
+promisingly.  Of course it was not really light until about eight
+o'clock--in fact, they got up and had their breakfast by gaslight, for
+they really could not stay in bed late with such prospects as they had
+before them; but already the weather signs were good, and Jabez was most
+encouraging.
+
+"I'll back a mist like that there," he said, "agin anything for turning
+out a fine day.  You mark my words now, Miss Kitty; and I'll go right
+along and get that there donkey and cart for fear anybody else should be
+put in the mind to 'ave a little egscursion too, and get un furst."
+
+Fanny was as amiable as Jabez.  When Kitty went out to the kitchen to
+see about their food for the day she found her with a row of baskets on
+the table before her, and Dan sitting on the corner of it superintending
+her doings.
+
+"There, Miss Kitty," she exclaimed, "that's the salt I've just put in,
+so don't anybody say I forgot it, and don't anybody go unpacking it
+any'ow or it'll be upset; and we don't want no bad luck, do we?"
+
+Kitty looked at the baskets joyfully.
+
+"I've put in what I calls a good allowance for six.  Do 'ee think
+that'll be enough?" asked Fanny anxiously, "or shall I put in a bit more
+cake, and a pasty or two extra?  P'r'aps I'd better."
+
+"Perhaps you had," said Kitty thoughtfully.  "You see, we have the whole
+day, and one does get hungry out of doors, and there is never a shop
+anywhere near--and if there is, we never have any money to spend in it."
+
+Even while she was speaking Fanny was stowing the extra pasties and cake
+into the basket.  "Now, Master Dan, remember that's the basket you'm to
+carry," pointing to a large square one with the cover securely fastened
+down.  "There's nothing to eat in it, but it's the 'eaviest, 'cause it's
+got the milk in it, and a bottle of methylated spirits and the little
+stove in case you can't get no sticks nor no fire."
+
+"O Fanny, you _are_ cruel," sighed Dan.  "I really don't know," with a
+very good imitation of a catch in his voice, "how you can say to me the
+nasty things you do."
+
+"Ah!" said Fanny, with a knowing shake of her head.  "I may be cruel,
+and I have my failings, but I can read you through and through, Master
+Dan, same as if you was a printed book.  You take my word for that."
+
+"X rays aren't in it," cried Dan.  "Eyes of a hawk, and a heart of
+stone.  What a combination!"
+
+"That there littlest basket," went on Fanny, turning to Kitty, "is for
+Master Tony; and you must see that Master Dan don't get hold of it, and
+let his little brother wear hisself out carrying the 'eavy one."
+
+"Fanny, what do you take me for?"
+
+"I take 'ee for what you are," said Fanny calmly--"an anointed young
+limb, and as artful as you are high."
+
+"Wait till I have gone back to school," said Dan wistfully, "then every
+cruel and unjust thing you have said and thought of me will come back to
+you, and 'Too late, ah, too late,' you will moan as you sob yourself
+ill; 'and I loved that boy better than any one in the whole wide
+world!'"
+
+Which had enough of truth in it to make Fanny quite cross, or seem to
+be.
+
+"Master Tony's basket has got some lunch in it for you all to eat on
+your way.  There's a little pasty each, and some biscuits.  I did put in
+a big one for Master Dan, but I've more'n half a mind to take it out
+again, seeing as he's be'aving so, sitting on the table and swinging his
+legs.  I s'pose those are the manners they learns him to school!"
+
+Dan chuckled.  "I wish they did," he said.  "No, it's only you who let
+me behave myself as I like, Fanny.  No one else in the wide world is so
+kind to me.  O Fanny, I wish you were coming with us."
+
+"So do I," cried Kitty.  "Wouldn't it be fun!"  And Fanny, quite
+mollified, did not remove Dan's big pasty.
+
+The door opened and Jabez came in.  "I've got the moke," he said; "he's
+in the yard; and I've put a few carrots in the cart for 'ee to 'tice un
+along with, for if that there creetur haven't made up his mind a'ready
+not to see Helbarrow Tor this day--well, I'm a Dutchman, and whatever my
+failings I ain't that yet."
+
+"The only enticing he'll get from me will be with the whip," said Dan
+with great scorn, "so you can take out the carrots again."  But Jabez
+shook his head wisely.
+
+"They won't take up much room," he said.  "I'll put 'em in the nose-bag,
+and if you don't need 'em on the way, you can give 'em to the creetur
+when he gets there, by way of encouraging un another time.  Now, are you
+all ready, miss?  It's best for 'ee to start before he falls asleep
+again, for they'm always poor-tempered if they'm woke up, and then
+they'm obstinater than ever."
+
+The five of them could not all get into the cart at once, at least not
+with any comfort, so they always, on these excursions, took it in turn
+to ride and tie; and Dan, who did not crave for the glory of driving
+Mokus through the street, walked on with Betty, leaving the others to
+follow.
+
+It was certainly cold when first they started; the air was fresh and
+biting, with a touch of frost in it, and the sun had not yet come out.
+Anna shivered beneath her fur-lined cloak, and Tony, thrusting his hands
+deep down in his pockets, snuggled down between Kitty and Anna, and felt
+very glad for once that he was not allowed an outside seat.
+
+But by degrees the sun shone through the misty grayness, bathing the
+road before them, and lighting up the bare hedges on either side until
+it really seemed that spring had come, that the fresh morning air was
+certainly full of the scent of primroses and violets, and the sweet
+earthy smell of moss.  The birds evidently thought so too, for they came
+fluttering and flying from all manner of cosy hiding-places, and,
+undaunted by the sight of the brown branches and the leafless twigs,
+boldly perched themselves on telegraph wires and trees to survey the
+scene while they made their summer plans.
+
+What more could one want than brown branches if the sun was on them!
+And how could one hurry or worry, or do anything but revel quietly in
+the beauty that lay all about one, and tell oneself there were no gray
+days to come!
+
+Mokus, for one, evidently felt that this was no occasion for haste, and
+Kitty did not contradict him.  She herself felt that she wanted to
+linger over every moment, and get the fullest enjoyment out of it all.
+
+Dan, however, had other views, and when, at the foot of Tremellen Hill,
+they found him and Betty perched on a low bridge awaiting them, he
+upbraided them plaintively for their waste of time.
+
+"But no girl ever could drive, even a donkey," he said loftily.
+"He will find out now that he has met his master.  Get up, Betty.  Do be
+quick.  I want to reach Helbarrow to-day, and it must be lunch-time
+already."  At which Tony, who was scrambling down from the cart, reached
+back for his basket.
+
+"I fink I'd better take it wiv me," he said gravely.  "If they are going
+so fast, p'r'aps we shan't see them any more till we get there."
+
+"I think we needn't be afraid of that," said Anna sarcastically, "if we
+don't walk too fast."
+
+Oh what a day it was! and what a donkey! and what a journey!  And oh the
+time it took! and how they did enjoy it all!  When they had walked for
+about a mile or more, the three sat down to rest and await the carriage
+folk, of whom they had not caught a glimpse since they walked away and
+left them.  Then by degrees Tony's luncheon basket assumed a prominent
+position in their thoughts and before their eyes.  Morning air,
+particularly in January, is hungry air; and to wait, with the food under
+your very nose, and not be free to eat it, is not easy.
+
+"I really must go back a little way to see if they are anywhere near,"
+said Kitty at last, growing impatient and hungry.  Anna and Tony were
+hungry too, but they were too comfortable and lazy to move, so they
+leaned luxuriously amongst the dry twigs and leaves and dead grass in
+the hedge, and watched Kitty as she walked eagerly back again along the
+level road they had just travelled.  When she reached the brow of the
+hill she stopped, and the next moment a peal of laughter announced the
+fact that she had caught sight of the laggards.
+
+It was unkind, perhaps, of her to laugh.  Dan thought it was "beastly
+mean," but then he was not in a frame of mind to see the humour of the
+situation, for up the whole of that long steep hill he had marched at
+Mokus's head, tugging with all his might at the bridle with one hand,
+while the other held a huge carrot just beyond the obstinate creature's
+reach.  Dan was not only hot and tired and out of patience, but he was
+extremely mortified.
+
+"Where is Betty?" called Kitty, trying to check her laughter.
+
+Betty, hearing her name, came round from the back of the cart; she was
+almost purple in the face, and looked quite exhausted.
+
+"I've been pushing," she gasped.  "I believe it would have been easier
+to have been harnessed in the shafts."
+
+"You poor little thing," cried Kitty.  "You must rest now and I'll take
+a turn, and you shall both have our turn in the cart after lunch, and we
+will walk.  We aren't a bit tired."
+
+"Thank you," they said, with stern decision in their voices, "we would
+rather walk; it is so much easier."
+
+Kitty felt quite sorry for them.  "Anna and Tony are only a little way
+ahead," she said encouragingly.  "We've got such a jolly place to have
+our lunch in, and we will have a nice rest there.  Give the poor thing
+the carrot now, Dan."
+
+"Give him the carrot!" cried Dan indignantly.  "I should like to see
+myself!  After his behaviour, he'll never even have a sniff of it again,
+if I can help it," and Dan sent the carrot flying over the hedge to show
+that he meant what he said.
+
+A good lunch, though, restored both his strength and his temper, and
+after it was over they all managed to pack into the cart for the rest of
+the short distance they had to go.  Anna took the reins this time, and
+whether it was that Mokus felt the firmness of her grip, or guessed that
+rest and freedom for a few hours lay awaiting him at the end of another
+mile, no one knew, but he started off down the next hill at quite a
+quick trot, which he never once slackened until he was drawn up beside
+the low stone hedge which in some long-past age had been erected around
+the foot of the tors.  Dan declared it was the weight of himself and
+Betty on the tail-board which made him go, and having once been started
+he could not stop if he wanted to.  In any case Mokus was forgiven, and
+it was with very kindly hands and many a pat that they unharnessed him
+from the cart and tethered him by a long rope to the stump of a stunted
+hawthorn bush, close to the remains of a little hut, which, with the old
+wall, had often caused the children much speculation as to when and why
+it was built there, and by whom.
+
+Then, each carrying a basket, they started to climb to the top to find
+first of all a cosy, sheltered spot for a dining-room.  On the tors the
+sun was shining and the wild thyme smelling as sweetly as though it were
+April rather than January.
+
+"Oh, look at the robins!" cried Tony delightedly.  They were pausing in
+their climb, and the little bright-eyed, warm-breasted creatures were
+hopping about them quite boldly.  "Kitty, do let me give them some
+crumbs, they are such darlings, and I think they are quite glad to see
+us.  They aren't a bit afraid."
+
+   "'To see a robin in a cage
+    Puts all heaven in a rage,'"
+
+quoted Kitty dreamily.
+
+Anna looked quite shocked.  "O Kitty," she said, "how can you?  You are
+quite profane."
+
+Kitty laughed.  "Am I?" she said.  "What a dreadful word to use!
+I didn't mean to be.  I didn't make up those lines, you know.  Oh, don't
+you think," she went on eagerly, "it would be a nice game to try how
+many different verses about robins we can remember?"
+
+"Do you mean nursery verses and all?" asked Dan.  Kitty nodded; her
+brain was already busy.
+
+"I think it will be lovely," said Betty.  "I know quite a lot."
+
+"Go ahead then," urged Dan, "and remember to give author and book."
+
+"Nursery verses and nursery rhymes haven't got any author," said Betty
+with a very superior air.
+
+Dan was on the alert at once; he loved to torment Betty.
+
+"No author!  Oh! oh! what an appalling display of childish ignorance,"
+he cried in pretended horror, "and after all the trouble I have taken
+with you too.  My dear child, don't you know that some one must have
+composed them or they wouldn't be--but there, I suppose little children
+can't be expected to understand these things."
+
+"But I do," cried Betty indignantly.  "You don't know all I know.
+I know a great deal more than you think, though you may not think so."
+
+"Dear me!  Do you really now?" said Dan, pretending to be enormously
+impressed.  "What a genius we may have in the family without our ever
+suspecting it.  Tell us who wrote:
+
+   "'And when they were dead,
+    The robins so red
+    Took strawberry leaves and over them spread,'"
+
+"What would be the good?" said Betty, with a sigh as if of hopeless
+despair.  "You wouldn't reckernize the name if I told you."
+
+"No, I don't expect I should," laughed Dan derisively.  "Not the way you
+would pronounce it, at least."
+
+"Stop teasing her, Dan," cried Kitty.  "We all of us have to think.
+Let us take it in turns.  Now then, you begin."
+
+For a moment Dan looked somewhat taken aback, then memory came suddenly
+to him.
+
+   "'Who killed Cock Robin?
+   "I," said the Spar--'"
+
+"That is not right," said Betty; "you are not beginning at the
+beginning; you are missing out half."
+
+"Of course, as if I didn't know that," retorted Dan, but he looked
+rather foolish; "but we are only here for the day, after all, and I am
+not going to spend it all in saying nursery rhymes.  If we were going to
+stay a week it would be different."
+
+"That's all very well, but _I_ believe you don't know it," said Betty
+softly but decisively.
+
+Whereupon Dan in great wrath burst forth,--
+
+    "'It was on a merry time
+     When Jenny Wren was young,'" etc., etc.
+
+When he had chanted three verses, they begged him to stop.  When he had
+reached the twelfth they all went on their knees to him and implored him
+to stop; but no, on he went, and on and on to the very last line.
+"Next time," he said, turning to Betty when he had reached the end,
+"I hope you will believe me."
+
+"If I don't I won't say so," remarked Betty softly, with a sigh of
+relief; "but of course I can't make myself believe you if I don't."
+
+"Oh, can't you?" said Dan.  "You try once and see.  Now then, Anna, your
+turn."
+
+"I don't know anything about robins," said Anna.  "Mother thought
+nursery rhymes were foolish.  So do I."
+
+"Oh no, you don't really," cried four voices in tones of mingled
+amazement and disgust.
+
+"Yes, I do.  Why not?"
+
+"What a pity," said Kitty softly.  "I think they are beautiful.  I am
+glad my mother thought so too, But it need not be a nursery rhyme, Anna.
+Don't you know,
+
+   "'Little bird with bosom red,
+    Welcome to my humble shed,'
+
+"or any other?"
+
+"Ye--es," said Anna doubtfully.  "I had to learn that once at school,
+but, somehow, I didn't think that it was about a robin."
+
+"What did you think it was about?" asked Kitty.
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  I thought it was just poetry.  I never think poetry
+has any meaning in it.  It seems to me such silly stuff, all about
+nothing."
+
+"I suppose even poetry must be about something," said Dan sarcastically.
+
+"I don't think so," said Anna.  She, the prize-winner of her class, was
+not going to be snubbed by her cousins.  "As long as the words rhyme, it
+doesn't matter what the rest is like."
+
+To Kitty that seemed neither the time nor the place to argue with Anna,
+so she let the subject drop.  "Now then, Betty."
+
+"I know so many," said Betty very anxiously, "that they seem to be all
+jumbled up in my head, and I can't get one quite right.  Let me see
+now--"
+
+"Do let me say mine while you are finking.  Shall I?" pleaded Tony
+eagerly.
+
+   "Little Robin Redbreast
+    Perched upon a tree,
+    Up went Pussy Cat
+    And down went he.'"
+
+By the time he reached the end of the second verse he was almost
+breathless.  "I was afraid you would say it before me," he gasped as he
+concluded the last line; "that's why I hurried so."
+
+"Oh, I was trying to think of something much more--more, well, not so
+babyish; more like what Kitty said than what you and Dan said."
+
+"Perhaps you had better compose something yourself," said Dan, "and we
+will go on and light the fire and get the dinner ready while you are
+about it."
+
+"You needn't be in a bad temper," retorted Betty severely, "even if you
+couldn't make the donkey go."  And Dan thought perhaps it might be wiser
+not to torment his younger sister any more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+MISSING!
+
+They all struggled to their feet after that, collected their baskets,
+and resumed their climb, over big boulders, through furze and bracken,
+dead now and withered, but beautiful in the glow of the clear wintry
+sunshine, until at last they came to an immense flat rock, with another
+rising high behind it, sheltering them from the wind and catching every
+gleam of sunshine that possibly could be caught.
+
+Here they spread their cloth, laying large pebbles on the corners of it
+to keep it down, and on it they spread their feast, and then at last
+there was nothing left to do but sit down and enjoy it.  The sun shone
+quite warmly, a soft little breeze blew up from the valley, bringing
+with it the mingled scents of peat smoke, crushed thyme, and wet moss.
+From their high perch they looked down on long stretches of brown fields
+ploughed in ridges, with here and there a big gray rock dropped into
+the middle of it, and here and there a roughly-built cottage, not much
+bigger, seemingly, than some of the rocks.  In a distant field a man was
+carrying mangolds to a flock of sheep.  The bleating of the sheep
+floated up to them through the still air, and, with the voices of the
+birds, made the only sounds of life that reached them.  The scene,
+though lovely in the eyes of the children, was desolate to a degree.
+Scarcely a tree marked the landscape, and those there were were bowed
+and stunted, leaning landwards as though running before the cold winds
+which blew with such force across the few miles of flat, bare country
+which alone lay between them and the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+To-day, though, it was hard to believe that that sunny spot was often so
+bleak and storm-swept that man and beast avoided it.  Anna gazed about
+her wonderingly, but somewhat awed.
+
+"It seems dreadfully wild and lonely," she said, with a shiver.
+"And how flat and ugly it is, all but these tors.  I wonder how they
+came to be here like this.  I should think the people who used to live
+here must have piled up all these rocks to clear them out of the fields.
+They left a good many behind, though."
+
+"No one could have lifted rocks like these, and piled them up like
+this," said Dan scornfully.  "They were thrown up like this by an
+earthquake, father says, and after the earthquake the sea--you know the
+sea used to cover all the country as far as we can see--"
+
+"Nonsense!" interrupted Anna.  "Now you are trying to take me in; but
+you won't make me believe such nonsense as that."
+
+"Very well," crossly, "don't believe it then; only don't ask questions
+another time if you mean to turn round and sneer when a fellow tries to
+explain.  I suppose you won't believe either that giants used to live
+here?"
+
+Anna laughed even more scornfully.  "No, I will not," she said loftily.
+"I am not quite stupid enough to believe all the nonsense you would like
+to make me."
+
+"If you could only realize it, it is you who are talking nonsense," said
+Dan crushingly, and he turned away from her.  He was not going to tell
+any of his beloved legends and stories for Anna to sneer at.  "It is
+simply a sign of ignorance," he said, with his most superior air, "not
+to believe in things because we haven't actually seen them with our very
+own eyes.  I suppose you will not believe that St. Michael's Mount used
+to be surrounded with woods where there is sea now, until a huge wave
+rushed in and swamped everything, right up to the foot of the Mount, and
+never went back again?"
+
+"No," said Anna obstinately, "of course I shouldn't believe it.
+Such things couldn't happen.  It is silly to tell such stories as you
+Cornish people do, and expect other people to believe them."
+
+Kitty looked at her in pained surprise.  It seemed to her that Anna's
+way of speaking was quite irreverent.  She longed to know, yet shrank
+from asking her, if she scorned, too, those other stories, so precious
+and real to Kitty, the story of King Arthur in his hidden resting-place,
+waiting to be roused from his long sleep; of Tristram and Iseult asleep
+in the little chapel beneath the sea; of--oh, a hundred others of giants
+and fairies, witches and spectres.  But she held her peace rather than
+hear them scoffed at and discredited.
+
+The sunshine, chased by a cloud and a fresh little breeze, disappeared.
+Anna shivered and looked about her.
+
+"Oh, how gloomy and lonely it all looks directly the sun goes in!" she
+cried.  "I should hate to be here in the dark, or in a storm.  Shouldn't
+you, Kitty?  I think I should die of fright; I know I should if I were
+here alone."
+
+"I'd love to be here in a storm," said Kitty firmly, "a real
+thunderstorm.  It would be grand to watch it all from the top of the
+tors.  I don't think I would very much mind being up here all night
+either.  You see, there is nothing that could possibly hurt one, no wild
+beasts or robbers.  Bad people would be afraid to come."
+
+"I think it would be perfectly dreadful," shuddered Anna.  "You would
+never know who was coming round the rocks, or who was hiding; and
+robbers could come behind you and catch you, and you wouldn't be able to
+see or hear them until they were right on you; and you might scream and
+scream with all your might and main and no one would hear you."
+
+"If I sneered at giants, I wouldn't talk of robbers if I were you," said
+Dan severely.  "Imagine robbers coming to a place like this!
+Why, there's nothing and nobody to rob."
+
+"They would come here to hide, of course, not to rob," said Anna
+crushingly, and Dan felt rather small.
+
+Betty and Tony began to feel bored.
+
+"I am going to get sticks for the fire," said Betty.  "Come along, Tony.
+You others can come, too, if you like."
+
+"Betty is beginning to think of her tea already," laughed Dan, but they
+all joined her in her search--not that there was any need to search, for
+dry sticks and furze bushes lay all around them in profusion.
+
+"Oh, here's the cromlech," cried Kitty, coming suddenly on the great
+rock, which was poised so lightly on top of other great rocks that it
+would sway under the lightest touch, yet had remained unmoved by all the
+storms and hurricanes of the ages that had passed over it.  She ran
+lightly up and on to it, and stood there swaying gently, the breeze
+fluttering out her skirts and flushing her cheeks.
+
+"You must make a wish while you are standing on it, and then if you can
+make the rock move you will get your wish," explained Betty to Anna.
+"It isn't every one who can.  I don't suppose you could, 'cause you
+don't believe in things like we do."
+
+Nevertheless Anna was bent on trying, and grew quite cross because the
+rock would not move for her.  "No, I don't believe it," she snapped.
+"You Cornish people are so suppositios; and it is _dreadfully_ ignorant
+to be so.  Mother said so."
+
+Dan fairly shrieked with delight; he always did when Anna or Betty used
+a wrong word, particularly if it was a long one.
+
+"Though it is so early, I am going to light the fire now," said Kitty,
+anxious to make a diversion and prevent squabbles, "because I want to
+smell the smell of the burning fuz."
+
+Which she did then and there; and then, perhaps in absent-mindedness,
+she put the kettle on, and it boiled before any one could believe the
+water was even warm, and then, of course, there was nothing to be done
+but make the tea and drink it.  But the air up there was so wonderful
+that no matter how quickly the meals came the appetites were ready.
+
+"The smell of the smoke was feast enough in itself," Kitty said.
+
+But she did not omit to take a liberal share of more solid food as well.
+And oh! how good it all tasted--the tea, the bread and butter, the
+saffron cake, all had a flavour such as they never had elsewhere, and
+the air was growing fresh enough to make the hot tea very acceptable and
+comfortable.
+
+They did not sit long after they had done, for it really was beginning
+to grow chilly.
+
+"Now you had all better go and have a game of some kind or other," said
+Kitty, "and I will pack the baskets ready to go into the cart, and then
+I'll come and play too."
+
+It took her longer, though, than she had counted on to pack all the
+things so that they would travel safely, and she had put them in and
+taken them out again so many times that when at last she had done, and
+glanced up with a sigh of relief to look for the others, she saw with
+dismay that the short winter's day was well-nigh over.  The sun had
+disappeared quite suddenly, leaving behind it a leaden, lowering sky,
+while in the distance hung a thick mist, which told of heavy rain not
+far off.
+
+"I will call the others.  I think we had better be starting soon; the
+weather has changed," she murmured, and, springing to her feet, she
+shouted, and shouted, and shouted again.  No answer came.
+
+Still calling, she went around the tors to another point, but she could
+catch no glimpse of any living being, and in that great waste of rocks
+and furze and underbrush it was not surprising.  Kitty, though, was
+surprised and a little bit alarmed, and she ran from point to point,
+calling and calling again; but for a long time the only answer was the
+long sighs the wind gave as it rushed over the level land, and lost
+itself with a little wail of anger amongst the old tors.  Then at last
+came a long shout, and Dan appeared, and almost at the same moment a
+drop fell smartly on Kitty's cheek, then another and another, and
+suddenly a heavy downpour descended on them.
+
+"I saw it coming," gasped Dan.  "Look!" and Kitty looked across the land
+stretching below, and saw rain in a dense column rushing towards them,
+driven by a squall which dashed it into them pitilessly.
+
+In little more than a moment the whole place had changed from a sunny,
+idyllic little paradise to a bleak, howling wilderness, lonely, weird,
+exposed to all the worst storms of heaven.
+
+"Where are the others?" gasped Kitty, seizing some of the packages to
+run with them to the cart.
+
+"I told them not to climb up here again, but to start for home and we
+would overtake them as quickly as we could.  It wasn't raining then, or
+I'd have told them to run to the little shanty; but I should think
+they'd have the sense to do that," said Dan.
+
+"Oh yes, I expect they are all right.  Now then, run, but run
+carefully," added Kitty.  "All the cups are in that basket, and Aunt
+Pike will be very angry if we break any."
+
+But it was not easy to run at all, or even to hurry down that rugged
+slope, while carrying five baskets and a rug or two, with a squall
+catching them at every turn, and the short, dry grass becoming as
+slippery as glass with the rain; but at long last they reached the foot
+and the little hut, and there they found Betty struggling with all her
+might to get Mokus between the shafts of the cart.
+
+"He will have to be taken out again, I expect," said Dan in an aside to
+Kitty.  "She has probably done up every strap wrongly.  It is good of
+her, though, to try."
+
+"I am glad she made Tony stand in under shelter," said Kitty thankfully,
+as her eye fell on her little brother in the doorway of the hut.
+"Where is Anna?  I suppose she is inside."
+
+"You bet," said Dan shortly.  "Anna knows how to take care of herself."
+
+But Anna was not in the shanty, or anywhere within reach of their
+shouts.
+
+"I expect she is ever so far towards home by now," said Betty absently,
+quite absorbed in the interest of harnessing Mokus.  "She started to
+walk home as fast as ever she could.  I called to her to wait, but she
+wouldn't listen."
+
+"Oh, well, it's all right; she can't miss the road, and we shall soon
+overtake her," said Dan.  "Now then, in you get."
+
+It was great fun packing themselves into the cart.  Betty and Tony, in
+great spirits, sat in the bottom of it, with a rug drawn over them like
+a tent, and two little peepholes to peer through, and were as happy and
+warm as could be.  Kitty and Dan sat upon the seat with the other rug
+round their shoulders, and the moment they were ready and had gathered
+up the reins, Mokus, who had been standing flapping his long ears
+crossly when the rain struck him particularly smartly, started off at a
+really quick trot, which covered the ground rapidly, but rattled and
+jolted the cart to such an extent that it was all Dan and Kitty could do
+to keep their seats, while as for the two in the bottom of the cart,
+they were tossed about like parched peas in a frying-pan.  And oh! how
+they all laughed!  It is not always the funniest or wittiest things that
+cause the most laughter, and somehow to-day the sight of Mokus flying
+along on his little hoofs, the dreary scene, the lashing rain,
+themselves wrapped up like a lot of gipsies, with the risk of finding
+themselves at any moment tossed out and left sitting in the mud, made
+them laugh and laugh until they ached.  And all the time Dan kept on
+saying the silliest things, and waving his whip about his head as though
+he were a Roman driving a chariot drawn by fiery horses, urging Mokus on
+to a more and more reckless pace, until at last they had to beg him to
+stop, they were aching so with laughter.
+
+But except for some forlorn-looking geese on the common, who hissed at
+them as they passed, they did not meet a living creature the whole of
+the way they went.
+
+"Cheer up, old ladies!" Dan shouted to the geese consolingly, "you've
+nothing on to spoil.  If I'd been made to stand a flood as you have, I
+wouldn't make a fuss about a little summer shower like this."
+
+"If you want your last glimpse of the tors," said Kitty, who knew every
+inch of the way, "look back now."  And they all looked, and all
+shuddered as their eyes travelled over the spot where they had so lately
+been basking in the sunshine.  It looked gloomy and awe-inspiring now,
+with black clouds lowering over it, a heavy mist wrapping it round,
+while at the foot the little neglected shanty added the last desolate
+touch to the wild scene.  "Doesn't it seem impossible that we were
+playing there only a little while ago," said Kitty, "and I was wishing I
+could sleep there?"  Then, with sudden recollection, "I wonder where
+Anna is.  She must have walked very fast."
+
+"I only hope she isn't still up there," said Dan with a laugh, waving
+his hand towards the tors.  "Poor old Anna!"
+
+"Oh!" squealed Betty, who loved horrors and excitements, "suppose she
+is, and sees us going farther and farther away from her.  If she called
+and called, nobody would hear her, and oh, she'll be so frightened.
+If she had to stay there all night, I am sure she would die of fright,"
+and Betty looked utterly horrified.  "What shall we do?  Isn't it
+egsciting!"
+
+"No, not at all," said Dan impatiently; "don't be silly.  Why should she
+be there?  I told you all to hurry homewards, and Anna did as she was
+told.  That is the difference between you and Anna, you see."
+
+"Well," said Betty thoughtfully, "I didn't do as I was told, but I think
+I've got the best of it--especially," she added, "if Anna _is_ left
+behind."
+
+Dan seemed to take it as a personal insult that she should dwell on such
+a possibility.  "If you say anything more about Anna being left behind,"
+he said, "I'll put you out of the cart and send you back to look for
+her."
+
+"Then there would be two of us lost instead of one," said Betty
+aggravatingly, "and oh, wouldn't you get into a row when you got home!"
+
+"She must be on ahead," said Kitty, anxious to make peace.
+"Only I didn't think she had had time to get so far."
+
+"Perhaps some one has given her a lift," said Dan, with sudden hope.
+"Anna is sharp enough to take or to ask for one if she had the chance.
+She knows it is a tight pack for us all to get in this cart at once, and
+she would think Mokus would behave as badly going home as he did on the
+way out."
+
+This all seemed to them so likely, that they drove on again gaily, their
+minds quite easy about her; all except Betty, who persisted in gazing
+back at the tors as long as they were in view, in the hope of seeing a
+signal of distress.  Mokus stepped out at a pace that the carrots had
+never roused him to on the outward journey, yet darkness had come on
+before they reached Gorlay.
+
+"Isn't it like old times," sighed Betty happily, "driving through the
+dark and the wet, and then reaching home, and changing and having a
+jolly tea by the fire, and there will be no Aunt Pike, and we will be
+able to stay up as late as we like--"
+
+"But there will be Anna," said Tony.  "It won't be _quite_ the same."
+
+But, alas, there was no Anna, and her absence on this particular
+occasion did much more to upset their evening than her presence would
+have done.  In answer to their inquiries as to when and how she got
+back, they were told that she had not got back at all.  No one had seen
+her, and a dreadful conviction began to steal over them that she would
+not come--that, in fact, she was lost, and probably, as Betty had
+suggested, wandering about those dangerous tors, frightened nearly out
+of her senses.  What was to be done?  At first they were for waiting;
+but then, as the rain continued to stream down, and the wind to blow
+gustily, they felt that it was no time for delay.  Something must be
+done, and done quickly.
+
+"Oh, if only father were home!" cried Kitty despairingly.
+But unfortunately Dr. Trenire was in Plymouth on business, and would
+certainly not be home that night.
+
+Dan sprang up, and began to put on his boots and leggings.  "I am going
+back there again," he announced.  "It is only three miles or so, and I
+can walk it in an hour."
+
+"But you can't go alone."
+
+"Yes, I can; and I can get people out there to help me search, and if I
+find her I'll get some one to drive us home;" and flinging on his coat
+and cap, he was rushing out of the house before they realized what he
+was doing.
+
+"But, Dan," Kitty called after him, "which way are you going?"
+
+"The same, of course.  There is but one--at least only one that Anna
+knows," he called back, and he raced off into the darkness before any
+one could say another word.
+
+Kitty was vexed.  "How foolish of him," she said.  "Of course there are
+other ways, and Anna must have taken one of them, or we should have
+passed her; and he shouldn't have gone alone either, he should have
+taken Jabez and a lantern.  What can he do if he finds her?"
+
+"And he may get lost too," said Betty comfortingly.  But Dan was already
+racing up through the dark wet street, too absorbed by the heroic side
+of his actions to spare a thought for the common sense.
+
+Kitty dropped into a chair in a state of deep despondency, blaming
+herself for everything.  "Why had she started for home without making
+sure about Anna?  How wrong it was of her not to turn back!  What would
+Aunt Pike say when she knew?" and so the thoughts poured through her
+mind until she was well-nigh distracted.
+
+Tony, worn out by his long day in the fresh air, was fast asleep.
+Betty, exhausted by excitement and alarm, was scarcely able to keep
+awake.  The servants were in the kitchen regaling themselves and Jabez
+with supper and a dish of horrors, when suddenly Kitty sprang to her
+feet with the force of an idea that had come to her.  She would take the
+carriage and Jabez, and drive very slowly and carefully by another road
+straight back to Helbarrow Tors.  They would inquire at every house they
+passed, and--only she did not tell Jabez this, for fear of alarming
+him--if need be, they would search even the tors themselves.
+
+It would be very difficult, she knew; but what did difficulties matter
+at such a time as this?  With Anna lost on such a night, her father and
+aunt away, and she alone responsible, they must do something, they must,
+they must, and quickly too.  She looked at the clock; it was only seven.
+There was just a chance that they might find Anna and have her home in
+warmth and safety by ten.  She ran to the kitchen and broached her plan
+to Jabez.  He winced at the prospect, but raised no objection.
+Indeed, they were all too greatly alarmed to object to anything.
+Jabez had been picturing Anna in turn killed, walking into the water,
+stolen, wandering about lost and crying for help, so he could hardly
+refuse his help in rescuing her from one of these fates.
+
+In a very short time Prue was harnessed, and with Kitty beside him, and
+a pile of rugs and wraps, Jabez was driving off at a good pace, while
+those at home prepared fires and hot blankets and everything else they
+could think of.
+
+But many long, weary hours elapsed before the fires and the hot blankets
+were needed, and the next day was dawning, bleak and cold, when at last,
+to the intense relief and excitement of the weary watchers, old Prue's
+step was heard coming quickly down the street, and the two servants flew
+out to the door.  But Jabez drove straight round to the yard with his
+load, and there, with the help of Kitty and Dan--who was with them--they
+lifted down a big still bundle, which was Anna, wet through, worn out,
+unconscious.  They carried her in very tenderly and put her to bed at
+once, and everything they could do for her ease and comfort they did.
+But though her strength revived and the dreadful exhaustion passed away,
+it was soon evident that she was ill--very ill, it seemed to them--and
+Fanny in alarm ran for Dr. Lang; and at his request telegrams were sent
+to Dr. Trenire and Aunt Pike, bidding them come home at once; while poor
+Kitty, overcome with fatigue and anxiety and remorse that this should
+have happened while she was in charge of them all, went and shut herself
+up in her room, locking out even Betty.
+
+The story of that night's search she told later--of their long, slow
+drive over the bleak roads in the teeth of a high wind and a driving
+rain; of their close examination of every yard of the way, one walking
+while the other drove; and of their hopelessness when they looked at the
+gateways and fields, into any of which Anna might have turned, and the
+lanes down which she might have wandered.  But of her own feelings she
+could not speak--the awful anxiety and remorse; the sense of
+responsibility and blameworthiness that filled her; her remembrance of
+Anna's sacrifice for Dan the night she saved his life; her dread of what
+they might see or hear--those were feelings too deep for words.
+So, too, was her agony of joy and relief when at last, almost by a
+miracle, they came on her lying in a linhay down a lane they had very
+nearly overlooked in the darkness.
+
+How she had wandered there no one would ever know, and Anna could never
+tell.  She must have doubled back when she found she had taken the wrong
+road, and then, in her fright and confusion, have gone round, and up and
+down, until she had lost herself far more effectually than if she had
+tried to.  That she had met no one to ask her way of was not wonderful
+on such a night and in a neighbourhood where there were only half a
+dozen cottages altogether, and at long distances apart.
+
+She had recognized Kitty and Jabez when they roused her, but in her
+relief had had a fit of hysterics which frightened them both nearly out
+of their wits, and then had fainted.
+
+Poor Kitty did her best to keep calm, and she and Jabez carried Anna to
+the carriage, and there, wrapped in all the rugs and shawls they could
+muster, she lay in Kitty's arms while Jabez drove quickly home.
+
+Their shortest and best way now was the road they had travelled so
+happily in the morning, so once again Kitty had a dim glimpse of the
+tors, standing up so lonely and desolate in the black night, lashed by
+the rain and swept by the wind, but she turned her eyes away, half
+shuddering.  They were nearly home when they met Dan crawling along,
+hopeless and dead beat.  He was soaked to the skin, his feet were galled
+and raw with walking in wet boots, but, worst of all, his search had
+been fruitless.  Crawling painfully, miserably homewards, with a mind
+full of the fate that might have overtaken Anna--Anna, who had saved his
+life--was it any wonder that he broke down and cried when, on hearing
+wheels, and turning to ask for a lift, he recognized first old Prue,
+then Jabez and Kitty, and, best of all, Anna, and knew that his search
+was ended?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+BANISHED.
+
+Kitty was to be sent away to school.  That was what that unlucky day had
+done for Kitty.  The fiat had gone forth, and there was no escape.
+
+Aunt Pike had been very frightened indeed when she was summoned home,
+and learned all about Anna's Helbarrow Tors experience, and found her
+seriously ill with pneumonia as a result of it.  She was very angry and
+very indignant, and angry fright, or fright and anger combined, make the
+worst form of anger as a rule.
+
+"Kitty was responsible, and there could not possibly be any excuse for
+her leaving the spot without her cousin," declared Mrs. Pike.
+"Kitty knew that there were many ways amongst which she might get lost,
+and how lonely it was, and she and Dan should have gone in search of
+poor Anna, and not have left the place until they had found her or heard
+for certain where she was.  The idea of coming all the way home without
+her, and with never a thought or a care as to what had become of her!
+It was almost incredible!"
+
+"I did think.  I did care," pleaded Kitty.  "Of course I thought she was
+ahead of us.  I never dreamed that she could have lost her way, or of
+course I shouldn't have come home without looking for her."
+
+"Then you should have dreamed, or have taken the trouble to find out.
+In any case, you should not have left the spot without her."
+
+"But we really thought she was ahead of us," repeated Kitty earnestly,
+"and we hurried on to pick her up."
+
+"_How_ could you overtake her or pick her up, when you were hurrying as
+fast as you could away from her, leaving her alone, poor child, to
+wander about that dreadful, dreadful place, in that awful storm in the
+dead of night?" demanded Aunt Pike angrily.
+
+"But--" began Kitty, then realized the hopelessness of trying to
+explain, and said no more.
+
+"For the future I shall always feel," said Aunt Pike severely, "that I
+not only cannot trust you, Katherine, but that I can never know what
+mischief you may be leading the younger ones into.  I am sure they would
+not be so wild if they hadn't you as a ringleader."
+
+Kitty's cheeks flamed with indignation.  _She_ could not be trusted!
+_She_ led the others into mischief!  Her eyes darkened with anger at the
+injustice, for all the trouble had been caused by Anna deciding, in her
+pig-headed way, that she knew a short cut home, and would take it
+without waiting for the others and the donkey.  She had thought she
+would get home first and be able to laugh at them and Mokus.
+She herself had admitted as much.
+
+Kitty's mind travelled back over that night search--the cold, the wet,
+the horror of it, her own exhaustion and Dan's; then she came back again
+suddenly to the present, and Aunt Pike's voice saying,--
+
+"You know, Katherine, I have had to overlook more than one serious piece
+of ill-behaviour on your part since I have been here.  Of course I put
+down much to the lawless, careless way in which you grew up, but, at the
+same time, I must admit that, after that very unpleasant episode with
+Lettice Kitson, I have never felt really quite easy in allowing Anna to
+be much with you.  I could not avoid feeling that you were having
+anything but a good influence over her, and but for your poor father's
+sake--"
+
+Kitty's cheeks were white enough now, and her eyes were very wide and
+full of indignation as she met her aunt's stern gaze, but there was no
+fear or shame in them.  She opened her lips, but before a word escaped
+them she closed them again, hesitated, and then walked quickly away.
+And the next thing she knew was that she was to be sent away, and when
+she heard it she thought her heart would break indeed.
+
+Her father, though most reluctantly, had agreed to the plan, because he
+could see no prospect of peace or happiness for her at home.  He very
+often in those days sighed deeply from a heavy heart, for his home was
+very different from what he had hoped it would be.  It was true that
+things were more orderly, but the old careless joyousness, the muddle
+and confusion, seemed now vastly preferable.
+
+Aunt Pike had never approved of Kitty.  Her careless, dreamy nature was
+a constant offence in her eyes; her sudden impulses, her want of
+concentration, her idle moods, when she sat just thinking and thinking
+and doing nothing, irritated Mrs. Pike beyond endurance.  They were as
+opposite to each other in tastes and natures as any two persons could
+be, and neither could understand or make allowance for the other.
+And Dr. Trenire, seeing all this, and how they irritated and annoyed
+each other, saw how bad it was, too, for Kitty's character, and at last
+consented, though very, very reluctantly, to Mrs. Pike's strongly-urged
+proposals that Kitty should be sent to a boarding-school.
+
+Poor Kitty! If ever there was in this world one poor little mortal more
+stricken with home-sickness than another, that poor little mortal was
+Kitty.  She loved every inch of the house and garden, of Gorlay, and of
+her county, and every person and animal who made up her home and her
+home life--loved all, too, with such an intensity that she felt it would
+be utterly impossible to live day after day away from them.
+
+It was a relief to her to hear that the school she was to go to was no
+farther off than Plymouth, but beyond that she took no interest in it,
+for the school was of Mrs. Pike's selecting, and wicked Kitty detested
+it before she even knew anything about it, and made up her mind to go on
+detesting it, no matter what it turned out to be.  To her it was simply
+a prison, and she could not and would not try to love her jailers.
+She felt, too, a conviction that her aunt would have told Miss Pidsley,
+the headmistress, all the story of the suspicion which had rested on
+her, and told it from her own point of view, of course.
+
+There was one good outcome of the resentment Kitty bore her aunt for
+"getting her sent away," as she put it--it made her determine not to let
+Mrs. Pike see how much she felt it, and so helped her to bear up
+bravely.  Helped her, that is, to bear up by day, but oh the nights!
+Oh, those long, miserable nights of heart-break and homesickness, when
+the pain was so intense as almost to drive her to appeal on her knees to
+Aunt Pike to let her stay at home, to promise abjectly to be and do all
+that she could wish.  And there were those other terrible moments, too,
+when misery nearly drove her to tell the truth about Anna and Lettice.
+
+Those were, perhaps, the hardest impulses of all to fight, for she knew
+that but to speak would mean, probably, that she would be considered fit
+to remain in her home, and Anna it would be who would be sent away.
+
+All her life after Kitty was thankful that she had had the strength
+given her to resist this temptation, but it was a very real one at the
+time.  There was to be no delay in sending her away.  She was to go at
+the end of the Christmas holidays, and active preparations for her
+outfit began at once.  To Betty this was most enthralling, and largely
+made up for the painful part, but Kitty took no interest in it whatever.
+Not even the fact of having a new Inverness and umbrella, and four new
+dresses all at once, not to speak of gloves, and hats, and shoes, and a
+number of other things, could rouse her to any sense of pleasure.
+
+She was very sorry later, and wept many a bitter tear over the new
+blotter her father bought her, and the nice muff and boa he gave her.
+When it was too late, she could never see them without remembering the
+delight with which he unwrapped them and gave them to her, the expectant
+look in his kind eyes of the pleasure they would bring to her, and of
+her own coldness, her unsmilingness, the indifference with which she
+took them and laid them down with scarcely a glance, yet all the while
+her heart was breaking, breaking with her love for him and all he did
+for her.  How could she care what she wore, or did, or used, if she was
+exiled from him!
+
+Then came the day when Mrs. Pike took her to her school and left her.
+It was a wet, stormy day, and Kitty sat looking through the streaming
+windows at the rain-swept country with a heart as stormy.  But though
+everything looked old and worn, and as unbeautiful as the day itself,
+she gained some consolation from the sight.  "The next time I see them,"
+she thought, gazing wistfully at the trees and houses, the bridges and
+fields, "I shall be going home! home! home!"
+
+"Yes, but thirteen long weeks must elapse first," came the next thought.
+
+"But what are thirteen weeks?" said the worn-looking objects
+cheeringly.  "Nothing!  We have seen years pass by, and thirteen weeks
+are but so many moments, flying already."
+
+Then at last they reached their station, and their journey was over; but
+in all the years to come, never, never again would Kitty Trenire pass
+the long, ugly rows of squalid backs of houses just outside the station,
+and dull depressing streets, never again would she enter that station
+itself, without living through once more and tasting again the misery,
+the strangeness, the forlornness which filled her heart that afternoon.
+She might come in the height of happiness, in the company of those she
+loved best, with hope and joy before and behind her, but never could the
+sight of it all, the smells, and the sounds, fail to bring back to Kitty
+memories of that supremely miserable day, and through any happiness make
+her taste again for a moment the forlornness, the black misery which
+swamped her as she first stood on that draughty, dingy platform.
+
+There was a smart tussle with the porter over the getting out of Kitty's
+luggage, for Aunt Pike was one of those unfortunate persons who never
+fail to come to words with porter or cabman, who, in fact, rub every one
+the wrong way to start with by taking for granted that they are trying
+to shirk their duties and to cheat her.
+
+Then came the inevitable tussle with the cabman as to the fare, during
+which Kitty glanced about her at the people on the platform, picking out
+with special interest those boys and girls who looked as though they
+also were going to school, and expending on them a great amount of pity
+which was probably in some cases quite wasted.
+
+At last came the summons to "get in," and Kitty got into the musty old
+cab beside her aunt, and they were started on the last stage of their
+journey through rain-washed busy streets, where the people were hurrying
+along under umbrellas, or in omnibuses and cabs.  Now and then a cab
+laden with luggage would lumber past them on its way to the station, and
+Kitty's mind would follow the people inside it through a whole long
+chapter of imaginary happenings until something else passed and
+distracted her thoughts.
+
+By-and-by they left the streets, and came to a quiet suburb, where road
+after road, lined on either side with houses exactly like each other,
+stretched in depressing monotony.  To Kitty it looked the very acme of
+correct, neat, yet hateful propriety, and her thoughts flew back
+longingly to the dear old irregular wind-swept street of Gorlay, which
+was to her then the most lovable and lovely spot on the face of the
+earth.  At last, when she was almost tired of speculating on the people
+who lived in the houses they were passing, and of pitying them for being
+condemned to such a fate, the jolting cab drew up before a corner house,
+one of the primmest of all the houses in the dullest of all the roads
+they had passed that afternoon, and Kitty saw a shining brass plate on
+the rails at the foot of the tiny patch of trim garden, and on the brass
+plate "Miss Pidsley."
+
+That was all.  And this was the place that was to be her home!  It was
+quite a small school to which she had been banished--a small private one
+where a few girls "who needed particular attention and training received
+the individual care they needed," as Aunt Pike carefully read out from
+the prospectus, dealing poor Kitty thus the last and most crushing
+insult.
+
+If the outside of the house had been unlike home and Gorlay, the inside
+was even more so; the extreme neatness, the absolute spotlessness of
+everything, the bareness, the high, square, ugly rooms, each and all
+weighed on Kitty's spirits with a fresh load of depression.  At the
+thought of being left there for months together with not a face about
+her that she knew, or a person who cared for her, she felt positively
+sick with misery.  She even dreaded the moment when Aunt Pike should
+depart.  But the moment soon came, and with a peck at Kitty's cheek, and
+a last request that she would make the most of the excellent
+opportunities for improvement now opening out before her, and a desire
+that she would _try_ to be a good girl.  Aunt Pike left her, and Kitty
+gazed after her with eyes aching with the tears she would not shed.
+She pictured her journeying home to Gorlay, saw her driving up through
+the street, drawing up before the old house, the door opening and the
+light streaming out, and Betty and Tony--and then the tears came,
+whether she would or no, and drowned every thought and sight and sound
+but that of her own misery.
+
+No. 127 Laburnum Road was under the joint partnership of two ladies,
+Miss Pidsley and Miss Hammond.  Miss Pidsley was the chief partner, and
+took the lead.  She interviewed the parents, managed the house, the
+meals, and almost everything, while Miss Hammond's duties lay more
+especially with the girls, their lessons and games.
+
+Before ever Kitty went to the school she had decided that she could not
+like Miss Pidsley.  She declared that she knew exactly what she would be
+like.  She would be cold, and stern, and hateful, or Aunt Pike would not
+have taken to her; and when Miss Pidsley came into the room to receive
+them, she knew that to some extent she was right.  Her new mistress
+welcomed them--at least she shook hands with them--and she smiled--at
+least she half closed her eyes in a weary fashion, and widened her lips,
+but there was no heartiness or gladness in it.  But while Kitty felt the
+chilliness of it, she could not help sympathizing with Miss Pidsley.
+To her it would have been wonderful if any one had been able to smile in
+such a house as that.
+
+Presently tea was brought in, and for nearly half an hour Kitty sat
+holding tea and bread and butter, trying her best to swallow both, but
+vainly.  Miss Hammond did not appear at tea.  She had only just arrived,
+Miss Pidsley explained, and was tired.  The other pupils had not yet
+come; there were only four of them, and they travelled by later trains
+from higher up the line.
+
+After tea, Kitty, who was to have a room to herself that term as there
+was no room-mate for her, was shown her little bare bedroom, and there
+Aunt Pike said her farewells, and left her alone amidst her boxes; and
+there she remained crying and crying her heart out, her boxes untouched,
+everything forgotten but her own overpowering misery.  "She could not
+bear it," she moaned, "she could not bear it!"  She thought of her
+father, and Tony, and Betty, and felt sure her heart must break.
+
+"Poor child!  We all have to bear it, dear, once in our lives, and some
+of us many times," said a soft voice very quietly, while a soft hand was
+laid on her bowed head.
+
+Kitty was so startled that she forgot her disfigured face and looked up;
+and when she had once looked, and her eyes met the kind eyes gazing into
+hers, she did not mind, for they were misty too with sympathy.
+
+"You remind me so of the day that I first went away to school,
+Katherine.  You are Katherine, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes," murmured the owner of the name; "but they always call me Kitty at
+home, all but Aunt Pike."
+
+"May I call you Kitty?"
+
+"Please do," said Kitty eagerly.
+
+"Well, dear, I want you to unpack your things now, and try to make your
+room less bare and unhomelike.  It will look so different when you have
+your own pretty things about it, and will seem more your own."
+
+"I don't want it to," said Kitty miserably.  "It isn't home, and it
+never could be; in fact, I don't want it to."
+
+"Oh, come now, Kitty dear, don't talk like that; call up your courage,
+and make the best of things.  It is only for a time, only for a little
+time," said wily Miss Hammond; "but however short it is, it is always
+better to try and make it a pleasant time to look back upon.  Think of
+that, Kitty; always when you are hesitating and feel tempted to be
+disagreeable, or to make things disagreeable, think of the future, and
+what the present will be like to look back upon."
+
+Kitty was impressed.  She looked up with a brighter, more interested
+face.
+
+"Have you a mother and father?"
+
+"Mother is dead," said Kitty softly.
+
+"Poor child," said Miss Hammond, laying her cool fingers against Kitty's
+hot cheek.  "For your father's sake then, dear, try to be as brave and
+cheerful as you can.  It is sad enough for him, I am sore, to have this
+parting, but to know that you are grieving and unhappy will double his
+sadness. Besides which," she went on thoughtfully, "you know he is
+paying a good deal of money for your education here, and for his sake
+you should try to get all the good you can from what he is doing for
+you.  Doesn't the thought of working hard for his sake comfort you?"
+
+"Oh yes," sighed Kitty eagerly, clutching at any kind of comfort, at
+anything she could do for those she loved.  "Oh yes, it will.  I--I
+hadn't thought of that; but I feel now as if I must work and work--"
+then she broke off, embarrassed, and actually laughed at herself.
+
+"There, I knew you had plenty of spirit," cried Miss Hammond
+delightedly.  "Now I am going to unpack some of my boxes, and then they
+are going to bring me some tea to my room.  Will you come and join me,
+dear?  I am sure you can manage another tea."
+
+"Oh yes, thank you," smiled Kitty, "I am sure I can.  I would love to
+come."
+
+Left alone, Kitty began at once to unpack and arrange her belongings.
+She felt a little choky as she took out and looked at the photographs
+and the various little parting gifts that had been given her,
+particularly when she came across a piece of spar that Tony, without
+saying a word to any one, must have wrapped up and tucked in amongst her
+things as a pleasant surprise for her.  It was a very pretty bit that he
+had himself found, and was immensely proud of.  Kitty's eyes filled as
+she held the little cold stone and kissed it.  Then she hung up a
+calendar that Betty had given her, one of her own manufacture.  "I shall
+soon be able to mark off one day," she thought with some relief.
+
+Her room grew to look so different and so nice that she became quite
+interested, and rather a long time had elapsed before she tidied herself
+and went out in search of Miss Hammond's room.  It was not difficult to
+find, for it was on the same landing as her own, and had Miss Hammond's
+name painted on the door.
+
+"Come in," said a voice in answer to her knock.  "Come in.  I was just
+about to begin without you.  Sit down here, dear, in this low chair by
+the table.  We will have a 'plate tea' and a drawing-room tea combined;"
+and Kitty dropped gladly into a pretty low chair beside the tea-table,
+which was drawn up to the fire, and Miss Hammond drew up her chair to
+the other side.
+
+"Oh, what a grand thing tea is!  I love it," she exclaimed with a sigh
+of pleasure.  It was said so girlishly and impulsively that Kitty
+laughed as she agreed.
+
+"Pamela Peters has come," said Miss Hammond a moment later, "and I have
+asked her to tea too."
+
+Kitty felt just a little feeling of disappointment.  She did not want to
+meet any more strangers then; she was tired and shy, and she knew that
+her eyes were still swelled.  She wanted, too, to have Miss Hammond to
+herself--she was so sympathetic and understanding, and so bright and
+interesting.  Kitty had never before met any one like her, and was
+charmed.
+
+"I will not say I want you two to be friends, or that I think you will
+like each other, for I know that that is the surest way to make you
+determine you never could, would, or should be.  But I do think you will
+like Pamela, and I thought it would be nice for you to get to know one
+of your future companions a little before meeting them all together."
+
+Kitty could not but agree.  One stranger now, with Miss Hammond to break
+the ice, was infinitely preferable to four by-and-by, when she would be
+alone.  And then came a knock at the door, and Pamela Peters walked in.
+
+Pamela was a taller and altogether larger girl than Kitty.  She looked
+rather older too.  Perhaps a certain air of self-possession gave one
+that impression.  Kitty gazed at her first with interest and then with
+wonder, for she looked as smiling and happy as though she had just
+reached home for the holidays, instead of returning to school for the
+term.  She had to check her surprise while Miss Hammond introduced them
+and made room for Pamela at the table, but it soon returned again with
+double force.
+
+"I am very glad to see you," said Pamela heartily, turning to Kitty
+again.  "Isn't it jolly to be back?"
+
+"Jolly!--what!--isn't it what?" stammered Kitty, at a loss to understand
+her.
+
+Miss Hammond laughed.  "Kitty Trenire thinks it anything but jolly; her
+heart is miles away from here; but I hope that in time she will find
+something here to care for too."  And even Kitty actually felt that in
+time perhaps she might.  In that cosy little room, and with those two
+new friends, it did not seem so absolutely impossible; but when Kitty's
+thoughts flew to Miss Pidsley, the bare, unhomelike room downstairs, and
+the dreary road outside, her mind began to waver, and she felt anything
+but hopeful.
+
+"I _am_ so glad to be back," sighed Pamela, with genuine pleasure.
+She was not exaggerating in the least--even Kitty could see that.
+"But," she added, "if you have a nice home and people to leave, it must
+be awfully hard.  I expect it is what I feel at the end of term when I
+have to leave here."
+
+"Oh, it is much worse than that; it must be," gasped Kitty, her
+astonishment overcoming her shyness.  "But you are laughing.  You really
+love going home, of course?"
+
+"No, I don't.  I am miserable.  You see, I have no real home, only a
+guardian, an old man, who doesn't want me any more than I want to go,
+and is just as anxious as I am for the holidays to be over.  He is old,
+and an invalid too, poor old man, and he never will have any one to stay
+in the house, or allow me to; so it is dull, and one doesn't feel very
+overjoyed at going home to it.  I can assure you I find it much more
+exciting to come back to school.  I suppose you have brothers and
+sisters and a real home?" looking across at Kitty with wistful eyes.
+
+"Oh yes!" said Kitty, and then she fell to talking of them; and Miss
+Hammond and Pamela listened with such interest and laughter to her
+account of their escapades and adventures, that Kitty talked on and on,
+until at last they were interrupted by a cab drawing up before the
+house, and Miss Hammond had to go to welcome the new arrivals.
+
+"I feel as though I knew Betty and Dan and Tony already," said Pamela as
+they strolled down the corridor to their rooms.  "I wish I did.  And
+your father must be a perfect dear, I think."
+
+"He is," said Kitty warmly, but with a catch in her voice; and from that
+moment she loved Pamela.  "I do wish," she said impulsively, "I do wish
+you could come and stay with us, and know them all.  There isn't very
+much to see at Gorlay, but there are beautiful places all round it, and
+we could have some jolly times."
+
+"I'd love to come," said Pamela heartily.  "I know I should enjoy myself
+tremendously, I feel it in my bones.  But don't ask me if you don't
+really mean it, for I shall come, I tell you plainly."
+
+Kitty laughed, actually laughed quite gaily, and made up her mind that
+it should not be her fault if Pamela did not have at least one happy
+holiday.
+
+The next day the girls were allowed to write home to announce their safe
+arrival.  Kitty wrote to her father a letter full of eagerness and
+promises, and longings for the holidays, which made Dr. Trenire smile
+and sigh as he laid it away in his pocket-book, and made the house seem
+emptier and less itself even than it had done before.  In with her
+father's letter Kitty put one for Betty.  It was the first that young
+person had ever received, and it so filled her with a sense of
+importance that Anna and Tony said she was almost unbearable all the
+rest of the day.  How many times she read it over no one could have
+counted, but at every opportune and inopportune moment it was drawn out
+of her pocket, until at last it grew quite frayed at the edges, and,
+though scarcely a word it contained was confided to the others, Betty
+read it again and again with compressed lips and frowning brows, and an
+air of seriousness that nearly drove them frantic.
+
+There was not much in it either to give rise to all this.
+
+"Dearest Betty," wrote Kitty, "I have so much I want to say that I don't
+know what to say first.  I am very lonely, but one day and night are
+over, and one of the girls is very nice, I think.  She is called Pamela
+Peters, and I want to bring her home with me for the holidays, because
+she has no father or mother, or home, or anything but a guardian, a very
+cross old man, and I want her to see what jolly times we have.  I think
+I shall like another girl too, called Hope Carey.  She is quite little,
+about your age, and is very unhappy.  Her mother was very ill when she
+left home, and she is always thinking about her and fretting.  I think
+it was very cruel to send her back until her mother was better.  I do
+feel so sorry for her.
+
+"One of the first things I did was to take off my gray stockings and put
+them all away.  I shall give them to one of the maids.  It is lovely to
+be without the hateful things.  I wonder what you are all doing at this
+very minute, and if you are thinking of me.  I am always thinking of you
+all the time, and saying, 'Another minute gone, another hour gone,' but
+it only seems to make the time pass more slowly.  I have a bedroom to
+myself, I am glad to say, and it looks very nice with my things about
+it, but of course I don't really care for it at all.  I think Miss
+Pidsley isn't as nasty as I thought she was when Aunt Pike was with her.
+I think she is ill, or worried, or something, and not so very cross.
+Miss Hammond, the other principal, is a dear.  I like her very much.
+We are all going out shopping one day with Miss Hammond.  We are allowed
+to go on one Wednesday afternoon each month.  Sometimes she takes the
+girls to see something, or to a concert, instead of going shopping.
+I do not want to buy anything for myself, but I think  I shall get some
+flowers for Miss Hammond, and something for Hope, she is so unhappy, and
+she has very little pocket-money.  We go for excursions in the summer
+and have theatricals at Christmas, and you and father will be invited to
+those.  It is rather nice, isn't it?  But of course I don't take any
+real interest in it.  I hate being here, but I am going to work hard to
+make the time pass.  I hope Anna is better.  Give Tony my love, and tell
+him he was a perfect dear to give me his precious piece of spar.
+I shall always take it with me wherever I go.  I will write to him next
+time.  Mind you write and tell me everything, and give my love to Fanny,
+and Jabez, and Grace, and kiss Prue and Billy for me.  Kiss Prue on her
+dear old cheek and her soft nose.--Your loving sister,
+
+"Kitty."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+"GOOD IN EVERYTHING."
+
+Betty's satisfaction, though, ended with the day.  "I am never happy one
+day but what I've _got_ to be unhappy the next," she said plaintively to
+her father the following evening, when telling him her woes.
+
+"You might put it another way," he said, smiling, "and say you are never
+very unhappy one day but what you are very happy the next."
+
+Betty shook her head gravely.  "But I am not," she said.  "I can't be
+_sure_ I am going to be happy, but I can be that I am going to be
+unhappy, and sometimes it lasts for ever so long."
+
+"You poor little suffering martyr," said Dr. Trenire, "what is wrong
+now?"
+
+"It's my stockings," said Betty solemnly.
+
+"Whatever is wrong with your stockings?  Stand still, child, can't you,
+and tell me."
+
+"No," said Betty, "I can't, my legs itch so.  I am sure I shall be crazy
+before long.  I _almost_ wish I'd been sent away to school too, then I
+could give them away, as Kitty has."
+
+"Given away what?--her legs?  What made Kitty do it, and what is wrong
+with the stockings?  Are they new, that they have only just begun to
+irritate you?"
+
+"No, they aren't new, but--well, you see, I've only just been found
+out."
+
+"What _do_ you mean?"
+
+"Well, you see, Aunt Pike would make us wear these ugly, woolly, itchy
+things, and "--Betty's voice waxed indignant--"she wouldn't believe us
+when we said we couldn't, and so--well, I thought of it first--we wore
+our black cotton ones under these, and then we didn't feel them."
+
+"I see," said Dr. Trenire, a smile beginning to twinkle in his eyes.
+"And you were not found out?"
+
+"Not till to-day," with a triumphant air; "but to-day there was a hole
+in the gray ones, and I didn't know it; but Aunt Pike saw the black
+showing through, and she screamed out, 'Elizabeth, _what_ has happened
+to your leg?'  And oh!  I did jump so; and then I looked, and there was
+a great black spot, and everybody was looking and laughing.  It was--oh,
+it was dretful, and Aunt Pike was _so_ angry, she made me go home and
+take off the black ones; and now she has taken all my cotton ones away,
+and--and I've _got_ to wear these, and it's--it's _awful_, it really is,
+daddy," and poor Betty's eyes grew pink with tears.
+
+"I know," said her father sympathetically.  "I suffer in the same way
+myself.  Don't cry, child; it will be all right.  I will explain to your
+aunt."
+
+But Betty had borne much that day, and the tears, at least a few, had to
+come.  "She said if Tony can bear it, I can; but Tony doesn't mind, he
+doesn't feel it; he says, though, he would never have said he didn't if
+he had known it would make it harder for me and Kitty."
+
+"Loyal Tony!" laughed Dr. Trenire.  "I like his spirit.  Well, don't
+fret about it any more; you shall have some others.  I think, though,
+that we will have some other colour; they aren't very pretty, are they?"
+
+"Pretty!" cried Betty; "they are _'trocious_.  No one else would have
+worn them.  I'll take them off now; shall I, father?"
+
+"Hadn't you better wait till you have some others to put on?"
+
+"Oh no, thank you.  Fanny wouldn't take long getting me some.  If you
+will give her some money, she won't be more than a few minutes.
+I'll wrap my feet up in two shawls for the time."
+
+"I see there is to be no time wasted," said Dr. Trenire.  "You are a
+business-like young person, Betty."
+
+"Yes," said Betty, with satisfaction.  "You see, I can't do anything
+until I have them; and if they are going to be bought, they may as well
+be bought quickly."
+
+"Your logic is admirable; but, dear, why didn't you speak to me about it
+before?  It would have been much better than pretending to obey your
+aunt all these weeks, and deceiving her."
+
+Betty looked ashamed.  To have the word "deceive" used about herself
+without any glossing of it over made her feel very small and mean.
+
+"We did think of it, father," she said earnestly; "but Kitty said she
+didn't want to seem to be always complaining about Aunt Pike."
+
+"I see," said Dr. Trenire quietly, and he gazed for a moment gravely
+into the fire before he left the room.
+
+Betty never knew what passed between her father and her aunt; but she
+heard no more about the gray stockings, and she wrote off delightedly to
+Kitty to tell her all about it.
+
+Kitty was out when the letter came.  It was the day on which the girls
+were taken for an afternoon's shopping or sight-seeing.
+
+"I really must get some presents to take home to them all," she had said
+quite seriously to Pamela in the morning.
+
+Pamela laughed.  "There are eleven more weeks to do it in," she said.
+
+But Kitty covered her ears.  "Don't, don't," she cried--"just when I
+have been telling myself that time is flying, and that I haven't many
+more chances."
+
+"Well, you haven't _many_," laughed Pamela.  "Of course we don't go
+every week.  I think you are wise, though, to get your things while you
+have the money, and if you see things later that you like better you
+mustn't mind."
+
+"I shall keep my eyes turned away from the shops," said Kitty.  "Now be
+quiet, Pamela, while I make my list."
+
+"Mine is ready," said Pamela, with something between a laugh and a sigh,
+and she held up a blank sheet.
+
+"Haven't you any one to get anything for?" said Kitty sympathetically,
+sorry At once that she had talked so much about herself.  "Poor Pamela!"
+
+"Only Miss Hammond," said Pamela.  "We generally give her some flowers--
+most of us do, at least.  Rhoda Collins doesn't; she says it seems such
+a waste of money, as flowers fade so soon.  I suggested one
+day that she should give Miss Hammond a cake instead, as that at any
+rate was useful."
+
+"And did she?"
+
+"No; she said one couldn't get anything very nice for a penny."
+
+Kitty tittered.  "Flowers for Miss Hammond," she wrote on her list.
+"What do you give to Miss Pidsley?"
+
+"Miss Pidsley!" Pamela looked surprised at her question.  "Oh, nothing.
+You see, Miss Hammond goes with us, and--and--well, we all like her; but
+Miss Pidsley--I don't know why, but I think we never thought of giving
+her anything.  I should be afraid to."
+
+The shopping was really great fun; the girls swarmed about the counters
+and wandered about the shops, going into raptures over this thing and
+hesitating about buying that thing, until it really seemed as though all
+the purchases never would be made.  Yet by degrees they somehow acquired
+a great many curious possessions.
+
+Kitty bought a nice pocket-book for her father, a little brooch for
+Betty, a book for Tony, and a penknife for Anna; but it took so long to
+decide on these that she left her presents for the servants to get
+another day, for she still had to buy her flowers for Miss Hammond, and
+teatime was fast approaching.  The flower-shop was perhaps the most
+fascinating of all; the cut flowers, the ferns, and the plants in the
+pots were perfectly bewildering in their beauty.  Kitty was in raptures,
+and almost wished she had bought flowers to take home to them all,
+instead of the things she had got.
+
+"Father would simply love that fern," she cried, "and Betty would go
+wild over that little white basket with the ferns and hyacinths in it.
+O Pamela, I do so want it for her!  I want them all!"
+
+Pamela had not lost her head as Kitty had.  "Well, the hyacinths will
+have faded long before you go home, Kitty, and the brooch is easier to
+pack."
+
+Kitty laughed somewhat shamefacedly.  Her eye was already caught by a
+lovely little flowering rose-bush in a pot.  "I must buy that," she said
+with determination, "and I am going to."
+
+"For Miss Hammond?  Oh, how nice!  Stupid me had never thought of a
+plant for her.  I always get cut flowers for her room."
+
+"It isn't for Miss Hammond," said Kitty rather shyly; "I have bought
+violets for her.  I think I will take the rose back to Miss Pidsley."
+
+"Miss Pidsley!  You funny girl, Kitty."
+
+"Well, at any rate I will offer it to her, and if she doesn't like it--
+she can't hurt me; and it does seem rather hard that she should miss all
+this, and not have anything taken back to her either.  She seems to have
+all the dull, disagreeable things to do, and none of the nice ones."
+
+"I had never thought of that," said Pamela.  "I suppose she chose what
+should be her work, and what should be Miss Hammond's."
+
+"Then she must be a good sort to have given all the nicest things to
+others to do, and have kept all the dull ones for herself," said Kitty,
+with the frankness with which schoolgirls discuss their elders in
+private.
+
+"Come along, girls," called Miss Hammond, returning to the shop.
+"I have ordered tea, and it will be ready in five minutes."
+
+By this time it was getting dark, and it was very pleasant to turn from
+the cold, windy streets into the snug, brightly-lighted room where tea
+was laid for them at a couple of tables placed in the window.
+The blinds were up, and they could watch the people and the busy life in
+the streets, or could turn their eyes inwards and look at that in the
+room, where every table was occupied.  They were all very hungry and
+pleased and excited.  The food was good and the tea was good, and the
+girls could talk and laugh to their hearts' content.
+
+Then there was the walk home through the busy streets again, where the
+shops were all brilliantly lighted now, making everything look very gay
+and cheerful.  Kitty felt the exhilaration of it tingling in her blood
+as she stepped along through the strange scenes which, in her eyes, were
+so exciting and gay and full of interest.
+
+When they reached home and the others all flew off to their rooms, Kitty
+stood for a moment hesitating; then, with a little added flush on her
+cheeks, she walked along the hall to Miss Pidsley's private room and
+knocked.  There was a moment's silence, then "Come in," said Miss
+Pidsley in a voice that was not exactly encouraging, for it was that of
+a person who had reached the limits of her patience.
+
+Kitty almost wished she had not come.  She seemed to be doing such a
+dreadful thing by interrupting, and suddenly her pretty rose looked very
+poor and insignificant; but there was no drawing back now, so she opened
+the door and went in.  Miss Pidsley looked up very sharply.
+
+"Oh, surely, Katherine," she began, when she saw who it was, "it is not
+time for your music lesson yet?"  Then she noticed that Kitty had on her
+hat, and had evidently only just come in.
+
+"Oh no,  Miss Pidsley," said Kitty, "there is an our yet before that.
+I hope I haven't interrupted you.  I brought you home a little
+rose-tree, which I hope--I--I thought you might like it," and she put
+the beautiful, cheery-looking little crimson rambler down on the table
+beside her.
+
+Miss Pidsley looked completely surprised, but quite pleased.  "How kind
+of you, Katherine--how very kind of you to think of me," she said, and
+Katherine noticed that her voice sounded strangely.  Then her head
+dropped on her hand, and she gave a deep, deep sigh.  "Oh," she
+exclaimed, and the words seemed to be forced from her, "I am _so_
+worried, and oh! so tired, so tired."  Then she looked up again with
+almost an embarrassed air.  "I am afraid I spoke sharply when you
+knocked.  I feared it might be Jane again, and after the scene I have
+had with her I really do not want to see her for some time yet.  She has
+quarrelled with the house-maid, and both have given me notice; and what
+to do I don't know, just at the beginning of term and all."  Miss
+Pidsley talked on as though she really could not keep her troubles to
+herself any longer.  "It has been a most trying scene; they upset me
+dreadfully, they were so violent."
+
+Had any one else in the house heard the usually reserved headmistress
+talking so unreservedly they would have gasped with astonishment.  But
+Kitty was too full of sympathetic interest to think of anything else.
+She had a little unconscious way of her own of winning confidence from
+the most unlikely of people, and poor Miss Pidsley, who was so weary, so
+overburthened with worries, so perplexed and altogether out of heart,
+could not refrain from pouring her troubles out to her; for, first of
+all, her sympathy, and, secondly, her little gift of the rose had
+carried her straight into Miss Pidsley's lonely, aching heart.
+
+There was Miss Hammond, of course, for her to confide in, and Miss
+Hammond would have been told some of the worries by-and-by, but deep
+down in Miss Pidsley's heart lurked a little pain, a little trouble that
+Miss Hammond's advice could never lessen.  Miss Hammond was attractive,
+charming, genial, and every one liked her; the girls all adored her.
+Miss Pidsley was not attractive, and she had not a genial manner, and
+she told herself that nobody cared for her, and that the girls feared
+and disliked her.  And, unfortunately, this feeling, which hurt her
+cruelly, made her withdraw herself more and more from all but what one
+might call the business part of the life, and so gave the girls a real
+reason for feeling towards her as they did.
+
+Fortunately Kitty had not known Miss Pidsley long enough to realize how
+very unlike herself she was now, so she was not at all embarrassed, but
+only intensely full of a desire to help.
+
+"Miss Pidsley," she said, after a moment's pause, "if you would let me,
+I will write to father and ask him if he knows of any girls that would
+do for you.  He often does hear of servants wanting places--nice ones
+too.  You see, he knows so many poor people."
+
+Miss Pidsley looked up surprised.  She had never thought of Kitty as a
+possible helper in her dilemma.  "It is very kind of you, Katharine, to
+think of it," she said warmly.  "I should indeed be most grateful to
+your father if he could help me.  He would know that the girls were
+respectable and nice.  But I really do not like to trouble him, he is
+such a busy man."
+
+"Oh, father wouldn't think it a trouble.  I will write to-night," said
+Kitty, delighted at the prospect of being able to help.  "I wish you had
+been with us this afternoon, Miss Pidsley; you would have enjoyed it
+so.  We had a lovely time."
+
+"I wish I had," said Miss Pidsley.  "At any rate I should have had some
+tea, which is more than I got at home."
+
+"No tea!" Kitty was shocked.  No wonder she found her mistress tired and
+overdone.  "Shall I tell them to get you some now?" she asked, moving
+towards the door.
+
+"Oh no!" cried Miss Pidsley, alarmed.  "I would not ask for anything
+while matters are in such a state in the kitchen." Then she laughed with
+some embarrassment at her confession of fear.
+
+"I will go and take off my things now," said Kitty, and she left rather
+abruptly and ran quickly to her room.
+
+The throwing off of her hat and coat occupied less than a minute; then,
+taking out from a tin box a spirit-lamp and kettle, she filled the
+latter and put it on to boil.  That done, she ran softly down the stairs
+to the pantry.  Fortunately for her, Nellie, the schoolroom maid, was
+there alone.  Nellie, who was an easy-going, good-tempered girl, had
+been the pleased recipient of the discarded gray stockings, and had ever
+since showed a gratitude which was beyond Kitty's comprehension, for in
+her opinion it was she who had most cause to be grateful.  To Nellie
+Kitty explained her wants, and after a brief, whispered consultation she
+was soon speeding back with a little jug of milk, some tea in a small
+teapot, and a plate of biscuits on a tray.  In her room she had a pretty
+teacup of her own, which she meant to use.
+
+The kettle was singing by the time she got back, and a few moments later
+she made her way proudly down to Miss Pidsley's room with a fragrant
+scent of tea marking her path.  This time, when she knocked, Miss
+Pidsley really did think she had come for her music lesson, and a little
+sigh again escaped her, a sigh which turned to an exclamation of real
+pleasure when she saw what Kitty was bringing her.  Cornish Kitty had
+forgotten all about sugar or a teaspoon, but Miss Pidsley needed her tea
+so badly she did not heed the omission, but sat down at once to enjoy to
+the full her little picnic meal.
+
+When Kitty returned to her own room again she was surprised at herself
+for feeling so happy.  "School isn't _all_ bad," she said thoughtfully.
+"I dare say I should get quite to like it in time."
+
+Then her eye fell on Betty's newly-arrived letter, and tearing it open,
+she read of all her woes and triumphs connected with the detested
+woollen stockings.  There was a long letter from Dan too, full of a sort
+of laughing sympathy as well as jokes and fun, but with here and there
+the strain of seriousness which so often astonished Dan's friends, and
+made him the dear, lovable old boy he was.
+
+"It was rough on you," he wrote, "to pack you off to school like that,
+and jolly unfair too; and I expect you felt you would never smile again.
+But you will, and before many weeks are gone by, too; and I do believe
+it is the best thing for both of us.  We didn't make any friends at
+home; there was no one we cared for, and we are such a funny, reserved
+crew--at least that's what they say here about me, and I believe I was
+the best of us--in that way, I mean.  It won't be so very long before we
+shall be going home, and, my word, it is worth while going away just to
+have the going home again.  So cheer up, old girl; it isn't every one
+that can boast of a brother like me.  Hurry up and write, just to show
+you appreciate your blessings."
+
+"There _are_ some things to make up for being away," thought Kitty, and
+she wrote Dan a long, bright, hopeful letter, and another to Betty.
+
+A week or so later she wrote to her father to broach her desire to bring
+home Pamela with her.  She thought it wise to mention it early, as it
+would take some time to reconcile Aunt Pike to the thought.  For more
+than a week she had no reply and no letter from any one, and she was
+just beginning to worry very much about it when a letter came from her
+father.
+
+"I shall be delighted to welcome your young friend," he wrote, "and I am
+very glad you have one you want to bring home with you.  But I can only
+consent conditionally, for poor unfortunate Anna is down with measles,
+and is very unwell, poor child.  I have not spoken to your aunt yet
+about your plan, for she is too worried about Anna, and some other
+matters, to bear any more agitation.  If Betty and Tony do not develop
+measles, and I am taking every precaution to prevent its spreading, the
+house will be free of infection and safe for you all to come to; but
+should they develop it--well, it does no good to climb our hills before
+we reach them, and we will not anticipate any such blow.  When Anna is
+free from infection and able to travel, her mother will take her to the
+sea for a thorough bracing up.  I am sure you will understand how things
+are at present, and make the best of them if they should not turn out as
+you wish."
+
+Poor Kitty!  She saw at once that what her father tried not to
+anticipate was the possibility of her not being able to come home at all
+for the holidays, nor Dan either; and how could one help climbing such a
+hill before one came to it, or at least standing at its foot and gazing
+anxiously up its rough, stony sides?
+
+"I do think Anna was born to aggravate," she said crossly, but a few
+moments later her anger against her cooled.  "It must be horrid for her
+too," she added, "for she never seems to get any fun out of anything,
+not even out of being ill."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+THREATENING CLOUDS.
+
+But Betty and Tony behaved extremely well.  They escaped the measles,
+and all risk of infection was over long before the end of term came--and
+even a first term at school must come to an end some time.
+
+Kitty at last had but seven more slips to tear off and seven more dates
+to strike through, and for sheer pleasure she left them untouched.
+Time did not need helping along now.
+
+Then came the last day, when the boxes stood packed and strapped and
+labelled, and a general air of holidays and freedom from rules pervaded
+the whole house.  Rhoda and Cicely Collins were leaving very early.
+Rhoda wanted to go by the earliest train because the fares were slightly
+lower.  Rhoda was of a saving disposition.  It always gave her the
+greatest pleasure to be able to economize in any way, and her stores of
+twine and paper, old corks, scraps of writing-paper, old pens, and other
+things, afforded food for endless jokes amongst the rest of the girls.
+Cicely, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of her sister; but
+being the younger, and less masterful, she gave in to Rhoda, and on the
+day they were to go home she rose, at Rhoda's command, from her bed at
+six o'clock, very unwillingly though, for the saving of threepence on
+her journey was nothing to Cicely in comparison to the discomfort of
+rising early.
+
+Hope Carey had gone home some weeks before, having fretted herself ill
+with anxiety about her mother.  Kitty and Pamela were to wait until the
+eleven o'clock train, for Dan, who broke up on the same day, could join
+them then at their station, and they could all travel down together.
+It was not nearly eleven when they reached the station; but how could
+they stay quietly in the dull, deserted house waiting for the hours to
+go by?  Miss Hammond saw that it was too much to expect of them, so took
+them down very early; for a railway station, with its bustle and life,
+is a capital place for making time pass.
+
+"It all seems too lovely to be real," sighed Kitty happily.  "To be
+going home, to be meeting Dan, to be travelling by ourselves, and to
+have no lessons for more than three weeks!  It seems too much happiness
+all at once, and I am afraid I shall wake up presently and find it a
+dream, as I so often have.  I understand now what Dan meant by saying it
+was almost worth going away to have the going home.  I do think,
+though," with sudden alarm, "that Dan must have missed his train.
+I am sure it must be nearly afternoon."
+
+"It is five minutes past eleven," laughed Miss Hammond, "and there is
+his train now coming in, and there--if I don't mistake--is Dan."
+
+But Kitty had seen him first, and was flying down the platform to meet
+him.  Dan, recognizing the flying figure, stood and warded her off with
+the umbrella and bag he had in his hands.  "Now, if you kiss me here,"
+he cried, "I shall call for help, I really shall; it is taking a mean
+advantage, and I am not going to stand it.  I wouldn't mind if you were
+by yourself, but the others would be imitating you!"
+
+Kitty laughed.  "I forgot you were still a little boy," she said
+teasingly.  "I know little boys do mind.  When they are real men they
+don't.  Come along, Dan, and speak to Miss Hammond and Pamela," and Dan
+followed quite sedately to make his best bow to Kitty's friends.
+
+"You must be very thankful the holidays are come," he said solemnly to
+Miss Hammond.  "I know, of course, how wearing Kitty is."
+
+"I expect some of your masters feel they have cause for gratitude to-day
+too," laughed Miss Hammond.  "Now we must hurry if we want to find nice
+seats.  I see your train is in."
+
+Pamela and Dan looked at each other and smiled somewhat embarrassedly;
+but Dan, who had been rather annoyed at first by Kitty's asking to bring
+home a friend with her, let his heart melt a little towards her, for he
+somehow felt that things were not going to be as bad as he had feared;
+and when they had found an empty compartment, and seemed likely to have
+it to themselves all the way, he graciously thawed still more, and his
+spirits rose to their usual height.
+
+Alas, though, for plans.  The train was on the point of starting, the
+whistle had gone, and the guard was just about to signal to the
+engine-driver, when there was a shout and a rush, and with a "Here you
+are, ma'am!" a porter laid hold of the handle of their door, flung it
+open, almost pushed two ladies in, threw in some bags and parcels after
+them, and banged the door to again.  Off started the engine with a jerk
+which threw the ladies on to the seat opposite Kitty, who, with dismayed
+face and sinking spirits, had already recognized them as Lady Kitson and
+Lettice.
+
+"She will be with us all the time, and everything is spoilt," she
+groaned inwardly.  She was intensely disappointed.  "Strangers would not
+have been so bad, or any one but those particular two."
+
+Pamela was sitting in the corner opposite her, and Dan was in the corner
+at the other end of her seat.  Lady Kitson and Lettice were at first too
+cross and too much shaken to notice any one; but presently, having
+recovered and arranged their packages, and settled down in their seats,
+they glanced about the compartment, and, with a look of not very pleased
+surprise, recognized their companions.
+
+"Oh, how do you do, Dan?" said Lady Kitson, and smiled quite affably on
+him, but to Kitty she vouchsafed only the merest acknowledgment.
+
+Lettice blushed hotly when she saw Kitty, and gave her one of her broad,
+meaning smiles.
+
+"How do you do?" said Kitty very stiffly, and with no shadow of a smile.
+
+"How is your poor little cousin, Dan?" said Lady Kitson presently.
+"I hope she is growing strong again after her two serious illnesses?"
+
+"Yes, thank you," said Dan.  "She has gone away for change of air."
+
+"Oh, indeed.  I am glad she is able to.  It was so alarming her being so
+ill.  Oh, I heard about your shocking behaviour in leaving her behind to
+walk home by herself, on _such_ a night too, and in such a wild spot."
+
+"I am afraid you haven't heard the right story, Lady Kitson," said Dan
+gravely, but with a flash of his eye.
+
+Lady Kitson smiled a most aggravating little smile.  "Oh, I think so,"
+she said meaningly.  Then, "You are not all going away with Anna, I
+hope," she remarked severely.  "I am sure the poor child must require
+perfect peace and great care."
+
+"No, Aunt Pike has gone with her.  We are going home, and Kitty's friend
+is coming to stay with us," and Dan looked towards Pamela.  "May I
+introduce Miss Pamela Peters--Lady Kitson, Miss Kitson," said Dan very
+formally, and growing very red.
+
+Pamela smiled and bowed very prettily to Lady Kitson.  Lady Kitson
+stared at Pamela, but gave her only the vaguest of acknowledgments.
+Lettice nodded as though her neck were loose at the joint.
+
+"You don't mean to say that while Mrs. Pike is away your poor father is
+going to have you all on his hands, and a stranger as well?  Poor Dr.
+Trenire.  I really think it is too much for him, he looks so ill and
+worn already.  He really needs a holiday more than do any of you."
+
+"Father looks ill!" gasped Kitty.  It was the first hint she had had of
+any such thing, and a sudden cold fear filled her heart.  She forgot her
+dislike of Lady Kitson and Lettice, and the wrong they had done her.
+"Is father really ill, Lady Kitson?" she asked anxiously, leaning
+towards her.  "He has never mentioned it to me, nor has Aunt Pike."
+
+"He is too good and unselfish to complain," said Lady Kitson coldly.
+"You should use your own eyes, and not wait for him to _tell_ you he is
+ill.  He has not actually told _me_ that he is, but I can see that he
+looks overworked and unwell, and certainly not fit to battle with a
+houseful of noisy, restless boys and girls."
+
+"Of course we shouldn't be noisy if father was not well," said Kitty,
+with quiet dignity.  She was feeling intensely uncomfortable on Pamela's
+account as well as her father's.  Lady Kitson's remarks were not polite
+to their guest.
+
+Lady Kitson sat back in her seat and unfolded a paper, as though to
+intimate that she had no more to say.  Lettice crossed over and sat
+beside Kitty, evidently intending to talk to her, but Kitty could not
+bring herself to be friendly to her late school-fellow; besides which,
+she had Pamela to talk to, and there was this news about her father to
+fill her mind.
+
+"He can't be very ill," said Pamela comfortingly, seeing Kitty's quiet
+distress.  "Your aunt or Betty would have said something to you about
+it.  While I am with you I can take the children out all day long if you
+like, so that you can keep the house quiet, and we won't be any trouble.
+But of course you must send me home if it is not convenient for me to
+stay."
+
+"But it will be," cried Kitty, trying to throw off her fears, and she
+crossed over and sat by Pamela.
+
+When, though, they presently stopped at Gorlay Station, all her troubles
+vanished, for the time at any rate, for there on the platform stood her
+father, and Betty, and Tony, all apparently as well and jolly as could
+be, while old Prue and the carriage waited in the road outside.
+
+"Father is here!  Father is here to meet us and drive us home!" she
+cried joyfully, and, forgetting Pamela and Lady Kitson, and all the rugs
+and bags and everything, she was out on the platform and in his arms
+almost before the train had come to a stand-still.
+
+Dan waited, and with well-feigned if not real patience helped out Lady
+Kitson and her possessions; then he too flew.  "Come along!" he shouted
+to Pamela, forgetting his shyness.  Pamela, though, with a wistful
+little smile on her lips, collected their belongings without much haste,
+and followed him, but very slowly.
+
+For a moment she felt herself almost an intruder, but it was only for a
+moment; for Dr. Trenire, looking over the heads of Dan and Kitty, saw
+her, and guessing who she was, went at once and met her with such a
+cordial greeting that she felt herself one of them from that moment; and
+Kitty, remorseful for her forgetfulness, brought up Betty and Tony to be
+introduced.  Then Pamela was made to sit up in the carriage beside the
+doctor, with Kitty and Tony on the back seat, while Dan and Betty
+mounted to the top of the omnibus, and off they started in the gayest of
+spirits.  Prue, who could never endure to let any other horse pass her,
+insisted on racing the 'bus the whole way home, to the amusement of
+every one.  Betty and Tony shrieked with delight, Kitty sat beaming with
+a happiness so great as to seem almost unreal, while Pamela sat quietly
+taking it all in, and revelling in it, yet with a touch of sadness as
+she realized for the first time in her life how very much she had
+missed.
+
+"Oh, isn't it like old times," sighed Kitty happily, "to be together
+again, and by ourselves.  Father, are you frightened by the thought of
+us all?"
+
+Dr. Trenire laughed.  "Not really frightened," he said.  "You see, I can
+always send for your aunt.  She assured me she would return at once if I
+found you all unmanageable."
+
+"Oh," said Kitty gravely, "then we will promise not to be _quite_
+unmanageable, but just bad enough."
+
+At that moment Lady Kitson's carriage overtook them, and her ladyship
+looked out and smiled and bowed to the doctor as she passed.  "Don't you
+let them wear you out, doctor," she cried.
+
+Kitty, with sudden recollection, leaned forward and studied her father's
+face earnestly--as much, at least, as she could see of it.  "Father,"
+she said anxiously, "Lady Kitson told us that you were not at all well.
+Aren't you?"
+
+She had unconsciously expected, or at least hoped for, a prompt and
+strong reassurance; but her father did not answer for a moment, and then
+but half-heartedly.  "I haven't been quite up to the mark," he said
+quietly, "but," looking round and seeing the anxiety on her face, "it is
+nothing to worry about, dear.  I would have told you if it had been.
+I am rather overworked and tired, that is all.  It has been a very heavy
+winter of illness and anxiety.  I shall be better now the spring has
+come, and I have you all home to liven me up.  We must try and give
+Pamela a happy time, and you must take her to all your pet haunts."
+
+But Dr. Trenire was not as well as he led them to believe; and though
+Kitty was not observant enough to notice such signs as a slower, heavier
+step, a want of energy in setting about his work, a flagging appetite,
+she did notice that he was quieter and graver, and had not such spirits
+as of old.
+
+Pamela became at once a favourite with every one.  Even Jabez unbent,
+and was not always suspecting her of some mischief or other.
+
+"What part of the county do 'ee come from, miss?" he asked when first he
+was introduced.
+
+"I am afraid I don't belong to this county at all," said
+Pamela apologetically.  "I am not a Cornishwoman."
+
+Jabez looked disappointed, but he tried his best not to make her feel
+her sad position more than she could help.  "Well now, that's a pity;
+but there, we can't always help ourselves, can we, miss? and 'tisn't for
+we to make 'ee feel it more'n you do a'ready.  We've all on us got
+something to put up with.  Whereabouts up along do 'ee come from, miss,
+if 'tisn't a rude question?"
+
+"Devon," said Pamela, smiling at the old man.  "It might be ever so much
+worse, mightn't it?  Do give me some comfort, Jabez,"
+
+"Well, yess, miss," he answered, willing to cheer her if he could.
+"And maybe 'twas only an accident.  Your parents 'd gone there to live,
+or something of that sort.  Accidents will happen to the most
+deserving."
+
+"Yes," sighed Pamela, "I feel it was a mistake, for directly I came here
+I felt at home, and I had never done so before."
+
+"You'll be sorry to go back, miss."
+
+"Sorry!" cried Pamela.  "I can't bear to think of it.  I never was so
+happy in my life, and never enjoyed my holidays before."
+
+It was a very simple holiday too, but each day was full of happiness.
+One by one the four introduced Pamela to their best-beloved haunts.
+They made excursions to Wenmere Woods, to Helbarrow Tors, to the moors
+and the river.  Very frequently, too, some of them went for drives with
+Dr. Trenire far out into the country, over wild moorland, or through
+beautiful valleys, and Pamela loved these drives as much as anything,
+and felt she could listen for hours while the doctor told her the story
+of some old cairn, or the legend of a holy well or wayside cross.
+
+Once they all went to Newquay to visit Aunt Pike and Anna, and spent a
+long, glorious day on the beautiful sands, paddling in and out of the
+rock pools in search of rare sea-weeds, and anemones, and shells.
+
+"I didn't know your aunt was so old," said Pamela later, when she and
+Kitty were talking over the events of the day.  "You did not tell me she
+was."
+
+"No," said Kitty thoughtfully, "I didn't think she was.  I noticed it
+to-day myself, but I never did before.  She does look quite old, doesn't
+she?" appealing to Pamela, as though still doubting her own eyes.
+"I don't think she looked so last term.  She seemed quite altered to-day
+somehow, so small and shrivelled, or something."
+
+But other interests soon drove the matter from Kitty's mind, and she
+thought no more about it until Mrs. Pike and Anna returned to Gorlay a
+few days before the end of the holidays to see to Dan's and Kitty's
+outfits, and by that time Kitty was far too miserable at the prospect of
+returning to school to give more than a passing thought to her aunt's
+changed appearance.
+
+Anna was quite strong again, though her old nervous, restless manner had
+not left her, and she still had the same difficulty in meeting one's
+eyes fairly and squarely.
+
+"Your cousin looks as though she had something on her mind," said
+Pamela.  "Do you think she has?"
+
+"I don't know," said Kitty; "at least I don't think it would trouble her
+much if she had.  She didn't really enjoy herself at Newquay.  She says
+she is very glad to be home again, and I should think she would be too,"
+added poor homesick Kitty.  "I am sure I should get well here quicker
+than anywhere," and Pamela agreed.
+
+"I think it was nonsense of Dan to say it was worth while to go away to
+have the pleasure of coming home," she moaned when the last day came.
+"I am sure _nothing_ could make up to me for the misery of going, and I
+think it is worse the second time than the first."
+
+Poor Kitty's woe was so great that at last her father was driven to
+expostulate.  "Kitty dear, do try to be brave," he pleaded.  "I am not
+very well, and I cannot bear to see you so unhappy.  You make it very
+hard for others, dear, by taking your trials so hardly."
+
+Kitty looked and felt very much ashamed.  "I hadn't thought of that,"
+she said; "but, father, it is really very hard to bear.  You don't know
+how miserable I feel."
+
+"How will you bear greater troubles when they come, as they are sure
+to?"
+
+"There couldn't be greater ones," said foolish Kitty.
+
+"My dear, my dear, don't say such things.  This is, after all, but a
+short temporary parting, when we could all come together if needs be.
+There are some that last a lifetime," he added sadly, and Kitty knew he
+was thinking of her dead mother.  A few moments later he spoke more
+cheerfully.  "I am going up with you to-morrow," he said.  "Perhaps that
+will comfort you a little."
+
+Kitty looked delighted, but Dr. Trenire did not tell her that when he
+had left her at her school he was going to consult a doctor about his
+own health; for he intended to let no one know that he was bound on such
+an errand until he had heard the verdict, and only then if it was
+absolutely necessary.
+
+However, the consultation proved that it was absolutely necessary, and a
+few days later the following letter reached Kitty:--
+
+"My Dearest Kitty,--I have to send you some news which is not good, but
+you must not think it very bad.  A few days ago I was told by a medical
+man that I must take a long holiday and a sea voyage as soon as
+possible, and he dared me to stay away less than three months.  I am
+obeying him because I want to feel stronger than I have lately, and I do
+not believe in asking a clever man's advice and then refusing to act
+upon it.  So I am getting a _locum tenens_ here for a time, and as soon
+as I have introduced him to my patients I shall start on a cruise
+somewhere.  I have not yet decided where.  But before I go I shall
+certainly come and spend a day with you, my dear, to talk things over.
+I will write to Miss Pidsley and arrange it all.  Your aunt will look
+after Betty and Tony very carefully, as you know, while I am away, and
+they have promised me to be happy and good, so that I may not be worried
+about them.  They are a good little pair, on the whole, and I feel quite
+satisfied about Tony at any rate.
+
+"You must promise not to fret or worry about my health or my absence.
+The doctor told me to keep as free from anxieties as possible, so, if
+you want to help me--and I know you will--you must be as happy and do as
+well at school as you possibly can--that will help me more than
+anything--and write to me letters full of smiles.  I know you know how
+to, and I shall count on hearing frequently.  In about three months'
+time I hope we may all be journeying home together to keep our summer
+holidays.  I shall be back in time, I promise you, and will arrange so
+that I can meet you and Dan.
+
+"I shall be writing again in a day or two.--
+
+"Your affectionate Father."
+
+When first she opened this letter and mastered its contents, Kitty
+turned cold and faint with the shock it brought her.  At once her
+imagination pictured her father ill, dying, or going away from them all
+and dying at sea.
+
+"He's more ill than he will say, I know," she moaned.  "Father never
+tells the worst.  O father! Father! and I am not even at home to be with
+him.  If I could see him I should know; but here I am in prison, and--
+and I can't know what is happening at home!" and Kitty collapsed on her
+bed, sobbing pitifully.
+
+"Katherine! Katherine! what is the matter, child?"  Miss Pidsley,
+hearing sounds of grief, opened the door and looked in, then she walked
+in and closed it behind her.
+
+"I have had such dreadful news," moaned Kitty.  "Father is very ill--
+I know he is worse than he says--and I am not there, and--and I am here
+a prisoner.  Read what he says, Miss Pidsley."
+
+Miss Pidsley laid her strong hand on Kitty's trembling arm.  "Dear, you
+must know that if your father wanted you, or thought it necessary that
+you should be home, that he would send for you, and you could go at
+once, so do not feel yourself a prisoner."  Then she read the letter
+slowly and carefully through.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful?" sighed Kitty, looking up at her as she laid the
+letter down.
+
+"It is a trouble for you certainly, dear," said Miss Pidsley.  "But I
+think you have every reason to hope that your father may soon be well
+and strong again, and in the meantime I see he has given you plenty to
+do for him.  Don't let him know that you are not able or willing to do
+what he asks you to."
+
+"What has he asked me to do?" cried Kitty, starting up eager to begin
+then and there.
+
+Miss Pidsley held out the letter, and pointed out one particular
+paragraph.  "If you want to help me--and I know you will--you must be as
+happy and do as well at school as you possibly can.  That will help me
+more than anything."
+
+"But that can't really help him, and--and it is so difficult." Kitty
+looked up into Miss Pidsley's face very dolefully.
+
+"But it does help, dear, more than you can imagine.  Nothing would worry
+your father more than to feel you were unhappy.  Do try, for his sake.
+You can't refuse his request, can you?"
+
+"No," said Kitty mournfully, "I can't.  I--I will try, but--it is very
+hard to begin at once, isn't it?  One is frightened and unhappy before
+one knows one is going to be, and then it is so hard to forget it again
+and try to feel brave and happy, and all that sort of thing; and oh, it
+does seem so dreadful that father should be ill, and have to go away
+from us.  I can hardly believe it."
+
+"You must try not to think of it in that way, dear, but think that he
+has been ill for some time without being able to do anything to make
+himself well again, and that now he is about to be cured, and if he has
+rest and change and an easy mind every day will see him a little
+stronger and happier.  He has worked hard and long, and often, probably,
+when he has been feeling quite unfit; but now he is going to have a real
+rest, and to enjoy himself.  It is good to think of, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh yes," cried Kitty, much more cheerfully, "and I hope he will get off
+soon, for I know he will get no rest while he is in Gorlay.  I have
+never known father have a holiday."
+
+"Then let us all try to make it a really happy one now," said Miss
+Pidsley, and she went away leaving Kitty much comforted.
+
+Three days later Dr. Trenire came up to say "good-bye," and at the end
+of a long, pleasant day together, happy in spite of the parting before
+them, Kitty bade him "good-bye" with a brave and smiling face, and sent
+him back to Gorlay cheered and comforted, and with at least one care
+less on his mind; for in his heart he had been dreading that day,
+because of Kitty's grief at parting.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+BETTY'S ESCAPADE.
+
+June had come, a brilliantly fine June, and overpoweringly hot.
+Wind-swept, treeless Gorlay lay shadeless and panting under the blazing
+sun, and the dwellers there determined that they preferred the cutting
+winds and driving rains to which they were better accustomed.
+
+Dr. Trenire had gone, and Betty and Tony had been inconsolable.
+The "locum," Dr. Yearsley, had come, and Jabez had long since announced
+that he had no great opinion of him, coming as he did from one of the
+northern counties.
+
+"I don't say but what he may be a nice enough gentleman," he said;
+"but coming from so far up along it stands to reason he can't know
+nothing of we or our ailments.  I s'pose the master had his reasons for
+choosing him, but it do seem a pity."
+
+Aunt Pike did not approve of the newcomer, but for another reason.
+"He was so foolish about the children," she complained.  "It is very
+nice to say you are fond of them, but it is perfectly absurd to make so
+much of them; it only encourages them to be forward and opinionated, and
+puts them out of their place."  And to balance all this Aunt Pike
+herself became a little more strict than usual, and very cross.  It may
+have been that she felt the heat very trying, and perhaps was not very
+well, but there was no doubt that she was very irritable and particular
+at that time--more so than she used to be--and nothing that the children
+did was, in her eyes, right.
+
+Anna was irritable too, but there was much excuse for her, for having
+had pneumonia in the winter, and measles in the spring, her mother was
+determined that she should not have bronchitis, or rheumatism, or
+pneumonia again in the summer, and through that overpoweringly hot
+weather poor Anna was condemned to go about clothed in a fashion which
+might have been agreeable in the Highlands in January, but in Gorlay in
+the summer was really overwhelming, and kept poor Anna constantly in a
+state bordering on heat apoplexy, or exhaustion and collapse.
+
+Had Dr. Trenire been at home he would have interfered, and rescued her
+from her wraps and shawls, heavy serge frock, woollen stockings, and
+innumerable warm garments; or, perhaps, if Anna had not been so afraid
+of her mother, but had appealed to her candidly and without fear, she
+might have obtained relief.  This, unfortunately, was not Anna's way,
+for Anna's ways were still as crooked and shifty as her glances.  She
+would think out this plan and that plan to avoid the only one that was
+straightforward and right, though it must be said for her that she did
+try to be more open and honourable--at times she tried quite hard; but
+since Kitty had gone, and she had been so much with her mother, all her
+old foolish fears of her had come back with renewed strength, and all
+her old mean ways and crooked plans for getting her own way and escaping
+scoldings.
+
+Now, instead of asking to be relieved from some of her burdensome
+clothing, she made up her mind to destroy the things she detested most,
+and trust to not being found out; or, if she was found out--well,
+"the things must have been lost at the laundry."  This seemed to her an
+excellent explanation.
+
+So, one day when her mother was out and Betty and Tony had gone for a
+drive with Dr. Yearsley, Anna betook herself to the garden with some of
+her most loathed garments under her arm, and a box of matches in her
+pocket.  A bonfire on a summer's day is easy to ignite, and there was
+just sufficient breeze to fan the flame to active life, so Anna was in
+the midst of her work of destruction almost before she realized it.
+But, while waiting for her mother to depart, Anna had forgotten that the
+time was hurrying on towards Betty's and Tony's return.  In fact, they
+drove up but a moment or so after she had left the house on her guilty
+business.
+
+"Miss Anna has gone up the garden," said Fanny in answer to Betty's
+inquiries; and Betty, following her slowly, was in time to see a blaze
+leaping up, and a cloud of smoke and sparks.  She quickened her steps,
+for something interesting seemed to be happening.  "Surely Anna isn't
+trying to smoke out that wasps' nest," she thought in sudden alarm.
+"She will be stung to death if she is," and Betty took to her heels to
+try to stop her.  But when she got past the rows of peas and beans that
+had hidden Anna, she saw that what her cousin was poking up was not a
+wasps' nest, but a heap that was blazing on the ground.
+
+"What are you doing?" gasped Betty excitedly.  "What a lovely fire!"
+
+At the sound of a voice Anna spun round quickly, the very picture of
+frightened guilt; but when she saw Betty her fear turned to anger, hot
+and uncontrollable because she was frightened.
+
+"You are always spying and prying after me," she cried passionately.
+"Why can I never have a moment to myself?  Other people can, and why
+can't I?"
+
+Poor Anna was hot and overdone, and her nerves were so much on edge that
+she scarcely knew what she was doing or saying.  But Betty had no
+knowledge of nerves, and under this unfair accusation she could make no
+allowance for her cousin, and her temper rose too.
+
+"How dare you say I pry and spy!  You know it is not true, Anna.  I only
+came to ask you to play with us, and--and how was I to know that you
+were doing something that you didn't want any one to see?  Why don't you
+want any one to see you?  What are you burning?"  Betty stepped nearer
+and looked more closely.  "O Anna, it is your clothes that you are
+burning.  Oh, how did it happen?  You didn't do it on purpose, did you?"
+
+"It doesn't matter to you how it happened.  If _you_ don't want to wear
+things you hate, you just go and tell tales to your father.  You can get
+everything you want.  But I haven't any one to stick up for me, and I've
+_got_ to do things for myself."
+
+"Then you set this on fire on purpose!  Oh, how wicked; and they cost
+such a lot too!  I wonder you aren't afraid to be so wicked!" cried
+Betty indignantly.
+
+"I don't care," said Anna, trying to put on a bold front.  "I never did
+want the things, and I never shall.  I should die if I went about much
+longer a perfect mountain of clothes.  How would you like to wear a
+'hug-me-tight' under a serge coat in this weather?"
+
+"Not at all.  But what shall you say to Aunt Pike?"
+
+"I shan't say anything; but I suppose you will," sneered Anna.
+"I do wish you wouldn't be always poking and prying about where you are
+not wanted.  You might know that people like to be left alone
+sometimes."
+
+"I am sure," cried Betty, quite losing her temper at that, "I would
+leave you quite alone always, if I could; and I am _not_ a sneak, and
+that you know.  It would have been better for Kitty if I had been.
+I don't know how you can say such things as you do, Anna, when you know
+what we have had to bear for you.  I suppose you think I don't know that
+it was you who should have been sent away from Miss Richards's, and not
+Kitty!  But I do know--I have known it all the time, though Kitty
+wouldn't tell me--and I think that you and Lettice Kitson are the two
+meanest, wickedest girls in all the world to let Kitty bear the blame
+all this time and never clear her.  But after this--"
+
+"Betty!"  Aunt Pike's voice rose almost to a scream to get above the
+torrent of Betty's indignation.  "How _dare_ you speak to Anna so!
+How _dare_ you say such shocking things!  You dreadful, naughty child,
+you are in such a passion you don't know what you are saying, and you
+are making Anna quite ill!  Look at her, poor child!--Anna dear, come to
+me; you look almost fainting, and I really don't wonder."
+
+Anna was certainly ghastly white, and trembling uncontrollably, but as
+much at the sight of her mother as from Betty's fiery onslaught.
+"Yes--I do feel faint," she gasped, but she was able to walk quickly to
+her mother's side, and to lead her at a brisk step away from that
+smouldering heap on the ground.
+
+"Poor child, I will take you to your room.  You must lie down and keep
+very quiet for a time.--Elizabeth, follow us, please, and wait for me in
+the dining-room.  I will come and speak to you there when I have seen to
+Anna.  In the meantime try to calm yourself, and prepare to apologize
+for the dreadful things I heard you saying."
+
+Betty did not reply, nor for a few moments did she attempt to follow.
+Her aunt's determination to believe Anna all that was good and innocent
+and injured, and herself and Kitty all that was mean and bad, increased
+her resentment a thousand times.  Betty could never endure injustice.
+
+"I won't apologize.  I won't.  I can't.  I couldn't.  I have nothing to
+apologize for," she thought indignantly.  "It is Aunt Pike who ought to
+do that, and Anna, and ask us to forgive them.  I've a good mind to tell
+everything.  I think it is my duty to Kitty and all of us!" and Betty
+strutted down the garden looking very determined and important.
+Her childlike face was undaunted, her little mouth set firm.
+
+"It is my duty to all of us," she kept repeating to herself; "it really
+is.  I am not going to let Kitty bear the blame always.  I know that
+most people feel quite sure that she really did carry those letters, and
+then wouldn't own up, but told stories about it, and Aunt Pike has never
+been nice to her since, and Lady Kitson scarcely speaks to her, and Miss
+Richards doesn't speak at all, and--and that mean Anna won't clear her,
+and--"
+
+"Well, Elizabeth, I have come to hear your explanations and apologies
+for your shocking attack on Anna."
+
+"It was Anna who attacked me," said Betty.  "It was only when she called
+me a pry and a spy that I--that I--"
+
+"Hurled all sorts of wicked accusations at her.  Oh, I heard you.
+You said the most shocking and untrue things in your passion."
+
+"I didn't say a word that wasn't true," said Betty firmly, "and--and
+Anna knows it.  Anna could have cleared Kitty, but she wouldn't, and I
+am not going to let Kitty bear the blame for her and Lettice any longer;
+and if they won't clear her, I will.  Anna called me a sneak, and I said
+she was mean and bad, and I meant it; and so she is, to let Kitty go on
+bearing the blame and the disgrace all her life because she is too
+honourable to tell how mean they are."
+
+"Did you say that Anna knew who went to Lettice with that letter that
+night, and that--it wasn't Kafcherine?" asked Aunt Pike, but so quietly
+and strangely that Betty was really quite frightened by her curious
+voice and manner.
+
+"Oh, I wish I had not told," was the thought that rushed through her
+mind, while her cheeks grew hot with nervousness.  But it was too late
+now to draw back; she must stick to her guns.  "Yes," she said, but with
+evident reluctance.  "Ask Anna, please.  I--I mustn't say any more.
+Father wouldn't like--"
+
+"Was it--Anna--herself?" asked Mrs. Pike, still in that strange low
+voice, only it sounded stranger and farther away this time.
+
+"Oh, I can't tell you!  I can't tell you!" cried Betty, shrinking now
+from telling the dreadful truth.
+
+"There--is--no--need to," gasped Aunt Pike; but she spoke so low that
+Betty hardly heard the words, and the next moment the poor, shocked,
+stricken mother had slipped from her chair to the ground unconscious.
+
+Betty saw her fall, and flew from the room screaming for help.  Help was
+not long in coming.  Dr. Yearsley ran from the study and the servants
+from the kitchen, and very soon they had raised her and laid her on the
+couch.  But none of the restoratives they applied were of any avail, and
+presently they carried her upstairs and laid her on her bed.
+
+But before that had happened, Betty, terrified almost out of her senses
+by the result of her indiscretion, had flown--flown out of the room and
+out of the house.
+
+"Oh, what have I done! what have I done!" she moaned.  "Father didn't
+want her to know, and Kitty didn't want her to, and now I have told her
+and it has killed her.  I am sure I have killed her.  And father is
+away, and Kitty--oh, what can I do?  I can never go home any more.
+P'r'aps if I'm lost they'll be sorry and will forgive me," and Betty ran
+on, nearly frantic with fear, and weeping at the pathetic picture of her
+own disappearance.
+
+The next morning Kitty, on her way from the music-room, where she had
+been practising before breakfast, saw the morning's letters lying on the
+hall table, and amongst them one directed to herself in Betty's hand.
+Without waiting to have it given to her in the usual way, she picked it
+up, and, little dreaming of the news it held, opened it at once.
+
+"Dear Kitty," she read, "I have run away for ever, and I am never going
+home any more.  I think I have killed Aunt Pike.  I told her something,
+and she fell right down on the floor.  She was dead, I am sure, and I
+ran away.  I am too frightened to go home, so do not ask me to.  I am
+going to earn my living.  I am hiding at the farm.  Mrs. Henderson
+thinks I am going home soon, but I am not; and if she won't let me sleep
+here, I shall sleep in the woods.  To-morrow I shall try to get a place
+as a servant or something.  I wish I looked older, and that I had one of
+your long skirts.  I can put my hair up, but my dress is so short.
+Good-bye for ever.--
+
+"Your loving Betty."
+
+"S.P.--Give my love to father if he will except it from me, and tell him
+I did not mean to be a bad child to him."
+
+Kitty stood staring blankly at the letter, scarcely able to grasp its
+meaning.  It seemed too wild, too improbable to be true.  Betty had run
+away; was frightened, desperate, too frightened to go home; had been out
+all night alone; and they were all far away from her, all but Tony.
+Kitty felt stunned by the unexpectedness and greatness of the trouble,
+but she realized that she must act, and act quickly.
+
+Miss Pidsley and Miss Hammond were gone to an early service at the
+church, but it never occurred to Kitty to wait for them and consult
+them.  She only realized that a train left for Gorlay in twenty minutes'
+time, and that if she could catch it she could be at home in little more
+than two hours, and on the spot to seek for Betty.  She cleared the
+stairs two at a time, and in less than three minutes was flying down
+them again and out of the house, buttoning her coat as she went, and had
+vanished round the corner and down the road.  She felt absolutely no
+fear of meeting her teachers, for it never entered her head that she was
+doing anything wrong.  Miss Pidsley had once said that if she was wanted
+at home she could go, and Kitty had never, since then, felt herself a
+prisoner at school.  She did hope that she might not meet them, or any
+one else she knew, for time was very precious, and explanations would
+cause delay; but that they might forbid her to go never once entered her
+head.  Her mind was full of but one thought--Betty was lost, and no one
+but herself had any clue as to her whereabouts.
+
+But the only person that Kitty met was a telegraph boy.  Miss Pidsley
+and Miss Hammond, coming home by another route, met the telegraph boy
+too at the gate, and took the telegram from him.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Miss Pidsley as she opened it and mastered its contents,
+"dear, dear!  This brings bad news for Katherine Trenire.  Listen," and
+she read aloud, "Mrs. Pike seriously ill.  Send Miss Trenire at once.
+Yearsley."
+
+"Shall I break it to the poor child?" asked Miss Hammond anxiously.
+
+"Please."
+
+Miss Hammond hurried into the house and to the schoolroom, but Kitty was
+not there.  Then she went to the music-room, but there was no Kitty
+there; then by degrees they searched the whole house and garden, but in
+vain, and at last stood gazing at each other, perplexed and alarmed.
+Kitty, with never a thought of all the trouble she was causing, had
+caught her train and was speeding home, little dreaming, though, of all
+that lay before her, for in her alarm for Betty she had quite failed to
+grasp the other and more serious news that Betty had written; and, as
+the long minutes dragged by, and the train seemed but to crawl, it was
+only for Betty that her anxiety increased, is her mind had time to dwell
+on what had happened, and picture all the dreadful things that might
+have occurred to her.
+
+"It was a wet night, and it was a very dark one, and such strange sounds
+fill a wood at night, and--oh, I hope she kept away from the river!
+If anything chased her, and she ran, and in the darkness fell in--
+O Betty, Betty!"
+
+Then "Gorlay at last!" she cried in intense relief as she recognized the
+well-known landmarks.  Long before the train could possibly draw up, she
+got up and stood by the door with the handle in her hand, a sense of
+strangeness, of unreality, growing upon her.  She felt as though she
+were some one else, some one older and more experienced, who was
+accustomed to moving amidst tragedies and the serious events of life.
+Even the old familiar platform, the white palings, the 'bus and the
+drowsy horses that she knew so well, seemed to her to have changed too,
+and to wear quite a different aspect.
+
+"I feel like a person just waking out of a dream, not knowing whether it
+is dream or reality," she thought to herself as she opened the door and
+stepped out on to the platform.  "I suppose I am not dreaming?"
+
+But as she stood there for a moment trying to collect herself, Weller,
+the 'busman, came up to her, and he was real enough, and his anxious
+face was no dream-face.
+
+"Good-morning, missie," he said sympathetically.  "I'm sorry enough, I'm
+sure, to see you come home on such an errant.  'Tis wisht, sure enough."
+
+Kitty was startled.  She thought he was referring to Betty, and wondered
+how he could know of her escapade.  "You knew she was gone?" she asked
+anxiously.
+
+The man looked shocked.  "Gone!  Is she, poor lady?  Law now, miss, you
+don't say so!  I hadn't heard it.  She was just conscious when I called
+fore this morning to inquire, and they 'ad 'opes that she'd rally."
+
+"Then they have found her; but--but is she ill?  Did she get hurt?--the
+river!--O Weller, do tell me quickly.  I came home on purpose to go to
+look for her.  Is she very ill?"  Poor Kitty was nearly exhausted with
+anxiety and the shocks she had received.
+
+Weller looked puzzled.  "Why," he said slowly, "I never heard nothing
+about any river.  She was took ill and fell down in the room, missie.
+Haven't you heard?  They told me they was going to tellygraff for you so
+soon as the office was open, 'cause your poor aunt said your name once
+or twice--almost the only words they've been able to make out since she
+was took ill; and with the master away and you the eldest, they thought
+you ought to be sent for."
+
+Then the rest of Betty's letter came back to her mind, and as the
+importance of it was borne in on her, Kitty's heart sank indeed in the
+face of such a double trouble.
+
+"Oh, if only father were home!" was her first thought.  "But even if we
+send at once he can't be here for ever so long."  A moment later,
+though, she remembered his health, and how bad such news would be for
+him, with all those miles between, too; and she felt that unless it was
+absolutely necessary, they must spare him this trouble.
+
+Rowe, the driver, came forward to help her to her seat.  "I think you'd
+best go outside, missie," he said gently, "you'm looking so white.
+P'r'aps the air'll do 'ee good.  I'm afraid you've had a bad shock."
+
+"I--I think I have," gasped Kitty, as, very grateful for his sympathy,
+she mounted obediently.
+
+Then Weller, who had suddenly disappeared, came back carrying a cup of
+steaming tea and a plate of bread and butter.  "Drink this, missie, and
+eat a bit," he said, clambering carefully up with his precious burden,
+"then you'll feel better.  You look as if you hadn't tasted nothing but
+trouble lately," he added sympathetically, as he arranged the tray on
+the seat beside her, and hurried down again to escape any thanks.
+
+Tears of gratitude were in Kitty's eyes as she ate and drank; and from
+sheer desire to show how much she appreciated his kindness, she finished
+all he had brought her, knowing that that would gratify him more than
+any thanks could.
+
+She certainly felt better for the food, and more fit to face the long
+drive home; and never to her life's end did she forget that drive on
+that sunny June morning--the dazzling white dusty road stretching before
+them, the hedges powdered with dust, the scent of the dog-roses and
+meadow-sweet blossoming so bravely and sending up their fragrance, in
+spite of their dusty covering, to cheer the passers-by.  Then, when at
+last they reached the town, familiar faces looked up and recognized her,
+and most of them greeted her sympathetically.
+
+It was all so natural, so unchanged; yet to Kitty, seeing it for the
+first time with eyes dazed with trouble, it seemed as though she had
+never seen it before--at least, not as it looked to her now.  She tried
+to realize that it was only she who had changed, that all the rest was
+just as it had always been.  She felt suddenly very much older, that
+life was a more serious and important thing than it had been--so serious
+and important that it struck her as strange that any one could smile or
+seem gay.
+
+With kind thoughtfulness Rowe did not stop at all on his way as usual,
+but drove the 'bus straight up to the house at once.  As they drew near,
+Kitty, glancing up to speak to him, saw him look anxiously up over the
+front of the house.  "It's all right," he murmured to himself; then
+aloud he said more cheerfully, "I'm hoping, missie, you may find your
+poor aunt better," and Kitty knew that he had feared lest they might
+find the blinds drawn down.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+KITTY'S HANDS ARE FULL.
+
+As soon as the 'bus had drawn up, the door of the house was flung open
+and Fanny tore out.  "Oh, my dear!" she cried, almost lifting her little
+mistress down bodily in her plump arms.  "Oh, my dear Miss Kitty, I'm
+that glad to see 'ee!  They said as the tellygram couldn't reach 'ee in
+time to catch that train, but I knew better.  I knew if you got that
+there message you'd come by that early train, even if it _had_ started."
+
+"What telegram?" asked Kitty.  "I haven't had one."
+
+"Why, to tell 'ee to come 'ome 'cause Mrs. Pike is so ill.  And if it
+haven't reached 'ee, why the postmaster-general ought to be written to
+'bout it.  But," breaking off with sudden recollection, "you'm come;
+and if you didn't get that tellygram, whatever made 'ee to?  You didn't
+have no token, did 'ee?"
+
+"I had Betty's letter," said Kitty, trying to sort things out in her
+mind.  "That was all I had, and that brought me.  I expect I had left
+before the telegram reached.  I remember now I passed a boy on my way to
+the station.  But what about Betty?  Have you heard anything?  Has she
+come back?  Have you sent in search of her?  Weller told me about poor
+Aunt Pike--oh, Isn't it dreadful, Fanny!  Two such awful things to
+happen in one day!  But he didn't know anything about Betty, and I
+didn't tell him.  She hasn't been found, I suppose?  I must go.  I think
+I may be able to find her if I start at once--but there is Aunt Pike.
+What must I do first?" despairingly.  "I _must_ find Betty.  She has no
+one else to look after her, while Aunt Pike has you."
+
+"If you wants Miss Betty, you'll find her in her bedroom," said Fanny,
+looking somewhat cross and puzzled.  "I don't know, I'm sure, why you're
+making such a to-do about seeing her, when there's so much else to think
+on.  Miss Betty's all right, and so is--Why, Miss Kitty, what's the
+matter?  You ain't feeling bad, are you?" cried Fanny in great alarm,
+for poor Kitty had dropped, white and limp, and trembling
+uncontrollably, into a chair in the hall.
+
+"Oh no--no.  I'm all right.  Only--I'm so--so glad.  I have been so
+frightened about her; but I am _so_ glad--so--I came to--to try to find
+her.  No one knew I had come, and all the way I was thinking of her out
+all night in the dark and rain; and then the good news came, and it--
+made me feel--feel--"  Kitty's head fell forward again, and the world
+seemed to rock and sway, and recede farther and farther from her, when a
+voice said, "Leave her to me," and some one lifted her up and laid her
+on a couch, and then something was held to her lips and her nose, and
+presently Kitty began to feel that the rest of the world was not so
+very, very far off after all, and then she sighed and opened her eyes,
+and saw a strange face looking down at her.  It was rather a tired,
+anxious face, but it smiled very kindly at Kitty.
+
+"Better now?" asked Dr. Yearsley.
+
+"Yes, thank you," whispered Kitty.  "How funny!"
+
+"I am glad you can see any fun in it," said the doctor with the ghost of
+a smile.  "It is the only funny thing that has happened in this unlucky
+house for the last day or two.  But it isn't the sort of humour I
+appreciate."
+
+"I am so sorry," said Kitty, trying to rise, "only I have never fainted
+before, and it seemed so odd that I should.  It is a horrid feeling."
+
+"Yes, not the sort of thing you want to repeat.  But perhaps it will
+cheer Jabez.  We have had two catastrophes, and he has got it into his
+head that there has got to be a third.  Perhaps this will count as the
+third, and the spell be broken.  Now lie still, and rest for a little
+while and have some food.  You are exhausted, and I want strong reliable
+helpers, not any more patients," with a smile that robbed his words of
+any harshness.  "You and I have our hands full."
+
+Kitty smiled up at him bravely.  "I am ready to do anything I am wanted
+to.  How is Aunt Pike?" anxiously.  "May I see her?  Is she very ill?"
+
+Dr. Yearsley looked grave.  "I will answer your questions backwards.
+Yes, to be quite frank with you, as the head of your family for the
+present, she is seriously ill.  She has had a stroke of paralysis, and
+at first I thought I must send to your father; but I was very unwilling
+to worry him, and I waited a little to see how things went.  I am
+thankful to say she has rallied a little, and if she goes on improving,
+even though it is but slightly, I am hoping he may be spared the bad
+news until we can send him better news with it.  I don't want to worry
+him if I can help it."
+
+"Oh no," said Kitty earnestly, "and he would worry dreadfully at being
+so far away."  She felt very kindly towards the doctor for his
+thoughtfulness for her father.
+
+"You shall see your aunt later.  She has asked for you many times, but
+we hardly knew whether she was conscious or not when she spoke.
+She must be kept very quiet though, and free from all anxiety.  I have
+got in a nurse for her.  Don't be frightened.  You see there was no one
+here with the time or knowledge to give her the attention she required,
+and it was a very serious matter.  I sent for you because, if she really
+wants to see you, and it would relieve her mind in any way to do so, it
+is important that you should be here, and the children needed some one
+to--"
+
+"Oh," cried Kitty, remorseful that she should have forgotten her all
+this time, "Anna!  What a state she must be in about her mother.  How is
+Anna?"
+
+"Yes, poor Anna," echoed Dr. Yearsley with a sigh, "she is in a very
+distressed state.  I wish you could calm her, and get her to pull
+herself together a little."
+
+"I will try," said Kitty gravely.  "And there is Betty.  I am longing to
+see her."
+
+"I doubt Miss Betty's complete joy at seeing you," smiled the doctor.
+"I think there may be some embarrassment mingled with her pleasure.
+Her return was--well, _she_ might think it ignominious.  Luckily no one
+in the house but myself knows that she had really run away.  I am
+afraid, though, that she has something on her mind that is troubling
+her--something in connection with Mrs. Pike's illness."
+
+Kitty recalled Betty's letter, and her heart sank.  She became so white,
+and looked so troubled, that the doctor tried to comfort her.
+"Whatever she may have said or done," he explained excusingly, "she did
+in utter ignorance, of course, of any ill result being likely to follow,
+and she cannot be blamed entirely for the disaster.  Mrs. Pike has been
+seriously unwell for some time; in fact, I had ventured to speak to her
+about her health, and warned her, but she resented my advice.  Believe
+me, that what has happened would have happened in any case; any little
+upset would have brought it about; but Betty may have precipitated
+matters."
+
+Kitty listened with wide, grave eyes; her heart was heavy and anxious,
+her mind full of awe and care.  How terribly serious life had become all
+at once; how real and possible every dreadful thing seemed, when so many
+came into one's life like this.
+
+As she left the doctor, walking away with heavy, tired steps, he looked
+after her, half pitying, half admiring.
+
+"She has had some hard knocks to-day, poor child," he said to himself,
+"but she has plenty of sense and plenty of pluck.  At any rate I hope
+so, for she will need both, I fancy, in the time that lies before her."
+
+Kitty, making her way slowly up the stairs to Betty's room and her own,
+was again impressed with that curious sensation of being some one else,
+of seeing everything for the first time.  How strangely things came
+about, she thought.  Here she was, back in her home again, as she had so
+often longed to be, but oh how different it was from what she had
+pictured--no joy in coming, no one to meet her, a stranger to welcome
+her, the house silent and strange.  Could it be really she, Kitty
+Trenire, walking alone up the old, wide, familiar staircase as though
+she had never gone away or known that brief spell of school life?
+Could she really be come back to her own again, as mistress of her
+father's house?  It seemed so--for a time, at any rate.  Kitty felt very
+serious, and full of awe at the thought, and as she slowly mounted the
+dear old stairs a little very eager, if unspoken, prayer went up from
+her heavy heart.
+
+Then she reached the door of her room and Betty's, and knocked.
+
+"Who is there?" demanded Betty's voice.  "Me.  Kitty."
+
+"Kitty  What, Kitty!  Oh--h--h!" There was a rush across the room, then
+a pause.  "I--I don't think you had better come in," gasped Betty.
+"You'll never want to see me again if you do."
+
+"Don't be silly.  Why, Betty, whatever has happened?" cried Kitty, as
+she opened the door and stepped into an almost perfectly dark room.
+"Are you ill?"
+
+"No," miserably, "I wish I was, then p'r'aps you'd be sorry; and if I
+was to die you might forgive me, but you can't unless I do die."
+
+"O Betty, what _have_ you done?" cried Kitty, growing quite alarmed.
+
+"Is she--is she dead?" asked Betty in an awful whisper.
+
+"Who?  Poor Aunt Pike?  No; Dr. Yearsley told me she is just ever so
+slightly better."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Betty, a world of relief in her sigh, "I _am_ so glad.
+Then I ain't a--a murderess--at least not yet.  I've been afraid to ask,
+and nobody came to tell me, and I--O Kitty, it was I made her tumble
+down like that in a fit or something, and I was _so_ frightened.
+I will never tell any one anything any more."
+
+"You will tell me what it was that you told Aunt Pike that upset her
+so?"
+
+"I don't think I can," said Betty.  "You will hate me so, and so will
+father--that is why I wanted to hide for ever from all of you; but,"
+with sudden indignation, "that silly old 'Rover' brought me back.  Oh,
+it was dreadful!"
+
+"What was?" asked Kitty patiently.  She knew Betty's roundabout way of
+telling a story, and waited.  "What did you tell Aunt Pike?  Do tell me,
+Betty dear.  I ought to know before I see her."
+
+Betty dropped on to the window-seat and covered her face with her hands.
+"Don't look at me; I don't want to see you look mad with me.  It was
+Aunt Pike's fault first of all.  If she hadn't said nasty--oh, horrid
+things about you, I shouldn't have told her what I did, but--but she
+made me, Kitty; I couldn't help it, and--and I told her right out that
+Anna could have cleared you long ago, and that she and Lettice were mean
+and dishonourable to let you bear the blame for them all this time.
+And when she spoke after that, her voice sounded so--oh, so dreadful, as
+if she was talking in her sleep, or was far away, or drowning, and she
+looked--oh, her face frightened me, and then she said, 'Did--Anna--
+know?' all slow and gaspy like that, as if she hadn't any breath, and I
+said 'Yes'--I _had_ to say 'yes' then, hadn't I?  Of course I didn't
+know it would make her ill, but she fell right down, all of a heap, and
+oh, I nearly died of fright, and I ran and ran all the way to Wenmere
+Woods, and I meant never to come back again--never!  And it was all Mrs.
+Henderson's fault that I did come--at least Mrs. Henderson's and
+Bumble's, and," drawing herself up with great dignity, "I am never going
+to speak to either of them again.  When I had had my tea--she gave me
+cream and jam, but not any ham--and when I had played about for a little
+while, she told me she thought I had better be going home, as I was
+alone; and at last I had to tell her I was never going home any more,
+and I would be her little servant, if she would take me, only no one
+must ever see me, or I should be discovered, but she wasn't a bit nice
+as she generally is.  She said, 'Oh, nonsense; little girls mustn't talk
+like that.  I am going to Gorlay to chapel, and I will take you back
+with me.'
+
+"Then I knew it wasn't any good to ask her to help me, and that I must
+sleep in the wood with all the wild beasts and things"--Betty's face and
+her story grew more and more melodramatic--"and as soon as she had gone
+to put on her bonnet, I ran into the woods for my life.  I expect when
+she came down again and didn't see me she thought I had gone home.
+I don't think anybody went to look for me, and I think it was very
+unkind of them, for I might have been eaten up, for all they knew, by
+wild beasts--"
+
+"Oh no," said Kitty, rousing for the first time from the shock and
+distress Betty's revelations had thrown her into.  "There is nothing in
+the woods more savage than rabbits and squirrels."
+
+Betty looked hurt.  "Oh yes, there is," she protested, "or I shouldn't
+have gone up and kept close to the railway lines.  I saw something,
+quite large, staring at me with great savage eyes, and if it wasn't a
+wolf, I am sure it was a badger or--or a wild-cat."
+
+"Did it fly at you?"
+
+"No, but it looked at me as if it wanted to, and I ran until I came to
+the railway; and after a long time, when it was nearly dark, I saw some
+red lights coming and heard a noise, and that was the 'Rover.'  I--I
+didn't like the woods at night, so I went up and shouted and signalled
+to Dumble, and asked him if he knew anybody who wanted a servant, 'cause
+I'd left home for good, and wanted a 'place.'  I didn't tell him who I
+was, and I thought he wouldn't know me.  After he had thought for a
+minute or two, he said yes, he reckoned he could put me in a good
+'place,' if I'd come along of him.  So I got up in the carriage--I had
+it all to myself--and oh it was lovely going along in the dark and
+seeing the fire come out of the funnel!  But," growing very serious and
+dignified again, "I consider Dumble the _most_ dishonourable man I
+_ever_ met, and I'll _never_ speak to him again--_never_; and I'll
+_have_ to leave Gorlay 'cause I can't never meet him again, for he
+ackshally took me up in his arms when the 'Rover' stopped at the wharf,
+and--well, I was rather sleepy and I didn't see where I was going, but
+of course I _trusted_ him, and when I opened my eyes--why, I was home!
+Oh, I was _so_ angry I didn't know what to do, and I'm never going to
+speak to Dumble again.  I hope I never see him."
+
+The corners of Kitty's mouth twitched, but she did not dare to laugh.
+"I expect he thought he was doing right," she said excusingly.
+"He couldn't have helped you to run away; he would have been sent to
+jail.  And oh, Betty, I am so glad you did come home; there is trouble
+enough without losing you too.  I was so frightened about you all the
+way down in the train--"
+
+"Did you get my letter?"
+
+"Yes; it was that that brought me.  I didn't know anything about Aunt
+Pike until I got to Gorlay Station."
+
+Betty crept over from her window-seat and stood by Kitty as she sat on
+her little bed.  "Kitty, do you hate me for telling that to Aunt Pike?"
+
+"Hate you!" cried Kitty.  "As though I ever could, dear.  I am sorry she
+was told--but--but I know you couldn't help it, Bet.  I couldn't have
+myself if it had been you, and she had said unkind things about you."
+
+Then Betty flung her arms about Kitty's neck and began to sob heavily.
+"I do love you so, Kitty! I do.  I really do.  I think you are the
+splendidest girl in all the world, and--and I'll never do anything to
+make you sorry any more, if I can help it."
+
+Kitty held her little sister very tightly to her, and with Betty's head
+resting on her breast, and her cheek laid on Betty's curly head, they
+talked, but talk too intimate to be repeated.
+
+At last Kitty got up.  "Where's Tony?" she asked.  "I have to find each
+of you separately, and it seems as if I shall never see all, I want to
+stay so long with each.  Betty, where is Tony?  He is all right, isn't
+he?"
+
+"Oh yes.  He went to try and make Anna stop screaming, and I think he
+has done it.  I haven't heard her for a long time."
+
+Kitty made her way to Anna's room, and tapped gently at the door.
+At first there was no reply, then through the keyhole came a whisper.
+"Who is there?  You must be very quiet, please.  Anna is asleep."
+It was Tony's voice, but by the time Kitty had opened the door he was
+back on his chair by Anna's sofa, waving a fan gently, as he had been
+doing for so long that his poor little arms and back ached.  His face
+was very flushed and weary-looking, but his eyes glanced up bright with
+satisfaction.
+
+"She is gone to sleep, she'll be better now;" but at sight of Kitty the
+fan was dropped and Anna forgotten, and nurse Tony flew across the room
+and into his sister's arms.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad! oh, I'm so glad!" he said again and again and again.
+"There wasn't anybody but me and Dr. Yearsley, and I was frightened
+'cause I didn't know what to do, and everything seemed wrong.  I wish
+daddy was home; but it won't be so bad now you are here," and he
+snuggled into her arms with a big, big sigh of relief, and put his
+little hot hands up continually to pat her face and convince himself
+that she had not vanished again.  And thus they sat, held in each
+other's arms and watching the sleeping Anna, until the handle was gently
+turned, and Betty appeared in the door-way.  A very pale, weary Betty
+she looked now she was away from her own darkened room.
+
+"Kitty, Dr. Yearsley is looking for you.  I think Aunt Pike is awake and
+asking for you."  Then, as Kitty hurried past her, "He says she is a
+little better, only ever so little; but it is good news, isn't it?  She
+will get well, won't she, Kitty?  Oh, do say 'yes,'" and Betty, who had
+never before bestowed any love or thought on her aunt, had as much as
+she could do to keep her tears back.
+
+It was a very nervous, trembling Kitty who presently entered the large,
+dim bedroom where Aunt Pike, so helpless and dependent now, lay very
+still and white on her bed.  Kitty almost shrank back as she first
+caught sight of her, half fearing the change she should see.  But the
+only change in the face she had once so dreaded was the expression.
+
+When Dr. Yearsley bent over her, and said cheerfully, "Here she is; here
+is Kitty," the white lids lifted slowly, and Aunt Pike's eyes looked at
+her as they had never looked before.  Kitty went over very close to her,
+and kissed her.
+
+"I am so sorry," she said sympathetically, "that you are ill, Aunt Pike,
+but so glad you are a little, just a little bit better."
+
+Mrs. Pike did not answer her; she seemed to have something on her mind
+that she must speak of, and she could grasp nothing else.  "I--I have
+been--very--unjust--to you," she gasped, speaking with the greatest
+difficulty.  "You--should--have--told me."
+
+"No, no," said Kitty eagerly, bending and kissing her again,
+"you haven't.  You didn't know.  I meant you never to know."
+
+"Anna--knew.  She--should--"
+
+Kitty bent down, speaking eagerly.  "Anna did more for me--for us all.
+She saved Dan's life--in that fire."
+
+The poor invalid looked up with a gleam of pleasure in her eyes.
+"Did she?  I am--very glad; but it--it did not excuse--the other.
+That is--beyond forgiveness."
+
+"Oh no!" cried Kitty warmly, "nothing is that.  It is all forgiven long
+ago, and we will never think of it again."
+
+Aunt Pike's hand was almost helpless, but Kitty felt it press hers ever
+so slightly, and stooping down she laid her fresh warm cheek against her
+aunt's cold one.  "You must make haste and get well," she said
+affectionately, "and then we shall all be happy again."
+
+"It-doesn't matter.  No one cares," gasped the poor invalid, tears of
+weakness creeping out from between her lids.
+
+"Oh, you mustn't say that," cried Kitty sturdily.  "You must get well
+for all our sakes.  Anna cares, and I care very much.  We all care, more
+than we thought we did till we knew you were ill."
+
+"Anna," whispered the invalid, "is she--all--right?"
+
+"Yes, Tony has soothed her to sleep, and is sitting by her, and I am
+going to sit by you while you go to sleep.  Dr. Yearsley says you
+mustn't talk any more now," and Kitty, seated in a chair by her aunt's
+bedside, held her helpless hand lovingly until she had fallen into the
+easiest sleep she had had yet.  By-and-by the nurse came back, and Kitty
+was free to move.
+
+"I think I must go and talk to Fanny now," she thought, and she made her
+way to the kitchen, thinking very soberly the while.
+
+"Fanny," she said, "you and I have to steer this ship between us, and
+for the honour of the ship we must do it as well as ever we can.
+I--I am afraid I am not very much good, but I am going to try hard; and
+I think we shall be able to manage it between us, don't you?" wistfully.
+"Of course having strangers in the house makes it more difficult; but we
+will do our best, won't we?"
+
+"That we will, Miss Kitty," said Fanny heartily, "and between us all we
+ought to be able to do things fitty."
+
+The strangers, Dr. Yearsley and Mrs. Pike's nurse, made housekeeping a
+more serious matter certainly, and illness complicated things; but Aunt
+Pike's reign, though unpleasant in many ways, had made others easier for
+Kitty.  The house was in good order, rules had been made and enforced.
+Fanny and Grace had learned much, and profited a good deal by the
+training, and, best of all, all worked together with a will to make
+things go smoothly.
+
+There was hope and good news to cheer them too.  Aunt Pike grew daily
+better; by very, very slow degrees, it is true, but still there were
+degrees.  Good news came from their traveller too--news of restored
+health, good spirits, and, presently, a longing to be at home and at
+work again.
+
+And then, so quickly did the busy days fly, they had only a very few
+left to count to the return of the two absent ones, for Dr. Trenire and
+Dan were to meet and travel home together.  Then the last day came, and
+the last hour, and then--Kitty found herself once more with her father's
+arms about her.
+
+"Why, father," she cried, standing back and studying carefully his
+cheerful, sunburnt face, and his look of health and strength, "you are
+more like the old father than you have been for ever so long."
+
+Dr. Trenire burst into a roar of hearty laughter.  "Well," he cried,
+"after my spending three months in trying to renew my youth, I do think
+you might have called me a 'young father.'  Never mind, Kitty, I feel
+young, which is more than you do, I expect, dear, with all the cares you
+have had on your shoulders lately.  I suppose you have left Miss Pidsley
+finally," with a smile, "and I have to pay her a term's fees for
+nothing?"
+
+Kitty looked a little ashamed of herself as she smiled ruefully.
+"Yes.  I don't seem able to stay at any school more than one term, do I?
+I think you had better give up trying, father, and keep me home
+altogether now."
+
+"I think I had," said her father seriously.  "I think I can't try again
+to get on without you, dear--even," quizzically, "if there isn't always
+boiling water when Jabez gets his head knocked."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+THE LAST.
+
+Aunt Pike grew slowly and gradually stronger, and in time was able to be
+dressed, and could sit up in her chair.  But she knew, and the doctors
+knew, that she would never again be the same strong, active woman that
+she was before.  The doctors had hopes that in time she would be able to
+walk again, and take up some of her old ways and duties; but she herself
+was not so hopeful, and with the prospect before her of a long spell of
+invalidism, she insisted on leaving Dr. Trenire's home for one of her
+own.
+
+The doctor and all protested warmly, but Aunt Pike was determined.
+"Kitty can look after the house now better than she could," she said,
+"and I shall be glad of the rest and quiet.  I shall not leave Gorlay.
+I want to be near you all, so that if Kitty wants any advice I shall be
+at hand to give it."
+
+So, seeing that her heart was set upon it, and feeling that the quieter,
+less busy home would be better for her, Dr. Trenire gave in, and they
+all set to work to find a house to suit her.  But here they found a task
+which taxed all their time and patience.  It had to be a small house,
+sheltered yet sunny, of a moderate rent, but in a good position; it must
+have, as well as a sitting-room, a room on the ground floor that Mrs.
+Pike could turn into a bedroom, and it must have a garden with no
+steps--a rarity in hilly Gorlay.
+
+There were not very many houses in Gorlay, and very few to let;
+certainly few with all, or even half, of the advantages Mrs. Pike
+demanded; and at last in despair the doctor had to prevail on an old
+friend and patient of his own to move from his house and give it up to
+the invalid, which, marvellous to tell, he did, and, even more
+marvellous, the house pleased Aunt Pike immensely.  The garden was made
+to suit her by removing all the steps and replacing them with sloping,
+winding paths and various other cunning devices; and the doctor saw that
+everything that could add to her comfort was done for her.  Then came
+the great excitement of furnishing the house and stocking the garden.
+
+But before all this had happened, Anna had provided them with a great
+and glad surprise, though at the same time a painful one; for the only
+wish of all concerned was that the past should lie buried, and the
+stupid, regrettable incident that had caused so much sorrow should be
+forgotten.
+
+They were all seated at tea one day--the children and Dr. Trenire around
+the table, and Aunt Pike in her big chair near the window--when suddenly
+the door was burst open, and Anna, whose absence had set them all
+wondering, walked in.
+
+"I have done it!" she cried excitedly.  "I have told them all--Lady
+Kitson and Miss Richards and Miss Matilda--and--and now," sobbing
+hysterically with nervous excitement, "I want to go away from Gorlay.
+I can't stay here.  I want to get away from every one until--until they
+have forgotten.  I'd like to go to Kitty's school.  May I, mother?"
+
+"Told all what?" asked Mrs.  Pike eagerly, ignoring all of Anna's outcry
+but that.
+
+"Told them all about that--that evening, and me and Lettice.  I wanted
+to try to forget it, and I couldn't until I had told them all."
+
+"O Anna, I wish you hadn't," cried Kitty, greatly distressed lest the
+mention of the old trouble should be too agitating for her aunt.
+But, to her surprise, Mrs. Pike looked up with such pleasure in her eyes
+as had not been seen in them for a very long time.
+
+"Have you really, Anna?" she cried gladly.  "Oh, I am so thankful,
+child.  That will do me more good than anything," and she drew Anna down
+to her and kissed her very tenderly.  "Yes, dear," with an understanding
+of Anna's feelings such as she had never shown before, "you shall go
+away to school for a time.  You shall go to Miss Pidsley's next term, if
+you like.  I am sure it is the best plan."
+
+So Anna went away to school, and Aunt Pike moved into her new home in
+time to receive her on her return for the Christmas holidays.
+A nurse-companion was engaged to live with Mrs. Pike and take care of
+her; but never a day passed but what Kitty went to sit with her, to tell
+her the news or ask her advice.  The others went frequently too--Tony
+regularly, and Dan daily when he was at home.  Betty went sometimes, but
+not so gladly, for she never quite got over the fright of that dreadful
+day, and a terrible lurking dread that she might accidentally shock her
+aunt again, and once more hear that strange, far-away voice, and see her
+falling, falling.  But Kitty never failed; and Kitty was, perhaps, the
+best beloved of them all by the aunt who had tried, and been so tried
+by, them.
+
+"You see, Kitty was the only one who willingly kissed me and called me
+'dear,'" the poor invalid confessed one day to the doctor as they sat
+together in the firelight talking over many things--"the only one since
+Michael died; and cold, reserved folk such as I remember these things."
+
+"She has a warm heart has my Kitty," said the doctor softly, "and a
+generous one;" then, fearing as usual the effect of any emotion on the
+invalid, "She told me that if I came here I was to look about me and see
+if she had left her gloves about.  She thinks she lost one on the way
+here, but may have dropped the other in the house, as she is almost
+certain she had one with her.  It doesn't much matter, though; they were
+very full of holes, oddly enough," with a smile.
+
+Aunt Pike's mouth twitched a little at the corners as she opened her
+work-basket and took out two rather shabby gloves.  "One was under the
+table; some one picked up the other in the garden.  They are not holey
+now; I have mended them.  But I expect Kitty would never find it out if
+you did not tell her."
+
+"A year or two ago she would not have," said her father, as he took the
+gloves and put them in his pocket, "but I think she would now."
+
+"She has changed," said Aunt Pike gently.  "We all have."
+
+"Yes, she has changed--in some respects; in others I hope she never
+may."
+
+"I think you need not fear that, John," said Aunt Pike sympathetically.
+Silence fell on them both for a few moments, then Mrs. Pike spoke again.
+"John, will you be sure to tell Kitty to come here to-morrow, and Dan
+and all of them in fact, to welcome Anna home for the Christmas
+holidays?  I have a surprise in store for them too, but you mustn't
+breathe a word of it.  Pamela is coming too, to spend part of her
+holidays with us.  I thought she would do Anna good.  Then perhaps you
+would like to have her with you for the rest of the time.  We mustn't
+forget that she was Kitty's friend first.  But don't you breathe a word
+of this to Kitty."
+
+"Very well," said the doctor; then, with a pretended sigh, he added,
+"I am thankful, though, that my Christmas puddings and things are
+already made, for I foresee there will be nothing more done now.
+You wicked woman, to plot so against my peace and comfort."
+
+But Aunt Pike did not look repentant, she only chuckled.
+"Even housekeepers must have a holiday at Christmas," she said, "and I
+am sure yours deserves a good one."
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13992 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #13992 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13992)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Kitty Trenire, by Mabel Quiller-Couch
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Kitty Trenire
+
+Author: Mabel Quiller-Couch
+
+Release Date: November 9, 2004  [eBook #13992]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KITTY TRENIRE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. The source
+was a Sunday-school prize presented in 1920 to Lily Richardson by the
+United Methodist Church, Regent Street, Stockton.
+
+
+
+KITTY TRENIRE
+
+by
+
+MABEL QUILLER-COUCH
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+I.      Fate and a Rusty Nail.
+
+II.     The News, and how they received it.
+
+III.    A Drive and a Slice of Cake.
+
+IV.     Storms at Home and Abroad
+
+V.      In Wenmere Woods.
+
+VI.     Tea at the Farm.
+
+VII.    The "Rover" takes them Home.
+
+VIII.   A Bad Beginning.
+
+IX.     The Coming of Anna.
+
+X.      Lessons, Alarms, and Warnings.
+
+XI.     Poor Kitty!
+
+XII.    Those Dreadful Stockings.
+
+XIII.   An Exciting Night.
+
+XIV.    Mokus and Carrots
+
+XV.     Missing!
+
+XVI.    Banished.
+
+XVII.   "Good in Everything".
+
+XVIII.  Threatening Clouds.
+
+XIX.    Betty's Escapade.
+
+XX.     Kitty's Hands are Full.
+
+XXI.    The Last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+FATE AND A RUSTY NAIL.
+
+On such an afternoon, when all the rest of the world lay in the fierce
+glare of the scorching sun, who could blame the children for choosing to
+perch themselves on the old garden wall, where it was so cool, and
+shady, and enticing?  And who, as Kitty often asked tragically in the
+days and weeks that followed, could have known that by doing so "they
+were altering their fates for ever"?
+
+The four of them talked a great deal in those days of their "fates;"
+it sounded so mysterious and grand, and so interesting too, for, of
+course, no one could know what lay in store for them all, and the most
+wonderful and surprising events might happen. They did happen to some
+people, and why not to them?
+
+"I am quite sure something will happen to me some day," said Betty, with
+a very wise and serious look.
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised," said Dan with mock seriousness,
+"if something did."
+
+"I mean something wonderful, of course," added Betty.  "Don't," with a
+superior air, "be silly, Dan.  Things must happen to somebody, or there
+would never be any."
+
+Later that same day they realized for the first time that small events
+could be interesting and important too, and that while they were
+thinking of their "fates" as something to be spun and woven in the
+mysterious future, the shuttle was already flying fast.
+
+As I said before, the old wall was particularly cool and
+tempting-looking that sunny afternoon, for the high, untrimmed laurel
+hedge on the other side of the path behind them threw a deep broad
+shadow over the flat top of it, and shade was what one appreciated most
+on that hot day.  All the ground in Gorlay sloped, for Gorlay was built
+on two hills, while the gardens of all the houses on either side sloped
+either up or down another and a steeper hill.  Dr. Trenire's house was
+on the left-hand side of the street, as one walked up it, and it was the
+steep slope up of the garden behind it that made the old wall so
+fascinating.
+
+To reach the garden from the house one had to pass through a cobbled
+yard, with the back wing of the house and a stable on one side of it,
+and a coach-house and another stable on the other.  The garden and the
+garden wall were at the end.  From the yard the wall ran up to a good
+height--to the children it seemed immense, as high as the tower of
+Babel, though were they to go back now and look at it I dare say they
+would find it quite insignificant, for walls have a curious way of
+decreasing an inch or two with every year one grows older.
+
+To the children, though, its two chief charms were that it had a broad
+flat top on which one could sit and dangle one's legs over the abyss
+below, and that from the garden it was so low that by just walking over
+a flower-bed one could step right on to it, while from that eminence one
+could command a view of the back door, the side door, the stables, and
+all that went on in the yard.  So that, in addition to being cool and
+shady, it really was a most attractive and alluring spot.
+
+A vine with a wealth of pretty leaves and long graceful tendrils covered
+the front of the stable and side of the house, and some years there
+would be a few bunches of little green grapes hanging amongst the
+leaves.  Through the open stable window, festooned by the vine, dear old
+Prue, Dr. Trenire's well-beloved and faithful mare, would thrust out her
+head and gaze dreamily at the life in the yard, or at nothing; and the
+children, if they were about, would rub her nose and fondle her
+lovingly, and bring her handfuls of grass, or carrots, or sugar.
+Sometimes, too, "Pinkie," the yellow cat, would seat herself on the
+narrow sill of the stable window, close to Prue's cheek, until, finding
+the air too chilly, or the children too noisy, or sleep overcoming her,
+she would go inside and curl herself up on Prue's back for a nap.
+
+To-day, though, neither Prue nor Pinkie were to be seen.
+Apparently they were both indulging in an afternoon nap in the shady
+stable, for it really was a very hot day, and the sun fell full on the
+vine and the stable window.
+
+Unfortunately it fell on the door too, and showed up a most inviting and
+enticing-looking spot where the sun had once raised a blister on the
+paint.
+
+Every one will admit that there is a wonderful fascination about a nice
+soft paint-blister, and busy fingers had quickly peeled this one off,
+with the result that to-day there was a spot which made as good a target
+as any one could possibly desire, and just within range of their perch
+on the wall.  There was also, unfortunately, quite close at hand a
+supply of perfect ammunition in the shape of a heap of small stones and
+rubbish which they had swept together a few days before when seized by a
+sudden mania for tidying up the garden.  Of course, had they been really
+good children, they would have finished their job by shovelling up the
+heap and carrying it away; but they grew very tired, and the work was
+hard, and they felt they really had done a great deal for one day.
+So the heap was left in the path until, on this hot afternoon, they
+found a new and not at all tiring way of disposing of most of it.
+
+They kept up such a sharp fire, and made such a noise, that presently
+Jabez, the coachman and general factotum, was dancing with rage in the
+yard below--rage at the noise they were making and the litter he foresaw
+he would have to sweep up before "the master" saw the place, and added
+rage at the calm unconcern with which they ignored his commands.
+
+The children, though really very much attached to Jabez, unfortunately
+felt no fear of him, and above all things they loved to tease him.
+They would not willingly have hurt him on any account whatever, but, as
+they said afterwards, when he deliberately placed himself between them
+and their target, and dared them to throw another stone, why of course
+he had to put up with what he got; and what he got most particularly was
+a nasty blow on the forehead from a piece of old wood that Dan threw at
+him.
+
+Dan, as he explained at the time, really selected the wood out of pure
+humanity, because he thought it would be softer than a stone if it
+should happen to strike any one; and, as he argued emphatically,
+"it was ridiculous to think he could have known that Jabez was going to
+duck his silly head at the very wrong moment, and it was even more
+ridiculous of Jabez to accuse him of knowing that there was a large
+rusty nail in the wood, for Jabez knew as well as possible that he, Dan,
+would have been only too jolly glad to have had the nail, for he was
+collecting old iron as hard as he could, intending to sell it the very
+next time the 'old-iron' man came round."
+
+Instead of which it was taken by Jabez, along with his bleeding head,
+straight into the presence of Dr. Trenire, who happened at the moment to
+be sitting in his study, trying to get a little sorely-needed rest.
+The doctor had been out all the previous night at a most trying case,
+and body and brain were weary, his nerves all on edge, his patience
+nearly exhausted, and he had no time or inclination for unpleasant
+interruptions and unnecessary worries.  Altogether there could not have
+been a much more unpropitious moment for any one to have gone to him
+than that which Jabez chose.
+
+As a rule Dr. Trenire was only too gentle and kind and patient with his
+four motherless children; but to-day, when they slowly, and at a
+discreet distance, followed Jabez into the study, Kitty felt a sudden
+conviction that things were not going to be quite as simply and easily
+got over as usual.  She saw a look cross her father's face such as she
+had never seen on it before, and for the first time in her careless,
+happy-go-lucky life realized with keen compunction what a sad, tired,
+patient face it was, and suddenly she found herself wanting to do things
+for him to try to cheer and help him, and wished most heartily that they
+had done anything but bring fresh worry and unpleasantness to him.
+
+But before he inquired into the particulars of the squabble, Dr. Trenire
+attended to the wound.  It was only a surface one, but the skin was torn
+rather badly, and Jabez was bleeding a good deal, and groaning with all
+his might.
+
+"Get me some hot water."
+
+Only too glad to be able to do anything to help, Kitty ran off; but to
+run for hot water was one thing, to get it was quite another.  The fire
+was out, the kitchen was littered with dishes and pots and pans, and
+Fanny the cook, with a dirty apron on and no cap, was fast asleep in her
+chair by the window, just as though she had not a care or a duty in the
+world.  The squalor and muddle of the whole place could not fail to
+strike any one, even casual Kitty;  and to her it brought a deeper
+feeling, one of trouble and remorse, for, in response to her own
+pleading, her father had made her his housekeeper--and this was how she
+had fulfilled her duties!  In fact, she had given herself no duties; she
+had shirked them.  She had left everything to the servants, and as long
+as she had been free and untroubled, and meals of a kind had been served
+at more or less regular intervals, had bothered no further.
+
+"Fanny!" she called sharply, "do wake up!  Why haven't you got a fire,
+and a kettle boiling?"
+
+Fanny awoke with a start, which in itself is enough to make a person
+cross; and to have been caught asleep, with her work not done, made her
+crosser.  "I don't want a great fire burning on a hot afternoon like
+this," she answered sharply.  "You wouldn't like it yourself if you had
+to sit by it, Miss Kitty; and if it's your tea you'm wanting, well, it
+isn't tea-time yet.  When 'tis, you will find 'tis ready."
+
+"Um--m!" said Kitty loftily, in a tone that expressed most emphatic
+doubt of Fanny's statement.
+
+"What is it you're routing about in the cupboards for, miss?  I don't
+like to have folks coming into my kitchen, turning everything over and
+rummaging round.  I shan't know where to find a thing when I wants to.
+What is it you'm looking for?"
+
+"The methylated spirit and the little stove," said Kitty.  "I _must_
+have some hot water, Fanny, and quickly.  Father wants some.  There has
+been an accident."
+
+Fanny changed her tone, and her expression grew a little milder.
+"We haven't got a leak, miss.  We ran out of it a week ago.  I told
+Emily to tell you--but there, I might as well talk to the wind as talk
+to her--"
+
+"Oh dear," interrupted Kitty, "whatever shall I do?  Jabez is bleeding
+so he will bleed to death--"
+
+"Jabez!  Oh my!  Whatever has happened, Miss Kitty?"  Suddenly Fanny's
+whole manner changed to one of anxious eagerness and deep concern.
+"Is it--is it dangerous, miss?  How did it happen?  What's he done?"
+Fanny had been so sound asleep that she had not noticed the noise in the
+yard, or the little procession pass the kitchen window on its way to the
+study.
+
+"I don't think it is very bad," said Kitty.  "Dan threw a piece of wood,
+and it--it hit Jabez on the forehead, and--and oh, Fanny, what will
+father think?  I believe he is angry with us already, and you know he
+was out all night and is very tired, and he will be more angry if
+there's no hot water or anything he wants, and I--I did so want to help
+him."
+
+Fanny, who appeared more concerned about Jabez than about her master,
+was, with a lavish use of sticks, kindling a big blaze under a small
+kettle, and soon had water ready as hot as it was needed.  Kitty,
+greatly relieved, ran back with it to her father.
+
+"I suppose, as usual, there was none," he said gravely, "though I have
+said until I am tired that in a doctor's house there should always be a
+supply;" and Kitty could find nothing to say.
+
+Jabez by this time was seated in a chair, facing the light.  He was
+looking very pale and subdued.  The thought of having his wound
+washed and dressed upset him far more than did the wound itself.
+Betty and Anthony were sitting on two of the stiffest and most
+uncomfortable-looking chairs in the room, with very grave expressions
+on their pale but not too clean faces.  Dan was standing by the window
+looking intensely nervous and uncomfortable.  He glanced frequently from
+Jabez to his father, and back again, and Kitty could see he was longing
+to say something, but did not know how to.  She was very sorry that it
+had been Dan who had dealt the fatal blow.  She almost wished that it
+had been she herself who had done it, for their father was never quite
+so severe with her or Betty as with the boys.
+
+With the feeling still on her that trouble was coming, she fried to make
+herself as useful as possible; but as she knew little or nothing as to
+where anything was kept, she was more of a hindrance than a help, and
+her hopes were blighted by her father's order to them all to leave the
+room.
+
+"I will see you presently," he said sternly.  "I will either come to you
+or send for you when I am ready;" and, feeling very crushed, they made
+their way to the old nursery, now called "the schoolroom," and there
+waited with curiously mingled feelings for what was to happen next.
+They did not expect it to be anything _very_ serious; but they hated to
+vex their father, and they felt that now they really had vexed him.
+
+Oh how slowly the minutes passed, and what a lot of them there were!
+It seemed to them that time enough had elapsed in which to have set
+every limb that Jabez possessed, and to hear the recital of every wrong
+he had ever received at their hands; and by the time they heard their
+father's footstep coming their hopes and fears had gone up and down
+again many times, and they had pictured themselves sentenced to every
+possible and impossible punishment that their minds could imagine.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+THE NEWS, AND HOW THEY RECEIVED IT.
+
+When the door opened and Dr. Trenire came in with the heavy tread of a
+very weary man, and the face of a very worried one, another and a larger
+wave of shame and remorse rushed over them all.
+
+Dan stepped forward at once to put his feelings into words.  "I am
+fearfully sorry, father," he said impetuously.  "I--I was a brute to
+throw the things at Jabez; but I--I never meant to hurt him.  Is it very
+bad?"
+
+"It is not a serious wound by any means," said the doctor slowly;
+"but, of course, the wood was old and dirty, and the nail rusty, and
+there is always danger of blood-poisoning."
+
+"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," said Dan, looking alarmed.
+
+"No, that is just it," sighed the doctor; "you don't think.  No one in
+the house thinks, it seems to me.  I suppose, though, it isn't your
+fault; you have no one to teach you," and he sighed a heavy, harassed
+sigh.
+
+The children's mother had died nearly five years earlier, when Kitty was
+nine, and Anthony but a year old.  For a time a housekeeper had been
+employed to manage both children and servants; but so uncomfortable had
+been her rule, so un-homelike the house, so curbed and dreary the
+children's lives, that when Kitty reached the mature age of thirteen her
+father, only too glad to banish the stranger from their midst, had given
+in to her pleading, and with high hopes of a home which would be happy
+and homelike once more, allowed her to become housekeeper and mistress
+of the house.
+
+Unfortunately, though, Kitty had had no training.  Her mother had been
+an excellent manager; but Kitty was only a little thing when she lost
+her, and her life had mostly been spent, happily enough, in nursery and
+schoolroom.  Mrs. Trenire's wish had been that her children should have
+a happy childhood, so all family troubles, all anxieties, domestic
+worries and details, were kept from them, and the result was that,
+beyond the nursery and schoolroom life, they knew nothing.  Kitty had
+not the least idea how rooms were cleaned, or meals provided, or
+anything.  Then had come the housekeeper, who for other reasons had kept
+the children to their own quarters.  She resented any interference or
+questioning, and objected to any trouble they might give her, but as
+long as they amused themselves and kept out of her way, they were free
+to do pretty much as they wished.
+
+Under the circumstances it was not greatly to be wondered at that when
+Kitty took up the reins of management, life at Dr. Trenire's was not
+well-ordered and free from muddle, and that the doctor himself looked
+worried, and sad, and careworn.
+
+The pity of it was that Kitty did not try to learn even the very
+simplest things in housekeeping, and in that lay the root of the trouble
+and the cause of all that followed.  Though when four wild young
+spirits, that have been bottled up and corked down for years, suddenly
+find themselves free and able to do what they like when they like,
+without having to render an account to any one, it would be rather
+wonderful if they did settle down and become quite staid and steady all
+at once.
+
+Kitty it was, though, who was most at fault.  She had begged to be
+allowed to manage the house, and, having got her wish, she just seized
+the advantages and revelled in the freedom, but ignored the
+responsibilities; and no one was more acutely aware of this fact than
+was Kitty herself during the next half-hour, when their father talked so
+gravely to them all in the schoolroom.
+
+"I have been thinking a great deal," he said, as he dropped wearily into
+the roomy old chair by the fireplace--the chair where their mother used
+to sit and tell them stories, and hear them say their prayers before
+they went to bed.  "I have thought over the whole situation, as well as
+my tired brain will let me, and I have come to the conclusion that for
+all our sakes I must get some one to come and look after us."
+
+"O father!" gasped Kitty in utter dismay.  She had never thought that
+anything as dreadful as this could happen.
+
+"Evidently the management of the house and all of us is beyond Kitty,"
+went on Dr. Trenire; "and that is not to be wondered at.  We are a large
+family on the whole, and a doctor's house is not an ordinary one, and it
+is not surprising that everything should have got into a state of muddle
+and confusion."
+
+Kitty felt, but could not say, that she had never really tried to manage
+it; that as long as things had gone on without any open fiasco, and they
+had been able to enjoy themselves, and the servants had not been
+bad-tempered, she had been quite content.  She could not make that
+confession now, and if she had it would not have done any good.
+
+"The house _must_ be orderly and well managed, the meals properly
+arranged and served, and the servants kept in order, and I should be
+very culpable if I did not see that it was so," went on her father
+slowly.  "So, after much thought and hesitation, for I am very reluctant
+to admit even a comparative stranger into our midst again, I feel that
+the only thing to be done is to write to your dear mother's cousin, Mrs.
+Pike, and ask her to come and make her home with us.  She once offered
+to, and I think now, if she is still willing, it will be well to accept
+her kind offer."
+
+A stifled cry of dismay broke from the four shocked listeners--a cry
+they could not repress.  "Aunt Pike!"  Aunt Pike, of all people, to come
+to live with them!  Oh, it was too dreadful!  It could not be--they
+could never bear it!  She had stayed with them once for a fortnight, and
+it might have been a year from the impression it had left on their
+memories.  When she had left they had had a thanksgiving service in the
+nursery, and Betty--solemn Betty--had prayed aloud, "From Aunt Pike,
+pestilence, and famine, please deliver us."
+
+And now this dreaded aunt was to be asked to come again--not for a
+fortnight only, but for many fortnights; and not as a guest, but as head
+and mistress of them all, to manage them, to order them about, to make
+them do as she chose.  Oh, it was overwhelming, appalling, too appalling
+to be  true!
+
+"But there is Anna!" gasped Kitty.
+
+"I know," said Dr. Trenire, who really felt nearly as bad about it as
+did his children.  "Anna will live here too, probably.  Of course we
+could not expect her mother to leave her."
+
+This was the hardest blow, the final drop of bitterness their cup could
+hold, the last straw on four overburthened camels.
+
+"But we all hate Anna," said Betty with slow, deliberate emphasis;
+"and we shall hate her more if she is here always, wanting to play with
+us, and go about with us, and--and--"
+
+"Betty, those remarks are unworthy of you," said her father gravely.
+
+"But they are quite true, daddy," said Tony  solemnly, "and we've _got_
+to speak the truth and shame the devil.  Jabez told us so."
+
+Dr. Trenire did not feel able or inclined to argue the point then.
+Betty drew nearer to him and leaned against his shoulder.  "Daddy," she
+said in her grave, confiding way, "you won't like it either, a bit.
+When Anna was here before you often used to say, 'Oh, that child!' and
+you looked quite glad, as glad as we did, when she went away.  I am sure
+you will be sorry if she comes, nearly as sorry as we shall be, only you
+will be able to go your rounds and get away from them every day; but
+we," pathetically, "can't do that."
+
+Again Dr. Trenire was silent.  He sometimes wished his younger
+daughter's memory was less acute, and her love of reasoning less strong.
+No one spoke, and until some one did, remarks would go on dropping from
+Betty's lips.  It was a way she had.  She had never been known to cease
+talking without being forcibly made to do so.  "It does seem dreadful,"
+she went on thoughtfully, "that just because Jabez got his head hit we
+must have Aunt Pike and Anna here for ever and ever, and be made very
+unhappy.  I am sure Jabez would rather have us punished in some other
+way.  Shall I ask him what he would like done to us instead?" she
+finished up eagerly.
+
+"I don't want to punish you," said Dr. Trenire.  "Don't run away with
+the idea, children, that I am doing it for that purpose.  It is that I
+think it will be the best plan for all of us--for our comfort and
+happiness, and your future good.  I can't have you all growing up like
+savages, untrained, uneducated, uncared for.  What would you all say to
+me when you grew up?" looking round at them with a smile.
+
+"I would say, 'Thank you,'" said Betty gravely.
+
+"I'd rather be a savage than anything," said Tony eagerly.
+
+Kitty and Dan were silent.  Dan was old enough to realize something of
+what his father meant; Kitty was altogether too upset to answer.
+She was thinking that it was she who had brought all this on them; that
+she might have saved them from it.  The others blamed Jabez and his
+tale-bearing; but Kitty in her heart of hearts felt that Jabez with his
+cut forehead and his tale of woe was but a last link in the long chain
+which she had forged--a chain which was to grapple to them Aunt Pike and
+the unwelcome Anna.  At the same time the injury to Jabez was a last
+link, without which the chain might never have been completed.
+
+It was completed though, for that their father's mind was made up, his
+decision final, they recognized only too clearly, and the glorious
+summer day turned suddenly to blackest, dreariest night for all of them.
+
+By-and-by, though, after their father had left them, and they had talked
+things over amongst themselves, some of Kitty's remorse gave way to a
+rebellion against fate.  "How could they have known," she demanded
+tragically, "that by just sitting on the garden wall that afternoon they
+were changing and spoiling their lives for ever, and giving Aunt Pike
+the chance she had been longing for, the chance of coming there to
+'boss' them?  How was one to know what one might do and what one
+mightn't?  What was the use of trying?  There was no going against
+'fate'!  If it was their fate to have everything spoilt by her, she
+would have come even if Jabez had never been hurt at all, and everything
+had been quite right and perfect."
+
+"I shall never sit on that old wall again without expecting something to
+happen," said Betty in solemn tones.
+
+"And you will never be disappointed after _she_ comes," Dan foreboded
+gloomily, "so it is just as well to be prepared."  At which they all
+groaned in miserable chorus.
+
+By-and-by they straggled downstairs again and out into the yard.
+The house was really unbearably hot, and seemed too small to allow their
+minds to grasp all they had to grasp.  They had a sort of gloomy
+longing, too, to revisit the spot where so much had happened, to go over
+the familiar ground and see if the bright outer world looked different
+at all; there surely must be some sign of the tragedy that had befallen
+them.
+
+In the outer world things had changed very much.  The sun had
+disappeared, and the sky was heavy and overcast with threatenings of the
+storm that had been brewing all the day; the old wall looked gray, and
+sad, and uninviting.
+
+"Just as though it knew," thought Kitty.
+
+In the yard Prue was standing somewhat dejectedly, evidently waiting to
+be harnessed; Jabez was creeping about, getting out the carriage in
+preparation for a journey.  He looked quite imposing with his bandaged
+head, and he was taking himself very seriously.  He glanced furtively at
+the children, and bore himself with an air of patient but superior
+resignation.  In his heart he was really vexed with himself for having
+complained of them, though he felt it would not do to let them know it.
+
+Betty, Dan, and Tony felt so bitterly the ill turn he had done them that
+they walked through the yard and up into the garden without a word or a
+glance--a cut on the forehead seemed so trifling compared with what they
+had to bear.  Jabez, who had expected anger or teasing on their parts,
+felt this coldness greatly; he was not used to that kind of treatment,
+and it hurt him.  Kitty, though, was so struck by the sight of his
+preparations that for the moment she forgot him and his injuries.
+
+"Father hasn't to go out again to-night, has he, Jabez?" she asked
+anxiously, staying behind while the others strolled on.
+
+"Yes, miss, he hev.  He've got to go to Welland to once.  They've just
+sent in."
+
+"Are you going too?" looking at his bandaged head.
+
+"No, miss," with a resigned air.  "Master says I'm to go 'ome and 'ave a
+good night's rest--that is if so be as I can get to sleep."
+
+"But who is going to drive father?" interrupted Kitty.
+
+"Master said as 'ow he'd drive hisself."
+
+Kitty remembered the weary look on her father's face, the sleepless
+night he had had, the long, busy day.  "Jabez," she said with quiet
+firmness, "I am going to drive father; then perhaps he will be able to
+sleep a little in the carriage.  Don't say anything to him, but I'll be
+in the carriage when you drive it round for him, and then I expect he
+will let me go."
+
+Jabez looked dubiously first at the sky and then at Kitty.
+
+"I can drive; you know I can," she said eagerly.  "Now don't be nasty,
+Jabez; we have got trouble enough as it is."
+
+"'Tis my belief there's a nasty storm brewing--"
+
+"I love a storm, especially when I am driving through it."
+
+"I was putting in the old mare on purpose, 'cause she stands thunder and
+lightning better than what Billy does, but--"
+
+"Jabez, you may say what you like, but I am going, unless father stops
+me; so don't bother to say any more about it.  I know the way, and
+father trusts me to drive."
+
+"I wasn't going against 'ee, Miss Kitty.  If you'm set on it you'm set
+on it, and 'tisn't no manner of use for me to talk."
+
+Dan and the others came sauntering down from the garden again.
+"Jabez, you might give me the nail out of that bit of wood," said Dan;
+"every half-ounce counts, and I want to get enough iron to sell."
+
+Jabez shook his head knowingly.  He would rather not have had any
+further reference made to the affair, for he was really devoted to them
+all, and was ashamed of his part in it.  He always made a point, though,
+of seeming to distrust them; he thought it safer.
+
+"Ah, I ain't so sure," he began, "that it'd be wise of me to let 'ee
+'ave it.  I dunno what more 'arm you mightn't be doing with it."
+
+"We couldn't do more harm than you have done already," snapped Dan.
+"You've nailed Aunt Pike fast to the house with it, and it will take
+more than we can do to get her away again."
+
+"What be saying of, sir?" asked Jabez, bewildered, and suddenly
+realizing that their sombre faces and manner meant something more than
+usual.  "Mrs. Pike--"
+
+"Father is going to send and ask Aunt Pike to live here, and it's your
+fault," said Betty concisely.  "It was your complaining about Dan that
+did it."
+
+Jabez gasped.  He knew the lady well, and preserved a vivid recollection
+of her former visit.  "She hain't a-coming visiting here again, is she,
+sur?" he groaned.
+
+"Visiting!  It's much worse than that, a thousand times worse.  She is
+coming here for good, to manage all of us--and you too!" they gasped.
+
+Jabez dropped helpless on to an upturned bucket, the picture of hopeless
+dejection.  "There won't be no peace in life no more," he said, "and I
+shan't be allowed to show my nose in the kitchen.  I'd have had my old
+'ead scat abroad every day of my life and never have told rather than
+I'd have helped to do this.  Was it really me telling on 'ee, sur, that
+made the master settle it so?"
+
+"Yes," nodded Dan, "that finished it."
+
+Jabez groaned again in sheer misery.  "I dunno, I'm sure, whatever made
+me take and do it.  I've stood so much more from all of 'ee and never so
+much as opened my lips.  I reckon 'twas the weather made me a bit
+peppery like--"
+
+"It was fate," interposed Kitty gravely.  "It must have been something,
+for sure," breathed Jabez, with a dreary shake of his head.
+
+"Make haste and get Prue harnessed," said Kitty, "or the storm will
+begin before we start, and then father won't let me go;" and Jabez, with
+another gloomy shake of his head, rose from the upturned bucket and
+proceeded with his task.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A DRIVE AND A SLICE OF CAKE.
+
+With one thing and another Jabez was so agitated as to be quite
+incapable of hurrying, and Kitty, who could harness or unharness a horse
+as well as any one, had to help him.  She fastened the trace on one
+side, buckled up the girths, and finally clambered up into the carriage
+while Jabez was still fumbling with the bit and the reins.  She caught
+the braid of her frock in the step as she mounted, and ripped down many
+inches of it, but that did not trouble her at all.
+
+"Have you got a knife in your pocket, Dan?" she asked calmly; and Dan
+not only produced a knife, but hacked off the hanging braid for her and
+threw it away.
+
+"I do wish I could go too," said Betty wistfully.  "I'd love to drive
+all over the downs at night, particularly if there was a storm coming.
+May I come too, Kitty?"
+
+But Kitty, for several reasons, vetoed the suggestion.  For one thing
+she wanted to be alone with her father, to try her powers of argument
+and persuasion against the summoning of Aunt Pike and Anna into their
+midst; for another, she felt that to be driving in the dark, and
+probably through a storm, was responsibility enough, without the care of
+Betty added; and she felt, too, that though her father might be induced
+to let one of them go with him, he would, under such circumstances,
+shrink from the pleasure of their united company.
+
+"No, Bet," she answered firmly, "you can't come to-night.  I--I want to
+talk things over with father;  but," with sudden inspiration, "I tell
+you what you can do, and it would be awfully sweet of you.  You coax
+Fanny to get something very nice for supper by the time we come home,
+and see that Emily has the table properly laid, and that the glasses are
+clean, and that there are knives enough, and--oh, you know, all sorts of
+things."
+
+"I know," said Betty, quite as delighted with the responsibility thrust
+on her as she would have been with permission to go for the drive.
+
+Dr. Trenire came out presently with some letters in his hand, which he
+gave to Jabez.  "Post those without fail," he said, then mounted to his
+seat.  He was so absorbed, or bothered, or tired, that he did not at
+first observe Kitty's presence, or, at any rate, object to it; and when
+he did notice her, all he said was, "O Kitty, are you going to drive me?
+That is very good of you; but isn't it rather late for you?"
+
+"No, father," said Kitty, relieved by his tone.  "I love driving by
+night, and I--I thought it would rest you to have some one to drive.
+Perhaps you will be able to have a nap on the way."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if I did," said her father, with a smile.
+"I feel as though my head is asleep already.  Have we got the lamps?"
+
+"Yes, I think everything is right," and, gathering up the reins, off she
+drove down through the street.
+
+Every one they met smiled and saluted them in some way, and Kitty smiled
+back, well pleased.  To be perched up on the box-seat, with the reins in
+her hand, in a position of real trust, gave her the happiest thrills
+imaginable.  Horses, and riding and driving, were passions with her.
+
+At the bottom of the street they branched to their left, and went more
+slowly up a steep hill, which wound on and on, gradually growing steeper
+and steeper, past villas and cottages and pretty gardens, until at last
+all dwellings were left behind, and only hedges bordered the wide road;
+and then  the hedges were passed too, and they were out on the open
+downs with miles of rough level grassland stretching away on either side
+of them, broken only by the flat white road along which they rolled so
+easily.
+
+Up here, on this height, with nothing to intercept it, a little breeze
+met them.  It was a very faint little breeze, but it was refreshing.
+Kitty drew in deep breaths of it with pleasure, for the closeness and
+thunderousness of the atmosphere were very trying.  The sky overhead
+looked heavy and angry, black, with a dull red glow burning through here
+and there, while a hot mist veiled the horizon.
+
+For a time they drove on without speaking, Prue's regular footfalls, the
+noise of the wheels, and the sharp, clear calls of the birds alone
+breaking the silence.  Kitty was thinking deeply, trying to summon
+courage to make her earnest, final appeal, and wondering how to begin.
+
+"Father," she began at last, "I--I wish you would give us one more
+chance--trial, I mean.  We would try to behave better, really we would;
+and--and I will do my best to look after the house and the servants
+properly.  I am sure I can if I try.  There shall always be hot water,
+and--well, you see I feel it is all my fault, and I have brought it all
+on the others--"
+
+Dr. Trenire came back with a start from his drowsy musings, and tried to
+gather what it was that his daughter was saying, for she was rather
+incoherent.  Her voice shook at first with nervousness.  "Eh, what?" he
+stammered.
+
+It was disconcerting to Kitty to find that he had not been taking in a
+word of what it had cost her such an effort to say.  "I will do my best
+to look after the house and the servants," she repeated desperately,
+"if--"
+
+"But I am afraid, child, you really don't know how.  It is not in anger,
+Kitty, that I am making this new arrangement.  I am doing it because I
+feel you have a task entirely beyond your power, and for all your sakes
+I must see that you have an orderly and comfortable home, and--"
+
+"It won't be _comfortable_," said Kitty pathetically.  "It will never be
+that any more."
+
+"You must not begin by being prejudiced against your aunt," reasoned her
+father gently.
+
+"I am not, father, really; we are not prejudiced," she answered; "but we
+know, and--and every one else knows that--that--well, when I told Jabez
+what was going to happen, he sat down on a bucket and he looked--he
+looked at first as though he were going to faint, and then as though he
+would leave.  I feel nearly certain he will not stay, I really do,
+father.  Aunt Pike was always down on him."
+
+Dr. Trenire felt a little uneasy.  He hated changes amongst his servants
+when once he had grown used to them, and Jabez was a faithful and
+valuable one in spite of his peculiarities.  "You should have thought of
+all this sooner," he said, rather crossly, "and not have made such a
+step necessary."
+
+"But--but, father, if we promise now, and really mean it, and begin at
+once, and--and--" Kitty was so excited she could hardly get her words
+out, for she had quickly caught the signs of wavering in her father's
+voice and manner.  Already she felt as though victory were near.
+"Anyhow, father, give us six months, or even three months more, just to
+let us show that--"
+
+With an exclamation, Dr. Trenire leaned forward and pulled the right
+rein sharply.  "Take care, child," he cried; "you will have us over in
+a moment.  You have almost got this wheel over the edge of the ditch.
+You _must_ learn to attend to the business in hand, or you will never
+succeed in anything.  Another inch and you would have upset us, and
+probably have broken a spring."
+
+Dr. Trenire's nerves were on edge, and he spoke more sharply than was
+usual with him.  Kitty felt that she had made a bad beginning, her
+spirits sank, and she lapsed into silence.  But when they were once more
+bowling smoothly along, her father's thoughts returned to her appeal.
+
+"I am afraid it is too late now," he said gently, sorry for his
+momentary irritability.  "I have already written to your aunt."
+
+Kitty turned a stricken face to him, and her hold of the reins loosened
+again.  "Written to Aunt Pike--already!" she gasped.  "Oh!"  But hope
+rose again a moment later.  "But you haven't posted it?"
+
+"Yes, I have.  At least, I gave it, with some others, to Jabez to post.
+It will have gone by the time we reach home."
+
+"Oh, how dreadful!"  Kitty's fingers tightened on the reins.
+Her impulse was to turn and drive back furiously to try and intercept
+that fatal letter.  "Father, do let me just drive quickly back and stop
+it," she pleaded; but her father shook his head.
+
+"I must get on to see Sir James as speedily as I can.  It would take us
+nearly an hour to go home and reach this far again; the old gentleman
+would think I wasn't coming to-night.  Look at the sky, too; we must try
+and get to Welland, if not home again, before the storm bursts.  It will
+be a bad one when it comes, and anything but pleasant or safe to be
+driving through over an exposed road such as this; and even now I am
+afraid it will be dark before we get home."
+
+Kitty knew that; but everything seemed trifling in comparison with this
+affair of Aunt Pike, and she drove on in a state of mutiny and misery
+very hard to bear, until by-and-by another comforting thought came to
+her.  If she could not recall that letter, perhaps she could induce her
+father to write another to her aunt, telling her that after all he had
+made other arrangements, and that there was no occasion to trouble her.
+She would not say anything about it now though, and presently other
+things occurred which helped to banish for the moment this particular
+trouble from her mind.
+
+By the time they reached Welland it was very nearly dark, and Kitty felt
+not a little nervous as she guided Prue through the gate leading into
+the Manor grounds; for the turning was an awkward one, and the gate not
+wide.  She managed it, however, and drove along the drive and drew up
+before the door in quite a masterly fashion.
+
+"I had better light the lamps by the time you come out," she said to her
+father as he got down from the carriage; but before he could tell her
+that One of the stablemen would probably come and see to the lamps and
+Prue too, the hall door was opened by an anxious-faced maid.
+
+"We are glad you have come, sir," she exclaimed.  "The master seems very
+bad, and the mistress is very anxious."
+
+"I will be with your master in a moment," said the doctor cheerfully;
+then, turning again to Kitty, "Hadn't you better come inside, dear?
+You--"
+
+"Oh no," cried shy Kitty, to whom the suggestion was full of horror.
+"Oh no.  I would _much_ rather stay here, please, father.  It is cooler
+now, and I am very comfortable;" and Dr. Trenire, understanding her
+nature, let her have her way, and followed the impatient maid to the
+sickroom.
+
+Kitty, greatly relieved, was fastening the reins to the splashboard
+before getting down to light the lamps, when a man appeared around the
+corner of the house, and came towards her.
+
+"You had better go inside, miss, hadn't you?" he said, speaking as
+though he were bidding her to go rather than asking her a question.
+"I'll look after the mare."
+
+"Thank you," said Kitty decisively, "I would rather stay here."
+
+"I think we'm going to have a storm, and you'll get wet through before
+the doctor comes out.  I reckon he'll be some time."
+
+Kitty felt strongly inclined to say she would like nothing better than
+to get wet through, and that she preferred sitting out in a storm to
+anything else in the world.  Why couldn't people let her do as she liked
+best?  It seemed to her that it was only for her to want to do one
+thing, for every one to conspire to make her do another.  And how
+aggravating it was to have the man glued to Prue's bridle all the time,
+as though Prue ever needed holding, or Kitty were absolutely incapable!
+He was not at all a pleasant man; he spoke very sulkily and never
+smiled.  She wished for his departure even more fervently than he, she
+felt, was wishing for hers, but she could not summon up courage to tell
+him to go, nor could she get over her irritation with him sufficiently
+to talk to him.  So there they stayed in gloomy silence, and Kitty, to
+add to her annoyance, was made to feel that she was acting foolishly,
+and ought to have done what she particularly objected to doing.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+A sudden vivid flash of lightning drew the exclamation from her, and
+made even quiet old Prue toss her head; and immediately after the flash
+came a violent peal of thunder just above their heads, so violent that
+it seemed as though the heavens themselves were being rent and shaken
+and the house tumbling about them.  Then came a quick patter, patter,
+patter, swish, swish, and a storm of rain descended on them.
+
+"If you'll get out, miss, and go into the house, I'll take the mare and
+the carriage round and put them under shelter, or the cushions and
+things'll be soaking wet by the time the doctor comes out."
+
+There was a tone in the man's voice that Kitty could not ignore, though
+she disliked him intensely for it--the more so, perhaps, because she
+felt that he was in the right.  He addressed her as though she were a
+little wilful child, whose foolishness he had endured for some time, but
+was not going to endure any longer.
+
+Kitty was _so_ annoyed that for a moment she felt that nothing would
+induce her to dismount, and that if he chose to put the carriage under
+shelter he could take her there along with it; but the prospect of
+having to endure his society the whole time made her pause, and while
+she paused the hall door was opened, and a lady appeared, peering out
+into the darkness.  Standing outlined against the lighted hall Kitty
+could see her distinctly, while she, her eyes  dazzled for the moment by
+the light, could see nothing.
+
+"Did Dr. Trenire bring one of his little girls with him, Reuben?"
+
+"Yes'm."
+
+"Do come in at once, child.  Which is it?  Kitty?"
+
+"Yes," answered Kitty reluctantly.
+
+"Then do come in.  Whatever makes you stay out in the storm?" cried Lady
+Kitson.
+
+Kitty obediently, but most unwillingly, scrambled down from her seat.
+Even from the carriage, and through the darkness, she could see how
+charming and dainty Lady Kitson was looking.  She had on a soft, flowing
+gray silk gown, with white lace about her shoulders and arms, and her
+beautiful golden hair gleamed brightly in the lamplight.  Kitty, at
+sight of her, suddenly realized with overwhelming shame that in her zeal
+to drive her father and make her appeal, she had neither brushed her own
+hair nor washed her hands, nor changed her old garden hat or morning
+frock.  She was, she knew, as disreputable-looking and untidy a daughter
+as any father could feel ashamed of.
+
+"How stupid of me--how stupid of me," she thought, full of vexation with
+herself, "when I knew I was coming here, too."
+
+There was nothing to be done, though, but to go in and live through this
+ordeal as best she might.  "Why do these things always happen to me?"
+she groaned miserably.  "If I had wanted very much to go in, and had had
+on all new beautiful clothes, I should have been left out here to spoil
+them.  I wish father would come; he must have been gone quite half an
+hour, I am sure, and Sir James can't want him any longer."
+
+In the hall Lady Kitson held out a delicate white hand, with sparkling
+rings on her fingers, and took Kitty's grubby one in hers.  Some persons
+might not have noticed the roughness and stains and marks made by the
+reins, but Kitty knew that Lady Kitson did.  Her keen eyes missed
+nothing, and probably before very long she would be retailing to Dr.
+Trenire all his daughter's shortcomings, and the crying necessity for
+sending her away to a good boarding-school at once.
+
+None of the Trenire children liked Lady Kitson, though they could hardly
+have told you why.  Poor Kitty felt now that she disliked her
+exceedingly.
+
+"Come into the drawing-room; the girls are there."
+
+"The girls" were Lady Kitson's step-daughters.  They were both of them
+older than Kitty, but were inclined to be very friendly.  The Trenire
+children, though, did not respond much to their advances; they found
+them uninteresting and silly, and never felt at home with them.
+The truth was, they had no tastes in common, and probably never would
+have.
+
+Kitty felt glad of their presence now though, for anything would be
+better, she thought, than to have to sit for a long time with Lady
+Kitson alone.  At least she felt glad until, having been directed to a
+low easy-chair facing them all, she suddenly caught sight of the two
+jagged ends of braid hanging from the front breadth of her dress--the
+braid Dan had hacked off with his knife.  Both ends hung down two or
+three inches, and no eye could avoid seeing them.  From them her glance
+travelled to her shabby old shoes, the spots on her frock, her hands.
+Her face flushed a fiery red and her eyes filled.  Not for any
+consideration could she at that moment have raised her eyes.  She knew,
+she felt those gimlet glances, the looks and meaning smiles that were
+being exchanged, and she writhed under them, while her heart felt very
+full and sore.  She could not talk, her mind was weighed down.  In her
+embarrassment she could think of nothing to say, and her hostesses were
+apparently too absorbed to make an effort either.  Moment after moment
+of overwhelming wretchedness dragged by.
+
+"I shall never, never forget this," thought Kitty, "all the rest of my
+life.  It will make me miserable whenever I think of it."
+
+At last, to every one's relief, Lady Kitson went upstairs to join her
+husband, and with her departure some, at least, of the stiffness was
+removed.
+
+"Aren't you hungry?" asked Lettice, the elder of the two girls.
+"I am sure you must be after that long drive."
+
+"No, thank you," said Kitty soberly.
+
+"Oh, I think you must be.--Maude, do go and ask Parkin to give us some
+cake for Kitty.  Be sure and say it is for Kitty."
+
+"Can't you go yourself?" asked Maude.  "Parkin is in a fearful temper
+with me because I told mother about her giving things to Reuben."
+
+"Bother!  You are always rubbing the servants the wrong way.  I let them
+do as they like, for the sake of keeping them amiable.  I am awfully
+hungry, and so is Kitty, if she would only admit it; but if she refuses
+to, I suppose I must go hungry."
+
+"We shall have dinner soon," said Maude sharply.  "I should think you
+could wait until then."
+
+"I will have some cake, if you really want me to," said Kitty, looking
+up at Lettice with a smile, the first she had been able to call to her
+lips.  She liked Lettice the better of the two girls.
+
+"Will you?" cried Lettice delightedly.  "Then I will go and ask for
+something nice for you.  I am sure Parkin will give me something if I
+promise her my little pansy brooch;" and off she went, returning a
+moment later with a plateful of huge slices of orange cake.
+
+Kitty looked at the slices in dismay.  "I can't eat a whole one," she
+said.  "I shouldn't have time either, for I expect father will be down
+soon."
+
+"Nonsense! you must.  There is no knife to cut them smaller," cried
+Lettice, already making marked inroads on a slice herself.  "Quick, take
+some, or I shall drop the plate."
+
+Kitty unwillingly did as she was told, only to regret it bitterly as, at
+the first mouthful, a shower of crumbs descended on the polished floor.
+After that experience it took her so long to make up her mind to take a
+second bite, that just as she did so voices were heard outside the door,
+the handle was turned, and Lady Kitson, followed by Dr. Trenire, entered
+the room.  At the first sounds Lettice had seized the plate of cake and
+made a hasty exit through the conservatory, but for Kitty there was no
+such escape.
+
+"Well, dear, are you ready to face the storm?" asked her father, smiling
+down at her.
+
+"I think I must lend you a wrap of some sort," said Lady Kitson.
+"I suppose you have none?"
+
+Kitty, her mouth full of cake and one hand grasping the remainder, tried
+to swallow it hastily that she might reply, and, of course, choked.
+As she often remarked afterwards, the misery of that visit would not
+have been complete without that final blow.  Covered with shame and
+confusion, she rose awkwardly from her chair, looking about her for some
+place whereon to deposit that dreadful cake.  There was none.
+The tables were covered with books and frames, vases and ornaments, but
+the vases were full of flowers, and there was not even a friendly
+flower-pot saucer.  There was nothing for her to do but carry it with
+her.
+
+"Don't hurry," said Lady Kitson politely; "stay and finish your cake."
+
+"I can't," said Kitty desperately.
+
+She could not even say "thank you."  In fact, there seemed so little to
+give thanks for that it never entered her head to do so.
+
+"Then we will start at once," said her father briskly; and to her
+immense relief she soon found herself, her farewells said, mounting once
+more the dear homely carriage.  With the reins between her fingers, and
+the responsibility on her of driving through the storm and darkness,
+some of her courage and self-respect returned, but not until she had
+flung that wretched cake far from her into the darkness.
+
+"I shall hate orange cakes all the rest of my life," she thought.
+
+"It was kind of Lady Kitson to take you in out of the storm," remarked
+her father absently.
+
+"Was it?" she questioned doubtfully.  "I suppose it was.  But--another
+time I--I would rather stay out in the very worst storm that ever was,"
+she added mentally.  "Nothing _could_ be worse than what I have gone
+through, and what I shall feel whenever I remember it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+STORMS AT HOME AND ABROAD.
+
+Time might soften Kitty Trenire's recollections of that embarrassing
+visit of hers, but it could never dim her remembrance of the drive home
+that night over that wide expanse of moorland which stretched away black
+and mysterious under a sky which glowed like a furnace, until both were
+illuminated by lightning so vivid that one could but bow the head and
+close the eyes before it.  A gusty wind, which had sprung up suddenly,
+chased the carriage all the way, while the rain, which came down in
+sheets, hissing as it struck the ground, thundered on the hood drawn
+over their heads, but left their vision clear to gaze in wondering awe
+at the marvels which surrounded them.
+
+Dr. Trenire presently took the reins from Kitty, and tucking her well up
+in the wrap that had been lent her, left her free to gaze and gaze her
+fill.  Prue did not relish the din and uproar in the heavens, the
+flashing lightning, or the rain beating on her; but though she shook her
+head and flapped her long ears in protest, she stepped out bravely.
+
+When they came at last to the houses and the more shut-in roads the wild
+beauty was less impressive, and Kitty's thoughts turned with pleasure to
+home and dry clothes, and the nice meal Betty had undertaken to have in
+readiness for them.  How jolly it all was, and how she did love her
+home, and the freedom and comfort of it.
+
+The first sight of the house, though, decidedly tended to damp her
+pleasant anticipations, for there was not a light to be seen anywhere.
+All the windows were gaping wide to the storm, while from more than one
+a bedraggled curtain hung out wet and dirty.
+
+Dr. Trenire drove straight in to the stable-yard, expecting to have to
+groom down and stable Prue himself.  But Jabez had changed his mind
+about going home and early to bed, and was there ready to receive them.
+At the sight of his bandaged head Kitty's thoughts flew to the events of
+the day, to Aunt Pike and the fatal letter, and she simply ached with
+anxiety to know if Jabez had posted it or not.
+
+While she was waiting for an opportunity to ask him Dr. Trenire solved
+the difficulty for her.
+
+"Have you posted those letters I gave you, Jabez?" he asked, with, as it
+seemed to Kitty, extraordinary calm.
+
+"Oh yes, sir," said Jabez cheerfully, very proud of himself for his
+unusual promptness.  "I went down with 'em to once.  When there's a
+hubbub on in the kitchen I'm only too glad to clear out."
+
+For once Dr. Trenire did not appear particularly pleased with his
+assiduity, and Kitty turned dejectedly away.  The letter, the fatal
+letter, was gone, her hopes were ended, fate was too strong for them.
+And to add to her trouble there had been a hubbub in the kitchen, which
+meant a quarrel.  Oh dear, what could be the matter now?  Emily was in a
+bad temper again, she supposed.  Emily generally was.
+
+As she went up to her room to change she met Emily coming down, and
+whatever else she might be in doubt about, she was in none as to the
+signs on Emily's face.  It was at "very stormy," and no mistake.
+
+"I am wet through," said Kitty brightly, hoping to smooth away the
+frown; "but oh it was grand to see the storm across the downs.
+I did enjoy it."
+
+But Emily was not to be cajoled into taking an interest in anything.
+"I'm glad somebody's been able to enjoy themselves," she said pertly,
+and walked away down the stairs.
+
+Poor Kitty's brightness vanished.  Was there never to be anything but
+worry and unpleasantness?  All her excitement, and interest, and
+hopefulness evaporated, leaving her depressed and dispirited.
+The memory rushed over her of former home-comings, before the dear
+mother died; the orderly comfort, the cheerfulness and joy which seemed
+always to be a part of the house in those days; and her eyes grew misty
+with the ache and loneliness of her heart, and the sense of failure
+which weighed her down.  There rose before her that dear, happy face,
+with the bright smile and the ready interest that had never failed her.
+
+"O mother, mother," she cried, "I want you so, I want you so!
+Everything is wrong, and I can't get them right.  I am no use to any
+one, and I--I don't know how to do better."
+
+The hot tears were brimming up and just about to fall over, when flying
+footsteps sounded on the stairs--Betty's footsteps.  Kitty closed the
+door of her room, though she knew it was of no use.  It was Betty's room
+too, and nothing, certainly not a mere hint, could keep Betty out; and
+she sighed, as she had often sighed before, for a room of her very own,
+for some place where she could be alone sometimes to think, or read, or
+make plans, or hide when the old heartache became too much for her.
+
+But Betty shared her room, and Betty had every right to walk in, and
+Betty did so.  She was quiet, and vouchsafed no account of her doings,
+but she was quite calm and unperturbed.
+
+"What has made Emily in such a bad temper?" asked Kitty wearily.
+
+"Emily always is in a bad temper, isn't she?" asked Betty placidly.
+"I don't take any notice of her."  Then with some slight interest,
+"What did she say to you?"
+
+"She didn't _say_ anything," answered Kitty, "but she looked temper, and
+walked temper, and breathed temper.  Have you got a nice supper for us?
+I am starving, and I am sure father must be."
+
+Betty did not answer enthusiastically; in fact, she gave no real answer
+at all, but merely remarked in an off-hand manner, "I shouldn't have
+thought any one could want much to eat in this weather."
+
+"Is it ready?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Well, will you go down and see, and tell them to take it in at once if
+they haven't done so? I know father wants his supper."
+
+"I--think," said Betty thoughtfully, "--p'r'aps you had better go
+yourself.  Fanny said--Fanny's manners are awful; I think father ought
+to send them both away--"
+
+"What did Fanny say?"
+
+"Fanny told me--well, she said she would rather I--didn't go into the
+kitchen again--yet."
+
+Kitty groaned.  "What have you done to vex them both so, Betty?"
+
+"I only tried to see that the table was nicely laid, and everything just
+as you told me; and because I took out all the glasses and told Emily
+they were dirty, she got as cross as anything; and they really were
+dirty, for I showed her all the finger-marks, so it wasn't as if I was
+complaining about nothing.  If I'd 'cused her wrongly I shouldn't wonder
+at her getting mad; but I hadn't, and she couldn't deny it.  The forks
+were dirty too; at least I showed her six that were."
+
+Without any comment Kitty left the room and descended to the kitchen.
+All the way she went she was dreading what she should find when she got
+there, and wondering how she should best approach matters, and it was a
+relief to her on opening the kitchen door to find that Fanny was alone.
+Fanny was looking cross enough at that moment to daunt any ordinary
+courage, but, somehow, Kitty never felt as alarmed of her as of Emily.
+
+"Well, Fanny," she began, intending to ignore the hints and rumours that
+had reached her, "we have got back.  We were wet through nearly, and now
+father and I are longing for our supper.  Have you got something very
+nice for us?"  She tried to speak cheerfully, but it cost her a great
+effort.
+
+Fanny took up the poker and made an attack on the stove.  "You never
+ordered nothing, Miss Kitty, and 'tisn't my place to say what you should
+have."
+
+"Oh but, Fanny, you generally do," said Kitty, half inclined to be
+indignant at Fanny's injustice, for she could not help remembering how
+Fanny, as a rule, resented any attempt on her part to order or arrange
+the meals.  She knew, though, that her only chance now was to be
+patient, and to ignore a good many things.  "And you manage so well, so
+much better than I can."  She felt she must say something to restore
+peace and amiability, if they were to have any supper at all that night,
+and not incur greater disgrace than she had already.
+
+"I don't want to boast," said Fanny, "'tisn't my nature to do so, but if
+I'm gived a free hand, well--I can turn out a passable meal; but when
+one doesn't like this and the other doesn't like that, and nothing I do
+is right, and there's nothing but rows and squabblings in the kitchen,
+and no peace nowhere--well, I gives it all up!  P'r'aps somebody else
+could manage better."
+
+Fanny's voice rose more and more shrilly.  Poor Kitty's head by this
+time was aching badly, and her nerves were all on edge.  "Fanny, what
+_is_ the matter?" she asked despairingly.  "What has happened while
+we've been away?  I thought we were coming home to a nice comfortable
+meal and a happy evening, and when we drive up the house is all dark,
+and the rain beating in at the windows.  Emily is in a fury, and--and oh
+it is all so miserable.  I--I'd rather be out alone on the downs in the
+storm without any home at all, or--or--"  Here Kitty's voice faltered,
+and once more the tears brimmed up in her eyes--a most unusual
+occurrence with her; but the events of the day, the storm, and the
+difficulties that beset her, were proving too much for her.
+
+Fanny, hearing the break in her voice, looked round quickly, just in
+time to see the tears, the white, tired face, and the look of dejection.
+"Why, Miss Kitty," she cried, her soft heart touched at once, "don't 'ee
+take it like that.  Why, 'tisn't nothing to fret about; it'll all come
+right again, my dear," and she put her big red arm round her little
+mistress, and drew her head down to rest on her shoulder.  But Kitty,
+completely overcome now, shook her head mournfully.
+
+"No, it won't, Fanny; it is too late now.  Aunt Pike is to come and live
+here to look after us.  Father says we must have some one, and--and I
+think he is right.  I don't seem able to manage things, everything goes
+just as I don't want it to," and the tears brimmed over again and fell
+on Fanny's shoulder.
+
+"Mrs. Pike!" gasped Fanny.  "Mrs.--Pike--coming here--for good!  Oh my!
+Miss Kitty, you don't really mean it!"
+
+"Yes, I do," groaned Kitty.  "It is really true.  Father has written to
+her, and--oh I never dreamed such a thing _could_ happen, or I would
+have tried and tried to be more careful.  It must be fate, though, as
+well as our bad managing, for I've never before known Jabez post a
+letter when he was told to; but he must have gone right down to the post
+at once with the one to Aunt Pike that sealed all our fates.  If he
+hadn't I do believe I could have got father not to send it, or at least
+to give us another chance."
+
+Fanny shook her head solemnly.  "It do seem like it," she groaned.
+
+"What has happened while I have been out, Fanny?  Has Betty been rude to
+Emily?"
+
+"Well, you see, Miss Kitty," said Fanny, anxious to tell, but softened
+sufficiently to wish to make the best of the matter, "Miss Betty is so
+tackless.  Emily's temper really wasn't so bad till Miss Betty kep' on
+with her.  So soon as Emily had put the things on the table for supper,
+Miss Betty 'd bring them all out again one by one, and put them down
+before Emily, and every time she'd say, in that way she's got, 'Emily,
+that glass is filthy; you must wash it at once.  I wonder you ain't
+ashamed to lay the things in such a state.'  When she brought out the
+third lot Emily got mad, and when Miss Betty come out with the forks
+too--well, the storm bursted.  Emily was cheeky, I don't deny, and Miss
+Betty was rude, and I had to tell 'em at last that they must go out of
+the kitchen if they was likely to go on like that.  I wasn't going to
+have my place turned into a bear-garden."
+
+"Emily shouldn't have put down dirty things," said Kitty, loyal to her
+sister.  "She is always doing it, and she ought to know better."
+Her sympathies were all with Betty.  She may have been "tackless," as
+Fanny called it, but however kindly Emily had been told of her
+carelessness she would have been certain to fly into a rage; and they
+had put up with so much from her without complaining, that no one could
+accuse them of being fidgety or captious.
+
+As a matter of fact, Emily, who needed a very firm mistress of whom she
+would stand in awe, should have been sent away long before.  Kitty could
+not manage her at all, and as she thought of all they had endured daily
+at Emily's hands, she felt almost thankful that soon the management of
+her would fall to Aunt Pike's lot.
+
+"Did you say, Miss Kitty, that the master had asked Mrs. Pike to come
+here to live altogether, to look after us?"
+
+Kitty nodded despairingly.  After all, the managing of Emily seemed but
+a very trifling advantage to weigh against the Pike invasion and all
+that would follow on it.  "O Fanny," she sighed brokenly, "if only--if
+only mother were alive!  Nothing has gone right since, nor ever will
+again; and I feel it is almost all my fault that Aunt Pike has got to
+come, and--and--"
+
+"Now don't take on like that, Miss Kitty," said Fanny, sniffing audibly,
+and not entirely able to throw off a sense of her own guilt in the
+matter.  "'Tisn't nothing to do with you, I'm sure.  If things _'as_ to
+be, they _'as_ to be, and we'll manage some'ow.  I'm going to set about
+getting a nice supper so soon as ever I can.  I think we'm all low with
+the thunder and the 'eat, and we'll be better when we've had some food.
+Now don't 'ee fret any more, that's a dear," and she wiped Kitty's eyes
+and then her own on her very soiled apron, but Kitty bore it gladly for
+the sake of the warm heart that beat beneath the soiled bib.
+
+"Thank you, Fanny; you are a dear," she said gratefully; "and I will go
+and light some lights about the house by the time father has done with
+that patient he has in with him now."
+
+Kitty had a great idea of making the house bright and cheerful, but in
+her zeal she forgot the heat of the night.
+
+"Phew! my word!" gasped Dr. Trenire as he came presently to the
+dining-room.  "Why, children, how can you breathe in this atmosphere?
+I have been turning down the gas all the way I've come.  But how nice
+the table is looking, and how good something is smelling.  I want some
+supper pretty badly; don't you, little woman?" with a friendly pull at
+Kitty's curls.
+
+Kitty was not hungry now, but she was delighted by her father's
+appreciation, and she cut the bread very zealously, and passed him
+everything she thought he could want.  It was not until she had done all
+that that the silence and the emptiness of the table struck her.
+"Why, where is Dan?" she cried.
+
+"And where is Anthony?" asked Anthony's father.
+
+Betty gave a little jump, but as quickly controlled herself again.  "Oh,
+I'd quite forgotten about him," she said calmly.  "Tony is in bed."
+
+"In bed?" cried Dr. Trenire and Kitty at the same moment.  "Isn't he
+well?"
+
+None of them had ever been sent to bed for being naughty, so that
+illness was the only explanation that occurred to them.
+
+"Oh yes, he is all right; but I made him get under the feather-bed
+because of the lightning--"
+
+"The what?"
+
+"The lightning.  They say it can't strike you if you are covered with
+feathers, and of course I didn't want it to strike Tony, speshally with
+nobody here but me to--to take the 'sponsibility," looking at her father
+with the most serious face imaginable.  "So I made him get into the
+spare-room bed, 'cause it's a feather-bed, and then I put all the
+eider-downs over him, and I expect he's as safe as can be."
+
+Dr. Trenire gave a low whistle and started to his feet.
+"Very thoughtful of you, child," he said, trying not to smile, "and I
+expect Tony is safe enough, if he isn't cooked or suffocated.  For my
+part, I should prefer the risk to such a protection in this weather.
+I'll go and rescue him."  But Kitty had already flown.
+
+"I forgot to tell Kitty," went on Betty thoughtfully, "that I think the
+moths have got into the eider-downs, such a lot of them flew out when I
+moved the quilts."
+
+Dr. Trenire groaned.  "I suppose the quilts have never been attended to
+or put away since we ceased to use them?"
+
+"No," said Betty gravely.  "You see, if they are on the spare-room bed
+they are all out in readiness for when we want them."
+
+"And for the moths when they want them," sighed her father.  "I expect
+they will not leave much for us."
+
+Kitty, her father's half-jesting words filling her with a deep alarm,
+had meanwhile raced up to the spare room.  Somehow, on this dreadful
+day, anything seemed possible, certainly anything that was terrible, and
+she remembered suddenly that the spare bedroom was the very hottest room
+in the house.  It was over the kitchen, and caught every possible gleam
+of sunshine from morning till evening.  Also she knew Betty's
+thoroughness only too well, and her mind's eye saw poor little Tony
+buried deep and tucked in completely, head and all.
+
+The whole house was stiflingly hot.  Kitty's own face grew crimson with
+her race upstairs, and when she opened the door of the spare bedroom the
+heat positively poured out; but a terrible load was lifted from her
+mind, for, mercifully, Tony's head was uncovered.  He was the colour of
+a crimson peony, it is true, but at any rate he was not suffocated,
+unless--Kitty stepped quickly forward and touched his cheek.  It almost
+made her sick with dread to do so; but the red cheek was very, very hot
+and lifelike to the touch, and at the same moment Tony opened a y pair
+of large sleepy eyes, and stared up at his sister wonderingly.
+
+"I'm not struck, am I?" he asked half nervously.  "I am very hot, Kitty.
+Is it the lightning?"
+
+"No," said Kitty cheerfully, "it is feathers," and she flung back the
+pile of quilts.  "Poor Tony.  Get up, dear, and come down and have some
+supper.  It is all ready, and father was wondering where you were."
+
+Tony slipped with grateful obedience from his protection and followed
+Kitty, but rather languidly, it is true, for he was very hot and
+exhausted, and very rumpled, all but his sweet temper, which was quite
+unruffled.
+
+"Is Dan come back?" he asked eagerly, as he crept slowly down the
+stairs.
+
+"Dan!" cried Kitty, stopping and looking back at him anxiously.
+She remembered again then that she had not seen Dan since her return.
+"Did he go out?"
+
+"Yes, he went to catch some fishes for daddy's supper.  He heard you
+tell Betty to have a nice one ready, and he said, 'There's sure to be
+nothing nice in the house; there never is.  I'll go and catch some
+trout,' and he went.  Do you think he was out in all that funder and
+lightning?"  Then, seeing Kitty's startled look, Tony grew frightened
+too.  "You don't fink he is hurt, do you, Kitty?" he asked anxiously.
+"You don't fink Dan has been struck, do you?"
+
+But at that moment, to their intense relief, Dan himself crossed the
+hall.  From his appearance he might have been actually in the stream,
+getting the trout out without rod or line.  Water was running off his
+hat, his clothes, and his boots.  Tony heard it squishing with every
+step he took, and thought how splendid and manly it seemed.
+
+Kitty called out to him, but Dan did not stay to talk.
+
+"Where's father?" he asked, turning a very flushed but very triumphant
+face towards them, and waving his basket proudly.
+
+"In the dining-room," said Kitty, and Dan hastened on.  His face fell a
+little, though, when he saw the table, and his father already eating.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry I'm late," he said disappointedly.  "I thought I
+should have been in heaps of time.  I've got you some jolly fine trout,
+father.  I meant them for your supper.  Just look!  Aren't they
+beauties?" and he thrust his basket over the table and held it right
+under his father's nose.  The mud and green slime dripped on tablecloth
+and silver and on the bread, and even on Dr. Trenire's plate and the
+food he was eating.
+
+The doctor's much-tried patience gave way at last.  "Look at the mess
+you are making--all over my food too!  Look at the filth you have
+brought in!" he exclaimed angrily.  "Take it away! take it away!
+What do you mean by coming into the room in that condition, bringing a
+filthy thing like that and pushing it under my very nose when you see I
+am eating?  And why, Dan, once more, are you not here and decently neat,
+when a meal is ready?  It is perfectly disgraceful.  Here am I, and
+supper has been on the table I don't know how long, and only one of you
+is ready to sit down with me.  Anthony is in bed, or somewhere else,
+Kitty is racing the house to find him, and you--I am ashamed of you,
+sir, for coming into a room in such a condition.  You are perfectly
+hopeless.  Here, take away my plate, take everything; you have quite
+spoilt my appetite.  I couldn't eat another mouthful at such a table!"
+and Dr. Trenire rose in hot impatience and flung out of the room.
+
+For a second Dan seemed unable to believe his ears, then without a word
+he closed his basket and walked away.  He was more deeply hurt than he
+had ever been in his life before, and his face showed it.  Kitty and
+Tony, hesitating in the hall, saw it, and their eyes filled with tears.
+"Throw it away, will you?" he said in a choked voice, holding out the
+unfortunate basket to Kitty.
+
+Kitty, knowing how she would have felt under similar circumstances, took
+it without looking at him; instinctive delicacy told her not to.
+"Father didn't mean it," she whispered consolingly.  "You will come down
+and have some supper when you have changed, won't you?"
+
+They were not a demonstrative family; in fact, any lavishly expressed
+sympathy or affection would have embarrassed them; but they understood
+each other, and most of them possessed in a marked degree the power of
+expressing both feelings without a word being spoken.
+
+Dan understood Kitty, but it was too soon to be consoled yet.  "No," he
+said bitterly, "I have had supper enough, thank you," and hurried away
+very fast.
+
+It really did seem as if Kitty was not to reach the Supper-table that
+night.  Telling Tony to go in and begin his meal, she flew off with the
+basket, and, heedless of anything but Dan's request, was just about to
+fling it away--fish, basket, and all--when she paused.  It was a very
+good basket, and Dan had no other.  Kitty hesitated, then opened it and
+looked in.  Six fine trout lay at the bottom on a bed of bracken and wet
+moss, evidently placed so that they could look their best.
+The sight of Dan's little arrangements brought the tears to her eyes.
+No, she could not throw away what he had taken so much pride in.
+
+She turned back and went to the kitchen.  "Fanny," she said, "will you
+cook these for father's breakfast?  Dan has caught them for him."
+
+"And fine and proud he was too," said Fanny, looking in at Dan's catch.
+
+"He was, but he isn't now.  I wish," with a deep sigh, "we didn't always
+do things the wrong way.  I wonder why nothing ever comes quite right
+with us?"  Then she turned away hastily, that Emily, who at that moment
+came into the kitchen, might not see the tears that would start to her
+eyes.
+
+When at last Kitty sat down to the meal which she no longer wanted,
+every one else had left the table.  She was not sorry, for it saved her
+from having to make a pretence of eating, and left her free to indulge
+in her own moods.  It gave her time, too, to think over all that had
+happened, and might yet happen.
+
+Before she went up to bed, though, she got a tray, and collecting on it
+a tempting meal, carried it to Dan's room.  She hoped he would let her
+in, for she badly needed a talk with him, but just as she was about to
+knock at his door the murmur of voices within arrested her attention.
+Whom could Dan have got in there? she wondered in great surprise.
+Tony was in bed, and Betty was in her room.  She listened more closely,
+and nearly dropped the tray in her astonishment, for the voice she heard
+was her father's, and she had never before known him go to their rooms
+to talk to them.
+
+For a moment her heart sank with dread.  Was he still angry?  Was he
+scolding poor Dan again? he could hardly think so, for it was so unlike
+him to be harsh or severe with any of them.
+
+Then, as the voice reached her again, though she caught only the tone of
+it, and not a word that was said, she knew that all was right, and with
+a sudden lightening of her heart, and a sense of happiness, she quietly
+crept away to her own room.  All the time she was undressing she
+listened alertly for the sound of her father's footsteps, but she had
+been in bed some time before they passed down the corridor.  "They must
+be having a nice long talk," she thought, as she lay listening, in a
+state of happy drowsiness; and she was almost in the land of Nod when a
+sudden thought turned her happiness to dismay, and drove all sleep from
+her.
+
+"Oh!" she cried, springing up in her bed, "oh, how stupid of me!
+How perfectly dreadfully stupid of me!"
+
+"Whatever is the matter?" demanded Betty crossly.  "I was just beginning
+a most beautiful dream, and now you have sent it right away."
+
+"Never mind your dream," groaned Kitty.  "That's nothing compared with
+that letter.  I did mean to get him to write it to-night, and I would
+have posted it, so that it could reach almost as soon as the other,
+and--and I _never_ did it, I never even asked him to write it, and now
+the post has gone, and--"
+
+"Whatever are you talking about?" interrupted Betty impatiently.
+
+"Why, the letter to Aunt Pike, of course.  I was going to coax father to
+write another letter to her to-night, to say it was all a mistake, that
+we didn't want her, and--"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," answered Betty coolly.  "Don't worry.  I have
+written to Aunt Pike and told her all that, and I posted it myself to
+make sure of its going.  She will get it almost as soon as she gets--"
+
+"Betty, you haven't?"
+
+"Yes, I have," said Betty quietly.  "Why not?  I am sure it was best to.
+Fanny wouldn't live  with her, I know, and Jabez said it would be more
+than his life was worth, and you know father hates changing servants, so
+I wrote and told her exactly all about it.  I wrote quite plainly, and I
+think she will understand."
+
+"O Betty, you shouldn't have.  What _will_ father say?"
+
+"Father will be very glad, I think.  He hates writing letters himself."
+
+"Um--m!" commented Kitty dubiously, but said no more, for at that moment
+Dan's door was opened, and she heard her father's steps pass lightly
+along the corridor.
+
+A few moments later she slipped out of bed and carried Dan's tray to his
+room, but she did not go in with it.  Her instinct told her that he
+would rather she did not just then; so, laying it on the floor, she
+tapped lightly at his door, told him what was there, and crept back to
+bed again.
+
+"What a day it has been," she thought to herself as she nestled down
+under the cool sheet.  "Yet it began like all the others.  I wonder how
+all will end.  Perhaps it won't be so bad after all.  I hope that
+Betty's letter won't do more harm than good.  I shouldn't be at all
+surprised, though, if it made Aunt Pike make up her mind to come.  But
+I'll try not to think about it," and turning over on her pillow, Kitty
+had soon forgotten Aunt Pike, Anna, torn braid, orange cake, and Lady
+Kitson, and was once again driving dear old Prue across the moor with
+the storm beating and roaring about them, only this time it was a
+dreamland moor and a dreamland storm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+IN WENMERE WOODS.
+
+"I could not think, for the moment," said Kitty, sitting up in bed and
+clasping her knees, "why I woke with a feeling that something dreadful
+had happened.  Of course it is Aunt Pike that is on my mind.
+
+"She needn't be, then," said Betty, stretching herself luxuriously in
+her little bed.  "My letter will settle all that worry."
+
+"Um!" remarked Kitty thoughtfully, with none of the confidence shown
+by her young sister.  "If your letter doesn't make her come by the very
+first train, it will only be because she missed it.  I shouldn't be at
+all surprised to see her walk in, and Anna too."
+
+"You don't _really_ think she will?"  Betty, struck by something in
+Kitty's voice, had stopped stretching herself, and looked across at her
+sister.  "Kitty, you don't really mean that?  Oh no, of course you
+don't; she couldn't really come to-day, she would have lots to do
+first--packing and saying 'good-byes.'"
+
+"I should think she hadn't a friend to say 'good-bye' to," said Kitty
+naughtily.  "Any way, I am not going to worry about her.  If she doesn't
+come--oh, it'll be perfectly lovely; and if she does--well, we will get
+all the fun we can beforehand, and after, too, of course; but we will
+try and have some jolly times first, won't we?  What shall we do to-day?
+I wonder if Dan has planned anything."
+
+What Dan's plan might be was really the important point, for according
+to him the others, as a rule, shaped their day.
+
+"I don't know if Dan has made any," cried Betty with sudden alertness,
+"but I know what would be simply lovely.  Let's spend the day in Wenmere
+Woods, and take our lunch with us, and then have tea at the farm--ham
+and eggs, and cream, and cake, and--"
+
+"Oh, I know," interrupted Kitty; "just what Mrs. Henderson always gives
+us--"
+
+"No," interrupted Betty anxiously, "not what she always gives us; we
+will have fried ham and eggs as well, because, you see, it is a kind of
+special day."
+
+"Very well, we will if we have money enough.  I wonder if Dan will
+agree."
+
+"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight," clanged out the town
+clock viciously.  Betty sprang up in bed at once.  "It is time to get
+up, Kitty," she said peremptorily.  "We've got to do everything right
+to-day, and be very punctual at meals, and very tidy and all that sort
+of thing, so that father will see that Aunt Pike isn't wanted.  Do you
+think he will be vexed when he knows about my writing to her?
+P'r'aps she won't tell."
+
+Kitty scoffed at such an idea.  "Aunt Pike is sure to tell; but father
+is never _very_ angry."
+
+"But he might be," said Betty wisely; "he looked so last night when all
+the mud dropped on his plate; but, of course, this is different--there
+is nothing very bad about my writing the letter.  I did it to save
+him trouble."
+
+"Perhaps you had better tell father so," said Kitty dryly.
+"Honour bright, though, Betty, I really would  tell him, and not let him
+first find it out from Aunt Pike."
+
+"Um!" ejaculated Betty thoughtfully, as she collected Kitty's sponge and
+bath-towel before departing to the bathroom.  But there was nothing very
+hearty in her tone.
+
+When she returned, looking very fresh and rosy, and damp about the
+curls, she found Kitty sitting on the side of her bed, and still in her
+night-gown.  Hearing Betty's returning footsteps, she had managed to get
+so far before the door was flung open, but that was all.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful," she sighed wearily, "to think  that day after day,
+year after year, all my life through, I shall have to get up in the
+morning and go through all the same bother of dressing, and I--I hate it
+so."
+
+"P'r'aps you won't have to," said Betty cheerfully;  "p'r'aps you'll be
+a bed-lier like Jane Trebilcock, and you won't have to have boots, or
+dresses, or hats."
+
+But the prospect did not cheer Kitty very greatly.  "I didn't say I
+didn't want dresses and things.  I do.  I want lots of them, but I don't
+want the bother of putting them on."
+
+"Well, they wouldn't be much good if you didn't put them on," retorted
+practical Betty.  "I hate getting up too"--Betty never failed in her
+experience of any form of suffering or unpleasantness--"but I try to
+make it a little different every day, to help me on.  Sometimes I
+pretend the bath is the sea, and I am bathing; other times I only paddle
+my feet, and sometimes I don't bath at all--that's when I am playing
+that I am a gipsy or a tramp--"
+
+"Betty, you nasty, horrid, dirty little thing!" cried Kitty, looking
+shocked.
+
+But Betty was quite unabashed.  "I've known you not wash either," she
+remarked calmly.
+
+Kitty coloured.  "But--but that was only once when I forgot; that is
+quite different."
+
+"But I don't see that it is," said Betty firmly.  You are not cleaner
+because you forget to wash than if you don't wash on purpose.  Hark!
+O Kitty!"
+
+"What shall I do?" cried Kitty despairingly as the boom of the
+breakfast-gong sounded through the house.  "I haven't begun to dress,
+and--Fanny might have told me she was going to be punctual to-day."
+
+"P'r'aps she didn't know it herself," said Betty, tugging away at her
+tangle of curls with a comb, and scattering the teeth of it in a shower.
+"I expect it is an accident."
+
+"Then I wish she wouldn't have accidents," snapped Kitty.  "It is
+awfully hard on other people."
+
+Try as hard as one may, one cannot bath and dress in less than five
+minutes.  Kitty declared she could have done it in that time, if Dan had
+not had possession of the bathroom, and Betty had not used her
+bath-towel and left it so wet that no one else could possibly use it.
+
+"But I couldn't use my own," protested Betty, when the charge was
+brought against her, "for I hadn't one, and of course I had to use
+something."
+
+When the discussion had proceeded for some time, Dr. Trenire looked up
+from his paper with a half-resigned air.  "What is the matter, children?
+Haven't we bath-towels enough to go round?  Kitty, you should tell me
+when things are needed.  But never mind; your aunt will see to
+everything of that sort now."
+
+"I don't think she will," murmured Betty knowingly, but her father did
+not hear her.  Kitty felt too dismayed to speak; there was something so
+final in her father's tone, it made the coming of the dreaded aunt seem
+quite inevitable.
+
+"What are you children going to do to-day?" he went on kindly.  "It is a
+glorious morning after the storm.  You ought to be out as much as
+possible, all of you.  You should start as soon as you have finished
+your work with Miss Pooley."
+
+Miss Pooley was the governess who came daily from ten till one to
+instruct them.  At least she instructed them as often as she had the
+opportunity, but it very frequently happened that when she arrived she
+was told that the children had gone out for the day, or even oftener a
+little note to the same effect reached her, adding that as they would be
+engaged all day they wished to save her the trouble of coming for
+nothing.
+
+This morning they had intended to do the same thing.  Kitty was to write
+the note, and Tony to deliver it, but their father's remark, and his
+look, touched their consciences.  Dan, too, for some reason or another,
+was against it; he said he thought that after all it was a bit sneaky
+and underhand, and he wasn't going to have any more of it.  Betty felt
+the foundations of her world shake, and life bristled with new
+difficulties; but Dan had said it, so no one questioned.  After Dan had
+put things in that light, Kitty suddenly realized that their conduct in
+the matter had been neither honourable nor honest.
+
+"We will have our lessons and leave directly after," she planned
+cheerfully.  "I will ask Fanny to let us have some food to take with us
+for our dinner, and then we will go to the farm for tea, and come home
+in time for supper.  Won't it be jolly!  And we will have our dinner
+down by the river--by that dear little silvery, sandy beach, you know."
+
+"It sounds fine," said their father, returning to the room just in time
+to hear the arrangements.  "I wish I could go too."
+
+"I wish you could," cried Kitty.  "Wouldn't it be fun to see father
+exploring the woods, and catching beetles and minnows, and paddling in
+the river, and--daddy, can't you come, just this once?"
+
+"No, child, there is no paddling for me to-day, or playing wild man of
+the woods or anything else.  I have a long round in the morning, and
+another in the afternoon.  I have just been out interviewing Jabez."
+
+"Oh," gasped Kitty, "I had forgotten Jabez.  Of course he can't drive
+you, his head is all bandaged.  I will go, father; I'd love to drive
+you."  And she meant it.  She would quite readily have given up her day
+in Wenmere Woods to go with him.
+
+Dr. Trenire laid his hand tenderly on her shoulder.  "It is all right,
+dear; I shall have Jabez.  He has discarded his bandages, and is quite
+presentable.  He says he took them off last night to have a look at the
+wound, and when he saw what a little bit of a place it was, he made up
+his mind he wasn't going about with his head tied up for people to poke
+fun at him later on when they saw what he had been bandaged up for.
+Go and enjoy yourself, child, and tell me all about it to-night; and do
+try to keep out of mischief, all of you."
+
+In the kitchen, when Kitty at last reached it, Fanny was making pasties;
+and when Fanny chose she could make a pasty to perfection.  She made
+them one each now with their initials on them, made of curly bits of
+pastry, and promised to have them baked and ready by the time Miss
+Pooley was gone.  Emily was in a good temper too.  The prospect of being
+free from the children all day, and of having  no meals to get for them
+till supper, quite cheered her.  She even, without being asked, cut them
+some sandwiches, filled a bottle with milk, and produced a store of
+apples, which she packed in their basket.  When the children, having
+escaped from patient, easy-going Miss Pooley, rushed out to the kitchen
+for their pasties and milk, and found things in this unusually happy
+state, they marvelled at their good fortune, and accepted it thankfully.
+
+"Fanny and Emily are quite nice sometimes," remarked Betty, as they left
+the house, "only the worst of it is you never know when they are going
+to be.  Sometimes they laugh at everything one says, and another time
+they grumble."
+
+"To-day they are like people are when you are ill and they are sorry for
+you," said Tony, who had been puzzling himself for some minutes to know
+how to express what he wanted to.  "I fink they are sorry for us 'cause
+Aunt Pike is coming."
+
+"'O wise young judge!'" said Dan, "I shouldn't be surprised if you were
+right."  Dan had begun to read Shakespeare, and was full of quotations.
+"It is rather like living in the shadow of the gallows.  I expect people
+in the French Revolution felt as we do."
+
+"I don't feel the least little bit like French Revolutions, or gallows,
+or shadows, or even Aunt Pike and darling Anna, on such a glorious day
+as this," cried Kitty joyfully.  "I can't think of them, and I am not
+going to--yet.  Now, if you are all ready, let's race."
+
+Their way led them down a steep hill almost opposite their own house--
+a hill with just a house here and there on either side of it, and a
+carpenter's shop, whence wafted out a sweet, fresh scent of newly-cut
+wood.  The children raced to the very foot of it, and then retraced
+their steps to gather up the fragments of the milk-bottle, which had
+come to grief within the first twenty yards.  Then on they went again,
+past more cottages and sundry turnings, until at last they reached a
+curious old rough-and-tumble wharf on one side of the road, where the
+coal which had been brought by train was piled up in great stacks for
+the coalmen to take round presently in their carts.  Here, too, was
+drawn up a train--one such as only those who lived in those parts have
+ever been privileged to see.  It was composed of an old-fashioned squat
+little engine called the "Rover," and a few open carriages, with seats
+along the sides for passengers, and some trucks for any goods that might
+be needed.
+
+No passengers occupied the seats at that moment; in fact, they were
+generally conspicuous by their absence, save once a year, when the whole
+accommodation was bespoken for the Brianite Sunday-school treat.
+The "Rover," in fact, spent most of her noble life in drawing coal,
+clay, and sand up and down the seven miles which lay between Gorlay and
+Wenbridge.  It seemed a limited sphere, but only to the ignorant, who
+knew nothing of her services to the dwellers by the roadside, the
+parcels she delivered, the boots she took to be mended and restored
+again to their owners, the messages she carried, and the hundred and one
+other little acts of usefulness which filled her daily round.  I say
+"her," for to every one privileged to know her the "Rover" was a lady;
+one who deserved and received all men's deference and consideration, and
+the gentlest of handling too.
+
+As Kitty and Dan lingered now by the gate to look at her, they saw
+Dumble, the driver, lovingly passing a cloth over her, as though to wipe
+the perspiration from her iron forehead, while Tonkin, the fireman,
+stood leaning against her, with his arm caressingly outstretched.
+Behind Dan and Kitty, on the farther side of the road, grew a high
+hawthorn hedge, under the shelter of which was a seat where people sat
+and sunned themselves by the hour, and at the same time gazed at the
+life and bustle with which the wharf woke up now and then.  There were
+two old men on the seat now.  They touched their hats to Dan and his
+sister, and with a melancholy shake of their old heads sighed in
+sympathy with Kitty as she cried, "O Dan, I wish we could all go by
+train, all the way to Wenbridge.  It will be perfectly lovely down the
+line."
+
+But Dan seemed less eager than Kitty or the old men.  "We shall reach
+the woods before they do, if we walk on," he said, moving away;
+"and there is such a lot to see on the way."
+
+Tony and Betty--who was carrying the basket because she felt she could
+trust no one else with it--were nearly out of sight, so Dan and Kitty
+hurried after them.  One side of the road was lined by fields, the other
+by houses, and at the foot of their gardens ran the railway line until
+it emerged through some allotment gardens on to the open road, after
+which, for a while, train and foot passengers, and sometimes a drover,
+with a herd of cattle, meandered along side by side in pleasant talk or
+lively dispute--the latter usually, when Dan was on the road--until,
+about a mile farther on, two more cottages, and the last, having been
+passed, the road came to an abrupt end, and only the railway was left,
+with a rough footpath along its edge, which pedestrians had worn for
+themselves.
+
+The quartette wandered on contentedly, stopping when they pleased, and
+that was every few minutes.  Overhead the sky was a deep pure blue, and
+the larks were singing rapturously; the sun shone brilliantly, drawing
+out the smell of the tar from the "sleepers," and the scent from the
+flowers.  Under the hawthorn hedges which bordered most of the way the
+petals lay in a thick carpet.
+
+On one side of the road, just before it terminated, was a well, buried
+deep in a little green cave in the hedge, while the pure water from it
+flowed generously over the floor of the cave, and ran in a never-failing
+stream along one side of the way, past the gardens of the cottages, from
+which at one time a root or maybe a seed only of the "monkey plant" had
+been thrown, and taking root had flourished and flourished until the
+stream now was hidden beneath a mass of lush green leaves and stems
+crowned by tawny golden blossoms speckled and splashed with a deep rich
+brown.
+
+At the well a halt was always called, for the water of it had healing
+properties, and from their babyhood the children had, as a matter of
+duty, tested its powers by bathing their eyes; but to-day, as they
+stooped over it, a weird shriek in the distance brought them to their
+feet again.  Then came a great racket, as though a pile of all the loose
+iron in the world were tumbling over, the ground vibrated, and the noise
+drew closer and closer.
+
+"The 'Rover';" cried Dan.  "She is coming!  Here's sport!  I'll duck
+them."
+
+Betty's was the only hat that would hold any quantity of water, and she
+lent it gladly; but the brim was limp with age and hard wear, and a
+broad-brimmed straw hat at its best is not an ideal vessel from which to
+throw water over a flying foe.  The larger share of it Dan received in
+his own shoes amidst the derisive laughter of his two intended victims
+on the engine; and so completely mortified was he that Dumble, for a
+wonder, refrained from his usual revenge, that of squirting hot water
+from the engine over him.
+
+Dan looked red and foolish, Betty was furious, Kitty wished they had let
+the men alone, but at the same moment began to wonder how she could
+avenge this humiliation they had put upon Dan.
+
+After this little episode they walked on again, and for a while very
+soberly, Tony busily engaged in picking up stones and spars in search of
+some rare specimen that might please his father, Betty still clinging to
+the basket, though her arm was aching with the weight of it.  By the
+time they at last reached the woods they were all rather tired and
+distinctly hungry, but they were never too tired or hungry to be roused
+to enthusiasm by the sight that met them there.  No mere words can
+depict the charm and beauty of Wenmere Woods.  No one can thoroughly
+appreciate them who has not actually seen them.  No one who has seen
+them can forget them.  To see them was to stand with a glad heart,
+speechless, wide-eyed, wondering, and thanking God for such a sanctuary,
+yet half incredulous that such a spot was real, was there always,
+untouched, undefiled, waiting for one.  It might have been a fairy
+place, that would fade and vanish as soon as one turned one's eyes away.
+
+The woods were of no great extent, the trees were of no great size, but,
+tall and graceful, they clothed the side of the hill without a break
+down to the very edge of the river which ran through a valley which was
+fairyland itself, and on the opposite side stretched away, almost from
+the river's brink, up, and up, and up, until to all seeming they met the
+sky.  Delicate, feathery larches and quivering birches they were for the
+most part, and here and there, underneath their spreading branches, were
+open spaces carpeted with wind-flowers and bluebells, primroses and wild
+orchids, while ferns, large and small, grew in glorious profusion, some
+as tall as Tony, others as fragile and tiny as a fairy fern might be.
+In other spots large lichen-covered rocks raised their heads out of a
+tangle of bracken and bushes, while here and there, down by the river's
+brink, gleamed little bays of silver-white sand.
+
+In Dr. Trenire's library were several large bound volumes of Tennyson's
+"Idylls of the King," illustrated by Gustav Dore, and Kitty had never a
+doubt in her mind that these were the woods the artist had depicted.
+There could be no others like them.  Here Enid rode with Launcelot by
+her side; on that silvery beach, where the old bleached tree trunk lay
+as it must have lain for generations, Vivien had sat at Merlin's feet.
+There, in that space carpeted by wind-flowers and primroses, Queen
+Guinevere and Launcelot had said their last farewells.
+
+To Kitty the whole beautiful spot was redolent of them.  They had been
+there, ridden and walked, talked and laughed, loved, wept, and parted;
+and in that beauty and mystery and silence it seemed to her that some
+day, any day, they all would come again.  They were only sleeping
+somewhere, waiting for some spell to be removed.  She was sure of it, as
+sure as she was that King Arthur sat sleeping in his hidden cave,
+spellbound until some one, brave and good and strong enough, should find
+him and blow a huge blast on the horn which lay on the table before him,
+and so waken him from his long magic sleep.  In her heart of hearts she
+had a secret conviction that some day she would find the magic cave, and
+Dan it would be who would possess the power to blow the magic horn.
+
+She pictured herself dressed in flowing robes of white and gold, with
+her hair in long plaits reaching to her knees, riding away beside the
+king through those very woods, with the sunlight gleaming through the
+trees and flashing on the water, and on her other hand would ride Dan in
+shining armour, a second Sir Galahad.  She saw herself a woman, such a
+beautiful, graceful woman, with earnest eyes and gentle face.  She saw a
+knight, oh! such a splendid, courtly knight, and he looked at her and
+looked again, and--
+
+A little way up the hill she sat alone, her chin on her hand, gazing
+down at the sun-flecked river, the shining sand, the fairy-like trees,
+and saw it all as plainly as though it were then happening.  She saw the
+graceful steeds, richly caparisoned, daintily picking their way through
+underwood and rocks.  A stick cracked somewhere near.  Could they be
+coming?  She hardly dared look about her lest she should be
+disappointed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+TEA AT THE FARM.
+
+"Kitty, _are_ you coming, or _are_ you not?  It is very mean of you to
+keep us waiting all this time when you know how hungry we are!"
+
+With a deep, regretful sigh and a little shake Kitty rose and made her
+way to the large flat rock by the water's edge, on which the others had
+grouped themselves in more or less easy attitudes, with the food as a
+centrepiece.  Betty had spread a sheet of white paper, and on it had
+arranged the pasties according to their length.
+
+"You need not have waited for me," said Kitty, annoyed at having her
+dreams so broken in upon.  "We have each got our own, and can eat them
+when we like."
+
+"But we never do begin until we all begin together," said Betty
+reproachfully, "It would seem dreadfully mean; besides, we want you to
+say which is my pasty and which Dan's.  The letter has been broken on
+one, and knocked right off another.  I carried them ever and ever so
+carefully, so it can't be my fault.  Don't you think this is meant for a
+'D,' and that one"--holding out the largest--"without any letter at all,
+is mine?"
+
+Dan felt so sure of getting his rights that he lay quite undisturbed,
+throwing bits of moss into the water, and left the others to settle the
+dispute.
+
+"No, I don't," said Kitty, without the slightest hesitation.
+"Dan always has the largest, whether there is a letter on it or not, and
+you always have the smallest but one."
+
+Betty accepted the decision without dispute.  She had really not
+expected any other, but she liked to assert herself now and then.
+
+"I can't see," she said musingly, "why you should be expected to want
+less to eat if you are only ten than if you are twelve.  It seems to me
+so silly.  It isn't your age that makes you hungry."
+
+As a rule the others left Betty to find the answer to her own arguments,
+so she expected none from them.  She got none now.  They were all too
+busy and too hungry to argue.  Tony alone was not eating.  He was
+sitting with his pasty in one hand, while the other one was full of
+anemones that he had gathered on his way, intending to take them home to
+Fanny; but already the pretty delicate heads had begun to droop, and
+Tony was gazing with troubled eyes at them.  He loved flowers so much he
+could never refrain from gathering them, but the clasp of his hot little
+hand was almost always fatal, and then he was grieved and remorseful.
+
+Kitty, watching him, knew well what was in his mind.  He looked up
+presently and caught her eye.
+
+"I think I would put them in the river, if I were you, dear," she said.
+"You see we shan't get home for hours yet, and they will be quite dead
+long before that.  If you put them in the river they will revive."
+
+"Won't it be drowning them?" asked Tony anxiously.
+
+"No; they will float."
+
+"I know what I will do," he said, cheered by an  idea that had come into
+his head.  He laid down his pasty and trotted down to the edge of the
+river.  In the wet sand he made little holes with his fingers, put the
+stems in the holes, and covered them up as though they were growing;
+then, greatly relieved, he returned and ate his pasty contentedly.
+
+A pasty, even to a Cornish child, makes a satisfying meal, and when it
+is flanked by sandwiches, and apples, and a good draught of river water,
+there is no disinclination to remain still for a little while.  The four
+sat on quietly, and talked in a lazy, happy way of the present, the
+future, and the past--of what each one hoped to be, and of Dan's career
+in particular; whether he would go away to school, and where.  Aunt Pike
+came under discussion too, but not with that spirit of bitterness which
+would have been displayed at home, or before a less satisfying repast.
+Here, in the midst of this beauty and peace, everything seemed
+different.  Wrongs and worries appeared so much smaller and less
+important--any grievance was bearable while there was this to come to.
+
+They talked so long that a change came over the aspect of the woods.
+The sun lost its first clear, penetrating brilliancy, and took on a
+deeper glow.  Dan noticed it first, and sprang to his feet.
+
+"Let's move on," he cried, "or it will be tea-time before we have done
+anything."
+
+"If we are going to have ham and eggs for tea," said matter-of-fact
+Betty, "I think one of us had better order them soon, or Mrs.  Henderson
+may say she can't cook them in time."
+
+The appeal did not touch them so keenly as it would have done had their
+last meal been a more distant memory.  But, at the same time, the ham
+and eggs and cream tea was to be a part of their day, and they were not
+going to be deprived of it.  So they clambered up through the woods
+again till they reached the railway line, and strolled along it until
+they came to the farm.
+
+Kitty, being the eldest, was chosen to go in and order the tea, while
+the others hung over the gate and sniffed in the mingled perfume of the
+roses, the pinks, and all the other sweet-scented flowers with which the
+little garden was stocked.  Across the garden, in the hedge, was another
+gate through which they could see a steep sunny field stretching away
+down to the river bank, which was steeper here and higher, with old
+gnarled trees growing out of it, their large roots so exposed that one
+wondered how they managed to draw sustenance enough from the ground to
+support the great trunks and spreading  branches.
+
+"I have ordered ham and eggs, and cream, and jam, and cake," said
+Kitty, as she rejoined them, "and it will all be ready in an hour.
+It is three o'clock now."
+
+"Only three!" sighed Dan in mock despair.  "One whole hour to wait!
+Will it take all that time to  get it ready?"
+
+"I think it is a good thing," said Betty, "that we have to wait, for we
+are not _very_ hungry now--at least I am not; and you see we've got to
+pay the same however little we eat, and it does seem a pity to waste our
+money."
+
+"What a mind she has!" cried Dan, pretending to be lost in admiration.
+But at that same moment there once more reached their ears sounds as of
+an approaching earthquake.
+
+"The train!" cried Betty, and seizing Tony's hand, drew him carefully
+back close to the gate.
+
+Dan cast a hasty look around him for handy missiles.  Kitty saw it, and
+knew what was in his mind.
+
+"Don't throw things at them, Dan, please!  Think of yesterday, and
+Jabez, and Aunt Pike.  _Don't_ throw anything to hurt them."
+
+The "Rover" was lumbering nearer and nearer.  The two men on it had
+already caught sight of the quartette at the gate, and were grinning at
+them derisively.  It really was almost more than any human boy could be
+expected to endure.
+
+"Ha, ha!" jeered the men, as they lumbered by, "be yer boots dry yet,
+sir?  Wonderful cooling to the brain a wet 'at is--cooling to the feet,
+too, sometimes!"
+
+Dan's blood rose.  He felt he simply had to throw something, or do
+something desperate.  Betty's basket, still well supplied, was hanging
+on her arm close beside him.  With one grab he seized the contents, and
+first an apple went flying through the air, then a paper packet.
+Tonkin, the fireman, caught the apple deftly; the packet hit Dumble on
+the chest, and dropped to the floor.  Dumble himself was too fat to
+stoop, so Tonkin pounced on it.  The engine was at a little distance
+now, and aim was easier.  Another apple, well directed, hit Tonkin fair
+and square on the top of his head, while a third caught Dumble with no
+mean force full on his very broad nose, making him dance and shout with
+pain.
+
+As the engine disappeared round the bend, with the two men grasping
+their spoils and their bruises, Dan felt himself avenged, and the one
+cloud on his day was lifted.
+
+Kitty drew a deep sigh of relief that the episode was ended; Betty, one
+of regret.
+
+"There were six large sandwiches in that packet,"  she said
+reproachfully, "and the apples were beauties.  I wish now I had eaten
+more.  I am sure I could have if I had tried."
+
+Though there was plenty to do in the woods, that hour to tea-time seemed
+somehow a very long one, and quite ten minutes before it was up they
+were back at the farm to inquire if it was four o'clock yet.
+Mrs. Henderson smiled knowingly as she saw them gathered at the door,
+but she noticed that the eager faces were flushed and weary-looking, and
+she asked them in to sit down and rest, promising she would not keep
+them long.
+
+As they were to have "a savour to their tea" they were to have the meal
+in the house, instead of in the garden, and glad enough they were to
+sink into the slippery, springless easy-chairs, which seemed to them
+then the most luxurious seats the world could produce--at least they did
+to Kitty and Dan, who took the only two; Betty got on the window-seat
+and stretched herself out; Tony, a very weary little man indeed,
+scrambled on to Kitty's lap; and all of them, too tired to talk much,
+gazed with interest about the long, low room.
+
+It was not beautiful, and they knew it well, yet the fascination of it
+never failed.  On the walls were hung large framed historical and
+scriptural scenes, worked in cross-stitch with wool's of the brightest
+hues, varied by a coloured print of a bird's-eye view of the battle of
+Tel-el-Kebir, an almanac for the current year, and a large oleograph of
+a young lady und a dog wreathed in roses that put every flower in the
+garden to shame for size and brilliancy.  But none of these could give a
+tithe of the pleasure the worked ones did; there was such fascination in
+counting how many stitches went to the forming of a nose, how many red
+and how many white to the colouring of a cheek, or the shaping of the
+hands, and fingers, and toes.
+
+"I didn't know that Robert Bruce had six toes!" said Betty, very solemn
+with the importance of her discovery, her eyes fastened on a
+representation of that hero asleep in a cave, while a spider as large as
+his head wove a web of cables across the opening.  "Did you, Dan?"
+
+"Didn't you?" answered Dan gravely.  "Don't you know that in Scotland
+they have an extra toe in case one should get frost-bitten and drop
+off?"
+
+"Of course I know it is very cold up there," said Betty, who was never
+willing to admit ignorance of anything; "but supposing two got
+frost-bitten and dropped off, what would they do then?"
+
+Dan, pretending not to hear her question, strolled over to the bookcase.
+
+"Surely it must be tea-time!" he exclaimed.
+
+Betty, seeing that no answer was forthcoming, slipped from her seat to
+examine more closely some wax fruit which, under a glass case, adorned a
+side-table.
+
+"I do think it is wonderful how they make them," she said impressively;
+"they are so exactly like real fruit."
+
+Mrs. Henderson, coming into the room at that moment, heard the remark,
+and her heart was won.  She had more than once had a suspicion that some
+of her visitors laughed at her treasured ornaments, and made jokes about
+them, and the thought had hurt her, for her affections clung to them,
+and particularly to the was fruit, which had been one of her most prized
+wedding gifts, so Betty's remark went straight to her heart.  She beamed
+on Betty, and Betty beamed back on her.
+
+"You have such a lot of beautiful things, Mrs. Henderson," she said in
+her politest manner.  "I can't help admiring them."
+
+"It's very kind of you, I'm sure, miss.  Of course we all get attached
+to what's our own, specially when 'tis gived to us; and I'm very proud
+of my fruit, same as I am of my worked pictures."
+
+"I think they are wonderful," breathed Betty, turning from the wax fruit
+to gaze at Eli and Samuel.  "Did you"--in a voice full of awe--
+"really work them yourself, Mrs. Henderson?"
+
+"I did, missie, every stitch of them," said their owner proudly;
+"and all while I was walking out with Henderson."
+
+"While you were walking!" gasped Betty.  "But how could you see where
+you were going?"
+
+Mrs. Henderson laughed.  "No, missie; I mean the years we was courting."
+
+"How interesting," said Betty solemnly.  "I think I shall work some for
+my house when I am married.  Do you work them on canvas?  Can I get it
+in Gorlay?"
+
+"Yes, miss; but you needn't hurry to begin to-night," said Mrs.
+Henderson, laughing.  "If you want any help, though, when you do begin,
+or would like to copy mine, I'll be very glad to do what I can for you."
+
+"Oh, thank you very much.  I should like to do some exactly like yours,"
+cried Betty excitedly.  "Then, when I'm far away, they'll always remind
+me of you and the farm, and--and I'd like to begin with Robert Bruce and
+his six toes, and--"
+
+"You would never have patience to do work like that," interrupted Dan
+cruelly, "nor the money either; and I don't suppose you will ever go out
+of Gorlay."
+
+"You wait," said Betty, very much annoyed by his humiliating
+outspokenness.  "You wait"--with a toss of her head--"until I am grown
+up, then I shall marry some one, and I shall travel, and--"
+
+"All right," said Dan, "I will wait; and I hope I never have a headache
+till it happens."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+THE "ROVER" TAKES THEM HOME.
+
+Tony was nearly asleep on Kitty's shoulder, and Kitty herself was
+distinctly drowsy, but the arrival of the teapot and the ham and eggs
+roused them effectually.  Kitty took her place before the tea-tray, Dan
+before the hot dish, Betty got as near the cream as she could, and Tony
+drew a chair close to Kitty, and very soon their spirits began to rise
+to their highest, and their tiredness vanished.  The tea was refreshing,
+the ham and home-made bread and everything on the table were perfectly
+delicious, and they ate, and ate, and talked and laughed until Kitty
+wondered how it was that Mrs. Henderson did not come in and ask them to
+be quiet.  They had all, at the same moment, reached that mood when
+everything one says, or thinks, or does, sounds or seems amusing; and
+they laughed and laughed without being able to check themselves, until
+at last Kitty found herself with her head in the tea-tray, while Dan
+hung limply over the back of his chair, and Betty and Tony laid their
+heads on the table and held their aching sides.
+
+"Oh dear!" cried Kitty, straightening herself and trying to compose her
+face.  "They say it is unlucky to laugh so much.  I wonder if it is
+true.  It does seem hard, doesn't it?"
+
+The thought sobered them a little, and they gave themselves up to their
+tea.
+
+"I never know," said Betty thoughtfully, after a somewhat long silence,
+"whether it is better to begin with ham and end with cream and jam, or
+to begin with cream and then have the ham, but it seems to me that it is
+just the same whichever I do--I _can't_ eat much of both.  I have tried
+and tried."
+
+"I call that a real affliction," said Dan soberly.  "Of course there is
+just a chance that you may grow out of it in time, but it is hard
+lines."
+
+"Yes," sighed Betty, "it really is," and lapsed into quietness.
+"Another time," she said at last, very gravely, "I think I shall come
+twice, and not have both at the same tea."
+
+"Perhaps you would like Mrs. Henderson to save you some till to-morrow,"
+suggested Dan ironically.
+
+"No--o," said Betty seriously, "I don't think I will.  I don't expect I
+shall want any more as soon as to-morrow, but--"
+
+"You aren't feeling ill, are you?" asked Kitty anxiously, as she studied
+Betty's face.
+
+"No--o," answered Betty slowly, "not ill; but it's funny that what is so
+nice to think about before tea isn't half as nice after."
+
+"If I were you," said Dan pointedly, "I would go and sit in the meadow
+for a bit, and keep very still until it is time to go home."
+
+"I think I will," said Betty gravely, and started; but they had all
+finished their meal by this time, and following Dan's advice, strolled
+out once more to the scented garden, and down through the sloping meadow
+to the riverside.  It was nearly time to wind their way homewards, but
+they must have a little rest first, and one more look at the river and
+the woods, so they perched themselves about on the old tree roots, which
+formed most comfortable and convenient seats--all but Dan, who seemed to
+prefer to perch on a rock which stood in the middle of the river, which
+was shallower here and wider.  To get to it he had to take off his shoes
+and stockings and wade, which perhaps made up for the uncomfortableness
+of the seat when he reached it, and soon sent him wading back through
+the cool rippling water again.
+
+The handkerchiefs of the family having been commandeered in place of a
+towel, and Dan's feet clad once more, they all sat on in a state of
+lazy, happy content, playing "Ducks and Drakes," or talking, until at
+last Kitty, looking at the sky, saw with a shock that the sun was
+already setting, and realizing that they still had the long walk home
+before them, roused the party to sudden activity.
+
+They were all on their feet in a moment.  "I think we had better get out
+on the road by this gate, instead of going back to the house again," she
+said, hurrying towards one at the end of the field which brought them at
+once out on to the road.
+
+"But hadn't you better pay Mrs. Henderson?" questioned Betty, as she
+panted after her hurrying sister.
+
+"Oh!" Kitty stood still and gasped, "I had quite  forgotten!  How stupid
+of me!  I am glad you remembered, Betty," and they all streamed back to
+the farm again and into the little garden, more heavily scented than
+ever now as the flowers revived in the dew and cooler air.
+
+Mrs. Henderson came out to them quite smilingly, and apparently not at
+all concerned about their debt to her.  In her hand she was holding a
+flower-pot with a sturdy-looking little rose bush flowering in it.
+The children eyed it admiringly.  It had two delicate pink roses in full
+bloom on it, and several little buds.  "I was wondering, missie," she
+said, turning to Betty, and holding out the rose to her, "if you would
+be pleased to have this little plant; 'tis off my old monthly rose that
+I've had for so many years.  I planted this one last year and it has
+come on nicely.  Would you be pleased to accept it?"
+
+Betty gasped.  For a moment she was so surprised and overjoyed as to be
+speechless.  "Me! For me!" she cried at last.  "Oh, how lovely!
+Thank you _so_ much, Mrs. Henderson.  I'll keep it always, and 'tend to
+it myself every day.  I have never had a plant of my own before, and I
+shall love it," and Betty took her rose in her arms and hugged it in
+pure joy.
+
+"You have made Betty very happy now, Mrs. Henderson," said Kitty,
+without a trace of envy in her heart.  "Thank you for all you have done
+for us.  Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, and thank you for our fine tea," said Dan, and one by one
+they passed out of the scented garden, and on their homeward way.
+
+A soft evening mist was creeping slowly up over the river and the
+sloping meadow; the distant woods looked desolate, and almost awesome.
+Kitty could nut picture them now peopled as they had been in the
+morning, and her efforts to do so were soon interrupted by a little
+piteous voice beside her.
+
+"My feets do hurt me," said Tony plaintively.  "I s'pose I mustn't take
+off my boots?"
+
+"Poor old Tony," cried Dan.  "Here, let me carry you," and he hoisted
+his tired little brother on to his shoulders.  But Dan was tired too,
+and the way was long, and they had either to walk in single file along
+the tiny track worn beside the sleepers, or over the sleepers
+themselves, and that meant progressing by a series of hops and jumps,
+which might perhaps be amusing for a few minutes at the beginning of a
+day's pleasuring, but is very far from amusing when one is tired and the
+way is long.  The summer evening was warm too.
+
+"I wish the old 'Rover' would come along," panted Dan at the end of
+about a quarter of an hour's march.  "I'd get those fellows to give us a
+lift for part of the way at any rate."
+
+"Oh," sighed Betty, "how lovely that would be!  But things don't happen
+when you want them to, do they?"
+
+Miss Betty's sad and cynical view of life was wrong though, for not so
+very much later the familiar rumbling and shaking, and puffing and
+rattling, reached their ears once more, and coming, too, from the
+direction of Wenbridge.
+
+In a state of anxious excitement they all stood to await it.  "Hadn't we
+better hold up a pocket-handkerchief for a white flag to show them we
+are friendly?" asked Betty anxiously.
+
+"They wouldn't understand if we did," said Dan impatiently.
+"They'd only think we were trying to frighten them.  Kitty, if you go
+back towards them, holding up your hand, they will know it's all right.
+They will trust you.  It's only me they are down on, really."
+
+Kitty went back at once, and fortunately, just as she was trying to
+attract their attention and make them understand that she had only
+friendly intentions, they brought the engine to a standstill for Tonkin
+to get down and collect some faggots which lay beside the way.
+The engine snorted, and spit, and panted, and Dumble watched Kitty's
+approach with an eye which was not encouraging; but Kitty, though her
+heart was quaking a little, advanced bravely.
+
+"Dumble," she called to him, in a friendly, conciliating voice,
+stretching up to him confidingly--"Dumble, we are _so_ tired.  My little
+brother Tony can hardly get on at all, his feet are hurting him so
+badly, and he is too heavy for Dan to carry all the way; and Dan is
+tired too, and--and we wondered if--if you would give us a lift, even
+if it is only for a little way.  Will you?"
+
+Dumble, his face rather flushed, straightened himself.  "Look at my
+nose, miss," he said meaningly.  "Look at my nose," pointing to that
+poor feature, which certainly looked red and swollen.  "That's your
+brother's doings, heaving apples and not caring what he strikes with
+'em, and yet after that you can come and ask me to take 'ee all aboard
+of my train."
+
+"I am very sorry, Dumble, that you got hit, I am really, but--well, you
+did get the apples and some nice sandwiches too, you know; and when you
+aim at Dan it is never with anything nicer than hot water, and you know
+you did really scald him once but he never told how it was done."
+
+Dumble looked rather foolish.  "Didn't 'ee now?" he said, but his tone
+was less indignant.  "Yes, we had the apples, and fine ones they were
+too.  Well, come along.  Tell 'em all to look sharp and hop up, for 'tis
+'bout time we was to 'ome, and the 'Rover' put up for the night."
+
+Gladly enough the others obeyed her eager signals.  Joyfully they
+scrambled up into the high carriage and dropped on the dusty, gritty
+seats.  Dan and his enemies exchanged broad, sheepish smiles, but they
+were amiable smiles.  Tonkin flung up the last of the faggots and
+climbed up on the engine, and off they started.  And _what_ a journey it
+was!  All about them stretched the country, vast and still and empty,
+they themselves, seemingly, the only living creatures in it, the panting
+and rumbling of the engine the only sound to be heard, for it drowned
+all such gentle sounds as the "good-nights" of the birds, the distant
+lowing of cows, the rippling of the brook beside the way.
+
+Daylight was fading fast.  Here and there the way was narrow, and the
+hedges so high that the hawthorns almost met overhead; and here and
+there, where tall fir trees lined the road on either side, it was very
+nearly dark.
+
+By two of them, at least, that journey in the fading light was never
+forgotten.  It had been such a happy day, so free from worries and
+naughtiness or squabbles, or any cause for regret; and now they were
+going home, happy but tired, and longing to be in the dear old untidy,
+shabby home again.  Kitty, with Tony nestling against her, leaned back
+in her corner restfully, and thought of her home with a depth of feeling
+she could not have defined.  "If it could only be like this always," she
+said to herself, "and there is no reason why it shouldn't if only we
+were good and every one was nice.  I wonder, I wonder if I cannot make
+it so that father wouldn't want any one to live with us."
+
+On they rattled and jolted, past the two cottages, with their windows
+lighted up now and the blinds drawn; past the little well, its cave
+looking dark and mysterious under its green canopy.  Kitty, lost to the
+others and their talk, gazed with loving eyes at everything.
+"Dear little well," she thought.  "Dear old 'Rover,' and Gorlay, and
+home, how I do love every inch and stick and stone of it!  I think I
+should die if I had to leave--"
+
+"Kitty, _have you got_ a shilling?" Dan shrieked in her ear with such
+vigour that Kitty really leaped in her seat.
+
+"What _is_ the matter?" she demanded crossly.  It was not pleasant to be
+roused from her musings and brought back thus to everyday, prosaic
+matters; and it happened to her so often, or so it seemed.
+
+"I have asked you three times already.  Have you got a shilling?
+We shall have to get down presently, or we shall be seen, and the men
+and all of us will get into a row because we are travelling without
+tickets.  We had better get down when they come to the 'lotment gardens,
+and we must tip them; but Betty has only got tuppence, and I have only
+fourpence, and that is all in coppers, mostly ha'pennies.  I don't like
+to offer it to them."
+
+"I haven't a shilling," said Kitty regretfully.  "I have only eightpence
+left; the tea cost a good deal," and she produced from her purse a
+sixpenny bit and two pennies.
+
+Dan looked at their combined wealth disgustedly.  "They'll think we've
+been saving up for this little go," he said in a mortified voice;
+"but I'll give them the lot, and tell them it is all we have left."
+
+"I don't suppose they will mind ha'pennies," said Kitty consolingly.
+
+"Of course they won't," said Betty, who was rather cross at having to
+lay down her beloved rose and dive for her purse; "they aren't so silly.
+Besides, they have had our apples and sandwiches already."
+
+"Well, don't remind them of that again," said Kitty anxiously, for it
+was just the kind of thing Betty would do; but before she could extract
+a promise the engine slowed down and they hastily prepared to dismount.
+
+Dan coloured as he put the sixpenny bit and the coppers into Dumble's
+grimy hand.  "I am sorry there's such a lot of pence," he said shyly;
+"but it is all we've got left, and--and--"
+
+"Aw," said Dumble, who had expected nothing, and was rather embarrassed
+than otherwise by their generosity, "thank 'ee kindly, sirs, and young
+leddies; there wasn't no 'casion to give us nothing; but thank 'ee very
+much all the same, and 'nother time we'll be glad to 'blige 'ee with
+'nother lift."
+
+"Thank you very much," said Dan.  "But it isn't as much as it looks; it
+is only fourteen pence altogether.  I--I thought I'd tell you for fear
+you'd be disappointed;" and thankful for the darkness which hid his
+embarrassment, he joined the others, and with many friendly
+"Good-nights" to the "Rover" they started on the last stage of their
+journey.
+
+Briskly enough they started; but their pace soon changed; their feet
+were weary, and there was really no great need to hurry now.
+There would be no scoldings or punishments when they got home, even if
+they were late, for no one there was very particular as to time, and
+there was so much to see that they did not usually see that they stopped
+repeatedly to look about them. The cottages were all lighted up now,
+and in some of them the blinds had been left undrawn and the windows
+open. Even the old wharf, too, had here and there a light gleaming out
+of its blackness, adding to the weird mystery of the place, and then in
+rattled the "Rover," and drew up panting and throwing out deep breaths
+of steam and smoke and sparks, as though she had come at breakneck speed
+on urgent business from the extreme limits of the earth, and could
+scarcely be restrained from starting off again.  In the dim light they
+could see Dumble and Tonkin wandering round and lovingly criticizing
+their fiery steed.  "'Er 'ave gone well to-day," they heard Dumble
+saying proudly.  "'Er 'ave gone like a little 'are."
+
+"Ay, ay, proper!" responded Tonkin with solemn emphasis.  "Since 'er was
+cleaned I'd back 'er agin all the new-fangled engines in the world.
+Give the 'Rover' a fair bit of line to travel over, and 'er'll--well,
+'er'll do it."
+
+The children chuckled to themselves and moved on.  "To-night, with the
+'Rover' drawn up in it, it doesn't look quite so much like Quilp's Wharf
+as usual," said Kitty, looking back lingeringly at the black, ramshackle
+collection of old tarred sheds; "but I am sure I shall see Quilp's boy
+standing on his head there one day."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+A BAD BEGINNING.
+
+On again they went, past more cottages with groups of people gossiping
+at their doors, or sitting about on low steps or the edges of the
+pavement, enjoying the cool and calm of the summer evening; up the steep
+hill where the milk-bottle had come to grief in the morning, past the
+carpenter's shop, fast closed now, all but the scent of the wood, which
+nothing could keep in.
+
+It was a stiff pull to the top for tired people, but it was reached at
+last.  With a deep sigh of satisfaction they crossed the quiet street in
+leisurely fashion to their own front door, where, summoning what energy
+they had left, they gave a friendly "whoop!" to let their arrival be
+known, and burst into the house pell-mell; then stopped abruptly, almost
+tumbling over each other with the shock, and stared before them in
+silent, speechless amazement at a pile of luggage which filled the
+centre of the hall.  Betty stepped back and looked at the plate on the
+door to make quite sure that they had not burst into the wrong house;
+but Kitty, with a swift presentiment, realized to whom that luggage
+belonged and what it meant, and her heart sank down, down to a depth she
+had never known it sink before.
+
+Before she could speak, though, Emily appeared from somewhere, her face
+a picture of rage, offended dignity, and fierce determination; but as
+soon as she caught sight of the bewildered, wondering quartette, her
+whole expression changed.  She came to them, as Kitty said afterwards,
+as though there had been a death in the family and she had to break the
+news to them.  But it was an arrival she had to announce, not a
+departure, and she announced it abruptly.
+
+"She's come!" she gasped in a whisper more penetrating than a shout; and
+her face added, "You poor, poor things, I am sorry for you."
+
+For once Emily's sympathies were with them, and even while staggering
+under the blow they had just received, Kitty could not help noticing the
+fact.
+
+"What?--not Aunt Pike?--to stay?" gasped Dan.
+
+Emily nodded, a world of meaning in the action.  "You'd best go up and
+speak to her at once, or she'll be crosser than she is now, if that's
+possible.  She's as vexed as can be 'cause there wasn't nobody to the
+station to meet her, nor nobody here when she come."
+
+"But we didn't know.  How could we?  And who could have even dreamed of
+her coming to-day!" they argued hotly and all at once.
+
+"A tellygram come soon after you'd a-gone," said Emily, with a sniff;
+"but there wasn't nobody here to open it.  And how was we to know what
+was inside of it; we can't see through envelopes, though to hear some
+people talk you would think we ought to be able to."
+
+Kitty knew it was her duty to check Emily's rude way of speaking of her
+aunt, but a common trouble was uniting them, and she felt she could not
+be severe then.
+
+"Doesn't father know yet?" she asked.
+
+"No, miss."
+
+"Poor father!  Has Aunt Pike really come to _stay_, Emily?"
+
+"I can't make out for certain, miss; but if she isn't going to stay now,
+she is coming later on.  I gathered that much from the way she talked.
+She said it didn't need a very clever person to see that 'twas high time
+somebody was here to look after things, instead of me being with my 'ead
+out of win--I mean, you all out racing the country to all hours of the
+night, and nothing in the house fit to eat--"
+
+Kitty groaned.
+
+"I've got to go and get the spare-room ready as soon as she comes out of
+it," went on Emily.  "A pretty time for anybody to have to set to to
+sweep and dust."
+
+Kitty, though, could not show any great sympathy there; having to sweep
+and dust seemed to her at that moment such trifling troubles.  "Where is
+she now, Emily?"
+
+"In the spare-room."
+
+"Oh, the dust under the bed!" groaned Kitty.  "She is sure to see it; it
+blows out to meet you every time you move!"
+
+"Never mind that now," said Dan; "it is pretty dark everywhere.  But we
+had better do a bunk and clean ourselves up a bit before she sees us,"
+and he set the example by kicking off his shoes and disappearing like a
+streak up the stairs.
+
+In another moment the hall was empty, save for eight very dirty shoes
+and the pile of severe-looking luggage.
+
+To convince Aunt Pike that her presence and care were absolutely
+unnecessary was the one great aim and object which now filled them all,
+and as a means to this end their first idea was to dress, act, and talk
+as correctly and unblamably as boys and girls could.  So, by the time
+the worthy lady was heard descending, they were all in the drawing-room,
+seated primly on the stiffest chairs they could find, and apparently
+absorbed in the books they gazed at with serious faces and furrowed
+brows.  To the trained eye the "high-water marks" around faces and
+wrists were rather more apparent and speaking than their interest in
+their books.  Their heads, too, were strikingly wet and smooth around
+their brows, but conspicuously tangled and unkempt-looking at the back.
+
+However, on the whole they appeared well-behaved and orderly, and the
+expression of welcome their faces assumed as soon as their aunt was
+heard approaching was striking, if a little overdone.  It was
+unfortunate, though, that they and Emily had forgotten to remove their
+dirty shoes from the hall, or to light the gas, for Aunt Pike, groping
+her way downstairs in the dark, stumbled over the lot of them--stumbled,
+staggered, and fell!  And of all unyielding things in the world to fall
+against, the corner of a tin box is perhaps the worst.
+
+The expression of welcome died out of the four faces, their cheeks grew
+white; Kitty flew to the rescue.
+
+"I'm jolly glad it isn't my luggage," murmured Dan, preparing to follow.
+
+"She shouldn't have left it there," said Betty primly.
+
+"I expect it's our shoes she's felled over," whispered Tony in a scared
+voice.  "I jumped over them when I came down, but I don't 'spect Aunt
+Pike could."
+
+Dan and Betty looked at each other with guilty, desperate eyes.
+
+"Well, you left yours first," said Betty, anxious to shift all blame,
+"and you ran upstairs first, and--and we did as you did, of course."
+
+"Oh, of course," snapped Dan crossly, "you always do as I do, don't you?
+Now go out and tell Aunt Pike that, and suck up to her.  If she's going
+to live here, it's best to be first favourite." At which unusual
+outburst on the part of her big brother Betty was so overcome that she
+collapsed on to her chair again, and had to clench her hands tightly and
+wink hard to disperse the mist which clouded her eyes and threatened to
+turn to rain.
+
+But a moment later the entrance of Aunt Pike helped her to recover
+herself--Aunt Pike, with a white face and an expression on it which said
+plainly that her mind was made up and nothing would unmake it.
+Betty and Tony stepped forward to meet her.
+
+"How do you do, Elizabeth?--How do you do, Anthony?  I should have gone
+to your bedrooms to see you, thinking naturally that you two, at least,
+would be in bed, but I was told you were still racing the country.
+Anna goes to bed at seven-thirty, and she is a year older than you,"
+looking at Betty very severely.
+
+"Is Anna here too?" asked Kitty, saying anything that came into her head
+by way of making a diversion.
+
+"No, she is not.  She will join me later.  We were just about to move to
+another hydropathic establishment when your poor father's letter reached
+me, and I felt that, no matter at what sacrifice on my part, it was my
+duty to throw up all my own plans and come here at once."
+
+"Then the postman must have missed my letter," said Betty indignantly.
+"What a pity! for it would have told you we didn't want--I mean, it
+would have saved you the trouble--"
+
+"It was your letter, Elizabeth, which decided me to come," said Mrs.
+Pike, turning her attention to poor Betty.  "It reached me by the same
+post as your poor father's, and when I read it I felt that I must come
+at once--that my place was indeed here.  So I confided Anna to the care
+of friends, and came, though at the greatest possible inconvenience, by
+the next train.  And what," looking round severely at them all, "did I
+find on my arrival?  No one in the house to greet me!  My nephews and
+nieces out roaming the country alone, no one knew where!  One maid out
+without leave, and the other--well, you might almost say she was out
+too, for her head protruded so far from her bedroom window that I could
+see it almost from the bottom of the street."
+
+"Emily _will_ hang out of window," sighed Kitty.
+
+"And when I reprimanded her she was most impertinent.  Is she always so
+when she is reprimanded, Katherine?"
+
+"We--we don't reprimand her," admitted Kitty.  "I am afraid she would be
+if we did," she added honestly.
+
+At that moment Dan burst into the room carrying a bottle.  "If you put
+some of this on the bruises," he said, offering it to his aunt, "it'll
+take the pain out like anything.  Jabez has it for the horses, and I've
+used it too; it is capital stuff."
+
+Mrs. Pike looked at the bottle with an eye which for a moment made Kitty
+quake, for Dan had brought it in with the fine crust of dirt and grease
+on it that it had accumulated during a long sojourn in the coach-house.
+But something, perhaps it was Dan's thoughtfulness, checked the severe
+remark which had almost burst from her lips.
+
+"Thank you, Daniel," she said, almost graciously.  "If you will ask one
+of the servants to clean the outside of the bottle, I shall be very glad
+of the contents, for I feel sure I have bruised myself severely."
+
+Betty was about to offer her pocket-handkerchief for the purpose when
+she remembered that she had not one with her, and so saved herself from
+further humiliation.
+
+"At what hour do you dine--or sup?" asked Mrs. Pike, turning to Kitty.
+
+"We have supper at--at--oh, when father is home, or we--or we come home,
+or--when it is convenient."
+
+"Or when the servants choose to get it for you, perhaps," said Aunt Pike
+sarcastically, but hitting the truth with such nicety that Kitty
+coloured.  "Well," she went on, "if you can induce the maids to give us
+a meal soon I shall be thankful, for I have had nothing since my lunch;
+and I really feel, with all the agitation and shocks and blows I have
+had this day, as though I were nearly fainting."
+
+Poor Kitty, with a sinking heart, ran off at once, glad to escape, but
+overwhelmed with dread of what lay before her.  To her relief she found
+that Fanny had returned; but Fanny was hot with the first outburst of
+indignation at the news that awaited her, and was angry and mutinous,
+and determined to do nothing to make life more bearable for any of them.
+
+In response to Kitty's meek efforts to induce her to do her best to make
+the supper-table presentable, and not a shame to them all, she refused
+point-blank to stir a finger.
+
+"There's meat pasties, and there's a gooseberry tart, and cheese, and
+cold plum-pudding, and cake, and butter and jam," she said, enumerating
+thing after thing, designed, so it seemed to Kitty, expressly for the
+purpose of giving Aunt Pike a nightmare; "and I've got some fish for the
+master, that I am going to cook when he comes, and not before."
+
+"O Fanny, do cook it for Aunt Pike, please.  It is just the thing for
+her, and I am sure father would rather she should have it than that she
+should complain that she had nothing to eat--"
+
+"Well, Miss Kitty," burst in Fanny indignantly, "I don't know what _you_
+calls nothing.  I calls it a-plenty and running over; and if what's good
+enough for us all isn't good enough for Mrs. Pike, well--"
+
+"It is _good_ enough, Fanny," urged Kitty; "only, you see, we like it
+and can eat it, but Aunt Pike can't.  You know the last time she was
+here she said everything gave her indigestion--"
+
+"Them folks that is so afflicted," said Fanny, "should stay in their own
+'omes, or the 'ospital.  I'm sure master don't want patients indoors so
+well as out, and be giving up the food out of his own mouth to them.
+The bit of fish I've got for master I'm going to keep for master.
+If anybody's got to have the indigestion it won't be him, not if I knows
+it; he's had nothing to eat to-day yet to speak of, and if nobody else
+don't consider him, well, I _must_," and with this parting thrust Fanny
+left the kitchen to go to her bedroom.
+
+Kitty longed to be able to depart to her room too, to lock herself in
+and fasten out all the worries and bothers, and all thoughts of supper
+and Aunt Pike, and everything else that was worrying.  "I wish I had
+stayed in the woods," she thought crossly; "there would be peace there
+at any rate," and her mind wandered away to the river and the little
+silvery bays, and the tree-covered slopes rising up and up, and she
+tried to picture it as it must be looking then at that moment, so still,
+and lonely, and mysterious.
+
+"I'll see that it all looks nice, Miss Kitty," said Emily with unusual
+graciousness.  She felt really sorry for Kitty and the position she was
+in, and having quite made up her mind to leave now that this new and
+very different mistress had come, she was not only beginning already to
+feel a little sad at the thought of parting from them all, but a lively
+desire to side with them against the common enemy.  She failed quite to
+realize that her past behaviour had reconciled Kitty more than anything
+to the "enemy's" presence, and made her coming almost a relief.
+"I'll get Fanny to poach some eggs, or make an omelette or something.
+Don't you worry about it."
+
+Kitty, immensely relieved and only too glad to follow Emily's last bit
+of advice, wandered out and through the yard towards the garden.
+She felt she could not go back to the company of Aunt Pike again, for a
+few moments at any rate.
+
+Prue was standing with her head out of her window, anxiously wondering
+where Jabez was with her supper.  Kitty spoke to her and passed on.
+She strolled slowly up the steps, past the fateful garden wall and the
+terrace above to the next terrace, where stood a pretty creeper-covered
+summer-house.  It was a warm night, and very still and airless.
+Kitty sat down on the step in the doorway of the summer-house, and
+staring before her into the dimness, tried to grasp all that had
+happened, and what it would mean to them.  She thought of their lazy
+mornings, when they lay in bed till the spirit moved them to get up; of
+the other mornings when they chose to rise early and go for a long walk
+to Lantig, or down to Trevoor, the stretch of desolate moorland which
+lay about a mile outside the town, and was so full of surprises--of
+unexpected dips and trickling streams, of dangerous bogs, and stores of
+fruits and berries and unknown delights--that, well though they knew it,
+they had not yet discovered the half of them.  She thought of their
+excursions, such as to-day's, to Wenmere Woods, and those others to
+Helbarrow Tors.  They usually took a donkey and cart, and food for a
+long day, when they went to this last.  Her mind travelled, too, back
+over their favourite games and walks, and what she, perhaps, loved best
+of all, those drives, when she would have the carriage and Prue all to
+herself, and would wander with them over the face of the country for
+miles.
+
+At those times she felt no nervousness, no loneliness, nothing but pure,
+unalloyed happiness.  Sometimes she would take a book with her, and when
+she came to a spot that pleased her, she would turn Prue into the hedge
+to graze, while she herself would stay in the carriage and read, or
+dismount and climb some hedge, or tree, or gate, and gaze about her, or
+lie on the heather, thinking or reading; and by-and-by she would turn
+the old horse's head homewards, and arrive at last laden with
+honeysuckle or dog-roses, bog-myrtle, ferns, or rich-brown bracken and
+berries.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+THE COMING OF ANNA.
+
+The next week or two were full of change, excitement, and unrest.
+No one knew what the next day might bring forth, and the children never
+felt sure of anything.  Any hour might bring a surprise to them, and it
+was not likely to be a pleasant surprise--of that they felt sure.
+One of the changes decided on was that Dan was to go very soon--the next
+term, in fact--to a public school as a boarder.
+
+To all but Dan the news came as an overwhelming blow.  Katherine and
+Elizabeth, as their aunt persisted in calling them, considered it one of
+the most cruel and treacherous acts that Mrs. Pike could have been
+guilty of.  Of course they blamed her entirely for it.  "Dan was to be
+turned out of his home-banished--and by Aunt Pike!" they told each
+other.
+
+"I expect she will banish us next," said Betty.  "If she does, I shall
+run away from school and become something--a robber, or a gipsy, or a
+heroine."
+
+But the cruellest part, perhaps, of the blow was that Dan himself did
+not resent it.  In fact, he showed every sign of delight with the plan,
+and was wild with excitement for the term to begin.  To the girls this
+seemed rank treachery, a complete going over to the enemy, and they felt
+it keenly.
+
+"I didn't think Dan would have changed so," said Kitty dejectedly, as
+she and Betty lay in their beds discussing the serious state of affairs.
+
+"I don't know," said Betty darkly.  "_I_ thought he was very odd the
+night Aunt Pike came.  First there was the rude way he spoke to me about
+my making up to her, and then _he_ went and got that bottle of
+embercation for her.  _I_ called _that_ sucking up to her."
+
+"But Dan is always polite," said Kitty, warm in defence of him at once.
+She might sometimes admit to herself that there was a flaw in her
+brother, but she could not endure that any one else should see one;
+"and he is always sorry for people when they are hurt, and it was our
+fault that she was hurt."
+
+"Yes, it was his fault really," said Betty, whose memory was a good
+one--too good at times, some said--"for he was the first to kick off his
+boots and leave them there."
+
+"I know; but he didn't tell us to do the same.  And you see we had all
+agreed to be polite to Aunt Pike, and you could have got the embrocation
+for her if you had liked."
+
+"But I don't see why it should be called 'polite' if Dan does it, but
+'sucking up' if _I_ do it," argued Betty.
+
+Kitty sighed.  She often wished that Betty would  not want things
+explained so carefully.  She never made allowances for changes of mood
+or sudden impulses.  Kitty herself so constantly experienced both, that
+she could sympathize with others who did the same, and as she put it to
+herself--"What can you do if you feel sorry for a person that you hated
+only a little while before?"
+
+Kitty could not understand the right and the wrong of these things, or
+what to do under such circumstances.  She wished she could, for they
+made her feel mean to one side or the other, and nothing was really
+further from her intention.
+
+The next arrangement made--and this was an even greater blow to them
+than the "banishment" of Dan--was that Kitty and Betty were to go as day
+girls to school, instead of having Miss Pooley to the house.
+
+The plan, being Aunt Pike's, would probably have been objected to in any
+case; but to Kitty, with her shy dread of strangers--particularly girls
+of her own age--the prospect was appalling, and she contemplated it with
+a deep dread such as could not be understood by most girls.
+
+Betty complained loudly, but soon found consolation.  "At any rate," she
+said, "we need not walk to school with Anna, and we needn't see as much
+of her there as we should have to at home; and I think it will be rather
+jolly to know a lot of girls."
+
+"Do you?" sighed Kitty, looking at her sister with curious, wondering
+eyes, and a feeling of awe.  "I can't think so.  I can't bear strange
+girls."  It seemed to her incredible that any one should _want_ to know
+strangers, or could even contemplate doing so without horror.
+She envied them, though, for being able to.  "It must make one feel ever
+so much more happy and comfortable," she thought, "to have nothing to be
+afraid of."  She would have given a very great deal not to feel shy and
+embarrassed when with strangers, and to be able to think of something to
+say to them.  But she never could.  Nothing that she had to say seemed
+interesting or worth saying.  Betty, with her self-confidence and fluent
+tongue, was a constant source of admiration to Kitty.
+
+"You will get on all right," she said, with another sigh; "but I was
+never meant to go where there are other people."
+
+"That is why you've got to go.  It is good for you; I heard Aunt Pike
+saying so to father.  She said you were growing up shy and _gauche_.
+I don't know what _gauche_ means; do you?"
+
+"No," said Kitty, colouring.  "I expect I ought to, and I expect it is
+something dreadful; but if I am happier so, why can't I go on being
+_gauche_?"
+
+"Father said you were very shy, but he didn't think you were the other
+thing--_gauche_."
+
+"Did he?" cried poor Kitty, brightening; but her face soon fell again.
+"Father doesn't notice things as quickly as some people do--Aunt Pike,
+and Lady Kitson, and others; and I expect they are right.  It is always
+the disagreeable people and the disagreeable things that are right.
+Did Aunt Pike say the same thing of you?"
+
+"No; she said I had too much--it was a long word--too much self--self--
+oh, I know, confidence--self-confidence.  I don't know what it means,
+but I am sure I haven't got it; and if I have," wound up Betty
+defiantly, "I _won't_ get cured of it.  Do you know what it means,
+Kitty?"
+
+"Yes," said Kitty thoughtfully, "I think I do; but I don't see how going
+to the same school can cure us both."
+
+At the end of a few days Mrs. Pike went away to get Anna, and to collect
+their numerous belongings; and the doctor's household felt that it had
+before it one week of glorious freedom, but only one.
+
+In anticipation of this, their last happy free time, the children had
+made plans for each day of it, intending to enjoy them to the utmost.
+Somehow, though, things were different.  There was a shadow even over
+their freedom--if it was not there in the morning, it fell before
+night--and they returned home each day weighted with a sense of
+weariness and depression.  There was the shadow, too, of Dan's
+departure, and a very deep shadow it was.
+
+"Things will never, never be the same again," said Kitty sagely.
+"Dan won't know about all that we do; and when he gets a lot of boy
+friends he won't care very much."
+
+There was also the shadow of their own school and the constant
+companionship of Anna, and this was a dense shadow indeed.
+
+"It wouldn't be so bad if she was jolly and nice, but it will be like
+having a spy always with us," said Betty.  "She will tell Aunt Pike
+everything."
+
+"You don't know," said Dan, to tease them.  "Anna may have grown up
+quite different from what she was, and be as jolly as possible." But the
+suggestion did not console the girls; to them it only seemed that Dan
+was already forsaking them, that this was but another step over to the
+enemy.
+
+"She couldn't be jolly," said Betty firmly.  "She wouldn't know how, and
+Aunt Pike wouldn't let her if she wanted to.  And even if she seemed so,
+I shouldn't feel that I could trust her."
+
+"Bosh!" said Dan emphatically.  "One can always tell if a person is to
+be trusted or not."
+
+"Well, I can tell that I shall _not_ trust Anna _ever_," cried Betty
+viciously, roused to deep anger by Dan's championship of Anna Pike.
+
+But Dan was not impressed.  "Oh well," he said, turning carelessly on
+his heel, "if you are so narrow-minded and have made up your mind not to
+like her, it is no use to say anything more."
+
+"I am not narrow-minded," cried Betty hotly.  "I don't know what you
+mean."
+
+"I don't suppose you do," laughed Dan.  "Never mind.  Cheer up,
+Elizabeth, I will give you a dictionary on your birthday."
+
+"No, you won't, 'cause you won't have money enough," said Betty; "and--
+and I wouldn't accept it if you got it."
+
+"I'll leave you my old one when I go to school, and I advise you to
+study it well before you go to Miss Richards's.  It may save you from
+putting your foot in it sometimes."
+
+"I wonder," said Betty, with a sudden thought, "if it would tell me what
+self-confidence is?"
+
+"I can tell you that," said Dan.  "Why do you want to know?"
+
+"Oh--oh, because--but tell me first what it means, and then I will tell
+you--perhaps."
+
+"Well, it means--oh--you know--"
+
+"No, I don't; and--and I don't believe you do either," nodding her head
+very knowingly at her brother.
+
+"Yes, I do," cried Dan hotly.  "It means having a too jolly good opinion
+of yourself, and thinking you can do anything.  Now, tell me why you
+wanted to know."
+
+But Betty was walking away with her head held very high, and her cheeks
+very red.  "I think it is quite time you started for the station to meet
+Aunt Pike and Anna," she called back over her shoulder.
+
+"Don't be late, whatever you do."
+
+"But you are coming too, Bet, aren't you?"
+
+"No," she answered frigidly, as she closed the door, "I am not," and to
+herself she added, with proud indignation, "After Aunt Pike's calling me
+such a name as that, I shouldn't think of going to meet her."
+
+Kitty, Dan, and Tony were on the platform when the train arrived.
+Their father had expressly wished them to go to meet their aunt and
+cousin, as he was unable to; so they went to please him, they told each
+other.  But they would put up with a good deal for the sake of a jaunt
+to the station, and there really was some little anxiety and excitement,
+too, in their hearts as to what Anna would be like.
+
+When she had stayed with them before she had been a little fair, slight
+thing, with a small face, frightened restless eyes, and a fragile body
+as restless as her eyes.  Anna Pike gave one the impression of being all
+nerves, and in a perpetual state of tremor.  She was said to be very
+clever and intellectual, and certainly if being always with a book was a
+proof of it, she was; but there were some who thought she did little
+with her books beyond holding them, and that it would have been better
+for her in every way if she had sometimes held a doll, or a
+skipping-rope, or a branch of a tree instead.
+
+"She was rather pretty, I think, wasn't she?" said Kitty musingly, as
+they strolled up and down the platform waiting for the train.
+
+"She was awfully skinny," said Dan.
+
+"Will Anna be bigger than me?" asked Tony, who did not remember her.
+
+"Oh yes, she is as old as Dan, I think; but I always feel as though she
+were older even than I am.  She used to seem so grown-up and clever, and
+she always did the right thing; and, oh dear, how dreadful it will be if
+she is still the same."
+
+Tony sighed.  "I wish there was somebody little, like me, to play with,"
+he said wistfully; "somebody as young as me."
+
+"But, Tony darling, you don't feel you want some one else, do you?
+Why, we all play with you," cried Kitty reproachfully.
+
+"Yes, I know; but you only pretend.  You don't think things are
+really-truly, like I do."
+
+"But I do, dear, I do, really; only yours are fairies and giants, and
+mine are knights and kings and ladies," and her thoughts flashed right
+away from the busy station, with its brick platform and gleaming rails,
+the ordinary-looking men and women pacing up and down, and the noise and
+rattle of the place, to the quiet, still woods and hurrying river, with
+their mystery and calm, and to those other men and women pacing so
+stately amidst the silence and beauty.  But Tony, tugging at her hand,
+very soon brought her abruptly back to her real surroundings.
+
+"It is coming! it is coming!" he cried.  "I hear it."
+
+And a moment later, with a fast-increasing roar, the engine rounded the
+curve, and gradually slowing down, drew up alongside the platform.
+
+Mrs. Pike was one of those persons who keep their seats until all other
+passengers have left the carriage, and make every one belonging to them
+do the same; and Kitty and Dan had twice walked the whole length of the
+train, and were just turning away, not quite certain whether they felt
+relieved or not at seeing no sign of their travellers, when they heard a
+well-remembered voice calling to them, and, turning, saw their aunt
+standing in a carriage doorway, beckoning to them as frantically as an
+armful of parcels and bags would allow her.  She retreated when she had
+attracted their attention, and in her place there stepped from the
+carriage a tall, lanky girl, who was evidently very shy and embarrassed
+at being thrust out alone to greet her strange cousins.
+
+It was Anna.  Though she had grown enormously, they knew her in a
+moment, for the thin white face was the same, the restless eyes, the
+nervous fidgeting movements of the hands and feet and body.
+Her straight, light hair had grown enormously too; it was a perfect mane
+now, long, and thick, and heavy--too heavy and long, it seemed, for the
+thin neck and little head.  Kitty eyed it enviously, though; her own
+dark hair was frizzy and thick as could be, but it never had grown, and
+never would grow more than shoulder length, she feared, and she did so
+admire long, straight, glossy hair.
+
+But when she looked from her cousin's hair to her cousin, a sudden sense
+of shyness came over her, and it was awkwardly enough that she advanced.
+
+"Ought I to kiss her," she was asking herself, "on a platform like this,
+and before a lot of people?  She might think it silly;" and while she
+was still debating the point, she had held out her hand and shaken
+Anna's stiffly, with a prim "How do you do," and that was all.
+
+Her aunt she had overlooked entirely, until that lady recalled her
+wandering wits peremptorily.  "Well, Katherine, is this the way you
+greet your aunt and cousin?  Have you quite forgotten me?  Come and kiss
+us both in a proper manner.--Well, Daniel, how are you?  Yes, I shall be
+obliged to you if you will go in search of our luggage;" for Dan,
+fearing that he, too, might be ordered to kiss them both, had shaken
+hands heartily but hastily, while uttering burning desires to assist
+them by finding their boxes.--"Anthony, come and be introduced to your
+cousin Anna.  I dare say you scarcely remember her."
+
+Tony kissed his severe-looking cousin obediently, but his hopes of a
+playmate died there and then.
+
+"Elizabeth, I do not see her!"
+
+"No--o; she has not come, Aunt Pike," said Kitty lamely.  She felt
+absolutely incapable at that moment of giving any reason why Betty had
+absented herself, so she said no more.
+
+"Anna was particularly anxious to meet her cousin Elizabeth," continued
+Mrs. Pike.  "Being so near of an age, she hopes to make her her special
+companion.--Don't you, Anna?"
+
+"Yes, mother," said Anna, rubbing her cotton-gloved hands together
+nervously, and setting Kitty's teeth on edge to such an extent that she
+could scarcely speak.  But somehow the enthusiasm of Anna's actions was
+not echoed in her voice.
+
+Dan, who had rejoined them, smiled to himself wickedly as he thought of
+Betty's last speech about her cousin.
+
+"The porter is taking the luggage out to the omnibus," he said.
+"Will you come out and get up?"  He led the way, and they all followed.
+The big yellow 'bus with its four horses stood in the roadway outside
+the platform palings.  The driver and conductor, who knew the Trenires
+quite well, beamed on them, and touched their hats.
+
+"I've kept the front seat for you, missie," said Weller, the conductor,
+to Kitty, and he moved towards the short ladder placed against the 'bus
+in readiness for her to mount.  "Will the other ladies go 'pon top,
+too?" he asked; and Kitty, with one foot on the lower step, looked round
+at her aunt to offer her her seat.
+
+"Katherine! Katherine! what _are_ you doing?  Come down, child, at once.
+You surely aren't thinking of clambering up that ladder?  Let Dan do so
+if he likes, but you will please come inside with Anna and me."
+
+Kitty's face fell visibly.  She could hardly believe, though, that she
+had heard aright.  "I feel ill if I go inside, Aunt Pike," she
+explained.  "Father always lets us go on top; he tells us to.  He says
+it is healthier; and it is such a lovely evening, too, and the drive is
+beautiful.  I am sure you would--"
+
+"Katherine, please, I must ask you not to stand there arguing in that
+rude manner with me," said Mrs. Pike with intense severity,  "Get inside
+the omnibus at once.  I will speak to your father on the subject when I
+get home."  And poor Kitty, so long mistress of her own actions, walked,
+bitterly humiliated, under the eyes of the many onlookers, and got into
+the hot, close 'bus, where the air was already heavy with the mixed
+smell of straw and paint and velvet cushions, which she never could
+endure.
+
+"Anthony, you may go outside with Daniel if you prefer it, as the 'bus
+is rather full inside," said Mrs. Pike, stopping him as he clambered in
+after Kitty.  But Tony declined the offer.
+
+"I would rather go with Kitty, please," he said loyally.  "I'd--I'd
+rather."  He had a feeling that by so doing he was somehow helping her.
+
+Kitty, with compressed lips and flashing eyes, took her seat.  She did
+not notice who was beside her; her only object was to get as far as
+possible from her aunt, for, feeling as she felt then, she could not
+possibly talk to her.
+
+"It is a _shame_ to make us go inside.  It always makes me feel ill too;
+but I've always got to," whispered a low, indignant voice through the
+rattling and rumbling of the 'bus.  With a start of surprise Kitty
+turned quickly to see who had spoken, and found that she had seated
+herself beside her cousin Anna.
+
+For a moment Kitty stared at her, bewildered.  It could not have been
+Anna who spoke, for Anna was staring absorbedly out of the window
+opposite her, apparently lost in thought, or fascinated by the scenery
+through which they were passing.  But just as she had determined that
+she had made a mistake, a side-long glance from Anna's restless eyes
+convinced her that she had not.
+
+"Are you feeling ill now?" asked Kitty, but Anna in reply only glanced
+nervously at her mother, and bestowed on Kitty a warning kick; and
+Kitty, indignant with them both, could not bring herself to address
+another remark to her.  All through that long, wretched drive home
+Kitty's indignation waxed hotter and hotter, for she kept her gaze
+studiously on the window, and the glimpses she got of all the beauty
+they were passing through only served to increase it.  Here the way lay
+through the soft dimness of a plantation of young larches, their green,
+feathery branches almost meeting across the road; then came a long steep
+hill, up which the horses walked in a leisurely way--quite delightful if
+one were outside and able to gaze down at the glorious valley which
+spread away and away below, until a curve in the road suddenly cut it
+off from view, but infinitely wearying when every moment was spent in a
+hot, stuffy atmosphere, with nothing before one's eyes but the hedge or
+one's fellow-passengers.
+
+Oh the relief in such case when the top of the hill was reached, and the
+driver stirred up his horses to a canter, and the heavy 'bus covered the
+level ground quickly and rumbled down the next steep hill at a good
+pace.  How Kitty did hate it all now, and how she did love it
+ordinarily!  Winter and summer, hitherto, she had always gone to and fro
+mounted high up on the front seat, and knew every curve and corner, and
+hill and dip; but best of all, perhaps, did she love that quick run down
+the steep hill, when the horses cantered along at their smartest, and
+the 'bus came rumbling and swaying after them, as though at any moment
+it would break loose entirely and go its own wild way.  And then would
+come the demurer pace as they came to the town, and the narrow streets
+where sharp corners had to be turned carefully, and where, from the high
+'bus-top, one could quite easily see into the funny little rooms of the
+old houses on either side.  Then came the main street--to the Trenire
+children fit to vie in breadth and beauty with any street in any city in
+the world--and then home!
+
+To Kitty it had always been the greatest joy to come home.  No matter
+where she had stayed, or how delightful the visit had been, she had
+always been glad to get home again, and her heart beat faster, and her
+breath caught with something that was not merely excitement or pleasure,
+at the sight of the low, broad old house in the bare, wind-swept street,
+that was the only home she had known, or wanted to know.  But now, for
+the first time, she felt no joy, only misery and indignation, and a
+sense of hopeless, helpless resentment that all the old joy and freedom
+was ended, that everything was to be altered and spoiled for them.
+
+By degrees the 'bus emptied of all passengers but themselves, and Aunt
+Pike drew nearer to Kitty.  "I hope," she said, "that things have gone
+on nicely while I have been away, and that the house has been kept in a
+neat and orderly fashion."
+
+Kitty did not answer for a moment, for the simple reason that she had no
+answer to give.  They had all been too much occupied in making the most
+of their spell of freedom to observe how the house was kept.  "I--I
+believe so," she stammered at last.
+
+"And I hope you have arranged a nice little meal for us," went on Mrs.
+Pike, "to welcome Anna on her first arrival in her new home.  I did not
+say anything about it, as I thought it would be so good for you to have
+the arranging of it."
+
+At this Kitty really did jump in her seat, and her heart beat fast with
+shame and dismay, for she had not only not arranged a "nice little
+meal," but had never given a thought to any meal at all.
+
+It is fair to say she had never been told that it was left to her to do
+so.  When first her aunt had come Kitty had handed over to her the reins
+of government, willy-nilly, and she had not thought it her duty to take
+them up again in Mrs. Pike's absence; but it is to be feared that in any
+case she would not have prepared a feast of welcome for Anna.  And the
+result was that they would arrive tired and hungry after their long, hot
+journey, and probably find no preparations at all made for them, no
+welcome, not even food enough for a meal--certainly no special feast.
+
+Kitty had not been wilfully careless.  She would have seen to things had
+she thought of it; but the obstinate fact remained that, if not
+wilfully, she had been culpably careless, and her heart sank with shame.
+She hoped--oh, how devoutly she hoped--that Fanny had been more
+thoughtful; but the prospect was slight, and for the rest of the way she
+sat in a perfect panic of dread and shame.
+
+The very moment the omnibus drew up before the house she sprang out of
+it, and, regardless of what her aunt might think, rushed in and through
+the house to the kitchen.
+
+"O Fanny," she cried, desperation in face and voice; but even in that
+distressful moment she remembered a former occasion when Aunt Pike's
+arrival had thrown her into just such a frantic state, "what about
+supper?  Aunt Pike has asked about it, and I hadn't even thought about
+it; and--oh, what _can_ I do?  I suppose there is nothing in the house?"
+
+For a second or two Fanny went on calmly and deliberately with what she
+was about.  "Well, miss," she said at last in her severest tone, "there
+is something, and a plenty, thanks to me and Miss Betty.  If there
+'adn't a been, it wouldn't 'ave been no manner of use to come rushing
+out to me now, when it's time for it to be on the table.  Of course,
+when folks comes unexpected that's one thing, but--"
+
+Kitty in her great relief did not heed Fanny's lecture in the least.
+"O Fanny, you are a dear," she cried joyfully.  "I will do something for
+you some day.--Hullo! Betty," for Betty at that moment came tiptoeing
+into the kitchen.
+
+"'Twas Miss Betty as first thought of it," said Fanny honestly.
+"I s'pose 'twould 'ave come into my 'ead some time, but I'm bound to say
+it 'adn't till Miss Betty mentioned it."
+
+Betty beamed with pleased importance, but tried to look indifferent.
+"I wanted Aunt Pike to see that we do know how to do things.  What is
+Anna like?" she broke off to ask anxiously.
+
+"She is like Anna exactly," said Kitty bluntly, "and no one else; she
+never could be.  She'll never change, not if she lives to be eighty.
+Come along up, and get ready.  Oh, I _am_ so glad you thought about the
+supper, Betty dear.  How clever you are!  Aunt Pike would have thought
+worse of me than ever if you hadn't, and--"
+
+"Um!" responded Betty, with a toss of her head, "perhaps if Aunt Pike
+knew that if it hadn't been for me she'd have had no supper, she
+wouldn't say rude things about me again.  I think it's awfully hard.
+If you don't do things you are scolded, and if you _do_ do them you are
+called too self--self-confidential."
+
+"I wouldn't mind what I was called," said Kitty, as she hurried away to
+get ready, "as long as I could manage to do the right thing sometimes,
+and not always forget till too late."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+LESSONS, ALARMS, AND WARNINGS.
+
+The days that followed were strange and very trying.  It was not at all
+easy for any of them to settle down to the new life.  Kitty, though, did
+not feel the giving up of the keys and the _role_ of housekeeper as much
+as she had expected to; for, in the first place, the keys had generally
+been lost, and in the second, she had never really "kept house" in the
+true meaning of the term, and it really was a great relief to find the
+meals appearing regularly and satisfactorily without any effort on her
+part, or, perhaps, one should say, without any remorse, or occasion for
+remorse, for not having made any effort.
+
+It was really a comfort, too, not to have to try to manage the servants,
+or blame herself for not doing so.  But, on the other hand, they all
+missed their freedom dreadfully--their freedom of speech and act, their
+freedom in getting up and going to bed, in their goings and comings; for
+Aunt Pike believed, quite rightly, of course, in punctuality and early
+rising, and keeping oneself profitably employed, and she disapproved
+strongly of their roaming the country over, as they had done, as
+strongly as she disapproved of their sitting on garden walls, wandering
+in and out of stables, coach-house, and kitchen, talking to the
+servants, or teasing Jabez.
+
+Jabez grew quite moped during the weeks that followed, for he was not
+even allowed to come into the kitchen for a comforting cup of tea as of
+old.  "And if anybody can't have a bit of a clack sometimes," groaned
+poor Jabez, "nor a cup of tea neither, why he might so well be dumb to
+once.  I've ackshally got to talk to the 'orses and the cat to keep my
+powers of speech from leaving me."
+
+Life seemed very dull and dreary to all the household, except, perhaps,
+to Mrs. Pike and Dr. Trenire.  The latter was too busy just then to
+realize the changes going on in his home; while Mrs. Pike was fully
+occupied with all that lay at her hand to do.
+
+Anna's presence did not add at all to the liveliness of the house.
+She was shy and nervous.  Of Dan she was, or pretended to be, quite
+afraid, and if she happened to have blossomed into talk during his
+absence, she would stop the moment he appeared--a habit which annoyed
+him extremely.  To Betty, who was to have been her special companion,
+she showed no desire to attach herself, but to Kitty she clung in a most
+embarrassing fashion, monopolizing her in a way that Kitty found most
+irksome, and made Betty furious, for hitherto Kitty had been Betty's
+whenever Betty needed her.  Now she was rarely to be found without Anna.
+But Kitty, along with the others, never felt that she could trust Anna;
+and they could not throw off the feeling that they had a spy in their
+midst.
+
+And, worst of all, the beautiful summer days glided away unappreciated,
+and there were many bitter groans over what might have been had they
+been alone.  They thought longingly of the excursions and picnics, the
+drives, and the free happy days in the open that they might have had.
+
+"I do think it is so silly," cried Betty, "to have one's meals always at
+the same time, sitting around a table in a room in a house, when one can
+enjoy them _ever_ so much more if they come at all sorts of times, and
+in all sorts of places."
+
+"Oh, but it wouldn't be right to have them like that often," said Anna
+primly.  "You would have indigestion if you didn't have your meals at
+regular hours."  Anna was always full of ideas as to what was right and
+good for her health.
+
+"I didn't know I had an indigestion," said Betty shortly, with a toss of
+her head, "and you wouldn't either, Anna, if you didn't think so much
+about it."  Which was truer than Betty imagined.  "I think it is a pity
+you talk so much about such things."
+
+In September Dan went off to school.  He was very homesick and not at
+all happy when the last day came--a fact which consoled Kitty somewhat
+for all the pleasure and excitement he had shown up to that point.
+"If it hadn't been for Aunt Pike and Anna I believe he would have been
+frightfully sorry all the time," she told herself, "instead of seeming
+as though he was quite glad to go."
+
+"You'll--you'll write to a fellow pretty often, won't you, Kit?" he
+asked, coming into her room for about the fiftieth time, and wandering
+about it irresolutely.  He spoke in an off-hand manner, and made a show
+of looking over her bookshelves whilst he was speaking.  But Kitty
+understood, and in her heart she vowed that nothing should prevent her
+writing, neither health, nor work, nor other interests.  Dan wanted her
+letters, and Dan should have them.
+
+But it was after he was gone that the blow of his departure was felt
+most, and then the blank seemed almost too great to be borne.  It was so
+great that the girls were really almost glad when their own school
+opened, that they might have an entirely new life in place of the old
+one so changed.
+
+"Though I would rather go right away, ever so far, to a boarding
+school," declared Betty, "where everything and everybody would be quite,
+quite different."  But Kitty could not agree to this.  It was quite bad
+enough for her as it was; to leave Gorlay would be more than she could
+bear.
+
+"Hillside," the school to which they were being sent--the only one of
+its kind in Gorlay, in fact--was about ten minutes' walk from Dr.
+Trenire's house.  It was quite a small school, consisting of about a
+dozen pupils only, several of whom were boarders; and Miss Richards (the
+head of it), Miss Melinda (her sister), and a French governess
+instructed the twelve.
+
+"It is not, in the strict sense of the word, a school," Miss Richards
+always remarked to the parents of new pupils.  "We want it to be
+'a home from home' for our pupils, and I think I may say it is that."
+
+"If our homes were in the least bit like it we should never want any
+holidays," one girl remarked; but we know that it is almost a point of
+honour with some girls never to admit--until they have left it--that
+school is anything but a place of exile and unhappiness,--though when
+they have left it they talk of it as all that was delightful.
+
+Amongst the boarders, and loudest in their complaints of all they had to
+endure, were Lettice and Maude Kitson, who had been placed there by
+their step-mother for a year to "finish" their education before they
+"came out."  It was a pity, for they were too old for the school, and it
+would have been better for themselves and every one had they been sent
+amongst older girls and stricter teachers, where they would not have
+been the leading pupils and young ladies of social importance.
+They laughed and scoffed at the usual simple tastes and amusements of
+schoolgirls, and, one being seventeen and the other eighteen, they
+considered themselves women, who, had it not been for their unkind
+stepmother, would have been out in society now instead of at school
+grinding away at lessons and studies quite beneath them.  Their talk and
+their ideas were worldly and foolish too, and as they lacked the sense
+and the good taste which might have checked them, they were anything but
+improving to any girls they came in contact with.
+
+Kitty had never liked either of the Kitson girls; they had nothing in
+common, and everything Lettice and Maude did jarred on her.  They seemed
+to her silly and vulgar, and they did little petty, mean things, and
+laughed and sneered at people in a way that hurt Kitty's feelings.
+Yet now, so great was her nervous dread of the school and all the
+strangers she would have to meet, she felt quite pleased that there
+would be at least those two familiar faces amongst them.  "And that will
+show how much I dread it," she said miserably to Betty the night before.
+"Think of my being glad to see the Kitsons!"
+
+"Oh well," said Betty cheerfully, "they will be some one to speak to,
+and they will tell us the ways of the school, so that we shan't look
+silly standing about not knowing what to do.  They won't let the others
+treat us as they treat new girls sometimes either, and that will be a
+good thing," which was Betty's chief dread in going to the school.
+
+Anna expressed no opinion on the matter at all.  She was more than
+usually nervous and fidgety in her manner, but she said nothing; and
+whether she greatly dreaded the ordeal, or was quite calmly indifferent
+about it, no one could tell.
+
+But the feelings of the three as they walked to the school that first
+morning were curiously alike, yet unlike.  All three were very nervous.
+Kitty felt a longing, such as she could hardly resist, to rush away to
+Wenmere Woods and never be heard of again.  Betty was so determined that
+no one should guess the state of tremor she was in, lest they should
+take advantage of it and tease her, that she quite overdid her air of
+calm indifference, and appeared almost rudely contemptuous.  Anna,
+though outwardly by far the most nervous of the three, had her plans
+ready and her mind made up.  She was not going to be put upon, and she
+was not going to let any one get the better of her; at the same time she
+was going to be popular; though how she was going to manage it all she
+could not decide until she saw her fellow-pupils and had gathered
+something of what they were like.  In the meantime nothing escaped her
+sharp eyes or ears.  All that Kitty or Betty could tell her about the
+school, or Miss Richards, or the girls, especially the Kitsons, she
+drank in and stored up in her memory, and they would have been
+astonished beyond measure could they have known how much her hasty
+wandering glances told her, resting, as they did, apparently on nothing.
+
+Before the first morning was over she knew that Helen Rawson was admired
+but feared; that Joyce Pearse was the most popular girl in the school,
+and had taken a dislike to herself, but liked Kitty and Betty; that
+Netta Anderson was Miss Richards's favourite pupil, and that she herself
+did not like Netta; and that Lettice Kitson was not very wise and not
+very honourable, and that Maude was the same, but was the more clever of
+the two.
+
+To Betty the morning had been interesting, though alarming at times; to
+Kitty it was all dreadful, and she went through it weighed down by a
+gloomy despair at the thought that this was to go on day after day,
+perhaps for years.
+
+The most terrifying experience of all to her was the examination she had
+to undergo to determine her position in the school.  Anna was used to
+it, so bore it better, and to Betty it was not so appalling, but to
+Kitty it was the most awful ordeal she had ever experienced.
+"Having teeth out is nothing to it," she said afterwards, and her relief
+when it was over was so intense that she thought nothing about the
+result, and was not at all concerned about the position assigned her,
+until Anna came up to her brimming over with condolences, and apologies,
+and scarcely concealed delight.
+
+"O Katherine, I _am_ so sorry, but it _really_ wasn't my fault.
+I didn't know I was doing so well, and--and that they would put me in
+the same class as you!  Of course I thought you would be ever so much
+higher than me--being so much older."
+
+Kitty had scarcely realized the fact before, certainly she had not been
+shamed by it, but Anna's remarks and apologies roused her to a sudden
+sense of mortification, and Anna's manner annoyed her greatly.
+
+"Did you, really?" she said doubtingly.  "Well," proudly, "don't worry
+about it any more.  If you don't mind, I don't," and she walked away
+with her head in the air.  "I can't understand Anna," she thought to
+herself; "she pretends to be so fond of me, but I feel all the time that
+she doesn't like me a bit really, and she will work night and day now to
+get ahead of me."  Which was exactly what Anna meant to do.  "But," she
+added, with determination, "I will show her that I can work too."
+Which was what Anna had not expected; but for once she had overreached
+herself, and in trying to humiliate Kitty she had given her the very
+spur she needed, and so had done her one of the greatest possible
+kindnesses.
+
+Betty, to her disgust and mortification, was placed in a lower class
+altogether.  She had not expected to be with Kitty, but she certainly
+had not expected to be placed below Anna, and the blow was a great one.
+"But I'll--I'll beat her," declared Betty hotly.  "I will.  I don't
+believe she is so awfully, awfully clever as they say, and nobody knows
+but what I may be clever too, only people haven't noticed it yet.
+I am sure I feel as if I might be."
+
+It was unfortunate, though, for the Trenire girls that Mrs. Pike had
+settled all the arrangements for their going to "Hillside;" it was
+unfortunate for them too that Miss Richards and Miss Melinda placed
+unquestioning reliance on what was told them, and had no powers of
+observation of their own, or failed to use them, for it meant to them
+that they started unfairly handicapped.  Miss Richards was warned that
+she would find Dr. Trenire's daughters backward and badly taught, and
+entirely unused to discipline or control.  "Of course the poor dear
+doctor had not been able to give them all the attention they needed, and
+he was such a gentle, kind father, perhaps _too_ kind and gentle, which
+made it rather trying for others.  It was to be hoped that dear Miss
+Richards would not find the children _too_ trying.  She must be very
+strict with them; it would, of course, be for their own good
+eventually."  "Dear Miss Richards" felt quite sure of that, and had no
+doubt that she would be able to manage them.  She had had much success
+with girls.  She was glad, though, to be warned that there was need of
+special care--in fact, dear Lady Kitson had hinted at very much the same
+thing.
+
+So the paths of Katherine and Elizabeth were strewn with thorns and
+stumbling-blocks from the outset, and, unfortunately, they were not the
+girls to see and avoid them, or even guess they were there until they
+fell over them.
+
+Anna, having been brought up under her mother's eye, was, of course,
+quite, quite different; Anna was really a credit to the care which had
+been lavished on her.  Miss Richards and Miss Melinda did not doubt it;
+they declared that it was evident at the first glance, and acted
+accordingly.  Which was, no doubt, pleasant for Anna, but, on the
+whole, turned out in the end worse for her than for her cousins.
+
+Anna certainly had been well trained in one respect--she could learn her
+home lessons and prepare her home work under any conditions, it seemed,
+and she always did them well.  Kitty had an idea, a very foolish one, of
+course, that she could only work when alone and quiet, say in her
+bedroom, or in the barn, or lying in the grass in the garden, or in the
+woods.  All of which was inelegant, unladylike, and nonsensical.
+Kitty must get the better of such ideas at once, and must learn her
+lessons as Anna did, sitting primly at the square table in the playroom.
+
+Anna learnt her lessons by repeating them half aloud, and making a
+hissing noise through her teeth all the time.  The sound alone drove
+Kitty nearly distracted, while the sitting up so primly to the table
+seemed to destroy all her interest in the lesson and her power of
+concentrating her mind on the study in hand.
+
+"I can't learn in this way, Aunt Pike," she pleaded earnestly; "I can't
+get on a bit.  I dare say it is silly of me, but my own way doesn't do
+any one any harm, and I can learn my lessons in half the time, and
+remember them better."
+
+"Katherine, do not argue with me, but do as I tell you.  It is the right
+way for a young lady to sit to her studies, and it will strengthen not
+only your back-bone, but your character as well.  You are sadly
+undisciplined."
+
+So Kitty, irritated, sore, and chafing, struggled on once more with her
+lessons.  But to get her work done she had, after all, to take her books
+to bed with her, and there, far into the night, and early in the
+morning, she struggled bravely not only to learn, but to learn how to
+learn, which is one of the greatest difficulties of all to those who
+have grown up drinking in their knowledge not according to school
+methods.
+
+Nothing but her determination not to let Anna outstrip her could have
+made her persevere as she did at this time, and she got on well until
+Anna, whether consciously or unconsciously she alone knew, interfered to
+stop her.
+
+"Mother! mother!" Anna in a straight, plain dressing-gown, her hair in
+two long plaits down her back, tapped softly in the dead of night at her
+mother's door, and in a blood-curdling whisper called her name through
+the keyhole.
+
+Mrs. Pike roused and alarmed, flew at once at her daughter's summons.
+"What is the matter?  Are you ill?  I thought you were drinking rather
+much lemonade.  Jump into my bed, and I will--"
+
+"No, it isn't me, mother, I am all right; it's--it's the girls.  I saw a
+light shining under their door, and I was so frightened.  Do you think
+it's a fire?"
+
+Considering the awfulness of that which she feared, Anna was curiously
+deliberate and calm.  It did not seem to have struck her that her wisest
+course would have been to have first rushed in and roused her cousins,
+and have given them at least a chance of escape from burning or
+suffocation.  Now, too, instead of running with her mother to their
+help, she crept into the bed and lay down, apparently overcome with
+terror, though with her ears very much on the alert for any sounds which
+might reach them.  Perhaps she shrank from the sight that might meet
+her eyes when the door was opened.
+
+Mrs. Pike, far more agitated than her daughter, without waiting to hear
+any more, rushed along the corridor and up the stairs to the upper
+landing where all the children's rooms were, and flinging herself on
+Kitty's door, had burst it open before either Betty or Kitty could
+realize what was happening.  Betty, seriously frightened, sprang up in
+her bed with a shriek.  Kitty dropped her book hurriedly and sprang out
+on the floor.
+
+"What is the matter?" she cried, filled with an awful fear.  "Who is
+ill?  Father?  Tony?"  But at the violent change in her aunt's
+expression from alarm to anger her words died on her lips.
+
+"How dare you!  How dare you!  You wicked, disobedient, daring girl,
+setting the place on fire and risking our lives, and wasting candles,
+and--and you know I do not allow reading in bed."
+
+"I wasn't reading," stammered Kitty--"I mean, not stories.  I was only
+learning my lessons.  I _must_ learn them somehow, and I can't--I really
+can't--learn them downstairs, Aunt Pike, with Anna whistling and hissing
+all the time; it is no use.  I have tried and tried, and I _must_ know
+them.  I wasn't setting the place on fire; it is quite safe.  I had
+stood the candle-stick in a basin.  I always do."
+
+"Always do!  Do you mean to say that you are in the habit of reading in
+bed?"
+
+"Yes," said Kitty honestly, "we always have.  Father does too."
+
+"Even after you knew I did not allow it?" cried Aunt Pike, ignoring
+Kitty's reference to her father.
+
+"I didn't know you didn't allow it," said Kitty doggedly.  "I had never
+heard you say anything about it; and as father did it, I didn't think
+there was any harm."
+
+"No harm! no harm to frighten poor Anna so that she flew from her bed
+and came rushing through the dark house to me quite white and trembling.
+She was afraid your room was on fire, and was dreadfully frightened of
+course.  She will probably feel the ill effects of the shock for some
+time."
+
+Betty, having got over her fright, had been sitting up in bed all this
+time embracing her knees.  When Anna's name was mentioned her eyes began
+to sparkle.  "If Anna had come in here first to see, she needn't have
+trembled or been frightened," she remarked shrewdly.
+
+"Anna naturally ran to her mother," said Mrs. Pike sharply.
+
+"Anna naturally ran to sneak," said Betty to herself, "and I don't
+believe she really thought there was a fire at all, and I'll tell her so
+when I get her by herself."  Aloud she said, "I wonder what made her get
+out of bed and look under our door.  She couldn't have smelt fire, for
+of course there wasn't any to smell."
+
+"Be quiet, Elizabeth.--Remember, Katherine," her aunt went on, turning
+to her, "that if ever I hear of or see any behaviour of this kind again,
+I shall have you to sleep in my room, and put Anna in here with
+Elizabeth."  Which was a threat so full of horror to both the girls that
+they subsided speechless.
+
+"I think," whispered Betty, as soon as their aunt's footsteps had ceased
+to sound--"no, I don't think, I know that Anna is the _very meanest_
+sneak I ever met."
+
+"I hope I shall never know a meaner," groaned Kitty; "but I--I won't be
+beaten by her.  I won't! I won't!"
+
+"And I'll beat her too," snapped Betty.
+
+"I am ashamed that she is a relation," said Kitty in hot disgust.
+
+"She isn't a real one," said Betty scornfully, "and for the future I
+shan't count her one at all.  We won't own such a mean thing in the
+family."
+
+"I wonder why she is so horrid," sighed Kitty, who was more distressed
+by these things than was Betty.  "We never did her any harm.
+Perhaps she can't help it.  It must be awful to be mean, and a sneak,
+and to feel you can't help it."
+
+"Why doesn't Aunt Pike teach her better?  She is always telling us what
+to do, and that it is good for us to try and be different, and--and all
+that sort of thing."
+
+"But Aunt Pike wouldn't believe that Anna is mean; she thinks she is
+perfection," said Kitty.
+
+"Oh, well, I s'pose a jewel's a duck in a toad's eye," misquoted Betty
+complacently; "at least, that is what Fanny said, and I think she is
+right.  Fanny often is."
+
+When they met the next day Betty gave her cousin another shock, perhaps
+more severe than the one she had had during the night, for frankness
+always shocked Anna Pike.
+
+"I do think, Anna," she said gravely, "it is a pity you let yourself do
+such mean things.  Of course you didn't really think our room was on
+fire last night, and every one but Aunt Pike knows you were only
+sneaking.  If you go on like that, you won't be able to stop yourself
+when you want to, and nobody will ever like you."
+
+Anna's little restless eyes grew hard and unpleasant-looking.  "I have
+more friends than you have, or Kitty either," she retorted, "and I am
+ever so much more friendly with the girls at school than you are."
+A remark which stung Miss Betty sharply, for though she did not like
+either Lettice or Maude Kitson, she resented the way in which they had
+gone over to Anna, with whom Lettice in particular had struck up a
+violent friendship--the sort of friendship which requires secret
+signals, long whisperings in corners, the passing of many surreptitious
+notes, and is particularly aggravating to all lookers-on.
+
+Kitty saw it all too, of course, but instead of feeling annoyed as Betty
+did by it, she felt a sense of relief that Anna had ceased to be her
+shadow, and had attached herself to some one else.
+
+"If Anna isn't sorry some day for being so chummy with Lettice," said
+Betty seriously, "Lettice will be for being so chummy with Anna."
+But Kitty could not see that.  She did not care for Lettice, but it
+never occurred to her that her behaviour was worse than foolish, or that
+she should warn Anna against the friendship.  Not that it would have
+done any good, probably, if she had.
+
+It might have been better for them all, though, if Kitty had been more
+suspicious and alert, for she might then have seen what was happening,
+and perhaps have avoided the catastrophe to which they were all
+hastening.  But, of course, if you have no suspicions of people, you
+cannot be on your guard against something that you do not know exists;
+and Kitty suspected nothing, not even when Betty came home one day with
+an unpleasant tale of foolishness to tell.
+
+"I won't walk home with Anna any more," she cried hotly.  "She asks me
+to go with her, and then tries to get rid of me.  I know why she wanted
+to, though: she had a letter to post and didn't want me to see it.
+I suppose," indignantly, "she thought I would try to read the address,
+or would sneak about it!"
+
+"You must have made a mistake," said Kitty.  "It is too silly to think
+she should want to get rid of you while she posted a letter.
+Why shouldn't she post one?  I don't see anything in it."
+
+"Well, _I_ do," said Betty solemnly.  "To tell you isn't really
+sneaking, is it?  Anna posts letters for Lettice Kitson--letters to
+people she isn't allowed to write to--and she takes letters to her.
+She does really, Kitty, and I think Anna ought to be spoken to.
+Lettice was nearly expelled from her last school for the same thing.
+Violet told me so."
+
+"Nonsense," cried Kitty scornfully.  "I believe the girls make up
+stories, and you shouldn't listen to them, Betty; it is horrid."
+
+"I am sure Violet wouldn't make up stories," said Betty; "and if Lettice
+does such things, Anna ought not to help her.  You should stop her,
+Kitty.  Tell her we won't have it."
+
+"O Betty, don't talk so.  Don't tell me any more that I ought to do.
+It seems to me I ought to do everything that is horrid!  And why should
+I look after Anna?  She never takes any notice of what I say; and after
+all it is nothing very bad--nothing to make a fuss about, I mean.
+I haven't seen anything myself."
+
+"Well, _I_ think it is a good deal more than nothing," said Betty
+gravely; "and I wish you would see, Kitty, I wish you would notice
+things more."
+
+"But what good could I do?  What can I say?" cried Kitty distractedly,
+growing really distressed.
+
+"Say?  Oh, say that we won't stand it, and let her see that we won't,"
+said Betty.  "We ought to be able to do that."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+POOR KITTY!
+
+Only a few days later Kitty's eyes were opened for her, and opened
+violently.  Autumn had come on apace.  The days were short now, and the
+evenings long and dark.  Already the girls were counting that there were
+only five or six weeks before Dan came home; and at school there was
+much talk of the break-up party, and the tableaux which were to be the
+chief feature of the festivity this year.  Kitty was to take part in one
+tableau at least.  She was to be Enid in one of her dearly loved
+Arthurian legends--Enid, where, clad in her faded gown, she met Queen
+Guinevere for the first time, who,
+
+    "descending, met them at the gates,
+   Embraced her with all welcome as a friend,
+   And did her honour as the prince's bride."
+
+And Kitty was to wear a wig such as she had always longed for, with
+golden plaits reaching to her knees, and she was almost beside herself
+with joy.
+
+On the evening that the storm broke, she, little dreaming of what was
+coming, was doing her home work and taking occasional dips into her
+volume of Tennyson.  Betty had finished her home lessons and was curled
+up in a chair reading.  Anna was not in the room; in fact, she had left
+it almost as soon as they had settled down to their work after tea as
+usual.  It was now nearly supper-time.
+
+Mrs. Pike was absent at a Shakespeare reading.  Dr. Trenire had been out
+all day, a long round over bleak country, and had not been home more
+than an hour.  Kitty had heard him come, and had longed--as she had
+never longed in the days when she was free to do as she liked--to go and
+superintend his meal, and hear all about his day.  But she knew what a
+to-do there would be if she did not stay where she was and do her
+lessons, and she had just lost herself again in the story of "Enid,"
+when, to her surprise, she heard her father's footsteps coming along the
+passage and stopping at the door of the school-room.  She was even more
+surprised when, on opening the door, he said very quietly and gravely,
+"Kitty, will you come to me in my study at once?  I wish to speak to
+you."
+
+She had looked up with a smile, but the expression on her father's face
+caused her smile to die away, and left her perplexed and troubled.
+
+"What was it?  Was Dan in trouble--or ill--or--or what had happened?"
+
+It never occurred to her as she got up and hurried after her father to
+his room that the trouble might be of her causing.  When she reached the
+study she found Dr. Trenire standing by the table holding a letter which
+he was reading.  He looked up from it when she entered, and in answer to
+the alarmed questioning in her eyes, he, after hesitating a moment, put
+the letter into her hand.  "Read that," he said sternly, "and tell me
+what it means."
+
+Kitty took the letter, but she was so bewildered and troubled by her
+father's manner, and the mystery, and her own dread, that she gazed at
+it for seconds, unable to take in a word that it contained.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I--I haven't read it yet, father," she stammered.  "Do tell me; is it--
+is it anything about Dan?"
+
+Dr. Trenire looked at her very searchingly.  "This is not the time for
+trifling, Kitty," he said.  "The letter is about you, I am sorry to say.
+I am so shocked, so grieved, and astonished at what it tells me, that
+I--I cannot make myself believe it unless you tell me that I must.
+Read it."
+
+Kitty read it this time--read it with the blood rushing over her face
+and neck, her eyes smarting, her cheeks tingling; and as she more and
+more clearly grasped the meaning, her heart beat hot and fast with
+indignation.
+
+When she looked up, her hurt, shamed eyes struck reproach to Dr.
+Trenire's heart.  "Father, you didn't--you didn't think that I--I--that
+what that letter says is true?"  The feeling that he had, if only for a
+moment, done so hurt her far more than did the letter, which was from
+Miss Richards.
+
+"It had been discovered," wrote Miss Richards, evidently in a great
+state of wrath and indignation, "that one of the boarders had been in
+the habit of writing to and receiving surreptitious letters from a
+person with whom she had been forbidden to correspond.  This she could
+only have accomplished with the aid of some one outside the school.
+On that very evening a letter had been intercepted, and the messenger
+almost caught; but though she had escaped she had been partially
+recognized by the governess, who had fortunately discovered these
+shocking and flagrantly daring misdoings, and the governess had no doubt
+in her mind that the culprit was Dr. Trenire's elder daughter."
+Miss Richards was deeply grieved to have to write such unpleasant
+tidings to him, but she begged he would make strict inquiries into the
+matter at once.  In the meantime Miss Lettice Kitson, who was forbidden
+to leave her room, refused to make any communication on the matter.
+
+"How dare she!" cried Kitty.  "How dare she accuse me of doing such a
+thing!  I hardly ever speak to Lettice.  We are not at all friendly, and
+Miss Richards knows it.  I have never liked her, and--and," she broke
+off hotly--"as if, even if I did like her, I would behave so.
+Father, you know I wouldn't; don't you?" she entreated passionately.
+
+"Have you any idea who the real culprit is?" asked her father, greatly
+troubled.  In his heart he implicitly believed her, but he had to
+inquire into the matter without prejudice.  "If you have a suspicion, do
+give me the clue, that you may be cleared.  Of course it wouldn't be
+Betty--"
+
+"Oh no, of course not," cried Kitty emphatically.  "She has been in the
+playroom with me all the evening; besides, Betty wouldn't behave so.
+Why, only the other day she was fearfully disgusted with--"
+
+Kitty stopped abruptly, a flood of colour pouring over her face as a
+sudden suspicion rushed over her mind with overwhelming force.
+
+Dr. Trenire was watching her closely.  "You have some suspicion?"
+
+Kitty opened her lips, then closed them.  "I--I have nothing I can say,
+father," she said at last in a muffled tone.
+
+"But you must clear yourself, Kitty," he said gravely.
+
+"Lettice Kitson can clear me," she replied.  "She knows, and of course
+she will tell Miss Richards when she hears that they are accusing me.
+You believe me; don't you, father?" she asked again, looking up at him
+pleadingly.
+
+"Certainly, Kitty," he said heartily, unable to withstand the appeal in
+her gray eyes.  "I would not believe you capable of such dishonourable
+conduct unless you yourself told me you were guilty."
+
+In the joy and relief of her heart Kitty forgot all about any suspicions
+others might entertain, until Dr. Trenire mentioned Mrs. Pike.  At the
+mention of that name her heart sank down and down.  "O father," she
+cried, "Aunt Pike need not know anything about it, need she?"
+
+"Of course she need, dear.  Why should she not?  You have nothing to
+fear from her knowing it.  When you deny the guilt there will be an
+inquiry into the matter, of course, so that it must come to the
+knowledge of, at any rate, the elder girls and the parents, and Anna
+will be amongst the elder ones, I suppose.  At any rate she is as tall
+as you are, and in your class."
+
+"As tall as you are."  The words struck Kitty with a new suggestiveness.
+She remembered suddenly that Anna had not been with them all the
+evening; that she had left the schoolroom soon after they had begun
+their work, and had not returned.
+
+"Oh, where was she?  What had she been doing?  Where had she been?"
+Kitty was in a fever of alarm, and could barely conceal her dismay.
+
+"Well," said Dr. Trenire, "that will do, dear.  I shall write to Miss
+Richards at once, and tell her that you absolutely deny any knowledge of
+or part in the matter, and that you have given me your word that you
+have not left the house since you returned from school at four-thirty.
+That should settle the matter as far as you are concerned."
+
+"Yes," said poor trusting Kitty, "that must set it all right for me, of
+course."  It did not occur to her then that any one could refuse to
+accept her word; and with no further fears for herself, she hurried away
+in search of Anna.
+
+First she went to her bedroom, but a glance showed her that no one was
+there; and as it never occurred to Kitty to look under the bed, she did
+not see a pair of shoes covered with wet mud, and a splashed skirt and
+cloak.  All, to her, looked neat and orderly, and with puzzled sigh she
+went thoughtfully down to the schoolroom again.  If Anna had not been in
+her bedroom all the evening, where had she been? she thought anxiously.
+And when, a second later, she opened the schoolroom door and saw Anna
+sitting at the table facing her, her books spread out before her, her
+head bent low over them, she really wondered for the moment whether she
+was mad or dreaming.  Betty was in her big chair, just as she had left
+her, her book in her hand, but she was glancing beyond it at Anna more
+than at the pages, and her face was full of grave perplexity.
+
+"Anna has such a cough," she said, when Kitty appeared, "and she can't
+breathe, and her face is so red.  I'm sure she has got a bad cold."
+
+Anna was certainly very flushed, and she held her handkerchief up to her
+face a good deal.
+
+"Have you a cold?" asked Kitty.  She could not control her feelings
+sufficiently to speak quite naturally, and her voice sounded
+unsympathetic.  She was vexed, and puzzled, and full of fears as to what
+might be to come.  She could not help feeling in her heart a strong
+distrust of Anna, yet she felt sorry for her, and dreaded what might be
+in store for her.
+
+"No--at least I don't think so.  Perhaps I have, though.  I don't feel
+well," she stammered.  She spoke confusedly, and did not look at Kitty.
+
+"I should think you had better go to bed and have some hot milk," said
+Betty in her serious, old-fashioned way.
+
+"Oh no.  I am all right, thank you," said Anna, shrinking from the
+thought of her mother's visits to her room, and her searching inquiries
+as to how she could possibly have got a cold.  "Do be quiet, Betty, and
+let me do my work.  You know it is nearly bedtime."
+
+"Well, you haven't seemed in a hurry till now," said Betty sharply.
+"You haven't been learning your lessons in your room, because I saw your
+bag and your books on your bed just now, and you hadn't touched them
+then."
+
+"I do wish people wouldn't always be prying after me," said Anna
+angrily, and this time it was Kitty who looked guilty.
+
+Supper was a very silent meal that night, and soon after it the three
+went to bed, scarcely another word having been spoken.
+
+Kitty and Betty had been in bed an hour perhaps, and Betty was fast
+asleep, when Kitty, restless and sleepless with the new trouble she had
+on her mind, was surprised by the gentle opening of the door of the
+room.  Half alarmed, she rose up in bed, peering anxiously through the
+gloom.  Then--"O Anna!" she cried, "what is the matter?  Are you ill?"
+
+"No--o, I don't think I am, but I--I am sure I shall be.  O Kitty, I am
+in _such_ trouble.  I _must_ tell some one."
+
+"I think I know what it is," said Kitty gently.
+
+"Oh no, you don't," groaned Anna.  "You can't.  It is worse than copying
+my sums, or--or cribbing, or anything."
+
+"I know," said Kitty again.
+
+But Anna did not hear her.  She was looking at Betty.  "Come to my room,
+do!" she said.  "Betty may wake up, and I don't want her to hear."
+
+"Very well," said Kitty, slipping out of bed and into her dressing-gown.
+"I expect, though, she will have to know.  It is bound to reach all the
+girls.  I only wish it wasn't."
+
+Anna, creeping back to her room, did not answer till she got there.
+Then she turned round sharply.  "What do you mean?  Know what?" she
+demanded.
+
+Kitty looked surprised.  "Why, about Lettice and--and you, and those
+letters, of course."
+
+Anna dropped on to a chair, her face chalk-white, her eyes starting.
+"Lettice and--and--and me--and--who told--what do you mean?  I don't
+understand."
+
+"Anna, don't!" cried Kitty, ashamed and distressed.  "Don't try to
+pretend.  There is no mistake, and every one must know soon about
+Lettice.  Whoever it was who nearly caught you made a mistake, for she
+thought it was me, and Miss Richards wrote to father accusing me, but,
+of course--"
+
+"Accusing you!" cried Anna in astonishment.  But her voice had changed.
+It was less full of terror than it had been.  For a moment after Kitty
+ceased speaking she sat lost in thought.
+
+"Of course father does not believe it, and he has written to tell Miss
+Richards so, and that I was at home all the evening, so there would have
+to be an inquiry of course, to try and find out which of the other girls
+it was, and everybody would have to know all about it; but now, when you
+tell Miss Richards that it was you, it needn't go any farther.
+Of course there will be a row, and probably you and Lettice will be
+punished, but no one else need ever hear anything more about it."
+
+"Oh, but I couldn't!" cried Anna.  She was so intensely relieved to find
+that, as yet, she was not suspected, that much of her courage and
+boldness came back.  "And, of course, I shouldn't, unless they asked me,
+and--and for mother's sake it would be very foolish to--to get myself
+into a scrape when I needn't."
+
+"But--but, Anna"--Anna's speech left Kitty almost voiceless--"it is--it
+is so dishonourable, so dishonest, so--"
+
+"No, it isn't," snapped Anna crossly.  She bitterly regretted now that
+she had taken Kitty into her confidence.  She had done it in a moment of
+panic when she felt that detection was certain, and she must get help
+from somewhere.  As soon as she knew that she was not suspected her
+courage and hopes had rallied.  "You need not mind; you will be cleared;
+and they can't find and punish any one else, for there is no one else to
+find, so it can't do any one any harm."
+
+"There is Lettice," said Kitty coldly.  "You know you can't trust her,
+and if she tells, things will look ever so much worse for you than--"
+
+"I don't think Lettice will tell," interrupted Anna meaningly.
+"She knows that if she tells tales I can tell some too."
+
+"You count on other people having some honour, though you have none
+yourself," said Kitty scathingly, and she turned away, choking with
+disgust.  Anna made her feel positively ill.  When she got to the door
+she stood and looked back.  Her face was very white and stern, her eyes
+full of a burning contempt.  "I do think, Anna," she said slowly and
+scornfully, "that you are the meanest, most dishonourable girl I ever
+heard of in all my life.  You are going to leave all the girls in the
+school under suspicion because you haven't the honesty or courage to own
+up."
+
+"It isn't anything to do with honesty," muttered Anna, very white and
+angry and sullen.  "You have no right to say such things, Kitty.  If you
+didn't do it, it can't do you any harm; and if no one suspects me, it
+isn't likely that I shall make them.  I shan't be telling a story.
+I simply shan't say anything."
+
+"I see no difference between telling a lie and acting one," flashed
+Kitty, and she walked back to her own room without another word.
+She had not been there long, though, before Anna came creeping in again.
+
+"Kitty," she said anxiously, "you won't tell any one, will you, even if
+you are mad with me?  You know I never _said_ I--I--you accused me, but
+I didn't say--"
+
+"I am not a sneak," said Kitty coldly.  "Now go away.  Go out of my
+room.  I don't like to see you near Betty.  Go away, do you hear!" and
+Anna vanished again into the darkness.
+
+Though strong and secure in her own innocence, Kitty awoke in the
+morning with the feeling weighing heavily on her that though the matter
+would soon be ended, yet something very painful had to be faced first.
+Kitty, though, was counting too much on her own guiltlessness, and the
+certainty of others believing in it; and she had more cause than she
+imagined for waking with a weight on her mind.
+
+When the dreaded inquiry took place, and all the senior girls were
+called into the "study" to undergo a rigorous cross-examination, she
+soon found that Miss Richards was very far from accepting her
+unsupported denial as conclusive.
+
+"Yes, but who can bear out your statement that you did not leave the
+room or the house throughout the evening?" she asked sternly.
+
+"Betty can," said Kitty.  "Betty was in the room with me all the time."
+
+"Ah! Betty!  But she is very young, and very attached to you, and would
+of course be prejudiced."
+
+Kitty's cheeks flamed with indignation, and she had to set her teeth to
+keep herself from answering.
+
+"Have you no older--more responsible witnesses?"
+
+"No one could be more honest and truthful than Betty," said Kitty
+proudly.  "She wouldn't dream of saying I was there if I wasn't."
+
+"But your father, or your aunt--"
+
+"They were both out," said Kitty.  "Anna saw me go to the schoolroom,
+and saw me begin my lessons, and I never moved until father came to me."
+
+So Anna was called.
+
+"Can you support your cousin's statement that she was in the schoolroom
+all the evening, and never once left it?"
+
+Anna was about to say "yes," when she hesitated, and grew very red and
+confused.  "I--I couldn't say," she stammered, and those listening
+thought she was embarrassed by her desire to shield Kitty, and at the
+same time tell the truth.  Kitty looked at her with wide, horrified
+eyes.  Surely Anna would say why she could not give the required
+assurance.  But only too soon the conviction was borne in on her that
+Anna did not mean to tell, and Anna was an adept at saying nothing, yet
+conveying a stronger impression than if she had said much.
+Those looking on read in Kitty's horrified eyes only a fear of what Anna
+might admit, and opinion was strengthened against her.
+
+"Speak out frankly, Anna," said Miss Richards encouragingly.  "Did you
+notice her absence?"
+
+"She--a--Kitty wasn't there once when I went back to the room," murmured
+Anna, apparently with great reluctance.
+
+Kitty's head reeled.  She could not believe that she had heard aright.
+Anna was not only concealing her own guilt, but was actually fastening
+it on to her.  "I think I must be going mad, or going to faint," she
+thought to herself.  "I can't take in what they are saying."
+"But, Anna," she cried, in her extremity forgetting judge and jury,
+"you know father had come to me with Miss Richards's letter.  I was with
+him when you came in."
+
+"No," said Anna, with a look of injured innocence, "I didn't know.
+You didn't tell me.  Of course I--I knew you were somewhere," she
+stammered lamely.  "I don't say you were out of the house, only--well I
+couldn't say you were in the room if you weren't, could I?" with a
+glance at Miss Richards for approbation, and a half-glance at Kitty,
+whose gray eyes were full of a scorn that was not pleasant to meet.
+
+Kitty could not speak for a moment, her indignation and disgust were too
+intense.  She felt herself degraded by stooping to ask for evidence as
+to her own innocence.
+
+Miss Melinda whispered to Miss Richards.  Miss Richards looked at Kitty
+and bade her turn round.  Kitty, wondering, obeyed.
+
+"How do you account for the fact that your dress is splashed to the
+waist with mud?"  Miss Richards asked frigidly.  "Yesterday was quite
+fine until after you had all gone home from school, then heavy rain
+fell."
+
+Poor Kitty.  Here was Nemesis indeed!  Two days ago that skirt had been
+put aside to be brushed, and now, to-day, without giving a thought to
+the mud on it, she had put it on and worn it.  With crimsoning cheeks
+she wheeled around.  "That mud has been there for days, Miss Richards,"
+she said shamefacedly.  "I ought to have brushed it yesterday, but I
+didn't, and to-day I forgot it."  But she saw and felt that no one
+believed her, and Betty, the only one who could have borne out her
+words, was not there.
+
+"You can all go back to your classes--all but Katherine Trenire," said
+Miss Richards, ignoring her speech; and the girls, with looks of
+sympathy or alarm, filed out, leaving Kitty alone.
+
+"Now, Katherine," said Miss Richards firmly, "be a sensible, honest girl
+and tell the truth, and my sister and I will consult together as to the
+punishment we feel we must inflict.  We do not wish to be too severe,
+but such conduct must be punished.  Now, tell us the truth."
+
+"I have told the truth," said Kitty proudly, "and I have no more to
+tell.  Lettice can clear me if she likes, so can--the girl who was with
+her, but I can't do any more.  If you won't believe me, what can I do?"
+and suddenly poor Kitty's proud eyes filled with tears.
+
+Miss Melinda took this as a sign of relenting.  She thought confession
+was coming, and unbent encouragingly.  "There, there, that is better,
+Katherine.  Now be advised by us, and get this dreadful load off your
+mind.  You will be so much happier when you have."
+
+Kitty drove back her tears and her weakness, and her gray eyes grew
+clear enough to show plainly the hurt and the anger which burnt in her
+brain as she listened to this insulting cajoling, as she termed it in
+her own mind.
+
+"How dare you!" she cried indignantly.  "How dare you fasten it on to
+me!  I know who the girl was, and she knows that I know, but you _want_
+to believe that I did it, and--and you can if you want to.  You are both
+very wicked and unjust, and--and I will never set foot in your house
+again!"  And Kitty, beside herself with indignation, her head very
+erect, her face white, her eyes blazing, marched out of the room and out
+of the house, and not even her mud splashes could take from the dignity
+of her exit.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+THOSE DREADFUL STOCKINGS.
+
+Dr. Trenire was extremely annoyed and very indignant when he heard of
+the inquiry and the result--so indignant that Kitty's words came true,
+and she never did set foot within the doors of Hillside again, for her
+father removed her, and Betty too, from the school at once.  Of course
+Betty could not continue there after all that had happened.
+
+He did not tell the girls what he thought about the matter, but he told
+Miss Richards plainly that he considered the inquiry was a prejudiced
+one, and that an injustice had been done.  They had made up their minds
+that Kitty was guilty, and had not made sufficient inquiries as regarded
+the other pupils.
+
+Miss Richards was, of course, indignant and greatly upset, and Aunt Pike
+was in a great dilemma.  She scarcely liked to keep Anna at the school
+after her cousins were withdrawn from it, yet she was very loth to
+deprive her of the companionship of such desirable friends as she
+considered she was thrown amongst there.  Also, in her heart of hearts,
+Aunt Pike did not feel at all sure that Kitty was innocent.
+
+"They are such extraordinary children," she said to herself, "I would
+not be surprised at anything they did--not from bad motives, perhaps,
+but from sheer ignorance of the difference between right and wrong."
+
+So Anna was to stay on at Hillside, at any rate until the term and the
+term's notice should be up; and Miss Pooley came again to teach Kitty
+and Betty and Tony, greatly to Tony's delight, for he had been having a
+dull time, poor little man, and had not found much joy in doing lessons
+with Aunt Pike.
+
+So the rest of the term wore away, and time healed the wound to some
+extent; and by-and-by the Christmas holidays drew near and the date of
+Dan's return, and that was sufficient to drive unwelcome thoughts from
+their minds and lighten every trouble.
+
+"When the day comes, the real right day," said Kitty, "I shall be quite
+perfectly happy--"
+
+"Touch wood," said Betty anxiously; "you know it is unlucky to talk like
+that.  Fanny says so."
+
+"Pooh! nonsense!" cried Kitty, growing daring in her excitement.
+"What could be lovelier than for Dan to be coming home, and Christmas
+coming, and the holidays; and oh, Betty, it does seem too good to be
+true, but it _is_ true, and I am sure nothing could spoil it all."
+
+But Kitty had not touched wood, and had reckoned without Aunt Pike; and
+even when that lady came into their room with a paper parcel in her hand
+they suspected no harm--in fact, they looked at the parcel with pleasure
+and excitement for a moment, even after she had said, "Children, I have
+got you some winter stockings, and you must put them on at once, the
+weather has become so cold."  They even agreed heartily, and Betty
+plumped right down on the floor there and then, and bared one foot in
+readiness by the time the parcel was opened.
+
+And then the parcel was opened, and dismay and horror fell on them, for
+the stockings were not only of an ugly pale gray, with white stripes
+going round and round the legs, but they were woollen ones!--rough,
+harsh, scratchy woollen ones!  The colour was bad enough, but that was
+as nothing compared with the awful fact of their being woolly; for two
+children with more painfully sensitive skins than Katherine and
+Elizabeth Trenire could not be found in the whole wide world, and for
+them to wear anything in the shape of wool was a torture more dreaded
+than any other.
+
+Betty instinctively drew her pretty bare feet under her for protection,
+and looked from Aunt Pike to Kitty with eyes full of horror.  Kitty was
+desperate.
+
+"I am very sorry, Aunt Pike," she said, quite gently and nicely, but
+very emphatically, "but we cannot wear woollen stockings.  They drive us
+nearly mad--"
+
+"Nonsense," interrupted Aunt Pike, with the complete indifference of a
+person not afflicted with a sensitive skin.  "You will get over that in
+an hour or two.  If you don't think about it you won't notice anything.
+Try them on at once.  I want to see if they fit."
+
+"It--it would really be better not to put them on," urged Kitty,
+"for we really couldn't wear them if you bought them, aunt, and the
+people won't take them back if they are creased."
+
+"They will not be required to take them back," said Mrs. Pike firmly.
+"I have bought you six pairs each"--Betty groaned--"Don't make that
+noise, Elizabeth--and if they fit they will be kept.  They are very fine
+and quite soft; any one could wear them quite comfortably, and so can
+you, unless, of course," severely, "you make up your minds not to."
+
+Persons who are not afflicted with sensitive skins cannot, or will not,
+be made to understand how great and real the torment is, and young
+though Kitty was, she had, already learned this, and her heart sank.
+
+"I hate light stockings too," said Betty; "they look so ugly with black
+shoes."
+
+It was an unfortunate remark to make just then.
+
+"Ah," said Aunt Pike triumphantly, "I suspected that vanity was at the
+bottom of it all!  Now try on this one at once, Katherine; make haste."
+She went to the door.--"Anthony," she called, "come here to Kitty's
+room, I want you," and she stood over the three victims until their poor
+shrinking legs were encased in the hideous, irritating gray horrors.
+
+Oh, the anger of Kitty and the dismay of Betty!  Oh, the horrible, damp,
+sticky feeling that new stockings seem never to be without!
+Betty's blue eyes filled with tears of helpless misery, Kitty's gray
+ones with rebellion.  Why should they be tormented in this way?  It was
+so cruel, so unjust!  They had not suffered from the cold more than had
+other people, certainly they had not complained of it--not half as much
+as had Mrs. Pike and Anna, who were clad in wool from their throats to
+their toes.
+
+Tony sat looking at his poor little legs disgustedly, but it was the
+ugliness of his new footgear that struck him most; he did not feel the
+torment as his sisters did.  Then quite suddenly Betty stripped off the
+detestable things.
+
+"Thank you," she said, "I'll wear my old ones.  I prefer the cold."
+
+Mrs. Pike coloured with annoyance and set her lips firmly.  "How dare
+you defy me in that way, Elizabeth!" she cried.  "I have told you to
+wear those stockings, and you _are_ to wear them.  Remember, I mean what
+I say.  I wonder your father has not insisted long before this on your
+wearing flannel next your skin.  Don't you know that by going about in
+flimsy cotton things in all weathers you are laying up for yourself a
+rheumatic old age, and all kinds of serious illness?"
+
+Kitty shuddered, but not at the prospect drawn for her by her aunt.
+"Father knows that we can't," she said seriously, "so he never tried to
+make us."
+
+Betty, who had been absorbed in thought, looked up eagerly.  "I would
+much rather have rheumatism than itchy stockings," she protested quite
+gravely.  "I don't mind a bit, Aunt Pike.  And--well, you see we can't
+be sure that we shall have an old age, or rheumatics."
+
+Mrs.  Pike grew really angry.  "Put on those stockings at once, miss,
+and fasten them to your suspenders.--Kitty, fasten yours too."
+
+"Oh, please let me wait," cried Kitty, "before I pull them tight; it is
+so awful."
+
+"Nonsense!  It is more than half of it fancy.  Remember you are to wear
+them until the warm weather comes," and with that Aunt Pike walked away
+triumphant.
+
+"Oh, how hideous they are!" groaned Kitty, as she looked disgustedly at
+her striped legs; "how perfectly hideous!  I shall be ashamed to go out
+in them.  What will Dan say when he sees them?"
+
+"It is worse for me," wailed Betty, "my dress is so short.  O Kitty, how
+can we ever walk in these dreadful things?"
+
+"I don't know," said Kitty bitterly, "but we've _got_ to.  It is a good
+thing we have something nice to do to-day, for it may help us to
+forget."  But nothing made them do that; the discomfort went with them
+everywhere, and destroyed their pleasure in everything.
+
+Earlier in the day Dr. Trenire had said that they might all go to the
+station to meet Dan; and they went on top of the 'bus, and alone too,
+for Anna did not break up until the next day, and the weather was
+lovely, and everything might have been perfect, if only they could have
+forgotten their tortured legs.  But to do that was more than they were
+capable of, for, in addition to the torture of them, there was the
+consciousness of their extraordinary ugliness, an ugliness which caught
+every eye.
+
+"What on earth have you all got yourselves up in?" was almost Dan's
+first greeting.  "I say, you aren't going to do it often, are you?"
+
+And Betty straightway explained with much vehemence and feeling the
+torment of mind and body to which they had been condemned.
+
+"They look like Aunt Pike," said Dan.  "No one else could have unearthed
+such things.  There is one comfort--we shall always be able to see you
+coming when you have them on.  Now then, mount, or we shan't get outside
+seats."
+
+But when Kitty, more than ever conscious after Dan's comments, looked at
+the steps and the little crowd of people who would witness her ascent,
+and thought of her dreadful stockings, her heart failed her.
+"I--I think I will go inside," she said hastily.
+
+"So will I," said Betty, shamefaced too.
+
+"Nonsense," cried Dan, guessing at once what was the matter.  "You two
+skip up first, and I'll follow close to hide your le--retreat, I mean.
+I am not going to be done out of our drive home together.  Now then,
+courage--up you get!"
+
+And up they did get, but it did require courage: and the getting down
+was even worse--their cheeks blazed and their hearts grew hot with
+anger, and oh! the irritation of their poor unhappy legs.
+
+"Kitty," whispered Betty eagerly, as they hurried into the house, "come
+upstairs, quick; I've thought of something.  It's a splendid idea!"
+
+With the excuse that they were going to take off their hats and coats,
+they rushed up to their bedroom and shut themselves in.  Aunt Pike was a
+little surprised at their neatness; Dan was a little hurt at being left
+so soon, but Betty could not think of that then.
+
+"Kitty," she breathed, as she closed the door and leaned against it,
+"I know what we will do.  We will wear our cotton stockings underneath
+these horrors!  They won't scratch us then, will they?  And our holidays
+won't be spoilt, and Aunt Pike won't know, and--don't you think it's a
+perfectly splendid idea?"
+
+"Splendid," cried Kitty enthusiastically, dropping on to the floor and
+beginning to unlace her boots that very moment.  "Oh, quickly let us
+make haste and change them; I cannot, cannot endure this torment a
+minute longer.  O Betty, why didn't you think of it sooner?"
+Then, holding up one of the offending gray stockings between the tips
+of her fingers, "Did you--did any one ever see anything in all this
+world so hideous?"
+
+"We can do away with their itchiness, but we shall never, never be able
+to hide their ugliness," said Betty ruefully.  "_Nothing_ could do
+that."
+
+But the ugliness did not seem to matter so much when the irritation was
+stopped; and they had such a grand time that evening, there was so
+much to tell, and hear, and do, and show, that all other things were
+forgotten, at least for the time.
+
+And how lovely it was to wake in the morning and remember at once that
+the holidays had come, and Dan was home; and then to wander about the
+house and garden with him, looking up old haunts, and visiting Prue and
+Billy and Jabez in the stables; for Aunt Pike had allowed them that much
+licence on this the first day of the holidays.  Then after dinner they
+all went up to Dan's room to help him to unpack, and there was no end of
+running backwards and forwards, looking at new treasures and old ones,
+and talking incessantly until the afternoon had nearly worn away without
+their realizing it.
+
+"Um!" said Dan at last, pausing on the landing to hang over the
+banisters and sniff audibly.  "A--ha! methinks I smell the
+soul-inspiring smell of saffron!  For thirteen long, weary weeks I have
+not smelt that glorious smell.  Oh yes, I have though, once.  There was
+a saffron cake in the hamper.  Fanny's own, too.  Why," with sudden
+recollection, "I haven't had a good talk with Fanny yet.  Aunt Pike was
+about all the time, and dried up the words in my throat.  I'm going down
+to see her this very moment as ever is."  And that moment he went.
+
+The other three followed swiftly but silently, for Anna was at home and
+in her bedroom, resting, preparatory to going to a party that evening--
+the break-up party at Hillside--at least she was supposed to be resting.
+Her sharp ears, though, were ever on the alert, and if she guessed what
+was going on, she would come out and spoil everything.  Mrs. Pike was
+shopping--buying gloves, and elastic for Anna's shoes, and a few trifles
+for herself, for she too was going to the party.
+
+The kitchen was very snug and warm and full of business, as well as
+savoury odours, when they reached it.  Fanny had a large Christmas cake
+out cooling on the table, and mince pies and tartlets all ready to go
+into the oven, while on a clean white cloth at one end of the table were
+laid half a dozen large saffron cakes and a lot of saffron nubbies to
+cool.
+
+"O Fanny, how I adore you!" cried Dan, hugging her warmly.  "No one in
+the world reads my thoughts as you do.  The one thing I wanted at this
+moment was a nubby, and here it is."  And seizing a couple he began to
+eat them with a rapidity that was positively alarming.  "I know, though
+you don't say much, that you are overjoyed to see me home again; I can
+see it in your eyes.  The house is a different place when I am home,
+isn't it?"
+
+"It is _different_ certainly," said Fanny with emphasis and a sniff, but
+not quite the emphasis Dan had asked for.  Her coolness did not put him
+out, though.  Fanny had a soft spot in her heart for him, and he knew
+it, the scamp; but though Dan was perhaps her favourite, at any rate for
+the moment, the others benefited by the favour shown to him.
+
+"I knew you would feel it," he said sympathetically; "I was afraid it
+would tell on you.  How thin you have gone, Fanny," with an anxious
+glance at Fanny's plump cheeks.
+
+"Get along with your iteming.  Master Dan," she said severely.
+"I should have thought they'd have learnt you better at school; and if
+anybody'd asked me, I should have said that the kitchen wasn't the place
+for young gentlemen."
+
+"But nobody has asked you," said Dan.  "And how," melodramatically,
+"could you expect me to keep away when you are here, and I smelt new
+saffron cake?"
+
+"And how do you expect me to do all I've a-got to do with the lot of you
+thronging up every inch of my kitchen?" she went on, ignoring his
+flattery.
+
+"Ask me another," said Dan, handing nubbies the while to all the others.
+"I give that one up.  But I knew you would be frightfully cut up if I
+didn't come."
+
+Fanny snorted in a most contemptuous manner, and tossed her head with
+great scorn.  "Oh! I'd have managed to survive it, I dare say, and I
+don't suppose I should break down if you was to go."
+
+"Do you know, Fanny dear," said Dan, suddenly growing very serious,
+"when I went away I never expected to see you still in this dear old
+kitchen when I came home, and the thought nearly broke my heart; it did
+really.  I didn't think you could have stood--you know who, so long."
+
+"Well, I reckon you won't see me here next time you comes home," said
+Fanny, trying hard not to look pleasant; "and as for this 'dear old
+kitchen,' as you call it--dear old barn, I call it, with its draughts
+and its old rough floor--it isn't never no credit to me, do what I will
+to it, and Mrs. Pike is always going on at me about the place.  I says
+sometimes I'll give up and let it go, and then some folks'll see the
+difference."
+
+Kitty remembered the time when Fanny, not so many months back, had let
+it go, and she had seen the difference.  But she said nothing, and
+munched contentedly at her nubby; and Fanny, who really loved her big,
+homelike old kitchen almost as well as she did the children, continued
+to talk.
+
+"I wish Jabez would come in," said Dan.  "He used to love hot cake, and
+I have hardly had a chance to say anything to him since I came."
+
+"Nobody gets a chance to nowadays," said Fanny sharply.  "He gets his
+head took off--not by me--if he so much as sets foot inside these doors;
+and Jabez isn't partial to having his head took off."
+
+"I should think his foot should be taken off, not his head," giggled
+Betty; but no one but herself laughed at her joke.
+
+Kitty, who had been sitting on the corner of the table which stood in
+the window, munching her nubby and thinking very busily, suddenly looked
+up, her face alight with eagerness.
+
+"Fanny," she cried, "don't you want to do something very, very nice and
+kind and--and lovely, something that would make us all love you more
+than ever?"
+
+Fanny glanced up quickly; but as she was always suspicious that some
+joke was being played on her, she, as usual, made a cautious answer.
+She was not going to be drawn into anything until she knew more.  "Well,
+I dunno as I wants to do more than I'm doing--letting 'ee eat my cake so
+fast as I bakes it."
+
+"But, Fanny, listen!" Kitty was so eager she scarcely knew how to
+explain.  "You know that Aunt Pike and Anna are going out this evening?"
+
+"Yes, miss," with a sigh of relief; "from four to ten."
+
+"Well," springing off the table in her excitement, "let us have a party
+too; a jolly little one at home here by ourselves.  Shall we?"
+
+Betty slipped down from her perch on the clothes-press, Tony got off the
+fender, and all clustered round Kitty in a state of eager excitement to
+hear the rest of her plan.  They felt certain there was more.
+Fanny could not conceal her interest either.
+
+"And what will be best of all," went on Kitty, "will be for you to ask us
+to tea in the kitchen, and we will ask Jabez too, and Grace, of course"
+--Grace was Emily's successor--"and we will have a really lovely time,
+just as we used to have sometimes.  Shall we?  O Fanny, do say yes!"
+
+"Seems to me," said Fanny, "there isn't no need.  'Tis all settled, to
+my thinking." But there was a twinkle in her eye, and a flush of
+excitement on her cheek, and any one who knew Fanny could see that she
+was almost as pleased as the children.
+
+"You are a Briton!" cried Dan, clapping her on the back resoundingly.
+
+"I ain't no such thing," said Fanny, who usually thought it safest to
+contradict everything they said to her.  "I'm a Demshur girl, born and
+bred, and my father and mother was the same before me.  I ain't none of
+your Britons nor Cornish pasties neither, nor nothing like 'em."
+
+"No, you are a thoroughbred Devonshire dumpling, we know," said Dan
+soothingly, "and not so bad considering, and you can make a pasty like a
+native, though you aren't one, and never will be.  It is a pity too, for
+Jabez only likes--"
+
+"I don't care nothing about Jabez, nor what he likes, nor what he
+doesn't," cried Fanny, bending down over her oven to hide a conscious
+blush which would spread over her round cheeks.  "There's good and bad
+of every sort, and I don't despise none.  I only pities 'em if they
+ain't Demshur."
+
+"That is awfully good of you," said Dan solemnly.  "We can cheer up
+again after that.  Fanny," more eagerly, "do tell us what you are going
+to give us to eat."
+
+But Fanny could not be coaxed into that.  "I haven't said yet as I'm
+going to give 'ee anything," she said sharply; but there was a twinkle
+in her eye, and matters were soon settled satisfactorily.  There was to
+be a substantial "plate tea" in the kitchen at half-past five, which
+would allow plenty of time for the laying of the cloth and other
+preparations after Mrs. Pike and Anna had departed.  Then they were to
+have games and forfeits, and tell ghost stories, and anything else that
+came into their minds to do, and a nice supper was to wind up the
+evening, and by ten o'clock all signs of their feast were to be tidied
+away, and the children were to go as quietly to bed as though Aunt Pike
+stood at their doors.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+AN EXCITING NIGHT.
+
+Had Aunt Pike had even the faintest suspicion of what was to happen
+during her absence he would have given up her party then and there and
+have remained at home, even though Anna was to receive a prize and to
+recite.
+
+But, fortunately for her peace of mind, she suspected nothing, and they
+both went off quite cheerful and excited through the cold and mist of
+the December evening to the scene of the triumph of Anna's genius--
+Anna with her head enveloped in shawls, her feet in goloshes, her muslin
+skirts covered with a mackintosh and a fur-lined cloak.
+
+When it came to the moment of departure she felt so sorry for those left
+behind that she could not help expressing it.  "I wish you could have
+come too, and had some of the fun," she said excitedly.
+
+"Do you?" said Betty bluntly.  "Well, I don't.  So you needn't feel
+unhappy about it.  We would rather have 'bread and scrape,' or nothing
+at all, at home.  We shall enjoy ourselves, you may be quite sure.
+Don't worry about us," which was wickedness on Betty's part, for she
+knew that Anna always suspected that they enjoyed themselves more
+without her, and resented it.
+
+And there was no denying that Anna's suspicions were correct.
+Before she and her proud mamma had reached the gates of Hillside, Kitty
+and Betty had stripped off the detested stockings, and were arraying
+themselves in their last summer's muslin frocks, intending to be quite
+as partified as Anna; and Kitty tied her hair with a red ribbon, and
+Betty's with a blue one to match her turquoise locket, and down they
+went to the feast.
+
+Jabez had not yet arrived, but he was momentarily expected.  Dan was
+already there in his new "Eton's," with a sprig of mistletoe in his
+button-hole.  Tony was in his best white sailor suit, and Fanny and
+Grace had holly in their caps, and wore their Jubilee medals.  The table
+was loaded with cakes and pasties, and "splits" with cream and jam on
+them; and then, just as they were getting tired of waiting, Jabez
+arrived.  He was in his best suit, and was very shy, very embarrassed,
+yet very pleased at having been invited.
+
+"Simmeth like old times, don't it!" he gasped, seating himself on the
+extreme edge of the hard chair nearest the door, a chair and a position
+no one ever dreamed of occupying at any ordinary time.
+
+To Kitty, who always felt shy if others were, it was as little like old
+times as could be, for every one seemed borne down with an unnatural
+politeness and quiet, and of them all Jabez suffered most.  He had never
+been asked to a party before, not a full-dress party, and he found it
+embarrassing.  But Dan came to the rescue, and with his jokes and his
+laughs and his funny stories soon made them all feel more at ease, so
+that by the time the first cups of tea were drunk, and the dish of
+"splits" emptied, the ice had been melted and all was going well.
+
+"Jabez," said Dan, turning to him with a very solemn face, "it is you we
+have to thank for this feast."
+
+Jabez stared, bewildered.  "I don't take your meaning, sir," he answered
+in a puzzled voice.  "Tedn't nothing to do with me.  I am the invited
+guest, I am, and proud so to be.  I only wishes I'd a-got a bit of a
+place fitty for to ask 'ee and the young leddies to come to, sir."
+
+"Never mind, Jabez; we can wait.  Perhaps you'll have one soon," said
+Dan consolingly, and he glanced knowingly round the table, letting his
+eye rest for a moment longer on Fanny than any one else.  "By another
+Christmas we may--dear me, I think this room must be very hot," he
+remarked, breaking off abruptly to look at Fanny's rosy cheeks.  But
+Fanny rather tartly told him to "go on with his tea and never mind
+nothing 'bout hot rooms, nor anything else that didn't concern him," and
+quite unabashed he turned to Jabez again.
+
+"You see," he explained, "if you hadn't gone to father that day I shied
+the wood at you, we shouldn't have had Aunt Pike here, and Fanny
+wouldn't have asked us out here to tea because Aunt Pike was out,
+because, you see, she wouldn't be here to go out, and we couldn't be
+glad about her going, for we shouldn't know anything about it to be glad
+about, and so there wouldn't be anything special to ask us here for, and
+so--"
+
+"Master Dan," cried Jabez piteously, "if you don't stop to once, the
+little bit of brain I've got'll be addled!  Iss, my word, addled beyond
+recovery, and me a poor man with my living to get."
+
+"It do put me in mind of my old granny," said Grace, laughing, "when
+poor grandfather died, and she was getting her bit of mourning.  'Well,'
+she saith, 'if my poor dear Samuel had died a week sooner or later, and
+Miss Peek had put her clearance sale back or fore a week, I should have
+missed that there remlet of merino and lost a good bargain, whereas now
+it'll always be a pleasure to me to look at and feel I saved two
+shillings on it.'"
+
+"Now, Fanny," cried Dan, "a story from you, please."
+
+Fanny demurred a little, of course.  People never like to be told to
+tell stories.  They prefer to drift naturally into them, without a lot
+of people waiting expectantly for what they are going to say.
+
+But Fanny had such stores of tales of ghosts, fairies, witches, and
+other thrilling subjects, that she never failed to fascinate her
+listeners.  She did so now, when once she had begun, until they were all
+almost afraid to look round the dim kitchen, and Jabez wished, though he
+would not have owned it, that he had not got that walk home in the dark.
+
+Then they burnt nuts, and melted lead in an iron spoon and poured it
+into tumblers of cold water, and Fanny's took the shape of the masts and
+rigging of a ship, though Jabez declared it wasn't nothing of the sort,
+but was more like clothes-postens with the lines stretched to them, yes,
+and the very clothes themselves hanging to them.  All but Jabez, though,
+preferred to think it a ship; it was more exciting.  Grace's lead formed
+tents of all sizes, and Grace seemed quite pleased.
+
+Of Kitty's they could make nothing at all.
+
+"That looks to me like a rolling-pin lying at the bottom," cried Dan
+excitedly, "and a beautiful palace, almost like a fairy palace, and--but
+I don't know what all those little pieces can be meant for.  I think it
+must mean that you are going to be a cook in a large house--a palace,
+perhaps."
+
+"I fink those are fairies," chimed in Tony thoughtfully, "and that's a
+fairy palace, and--and--"
+
+"And the rolling-pin is me in the midst of it all," cried Kitty,
+throwing her arm round her little brother.  "Tony, you are a dear; you
+always say something nice."
+
+"I shouldn't think it very nice to be called a rolling-pin," said Betty.
+"But do tell me what mine is, Kitty!"
+
+"I really can't," said Kitty, after they had each gazed at it solemnly.
+"I can't tell whether it is meant for a ship, or an iceberg, or a tent.
+Perhaps it is all three, and means that you are going to travel,
+Bettikins."
+
+"Oh yes," said Betty, "I shouldn't be surprised.  I mean to travel when
+I am grown up, and I always feel that I shall do something some day."
+
+"I feel I shall do something to-night if I don't get something to eat
+soon," interrupted Dan, in a tone intended to touch Fanny's heart.
+"It is half-past eight, and tea has been over for more than two hours."
+
+"Well," said Jabez, as the tumblers and the mysterious lead figures were
+whisked away, "'tis just as well nobody couldn't attempt to tell what
+mine was, for I wouldn't 'ave 'urt anybody's ingenooity with trying to.
+If 'twasn't a blacksmith's shop, 'twas a vegetable stall; and if
+'twasn't that, 'twasn't nothing; and things when they'm like that is
+best left alone, it's my belief."
+
+"P'r'aps it was the table with supper laid on it," suggested Kitty.
+
+"P'r'aps 'twas, Miss Kitty; but I'm sorry for us all if 'twas, for the
+dishes, if dishes they was, was empty, and that wouldn't suit us at the
+present minute."
+
+But it exactly depicted the state of the dishes half an hour later, for,
+as Fanny said when they wanted the kitchen cleared for games, "there
+wasn't nothing to clear but empty things."
+
+By that time all stiffness had worn away, every one was in the highest
+spirits, and the games went on furiously, so furiously that the striking
+of the hall clock and the town clock were overlooked, and the first
+thing that recalled them to themselves was a loud ringing of the
+front-door bell.
+
+For one second they stood looking at each other in utter dismay, then--"
+The back stairs," whispered Dan.  "Fly, children, scoot, and hop into
+bed as you are.--Jabez--"
+
+But Jabez had already vanished through the back door and had shut
+himself in Prue's stable.  Up the back stairs the children scuttled,
+shoes in hand, and melted away into their various rooms without a sound.
+Kitty stayed a moment with Tony to help him into bed, and as she crept
+out of his room the sound of voices in the hall reached her.
+
+"Grace needn't have hurried so to let them in," she thought.  "She could
+at least have pretended she was asleep and didn't hear the knock, and so
+have given us a few minutes more."  But Grace's promptness was such that
+Kitty had barely time to draw her nightgown on over her frock and creep
+into her bed before she heard her aunt's footsteps on the stairs.
+
+Mrs. Pike went first to Tony's room, and Kitty, leaning up, listened in
+a perfect tremor of nervousness for what might follow.  Tony was no good
+at pretending, but, as good luck would have it, there was no need of
+make-believe on his part, for he had been so tired he had fallen fast
+asleep as soon as he had cuddled down under the bedclothes, and Mrs.
+Pike, after just a glance, came away quite satisfied.  Then Kitty heard
+her approaching their room.
+
+"Oh!" she thought with dismay, "she is bringing Anna with her;" for
+Mrs. Pike was talking to some one in a low voice.  "What bad luck; Anna
+sees through everything.  I wonder if Betty hears too.  If she doesn't
+she is sure to jump.  Betty! Betty!" she called, as loud as she dared,
+but the next moment the door opened and Aunt Pike entered with a candle
+in her hand, and followed by Anna.
+
+"Dear, dear," she said, as she tripped over something, "how untidy!
+What is it, Anna?"
+
+Anna stooped and picked up one of Betty's discarded gray stockings.
+For once Betty's untidiness served them a good turn.  Seeing the
+stockings on the floor, it never occurred to Aunt Pike but that they had
+both undressed and got into bed in the usual fashion.  The first thing,
+though, that caught Anna's eye was the red bow in Kitty's hair.
+
+"I--I didn't know--" she began, then glanced quickly at Betty's head,
+where the blue bow showed up against the pillow, but instead of
+remarking on it she suddenly grew silent.  Kitty marvelled, for she had
+remembered their hair ribbons almost at the same moment as Anna had
+caught sight of them, and it was all she could do not to put up her hand
+and grab hers off.  With the remembrance she almost gave up hope of
+escaping detection, and wished devoutly that they had stayed downstairs
+and faced the consequences; for to be found out now, hiding in bed in
+this fashion, made a discreditable matter of what was really not a very
+bad one.  But, to her increasing amazement, Anna said nothing, not even
+when Aunt Pike said, "I must speak to Katherine in the morning.  She has
+either neglected to brush her hair at all, or she is very extravagant in
+tying it up for the night with a good piece of ribbon.  Now come away,
+darling; it is quite time you were in bed.  I am sure you must be quite
+exhausted.  You know I did tell you I thought you would not be able to
+show them your prize to-night."
+
+"Prize!" gasped Betty, sitting up in bed as soon as ever their visitors'
+backs were turned.  "Has she _really_ got a prize?  I didn't think it
+could be true when Aunt Pike said she would get one.  Anyhow, I wonder
+she isn't ashamed to show it, for she knows it would have been yours if
+she hadn't behaved so disgustingly.  But Anna is never ashamed of what
+she does, no matter how bad it is."
+
+"Oh yes, she is," said Kitty thoughtfully.  "I think she is dreadfully
+ashamed sometimes of some things, and very sorry."
+
+"Then why doesn't she say so?" snapped Betty crossly.
+
+"I believe she doesn't know how to.  She is shy, or--or something; but I
+do believe she would like to be able to."  And she thought of the abject
+way in which Anna had followed her about for days after that affair at
+Hillside, and had tried to do things for her; and in her heart she knew
+that it was Anna's curious way of expressing her gratitude to her for
+not exposing her meanness.  "I believe," she went on musingly, "that if
+she could undo all that--that fuss in any other way than by owning up,
+that she would; but there isn't any other way, and she hasn't got pluck
+enough to do it in the right one.  I believe she would rather die than
+have Aunt Pike know how she behaved.  Oh dear, I do wish I hadn't to get
+up again and undress."
+
+"So do I," agreed Betty.  "I really can't brush my hair to-night, I am
+_so_ sleepy."
+
+"I wouldn't," said Kitty, who had a little habit of saying the most
+comfortable thing.  "Give it an extra brushing to-morrow; that will do."
+
+"Very well," agreed Betty, "I will remember," and in another moment was
+fast asleep.
+
+Kitty lay down and drew the bedclothes cosily about her until a few dark
+curls and a scarlet bow were all that were visible, but go to sleep she
+could not.  Thoughts went racing through her brain in the most
+distracting manner--thoughts of the school and all the unpleasant ending
+of her short connection with it; thoughts of Anna and her mother, and
+Anna's want of courage.
+
+"I believe she isn't really a bad sort," mused Kitty, "and yet--and yet
+she does do such mean things, and doesn't seem to see that they are
+mean; and she thinks that the only way to please people is to say nasty
+things of some one else to them; and then, of course, one feels that to
+other people she says the same of oneself.  One can't help it.  I do
+wish she was different.  I believe I could like her if she was."
+
+Presently her thoughts merged into dreams, but such unpleasant ones that
+she was quite glad to awaken from them; and so, constantly dozing and
+half-waking, and dozing again, the hours wore on until at last she awoke
+really wide awake, with a very strong and alarming feeling that
+something was amiss, or that something unusual was happening.  She had
+not the faintest idea what it could be, and though she sat up in bed and
+listened, she could not see or hear anything.  The house seemed quiet
+and still, and yet there were sounds--curious, mysterious sounds that
+ceased while she listened for them, and left her wondering if she were
+still dreaming, or if her ears were playing her tricks.  Her first fear
+was that there might be something the matter with Tony; then she thought
+of Dan.
+
+"I must go and see," she thought, and slipped very gently out of bed and
+into her dressing-gown.  When she was outside the door she paused to
+listen.  Yes, there certainly were sounds, and they came from Dan's
+room, sounds of whispering and movements, and--yes, there was a curious
+smell.  "I believe it is fire!" she gasped, and ran down the  corridor.
+Dan's room was nearly at the end of it,  and faced the staircase.
+Tony's was a tiny room between the girls' and Dan's, while Anna's room
+was beyond Dan's again.  Kitty looked in at Tony, and found him safe,
+and sleeping comfortably; then she hurried on.  Dan's door was slightly
+ajar, and there was a dim light within; here also was the curious smell
+which had greeted Kitty's nose, only stronger, and here also was Anna,
+in her gray dressing-gown, sitting on the floor, and apparently hugging
+herself in an agony of pain.  "What has happened?  What is the matter?
+Dan, tell me!"
+
+At the first sound of her voice Dan wheeled round, and Anna started up
+with a scream.
+
+"How you did startle me!" cried Dan in a hoarse whisper.  "But I'm
+awfully glad you've come."  Dan's face was perfectly white, and he was
+trembling visibly.  "Kitty, what _can_ I do?  I have been such a--such a
+fool; worse than a fool.  Look!" holding up a paper partly burnt, and
+pointing to a scorched mark on the curtain.
+
+"Oh!" gasped Kitty.  "O Dan, how did it happen?  What were you doing?
+Reading in bed?  You might have been burnt to death."
+
+"I should have been--we all should have been, and the house burnt down,
+if it hadn't been for Anna," groaned Dan.  "It'll teach me never to read
+in bed again.  I thought I was quite wide awake too.  But look at Anna;
+do try and do something for her.  She has burnt her hands horribly, and
+I didn't know what to put on them.  What can I do?  Kitty, do do
+something; she is in frightful pain, and she was so plucky."
+
+Even in her great pain Anna looked up gratified by this praise.
+Kitty gently lifted her hands and looked at them, then laid them down
+again with a little shocked cry, for the whole of the palms and the
+fingers were covered with burns.
+
+"Oh you poor, poor thing!" she cried.--"Dan, do creep down to the
+surgery, and bring up the bottle of carron oil.  You will find it on the
+floor by the window.  Father always keeps it there.--O Anna," putting
+her arms round her cousin's quivering shoulders, "how you must be
+suffering!  I am _so_ sorry.  I wish I could bear it for you."
+
+Anna was almost beyond speaking, but she laid her head back against
+Kitty's arm with a sigh of relief.  "O Kitty, I am so glad to have done
+something for you--that's all I think of.  I don't mind the pain.
+You have done so much for me, and I--I wanted to make it up to you
+somehow."
+
+"Don't you ever think of that again," said Kitty solemnly.  "You have
+saved Dan's life, perhaps all our lives, and that wipes out everything.
+But oh! poor Dan, won't he be in a scrape to-morrow when this is all
+found out!"
+
+"But it won't be found out," said Anna.  "We can easily get rid of the
+paper, and the mark on the curtain won't show unless one looks for it;
+and, you see, it won't be taken down till the winter is over, and
+then--"
+
+"But your hands," cried Kitty.  "How can we explain about your burns?"
+
+"Oh--h," said Anna slowly, as she tried to think of some plan, "I will
+just say it is an accident--I needn't explain."
+
+"But I shall," said Kitty firmly.  "I am not going to have any
+deceitfulness.  We will all stand together, but you aren't going to
+suffer for Dan.  Dan wouldn't stand it, and I should be ashamed of him
+if he did."
+
+Anna did not answer, and Kitty thought she had won.  Dan returned with
+the oil, and from his own drawer produced a generous supply of torn
+handkerchiefs.
+
+"How did you find out about the fire?" questioned Kitty, as she bound up
+the poor hands as skilfully as she knew how.  Her "skill" would have
+made a surgeon or a nurse smile, but the result was soothing and
+comforting.
+
+"I woke up suddenly and thought I smelt burning;  then I was sure I did,
+and I got out and opened my door and saw a bright light shining under
+Dan's door."  Here Anna had the grace to blush, for she remembered
+another occasion when she had seen a light shining under a door, and had
+_not_ flown in a frenzy of fear to save those inside.  "I crept down the
+passage, and then I knew that the smell of burning was coming from Dan's
+room.  I knocked, but he didn't answer, and the light grew so bright
+that I got frightened, and I rushed in and snatched the paper out of his
+hand, and beat out the flames."  Her face, which had been very flushed,
+was now deadly white.  "I think I will go back to bed now," she said
+faintly, "I am dreadfully tired."
+
+And dreadfully tired she was too, thoroughly exhausted and overcome.
+Kitty helped her to her room and tucked her in her bed, and as she was
+bending over her, Anna raised her usually restless eyes to her very
+pleadingly.
+
+"Kitty, you must let me have my own way, or I shan't feel that I've done
+anything towards--towards wiping out--you know what I mean."
+
+"I know," said Kitty.  "We won't talk any more about it to-night.
+We will wait until to-morrow.  Good-night, Anna," and for the first time
+in her life she kissed Anna willingly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+MOKUS AND CARROTS.
+
+Kitty heard Dan go downstairs the next morning just as she was finishing
+dressing, and her heart thumped painfully, for she knew he was going to
+confess.  When confessions had to be made Dan always made them as
+quickly as possible so as to get them off his mind.  Kitty hurriedly
+finished her dressing, and followed him with some vague idea in her mind
+of helping him.
+
+But when they got down there was no one else about, and before they had
+seen any one to whom to confess, Mrs. Pike burst into the dining-room
+where they stood, miserably enough, waiting.
+
+"Kitty, Dan, do either of you know where your father is?  I want him to
+come to Anna.  She is so unwell, and in some extraordinary way has burnt
+her hands dreadfully.  Oh dear! oh dear! what troubles do come upon me.
+I suppose it was foolish of me to leave her last night to put herself to
+bed when she was so tired.  I might have known she would tumble over the
+lamp, or do something equally careless.  It was kind of you, Kitty, to
+attend to her burns for her, poor child, but you should have come and
+called me."  There were tears in Aunt Pike's eyes as she turned to thank
+her niece.  "You--she--Anna need not have been afraid.  I did not know I
+was so harsh with her that she was afraid to--" and poor Aunt Pike broke
+off, quite overcome.  The shock of finding Anna feverish and ill, and
+with her hands bandaged, had upset her greatly.
+
+Dan, sincerely touched and conscience-stricken, stepped forward.
+"Aunt Pike," he began, "I--"
+
+But Kitty with a look and a sign checked him.  "Wait," she whispered.
+"I think you had better wait, or you may make things worse for Anna."
+
+Dan looked distressed.  "I don't think I shall," he answered testily, as
+Aunt Pike went out of the room.  "I hate mystery.  Why can't we speak
+out and have it over?  I am going to, Kitty."
+
+"I want you to, as much as you do," she answered in a troubled voice,
+"but we have to think of Anna.  She did so much for us last night, and--
+well, I believe if we were to tell Aunt Pike all about it now, it would
+hurt her more than ever, because she would think Anna had been deceiving
+her; and Anna did not mean to, she only meant to be kind to us."
+
+So Dan, though most unwillingly, had to agree.  It annoyed him, and hurt
+his dignity, and offended his sense of honour to have to let Anna bear
+the weight of his misdoing; but he still hoped that when he could see
+Anna she might consent to his making a full confession.  Here, though,
+he was again doomed to disappointment, for Anna only turned to him
+pleadingly.  "Don't say anything about it," she cried.  "O Dan, don't!
+If mother was to know now she would be more angry than ever, and she
+would never trust me again, or forgive either of us."
+
+So Dan, out of his gratitude to her, had to give in; and there the
+matter rested for the time at least.  But it had brought about two
+important changes--it cured Dan, and all of them, for some time, of
+their love of reading in bed; and it made them more tolerant in their
+feelings towards Anna.
+
+Christmas, since that last one their mother had spent with them, had
+never been a festive or a happy season in Dr. Trenire's house.  To the
+doctor it was too full of sad memories for him to be able to make it gay
+or cheerful for his children, and the children did not know how to set
+about making it so for themselves, while Aunt Pike had no ideas on the
+subject beyond sending and receiving a few cards, giving Anna a
+half-sovereign to put in the savings bank, and ordering a rather more
+elaborate dinner on Christmas Day.
+
+Kitty, Dan, and Betty this year felt a real yearning for a Christmas
+such as they had read of, and discussed all manner of impossible plans,
+but there it all ended.  Dr. Trenire gave them a book each, and they sat
+around the schoolroom fire reading them and munching the sweets they had
+clubbed together to buy, and that was all the festivity they had that
+year.
+
+It was a damp, mild season, unseasonable and depressing, pleasant
+neither for going out nor for staying indoors; and Dan, who had less
+than five weeks' holidays, and had already had one of them spoilt by the
+weather, grumbled loudly, fully convinced that he had every reason to do
+so.
+
+But with January came a change to high, cold winds, which dried up the
+mud, and, having done that much service, departed, to be followed by
+days of glorious sunshine.  Just about the middle of the month Mrs.
+Pike had to go away for a week or two to visit her sister in Yorkshire,
+and with this circumstance, and the lovely weather combined, the
+children's spirits rose.  Dan had but a fortnight's holiday left, it is
+true, but they meant to enjoy every possible minute of that fortnight,
+and to begin with they decided on an expedition to Helbarrow Tors, one
+of their most beloved of picnic places.  Anna had never seen that
+wonderful spot, and Anna, who did not accompany her mother on her
+Yorkshire visit, was to be introduced to all its beauties on the very
+day after her mother's departure.
+
+As though knowing what was expected of it, the day broke most
+promisingly.  Of course it was not really light until about eight
+o'clock--in fact, they got up and had their breakfast by gaslight, for
+they really could not stay in bed late with such prospects as they had
+before them; but already the weather signs were good, and Jabez was most
+encouraging.
+
+"I'll back a mist like that there," he said, "agin anything for turning
+out a fine day.  You mark my words now, Miss Kitty; and I'll go right
+along and get that there donkey and cart for fear anybody else should be
+put in the mind to 'ave a little egscursion too, and get un furst."
+
+Fanny was as amiable as Jabez.  When Kitty went out to the kitchen to
+see about their food for the day she found her with a row of baskets on
+the table before her, and Dan sitting on the corner of it superintending
+her doings.
+
+"There, Miss Kitty," she exclaimed, "that's the salt I've just put in,
+so don't anybody say I forgot it, and don't anybody go unpacking it
+any'ow or it'll be upset; and we don't want no bad luck, do we?"
+
+Kitty looked at the baskets joyfully.
+
+"I've put in what I calls a good allowance for six.  Do 'ee think
+that'll be enough?" asked Fanny anxiously, "or shall I put in a bit more
+cake, and a pasty or two extra?  P'r'aps I'd better."
+
+"Perhaps you had," said Kitty thoughtfully.  "You see, we have the whole
+day, and one does get hungry out of doors, and there is never a shop
+anywhere near--and if there is, we never have any money to spend in it."
+
+Even while she was speaking Fanny was stowing the extra pasties and cake
+into the basket.  "Now, Master Dan, remember that's the basket you'm to
+carry," pointing to a large square one with the cover securely fastened
+down.  "There's nothing to eat in it, but it's the 'eaviest, 'cause it's
+got the milk in it, and a bottle of methylated spirits and the little
+stove in case you can't get no sticks nor no fire."
+
+"O Fanny, you _are_ cruel," sighed Dan.  "I really don't know," with a
+very good imitation of a catch in his voice, "how you can say to me the
+nasty things you do."
+
+"Ah!" said Fanny, with a knowing shake of her head.  "I may be cruel,
+and I have my failings, but I can read you through and through, Master
+Dan, same as if you was a printed book.  You take my word for that."
+
+"X rays aren't in it," cried Dan.  "Eyes of a hawk, and a heart of
+stone.  What a combination!"
+
+"That there littlest basket," went on Fanny, turning to Kitty, "is for
+Master Tony; and you must see that Master Dan don't get hold of it, and
+let his little brother wear hisself out carrying the 'eavy one."
+
+"Fanny, what do you take me for?"
+
+"I take 'ee for what you are," said Fanny calmly--"an anointed young
+limb, and as artful as you are high."
+
+"Wait till I have gone back to school," said Dan wistfully, "then every
+cruel and unjust thing you have said and thought of me will come back to
+you, and 'Too late, ah, too late,' you will moan as you sob yourself
+ill; 'and I loved that boy better than any one in the whole wide
+world!'"
+
+Which had enough of truth in it to make Fanny quite cross, or seem to
+be.
+
+"Master Tony's basket has got some lunch in it for you all to eat on
+your way.  There's a little pasty each, and some biscuits.  I did put in
+a big one for Master Dan, but I've more'n half a mind to take it out
+again, seeing as he's be'aving so, sitting on the table and swinging his
+legs.  I s'pose those are the manners they learns him to school!"
+
+Dan chuckled.  "I wish they did," he said.  "No, it's only you who let
+me behave myself as I like, Fanny.  No one else in the wide world is so
+kind to me.  O Fanny, I wish you were coming with us."
+
+"So do I," cried Kitty.  "Wouldn't it be fun!"  And Fanny, quite
+mollified, did not remove Dan's big pasty.
+
+The door opened and Jabez came in.  "I've got the moke," he said; "he's
+in the yard; and I've put a few carrots in the cart for 'ee to 'tice un
+along with, for if that there creetur haven't made up his mind a'ready
+not to see Helbarrow Tor this day--well, I'm a Dutchman, and whatever my
+failings I ain't that yet."
+
+"The only enticing he'll get from me will be with the whip," said Dan
+with great scorn, "so you can take out the carrots again."  But Jabez
+shook his head wisely.
+
+"They won't take up much room," he said.  "I'll put 'em in the nose-bag,
+and if you don't need 'em on the way, you can give 'em to the creetur
+when he gets there, by way of encouraging un another time.  Now, are you
+all ready, miss?  It's best for 'ee to start before he falls asleep
+again, for they'm always poor-tempered if they'm woke up, and then
+they'm obstinater than ever."
+
+The five of them could not all get into the cart at once, at least not
+with any comfort, so they always, on these excursions, took it in turn
+to ride and tie; and Dan, who did not crave for the glory of driving
+Mokus through the street, walked on with Betty, leaving the others to
+follow.
+
+It was certainly cold when first they started; the air was fresh and
+biting, with a touch of frost in it, and the sun had not yet come out.
+Anna shivered beneath her fur-lined cloak, and Tony, thrusting his hands
+deep down in his pockets, snuggled down between Kitty and Anna, and felt
+very glad for once that he was not allowed an outside seat.
+
+But by degrees the sun shone through the misty grayness, bathing the
+road before them, and lighting up the bare hedges on either side until
+it really seemed that spring had come, that the fresh morning air was
+certainly full of the scent of primroses and violets, and the sweet
+earthy smell of moss.  The birds evidently thought so too, for they came
+fluttering and flying from all manner of cosy hiding-places, and,
+undaunted by the sight of the brown branches and the leafless twigs,
+boldly perched themselves on telegraph wires and trees to survey the
+scene while they made their summer plans.
+
+What more could one want than brown branches if the sun was on them!
+And how could one hurry or worry, or do anything but revel quietly in
+the beauty that lay all about one, and tell oneself there were no gray
+days to come!
+
+Mokus, for one, evidently felt that this was no occasion for haste, and
+Kitty did not contradict him.  She herself felt that she wanted to
+linger over every moment, and get the fullest enjoyment out of it all.
+
+Dan, however, had other views, and when, at the foot of Tremellen Hill,
+they found him and Betty perched on a low bridge awaiting them, he
+upbraided them plaintively for their waste of time.
+
+"But no girl ever could drive, even a donkey," he said loftily.
+"He will find out now that he has met his master.  Get up, Betty.  Do be
+quick.  I want to reach Helbarrow to-day, and it must be lunch-time
+already."  At which Tony, who was scrambling down from the cart, reached
+back for his basket.
+
+"I fink I'd better take it wiv me," he said gravely.  "If they are going
+so fast, p'r'aps we shan't see them any more till we get there."
+
+"I think we needn't be afraid of that," said Anna sarcastically, "if we
+don't walk too fast."
+
+Oh what a day it was! and what a donkey! and what a journey!  And oh the
+time it took! and how they did enjoy it all!  When they had walked for
+about a mile or more, the three sat down to rest and await the carriage
+folk, of whom they had not caught a glimpse since they walked away and
+left them.  Then by degrees Tony's luncheon basket assumed a prominent
+position in their thoughts and before their eyes.  Morning air,
+particularly in January, is hungry air; and to wait, with the food under
+your very nose, and not be free to eat it, is not easy.
+
+"I really must go back a little way to see if they are anywhere near,"
+said Kitty at last, growing impatient and hungry.  Anna and Tony were
+hungry too, but they were too comfortable and lazy to move, so they
+leaned luxuriously amongst the dry twigs and leaves and dead grass in
+the hedge, and watched Kitty as she walked eagerly back again along the
+level road they had just travelled.  When she reached the brow of the
+hill she stopped, and the next moment a peal of laughter announced the
+fact that she had caught sight of the laggards.
+
+It was unkind, perhaps, of her to laugh.  Dan thought it was "beastly
+mean," but then he was not in a frame of mind to see the humour of the
+situation, for up the whole of that long steep hill he had marched at
+Mokus's head, tugging with all his might at the bridle with one hand,
+while the other held a huge carrot just beyond the obstinate creature's
+reach.  Dan was not only hot and tired and out of patience, but he was
+extremely mortified.
+
+"Where is Betty?" called Kitty, trying to check her laughter.
+
+Betty, hearing her name, came round from the back of the cart; she was
+almost purple in the face, and looked quite exhausted.
+
+"I've been pushing," she gasped.  "I believe it would have been easier
+to have been harnessed in the shafts."
+
+"You poor little thing," cried Kitty.  "You must rest now and I'll take
+a turn, and you shall both have our turn in the cart after lunch, and we
+will walk.  We aren't a bit tired."
+
+"Thank you," they said, with stern decision in their voices, "we would
+rather walk; it is so much easier."
+
+Kitty felt quite sorry for them.  "Anna and Tony are only a little way
+ahead," she said encouragingly.  "We've got such a jolly place to have
+our lunch in, and we will have a nice rest there.  Give the poor thing
+the carrot now, Dan."
+
+"Give him the carrot!" cried Dan indignantly.  "I should like to see
+myself!  After his behaviour, he'll never even have a sniff of it again,
+if I can help it," and Dan sent the carrot flying over the hedge to show
+that he meant what he said.
+
+A good lunch, though, restored both his strength and his temper, and
+after it was over they all managed to pack into the cart for the rest of
+the short distance they had to go.  Anna took the reins this time, and
+whether it was that Mokus felt the firmness of her grip, or guessed that
+rest and freedom for a few hours lay awaiting him at the end of another
+mile, no one knew, but he started off down the next hill at quite a
+quick trot, which he never once slackened until he was drawn up beside
+the low stone hedge which in some long-past age had been erected around
+the foot of the tors.  Dan declared it was the weight of himself and
+Betty on the tail-board which made him go, and having once been started
+he could not stop if he wanted to.  In any case Mokus was forgiven, and
+it was with very kindly hands and many a pat that they unharnessed him
+from the cart and tethered him by a long rope to the stump of a stunted
+hawthorn bush, close to the remains of a little hut, which, with the old
+wall, had often caused the children much speculation as to when and why
+it was built there, and by whom.
+
+Then, each carrying a basket, they started to climb to the top to find
+first of all a cosy, sheltered spot for a dining-room.  On the tors the
+sun was shining and the wild thyme smelling as sweetly as though it were
+April rather than January.
+
+"Oh, look at the robins!" cried Tony delightedly.  They were pausing in
+their climb, and the little bright-eyed, warm-breasted creatures were
+hopping about them quite boldly.  "Kitty, do let me give them some
+crumbs, they are such darlings, and I think they are quite glad to see
+us.  They aren't a bit afraid."
+
+   "'To see a robin in a cage
+    Puts all heaven in a rage,'"
+
+quoted Kitty dreamily.
+
+Anna looked quite shocked.  "O Kitty," she said, "how can you?  You are
+quite profane."
+
+Kitty laughed.  "Am I?" she said.  "What a dreadful word to use!
+I didn't mean to be.  I didn't make up those lines, you know.  Oh, don't
+you think," she went on eagerly, "it would be a nice game to try how
+many different verses about robins we can remember?"
+
+"Do you mean nursery verses and all?" asked Dan.  Kitty nodded; her
+brain was already busy.
+
+"I think it will be lovely," said Betty.  "I know quite a lot."
+
+"Go ahead then," urged Dan, "and remember to give author and book."
+
+"Nursery verses and nursery rhymes haven't got any author," said Betty
+with a very superior air.
+
+Dan was on the alert at once; he loved to torment Betty.
+
+"No author!  Oh! oh! what an appalling display of childish ignorance,"
+he cried in pretended horror, "and after all the trouble I have taken
+with you too.  My dear child, don't you know that some one must have
+composed them or they wouldn't be--but there, I suppose little children
+can't be expected to understand these things."
+
+"But I do," cried Betty indignantly.  "You don't know all I know.
+I know a great deal more than you think, though you may not think so."
+
+"Dear me!  Do you really now?" said Dan, pretending to be enormously
+impressed.  "What a genius we may have in the family without our ever
+suspecting it.  Tell us who wrote:
+
+   "'And when they were dead,
+    The robins so red
+    Took strawberry leaves and over them spread,'"
+
+"What would be the good?" said Betty, with a sigh as if of hopeless
+despair.  "You wouldn't reckernize the name if I told you."
+
+"No, I don't expect I should," laughed Dan derisively.  "Not the way you
+would pronounce it, at least."
+
+"Stop teasing her, Dan," cried Kitty.  "We all of us have to think.
+Let us take it in turns.  Now then, you begin."
+
+For a moment Dan looked somewhat taken aback, then memory came suddenly
+to him.
+
+   "'Who killed Cock Robin?
+   "I," said the Spar--'"
+
+"That is not right," said Betty; "you are not beginning at the
+beginning; you are missing out half."
+
+"Of course, as if I didn't know that," retorted Dan, but he looked
+rather foolish; "but we are only here for the day, after all, and I am
+not going to spend it all in saying nursery rhymes.  If we were going to
+stay a week it would be different."
+
+"That's all very well, but _I_ believe you don't know it," said Betty
+softly but decisively.
+
+Whereupon Dan in great wrath burst forth,--
+
+    "'It was on a merry time
+     When Jenny Wren was young,'" etc., etc.
+
+When he had chanted three verses, they begged him to stop.  When he had
+reached the twelfth they all went on their knees to him and implored him
+to stop; but no, on he went, and on and on to the very last line.
+"Next time," he said, turning to Betty when he had reached the end,
+"I hope you will believe me."
+
+"If I don't I won't say so," remarked Betty softly, with a sigh of
+relief; "but of course I can't make myself believe you if I don't."
+
+"Oh, can't you?" said Dan.  "You try once and see.  Now then, Anna, your
+turn."
+
+"I don't know anything about robins," said Anna.  "Mother thought
+nursery rhymes were foolish.  So do I."
+
+"Oh no, you don't really," cried four voices in tones of mingled
+amazement and disgust.
+
+"Yes, I do.  Why not?"
+
+"What a pity," said Kitty softly.  "I think they are beautiful.  I am
+glad my mother thought so too, But it need not be a nursery rhyme, Anna.
+Don't you know,
+
+   "'Little bird with bosom red,
+    Welcome to my humble shed,'
+
+"or any other?"
+
+"Ye--es," said Anna doubtfully.  "I had to learn that once at school,
+but, somehow, I didn't think that it was about a robin."
+
+"What did you think it was about?" asked Kitty.
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  I thought it was just poetry.  I never think poetry
+has any meaning in it.  It seems to me such silly stuff, all about
+nothing."
+
+"I suppose even poetry must be about something," said Dan sarcastically.
+
+"I don't think so," said Anna.  She, the prize-winner of her class, was
+not going to be snubbed by her cousins.  "As long as the words rhyme, it
+doesn't matter what the rest is like."
+
+To Kitty that seemed neither the time nor the place to argue with Anna,
+so she let the subject drop.  "Now then, Betty."
+
+"I know so many," said Betty very anxiously, "that they seem to be all
+jumbled up in my head, and I can't get one quite right.  Let me see
+now--"
+
+"Do let me say mine while you are finking.  Shall I?" pleaded Tony
+eagerly.
+
+   "Little Robin Redbreast
+    Perched upon a tree,
+    Up went Pussy Cat
+    And down went he.'"
+
+By the time he reached the end of the second verse he was almost
+breathless.  "I was afraid you would say it before me," he gasped as he
+concluded the last line; "that's why I hurried so."
+
+"Oh, I was trying to think of something much more--more, well, not so
+babyish; more like what Kitty said than what you and Dan said."
+
+"Perhaps you had better compose something yourself," said Dan, "and we
+will go on and light the fire and get the dinner ready while you are
+about it."
+
+"You needn't be in a bad temper," retorted Betty severely, "even if you
+couldn't make the donkey go."  And Dan thought perhaps it might be wiser
+not to torment his younger sister any more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+MISSING!
+
+They all struggled to their feet after that, collected their baskets,
+and resumed their climb, over big boulders, through furze and bracken,
+dead now and withered, but beautiful in the glow of the clear wintry
+sunshine, until at last they came to an immense flat rock, with another
+rising high behind it, sheltering them from the wind and catching every
+gleam of sunshine that possibly could be caught.
+
+Here they spread their cloth, laying large pebbles on the corners of it
+to keep it down, and on it they spread their feast, and then at last
+there was nothing left to do but sit down and enjoy it.  The sun shone
+quite warmly, a soft little breeze blew up from the valley, bringing
+with it the mingled scents of peat smoke, crushed thyme, and wet moss.
+From their high perch they looked down on long stretches of brown fields
+ploughed in ridges, with here and there a big gray rock dropped into
+the middle of it, and here and there a roughly-built cottage, not much
+bigger, seemingly, than some of the rocks.  In a distant field a man was
+carrying mangolds to a flock of sheep.  The bleating of the sheep
+floated up to them through the still air, and, with the voices of the
+birds, made the only sounds of life that reached them.  The scene,
+though lovely in the eyes of the children, was desolate to a degree.
+Scarcely a tree marked the landscape, and those there were were bowed
+and stunted, leaning landwards as though running before the cold winds
+which blew with such force across the few miles of flat, bare country
+which alone lay between them and the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+To-day, though, it was hard to believe that that sunny spot was often so
+bleak and storm-swept that man and beast avoided it.  Anna gazed about
+her wonderingly, but somewhat awed.
+
+"It seems dreadfully wild and lonely," she said, with a shiver.
+"And how flat and ugly it is, all but these tors.  I wonder how they
+came to be here like this.  I should think the people who used to live
+here must have piled up all these rocks to clear them out of the fields.
+They left a good many behind, though."
+
+"No one could have lifted rocks like these, and piled them up like
+this," said Dan scornfully.  "They were thrown up like this by an
+earthquake, father says, and after the earthquake the sea--you know the
+sea used to cover all the country as far as we can see--"
+
+"Nonsense!" interrupted Anna.  "Now you are trying to take me in; but
+you won't make me believe such nonsense as that."
+
+"Very well," crossly, "don't believe it then; only don't ask questions
+another time if you mean to turn round and sneer when a fellow tries to
+explain.  I suppose you won't believe either that giants used to live
+here?"
+
+Anna laughed even more scornfully.  "No, I will not," she said loftily.
+"I am not quite stupid enough to believe all the nonsense you would like
+to make me."
+
+"If you could only realize it, it is you who are talking nonsense," said
+Dan crushingly, and he turned away from her.  He was not going to tell
+any of his beloved legends and stories for Anna to sneer at.  "It is
+simply a sign of ignorance," he said, with his most superior air, "not
+to believe in things because we haven't actually seen them with our very
+own eyes.  I suppose you will not believe that St. Michael's Mount used
+to be surrounded with woods where there is sea now, until a huge wave
+rushed in and swamped everything, right up to the foot of the Mount, and
+never went back again?"
+
+"No," said Anna obstinately, "of course I shouldn't believe it.
+Such things couldn't happen.  It is silly to tell such stories as you
+Cornish people do, and expect other people to believe them."
+
+Kitty looked at her in pained surprise.  It seemed to her that Anna's
+way of speaking was quite irreverent.  She longed to know, yet shrank
+from asking her, if she scorned, too, those other stories, so precious
+and real to Kitty, the story of King Arthur in his hidden resting-place,
+waiting to be roused from his long sleep; of Tristram and Iseult asleep
+in the little chapel beneath the sea; of--oh, a hundred others of giants
+and fairies, witches and spectres.  But she held her peace rather than
+hear them scoffed at and discredited.
+
+The sunshine, chased by a cloud and a fresh little breeze, disappeared.
+Anna shivered and looked about her.
+
+"Oh, how gloomy and lonely it all looks directly the sun goes in!" she
+cried.  "I should hate to be here in the dark, or in a storm.  Shouldn't
+you, Kitty?  I think I should die of fright; I know I should if I were
+here alone."
+
+"I'd love to be here in a storm," said Kitty firmly, "a real
+thunderstorm.  It would be grand to watch it all from the top of the
+tors.  I don't think I would very much mind being up here all night
+either.  You see, there is nothing that could possibly hurt one, no wild
+beasts or robbers.  Bad people would be afraid to come."
+
+"I think it would be perfectly dreadful," shuddered Anna.  "You would
+never know who was coming round the rocks, or who was hiding; and
+robbers could come behind you and catch you, and you wouldn't be able to
+see or hear them until they were right on you; and you might scream and
+scream with all your might and main and no one would hear you."
+
+"If I sneered at giants, I wouldn't talk of robbers if I were you," said
+Dan severely.  "Imagine robbers coming to a place like this!
+Why, there's nothing and nobody to rob."
+
+"They would come here to hide, of course, not to rob," said Anna
+crushingly, and Dan felt rather small.
+
+Betty and Tony began to feel bored.
+
+"I am going to get sticks for the fire," said Betty.  "Come along, Tony.
+You others can come, too, if you like."
+
+"Betty is beginning to think of her tea already," laughed Dan, but they
+all joined her in her search--not that there was any need to search, for
+dry sticks and furze bushes lay all around them in profusion.
+
+"Oh, here's the cromlech," cried Kitty, coming suddenly on the great
+rock, which was poised so lightly on top of other great rocks that it
+would sway under the lightest touch, yet had remained unmoved by all the
+storms and hurricanes of the ages that had passed over it.  She ran
+lightly up and on to it, and stood there swaying gently, the breeze
+fluttering out her skirts and flushing her cheeks.
+
+"You must make a wish while you are standing on it, and then if you can
+make the rock move you will get your wish," explained Betty to Anna.
+"It isn't every one who can.  I don't suppose you could, 'cause you
+don't believe in things like we do."
+
+Nevertheless Anna was bent on trying, and grew quite cross because the
+rock would not move for her.  "No, I don't believe it," she snapped.
+"You Cornish people are so suppositios; and it is _dreadfully_ ignorant
+to be so.  Mother said so."
+
+Dan fairly shrieked with delight; he always did when Anna or Betty used
+a wrong word, particularly if it was a long one.
+
+"Though it is so early, I am going to light the fire now," said Kitty,
+anxious to make a diversion and prevent squabbles, "because I want to
+smell the smell of the burning fuz."
+
+Which she did then and there; and then, perhaps in absent-mindedness,
+she put the kettle on, and it boiled before any one could believe the
+water was even warm, and then, of course, there was nothing to be done
+but make the tea and drink it.  But the air up there was so wonderful
+that no matter how quickly the meals came the appetites were ready.
+
+"The smell of the smoke was feast enough in itself," Kitty said.
+
+But she did not omit to take a liberal share of more solid food as well.
+And oh! how good it all tasted--the tea, the bread and butter, the
+saffron cake, all had a flavour such as they never had elsewhere, and
+the air was growing fresh enough to make the hot tea very acceptable and
+comfortable.
+
+They did not sit long after they had done, for it really was beginning
+to grow chilly.
+
+"Now you had all better go and have a game of some kind or other," said
+Kitty, "and I will pack the baskets ready to go into the cart, and then
+I'll come and play too."
+
+It took her longer, though, than she had counted on to pack all the
+things so that they would travel safely, and she had put them in and
+taken them out again so many times that when at last she had done, and
+glanced up with a sigh of relief to look for the others, she saw with
+dismay that the short winter's day was well-nigh over.  The sun had
+disappeared quite suddenly, leaving behind it a leaden, lowering sky,
+while in the distance hung a thick mist, which told of heavy rain not
+far off.
+
+"I will call the others.  I think we had better be starting soon; the
+weather has changed," she murmured, and, springing to her feet, she
+shouted, and shouted, and shouted again.  No answer came.
+
+Still calling, she went around the tors to another point, but she could
+catch no glimpse of any living being, and in that great waste of rocks
+and furze and underbrush it was not surprising.  Kitty, though, was
+surprised and a little bit alarmed, and she ran from point to point,
+calling and calling again; but for a long time the only answer was the
+long sighs the wind gave as it rushed over the level land, and lost
+itself with a little wail of anger amongst the old tors.  Then at last
+came a long shout, and Dan appeared, and almost at the same moment a
+drop fell smartly on Kitty's cheek, then another and another, and
+suddenly a heavy downpour descended on them.
+
+"I saw it coming," gasped Dan.  "Look!" and Kitty looked across the land
+stretching below, and saw rain in a dense column rushing towards them,
+driven by a squall which dashed it into them pitilessly.
+
+In little more than a moment the whole place had changed from a sunny,
+idyllic little paradise to a bleak, howling wilderness, lonely, weird,
+exposed to all the worst storms of heaven.
+
+"Where are the others?" gasped Kitty, seizing some of the packages to
+run with them to the cart.
+
+"I told them not to climb up here again, but to start for home and we
+would overtake them as quickly as we could.  It wasn't raining then, or
+I'd have told them to run to the little shanty; but I should think
+they'd have the sense to do that," said Dan.
+
+"Oh yes, I expect they are all right.  Now then, run, but run
+carefully," added Kitty.  "All the cups are in that basket, and Aunt
+Pike will be very angry if we break any."
+
+But it was not easy to run at all, or even to hurry down that rugged
+slope, while carrying five baskets and a rug or two, with a squall
+catching them at every turn, and the short, dry grass becoming as
+slippery as glass with the rain; but at long last they reached the foot
+and the little hut, and there they found Betty struggling with all her
+might to get Mokus between the shafts of the cart.
+
+"He will have to be taken out again, I expect," said Dan in an aside to
+Kitty.  "She has probably done up every strap wrongly.  It is good of
+her, though, to try."
+
+"I am glad she made Tony stand in under shelter," said Kitty thankfully,
+as her eye fell on her little brother in the doorway of the hut.
+"Where is Anna?  I suppose she is inside."
+
+"You bet," said Dan shortly.  "Anna knows how to take care of herself."
+
+But Anna was not in the shanty, or anywhere within reach of their
+shouts.
+
+"I expect she is ever so far towards home by now," said Betty absently,
+quite absorbed in the interest of harnessing Mokus.  "She started to
+walk home as fast as ever she could.  I called to her to wait, but she
+wouldn't listen."
+
+"Oh, well, it's all right; she can't miss the road, and we shall soon
+overtake her," said Dan.  "Now then, in you get."
+
+It was great fun packing themselves into the cart.  Betty and Tony, in
+great spirits, sat in the bottom of it, with a rug drawn over them like
+a tent, and two little peepholes to peer through, and were as happy and
+warm as could be.  Kitty and Dan sat upon the seat with the other rug
+round their shoulders, and the moment they were ready and had gathered
+up the reins, Mokus, who had been standing flapping his long ears
+crossly when the rain struck him particularly smartly, started off at a
+really quick trot, which covered the ground rapidly, but rattled and
+jolted the cart to such an extent that it was all Dan and Kitty could do
+to keep their seats, while as for the two in the bottom of the cart,
+they were tossed about like parched peas in a frying-pan.  And oh! how
+they all laughed!  It is not always the funniest or wittiest things that
+cause the most laughter, and somehow to-day the sight of Mokus flying
+along on his little hoofs, the dreary scene, the lashing rain,
+themselves wrapped up like a lot of gipsies, with the risk of finding
+themselves at any moment tossed out and left sitting in the mud, made
+them laugh and laugh until they ached.  And all the time Dan kept on
+saying the silliest things, and waving his whip about his head as though
+he were a Roman driving a chariot drawn by fiery horses, urging Mokus on
+to a more and more reckless pace, until at last they had to beg him to
+stop, they were aching so with laughter.
+
+But except for some forlorn-looking geese on the common, who hissed at
+them as they passed, they did not meet a living creature the whole of
+the way they went.
+
+"Cheer up, old ladies!" Dan shouted to the geese consolingly, "you've
+nothing on to spoil.  If I'd been made to stand a flood as you have, I
+wouldn't make a fuss about a little summer shower like this."
+
+"If you want your last glimpse of the tors," said Kitty, who knew every
+inch of the way, "look back now."  And they all looked, and all
+shuddered as their eyes travelled over the spot where they had so lately
+been basking in the sunshine.  It looked gloomy and awe-inspiring now,
+with black clouds lowering over it, a heavy mist wrapping it round,
+while at the foot the little neglected shanty added the last desolate
+touch to the wild scene.  "Doesn't it seem impossible that we were
+playing there only a little while ago," said Kitty, "and I was wishing I
+could sleep there?"  Then, with sudden recollection, "I wonder where
+Anna is.  She must have walked very fast."
+
+"I only hope she isn't still up there," said Dan with a laugh, waving
+his hand towards the tors.  "Poor old Anna!"
+
+"Oh!" squealed Betty, who loved horrors and excitements, "suppose she
+is, and sees us going farther and farther away from her.  If she called
+and called, nobody would hear her, and oh, she'll be so frightened.
+If she had to stay there all night, I am sure she would die of fright,"
+and Betty looked utterly horrified.  "What shall we do?  Isn't it
+egsciting!"
+
+"No, not at all," said Dan impatiently; "don't be silly.  Why should she
+be there?  I told you all to hurry homewards, and Anna did as she was
+told.  That is the difference between you and Anna, you see."
+
+"Well," said Betty thoughtfully, "I didn't do as I was told, but I think
+I've got the best of it--especially," she added, "if Anna _is_ left
+behind."
+
+Dan seemed to take it as a personal insult that she should dwell on such
+a possibility.  "If you say anything more about Anna being left behind,"
+he said, "I'll put you out of the cart and send you back to look for
+her."
+
+"Then there would be two of us lost instead of one," said Betty
+aggravatingly, "and oh, wouldn't you get into a row when you got home!"
+
+"She must be on ahead," said Kitty, anxious to make peace.
+"Only I didn't think she had had time to get so far."
+
+"Perhaps some one has given her a lift," said Dan, with sudden hope.
+"Anna is sharp enough to take or to ask for one if she had the chance.
+She knows it is a tight pack for us all to get in this cart at once, and
+she would think Mokus would behave as badly going home as he did on the
+way out."
+
+This all seemed to them so likely, that they drove on again gaily, their
+minds quite easy about her; all except Betty, who persisted in gazing
+back at the tors as long as they were in view, in the hope of seeing a
+signal of distress.  Mokus stepped out at a pace that the carrots had
+never roused him to on the outward journey, yet darkness had come on
+before they reached Gorlay.
+
+"Isn't it like old times," sighed Betty happily, "driving through the
+dark and the wet, and then reaching home, and changing and having a
+jolly tea by the fire, and there will be no Aunt Pike, and we will be
+able to stay up as late as we like--"
+
+"But there will be Anna," said Tony.  "It won't be _quite_ the same."
+
+But, alas, there was no Anna, and her absence on this particular
+occasion did much more to upset their evening than her presence would
+have done.  In answer to their inquiries as to when and how she got
+back, they were told that she had not got back at all.  No one had seen
+her, and a dreadful conviction began to steal over them that she would
+not come--that, in fact, she was lost, and probably, as Betty had
+suggested, wandering about those dangerous tors, frightened nearly out
+of her senses.  What was to be done?  At first they were for waiting;
+but then, as the rain continued to stream down, and the wind to blow
+gustily, they felt that it was no time for delay.  Something must be
+done, and done quickly.
+
+"Oh, if only father were home!" cried Kitty despairingly.
+But unfortunately Dr. Trenire was in Plymouth on business, and would
+certainly not be home that night.
+
+Dan sprang up, and began to put on his boots and leggings.  "I am going
+back there again," he announced.  "It is only three miles or so, and I
+can walk it in an hour."
+
+"But you can't go alone."
+
+"Yes, I can; and I can get people out there to help me search, and if I
+find her I'll get some one to drive us home;" and flinging on his coat
+and cap, he was rushing out of the house before they realized what he
+was doing.
+
+"But, Dan," Kitty called after him, "which way are you going?"
+
+"The same, of course.  There is but one--at least only one that Anna
+knows," he called back, and he raced off into the darkness before any
+one could say another word.
+
+Kitty was vexed.  "How foolish of him," she said.  "Of course there are
+other ways, and Anna must have taken one of them, or we should have
+passed her; and he shouldn't have gone alone either, he should have
+taken Jabez and a lantern.  What can he do if he finds her?"
+
+"And he may get lost too," said Betty comfortingly.  But Dan was already
+racing up through the dark wet street, too absorbed by the heroic side
+of his actions to spare a thought for the common sense.
+
+Kitty dropped into a chair in a state of deep despondency, blaming
+herself for everything.  "Why had she started for home without making
+sure about Anna?  How wrong it was of her not to turn back!  What would
+Aunt Pike say when she knew?" and so the thoughts poured through her
+mind until she was well-nigh distracted.
+
+Tony, worn out by his long day in the fresh air, was fast asleep.
+Betty, exhausted by excitement and alarm, was scarcely able to keep
+awake.  The servants were in the kitchen regaling themselves and Jabez
+with supper and a dish of horrors, when suddenly Kitty sprang to her
+feet with the force of an idea that had come to her.  She would take the
+carriage and Jabez, and drive very slowly and carefully by another road
+straight back to Helbarrow Tors.  They would inquire at every house they
+passed, and--only she did not tell Jabez this, for fear of alarming
+him--if need be, they would search even the tors themselves.
+
+It would be very difficult, she knew; but what did difficulties matter
+at such a time as this?  With Anna lost on such a night, her father and
+aunt away, and she alone responsible, they must do something, they must,
+they must, and quickly too.  She looked at the clock; it was only seven.
+There was just a chance that they might find Anna and have her home in
+warmth and safety by ten.  She ran to the kitchen and broached her plan
+to Jabez.  He winced at the prospect, but raised no objection.
+Indeed, they were all too greatly alarmed to object to anything.
+Jabez had been picturing Anna in turn killed, walking into the water,
+stolen, wandering about lost and crying for help, so he could hardly
+refuse his help in rescuing her from one of these fates.
+
+In a very short time Prue was harnessed, and with Kitty beside him, and
+a pile of rugs and wraps, Jabez was driving off at a good pace, while
+those at home prepared fires and hot blankets and everything else they
+could think of.
+
+But many long, weary hours elapsed before the fires and the hot blankets
+were needed, and the next day was dawning, bleak and cold, when at last,
+to the intense relief and excitement of the weary watchers, old Prue's
+step was heard coming quickly down the street, and the two servants flew
+out to the door.  But Jabez drove straight round to the yard with his
+load, and there, with the help of Kitty and Dan--who was with them--they
+lifted down a big still bundle, which was Anna, wet through, worn out,
+unconscious.  They carried her in very tenderly and put her to bed at
+once, and everything they could do for her ease and comfort they did.
+But though her strength revived and the dreadful exhaustion passed away,
+it was soon evident that she was ill--very ill, it seemed to them--and
+Fanny in alarm ran for Dr. Lang; and at his request telegrams were sent
+to Dr. Trenire and Aunt Pike, bidding them come home at once; while poor
+Kitty, overcome with fatigue and anxiety and remorse that this should
+have happened while she was in charge of them all, went and shut herself
+up in her room, locking out even Betty.
+
+The story of that night's search she told later--of their long, slow
+drive over the bleak roads in the teeth of a high wind and a driving
+rain; of their close examination of every yard of the way, one walking
+while the other drove; and of their hopelessness when they looked at the
+gateways and fields, into any of which Anna might have turned, and the
+lanes down which she might have wandered.  But of her own feelings she
+could not speak--the awful anxiety and remorse; the sense of
+responsibility and blameworthiness that filled her; her remembrance of
+Anna's sacrifice for Dan the night she saved his life; her dread of what
+they might see or hear--those were feelings too deep for words.
+So, too, was her agony of joy and relief when at last, almost by a
+miracle, they came on her lying in a linhay down a lane they had very
+nearly overlooked in the darkness.
+
+How she had wandered there no one would ever know, and Anna could never
+tell.  She must have doubled back when she found she had taken the wrong
+road, and then, in her fright and confusion, have gone round, and up and
+down, until she had lost herself far more effectually than if she had
+tried to.  That she had met no one to ask her way of was not wonderful
+on such a night and in a neighbourhood where there were only half a
+dozen cottages altogether, and at long distances apart.
+
+She had recognized Kitty and Jabez when they roused her, but in her
+relief had had a fit of hysterics which frightened them both nearly out
+of their wits, and then had fainted.
+
+Poor Kitty did her best to keep calm, and she and Jabez carried Anna to
+the carriage, and there, wrapped in all the rugs and shawls they could
+muster, she lay in Kitty's arms while Jabez drove quickly home.
+
+Their shortest and best way now was the road they had travelled so
+happily in the morning, so once again Kitty had a dim glimpse of the
+tors, standing up so lonely and desolate in the black night, lashed by
+the rain and swept by the wind, but she turned her eyes away, half
+shuddering.  They were nearly home when they met Dan crawling along,
+hopeless and dead beat.  He was soaked to the skin, his feet were galled
+and raw with walking in wet boots, but, worst of all, his search had
+been fruitless.  Crawling painfully, miserably homewards, with a mind
+full of the fate that might have overtaken Anna--Anna, who had saved his
+life--was it any wonder that he broke down and cried when, on hearing
+wheels, and turning to ask for a lift, he recognized first old Prue,
+then Jabez and Kitty, and, best of all, Anna, and knew that his search
+was ended?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+BANISHED.
+
+Kitty was to be sent away to school.  That was what that unlucky day had
+done for Kitty.  The fiat had gone forth, and there was no escape.
+
+Aunt Pike had been very frightened indeed when she was summoned home,
+and learned all about Anna's Helbarrow Tors experience, and found her
+seriously ill with pneumonia as a result of it.  She was very angry and
+very indignant, and angry fright, or fright and anger combined, make the
+worst form of anger as a rule.
+
+"Kitty was responsible, and there could not possibly be any excuse for
+her leaving the spot without her cousin," declared Mrs. Pike.
+"Kitty knew that there were many ways amongst which she might get lost,
+and how lonely it was, and she and Dan should have gone in search of
+poor Anna, and not have left the place until they had found her or heard
+for certain where she was.  The idea of coming all the way home without
+her, and with never a thought or a care as to what had become of her!
+It was almost incredible!"
+
+"I did think.  I did care," pleaded Kitty.  "Of course I thought she was
+ahead of us.  I never dreamed that she could have lost her way, or of
+course I shouldn't have come home without looking for her."
+
+"Then you should have dreamed, or have taken the trouble to find out.
+In any case, you should not have left the spot without her."
+
+"But we really thought she was ahead of us," repeated Kitty earnestly,
+"and we hurried on to pick her up."
+
+"_How_ could you overtake her or pick her up, when you were hurrying as
+fast as you could away from her, leaving her alone, poor child, to
+wander about that dreadful, dreadful place, in that awful storm in the
+dead of night?" demanded Aunt Pike angrily.
+
+"But--" began Kitty, then realized the hopelessness of trying to
+explain, and said no more.
+
+"For the future I shall always feel," said Aunt Pike severely, "that I
+not only cannot trust you, Katherine, but that I can never know what
+mischief you may be leading the younger ones into.  I am sure they would
+not be so wild if they hadn't you as a ringleader."
+
+Kitty's cheeks flamed with indignation.  _She_ could not be trusted!
+_She_ led the others into mischief!  Her eyes darkened with anger at the
+injustice, for all the trouble had been caused by Anna deciding, in her
+pig-headed way, that she knew a short cut home, and would take it
+without waiting for the others and the donkey.  She had thought she
+would get home first and be able to laugh at them and Mokus.
+She herself had admitted as much.
+
+Kitty's mind travelled back over that night search--the cold, the wet,
+the horror of it, her own exhaustion and Dan's; then she came back again
+suddenly to the present, and Aunt Pike's voice saying,--
+
+"You know, Katherine, I have had to overlook more than one serious piece
+of ill-behaviour on your part since I have been here.  Of course I put
+down much to the lawless, careless way in which you grew up, but, at the
+same time, I must admit that, after that very unpleasant episode with
+Lettice Kitson, I have never felt really quite easy in allowing Anna to
+be much with you.  I could not avoid feeling that you were having
+anything but a good influence over her, and but for your poor father's
+sake--"
+
+Kitty's cheeks were white enough now, and her eyes were very wide and
+full of indignation as she met her aunt's stern gaze, but there was no
+fear or shame in them.  She opened her lips, but before a word escaped
+them she closed them again, hesitated, and then walked quickly away.
+And the next thing she knew was that she was to be sent away, and when
+she heard it she thought her heart would break indeed.
+
+Her father, though most reluctantly, had agreed to the plan, because he
+could see no prospect of peace or happiness for her at home.  He very
+often in those days sighed deeply from a heavy heart, for his home was
+very different from what he had hoped it would be.  It was true that
+things were more orderly, but the old careless joyousness, the muddle
+and confusion, seemed now vastly preferable.
+
+Aunt Pike had never approved of Kitty.  Her careless, dreamy nature was
+a constant offence in her eyes; her sudden impulses, her want of
+concentration, her idle moods, when she sat just thinking and thinking
+and doing nothing, irritated Mrs. Pike beyond endurance.  They were as
+opposite to each other in tastes and natures as any two persons could
+be, and neither could understand or make allowance for the other.
+And Dr. Trenire, seeing all this, and how they irritated and annoyed
+each other, saw how bad it was, too, for Kitty's character, and at last
+consented, though very, very reluctantly, to Mrs. Pike's strongly-urged
+proposals that Kitty should be sent to a boarding-school.
+
+Poor Kitty! If ever there was in this world one poor little mortal more
+stricken with home-sickness than another, that poor little mortal was
+Kitty.  She loved every inch of the house and garden, of Gorlay, and of
+her county, and every person and animal who made up her home and her
+home life--loved all, too, with such an intensity that she felt it would
+be utterly impossible to live day after day away from them.
+
+It was a relief to her to hear that the school she was to go to was no
+farther off than Plymouth, but beyond that she took no interest in it,
+for the school was of Mrs. Pike's selecting, and wicked Kitty detested
+it before she even knew anything about it, and made up her mind to go on
+detesting it, no matter what it turned out to be.  To her it was simply
+a prison, and she could not and would not try to love her jailers.
+She felt, too, a conviction that her aunt would have told Miss Pidsley,
+the headmistress, all the story of the suspicion which had rested on
+her, and told it from her own point of view, of course.
+
+There was one good outcome of the resentment Kitty bore her aunt for
+"getting her sent away," as she put it--it made her determine not to let
+Mrs. Pike see how much she felt it, and so helped her to bear up
+bravely.  Helped her, that is, to bear up by day, but oh the nights!
+Oh, those long, miserable nights of heart-break and homesickness, when
+the pain was so intense as almost to drive her to appeal on her knees to
+Aunt Pike to let her stay at home, to promise abjectly to be and do all
+that she could wish.  And there were those other terrible moments, too,
+when misery nearly drove her to tell the truth about Anna and Lettice.
+
+Those were, perhaps, the hardest impulses of all to fight, for she knew
+that but to speak would mean, probably, that she would be considered fit
+to remain in her home, and Anna it would be who would be sent away.
+
+All her life after Kitty was thankful that she had had the strength
+given her to resist this temptation, but it was a very real one at the
+time.  There was to be no delay in sending her away.  She was to go at
+the end of the Christmas holidays, and active preparations for her
+outfit began at once.  To Betty this was most enthralling, and largely
+made up for the painful part, but Kitty took no interest in it whatever.
+Not even the fact of having a new Inverness and umbrella, and four new
+dresses all at once, not to speak of gloves, and hats, and shoes, and a
+number of other things, could rouse her to any sense of pleasure.
+
+She was very sorry later, and wept many a bitter tear over the new
+blotter her father bought her, and the nice muff and boa he gave her.
+When it was too late, she could never see them without remembering the
+delight with which he unwrapped them and gave them to her, the expectant
+look in his kind eyes of the pleasure they would bring to her, and of
+her own coldness, her unsmilingness, the indifference with which she
+took them and laid them down with scarcely a glance, yet all the while
+her heart was breaking, breaking with her love for him and all he did
+for her.  How could she care what she wore, or did, or used, if she was
+exiled from him!
+
+Then came the day when Mrs. Pike took her to her school and left her.
+It was a wet, stormy day, and Kitty sat looking through the streaming
+windows at the rain-swept country with a heart as stormy.  But though
+everything looked old and worn, and as unbeautiful as the day itself,
+she gained some consolation from the sight.  "The next time I see them,"
+she thought, gazing wistfully at the trees and houses, the bridges and
+fields, "I shall be going home! home! home!"
+
+"Yes, but thirteen long weeks must elapse first," came the next thought.
+
+"But what are thirteen weeks?" said the worn-looking objects
+cheeringly.  "Nothing!  We have seen years pass by, and thirteen weeks
+are but so many moments, flying already."
+
+Then at last they reached their station, and their journey was over; but
+in all the years to come, never, never again would Kitty Trenire pass
+the long, ugly rows of squalid backs of houses just outside the station,
+and dull depressing streets, never again would she enter that station
+itself, without living through once more and tasting again the misery,
+the strangeness, the forlornness which filled her heart that afternoon.
+She might come in the height of happiness, in the company of those she
+loved best, with hope and joy before and behind her, but never could the
+sight of it all, the smells, and the sounds, fail to bring back to Kitty
+memories of that supremely miserable day, and through any happiness make
+her taste again for a moment the forlornness, the black misery which
+swamped her as she first stood on that draughty, dingy platform.
+
+There was a smart tussle with the porter over the getting out of Kitty's
+luggage, for Aunt Pike was one of those unfortunate persons who never
+fail to come to words with porter or cabman, who, in fact, rub every one
+the wrong way to start with by taking for granted that they are trying
+to shirk their duties and to cheat her.
+
+Then came the inevitable tussle with the cabman as to the fare, during
+which Kitty glanced about her at the people on the platform, picking out
+with special interest those boys and girls who looked as though they
+also were going to school, and expending on them a great amount of pity
+which was probably in some cases quite wasted.
+
+At last came the summons to "get in," and Kitty got into the musty old
+cab beside her aunt, and they were started on the last stage of their
+journey through rain-washed busy streets, where the people were hurrying
+along under umbrellas, or in omnibuses and cabs.  Now and then a cab
+laden with luggage would lumber past them on its way to the station, and
+Kitty's mind would follow the people inside it through a whole long
+chapter of imaginary happenings until something else passed and
+distracted her thoughts.
+
+By-and-by they left the streets, and came to a quiet suburb, where road
+after road, lined on either side with houses exactly like each other,
+stretched in depressing monotony.  To Kitty it looked the very acme of
+correct, neat, yet hateful propriety, and her thoughts flew back
+longingly to the dear old irregular wind-swept street of Gorlay, which
+was to her then the most lovable and lovely spot on the face of the
+earth.  At last, when she was almost tired of speculating on the people
+who lived in the houses they were passing, and of pitying them for being
+condemned to such a fate, the jolting cab drew up before a corner house,
+one of the primmest of all the houses in the dullest of all the roads
+they had passed that afternoon, and Kitty saw a shining brass plate on
+the rails at the foot of the tiny patch of trim garden, and on the brass
+plate "Miss Pidsley."
+
+That was all.  And this was the place that was to be her home!  It was
+quite a small school to which she had been banished--a small private one
+where a few girls "who needed particular attention and training received
+the individual care they needed," as Aunt Pike carefully read out from
+the prospectus, dealing poor Kitty thus the last and most crushing
+insult.
+
+If the outside of the house had been unlike home and Gorlay, the inside
+was even more so; the extreme neatness, the absolute spotlessness of
+everything, the bareness, the high, square, ugly rooms, each and all
+weighed on Kitty's spirits with a fresh load of depression.  At the
+thought of being left there for months together with not a face about
+her that she knew, or a person who cared for her, she felt positively
+sick with misery.  She even dreaded the moment when Aunt Pike should
+depart.  But the moment soon came, and with a peck at Kitty's cheek, and
+a last request that she would make the most of the excellent
+opportunities for improvement now opening out before her, and a desire
+that she would _try_ to be a good girl.  Aunt Pike left her, and Kitty
+gazed after her with eyes aching with the tears she would not shed.
+She pictured her journeying home to Gorlay, saw her driving up through
+the street, drawing up before the old house, the door opening and the
+light streaming out, and Betty and Tony--and then the tears came,
+whether she would or no, and drowned every thought and sight and sound
+but that of her own misery.
+
+No. 127 Laburnum Road was under the joint partnership of two ladies,
+Miss Pidsley and Miss Hammond.  Miss Pidsley was the chief partner, and
+took the lead.  She interviewed the parents, managed the house, the
+meals, and almost everything, while Miss Hammond's duties lay more
+especially with the girls, their lessons and games.
+
+Before ever Kitty went to the school she had decided that she could not
+like Miss Pidsley.  She declared that she knew exactly what she would be
+like.  She would be cold, and stern, and hateful, or Aunt Pike would not
+have taken to her; and when Miss Pidsley came into the room to receive
+them, she knew that to some extent she was right.  Her new mistress
+welcomed them--at least she shook hands with them--and she smiled--at
+least she half closed her eyes in a weary fashion, and widened her lips,
+but there was no heartiness or gladness in it.  But while Kitty felt the
+chilliness of it, she could not help sympathizing with Miss Pidsley.
+To her it would have been wonderful if any one had been able to smile in
+such a house as that.
+
+Presently tea was brought in, and for nearly half an hour Kitty sat
+holding tea and bread and butter, trying her best to swallow both, but
+vainly.  Miss Hammond did not appear at tea.  She had only just arrived,
+Miss Pidsley explained, and was tired.  The other pupils had not yet
+come; there were only four of them, and they travelled by later trains
+from higher up the line.
+
+After tea, Kitty, who was to have a room to herself that term as there
+was no room-mate for her, was shown her little bare bedroom, and there
+Aunt Pike said her farewells, and left her alone amidst her boxes; and
+there she remained crying and crying her heart out, her boxes untouched,
+everything forgotten but her own overpowering misery.  "She could not
+bear it," she moaned, "she could not bear it!"  She thought of her
+father, and Tony, and Betty, and felt sure her heart must break.
+
+"Poor child!  We all have to bear it, dear, once in our lives, and some
+of us many times," said a soft voice very quietly, while a soft hand was
+laid on her bowed head.
+
+Kitty was so startled that she forgot her disfigured face and looked up;
+and when she had once looked, and her eyes met the kind eyes gazing into
+hers, she did not mind, for they were misty too with sympathy.
+
+"You remind me so of the day that I first went away to school,
+Katherine.  You are Katherine, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes," murmured the owner of the name; "but they always call me Kitty at
+home, all but Aunt Pike."
+
+"May I call you Kitty?"
+
+"Please do," said Kitty eagerly.
+
+"Well, dear, I want you to unpack your things now, and try to make your
+room less bare and unhomelike.  It will look so different when you have
+your own pretty things about it, and will seem more your own."
+
+"I don't want it to," said Kitty miserably.  "It isn't home, and it
+never could be; in fact, I don't want it to."
+
+"Oh, come now, Kitty dear, don't talk like that; call up your courage,
+and make the best of things.  It is only for a time, only for a little
+time," said wily Miss Hammond; "but however short it is, it is always
+better to try and make it a pleasant time to look back upon.  Think of
+that, Kitty; always when you are hesitating and feel tempted to be
+disagreeable, or to make things disagreeable, think of the future, and
+what the present will be like to look back upon."
+
+Kitty was impressed.  She looked up with a brighter, more interested
+face.
+
+"Have you a mother and father?"
+
+"Mother is dead," said Kitty softly.
+
+"Poor child," said Miss Hammond, laying her cool fingers against Kitty's
+hot cheek.  "For your father's sake then, dear, try to be as brave and
+cheerful as you can.  It is sad enough for him, I am sore, to have this
+parting, but to know that you are grieving and unhappy will double his
+sadness. Besides which," she went on thoughtfully, "you know he is
+paying a good deal of money for your education here, and for his sake
+you should try to get all the good you can from what he is doing for
+you.  Doesn't the thought of working hard for his sake comfort you?"
+
+"Oh yes," sighed Kitty eagerly, clutching at any kind of comfort, at
+anything she could do for those she loved.  "Oh yes, it will.  I--I
+hadn't thought of that; but I feel now as if I must work and work--"
+then she broke off, embarrassed, and actually laughed at herself.
+
+"There, I knew you had plenty of spirit," cried Miss Hammond
+delightedly.  "Now I am going to unpack some of my boxes, and then they
+are going to bring me some tea to my room.  Will you come and join me,
+dear?  I am sure you can manage another tea."
+
+"Oh yes, thank you," smiled Kitty, "I am sure I can.  I would love to
+come."
+
+Left alone, Kitty began at once to unpack and arrange her belongings.
+She felt a little choky as she took out and looked at the photographs
+and the various little parting gifts that had been given her,
+particularly when she came across a piece of spar that Tony, without
+saying a word to any one, must have wrapped up and tucked in amongst her
+things as a pleasant surprise for her.  It was a very pretty bit that he
+had himself found, and was immensely proud of.  Kitty's eyes filled as
+she held the little cold stone and kissed it.  Then she hung up a
+calendar that Betty had given her, one of her own manufacture.  "I shall
+soon be able to mark off one day," she thought with some relief.
+
+Her room grew to look so different and so nice that she became quite
+interested, and rather a long time had elapsed before she tidied herself
+and went out in search of Miss Hammond's room.  It was not difficult to
+find, for it was on the same landing as her own, and had Miss Hammond's
+name painted on the door.
+
+"Come in," said a voice in answer to her knock.  "Come in.  I was just
+about to begin without you.  Sit down here, dear, in this low chair by
+the table.  We will have a 'plate tea' and a drawing-room tea combined;"
+and Kitty dropped gladly into a pretty low chair beside the tea-table,
+which was drawn up to the fire, and Miss Hammond drew up her chair to
+the other side.
+
+"Oh, what a grand thing tea is!  I love it," she exclaimed with a sigh
+of pleasure.  It was said so girlishly and impulsively that Kitty
+laughed as she agreed.
+
+"Pamela Peters has come," said Miss Hammond a moment later, "and I have
+asked her to tea too."
+
+Kitty felt just a little feeling of disappointment.  She did not want to
+meet any more strangers then; she was tired and shy, and she knew that
+her eyes were still swelled.  She wanted, too, to have Miss Hammond to
+herself--she was so sympathetic and understanding, and so bright and
+interesting.  Kitty had never before met any one like her, and was
+charmed.
+
+"I will not say I want you two to be friends, or that I think you will
+like each other, for I know that that is the surest way to make you
+determine you never could, would, or should be.  But I do think you will
+like Pamela, and I thought it would be nice for you to get to know one
+of your future companions a little before meeting them all together."
+
+Kitty could not but agree.  One stranger now, with Miss Hammond to break
+the ice, was infinitely preferable to four by-and-by, when she would be
+alone.  And then came a knock at the door, and Pamela Peters walked in.
+
+Pamela was a taller and altogether larger girl than Kitty.  She looked
+rather older too.  Perhaps a certain air of self-possession gave one
+that impression.  Kitty gazed at her first with interest and then with
+wonder, for she looked as smiling and happy as though she had just
+reached home for the holidays, instead of returning to school for the
+term.  She had to check her surprise while Miss Hammond introduced them
+and made room for Pamela at the table, but it soon returned again with
+double force.
+
+"I am very glad to see you," said Pamela heartily, turning to Kitty
+again.  "Isn't it jolly to be back?"
+
+"Jolly!--what!--isn't it what?" stammered Kitty, at a loss to understand
+her.
+
+Miss Hammond laughed.  "Kitty Trenire thinks it anything but jolly; her
+heart is miles away from here; but I hope that in time she will find
+something here to care for too."  And even Kitty actually felt that in
+time perhaps she might.  In that cosy little room, and with those two
+new friends, it did not seem so absolutely impossible; but when Kitty's
+thoughts flew to Miss Pidsley, the bare, unhomelike room downstairs, and
+the dreary road outside, her mind began to waver, and she felt anything
+but hopeful.
+
+"I _am_ so glad to be back," sighed Pamela, with genuine pleasure.
+She was not exaggerating in the least--even Kitty could see that.
+"But," she added, "if you have a nice home and people to leave, it must
+be awfully hard.  I expect it is what I feel at the end of term when I
+have to leave here."
+
+"Oh, it is much worse than that; it must be," gasped Kitty, her
+astonishment overcoming her shyness.  "But you are laughing.  You really
+love going home, of course?"
+
+"No, I don't.  I am miserable.  You see, I have no real home, only a
+guardian, an old man, who doesn't want me any more than I want to go,
+and is just as anxious as I am for the holidays to be over.  He is old,
+and an invalid too, poor old man, and he never will have any one to stay
+in the house, or allow me to; so it is dull, and one doesn't feel very
+overjoyed at going home to it.  I can assure you I find it much more
+exciting to come back to school.  I suppose you have brothers and
+sisters and a real home?" looking across at Kitty with wistful eyes.
+
+"Oh yes!" said Kitty, and then she fell to talking of them; and Miss
+Hammond and Pamela listened with such interest and laughter to her
+account of their escapades and adventures, that Kitty talked on and on,
+until at last they were interrupted by a cab drawing up before the
+house, and Miss Hammond had to go to welcome the new arrivals.
+
+"I feel as though I knew Betty and Dan and Tony already," said Pamela as
+they strolled down the corridor to their rooms.  "I wish I did.  And
+your father must be a perfect dear, I think."
+
+"He is," said Kitty warmly, but with a catch in her voice; and from that
+moment she loved Pamela.  "I do wish," she said impulsively, "I do wish
+you could come and stay with us, and know them all.  There isn't very
+much to see at Gorlay, but there are beautiful places all round it, and
+we could have some jolly times."
+
+"I'd love to come," said Pamela heartily.  "I know I should enjoy myself
+tremendously, I feel it in my bones.  But don't ask me if you don't
+really mean it, for I shall come, I tell you plainly."
+
+Kitty laughed, actually laughed quite gaily, and made up her mind that
+it should not be her fault if Pamela did not have at least one happy
+holiday.
+
+The next day the girls were allowed to write home to announce their safe
+arrival.  Kitty wrote to her father a letter full of eagerness and
+promises, and longings for the holidays, which made Dr. Trenire smile
+and sigh as he laid it away in his pocket-book, and made the house seem
+emptier and less itself even than it had done before.  In with her
+father's letter Kitty put one for Betty.  It was the first that young
+person had ever received, and it so filled her with a sense of
+importance that Anna and Tony said she was almost unbearable all the
+rest of the day.  How many times she read it over no one could have
+counted, but at every opportune and inopportune moment it was drawn out
+of her pocket, until at last it grew quite frayed at the edges, and,
+though scarcely a word it contained was confided to the others, Betty
+read it again and again with compressed lips and frowning brows, and an
+air of seriousness that nearly drove them frantic.
+
+There was not much in it either to give rise to all this.
+
+"Dearest Betty," wrote Kitty, "I have so much I want to say that I don't
+know what to say first.  I am very lonely, but one day and night are
+over, and one of the girls is very nice, I think.  She is called Pamela
+Peters, and I want to bring her home with me for the holidays, because
+she has no father or mother, or home, or anything but a guardian, a very
+cross old man, and I want her to see what jolly times we have.  I think
+I shall like another girl too, called Hope Carey.  She is quite little,
+about your age, and is very unhappy.  Her mother was very ill when she
+left home, and she is always thinking about her and fretting.  I think
+it was very cruel to send her back until her mother was better.  I do
+feel so sorry for her.
+
+"One of the first things I did was to take off my gray stockings and put
+them all away.  I shall give them to one of the maids.  It is lovely to
+be without the hateful things.  I wonder what you are all doing at this
+very minute, and if you are thinking of me.  I am always thinking of you
+all the time, and saying, 'Another minute gone, another hour gone,' but
+it only seems to make the time pass more slowly.  I have a bedroom to
+myself, I am glad to say, and it looks very nice with my things about
+it, but of course I don't really care for it at all.  I think Miss
+Pidsley isn't as nasty as I thought she was when Aunt Pike was with her.
+I think she is ill, or worried, or something, and not so very cross.
+Miss Hammond, the other principal, is a dear.  I like her very much.
+We are all going out shopping one day with Miss Hammond.  We are allowed
+to go on one Wednesday afternoon each month.  Sometimes she takes the
+girls to see something, or to a concert, instead of going shopping.
+I do not want to buy anything for myself, but I think  I shall get some
+flowers for Miss Hammond, and something for Hope, she is so unhappy, and
+she has very little pocket-money.  We go for excursions in the summer
+and have theatricals at Christmas, and you and father will be invited to
+those.  It is rather nice, isn't it?  But of course I don't take any
+real interest in it.  I hate being here, but I am going to work hard to
+make the time pass.  I hope Anna is better.  Give Tony my love, and tell
+him he was a perfect dear to give me his precious piece of spar.
+I shall always take it with me wherever I go.  I will write to him next
+time.  Mind you write and tell me everything, and give my love to Fanny,
+and Jabez, and Grace, and kiss Prue and Billy for me.  Kiss Prue on her
+dear old cheek and her soft nose.--Your loving sister,
+
+"Kitty."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+"GOOD IN EVERYTHING."
+
+Betty's satisfaction, though, ended with the day.  "I am never happy one
+day but what I've _got_ to be unhappy the next," she said plaintively to
+her father the following evening, when telling him her woes.
+
+"You might put it another way," he said, smiling, "and say you are never
+very unhappy one day but what you are very happy the next."
+
+Betty shook her head gravely.  "But I am not," she said.  "I can't be
+_sure_ I am going to be happy, but I can be that I am going to be
+unhappy, and sometimes it lasts for ever so long."
+
+"You poor little suffering martyr," said Dr. Trenire, "what is wrong
+now?"
+
+"It's my stockings," said Betty solemnly.
+
+"Whatever is wrong with your stockings?  Stand still, child, can't you,
+and tell me."
+
+"No," said Betty, "I can't, my legs itch so.  I am sure I shall be crazy
+before long.  I _almost_ wish I'd been sent away to school too, then I
+could give them away, as Kitty has."
+
+"Given away what?--her legs?  What made Kitty do it, and what is wrong
+with the stockings?  Are they new, that they have only just begun to
+irritate you?"
+
+"No, they aren't new, but--well, you see, I've only just been found
+out."
+
+"What _do_ you mean?"
+
+"Well, you see, Aunt Pike would make us wear these ugly, woolly, itchy
+things, and "--Betty's voice waxed indignant--"she wouldn't believe us
+when we said we couldn't, and so--well, I thought of it first--we wore
+our black cotton ones under these, and then we didn't feel them."
+
+"I see," said Dr. Trenire, a smile beginning to twinkle in his eyes.
+"And you were not found out?"
+
+"Not till to-day," with a triumphant air; "but to-day there was a hole
+in the gray ones, and I didn't know it; but Aunt Pike saw the black
+showing through, and she screamed out, 'Elizabeth, _what_ has happened
+to your leg?'  And oh!  I did jump so; and then I looked, and there was
+a great black spot, and everybody was looking and laughing.  It was--oh,
+it was dretful, and Aunt Pike was _so_ angry, she made me go home and
+take off the black ones; and now she has taken all my cotton ones away,
+and--and I've _got_ to wear these, and it's--it's _awful_, it really is,
+daddy," and poor Betty's eyes grew pink with tears.
+
+"I know," said her father sympathetically.  "I suffer in the same way
+myself.  Don't cry, child; it will be all right.  I will explain to your
+aunt."
+
+But Betty had borne much that day, and the tears, at least a few, had to
+come.  "She said if Tony can bear it, I can; but Tony doesn't mind, he
+doesn't feel it; he says, though, he would never have said he didn't if
+he had known it would make it harder for me and Kitty."
+
+"Loyal Tony!" laughed Dr. Trenire.  "I like his spirit.  Well, don't
+fret about it any more; you shall have some others.  I think, though,
+that we will have some other colour; they aren't very pretty, are they?"
+
+"Pretty!" cried Betty; "they are _'trocious_.  No one else would have
+worn them.  I'll take them off now; shall I, father?"
+
+"Hadn't you better wait till you have some others to put on?"
+
+"Oh no, thank you.  Fanny wouldn't take long getting me some.  If you
+will give her some money, she won't be more than a few minutes.
+I'll wrap my feet up in two shawls for the time."
+
+"I see there is to be no time wasted," said Dr. Trenire.  "You are a
+business-like young person, Betty."
+
+"Yes," said Betty, with satisfaction.  "You see, I can't do anything
+until I have them; and if they are going to be bought, they may as well
+be bought quickly."
+
+"Your logic is admirable; but, dear, why didn't you speak to me about it
+before?  It would have been much better than pretending to obey your
+aunt all these weeks, and deceiving her."
+
+Betty looked ashamed.  To have the word "deceive" used about herself
+without any glossing of it over made her feel very small and mean.
+
+"We did think of it, father," she said earnestly; "but Kitty said she
+didn't want to seem to be always complaining about Aunt Pike."
+
+"I see," said Dr. Trenire quietly, and he gazed for a moment gravely
+into the fire before he left the room.
+
+Betty never knew what passed between her father and her aunt; but she
+heard no more about the gray stockings, and she wrote off delightedly to
+Kitty to tell her all about it.
+
+Kitty was out when the letter came.  It was the day on which the girls
+were taken for an afternoon's shopping or sight-seeing.
+
+"I really must get some presents to take home to them all," she had said
+quite seriously to Pamela in the morning.
+
+Pamela laughed.  "There are eleven more weeks to do it in," she said.
+
+But Kitty covered her ears.  "Don't, don't," she cried--"just when I
+have been telling myself that time is flying, and that I haven't many
+more chances."
+
+"Well, you haven't _many_," laughed Pamela.  "Of course we don't go
+every week.  I think you are wise, though, to get your things while you
+have the money, and if you see things later that you like better you
+mustn't mind."
+
+"I shall keep my eyes turned away from the shops," said Kitty.  "Now be
+quiet, Pamela, while I make my list."
+
+"Mine is ready," said Pamela, with something between a laugh and a sigh,
+and she held up a blank sheet.
+
+"Haven't you any one to get anything for?" said Kitty sympathetically,
+sorry At once that she had talked so much about herself.  "Poor Pamela!"
+
+"Only Miss Hammond," said Pamela.  "We generally give her some flowers--
+most of us do, at least.  Rhoda Collins doesn't; she says it seems such
+a waste of money, as flowers fade so soon.  I suggested one
+day that she should give Miss Hammond a cake instead, as that at any
+rate was useful."
+
+"And did she?"
+
+"No; she said one couldn't get anything very nice for a penny."
+
+Kitty tittered.  "Flowers for Miss Hammond," she wrote on her list.
+"What do you give to Miss Pidsley?"
+
+"Miss Pidsley!" Pamela looked surprised at her question.  "Oh, nothing.
+You see, Miss Hammond goes with us, and--and--well, we all like her; but
+Miss Pidsley--I don't know why, but I think we never thought of giving
+her anything.  I should be afraid to."
+
+The shopping was really great fun; the girls swarmed about the counters
+and wandered about the shops, going into raptures over this thing and
+hesitating about buying that thing, until it really seemed as though all
+the purchases never would be made.  Yet by degrees they somehow acquired
+a great many curious possessions.
+
+Kitty bought a nice pocket-book for her father, a little brooch for
+Betty, a book for Tony, and a penknife for Anna; but it took so long to
+decide on these that she left her presents for the servants to get
+another day, for she still had to buy her flowers for Miss Hammond, and
+teatime was fast approaching.  The flower-shop was perhaps the most
+fascinating of all; the cut flowers, the ferns, and the plants in the
+pots were perfectly bewildering in their beauty.  Kitty was in raptures,
+and almost wished she had bought flowers to take home to them all,
+instead of the things she had got.
+
+"Father would simply love that fern," she cried, "and Betty would go
+wild over that little white basket with the ferns and hyacinths in it.
+O Pamela, I do so want it for her!  I want them all!"
+
+Pamela had not lost her head as Kitty had.  "Well, the hyacinths will
+have faded long before you go home, Kitty, and the brooch is easier to
+pack."
+
+Kitty laughed somewhat shamefacedly.  Her eye was already caught by a
+lovely little flowering rose-bush in a pot.  "I must buy that," she said
+with determination, "and I am going to."
+
+"For Miss Hammond?  Oh, how nice!  Stupid me had never thought of a
+plant for her.  I always get cut flowers for her room."
+
+"It isn't for Miss Hammond," said Kitty rather shyly; "I have bought
+violets for her.  I think I will take the rose back to Miss Pidsley."
+
+"Miss Pidsley!  You funny girl, Kitty."
+
+"Well, at any rate I will offer it to her, and if she doesn't like it--
+she can't hurt me; and it does seem rather hard that she should miss all
+this, and not have anything taken back to her either.  She seems to have
+all the dull, disagreeable things to do, and none of the nice ones."
+
+"I had never thought of that," said Pamela.  "I suppose she chose what
+should be her work, and what should be Miss Hammond's."
+
+"Then she must be a good sort to have given all the nicest things to
+others to do, and have kept all the dull ones for herself," said Kitty,
+with the frankness with which schoolgirls discuss their elders in
+private.
+
+"Come along, girls," called Miss Hammond, returning to the shop.
+"I have ordered tea, and it will be ready in five minutes."
+
+By this time it was getting dark, and it was very pleasant to turn from
+the cold, windy streets into the snug, brightly-lighted room where tea
+was laid for them at a couple of tables placed in the window.
+The blinds were up, and they could watch the people and the busy life in
+the streets, or could turn their eyes inwards and look at that in the
+room, where every table was occupied.  They were all very hungry and
+pleased and excited.  The food was good and the tea was good, and the
+girls could talk and laugh to their hearts' content.
+
+Then there was the walk home through the busy streets again, where the
+shops were all brilliantly lighted now, making everything look very gay
+and cheerful.  Kitty felt the exhilaration of it tingling in her blood
+as she stepped along through the strange scenes which, in her eyes, were
+so exciting and gay and full of interest.
+
+When they reached home and the others all flew off to their rooms, Kitty
+stood for a moment hesitating; then, with a little added flush on her
+cheeks, she walked along the hall to Miss Pidsley's private room and
+knocked.  There was a moment's silence, then "Come in," said Miss
+Pidsley in a voice that was not exactly encouraging, for it was that of
+a person who had reached the limits of her patience.
+
+Kitty almost wished she had not come.  She seemed to be doing such a
+dreadful thing by interrupting, and suddenly her pretty rose looked very
+poor and insignificant; but there was no drawing back now, so she opened
+the door and went in.  Miss Pidsley looked up very sharply.
+
+"Oh, surely, Katherine," she began, when she saw who it was, "it is not
+time for your music lesson yet?"  Then she noticed that Kitty had on her
+hat, and had evidently only just come in.
+
+"Oh no,  Miss Pidsley," said Kitty, "there is an our yet before that.
+I hope I haven't interrupted you.  I brought you home a little
+rose-tree, which I hope--I--I thought you might like it," and she put
+the beautiful, cheery-looking little crimson rambler down on the table
+beside her.
+
+Miss Pidsley looked completely surprised, but quite pleased.  "How kind
+of you, Katherine--how very kind of you to think of me," she said, and
+Katherine noticed that her voice sounded strangely.  Then her head
+dropped on her hand, and she gave a deep, deep sigh.  "Oh," she
+exclaimed, and the words seemed to be forced from her, "I am _so_
+worried, and oh! so tired, so tired."  Then she looked up again with
+almost an embarrassed air.  "I am afraid I spoke sharply when you
+knocked.  I feared it might be Jane again, and after the scene I have
+had with her I really do not want to see her for some time yet.  She has
+quarrelled with the house-maid, and both have given me notice; and what
+to do I don't know, just at the beginning of term and all."  Miss
+Pidsley talked on as though she really could not keep her troubles to
+herself any longer.  "It has been a most trying scene; they upset me
+dreadfully, they were so violent."
+
+Had any one else in the house heard the usually reserved headmistress
+talking so unreservedly they would have gasped with astonishment.  But
+Kitty was too full of sympathetic interest to think of anything else.
+She had a little unconscious way of her own of winning confidence from
+the most unlikely of people, and poor Miss Pidsley, who was so weary, so
+overburthened with worries, so perplexed and altogether out of heart,
+could not refrain from pouring her troubles out to her; for, first of
+all, her sympathy, and, secondly, her little gift of the rose had
+carried her straight into Miss Pidsley's lonely, aching heart.
+
+There was Miss Hammond, of course, for her to confide in, and Miss
+Hammond would have been told some of the worries by-and-by, but deep
+down in Miss Pidsley's heart lurked a little pain, a little trouble that
+Miss Hammond's advice could never lessen.  Miss Hammond was attractive,
+charming, genial, and every one liked her; the girls all adored her.
+Miss Pidsley was not attractive, and she had not a genial manner, and
+she told herself that nobody cared for her, and that the girls feared
+and disliked her.  And, unfortunately, this feeling, which hurt her
+cruelly, made her withdraw herself more and more from all but what one
+might call the business part of the life, and so gave the girls a real
+reason for feeling towards her as they did.
+
+Fortunately Kitty had not known Miss Pidsley long enough to realize how
+very unlike herself she was now, so she was not at all embarrassed, but
+only intensely full of a desire to help.
+
+"Miss Pidsley," she said, after a moment's pause, "if you would let me,
+I will write to father and ask him if he knows of any girls that would
+do for you.  He often does hear of servants wanting places--nice ones
+too.  You see, he knows so many poor people."
+
+Miss Pidsley looked up surprised.  She had never thought of Kitty as a
+possible helper in her dilemma.  "It is very kind of you, Katharine, to
+think of it," she said warmly.  "I should indeed be most grateful to
+your father if he could help me.  He would know that the girls were
+respectable and nice.  But I really do not like to trouble him, he is
+such a busy man."
+
+"Oh, father wouldn't think it a trouble.  I will write to-night," said
+Kitty, delighted at the prospect of being able to help.  "I wish you had
+been with us this afternoon, Miss Pidsley; you would have enjoyed it
+so.  We had a lovely time."
+
+"I wish I had," said Miss Pidsley.  "At any rate I should have had some
+tea, which is more than I got at home."
+
+"No tea!" Kitty was shocked.  No wonder she found her mistress tired and
+overdone.  "Shall I tell them to get you some now?" she asked, moving
+towards the door.
+
+"Oh no!" cried Miss Pidsley, alarmed.  "I would not ask for anything
+while matters are in such a state in the kitchen." Then she laughed with
+some embarrassment at her confession of fear.
+
+"I will go and take off my things now," said Kitty, and she left rather
+abruptly and ran quickly to her room.
+
+The throwing off of her hat and coat occupied less than a minute; then,
+taking out from a tin box a spirit-lamp and kettle, she filled the
+latter and put it on to boil.  That done, she ran softly down the stairs
+to the pantry.  Fortunately for her, Nellie, the schoolroom maid, was
+there alone.  Nellie, who was an easy-going, good-tempered girl, had
+been the pleased recipient of the discarded gray stockings, and had ever
+since showed a gratitude which was beyond Kitty's comprehension, for in
+her opinion it was she who had most cause to be grateful.  To Nellie
+Kitty explained her wants, and after a brief, whispered consultation she
+was soon speeding back with a little jug of milk, some tea in a small
+teapot, and a plate of biscuits on a tray.  In her room she had a pretty
+teacup of her own, which she meant to use.
+
+The kettle was singing by the time she got back, and a few moments later
+she made her way proudly down to Miss Pidsley's room with a fragrant
+scent of tea marking her path.  This time, when she knocked, Miss
+Pidsley really did think she had come for her music lesson, and a little
+sigh again escaped her, a sigh which turned to an exclamation of real
+pleasure when she saw what Kitty was bringing her.  Cornish Kitty had
+forgotten all about sugar or a teaspoon, but Miss Pidsley needed her tea
+so badly she did not heed the omission, but sat down at once to enjoy to
+the full her little picnic meal.
+
+When Kitty returned to her own room again she was surprised at herself
+for feeling so happy.  "School isn't _all_ bad," she said thoughtfully.
+"I dare say I should get quite to like it in time."
+
+Then her eye fell on Betty's newly-arrived letter, and tearing it open,
+she read of all her woes and triumphs connected with the detested
+woollen stockings.  There was a long letter from Dan too, full of a sort
+of laughing sympathy as well as jokes and fun, but with here and there
+the strain of seriousness which so often astonished Dan's friends, and
+made him the dear, lovable old boy he was.
+
+"It was rough on you," he wrote, "to pack you off to school like that,
+and jolly unfair too; and I expect you felt you would never smile again.
+But you will, and before many weeks are gone by, too; and I do believe
+it is the best thing for both of us.  We didn't make any friends at
+home; there was no one we cared for, and we are such a funny, reserved
+crew--at least that's what they say here about me, and I believe I was
+the best of us--in that way, I mean.  It won't be so very long before we
+shall be going home, and, my word, it is worth while going away just to
+have the going home again.  So cheer up, old girl; it isn't every one
+that can boast of a brother like me.  Hurry up and write, just to show
+you appreciate your blessings."
+
+"There _are_ some things to make up for being away," thought Kitty, and
+she wrote Dan a long, bright, hopeful letter, and another to Betty.
+
+A week or so later she wrote to her father to broach her desire to bring
+home Pamela with her.  She thought it wise to mention it early, as it
+would take some time to reconcile Aunt Pike to the thought.  For more
+than a week she had no reply and no letter from any one, and she was
+just beginning to worry very much about it when a letter came from her
+father.
+
+"I shall be delighted to welcome your young friend," he wrote, "and I am
+very glad you have one you want to bring home with you.  But I can only
+consent conditionally, for poor unfortunate Anna is down with measles,
+and is very unwell, poor child.  I have not spoken to your aunt yet
+about your plan, for she is too worried about Anna, and some other
+matters, to bear any more agitation.  If Betty and Tony do not develop
+measles, and I am taking every precaution to prevent its spreading, the
+house will be free of infection and safe for you all to come to; but
+should they develop it--well, it does no good to climb our hills before
+we reach them, and we will not anticipate any such blow.  When Anna is
+free from infection and able to travel, her mother will take her to the
+sea for a thorough bracing up.  I am sure you will understand how things
+are at present, and make the best of them if they should not turn out as
+you wish."
+
+Poor Kitty!  She saw at once that what her father tried not to
+anticipate was the possibility of her not being able to come home at all
+for the holidays, nor Dan either; and how could one help climbing such a
+hill before one came to it, or at least standing at its foot and gazing
+anxiously up its rough, stony sides?
+
+"I do think Anna was born to aggravate," she said crossly, but a few
+moments later her anger against her cooled.  "It must be horrid for her
+too," she added, "for she never seems to get any fun out of anything,
+not even out of being ill."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+THREATENING CLOUDS.
+
+But Betty and Tony behaved extremely well.  They escaped the measles,
+and all risk of infection was over long before the end of term came--and
+even a first term at school must come to an end some time.
+
+Kitty at last had but seven more slips to tear off and seven more dates
+to strike through, and for sheer pleasure she left them untouched.
+Time did not need helping along now.
+
+Then came the last day, when the boxes stood packed and strapped and
+labelled, and a general air of holidays and freedom from rules pervaded
+the whole house.  Rhoda and Cicely Collins were leaving very early.
+Rhoda wanted to go by the earliest train because the fares were slightly
+lower.  Rhoda was of a saving disposition.  It always gave her the
+greatest pleasure to be able to economize in any way, and her stores of
+twine and paper, old corks, scraps of writing-paper, old pens, and other
+things, afforded food for endless jokes amongst the rest of the girls.
+Cicely, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of her sister; but
+being the younger, and less masterful, she gave in to Rhoda, and on the
+day they were to go home she rose, at Rhoda's command, from her bed at
+six o'clock, very unwillingly though, for the saving of threepence on
+her journey was nothing to Cicely in comparison to the discomfort of
+rising early.
+
+Hope Carey had gone home some weeks before, having fretted herself ill
+with anxiety about her mother.  Kitty and Pamela were to wait until the
+eleven o'clock train, for Dan, who broke up on the same day, could join
+them then at their station, and they could all travel down together.
+It was not nearly eleven when they reached the station; but how could
+they stay quietly in the dull, deserted house waiting for the hours to
+go by?  Miss Hammond saw that it was too much to expect of them, so took
+them down very early; for a railway station, with its bustle and life,
+is a capital place for making time pass.
+
+"It all seems too lovely to be real," sighed Kitty happily.  "To be
+going home, to be meeting Dan, to be travelling by ourselves, and to
+have no lessons for more than three weeks!  It seems too much happiness
+all at once, and I am afraid I shall wake up presently and find it a
+dream, as I so often have.  I understand now what Dan meant by saying it
+was almost worth going away to have the going home.  I do think,
+though," with sudden alarm, "that Dan must have missed his train.
+I am sure it must be nearly afternoon."
+
+"It is five minutes past eleven," laughed Miss Hammond, "and there is
+his train now coming in, and there--if I don't mistake--is Dan."
+
+But Kitty had seen him first, and was flying down the platform to meet
+him.  Dan, recognizing the flying figure, stood and warded her off with
+the umbrella and bag he had in his hands.  "Now, if you kiss me here,"
+he cried, "I shall call for help, I really shall; it is taking a mean
+advantage, and I am not going to stand it.  I wouldn't mind if you were
+by yourself, but the others would be imitating you!"
+
+Kitty laughed.  "I forgot you were still a little boy," she said
+teasingly.  "I know little boys do mind.  When they are real men they
+don't.  Come along, Dan, and speak to Miss Hammond and Pamela," and Dan
+followed quite sedately to make his best bow to Kitty's friends.
+
+"You must be very thankful the holidays are come," he said solemnly to
+Miss Hammond.  "I know, of course, how wearing Kitty is."
+
+"I expect some of your masters feel they have cause for gratitude to-day
+too," laughed Miss Hammond.  "Now we must hurry if we want to find nice
+seats.  I see your train is in."
+
+Pamela and Dan looked at each other and smiled somewhat embarrassedly;
+but Dan, who had been rather annoyed at first by Kitty's asking to bring
+home a friend with her, let his heart melt a little towards her, for he
+somehow felt that things were not going to be as bad as he had feared;
+and when they had found an empty compartment, and seemed likely to have
+it to themselves all the way, he graciously thawed still more, and his
+spirits rose to their usual height.
+
+Alas, though, for plans.  The train was on the point of starting, the
+whistle had gone, and the guard was just about to signal to the
+engine-driver, when there was a shout and a rush, and with a "Here you
+are, ma'am!" a porter laid hold of the handle of their door, flung it
+open, almost pushed two ladies in, threw in some bags and parcels after
+them, and banged the door to again.  Off started the engine with a jerk
+which threw the ladies on to the seat opposite Kitty, who, with dismayed
+face and sinking spirits, had already recognized them as Lady Kitson and
+Lettice.
+
+"She will be with us all the time, and everything is spoilt," she
+groaned inwardly.  She was intensely disappointed.  "Strangers would not
+have been so bad, or any one but those particular two."
+
+Pamela was sitting in the corner opposite her, and Dan was in the corner
+at the other end of her seat.  Lady Kitson and Lettice were at first too
+cross and too much shaken to notice any one; but presently, having
+recovered and arranged their packages, and settled down in their seats,
+they glanced about the compartment, and, with a look of not very pleased
+surprise, recognized their companions.
+
+"Oh, how do you do, Dan?" said Lady Kitson, and smiled quite affably on
+him, but to Kitty she vouchsafed only the merest acknowledgment.
+
+Lettice blushed hotly when she saw Kitty, and gave her one of her broad,
+meaning smiles.
+
+"How do you do?" said Kitty very stiffly, and with no shadow of a smile.
+
+"How is your poor little cousin, Dan?" said Lady Kitson presently.
+"I hope she is growing strong again after her two serious illnesses?"
+
+"Yes, thank you," said Dan.  "She has gone away for change of air."
+
+"Oh, indeed.  I am glad she is able to.  It was so alarming her being so
+ill.  Oh, I heard about your shocking behaviour in leaving her behind to
+walk home by herself, on _such_ a night too, and in such a wild spot."
+
+"I am afraid you haven't heard the right story, Lady Kitson," said Dan
+gravely, but with a flash of his eye.
+
+Lady Kitson smiled a most aggravating little smile.  "Oh, I think so,"
+she said meaningly.  Then, "You are not all going away with Anna, I
+hope," she remarked severely.  "I am sure the poor child must require
+perfect peace and great care."
+
+"No, Aunt Pike has gone with her.  We are going home, and Kitty's friend
+is coming to stay with us," and Dan looked towards Pamela.  "May I
+introduce Miss Pamela Peters--Lady Kitson, Miss Kitson," said Dan very
+formally, and growing very red.
+
+Pamela smiled and bowed very prettily to Lady Kitson.  Lady Kitson
+stared at Pamela, but gave her only the vaguest of acknowledgments.
+Lettice nodded as though her neck were loose at the joint.
+
+"You don't mean to say that while Mrs. Pike is away your poor father is
+going to have you all on his hands, and a stranger as well?  Poor Dr.
+Trenire.  I really think it is too much for him, he looks so ill and
+worn already.  He really needs a holiday more than do any of you."
+
+"Father looks ill!" gasped Kitty.  It was the first hint she had had of
+any such thing, and a sudden cold fear filled her heart.  She forgot her
+dislike of Lady Kitson and Lettice, and the wrong they had done her.
+"Is father really ill, Lady Kitson?" she asked anxiously, leaning
+towards her.  "He has never mentioned it to me, nor has Aunt Pike."
+
+"He is too good and unselfish to complain," said Lady Kitson coldly.
+"You should use your own eyes, and not wait for him to _tell_ you he is
+ill.  He has not actually told _me_ that he is, but I can see that he
+looks overworked and unwell, and certainly not fit to battle with a
+houseful of noisy, restless boys and girls."
+
+"Of course we shouldn't be noisy if father was not well," said Kitty,
+with quiet dignity.  She was feeling intensely uncomfortable on Pamela's
+account as well as her father's.  Lady Kitson's remarks were not polite
+to their guest.
+
+Lady Kitson sat back in her seat and unfolded a paper, as though to
+intimate that she had no more to say.  Lettice crossed over and sat
+beside Kitty, evidently intending to talk to her, but Kitty could not
+bring herself to be friendly to her late school-fellow; besides which,
+she had Pamela to talk to, and there was this news about her father to
+fill her mind.
+
+"He can't be very ill," said Pamela comfortingly, seeing Kitty's quiet
+distress.  "Your aunt or Betty would have said something to you about
+it.  While I am with you I can take the children out all day long if you
+like, so that you can keep the house quiet, and we won't be any trouble.
+But of course you must send me home if it is not convenient for me to
+stay."
+
+"But it will be," cried Kitty, trying to throw off her fears, and she
+crossed over and sat by Pamela.
+
+When, though, they presently stopped at Gorlay Station, all her troubles
+vanished, for the time at any rate, for there on the platform stood her
+father, and Betty, and Tony, all apparently as well and jolly as could
+be, while old Prue and the carriage waited in the road outside.
+
+"Father is here!  Father is here to meet us and drive us home!" she
+cried joyfully, and, forgetting Pamela and Lady Kitson, and all the rugs
+and bags and everything, she was out on the platform and in his arms
+almost before the train had come to a stand-still.
+
+Dan waited, and with well-feigned if not real patience helped out Lady
+Kitson and her possessions; then he too flew.  "Come along!" he shouted
+to Pamela, forgetting his shyness.  Pamela, though, with a wistful
+little smile on her lips, collected their belongings without much haste,
+and followed him, but very slowly.
+
+For a moment she felt herself almost an intruder, but it was only for a
+moment; for Dr. Trenire, looking over the heads of Dan and Kitty, saw
+her, and guessing who she was, went at once and met her with such a
+cordial greeting that she felt herself one of them from that moment; and
+Kitty, remorseful for her forgetfulness, brought up Betty and Tony to be
+introduced.  Then Pamela was made to sit up in the carriage beside the
+doctor, with Kitty and Tony on the back seat, while Dan and Betty
+mounted to the top of the omnibus, and off they started in the gayest of
+spirits.  Prue, who could never endure to let any other horse pass her,
+insisted on racing the 'bus the whole way home, to the amusement of
+every one.  Betty and Tony shrieked with delight, Kitty sat beaming with
+a happiness so great as to seem almost unreal, while Pamela sat quietly
+taking it all in, and revelling in it, yet with a touch of sadness as
+she realized for the first time in her life how very much she had
+missed.
+
+"Oh, isn't it like old times," sighed Kitty happily, "to be together
+again, and by ourselves.  Father, are you frightened by the thought of
+us all?"
+
+Dr. Trenire laughed.  "Not really frightened," he said.  "You see, I can
+always send for your aunt.  She assured me she would return at once if I
+found you all unmanageable."
+
+"Oh," said Kitty gravely, "then we will promise not to be _quite_
+unmanageable, but just bad enough."
+
+At that moment Lady Kitson's carriage overtook them, and her ladyship
+looked out and smiled and bowed to the doctor as she passed.  "Don't you
+let them wear you out, doctor," she cried.
+
+Kitty, with sudden recollection, leaned forward and studied her father's
+face earnestly--as much, at least, as she could see of it.  "Father,"
+she said anxiously, "Lady Kitson told us that you were not at all well.
+Aren't you?"
+
+She had unconsciously expected, or at least hoped for, a prompt and
+strong reassurance; but her father did not answer for a moment, and then
+but half-heartedly.  "I haven't been quite up to the mark," he said
+quietly, "but," looking round and seeing the anxiety on her face, "it is
+nothing to worry about, dear.  I would have told you if it had been.
+I am rather overworked and tired, that is all.  It has been a very heavy
+winter of illness and anxiety.  I shall be better now the spring has
+come, and I have you all home to liven me up.  We must try and give
+Pamela a happy time, and you must take her to all your pet haunts."
+
+But Dr. Trenire was not as well as he led them to believe; and though
+Kitty was not observant enough to notice such signs as a slower, heavier
+step, a want of energy in setting about his work, a flagging appetite,
+she did notice that he was quieter and graver, and had not such spirits
+as of old.
+
+Pamela became at once a favourite with every one.  Even Jabez unbent,
+and was not always suspecting her of some mischief or other.
+
+"What part of the county do 'ee come from, miss?" he asked when first he
+was introduced.
+
+"I am afraid I don't belong to this county at all," said
+Pamela apologetically.  "I am not a Cornishwoman."
+
+Jabez looked disappointed, but he tried his best not to make her feel
+her sad position more than she could help.  "Well now, that's a pity;
+but there, we can't always help ourselves, can we, miss? and 'tisn't for
+we to make 'ee feel it more'n you do a'ready.  We've all on us got
+something to put up with.  Whereabouts up along do 'ee come from, miss,
+if 'tisn't a rude question?"
+
+"Devon," said Pamela, smiling at the old man.  "It might be ever so much
+worse, mightn't it?  Do give me some comfort, Jabez,"
+
+"Well, yess, miss," he answered, willing to cheer her if he could.
+"And maybe 'twas only an accident.  Your parents 'd gone there to live,
+or something of that sort.  Accidents will happen to the most
+deserving."
+
+"Yes," sighed Pamela, "I feel it was a mistake, for directly I came here
+I felt at home, and I had never done so before."
+
+"You'll be sorry to go back, miss."
+
+"Sorry!" cried Pamela.  "I can't bear to think of it.  I never was so
+happy in my life, and never enjoyed my holidays before."
+
+It was a very simple holiday too, but each day was full of happiness.
+One by one the four introduced Pamela to their best-beloved haunts.
+They made excursions to Wenmere Woods, to Helbarrow Tors, to the moors
+and the river.  Very frequently, too, some of them went for drives with
+Dr. Trenire far out into the country, over wild moorland, or through
+beautiful valleys, and Pamela loved these drives as much as anything,
+and felt she could listen for hours while the doctor told her the story
+of some old cairn, or the legend of a holy well or wayside cross.
+
+Once they all went to Newquay to visit Aunt Pike and Anna, and spent a
+long, glorious day on the beautiful sands, paddling in and out of the
+rock pools in search of rare sea-weeds, and anemones, and shells.
+
+"I didn't know your aunt was so old," said Pamela later, when she and
+Kitty were talking over the events of the day.  "You did not tell me she
+was."
+
+"No," said Kitty thoughtfully, "I didn't think she was.  I noticed it
+to-day myself, but I never did before.  She does look quite old, doesn't
+she?" appealing to Pamela, as though still doubting her own eyes.
+"I don't think she looked so last term.  She seemed quite altered to-day
+somehow, so small and shrivelled, or something."
+
+But other interests soon drove the matter from Kitty's mind, and she
+thought no more about it until Mrs. Pike and Anna returned to Gorlay a
+few days before the end of the holidays to see to Dan's and Kitty's
+outfits, and by that time Kitty was far too miserable at the prospect of
+returning to school to give more than a passing thought to her aunt's
+changed appearance.
+
+Anna was quite strong again, though her old nervous, restless manner had
+not left her, and she still had the same difficulty in meeting one's
+eyes fairly and squarely.
+
+"Your cousin looks as though she had something on her mind," said
+Pamela.  "Do you think she has?"
+
+"I don't know," said Kitty; "at least I don't think it would trouble her
+much if she had.  She didn't really enjoy herself at Newquay.  She says
+she is very glad to be home again, and I should think she would be too,"
+added poor homesick Kitty.  "I am sure I should get well here quicker
+than anywhere," and Pamela agreed.
+
+"I think it was nonsense of Dan to say it was worth while to go away to
+have the pleasure of coming home," she moaned when the last day came.
+"I am sure _nothing_ could make up to me for the misery of going, and I
+think it is worse the second time than the first."
+
+Poor Kitty's woe was so great that at last her father was driven to
+expostulate.  "Kitty dear, do try to be brave," he pleaded.  "I am not
+very well, and I cannot bear to see you so unhappy.  You make it very
+hard for others, dear, by taking your trials so hardly."
+
+Kitty looked and felt very much ashamed.  "I hadn't thought of that,"
+she said; "but, father, it is really very hard to bear.  You don't know
+how miserable I feel."
+
+"How will you bear greater troubles when they come, as they are sure
+to?"
+
+"There couldn't be greater ones," said foolish Kitty.
+
+"My dear, my dear, don't say such things.  This is, after all, but a
+short temporary parting, when we could all come together if needs be.
+There are some that last a lifetime," he added sadly, and Kitty knew he
+was thinking of her dead mother.  A few moments later he spoke more
+cheerfully.  "I am going up with you to-morrow," he said.  "Perhaps that
+will comfort you a little."
+
+Kitty looked delighted, but Dr. Trenire did not tell her that when he
+had left her at her school he was going to consult a doctor about his
+own health; for he intended to let no one know that he was bound on such
+an errand until he had heard the verdict, and only then if it was
+absolutely necessary.
+
+However, the consultation proved that it was absolutely necessary, and a
+few days later the following letter reached Kitty:--
+
+"My Dearest Kitty,--I have to send you some news which is not good, but
+you must not think it very bad.  A few days ago I was told by a medical
+man that I must take a long holiday and a sea voyage as soon as
+possible, and he dared me to stay away less than three months.  I am
+obeying him because I want to feel stronger than I have lately, and I do
+not believe in asking a clever man's advice and then refusing to act
+upon it.  So I am getting a _locum tenens_ here for a time, and as soon
+as I have introduced him to my patients I shall start on a cruise
+somewhere.  I have not yet decided where.  But before I go I shall
+certainly come and spend a day with you, my dear, to talk things over.
+I will write to Miss Pidsley and arrange it all.  Your aunt will look
+after Betty and Tony very carefully, as you know, while I am away, and
+they have promised me to be happy and good, so that I may not be worried
+about them.  They are a good little pair, on the whole, and I feel quite
+satisfied about Tony at any rate.
+
+"You must promise not to fret or worry about my health or my absence.
+The doctor told me to keep as free from anxieties as possible, so, if
+you want to help me--and I know you will--you must be as happy and do as
+well at school as you possibly can--that will help me more than
+anything--and write to me letters full of smiles.  I know you know how
+to, and I shall count on hearing frequently.  In about three months'
+time I hope we may all be journeying home together to keep our summer
+holidays.  I shall be back in time, I promise you, and will arrange so
+that I can meet you and Dan.
+
+"I shall be writing again in a day or two.--
+
+"Your affectionate Father."
+
+When first she opened this letter and mastered its contents, Kitty
+turned cold and faint with the shock it brought her.  At once her
+imagination pictured her father ill, dying, or going away from them all
+and dying at sea.
+
+"He's more ill than he will say, I know," she moaned.  "Father never
+tells the worst.  O father! Father! and I am not even at home to be with
+him.  If I could see him I should know; but here I am in prison, and--
+and I can't know what is happening at home!" and Kitty collapsed on her
+bed, sobbing pitifully.
+
+"Katherine! Katherine! what is the matter, child?"  Miss Pidsley,
+hearing sounds of grief, opened the door and looked in, then she walked
+in and closed it behind her.
+
+"I have had such dreadful news," moaned Kitty.  "Father is very ill--
+I know he is worse than he says--and I am not there, and--and I am here
+a prisoner.  Read what he says, Miss Pidsley."
+
+Miss Pidsley laid her strong hand on Kitty's trembling arm.  "Dear, you
+must know that if your father wanted you, or thought it necessary that
+you should be home, that he would send for you, and you could go at
+once, so do not feel yourself a prisoner."  Then she read the letter
+slowly and carefully through.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful?" sighed Kitty, looking up at her as she laid the
+letter down.
+
+"It is a trouble for you certainly, dear," said Miss Pidsley.  "But I
+think you have every reason to hope that your father may soon be well
+and strong again, and in the meantime I see he has given you plenty to
+do for him.  Don't let him know that you are not able or willing to do
+what he asks you to."
+
+"What has he asked me to do?" cried Kitty, starting up eager to begin
+then and there.
+
+Miss Pidsley held out the letter, and pointed out one particular
+paragraph.  "If you want to help me--and I know you will--you must be as
+happy and do as well at school as you possibly can.  That will help me
+more than anything."
+
+"But that can't really help him, and--and it is so difficult." Kitty
+looked up into Miss Pidsley's face very dolefully.
+
+"But it does help, dear, more than you can imagine.  Nothing would worry
+your father more than to feel you were unhappy.  Do try, for his sake.
+You can't refuse his request, can you?"
+
+"No," said Kitty mournfully, "I can't.  I--I will try, but--it is very
+hard to begin at once, isn't it?  One is frightened and unhappy before
+one knows one is going to be, and then it is so hard to forget it again
+and try to feel brave and happy, and all that sort of thing; and oh, it
+does seem so dreadful that father should be ill, and have to go away
+from us.  I can hardly believe it."
+
+"You must try not to think of it in that way, dear, but think that he
+has been ill for some time without being able to do anything to make
+himself well again, and that now he is about to be cured, and if he has
+rest and change and an easy mind every day will see him a little
+stronger and happier.  He has worked hard and long, and often, probably,
+when he has been feeling quite unfit; but now he is going to have a real
+rest, and to enjoy himself.  It is good to think of, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh yes," cried Kitty, much more cheerfully, "and I hope he will get off
+soon, for I know he will get no rest while he is in Gorlay.  I have
+never known father have a holiday."
+
+"Then let us all try to make it a really happy one now," said Miss
+Pidsley, and she went away leaving Kitty much comforted.
+
+Three days later Dr. Trenire came up to say "good-bye," and at the end
+of a long, pleasant day together, happy in spite of the parting before
+them, Kitty bade him "good-bye" with a brave and smiling face, and sent
+him back to Gorlay cheered and comforted, and with at least one care
+less on his mind; for in his heart he had been dreading that day,
+because of Kitty's grief at parting.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+BETTY'S ESCAPADE.
+
+June had come, a brilliantly fine June, and overpoweringly hot.
+Wind-swept, treeless Gorlay lay shadeless and panting under the blazing
+sun, and the dwellers there determined that they preferred the cutting
+winds and driving rains to which they were better accustomed.
+
+Dr. Trenire had gone, and Betty and Tony had been inconsolable.
+The "locum," Dr. Yearsley, had come, and Jabez had long since announced
+that he had no great opinion of him, coming as he did from one of the
+northern counties.
+
+"I don't say but what he may be a nice enough gentleman," he said;
+"but coming from so far up along it stands to reason he can't know
+nothing of we or our ailments.  I s'pose the master had his reasons for
+choosing him, but it do seem a pity."
+
+Aunt Pike did not approve of the newcomer, but for another reason.
+"He was so foolish about the children," she complained.  "It is very
+nice to say you are fond of them, but it is perfectly absurd to make so
+much of them; it only encourages them to be forward and opinionated, and
+puts them out of their place."  And to balance all this Aunt Pike
+herself became a little more strict than usual, and very cross.  It may
+have been that she felt the heat very trying, and perhaps was not very
+well, but there was no doubt that she was very irritable and particular
+at that time--more so than she used to be--and nothing that the children
+did was, in her eyes, right.
+
+Anna was irritable too, but there was much excuse for her, for having
+had pneumonia in the winter, and measles in the spring, her mother was
+determined that she should not have bronchitis, or rheumatism, or
+pneumonia again in the summer, and through that overpoweringly hot
+weather poor Anna was condemned to go about clothed in a fashion which
+might have been agreeable in the Highlands in January, but in Gorlay in
+the summer was really overwhelming, and kept poor Anna constantly in a
+state bordering on heat apoplexy, or exhaustion and collapse.
+
+Had Dr. Trenire been at home he would have interfered, and rescued her
+from her wraps and shawls, heavy serge frock, woollen stockings, and
+innumerable warm garments; or, perhaps, if Anna had not been so afraid
+of her mother, but had appealed to her candidly and without fear, she
+might have obtained relief.  This, unfortunately, was not Anna's way,
+for Anna's ways were still as crooked and shifty as her glances.  She
+would think out this plan and that plan to avoid the only one that was
+straightforward and right, though it must be said for her that she did
+try to be more open and honourable--at times she tried quite hard; but
+since Kitty had gone, and she had been so much with her mother, all her
+old foolish fears of her had come back with renewed strength, and all
+her old mean ways and crooked plans for getting her own way and escaping
+scoldings.
+
+Now, instead of asking to be relieved from some of her burdensome
+clothing, she made up her mind to destroy the things she detested most,
+and trust to not being found out; or, if she was found out--well,
+"the things must have been lost at the laundry."  This seemed to her an
+excellent explanation.
+
+So, one day when her mother was out and Betty and Tony had gone for a
+drive with Dr. Yearsley, Anna betook herself to the garden with some of
+her most loathed garments under her arm, and a box of matches in her
+pocket.  A bonfire on a summer's day is easy to ignite, and there was
+just sufficient breeze to fan the flame to active life, so Anna was in
+the midst of her work of destruction almost before she realized it.
+But, while waiting for her mother to depart, Anna had forgotten that the
+time was hurrying on towards Betty's and Tony's return.  In fact, they
+drove up but a moment or so after she had left the house on her guilty
+business.
+
+"Miss Anna has gone up the garden," said Fanny in answer to Betty's
+inquiries; and Betty, following her slowly, was in time to see a blaze
+leaping up, and a cloud of smoke and sparks.  She quickened her steps,
+for something interesting seemed to be happening.  "Surely Anna isn't
+trying to smoke out that wasps' nest," she thought in sudden alarm.
+"She will be stung to death if she is," and Betty took to her heels to
+try to stop her.  But when she got past the rows of peas and beans that
+had hidden Anna, she saw that what her cousin was poking up was not a
+wasps' nest, but a heap that was blazing on the ground.
+
+"What are you doing?" gasped Betty excitedly.  "What a lovely fire!"
+
+At the sound of a voice Anna spun round quickly, the very picture of
+frightened guilt; but when she saw Betty her fear turned to anger, hot
+and uncontrollable because she was frightened.
+
+"You are always spying and prying after me," she cried passionately.
+"Why can I never have a moment to myself?  Other people can, and why
+can't I?"
+
+Poor Anna was hot and overdone, and her nerves were so much on edge that
+she scarcely knew what she was doing or saying.  But Betty had no
+knowledge of nerves, and under this unfair accusation she could make no
+allowance for her cousin, and her temper rose too.
+
+"How dare you say I pry and spy!  You know it is not true, Anna.  I only
+came to ask you to play with us, and--and how was I to know that you
+were doing something that you didn't want any one to see?  Why don't you
+want any one to see you?  What are you burning?"  Betty stepped nearer
+and looked more closely.  "O Anna, it is your clothes that you are
+burning.  Oh, how did it happen?  You didn't do it on purpose, did you?"
+
+"It doesn't matter to you how it happened.  If _you_ don't want to wear
+things you hate, you just go and tell tales to your father.  You can get
+everything you want.  But I haven't any one to stick up for me, and I've
+_got_ to do things for myself."
+
+"Then you set this on fire on purpose!  Oh, how wicked; and they cost
+such a lot too!  I wonder you aren't afraid to be so wicked!" cried
+Betty indignantly.
+
+"I don't care," said Anna, trying to put on a bold front.  "I never did
+want the things, and I never shall.  I should die if I went about much
+longer a perfect mountain of clothes.  How would you like to wear a
+'hug-me-tight' under a serge coat in this weather?"
+
+"Not at all.  But what shall you say to Aunt Pike?"
+
+"I shan't say anything; but I suppose you will," sneered Anna.
+"I do wish you wouldn't be always poking and prying about where you are
+not wanted.  You might know that people like to be left alone
+sometimes."
+
+"I am sure," cried Betty, quite losing her temper at that, "I would
+leave you quite alone always, if I could; and I am _not_ a sneak, and
+that you know.  It would have been better for Kitty if I had been.
+I don't know how you can say such things as you do, Anna, when you know
+what we have had to bear for you.  I suppose you think I don't know that
+it was you who should have been sent away from Miss Richards's, and not
+Kitty!  But I do know--I have known it all the time, though Kitty
+wouldn't tell me--and I think that you and Lettice Kitson are the two
+meanest, wickedest girls in all the world to let Kitty bear the blame
+all this time and never clear her.  But after this--"
+
+"Betty!"  Aunt Pike's voice rose almost to a scream to get above the
+torrent of Betty's indignation.  "How _dare_ you speak to Anna so!
+How _dare_ you say such shocking things!  You dreadful, naughty child,
+you are in such a passion you don't know what you are saying, and you
+are making Anna quite ill!  Look at her, poor child!--Anna dear, come to
+me; you look almost fainting, and I really don't wonder."
+
+Anna was certainly ghastly white, and trembling uncontrollably, but as
+much at the sight of her mother as from Betty's fiery onslaught.
+"Yes--I do feel faint," she gasped, but she was able to walk quickly to
+her mother's side, and to lead her at a brisk step away from that
+smouldering heap on the ground.
+
+"Poor child, I will take you to your room.  You must lie down and keep
+very quiet for a time.--Elizabeth, follow us, please, and wait for me in
+the dining-room.  I will come and speak to you there when I have seen to
+Anna.  In the meantime try to calm yourself, and prepare to apologize
+for the dreadful things I heard you saying."
+
+Betty did not reply, nor for a few moments did she attempt to follow.
+Her aunt's determination to believe Anna all that was good and innocent
+and injured, and herself and Kitty all that was mean and bad, increased
+her resentment a thousand times.  Betty could never endure injustice.
+
+"I won't apologize.  I won't.  I can't.  I couldn't.  I have nothing to
+apologize for," she thought indignantly.  "It is Aunt Pike who ought to
+do that, and Anna, and ask us to forgive them.  I've a good mind to tell
+everything.  I think it is my duty to Kitty and all of us!" and Betty
+strutted down the garden looking very determined and important.
+Her childlike face was undaunted, her little mouth set firm.
+
+"It is my duty to all of us," she kept repeating to herself; "it really
+is.  I am not going to let Kitty bear the blame always.  I know that
+most people feel quite sure that she really did carry those letters, and
+then wouldn't own up, but told stories about it, and Aunt Pike has never
+been nice to her since, and Lady Kitson scarcely speaks to her, and Miss
+Richards doesn't speak at all, and--and that mean Anna won't clear her,
+and--"
+
+"Well, Elizabeth, I have come to hear your explanations and apologies
+for your shocking attack on Anna."
+
+"It was Anna who attacked me," said Betty.  "It was only when she called
+me a pry and a spy that I--that I--"
+
+"Hurled all sorts of wicked accusations at her.  Oh, I heard you.
+You said the most shocking and untrue things in your passion."
+
+"I didn't say a word that wasn't true," said Betty firmly, "and--and
+Anna knows it.  Anna could have cleared Kitty, but she wouldn't, and I
+am not going to let Kitty bear the blame for her and Lettice any longer;
+and if they won't clear her, I will.  Anna called me a sneak, and I said
+she was mean and bad, and I meant it; and so she is, to let Kitty go on
+bearing the blame and the disgrace all her life because she is too
+honourable to tell how mean they are."
+
+"Did you say that Anna knew who went to Lettice with that letter that
+night, and that--it wasn't Kafcherine?" asked Aunt Pike, but so quietly
+and strangely that Betty was really quite frightened by her curious
+voice and manner.
+
+"Oh, I wish I had not told," was the thought that rushed through her
+mind, while her cheeks grew hot with nervousness.  But it was too late
+now to draw back; she must stick to her guns.  "Yes," she said, but with
+evident reluctance.  "Ask Anna, please.  I--I mustn't say any more.
+Father wouldn't like--"
+
+"Was it--Anna--herself?" asked Mrs. Pike, still in that strange low
+voice, only it sounded stranger and farther away this time.
+
+"Oh, I can't tell you!  I can't tell you!" cried Betty, shrinking now
+from telling the dreadful truth.
+
+"There--is--no--need to," gasped Aunt Pike; but she spoke so low that
+Betty hardly heard the words, and the next moment the poor, shocked,
+stricken mother had slipped from her chair to the ground unconscious.
+
+Betty saw her fall, and flew from the room screaming for help.  Help was
+not long in coming.  Dr. Yearsley ran from the study and the servants
+from the kitchen, and very soon they had raised her and laid her on the
+couch.  But none of the restoratives they applied were of any avail, and
+presently they carried her upstairs and laid her on her bed.
+
+But before that had happened, Betty, terrified almost out of her senses
+by the result of her indiscretion, had flown--flown out of the room and
+out of the house.
+
+"Oh, what have I done! what have I done!" she moaned.  "Father didn't
+want her to know, and Kitty didn't want her to, and now I have told her
+and it has killed her.  I am sure I have killed her.  And father is
+away, and Kitty--oh, what can I do?  I can never go home any more.
+P'r'aps if I'm lost they'll be sorry and will forgive me," and Betty ran
+on, nearly frantic with fear, and weeping at the pathetic picture of her
+own disappearance.
+
+The next morning Kitty, on her way from the music-room, where she had
+been practising before breakfast, saw the morning's letters lying on the
+hall table, and amongst them one directed to herself in Betty's hand.
+Without waiting to have it given to her in the usual way, she picked it
+up, and, little dreaming of the news it held, opened it at once.
+
+"Dear Kitty," she read, "I have run away for ever, and I am never going
+home any more.  I think I have killed Aunt Pike.  I told her something,
+and she fell right down on the floor.  She was dead, I am sure, and I
+ran away.  I am too frightened to go home, so do not ask me to.  I am
+going to earn my living.  I am hiding at the farm.  Mrs. Henderson
+thinks I am going home soon, but I am not; and if she won't let me sleep
+here, I shall sleep in the woods.  To-morrow I shall try to get a place
+as a servant or something.  I wish I looked older, and that I had one of
+your long skirts.  I can put my hair up, but my dress is so short.
+Good-bye for ever.--
+
+"Your loving Betty."
+
+"S.P.--Give my love to father if he will except it from me, and tell him
+I did not mean to be a bad child to him."
+
+Kitty stood staring blankly at the letter, scarcely able to grasp its
+meaning.  It seemed too wild, too improbable to be true.  Betty had run
+away; was frightened, desperate, too frightened to go home; had been out
+all night alone; and they were all far away from her, all but Tony.
+Kitty felt stunned by the unexpectedness and greatness of the trouble,
+but she realized that she must act, and act quickly.
+
+Miss Pidsley and Miss Hammond were gone to an early service at the
+church, but it never occurred to Kitty to wait for them and consult
+them.  She only realized that a train left for Gorlay in twenty minutes'
+time, and that if she could catch it she could be at home in little more
+than two hours, and on the spot to seek for Betty.  She cleared the
+stairs two at a time, and in less than three minutes was flying down
+them again and out of the house, buttoning her coat as she went, and had
+vanished round the corner and down the road.  She felt absolutely no
+fear of meeting her teachers, for it never entered her head that she was
+doing anything wrong.  Miss Pidsley had once said that if she was wanted
+at home she could go, and Kitty had never, since then, felt herself a
+prisoner at school.  She did hope that she might not meet them, or any
+one else she knew, for time was very precious, and explanations would
+cause delay; but that they might forbid her to go never once entered her
+head.  Her mind was full of but one thought--Betty was lost, and no one
+but herself had any clue as to her whereabouts.
+
+But the only person that Kitty met was a telegraph boy.  Miss Pidsley
+and Miss Hammond, coming home by another route, met the telegraph boy
+too at the gate, and took the telegram from him.
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Miss Pidsley as she opened it and mastered its contents,
+"dear, dear!  This brings bad news for Katherine Trenire.  Listen," and
+she read aloud, "Mrs. Pike seriously ill.  Send Miss Trenire at once.
+Yearsley."
+
+"Shall I break it to the poor child?" asked Miss Hammond anxiously.
+
+"Please."
+
+Miss Hammond hurried into the house and to the schoolroom, but Kitty was
+not there.  Then she went to the music-room, but there was no Kitty
+there; then by degrees they searched the whole house and garden, but in
+vain, and at last stood gazing at each other, perplexed and alarmed.
+Kitty, with never a thought of all the trouble she was causing, had
+caught her train and was speeding home, little dreaming, though, of all
+that lay before her, for in her alarm for Betty she had quite failed to
+grasp the other and more serious news that Betty had written; and, as
+the long minutes dragged by, and the train seemed but to crawl, it was
+only for Betty that her anxiety increased, is her mind had time to dwell
+on what had happened, and picture all the dreadful things that might
+have occurred to her.
+
+"It was a wet night, and it was a very dark one, and such strange sounds
+fill a wood at night, and--oh, I hope she kept away from the river!
+If anything chased her, and she ran, and in the darkness fell in--
+O Betty, Betty!"
+
+Then "Gorlay at last!" she cried in intense relief as she recognized the
+well-known landmarks.  Long before the train could possibly draw up, she
+got up and stood by the door with the handle in her hand, a sense of
+strangeness, of unreality, growing upon her.  She felt as though she
+were some one else, some one older and more experienced, who was
+accustomed to moving amidst tragedies and the serious events of life.
+Even the old familiar platform, the white palings, the 'bus and the
+drowsy horses that she knew so well, seemed to her to have changed too,
+and to wear quite a different aspect.
+
+"I feel like a person just waking out of a dream, not knowing whether it
+is dream or reality," she thought to herself as she opened the door and
+stepped out on to the platform.  "I suppose I am not dreaming?"
+
+But as she stood there for a moment trying to collect herself, Weller,
+the 'busman, came up to her, and he was real enough, and his anxious
+face was no dream-face.
+
+"Good-morning, missie," he said sympathetically.  "I'm sorry enough, I'm
+sure, to see you come home on such an errant.  'Tis wisht, sure enough."
+
+Kitty was startled.  She thought he was referring to Betty, and wondered
+how he could know of her escapade.  "You knew she was gone?" she asked
+anxiously.
+
+The man looked shocked.  "Gone!  Is she, poor lady?  Law now, miss, you
+don't say so!  I hadn't heard it.  She was just conscious when I called
+fore this morning to inquire, and they 'ad 'opes that she'd rally."
+
+"Then they have found her; but--but is she ill?  Did she get hurt?--the
+river!--O Weller, do tell me quickly.  I came home on purpose to go to
+look for her.  Is she very ill?"  Poor Kitty was nearly exhausted with
+anxiety and the shocks she had received.
+
+Weller looked puzzled.  "Why," he said slowly, "I never heard nothing
+about any river.  She was took ill and fell down in the room, missie.
+Haven't you heard?  They told me they was going to tellygraff for you so
+soon as the office was open, 'cause your poor aunt said your name once
+or twice--almost the only words they've been able to make out since she
+was took ill; and with the master away and you the eldest, they thought
+you ought to be sent for."
+
+Then the rest of Betty's letter came back to her mind, and as the
+importance of it was borne in on her, Kitty's heart sank indeed in the
+face of such a double trouble.
+
+"Oh, if only father were home!" was her first thought.  "But even if we
+send at once he can't be here for ever so long."  A moment later,
+though, she remembered his health, and how bad such news would be for
+him, with all those miles between, too; and she felt that unless it was
+absolutely necessary, they must spare him this trouble.
+
+Rowe, the driver, came forward to help her to her seat.  "I think you'd
+best go outside, missie," he said gently, "you'm looking so white.
+P'r'aps the air'll do 'ee good.  I'm afraid you've had a bad shock."
+
+"I--I think I have," gasped Kitty, as, very grateful for his sympathy,
+she mounted obediently.
+
+Then Weller, who had suddenly disappeared, came back carrying a cup of
+steaming tea and a plate of bread and butter.  "Drink this, missie, and
+eat a bit," he said, clambering carefully up with his precious burden,
+"then you'll feel better.  You look as if you hadn't tasted nothing but
+trouble lately," he added sympathetically, as he arranged the tray on
+the seat beside her, and hurried down again to escape any thanks.
+
+Tears of gratitude were in Kitty's eyes as she ate and drank; and from
+sheer desire to show how much she appreciated his kindness, she finished
+all he had brought her, knowing that that would gratify him more than
+any thanks could.
+
+She certainly felt better for the food, and more fit to face the long
+drive home; and never to her life's end did she forget that drive on
+that sunny June morning--the dazzling white dusty road stretching before
+them, the hedges powdered with dust, the scent of the dog-roses and
+meadow-sweet blossoming so bravely and sending up their fragrance, in
+spite of their dusty covering, to cheer the passers-by.  Then, when at
+last they reached the town, familiar faces looked up and recognized her,
+and most of them greeted her sympathetically.
+
+It was all so natural, so unchanged; yet to Kitty, seeing it for the
+first time with eyes dazed with trouble, it seemed as though she had
+never seen it before--at least, not as it looked to her now.  She tried
+to realize that it was only she who had changed, that all the rest was
+just as it had always been.  She felt suddenly very much older, that
+life was a more serious and important thing than it had been--so serious
+and important that it struck her as strange that any one could smile or
+seem gay.
+
+With kind thoughtfulness Rowe did not stop at all on his way as usual,
+but drove the 'bus straight up to the house at once.  As they drew near,
+Kitty, glancing up to speak to him, saw him look anxiously up over the
+front of the house.  "It's all right," he murmured to himself; then
+aloud he said more cheerfully, "I'm hoping, missie, you may find your
+poor aunt better," and Kitty knew that he had feared lest they might
+find the blinds drawn down.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+KITTY'S HANDS ARE FULL.
+
+As soon as the 'bus had drawn up, the door of the house was flung open
+and Fanny tore out.  "Oh, my dear!" she cried, almost lifting her little
+mistress down bodily in her plump arms.  "Oh, my dear Miss Kitty, I'm
+that glad to see 'ee!  They said as the tellygram couldn't reach 'ee in
+time to catch that train, but I knew better.  I knew if you got that
+there message you'd come by that early train, even if it _had_ started."
+
+"What telegram?" asked Kitty.  "I haven't had one."
+
+"Why, to tell 'ee to come 'ome 'cause Mrs. Pike is so ill.  And if it
+haven't reached 'ee, why the postmaster-general ought to be written to
+'bout it.  But," breaking off with sudden recollection, "you'm come;
+and if you didn't get that tellygram, whatever made 'ee to?  You didn't
+have no token, did 'ee?"
+
+"I had Betty's letter," said Kitty, trying to sort things out in her
+mind.  "That was all I had, and that brought me.  I expect I had left
+before the telegram reached.  I remember now I passed a boy on my way to
+the station.  But what about Betty?  Have you heard anything?  Has she
+come back?  Have you sent in search of her?  Weller told me about poor
+Aunt Pike--oh, Isn't it dreadful, Fanny!  Two such awful things to
+happen in one day!  But he didn't know anything about Betty, and I
+didn't tell him.  She hasn't been found, I suppose?  I must go.  I think
+I may be able to find her if I start at once--but there is Aunt Pike.
+What must I do first?" despairingly.  "I _must_ find Betty.  She has no
+one else to look after her, while Aunt Pike has you."
+
+"If you wants Miss Betty, you'll find her in her bedroom," said Fanny,
+looking somewhat cross and puzzled.  "I don't know, I'm sure, why you're
+making such a to-do about seeing her, when there's so much else to think
+on.  Miss Betty's all right, and so is--Why, Miss Kitty, what's the
+matter?  You ain't feeling bad, are you?" cried Fanny in great alarm,
+for poor Kitty had dropped, white and limp, and trembling
+uncontrollably, into a chair in the hall.
+
+"Oh no--no.  I'm all right.  Only--I'm so--so glad.  I have been so
+frightened about her; but I am _so_ glad--so--I came to--to try to find
+her.  No one knew I had come, and all the way I was thinking of her out
+all night in the dark and rain; and then the good news came, and it--
+made me feel--feel--"  Kitty's head fell forward again, and the world
+seemed to rock and sway, and recede farther and farther from her, when a
+voice said, "Leave her to me," and some one lifted her up and laid her
+on a couch, and then something was held to her lips and her nose, and
+presently Kitty began to feel that the rest of the world was not so
+very, very far off after all, and then she sighed and opened her eyes,
+and saw a strange face looking down at her.  It was rather a tired,
+anxious face, but it smiled very kindly at Kitty.
+
+"Better now?" asked Dr. Yearsley.
+
+"Yes, thank you," whispered Kitty.  "How funny!"
+
+"I am glad you can see any fun in it," said the doctor with the ghost of
+a smile.  "It is the only funny thing that has happened in this unlucky
+house for the last day or two.  But it isn't the sort of humour I
+appreciate."
+
+"I am so sorry," said Kitty, trying to rise, "only I have never fainted
+before, and it seemed so odd that I should.  It is a horrid feeling."
+
+"Yes, not the sort of thing you want to repeat.  But perhaps it will
+cheer Jabez.  We have had two catastrophes, and he has got it into his
+head that there has got to be a third.  Perhaps this will count as the
+third, and the spell be broken.  Now lie still, and rest for a little
+while and have some food.  You are exhausted, and I want strong reliable
+helpers, not any more patients," with a smile that robbed his words of
+any harshness.  "You and I have our hands full."
+
+Kitty smiled up at him bravely.  "I am ready to do anything I am wanted
+to.  How is Aunt Pike?" anxiously.  "May I see her?  Is she very ill?"
+
+Dr. Yearsley looked grave.  "I will answer your questions backwards.
+Yes, to be quite frank with you, as the head of your family for the
+present, she is seriously ill.  She has had a stroke of paralysis, and
+at first I thought I must send to your father; but I was very unwilling
+to worry him, and I waited a little to see how things went.  I am
+thankful to say she has rallied a little, and if she goes on improving,
+even though it is but slightly, I am hoping he may be spared the bad
+news until we can send him better news with it.  I don't want to worry
+him if I can help it."
+
+"Oh no," said Kitty earnestly, "and he would worry dreadfully at being
+so far away."  She felt very kindly towards the doctor for his
+thoughtfulness for her father.
+
+"You shall see your aunt later.  She has asked for you many times, but
+we hardly knew whether she was conscious or not when she spoke.
+She must be kept very quiet though, and free from all anxiety.  I have
+got in a nurse for her.  Don't be frightened.  You see there was no one
+here with the time or knowledge to give her the attention she required,
+and it was a very serious matter.  I sent for you because, if she really
+wants to see you, and it would relieve her mind in any way to do so, it
+is important that you should be here, and the children needed some one
+to--"
+
+"Oh," cried Kitty, remorseful that she should have forgotten her all
+this time, "Anna!  What a state she must be in about her mother.  How is
+Anna?"
+
+"Yes, poor Anna," echoed Dr. Yearsley with a sigh, "she is in a very
+distressed state.  I wish you could calm her, and get her to pull
+herself together a little."
+
+"I will try," said Kitty gravely.  "And there is Betty.  I am longing to
+see her."
+
+"I doubt Miss Betty's complete joy at seeing you," smiled the doctor.
+"I think there may be some embarrassment mingled with her pleasure.
+Her return was--well, _she_ might think it ignominious.  Luckily no one
+in the house but myself knows that she had really run away.  I am
+afraid, though, that she has something on her mind that is troubling
+her--something in connection with Mrs. Pike's illness."
+
+Kitty recalled Betty's letter, and her heart sank.  She became so white,
+and looked so troubled, that the doctor tried to comfort her.
+"Whatever she may have said or done," he explained excusingly, "she did
+in utter ignorance, of course, of any ill result being likely to follow,
+and she cannot be blamed entirely for the disaster.  Mrs. Pike has been
+seriously unwell for some time; in fact, I had ventured to speak to her
+about her health, and warned her, but she resented my advice.  Believe
+me, that what has happened would have happened in any case; any little
+upset would have brought it about; but Betty may have precipitated
+matters."
+
+Kitty listened with wide, grave eyes; her heart was heavy and anxious,
+her mind full of awe and care.  How terribly serious life had become all
+at once; how real and possible every dreadful thing seemed, when so many
+came into one's life like this.
+
+As she left the doctor, walking away with heavy, tired steps, he looked
+after her, half pitying, half admiring.
+
+"She has had some hard knocks to-day, poor child," he said to himself,
+"but she has plenty of sense and plenty of pluck.  At any rate I hope
+so, for she will need both, I fancy, in the time that lies before her."
+
+Kitty, making her way slowly up the stairs to Betty's room and her own,
+was again impressed with that curious sensation of being some one else,
+of seeing everything for the first time.  How strangely things came
+about, she thought.  Here she was, back in her home again, as she had so
+often longed to be, but oh how different it was from what she had
+pictured--no joy in coming, no one to meet her, a stranger to welcome
+her, the house silent and strange.  Could it be really she, Kitty
+Trenire, walking alone up the old, wide, familiar staircase as though
+she had never gone away or known that brief spell of school life?
+Could she really be come back to her own again, as mistress of her
+father's house?  It seemed so--for a time, at any rate.  Kitty felt very
+serious, and full of awe at the thought, and as she slowly mounted the
+dear old stairs a little very eager, if unspoken, prayer went up from
+her heavy heart.
+
+Then she reached the door of her room and Betty's, and knocked.
+
+"Who is there?" demanded Betty's voice.  "Me.  Kitty."
+
+"Kitty  What, Kitty!  Oh--h--h!" There was a rush across the room, then
+a pause.  "I--I don't think you had better come in," gasped Betty.
+"You'll never want to see me again if you do."
+
+"Don't be silly.  Why, Betty, whatever has happened?" cried Kitty, as
+she opened the door and stepped into an almost perfectly dark room.
+"Are you ill?"
+
+"No," miserably, "I wish I was, then p'r'aps you'd be sorry; and if I
+was to die you might forgive me, but you can't unless I do die."
+
+"O Betty, what _have_ you done?" cried Kitty, growing quite alarmed.
+
+"Is she--is she dead?" asked Betty in an awful whisper.
+
+"Who?  Poor Aunt Pike?  No; Dr. Yearsley told me she is just ever so
+slightly better."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Betty, a world of relief in her sigh, "I _am_ so glad.
+Then I ain't a--a murderess--at least not yet.  I've been afraid to ask,
+and nobody came to tell me, and I--O Kitty, it was I made her tumble
+down like that in a fit or something, and I was _so_ frightened.
+I will never tell any one anything any more."
+
+"You will tell me what it was that you told Aunt Pike that upset her
+so?"
+
+"I don't think I can," said Betty.  "You will hate me so, and so will
+father--that is why I wanted to hide for ever from all of you; but,"
+with sudden indignation, "that silly old 'Rover' brought me back.  Oh,
+it was dreadful!"
+
+"What was?" asked Kitty patiently.  She knew Betty's roundabout way of
+telling a story, and waited.  "What did you tell Aunt Pike?  Do tell me,
+Betty dear.  I ought to know before I see her."
+
+Betty dropped on to the window-seat and covered her face with her hands.
+"Don't look at me; I don't want to see you look mad with me.  It was
+Aunt Pike's fault first of all.  If she hadn't said nasty--oh, horrid
+things about you, I shouldn't have told her what I did, but--but she
+made me, Kitty; I couldn't help it, and--and I told her right out that
+Anna could have cleared you long ago, and that she and Lettice were mean
+and dishonourable to let you bear the blame for them all this time.
+And when she spoke after that, her voice sounded so--oh, so dreadful, as
+if she was talking in her sleep, or was far away, or drowning, and she
+looked--oh, her face frightened me, and then she said, 'Did--Anna--
+know?' all slow and gaspy like that, as if she hadn't any breath, and I
+said 'Yes'--I _had_ to say 'yes' then, hadn't I?  Of course I didn't
+know it would make her ill, but she fell right down, all of a heap, and
+oh, I nearly died of fright, and I ran and ran all the way to Wenmere
+Woods, and I meant never to come back again--never!  And it was all Mrs.
+Henderson's fault that I did come--at least Mrs. Henderson's and
+Bumble's, and," drawing herself up with great dignity, "I am never going
+to speak to either of them again.  When I had had my tea--she gave me
+cream and jam, but not any ham--and when I had played about for a little
+while, she told me she thought I had better be going home, as I was
+alone; and at last I had to tell her I was never going home any more,
+and I would be her little servant, if she would take me, only no one
+must ever see me, or I should be discovered, but she wasn't a bit nice
+as she generally is.  She said, 'Oh, nonsense; little girls mustn't talk
+like that.  I am going to Gorlay to chapel, and I will take you back
+with me.'
+
+"Then I knew it wasn't any good to ask her to help me, and that I must
+sleep in the wood with all the wild beasts and things"--Betty's face and
+her story grew more and more melodramatic--"and as soon as she had gone
+to put on her bonnet, I ran into the woods for my life.  I expect when
+she came down again and didn't see me she thought I had gone home.
+I don't think anybody went to look for me, and I think it was very
+unkind of them, for I might have been eaten up, for all they knew, by
+wild beasts--"
+
+"Oh no," said Kitty, rousing for the first time from the shock and
+distress Betty's revelations had thrown her into.  "There is nothing in
+the woods more savage than rabbits and squirrels."
+
+Betty looked hurt.  "Oh yes, there is," she protested, "or I shouldn't
+have gone up and kept close to the railway lines.  I saw something,
+quite large, staring at me with great savage eyes, and if it wasn't a
+wolf, I am sure it was a badger or--or a wild-cat."
+
+"Did it fly at you?"
+
+"No, but it looked at me as if it wanted to, and I ran until I came to
+the railway; and after a long time, when it was nearly dark, I saw some
+red lights coming and heard a noise, and that was the 'Rover.'  I--I
+didn't like the woods at night, so I went up and shouted and signalled
+to Dumble, and asked him if he knew anybody who wanted a servant, 'cause
+I'd left home for good, and wanted a 'place.'  I didn't tell him who I
+was, and I thought he wouldn't know me.  After he had thought for a
+minute or two, he said yes, he reckoned he could put me in a good
+'place,' if I'd come along of him.  So I got up in the carriage--I had
+it all to myself--and oh it was lovely going along in the dark and
+seeing the fire come out of the funnel!  But," growing very serious and
+dignified again, "I consider Dumble the _most_ dishonourable man I
+_ever_ met, and I'll _never_ speak to him again--_never_; and I'll
+_have_ to leave Gorlay 'cause I can't never meet him again, for he
+ackshally took me up in his arms when the 'Rover' stopped at the wharf,
+and--well, I was rather sleepy and I didn't see where I was going, but
+of course I _trusted_ him, and when I opened my eyes--why, I was home!
+Oh, I was _so_ angry I didn't know what to do, and I'm never going to
+speak to Dumble again.  I hope I never see him."
+
+The corners of Kitty's mouth twitched, but she did not dare to laugh.
+"I expect he thought he was doing right," she said excusingly.
+"He couldn't have helped you to run away; he would have been sent to
+jail.  And oh, Betty, I am so glad you did come home; there is trouble
+enough without losing you too.  I was so frightened about you all the
+way down in the train--"
+
+"Did you get my letter?"
+
+"Yes; it was that that brought me.  I didn't know anything about Aunt
+Pike until I got to Gorlay Station."
+
+Betty crept over from her window-seat and stood by Kitty as she sat on
+her little bed.  "Kitty, do you hate me for telling that to Aunt Pike?"
+
+"Hate you!" cried Kitty.  "As though I ever could, dear.  I am sorry she
+was told--but--but I know you couldn't help it, Bet.  I couldn't have
+myself if it had been you, and she had said unkind things about you."
+
+Then Betty flung her arms about Kitty's neck and began to sob heavily.
+"I do love you so, Kitty! I do.  I really do.  I think you are the
+splendidest girl in all the world, and--and I'll never do anything to
+make you sorry any more, if I can help it."
+
+Kitty held her little sister very tightly to her, and with Betty's head
+resting on her breast, and her cheek laid on Betty's curly head, they
+talked, but talk too intimate to be repeated.
+
+At last Kitty got up.  "Where's Tony?" she asked.  "I have to find each
+of you separately, and it seems as if I shall never see all, I want to
+stay so long with each.  Betty, where is Tony?  He is all right, isn't
+he?"
+
+"Oh yes.  He went to try and make Anna stop screaming, and I think he
+has done it.  I haven't heard her for a long time."
+
+Kitty made her way to Anna's room, and tapped gently at the door.
+At first there was no reply, then through the keyhole came a whisper.
+"Who is there?  You must be very quiet, please.  Anna is asleep."
+It was Tony's voice, but by the time Kitty had opened the door he was
+back on his chair by Anna's sofa, waving a fan gently, as he had been
+doing for so long that his poor little arms and back ached.  His face
+was very flushed and weary-looking, but his eyes glanced up bright with
+satisfaction.
+
+"She is gone to sleep, she'll be better now;" but at sight of Kitty the
+fan was dropped and Anna forgotten, and nurse Tony flew across the room
+and into his sister's arms.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad! oh, I'm so glad!" he said again and again and again.
+"There wasn't anybody but me and Dr. Yearsley, and I was frightened
+'cause I didn't know what to do, and everything seemed wrong.  I wish
+daddy was home; but it won't be so bad now you are here," and he
+snuggled into her arms with a big, big sigh of relief, and put his
+little hot hands up continually to pat her face and convince himself
+that she had not vanished again.  And thus they sat, held in each
+other's arms and watching the sleeping Anna, until the handle was gently
+turned, and Betty appeared in the door-way.  A very pale, weary Betty
+she looked now she was away from her own darkened room.
+
+"Kitty, Dr. Yearsley is looking for you.  I think Aunt Pike is awake and
+asking for you."  Then, as Kitty hurried past her, "He says she is a
+little better, only ever so little; but it is good news, isn't it?  She
+will get well, won't she, Kitty?  Oh, do say 'yes,'" and Betty, who had
+never before bestowed any love or thought on her aunt, had as much as
+she could do to keep her tears back.
+
+It was a very nervous, trembling Kitty who presently entered the large,
+dim bedroom where Aunt Pike, so helpless and dependent now, lay very
+still and white on her bed.  Kitty almost shrank back as she first
+caught sight of her, half fearing the change she should see.  But the
+only change in the face she had once so dreaded was the expression.
+
+When Dr. Yearsley bent over her, and said cheerfully, "Here she is; here
+is Kitty," the white lids lifted slowly, and Aunt Pike's eyes looked at
+her as they had never looked before.  Kitty went over very close to her,
+and kissed her.
+
+"I am so sorry," she said sympathetically, "that you are ill, Aunt Pike,
+but so glad you are a little, just a little bit better."
+
+Mrs. Pike did not answer her; she seemed to have something on her mind
+that she must speak of, and she could grasp nothing else.  "I--I have
+been--very--unjust--to you," she gasped, speaking with the greatest
+difficulty.  "You--should--have--told me."
+
+"No, no," said Kitty eagerly, bending and kissing her again,
+"you haven't.  You didn't know.  I meant you never to know."
+
+"Anna--knew.  She--should--"
+
+Kitty bent down, speaking eagerly.  "Anna did more for me--for us all.
+She saved Dan's life--in that fire."
+
+The poor invalid looked up with a gleam of pleasure in her eyes.
+"Did she?  I am--very glad; but it--it did not excuse--the other.
+That is--beyond forgiveness."
+
+"Oh no!" cried Kitty warmly, "nothing is that.  It is all forgiven long
+ago, and we will never think of it again."
+
+Aunt Pike's hand was almost helpless, but Kitty felt it press hers ever
+so slightly, and stooping down she laid her fresh warm cheek against her
+aunt's cold one.  "You must make haste and get well," she said
+affectionately, "and then we shall all be happy again."
+
+"It-doesn't matter.  No one cares," gasped the poor invalid, tears of
+weakness creeping out from between her lids.
+
+"Oh, you mustn't say that," cried Kitty sturdily.  "You must get well
+for all our sakes.  Anna cares, and I care very much.  We all care, more
+than we thought we did till we knew you were ill."
+
+"Anna," whispered the invalid, "is she--all--right?"
+
+"Yes, Tony has soothed her to sleep, and is sitting by her, and I am
+going to sit by you while you go to sleep.  Dr. Yearsley says you
+mustn't talk any more now," and Kitty, seated in a chair by her aunt's
+bedside, held her helpless hand lovingly until she had fallen into the
+easiest sleep she had had yet.  By-and-by the nurse came back, and Kitty
+was free to move.
+
+"I think I must go and talk to Fanny now," she thought, and she made her
+way to the kitchen, thinking very soberly the while.
+
+"Fanny," she said, "you and I have to steer this ship between us, and
+for the honour of the ship we must do it as well as ever we can.
+I--I am afraid I am not very much good, but I am going to try hard; and
+I think we shall be able to manage it between us, don't you?" wistfully.
+"Of course having strangers in the house makes it more difficult; but we
+will do our best, won't we?"
+
+"That we will, Miss Kitty," said Fanny heartily, "and between us all we
+ought to be able to do things fitty."
+
+The strangers, Dr. Yearsley and Mrs. Pike's nurse, made housekeeping a
+more serious matter certainly, and illness complicated things; but Aunt
+Pike's reign, though unpleasant in many ways, had made others easier for
+Kitty.  The house was in good order, rules had been made and enforced.
+Fanny and Grace had learned much, and profited a good deal by the
+training, and, best of all, all worked together with a will to make
+things go smoothly.
+
+There was hope and good news to cheer them too.  Aunt Pike grew daily
+better; by very, very slow degrees, it is true, but still there were
+degrees.  Good news came from their traveller too--news of restored
+health, good spirits, and, presently, a longing to be at home and at
+work again.
+
+And then, so quickly did the busy days fly, they had only a very few
+left to count to the return of the two absent ones, for Dr. Trenire and
+Dan were to meet and travel home together.  Then the last day came, and
+the last hour, and then--Kitty found herself once more with her father's
+arms about her.
+
+"Why, father," she cried, standing back and studying carefully his
+cheerful, sunburnt face, and his look of health and strength, "you are
+more like the old father than you have been for ever so long."
+
+Dr. Trenire burst into a roar of hearty laughter.  "Well," he cried,
+"after my spending three months in trying to renew my youth, I do think
+you might have called me a 'young father.'  Never mind, Kitty, I feel
+young, which is more than you do, I expect, dear, with all the cares you
+have had on your shoulders lately.  I suppose you have left Miss Pidsley
+finally," with a smile, "and I have to pay her a term's fees for
+nothing?"
+
+Kitty looked a little ashamed of herself as she smiled ruefully.
+"Yes.  I don't seem able to stay at any school more than one term, do I?
+I think you had better give up trying, father, and keep me home
+altogether now."
+
+"I think I had," said her father seriously.  "I think I can't try again
+to get on without you, dear--even," quizzically, "if there isn't always
+boiling water when Jabez gets his head knocked."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+THE LAST.
+
+Aunt Pike grew slowly and gradually stronger, and in time was able to be
+dressed, and could sit up in her chair.  But she knew, and the doctors
+knew, that she would never again be the same strong, active woman that
+she was before.  The doctors had hopes that in time she would be able to
+walk again, and take up some of her old ways and duties; but she herself
+was not so hopeful, and with the prospect before her of a long spell of
+invalidism, she insisted on leaving Dr. Trenire's home for one of her
+own.
+
+The doctor and all protested warmly, but Aunt Pike was determined.
+"Kitty can look after the house now better than she could," she said,
+"and I shall be glad of the rest and quiet.  I shall not leave Gorlay.
+I want to be near you all, so that if Kitty wants any advice I shall be
+at hand to give it."
+
+So, seeing that her heart was set upon it, and feeling that the quieter,
+less busy home would be better for her, Dr. Trenire gave in, and they
+all set to work to find a house to suit her.  But here they found a task
+which taxed all their time and patience.  It had to be a small house,
+sheltered yet sunny, of a moderate rent, but in a good position; it must
+have, as well as a sitting-room, a room on the ground floor that Mrs.
+Pike could turn into a bedroom, and it must have a garden with no
+steps--a rarity in hilly Gorlay.
+
+There were not very many houses in Gorlay, and very few to let;
+certainly few with all, or even half, of the advantages Mrs. Pike
+demanded; and at last in despair the doctor had to prevail on an old
+friend and patient of his own to move from his house and give it up to
+the invalid, which, marvellous to tell, he did, and, even more
+marvellous, the house pleased Aunt Pike immensely.  The garden was made
+to suit her by removing all the steps and replacing them with sloping,
+winding paths and various other cunning devices; and the doctor saw that
+everything that could add to her comfort was done for her.  Then came
+the great excitement of furnishing the house and stocking the garden.
+
+But before all this had happened, Anna had provided them with a great
+and glad surprise, though at the same time a painful one; for the only
+wish of all concerned was that the past should lie buried, and the
+stupid, regrettable incident that had caused so much sorrow should be
+forgotten.
+
+They were all seated at tea one day--the children and Dr. Trenire around
+the table, and Aunt Pike in her big chair near the window--when suddenly
+the door was burst open, and Anna, whose absence had set them all
+wondering, walked in.
+
+"I have done it!" she cried excitedly.  "I have told them all--Lady
+Kitson and Miss Richards and Miss Matilda--and--and now," sobbing
+hysterically with nervous excitement, "I want to go away from Gorlay.
+I can't stay here.  I want to get away from every one until--until they
+have forgotten.  I'd like to go to Kitty's school.  May I, mother?"
+
+"Told all what?" asked Mrs.  Pike eagerly, ignoring all of Anna's outcry
+but that.
+
+"Told them all about that--that evening, and me and Lettice.  I wanted
+to try to forget it, and I couldn't until I had told them all."
+
+"O Anna, I wish you hadn't," cried Kitty, greatly distressed lest the
+mention of the old trouble should be too agitating for her aunt.
+But, to her surprise, Mrs. Pike looked up with such pleasure in her eyes
+as had not been seen in them for a very long time.
+
+"Have you really, Anna?" she cried gladly.  "Oh, I am so thankful,
+child.  That will do me more good than anything," and she drew Anna down
+to her and kissed her very tenderly.  "Yes, dear," with an understanding
+of Anna's feelings such as she had never shown before, "you shall go
+away to school for a time.  You shall go to Miss Pidsley's next term, if
+you like.  I am sure it is the best plan."
+
+So Anna went away to school, and Aunt Pike moved into her new home in
+time to receive her on her return for the Christmas holidays.
+A nurse-companion was engaged to live with Mrs. Pike and take care of
+her; but never a day passed but what Kitty went to sit with her, to tell
+her the news or ask her advice.  The others went frequently too--Tony
+regularly, and Dan daily when he was at home.  Betty went sometimes, but
+not so gladly, for she never quite got over the fright of that dreadful
+day, and a terrible lurking dread that she might accidentally shock her
+aunt again, and once more hear that strange, far-away voice, and see her
+falling, falling.  But Kitty never failed; and Kitty was, perhaps, the
+best beloved of them all by the aunt who had tried, and been so tried
+by, them.
+
+"You see, Kitty was the only one who willingly kissed me and called me
+'dear,'" the poor invalid confessed one day to the doctor as they sat
+together in the firelight talking over many things--"the only one since
+Michael died; and cold, reserved folk such as I remember these things."
+
+"She has a warm heart has my Kitty," said the doctor softly, "and a
+generous one;" then, fearing as usual the effect of any emotion on the
+invalid, "She told me that if I came here I was to look about me and see
+if she had left her gloves about.  She thinks she lost one on the way
+here, but may have dropped the other in the house, as she is almost
+certain she had one with her.  It doesn't much matter, though; they were
+very full of holes, oddly enough," with a smile.
+
+Aunt Pike's mouth twitched a little at the corners as she opened her
+work-basket and took out two rather shabby gloves.  "One was under the
+table; some one picked up the other in the garden.  They are not holey
+now; I have mended them.  But I expect Kitty would never find it out if
+you did not tell her."
+
+"A year or two ago she would not have," said her father, as he took the
+gloves and put them in his pocket, "but I think she would now."
+
+"She has changed," said Aunt Pike gently.  "We all have."
+
+"Yes, she has changed--in some respects; in others I hope she never
+may."
+
+"I think you need not fear that, John," said Aunt Pike sympathetically.
+Silence fell on them both for a few moments, then Mrs. Pike spoke again.
+"John, will you be sure to tell Kitty to come here to-morrow, and Dan
+and all of them in fact, to welcome Anna home for the Christmas
+holidays?  I have a surprise in store for them too, but you mustn't
+breathe a word of it.  Pamela is coming too, to spend part of her
+holidays with us.  I thought she would do Anna good.  Then perhaps you
+would like to have her with you for the rest of the time.  We mustn't
+forget that she was Kitty's friend first.  But don't you breathe a word
+of this to Kitty."
+
+"Very well," said the doctor; then, with a pretended sigh, he added,
+"I am thankful, though, that my Christmas puddings and things are
+already made, for I foresee there will be nothing more done now.
+You wicked woman, to plot so against my peace and comfort."
+
+But Aunt Pike did not look repentant, she only chuckled.
+"Even housekeepers must have a holiday at Christmas," she said, "and I
+am sure yours deserves a good one."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KITTY TRENIRE***
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