She began to cry bitterly. “It’s all the fault of those hateful girls,” she sobbed aloud. “If they had not run off and left me I should be safe at home. What will Aunt Prissy say?”
Faith reached the road without further mishap, and was soon walking up the path. There was no one in sight; not even Scotchie was about. A sudden resolve entered her mind. She would slip up-stairs, change her dress, and not tell her aunt about the torn dress. “Perhaps I can mend it, after all,” she thought.
As she changed her dress hurriedly, she wondered where all the family could be, for the house was very quiet. But she bathed her hands and face, smoothed her ruffled hair, and then looked for a place to hide the blue dress until she could find a chance to mend it. She peered into the closet. A small hair-covered trunk stood in the far corner and Faith lifted the top and thrust her dress in. At that moment she heard Donald’s voice, and then her aunt’s, and she started to go down-stairs to meet them.
CHAPTER XII
SECRETS
“Did you see all the fort, and the guns, and the soldiers?” asked Donald eagerly, running to meet his cousin as she came slowly into the sitting-room. “Why, your hand is all scratched!” he added in a surprised tone.
Faith tried to cover the scratched hand with a fold of her skirt. Aunt Prissy noticed that the little girl wore her every-day dress.
“Didn’t you wear your blue dress, Faithie?” and without waiting for an answer said: “Well, perhaps this one was just as well, for you might have hurt your blue dress.”