"Eunice has a sweet nature. Doesn't Miss Winn ever scold you?"
"Well—I suppose I am bad and wilful sometimes, and then she has the right. But when you do things that do not matter——"
Miss Winn was walking in the garden. Cynthia waved her hand, but walked leisurely forward.
"I couldn't imagine what had become of you."
"It was my fault," interposed Chilian. "I met her at the gate and asked her to go for a walk."
"And with that soiled apron!"
"That came off the slate. I hadn't any desk. It was hard to hold it on my knee."
"You might have come in for a clean one. Run upstairs and change it."
But she was destined to meet Cousin Elizabeth in the hall. The elder caught her arm roughly.
"Where have you been gadding to, bad girl? Didn't you know you must come straight home from school? Here we have been worried half to death about you, and I'm tired as a dog, trotting 'round all day. You deserve a good whipping;" and she shook her. She would have enjoyed slapping her soundly. But Chilian entered at that instant.