"It was Tom. I wasn't even going to do it for him, but when he told me he was inside the Door of the Kingdom and would never drink any more, I was so glad, it made me—well, it made something different in my heart—and I knew I must come back if you—if you whipped me to death!"
She ended her sentence with desperate emphasis.
"I have never yet raised my hand against you," her aunt said gravely.
"No, but I thought you might," Harebell replied quickly. "I thought of such a lot of things you could do to me; but, you know, it was God and Tom who made me come back. I had to."
"It was exceedingly naughty of you to think of running away. If you had gone on, you might have met with accidents. We should, of course, have followed you and brought you back before the day was over. And nothing then would have prevented my sending you to school to-morrow. A little girl who acts like that wants a great deal more discipline than I can give her. But as you turned back of your own accord, I am going to forgive you. I have received a letter from Mrs. Garland this morning. If you had been here at breakfast-time, you would have heard about it. Of course, the letter has explained what you ought to have explained to me long ago—"
Harebell's eyes were open wide.
"What?" she gasped.
"It seems that Peter has been unhappy a long time, and confessed to his mother yesterday that he was the cause of your disobeying me. Why did not you tell me so before?"
"I—he—I promised him I wouldn't tell," faltered Harebell.
"You had no right to promise such a thing. It was not being frank with me, and led me to think what was not true—"