'It was good, as far as it went,' answered Frank, 'but it was not a true one.'
'I should be glad to be informed what there was in it untrue?'
'The part you did not tell,' said Frank. 'I am sorry to offend any of you, but I shall not be satisfied with myself, unless I declare, that I think we have done wrong; and if it were not for betraying my companions, I should confess the whole to Mr. Reed, bad as it would make me feel; but I will never lisp a word of it to any one. I hope Gardiner, you will not put that paragraph in the paper, for that will excite attention, and I think we may never hear of it again.'
'I have not any very serious intention of doing that,' said Gardiner, smiling; 'and I agree with you, that the less there is said of it, the better for us. We had a grand time; it went off nobly. You are a freshman, Frank; when you have been longer among boys, you will get used to their pranks, and not mind a little concealment. I think as much of honour, as any body need to, and would not tell a lie, or break a promise, to escape a good flogging; but there is no fun, when every thing is done in open daylight.'
Notwithstanding these, and other reckless expressions of Gardiner, and Lawrence, they could not disguise to themselves, the increased respect which they felt for Frank, in consequence of his bold avowal of his sentiment, and it would never have occurred to them, at that moment, to have called Frank a coward.
Frank's secret mortification at his fault did not wear off, and he gradually assumed a shy and reserved manner, towards Mr. and Mrs. Reed, which disappointed them, as he had appeared very frank the first time they saw him, and they were afraid he was not contented. Mrs. Reed, however, in time, gained his confidence, by her gentle and judicious conduct. She did not press him to converse either with herself, or any one else. She suggested objects of curiosity and enterprise, which drew him out, and displayed the quickness of his intellect, and the delicacy of his feelings. It must be owned, Frank became a favorite with her. This refinement, and even his reserve, interested her, and he was a frequent companion of her walks and rides.
In one of these excursions, when Frank was driving Mrs. Reed in their little waggon, Miss Reed, a niece of hers, who was also in the carriage, said, 'do aunt, if you go near the spot, call and see how old widow Black's granddaughter is.'
'What is the matter with her?'
'Why, have you not heard? it is a very strange thing. She went up into the woods to get spruce, winter green, and herbs for her grandmother, to make that nice beer, which you know she sells to travellers, who pass by her hut; there she trod on something, which set her stocking on fire, for she had a large hole in her shoe; she stamped, and stamped on it; but this did not put it out, but only made it burn more, and she had the thought to run as fast as she could to the brook, which, fortunately, was not far off. She put her foot in the water, and this relieved the pain, and as she believed, extinguished the fire; but as soon as she took it out of the water, it burnt again, and it never occurred to her to take off her stocking, till she reached home, dreadfully burned, and she has been unable to move a step, since.'