"Agnes Kenway, ma'am."
"Oh! one of the Corner House girls!" cried the lady. "I have heard of you sisters. Three of you were in the play from the first. And why not you, before?"
"Oh!" fluttered Agnes, now waking up from the beautiful dream in which she had lived from two o'clock till five. "I am not in it—really. I cannot play the part in the opera house."
"Why not, pray?" demanded Madam Shaw in some surprise.
"Because I have broken some rules and am being punished," admitted Agnes.
Madam Shaw hid a smile quickly. "Punished at home?" she asked gravely.
"Oh, no! There is nobody to punish us at home."
"No?"
"No. We have no mother or father. There is only Ruth, and we none of us want to displease Ruth. It wouldn't be fair."
"Who is Ruth?"