"Poor Sarah!" she said. "I'm so sorry and I know Hugh is going to scold. But oh, Warren, I think I did right."
"Sure," agreed Warren tersely. He had been more shaken by her recital than he cared to admit.
"I couldn't have given Sarah away like that, if it hadn't been for Shirley," said Rosemary, her eyes now on the infinitely dear little figure dancing ahead. "Sarah asked me not to tell and I said I wouldn't—and I never have before. Once she lost Aunt Trudy's ring and we all got in an awful mess, but we wouldn't tell. Hugh said then it was wrong and not being truly kind to Sarah.
"I didn't see it that way—then," confessed Rosemary. "But to-day—well, to-day, Sarah frightened me so! And I thought that if I kept still and said nothing, next time she might hurt herself or Shirley—when she makes up her mind, she can persuade Shirley to do anything. And Sarah goes a little bit further every time, unless she is stopped."
"If you are fretting about whether you did the right thing or not, forget it," Warren advised her seriously. "In the first place, your brother would have had the truth from you in five minutes and in the second place shielding Sarah when she is in a fair way to break her neck unless someone interferes, isn't far from wicked, to my way of thinking."
"But she trusts me," urged Rosemary. "Suppose I have lost her confidence?"
"You haven't," said Warren with conviction. "More likely, you've gained her respect."
Sarah was never to forget the talk with Doctor Hugh that morning. He sat down beside her on the grass and gravely and kindly, without raising his voice or threatening punishment, made her see what she had done.
"You were angry at me and you wanted to do something to 'get even,' Sarah," he began. "And to satisfy that miserable little desire to get even, you would have let serious injury, perhaps worse, come to Shirley and Rosemary—Shirley who would follow you anywhere and Rosemary who loves you so much she would dare anything for you."
Ignoring her tears and protests, he spoke to her of the responsibility of an older sister for a younger one and explained the far-reaching consequences of temper and disobedience.