“Certainly.”

“And at the end of the week?”

“If you have not confessed before then I shall be obliged to confess for you before all the school. But, my poor child, you will; you must make amends. God could not have made so hard a heart!”

Evelyn wiped away her tears. She scarcely knew what she felt; she scarcely comprehended what was going to happen.

“May I bathe my eyes,” she said, “before I go with you into the schoolroom?”

“You may. I will wait for you here.”

The little girl left the room.

“I never met such a character,” said Miss Henderson to herself. “God help me, what am I to do with her? If at the end of a week she has not confessed her sin, I shall be obliged to ask Lady Frances to remove her. Poor child—poor child!”

Evelyn came back looking pale but serene. She held out her hand to Miss Henderson.

“I do not want your hand, Evelyn.”