"The darling!" exclaimed Bridget, "and why in the name of goodness am I to hate her?"
"Well, you must be a poor-spirited thing if you don't. May I ask if you would have got into your present scrape but for her? Have you not before this disobeyed Mrs. Freeman? Up to last night she took pity on you; she said to herself: 'Bridget knows nothing of the rules of the school; Bridget has never been accustomed to obey any rules, I will be merciful to her, I will be lenient, I will never forget that Biddy has been queen in her Irish home.'"
"Oh, don't talk to me about my home," said Bridget, her lips quivering, her eyes filling with tears.
"Yes; but is it not true, Bridget? Has not Mrs. Freeman been very lenient to you in the past?"
"I suppose she has. I never thought much about it. I scraped along somehow; I was happy enough."
"Well, was she lenient to you to-day?"
"Need you ask, Janet? I'm a prisoner; a close prisoner in this abominable room. Such treatment will soon kill me. I can't eat; I shall soon die of misery."
"It is hard on you, Bridget; you are exactly like a wild bird of the woods put into a cage."
"Yes, that's it; and the captive bird will break its heart."