"Oh, but I really don't want to put the thing on paper!"

MATILDA WAS NOW AS FRIGHTENED AS SHE WAS ANGRY.

"All right; then Miss Forester shall hear this little story."

"Before I write anything," said Matilda, "I must know to whom my confession is to be repeated?"

Cecil spoke without hesitation.

"Kate O'Connor must know first of all," she said; "also Hester Temple. I have given you my word that what we say shall not reach any of the authorities, but Molly and Hester and Kate and I must have a consultation with regard to whether the other girls in the school are to know the truth or not. Now, sit down; write, and be quick about it."

The miserable Matilda saw no help for it. Cecil was a great deal too strong for her in every sense of the word.