Girls New and Old

by L. T. Meade

The whole party started off soon for their walk to the caves. They had gone about a mile when Matilda declared that her feet hurt her, that her chilblains were worse than ever, and that she wished to go home. As none of the others particularly valued her society, she was allowed to depart without any strenuous opposition. She soon reached her room, took out Miss Forester's letter, and read it, for the third or fourth time, with a feeling of keen satisfaction. Before she had read the letter she had been in possession of its most salient facts; now her one object was to convey the news which she had acquired to Kate. Her difficulty lay in the fact that if she breathed a syllable of what she knew, she would be immediately accused of having again stooped to the petty crime of eavesdropping. Kate must certainly learn the contents of the letter, but in such a way that Matilda should not appear at all in the matter.

"Kate must find the letter," thought Matilda, as she sat with it on her lap, and put her brains in soak, as she expressed it. "Kate must not only find the letter, but she must find it in such a way, and under such circumstances, that she will be tempted to read the contents. Now, if I know Kate O'Connor aright, she is one of those dreadfully scrupulous, honorable people who would not read another person's letter for the world. If she finds the letter lying snug and neat in its envelope she will never glance at it; she will return it to Cecil, and all my little endeavors for her enlightenment on a certain important subject will be thrown away. Kate must not only find the letter, but she must read it. Now, how shall I manage?"

Matilda thought and thought; the riddle she had to solve was a somewhat difficult one. How was she to put the letter in Kate's way? and how was she to induce Kate to read it when she found it? After careful thought, a scheme occurred to her on which she resolved to act. Molly Lavender was under the impression that the lost letter had really been destroyed the night before by Cecil. Matilda determined to follow up this idea. The letter, when found, should be torn and slightly burned; the inscription should be gone; but the most salient point, the words which specially alluded to Kate, should stand out in startling distinctness. Kate should find the charred letter, should pick it up; the hastily divided parts could easily be put together. Matilda should come into the room at the critical moment, see the letter, pounce upon it, and read aloud some of the most startling sentences before Kate could stop her. The wicked girl laid her plans with care; she took the envelope off Miss Forester's letter and burned it. She tore the letter then into three parts, slightly singed the edges with a lighted candle, and slipped them under the fender in the drawing room. Her intention was to push the fender aside and disclose the letter when only Kate was in the room. Having laid her little bombshell with extreme care, she became cheerful and happy. By the time the others had returned she was dressed in her most becoming frock, and danced out to meet them in high good-humor.

"Well, I hope you have had a jolly day," she said. "Do let us have charades or something lively to-night. I have been as dull as ditch-water all the afternoon; but if we have a gay evening, I shall go to bed feeling well and jolly. Let us have charades after tea; they will help to pass the long evening."

"A capital idea," said Maurice, "and Mr. Danvers acts splendidly. What do you say, Cecil? shall we get up something?"

"I am quite agreeable," said Cecil; "but who will act?"

"I will if you like," said Molly.

"And I won't," said Kate. "I have walked too much, and my head aches."

"We had better divide ourselves into two parties," said Matilda, "one to look on and the other to act; then each will have a turn at both sides of the game. Oh, come, Kate, you must act when it is your party's turn."

The young people all sat together, and arranged their plans for the evening, while Maurice ran off to beg Mr. Danvers not to fail them. As the little man had absolutely forgotten that he had not spent the entire day with a party of schoolboys, he willingly agreed, and came in just after the supper was cleared away.