"No, thanks, Maurice; don't think me disobliging, but I would really rather go alone," said Kate.
She ran into her room, and presently returned in her waterproof cloak and hat.
"If I am not in to dinner, don't wait for me," she said to the others.
As she was running downstairs, she met Matilda.
"I wouldn't fret if I were you," said Matilda, glancing at her.
"What do you mean?" said Kate, pulling herself up short.
"Why," continued Matilda, "if you are a charity girl, you also are—— I have been thinking it over all night, and I have made up mind that I won't tell; that is, if you will make it worth my while."
"What do you mean?" asked Kate.
"Why, this," said Matilda; "I notice that you have great influence in the school. I can't understand it; no one seems to mind your low origin a bit; they seem rather to like you for having been a peasant girl. Well, now, if you will chum with me, and appear as if you enjoyed my society, other people will perhaps think me worth cultivating. If you approach me in a friendly spirit next term, and talk of me as your friend, why, I'll keep your secret. There! is it a bargain!"