“I have fallen from a height! When? Where? How?”
“Here,” said the Captain; “see for yourself. Every one need not know, but you must know; read for yourself.”
Dizzily the little girl bent her head. For a moment she could see nothing. Then she read, as though they were written in letters of fire, the dreadful words, “Guilty of cruelty.”
She read this aloud and flung back her head.
“That I have never been guilty of. It is a lie; it is a black lie. I have never been cruel in all my life.”
The Captain sighed.
“It is in Aunt Jessie’s own handwriting. I am afraid there is no refuge from this storm. You had better not add to”——
“Oh! don’t say any more; I cannot—cannot stand it,” said the child.
She was about to rush through the open window, when Augusta stepped forward and held her hand.
“Be quiet,” she said—“for my sake.”