The girls curtseyed, and obeyed in silence, and she proceeded. "I am sorry to say, I am informed by Miss Thomas of great misconduct upon your part. I am told that you, or one of you, was walking in the garden at a late hour last night, and in very improper company." She paused a moment, and then went on. "It would be much better for you to confess your fault at once, than to make any attempt to conceal it."
"I have no desire for concealment, Mrs. Pomeroy," answered Delia, respectfully, "nor has Emily. That we did very wrong, I acknowledge, and I am ready to tell you the whole story, as I should have done to Miss Thomas last night, but she did not seem disposed to listen."
"How dare you—" began Miss Thomas, but Mrs. Pomeroy waived her hand.
"Allow me, Miss Thomas—Proceed, Delia. I presume you speak for your companion, as well as for yourself."
"I do," said Delia. "Emily and I both ate a good deal of dried beef for tea, which made us very thirsty. We had no water in the room except the cistern water, which, you know, is not quite fit to drink at present."
"It is true!" assented Mrs. Pomeroy. "The cisterns are to be cleaned to-day, but go on, my dear."
"My dear," was always a sign of approaching fine weather with Mrs. Pomeroy.
Miss Thomas moved uneasily in her chair, and Delia went on modestly, but steadily.
"I proposed to Emily, that rather than suffer from thirst all night, we should go down and get some water. We should have asked permission, but it was late, and Miss Thomas was asleep, and knowing how much she has lately suffered from toothache, we were unwilling to disturb her. So we put on our clothes and went down as quietly as we could, and when we got out, the night was so fine that we were tempted to take a ramble in the garden. We got talking down by the arbor, and stayed out longer than we intended. It was very wrong, and we are ready to apologize, and submit to the penalty. I am sure, Emily, I may speak for you as well as myself."
Emily, who had hidden her face in her handkerchief; murmured assent.