"Oh, I don't mean to get into disgrace," said the child confidently. "I am going to be as good as ever I can."
At this moment the train came in, and the conversation ended. But Ella, alas! had reason to remember her own words some three weeks later.
Upon arriving home, Rupert was summoned into his mother's presence, Giles having already given information against him.
Now, there was nothing which cut the Snowden children more to the heart than the thought of "grieving mother," and Rupert's penitence, when she told him how much his foolish and wilful conduct had pained her, was very real. He promised faithfully to amend his ways and to his credit, be it said, he fully meant to keep his word.
During the weeks which followed, Gertie's jealousy of Ella grew by leaps and bounds, until, at last, it was plain enough for any one to see.
"I wonder if Ella Russell ever uses a Key for her arithmetic," said Dorothy Grey one morning to her friend Gertie; "if not, she's the quickest at sums I ever knew."
"I don't think she's that sort of girl," was the reply, given almost unwillingly.
"Oh, one never knows, 'still waters run deep,' and a Key is no end of help."
Alas! Dorothy, on more than one occasion, had used such aid herself.
A couple of days later, Gertie was sitting alone in one of the class-rooms during the dinner hour, poring over a sum which wouldn't come right.