“September 26.
“Mrs. Abbott went to New York to-day. She wont be back till to-morrow night.
“September 27.
“To-day Edna said to Lily and me, ‘Let’s slip out the back gate and go to the village. Miss Blake’s so near-sighted she wont see us.’ Lily was angry, and told Edna she insulted her by asking her to do such a thing when she knew Mrs. Abbott objected. After she had gone down-stairs Edna said, ‘Lily’s a born coward. She’d just love to go out that gate, but she’s so afraid she daresn’t. Now you’ve got more pluck, and I do like to see a girl who isn’t a ’fraid cat.’ After that I was afraid to refuse, so I guess I was a coward myself. We went up to the store, and Edna bought raisins and nuts, and I bought a pine-apple and some packages of lozenges. They don’t keep much of any thing nice at the store.
“September 28.
“Last evening Edna and I gave a party in her room after we went up to bed. We had nuts and raisins, and the pine-apple was cut into slices; but it was sour. Edna ran into the dining-room pantry and grabbed a cupful of salt. She thought it was sugar. Luckily she found it out before she had sprinkled much on the pine-apple. Edna said the party was great fun, but I didn’t have a very nice time. I kept thinking what if Miss Blake should come in and ask where we got the things.
“September 29.
“Some of us were in the front yard at recess and the gate-bell rang. Bertha said, ‘Come in the house, quick, before Johnny comes to answer the bell.’
“I started to go with the others, but Edna held on to me till Johnny came up and opened the gate. We heard him say:
“‘Mrs. Abbott is away, and I don’t think there’s any ribbons or things wanted to-day.’