“Don’t, Bertha!” cried Mildred sharply. Her face flushed to a vivid pink, she seemed to struggle with herself for a moment, then said decisively, “Look here, I am going to tell you something. You will be shocked, but it’s done now, and can’t be undone, so there is no use saying anything about it. There was no shower. It was a trick. I played the hose upon her window.”
A gasp of horror sounded through the room as the twins uttered a simultaneous question, “You—what?”
“I played the hose upon her window. I’ll tell you all about it. You had both been crying in the dining-room, saying that your pleasure was spoiled, and that you wouldn’t enjoy yourselves a bit. Then you went out of the room and I strolled into the garden. I heard a noise at the window and saw Lady Sarah standing in her room. I didn’t want her to see me, so I slipped behind a clump of trees, and the hose was lying on the ground all ready. It darted into my head in a moment that I could make her think it was raining, and I took it up and played it gently on the panes,—just like the very beginning of a shower. By and by I heard the window open and saw her stretch out her hand; then I gave a flick round the corner, so that she got quite a nice little bath. The window shut with a bang, and I went on pattering until it was all over drops. She stood in the background looking out—”
“Oh, Mildred!” echoed the Dean’s daughters in horrified chorus; “Oh, Mildred! how could you, how dare you? Suppose anyone had seen you.”
“Oh, I took good care of that! No one saw me at all—except Erroll.”
“Erroll? Good gracious! And did you warn him not to tell?”
Mildred shook her head.
“No; Mother never allows us to tell the children anything like that. She says it makes them deceitful. He will forget all about it; children always do.”
“They generally remember when you want them to forget. Oh, Mildred, I wish you hadn’t done it! I don’t like it a bit. It makes me feel worse than ever.”
“You can’t feel anything like as bad as I do,” retorted Mildred miserably. “I was sorry the moment after I had done it. I went upstairs and stayed in my own room, for I thought I had done enough mischief, and had better keep out of the way. I was really disappointed to see Miss Turner in the carriage instead of Lady Sarah. I thought I shouldn’t enjoy myself at all—it worried me so; but then I got interested and forgot all about it—until we came home.” Her voice sank into a disconsolate whisper, “I don’t know what your mother will think, when she put her into my charge, too, but there are two days more; I’m going to be awfully nice, and try if I can’t make up.”