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"Miss Christian!"

"You can if you like, nursey. She shall sleep with me. She shall; she must."

"Miss, I couldn't hear of it."

"Very well, never mind about that. Just ask her to stay. She shall sleep in your bed, and I will have a chat with her by-and-by. You wouldn't like, nursey——"

"What, Miss Christian?"

"Suppose I wasn't to be with you always—I mean you wouldn't like to feel you had refused one of my last wishes. If you come to think of it, it is almost like a a dying wish; isn't it, nursey?"

"Oh, dear!" cried the poor nurse, "the child does wring my heart. Rose, run along, then. Go and take off your hat and coat, and come and help me to put the braid on this skirt."

During the rest of that evening Christian enjoyed herself. It was really great fun being at the back of the secret. To have a secret going on that she was not aware of would have been irritating, almost maddening; but to know it all the time, and so lead up to it and get people who imagined that they were keeping it so safe and secure to all but betray themselves, was quite interesting. Christian sat down very demurely in the schoolroom, and allowed Miss Thompson to reveal herself as much as she could desire. Miss Thompson imagined she was keeping the secret of Christian's school to herself, but Christian knew better.