rview with her. Annie had not as yet heard anything of the changed
essay; for Dora had resolved to keep the thing a secret until Mrs. Willis
herself took the matter in hand.

Annie was feeling not a little anxious and depressed. She was sorry now
that she had led the girls that wild escapade through the wood. Phyllis
and Nora were both suffering from heavy colds in consequence, and Susan
Drummond was looking more pasty about her complexion, and was more
dismally sleepy than usual. Annie was going through her usual season of
intense remorse after one of her wild pranks. No one repented with more
apparent fervor than she did, and yet no one so easily succumbed to the
next temptation. Had Annie been alone in the matter she would have gone
straight to Mrs. Willis and confessed all; but she could not do this
without implicating her companions, who would have screamed with horror
at the very suggestion.

All the girls were more or less depressed by the knowledge that the gypsy
woman, Mother Rachel, shared their secret; and they often whispered
together as to the chances of her betraying them. Old Betty they could
trust; for Betty, the cake-woman, had been an arch-conspirator with the
naughty girls of Lavender House from time immemorial. Betty had always
managed to provide their stolen suppers for them, and had been most
accommodating in the matter of pay. Yes, with Betty they felt they were
safe; but Mother Rachel was a different person. She might like to be paid
a few more sixpences for her silence; she might hover about the grounds;
she might be noticed. At any moment she might boldly demand an interview
with Mrs. Willis.

"I'm awfully afraid of Mother Rachel," Phyllis moaned, as she shivered
under the influence of her bad cold.

Nora said "I should faint if I saw her again, I know I should;" while the
other girls always went out provided with stray sixpences, in case the
gypsy mother should start up from some unexpected quarter and demand
blackmail.

On the day of Mrs. Willis' return, Annie was pacing up and down the shady
walk, and indulging in some rather melancholy and regretful thoughts,
when Susan Drummond and Mary Morris rushed up to her, white with terror.

"She's down there by the copse, and she's beckoning to us! Oh, do come
with us--do, darling, dear Annie."

"There's no use in it," replied Annie; "Mother Rachel wants money, and I
am not going to give her any. Don't be afraid of her, girls, and don't
give