told me she had never doubted me
for a moment; it was Miss Briggs that made me feel so horrid and
uncomfortable. Miss Upjohn told her she owed me an apology, and she
looked so miserable I felt as if I ought to apologise to her,' said
Vava.

'And why would you do that? No one has a right to take away your
character, and if they try to do it, and find they are wrong, it is they
who should apologise. There's nothing so much worth in this world as
one's character--never forget that, my bairn,' said the old nurse. 'You
see how Mr. Jones and Miss Upjohn both believed in you, though I must
say things did look black to a suspicious person; that was because they
knew your character, and that it was an honest character. If that same
tale had been told about a girl who was not straightforward it might
have been a different thing. Be thankful for your head-mistress's trust
in you, and always act up to the principles you have been taught; it
will save you from many a pitfall or from the trouble a weak young lady
like Miss Eva brings upon herself.'

'It doesn't seem to matter so much as long as I have you to get me out
of it,' said Vava mischievously.

'Indeed it does, for though I might get you off punishment I could never
undo what you had done,' said the old housekeeper.

'But if I was sorry?' suggested Vava.

'You would be forgiven, but it would never undo it, remember that,'
repeated Mrs. Morrison.

And Vava did remember it. At the moment she was thinking that Eva seemed
to have got over her trouble, and to feel as if it were undone the
moment the money was paid; but, as it happened, she was mistaken, and
when she saw her come in night after night, looking tired out and black
under the eyes, she began to understand that 'old nursie' was right, and
that one cannot undo a wrong deed. Moreover, though she never spoke of
it, Eva felt that she had lost her character for uprightness with her
friends, and she bitterly regretted her weakness. But if the girl had
but known it, they respected her more now that she was working so hard
to repay Mrs. Morrison than they had ever done before, and Vava was only
too glad to be with her in the short time she had free.

As for the furniture man, the shrewd Scotchwoman managed him better
perhaps than a lawyer would have done, and she got back Eva's jewellery,
which he had accepted in part payment at much less than their value; and
her still final triumph was that she only paid the thirty p