ngs of a fine lady in a trailed dress.

"Gretchen! Gretchen!" screamed Lucindy, as loudly as she dared. "Hide
it! hide it! Mrs. Randolph has come home!"

Carrie jumped, and lifting Gretchen from it, secured the skirt, and
Lucindy grasped it and rolled it in a small ball and hid it in the
hazel bushes. Then they held a hurried consultation, and decided it
was best for Lucindy to go back immediately; but, as it was now
impossible to restore the skirt to its place in the wardrobe, they
urged her to put it in some unfrequented spot, until a favorable
opportunity came to get it back. Lucindy now feared her aunt would
arrive without warning, and, although loth to part without the long
anticipated treat, they walked quickly down the path by the fence
toward the road.

"What on the face of the earth will I ever do with this thing?"
whispered Lucindy, for the first time betraying fear. "I can't get it
back to-night, that's as plain as the nose on your face. Oh, grief!
she may inquire after it as soon as I go in! It'll be just like my
luck for her to want to wear it to-night. Maybe she expects some one
to spend the evening with them, and that's what brought them back so
early. Let me see--Auntie will find it if I put it anywhere about the
house or barn; I must not be found out in this, because if I am,
Auntie wont give me the present she promised. I'll tell you, Carrie,
you take it and put it down the hole in the tree, under the tin box.
No one has ever found out that place; it will be safe there until I go
for it to-morrow."

This was immediately decided upon, and the girls went sulkily home.
The skirt was forced down into the tree, and the tin box placed on
top, and they trudged slowly homeward.

As Lucindy approached the house, she began to see more and more the
serious dilemma in which she was placed, and her face hardened visibly
as she thought.

"I'll deny the whole thing if I'm cornered; perhaps Mrs. Randolph will
live through the disappointment of not wearing her dress for once. I
have to live all the time without such dresses."

Just then she heard her aunt calling her, and she knew that some
unlooked-for occasion had brought them home before evening.

"Lucindy, we must hurry up the tea; the folks are going to spend the
evening at Judge Brander's. The team is waiting to take them there.
Mrs. Randolph saw me in the village, and told me."

Lucindy did not answer, but went in and about her duties as usual.
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