ng that Mrs. Minot was
looking for the letter, hid her face and lay so still she could hear the
rustle of the paper as it was taken from the floor. It was well she did
not also see the quick look the lady gave her as she turned the letter
and found a red stamp sticking to the under side, for this unlucky
little witness told the story.

Mrs. Minot remembered having seen the stamp lying close to the sofa when
she left the room, for she had had half a mind to take it to Jack, but
did not, thinking Frank's plan had some advantages. She also recollected
that a paper flew off the table, but being in haste she had not stopped
to see what it was. Now, the stamp and the letter could hardly have come
together without hands, for they lay a yard apart, and here, also, on
the unwritten portion of the page, was the mark of a small green thumb.
Jill had been winding wool for a stripe in her new afghan, and the green
ball lay on her sofa. These signs suggested and confirmed what Mrs.
Minot did not want to believe; so did the voice, attitude, and air of
Jill, all very unlike her usual open, alert ways.

The kind lady could easily forgive the reading of her letter since the
girl had found such sad news there, but the dangers of disobedience were
serious in her case, and a glance showed that she was suffering either
in mind or body--perhaps both.

"I will wait for her to tell me. She is an honest child, and the truth
will soon come out," thought Mrs. Minot, as she took a clean sheet, and
Jill tried to study.

"Shall I hear your lesson, dear? Jack means to recite his like a good
boy, so suppose you follow his example," she said, presently.

"I don't know as I can say it, but I'll try."

Jill did try, and got on bravely till she came to the word "permanent;"
there she hesitated, remembering where she saw it last.

"Do you know what that means?" asked her teacher, thinking to help her
on by defining the word.

"Always--for a great while--or something like that; doesn't it?"
faltered Jill, with a tight feeling in her throat, and the color coming
up, as she tried to speak easily, yet felt so shame-stricken she could
not.

"Are you in pain, my child? Never mind the lesson; tell me, and I'll do
something for you."

The kind words, the soft hand on her hot cheek, and the pity in the eyes
that looked at her, were too much for Jill. A sob came first, and then
the truth, told with hidden face and tears that washed the blush away,
and se