us
rescuer had but seen her joy in her recovered treasure, he would have
felt rewarded for his exertions in saving a thing so ugly.

[1] Riding-School.

CHAPTER XII.

THE PLOT THICKENS.

The next time Barbara went to the baths she chose the day and the hour
at which Alice had told her she was usually taken, and was greatly
pleased when she saw the girl waiting in the passage. But as soon as
the old servant saw her she edged farther off with her charge, who
lifted her eyebrows in a suggestive manner, as if to say, "You see, my
spy has been warned." It seemed as if it would be impossible to hold
any conversation at all, but, fortunately, they were put into adjoining
cubicles, and Barbara found a crack, which she enlarged with her
pocket-knife.

She felt as if she might be Guy Fawkes, or some such plotter from olden
times, and wondered what he would have done if he really had been
present. But having seen how difficult it was even to speak to Alice,
she was afraid the girl would take things into her own hands and do
something silly.

Probably it was this feeling of urgency that stimulated her, and the
vague ideas which had been floating in her brain suddenly crystallised,
and a plan took shape which she promptly communicated to Alice. The
latter, she proposed, should go to Paris, to the pastor's family at
Neuilly, Barbara lending her the necessary money, for the girl was only
given a very little at a time. From Paris she could write to her
father and explain things, without any danger of having the letter
examined or altered.

The only, and certainly most important, difficulty in the carrying out
of this plan was that there seemed no opportunity to escape except at
night, and even then it would need great care to slip past Mademoiselle
Eugenie, who slept at one end of the dormitory. Barbara did not like
the night plan, because it would mean climbing out of the window and
wandering about in the dark, or--supposing there were a
train--travelling to Paris; and either alternative was too risky for a
girl in a foreign country, who did not know her way about.

Gazing up at the ceiling in perplexity over this new hitch, Barbara
discovered a way out of it, for there was a glazed window not so high
but that Alice could manage to climb up, and if she got safely out
(this was another inspiration), she was to run to the widower's house
and hide there till the time for a train to Paris. Once safely in that