re the wind became any stronger. Faith felt
very grateful to him for bringing her from the fort.

"You'll be as brave as Colonel Allen when you grow up," she said, as
she stood on the shore and watched him paddle off against the wind.

He nodded laughingly. "So will you. Remember your promise," he called
back.

The wind seemed to blow the little girl before it as she hurried
across the rough field. She held tight to her velvet cap, and, for the
first time, wondered if she had torn or soiled the pretty new dress in
her scramble down the cliff. Her mind was so full of the happenings of
the afternoon that she did not look ahead to see where she was going,
and suddenly her foot slipped and she fell headlong into a mass of
thorn bushes, which seemed to seize her dress in a dozen places. By
the time Faith had fought her way clear her hands were scratched and
bleeding and her dress torn in ragged ugly tears that Faith was sure
could never be mended.

She began to cry bitterly. "It's all the fault of those hateful
girls," she sobbed aloud. "If they had not run off and left me I
should be safe at home. What will Aunt Prissy say?"

Faith reached the road without further mishap, and was soon walking up
the path. There was no one in sight; not even Scotchie was about. A
sudden resolve entered her mind. She would slip up-stairs, change her
dress, and not tell her aunt about the torn dress. "Perhaps I can mend
it, after all," she thought.

As she changed her dress hurriedly, she wondered where all the family
could be, for the house was very quiet. But she bathed her hands and
face, smoothed her ruffled hair, and then looked for a place to hide
the blue dress until she could find a chance to mend it. She peered
into the closet. A small hair-covered trunk stood in the far corner
and Faith lifted the top and thrust her dress in. At that moment she
heard Donald's voice, and then her aunt's, and she started to go
down-stairs to meet them.

CHAPTER XII

SECRETS

"Did you see all the fort, and the guns, and the soldiers?" asked
Donald eagerly, running to meet his cousin as she came slowly into the
sitting-room. "Why, your hand is all scratched!" he added in a
surprised tone.

Faith tried to cover the scratched hand with a fold of her skirt. Aunt
Prissy noticed that the little girl wore her every-day dress.

"Didn't you wear your blue dress, Faithie?" and without waiting for an
answer said: "Well, perhaps this one was