w, honest?" cried Dotty, wringing her hands.
"How dreadful, dreadful, dreadful! What shall we do?"

"Do?" was the demure reply; "stand as stock-still as ever we can, and
try not to shake when we breathe. Next thing we might slump."

"I do shake," said Dotty; "I can't help it."

"Don't you say anything, Dotty Dimple. I never should have thought of
going across lots if you hadn't wanted to; and now you'd better keep
still."

So even this horrid predicament was owing to Dotty; she was to blame for
everything. "Stock-still" they stood under the beating rain, their
hearts throbbing harder than the drops.

Yes, there certainly was a bottomless pond--Dotty had heard of it; on
its borders grew the pitcher-plant which Uncle Henry had brought home
once. It was a green pitcher, very pretty, and if it had been glass it
could have been set on the table with maple molasses in it (only nobody
but poor people used molasses).

O, there _was_ a deep, deep pond, and grass grew round it and in it; and
Uncle Henry had said it was no place for children; they could not be
trusted to walk anywhere near it, for one false step might lead them
into danger. And now they had come to this very spot, this place of
unknown horrors! What should they do? Should they stand there and be
struck by lightning, or try to go on, and only sink deeper and deeper
till they choked and drowned?

Never in all Dotty's little life had she been in such a strait as this.
She cried so loud that her voice was heard above the storm, in unearthly
shrieks. She didn't want to die! O, it was so nice to be alive! She
would as lief have the sore throat all the time, if she might only be
alive. She said not a word, but the thoughts flew through her mind like
a flock of startled swallows,--not one after another, but all together;
and so fast that they almost took her breath away.

And O, such a naughty girl as she had been! Going barefoot! Telling a
story about Crossman's orchard! Making believe she never fibbed, when
she did the same thing as that, and she knew she did. Running off to
play when grandma wished her to stay with Flyaway. Feeding Zip Coon with
plum cake to see him wag his tail, and never telling but it was brown
bread. Getting angry with the chairs and tables, and people. Doing all
manner of wickednesses.

Dotty was appalled by the thought of one sin in particular. She
remembered that in repeating the Lord's prayer once, she had asked for
"daily bread and