sh air
is reviving. I was born free, and Britons never, never will be slaves. I
can't stay in that horrid room. Oh, how long the morning is!"

Just then a teacher came out and beckoned to Kathleen.

"What are you doing outside, Miss O'Hara? Come in immediately and return
to your class."

"I can't dear," replied Kathleen in a gentle tone. "You are young,
aren't you? You don't look more than twenty. Do you ever feel your heart
beat wild, dear, and your spirits all in a sort of throb? And did you,
when you were like that, submit to being tied up in steel chains all
round every bit of you? Answer me: did you?"

"I can't answer you, Miss O'Hara. You are a very naughty, rebellious
girl. You have come to school to be disciplined. Go back immediately."

For a minute Kathleen thought of rebelling, but then she said to
herself, "It isn't worth the fuss," and returned to her place once again
in the centre of the class.

"I have been called back," she said in a whisper to her little
peppermint companion. "I was naughty to go out, and I am called back. I
am in disgrace. Isn't it a lark?"

The little girl felt quite excited. Never was there such and big and
fascinating inmate of the lower fifth before. It was worth coming to
school now to be in the vicinity of one so handsome and so gay.

The weary morning came to an end at last. The girls seldom returned for
afternoon school, generally doing their preparations at home. Alice
Tennant, however, sometimes preferred the quiet school to the noisy life
she lived with her brothers at home. She looked now eagerly for
Kathleen, who had shunned her from the instant they had entered the
school; she stood just by the gate waiting for her. Kathleen, on her
part, was looking for Ruth Craven. Ruth had been monopolised by
Cassandra Weldon.

"You must come home with me," she said.

"But my grandparents will be expecting me," said Ruth.

"Never mind; we will go round by your cottage and ask them. I know all
about you, and I want to know you better. You will, won't you?"

"Thank you very much," said Ruth.

"We will go on at once without waiting for the others," said Cassandra,
and they walked on quickly, while Kathleen searched in vain for her
chosen friend.

"Come, Kathleen; I am waiting," said Alice in a slightly cross voice.
"Mother said we were to be home early to-day."

"All right," said Kathleen; "but I can't find Miss Craven anywhere.

"You can't wait for her now. Indeed, sh