her that if she let
her soul go it would mount on that breeze and get up high above the
clouds and the temptations of earth.

"I am glad," she said to herself, "the right side of the ledger means
giving up all, and the best of life is to be able to lose it if
necessary. I will cling to these two thoughts, and I don't believe if
the worst comes that anything can really hurt me."

When she got near the school she was met by Mrs. Hopkins. She was amazed
to see that good woman, as at that hour she was usually busily engaged
in her shop. But Mrs. Hopkins took the bull by the horns and said
quietly:

"I came out on purpose to see you, Ruth Craven."

"Well, and what do you want?" asked Ruth.

"My dear, you are not looking too well."

"Please do not mind my looks."

"It is just this, dear. There will be no end of a fuss in the school
to-day."

Ruth did not reply.

"And they will press you hard."

Still Ruth made no answer.

"You know what it will mean if you tell?"

Ruth's grave eyes were fixed on Mrs. Hopkins's face.

"Child, I don't want to doubt you--nobody who knows you could do
that--but it will mean ruin to poor Susy and to many and many a girl at
the Great Shirley School. It isn't so much Miss O'Hara we mean. Miss
O'Hara has gone into this with her eyes open; and she is rich, and what
is disgrace to her in this little part of England, when she herself
lives in a great big castle in Ireland, and is a queen, lady, and all
the rest? But it means--oh, such a frightful lot to so many! Now, Susy,
for instance. I meant to apprentice her to a good trade when she had
gone through her course of work at the Great Shirley; but she will have
to be a servant--a little maid-of-all-work--and I think that it would
break my heart if she was expelled."

"And what do you want me to do, Mrs. Hopkins?"

"Oh, my dear, not to think of yourself, but of the many who will be
ruined--not to tell, Ruth Craven."

Ruth gave a gentle smile; then she put out her small slim hand and
touched Mrs. Hopkins, and then turned and continued her walk to the
school.

There were a group of foundationers standing round the entrance. Ruth
longed to avoid them, but they saw her and clustered round her, and each
and all began to whisper in her ears:

"You will be faithful, Ruth; nothing will induce you to tell. It will be
hard on you, but you won't ruin so many of us. It is better for one to
suffer than for all to suffer. You won't tell, will