but who would not who knew you well?"

"What do you mean by that?" said Florence, who was keenly susceptible
to flattery.

Bertha gave a little contemptuous sniff.

"You are the only girl in the school whose friendship is worth
cultivating," she said; "you have go and courage, and some day you will
be very handsome; yes, I feel sure of it. I wish you would let me help
you to form your figure; you might draw your stays a little tighter,
and do your hair differently. I wish you would let me be your friend.
You are the only girl in the school whose friendship I care twopence
about."

"What!" said Florence, trembling slightly and looking full into
Bertha's face, "do you think more about me than you do of Kitty
Sharston?"

The pupil teacher gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Miss Sharston," she said; "oh, a nice little girl, very nice and very
amiable, but, my dear Miss Aylmer, you and she are not in the same
running at all. But there, I must be quick; I have to return home in
time to undress the little ones. Oh, what a lot is mine, and I pine
for so much, so much that I can never have."

"Poor girl, I am sorry for you," said Florence; "but there, I won't
keep you any longer. See, this is what I want you to do. Will you
convert these two sovereigns into a postoffice order, and will you put
it into this letter, and then fasten the envelope and put the whole
into the post?"

Florence gave some more directions with regard to the postoffice order.
In 1870 postal orders, much simpler things, were unknown. Bertha Keys
promised, took in all the directions quickly, and started off on her
mission.

She walked down the road as briskly as possible. The distance between
Hilchester and Cherry Court School was between two and three miles.
The road was a lonely one. Bertha presently crossed a stile and found
herself in a shady lane. When she reached this point she looked behind
her and in front of her; there was no one in sight. Then taking
Florence's letter out of her pocket, she slowly and quietly read the
contents. Having read them, a smile flitted across her face.

"Little Mummy," she said aloud, "you must do without your two pounds.
Bertha Keys wants this money a great deal more urgently than you do.
Florence must suppose that her letter has got lost in the post. Let
her suppose what she will, this money is mine."

Having made these remarks under her breath, Bertha calmly tore poor
Florence's letter in