taken at once."

"Then Mrs. Tretherick has given her permission?"

"Not much, if I know the sentiments of that lady," replied Kate saucily.

"Then how did you get away?" asked Prince gravely.

"BY THE WINDOW."

When Mr. Prince had left Carry in the arms of her stepmother, he
returned to the parlor.

"Well?" demanded Kate.

"She will stay--YOU will, I hope, also--tonight."

"As I shall not be eighteen, and my own mistress on the twentieth, and
as I haven't a sick stepmother, I won't."

"Then you will give me the pleasure of seeing you safely through the
window again?"

When Mr. Prince returned an hour later, he found Carry sitting on a low
stool at Mrs. Starbottle's feet. Her head was in her stepmother's lap,
and she had sobbed herself to sleep. Mrs. Starbottle put her finger
to her lip. "I told you she would come. God bless you, Jack! and good
night."

The next morning Mrs. Tretherick, indignant, the Rev. Asa Crammer,
principal, injured, and Mr. Joel Robinson, Sr., complacently
respectable, called upon Mr. Prince. There was a stormy meeting, ending
in a demand for Carry. "We certainly cannot admit of this interference,"
said Mrs. Tretherick, a fashionably dressed, indistinctive-looking
woman. "It is several days before the expiration of our agreement; and
we do not feel, under the circumstances, justified in releasing Mrs.
Starbottle from its conditions." "Until the expiration of the school
term, we must consider Miss Tretherick as complying entirely with its
rules and discipline," imposed Dr. Crammer. "The whole proceeding is
calculated to injure the prospects, and compromise the position, of Miss
Tretherick in society," suggested Mr. Robinson.

In vain Mr. Prince urged the failing condition of Mrs. Starbottle, her
absolute freedom from complicity with Carry's flight, the pardonable
and natural instincts of the girl, and his own assurance that they were
willing to abide by her decision. And then, with a rising color in
his cheek, a dangerous look in his eye, but a singular calmness in his
speech, he added:

"One word more. It becomes my duty to inform you of a circumstance which
would certainly justify me, as an executor of the late Mr. Tretherick,
in fully resisting your demands. A few months after Mr. Tretherick's
death, through the agency of a Chinaman in his employment, it was
discovered that he had made a will, which was subsequently found among
his papers. The insignificant value of his bequest--