l me the ass that I am."

"Why, what has Corona been doing?"

"Does it matter?" he snarled, turning away. "She has been naughty;
and the only way with naughty children is to be brutal."

"I expect you have made a mess of it," said Nurse Branscome.

"I am sure I have," said Brother Copas.

Corona undressed herself very deliberately; and, seating herself
again on the edge of the bed, as deliberately undressed Timothy and
clothed him for the night in his pyjamas.

"I am sorry, dear, that _you_ should suffer. . . . But I can't tell
what isn't true, not even for your sake; and I can't take back what I
said. Nurse Turner is a beast, if we starve for saying it--which,"
added Corona reflectively, "I don't suppose we shall. I couldn't
answer back properly on Uncle Copas, because when you say a thing to
grown-ups they look wise and ask you to prove it, and if you can't
you look silly. But Nurse Turner is a beast. . . . Oh, Timmy! let's
lie down and try to get to sleep. But it _is_ miserable to have all
the world against us."

She remembered that she was omitting to say her prayers, and knelt
down; but after a moment or two rose again.

"It's no use, God," she said. "I'm very sorry, and I wouldn't tell
it to anyone but _You_--and perhaps Uncle Copas, if he was different:
but I can't say 'forgive us our trespasses' when I can't abide the
woman."

She had already pulled down the blind. Before creeping to bed she
drew the curtains to exclude the lingering daylight. As she did so,
she made sure that her window was hasped wide. Her bedroom (on the
ground floor) looked out upon a small cabbage-plot in which Brother
Bonaday, until warned by the doctor, had employed his leisure.
It was a wilderness now.

As a rule Corona slept with her lattice wide to the fullest extent:
and at any time (upon an alarm of fire, for example) she could
have slipped her small body out through the opening with ease.
To-night she drew the frame of the window closer than usual, and
pinned it on the perforated bar; so close that her small body could
not squeeze through it even if she should walk in her sleep.
She was a conscientious child. She only forbore to close it tight
because it was wicked to go without fresh air.

She stole into bed and curled herself up comfortably. For some
reason or other the touch of the cold pillow drew a tear or two.
But after a very little while she slept, still hugging her doll.

There was no sound to d