ess and yielding. The
fact is, I have shown them the south side of my character too long; a
little touch of the northeast will do them no harm."

Accordingly she called the obstinate and sulky Pauline before her.

"I am very much displeased with you. You have done wrong, and you must be
punished. I have told you and your sisters that there is such a place as
Punishment Land. You enter it now, and live there until after breakfast
to-morrow morning."

"But what do you mean?" said Pauline.

"I mean exactly what I say. You have been for the last twenty-four hours
extremely naughty. You will therefore be punished for the next
twenty-four hours. You are a very naughty girl. Naughty girls must be
punished, and you, Pauline, are now under punishment. You enter
Punishment Land immediately."

"But where is it? What is it? I don't understand."

"You will soon. Girls, I forbid you to speak to your sister while she is
under punishment. Pauline, your meals will be sent to you in this room.
You will be expected to work up your neglected tasks and learn them
thoroughly. You must neither play with nor speak to your sisters. You
will have no indulgence of any sort. When you walk, I wish you to keep in
the north walk, just beyond the vegetable garden. Finally, you will go to
bed at seven o'clock. Now leave the room. I am in earnest."

CHAPTER IX.

PUNISHMENT LAND.

Pauline did leave the room. She passed her sisters, who stared at her in
horrified amazement. She knew that their eyes were fixed upon her, but
she was doubtful if they pitied her or not. Just at that moment, however,
she did not care what their feelings were. She had a momentary sense of
pleasure on getting into the soft air. A gentle breeze fanned her hot
cheeks. She took her old sailor hat from a peg and ran fast into a
distant shrubbery. Miss Tredgold had said that she might take exercise in
the north walk. If there was a dreary, ugly part of the grounds, it might
be summed up in the north walk. The old garden wall was on one side of
it, and a tattered, ugly box-hedge on the other. Nothing was to be seen
as you walked between the hedge and the wall but the ground beneath your
feet and the sky above your head. There was no distant view of any sort.
In addition to this disadvantage, it was in winter an intensely cold
place, and in summer, notwithstanding its name, an intensely hot place.
No, Pauline would not go there. She would disobey. She would walk where