up to the bed-room, and, as soon as
Mrs. Bosher herself was in bed, to get out by the window and make her
way back to Littlebourne Lock. There was a full moon, and the night
was almost as light as the day.

So she let herself be pushed upstairs into an almost empty little room
in the roof, and when she heard the door locked upon her she laughed
silently, thinking that the cruel woman had done the very thing her
prisoner wished her to do. Mrs. Bosher's heavy steps went down the
wooden stairs; the door of the house was opened, shut, and locked, and
Juliet's spirits rose when she knew that she was alone. She might as
well run away at once.

She looked at the window. It was in the roof--a skylight. There was no
means of getting up to it, and no means of opening it that Juliet
could perceive. Oh, she was caught in a trap! One or two large stars
stared down through the small panes, and the diffused light of the
moon was enough to show the girl how hopeless was her condition. She
was in prison, caught, with no chance of escape. What a terrible
position she had brought herself into! If her aunt could see her! If
her own dear mother could see her!

Juliet threw herself on the little hard bed and wept bitterly. Not a
sound could she hear! Alone, hungry, miserable!

After a while her sobs ceased and she felt sleepy. She pulled up a
blanket and quilt which she had been lying on and thought that she
might as well sleep a little, and waken with fresh courage and fresh
plans. Like many other people Juliet made her most earnest prayers
when she was in trouble. She turned and knelt upon the bed, saying all
her petitions with earnestness; then she lay down again, and her
dreams took her far away from all her many misfortunes.

CHAPTER IX.

BACK IN LONDON.

When Juliet awoke in the early morning she could not at first remember
where she was. It was not the old home in London, crowded with father,
mother, and children. It was not the new home at Littlebourne, where
Emily's bed lay beside that of her cousin. Oh, but it was the prison
in which the dreadful Mrs. Bosher and her bonnet had shut up an
unhappy girl and kept her all night!

Looking round the room, Juliet saw on the boards close to the door the
same basin of bread-and-milk which she had refused to eat on the
previous evening. Mrs. Bosher must have put it in noiselessly while
her prisoner was asleep. The prisoner could not resist her fare this
morning, but ate it