therwise provoking
them into outbreaks of fury that did not improve his behaviour in the
least.

'_Do_, there's a dear, nice, darling boy,' begged Barbara, as the
conspirators looked at one another and hesitated.

'It's a secret,' said Wilfred.

'I can keep a secret; you _know_ I can,' cried Babs, indignantly.

'It's about Jill,' explained Peter, 'and you might do her a great and
lasting injury if you were to go and blab. Mightn't she, Will?'

'I think it's a shame,' protested Babs. 'Here am I shut up all alone, with
a bad leg that hurts and hurts and----'

'Oh, let her see it. Anything for a quiet life,' interrupted Wilfred, and
Peter strode upstairs with the letter.

'Promise faithfully you'll endure any amount of awful tortures, sooner
than betray us?' he demanded threateningly, when he arrived in her room.

'I'll be killed first, honour bright,' said Barbara, solemnly; and the
letter passed into her hands. Her countenance grew very perplexed as she
read it; for, to tell the truth, she could make neither head nor tail of
its mysterious contents.

* * * * *

'Dearest Jill,' it ran,--'We the undersigned are anxious to save you from
an awful and terrible fate that is hanging over your head. The barn,
we know, is not a place you would choose to spend a happy afternoon in,
but Peter has cleaned out as much of the filth as he can (he found
several decayed martins' nests full of insects, two dead rats in an
unspeakable condition, and a rotting owlet that made you squirm; so
you see it might have been much worse, mightn't it?) And I (that's
Wilfred) have successfully deposited in a box you will find secreted
in the manger, two apples, some seed-cake (sorry it isn't plum, but
there wasn't any), and a bottle of ginger beer. This, we think, will
keep starvation from gnawing at you till the hour of release, which is
seven o'clock, when we hope the Doctor will have given up waiting for you.
We would put some more things to eat, but they are a little difficult to
get without arousing suspicion; and we are afraid of attracting the
mice and rats, which are plentiful already, and of which we believe you
are afraid. We the undersigned all hope, dear Jill, that you will not
attribute base motives to our action in this matter. We do assure you,
honest Injun, that though you may dislike us for the moment, you will
thank us deeply all the rest of your life.--We have the honour to rem