ge, and all of us, might have starved without it."

"Yes: we must take what we want to eat, when it comes in our way, and
there is nobody to ask leave of: and, if ever we get out of this place,
we can inquire who lost a meal-chest or set of harness, and offer to pay
for what we took. But I do think it is different with these things."

"So do I," said Mildred. "Those table-cloths, and that embroidered
cap,--somebody has taken pains to make them, and might not like to sell
them. And look! Look at Roger! He has pulled out a great heavy bag of
money."

"Now, Roger, put that bag where you found it," said Oliver. "It is none
of yours."

"How do I know that I shall find it again, the next time I look?"
replied Roger, walking off with the bag.

Mildred was afraid of Oliver's following him, and of another quarrel
happening. She put her arm within her brother's, and he could easily
guess why.

"Don't be afraid, dear," he said. "If Roger chooses to do a dishonest
thing, it is his own affair. We have warned him; and that is all we
have to do with it. We must be honest ourselves,--that is all."

"Then I think we had better not look any further into the chest," said
Mildred; "only just to find something warm to wrap Geordie in. The
clothes look so nice--we might fancy we wanted things that we can very
well do without."

"I am not much afraid of that," replied her brother: "and it would be a
pity the things should spoil with the damp. They would be dry in an
hour in this warm sun; and we could pack them away again before night."

"Roger will never let you do that," declared Ailwin. "Not a rag will he
leave to anybody that you don't stow away while he is out of sight.
Never did I see such perverse children as you, and so thankless for
God's gifts. I should be ashamed to be no more grateful than you for
what He puts into your very hands."

Mildred looked at her brother now with a different face. She was
perplexed and alarmed; but she saw that Oliver was not.

"Roger cannot carry off anything," he replied. "He may bury and hide
what he pleases; but they will all be somewhere about the Red-hill; and
we can tell anybody who comes to fetch us off whatever we know about the
goods."

"Nobody will ever come and fetch us off," said Ailwin, beginning to cry.
"The people at a distance don't care a straw what becomes of us; and
you children here at hand are so perverse and troublesome, I don't know
how to bear my lif