friend knows of the sort of creature whom Providence has bestowed upon
me as a child!"

Just at that moment the room door was burst open, and Miss Frost, in
tears, her nose very red, her agitation extreme, followed by Irene,
entered the room.

"She has poisoned me! She has absolutely poisoned me!" said the
unfortunate governess, sinking on the first chair she could find. "She
brought me my pills as usual this morning--you know I am ordered pills
for indigestion--and after I had swallowed them she announced that she
had changed them for wood-lice, which curl up as you touch them."

"It was such fun!" laughed Irene. "Oh, Frosty, Frosty, it was
delicious!"

"But what a wicked thing for you to do, Irene!" said her mother.

"They will multiply inside me," said poor Miss Frost. "Oh, what is to be
done? Can a doctor be summoned at once?"

"I am sure there can be no danger," said poor Lady Jane; "but it was a
wicked trick to play, Irene. But I believe wood-lice are harmless, and I
suppose they are dead. Still, Irene, your conduct is disgraceful. You
are really past bearing."

"All right, mumsy!" said Irene in a most cheerful tone. "I don't mind
how much you scold me, for I had such a happy time while I was watching
Frosty swallowing those digestive pills! She thought me so attentive,
because as a rule I don't take any interest in her pills. I found a lot
of the dear little wood-lice in the garden this morning, and it suddenly
darted through my mind that they could be swallowed just like pills. So
I put them into a box and rattled them well, and brought them to Frosty,
and opened the box and said to her, 'Here, Frosty, here are your
digestive pills;' and she had swallowed two before she found out what
she had done. The rest began to uncurl in the box, and she discovered
what had happened. Oh, it was lovely to see her face!--You do feel bad,
don't you? You'd like to go at once, wouldn't you, darling? I am so
awfully anxious for you to go!"

"But if--if," said poor Miss Frost--"if you really think that the
pills--I really can't call them by the other name--will do no harm, it
seems almost a"----

"I tell you what I will do," said Lady Jane. "I will send you straight
into Dartford to see Dr. Marshall. He will tell you what is best to be
done. But I feel sure you are quite safe.--Irene, you are so naughty
that I cannot speak to you."

Miss Frost, who did not dare to give up her lucrative situation, left
the room. Lady J