the
spirit of cowardice arose before him, and he felt certain that he should
die; the longing which arose to his lips to implore Irene at any cost to
save him; the way he kept back the words. Then her test and his
acceptance of it, the victory he had really won over her, the knowledge
that in the future she would treat him with respect.

Irene, with all her faults, was true to her word, and one day just when
the long summer holidays were coming to an end, and when every one was
talking and thinking again of school life and school affairs, and its
joys and sorrows, Irene went and sat down on a low stool by her mother's
side.

"You are sending me next week to the Merrimans'," she said. "I don't at
all know whether I shall be able to endure it. You think me greatly
improved, but I don't know that I am improved. Be that as it may,
however, I want to ask you a great favor, mothery."

"What is that, my darling?" asked Lady Jane.

"You, of course, mean to go away. Rosamund said that you would. She said
you would take a rest, and forget all the worries that your naughty,
naughty child has given you all these years. You will do that, won't
you, mothery darling?"

"Yes, I will go away," said Lady Jane. "I have arranged it. But what is
your request, Irene?"

"Well, it has something to do with Hughie. You know about Miss Frost?"

"I know she is an excellent creature."

"She is; and you know how fond I am of little Agnes."

"No wonder. She is a sweet little soul," said Lady Jane; "although,
sometimes, Irene"----

"Please don't!" said Irene, putting her hand to her mother's lips. "I
have made a resolution. Agnes is to be my child in the future. She is to
live with me always and always, mother. I couldn't do without her. She
is my doll, my baby, my plaything--the creature that keeps me human.
With Rosamund on one side and Agnes on the other, I can be good,
mothery. But if you were to take either or both of them away, I should
be worse than ever. Miss Frost must give Agnes up to me."

"I don't think she will be able to stand that. I don't see how you can
expect it."

"Well, I do expect it, and I don't mean to discuss the point now. Agnes
comes with me, does she not, to Mrs. Merriman's school?"

"She does. Rosamund's mother is paying for her during this term."

"And Miss Frost goes, too?"

"Yes, dear, certainly."

"Well, now, there is Hughie. Miss Frost says that she cannot give him
the education sufficient to make