whether she had any
fever. If he had only known what a naughty plan was in Ruby's mind, he
would have been more sorry than to have had his little girl sick.

Of course I need not tell you that Ruby knew just how wrong it was to
plan something which she knew very well her father and mother would not
permit for a moment if they knew of it. But in all the years that you
have known her she had not grown any less self-willed, I am sorry to
say, and so she thought of nothing but of getting her own way, whether
it was naughty or not.

The longest day will have an end at last, and though it seemed to Ruby
as if a day had never passed so slowly, yet finally the sun went down.
Ruby had had her supper, had kissed mamma good-night, and bed-time had
come. She took off her shoes, and her dress, and then slipping her
little white night-dress on over her other clothes, she scrambled into
bed, and waited for her papa to come and kiss her good-night, her heart
beating so loudly with excitement that she was afraid he would hear it,
and wonder what was the matter with her. I think if it had been her
mother who had come in she would have wondered why only Ruby's dress
and shoes were to be seen, and why the little girl had such a flushed,
guilty look, and held the bed-clothes tucked up so tightly under her
chin; but Ruby's papa did not notice any of these things, so Ruby was
not hindered from carrying out her naughty plan.

She waited for what seemed to her a very long time, and then she heard
the wheels of her father's buggy going out of the yard, and knew he had
gone somewhere to see a patient. She was glad, for that made one
person less who would be likely to hear her when she went out. Her
mamma she was sure would not hear her, for her door was closed, and if
she could only get past the kitchen door without Ann discovering her,
she would be safe. When she could not hear any one stirring, she got
up and crept softly over to the door. The house was very still, so
even the rustle of her night-dress seemed to make a noise as she
stepped along the hall. Down the stairs she crept like a little thief,
and at last she reached the door. Ann had been sitting with her back
to the kitchen door reading when Ruby went past, so she had not noticed
the little figure gliding along.

Ruby stepped through the open door out upon the back porch. It was
dark, and the noise of the tree toads and frogs seemed to make it more
lonely than she had