g.

"Apples," Beth answered. "Have some?"

"All right! but where did you get them?" Janey asked.

"Never you mind!" said Beth.

Janey did not mind at the moment, and ate the greater number, but next
day she went treacherously and told, in order to ingratiate herself
with one of the mistresses, and the matter was reported to Miss
Clifford, who sent for Beth. Janey North was also sent for.

"What is this I hear about your having apples in your bedroom last
night, Beth?" Miss Clifford said.

"A story, I should think," Beth answered readily. "Who told you?"

Janey North looked disconcerted.

"What have you to say, Miss North?" Miss Clifford asked.

"You _were_ eating apples," Janey said to Beth.

"How do you know?" Beth asked suavely.

"I saw you."

"What, in the middle of the night when the gas was out?"

"Ye-yes," Janey faltered.

Beth shrugged her shoulders and looked at Miss Clifford, who said
severely: "I think, Miss North, you have either dreamt this story or
invented it."

Janey was barred in the school after that, the girls deciding that,
whether the story were true or not, she was a dockyard girl for
telling it. It was Beth's sporting instinct that had made her evade
the question. When she had won the game, and the excitement was over,
she felt she had been guilty of duplicity, and determined to confess
when Miss Clifford sent for her next and gave her a good opportunity.
She would have gone at once but for the dread of losing the precious
liberty that was life to her. All through the weeks that followed she
kept herself sane and healthy by midnight exercises in the moonlight.
Her appetite had failed her till she took to this diversion, but after
her second ramble she was so hungry that she went down to the kitchen
boldly to forage in the hope of finding a crust. The fire was still
burning brightly, and by its light she discovered on the table the
thick bread and butter for the next morning's breakfast, all cut
ready, and piled up under covers on the dishes. There was half a jug
of beer besides, doubtless left from the servants' supper. It was
rather flat, but she thought it and the new bread and butter
delicious. She had a bad cold after the first ramble, but that was the
only one, strange to relate, for she always went out in her
night-dress, and bare-footed.

During this time her imagination was exceedingly active and her health
improved, but her work was a greater trouble than ever. She had