"I hope you may be right, Arthur, but I have not so much
confidence in her as you seem to have. There she is now,"
continued Grace, spying her across the yard and calling to her to
come.
Blushing, stammering, and cowering like a guilty thing, Edith
entered the room, for she heard Arthur's voice and knew that he
was there to witness her humiliation.
"Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, sternly, "what have you been doing?"
No answer from Edith save an increase of color upon her face, and
with her suspicions confirmed, Grace went on,
"What have you in your pocket?"
"'Taint in my pocket; it's in my bosom," answered Edith, drawing
it forth and holding it to view.
"How dare you steal it," asked Grace, and instantly there came
into Edith's eyes the same fiery, savage gleam from which Mrs.
Atherton always shrank, and beneath which she now involuntarily
quailed.
It had never occurred to Edith that she could be accused of theft,
and she stamped at first like a little fury, then throwing herself
upon the sofa, sobbed out, "Oh, dear--oh, dear, I wish God would
let me die.
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