t was partly my fault,' declared Vava.

'Your fault!' cried Stella, horrified.

'Yes, because Eva would not have been such friends with this horrid girl
if I had not been so unfriendly with her. She says she was so
disappointed when she saw I did not care for her, and it made her take
to this other girl,' said Vava.

'Eva ought not to put the blame on to you; no one need do wrong unless
they choose, and it is very weak to be led away so easily. And what we
are going to do about it I don't know; she has got herself into a
terrible mess.'

'Poor Eva, she can't bear the sight of the furniture, so she is going to
sleep in Amy's room,' announced Vava.

'I should not think Amy would care to see it either,' observed Stella
dryly.

Vava saw that her sister had not much sympathy with Eva, and she had
certainly brought trouble upon the whole household at No. 2 Heather
Road, where they might all have been so happy if they had all done what
was right.

As it was, Stella and Amy sat up till midnight, talking the matter over
and wondering what could be done for Eva, and ending up after each
suggestion by deciding that they could do nothing.

Amy crept up to her room to get out some things she wanted, and Stella
stood upon the stairs to wait for her and hear how Eva was. Amy was some
little time, and presently she came on tiptoe to the door, a smile upon
her face. 'Just come and look at her, she is sleeping so peacefully,'
she said in a whisper.

There was a bright fire burning, and it passed through Stella's mind
that Eva's sorrow did not prevent her from making herself comfortable.
As the firelight fell upon the sleeping girl's face she could not help
thinking to herself that the miserable business did not seem to have
made a very deep impression upon the culprit, for she was, as Amy had
said, sleeping quite peacefully, as if she had not a care in the world,
with a smile upon her lips; and that smile hardened Stella's heart
against Eva.

'It's all very well, Amy, but she has upset us all dreadfully; and while
we have been cudgelling our brains downstairs to try and find a way to
help her, she goes happily to sleep and does not worry at all,' said
Stella, as she accompanied her friend to her bedroom.

'I suppose she had worn herself out,' said Amy, trying to be loyal to
her friend, though in her heart she had been rather surprised herself to
find Eva asleep.

Stella did not say any more; but any idea she had had of as