king Mr.
Stacey to let her have a little money to help Eva was given up, and she
went to bed, pondering upon the easy conscience that some people had.

Vava had learnt her lesson from Eva's trouble, but Stella was too
shocked with Eva to be as sympathetic with the poor girl as she might
have been; and Vava, who thought her hard, remarked with her usual
candour, 'The fact is, Stella, you are a regular Pharisee, and you'll
have a nice tumble one of these days if you walk like that, with your
head in the air, looking over the heads of everybody.' And then Vava
turned over and went to sleep.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE VALUE OF A GOOD CHARACTER.

Vava tossed and turned and went to sleep, only to dream of prison cells,
in which Eva was secured by heavy chains, which she (Vava) tried in vain
to break, and it was from one of these nightmares that she awoke in the
morning to the sound of a laugh. Sitting up in bed, Vava listened,
hardly able to believe her ears, for it was Eva's laugh.

'Stella,' she said in solemn tones to her sister, 'do you hear Eva
laughing?'

'Yes,' said Stella shortly; but the little word said a good deal.

'Do you think she's in hysterics?' asked Vava.

'No, I do not; she seems very cheerful,' replied Stella.

Vava was very thoughtful; and when she went to the bathroom, Stella
noticed that she did not stop as usual to say good-morning to Eva as she
passed her door, at which her sister was rather pleased, for she did not
approve of Eva's light-heartedness under the circumstances.

However, she greeted the girl kindly enough when they met at breakfast,
and indeed it would have been difficult not to smile back at Eva's happy
face, with a look on it that they had not seen since they had been at
Heather Road. It scarcely needed Eva's announcement that she did 'feel
so happy' to assure them of the fact, for she looked a different girl;
'and I don't deserve it,' she added.

There was silence when she said this, for if her three listeners had
spoken their minds they would have cried in chorus, 'Indeed you do not!'
As it happened, however, it was Vava, with her usual candour, who
demanded, 'Then why do you feel happy?'

'Don't you know?' demanded Eva, looking from one to the other; and then,
seeing from their faces that they certainly did not know the reason for
her change of mood, she continued, 'I thought Mrs. Morrison would have
told you.'

'What has nursie got to do with it?' asked Vava.

'