ltered the unfortunate Amy all she could. She even influenced her
closest friends to be kind to the child. At Mrs. Sadoc Smith's Helen and
Ann did not speak of the discovery of the origin of the fire, and, of
course, good-natured Jennie Stone did just as Ruth asked, while even Mercy
Curtis kept her lips closed.

Amy, however, not being an utterly callous girl, felt the condemnation of
the whole school. There was no escaping that.

Amy had denied having a candle on the night of the fire, and it shocked
and grieved Mrs. Tellingham very much to learn that one of her girls was
not to be trusted to speak the truth at all times.

Not because of the fire did the preceptress consider sending Amy Gregg
home, for the origin of the fire was plainly an accident, though bred in
carelessness. For prevarication, however, Mrs. Tellingham was tempted to
expel Amy Gregg.

The girl had denied the fact that she had left a candle burning in her
room when she went to supper. Mary Pease had seen it, and both Miss Scrimp
and Ruth Fielding knew that the fire started in that particular room.

Why the girl had left the candle burning was another mystery. Recklessly
denying the main fact, of course Amy would not explain the secondary
mystery. Nagged and heckled by some of the sophomores and juniors, Amy
declared she wished the whole school had burned down and then she would
not have had to stay at Briarwood another day!

Ruth and Helen one day rescued the girl from the midst of a mob of larger
girls who were driving Amy Gregg almost mad by taunting her with being a
"fire bug."

"What are you wild animals doing?" demanded Helen, who was much sharper
with the evil doers among the under classes than was Ruth. "So she's a
'fire-bug?' Oh, girls! what better are you than poor little Gregg, I'd
like to know? Every soul of you has done worse things than she has
done--only your acts did not have such appalling results. Behave
yourselves!"

Ruth could not have talked that way to the girls; but many of them slunk
away under Helen's reprimand. Ruth took the crying Amy away--but neither
she nor Helen was thanked.

"I wish you girls would mind your own business and let me alone," sobbed
the foolish child, hysterically. "I can fight my own battles, I'll tear
their hair out! I'll scratch their faces for them!"

"Oh, dear me, Amy!" sighed Ruth. "Do you think that would be any real
satisfaction to you? Would it change things for the better, or in the
le