at tea-time, that she scarcely
noticed when the others spoke to her. Patty, who guessed what was
troubling her cousin, took her aside before preparation for a few
minutes' private talk.

"Never mind telling about the Caesar translation, Muriel," she said. "I
don't care in the least. No one believes now that it was mine, and you'd
never do such a thing again, I know; so what does it matter to whom it
belonged? It's quite an old story now."

"I've told Miss Harper already," said Muriel, "and all the class will
know about it to-morrow. Yes, Patty, I'd rather, thank you, I would
indeed."

"Then I shall go to Miss Harper," declared Patty, who wished to save her
cousin the humiliation of a public confession. "You shan't do this on my
account!"

To her surprise, Miss Harper took quite a different view of the matter.

"No, Patty," she said, decisively. "It is generous of you to want to
spare Muriel, but it is only right that she should bear the blame of
what she has done herself, instead of leaving it on another's shoulders.
She is making a very big effort, and we must not spoil her sacrifice. If
she clears your reputation before all the class, she will have made what
reparation she can, and have taken a first step on the straight path. It
is not always wise to shield people from the consequences of their own
faults, however much we may wish to, and you will be doing her a greater
kindness by helping her to keep certain good resolutions she has made.
I hope this affair may make a crisis in Muriel's life, and that we may
expect better things from her in the future. I am sure she is truly
sorry for having allowed you to be misjudged. Just at first, I confess,
I myself believed you to be guilty, though it was difficult to reconcile
your ownership of the book with what I knew of you. Various
circumstances, however, caused me to change my opinion, and I was
convinced that a great injustice had been done to you, which I shall now
be very glad to have the opportunity of setting right."

When the girls, therefore, were assembled on the following morning at
nine o'clock, Miss Harper, before she dismissed the lower division, said
that she wished to speak a few words to the whole class.

"You will all recollect," she began, "a distressing affair which took
place last term. A translation of Caesar was found by a monitress in this
room, and I had reason to believe it was the property of a member of the
upper division. Though we men