hild, who had been strong enough, in her determination
to do right, to resist successfully the will of the woman whom she had
every reason to dread.

Arrived at home, Peg walked Ida into the room by the shoulder.

Dick was lounging in a chair, with the inevitable pipe in his mouth.

"Hilloa!" said he, lazily, observing his wife's movements, "what's the
gal been doing, hey?"

"What's she been doing?" repeated Peg; "I should like to know what she
hasn't been doing. She's refused to go in and buy some gingerbread of
the baker, as I told her."

"Look here, little gal," said Dick, in a moralizing vein, "isn't
this rayther undootiful conduct on your part? Ain't it a piece of
ingratitude, when we go to the trouble of earning the money to pay for
gingerbread for you to eat, that you ain't willing to go in and buy it?"

"I would just as lieves go in," said Ida, "if Peg would give me good
money to pay for it."

"That don't make any difference," said the admirable moralist; "jest do
as she tells you, and you'll do right. She'll take the risk."

"I can't!" said the child.

"You hear her?" said Peg.

"Very improper conduct!" said Dick, shaking his head. "Put her in the
closet."

So Ida was incarcerated once more in the dark closet. Yet, in the midst
of her desolation, there was a feeling of pleasure in thinking that she
was suffering for doing right.

When Ida failed to return on the expected day, the Crumps, though
disappointed, did not think it strange.

"If I were her mother," said Mrs. Crump, "and had been parted from her
so long, I should want to keep her as long as I could. Dear heart! how
pretty she is, and how proud her mother must be of her!"

"It's all a delusion," said Aunt Rachel, shaking her head. "It's all a
delusion. I don't believe she's got a mother at all. That Mrs. Hardwick
is an imposter. I knew it, and told you so at the time, but you wouldn't
believe me. I never expect to set eyes on Ida again in this world."

"I do," said Jack, confidently.

"There's many a hope that's doomed to disappointment," said Aunt Rachel.

"So there is," said Jack. "I was hoping mother would have apple-pudding
for dinner to-day, but she didn't."

The next day passed, and still no tidings of Ida. There was a cloud
of anxiety, even upon Mr. Crump's usually placid face, and he was more
silent than usual at the evening meal.

At night, after Rachel and Jack had both retired, he said, anxiously,
"What do you think is