Martha sent me up-stairs. Now what have I done?"

Captain Stoddard chuckled, then he looked very serious indeed, and
replied:

"A pretty affair! What have you been doing?"

"Nothing, Uncle Enos; indeed I have done no mischief. Tell Aunt Martha
that Amanda slapped me, and that I did not slap back."

Uncle Enos nodded, and made a motion for Anne to be silent, and Anne
drew quickly back into the room.

"Uncle Enos will find out," she whispered to the little wooden doll,
"Martha Stoddard," that her father had made for her when she was a very
small girl, and which was still one of her greatest treasures. But the
July afternoon faded into the long twilight and no one called to Anne to
come down. She began to feel hungry. "I wish I had eaten my share of
that luncheon and not given it to Amos to carry home," she thought. For
on her way home she had met Amos and had given the lunch basket into his
charge, telling him to carry it home to Amanda, but saying nothing of
Amanda's anger.

As Anne sat in the loft chamber waiting for the call that did not come,
she began to feel that she had been treated very badly. "And Aunt Martha
says I shall not visit Rose Freeman, and does not tell me why I shall
not go. My father would let me; I know that full well. And I am going; I
will walk to Brewster!" Anne's heart grew lighter as she thought of all
the joys that a visit to Rose would mean. "I'll start to-night," she
decided. "Maybe it will take me a long time, as there are no roads, but
I know I can find the way. Oh, I wish it would get dark! I'll take you,
Martha Stoddard, but I guess I'll change your name, for Aunt Martha
doesn't like me any more," and the little girl began to feel very lonely
and unhappy. The room door swung open at that very moment and there
stood Mrs. Stoddard with a mug full of creamy milk and a plate of corn
bread.

"Here is your supper, Anne. And I hope you are ready to tell me why you
pushed Amanda down and ran off with her basket," and Mrs. Stoddard
looked at Anne with a puzzled expression in her kind eyes.

"I did not----" began Anne.

"There, there, child. Mrs. Cary told me the whole story. Tell me the
truth, and I'll not be hard with you," and Mrs. Stoddard set down the
mug and plate on the light-stand and stood waiting.

"I will not say another word!" declared Anne, who felt that even her
dear Aunt Martha had turned against her.

"Then you must stay up here until you are a more obedient child," sai