reamed Georgie. "Tell mamma! Have mamma know!
I'd rather die at once. You have no idea how she despises concealments
and deceits; and I have had to plot and contrive, almost to tell lies,
all through this wretched time. She would never get over it. Even if she
_said_ she forgave me, I should always read a sort of contempt in her
eyes whenever she looked at me. Oh, mamma, mamma! And I love her so!
Candace, I couldn't."

"It is the only way," repeated Candace, firmly.

"You have promised not to tell!" exclaimed her cousin, starting up from
her recumbent position. "You promised me solemnly! You'll not forget
that, will you, Cannie? You'll not tell mother yourself?"

"Certainly not. What use would it be for me to tell her? It would be
only next best to having Alexander do it. But you,--you, Georgie,--that
is a different thing."

"Even Gertrude said she couldn't advise me to tell mamma," continued
Georgie.

"Gertrude! Does Gertrude know about it then?"

"Yes; I had to tell somebody, I was so miserable. It was only a little
while ago that I told her. I kept it to myself for a long time."

"Gertrude!" repeated Candace, unable to hide her amazement. "And what
did she say?"

"Oh, she was horrified, of course. Any one would be; and she threw a
great deal of blame on Berry. I don't think she has ever liked her
since. She always goes out of the room when she comes. She wanted me to
do all sorts of impossible things, such as going to the chief of police.
But about mamma, she felt just as I did. You see we both think so much
of mamma, Cannie; we care so much about having her approve of us. You
haven't any mother; so perhaps you can't understand."

"No," said Candace, "I have no mother. Perhaps it makes a difference.
But there is another thing I can't understand, and that is how girls who
_have_ a mother--such a mother as yours, Georgie--can be content to keep
her love by means of a cheat. If I did have a mother, I should want her
to know all about me, and approve of me honestly, not because I was
hiding things from her. Besides,"--there was a little choke here,--"I
think mothers can stand a good deal, and still keep on loving their
children. I don't believe Cousin Kate would be hard on you, Georgie, or
despise you because you have been foolish."

"You don't half know mamma," repeated Georgie. "She has such high ideas
about conduct. It would half kill her to know that I had even spoken to
a man like this Alexander."

"Of