ah
would bring her bowl of porridge. A shadow darkened the window, and she
looked up with startled eyes to see Winifred's face pressed against the
glass.

Ruth ran to the window. "How did you get up here?" she questioned in
wonder.

"Open the window, quick!" Winifred responded in an anxious whisper. "The
ladder wiggles about, and somebody may see me."

Ruth opened the window and Winifred crawled in, and suddenly the ladder
disappeared.

"It's Gilbert. He promised to take it down as soon as I got in. What is
the matter, Ruth? Has Aunt Deborah made you stay up-stairs? Did you know
Hero was home? A soldier brought him." While Winifred talked she looked
at Ruth anxiously, as if to make sure that nothing had really befallen
her friend.

Ruth was smiling with delight at her unexpected visitor.

"Oh, Winifred! You were splendid to come up the ladder. I'm staying
up-stairs to punish myself. I was rude to Aunt Deborah; and last night I
dressed up in my mother's best dress and went to see General Howe!" Ruth
answered.

Winifred was too surprised to reply, and Ruth went on telling of her
sudden decision, and of the adventures that followed, and concluded
with: "And of course I ought not to have dressed up, and I ought not to
have run away. So now I am staying up-stairs all day, and all I am to
have to eat is porridge and milk. I decided it myself," she concluded,
not a little pleased at the thought.

"Why, Ruth Pernell!" exclaimed Winifred admiringly. "I don't know which
is the most wonderful, your going to see General Howe, or your deciding
to punish yourself. Begin at the time you reached the General's house
and tell me everything up to now."

Ruth was quite ready to do this, and the two little friends seated
themselves on the window-seat, Winifred listening admiringly while Ruth
told over the story of the previous night. She had forgotten all about
punishment; but a noise in the hallway and the sound of the clock
striking the hour of noon made her stop suddenly in her whispered
recital. "It's Aunt Deborah! Winifred, hide, quick! Under the bed," she
said, at the same moment giving Winifred a little push.

Aunt Deborah came in smiling and inauspicious, with a well-filled bowl
of porridge and a generous pitcher of milk on the tray. It had been a
happy morning for Aunt Deborah. Hero was safe at home, none the worse
for his adventures; and, best of all, Ruth of her own accord had
declared herself to blame, and decided