ourse it touched solid earth.

"There!" she cried, "I did it, I did it! You said I was a coward; and
who's a coward now? Where's your gold ring, Jennie Vance?"

"Why, the ground is as hard as a nut, I declare," said Jennie, walking
along after Dotty with great satisfaction. "I didn't much think there
was a swamp in this field all the time. Only I thought, if there was,
what a scrape it would be! Come to think of it, I believe that
bottomless pond is in the town of Augusta."

"No," replied Dotty, "it's on the other side of the river. I know, for
Uncle Henry went to it in a boat. But where's my ring?"

"I don't know anything about your ring; didn't know you had any."

"I mean _yours_, Jennie Vance; or it _was_ yours; the one on your
forefinger, with a red stone in it, that you said you'd give to me if
I'd put my foot in it."

"Put your foot in what?"

"Why, you know, Jennie Vance; in the mud."

"Well, there wasn't any mud; 'twas as hard as a nut."

"You know what I mean, Jennie," exclaimed Dotty, growing excited. "So
you needn't pretend!"

"I'm not pretending, nor any such a thing," replied Jennie, with a great
show of candor; "it's you that are making up a story, Dotty Dimple. I
didn't say I'd give you my ring. No, ma'am; if 'twas the last words I
was to speak, I never!"

"O, Jennie Vance! Jane Sidney Vance! I should think the thunder and
lightning would conduct you to pieces this minute; and a bear out of the
woods, and every thing else in this world. I never saw a little girl,
that had a father named Judge, that would lie so one to another in all
the days of my life."

"Well," said Jennie, coolly, "if you've got done your preaching, I'll
tell you what I said. I said, 'What if I should;' so there! I didn't say
I would, and I never meant to; and you may ask my father if I can get it
off my finger without sawing the bone in two."

"Indeed!" replied Dotty, poising her head backward with queenly dignity;
"indeed!"

"I didn't tell a story," said Jennie, uneasily. "I should think any
goosie might know people wouldn't give away jewels just for putting your
foot out."

"It's just as well," said Dotty, with extreme dignity; "just _precisely_
as well! I have one grandmamma who is a Quakeress, and she don't think
much of little girls that wear rings. Ahem!"

Jennie felt rather uncomfortable. She did not mind Dotty's anger, but
her quiet contempt was another thing.

"I think likely I may go to Boston next week