windows in the library, one after another, and
looked out at each. She closed the inner blinds of one, before which
the gardener was at work on the lawn.

"I can do as Miss Berty did, if worse comes to worst," said she,
throwing herself into a great armchair. "She went to live out, and had
her own way, and I can do the same; but I won't be as poor as she was.
Ha, ha, ha! I know their secrets," she continued, as she crawled under
the desk, in the middle of the room, and pushing the middle drawer out,
took from a nail behind it a key. "They needn't think to cheat me."

She sprang to her feet again with the key in her hand, laughing with
delight at her own cunning.

CHAPTER II.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

Fanny--as we shall call her when she is not in the company of her
namesake--revelled in the possession of the key, and congratulated
herself on her own shrewdness in obtaining it. She applied it to one of
the drawers of the desk. Though her devoted young mistress had been
faithful to the last degree in her efforts to instil good principles in
the mind of her pupil, Fanny appeared to have no scruples of
conscience. She did not hesitate, did not pause to consider the
wickedness of her acts.

The drawer was unlocked and opened with an eager rather than a
trembling hand. She seemed to fear nothing, and to be intent only on
obtaining possession of some coveted treasure. As she pulled out the
drawer, she was startled by a very unexpected incident. A great black
cat, suddenly released from imprisonment, sprang out of the drawer,
and, terrified by the appearance of the naughty girl, ran around the
room several times, and then disappeared through an open window. The
cat was a stranger to her; it was not a Woodville cat; and, though
Fanny was not frightened, the presence of the animal in the drawer was
suggestive.

"I am not so sharp as I thought I was," said she to herself, quite
soberly. "The housekeeper must have seen me when I was looking for that
key; but she needn't think I am afraid of a cat!"

Fanny sneered at the thought, and after glancing at the window through
which the cat had made her escape, she turned to the drawer again, but
it was empty; or it contained only a great card, such as those used in
the Sunday school, on which was painted, in large black letters,

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL!

This card, which must have been placed there for her especial benefit
by some member of the family, rendered it ce