our share of the blame.
You shall go with me."

"What will my mother say?"

"She will say you are a naughty girl, and punish you for what you have
done. If you go with me, she will be so glad to see you when you get
back, that she won't say a word. She will find out what you are made of
then; if you go back now, she will see that you are nothing but a
chicken at heart, and she will punish you, as you deserve to be for
deserting your friend."

"My mother would feel awfully if I did not come back to-night,"
continued Kate, thoughtfully, even sadly; and she was sincere now.

"She will get over it."

"She would feel dreadfully."

"So much the better; the worse she feels the more glad she will be to
see you when you do go back."

Kate saw that it was useless to reason with her companion on this
point; besides, there was a certain sacred feeling in her heart which
Fanny could neither understand nor appreciate, and she was unwilling to
expose it to the rude reproaches of one who seemed to have no heart.
She was too timid, rather than too conscientious, to engage in such a
gigantic scheme of wickedness as that which Fanny had indicated; and we
must do her the justice to add, that the blessed influence of a
mother's love, stronger and deeper in her heart than principle,
asserted its sway, and to give her mother a week of pain and anxiety
was revolting to her.

She was fully determined not to go to New York city, and to get home as
soon as she could. But Fanny had so much to say about "backing out,"
and "deserting her friend," that she deemed it prudent not to mention
anything about her resolution. She knew her companion well enough to
believe that it would be useless to attempt to persuade her to abandon
her brilliant scheme; and Fanny was so resolute and self-willed that
she might find a way to compel her to go with her, whether she was
willing or not.

"Do you want to know how much money I have got?" asked Fanny, after a
silence of some minutes, during which Kate had been thinking what she
should do.

"I should like to know," replied Kate, who, however, was really
indifferent after she had decided not to partake of the good things
which the stolen money could purchase.

"You take the tiller then, and I will count it. Keep it just as it is,"
said Fanny, resigning her place to her fellow-voyager.

The boat was going along very easily with the wind on the starboard
quarter, and did not need much attention. She wa