aid Kathleen. "Let them say."

"Well, that's what I think; and I dare say half of it is untrue," said
little Janey Ford.

"I am sure, Janey, wonders will never cease when we see you in this
thing," said Susy. "It was disgusting of the others to funk it. But I
suppose they were on the right side; only I do sometimes hate being on
the right side.--Don't you, Kathleen?"

"Yes," said Kathleen in a whisper, and she squeezed Susy's hand. It
seemed to her that her soul and Susy's had met at that moment, and had
saluted each other like comrades true.

"But how was it you came, Janey? Didn't your little heart funk it
altogether?" continued Kate.

"I was so mad to come," said Janey. "I am shaking and trembling now like
anything. But I had never been to a theater, and it was such a
tremendous temptation. I said about ten times to myself that I wouldn't
come, but eleven times I said that I would; and the eleventh time
conquered, and here I am. I do hope we'll have a right good time."

With this sort of chatter the girls got to London. Here Kate Rourke took
the lead. She marshaled the little party in two and two, and so conveyed
them out of the station. Outside the yard at Charing Cross they all
climbed on the top of an omnibus, and soon were wending their way in the
direction of the Princess' Theater, which Kate most strongly advocated.
There was no crowd at the theater this special evening. The piece which
was presented on the boards happened to be a fairly good one. The girls
got excellent seats, and found themselves in the front row of the family
circle. From there they could look down on dazzling scenes, and
Kathleen, who had never been to a theater in the whole course of her
life, was delighted. She at least had forgotten what might follow this
expedition. Oh, yes, they were having a glorious time; and it was quite
right to do what you liked sometimes, and quite right to defy your
elders. Oh, how many she was defying: Ruth Craven, who would almost
have given her life to keep her back from this; Miss Ravenscroft, the
head-mistress, to whom Kathleen's heart did not go out; her own father;
her own aunt; Alice Tennant--oh, bother Alice Tennant! And last, Mrs.
Hopkins.

"Quite an army of them," thought Kathleen. "I have dared to do what none
of them approved of, and I am not a bit the worse for it. Darling dad,
your own Kathleen will tell you everything, and you may give me what
punishment you think best when the fun is ove