ed a few drops of
vanilla extract; these bottles Ellen bestowed upon the children, and
they considered the mixture they prepared something very delicious.
The rest of the stock consisted chiefly of sand, slate-pencil dust,
dried beans, and bits of broken twigs. Many a happy hour did the two
children spend playing together; therefore, when Edna felt that some
stern decree had been passed upon Louis, her little tender heart felt
it deeply.

At breakfast time no Louis appeared, nor did he take his place in
school that day. To his school-fellows' question, "What is the matter
with Louis?" Edna was obliged to answer, "I don't know."

After dinner, which seemed a more solemn affair than usual, the little
girl could stand it no longer. To her questions Ellen could give no
satisfactory answers, so, watching an opportunity, when Uncle Justus
was taking his afternoon nap and when Aunt Elizabeth had gone to some
meeting, Edna stole up to the storeroom, whose window was diagonally
opposite to that of Louis' room. After a moment's hesitation she
tapped on the window; there was no response from Louis' room. Then
Edna decided to write a note and slip it under his door. This she
managed to do. "I am going to the storeroom, open your window," was
what she wrote, and the note served its purpose, for when the
storeroom window was raised there stood Louis before his window.

"O, Louis," cried Edna. "Can't you get out?"

"No," was the reply.

"O, dear, I wish you could. I have such a lot to tell you. What are
you shut up for? What did you do?"

Louis looked sullen. "I didn't do anything."

"O!" said Edna. "Are you sure? Then why did they shut you up?"

"Just for hatefulness," replied Louis. "I wasn't doing a thing."

This seemed a dreadful state of affairs, and Edna hardly knew what to
think. "I wish I could let you out," she said, sympathetically, "but I
can't."

Louis stood with downcast eyes, hammering with his knife upon the
sill.

"Are you sure you haven't done anything?" persisted Edna.

"Of course I haven't. They just want to show their power over me, and
I am half starved, I haven't had anything but bread and water."

Edna's eyes filled. "I wish I had something nice to give you to eat,"
she said, in distress.

"I wish you had," replied Louis.

"O, I hear some one," cried Edna, suddenly, and she shut down the
window, hastily.

But the footsteps proved to be only those of Ellen going through the
hall. Edna, never