well, after she gave her dollar with so much reluctance, should
refuse to take any share of our feast. Perhaps to-morrow she will think
better of it. Suppose we save something for her. I dare say she will
have no objection to eat some of these good things in the morning."

"Put by one of the little cocoa-nut puddings for her," said Miss Scott.
"And one of the mince pies," said another young lady. "And a large slice
of pound-cake," said a third. "And a bunch of white grapes," said a
fourth.

Henrietta then selected some of the nicest articles of their banquet, to
offer to Isabella in the morning; and after some consultation, it was
concluded to deposit them, for the present, in the farthest corner of
the upper shelf of the closet; which upper shelf was only used as a
repository for old maps and old copy books, and waste paper, and with
these the things could be very conveniently covered. "Do not take a
light to the closet," said Miss Marley, "you may set something on fire.
If you stand on tiptoe and raise your arm as high as you can, you may
easily reach the upper shelf."

Henrietta accordingly walked to the closet; and was in the act of
shoving a mince-pie into a dark corner of the upper shelf, when suddenly
she gave a start and a shriek, and let fall the cocoa-nut pudding which
she held in her hand. "What is the matter?" exclaimed all the girls at
once. "Oh!" cried Henrietta, "when I reached up the mince-pie to the top
shelf, it was taken from me by a cold hand that met mine--I felt the
fingers." "Impossible," said some of the girls. "What could it actually
be?" cried others. Just then, Rosalie made a rustling among the loose
papers on the top shelf. "There it is again," screamed Henrietta. "Oh!"
cried Miss Watkins, "we have done very wrong to plot this feast in
secret, and something dreadful is going to happen to us as a
punishment."

Another rustling set all the young ladies to screaming; and, with one
accord, they rushed towards the door, with such force as to overset the
table and all its contents. The lamps were broken and extinguished in
the fall; several of the girls were thrown down by the others; and the
shrieks were so violent that Mrs. Middleton heard them into the parlour,
where, her friends having left her, she was sitting with Miss Loxley,
who had just come in; and taking a light with them, the two ladies ran
up to the front school-room.

The scene which then presented itself transfixed them with ast