nner!'

Betty was standing before her uncle with a white little face and
determined, set mouth, and nurse was releasing the other little
prisoners and bringing them down to their uncle.

Captain Stuart's friend was lounging on the low window-seat of the best
parlour, looking on with an amused eye.

'Nurse thinks you ought to have a good whipping,' continued Captain
Stuart, stroking his long, fair moustache very gravely, though there
was a twinkle in his blue eyes. 'I think we must have a court-martial
first. Were you trying to kill yourself, Betty?'

'I was trying to save myself from a fire--I mean a fire that might be.'

The sentence was begun bravely, but the little lips began to quiver.
Shaken by her fall, afraid of her uncle's anger, and uncomfortable by
the presence of a stranger, she burst into tears.

And then Captain Stuart took her on his knee, and drew out his large
handkerchief.

'There, little woman, rest your head against my shoulder and cry away;
it will do you good. I was beginning to think you a little stoic.'

The door opened, and the other children appeared, with very large eyes
and solemn faces.

They kissed their uncle in a subdued fashion, and then Molly said,
'Nurse told us Betty had fallen, is she hurt?'

'Is her legs bwoken?' demanded the twins.

'I knew she couldn't do it; I told her she couldn't!'

In an instant Betty's face appeared from behind her handkerchief. 'I
did do it; I did! and I could do it again to-morrow; so there, Douglas!'

Then Uncle Harry laughed outright, after which he pulled himself up,
and said as sternly as he could,--

'Now look here, youngsters, I'm not good at scolding, as you know; but
you're all old enough to know that it is not true pluck to go crawling
round roofs like cats, and running the risks of breaking your necks and
damaging your limbs for the rest of your lives. Now then, who is to
blame? Speak up like little Britons, and don't be ashamed of owning up
and telling the truth about it.'

There was a pause. Douglas got very red in the face, but blurted out,
'I dared her to do it.'

'And I said I thought she could do it,' said Molly with tearful eyes;
'but I did ask her to come back at the corner.'

'And I dared her to go on,' added Douglas.

'And Bobby and me clapped our hands at her,' put in Billy eagerly,
feeling anxious to share in the glory of the escapade.

'Do you think it a brave thing to urge another on to danger, when,
per