ed
across to the fireplace and rang the bell.

"You must go, Miss Patty," said nurse. "I was willing to do it, but I
can't face him. You must go; you really must."

"Well, I'm not frightened," said Patty. "Come on, Briar."

The two little girls walked down the passage. Mr. Dale's bell was heard
to ring again.

"Aren't you the least bit frightened, Patty?" asked Briar.

"No," answered Patty, with a sigh. "If only I could get the real
heaviness off my mind, nothing else would matter. Oh, Briar, Briar!"

"Don't talk of it now," said Briar. "To-night when we are alone, when we
are by ourselves in our own room, but not now. Come, let us answer
father's bell."

They opened the door and presented themselves--two pretty little figures
with rosy faces and bright eyes--two neatly dressed, lady-like little
girls.

"Do you want anything, father?"

"Yes," said Mr. Dale. "Come in and shut the door."

The girls did what he told them.

"Who did this?" asked the master of The Dales. He swept his hand with a
certain majesty of gesture round the restored room. "Who brushed the
walls? Who put those flimsies to the windows? Who touched my beloved
books? Who was the person? Name the culprit."

"There were quite a lot of us, father. We all did it," said Briar.

"You all did it? You mean to tell me, little girl, that you did it?"

"I dusted a lot of the books, father. I didn't injure one of them, and I
put them back again just in the same place. My arms ached because the
books were so heavy."

"Quite right that they should ache. Do you know what injury you have done
me?"

"No," said Patty suddenly. "We made the room clean, father. It isn't
right to live in such a dirty room. Plato wouldn't have liked it."

"Now what do you mean?"

Mr. Dale's white face quieted down suddenly; for his daughter--his small,
young, ignorant daughter--to dare to mention the greatest name, in his
opinion, of all the ages, was too much for him.

"You are always talking to us about Plato," said Patty, who grew braver
and braver as she proceeded. "You talk of Plato one day, and Virgil
another day, and you always tell us how great they were; but if they were
really great they would not be dirty, and this room was horrid and dirty,
father. It really was. Nice, great, good, noble people are clean. Aunt
Sophy says so, and she knows. Since Aunt Sophy came we have been very
happy, and the house has been clean and nice. And I love Aunt Sophy, and
so do