. So I went out to buy some, that we might have a
little jollification together with nuts and apples and perhaps a cookie
or two, if Delia would give them to us. That is why I went out."

Nan twisted her fingers and looked down. "And I went out because you
did," she faltered. "I thought you had gone away, and I went to Mr.
Turner's to bring you back--if you would come. Say, now, didn't you
hear what I said to Delia? I was awfully mad, and I guess I spoke out
loud enough so folks on the next block could have heard. Honest now,
didn't you?"

Miss Blake did not answer at once, and Nan could see that a struggle of
some sort was going on in her mind. When she raised her face her eyes
were very grave.

"Yes, Nan, I did hear!" she confessed, honestly.

The girl's cheeks blazed with sudden shame.

"And yet you weren't going to leave?" she said. "You were only going
to do a kindness to me?"

Miss Blake shook her head.

"Dear Nan," she answered, smiling wistfully, "a good soldier never runs
away for a mere wound. He stays on the field until he has won his
battle or--until--he is mortally hurt. I do not think you will ever
wish to cut me as deeply as that, and so--and so--I will stay
until--the general orders me off the field. The day I hear that your
father is to come back, that day I will resign my position in this
house. Until then, however, you must reconcile yourself to my presence
here, and I think we should both be much happier if you would try to do
so at once, my dear."

CHAPTER VIII

NAN'S HEROINE

The strain Nan had given her ankle proved more serious than either she
or Miss Blake had expected. It threatened to keep her chained to the
sofa for days to come, and the girl's only comfort lay in the thought
that now, of course, the governess would not force the question of
study, and after she was up and about again she might be able to
dispose of it altogether, and save herself any more worry on that score.

But Monday came, and, true to her word, Miss Blake appeared in the
library after breakfast with an armful of school-books, to which she
kept Nan fastened until luncheon time. It was perfectly clear that
there was no escape. Miss Blake was armed with authority, and the girl
knew herself to be under control. She fretted against it so
persistently that if the governess had not had an enduring patience she
must have despaired over and over again under the strain of Nan's
sullen tempers