d come to an end! At
home she was already regarded as the troublesome one of the family,
and if she suffered this disgrace, she could never hold up her head
again. Father--dear, patient, self-sacrificing Father--would be
grieved and worried beyond expression; he hoped great things, she
knew, from her schooling, and how could she bear to disappoint him?

Then there was Beatrice, who always seemed ready to find fault, and
think the worst of her. She would almost as soon let Miss Roscoe know
as Beatrice! No, at all costs the episode of that afternoon must be
kept a strict secret. She dared not confide it even to Winnie or
Lesbia. She must take the burden on her own shoulders, and get out of
the scrape as best she could alone. Netta had assumed the leadership
of the affair, so to Netta she turned for counsel and comfort.

"What's the next move?" she asked.

"Why, we must go to Parker's directly school's over, and take the
parcel with us."

"I shall miss the bus!"

"You can't help that; you must catch the next."

"I shall have to dodge Winnie and Lesbia."

"Dodge them, then, and make up some excuse for missing the bus. You
can say I kept you."

"How much do you think the china will cost?"

"I haven't the least idea; it depends how much is broken."

"Netta, you won't tell a soul about this, will you?"

"Tell! Am I likely to tell? No, you and I are in the same boat, and we
must shield each other. I wouldn't trust anybody in the school. One
never knows how things are talked about and get round from the most
unlikely quarters. Whatever happens, this mustn't reach Miss Roscoe's
ears."

The motor omnibus started at 4.20, and as a rule the Gascoynes had
quite a scramble to rush off and catch it. To-day Gwen managed to
avoid Winnie and Lesbia, and waiting until they were safely off the
premises, she went with Netta to the pantry. Emma was not there, but
they found the parcel behind the door and appropriated it, Gwen hiding
it carefully under her waterproof. Parker's china store was in the
principal street of the town, nearly a quarter of an hour's walk from
Rodenhurst. When the girls arrived there, several customers were in
the shop, so that they had to wait a little before anyone could attend
to them.

"You speak to him--I don't know what to say!" whispered Gwen,
thrusting the parcel into Netta's hand, as an assistant at last came
to serve them.

Netta had any amount of presence of mind, and did not at all object