the parish in the schoolhouse this
afternoon, and games afterwards, and recitations; and if you, Rosamund,
can recite as well as Lucy has described, why, you will be invaluable."

"But I can't recite. Lucy is mistaken," said Rosamund.--"Professor, may
I speak to you?--Mrs. Brett, if you are in a hurry, I will follow you by
a later train, if it is decided that I am to go to you."

Here the determined girl took the Professor by the arm, and leading him
into the study, shut the door behind them, and turned and faced him.

"I have been exceedingly naughty. I have broken my word of honor."

Now, the Professor, who was always extremely dreamy, had nearly
forgotten Rosamund's transgression of the previous Sunday. He did not
speak at all for a minute, but looked at her in puzzled astonishment.

"You have broken your word of honor?" he said. "We are in great trouble.
I hope you are not now beginning to be taken up with whims and fancies.
If so, please transfer them to a more convenient season. I am harassed
about my books, my--my dear wife, and that poor girl. By the way, she is
your friend, too. I can quite understand that you are grieved on her
account."

"I am terribly grieved. I do not wish to leave. I should like to stay
and help to look after her."

"But that cannot be permitted. That would be an act of the greatest
selfishness. What we require you to do is to leave the house before you
are infected--you even more than the others, for you have been in the
same room with her."

"I do not think I am infected. I cannot imagine how Jane caught
diphtheria. I did see her bending down over a drain the other day. She
had dropped her pencil and was trying to find it. I told her not to do
it, and even dragged her away. I am sure I am all right, and I should
not allow her to breathe on me, and I think I could help."

"It is generous of you, my dear, but it cannot possibly be permitted,"
said the Professor. "I will relate that little circumstance to my wife.
Not that it matters, after all, how we get our diseases; the thing is to
cure them when we have acquired them. However, I will mention the
circumstance to my dear wife."

"Please do. Now, I have something to confess. You heard what Lucy said:
that I was reciting poetry, that I was using two voices, that I was a
sort of ventriloquist. You heard what Dr. Marshall said: that he saw me
on the high-road at a very early hour this morning. Now, I was not
reciting last night; I