ainst poor Miss
Frost was innocence itself. Such a timid, gentle, confiding little
creature as this! And then report says that she was so devoted to Irene,
and that Irene was so changed."

Yes, indeed, Irene was changed, and the great change lay now in the fact
that she did not say a word or admit her suffering to any one; but sat
moody and silent, scarcely attending to her lessons, indifferent to bad
marks, without the least vestige of spirit, with no desire to injure any
one. Even Lucy could not provoke a retort from her lips. Whenever she
was allowed to, she stole outside little Agnes's door to listen to her
mutterings, and to wonder and wonder if the child was to die.

"If she dies I shall go mad," thought the miserable girl, "for she has
not only been frightened, but she has been turned against me. Who could
have done it?"

Miss Frost had returned; Rosamund had also come back (her father was
better); but the key to the mystery was still missing. Irene declared
positively to Rosamund that she had nothing to do with the fright that
little Agnes had received; but no one could explain how the hedgehog had
got into the child's bed. Some one suggested that it had crawled in by
itself, but this was repudiated as absolutely impossible. Somebody had
put it there, and no doubt with evil intent. Rosamund thought a good
deal over the matter. She thought so much that at last she came to a
certain conclusion.

Little Agnes still lay between life and death, and death came nearer and
nearer to the little, weakened frame each moment and each hour. Then
Rosamund determined to take the doctor into her confidence. She waylaid
him as he came downstairs.

"Dr. Marshall," she said, "may I speak to you for a minute?"

"Certainly, Miss Cunliffe," he replied.

Rosamund took him into one of the sitting-rooms. She closed the door
behind them and bolted it.

"Why do you do that?" he said.

"Because I am not sure of things. I want to take you into my confidence,
and I don't want any one to hear."

"Well, Miss Cunliffe, you must be brief."

"First of all, may I ask you what you think of little Agnes? Is she in
danger?"

"Undoubtedly she is in danger."

"Is she so much in danger that she is likely to die?"

"Unless she gets better soon, unless the strange pressure on her brain
is removed, she will die," said the doctor. "The shock has been much
more severe than any one could have believed possible, even from such an
ugly thing