the door until some
one should come to unfasten it; but then she remembered how sick Ann
had said her mamma was, and she knew that a noise would disturb her;
and more than that,--it would make her feel so badly to know that Ruby
was in a temper.

There was something else that Ruby remembered, too. The last time her
papa had told her to stay in her own room till he should come to let
her out, he had trusted her and had not fastened the door; and when he
went upstairs, he had found that Ruby had gone out, and was down in the
yard playing with her kitten, just as if she was not in disgrace; so it
was no wonder that he could not trust her this time. Ruby sat down on
the side of the bed very meekly when she remembered all this, and I am
glad to say, really resolved that as far as she could she would make up
for having been so naughty last night, by trying to be as good as
possible now, and not give any more trouble to her mother.

Downstairs her father and Aunt Emma were eating their breakfast, and
her father was saying sadly,--

"I am sure I don't know what to do with the child. I am so busy with
my patients that I can hardly take the time to be with her mother as
much as I should be, and Ann does not seem to be able to make her mind.
I know she is always getting into mischief, and she certainly does seem
to think of more extraordinary things to do than any child I ever knew.
She might have been badly burned last night, if I had not seen the
blaze, and even if she had escaped herself, the fire might have spread
to the boards and fence, and then there is no knowing where it would
have stopped. Her mother will never get well while she worries about
Ruby, and you see for yourself what harm last night worry did her. I
declare I don't know what to do."

"I have a plan," said Aunt Emma, after a little thought. "I will take
Ruby back to school with me."

CHAPTER V.

BOARDING-SCHOOL.

"Take Ruby to school with you?" repeated Dr. Harper in surprise.

"Yes, I think that is the only thing to be done," Aunt Emma answered.
"Of course you would miss her, but you would know that she was in safe
keeping, and that I would take good care of her, and make her as happy
as possible; and then without the anxiety of her whereabouts or her
doings upon her mind, her mother would have a better chance to get
well. You see you never can know what the child will do next, and if
she had not made that fire she might not have been