y great event, and an
event which was quite unheard-of in the lives of any of Ruby's friends,
yet she did not like to have to remember that it was partly as a
punishment that she was going.

Before she reached Ruthy's, however, she had banished all unpleasant
thoughts, and her one idea was to astonish Ruthy with the information
that she was going to boarding-school, and was to have a trunk to take
with her. She ran upon the porch calling,--

"Ruthy, Ruthy! Where are you?"

Mrs. Warren came to the door.

"Good-morning, Ruby," she said, looking gravely at the little girl.
"How is your mamma this morning after her anxiety last night about you?"

Ruby had not thought that Mrs. Warren knew anything about her plan of
playing Swiss Family Robinson, and her face grew very red, as she
looked away from Mrs. Warren, and twisted the corner of her apron into
a little point.

"How did you know?" she asked very faintly.

"Because your papa came over here looking for you, and then he drove
back after a while to let us know that you were found, and were safe.
I was very sorry to hear that you had frightened your mother so. How
is she this morning?"

"She is worse this morning," and Ruby began to cry. It was so hard to
have to tell Ruthy's mamma that she had made her own dear mother worse.
"I did n't mean to make my mamma worse; I truly did n't, Mrs. Warren.
I love my mamma just as much as Ruthy loves you, and maybe better, even
if I do do things I ought n't to do. I never thought she would know
about it, I truly didn't. If I had known that she would wake up and be
frightened, I never would have gone out one step, even if I did think
it would be fun."

Mrs. Warren led Ruby in and took her up in her lap.

"My dear little girl, if you would only stop and think before you get
into mischief, I do not believe you would do half so many naughty
things," she said. "I know you love your mother, but you think about
Ruby first and what she wants to do, and forget to think about your
mother until afterwards, and then it is too late to spare her anxiety
about you. It would make her very unhappy if she knew how many things
you do which, I am sure, you know she would not like."

"Indeed, I am going to try to be good," Ruby answered, wiping away her
tears. "And I have a great secret, Mrs. Warren. At least, it is n't a
secret exactly. It's somewhere that I am going, but I want to tell
Ruthy first of all, and then I will tell you