A Modern Tomboy

lumbers by Laura Everett, who sh

e are all in such a state of confusion and anxi

samund, sitting up in bed

kfast anyhow this morning, for nothing is in or

Laura; don't kee

ane, of

riend

you. She said you were very queer when she came in here last night, and didn't show a

in d

er friend. But now things were changed. Jane Denton was the heroine of the hour. No one else in the whole of that house was thought of in comparison with Jane. For the symptoms of the night before had developed in a most aggravating way. She had grown worse and worse; in short, she was so alarmingly ill that

ura, who sat down on the edge of her bed. "You

with tears, and Laura

said that, instead of going to bed, you were making a most awful noise, reciting poetry to yourself in two distinct voices, and that an extraordinary noise came from under the bed,

until early morning; and now the whole school knows, and what is to be d

," said Rosa

ou mustn't think of yourse

me, please, Laura. What a horrible creature I have been! Oh

go into her room, or to have anything whatever to do with her. You mustn't disobey orders. A trained nurse is coming, and will be here in a very short time. Perhaps there will be two nurses. They are g

. She had never expressed herself so

Lucy and the other girls, all looking pale and anxiou

ss, heartless creature awake yet? Is

wish just at present, when we are in such anx

oice sudd

anted she knew not what. As a matter of fact, he was not to be found, for h

light-blue eyes and gentle smile, was seen passing the window. The Professor wa

have come!" said Lucy, her own littl

girl who is so dreadfully ill.-Lucy, dear, your father is particularly anxious that you should come-yes, and all the rest of you, for that matter. I can squeeze you all in; but I cannot manage the governesses, that is the only thing. All the rest-every single one of you-must come. Rosamund, you, of course; and, Laura,

it, and her firm voice confidence. It seemed in a minute to those agitated and unhappy girls that

ad, in fact, followed Mrs. Brett and the Professor up from the station. He saw Rosamund, and recognized her as the gir

the young ladies

ad she been in her own thoughts that she had positively hardly

e you upon your pow

Lucy's eyes were

" said the doctor,

amund Cunliffe,

ung ladies to shame. She was walking abroad this morning

rning pale. The Professor looked at her. Suddenly R

k to you, and a

, my dear,"

urned to

Dartford," he said. "She proposes that they should return with her immediately. Then the hous

then, young ladies, the sooner you pack up the better. You needn't take a great many things; they can be sent to you afterwards. The great thing is

hink of that at first. We know how particularly kind Mr. Singleton is. But there are his own childr

ect of whys and wherefores the better.-Run upstairs, my dears, and get ready.-I will not even see my dea

ve full directions, and my assistant will come out to see the patient this evening.-Now, if you will kindly allow me t

me of the nervousness of most of the girls. But Mrs. Brett, or

nough and to spare in my house for every one of you-room e

rather to the surprise of the others, elec

ake a walk at so early an hour in the

and I heard her reciting poetry in two voices, and then I heard her throw her voice into a distant part of the room, so that you might almost imagine that she was a ventriloqui

but the energy of the young is sometimes misdirected. When dear Rosamund comes to stay with me I will

or her friend, her knowledge of what had happened the night before, her ever-increasing dislike to Lu

hed the Profes

ned and faced the other girls.-"Before I decide to g

or my poor dear husband has no end of things for me to attend to to-day, and the moment we get to Dartford we shall have to bustle about, I can tell you. There'll be no time for whims and fancies, or even for lessons; for there is to be

may I speak to you?-Mrs. Brett, if you are in a hurry, I will fol

the arm, and leading him into the study, shut

ly naughty. I have bro

gotten Rosamund's transgression of the previous Sunday. He did not

ith whims and fancies. If so, please transfer them to a more convenient season. I am harassed about my books, my-my dear w

wish to leave. I should like to

ess. What we require you to do is to leave the house before you are infected

rain the other day. She had dropped her pencil and was trying to find it. I told her not to do it, and even dra

e that little circumstance to my wife. Not that it matters, after all, how we get our diseases; the thin

t, and she was hungering for me, and you had forbidden me to go to her. So last night, after I came to bed, she was in my room. She had got in by the window. Oh, don't look at me with those startled eyes! I do not wish her to be blamed, and I was not to blame when I found her there, for I did mean to keep my word of honor. She begged of me to lock the door, but I refused; and I think I was almost inducing her to leave the house, and to go home, when Lucy burst into the room. Lucy came to fetch something for Mrs. Merriman-something that Jane wanted-and Irene was under the bed like a flash. It was she who made that noise that Lucy attributed to me. Then afterwards I felt reckless, and I did lock the door, a

Professor, burst into tears. Now, no one ever had higher principles than Professor Merriman, but no man ever had a greater horror of tears. He could not bear what Rosamund had told him; he c

did wrong. Do you wish to go with Mrs. Brett

s. Brett. I will go to Lady Jane; for there is one p

ell you that after your recent conduct I

proud step, but there was some