bounded one side of it; and, unfastening this, the cook passed out,
saying to Marcia,--
"Now mind and keep the door shut; and don't you be poking your head
out, and leaving your work."
With which she disappeared; and Marcia shut and bolted the door, then
cut one or two foolish antics as though she were pleased to be rid of
her. She did not see Dora; for the end of the piazza where the little
girl stood looking out at her was screened by a lattice over which ran
a vine. There were no leaves on the vine now, it is true; but the stems
and tendrils helped to make that corner a good hiding-place from any
one who stood below.
Dora had no thought of hiding from Marcia; and she was about to speak
to her, when she saw the colored girl, after looking carefully about
her, stoop down, and with a bit of stick begin to poke and pry between
the stones at the bottom of the wall, which was somewhat out of repair
at this part, and showed one or two large cracks running along just
above the ground.
"What can she be doing?" thought Dora; and curiosity held her silent
till she should see what Marcia would be at.
Though hidden herself, she could see the girl very well, peeping down
at her, as she did, through the lattice and the vine.
Marcia pried and pried, stopping now and then to look about her and
listen, as if afraid of being caught; and at last fished up from
between the stones something glittering which looked like--was it
possible?--Dora thought it looked like a slender chain with something
hanging to it. Could it be?--was it--Belle's locket?
She darted from her corner, along the piazza, down the steps leading
to the garden, and around to the side of the wall where Marcia was;
but the girl saw and heard her coming, and before she reached her the
thing she had held in her hand was dropped again into its hiding-place
between the stones.
Yet not so quickly but that Dora saw the motion of Marcia's hand, and
she was more than ever convinced that something was wrong.
They stood and faced one another, the little lady and the colored girl:
the former, stern and indignant, as became one who had caught a culprit
in the act; the other, sheepish and guilty, wriggling her shoulders
uneasily, and not daring to meet the eye which accused her.
"Give me that," said Dora, severely.
"Give you what, Miss Johnson?" said Marcia, twisting and wriggling
more than ever and vainly trying to put on an air of innocence.
"What you had in your hand. I b'lieve you've put it back in the wall,
but you'll have to let me see it," said Dora.
"I ain't got nothin', Miss; and I s'pect Miss Ashton wants you. I hear
her callin'," said Marcia.
"She's not calling, and if she was I wouldn't go till I knew what that
was," answered Dora, firmly. "She'll excuse me when I tell her why."
Marcia persisted, and insisted that she had had nothing in her hand;
but Dora knew better. And though the girl tried every device to rid
herself of the young lady, she was not to be moved. She would mount
guard over that hidden thing till she learned what it was, if she stood
there all day.
Equally determined was Marcia; but she coaxed and threatened and tried
to frighten in vain. Dora was a child of too much sense to be at all
disturbed by the stories she told of what would happen to her; treated
with scorn all the bribes which Marcia promised; and repeated over and
over again her resolution not to stir till she saw what was in that
crack.
As for Miss Ashton coming for her, it was just what Dora wished for:
she could tell her teacher, and leave the matter in her hands, sure
that she would find means of coming at the truth. And now there was
Nelly Ransom's voice making itself heard.
"Dora! Dora! Where are you? Miss Ashton wants to know if you are worse."
"Come here, Nelly," said Dora; while Marcia grew more and more uneasy
as she found the toils of her own wickedness closing down and down upon
her. "You go and ask Miss Ashton to come here very quick. I've made a
great discovery. Make haste."
Nelly obeyed, wondering much; and Miss Ashton, rather alarmed, speedily
appeared on the spot.
Marcia, seeing that all was lost now, did not wait for her wickedness
to be revealed; but, as the young lady came down the steps, shot away
around the other side of the house and out of sight.
Dora's story was soon told, and the crack pointed out; in another
moment the little girl and her teacher were busy following Marcia's
example, and with bits of crooked stick trying to poke out the hidden
"shiny thing," as Dora called it,--not yet sure enough to say the
_locket_.
"Oh! Miss Ashton," said the excited child, "I feel something,--I do,
I do!" and the next moment she drew up with her hooked stick--the
locket!--yes, Belle's long-lost locket!
Dora's joy and exultation knew no bounds; and she would have rushed
away with it to the school-room at once, had not Miss Ashton stopped
her.
"Let me be the one to take it to Belle. Oh! do, Miss Ashton. I was the
finder out," said the child.
"Yes, you shall give it to her; but I cannot have the class excited and
disturbed just now," said the lady. "Besides, I want to know how this
came here."
"But, Miss Ashton," said Dora, "I don't think I could keep it in. And
then Mabel, poor Mabel! you wouldn't let any one think she stole it a
minute longer, would you? Oh! I am so sorry I believed it of her, and
was so ugly to her about it."
There was reason in Dora's words; and Miss Ashton, knowing that the
curiosity of her young flock must already be excited, concluded to let
her reveal her prize, although she felt sure that there would be little
more study that morning if she did so.
It was singular how the locket should have come into Marcia's
possession, and she did not yet feel that Mabel was quite cleared. But
she gave Dora leave to make her good news known, and to restore the
locket to Belle.
Away rushed Dora, and running into the school-room held aloft her
prize, crying out,--
"Found! Found! and I did it, Belle and Mabel!"
Miss Ashton following close on Dora's steps found her class in quite as
much commotion as she had expected. Belle, with the recovered locket
held fast in her little hands, was covering it with kisses, while tears
and smiles were struggling for the mastery. She flew into Miss Ashton's
arms the moment she appeared, but could find no words for all that was
in her heart.
But this could not be said for any of the others; for questions and
exclamations were poured forth in such numbers that it was impossible
to answer them all, and in spite of Miss Ashton's warning "Sh! sh!"
there arose such a Babel of young voices that Mrs. Ashton opened the
door of her room and asked the cause of the uproar.
A sudden hush fell upon the little ones when her voice was heard; and
then Miss Ashton told in a few words where and how the locket had been
found.
Belle waited till she was through, and then slipping from her teacher's
lap ran over to Mabel, who sat sobbing at her desk; and the two little
cousins put their arms about one another in a loving, congratulatory
clasp.
"Oh! Mabel," said Belle, "I am so glad I b'lieved you didn't have it. I
would feel so bad if I had."
"I'm so glad it's come out," sobbed Mabel, with a look and tone which
went far towards convincing Miss Ashton that the child's story had
really been true, and that, however mysterious it now seemed, Marcia
in some way had obtained possession of the locket without Mabel's
knowledge.
"So am I," said Dora, who had been one of the most forward in believing
Mabel guilty; "and I'm so sorry I was hateful to you about it, Mabel.
I'll make up to you for it as long as I live! See if I don't."
Congratulations were showered on both of the little cousins; and
Belle's pleasure in the recovery of her locket was increased tenfold by
knowing that Mabel was cleared.
For when, after some difficulty, Marcia was forced to confess how she
had come by the locket, she said that on the day when she had been
allowed to go to her sick sister, she had forgotten a bundle she was
to take with her, and returned for it. Finding the gate unfastened,
she came in without ringing, entered the house, and went up to her
room without notice. But on the way up she saw Mabel run out from the
school-room into the cloak-room, and peeping at her through the crack
of the door saw her throw down some glittering object and cover it
with her hat and sacque. She passed on her way; but, as she came down,
was tempted to go in and see what the young lady had been hiding. At
first it was only curiosity; but when she saw the pretty thing, the
wish to have it came over her, and, the temptation proving too strong,
she snatched it up, put the cloak and hat as she had found them, and
ran away out of the house as quietly as possible, no one knowing that
she had returned. But she dared not let any one see the locket, and
she had put it for safe hiding in the crack in the wall, whence she
could take it out once in a while and look at it. But it had been more
trouble than pleasure to her; for Marcia had been taught better, and
found truly that "the way of transgressors is hard."
She was not very penitent now, but very much frightened, believing that
she would be sent to prison. This was not done of course; but Marcia's
sin had deprived her of a good home and its comforts. Mrs. Ashton would
have kept her, and still tried to do her good, if she had not had her
young pupils to consider; but Marcia had been much given to pilfering
of late; and this fault, so serious in any place, was particularly so
in a school. So Marcia must go, in spite of all her promises,--promises
made so often before, and so often broken. Mrs. and Miss Ashton still
kept an eye upon her, and did what they could to befriend her; but
she lost much through a sin which had brought her not the smallest
pleasure.
And now we will say good-by for a while to Belle and Mabel; hoping that
the latter, profiting by the lessons and example set before her, may
also learn to draw light and brightness from the Sun of Righteousness,
and herself prove a little sunbeam to all about her path.
[Illustration]
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Transcriber's Notes:
A few instances of missing punctuation, limited to full stops and
closing quotes, have been silently corrected.
Page 26, "Lilly" changed to "Lily" (and Lily Norris is)
Page 81, "eat" changed to "ate" (Mabel ate up her jelly)
Page 91, apostrophe added (he 'most drowned himself)
Page 199, "behaviour" changed to "behavior" (govern her behavior)
Page 210, "to-morrrow" changed to "to-morrow" (day after to-morrow)