"Yes," admitted Bessie. "I didn't know just what Jake was going to tell
Maw Hoover about me next--but then, you see, I always knew it was
something that would get me into trouble, and that I'd either get beaten
or get a scolding and have to do without my supper. So even about that
it wasn't very difficult to know what was going to happen."

"Heavens--I'd have run away long before you did," said Dolly, with a
shudder. "I don't see how you ever stood it as long as you did, Bessie.
It must have been awful."

"It was, Dolly," said Eleanor, gravely. "I was there, and I made a point
of looking into things, so that if anyone ever blamed me for helping
Bessie and Zara to get away, I could explain that I hadn't just taken
Bessie's word for things. But running away was a pretty hard thing to
do. It's easy to talk about--but where was Bessie to go? She isn't like
you--or she wasn't.

"She didn't have a lot of friends, who would have thought it was just a
fine joke for her to have to run off that way. If you did it, you'd have
a good time, and when you got tired of it, you'd go back to your Aunt
Mabel, and she'd scold you a little, and that would be the end of it.
You must have thought of trying to get away, Bessie, didn't you?"

"Oh, I did, Miss Eleanor, often and often. When Jake was very bad, or
Maw Hoover was meaner than usual. But it's just as you say. I was afraid
that wherever I went it would be, worse than it was there. I didn't know
where to go or what to do."

"Well--that's so," said Dolly. "It has been awfully hard. But then, how