blush for his rudeness. She went with the aspect of a tragedy queen,
and by the time she overtook the boys she had calmly made up her mind
to two things: never, never again to be friends with Mr. John, and to
give up her boyhood just to spite him. But one more temptation still
held her. There was a little cliff over in that next lot, stony and
steep, and high enough to make a leap which it was some credit to a
boy to achieve. The boys stood on the edge, measuring the distance
with experienced eyes and preparing to go over.

Now Mollie as a girl had always been a very good jumper, so she
resolved at once to try the leap, and have the report of her valiant
deed carried back to Mr. John. She joined the boys, and seeing that
one after another went down safely, she soon asked for a turn. She was
gravely remonstrated with. She was overwhelmed with sage masculine
advice, but she swept her way clear and jumped--with all the
recklessness of her reckless mood. She knew well enough the backward
inclination proper for her head, what the relative positions of her
knees and chin should be, and if she had taken the least forethought
might have redeemed the declining reputation of her boyhood. The
knowledge flashed across her in her swift descent that her spine had
not preserved the proper perpendicular, and that she was coming down
wrong. Chin and knees knocked together as she fell in a heap on the
grass below.

[Illustration: MOLLIE IS CARED FOR BY THE BOYS.]

It was a caving in of skull, she thought, that made that horrible
crashing pain and that sent lightning dancing on a black background
before her eyes, then blinded her quite. Nothing but a general chaos
of skull and brain could make such terrible pain. She wondered if her