"There, Rachel!" said the mother, triumphantly.

"I don't know what you mean," said Rachel, angrily, "only that
Conrade is a worse boy than I had thought him, end has been teaching
his little brother falsehood."

The angry voice set Hubert crying, and little Cyril, who was very
soft-hearted, joined in chorus, followed by the baby, who was
conscious of something very disagreeable going on in her nursery.
Thereupon, after the apparently most important business of comforting
Miss Temple had been gone through, the court of justice adjourned,
Rachel opening the door of Conrade's little room, and recommending
solitary imprisonment there till he should be brought to confession.
She did not at all reckon on his mother going in with him, and
shutting the door after her. It was not the popular notion of
solitary confinement, and Rachel was obliged to retire, and wait in
the drawing-room for a quarter of an hour before Fanny came down, and
then it was to say--

"Do you know, Rachel dear, I am convinced that it must be a mistake.
Conrade assures me he never touched the nest."

"So he persists in it?"

"And indeed, Rachel dear, I cannot help believing him. If it had
been Francie, now; but I never knew Conrade tell an untruth in his
life."

"You never knew, because you always believe him."