ringleader in everything; the others would behave when she was not
there to incite them to mischief and go she should. Besides, he
said, it would be the making of her. It was an excellent school
he had chosen for her; the ladies who kept it were kind, but very
firm, and Judy was being ruined for want of a firm hand. Which,
indeed, was in a measure true.

Judy sat bolt upright in bed at the sight of Esther's sorrowful
face.

"It's no good, dear; there's no way out of it," she said gently.
"But you'll go like a brave girl, won't you, Ju-Ju? You always
were the sort to die game, as Pip says."

Judy gulped down a great lump in her throat, and her poor little
face grew white and drawn.

"It's all right, Essie. There, you go on down to breakfast,"
she said, in a voice that, only shook a little; "and please
leave the General, Esther; I'll bring him down with me."

Esther deposited her little fat son on the pillow, and with one
loving backward glance went out of the door.

And Judy pulled the little lad down into her arms, and covered the
bedclothes right over both their heads, and held him in a fierce,
almost desperate clasp for a minute or two, and buried her face
in his soft, dimpled neck, and kissed it till her dips ached.

He fought manfully against these troublesome proceedings, and at