“Did you see all the fort, and the guns, and the soldiers?” asked Donald eagerly, running to meet his cousin as she came slowly into the sitting-room¹. “Why, your hand is all scratched!” he added in a surprised tone.  
Faith tried to cover the scratched hand with a fold of her skirt. Aunt Prissy noticed that the little girl wore her every-day dress.
 
“Didn’t you wear your blue dress, Faithie?” and without waiting for an answer said: “Well, perhaps this one was just as well, for you might have hurt your blue dress.”
 
Faith sat down on the big sofa thinking to herself that she could never be happy again. First, and worst of all, was the ruined dress. Then the remembrance of the way she had been treated by Caroline and Catherine; and, last of all, her secrets!—every one a little more important and dreadful than the other. First the blue beads²; then Nathan’s knowledge of a hidden entrance to Fort Ticonderoga; and then the dress. She was so taken up with her unhappy thoughts that she did not realize she had not answered Donald, or spoken to her aunt, until Donald, who was standing³ directly in front of her, demanded: “What’s the matter, Cousin Faith? Does your tooth ache?”
 
Faith shook her head. “I’m tired. I didn’t have a good time at all. I don’t like those girls,” and, greatly to Donald’s alarm, she put her head on the arm of the sofa and began to cry.
 
In an instant she felt Aunt Prissy’s arm about her, and heard the kind voice say: “Never mind, dear child. Don’t think about them.”
 
After a little Aunt Prissy persuaded Faith to lie down and rest until supper time.
 
“I’ll sit here with my sewing and keep you company,” said Aunt Prissy. “It’s an hour to candle-light.”
 
Donald tiptoed out of the room, but was back in a moment standing in the doorway⁴ and beckoning⁵ his mother; and Mrs. Scott went quietly toward him, closing the door softly behind her.
 
[Pg 121]“It’s those girls. The ones Faith went with to the fort,” Donald explained in a whisper. “They’re on the door-step.”
 
Caroline and Catherine were standing, very neat and demure⁶, at the front door.
 
“Has your little girl got home?” inquired Catherine in her most polite manner; “she ran off and left us,” added Caroline.
 
“Faith is safe at home,” responded Mrs. Scott in a pleasant voice.
 
“Why didn’t you ask them to supper, mother? You said you were going to,” demanded Donald, as he watched the sisters walk down the path.
 
“Your cousin is too tired for company,” said his mother, who had planned a little festivity for Faith and her friends on their return, but had quickly decided⁷ that her little niece would be better pleased not to see the sisters again that day.
 
“All the more cake for us then,” said Donald cheerfully, for he had seen a fine cake on the dining-room table; “there comes the shoemaker’s girl,” he added. “Shall you ask her to stay, mother?”
 
“Yes, indeed,” and Mrs. Scott turned to give Louise a cordial welcome.
 
“Faith is resting on the sofa, but you may go right in, Louise. I know she will be glad to see you,” she said, smiling down at the dark-eyed little girl. “When are you coming to make us another visit?”
 
“Father said I might stay all night if you asked me,” responded Louise, who now felt sure that Mrs. Scott was her friend.
 
“We shall be glad indeed to have you, my dear. Let me take your cap and cape⁸. And go in and cheer up Faithie, for I fear she has had an unhappy time,” said Mrs. Scott.
 
Louise’s smile faded. She had never had a friend until Faith Carew came to Ticonderoga, and the thought that any one had made Faith unhappy made her ready to inflict⁹ instant punishment on the offenders¹⁰.
 
“Oh, Louise! I’m so glad it’s you!” exclaimed Faith, as she heard the sound of Louise’s crutch¹¹ stubbing across the floor.
 
Louise sat down beside the crumpled¹² little figure on the sofa.
 
“What did they do, Faith?” she demanded.
 
Faith told the story of the walk to the fort; of the disagreeable manner of both Caroline and Catherine toward her, and of their disappearance¹⁴ [Pg 123]as soon as they were inside the fort. But she did not tell of her efforts to find them, nor of Nathan Beaman’s appearance.
 
“They are hateful things!” Louise declared, “but it won’t be long before they’ll go to Albany with their father. Oh!” she ended a little fearfully. “I ought not to have tol............