there, unless they were sent for. Eda believed this prohibition was strictly observed: indeed, she secretly thought that there was too little temptation to fear that it would be neglected; but Julia and Ellen made an exception, in their own favour, for one single room, and into that they contrived to steal every morning. It was at some distance from their usual sitting-room, so their disobedience had yet remained undiscovered. It so happened that Mrs. Dalton, while receiving some visitors, happened to mention a rare plant she had noticed in the green-house. These visitors had a valuable collection of their own, and that generally gives us an interest in another's. They went to the green-house, where the gardener said it had been sent to the house and placed in the window of the blue drawing-room, as it was called. Thither Mrs. Dalton proceeded with her guests, and there she found the two children; who, hearing footsteps, endeavoured to make a rapid retreat. The window opened down to the ground, and they had come through it with all possible precaution; but, in their haste to
