EFFIE'S BUSINESS 217 



She was not a liar by nature, but children have 

 streaky days in their moral Hfe, just as men have, 

 and to-day was a very streaky day with Efie. 

 She had awakened that morning predisposed to 

 frowardness; a slight biHous attack had made 

 her fretful, and fretfulness always made her impish. 

 The devil, taking advantage of this pathological 

 condition, had incited her to make an April fool 

 of Mr Giveen, to steal, and to lie. 



'• Oh! " said Miss Grimshaw. 



They walked away from the post-office, taking 

 the downhill road to the bridge. They walked 

 hurriedly ; at least, the girl did — Effie had almost 

 to trot in order to keep up with her. 



A nice thing, truly. Here, for months, she had 

 been working for the interests of a man who to-day 

 had taken a child into his confidence, given it a 

 letter to post, and instructions to keep the matter 

 hidden from her. Worse than that, she had a dim 

 suspicion that the letter was to ^Ir Dashwood a.nd 

 had to deal with that " affair." She had taken 

 the road to the bridge unconsciously, and when 

 she reached it and found herself at the very place 

 where the affair had occurred she could have wept 

 from sheer mortification, only for the presence 

 of the culprit at her side. 



" Don't tell your father that you told me that, 



Effie," said Miss Grimshaw, after she had leaned 



for a moment on the parapet of the bridge, deep 



in troubled thought. 



"No," said Effie, "I won't." 

 o 



