money somewhere in this desk, and I must have it."

Perhaps, under ordinary circumstances, she would have been moved by the expedient which had been used to deter her from stealing. The commandment of God, staring her in the face at the very moment when she expected to place her hand upon the forbidden treasure, might have reached her conscience if she had not been engaged in a deeply-laid plan for revelling in stolen joys. As it was, she was only disappointed at not finding the money which the drawer had been supposed to contain.

"Fanny Jane!" called Mrs. Green, the housekeeper, from the entry.

It was not prudent to be seen in the library, and, hastily closing the drawer, and restoring the key to the nail under the desk, she stepped out at one of the long windows upon the piazza.

"Fanny Jane!" repeated the housekeeper.

"Here I am," said the guilty girl, entering the front door.

"It is time for you to get ready for school," added Mrs. Green.

"I'm not going to school to-day."

"Not going to school? Why not, miss?"

"Because I don't want to go."

"I think you are going," said the housekeeper, firmly.

"And I think I am not going!"

"Very well; then I will send for Mr. Long," added Mrs. Green, with a coolness and decision which were not without their effect upon the stubborn girl.

Mr. Long was a constable, and outside of his official duties, he was often employed in various miscellaneous offices by Mr. Grant. He lived in a small cottage adjoining the Woodville estate. This man was a great bugbear to Fanny, who had a very proper and wholesome regard for the strong arm of the law.

"I don't care for Mr. Long," said Fanny, shaking her shoulders in defiance; but this was only a vain boast.

Mrs. Green rang a bell for the man-servant who was employed in the house. This was more than the naughty girl could endure, for she knew that Mrs. Green would do all she promised.

"You needn't send for Mr. Long," interposed Fanny, doggedly. "I'll go to school."

"I thought you would; but you may do as you please."

"I'll go, but I want fifteen cents to buy a new copy-book."

As Mrs. Green knew that Fanny needed a new copy-book, she did not object to this request, and went into the library to procure the money. Instead of going up stairs to prepare herself for school, as the housekeeper had told her to do, Fanny went out upon the piazza again, and looking through the window, saw Mrs. Green open a closet in the library, and, from a drawer there, take out the money she had asked for. The housekeeper locked the drawer and the closet door, placing the key of the latter in a vase on the mantel-piece, and the key of the drawer under one of a row of volumes on a book shelf. All these precautions had been rendered necessary by the presence of the dishonest girl in the house.

Fanny, having carefully observed where the keys were placed, ran up stairs, and presently appeared, dressed for school. Mrs. Green gave her the money for which she had asked, and having satisfied herself that the refractory girl had actually departed for school, she went up stairs to attend to her usual duties. Fanny went as far as the road, and then, instead of turning to the left, she went to the right, and keeping in the shadow of the trees, reached the rear of the mansion. From this point she crept round to the piazza, from which she passed into the library.

"She can't cheat me!" said Fanny, again congratulating herself upon her own cunning. "She'll find, before night, that I'm too much for her."

The wicked girl then went to the vase, and taking from it the key, opened the closet. From the place where she had stood, she could not determine exactly under which book the key of the drawer had been placed; but after raising half a dozen of them, she found the object of her search. The drawer was opened, and on the top of several bundles of papers lay a pocket-book. Her eyes snapped with unwonted fire as she discovered the prize.

She opened it, and found a great roll of bills; in one of the pockets there was a mass of currency. There was no great staring placard, with "Thou shalt not steal" printed upon it, but the words seemed to be spoken from her own breast—seemed to be thundering in her soul. But Fanny was excited by the prospect of the stolen joys, in which she had been revelling in anticipation for a fortnight, and she heeded not the voice from her breast, and silenced the thunder-tones that rolled through her soul.

"Shall I take it all?" whispered she, as she gazed on the great pile of "greenbacks and currency." "I may as well be hung for an old sheep as a lamb," she added, as she gathered up the money, and thrust it into her pocket.

A noise in the entry startled her. She closed the drawer, locked it, and restored the key to the place where she had found it. The closet door was secured in like manner, and the key returned to the vase. Passing out of the library as she had entered, she made her way back to the road, and walked towards the school-house. Before she reached it, however, she turned down a lane leading to the river. It was a lonely avenue, completely shaded by trees, which concealed her from the view of the people in the adjoining houses. Increasing her pace to a bounding run, she soon reached the Hudson.

Seated on a stone, near the river, was a girl of fourteen, who had evidently been waiting for Fanny. In her hand she held a couple of books, which indicated that she also had been sent to school.

"Where have you been? Why didn't you come before?" asked the girl, as she rose at Fanny's approach.

"I couldn't come before," replied Fanny.

"Why not?" demanded the other, whose name was Kate Magner.

"No matter why not," answered Fanny, rather testily, for she was not yet quite willing to confess what she had done in the library of the mansion-house.

"Haven't the folks gone away?"

"Yes; they all went off in the morning train. Where is Tom?"

"I don't know."

"But we want him; we can't get along without him."

"He said he would come."

"But he is late."

"So are you."

"I couldn't help it."

"I suppose he can't, either. But what are we going to do, Fan?" asked Kate, who did not seem to be satisfied with the present prospect of the enterprise, whatever it was.

"We are going to have a good time."

"You said that before; but I want to know what we are going to do. You asked me to meet you here at half past eight. You come at nine, and I don't see that anything is to be done. I shall catch it for playing truant from school, and all for nothing."

"You shall have the best time you have had in your life."

"I don't know about that. Why don't you tell me what you mean to do?"

"I am almost afraid to tell you, Kate."

"Afraid of what?"

"I'm afraid you won't dare to go with me."

"Did you ever do anything I was afraid to do?" said Kate, with a sneer.

"But this is a greater thing than we ever did before. We may be gone a long time, and we are certain to be found out."

"What do you mean?" demanded Kate, apparently appalled by this frank statement of the difficulties of the enterprise.

"I thought it would scare you," laughed Fanny.

"But it don't scare me."

"Yes, it does."

"I will do anything that you dare to do," replied Kate, stung by the flings of her companion.

"You shall have the greatest time that ever was, but you must take the consequences after it is all over."

"If you can, I can."

"Come with me, then," continued Fanny, as she moved along the bank of the river towards the Woodville landing pier.

"I won't go a step till I know what you are going to do."

"I'm afraid you will back out."

"No, I won't; I solemnly promise you that I will go with you anywhere you please."

"I have got some money," added Fanny, in a very mysterious manner.

"How much?"

"Two dollars."

"Pooh! that ain't