A NOBLE CONFESSION. : 5]

sorry. I have thrown down that beautiful scarlet
cactus in full bloom, which Mr. Harding showed us
yesterday, and have probably injured it very much.
What will Mr. Harding think of me?”

“Q say nothing about it—say nothing about it,”
sald Dick Wells. “Such things have often happened
here before, and no one could ever tell who did the
mischief. Mr. Harding has tried in vain, every way,
and offered rewards to have the offender made known.
But we have a way of managing such things. So do
not trouble yourself about it, Maurice. You are too
good a fellow to get punished. None of us will allow
it ; depend upon that.”

“T guess he will be glad enough to hide that from
Mr. Harding,” said Philip Graham, aside, to Bob New-
ton, “though he was so bold in acknowledging his fault
about the present from the old nurse. This is quite a
different and a more serious affair,”

“ Broken glass and broken flowers are two things
which very seriously try Mr. Harding’s temper,” said
Bob Newton aloud. “He thinks such things are
always the result of carelessness or wilfulness, and he
has preached more upon them than upon almost any-
thing else.”

“Oh, never mind, Maurice,” said Frank Henley. “I
can easily get you out of the scrape, and I will do it.”

Maurice stood thoughtfully looking at the mischief
he had done, and hardly heeding the various remarks