A Deceitful Friend. 115

 After hearing again and again that they
wouldn't hate her, but would really love her,
and help her to be good, she told them the
following story:
 Mrs. Price (Lucy's mother) was a widow
of limited means, and it was with great diffi-
culty that, with the aid of her friends, she
was able to place her daughter at so good,
and consequently expensive, a school as Miss
Campbell's. It necessarily followed that
Lucy's stock of pocket-money was but small,
and, being a careless, untidy child, she was
continually called upon to pay fines for her
misdemeanours, which, though but a penny
or halfpenny a time, had, in the course uf
several weeks, swallowed up her little all. In
her dilemma, Annie Hore had come to her
rescue, and, with every protestation of kind-
ness, offered to advance her as much as she
required, one condition only being named,
which was, that at the end of the half-year,
if she was unable to repay her, a small gold
cross of Lucy's, which she admired exces-
sively, should be made over to her in lieu
of money. Lucy, being a shy, frightened
child, fancied she had no alternative, and
much as it grieved her to part with the orna-
ment, valued on account of its being a gift
 II 2