CHAPTER XX.
"Let come what will, I mean to bear it out." SHAKESPEARE.
"The hour for your music-lesson has arrived, Miss Raymond," announced Miss Manton.
Rosie and Evelyn both looked entreatingly at Lulu; but scarcely raising her eyes, she simply said, "I shall not take it to-day, Miss Diana." "Very well; you will have to abide the consequences of your refusal," returned Miss Diana severely.
"Is it so very dreadful to live in this house with you ?" queried saucy Lulu.
"What do you mean by that impertinent question ?" asked Miss Diana, facing round angrily upon her.
"I only wanted to know in time," said Lulu.

"What you said just now sounded as if you thought so; for that is the consequence I'll have to abide if I continue to refuse to take my music-lessons." "It shall be about as unpleasant as I can well make it, in return for your impudence," was the furious rejoinder.

"Also, you will remain in your seat during recess to-day." "Oh, Lulu," whispered Evelyn at the first opportunity, "it was not prudent to say what you did to Miss Diana; she will have it in her power to make your life here very uncomfortable." "Yes," Lulu said with indifference, "I expect to have to pay for the pleasure of speaking my mind; but if she makes _me_ uncomfortable, I'll manage to make _her_ so too." As the hour drew near when the school would be dismissed for the day, a servant came in with a message.

She said a few words in a low tone to Miss Diana, who at once turned to Lulu, saying, "You are wanted in the parlor, Miss Raymond." The child's heart beat fast as she rose and obeyed the summons, but quieted when, on entering the parlor, she found Elsie and Violet its sole occupants.

They had always been gentle and kind to her, and she loved without fearing them.
They made a place for her on the sofa between them, and taking her hand in a kind clasp, Elsie said, "We have come to take you home, dear child, if you are now ready to be good and obedient." "I didn't take the lesson, Grandma Elsie, and I don't intend ever to do it as long as I live," Lulu answered in even, steady tones.