"That is it," said Angela. "She has no excuse whatever. It is not a case of excuse, it is a case of a girl having done wrong, and being bitterly sorry, and having confessed her fault. Now you come in, sir." "I come in, pray?" he said. He forgot that the speaker was Miss St Just, she was just a girl addressing him. But there was wonderful power in her voice. "Of course you come in. What would God do in such a case?" Carter turned away. "Oh, father, you will, you will forgive me." "I come in, forsooth!" said the man. "I, who made a fool of myself this morning, and told that poor girl that she certainly had done it, but that if she confessed I would forgive her!" "Then there is a similar case," said Angela. "Penelope has confessed, so you ought to forgive her." "I don't know--I don't know," he said. "Oh, father, mayn't I bring Betty down, and may I tell her that I was the real thief?" "No good in that, child. No good in making it public." "Of course, father, you'll have to forgive Pen," said Jim's sturdy young voice at that moment. "If you wish it, Jim--if you wish it, of course there is nothing more to be said. What do you feel about it? You have metal in you; you're made of the right stuff. What do you feel about this matter?" "I feel that I have never loved Pen more than I do at this moment. I never was so proud of her. She has grit in her, she is worth all the rest of us, to my way of thinking." "No, that is not so; but if you wish it, Jim, and you, Miss St Just." "I do wish it," said Angela. "Then I will say nothing more. Pen, I am disappointed; I am bitterly hurt, but I will say nothing more." He took the child's hand, held it for a minute, looked into her face, and said: "Why, I do believe you have suffered, you poor bit of a thing." Then he abruptly kissed her on her forehead and left the room. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. NESTA LOST AGAIN. The Aldworths were in a state of confusion. Mrs Aldworth was anxious; Nurse Davenant was keeping the worst from her, but nevertheless she was anxious. Molly and Ethel were so firmly desired on no account to give themselves away, that they were absolutely excluded from the room. They were loud in their denunciations of Nesta. "Catch old Nesta getting herself into trouble," they said. "She has just gone off on one of her sprees." That was their first idea, but when they went to the Griffiths' house, as the most likely place for the naughty Nesta to have taken herself to, and were greeted by the news that Mr, Mrs, and Miss Griffiths had started for Scarborough that morning, and that certainly no one else had gone with them, their ideas were somewhat shaken; they really did not know what to think. What was to be done? There was Mrs Aldworth wanting Nesta, and asking for her from time to time. "Where is the child?" she said.