Poor Clara covered her face in an instant, and a loud rustling of the ivy on the edge of the cistern, the sound of a body falling, and then came retreating feet along the gravel. "Escaped," I muttered; and then a sigh came with a great gasp, as I exclaimed, "Oh! if Clara will only not betray me, I shall be safe, too." But, oh, what a tableau was there!--night-caps, dressing-gowns, flannel garments, every token of hurried half-dressing; while the light from candle after candle streamed down upon poor Clara, prone upon the white stones of the conservatory. "Good heavens!" I heard Mrs Blunt exclaim, "that it should have come to this!--that my establishment should be debased by the presence of such a creature. Abandoned, lost girl, what will become of you?" Oh, how my poor teeth did chatter! "Dreadful!" squeaked Miss Furness. "Shocking!" echoed Miss Sloman. "_Ach ten, bad madchen_" croaked the Fraulein; while Miss Murray and the pupils present sighed in concert. "Lost one!" began Mrs Blunt again. Crish! crash! crash! came the sound of breaking glass upon the leads; the girls shrieked, and, in an agony of fear, the whole party dashed back to the drawing-room door; while, in the dim light given by a fallen candle, I saw poor Clara slowly raise her head and look towards the open window--our window. But there was no other sound; and at last, after quite five minutes' pause, came the lady principal's voice from the drawing-room, in awful tones-- "Miss Fitzacre; come in directly, and close the window after you." "For goodness' sake, don't fasten it," I whispered; "and oh, Clara, pet, don't--pray, don't--betray me!" "Hush!" whispered the poor darling, rising up like a pale ghost. And as I stood, squeezed up in the corner, trembling ever so, she closed the conservatory window, looking out as she did so; then entered the drawing-room, clattered the shutters to; and then, by the sound, I knew that they had all entered the breakfast-room, so I stole out of my hiding-place, and tried the window. At first my heart sank, for I thought it was fastened; but, no, it yielded to my touch, and as I pushed, the shutters slowly swung open, to show me the room all in darkness. Stepping quickly in, I closed window and shutters, and then stole over to reach the door where I could hear the buzz of voices, and Mrs Blunt scolding fearfully. I crossed the room as quietly as I could, feeling my way along in the darkness--for Clara had trampled out the fallen candle--when all at once I gave myself up for lost I had knocked over one of the wretched little drawing-room chairs; and I stood trembling and stooping down, meaning to creep under the large ottoman if I heard any one coming.