Marian hurried down the tree to rescue her offspring, but not before Jilly set up a wail of anguish. "Naughty sings bite Jilly!" she moaned, as her Mother picked the small tormentors off her arms and bare legs. But Jilly was a sunny child, and as soon as the pain eased, found a smile and remarked complacently: "Ants bite Jilly, too bad, too bad!" Jane braced herself firmly in a crotch where the red fruit was thickest and picked mechanically while she unburdened her mind of the previous day's doings. She chattered about her adventures till Marian could have repeated every word of her conversation with the Captain off by heart, and might have given a pretty accurate inventory of his possessions, or at least the portion of them that Jane had seen. Marian was genuinely interested and liked to hear Chicken Little tell it all, but she wondered what Mrs. Morton had thought about the junketing. "But what did your Mother say, dear?" she asked finally. "She didn't like it." "You didn't suppose she would, did you?" "N-o-o, but----" "Yes?" "I'd never have got to go if I'd waited for permission. And, Marian," Chicken Little thought it was time to change the subject, "how do you make yourself be sorry, when you ought to be and aren't?" Marian wanted to laugh but she saw her young sister had not intended to be funny. She half guessed the situation. "Why Jane, I hardly know, the old monks used to set themselves penances to atone for their sins." "Did it make them really sorry? Do you think?" "Well, yes, I should think it must have or they would never have had the courage to persist in them. Some of their penances were terribly severe such as beating themselves with knotted ropes, but I shouldn't advise anything of that kind for you. You might try to make up for your fault in some way. Perhaps you might give up something you like very much." Jane didn't say anything more, and it was a day or two later before Marian learned the effect of her words. The cherry trees seemed full as ever after they had gathered all Marian wanted, and in the evening Mrs. Morton sent Chicken Little out to gather more for her. Marian offered to help her, and they were once more aloft in the trees when Mr. Benton returned from town. Marian began to chuckle. "He'll think we have been here all day, Jane. Let's pretend we have." "Dear me, Mr. Benton, back so soon. How fast the day has gone by. Jane, you must be awfully hungry, I hadn't realized it was so late!" "Well now, time does beat everything for speed, but I 'lowed it was only our ancestors as lived in trees all the time, Mrs. Morton. But then I've heard they're gettin' a lot of new-fangled ways down east. You're not calculatin' to take up your residence permanent like in them cherry trees, are you? In case you don't want the cottage any more, we might move it over to our place just by way of being neighborly." "Thank you, Mr. Benton, I'll remember your kind offer if it ever gets in our way."