And as soon as she saw Hugh the most awful sinking sensation went through Rosemary. He had found out, how, she could not guess, but somehow, that was plain. CHAPTER XIII JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT "You--you wanted to see me Hugh?" Rosemary faltered. "Please come in and close the door," he said quietly. Then as she obeyed, "Now what is this Mrs. Dunning has been telling Aunt Trudy, Rosemary? Have you been taking care of babies in the neighborhood for fifteen cents an hour?" Rosemary nodded. "How long has this been going on?" asked her brother. "A--a couple of weeks," answered Rosemary faintly. "What was the idea?" Rosemary said nothing. "I asked you a question, Rosemary. Please answer me. What made you do a thing like this without consulting some one? Did Winnie know?" "No," said Rosemary reluctantly, "Winnie didn't know. No one did. I wanted to earn some money, Hugh." Then came the question she had been dreading. "What for?" Rosemary nervously knotted and unknotted her handkerchief. Her blue eyes roved around the familiar room and came back to the grim face and the dark eyes which watched her relentlessly. "Oh, Hugh!" she cried desperately, "PLEASE!" Her brother picked up a paper weight and studied it intently. "Look here, Rosemary," he began more gently, "you deliberately disobeyed this afternoon when I asked you to stay in the house--" "Because I had absolutely promised Mrs. Hepburn, Hugh," Rosemary broke in eagerly. "I'd _promised_! She was depending on me and I had to go." "Very well, a promise is a promise," admitted the doctor, "though when wrongly given sometimes they must be broken. We'll set aside the fact that you disobeyed and consider only this wild scheme apparently undertaken because you wanted to earn money. I want you to tell me why you thought you needed money and why you couldn't come to me and ask for it." "Because," whispered Rosemary unhappily, "Because." "That's no reason," said the doctor brusquely. "Come, 'fess up, Rosemary, and I'll help you out of the scrape, whatever it is. My dear little girl, you can't go around among the neighbors like this--families help each other and stand by each other. I don't care a hoot what other people may think--as Aunt Trudy seems to believe I should--but I care a great deal that my little sister should go to outsiders instead of coming to me." Rosemary touched his sleeve timidly. She longed to throw herself in his arms, cry that she was tired of taking care of silly, uninteresting babies (though as a matter of fact when she wasn't tired she loved them all, the cross as well as the good-natured ones), and tell him the whole story about the lost ring. But there was her promise to Sarah. A promise was a promise--Hugh himself had said so. And families were to stand by each other, and she must stand by Sarah and Shirley. "I can't tell you, Hugh," said Rosemary earnestly. "I just can't."