"Oh dear!" said Nina, "how clever you are! I am sure I, for my part, will be only too delighted. But how dare you?" she added. "Does it mean that you would go--and--put her in prison?" "_I_ put her in prison--you little goose! What _do_ you mean? No, no! But she'll buy our clothes for us out of father's own money or--there! don't let's talk any more about it." Josephine hesitated for a moment, then she flew to her sister's side, flung her arms round her neck, and kissed her heartily. "I think we ought to be awfully pleased with Nina," was Fanchon's response, "for she's quite a little brick, and I tell you what it is, girls--we'll go and pick some fruit for tea and I shall send Molly for two-pennyworth of cream to eat with it; we may as well enjoy ourselves. Brenda has left a few pence with me in case of necessities. She warned me to be awfully careful, but I think she won't scold us much about the cream when I have said a few things to her I mean to say." "Mightn't we have some currant buns?" said Nina. "I was so hungry at lunch--there didn't seem to be a scrap of meat on that bone." "Yes--we'll have currant buns, too. She left me eleven-pence. You can run to the village, Nina, if you like, and get the buns. Mrs Simpson must have them out of the oven by now." Off scampered Nina. Josephine and Fanchon had a little further conversation, and, by the time Nina returned, the whole matter with regard to Brenda and her shortcoming: was left in the elder sister's hands. CHAPTER TEN. A COSY LITTLE SUPPER. Mr Amberley was one of the most unsuspicious of men, but he, too, had his own slightly cunning ways. He allowed Brenda so much money each week for housekeeping, and it must be said that she kept the family on short commons. There were even times when the Reverend Josiah was slightly hungry. This being the case, and as he, in reality, held the purse-strings, he was wont to provide himself with bread, butter, and cheese and some bottles of ale which he kept in a private cupboard in his study. By the aid of these, he managed to quell his rising appetite and to sleep soundly at nights. But Brenda knew nothing of the delicate cheese supply by this reverend gentleman, of the butter which he himself brought home from the nearest dairy, nor of the dainty bread which he slipped into his pocket on his way home from his parochial rounds. Now, however, his intention was to give the pretty little governess a charming surprise when she returned that evening. She should have that rarest of all dainties--in his opinion--Welsh rabbit, made from a receipt handed down to him by his grandmother. Accordingly, by his own clever hands, as the hour approached midnight, he put everything into preparation--the little stove on which the dainty was to be prepared (he regretted much that they must eat it on bread, not on toast), a bottle of the very best ale that could be purchased: in short, a charming little meal for two.