With that she was forced to be contented, and with all the strength left to her she hurried along the paths towards home, the policeman following at a little distance and keeping her in sight till she ran up the steps of her home and disappeared inside. Lettie ran up to her room, and, locking the door, flung herself on the bed, where she had a long cry, partly from nervous strain from the fright she had suffered, and partly for the loss of her treasures. "I was a fool!" she said bitterly. "Mother always told me it was unsafe to wear jewelry in the streets and to go into those solitary paths in the park; but I didn't believe her. I was a fool, and I'm well paid for it! I'll never tell her--never! "And I shall never dare to let father know, either," she went on later; "he'd scour the world to find that man, and I should have to be locked up as a witness,"--she shuddered,--"I'd rather lose everything." A good deal subdued by this experience, she almost decided to give up the particular thing which had given her her liberty for the day,--the moonlight sail on the river. But after hours, when she had calmed down and decided that she would keep her experiences and her losses a secret from everybody, the thought of the great temptation again stirred her, and she finally resolved to carry out her plan and go. "It's likely," she said to herself, "that I'll never have another chance to do as I like,--not for years, anyway,--and I'll have the good of this one." Having come to this decision, Lettie found herself hungry, for she had been too excited to take any luncheon at the usual hour. She accordingly went down to the pantry where the cook had spread out the morning's baking; there was a goodly array of pies and cakes and other good things cooling on the shelves, and Lettie thought herself in great luck. "Now I'll have a good lunch," she said to herself, "and no bread and butter, either! I hate bread and butter!" She helped herself to several little cakes which cook made particularly nice, and with them she ate part of a jar of marmalade which she opened for the purpose; next she took a tart or two, and then turned her attention to the row of pies on another shelf. Looking them over carefully, she chose her favorite, a custard pie. "Now I won't eat any old crust, as mother makes me," she said. So she took a spoon and began on the contents of the pie, thus demolishing, I regret to say, a whole pie. Then, calmly dipping into a pan of milk, taking cream and all, she drank a glass of that, and, feeling fully satisfied, she left the pantry, and returned to her room to prepare for the evening. "I guess I'll wear this silk dress after all," she said to herself, for she was invited to stay all night with Stella after the sail. "I'll have to come home through the streets in the morning, and if the white one gets soiled it won't look very nice; and besides, I want mother to see that I can take care of my clothes myself."