“Now, tell father,” he urged, “how did you get in the dungeon?  The twins——­”

“Oh, no, father, of course not, the twins wouldn’t do such a thing as that.  I went into the dungeon to pray that Prudence would get well.  And I prayed myself to sleep.  When I woke up the door was locked.”

“But you precious child,” he whispered, “why didn’t you call out, or pound on the door?”

“I was afraid it would excite Prue and make her worse,” she answered simply.  And her father’s kiss was unwontedly tender as he carried her upstairs to bed.

Prudence slept late the next morning, and when she opened her eyes her father was sitting beside her.

“All right this morning, father,” she said, smiling.  “Are the girls at school?”

“No,—­this is Saturday.”

“Oh, of course.  Well, bring them up, I want to see them.”

Just then the distant whistle of a locomotive sounded through the open window, but she did not notice her father’s sudden start.  She nodded up at him again, and repeated, “I want to see my girls.”

Her father sent them up to her at once, and they stood at the foot of the bed with sorry faces, and smiled at her.

“Say something,” whispered Carol, kicking Lark suggestively on the foot.  But Lark was dumb.  It was Carol who broke the silence.

“Oh, Prudence, do you suppose the doctors will let me come in and watch them bandage your head?  I want to begin practising up, so as to be ready for the next war.”

Then they laughed, and the girls realized that Prudence was really alive and quite as always.  They told her of Connie’s sad experience, and Prudence comforted her sweetly.

“It just proves all over again,” she declared, smiling, but with a sigh close following, “that you can’t get along without me to look after you.  Would I ever go to bed without making sure that Connie was safe and sound?”

Down-stairs, meanwhile, Mr. Starr was plotting with Fairy, a willing assistant.

“He’ll surely be in on this train, and you must keep him down here until I get through with Prudence.  I want to tell her a few things before she sees him.  Bring him in quietly, and don’t let him speak loudly.  I do not want her to know he is on hand for a few minutes.  Explain it to the girls, will you?”

After sending the younger girls down-stairs again, he closed the door of Prudence’s room, and sat down beside her.

“Prudence, I can’t tell you how bitterly disappointed I am in you.”

“Father!”

“Yes, I thought you loved us,—­the girls and me.  It never occurred to me that you considered us a bunch of selfish, heartless, ungrateful animals!”

“Father!”

“Is that your idea of love?  Is that——­”

“Oh, father!”