`O father,' sobbed Maggie, `I ran away, because I was so unhappy - Tom was so angry with me. I couldn't bear it.'

`Pooh, Pooh,' said Mr Tulliver, soothingly, `you mustn't think o' running away from father. What 'ud father do without his little wench?'

`O no - I never will again, father - never.'

Mr Tulliver spoke his mind very strongly when he reached home that evening, and the effect was seen in the remarkable fact that Maggie never heard one reproach from her mother or one taunt from Tom about this foolish business of her running away to the gypsies. Maggie was rather awestricken by this unusual treatment, and sometimes thought that her conduct had been too wicked to be alluded to.