II.
The search for the gold thimble was long and patient, but it could not be found; and when Mrs. Lee said it was useless to look any more, poor Flora burst into tears again.
“I don’t see what has become of it, mother,” said she. “I am so sorry I took it outof the work box! Aunt Sarah will think I am careless.”
“Why did you take it out?”
“I wanted to show it to Mary. It was so pretty, I thought it would please her.”
“I do not see that any one is to be blamed,” added her father.
“I don’t blame any one but myself. I was careless to carry it around the house with me. I remember whenI went to open the blind, I was afraid I should scratch it, and so I put it on the table.”
“I will buy you another, Flora, the next time I go to Boston,” said Mr. Lee.
“But that wouldn’t be aunt Sarah’s thimble,” sobbed Flora.
“Perhaps aunt Sarah will give you another when she hears that you have lost it.”
“I would rather find it.”
“When you can’t do what you would, you must do the next best thing, my child.”
“What is that, father?”
“Do without it.”
The tea bell rang then, and Flora wiped away her tears, and tried to reconcile herself to the loss of the thimble. She was very sad and unhappy, for she felt that it had been lost by her own carelessness.
The feeling that we have done wrong is far more painful than the consequences which follow that wrong. Many good and true men have been happy while their bodies were burning at the stake, or while they were shut up in prison.
All the family sat down at the tea table except Mr. Lee, and he went up stairs. He was absent fifteen or twenty minutes, and when he cameback he looked very sad, as though something unpleasant had happened.
But no one asked him any questions, and he did not say any thing to inform the rest of the party what had occurred during his absence.
After tea, the family gathered around the cheerful fire in the sitting room, as they always did during the long winter evenings. Mary wasbusy with a great book, which was full of pictures. Flora had a little story book in her hand, but she did not read it. She felt so badly about the loss of her thimble that she could not read.
Mrs. Lee was sewing, and Mr. Lee was looking over the newspaper which David White had brought in the afternoon.
He did not read all the time, for he kept looking intothe fire, and seemed to be thinking of something besides the contents of the paper.
“What is the matter, Flora?” asked he, at last, as he laid the newspaper on the table. “You are very quiet to-night. You generally laugh and play at this time in the evening.”
“I can’t help thinking about my thimble, father. I would give any thing to know whathas become of it,” replied she, earnestly.
“Perhaps Mary can tell you something about it,” added Mr. Lee, as he fixed his gaze upon the gardener’s daughter.
“I don’t know any thing about it, sir,” replied Mary, her face turning very red, as her eyes met the stern look of Mr. Lee.
“Were you with Flora at the time she lost the thimble?”
“Yes, sir; I suppose I was; but I haven’t got the thimble.”
“I know you haven’t got it, Mary. I only asked you if you were with Flora at the time she lost it.”
“I guess I was, sir; I don’t know. But I haven’t seen it, sir; as true as I live and breathe, I haven’t.”
“Didn’t you see it on the table, when Flora left it? Just think a moment.”
“No, sir; I didn’t see any thing at all of it.”
“There would have been no harm in seeing it, you know.”
“No, sir; but I didn’t see it. I hope to die if I did.”
“I would not use such expressions, Mary. A simple ‘Yes,’ or a ‘No,’ is a great deal better. It means more. It sounds more like the truth, than, ‘As true as I live andbreathe,’ and, ‘I hope to die if I did,’ or ‘did not.’”
“I won’t say so any more, sir. I did not think it was any harm.”
“Perhaps you did not; but I am always afraid, when a person uses these strong expressions to me, that he is telling me a falsehood.”
“O, I am sure Mary hasn’t got my thimble, father,” said Flora, who could not see whyMr. Lee should be so sad and stern, and almost accuse poor Mary of taking the thimble.
“I’m sure I haven’t, Flora. As true as I—”
“Do not say that again, Mary,” interrupted Mr. Lee.
“But Mary hasn’t got my thimble, father,” added Flora.
“She has not, my child. Here is your thimble,” said Mr. Lee, handing the lost treasure to her.
“Why, father! Where did you get it?” exclaimed Flora, jumping out of her chair, and dancing with pleasure at the sight of the thimble.
“I found it, Flora.”
“Where did you find it, father?”
“I do not wish to tell you at present.”
“Then I was very careless. I will try to do better in future.”
“Do not reproach yourself, my child. I do not even know that you have been careless. On the contrary, I think you were very prudent in taking off the thimble before you opened the blind.”
“Whatdoyou mean, father? I’m sure I don’t understand you.”
“Perhaps you will understand me another time.”
During this conversationMary’s face was very red, and she kept turning the leaves of the great book; though any one might have seen that she hardly looked at the pictures. She did not seem to take any interest in what was going on in the room, and expressed no pleasure at the finding of the thimble.
“I knew Mary hadn’t got it!” said Flora.
“We will say no more aboutit just now, my child; and I will tell you a story. It will be a kind of fairy story, and I hope it will be pleasing to you.”
“O, I am so delighted, father!” said Flora, as she seated herself on a cricket at his feet.
“And, Mary, you may put away your book, now, for I think the story will interest you.”
The gardener’s daughter at once obeyed, and Mr. Lee commenced the story, which will be found in the next chapter.
Horse
Seekpeace and Poverty.
Seekpeace and Poverty.
Seekpeace and Poverty.