“What?”
“Can you guess?”
“One is, not to meddle with what isn’t mine.”
“Yes, that is one.”
“And the other—I can’t guess, papa.”
“That ‘a wrong confessed is half redressed’, and that your father has very great respect for the honor and justice, and self-sacrifice his little daughter has shown.”
Then Mabel left him, and trudged upstairs feeling very happy. On her way down again her mother met her. “Mrs. Lewis was here this afternoon,” she said, “and she said we must all come to the lawn party. She told me there seemed to be some coolness between Marie and you, but she hoped that nothing serious was the matter.”
“Oh, mamma, do you think Marie has said anything about me to her mother?”
“Perhaps, but if she has, Mrs. Lewis does not seem to attach much importance to it. If mammas were to take seriously all the little fusses their children get into, I am afraid they would have a hard time of it.”
Mabel stood patting the baluster softly. She was thinking very soberly. Presently she looked up, “Mamma, do you mind if I give the five dollars to the Cuban orphans?” she asked.