So she started down-stairs. Poor Belle! how many times had she come out of her little room and gone down-stairs with the same determination to do better, and how many times had she failed!
And how many times had Nannie come out of the same little room with the same resolution, and almost always succeeded! What made the difference? If you had been there sometimes with Nannie, you would have found that she did one thing that Belle had not done. She knelt down and asked God to help her.
There was the difference. Belle was trying to make herself good, Nannie was praying to Jesus to help her.
As Belle came into the sitting-room, her mother said to her, "You ought to have come down immediately to help to set the table, Belle; Nannie set it for you."
Belle said nothing, neither did she thank Nannie, who looked up for a moment, then went on reading.
"Belle," said her mother, "you may fill the water-pitcher, since Nannie has done your work for you."
"I didn't ask her to do my work," said Belle, as she took the pitcher. "That's always the way," she said to herself; "now I came down-stairs feeling pleasant enough, and mother began scolding me because I hadn't set the table. There's no use trying. I wasn't to blame."
Who was to blame?
After supper Belle sat down with a book she was busy reading. Just as she began, her father asked her to bring his slippers.
"In a minute," she said, without looking up, while she went on reading.