"Now, Minnie, listen to me."
"I am listening, Joshua." She would have taken his hand; but he put it behind his back, and motioned her to be still. She knew by his voice that something unpleasant was coming, and she set her teeth close.
"You know that it is wrong to steal, and you stole the shell."
"I did it for you," she said doggedly. "That does not make it right, Minnie. I want you to give me a promise."
"I will promise you any thing but one thing," she said.
"What is that."
"Never mind. You would never guess, so you will never ask me. What am I to promise?"
"That you will never steal any thing again."
"Do you think I ever stole any thing but the shell, then?" she asked, with an air that would have been stern in its pride if she had not been a child.
It was on the tip of Joshua's tongue to say, "I don't know what to think;" but her manner of putting the question gave the answer to it. "No," he said instead, "I don't think you ever did, Minnie."