When she had finished there was a pause for a moment or two, during which the two girls looked anxiously at their mother.
"Well, Mama?" asked Lena, who was growing impatient.
"I was wondering if either of my girls saw how very selfishly they had acted this afternoon."
"In leaving Lucy alone?" they both said slowly.
"Yes, dears; don't you think it was very hard for the child to be left all by herself? and from your own account, you were away for some time."
"We didn't mean to be long."
"But that was not the first fault: disobedience was that. I gave you leave to go down to the beach, but I did not give you leave to go and hear the band play. I thought I could have trusted you both."
Milly's eyes filled with tears at these words, and her heart swelled at the thought that she, "Mother's right-hand," as she had often been called, could not be trusted; but she said nothing, while Lena, who was both truthful and generous, hastened to explain, "It was not Milly's fault, Mama; she didn't want to go, but I insisted on it."
"Ah, Lena, you see how one fault leads to another."
"But we were quite as safe there as at the beach."