Bessie looked longingly at the doughnut, for she felt rather hungry, and it certainly looked very nice; but she shook her head decidedly.
"No, thank you," she said again.
"Did your mamma forbid you ever to eat them?" said the young lady.
"She did not say we must not; but it's just the same," said Bessie; "for she never gives them to us, and I do not think it is a kind of cake she would like us to eat."
"And so you came to school 'to be of use to your sister, and to be lazy,' did you?" asked Kate Maynard.
"I believe I made a little mistake about that," answered the child. "Miss Ashton made me understand it better; and, when I go home, I am going to ask mamma if she is right."
"I don't see how you dared to speak out to Mrs. Ashton about it," said Fanny Berry. "Where did you get so much pluck, you little mite?"
"Were you not afraid?" asked Kate.
"Yes'm, a little. But then you see I had to tell her."
"And why did you have to tell her?"