"I think I ought to be sorry for you," said the child.
"Why?" asked Fanny.
"'Cause you don't have such wise and good mammas as mine to give you understanding of what is right without bothering little girls like me who don't know the best way to talk about it," answered Bessie, with an air of grave reproof which was extremely amusing to the girls, who now laughed uproariously.
Bessie tried hard to slip from Kate Maynard's knee; but the young lady held her fast, saying,—
"We've caught it now, girls, and served us right too. Sit still, Bessie; you shall not be teased any more."
"You cannot make the two duties agree—eh, Bessie?" said Julia Grafton. "Well, you are not the first person who has been troubled in that way."
The word "duty" brought a thought to Bessie's mind; and suddenly looking up, with the light breaking over her face, she exclaimed,—
"Now I know everything about it! God gave me to mamma for her own little girl, to mind her first, and to do everything I know she will like. That is the nearest duty, and I must not let anything put me away from it. But mamma has a great deal of wisdom and care for her children, and if she did not have such trust in Miss Ashton to make us do the things she likes, I know she would not send Maggie and me to her. So we are to mind Miss Ashton all we can, without dis'beying mamma."
"Pretty well reasoned," said Julia; and Kate, giving Bessie a squeeze and a kiss, exclaimed,—
"You know a thing or two, do you not?"