"I am not going to scold you, Bessie," she said. "I will never scold any one who truthfully confesses an accident; so I shall say no more about the flower. But what makes you so pettish and unkind to Marcia? You do not behave well to her. Has she done anything to you?"
"No, ma'am, not to me," said Bessie, drying her tears.
"To Maggie or Belle then? I know she is mischievous sometimes, and I will not let her annoy you; but you must not behave so to her."
"She did not annoy any of us, ma'am. She is very good to us, only I don't let her help me."
"Why not, if she does not trouble you?"
"I can't approve her; she is too wicked," said Bessie.
"What makes you think so?" asked the lady, who saw there was something at the bottom of all this, and thought it better to settle the difficulty at once.
"She is a burglar," said Bessie solemnly.
"A what?" exclaimed Mrs. Ashton.
Now, as we know, our Maggie and Bessie were both fond of a long word; and as soon as they understood, or thought they understood, the meaning of one, put it in use on every occasion. And, besides, Bessie thought it sounded better to ears polite to use the new one she had heard that morning, than it did to say thief or steal; so she answered,—