Mrs. Ashton waited a moment till her class had settled into quiet, and then, taking up the broken flower, she said,—
"I do not regret the time spared from the recitation which this little incident has occupied. The loss of my flower has furnished lessons to more than little Bessie; lessons which we will all do well to lay to heart, and which may prove of far more value than that which we should have learned from our books. I trust they may not be lost."
So much of all this as had come to her own knowledge Kate told to Fanny, who laughed with the others, but found in the story fresh cause to feel ashamed that she had been so far outdone in truth and generosity by a little child.
The dreaded interview with Mrs. Ashton took place after school. Kate and Fanny found her more grieved than angry, more hurt at their deceit and want of confidence in her than at the injury to her clock. She talked long and seriously to them, not failing to point out the difference between their conduct and that of little Bessie; and she was both touched and gratified when Kate told, not without tears, of the part they had acted towards the child, and of the influence of the little one's example in leading her to confession and repentance.
Mrs. Ashton told the girls that she should inflict no further punishment upon them than an apology to Monsieur Gaufrau, and a confession of the deception that had been practised upon him; and she was still better pleased when Kate told her that this had already been done, and that she had, in her own name and Fanny's, begged his pardon before the whole class.
"For," said she, with many blushes, "as long as I had started on the right track, I thought I would not stop half-way."
"Then do not stop half-way, and do not turn back, my child," said Mrs. Ashton, holding out her hand to the young girl; "you have farther, much farther to go, Kate, before you reach the goal. Oh, take heed that your steps turn neither to the right nor to the left from the way of truth and uprightness."
CHAPTER XI.
ABOUT OUR FATHER'S WORK.
"Up, up," said the baby, "up, up."