"I mean make up your mind; take a resolution you will begin at once," said Tom. "You see, Lily, it is the same in every thing. You always think, 'it is time enough,' or 'another time will do;' and so the thing is left undone, or you make some trouble. You are a real generous, obliging little girl, but you could be far more helpful if you had not this bad habit. Mamma often asks you to do some little thing for her; but if she trusts to you, ten to one—"
Lily stopped short where she stood, with a face of the blankest dismay, and interrupted her brother in a distressed voice.
"Oh, Tom!" she said. "I did do such a thing! Mamma did trust me, and I've done such a thing, and never did it."
"What is it? What have you done, and what haven't you done?" asked Tom, rather at a loss to understand her, as you may imagine he would be.
"Mamma was just going out with Mrs. Bradford, when a note came she had to answer before she went," said Lily; "and she was in a great hurry, and so she told me to be a help to her, and put away all her writing things very carefully. And I said I would, and she trusted me, and told me to do it right away, and—and—oh, Tom!"
"And you did not do it," said Tom, gravely. "You did not do it at once, but put it off, and so left it undone."
"Yes," answered Lily, her eyes filling, and her voice shaking. "I never did it, and I should think I was provoking. I should think the whole world might be provoked with me. Tom, I ought to go back; but you oughtn't to be kept for me any longer. You can take me to our house, and just leave me; and I'll go right in, and put away mamma's things, and stay at home for a punishment to myself, and to make me see how troublesome putting off is."
"Mamma's things are all put away, Lily," said Tom.
"Who did it? You?" asked Lily, recovering her spirits a little.