"It looks real pretty and plain," said Nelly. "Well, good-night, Kitty, and thank you very much."
"And Nelly," said Kitty, detaining her friend a moment, "if I was you, I wouldn't mind Mrs. Vandake. Forgive and forget, you know. And besides, Nelly," she added, seeing a dubious expression in Nelly's face, "the Bible says we ought to forgive people who offend us, or else God won't forgive us; and then what should we do? Because, you know, we all do wrong things."
"Is that really in the Bible?" asked Nelly. "Then it must be true, of course. How nice it must be to read it! I have thought about what you read about heaven ever since. Will you read me more some day?"
"Yes, indeed," replied Kitty. "I will read all you want next Sunday." And, with a warm kiss, the little friends parted.
"Mother needn't be afraid of Nelly's hurting me," thought Kitty, as she returned to her planting. "She is a great deal better than I am."
[CHAPTER IV.]
THE next day, Nelly went down to Mrs. Kirkland's shop, and, not without some trepidation, asked for Miss Powell, who was not to be seen.
"She is busy up-stairs," said the young lady behind the counter. "Can't I get what you want, as well as Miss Powell?"
"No, ma'am," replied Nelly. "She told me to ask for her if she was not in the shop."
"It is some one of her ragged regiment of Sunday-scholars," said a lady who was buying lace at the counter where Nelly stood. "She is always bringing just such objects into the school. I get downright vexed at her, sometimes."