"I think it was keeping back part, when they pretended to give it all," answered Phil slowly. "'Twas lying about it they did. They wanted to get the credit of giving it all, when they were keeping part, and maybe the very best, for themselves."
"That was it exactly," said Miss Isabel. "Just so some people do who profess to be Christians. They pretend to give up all to God and to forsake all their sins, but they don't do it. There is some little sin, or bad habit, or self-indulgence, that they don't like to part with: so they keep that while they pretend—often pretend to themselves—to give up all. Such Christians can never be happy or useful. There was once a very wise and witty man who said that all the riches and honors and pleasures in the world would be of no use to a man who was compelled always to wear a little sharp nail in the heel of his shoe. These concealed or reserved sins which we are not willing to give up are like the little sharp nail. They lame the man when he wants to walk, and torment and hinder him when he wants to work, and he can't even sit still in comfort. Now who can give me the Golden Text?"
"'If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps. 66:18), repeated all the voices together.
"I shall not talk about that," said Miss Isabel, "but I want you to think about it."
Phil walked slowly homeward thinking about the lesson. He had had a little—a very little—nail in his shoe all summer, and somehow it had grown a good deal longer and sharper since hearing about those pansies. He had said to himself a dozen times that he did not know what to do about it; that there was no help for it now; but he had never tried to find out whether there was any help for it or not. He went into his garden as soon as he came home and looked at his flowers. How beautiful they were! They were the glory of his garden-but then—
"You can't take them up," said the tempter. "You will kill them all."
"I can ask Mr. Regan," said Phil.
"Besides, she has no right to the plants either," said the tempter. "Wait till the seeds get ripe, and you can give her some of them."
"Maybe the seeds won't get ripe, or maybe I sha'n't live till then," answered Phil. "Anyhow, there's only one right thing to do, and I'm going to do it. There!"
"You're early for school this morning," said granny when Monday came.