"Mary did not say anything about the cakes on the table," persisted Louisa, "she only told me to watch the cakes in the oven."
"Well, and what then?"
"I just went through to the front door a minute to see what the expressman had brought for Anna, and while I was gone the cakes in the oven burned up, and a woman came in and stole all the rest of them. I am sure I could not help that!"
"But, Louisa, don't you see that if you had done your duty in watching the cakes in the oven, the cakes on the table would not have been stolen?"
Louisa did not know. She only knew it was very hard to be punished just for running to the front door a minute.
"Louisa, you are very much in fault," said Aunt Wentworth, gravely. "You know that you have done wrong, and yet, instead of being sorry, you are trying to justify yourself and throw all the blame on somebody else. Now, tell me, did you not promise to watch the cakes in the oven? Answer yes or no. Don't begin 'I only.' Did you not promise?"
"Yes, I did, then," said Louisa, sullenly.
"And is it not wrong to break a promise."
"I didn't mean to break it."
"But you did break it," interrupted Aunt Wentworth; "so how can you say you did not mean to? You did not certainly go away out of the kitchen without meaning it. That is impossible. You promised to watch, and you did not watch—that is, you broke a promise. Was not that wrong? Is not breaking a promise without reason the same thing as telling a lie?"