"Moses slept in a small room, next to her own, and as the lady thought some of the little party might run up there, she locked the door, and went herself down the back way.
"Pretty soon the bell rang, and Moses stopped crying to listen. He heard happy voices of children running through the hall. Then they asked, 'Where's Moses?' But he could not hear what his mother answered.
"In a few minutes a carriage drove up, and there was another ring of the bell. This time it was his cousins, and he heard them laughing and talking together.
"Before half an hour all the company had assembled. Some of the little girls went up to the front room, and he could hear his mother's voice as she went with them. She was talking very kindly, but he thought she did not feel happy, it was so sad.
"O, what a long evening that was! He could not go to sleep, for every few minutes there was a merry burst of laughter from the room below; and he knew that his papa was teaching them some pretty games. Every time he heard this he began to cry again. And then he wondered whether his mother would tell them why he was not there, and what they would say.
"At last he heard them all walk out into the dining room, and papa's voice saying, 'I will take Katy because she is the youngest.' Now he knew they were going to sit at table and eat the nice fruit.
"'O, dear!' he sobbed, 'how sorry I am!' And then, for the first time, he began to think how wicked it was to deceive his dear parents, who had been so kind to him all his life. 'I made mamma cry,' he said softly. 'I'm sorry for that, too.'
"As soon as Satan heard Moses say that, he ran away and hid; and the good Spirit came, and whispered to Moses, and presently he got out of his bed, and knelt down by his low chair, and prayed softly. But Jesus heard what he said, and looked into his heart, and saw he was really sorry he had been a wicked boy, and then God forgave him.
"Pretty soon the children all came rushing up the stairs to put on their clothes, for the carriages had come to take them home. Moses was not crying now. He lay quiet and still; and he heard them say, 'Good by! good by! Please give my love to Moses;' and then the door was shut, and the house all still again.
"When mamma came up stairs she carried the light into her little boy's room to see if he was awake. His eyes were wide open, and as soon as he saw her, he said, 'You might give my orange to Sarah Christie, mamma, because I wasn't down there to eat it.'