“I can’t find it, mother. I have looked every where,” said she, as she joined her mother in the sitting room.
“It must be in the house somewhere. It cannot have been stolen. None of the servants have been in the parlor; and if they had, I am sure they would not steal any thing that belongs to you, Flora.”
“I don’t think any one stole it, mother. How wicked that would be!”
“Have you seen the thimble, Mary?” said Mrs. Lee, as she turned to the gardener’s daughter.
“No, marm. I haven’t seen any thing of it, as true as I live and breathe,” replied Mary, speaking in a very earnest manner.
Mrs. Lee looked at her when she used these strong words, and she was sad, for there was something in Mary’s manner that did not seem to her just right. But she said no more, and went immediately with Flora to search again for the lost thimble.
If Mary had answered with a simple “No,” perhaps Mrs. Lee would not have suspected her; as it was, she could not help thinking that the child had taken the thimble. Jesus said, “Let your communications be, Yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
Those words, “as true as I live and breathe,” children, came of evil.
Telling the Story.