"I am quite vexed," said Mary, "Oh! why did I not take more care of that wretched knife!"
William.—"But, Mary, it was not your knife left upon the table, which tempted her to take two keys secretly out of the cupboard, and which made them the instruments of this theft. For Papa," continued he, "it is a theft, and a shameful one too! These stolen keys are no small matter!"
The Father.—(Calmly.)—"I know it my children, and it grieves my heart, that one of my servants, who daily hears the word of God read and explained, should so far have forgotten the fear of the Lord! This is what saddens me, and wounds me deeply."
Lucy.—"Elizabeth has not long been our cook, and probably she never heard the word of God before she came here. Poor girl I she is perhaps very unhappy now,—and I am sure, she will repent and turn to God."
The Father.-"That is right, my dear child, I rejoice to hear you plead the cause of the unhappy, and even of the guilty, for as I said before, 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment.'"
"I was therefore wrong," said John, "and I confess it ... for certainly I scarcely pitied her.... I did wrong I and now I think as Lucy does."
"And I also," said William, "'Clemency governs courage,' says a Grecian historian, and ..."
The Father.—(Very seriously.)—"But, my dear William, what have the pagans of old and their morals to do here? My son, you know it is the word of God which rules our conduct, and which commands us to suffer and to forgive."
Lucy.—"Papa, will you allow me to repeat a passage, which I learnt by heart last Sunday?"
The Father.—"Repeat it, Lucy, and may God bless it to us all!"