"I will not I will not."
"Never parley with conscience; it is a dangerous habit."
"But then it was only "
"About trifles; I grant you; but the habit is no trifle. There will not be a just firmness of mind and steadfastness of action where tampering with duty is permitted even in little things."
"I will try not to do it," Ellen repeated.
"No," said he, smiling "let it stand as at first. 'I will not' means something; 'I will try' is very apt to come to nothing, 'I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart! not 'I will try. ' Your reliance is precisely the same in either case."
"I will not, John," said Ellen, smiling.
"What were you poring over so intently a while ago?"
"It was an old magazine Blackwood's Magazine, I believe, is the name of it; I found two great piles of them in a closet upstairs the other day; and I brought this one down."
"This is the first that you have read?"