"I s"pect she"s been running ober de bureau, like I see her do, mor"n once "fo" dis."
"She looks very quiet now," remarked Violet, "and if she did the mischief it was certainly not intentional. But don"t leave her shut up here again, Agnes."
"She didn"t do it, Agnes didn"t," volunteered Betty, who had stolen in after them; "it was Miss Gracie, Miss Wilet, I seed her ketch ole Tab out in de hall dere, and put her in hyar, an" shut de do onto her, an" go off up-stairs."
A suspicion of the truth flashed into Violet"s mind; but she put it resolutely from her; she would not believe Gracie capable of slyness and deceit.
But she wanted the little girl, and sent Betty up with a message to that effect, bidding her make haste, and as soon as she had attended to that errand, brush up the broken gla.s.s and put it in the fire.
Betty ran nimbly up to the play-room, and putting her head in at the door, said with a grin, "Miss Gracie, yo" ma wants you down in de dressin"-room."
"What for?" asked Gracie, with a frightened look.
"Dunno, s"pect you fin" out when you gits dar."
"Betty, you"re a saucy thing," said Lulu.
"S"pect mebbe I is, Miss Lu," returned the little maid with a broader grin than before, apparently considering the remark quite complimentary, while she held the door open for Gracie to pa.s.s out.
"Miss Gracie," she asked, as she followed Grace down the stairs, "what fo"
you shut ole Tab up in de dressin"-room? She"s done gone an" broke Miss Wilet"s bottle what hab de stuff dat smell so nice, an" cose Miss Wilet she don" like dat ar."
"What makes you say I put her in there, Betty?" said Gracie.
"Kase I seed you, he, he, he!"
"Did you?" asked Gracie, looking still more alarmed than at the summons to the dressing-room. "Don"t tell mamma, Betty. I"ll give you a penny and help you make a frock for your doll if you won"t."
Betty"s only answer was a broad grin and a chuckle as she sprang past Gracie and opened the door for her.
Violet, seated on the farther side of the room, looked up with her usual sweet smile. "See, Gracie dear, I am making a lace collar for you, and I want to try it on to see if it fits."
"Now, Betty, get a dust-pan and brush and sweep up that gla.s.s. Don"t leave the least bit of it on the carpet, lest some one should tramp on it and cut her foot."
"Some one has broken that cut-gla.s.s perfume bottle you have always admired so much, Gracie. Aren"t you sorry?"
"Yes, I am, mamma. I never touch your things when you"re not here."
The words were out almost before Grace knew she meant to speak them, and she was terribly frightened and ashamed. She had never thought she would be guilty of telling a lie. She hung her head, her cheeks aflame.
Violet noted the child"s confusion with a sorely troubled heart.
"No, dear," she said very gently, "I did not suspect you, but if ever you should meet with an accident, or yield to temptation to do some mischief, I hope you will come and tell me about it at once. You need not fear that I will be severe with you, for I love you very dearly, little Gracie."
"Perhaps it was the cat knocked it off the bureau, mamma," said the child, speaking low and hesitatingly. "I"ve seen her jump up there several times."
"Yes; so have I, and she must not be left alone in here any more."
Betty had finished her work and was sent away. Agnes, too, had left the room, so that Violet and Gracie were quite alone.
"Come, dear, I am quite ready to try this on." Violet said, holding up the collar. "There, it fits very nicely," as she put it on the child and gently smoothed it down over her shoulders. "But what is the matter, my darling?" for tears were trembling on the long silken lashes that swept Gracie"s flushed cheeks.
At the question they began to fall in streams, while the little bosom heaved with sobs. She pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her eyes, and a strong whiff of perfume greeted Violet"s nostrils, telling a tale that sent a pang to her heart.
Gracie was instantly conscious of it, as she, too, smelled the tell-tale perfume, and stole a glance at her young stepmother"s face.
"O mamma!" she sobbed, covering her face with her hands, "I did pour a little on my handkerchief "cause I knew you always let me have it, but I didn"t mean to break the bottle; it just slipped out o" my hands and fell and broke."
Violet clasped her in her arms and wept bitterly over her.
"Mamma, don"t cry," sobbed the child, "I"ll save up all my money till I can buy you another bottle, just like that."
"O Gracie, Gracie, it is not that!" Violet said, when emotion would let her speak. "I valued the bottle as the gift of my dear dead father, but I would rather have lost it a hundred times over than have my darling tell a lie. It is so wicked, so wicked! G.o.d hates lying. He says, "All liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone."
"He that speaketh lies shall not escape." He says that Satan is the father of lies, and that those who are guilty of lying are the children of that wicked one.
"Have you forgotten how G.o.d punished Gehazi for lying by making him a leper, and struck Ananias and Sapphira dead for the same sin? O my darling, my darling, it breaks my heart to think you have both acted and spoken a falsehood!" she cried, clasping the child still closer to her bosom and weeping over her afresh.
Gracie, too, cried bitterly. "Mamma, mamma," she said, "will G.o.d never forgive me? will He send me to that dreadful place?"
"He will forgive you if you are truly sorry for your sin because it is dishonoring and displeasing to Him, and if you ask Him to pardon you for Jesus" sake; and He will take away the evil nature that leads you to commit sin, giving you a new and good heart, and take you to heaven when you die.
"But no one can go to heaven who is not first made holy. The Bible bids us follow "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." And Jesus is a Saviour from sin. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Shall we kneel down now and ask Him to save you from yours?"
"Yes, mamma," sobbed the child.
Violet"s prayer was short and to the point. Then she held Gracie for some time in her arms, while they mingled their tears together.
At length, "Gracie dear," she said, "I believe G.o.d has heard our prayer and forgiven you. I am sure He has if you are truly sorry in your heart and asked with it, and not only with your lips, for forgiveness; but I want you to stay here alone for an hour and think it all over quietly, I mean about your wrongdoing and G.o.d"s willingness to forgive for Jesus"
sake, and that we could not have been forgiven and saved from sin and h.e.l.l if the dear Saviour had not died for us the cruel death of the cross.
"Oh, think what a dreadful thing sin must be that it could not be blotted out except by Jesus suffering and dying in our stead! And think how great was His love for us, when He was willing to lay down His own life that we might live!"
Then with a kiss of tender motherly love, she went out and left the child alone.
Gracie was sincerely penitent. She had always been taught that lying was a dreadful sin, and had never before told a direct falsehood; but while in her former home, Mrs. Scrimp"s faulty management, joined to her own natural timidity, had tempted her to occasional slyness and deceit, and from these the descent to positive untruth was easy.
Violet"s faithful dealing, and even more her evident deep distress because of the sin against G.o.d of which her darling had been guilty, had so convinced the child of the heinousness of her conduct that she was sorely distressed because of it, and on being left alone, knelt down again and pleaded for pardon with many bitter tears and sobs.
She had risen from her knees and was lying on a couch, still weeping, when Lulu came into the room.
"Why, Gracie, what is the matter?" she asked, running to the couch and bending over her little sister in tender concern.
"Don"t ask me, Lulu, I don"t want to tell you," sobbed Gracie, turning away her blushing, tear-stained face.
"Mamma Vi has been scolding or punishing you for some little naughtiness, I suppose," said Lulu, frowning.
"No, she hasn"t!" cried Gracie indignantly; then hastily correcting herself, "except that she said she wanted me to stay here alone for a while. So you must go and leave me."
"I won"t till you tell me what it was all about. What did you do? or was it something you didn"t do?"