_Mary_.--(To Lucy.)--"Do you not understand that it was poor
Elizabeth, who came here with my knife, which she took off the table
where I left it, and who, after having cut a piece of cheese with it,
went to the fruit-room, no doubt to steal some apples also."

_John_.--(Angrily.)--"Papa, Elizabeth has acted deceitfully--
will you allow her to remain with you? One of the Psalms, the 101st,
I think, says, 'He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my
house.'"

_The Father_.--(Gravely.) "It is said also in Holy Scriptures,
my son, that 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment,' and perhaps, John,
if any of us, had been brought up like poor Elizabeth, we might have
done even worse than this."

"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."