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LITTLE SUNBEAMS. 
 
 I. 
 BELLE POWERS' LOCKET. 
 
§g % ggme %nfyax. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE BESSIE BOOKS. 
 
 Six vols, in a neat box. $7.50. 
 
 The volumes also sold separately; viz.: Bessie at the Seaside; City, 
 Friends; Mountains; School; Travels, at SI. 25 each. 
 
 "Really, it makes the heart younger, warmer, better, to bathe it 
 afresh in such familiar, natural scenes, where benevolence of most 
 practical and blessed utility is seen developing itself, from first to last, 
 in such delightful symmetry and completeness as may, and we hope will, 
 secure many imitators." — Watchman and Reflector. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE FLOWERETS. 
 
 A Series of Stories on the Commandments. 
 Six vols, in a neat box. $3.60. 
 
 The vols, can also be had separately ; viz. : 1. Violet's Idol ; 2. Daisy's 
 Work; 3. Rose's Temptation ; 4. Lily's Lesson; 5. Hyacinthe and her 
 Brothers ; 6. Pinkie and the Rabbits, at 75 cents each. 
 
 "The child- world we are here introduced to is delightfully real. 
 The children talk and act so naturally that we feel real live childrea 
 must have sat for their portraits. 1 ' — Baltimore Christian Advocate 
 
BELLE POWERS' 
 
 LOCKET. 
 
 "YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 
 
 BY 
 
 JOANNA H. MATHEWS, 
 
 AUTHOR OP THE " BESSIE BOOKS " AND " THE FLOWERETS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 
 
 530 Broadway. 
 
 1882. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 ROBERT CARTES 4ND BROTHERS, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 University Press: 
 John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 
 
JBeTjfcaUH 
 
 TO 
 
 BESSIE MUIR FISHER. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Belle and her Papa ... . . 9 
 
 Ii. An Excitement 25 
 
 III. An Unpleasant Surprise 40 
 
 IV. Sunlight 57 
 
 V. A Day with Maggie and Bessie . . 73 
 
 VI. Proverb-Pictures 88 
 
 VII. Mabel's New Whim 104 
 
 VIII. The Locket 118 
 
 IX. Belle's Misfortune 133 
 
 X. A Terrible Loss 149 
 
 XI. Belle's Grief 163 
 
 XII. Confession and Repentance .... 180 
 
 XIII. Mabel's Generosity 196 
 
 XIV. Found 219 
 
BELLE POWERS' LOCKET. 
 
 I. 
 
 BELLE AND HER PAPA. 
 
 HEAR little Belle ! 
 
 There she sat, upon a low stool, 
 doll and picture-book lying unheeded 
 at her feet, as she watched the slanting beams 
 of light which streamed in between the crim- 
 son curtains and poured life and gladness 
 over all within the pleasant room. There she 
 sat, watching them thoughtfully, yet with a 
 half-smile upon her lips, as they travelled 
 slowly and steadily from spot to spot, now 
 over the carpet, now up the table-cloth, now 
 
io Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 touching the gilded mirror-frame and making 
 it flash with added brightness, and now fall- 
 ing softly on a vase of lovely flowers and 
 bringing out their brilliant colors in new and 
 more perfect beauty. And now in their noise- 
 less but busy march they fell upon her own 
 little self, the brightest and sunniest thing 
 in all the room, to the loving eyes which 
 watched her. 
 
 "What is my darling thinking of?" asked 
 Mr. Powers, breaking the stillness. 
 
 In an instant Belle was upon his knee and 
 nestling close to him ; but she did not answer 
 his question till it was repeated. 
 
 " What were you thinking of, my daugh- 
 ter ? " he asked again, laying his hand fondly 
 on the little round head, with its short, dark 
 rings of hair. 
 
 " About sunbeams, papa," answered the 
 child, turning her eyes again upon the bar of 
 light, which was now quivering and shimmer- 
 ing among and over the prisms of the chan- 
 delier above their heads. 
 
Belle and her Pafa. n 
 
 " Ay, they are very pretty," said her father. 
 
 "But it was not about those sunbeams, 
 papa, though they did make the thinking 
 come into my head. It was about being a 
 sunbeam. I would like to be a little sun- 
 beam, papa." 
 
 " And so you may, and so you are, my dar- 
 ling," said the father, " You are papa's little 
 sunbeam, the brightest sunbeam he has on 
 earth; and his way would be very dark and 
 sad without you." 
 
 " Yes, papa," said Belle : u you mean I am 
 your comfort, and you are my sunbeam, papa, 
 'cause you are my comfort ; but I was think- 
 ing I would like to be a sunbeam to other 
 people too. I wonder if I could. Maggie 
 Bradford says I could." 
 
 " I am sure you could, darling." 
 
 " Maggie does say such nice things, papa ; 
 and so does Bessie ; and sometimes when a 
 thing does not seem very pleasant, or as if I 
 would like to do it, they talk about it so that 
 it seems very nice indeed, and so very right 
 
12 Belle Powers' Locket* 
 
 that I feel in a great hurry to do it. That is, 
 if I do not feel naughty ; for do you know, 
 papa," — and Belle's voice took a mournful 
 tone, — " do you know sometimes I am so very 
 naughty that I feel like doing a thing just 
 because I know I oughtn't. Papa, could you 
 have b'lieved that of me?" 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Powers, smiling : " I could 
 believe that of any one, Belle." 
 
 " Could you, papa ? " said Belle, solemnly. 
 " Well, that does make me a great relief; for 
 when I used to get good again after I had 
 been so naughty as that, I used to think I 
 must be 'most the wickedest child that ever 
 lived. But one day when I told Maggie and 
 Bessie about it, Maggie said sometimes she 
 felt that way too ; and then we made each 
 other promise to keep it a great secret, and 
 never tell anybody." 
 
 " And so you keep your promise by telling 
 me," said her father. 
 
 " papa ! we didn't mean our fathers and 
 mothers. We don't think you're anybody." 
 
Belle and her Pafa. 13 
 
 " Thank you," replied her father, taking 
 the compliment as it was meant, though 
 somewhat amused at her way of putting it. 
 " That is right, dear. It is better for little 
 children not to mean their fathers and mothers 
 when they promise not to ' tell anybody.' " 
 
 " Yes, papa ; and then you see you have 
 nobody but me to tell you secrets, so I would 
 feel too badly not to do it. But I want to 
 know about being a sunbeam, papa; how I 
 can be a sunbeam to 'most everybody, or to a 
 good many people." 
 
 " What did Maggie Bradford say about it ?" 
 asked Mr. Powers : " let me hear that." 
 
 " Why, it was yesterday, when I was spend- 
 ing the day with Maggie and Bessie," an- 
 swered Belle ; " and it was cloudy, and the sun 
 came out from the clouds, and Maggie said — 
 Papa, Maggie is the smartest child ; and do 
 you know what I heard Mrs. Norris say about 
 her ? She said Maggie had quite a — quite a 
 — a — talent, that was the word, quite a talent 
 for poetry. Are you not very glad, papa, that 
 
1 4 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 my in-sep-era-ble has a talent for poetry ? 
 Don't you think that is a pretty nice thing for 
 a child to have ? " 
 
 " Yery nice ; and I am indeed happy that 
 my Belle has such a talented friend," said 
 Mr. Powers, who knew that he could not 
 please his little daughter more than by join- 
 ing in the praise and admiration she show- 
 ered upon her young friends and playmates, 
 Maggie and Bessie Bradford, — "very nice, 
 indeed ; but still I do not hear what Maggie 
 said about the sunbeams." 
 
 " Well, such a beautiful sunbeam came out 
 of the cloud, papa ; and it made every thing 
 look so bright and pleasant, even though the 
 clouds were there yet ; and I said if I wasn't 
 myself, I would like to be a sunbeam, 'cause 
 every one was so glad to see it, and it seemed 
 to make things so bright and happy ; and then 
 Maggie said we could be ourselves and sun- 
 beams too. Not really, true sunbeams, you 
 know, but like sunbeams, to make all bright 
 and glad about us ; and she said we did that 
 
Belle and her Papa. 15 
 
 when we helped each ofer, or when we tried 
 to make sorry people feel glad, and comforted 
 them, or did a kind thing that made some one 
 feel nice and happy. And Bessie and I were 
 very proud of her for saying such a nice thing 
 as that, papa; and we begged her to make 
 some poetry about it, and she made one verse ; 
 and then Bessie said she b'lieved we could be 
 sunbeams for Jesus if we chose, and she coaxed 
 Maggie to make another verse about that, and 
 we learned it. Shall I say them to you, papa ? " 
 " Certainly," said her father ; and Belle 
 repeated the following simple lines, which 
 she plainly thought extremely fine: — 
 
 " I wish I was a sunbeam, 
 To sparkle all the day ; 
 And make all glad and happy 
 Who came across my way. 
 
 " I'd like to shine for Jesus, 
 And show to every one 
 That all my light and brightness 
 Did come from Him, my Sun." 
 
 " There, what do you think of that, papa ? " 
 she asked in a tone of triumph, which showed 
 
16 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 her own delight and pride in her little friend's 
 composition. 
 
 " I think it very fair for a nine-years-old 
 girl," answered her father. 
 
 "I think it is be-ew-tiful," said Belle. 
 " Maggie writes lots and lots of po'try, and 
 she copies it all. Some of it is pious po'try, 
 and she puts that in one book called ' Brad- 
 ford's Divine Songs,' and she puts the unpious 
 in another called ' Bradford's Moral Poems ; ' 
 and Bessie and I learn a great deal of them. 
 They're splen-did, and she is just the smart- 
 est child, — Bessie says she is." 
 
 If Bessie said a thing, it must be so, accord- 
 ing to Belle's thinking ; and her father did not 
 dispute the fact. Belle went on, — 
 
 " And that is the kind of a sunbeam I 
 would like to be, papa, 'cause I s'pose that is 
 the best kind, — to have the light and bright- 
 ness come from Jesus, — and it would make 
 me nicer and pleasanter to every one." 
 
 " Yes, my darling." 
 
 " But I don't see how I am to be much of 
 
Belle and her Paj>a. 17 
 
 a sunbeam to any one but you, papa. Maggie 
 and Bessie seem to know how without any one 
 telling them, but I don't know so very well. 
 They are my sunbeams next to you, I know 
 that : are they not, papa ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, my daughter. God bless 
 them," said her father, speaking from his 
 heart as he remembered all that these two 
 dear little girls had been to his motherless 
 child ; what true " sunbeams " they had proved 
 to her, cheering and brightening the young 
 life which had been so early darkened by her 
 great loss. Gay, bright, and happy themselves, 
 they were not only willing, but anxious, to 
 pour some of the sunshine of their own joy- 
 ous hearts into those of others who had not 
 so many blessings. 
 
 All this, and more than this, had her young 
 friends done for the lonely little Belle, not 
 only bringing back the light to her sad- 
 dened eye, and the smiles to her once pitiful 
 face, but also giving her a new interest by 
 awakening in her the wish to shed some 
 
18 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 happy rays on the lot of others, and leading 
 her by the shining of their own example to 
 become more obedient, gentle, and unselfish 
 than she had ever been before. 
 
 " Daphne told me I'll have a whole lot of 
 money when I am a big lady," continued 
 Belle ; " and then I should think I could be a 
 sunbeam to ever so many people, and do ever 
 so much to make them glad and happy. I'll 
 build a room, oh, ever so big ! and bring into 
 it all the lame and deaf and blind and poor 
 people, and make them have such a nice time. 
 The good ones, I mean: I won't have any 
 naughty people that do bad things. I shan't 
 be a sunbeam to them, or have them in my 
 sunbeam- home ; no, nor the disagreeable ones 
 either, who don't have nice manners or be 
 pleasant. I'll take ugly people, 'cause they 
 can't help it ; but everybody can be pleasant 
 and polite if they choose, and I shan't help 
 the old things who are not. Ugh ! " 
 
 " But that is not the way Jesus wants us to 
 feel, dear. When He was here on earth, He 
 
Belle and her Pafa, 19 
 
 taught as that we must try to do good to all, 
 that we might be the children of our Father 
 in Heaven, who, He tells us, ' makes His sun 
 to rise on the evil and on the good, and send- 
 eth rain on the just and the unjust.' Do you 
 know what that means ? " 
 
 "Urn — m — m — yes, papa, I b'lieve so," 
 answered Belle, half unwillingly : " I s'pose it 
 means I ought to try to be a sunbeam to dis- 
 agreeable people, just the same as if they 
 were pleasant." 
 
 " Belle," said Mr. Powers, " do you remem- 
 ber the story Mrs. Rush told you of Lem and 
 Dolly, those naughty, unkind children who 
 treated your little friends so badly ; and who 
 were so disagreeable and rude in every way, 
 both in looks and behavior ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeedy ! " answered Belle, in 
 quite a different tone from that she had last 
 used. k - 1 never could forget that story ; and 
 now I do see what you mean, papa. Maggie and 
 Bessie were sunbeams to poor Lem and Dolly, 
 for all they were so very naughty to them." 
 
20 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 " Yes, dear ; and they lighted the path to 
 Jesus so that Dolly found the way to Him 
 before she was taken from this world ; and by 
 all that we hear it may be that some ray of 
 light has fallen across poor Lem's way too." 
 
 " Yes," said Belle, eagerly ; " and the ofer 
 day Maggie and Bessie's papa had a letter 
 from the captain of the ship what Lem is a 
 sailor on, and he said he was a real good boy, 
 and tried to do right all he could. But, papa, 
 you see I don't know any very dirty, ragged, 
 horrid children to be a sunbeam to ; so what 
 shall I do ? I s'pose when I say my prayers 
 I could ask God to let there be some for me. 
 I'll ask Him to-night to let there be six dirty 
 beggars, three boys and three girls, that I can 
 be good and kind to, and show the way to 
 Him. Wouldn't that be a good plan, papa ? " 
 
 " Well, I think I would hardly do that," 
 said her father, smiling. " There is quite 
 enough of misery in the world without asking 
 for more only that we may cure it ; and some 
 of it is pretty sure to come in your way. But 
 
Belle and her Pafa. 21 
 
 any little child may in her daily life shed light 
 and brightness around her, even though it 
 does not happen to her to find any such spe- 
 cial work as was given to your Maggie and 
 Bessie ; and with the will and heart to do it, 
 I think my Belle will be a sunbeam indeed to 
 all with whom she has to do." 
 
 Now as you may not know the story of 
 which Belle and her father were speaking, 
 you may like to hear something about it ; and 
 you shall have it in a few words. 
 
 These two little girls, Maggie and Bessie 
 Bradford, the young friends of whom Belle 
 thought so much, went one summer to spend 
 the season among the mountains ; and, while 
 there, fell in with two poor, neglected, and 
 wicked children, named Lem and Dolly Owen. 
 From these children, who seemed to love mis- 
 chief and wickedness for their own sake, and 
 to feel a spite toward all who were better off 
 than themselves, Maggie and Bessie, and in- 
 deed all their family, had much to bear. 
 Every petty annoyance and vexation which 
 
22 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 they could invent was tried by Lem and Dolly 
 to trouble and grieve those who had never 
 injured them. But although it did cost them a 
 hard struggle, the two dear little girls had for- 
 given all this, and so won upon the miserable 
 outcasts by the sweet, forgiving kindness they 
 had shown, that the latter were at last 
 brought to look upon them as friends, and to 
 feel sorry for all the evil they had done to 
 them. Nor was this all ; for by their simple 
 teachings and bright example they had point- 
 ed out to poor, sick Dolly the way to Jesus ; 
 and before she died she was led to His feet, 
 and knew that He could save her and take 
 her to dwell with Him. So, happy and trust- 
 ing, she had gone from a world where she 
 had known little but misery, to that other 
 and better home where sin and suffering never 
 come ; while Lem, softened partly by his sis- 
 ter's death, had been put under the care of 
 kind Mr. Porter for a while, and was now, as 
 you have learned from Belle's words, gone as 
 a sailor boy with a prospect and promise of 
 5oing well. 
 
Belle and her Pa^pa. 23 
 
 All this, and much more which it is not 
 necessary to repeat, — since, if you choose, 
 you may learn all about it in a little book 
 called " Bessie among the Mountains," — had 
 been told to Belle by some of Maggie's and 
 Bessie's older friends ; and had, if possible, 
 increased her love and admiration for them. 
 She had received such tenderness and affec- 
 tion from them herself, this motherless little 
 one, and their friendship had brought her such 
 new happiness and comfort, that it was not 
 surprising that she did indeed look upon them 
 as her " sunbeams next to papa," and love 
 them with her whole heart. * 
 
 Whether Belle and her papa would have 
 talked much more cannot be told, for now 
 they were interrupted by a knock at the door ; 
 and when Mr. Powers said, " Come in," a 
 waiter obeyed, bringing a note directed to — ■ 
 
 " Miss Belle Powers, 
 Care of her Papa, 
 In the hottel, 
 U. S. of America, 
 New York." 
 
24 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 Happily, this note had not gone by post, 
 but had been brought by one servant-man who 
 knew for whom it was intended, and had 
 given it to another, who brought it directly 
 to the young lady whose name it bore. Other- 
 wise, I think it just possible that it might 
 never have reached her. 
 
II. 
 
 AN EXCITEMENT. 
 
 [AT is Maggie's writing," said Belle, 
 seizing eagerly upon the note, as 
 the man handed it to her. " I 
 s'pose it's about something nice : Maggie's 
 notes always are, — Bessie's too. Please read 
 it to me, papa." 
 
 Mr. Powers did as he was asked ; and when 
 Belle had opened the envelope, which was a 
 part of the business she must of course attend 
 to for herself, read aloud these words, written 
 in Maggie Bradford's large, round hand : — 
 
 " Oh ! my dear, darling Belle, — We are 
 so glad Bessie and I are that your papa has 
 
26 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 made up his mind not to take you away to 
 your home in the south this winter.^ And not 
 to have you go in that horrid steamer and sail 
 with monsters of the deep and be seasick, 
 which is such a horrible fate that I could not 
 wish it of my worst enemy of which I hope I 
 have none in this world or that which is to 
 come. And because we are so glad about it 
 we wanted to have a public rejoicing, and 
 mamma says we may, and if you don't know 
 what a public rejoicing is it means when peo- 
 ple are very glad about something and want 
 other people to be glad too and so they make 
 a great fuss and have something very nice. 
 And so in the present case mamma says you 
 can come and make the public rejoicing with 
 us to-morrow afternoon and Lilly Norris is 
 coming too and Nellie and Carrie Ransom. 
 And mamma is going to let us have a very 
 nice supper and some mottos, of which she 
 knows you are fond as I suppose are all man- 
 kind or ought to be if they have any sense, 
 and we think she is the very dearest mamma 
 
An Excitement. 27 
 
 that ever lived and I hope I shall be her grate- 
 ful child as I am yours till death and Bessie 
 
 the same. 
 
 "Maggie Stanton Bradford." 
 
 " Oh ? yes ! I'll go, 'course I will," said Belle, 
 clapping her hands, as her father finished 
 reading the note ; and too much accustomed 
 to going and coming to and from Mrs. Brad- 
 ford's house as she pleased to think it neces- 
 sary to ask permission. " 'Course I'll go. And, 
 papa, isn't this a lovely note ? and isn't Maggie 
 just the smartest child to write so nicely ? I 
 think she writes just as good notes and letters 
 as big people : yes, I think hers are a good 
 deal more interesting than big people's. And 
 she makes me understand every thing too. 
 I'm glad she told me what a public rejoicing 
 was, 'cause I didn't know before ; and isn't 
 that nice and pretty about not going away and 
 monsters of the deep ? " 
 
 " But you must send your answer : Patrick 
 is waiting," said Mr. Powers. 
 
 "Oh! to be sure," said Belle. "Please 
 
28 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 write it for me, papa ; " and accordingly her 
 father wrote as she dictated : — 
 
 " Dear Maggie and Bessie, — I guess I 
 
 will ; and I thank you very much for making 
 
 a public rejoicing, and mottoes and all. Your 
 
 mamma is so good ; and I love her and you, 
 
 and hope I'll be a sunbeam to everybody. 
 
 Good-by. 
 
 " Your own precious 
 
 " Belle." 
 
 On the afternoon of the next day Belle was 
 taken to the home of her young playmates by 
 Daphne, the old colored nurse who took care 
 of her. She was in very good time, you may 
 be sure ; for she insisted on going immediately 
 after her own early dinner ; and Daphne was 
 too much accustomed to giving her her own 
 way in all things to dream of disputing her 
 wish. 
 
 The preparations for the " public rejoicing " 
 were not quite finished, as might have been 
 expected ; but that did not much matter where 
 Belle was concerned, for she was so much with 
 
An Excitement, 29 
 
 the little Bradfords that they looked upon her 
 almost as one of their own family ; and she 
 was at once called upon by Maggie to " help 
 with the arrangements/' which she was quite 
 ready to do. 
 
 " Mamma hasn't had time to buy the motr 
 toes yet," said Maggie, " 'cause she couldn't 
 go out this morning ; but she is going now and 
 says we are to go with her. Don't you want 
 to come too, Belle ? " 
 
 Belle was only too glad ; and as soon as 
 Mrs. Bradford was ready, the three little girls, 
 Maggie, Bessie, and Belle, set forth with her 
 to make the important purchase. 
 
 As they were on their way to the store, 
 Maggie, who had skipped ahead to a corner 
 they had to turn, came running back with 
 face all aglow and eyes full of excitement. 
 
 " Oh ! mamma ! " she said : " there's such 
 a fuss round the corner, and I'm afraid we'll 
 have to pass it." 
 
 " What is the trouble ? " asked Mrs. Brad- 
 ford. 
 
30 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 " 1 don't know ; but there's a crowd, and I 
 saw a carriage, and a policeman ; and there's 
 such a fuss." 
 
 " Well," said Bessie, who held the most 
 unbounded faith in policemen, "if there's a 
 policeman, I s'pose he'll fix it all right : won't 
 he?" 
 
 " But you see we'll have to pass it to reach 
 the candy-store," said Maggie ; " and maybe, 
 it's a drunken man, or a carry-on horse, or an 
 animal escaped out of the menagerie, or a 
 mad dog, or some other dreadful excitement;" 
 and she looked quite distressed as she fin- 
 ished the list of horrors she had imag- 
 ined. 
 
 " I think I can take care of you," said her 
 mother ; " and if there should be any danger 
 we will stop in at grandmamma's till it is 
 over." 
 
 Thus consoled, but still clinging tight to 
 her mother's hand, Maggie thought they 
 might venture to go on ; but as soon as the 
 corner was turned, it became quite plain that 
 
An Excitement. 31 
 
 there was no danger for them, though there 
 was indeed what she called " a fuss." 
 
 In the middle of the street was a carriage 
 about which a crowd had gathered, one of the 
 horses having stumbled, fallen, and broken his 
 leg. On the sidewalk stood a lady in deep 
 mourning, with a nurse, and a child about 
 Bessie's age, the latter screaming at the top 
 of her voice, and dancing up and down, seem- 
 ingly partly in fear, partly in anger ; for she 
 would not listen to her mother and nurse 
 when they tried to soothe her, but struck out 
 her hands passionately at the woman when 
 she tried to draw her away from her mother's 
 side, so that the lady might find opportunity 
 to speak to those about her. 
 
 " Oh ! the poor little girl ! just see how 
 frightened she is," said Bessie. 
 
 " I am afraid she is a little naughty, too," 
 said her mother, as the child gave another 
 furious scream and stamped wildly with both 
 her feet upon the pavement ; while the lady, 
 who was plainly weak and nervous, drew her 
 
32 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 hand across her forehead as if the uproar her 
 little daughter was making was almost too 
 much for her. 
 
 u But I must speak to the lady and see if 
 I can do any thing for her," continued Mrs. 
 Bradford ; and stepping up to her, as she stood 
 a little withdrawn from the crowd, she said 
 kindly, " Can I be of any assistance to you ? " 
 
 "No, thank you," said the lady : "I am 
 not ill, only startled ; and — if Mabel would 
 but be quiet and let me speak and think," 
 
 Mabel seemed inclined to do this now that 
 she had caught sight of the other children ; 
 for ceasing her loud screams, and standing 
 still, she stared open-mouthed at them. 
 
 " My house is but a few steps farther on : will 
 you not come in and rest, and compose your- 
 self ?" asked Mrs. Bradford of the stranger. 
 
 " No, thank you," she answered again : " I 
 believe we have but little farther to go. Is 
 not the Hotel near here ? " 
 
 " Only a block or two," replied Mrs. Brad- 
 ford. 
 
An Excitement. 33 
 
 " Then we will walk on," said the lady ; 
 and directing the nurse to bring some shawls 
 from the carriage, she thanked Mrs. Bradford 
 for her kindness, and taking the hand of her 
 little girl would have gone on. 
 
 But this did not please the child, who now 
 drawing sharply back from her mother, said 
 pettishly, — 
 
 " No : I want to go to that lady's house and 
 play with those nice little girls." 
 
 " But we're not going home. We are going 
 to the candy-store to buy some mottoes," said 
 Belle. 
 
 When Mabel heard this, she said she wanted 
 to go to the candy-store and buy mottoes too ; 
 and her mother, who, it was plainly to be seen, 
 gave way to her in every thing, said she might 
 do so. 
 
 " But if I go and buy you mottoes, will you 
 be a good girl, and come with me to find your 
 uncle and little cousin ? " asked the stranger 
 lady. 
 
 Mabel promised, anxious now only to secure 
 
34 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 the mottoes ; and she and her mother and 
 nurse followed Mrs. Bradford and our little 
 friends to the candy-store. 
 
 Mrs. Bradford politely waited and let the 
 saleswoman attend to the stranger first, for 
 she saw there would be small chance of peace 
 till the spoiled child had all she desired. 
 
 All she desired ! There seemed no end to 
 that. Not only Maggie and Bessie, but Belle 
 also, who was accustomed to the most un- 
 bounded indulgence, and to have every wish 
 gratified, stood amazed at the number and 
 quantity of dainties which Mabel demanded, 
 and which she was allowed to have. Parcel 
 after parcel was put up for her, till not only 
 her own hands and those of her already well- 
 laden nurse were filled to overflowing, but 
 those of her mother also. 
 
 " Now do come, dear," said the latter, when 
 it was impossible that any one of the three 
 could carry another thing : " let us go and see 
 the little cousin, and she shall share them 
 with you." 
 
An Excitement. 35 
 
 u No, she shan't," whined Mabel : " I don't 
 want little cousin, and I shan't have her 
 now." 
 
 " Well, never mind, then. She is such a 
 nervous child," said her mother, turning to 
 Mrs. Bradford. " She shall not tease you if 
 you do not choose. Come, darling, won't 
 you, with poor mamma ? " 
 
 But it took so much more promising and 
 coaxing before the unruly child could be per- 
 suaded by her weary but foolish mother to go 
 on, that Mrs. Bradford made her purchases 
 and quitted the store with her own little flock, 
 leaving Mabel still whining and fretting, and 
 at the last moment insisting upon having a 
 sugar " Temple of Liberty," which the shop- 
 woman told her was not for sale, but only put 
 there for show. 
 
 "That's the spoildest child I ever saw," 
 said Belle, as they turned homewards, each 
 little girl by her own desire laden with a 
 parcel. 
 
 " Yes," said Maggie : " she's just the kind 
 
36 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 of a child to cry for the moon, and get it too, 
 if she could ; but she couldn't. I'm glad," 
 she added, with an air of deep wisdom, " that 
 our parents saw the error of their ways and 
 didn't train us up that way. What are you 
 laughing at, mamma ? " 
 
 But mamma made no answer ; the reason 
 of which Maggie took to be that just at that 
 moment she bowed to a gentleman who was 
 passing ; and before she could repeat her ques- 
 tion Bessie spoke. 
 
 " I'm glad enough I'm not her little cousin 
 she is going to see. I'm sorry for her cousin." 
 
 " So am I," said Belle. " I wouldn't have 
 such a cousin as Mabel for any thing. She's 
 too horrid." 
 
 " You have a cousin named Mabel, though, 
 haven't you ? " asked Maggie. 
 
 " Yes, so I have ; but then she's not one bit 
 like that Mabel, you know," answered Belle. 
 
 " You never saw her, did you ? " asked 
 Bessie. 
 
 " No, 'cause she lives about a million thou- 
 
An Excitement. 37 
 
 sand of miles off, way off in Boston ; but she 
 is coming to see me some time," said Belle. 
 
 " But if you never saw her, how can you 
 tell she is not one bit like that child ? " asked 
 Bessie. 
 
 "Why how could she be*?" demanded 
 Belle, indignantly: " her mamma is my papa's 
 own sister, and he'd never have such a fool- 
 ish lady as that for his sister. I guess he 
 wouldn't;" and Belle shook her head in a 
 manner which seemed to say that such an 
 idea was to be put out of the question at 
 once. 
 
 " Yes : you know ' birds of a feather flock 
 together,' " said Maggie. 
 
 " What does that mean ? " asked Bessie. 
 
 u Why," answered Maggie, slowly, as she 
 considered how she might make one of her 
 favorite proverbs fit the occasion, " it means 
 — well — it means — that a foolish mother is 
 apt to have a foolish child, and things of that 
 kind. Do you understand, Bessie ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Bessie, looking at her 
 
38 Belle Powers* Locket, 
 
 sister with admiring pride: "you always 
 make every thing plain to understand, Mag- 
 gie. Don't she, Belle ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Belle : " she's an excellent ex- 
 plainer. And, Maggie, do you know I told 
 papa what nice things you said about being 
 sunbeams, and told him those verses you 
 made ; and, oh ! didn't he think it was 
 splendid T" 
 
 " I don't believe Mabel is much of a sun- 
 beam to her people," said Bessie. " I'm 'fraid 
 her mother don't teach her to be." 
 
 " No, indeed, I guess she isn't! " said Belle ; 
 " and I wouldn't want to be a sunbeam to 
 her." 
 
 " But our Father in Heaven makes His sun 
 to shine on the evil and on the good," said 
 Mrs. Bradford, softly. " Does not my little 
 Belle want to copy Him ? " 
 
 Just the words her father had used yester- 
 day when she was talking with him on this 
 very subject. They set Belle thinking; and 
 she walked more quietly on towards the house, 
 
An Excitement, 39 
 
 trying to make up her mind if she could " be 
 a sunbeam " to such a disagreeable child as 
 the one she had just seen. 
 
 She had not quite decided when they reached 
 Mrs. Bradford's door, and there for the time 
 her thoughts were taken up with her play and 
 playmates. 
 
 But Mrs. Bradford was rather amused when, 
 one of the dolls being supposed to have be- 
 haved badly, Belle was overheard to say, — 
 
 " This child must be punished severely, she 
 is so very nervous." 
 
m. 
 
 AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE. 
 
 HE " public rejoicing " had not nearly 
 come to an end, when, at a much 
 earlier hour than she was accustomed 
 to go home, Belle saw Daphne entering the 
 play-room. Daphne's turbaned head was 
 thrown back, and her lips pursed up in a 
 manner which showed Belle that she was not 
 pleased with something or some one. But 
 whatever might be the cause of the old nurse's 
 displeasure, Belle knew well enough that it 
 would never be visited on her ; and Daphne's 
 appearance just at the moment when she was 
 so delightfully engaged did not suit her at 
 all. 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 41 
 
 " You haven't come to take me home 
 a' ready ? " she said. 
 
 " But I has, honey : more's de shame/' 
 said Daphne, with a look of mingled pity and 
 affection at her little mistress, while a chorus 
 of exclamations arose from all the children. 
 
 " I shan't go, now ! It's too early," said 
 Belle. " Why, it isn't near dark, Daphne. 
 Did papa send you ? " 
 
 " S'pose he tinks he did," replied Daphne ; 
 " but I specs dere's a new missis come to 
 han', what tinks she's goin' to turn de worP 
 upside down. 'Pears like it." 
 
 " What ? " said Belle, not understanding 
 such mysterious hints, yet seeing something 
 was wrong ; and Mrs. Bradford asked, " What 
 are you talking about, Daphne ? " 
 
 " I'se been bidden to hoP my tongue, and 
 I neber talks if I ain't got leave," answered 
 Daphne, with another toss of her turban and 
 several displeased sniffs. 
 
 " But you're talking now, only we don't 
 know what it's about," said Bessie. 
 
42 Belle Power? Locket, 
 
 To this Daphne made no answer, except by 
 closing her eyes in a resigned manner, and 
 giving a sigh which seemed to come from her 
 very shoes. 
 
 " I shan't go home, anyhow," said Belle : 
 " the party isn't near out." 
 
 " Not when papa wants you, dear ? " said 
 Mrs. Bradford, gently. 
 
 Belle gave a sigh which sounded like the 
 echo of Daphne's ; but she made no farther 
 objection when her nurse brought her hat and 
 prepared to put it on. Daphne clapped on 
 the hat, giving a snap to the elastic which 
 fastened it that really hurt the child, though 
 she was far from intending to do so. Then 
 she seized her in both arms and gave her a 
 loud, sounding kiss. 
 
 " You just 'member you alius got yer ole 
 mammy, whatever else you loses, my honey," 
 she said. By this time not only little Belle 
 and the other children, but Mrs. Bradford also, 
 thought something dreadful must have hap- 
 pened ; although the latter did know that 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 43 
 
 Daphne was sometimes foolish, and very apt 
 to make a mountain out of a molehill. 
 
 " What's the matter ? Where's my papa ? " 
 said Belle, in a frightened tone. " Is he 
 lost?" 
 
 " He's safe to de hotel, dear," said Daphne. 
 She never condescended to say home : 
 " home " was far away, down on the dear 
 old Georgia plantation. " He's safe to de 
 hotel; that is, if somebody ain't worrit de 
 eyes out his head or de head off his shoulders. 
 You come along, Miss Belle, 'fore all yer 
 tings is gone to rack an' ruin." 
 
 " What is the matter, Daphne ? " said Mrs. 
 Bradford. 
 
 " I telled yer, missis, I ain't got leave for 
 talk ; an' I neber breaks orders, no way. But 
 I'se been forgetten: dere's a letter what Massa 
 Powers send you ; " and diving into the 
 depths of her enormous pocket, Daphne pro- 
 duced a note which she handed to Mrs. Brad- 
 ford. The lady opened and read it ; while 
 Belle watched her, fearing some evil. But 
 
44 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 Mrs. Bradford smiled and looked rather 
 pleased, and said to Belle, — 
 
 " It is all right, darling : run home now ; 
 papa has a great pleasure for you." 
 
 It would be impossible to express the length 
 and depth of the sniff with which Daphne 
 heard this ; but Belle did not notice it, and 
 was now rather in haste to say good-by and 
 to go to her papa. 
 
 " I wouldn't say any thing more if I were 
 you, Daphne/' said Mrs. Bradford, following 
 them out to the head of the stairs. 
 
 " Dear ! I ain't said nothin', Missis," said 
 Daphne : " didn't her pa forbid it ? on'y some 
 folks is so blin'." 
 
 " Who's blind ? Not papa ? " said Belle. 
 
 "It am a kin' of sperit blin'ness I'se speak- 
 in' ob, honey," said Daphne. " Talk ob 
 spilin' chillen, indeed ! Dere's some what's 
 so bad by natur', you couldn't make 'em no 
 wuss if you tried all de days ob yer life." 
 
 With which she disappeared, banging the 
 front door after Belle and herself with a force 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 45 
 
 which told that she was anxious for some 
 object on which she might safely vent her dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 Belle talked and questioned all the way 
 home, but received for answer only the same 
 mysterious and alarming hints ; till the child 
 hardly knew whether to believe that some- 
 thing dreadful had taken place, or that she 
 was going home to the promised pleasure. 
 
 " Now, Miss Belle," said the foolish old 
 woman, as they crossed the hall on which Mr. 
 Powers' rooms opened, " you min' I ain't goin* 
 for let you be snubbed and kep' under. You 
 come and tell yer ole mammy ebery ting ; 
 an' I'll fight yer battles, if de French nusses 
 is got sich fly-a-way caps on der heads." 
 
 So she opened the door of their own parlor ; 
 and Belle, feeling a little worried and a little 
 cross at the interruption to her afternoon's 
 pleasure, passed in. 
 
 What did she see ? 
 
 Upon the sofa, beside her papa, sat a lady 
 dressed in deep mourning ; and upon his knee 
 
46 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 — was it possible ? — yes, upon papa's knee, 
 in her own proper place, was a little girl, quite 
 at her ease, and sitting as if she had a right 
 and belonged there. And — could it be? — 
 Belle took a second look — it really was the 
 child who had been so naughty and shown 
 herself so spoiled. She stood for a moment 
 near the door, utterly amazed, and speechless 
 with displeasure. 
 
 Now Belle was what is called a generous 
 child ; that is, she would readily give away 
 or share what she had with others ; but she 
 was jealous of the affection of those she loved, 
 especially of her papa's. He was her own, 
 her very own : all his tenderness and petting 
 must be for her. She could hardly bear that 
 he should caress even her beloved Maggie and 
 Bessie ; and if it chanced that he did so, she 
 would immediately claim a double portion for 
 herself. She was quick and bright too ; and 
 now she saw in a moment the cause of all 
 Daphne's mysterious hints and melancholy ; 
 and the/ helped to increase the angry, jealous 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 47 
 
 feeling in her own heart. Daphne had feared 
 that this naughty, contrary child was coming 
 to interfere with her ; and Belle feared it now 
 herself. Indeed, was it not plain enough 
 already ? There she was on papa's knee, the 
 seat to which no one but herself had a right ; 
 and papa's arm was about her. 
 
 44 Come here, my darling : come and speak 
 to your aunt and little cousin," said Mr. 
 Powers. 
 
 And now Belle spoke, indeed, but without 
 moving one step forward, and with a very 
 different tone and manner from those which 
 her father expected. 
 
 " Come off of there ! " she said, in a low, 
 deep tone of intense passion. " Come off of 
 there ! That's my place, he's my papa ; you 
 shan't have him, and I shan't have you. 
 You're not my cousin ; I won't have you, bad, 
 bad girl ! " 
 
 She said this with her face perfectly white 
 with rage, her eyes flashing; and she stood 
 bolt upright, her two little hands clenched and 
 
48 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 stretched downwards on either side. Then 
 the color came fast and deep, rising to the 
 very roots of her hair ; her lips were drawn, 
 and her little bosom heaved. 
 
 Mr. Powers knew what this meant. Pat- 
 ting Mabel hastily from his knee, he rose and 
 walked over to Belle. When Belle was a 
 baby, and little more than a baby, she had the 
 naughty habit, when any thing displeased her, 
 of holding her breath until she was almost 
 choked and purple in the face. Other chil- 
 dren have this ugly way, which is not only 
 naughty, but dangerous. But Belle's mamma 
 had broken her of this when she was very 
 young ; and it was a long, long time since her 
 father had seen her do it. 
 
 But it was coming now, and must be stopped 
 at once. 
 
 " Belle ! " he said sharply, and almost stern- 
 ly, laying his hand on her shoulder, — 
 " Belle ! " 
 
 It did seem hard, but it was necessary, and 
 was, Mr. Powers knew, the only way to bring 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 49 
 
 his angry little child to her senses. It was 
 enough. She caught her breath hard, then 
 gave one or two deep sobs, and burst into a 
 passion of tears, at the same time turning and 
 trying to run away. 
 
 Poor child ! It seemed to her that this 
 was proof of her jealous fears. Papa had 
 never spoken so to her before, and it was all 
 because of that strange child who was coming 
 in her place. So she thought, and only 
 wanted to run away out of sight and hear- 
 ing. 
 
 But her father caught her, took her up in 
 his arms, and now spoke to her in the ten- 
 derest tones, covering her wet face with kisses 
 and trying to soothe her. 
 
 Belle knew that she had been naughty, oh ! 
 very naughty ; but she still felt very much 
 injured ; and, although after a time her sobs 
 became less violent, she clung tightly to her 
 papa, and kept her face hidden on his bosom ; 
 shedding there the tears which brought no 
 healing with them because they came from 
 
50 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 anger and jealousy, and obstinately refusing 
 to look up or speak to her aunt and cousin. 
 
 And yet if Belle had been told but yester- 
 day that she was soon to see this little cousin, 
 she would have been delighted. They had 
 never met before, for Mrs. Walton, Mabel's 
 mother, had been living abroad for many 
 years : the little Mabel had been born there, 
 and there several brothers and sisters had 
 died. Perhaps this last was one reason, 
 though it was certainly no good excuse, that 
 Mabel had been so much indulged. 
 
 For some months there had been talk of 
 their coming home, but their appearance just 
 at this time was quite unexpected. Young 
 readers will not be interested in knowing what 
 brought them : it is enough to say that here 
 they were, the steamer having brought them 
 to Boston, whence Mr. Walton had sent on his 
 wife and child, he staying behind to attend to 
 some business. 
 
 Mrs. Walton had thought to give her brother 
 an agreeable surprise ; and so she had, for he 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise, 51 
 
 had been longing to see her, and to have her 
 help in the training of his motherless little 
 Belle ; but Mrs. Walton and Mabel had not 
 been with him half an hour before he began to 
 think that Belle would do quite as well without 
 the training which Mabel received. 
 
 The child had been clamorous to see her 
 young cousin from the first moment of her 
 arrival ; but Daphne, unwilling to call her 
 darling from her afternoon's pleasure, had 
 invented one excuse after another, till Mr. 
 Powers had insisted that she should bring 
 Belle. 
 
 The jealousy of the old colored nurse, who 
 was already put out at Mabel's wilful, pettish 
 behavior, and the way in which she was 
 allowed to handle and pull about all Belle's 
 toys and treasures, was immediately aroused 
 at the idea that her nursling should be made to 
 yield to the new-comer ; and she had shown 
 this in the manner which had awakened 
 a like feeling in Belle the moment the child 
 discovered the cause. 
 
52 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 Mrs. Walton was vexed, as indeed she 
 might well be, at the reception which Belle 
 had given to herself and Mabel ; but the weak 
 and foolish mother readily excused or over- 
 looked in her own child those very faults 
 which she saw so plainly in her little niece. 
 
 At first Mabel had been too much astonished 
 at Belle's outbreak to do more than stand and 
 look at her ; but when her cousin's cries were 
 quieted, and she lay still with her face hidden 
 on he? father's shoulder, giving long, heaving 
 sobs, she began to whine and fret, and to in- 
 sist that Belle should be made to come and 
 play with her, and show her a set of carved 
 animals, one of Belle's choicest treasures which 
 Mr. Powers had rescued from her destructive 
 little fingers. 
 
 " My dear brother," said Mrs. Walton, " it 
 is indeed time that your child was put under 
 other female management than that of ser- 
 vants. She is quite spoiled, I see." 
 
 Here a prolonged sniff, ending in something 
 very like a groan, came from near the door 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 53 
 
 where Daphne still stood : while Belle, feeling 
 that both she and her devoted nurse had been 
 insulted, kicked out indignantly with her little 
 feet. 
 
 But her father's hand was on the nestling 
 head ; and he said very quietly, pouring oil on 
 the wounded spirits, — 
 
 " My Belle and her Daphne could not well 
 do without one another; and Belle is much 
 less spoiled than she used to be. She is a 
 pretty good girl now, thanks to the kind teach- 
 ings she has had, and her own wish to profit 
 by them. Mrs. Bradford, the mother of her 
 little friends Maggie and Bessie, has been very 
 good to her ; so has her teacher, Miss Ashton, 
 and several other lady friends : so that she 
 has not been left lately without proper train- 
 ing, even if her papa and old nurse do indulge 
 and pet her perhaps a little too much. Belle 
 and I are all in all to one another now, and 
 she knows I want her to be a good girl. It is 
 a long, long time since she has had such a 
 naughty turn as this, and I know she is sorry 
 and ashamed." 
 
54 Belle Powers* Locket. 
 
 Ashamed Belle certainly was ; but I am 
 afraid she was not sorry, at least not truly 
 sorry, for she was quite determined not to 
 look up or speak to her aunt and cousin ; and 
 she nursed the angry feelings in her little 
 heart, and made up her mind that they were 
 both quite unbearable. 
 
 She was the more sure of this when they 
 all went together into the dining-room. Belle 
 was accustomed to go there with her father, 
 and to eat her simple supper while he dined ; 
 and indulged though she was, she never thought 
 of fretting or asking for that which he said 
 was not proper for her ; but Mabel called for 
 every thing that she fancied, and was allowed 
 to have all manner of rich dainties, her mother 
 answering when Mr. Powers interfered, — 
 
 " It don't do to refuse her any thing. She is 
 so nervous and excitable. I have to manage 
 her the best way I can." 
 
 Probably Mr. Powers thought the manage- 
 ment which fell to the share of his mother- 
 less little Belle was better and more profitable 
 
An Unpleasant Surprise. 55 
 
 than that bestowed upon Mabel, whose mother 
 was always with her. 
 
 It was the same thing when they went 
 upstairs again. Mabel wanted to stand in the 
 gallery above, and look down into the great 
 hall below, where were lights, and numbers 
 of people coming and going ; and all the plead- 
 ings and promises of her tired mother could 
 not persuade her to go on to their room, 
 where the nurse was engaged unpacking. 
 
 But her uncle, who was tired of all this wil- 
 fulness, soon put a stop to it, by unclasping 
 the little hands which held so obstinately to 
 the banisters, lifting and carrying her to her 
 mamma's room, where he set her down with- 
 out a word. 
 
 Mabel was so unused to such firm interfer- 
 ence with her wishes, and was so astonished at 
 it, that she quite forgot to scream or struggle 
 till he had gone away and the door was shut 
 upon her. Then she made up for lost time ; 
 but we will leave her and go with Belle. 
 
 Her father saw that she was in no mood for 
 
56 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 advice or reproof ; just now either would only 
 add to her sudden and violent jealousy of her 
 cousin : so he determined to pass over her 
 naughtiness for to-night, and hoped that she 
 would be more reasonable in the morning. 
 She herself said not a single word about what 
 had passed, or about her aunt and cousin, — at 
 least not to her papa ; but when Daphne was 
 putting her to bed, both the little one and the 
 old woman found enough to say to one another ; 
 Belle telling her nurse how she had met 
 Mabel that day and how the latter had be 
 haved ; while Daphne encouraged her to say 
 as many unkind things as she would, and 
 made the most of all Mabel's spoiled, trouble- 
 some ways. 
 
 Poor little Belle ! She could hardly say 
 her prayers that night, and went to bed feel- 
 ing more unhappy than she had done for many 
 a long day. 
 
IV. 
 
 SUNLIGHT. 
 
 IHINGS were no better the next morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Mrs. Walton did not come down 
 to breakfast, but Mabel chose to go with her 
 uncle and cousin. She was in a better humor 
 than she had been the night before, and would 
 willingly have made friends with Belle if the 
 latter would have allowed her to do so. She 
 was less unruly and wilful at the table also ; 
 for after the way in which her uncle had com- 
 pelled her to obey last night, she was a little 
 afraid of him, and had an idea that he would 
 not allow her to have her own way in the 
 manner her papa and mamma did. She did 
 
58 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 not like him the less for that though, and when 
 she asked for one or two things which he did 
 not think proper for her, submitted quietly 
 to his refusal, and took what he offered in- 
 stead. As for Belle, she not only would not 
 speak to her cousin beyond the unwilling 
 " good-morning " which she uttered by her 
 father's orders, but she would not appear to 
 be conscious of her presence at all ; never 
 lifting her eyes to her, and if she was forced 
 to turn her face that way, making a pretence 
 of looking over Mabel's head or beyond her. 
 And when they returned to their own parlor, 
 where Mrs. Walton now sat, Belle gathered 
 every toy, book, or other trifle that belonged to 
 her, put them in a closet given for her use, 
 and with some difficulty turned the key and 
 took it out; then planted herself with her 
 back against the door, as if she thought the 
 lock not enough to keep Mabel's hands from 
 her treasures, standing there with a look of 
 the most determined obstinacy and sullen- 
 ness. 
 
Sunlight, 59 
 
 Such behavior was not at all like Belle, and 
 her papa scarcely knew what to make of it. 
 Even in her most wilful days she had never 
 shown herself selfish or sulky ; and knowing 
 that she now felt herself aggrieved and injured 
 by Mabel's presence, and fearing to excite fresh 
 jealousy, he did not know how to deal with 
 her. 
 
 As for the little girl herself, — no matter 
 how much of all this had been caused by old 
 Daphne, — Belle knew well that she was very 
 naughty ; but she determined to persist in that 
 naughtiness so long as Mabel should be there. 
 
 To describe Daphne's high-mightiness, not 
 only with Mabel and the French nurse, but 
 also with Mrs. Walton, would be impossible. 
 She carried her turban so straight, and moved 
 and spoke so stiffly, that she almost awed 
 even her little mistress ; and Mabel was quite 
 afraid of her. Nor would she give any help 
 or information to the French woman, pretend- 
 ing not to understand her English, which, 
 although broken, was plain enough. 
 
60 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 " 'Dere ain't no use yer talkin' to me," she 
 said. " I don't unnerstan' yer, nor I ain't goin* 
 to. I'se alius been fetched up 'mong de Pey« 
 tons, — Miss Belle's mamma she was a Pey- 
 ton, — an' I'se used to fust-rate English ; an' 
 me an' Miss Belle we alius uses it, and neber 
 can unnerstan' no low talk. 'Sides, I'm deaf 
 as a post dis mornin' and can't hear no way." 
 
 Daphne was troubled with a convenient 
 kind of deafness, which always came on when 
 she did not wish to hear a thing. 
 
 So Mr. Powers, knowing that both Belle and 
 Daphne must be brought to their senses and 
 to better behavior, but not seeing exactly the 
 way to do it without making matters worse, 
 betook himself to his good friend Mrs. Brad- 
 ford to ask advice. 
 
 " What am I to do ? " he said when he 
 had finished his story : " if I punish Belle or 
 reprove Daphne, they are in such a state of 
 mind that it will give fresh food for jealousy 
 and bad feeling to both ; and yet I cannot let 
 this go on." 
 
Sunlight, 61 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mrs. Bradford ; " but 
 before we try punishment or reproof, let us 
 see what a little management and kindness 
 will do. Suppose you send Belle, and, if Mrs. 
 Walton will allow it, Mabel with her, to spend 
 the day with my children." 
 
 " My sister will allow any thing the child 
 fancies, I fear," the gentleman answered with 
 a sigh ; " but you do not know what you are 
 undertaking. A more ungovernable and un- 
 governed child than my little niece would be 
 hard to find ; and I fear that neither you nor 
 your children would pass a pleasant day with 
 Belle and Mabel here, especially if Belle con- 
 tinues in her present mood." 
 
 " I do not fear that she will," said Mrs. 
 Bradford. " Maggie and Bessie being of her 
 own age, and having a great sympathy for her, 
 may be able to do more in their simple way 
 to charm the evil spirit than we older people 
 can. As for Mabel, if she will come, she 
 will be under some restraint here, as we are 
 all strangers to her." 
 
62 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 "Ah! you do not know her," said Mr. 
 Powers. " I was a stranger to her until yes- 
 terday, and yet"-— his look and the shrug of 
 his shoulders spoke as strongly as the unfin- 
 ished sentence could have done. 
 
 " Never mind : send her," said the lady. 
 " I will not let her annoy the other children 
 or me too much, and I may do her some 
 good." 
 
 "Yes," said he, gratefully : " I know that 
 you and yours never shrink from doing good 
 to others because the task may not be an 
 agreeable one. But do you mean to keep a 
 house of correction, or, I should say, of good 
 influences, for all incorrigibly spoiled chil- 
 dren ? " 
 
 " Not exactly," said Mrs. Bradford, return- 
 ing his smile ; " and I believe I have our little 
 Belle more than Mabel in my mind just now ; 
 but let them both come, and we will see if we 
 cannot send them back to you this evening in 
 better and happier moods." 
 
 Repeating his thanks, Mr. Powers bade her 
 
Sunlight. 63 
 
 good-by and went home ; where he found that 
 Belle had quitted her stand at the closet-door, 
 Mabel having gone out. For when the latter 
 found that she was not to be allowed to have 
 her cousin's toys, she raised such an uproar as 
 soon as her uncle was out of the way, that her 
 mother promised her every thing and any 
 thing she chose, and had sent her out with the 
 maid to purchase all manner of playthings. 
 
 Belle was glad to hear that she was to go 
 to the Bradfords' ; and even when she learned 
 that Mabel was to accompany her, she still 
 felt a satisfaction in it, because she was sure 
 that the children would sympathize with her, 
 and be as " offended " with Mabel as she was 
 herself. She was wild to go at once, without 
 waiting for her cousin ; and her papa con- 
 sented that she should do so, hoping that Mrs. 
 Bradford and the children would bring her to 
 a better state of feeling before Mabel made 
 her appearance. 
 
 Somewhat to Belle's surprise she found 
 Bessie rather more ready than Maggie to 
 
64 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 resent her supposed injuries. Bessie did not, 
 it is true, encourage her in her naughty feel- 
 ings, or in returning evil for evil ; but she 
 had been so shocked by Mabel's behavior on 
 the day before, that she could not wonder at 
 Belle's dislike. Moreover, Bessie was a little 
 inclined to jealousy herself; and although she 
 struggled hard with this feeling, and showed 
 it but seldom, she was now ready to excuse 
 it, and find just cause for it, in Belle. 
 
 But Maggie was disposed to look at things 
 in a more reasonable light, and to make the 
 best of them. 
 
 " Why, Belle," she said, cheerily, " I should 
 think you'd be glad, 'cause now you can be a 
 sunbeam to your cousin, and try to do her 
 gool." 
 
 " I guess I shan't be a sunbeam to her," 
 said Belle. " I'd be nothing but an ugly, old 
 black cloud, what blows a great deal and has 
 thunder and lightning out of it ; and it's just 
 good enough for her." 
 
 And at that moment, indeed, little Belle 
 
Sunlight, 65 
 
 looked much more like a thunder-cloud than 
 like a sunbeam. 
 
 " I just can't bear her. I b'lieve I just hate 
 her, and I'm going to do it too," she con- 
 tinued. 
 
 " But that is naughty," said Bessie. 
 
 " I don't care : it is truf," said Belle. " I 
 can say the truf, can't I ? " 
 
 " Well, yes," answered Bessie, u when it's 
 the good truth ; but if it's a naughty truth, it's 
 better to keep it in." 
 
 " What did Mabel do to you to make you 
 so mad ? " asked Maggie. 
 
 " Why, she — she " — and Belle hesitated a 
 little, rather ashamed of herself now, as she 
 found how small cause of complaint she really 
 had — "why, she took my things when I 
 didn't say she might. She wanted my carved 
 animals too, what Uncle Ruthven gave me ; 
 but papa didn't let her have them, and I 
 wouldn't either. I put them away, and 
 wouldn't let her look at them, — no, not one 
 tiny little peek." 
 
56 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 " But, Belle, dear, you don't be selfish with 
 your things gen'ally," said Bessie. " Why 
 won't you even let Mabel see them ? " 
 
 " 'Cause she's too spoiled ; " said Belle ; 
 " and I b'lieve she'd just go and break them 
 all up. I don't know she would, but I b'lieve 
 she would." 
 
 " But we oughtn't to b'lieve bad things 
 about people if we don't know 'em," persisted 
 Bessie. 
 
 " 1 shan't let her have my things, anyhow, ' 
 replied Belle ; " and I'm going to try and nave 
 her put out of the country too." 
 
 " How can you ? " said Maggie. " They nave 
 a right to stay here if they want to." 
 
 " I'll coax papa to write a letter to sae 
 President and ask him to turn out Mabei aiid 
 her mamma," said Belle ; " and I'm going to 
 be very excitable and nervous, so he'll do any 
 thing I want him to." 
 
 Maggie had her doubts as to the President's 
 power in such a matter ; but she did not make 
 rhem known, thinking it better to try and 
 
Sunlight. 67 
 
 soothe Belle's angry feelings, like the wise 
 little peacemaker that she was. 
 
 " But I think that we ought to be sorry for 
 your aunt and Mabel, and to have very ex- 
 cusable feelings towards them," she said. 
 " You know they have not had so many ad- 
 vantages as we have, because they have lived 
 abroad for a good many years ; and probably 
 they have been corrupted by the fashionable 
 world of Paris." 
 
 This was an uncommonly fine speech, even 
 for Maggie ; and Bessie and Belle were struck 
 quite dumb by it, and for a moment could 
 do nothing but exchange looks and nods of 
 admiration and wonder; while Maggie, con- 
 scious that she deserved their approval, not 
 only for the sentiment, but also for the 
 manner in which it had been expressed, sat 
 gazing serenely out of the window as she 
 received the honors which were due to 
 her. 
 
 " Yes, I s'pose so," said Bessie, with a long 
 breath, as she recovered a little. 
 
68 Belle Powers* Locket. 
 
 " I s'pose so too," repeated Belle, in a more 
 amiable tone than she had yet used. 
 
 " You see," continued Maggie, thinking it 
 well to strengthen the good impression she 
 had made, and speaking with all the solemn 
 gravity which befitted one who had just uttered 
 such sublime words, — " you see we ought 
 not to be too hard on Mabel, because she is so 
 very saucy and disobedient to her mother that 
 I expect she is one of those to whom the 
 ravens of the valley shall pick out her eye and 
 the young eagles shall eat it. And, children, 
 it is plainly to be seen that it is partly her 
 mother's fault, which is a sad thing, and I fear 
 she will have to bear the consequences. So 
 don't you think we ought to be kind to Mabel 
 and try if we cannot do her some good ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Bessie, putting her arm about 
 Belle's neck ; " and, Belle, maybe when Jesus 
 heard us say we wanted to be sunbeams for 
 Him, He sent this very disagreeable child to 
 be your trial, so He could see if you were 
 quite in earnest about saying it." 
 
Sunlight, 69 
 
 This was quite a new view of the subject ; 
 and somehow, Belle scarcely knew how, she 
 began to feel more kindly towards her aunt 
 and cousin, and even to have a feeling of pity 
 for them. But the imaginary " six dirty beg- 
 gars " had taken such strong hold of her 
 mind that she could scarcely resolve all at 
 once to take in their place this well-dressed, 
 well-cared-for, but very naughty little cousin. 
 Mabel could be good and happy if she chose, 
 and Belle did not see why she should be at 
 any trouble to make her so, since nothing but 
 her own wilful humors stood in the way. Still 
 Maggie's words and those of Bessie had al- 
 ready had some influence upon her, and 
 when she next spoke it was in a still milder 
 tone. 
 
 " Why, Bessie," she said, " do you really 
 think Jesus had Mabel and her mamma come 
 here just so I could be a sunbeam to them and 
 try to do them good ? I don't believe He 
 did." 
 
 " Well, maybe He didn't send them here 
 
7o Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 just for that," answered Bessie ; " but when 
 He did send them, I think He'd like you to 
 make a little sunshine for them." 
 
 " And then," said fanciful Maggie, always 
 ready to catch at what she thought a poetical 
 idea, — " and then, you know, when the sun- 
 shine comes the clouds 'most always go away ; 
 so if we try to be very patient and kind with 
 Mabel, maybe the clouds of her crossness 
 and obstinateness will roll away and be seen 
 no more." 
 
 It was impossible to hold out against such 
 words of wisdom as came from Maggie's 
 lips ; and Belle began to feel that here, after 
 all, might be the very opportunity she had 
 wanted. 
 
 " And then that would make your aunt 
 glad," persuaded Bessie ; " and we are sorry 
 for her." 
 
 " Um — m — m, well, I don't know about 
 that," said Belle : " my aunt said a thing about 
 me, — a very disagreeable thing." 
 
 " What was it ? " 
 
Sunlight. 71 
 
 " She said I wanted some kind of manage- 
 ment. I forgot what kind. I don't know what 
 word she called it, but it meant something 
 horrid I know ; and she oughtn't to say I was 
 spoiled when she spoils her own child." 
 
 "No," said Maggie: "people who live in 
 glass houses oughtn't to throw stones ; but I 
 fear they generally do, for all." 
 
 " What does that mean ? " asked Bessie. 
 
 " It means when we do a thing a good deal 
 ourselves we oughtn't to speak about other 
 people who do it ; but we are apt to." 
 
 " Well, then," said Belle, taking tire maxim 
 to herself, though Maggie had not meant it 
 for her, " I s'pose if I used to be spoiled my. 
 self, I oughtn't to talk so much about my 
 cousin who is." 
 
 " But you was never like that" said Bessie. 
 
 " I used to be pretty spoiled sometimes, 
 and yesterday I was — ugh — I was horrid," 
 answered Belle, a sense of her own past 
 naughtiness coming over her. 
 
 " What did you do ? " asked Bessie. 
 
72 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 " I screamed and hollered — and — and 
 I kicked. I shouldn't be s'prised if my aunt 
 thought I was as naughty as Mabel." 
 
 " She that repents ought to make haste to 
 show her repentance," said Maggie. " That 
 is a new proverb I made up on purpose for 
 you, Belle, 'cause I thought it suited you." 
 
 " Oh ! thank you, Maggie," said Belle : 
 " then I'll do it." 
 
 And so our three little girls resolved that 
 they would at least meet Mabel kindly and 
 politely ; and as far as possible put the re- 
 membrance of her past ill-behavior from their 
 minds. 
 
V. 
 
 A DAY WITH MAGGIE AND BESSIE. 
 
 ABEL herself had some doubts as to 
 the reception she should meet with 
 if she went to Mrs. Bradford's ; and 
 when her mother first proposed it, refused to 
 go. Daphne, who had heard the story from 
 Belle, had not failed to let Mabel know that 
 this lady and her little girls were the friends 
 with whom she had met her cousin yesterday ; 
 and had also drawn a very vivid picture of the 
 disgust and dislike with which such behavior 
 as hers was always regarded in their family. 
 
 So, as I have said, Mabel at first refused to 
 go near them ; but finding it dull in the hotel 
 
74 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 with only the two nurses for company, as her 
 mamma and uncle had gone out, she changed 
 her mind and declared that she would go to 
 Mrs. Bradford's " to see what it is like, and 
 only stay just as long as I'm a mind to." 
 
 " And yer needn't think you'll disappint 
 nobody but yerself if yer come away, little 
 miss," said Daphne, spitefully ; for Mabel's 
 new whim did not please her at all, and she 
 would much rather she should have kept to her 
 first decision, and not have bestowed her com- 
 pany where the old woman thought it little 
 desired. 
 
 However, she did not dare, much as she 
 would have liked to do so, to refuse to show 
 Mabel and her nurse the way to Mrs. Brad- 
 ford's house ; but she revenged herself by 
 leading them by the longest road and least 
 pleasant way. But this, however much it 
 pleased Daphne, did no hurt to Mabel, since 
 she enjoyed the walk and had no idea of 
 Daphne's object. 
 
 " I'se brought you a Tartar," was the old 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie. 75 
 
 colored woman's whispered introduction to 
 Mrs. Bradford's nurse when they entered the 
 nursery ; and mammy, too, looked askance at 
 the stranger, who immediately perceived that 
 she was not too welcome. 
 
 But before she had time to turn about 
 again and say that she would not stay, Mag- 
 gie came running from the play-room ; and 
 putting all shyness and prejudice out of mind, 
 she went up to Mabel, took her by the hand, 
 and said kindly, — 
 
 " We have to feel a little acquainted with 
 you before we know you, because you are 
 Belle's cousin ; and she is our inseparable. 
 Come into the play-room. You came so late 
 it is 'most time for our dinner, but we will 
 have a good play afterwards." 
 
 Such a long, friendly speech to any stran- 
 ger, even one of her own age, was a great 
 effort for Maggie ; but for Belle's sake she 
 wanted to make Mabel comfortable, and put 
 her on her good behavior at once. And she 
 succeeded ; for the pout passed from Mabel's 
 
76 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 lip and the frown from her brow, as she 
 said, — 
 
 " Yes, we will ; and see what a big box of 
 sugar-plums I have brought. We'll eat them 
 all up." 
 
 " If mamma gives us leave ; but I am quite 
 sure she will not," said Maggie to herself, and 
 then said aloud, — 
 
 " We might play with them, and you shall 
 be the store- woman if you like." 
 
 " Yes, so we will," said Mabel. " Didn't 
 Belle try to make you mad at me ? She's as 
 mad as any thing at me herself, and won't 
 speak to me, when I never did a thing to 
 her." 
 
 " Oh ! she's all over that now," said Mag- 
 gie, wisely noticing only the last part of 
 Mabel's speech. " She and Bessie are putting 
 on the dolls' best suits for you. Come and 
 see them." 
 
 And half-ashamed, half-defiant, Mabel fol- 
 lowed her little hostess into the play-room to 
 greet Bessie and Belle. 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie, *]*] 
 
 If Mabel was a little shame-faced, Belle was 
 still more so ; for she was not accustomed to 
 behave in the way she had done that morning, 
 and her conscience was more tender than Ma- 
 bel's. But now that she had resolved to do 
 better she would not let shame stand in her 
 way; and going right up to Mabel, she said, — 
 
 " Let's kiss and make up, Mabel. I'm 
 sorry I was so cross this morning." 
 
 " And will you let me have your play- 
 things ? " asked Mabel, as she accepted 
 Belle's offered kiss. 
 
 " To look at and play with, but not to 
 keep," answered Belle. " I'll even let you 
 have my carved animals — if you will be care- 
 ful," she added, determined not to stop half 
 way in her effort to make peace. 
 
 And now came mamma, rather expecting to 
 find the little ones awkward and uncomfort- 
 able together after all that had passed; but 
 lo ! all was peace and sunshine. Her Bessie, 
 it is true, watched the young stranger with 
 serious eyes, and had on her disapproving 
 
78 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 look ; for Bessie had been more shocked than 
 it would be easy to tell by Mabel's misbe- 
 havior of the day before, and found it hard 
 work to forget it. If Mabel had been some 
 poor, ragged, neglected child, with no one to 
 care for her, and many a temptation in her 
 way, Bessie would have been the first one to 
 make excuses for her, and to say that nothing 
 better could be expected from her ; but that 
 any little girl who had loving friends and all 
 manner of comforts and pleasures about her 
 should be so perverse and troublesome, seemed 
 to her out of all reason and hardly to be for- 
 given. 
 
 Still, though she wore her demure little 
 manner, she was very polite to Mabel, and as 
 ready as Maggie to show all her dolls and 
 other treasures. Mabel too, being pleased and 
 amused, was on her good behavior ; and all 
 was going smoothly. 
 
 Before long the children were called to their 
 dinner. Mabel looked disdainfully at the nice 
 but simple food which was set before them, 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie, 79 
 
 and refused this, that, and the other thing, 
 saying she did " not like them." 
 
 " But you will be hungry before you go 
 home if you do not eat now, my dear," said 
 Mrs. Bradford. 
 
 " I'm waiting for something better," said 
 Mabel ; at which piece of rudeness all the 
 other children, including even little Frankie, 
 opened their eyes in wonder. 
 
 " You will have nothing else except some 
 plain dessert," said Mrs. Bradford. 
 
 Mabel pouted, pushed her plate from her, 
 and kicked with her feet upon the legs of her 
 chair ; but the lady took no notice, although 
 the three little girls could not help exchang- 
 ing looks and biting their lips, to express to 
 one another their disapproval of such con- 
 duct. 
 
 But to Frankie, who was blessed with an 
 uncommonly fine appetite, this refusal to par- 
 take of a good meal seemed a most extraor- 
 dinary and unheard-of thing ; so«, after staring 
 at her with a pitying look for some moments, 
 
80 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 and vainly offering her every dainty within his 
 reach, even to " de nice brown stin off my 
 sweet potato," he seemed convinced that she 
 was only naughty, and set about correcting her. 
 
 " Did oo ever see Willum what is in ' Slov 
 enly Peter ' boot ? "' he asked. 
 
 The only answer he received was a pettish 
 shrug of Mabel's shoulders and a fresh kick 
 upon the chair. 
 
 " 'Tause he was lite oo, and wouldn't eat 
 his soup," said Master Frankie, with an air 
 of stern reproof; " an' oo will be lite him, an' 
 * when de fif day tame, alas ! dey laid oo in 
 de dround.' " 
 
 "Which proved too much for the gravity of 
 his little sisters and Belle, who thought this 
 extremely funny; and, in spite of Mabel's 
 scowl, went off into peals of merry laughter. 
 
 Mabel hoped and expected that Mrs. Brad- 
 ford, seeing she would not eat what was set 
 before her, would send for some more dainty 
 and richer food ; but she soon found this was 
 not to be, and that the lady did not even ap- 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie, 8 1 
 
 pear to trouble herself because she would not 
 eat. This was something quite new to Mabel, 
 who was surprised as well as displeased at 
 Mrs. Bradford's unconcern. 
 
 When the dessert was put upon the table, 
 there was a plain rice pudding and a small 
 dish of bright clear jelly. 
 
 " I'll take jelly," said Mabel, not waiting 
 till she was asked, as a polite child would have 
 done. 
 
 Mrs. Bradford quietly helped each child to 
 a portion of the pudding and some jelly, leav- 
 ing but little of the latter in the dish. 
 
 Mabel eat up her jelly as fast as possible, 
 keeping her eye all the while on what re- 
 mained in the dish ; and as soon as she had 
 finished her own, thrust out her plate, say- 
 ing,— 
 
 " More, please." 
 
 Mrs. Bradford gave it to her without a word ; 
 but Frankie, encouraged by the applause with 
 which his first reproof had been received, 
 thought himself called upon for another. 
 
82 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 Frankie pinned his faith on " Slovenly 
 Peter ; " knew it all by heart, quoted from it 
 on all occasions, and drew from it lessons and 
 examples suitable to himself and others. 
 
 " Dere's anoder boy named Jatob in ' Slov- 
 enly Peter/" he said severely: "he was so 
 dweedy dat he brote hisself in two. I s'pose 
 you'll be lite him," he added, not at all dis- 
 turbed by the want of similarity between the 
 two unhappy fates he had predicted for Mabel. 
 
 And Mabel felt somewhat abashed when she 
 saw how her greediness had struck this little 
 boy, who she could not but see behaved far 
 better than herself. 
 
 " Mamma," said Bessie, " would you rather 
 I should not eat the raisins in my pudding ? " 
 
 14 Well, yes, darling, I think you had better 
 not as you were not very well this morn- 
 ing," said her mother. 
 
 Again Mabel was surprised. She knew 
 very well that she would have rebelled against 
 such an order, and had her own way too ; but 
 here was this little girl not only submitting 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie. 83 
 
 quietly and cheerfully to what Mabel looked 
 upon as a hardship, but actually asking if it 
 was her mother's wish. It was something 
 quite new to Mabel. 
 
 Had Bessie talked to her for an hour about 
 her greedy, wilful ways, it would not have 
 done one half the good that the example of her 
 own simple regard to her mother's wishes did. 
 And Mabel looked at Bessie, then down upon 
 her plate, then raised her eyes to Bessie's 
 again, with some admiration mingled with the 
 wonder in them ; and little Belle, who was 
 watching her cousin, said to herself, — 
 
 " Now, I just b'lieve Bessie is a sunbeam, 
 showing Mabel the right, best way to mind her 
 mother ; but Bessie don't know she did it." 
 
 Quite right, little Belle ! And it was not 
 the first ray of light which had fallen that day 
 upon Mabel's wilful and selfish but not har- 
 dened young spirit. Already was she be- 
 ginning to wonder what these children, so 
 obedient and docile, must think of her, and 
 to feel ashamed of her conduct before them. 
 
84 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 For some time past a favorite practice of 
 the three little girls, — Maggie, Bessie, and 
 Belle, — had been to draw what they called 
 " proverb-pictures." 
 
 This was an invention of Maggie's, and was 
 considered by the children an unfailing source 
 not only of amusement, but also of profit. 
 For all manner of useful hints and gentle moral 
 lessons were supposed to be conveyed in these 
 pictures ; and if one noticed any thing in the 
 conduct or speech of another which did not 
 seem exactly proper, she would make a prov- 
 erb-picture, and kindly present it to the short- 
 comer. 
 
 At first a proverb had always been taken 
 as a foundation for these pictures, and Maggie 
 manufactured a good many for the purpose : 
 hence their name ; but after a while they were 
 sometimes drawn without reference to any 
 particular maxim or saying, and suited only 
 to the need of the moment. 
 
 And I am bound to say that they answered 
 their intended purpose : such hints, if needed, 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie. 85 
 
 were always taken in good part and seldom 
 neglected ; indeed, it was considered rather 
 a treat to receive one, especially from Maggie, 
 and each little girl treasured those which were 
 given to her with great care, and frequently- 
 studied them over. 
 
 Nor were they considered only as a means 
 of mild reproof or gentle persuasion to do 
 right; but many a little incident and scene 
 of their daily lives were represented, and all 
 these formed to their thinking a very interest- 
 ing collection. 
 
 It is true that the pictures generally needed 
 considerable explanation, not only to other 
 friends who might be treated to a sight of 
 them, but also to one another ; but this was 
 really a part of the pleasure, and afforded 
 great satisfaction to the young artists. That 
 is, to Belle and Bessie ; Maggie was rather 
 shy about doing this, and preferred to label 
 her pictures, or to write a short explanation 
 beneath. 
 
 There could be no doubt that of the three 
 
86 Belle Powers* Locket. 
 
 Belle made the best pictures, indeed they 
 were not bad for a child of her age ; and 
 Maggie and Bessie took much pride in what 
 they considered her great talent, and encour- 
 aged her to make the most of it, and put it in 
 constant practice. 
 
 So now Maggie bethought herself that it 
 would be well for Belle to try to do her cousin 
 some good by means of these " pro verb- pic- 
 tures." She did not feel intimate enough 
 with her as yet to try to do so herself, but 
 she thought that Belle being such a near re- 
 lation might very well do it without giving 
 offence. 
 
 When they left the table she drew Belle 
 aside and whispered to her : — 
 
 " Belle, wouldn't it be a good plan to try 
 Mabel with some proverb-pictures, and see if 
 they will improve her ? You know it's a much 
 agreeabler way of having a good lesson than 
 being scolded or having people mad with you." 
 
 " Yes," said Belle : " let's do it now." 
 
 " No," said Maggie, " 'cause it would be 
 
A Day with Maggie and Bessie, 87 
 
 stupid for her while we made the pictures; 
 besides, I don't think Bessie and I know her 
 well enough yet, but you might do it when 
 you go home. I composed two proverbs that 
 may do her some good, if you like to take 
 them." 
 
 " Yes," said Belle : " tell me 'em, Maggie." 
 
 " One is, * The greedy pig don't get much, 
 after all,' " said Maggie. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Belle, seeing the beauty 
 of the application at once, and much struck 
 with its force. 
 
 " And the other," said Maggie, " is, ' All 
 6hun a disagreeable child.' " 
 
 " What is shun ? " asked Belle. 
 
 " To run away," answered Maggie. 
 
 "Yes," said Belle, thoughtfully: "those 
 will make very nice pictures, Maggie. I'll 
 take 'em. Say 'em again, 'fear I forget;" 
 and she repeated the new " proverbs " over 
 several times after Maggie, and for the re- 
 mainder of the afternoon her mind was much 
 occupied with plans for making fine drawings 
 of them for her cousin's benefit. 
 
VI. 
 
 PR VERB-PICTURES. 
 
 OR the rest of the day Mabel behaved 
 better, on the whole, than the other 
 children had expected. It is true 
 that she was well amused, and also that being 
 a stranger and company, the other little girls 
 gave way to her, and let her do pretty much 
 as she pleased. She showed herself rather 
 selfish, however, taking all their kindness as 
 a matter of course, and always seizing upon 
 the best and prettiest things for her own use. 
 
 But when it was time to go home, and the 
 nurses came for Belle and Mabel, there was 
 much such a scene as had taken place on the 
 day when Mabel had first been met by the 
 
Proverb- Pictures. 89 
 
 other children. She positively refused to go 
 home ; and when Mrs. Bradford insisted that 
 she should obey, was led shrieking and scream- 
 ing from the house, fighting with her long- 
 suffering nurse in a manner which made poor 
 Belle feel " too 'shamed for any thing to go 
 in the street with such disrespectable behavior," 
 and caused Daphne to declare that she and 
 Miss Belle had " never been so degraced in 
 all our born days." 
 
 This determined Belle to carry out her plan 
 of the " proverb-pictures " as soon as possible ; 
 and when her hat was taken off, she immedi- 
 ately begged her papa for a sheet of fool's-cap . 
 paper and a pencil, and fell to work. 
 
 When Mabel saw what she was about, she 
 wanted to draw also ; and her uncle furnished 
 her with paper and pencil. 
 
 " What are you making ? " asked Mabel. 
 
 " I'll tell you by and by, when it's all done," 
 said Belle, severely. " It's not ready for you 
 to understand just yet; but it's going to be 
 a very good lesson for you " 
 
90 Belle Powers* Locket. 
 
 However, she suffered Mabel to look over 
 her paper, and even to copy the figures which 
 grew beneath her busy fingers ; Mabel little 
 thinking all the while that she herself was 
 the subject of the pictures. Meantime Mr. 
 Powers and Mrs. Walton, pleased to see the 
 children so quiet, and apparently agreeing so 
 well, talked quietly together. 
 
 But this proved too good to last. 
 
 "Now they're all done, and I'll tell you 
 about them ; and we'll see if they'll improve 
 you," said Belle, when she had completed 
 two pictures. " Do you see these animals ? " 
 and she pointed with her pencil to a curious 
 collection of four-legged objects, with every 
 possible variety of tail among them. 
 
 " Yes," said Mabel : " what are they ? 
 Bugs ? " 
 
 " No," answered Belle, indignantly : " they 
 are pigs. This is a * proverb-picture. Prov 
 erbs are meant to do people good, or give 
 them a lesson ; but Maggie and Bessie and I 
 think pictures make 'em plainer. This is a 
 
Proverb-Pictures, 91 
 
 proverb that Maggie made up. Here is a man 
 pouring milk into a trough what the pigs eat 
 out of, and this pig," — directing Mabel's 
 attention to a creature without any legs, those 
 four members which were supposed to belong 
 to him lying scattered in all directions over 
 the picture, while long streaks intended to 
 represent floods of tears poured from his eyes, 
 — " and this pig was so greedy that he ran 
 as fast as he could to the end of the trough 
 where he fought the man was going to pour 
 the milk. But the man fought he'd serve 
 him right, and so he went to the ofer end and 
 poured the milk in there : and when the pig 
 tried to run there, his legs were so tired they 
 all fell off; so he couldn't get any milk, 
 and he cried so much he most drowned him- 
 self. And the proverb of the picture is, ' The 
 greedy pig don't get much, after all.' When 
 pigs or other people are greedy, their legs 
 gen'ally come off, or other accidents ; and if 
 they don't, people think they're very horrid, 
 any way. Do you know who the greedy pig 
 is meant for ? " 
 
92 Belle Powers 9 Locket. 
 
 Mabel had a pretty clear idea, and was not 
 pleased, which was not at all strange; but 
 her curiosity was excited respecting the other 
 picture, and she determined to satisfy it be- 
 fore she made any disturbance. 
 
 " What is this picture ? " she asked, pout- 
 ing, but taking no farther notice of Belle's 
 question. 
 
 In the second sketch a number of square 
 and triangular bodies, with little, round heads, 
 and long, sprawling legs and arms, were 
 grouped together in the wildest confusion at 
 the two ends of the picture, which extended 
 the whole length of the sheet. In the middle 
 was an object supposed to represent a car- 
 riage, the like whereof was never contrived 
 by any coach-maker upon the face of the 
 earth ; while a horse, in the same condition as 
 the pig before mentioned, — namely, with all 
 his legs broken off, — lay upon the ground; his 
 mate, looking much like a chair turned upside 
 down, standing by, disconsolate. But the 
 chief interest of the picture was intended to 
 
Proverb-Pictures. 93 
 
 lie in the central figure, in which a small child, 
 with very short skirts and very long limbs, 
 was represented as dancing wildly about, with 
 not rivers, — as in the case of the pig, — but 
 cataracts of tears spouting from her eyes. 
 Two circles, one within the other, stood for 
 her head ; the inner one, nearly as large as 
 the outer, being her mouth, stretched to its 
 utmost extent. And lest there should be any 
 mistake as to the likeness, below this figure 
 was printed in large, crooked letters, — 
 
 MA B UR L. 
 
 " That," said Belle, more sternly than be- 
 fore, " is a picture about another proverb that 
 Maggie made up on purpose to be of use to 
 you. The name of it is, ' All scamper away 
 as fast as they can go from a spoiled child ; ' 
 at least, that was what she meant. Here is 
 the spoiled child, squealing and hollering; 
 there is a poor horse that broke his leg ; and 
 here are all the people in the street running 
 away from her. These four are policemen, 
 
94 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 and they were going to take her up ; but even 
 the policemen would not stand her, and ran 
 away too. Even her mother 'came degusted 
 at her at last, and left her ; so she had not a 
 single person left. And she had no one to 
 give her something to eat, and no one to put 
 her to bed ; so she had to sleep in the gutter, 
 and be starved, and in the morning she was 
 dead, and all dirty out of the gutter." 
 
 " She wasn't either,'" said Mabel. 
 
 " She was too," contradicted Belle. 
 
 Mabel made a snatch at the picture, which 
 Belle as quickly drew from her, so that be- 
 tween them it was torn in two ; and Mabel at 
 the same moment set up the shriek she al- 
 ways gave when she was displeased. 
 
 Mr. Powers and Mrs. Walton, their con- 
 versation thus suddenly brought to an end, 
 turned hastily to see what was the matter. 
 
 It was a sorry sight that met their eyes. 
 Belle stood looking at her cousin with a face 
 which, to do her justice, was only intended 
 as the expression of outraged and offended 
 
Proverb- Pictures. 95 
 
 virtue ; while Mabel, shrieking with passion, 
 was frantically tearing to bits the half of the 
 sheet she had secured. 
 
 " What is it, children ? What are you quar- 
 relling about now ? " asked both the parents 
 at once. 
 
 Mabel did not, perhaps could not, answer ; 
 but Belle spoke up boldly. 
 
 " I'm not quarrelling, papa," she said. "I 
 was just trying to give Mabel a lesson of what 
 might happen to her if she didn't behave 
 herself, and she was mad about it; and she 
 tore my picture, — my nice, pretty proverb-pic- 
 ture that I would have given her if she had 
 been good and improved herself by it. I know 
 Maggie and Bessie would think it very inter- 
 esting if they saw it, and now I can't show it 
 to them ; " and Belle held up the torn sheet 
 with a very aggrieved air. " It was only good 
 intentions, papa ; and she went and wouldn't 
 have 'em," she added, feeling herself almost 
 equal to Maggie Bradford as she made this 
 grand speech. 
 
96 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 Even Mrs. Walton could not help smiling 
 in the midst of her efforts to quiet the scream- 
 ing Mabel and lead her from the room. 
 
 When they were gone, Mr. Powers took his 
 little daughter on his knee ; but Belle was not 
 satisfied to see that he looked very grave. 
 For a moment or two neither spoke, Belle 
 not knowing exactly what to say, although she 
 did wish to excuse herself; while her father 
 seemed to be thinking. 
 
 At last he said, — 
 
 " My little girl, how long is this to go on ?" 
 
 " What, papa ? " asked Belle, though she 
 had a pretty clear idea what he meant. 
 
 " This constant quarrelling between you and 
 your cousin. Your aunt and I are very glad 
 to see one another again ; but all our comfort 
 is destroyed because you and Mabel disagree 
 all the time." 
 
 Belle looked rather hurt. 
 
 " I'm sure, papa," she said, " I have tried 
 to be good to-day, ever since I went to Mag- 
 gie's and Bessie's ; and she was a little good 
 
Proverb- Pictures, 97 
 
 too, but greedy and selfish. And then she 
 was in such a passion when we had to come 
 home, I fought I'd better try to correct her. 
 And I'm sure I fought proverb-pictures was a 
 good way to do it, but they just made her 
 mad. I s'pose I might have known it," she 
 added, with a sigh : " she is so very bad and 
 spoiled that things that do other children 
 good only make her worse. See, papa, if this 
 wasn't a nice lesson for her ; " and spreading 
 out the half of the sheet which she held, 
 Belle explained to her papa the portion of her 
 picture which still remained. 
 
 Certainly, Mr. Powers did not find the like- 
 ness to Mabel very nattering, or think it calcu- 
 lated to put her in a good humor with herself 
 or the little artist. Nevertheless, he smiled a 
 little, which encouraged Belle, and she went 
 on: — 
 
 "I know that child must come to a bad 
 
 end," she said ; " and I shall never try again 
 
 to be friends with her, or to do her good, — 
 
 no, never, never ! " 
 
 7 
 
98 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 " Where is the little girl that wanted to be a 
 sunbeam and shine for Jesus, and show others 
 the way to Him ? " asked her father. 
 
 Belle hung her head. 
 
 " But, papa," she said presently, " you see 
 it's no use with her. I b'lieve she's the wick- 
 edest girl that ever lived, and I don't believe 
 there's any thing bad she wouldn't do if she 
 had a chance. She took Baby Annie's chair 
 to-day ; and when baby didn't know any 
 better, and cried for it, Mabel wouldn't give it 
 to her. I think I'll just make up my mind to 
 leave her be all the rest of her life, and make 
 b'lieve she isn't my cousin. I wish she stayed 
 to Boston or else to Europe." 
 
 " For He maketh His sun to rise on the 
 evil and on the good," said Mr. Powers, 
 softly. 
 
 Belle gave another long, despairing sigh, 
 and laid her head back against her father's 
 shoulder; but she made no more attempt to 
 excuse herself or to blame her cousin. 
 
 " I will not say that you had not some 
 
Proverb-Pictures, 99 
 
 thought of doing good to Mabel," said Mr. 
 Powers ; " but you began wrong, Belle. I 
 think you did not have very kind feelings in 
 your heart, and that you looked only at what 
 was naughty and perverse in her ; and so your 
 picture was not pleasant, and only made her 
 angry. You and Maggie and Bessie under- 
 stand and love one another, and so you take 
 it pleasantly and patiently when one among 
 you tries this way of helping another in what 
 is right. But I hardly think that any one of 
 you three, good friends as you are, would have 
 been very much pleased to have had such a 
 picture made of you." 
 
 Belle sat thoughtful a moment, and then 
 answered, — 
 
 " Well, no, papa, I don't b'lieve I would 
 have liked it, if Maggie or Bessie had made 
 a proverb-picture about me slapping Daphne, 
 or being in a passion, or doing any of those 
 very naughty things I used to do so much. 
 But, papa, don't you think my patience about 
 Mabel must be 'most used up ? " 
 
ioo Belle Powers^ Locket, 
 
 " See here," said Mr. Powers, drawing to- 
 ward him a large Bible which lay near, and 
 turning over the leaves till he found the words 
 he wanted, — " see here, dear, listen to these 
 words : i Charity suffereth long and is kind, 
 is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, bear- 
 eth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
 things.' I am afraid my little Belle has not 
 that kind of charity towards her cousin." 
 
 " Charity, papa ? " said Belle : " charity 
 means giving money and things to beggars 
 and poor people, doesn't it ? " 
 
 " Charity here means love," said Mr. 
 Powers, — " love to God and to man, that love 
 which makes us want to work for Jesus by 
 being gentle and patient with the faults of 
 others ; which will not let us be made angry 
 by little things ; which is not ready to think 
 harm of our friends and playmates ; love which 
 believes and hopes that even those who are 
 very wrong and naughty may be made better, 
 and which teaches us to take the pleasantest 
 way of doing this, not showing others their 
 
Proverb-Pictures* ioi 
 
 faults in a manner to pain or anger them, but 
 trying to show them the better way by an 
 example of kindness and gentleness." 
 
 "Urn — m — m, no, papa," said Belle, 
 thoughtfully, when her father ceased speak- 
 ing : " I don't think I have much of that kind 
 of love-charity to Mabel, — no, I don't b'lieve 
 I have." 
 
 " I fear not," said her papa ; " but will you 
 not try for it, my darling ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered ; " but you couldn't 
 s'pect it would come very quick, papa. You 
 see I don't know Mabel very well yet, and I 
 guess I don't care 'bout knowing her any 
 more than I do now. She's so very, very 
 spoiled, and I b'lieve she'll never be any 
 better." 
 
 " ' Charity believe th all things, hopeth all 
 things,' " said Mr. Powers. 
 
 " Is that in the Bible Proverbs ? " asked 
 Belle. 
 
 " No, it is not in Proverbs ; but I can give 
 you a verse from Proverbs which may help 
 
102 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 you : e A soft answer turneth away wrath.' 
 Wrath means anger." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Belle : " I found that out ; 
 because to-day, when Mabel spoke very angry 
 and cross, Bessie answered her very pleasant 
 and nice ; and Mabel looked at her just as if 
 she didn't know what to make of her; and 
 then she spoke nicely too, and quite behaved 
 herself. I s'pose Bessie has love-charity for 
 Mabel. Tell me those words again, papa. I'll 
 learn a little bit of 'em every day till I know 
 'em all, and try to do 'em too." 
 
 Her father did as she asked ; and then, for 
 it was growing late, sent her away to bed, sat- 
 isfied that his lesson was taking root, and that 
 Belle was sorry — though she did not say so 
 — that she had offended Mabel by her " prov- 
 erb-picture." 
 
 He would have been still more sure of this, 
 and well pleased too, had he heard his little 
 girl when Daphne was undressing her, and as 
 usual began to talk of Mabel in a very uncom- 
 plimentary way. 
 
Proverb-Pictures. 103 
 
 " Daffy," said Belle, " I guess we'll have 
 some charity for Mabel, not beggar-charity, 
 but love-charity, that ' b'lieveth all things, 
 hopeth all things,' and makes up its mind 
 maybe she will learn better, and be good, 
 after all." 
 
VII. 
 
 MABELS NEW WHIM. 
 
 ■LEASE give me my puf-folio, 
 Daphne," were Belle's first words 
 in the morning before she was up. 
 " Puf-folio " stood for port-folio in Belle's 
 English ; and the one in question was greatly 
 prized by her, as were aiso the contents. It 
 had been given to her by Harry Bradford, who 
 had also presented one to each of his little 
 sisters ; and was formed of large sheets of 
 pasteboard, bound and tied together with 
 bright-colored ribbons ; Belle's with red, 
 Bessie's with blue, and Maggie's with purple. 
 To be sure, the binding and sewing had all 
 been done by Aunt Annie ; but the materials 
 
MabeVs New Whim. 105 
 
 had been furnished from Harry's pocket- 
 money, and the portfolios were regarded as 
 the most princely gifts, and treasured with 
 great care. 
 
 Within were " proverb-pictures " of every 
 variety and in great number, also many a 
 scrap of paper, and — treasure beyond price! 
 — whole sheets of fool's-cap for future use. 
 
 One of these last Belle drew forth, and sit- 
 ting up in her bed began to compose anothei 
 picture. She was busy with it till Daphne 
 took her up ; and even while the old woman 
 was dressing her she kept making little 
 rushes at it, putting in a touch here and there 
 till she had it finished to her satisfaction. 
 
 Mabel did not come to breakfast with her 
 uncle and cousin that morning, but chose to 
 take it with her mamma in her own room. 
 
 So little Belle, when the meal was over, 
 asked her papa if she might go to her cousin. 
 
 " No, dear, I think not," said her father. 
 " You and Mabel are better apart." 
 
 " Oh, no, papa ! " said Belle ; " for I am 
 
io6 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 going to have love-charity for Mabel, and ask 
 her to have some for me, 'cause maybe I 
 need a little too. I want to make up with 
 her ; and here's a new picture for her that I 
 b'lieve she will like better than that old, 
 naughty one I oughtn't to have made last 
 night. Can't I go and be friends ? " 
 
 Her father examined the picture, to make 
 sure that it could give no cause for new 
 offence ; and, satisfied with her explanation, 
 allowed her to go with it to Mrs. Walton's 
 room. 
 
 Belle knocked, and being told to come in, 
 obeyed. Her aunt was on the couch, Mabel 
 beside her playing with a doll, and the scowl 
 and pout with which the latter greeted her 
 cousin were not very encouraging. 
 
 But Belle, feeling that she had been wrong 
 herself, was determined to persevere in " mak- 
 ing up " with Mabel ; and she said, though 
 rather timidly, — 
 
 "I made you another proverb -picture, 
 Mabel, and" — 
 
MabeVs New Whim, 107 
 
 " No, no," said Mrs. Walton before she 
 had time to finish her speech : " we have had 
 trouble enough with your ' proverb-pictures/ 
 Belle : you and Mabel cannot agree, it seems ; 
 and you had better each keep to your own 
 rooms." 
 
 Belle was very much hurt, although she 
 felt this was partly her own fault; and she 
 turned to go with the tears in her eyes. 
 
 When Mrs. Walton saw she was grieved, 
 she was sorry for what she had said ; and she 
 called to the child, — 
 
 " Come here then, Belle : I want to speak 
 to you." 
 
 Belle hesitated a moment, holding the door- 
 knob, and twisting it back and forth ; but at 
 last she ran over to Mrs. Walton's side, and 
 put her hand in that which was held out to 
 her. 
 
 "I'm sorry I teased Mabel, Aunt Fanny," 
 she said ; " and I didn't make this picture 
 for a lesson to her, but for a lesson to myself, 
 and to let her see I did want to make up. It's 
 
108 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 'most all about me doing things I ought to 
 Mabel ; and I'm going to try to have love- 
 charity, and do 'em." 
 
 " Let's see," said Mabel, slipping off the 
 couch and coming to her cousin's side, curi- 
 osity getting the better of her resentment. 
 
 Belle spread out her picture, and explained 
 all its beauties to Mabel. 
 
 " That's me, with ugly, naughty lips like I 
 had yesterday, making you," she said ; " and 
 I oughtn't to do it when I am often very 
 spoiled myself." 
 
 " No," said Mabel, gazing with rapt interest 
 upon the drawing, and already considerably 
 mollified by finding that Belle put her own 
 failings also in her " proverb-pictures." 
 
 " But I don't mean to do it any more, Mabel ; 
 but just to try to make you be good and love 
 me by living good my own self. And now 
 there's you and me : me letting you have my 
 carved animals, and not being mad even if you 
 broke one a little bit ; but you wouldn't if 
 you could help it, would you ? " 
 
Mabel's New Whim. 109 
 
 " No, indeed, I wouldn't," said Mabel, very 
 graciously : 'let's be friends again, Belle." 
 
 So the quarrel was once again made up, 
 and this time with more good will on both 
 sides. 
 
 " You are a dear child," said Mrs. Walton, 
 and she looked thoughtfully and lovingly at 
 the warm-hearted little girl, who, when she 
 knew she had been wrong, was ready to 
 acknowledge it, and to try to make amends ; 
 " and Mabel and I should have been more pa- 
 tient with you in the beginning. Poor child ! 
 It was a sad thing for you to lose your mother 
 so early." 
 
 "Oh! I didn't lose her," said Belle, 
 looking up in her aunt's face with eyes of 
 innocent surprise. 
 
 " How, dear ! What do you mean ? " asked 
 Mrs. Walton, wondering in her turn. "Your 
 mamma has gone away from you." 
 
 " Yes, but she went to Jesus," answered the 
 child, simply. " You don't lose something 
 when you know it is in a very safe, happy 
 
no Belle Powers* Locket, 
 
 place with some one very dear and good to 
 take care of it, even if you can't see it any 
 more : do you, Aunt Fanny ? " 
 
 " No, I suppose not," said Mrs. Walton. 
 
 "Well, you know mamma has gone to 
 heaven to stay with Jesus, and He's taking 
 care of her ; and by and by papa and I will 
 go there too, and then we'll see her again ; so 
 we didn't lose her, you know. But then I 
 have to be very good and try to please Jesus, 
 and mind what He says ; and so I know He 
 wants me to have love-charity for Mabel, and 
 try to not care very much if she does things 
 I don't like. And mamma will be glad too. 
 Oh, no, Aunt Fanny! I didn't lose my dear 
 mamma : I know where she is, all safe." 
 
 Mrs. Walton drew her to her and kissed 
 her ; while Mabel, wondering at the new soft- 
 ness and sweetness in Belle's face and voice, 
 had forgotten the picture and stood looking at 
 her. 
 
 " All safe ! " 
 
 Five little graves lay side by side in an 
 
MaheVs New Whim, in 
 
 English churchyard far away ; and of those 
 who rested beneath, the mother had always 
 spoken as her "lost darlings." She never 
 called them so again ; for were they not " all 
 safe " ? Others had told her the same, others 
 had tried to bring comfort to her grieving and 
 rebellious heart ; but from none had it come 
 with such simple, unquestioning faith as from 
 the innocent lips of the unconscious little one 
 before her. Her own loved ones, as well as 
 Belle's dear mother, were not lost, but 
 " all safe." 
 
 She kissed the child again, this time with 
 tears in her eyes. 
 
 " You see," continued Belle, encouraged to 
 fresh confidence by the new kindness of her 
 aunt's manner, — " you see, Aunt Fanny, that 
 makes another reason for me to try to be 
 good. I have a good many reasons to please 
 Jesus ; 'cause dear mamma in heaven would 
 want me to be good, and I would like to do 
 what she wants me to, even more when she 
 is away than if she was here ; and 'cause I 
 
H2 Belle Pozverf Locket. 
 
 have to be papa's little comfort. That's 
 what he always says I am, and he says I am 
 his sunbeam too." 
 
 " I think I must call you that too, darling. 
 You have brought a little ray of sunshine here 
 this morning." 
 
 " Maggie says when we're good it's always 
 like sunshine, but when we're naughty it's 
 like ugly, dark clouds," said Belle. " I'm 
 sorry I was a cloud yes'day, and that other 
 day, Aunt Fanny. But I b'lieve it's time for 
 me to go to school now." 
 
 " Bo you like school ? " asked Mrs. Wal- 
 ton. 
 
 " Oh, I guess I do ! " said Belle. " Why, you 
 don't know what nice times we have ! and 
 Miss Ashton is so kind." 
 
 " I want to go to school too," said Mabel. 
 
 " Not this morning, dear," said her mother. 
 
 " Yes, I shall,— I shall too, now! If Belle 
 goes, I will. I shan't stay here with nobody 
 to play with me." 
 
 Mrs. Walton coaxed and promised, but all 
 
Mabel's New Whim, 113 
 
 to no purpose. Mabel was determined to 
 see for herself the " nice times " which Belle 
 described: school suddenly put on great 
 attractions for her, and nothing would do 
 but that she must go at once. So, taking her 
 by the hand, Mrs. Walton followed Belle to 
 Mr. Powers' parlor, and asked him what he 
 thought of Mabel's new whim. 
 
 Now, to tell the truth, Mr. Powers had 
 believed that the best possible thing for Mabel 
 would be to go to school, and be under the firm 
 but gentle rule of Miss Ashton ; but he had 
 not yet proposed it to her mother, knowing 
 that the mere mention of it from another 
 person would be quite enough to make the 
 froward child declare she would never go. 
 Therefore he thought well of Mabel's wish, 
 although he was not prepared to take Miss 
 Ashton by surprise on this very morning. 
 
 But he knew there was one vacancy in her 
 
 little school, and that she would probably 
 
 consent to let Mabel fill it ; and he thought 
 
 it was best to take advantage of the little girl's 
 8 
 
1 14 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 sudden fancy, or, as Maggie Bradford would 
 have said, to " strike while the iron was 
 hot." 
 
 Accordingly he told his sister that he would 
 himself walk to school with the two children, 
 and learn what Miss Ashton had to say on the 
 matter ; and Mabel, being made ready with all 
 speed, set forth with her uncle and cousin. 
 
 Miss Ashton agreed to take the new-comer ; 
 and Mabel was at once put into the seat for- 
 merly occupied by Bessie Bradford. Maggie 
 and Bessie had belonged to Miss Ashton's 
 class ; but their mother taught them at home 
 now. 
 
 Belle could not help a little sigh and one or 
 two longing thoughts as she remembered her 
 dear Bessie who had formerly sat beside her 
 there, but she did not say a word of her re- 
 gret to Mabel. 
 
 Mabel behaved as well as possible during 
 the whole of school-time ; whether it was that 
 she was well amused, or that she was some- 
 what awed by the novelty of the scene, and 
 
MabeVs New Whim. 115 
 
 all the new faces about her, certainly neither 
 Miss Ashton nor Belle had the least cause of 
 complaint against her when the time came 
 for school to be dismissed. 
 
 And this good mood continued all that day, 
 with one or two small exceptions. It is true 
 that on more than one of these occasions 
 there might have been serious trouble between 
 the little cousins, but for Belle's persevering 
 good-humor and patience ; and she would 
 have thought herself " pretty naughty," if she 
 had behaved as Mabel did. But she excused 
 and bore with her, because it was Mabel for 
 whom she was to have that charity which 
 " suffereth long and is kind." 
 
 It was hard work too for little Belle ; for, 
 though naturally more generous and amiable 
 than her cousin, she was pretty much accus- 
 tomed to having her own way in all things 
 reasonable. At home her every wish was law 
 with her papa and nurse ; Maggie and Bessie 
 Bradford could not do enough to show their 
 love and sympathy ; and all her young play- 
 
n6 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 fellows and school-mates followed their exam- 
 ple, and petted and gave way to her " because 
 she had no mother." So " giving up " was 
 rather a new thing for Belle, not because she 
 was selfish, but because she was seldom called 
 upon to do it. 
 
 However, she had her reward ; for, thanks 
 to her own sweetness and good temper, there 
 was peace and sunshine throughout the day. 
 She saw that her father and aunt were pleased 
 with her ; and once even Mabel, seeming 
 touched and ashamed when Belle had quietly 
 yielded her own rights, turned around in a 
 sudden and unwonted fit of penitence, and 
 said, — 
 
 " There, take it, Belle : you had the best 
 right; and I won't be mean to you again, 
 'cause you're real good to me." 
 
 " My darling has been such a good girl to- 
 day ! " said Mr. Powers, as he took her on his 
 knee when they were alone, and she came for 
 the little talk they generally had before her 
 bed-time : " she has been trying to practise 
 
MabeVs New Whim. 117 
 
 the lesson she learned last night, and so has 
 made all about her happy." 
 
 " And been a little sunbeam, papa, have 
 I?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed, love, — a true sunbeam." 
 " And did I make you pleased, papa ? " 
 " Very much pleased, and truly happy, 
 dear." 
 
 " And mamma will be pleased too, papa ; 
 and mamma's Jesus ; and it makes Him my 
 Jesus when I try to be His sunbeam and shine 
 for Him, don't it ? I guess everybody would 
 be a sunbeam if they always had c love-char- 
 ity.' Tell me it over again, papa, so I will 
 remember it very well, and s'plain to me a 
 little more about it." 
 
VIII. 
 
 THE LOCKET. 
 
 jjND this really proved the beginning 
 of better things for Mabel. Not that 
 she improved so much all at once, or 
 that she was not often selfish, perverse, and 
 disobedient ; or that she did not often try 
 little Belle very much, and make it hard for 
 her to keep her resolution of being kind and 
 patient. Nor must it be supposed that Belle 
 always kept to this resolution, or that she and 
 Mabel did not now and then have some pretty 
 sharp quarrels ; still, on the whole, they agreed 
 better than had seemed probable on their first 
 meeting. 
 
 And perhaps it was good for Belle, as well 
 
The Locket. 119 
 
 as for Mabel, that she should sometimes be 
 obliged to give up her own will to another ; 
 and there was no fear, while her papa and old 
 Daphne were there to watch over her interests, 
 that she would be suffered to be too much im- 
 posed upon. 
 
 But there could be no doubt that Mabel was 
 less unruly and exacting. It might be that 
 she was really happier with a companion of 
 her own age, or that she was shamed by 
 Belle's example and kindness to her, or per- 
 haps it was both these causes ; but day by 
 day Belle found it easier to be on good terms 
 with her, and the two children were really 
 growing fond of one another. 
 
 Other things which had a good effect on 
 Mabel were going to school and being now and 
 then with Maggie and Bessie. She could not 
 but see how much happier and lovelier were 
 those children who were obedient, gentle, and 
 kind ; and she learned much that was good 
 without any direct teaching. And even the 
 " proverb-pictures " became to her what they 
 
120 Belle Powers' Locket* 
 
 were intended to be to all, a source of im- 
 provement ; for Maggie understood better 
 than Belle the art of " giving a lesson " with- 
 out wounding the feelings ; and many a gentle 
 reproof or wise hint was conveyed to Mabel 
 by means of these moral sketches, in which 
 she really took a great interest. 
 
 After the first novelty of school had worn 
 off, Mabel tired of the restraint and declared 
 that she would go no more ; but in the mean 
 time her father had arrived, and he insisted 
 that she should keep on. 
 
 For some days after this she gave Miss 
 Ashton a good deal of trouble, and set at de- 
 fiance many of her rules and regulations ; 
 but she soon found that this did her no ser- 
 vice, for Miss Ashton, gentle as she was, 
 would be obeyed ; and Mabel did not find the 
 solitude of the cloak-room agreeable when she 
 was punished by being sent there, and con 
 eluded that, " after all, she had the best time 
 when she was good." 
 
 She was not at all a favorite with her school- 
 
The Locket. 121 
 
 mates, — this fractious and self-willed little 
 child ; and Belle had to " take her part " and 
 coax a good deal before she could persuade 
 them to regard her with any patience, or to 
 feel willing to accept her as a member of their 
 circle. 
 
 " What have you there ? " asked Mabel one 
 day, coming into Belle's nursery and finding 
 her looking lovingly at some small object she 
 held in her hand. 
 
 " It's my locket, — my new locket that 
 papa gave me a few minutes ago," answered 
 Belle. 
 
 " Let's see it," said Mabel, making a grasp 
 at it ; but Belle was too quick for her, and 
 would not suffer her to seize her treasure. 
 
 " You can't have it in your own hands," 
 she said ; " for it was my own mamma's, and I 
 don't want any one to touch it, 'cept they 
 loved her. Only Maggie and Bessie," she 
 added, remembering that they had never known 
 her mother, but that she would by no means 
 keep the choicest of her treasures from their 
 
122 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 hands, feeling sure as she did that they would 
 guard what was precious to her with as much 
 care as she would herself. 
 
 " I'll show it to you, Mabels Isn't it pret- 
 ty ? " and Belle held up a small locket on a 
 slight gold chain. 
 
 It was a little, old-fashioned thing, heart- 
 shaped, and made of fretted gold with a for- 
 get-me-not of turquoises in the centre. It 
 was very pretty, — in Belle's eyes, of the most 
 perfect beauty ; but its great value lay in that 
 it had belonged, as she told Mabel, to her own 
 mamma when she was a girl. 
 
 It was one of Belle's greatest pleasures to 
 sit upon her papa's knee and turn over with 
 loving, reverent fingers the various articles of 
 jewelry which had once been her mother's, 
 and^hich were to be hers when she should 
 be of a proper age to have them and take 
 care of them. " Mamma's pretty things " 
 were a source of great enjoyment to her ; and 
 although Belle loved dress as much as any 
 little girl of her age, it was with no thought 
 
Belle Powers. 
 
 p. 122. 
 
The Locket. 123 
 
 of decking herself in them, but simply for 
 their own beauty and the sake of the dear 
 one who had once worn them, that they 
 were so prized. And now and then when 
 her papa gave her some trifle suitable for her 5 
 she seldom wore it, so fearful would she be of 
 losing it, or lest other harm should come to it. 
 So now, as things were apt to come to harm 
 in Mabel's destructive fingers, she was very 
 much afraid of trusting the precious locket 
 within them ; and stoutly, though not crossly, 
 refused to let her have it. 
 
 Mabel begged and promised, whined and 
 fretted ; but the locket was still held beyond 
 her reach, till at last she made a dive and had 
 nearly snatched it from Belle's hold. 
 
 But Daphne's eye was upon her, and 
 Daphne's hand pulled her back as the old 
 woman said, — 
 
 "Hi! dere! none ob dat, Miss Mabel. I 
 ain't goin fur see my ole missus' tings took 
 from my young missus, and me by to help it. I 
 ain't goin fur stan' dat, no way," and Daphne's 
 
124 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 grasp was rougher than it need to have been 
 as she held back the angry, struggling Mabel. 
 
 The child was in a great passion : she 
 struck wildly at the nurse, and screamed 
 aloud, so that her mother came running to 
 see what was the matter. 
 
 " There then, never mind," said Mrs. Wal- 
 ton, as Mabel, released from Daphne's hold, 
 rushed to her and complained that Belle 
 would not let her touch her new locket, — 
 " never mind, I will give you something pretty 
 to look at. 
 
 " I want a locket like Belle's to keep for 
 my own," said Mabel ; " and then I'll never 
 let her see it." 
 
 " Pooh ! I wouldn't look at it," said Belle, 
 forgetting all her good resolves, " if you 
 showed it to me. I'd just squeeze my eyes 
 tight shut, and never open them till you took 
 it away. And I don't b'lieve the man in the 
 locket-store has any like this." 
 
 But Mabel had hardly left the room with 
 her mother before Belle was sorry, as usual, 
 
The Locket. 125 
 
 for the anger she had shown, and said re- 
 morsefully to Daphne, — 
 
 " There now, I went and forgot the Bible 
 proverb papa gave me, and didn't give * a 
 soft answer ' to turn away Mabel's wrath, 
 but just spoke as cross as any thing, and was 
 real naughty. I'll just run after her, and let 
 her touch my locket very carefully with her 
 own hands." 
 
 And away she went, ready to make peace, 
 even by doing that which was not pleasant to 
 her ; but the dear little thing was only partly 
 successful, for as Maggie afterwards said, 
 when Belle told her the story, u Mabel was of 
 that kind of nature that if you gave her an 
 inch she took an ell ; " and no sooner did 
 Belle let her have the locket in her own hands 
 than she wanted to have it about her neck 
 and wear it. This was too much, even for 
 the little peace-maker: she could not make 
 up her mind to give way in this, nor, indeed, 
 could she have been expected to do so ; and 
 quiet was not restored till Mabel's mother 
 
126 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 was worried into taking her out at once in 
 search of such a locket as Belle's. 
 
 But the search proved quite fruitless, for 
 no locket exactly like Belle's could be found ; 
 and Mabel would not be satisfied with one 
 that was different. In vain did she and her 
 mother go from jeweller's to jeweller's ; in 
 vain did Mrs. Walton offer the spoiled child 
 lockets far more showy and costly than the 
 one on which she had set her heart ; in vain 
 did the shopman assure her that such as she 
 desired were " quite out of the fashion," an 
 argument which generally went a good way 
 with Mabel : one just like Belle's she would 
 have. 
 
 " Then we will have one made," said Mrs. 
 Walton ; and inquired when it could be fin- 
 ished. But when the jeweller said it would 
 take a week or more, neither would this 
 satisfy the naughty child, who was in a mood 
 that was uncommonly perverse and obstinate 
 even for her. 
 
 "I shall have one to-day," she repeated; 
 
The Locket. 127 
 
 and was so very troublesome that e^en the 
 patience of her mistaken and spoiling mother 
 at last gave way, and the jeweller heartily 
 wished himself rid of such a noisy, ill-behaved 
 customer. 
 
 However, Mrs. Walton gave the order, and 
 promised to bring Belle's locket for the jew- 
 eller to see the pattern on Monday, this being 
 Saturday ; and then returned home with her 
 naughty child. 
 
 Belle had gone out, — gone to Mrs. Brad- 
 ford's to spend the day with Maggie and 
 Bessie, as she always did on Saturday ; and 
 Mabel was left to whine and fret by herself 
 till evening. 
 
 This gave her fresh cause of displeasure : 
 she was vexed at her cousin for leaving her 
 alone, and when Belle returned she was 
 greeted with, — 
 
 " Mamma is going to take your locket 
 away from you on Monday, and take it to 
 the locket-man to make me one just like it " 
 
 " No," said Belle, backing from Mabel to 
 
128 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 her father's knee, and holding fast with one 
 hand clasped over the other upon the beloved 
 locket, as if she feared it was to be snatched 
 from her at once. 
 
 " You'll let me take it to the jeweller for a 
 pattern, dear : won't you ? " said her aunt. 
 " Mabel wants one just like it." 
 
 Belle shook her head. 
 
 " No, Aunt Fanny," she answered : " I 
 couldn't. It was my own mamma's, and I 
 couldn't let it go from me ; and I don't want 
 anybody to have one just like it." 
 
 She did not speak unkindly or pettishly, 
 but with a quiet determination in her tone, 
 such as she sometimes showed, and which in 
 some cases might seem to be obstinacy. But 
 it was not so now ; and it was evident that the 
 child had some deep and earnest reason for 
 her refusal, — a feeling that the little treasure 
 which had belonged to her mamma had some- 
 thing so dear and sacred about it, that it could 
 not be suffered to pass into strange hands, 
 even for a time ; nor could she bear to have 
 it copied. 
 
The Locket, 129 
 
 "The locket-man didn't know my own 
 mamma, Aunt Fanny," she answered again 
 to her aunt's persuasions : " maybe he 
 wouldn't be so very gently with it. I couldn't, 
 — I really couldn't." 
 
 Tears gathered in the eyes of the sensitive 
 little one as she spoke, and there was a piteous 
 tremble of her lip which forbade her aunt to 
 urge her farther ; but Mabel was not to be so 
 put off. 
 
 " You cannot have it, Mabel," said Mr. 
 Powers. " I will not have Belle troubled in 
 this matter." 
 
 « What is it ? " asked Mr. Walton, looking 
 up from his evening paper, to which he had 
 until now given all his attention, too much 
 accustomed to the fretful tones of his little 
 daughter's voice to pay heed to them when he 
 could avoid it. 
 
 The trouble was soon explained ; and Mr. 
 Walton, who had lately awakened to the fact 
 that his Mabel had become a most trouble- 
 some and disagreeable child, and that it was 
 
130 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 time for her to learn that she must sometimes 
 give up her own will and consider others, told 
 her that she must think no more of this new 
 whim ; and that if she could not be contented 
 with such a locket as he might choose for her 
 on Monday, she should have none at all. 
 
 " Then I won't have any at all," said Mabel, 
 passionately. " And I won't eat any break- 
 fast or dinner or supper, not for any days." 
 
 " Just as you choose," said Mr. Walton, 
 coolly taking up his paper and beginning to 
 read again ; while his wife looked pleadingly 
 at him, but to no purpose ; and Belle sat gaz- 
 ing in amazement at the child who dared to 
 speak in such a way to her father. Indulgent 
 as Mr. Powers always was to his motherless 
 little girl, she knew very well that he never 
 would have overlooked such disrespect as that, 
 nor could she have believed it possible that 
 she should ever be guilty of it. 
 
 Astonishment and indignation at this novel 
 mode of treatment held Mabel speechless 
 and quiet for a moment ; then she set up a 
 
The Locket. 131 
 
 roar which would have been surprising as 
 coming from so small a pair of lungs, to any- 
 one who had not known her powers in that 
 particular. 
 
 But here again Mr. Walton, who, as Belle 
 afterwards told her papa, seemed to be dis- 
 posed to "turn over a new leaf about training 
 up Mabel in the way she should go," inter- 
 fered, and bade her go from the room, or be 
 quiet. 
 
 She chose neither; and the matter ended 
 by her father himself carrying her away, and 
 giving orders that she should be put to bed. 
 
 Belle was very sorry for all this, and could 
 not help feeling as if she somehow was to 
 blame, although the matter of the locket was 
 one too near her little heart to bo given up. 
 But she went to her uncle when her own bed- 
 time came, and begged that she might go and 
 wish Mabel good-night, and be friends with 
 her once more. 
 
 But Mr. Walton thought it better, as did 
 Belle's own papa, that the wilful child should 
 
132 
 
 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 be left to herself till the next day ; and he 
 dismissed Belle with a kind kiss, saying, — 
 
 " Mabel will feel better in the morning, 
 dear, and then she will be ready to make 
 friends with you ; but just now I am afraid 
 she is still too naughty to meet you pleas- 
 antly." 
 
IX. 
 
 BELLE'S MISFORTUNE. 
 
 R. WALTON was sadly mistaken 
 when he thought that his little girl 
 would have forgotten her ill-temper 
 and be ready to be pleasant and good-humored 
 in the morning. Mabel awoke sulky and 
 pouting, quite determined to believe that Belle 
 had grievously injured her, and obstinately 
 refusing to be reconciled unless she would 
 consent to give up the locket. 
 
 Had Belle been willing to do this, her papa 
 and uncle would not have permitted it ; but, 
 though Mabel was in a state of displeasure 
 with the world in general that morning, she 
 
134 Belle Power £ Locket. 
 
 chose to consider Belle as chief offender, and 
 treated her accordingly. 
 
 " But it's Sunday," said Belle, when she 
 refused to kiss her for good-morning. 
 
 " Don't I know that ? " snapped Mabel. 
 
 " But I don't like to be cross with any one 
 on Sunday," pleaded Belle. 
 
 " You're cross to me, and so I'll be cross 
 with you, — Sunday and Monday and every 
 day," said the disagreeable child. " Now 
 leave me be." 
 
 And Belle, seeing that Mabel was not to be 
 persuaded into a better temper, was forced to 
 do as she said, and let her alone. 
 
 And all day, Sunday though it was, Mabel 
 was even more peevish, exacting, and trouble- 
 some than usual, till she was a burden and 
 torment to herself and every one about her. 
 
 When Monday morning came she was rather 
 more reasonable, but still persisted in being 
 "offended" with Belle, and even refused to 
 walk on the same side of the street with her 
 when they were going to school. 
 
Bellas Misfortune. 135 
 
 " Will you wear your new locket, Miss 
 Belle ? " asked Daphne when she was making 
 her little mistress ready for school. 
 
 " No, I guess not," said Belle : " something 
 might happen to it, and maybe it's too nice." 
 
 " I reckon it's not too fancy," said Daphne, 
 holding up the locket and looking at it admir- 
 ingly : " you may wear it if you like, and 
 mebbe Miss Ashton would like to see it." 
 
 Now the locket was perhaps not quite a 
 proper thing for Belle to wear to school, and 
 had her father been there he might have 
 advised her to keep to her first decision ; but 
 Daphne always liked to deck out her little 
 lady in all the finery she could lay her hands 
 on, and, had she not been held in check by 
 wiser heads, would often have sent her fortli 
 to school in very improper guise. And as 
 Mabel was always very much dressed, it chafed 
 Daphne sorely to contrast the simple but more 
 suitable garments of her little Miss Belle 
 with the showy ones worn by her cousin. 
 
 So now she persuaded Belle to wear the 
 
136 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 locket, saying, not to the child, but to herself, 
 that it " was time folks foim' out her folks was 
 wort something an' had plenty of pretty things 
 if they on'y chose to show 'em ; " and, rather 
 against the child's own better judgment, she 
 suffered the nurse to put the locket about her 
 neck. 
 
 It was well for Belle, and for those who had 
 the guiding of her, that she was such a docile 
 little girl, generally willing and anxious to do 
 that which she believed to be right, or she 
 might have been sadly injured by the spoiling 
 of her devoted but foolish old nurse. As it 
 was, it did not do her much harm ; and 
 Daphne often felt herself put to shame by the 
 little one's uprightness and good sense. 
 
 However, 011 this morning Daphne had her 
 way ; and, as I have said, the locket was put 
 on. 
 
 As might have been supposed, the new orna- 
 ment immediately attracted the attention of 
 all Belle's class-mates ; and they crowded 
 about her before school opened, to examine 
 
Belle's Misfortune. 137 
 
 and admire, with many un " oh ! " and " ah ! " 
 " how lovely ! " and " how sweet ! " 
 
 " Mabel, have you one too ? " asked Dora 
 Johnson ; for the children had found out by 
 this time that if Belle had a pretty thing, 
 Mabel was sure to have one also. 
 
 " I'm going to," said Mabel, " one just like 
 it : you see if I don't ; even if that cross-patch 
 won't let the man have it to pattern off of. 
 She thinks herself so great nobody can have 
 a locket like hers." 
 
 " Belle's not a cross-patch," said Lily Nor- 
 ris ; " and, Mabel, if you talk that way about 
 her, we won't be friends with you, not any of 
 the class. Belle's old in the class, and you're 
 new ; and we don't think so very much of 
 you. So you'd better look out." 
 
 Mabel and Lily were always at swords' 
 points; for Lily was saucy and outspoken, 
 very fond of Belle, and always upholding her 
 rights, or what she considered such. 
 
 " Belle's real selfish," muttered Mabel ; 
 " and you shan't talk to me that way, Lily." 
 
138 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 " God gave me my tongue for my own, and 
 I keep it for just what words I choose to say," 
 said Lily, losing both temper and grammar in 
 her indignation ; " and Belle's not selfish, but 
 you ; and most always when peoples is self- 
 ish themselves, they think other ones are that 
 ain't. That's the kind that you're of, Mabel." 
 
 " Now don't let's quarrel," said Nellie Ran- 
 som, the prudent ; " else Miss Ashton will 
 come, and send us to our seats." 
 
 " But, Belle, dear," said Dora, " what's the 
 reason you don't want Mabel to have a locket 
 like yours ? " 
 
 Belle told her story ; and very naturally 
 the sympathies of all her class-mates went 
 with her, and Mabel was speedily made to see 
 that she was thought to be altogether in the 
 wrong, which did not tend to restore her to 
 good humor. 
 
 " I shall take it to the locket-man for a 
 pattern," she said angrily: " you see if I 
 don't. I'll get it, ah-ha." 
 
 " No, you won't," said Lily. " Belle knows 
 
Bellas Misfortune. 139 
 
 you. She'll take good enough care of it ; and 
 just you try to snatch it now." 
 
 What would follow if she did, Lily plainly 
 expressed in the threatening shake of the 
 head with which she accompanied her words. 
 
 Farther quarrelling or unkind threats were 
 prevented by the entrance of Miss Ashton, 
 who called her little class to order, and school 
 was opened, 
 
 Miss Ashton had more trouble with Mabel 
 that morning than she had had any day since 
 she first came to school. She was pettish 
 and fretful beyond all reason ; elbowed and 
 crowded the other children, pouted over her 
 lessons, and was disrespectful to her teacher, 
 and once broke into such a roar that Mrs. 
 Ashton hastily opened the doors between the 
 two rooms and inquired into the cause of the 
 trouble. This soon hushed Mabel's screams ; 
 for the elder lady's looks were rather stern 
 and severe, and she at least was one person 
 of whom the wilful child stood in wholesome 
 dread. 
 
140 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 But though quiet was restored for a time, 
 it was not to last long ; and this seemed des- 
 tined to be a day of trouble, all through 
 Mabel's naughtiness. Miss Ashton called up 
 the arithmetic class ; and as they stood about 
 her desk, she saw Mabel and Lily elbowing 
 one another with all their might, — the former 
 cross and scowling, the latter looking defiant 
 and provoking, and still half good-humored 
 too. 
 
 " Children! Lily and Mabel! What are 
 you doing ? " she asked. 
 
 " Can't Mabel keep her elbow out of my 
 part of the air, Miss Ashton ? " said Lily. 
 
 " For shame ! " said the lady : " two little 
 girls quarrelling about such a trifle as 
 that." 
 
 " But, Miss Ashton," pleaded Lily, " she 
 sticks me so ! She oughtn't to take up any 
 more room than that ; " and she measured 
 with her hand the portion of empty space 
 which according to her ideas rightfully be- 
 longed to Mabel ; while the latter, conscious 
 
Belle's Misfortune. 141 
 
 that she had been wilfully trespassing, had 
 nothing to say. 
 
 " I am,, sorry that my little scholars cannot 
 agree," said Miss Ashton. " Mabel, stand 
 back a little, and keep your elbows down, my 
 dear. If you cannot behave better, I shall be 
 forced to send you into the other room to my 
 mother ; and all the young ladies there will 
 know you have been naughty. " 
 
 To be sent into Mrs. Ashton in disgrace 
 was thought a terrible punishment ; and Miss 
 Ashton had never yet had to put it in prac- 
 tice : the mere mention of it was generally 
 enough to bring the naughtiest child to good 
 behavior, and it was a threat she seldom used. 
 But she knew that the solitude of the cloak- 
 room had quite lost its effect on Mabel, and 
 felt that some stronger measures must be 
 taken if there was to be any peace that 
 day. 
 
 Mabel obeyed ; but in spite of the threat- 
 ened punishment, her temper so far got the 
 better of her that she could not resist giving 
 
142 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 Lily a parting thrust with her elbow, — a 
 thrust so hard that Lily's slate was knocked 
 from her hand and fell upon the floor, where 
 it broke into three or four pieces. 
 
 Now, indeed, Mabel was frightened ; and 
 the other children stood almost breathless, 
 waiting for what Miss Ashton would say and 
 do. 
 
 She said nothing; what she did was to 
 rise quickly, take Mabel by the hand and turn 
 to lead her to the other room. 
 
 Dreading she hardly knew what, Mabel was 
 still too thoroughly terrified at the prospect 
 before her to rebel any farther, or to do more 
 than gasp out, — 
 
 " Oh ! Miss Ashton ! I won't do so any 
 more ! I didn't mean to ! I will be good ! " 
 
 Miss Ashton did not answer, but drew her 
 on ; when Belle, dropping her own slate beside 
 Lily's, sprang forward and laid her hand on 
 her teacher, looking up with eyes as appealing 
 as Mabel's. 
 
 " Please excuse her this time, Miss Ash- 
 
Belle's Misfortune. 143 
 
 ton," she exclaimed. " I don't think she did 
 mean to break Lily's slate. She only meant 
 to joggle her, and the slate fell out of her 
 hand ; but I don't believe she meant to do it. 
 Try her just this once, dear Miss Ashton : 
 maybe she will be good." 
 
 Miss Ashton looked down at the little 
 pleader and hesitated. Truth to tell, she had 
 not known how terrible a bugbear her mother 
 was to her young flock: she was sorry now 
 that she saw they had such a dread of her, 
 and perhaps was ready to seize upon an ex- 
 cuse to relent and withdraw her threat. 
 
 " Oh ! I will, I will be good ! I'll never do 
 so any more ! " sobbed Mabel. 
 
 Miss Ashton turned about, and taking her 
 seat placed Mabel in front of her. 
 
 "Very well," she said. "I will excuse 
 you this once ; not because you do not deserve 
 punishment, Mabel, but because Belle begs 
 for you. But remember it is for this one 
 time. If you behave again as you have 
 done this morning, I shall certainly punish 
 
144 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 you. And you must stand there now and 
 say your lesson apart from the other chil- 
 dren." 
 
 Relieved from the dread of going to Mrs. 
 Ashton, Mabel did not so very much mind 
 that, or the cold, displeased glances of the 
 rest of the class ; but as she took her place, 
 she cast a grateful look over at Belle, to 
 whom she truly felt she owed her escape ; and 
 Belle felt quite repaid for the " love-charity " 
 which had helped her to forget and forgive 
 Mabel's unkind behavior to herself, and to 
 plead for her. 
 
 But the troubles which arose from Mabel's 
 misconduct had by no means come to an end. 
 Belle's place in the class was just at Miss 
 Ashton's left hand, and when she dropped her 
 slate it fell at the foot of the lady's chair. It 
 had escaped the fate of Lily's, not being even 
 cracked by the fall ; but as poor little Belle 
 stooped to pick it up, a far worse misfortune 
 than the loss of her slate befell her. As she 
 raised her head, the slight chain about her 
 
Belle's Misfortune. 145 
 
 neck caught on the arm of the chair, and the 
 strain snapped it in two. 
 
 The sudden check and drag hurt Belle and 
 left an angry red mark about her neck, but 
 she did not heed the sting as she saw chain 
 and locket fall at her feet. 
 
 She did not say a word, only snatched it up 
 with a quick, long-drawn breath, and stood 
 for a moment looking at it with the utmost 
 dismay and grief in her countenance ; while a 
 chorus of sympathizing exclamations arose 
 from the other children. The mischief done 
 was not so very great, and could easily be 
 repaired ; but in Belle's eyes it seemed very 
 dreadful, and as though her treasure was very 
 nearly, if not quite, destroyed. Great tears 
 rose to her eyes and rolled slowly down her 
 cheeks ; and she turned to Miss Ashton, 
 piteously holding out the locket in her 
 hand. 
 
 Miss Ashton hastened to bring comfort. 
 
 " Never mind, dear," she said cheerfully : 
 
 " it can easily be mended. Tell papa it was 
 10 
 
146 Belle Powers'' Locket. 
 
 an accident, and he will have it done for you, 
 I am sure." 
 
 " But now the jeweller man will have to 
 take it," said Lily, indignantly ; "and Belle 
 didn't want to have it go 'way from her, and 
 it's all just for the way Mabel behaved. I 
 should think a broken locket and a broken 
 slate were just about too much consequences 
 of any one's naughtiness and hatefulness for 
 one day." 
 
 " Be quiet, Lily," said Miss Ashton. 
 
 " But it's true, Miss Ashton : it all came oi 
 that old Mabel's badness," persisted Lily. 
 
 " Lily, will you be quiet ? " repeated her 
 teacher. 
 
 Lily dared say no more ; but borrowing a 
 slate for the purpose from the child who stood 
 next her, she held it closely before her face, 
 and from behind that shelter made two or 
 three grimaces at Mabel, which, whatever 
 relief they might afford her own feelings, did 
 neither harm nor good to any one else, as they 
 were not seen. 
 
Belle's Misfortune. 147 
 
 Still Lily's words were felt by Belle and all 
 the rest of the class to be true. Belle's mis- 
 fortune was certainly the result of Mabel's 
 ill-behavior ; and it was very hard for the 
 poor little girl to keep down the angry feelings 
 which seemed as if they would rise up to 
 accuse her cousin. 
 
 And Lily's speech or speeches, and the 
 knowledge that she was blamed by all her 
 class-mates, vexed Mabel again, and crushed 
 down the better feelings which had arisen 
 towards Belle, so that she put on an appear- 
 ance of complete indifference to her distress ; 
 and muttered sulkily, — 
 
 " I don't care." 
 
 " Put the locket carefully away in your 
 desk, dear," said Miss Ashton to Belle, " and 
 do not fret about it. Your papa will have 
 it fixed for you, and it will be as good as 
 ever." 
 
 Belle obeyed, putting the locket carefully in 
 one corner of her desk, with a rampart of 
 books raised about it; and then returned to 
 
148 Belle Power s^ Locket. 
 
 her place, still rather disconsolate, and feel- 
 ing that she was fully entitled to all the pity- 
 ing and sympathizing looks bestowed upon 
 her. 
 
 After this the business of the class went on 
 without farther interruption, and the arith- 
 metic lesson came to an end. 
 
X. 
 
 A TERRIBLE LOSS. 
 
 HEN Miss Ashton dismissed the rest 
 of her little class for the recess which 
 they took in the course of the morn- 
 ing, she told Mabel to come with her; and 
 taking her apart into a room by herself, she 
 talked gravely but kindly to her. 
 
 " Would you like it, my dear ? " she said, 
 " if I sent you home with a note to your 
 mamma, saying I could no longer have you 
 in the school ? " 
 
 Mabel hesitated a moment, half-inclined to 
 say that it was just what she would like ; but 
 calling to mind the nice plays she often had 
 with her young school-mates, the pretty pick- 
 
150 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 ure cards she sometimes received from Miss 
 Ashton when she had been particularly good 
 or recited her lessons well, and several other 
 pleasures which school afforded, she thought 
 better of it, and said she would not like it at 
 all ; adding to herself what she dared not say 
 aloud to Miss Ashton, that she would carry 
 no such note home, but throw it away in the 
 street if it was given to her. 
 
 " And I should be very sorry to do it," said 
 the young lady ; " but, Mabel, unless you do 
 better, I cannot have you in my school. Why, 
 my dear, since you have been here there has 
 been more quarrelling and disturbance than 
 during all the rest of the time I have had the 
 class. This must not go on ; for you cannot 
 stay with us if you will behave so as to destroy 
 all our peace and comfort." 
 
 Mabel hung her head ; but she took the 
 reproof better than she generally received 
 any fault-finding ; and after Miss Ashton had 
 talked a little more, setting her naughtiness 
 and its sad consequences plainly before her, 
 
A Terrible Loss. 151 
 
 and urging her to be good and amiable for 
 her own sake as well as because it was right, 
 she had permission to go, and left her teacher, 
 half-repentant, but still not quite determined 
 to take her advice and warnings and make up 
 her mind to be a better child. 
 
 In this perverse mood, she did not feel 
 like joining the other children, who were play- 
 ing on the piazza and out in the garden, but 
 wandered back to the school-room by herself. 
 She sat here a moment or two in her own 
 seat, which was next to Belle's, knocking her 
 feet idly against the floor, and wishing for 
 something to amuse herself with ; but still 
 too proud or too sulky to go and play with the 
 others. But presently she bethought herself 
 once more of the locket, and the temptation 
 came to her to open Belle's desk and look at 
 it. Then Conscience whispered, " Shame ! 
 shame ! Belle was so kind to you, and begged 
 you off when Miss Ashton would have pun- 
 ished you." 
 
 The still, small voice made itself heard so 
 
152 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 plainly that she could not refuse to listen at 
 first, but she tried to hush it, and at last 
 succeeded. 
 
 " I'm not going to do any harm," she said ; 
 " only just to look at the locket, and that 
 can't hurt it. Belle won't know it, and she 
 won't be mad." 
 
 She opened Belle's desk and peeped in. 
 
 There lay the pretty trifle she coveted in 
 the snug corner where the little owner's hands 
 had so carefully placed it. Mabel looked and 
 looked, and from looking she went to touching 
 it. First with only one finger, feeling guilty 
 and ashamed all the time ; for with all her 
 faults Mabel was not generally deceitful or 
 meddling. Presently growing bolder, she 
 took it up, shut down the lid of the desk, and 
 sat turning the locket over and over, wishing 
 that the jeweller were there, so that she might 
 show it to him while Belle knew nothing 
 about it. 
 
 Suddenly she heard a quick, running step 
 in the hall without ; and before she had time 
 
A Terrible Loss. 153 
 
 to open Belle's desk and put the locket in its 
 place, Dora Johnson came in. Mabel dropped 
 the locket in her lap, and threw her pocket- 
 handkerchief over it. Dora saw nothing 
 wrong, only Mabel sitting there with a very 
 red face, which she supposed to arise from 
 shame, as indeed it partly did, though it came 
 from a cause which Dora never suspected. 
 
 " It's beginning to rain, and we all have to 
 come in," said Dora ; and the next moment 
 the whole troop of children running in proved 
 the truth of her words. They did not all 
 come into the school-room ; but Dora and one 
 or two more were there, so that Mabel did not 
 dare to lift the lid of Belle's desk again and 
 put back the locket. 
 
 She was very much frightened, and would 
 have been content, glad indeed, to give up the 
 hope of any locket at all, to have had Belle's 
 safely back where she had left it. She knew 
 that her school-mates would all cry out shame 
 upon her if they saw that she had meddled 
 with the locket, and she knew that she 
 
154 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 deserved this ; but she shrank from the looks 
 and words of scorn and displeasure which she 
 knew would fall upon her when they dis- 
 covered the treachery she had been guilty of 
 towards her dear little cousin. 
 
 So she felt and thought as she sat there 
 with the locket hidden on her lap, and at last 
 feeling that she must rid herself of it by some 
 means, and fearing that Miss Ashton would 
 return to call them to order before she did so, 
 she rose and wandered out of the room, hold- 
 ing the locket fast within her handkerchief. 
 
 Most of the children were in the hall, and 
 she went on into the cloak-room. There was 
 no one there ; and as she looked about her, 
 wondering what she should do with the locket, 
 the bell rang to call the class back to their 
 places. 
 
 With no time to think, with no plan in her 
 head, not meaning to keep the locket from 
 Belle, nor yet seeing her way clearly to the 
 means of getting it back, Mabel hastily 
 dropped it in a corner upon the floor, snatched 
 
A Terrible Loss. 155 
 
 down her own hat and sacque and threw them 
 over it ; then ran back to the school-room with 
 beating heart and crimson cheeks. No one 
 noticed her guilty looks ; or, if they did, laid 
 them to the same cause that Dora Johnson 
 had done, and did not speak of them. 
 
 The class in reading was now called up; 
 and as Mabel took her stand about the middle 
 of the row, she gave her attention, not to the 
 task before her, but to the locket lying hidden 
 in the cloak-room, and tried to contrive a way 
 out of her difficulty. 
 
 Suddenly a thought struck her, and she 
 gave a great sigh of relief. This was the day 
 on which Belle took her music-lesson after 
 school was dismissed : it might be that she 
 would not discover that the locket had been 
 taken out of her desk till she came to go 
 home ; and she, Mabel, would have time to 
 put it back after the other children had left. 
 
 Miss Ashton's voice roused her, calling 
 back her thoughts to her lesson and remind- 
 ing her that it was her turn to read ; but she 
 
156 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 did not know where the place was, and when 
 it was pointed out to her by Belle, she stum- 
 bled and blundered over words that she knew 
 quite well, and read most disgracefully, finish- 
 ing her performance with a new burst of 
 crying. 
 
 Miss Ashton did not find fault with her, 
 believing perhaps that she really could not 
 help it, but passed on to the next. Would 
 she have taken it so quietly if she had known 
 the true cause of Mabel's excitement? The 
 child could not help asking herself this ques- 
 tion, or wondering what punishment she would 
 be called on to bear if her teacher knew all. 
 Not for twenty lockets such as Belle's would 
 she have borne the miserable feelings from 
 which she was suffering now. 
 
 So the time dragged on, heavily, heavily, 
 till it was the hour for dismissal ; and the 
 little ones prepared to go home. 
 
 Mabel watched Belle's every motion, scarce- 
 ly daring to hope that she would not discover 
 her loss before she went downstairs to her 
 
A Terrible Loss. 157 
 
 music-lesson ; but Belle, never dreaming but 
 that her treasure lay safely hidden in the 
 far corner where she had left it, put books 
 and slate back into her desk in haste, and 
 at last followed Miss Ashton from the 
 room. 
 
 Then Mabel hurried into the cloak-room, a 
 new fear taking hold of her, as fears without 
 number or reason ever will of the guilty. 
 Suppose any of the other children had lifted 
 her sacque and found the locket beneath it! 
 No : it lay upon the floor still, — not just as 
 she had left it, it seemed to her fearful, 
 suspicious eyes. But no one turned upon 
 her with accusing words or looks ; and she 
 believed herself safe, if she could but man- 
 age to be the last child to go. 
 
 Nanette, her nurse, who was waiting for 
 her, was too well used to her freaks to be 
 much surprised when she declared she was 
 not going home just yet ; and stood by, with 
 what patience she might, to await the pleasure 
 of her hard young task-mistress, who plumped 
 
158 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 herself down on the flooi upon her saeque 
 with a look of dogged determination, which 
 Nanette knew well would change to one of 
 furious passion if she were crossed. 
 
 As Lily Norris left the room, she could not 
 refrain from a parting shot at Mabel. 
 
 " Mabel," she said, " in the ' Nonsense 
 Book ' there is a picture of a sulky girl sitting 
 on a carpet, and the reading about her begins, 
 
 ' There was a young lady of Turkey, 
 Whose temper was exceedingly murky ; * 
 
 and I just b'lieve the man what took her por- 
 trait, and made the poetry about her, meant 
 you ; " with which, mindful of the fact that 
 Mabel's hand was swift and heavy when she 
 was provoked, she flew from the room, chuck- 
 ling over her own joke, and joined in her 
 laughter by those who followed her, Lily being 
 considered a great wit. 
 
 So had Mabel set all her young school-mates 
 against her that there was scarcely one who 
 did not enjoy a laugh at her expense. But 
 just now Mabel was too much troubled about 
 
A Terrible Loss. 159 
 
 another matter to vex herself concerning 
 Lily's tantalizing words ; and she was only 
 too thankful to see all the children leave the 
 cloak-room one after another. 
 
 The moment the last one had disappeared, 
 she ordered her nurse to go out and stand in 
 the entry; sprang to her feet and snatched 
 up the sacque, intending to run with the locket 
 and pop it into Belle's desk without loss of 
 time. 
 
 But — there was no locket there ! 
 
 She shook out her sacque and turned it 
 over and over, looked in her hat, searched all 
 about the corner, and then threw her eyes 
 hastily around the room ; all in vain. The 
 locket was certainly gone ; and the next 
 moment a cry, half of rage, half of alarm 
 and despair, brought Nanette back to the 
 room. 
 
 4t What is it ? " she asked, seeing by the 
 child's face that it was no ordinary fit of tem- 
 per that ailed Mabel. 
 
 " It's gone ! Oh, it's gone ! " sobbed Mabel, 
 
160 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 wringing her hands and looking the very pict- 
 ure of distress. 
 
 " But what is gone ? What have you lost ? " 
 asked the maid. 
 
 Then Mabel recollected herself, and cried 
 less loudly : she would not have even Nanette 
 know how naughty she had been, how meanly 
 she had acted towards the dear little cousin 
 who had been so kind to her ; for, mingled 
 with her own fears for herself, there was a 
 feeling of deep remorse for the trouble she 
 had brought upon Belle. 
 
 What would the latter say when she should 
 discover her loss ? 
 
 And, oh dear ! oh dear ! what was she to 
 do herself? 
 
 Even her own indulgent and all-excusing 
 mother could hardly overlook such a thing as 
 this. 
 
 She ceased her loud cries and tried to choke 
 back the sobs, but in vain did she wipe her 
 eyes again and again : the tears gathered and 
 rolled down her cheeks as fast as she dried 
 
A Terrible Loss. 161 
 
 them away; and presently Miss Ash ton, who 
 had heard her cries, came running upstairs, 
 followed by Belle, to see what was the matter. 
 
 But the moment she saw them, Mabel turned 
 sullen, pouted out her lips, and would not 
 speak ; nor could Nanette give any explana- 
 tion of the cause of the commotion she had 
 made. And Miss Ashton, much displeased at 
 this new disturbance, bade the nurse put on 
 Mabel's things and take her home at 
 once. 
 
 Mabel was glad enough to obey, and she 
 suffered Nanette to lead her home as quietly 
 as a lamb, though she could not help a tear 
 and a sigh now and then ; and Nanette won- 
 dered much what secret trouble should have 
 brought about this distress. 
 
 Nor was Mabel's mamma more successful 
 in discovering the cause, when she noticed the 
 traces of tears and observed the child's evident 
 unhappiness. Mabel would not speak, or con- 
 fess what she had done ; and she shrank from 
 
 her mother's caresses and coaxings, and hung 
 11 
 
1 62 Belle Power? Locket, 
 
 around in sullen, miserable silence, waiting 
 till Belle should come home grieved to the 
 heart, as she knew she would be, by the loss of 
 her much-prized locket. 
 
XI. 
 
 BELLE'S GRIEF. 
 
 ND meanwhile how was it with little 
 Belle ? 
 
 Daphne went for her young mis- 
 tress at the appointed hour, and as soon as 
 the music-lesson was finished took her up- 
 stairs to make her ready. 
 
 " An' whar's yer locket, honey ? " she 
 asked, immediately missing the ornament 
 from about the child's neck. 
 
 " In my desk : it did come to a danger, 
 Daphne. I broke the chain and had to put it 
 away. I'm going to bring it, and give it to 
 you to carry home very carefully, so it won't 
 Ve lost." 
 
164 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 "And how did it come bioke, dear?" 
 questioned the old woman. 
 
 " The chain caught on Miss Ashton's chair 
 and just came right in two," said Belle, 
 refraining from blaming her cousin, upon 
 whom she knew Daphne looked with such an 
 unfavorable eye. 
 
 And away she ran into the school-room, 
 Daphne following, and opened her desk. 
 
 " Why ! " she exclaimed, seeing the locket 
 was not where she had left it ; and then has- 
 tily fell to turning her books about and 
 looking beneath them. 
 
 " What is it, dear heart ? Whar am it 
 gone ? " said Daphne, seeing no locket, and 
 observing the disturbance of her little charge. 
 
 " I don't know ; I left it here, — right here 
 in this corner. Oh ! Daffy, I know I did ; and 
 I never touched it again. Miss Ash ton told me 
 not, not till I went home ; and I did mind her, 
 oh ! I did ; but it isn't there. Oh ! Daffy, 
 you look, quick. Oh ! my locket, mamma's 
 own locket ! " 
 

 Belle Powers. 
 
 p. 161. 
 
Belle's Grief, 165 
 
 Daphne turned over each book as hurriedly 
 as Belle had done ; then took them all out and 
 shook them, peered within the empty desk, 
 and swept her hand around it again and again ; 
 looked on the floor beneath : but all in vain. 
 The locket was certainly not there, and Belle's 
 face grew each moment more and more 
 troubled. 
 
 " You's forgot, and took it out again, 
 honey," said the old woman at last. 
 
 " Oh ! I didn't : how could I forget ? And I 
 don't dis'bey Miss Ashton when she tells me 
 don't do a thing. I don't, Daphne ; and I 
 couldn't forget about my mamma's locket ; " 
 and the poor little thing burst into tears. 
 Such tears ! 
 
 If any of you have ever lost something 
 which to you was very dear and sacred, which 
 you looked upon as a treasure past all price, 
 and which you would not have exchanged for 
 a hundred pretty things, each one of far more 
 value, you may know how Belle felt at this 
 unlooked-for and, to her, mysterious disap- 
 pearance of her locket. 
 
1 66 Belle Power? Locket* 
 
 " Now, don't yer, honey-pot, — don't yer," 
 said Daphne, vainly trying to soothe her : 
 " 'twill be foun', I reckon ; but if you ain't 
 took it out, some one else has, for sartain. It 
 ain't walked out ob yer desk widout han's, for 
 sartain sure." 
 
 " Oh ! but, Daffy, who would take it ? who 
 would be so bad to me ? They knew I loved 
 it so. I don't b'lieve anybody could tease me 
 so, when they knew it was my own dead 
 mamma's locket," sobbed the little one. 
 
 " Um ! I spec' it warn't for no teasin' it 
 war done," said Daphne, half hesitating ; then 
 her resentment and anger at the supposed 
 thief getting the better of her prudence, she 
 added, " I did alius know Miss Mabel wor a 
 bad one ; but I didnH tink she so fur trabelled 
 on de broad road as to take to stealin', — and 
 de property ob her own kin too." 
 
 The word "stealing" silenced Belle, and 
 checked her tears and cries for a moment or 
 two. 
 
 " Stealing ! " she repeated ; " Mabel wouldn't 
 
Belle's Grief. 167 
 
 steal, Daffy. Oh, that would be too dreadful ! 
 She must know better than that. She couldn't 
 steal my locket." 
 
 " Dunno," said Daphne, dryly : " 'pears un- 
 common like it. Who you s'pose is de tief 
 den, Miss Belle ? " 
 
 " But we don't have thiefs in our school, 
 Daphne," said the little girl : " we wouldn't do 
 such a thing, and Miss Ashton would never 
 'low it." 
 
 " Dey don't ginerally ask no leave 'bout 
 dere comin's an' goin's," said Daphne : " if 
 dey did, I specs der'd be less of 'em. You 
 'pend upon it, Miss Belle, dat ar locket's been 
 stealed ; an' I can put my finger on who took 
 it right straight off." 
 
 " But," persisted Belle, whose distress was 
 still for the time overcome by her horror at 
 Daphne's suggestion, " I don't b'lieve any one 
 would do such a thing ; and, Daphne," raising 
 her small head with a little dignified air, and 
 looking reprovingly at the old woman, "I 
 don't b'lieve, either, that it is very proper for 
 
1 68 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 you to call Mabel a thief. Maybe she took it 
 to show to the jeweller man, but I know she 
 couldn't steal it. But, oh dear ! oh dear ! I 
 wonder if I will ever have it back again, my 
 own, own mamma's locket ; " and the sense of 
 her loss coming over her with new force, she 
 laid her head down upon her desk and cried 
 aloud. 
 
 For the second time the sounds of distress 
 called Miss Ashton to see what the trouble 
 was ; and they brought also the older girls 
 from Mrs. Ashton' s room, for their recess 
 was not yet quite over. They all crowded 
 about Belle, asking what was the matter, and 
 trying to soothe her ; for Belle was a great 
 favorite and pet in the school, partly because 
 she was motherless, — poor little one! — which 
 gave teachers and scholars all a tender feeling 
 toward her, partly because she had many 
 taking and pretty ways of her own, which 
 made her very attractive to every one who 
 knew her. 
 
 Tn her uncertainty and distress the child 
 
Belle's Grief. 169 
 
 could not make plain the cause of her trouble ; 
 and Daphne took upon herself the task of 
 explanation, glad, if the truth were known, of 
 the chance. Nor was she backward in express 
 ing her own views of the matter, and in 
 boldly asserting that the locket had been 
 stolen, and she knew by whom. 
 
 But at this, Belle roused herself and inter- 
 rupted her nurse. 
 
 " No, no," she said, shaking her head as 
 she looked up with face all drowned in tears, 
 and hardly able to speak for sobbing, — "no, 
 no, Miss Ashton, Daphne must be mistaken. 
 Mabel never would do it, — never ! " 
 
 Now in spite of all her own declarations to 
 the contrary, the fact was that Daphne's re- 
 peated accusations, and the recollection of Ma- 
 bel's threats that she would " have the locket 
 somehow" had caused a doubt to enter little 
 Belle's mind as to the possibility and proba- 
 bility of Mabel being the "thief" Daphne 
 called her ; but mindful of the " love-charity " 
 she was determined to feel for her cousin, — 
 
170 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 the charity which " believeth all things, hopeth 
 all things," — she tried to put this doubt from 
 her, and to think that some one else was the 
 guilty person, or that the locket had only been 
 taken to tease her. And she was not will- 
 ing that others should join in Daphne's 
 suspicions and believe that Mabel could do 
 such a thing. 
 
 But Miss Ashton herself had too much rea- 
 son to fear that Daphne's idea was, in part at 
 least, correct. Enough had come to her ears 
 and passed before her eyes, to make her 
 believe that Mabel, in her extreme wilfulness, 
 would not hesitate at any means of gaining 
 her point, especially in the matter of the 
 locket. She did not, it is true, feel sure that 
 Mabel intended to keep the locket ; but she 
 thought she had probably taken it against her 
 cousin's will, for purposes of her own ; and 
 this was hardly less dishonest than if she had, 
 according to Daphne, stolen it outright. 
 
 Miss Ashton was very much disturbed. 
 Mabel was proving such a source of trouble, 
 
Belle's Grief. 171 
 
 such a firebrand in her little school, which 
 had until now gone on in so much peace and 
 harmony, that she had felt for some days as 
 if it were scarcely best to keep her ; still for 
 many reasons she did not wish to ask her 
 mother to remove her. 
 
 She thought it better for Mabel to be thrown 
 more with other children than she had hither- 
 to been ; and her hope of doing her some good 
 could not be put away readily ; and also she 
 shrank from offending and grieving the child's 
 relatives, especially Mr. Powers, who had 
 been a good friend to her mother and her- 
 self. 
 
 But if Mabel was a child of so little princi- 
 ple as to do a thing like this, it was best to 
 send her away at once, she thought; and 
 there seemed too much reason to fear that it 
 was so. 
 
 However, she said nothing of all this to 
 Belle, and when the old colored woman began 
 again, gently stopped her, saying, — 
 
 " That will do, Daphne : we will not say any 
 
172 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 more about this. Belle, my dear, open your 
 desk and let us search again." 
 
 Of course the desk was searched in vain, 
 and not only the desk, but the whole school- 
 room ; Miss Ashton faintly hoping that Belle 
 might accidentally have pulled the locket out 
 and dropped it on the floor. 
 
 Meanwhile the bell had rung to call the 
 older girls back to their class ; and Mrs. Ash- 
 ton, hearing the story from them, came also to 
 Belle to make some inquiries. This was a 
 serious matter, the disappearance of a valu- 
 able thing from the desk of one of her little 
 scholars, and needed to be thoroughly sifted. 
 But as soon as she appeared, Belle was seized 
 with that unfortunate dread of the elder lady 
 which possessed all the little girls ; and she 
 thought what would become of Mabel if Mrs. 
 Ashton, too, believed her to be a " thief." 
 Visions of squads of policemen, prisons and 
 chains, danced before her mind's eye ; and 
 her imagination, almost as quick and fertile 
 as Maggie Bradford's, pictured her cousin 
 
Belle's Grief. 173 
 
 dragged away by Mrs. Ashton's orders, while 
 the rest of the family were plunged in the 
 deepest grief and disgrace. 
 
 So it was but little satisfaction that Mrs. 
 Ashton gained from her, in reply to her ques- 
 tions. Not so Daphne, however ; finding that 
 her young lady gave such short and low 
 answers as could scarcely be understood, she 
 once more poured forth her opinions till again 
 ordered to stop. 
 
 However, there was one opinion in which 
 all were forced to agree ; namely, that the 
 locket was certainly gone. Belle's sobs were 
 quieted at last, save when a long, heavy sigh 
 struggled up now and then ; but her face wore 
 a piteous, grieved look which it went to Miss 
 Ashton's heart to see. With her own hands, 
 she put on the child's hat and sacque, petting 
 her tenderly and assuring her that she would 
 leave no means untried to discover her lost 
 treasure ; and then Belle went home with her 
 nurse. 
 
 Daphne stalked with her charge at once to 
 
174 Belle Power? Locket. 
 
 Mrs. Walton's room ; and, forgetting her 
 usual good manners, threw open the door 
 without knocking, and standing upon the 
 threshold proclaimed, — 
 
 " Miss Walton, Miss Belle's locket am clean 
 gone, chain an' all ; an' de Lord will sure 
 foller wid His judgment on dem what's robbed 
 a moderless chile." 
 
 Her words were addressed to Mrs. Walton • 
 but her eyes were fastened on Mabel, who 
 shrank from both look and words, knowing 
 full well that Daphne suspected her of being 
 the guilty one. 
 
 Mrs. Walton held out her hand kindly to 
 Belle. 
 
 " Come here, darling," she said, " and tell 
 me all about it. Your locket gone ? How is 
 that ? " 
 
 Belle told her story in as few words as 
 possible, avoiding any mention of Mabel's 
 naughtiness in school that morning, or of the 
 threats she had used about the locket. She 
 did not even look at Mabel as she spoke, for 
 
Belles Grief. 175 
 
 all the way home the dear little soul had been 
 contriving how she might act and speak so as 
 not to let Mabel see that she had any doubt of 
 her. 
 
 " 'Cause maybe she didn't take it," she said 
 to herself: " it isn't a very maybe, but it's a 
 little maybe ; and I would be sorry if I b'lieved 
 she took it and then knew she didn't ; and 
 she might be offended with me for ever and 
 ever if I thought she was a thief." 
 
 But the puzzle had been great in Belle's 
 mind ; for she thought, " If she took it for a 
 pattern for the locket-man and not to keep it, 
 I wonder if it wasn't somehow a little bit like 
 stealing ; " and she could not help the sus~ 
 picion that Mabel had really done this. 
 
 Mrs. Walton was full of sympathy and pity, 
 and asked more questions than Belle felt able 
 or willing to answer ; but it never entered her 
 mind to suspect her own child. 
 
 And, indeed, with all her sad, naughty ways, 
 she had never known Mabel to tell a wilful 
 falsehood, or to take that which did not belong 
 
176 Belle Powers* Locket. 
 
 to her in a deceitful, thievish manner. She 
 would, it is true, insist that the thing she 
 desired should be given to her, and often 
 snatch and pull at that which was another's, 
 or boldly help herself in defiance of orders to 
 the contrary ; but to do this in a secret way, 
 to be in the least degree dishonest or false, 
 such a thing would have seemed quite impossi- 
 ble to Mrs. Walton. 
 
 " Can it be that one of your little class- 
 mates is so very wicked ? " she said. " Miss 
 Ashton should see to this at once : it is almost 
 impossible that she should not discover the 
 thief if she makes proper efforts." 
 
 How did the words of her unsuspecting 
 mother sound to the ears of the guilty little 
 daughter who stood in the recess of the win- 
 dow, half hidden by the curtains, but plainly 
 hearing all that passed as she pretended to be 
 playing with her dolls ? 
 
 Would Miss Ashton find her out ? Would 
 it not be better to go at once and confess ? 
 
 And it was not only fear for herself which 
 
Belle's Grief. 177 
 
 *ed Mabel to hesitate thus : she was really 
 full of remorse and sorrow for the trouble 
 which her wicked, selfish conduct had brought 
 upon Belle ; and as she saw how her forgiving 
 little cousin avoided blaming her, these feel- 
 ings grew stronger and stronger, till they 
 almost overcame the selfishness which ruled 
 her. But not quite ; and she resolved to 
 make amends to Belle in some other way. 
 
 She thought she was doing this, and show- 
 ing great generosity, when she came out of 
 her corner, and said to her mother, — 
 
 " Mamma, please buy a very nice locket, 
 and let Belle have it 'stead of me. I'll give 
 it up to her, 'cause hers is gone." 
 
 Whatever suspicions Belle might have had 
 were at once put to flight by this ; but the 
 offer had no charms for her. No other locket 
 could take the place of mamma's ; and she 
 shook her head sadly, as she said, — 
 
 " No, thank you, Mabel : I don't want any 
 
 other locket to make up that one. I couldn't 
 
 wear it, indeed I couldn't." 
 12 
 
178 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 The melancholy tone of her voice brought 
 back all Mabel's self-reproach, and of the two 
 children she was perhaps really the most un 
 happy ; but still she could not resolve to con- 
 fess, though Conscience whispered that if she 
 told what she had done, there might be more 
 chance of rinding the locket. 
 
 Had she not felt too much ashamed and 
 unworthy of praise, she might have been con- 
 soled by all that her mother lavished upon 
 her for her offer to Belle. Such unheard-of 
 generosity on Mabel's part was something so 
 new and delightful that Mrs. Walton could not 
 say enough in its praise ; and both she and 
 Mr. Walton began to hope that companionship 
 with other children, and Belle's good example, 
 were really doing her good. Little did they 
 think what was the true cause of the proposed 
 self-denial, or of Mabel's evident low spirits. 
 
 When Mr. Powers came home, he was 
 almost as much disturbed as Belle to hear of 
 the fate of her locket ; and when she had gone 
 to rest that evening, he went to see Miss Ash- 
 
Belle's Grief, 179 
 
 ton to ask if she could take no steps for its 
 recovery. 
 
 He was very grave and silent when he came 
 back ; and neither that evening nor the next 
 morning did he have much to say concerning 
 it, save that he comforted his little daughter 
 by telling her that he had good hope it would 
 be found. 
 
XII. 
 
 CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE. 
 
 ABEL declared herself not well 
 enough to go to school the next 
 morning; and there seemed some 
 reason to believe it was really so, so dull and 
 spiritless and unlike herself she appeared; 
 and her mother allowed her to remain at 
 home. The true reason was, that she feared 
 to face Miss Ashton and her school-mates. 
 
 In vain did her mother try to find out the 
 cause of her trouble, for it was easy to be seen 
 that it was more than sickness. 
 
 But the day was not to pass over without 
 Mrs. Walton learning this. For that after- 
 noon Mabel was much startled, and her 
 
Confession and Repentance. 181 
 
 mother somewhat surprised, by a call from 
 Miss Ash ton. Mabel shrank away from her 
 teacher, and said she had to go to her uncle's 
 rooms and play with Belle ; and Miss Ashton 
 was not sorry to have her go, as she was 
 about to ask Mrs. Walton to see her alone. 
 
 She said this as soon as the child had left 
 the room, adding that she had come on what 
 might prove a painful business ; and then told 
 Mrs. Walton all that had passed about the 
 locket on the day before, part of which she 
 had gathered from the other children, part she 
 had known herself. She had reason to fear, 
 she said, that Mabel had taken the locket, as 
 she had threatened to have it, in one way or 
 another ; and had been the only one alone in 
 the room with opportunity to take it from 
 Belle's desk. She told, also, how strangely 
 Mabel had acted when she was leaving school 
 the day before ; and said, although it might 
 not be so, she could not help thinking that 
 this might be connected with the disappear- 
 ance of the locket. When Mr. Powers had 
 
1 82 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 called upon her the evening before, she told 
 him all she knew, but begged him to say noth- 
 ing to or about Mabel until she had questioned 
 the other children, and found out who had 
 been in the room beside herself. No one else, 
 so far as she could learn, had been there 
 alone ; but the moment Dora Johnson heard 
 that Belle's locket was lost, she had cried out 
 that Mabel must have taken it during recess, 
 and that was the reason she had " acted so 
 queer and mysterious." This was the general 
 opinion among the class, and they were all 
 loud in their indignation against Mabel. She, 
 Miss Ashton, had told them they must not 
 judge too hastily ; but she could not herself 
 deny that suspicion pointed very strongly 
 towards the child. 
 
 Mrs. Walton was much distressed, but also 
 much displeased, that Miss Ashton, or any one 
 else, should believe Mabel to be guilty. She 
 had never known her to practise deceit or 
 dishonesty of any kind, she said ; and in- 
 sisted on sending at once for the child and 
 
Confession and Repentance. 183 
 
 questioning her. Miss Ashton did not object, 
 hoping to be able to judge from Mabel's man- 
 ner whether she were guilty or not ; and Mrs. 
 Walton, saying she was determined to hear 
 all that the children had to say on the sub- 
 ject, sent the nurse to bring both Belle and 
 Mabel. 
 
 " Is Miss Ashton gone ? " asked the latter 
 when the messenger came. 
 
 " No, mademoiselle," said Nanette. 
 
 " Then I shan't go. I don't want to see 
 her," said Mabel. " Belle, don't go. Stay 
 and play with me." 
 
 But Belle, who was very fond of her teacher 
 and always liked to see her, and who, more- 
 over, had a faint hope that she might have 
 brought some good news about the locket, 
 insisted on going to her aunt's room; and 
 Mabel, dreading the same thing and yet not 
 daring to stay behind, reluctantly followed. 
 
 Mrs. Walton and Miss Ashton looked from 
 one to the other of the children as they en- 
 tered ; and as the former saw Mabel's down- 
 
184 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 cast, shamefaced look as she came forward, 
 her heart sank within her. 
 
 What if Mabel should be really guilty, after 
 all? 
 
 " Did you find any thing of my locket, Miss 
 Ashton ? " asked little Belle, as soon as she 
 had welcomed the young lady. 
 
 " Not yet, dear ; but I have some hope of 
 doing so," answered Miss Ashton, looking at 
 Mabel. " Now, I want you to tell your aunt 
 and myself all you can about it. You are 
 quite sure you did not touch it after I saw 
 you put it in your desk ? " 
 
 " Quite, quite sure, ma'am ; and I never 
 went to my desk after that, 'cept to put away 
 my slate ; and there's nothing more to tell 
 about it, Miss Ashton, only how I went there 
 to give it to Daphne, and couldn't find it. It 
 was perferly gone," and Belle gave a long 
 sigh, which told how deep her loss lay. 
 
 " Mabel," said Mrs. Walton, suddenly, " did 
 you see Belle's locket after it was broken ? " 
 
 Mabel hung her head more than ever, stam- 
 
Confession and Repentance. 185 
 
 mered and stuttered, and finally burst into 
 tears. 
 
 Belle looked at her, colored, and hesitated ; 
 then stepped up to her, and putting her arm 
 about her shoulder said, — 
 
 " I don't b'lieve Mabel did take it, Aunt 
 Fanny : I don't think she could be so mean to 
 me. I tried not to b'lieve it, and now I don't 
 think I do. Please don't you and Miss Ash- 
 ton b'lieve so either, Aunt Fanny." 
 
 Belle's " love-charity " was too much for 
 Mabel. Taking her hands from before her 
 face, she clasped them about her cousin's neck, 
 and sobbed out, — 
 
 " Oh ! I did, Belle. I did take it out of 
 your desk ; but I never, never meant to keep 
 it, — no, not even to show to the locket-man ; 
 but I couldn't find it to put it back ; and I'm 
 so sorry, I'll just give you any thing in the 
 world of mine, 'cept my papa and mamma." 
 
 Mabel's words were so incoherent that all 
 her hearers could understand was that she had 
 taken the locket ; and though Belle had been 
 
1 86 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 obliged to try hard to believe in her cousin's 
 honesty, the shock to the faith she had built 
 up was now so great that her arm dropped 
 from Mabel's shoulder, and she stood utterly 
 amazed and confounded. Mrs. Walton, too, 
 sat as if she were stricken dumb ; and Miss 
 Ashton was the first to speak, which she did 
 in a tone more grieved and sorrowful than 
 stern. 
 
 " And where is the locket now, Mabel ? 
 Did you say you cannot find it ? " 
 
 Mabel shook her head in assent 
 
 " What have you done with it ? " asked 
 Mrs. Walton, in a tone that Mabel had never 
 known her mother use to her before. 
 
 The whole story was at last drawn from the 
 child, accompanied with many sobs and tears. 
 Belle put full faith in all she said, and almost 
 lost sight of her own trouble in sympathy for 
 Mabel's distress. Her arm went back about 
 her cousin's neck, and her own pocke,t-hand- 
 kerchief was taken out to wipe away Mabel's 
 tears. 
 
Confession and Repentance* 187 
 
 But Miss Asliton plainly did not believe her 
 story, and even her own mother was doubtful 
 of its truth ; for it was told with so much 
 hesitation and stammering. 
 
 Mrs. Walton turned to Miss Ashton, with a 
 look which the young lady hardly knew how 
 to answer, except by one which asked that the 
 children should be sent away again ; which 
 was done. 
 
 " You do not believe what Mabel says, Miss 
 Ashton ? " said Mrs. Walton. 
 
 " I do not see how it can be so," replied 
 Miss Ashton : " I do not believe there is a child 
 in my class who is not honest ; and they all 
 love Belle too much to think of teasing her 
 in any way. Moreover, I know that not one of 
 them was in the cloak-room from the time of 
 the short recess till they were dismissed ; and 
 had any child had the will, I do not see that 
 she had the opportunity, to take the locket." 
 
 " But your servants ? " questioned the anx 
 ious mother. 
 
 Miss Ashton shook her head sadly. 
 
1 88 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 " My mother's two older servants have been 
 with us for years," she said, " and are quite 
 above suspicion. The younger one, the col- 
 ored girl, Marcia, who sometimes waits on 
 the children, and now and then goes into the 
 cloak-room, was not in the house. Her sister 
 was sick, and she had been allowed to go to 
 her for the day. She is not, I fear, strictly 
 honest, and has now and then been detected 
 in picking and stealing ; and, although I have 
 never known her to take any thing of much 
 value, there is no saying how far temptation 
 might lead her ; but, as I say, she was not at 
 home at the time. I grieve to distress you 
 farther, Mrs. Walton ; but I do not see that 
 Mabel's story can be true." 
 
 " What do you think she has done with the 
 locket ?" asked Mrs. Walton, in a trembling 
 voice. 
 
 " How could I tell, my dear madam ? " re- 
 plied Miss Ashton, looking with pity at the 
 other lady. " It may be that she has really 
 lost it, but in some other way than the one 
 
Confession and Repentance. 189 
 
 she 1 elates; or it may be — that she has it 
 still." 
 
 "Impossible!" said Mrs. Walton; but al- 
 though she said the word, the tone of her 
 voice told that she did not believe it impos- 
 sible. " Mabel is a troublesome, spoiled child, 
 I allow," continued the poor mother ; " but I 
 have never known her to tell me a deliberate 
 falsehood, and to make up such a story as 
 this." 
 
 " I will have the school-room thoroughly 
 searched," said Miss Ashton ; " and whether 
 the locket is found or no, we will at least give 
 Mabel the benefit of the doubt, and treat her 
 as if she were not more guilty than she 
 acknowledges herself to be, unless it is proved 
 that she knows more about it than she says ; " 
 and then she rose, and, shaking hands with 
 Mrs. Walton, once more said how sorry she 
 was for the trouble she had been obliged to 
 bring her, and went away. 
 
 Meanwhile the two children had gone back 
 to Belle's nursery, where that dear little girl 
 
190 Belle Powers* Locket, 
 
 set herself to the task of consoling Mabel as 
 well as she might. 
 
 But this was a difficult matter. So long as 
 she had her own way, Mabel generally cared 
 little whether or not people thought her a 
 naughty girl ; but as she was really pretty 
 truthful and upright, she was now half-heart- 
 broken at the idea of being considered dis- 
 honest and deceitful. She could not quito 
 acquit herself of the latter, since she had 
 taken advantage of Belle's absence to do that 
 ^hich she would not have done in her pres- 
 ence, and now she was very much ashamed of 
 it ; but this seemed to her very different from 
 telling a falsehood, which she plainly saw Miss 
 Ashton, and her mother too, suspected her of 
 doing. 
 
 She threw herself down on the floor of the 
 nursery in a passion of tears and sobs ; and 
 when Belle, sitting down by her, begged her 
 not to cry so, answered, — 
 
 " I will, I will : they think I told a story, 
 mamma and Miss Ashton do. I can't bear 
 
Confession and Repentance. 191 
 
 Miss Ashton, — horrid, old thing ! She made 
 mamma think I did. She's awfully ugly : her 
 nose turns up, and I'm glad it does, — good 
 enough for her." 
 
 " Oh ! Mabel," said Belle, " Miss Ashton's 
 nose don't turn up. It turns down about as 
 much as it turns up, I think. I b'lieve it's as 
 good as ours." 
 
 " I shan't think it is," said Mabel. " I'm 
 going to think it turns up about a million of 
 miles. And, Belle, 'cause everybody thinks 
 I took your locket to keep, and told a wicked 
 story about it, I shall never eat any more 
 breakfast or dinner or supper, but starve my- 
 self, so they'll be sorry." 
 
 Belle was too well used to such threats from 
 Mabel to be very much alarmed at this. 
 
 Mabel went on, trying to make a deeper 
 impression. 
 
 " I shan't ever eat any more French sugar- 
 plums," then as the recollection of a tempt- 
 ing box of these delicacies came over her, — - 
 " 'cept only there are three candied apricots in 
 
192 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 the box papa brought me last night. I'll eat 
 two of them, and give you the other ; and then 
 never eat another thing, 'cause nobody believes 
 me ; and it is true, — oh ! it is." 
 
 " I b'lieve you, dear," said Belle. " I don't 
 think you would be so bad to me, — truly I 
 don't." 
 
 " Don't you ? " said Mabel, turning around 
 her flushed, tear-stained face ; " then I'll give 
 you two apricots, Belle, and only keep one 
 myself; and then starve myself. You're real 
 good to me, Belle, and nobody else is. You're 
 the only friend I have left in the world," she 
 concluded in a tragic whisper, as she sat up 
 and dried her eyes. 
 
 " I'll try to coax them not to think you did 
 mean to keep it and tell a story about it," said 
 her little comforter. 
 
 " Belle, what makes you so good to me, 
 when I was so bad to you ? " asked Mabel. 
 
 " 'Cause I want you to love me, and be good 
 to me too," answered Belle. " And, besides, 
 Jesus don't want us to be good only to people 
 
Confession and Repentance. 193 
 
 who are good to us. He wants us to be good 
 to people who are bad to us too." 
 
 Mabel sat looking at her cousin in some 
 wonder. 
 
 " Do you care very much what Jesus 
 wants ? " she asked presently. 
 
 " Why, yes," said Belle : " don't you ? " 
 
 " What does He think about me, I won- 
 der ? " said Mabel, musingly, without answer- 
 ing Belle's question, which indeed answered 
 itself, as the recollection of some of her 
 cousin's naughty freaks returned to her. 
 But she said nothing about these ; for Mabel's 
 speech brought a thought which she hastened 
 to put into words, thinking that it might give 
 the latter some comfort. 
 
 " Oh ! Mabel," she said eagerly, " He knows 
 all about the locket ; and if you do tell the 
 trufj He b'lieve?. you, and I am sure He's 
 sorry for you to-, /?ven if you was a little 
 naughty about it." 
 
 It was a pity that the mother and the 
 
 governess were not there to see the way in 
 13 
 
194 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 which Mabel's face lighted up. They must 
 have been convinced that, however much she 
 had been to blame, the story she no^ told was 
 true. Guilt could never have worn that look 
 at the thought that the all-seeing Eye read 
 her heart and believed in her innocence. 
 
 And if there was any lingering doubt in little 
 Belle's mind, it was cleared away by that look. 
 
 " Now I truly know she is not telling a 
 story," she said to herself, " 'cause she looks 
 so glad that Jesus knows all about it ; and if 
 she had, she would be frightened to think He 
 knew she was so wicked." 
 
 " It's nice to think Jesus knows about it and 
 b'lieves you, isn't it ? " she said aloud. 
 
 " Yes," said Mabel ; " and I love Him for 
 it, and I do love you too ; and I'll always love 
 you till I'm all starved and dead. Belle, I 
 know you do care what Jesus wants, 'cause 
 you try to be good and kind. I've just a good 
 mind to try too. Maybe if I do, He'll make 
 them find out where that locket went to." 
 
 Now perhaps Mabel's two resolutions did 
 
Confession and Repentance. 195 
 
 not agree very well the one with the other; 
 but there was no fear that the first would hold 
 good longer than till supper-time, nor was the 
 hope of reward for herself the best motive for 
 the second. But Belle, and perhaps a higher 
 ear than little Belle's, was glad to hear her 
 say this ; and indeed it was a token for good. 
 For Mabel was beginning to see the beauty 
 and sweetness of Belle's conduct, and the 
 warmth and light of her example were taking 
 effect on that perverse and selfish little heart. 
 Belle was proving a " sunbeam " to Mabel, 
 though she did not know it herself. 
 
XIII. 
 
 MABEL'S GENEROSITY. 
 
 T would be impossible to tell how 
 troubled and disturbed poor Mrs. 
 Walton was by Miss Ashton's story. 
 So was Mr. Walton when he came home and 
 heard it. It was hard to think that their own 
 and only child could be guilty of such a thing ; 
 and yet suspicion pointed so strongly towards 
 her that it was almost impossible to believe 
 otherwise. They talked it over between them- 
 selves, and with Mr. Powers when he came ; 
 and then the children were called, and told to 
 repeat all they knew once more. 
 
 Mabel's story was in no way different from 
 
MabeVs Generosity, 197 
 
 that she had told before, save that it was 
 given with far less hesitation and difficulty, 
 but in no other respect did it vary from the 
 first ; and here was ground for hope that it 
 was true. 
 
 Belle, too, told her tale with the same 
 straightforwardness and simplicity that she 
 had done before, but it threw no light on 
 what was so dark ; and, as she had done from 
 the first, she carefully avoided throwing any 
 blame on her cousin, and concluded in these 
 words, uttered in a pleading voice : — 
 
 " Please, papa, and uncle, and Aunt Fanny, 
 don't believe Mabel took my locket to keep : I 
 don't believe she did, not one bit ; and I don't 
 want any one else to think she did." 
 
 " Why do you think she did not, dear ? " 
 asked Mr. Walton. 
 
 " First I tried not to think she did," said 
 Belle ; " and then when I told her Jesus knew 
 if she was telling the truf, she was glad, and 
 felt better about it, so that made me quite 
 sure. If she had hidden it on purpose to keep 
 
198 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 it, she would be afraid if she thought Jesug 
 knew it." 
 
 Her words brought great comfort and new 
 hope to the father and mother. 
 
 " Let's all think she didn't do it, unless we 
 have to be very, very sure she did ; and please 
 kiss her, and make up with her, Aunt Fanny, 
 'cause she feels so bad about it," persisted 
 Belle, drawing her cousin forward, as she 
 stood hanging her head, half-sullen, half- 
 shamefaced, and sorrowful at the suspicion 
 she felt cast upon her. " Aunt Fanny, if 1 
 had my own mamma here with me, I would 
 feel very dreadful to know she thought I hid 
 something to steal it, and told ever so many 
 stories about it." 
 
 Who could resist her ? 
 
 Not the mother certainly! who, only too 
 glad to believe her child innocent of more than 
 she had acknowledged, put her arms about her 
 and gave her a kiss of forgiveness ; while 
 Mabel laid her head against her mamma's 
 shoulder, and cried there such gentle, penitent 
 
MabeVs Generosity, 199 
 
 tears as she had seldom shed before. For the 
 sweeter and kinder Belle was to her, the more 
 deeply repentant she felt for the wrong she 
 had really done her. And not for the matter 
 of the locket alone did she sorrow : she 
 remembered and felt remorseful for many 
 another selfish, unkind act and speech, and 
 she could not but contrast with shame her 
 cousin's conduct with her own. 
 
 " Dear, little Belle ! " said her uncle : " hers 
 is the charity that ' thinketh no evil.' " 
 
 Mr. Walton said this, knowing nothing of 
 the rules by which Belle had lately tried to 
 govern her behaviour to Mabel as well as to 
 others. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Powers, drawing his little 
 daughter fondly towards him, and kissing her 
 forehead, — " yes, I believe Belle is really 
 trying for that charity which may keep us in 
 love and peace with God and man." 
 
 " Papa," whispered Belle, with her arms 
 about his neck, u it used to be real hard not 
 to think Mabel was the spoildest, worst child 
 
200 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 that ever lived, and that would do all kinds 
 of bad things ; and now I don't like to think 
 that about her, or to have other people think 
 so. Is that 'cause I tried to have love-charity 
 for her ? Bessie said it was when I told 
 her." 
 
 " Yes, darling, I think so." 
 
 " And, papa, Maggie said one of her nice, 
 pleasant-sounding things. She said when we 
 were like sunbeams ourselves it made things 
 look bright and good that would look ugly 
 and dark if we were not nice and bright our- 
 selves. Maggie makes sunniness and shiny- 
 ness herself, and so does Bessie ; and they try 
 all they can to think people wouldn't do bad 
 things." 
 
 After the children had been dismissed for 
 the night, there was some discussion between 
 their parents whether or no it would be better 
 for Mabel to go to school till the mystery was 
 cleared up; but it was at last decided that 
 there should be no change, and she should go 
 as usual. 
 
Mabel's Generosity, 201 
 
 " If she will," said Mrs. Walton, to which 
 her husband replied, — 
 
 " I think, my dear, it is time that Mabel 
 was learning to do what she must, and not 
 what she will. I fear we have ourselves to 
 blame for much of this trouble, which has 
 arisen from the wilfulness and selfishness we 
 have too long overlooked." 
 
 But Mabel was so subdued by her trouble, 
 and by her sorrow for her past misconduct to 
 Belle, that she offered no resistance to going 
 to school the next day, further than to say 
 she did not want to go. 
 
 " Oh, yes, dear ! " said her father : " there 
 is no reason why you should not." 
 
 " I'm afraid the children won't believe me 
 about Belle's locket," she whispered ; " and 
 they'll look at me." 
 
 " But if you stay away it would seem as if 
 you were really guilty," said Mr. Walton. 
 "I do not think your school-mates will be 
 unkind to you ; and if they are, you must bear 
 it as a part of the punishment for your 
 
202 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 naughtiness to Belle. Mamma and I think 
 it better you should go. If you are innocent, 
 you need not be afraid." 
 
 And Mabel, quite broken-spirited, submitted 
 without any of the loud outcries with which 
 she usually met any opposition to her wishes. 
 
 " I know that they'll all be mad at me, and 
 point at me, and every thing," she sobbed, as 
 she started for school with Belle and the two 
 nurses. 
 
 " If any of them are so bad to you, I will 
 tell them to have ' love-charity ; ' and if they 
 don't, I won't be friends with them any more, 
 but be very offended with them indeed," said 
 Belle, forgetting that her new rule could work 
 more ways than one, and hold good for others 
 than Mabel. Just now she was so full of for- 
 giving pity and sympathy for her cousin that 
 she thought only of helping her and doing 
 battle in her behalf. 
 
 Mabel's fears were well founded, as it 
 proved. She was met with looks askance, 
 and cold words ; while Belle was greeted with 
 
MabeVs Generosity. 203 
 
 a more than usual share of affection. And 
 Dora Johnson, who was not very careful of 
 other people's feelings, and was apt to say 
 rather rude and unkind things without much 
 thought, said in a whisper, loud enough for 
 Mabel to hear, — 
 
 " Before I'd come to school if I was a 
 locket-thief! " 
 
 Belle heard this too, and at once fired up 
 in Mabel's defence. 
 
 " Before I would too, and before Mabel 
 would ! " she said, her bright eyes flashing 
 with indignation as she took her cousin's 
 hand in a protecting manner ; " and because 
 she isn't a thief is the reason she comes ; and 
 she only took it out of my desk to look at, and 
 didn't mean to steal it a bit. But somebody 
 else must have : I don't know who. And if 
 everybody don't be friends with her, they 
 needn't be friends with me either ; and I 
 won't have 'em, but will be awfully mad 
 with 'em." 
 
 Belle's speech was not perhaps very cohe- 
 
204 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 rent ; but it was understood by all, and had its 
 effect. For since she believed that Mabel had 
 not the locket, the rest thought that she must 
 have some good reason for her faith ; and no 
 more was said in words, though poor Mabel 
 could not but feel that she was curiously and 
 suspiciously gazed at by every child in the 
 school, as if they expected to read her guilt 
 or innocence written on her face. . Still, on 
 the whole, matters were not so bad as she had 
 feared they would be. Miss Ash ton was as 
 kind and gentle as usual, and, like her own 
 family, seemed to wish to believe her innocent 
 till she was proved guilty ; while Belle was 
 more affectionate and patronizing than she 
 had ever been before, and returned with 
 reproachful or defiant looks every cold or 
 scornful glance that fell to Mabel's share. 
 The search of the cloak-room for the missing 
 treasure had proved quite fruitless. Miss 
 Ashton had taken the trouble to have every 
 thing moved from the room, the floor had 
 been thoroughly swept, and even the corners 
 
MabcVs Generosity, 205 
 
 and edges of the carpet turned up ; but all in 
 vain. There was no trace of the lost locket ; 
 and Miss Ashton and her mother had decided 
 that they could only wait and see what time 
 would do. Whoever had taken it, such a 
 thing could not remain long hidden : it must 
 be discovered and brought home to the guilty 
 child. 
 
 So Miss Ashton told Mrs. Walton when 
 she called to see her again on this unhappy 
 matter ; and she would not say, though she 
 gave Mabel the benefit of the doubt, that in 
 her heart she believed her to be that child ; 
 and the mother could only hope and pray that 
 it might not be so. 
 
 Still it was a most uncomfortable and 
 unhappy matter. Such a thing had never 
 happened before in the little school ; and it 
 was sad to believe that there was a thief 
 among that young group. 
 
 But good was brought out of all this dis- 
 comfort and unhappiness. The change in 
 Mabel was surprising as well as encouraging 
 
206 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 She clung to Belle, and to Belle's faith in her, 
 in a way that was really touching, and which 
 went far to convince her friends and teacher 
 that she was really innocent of more than she 
 had confessed. And, contrary to her usual 
 custom, she did not try to excuse herself for 
 what she had done, but was truly penitent, 
 and ready to acknowledge that this trouble 
 had arisen from her own fault. If Belle 
 would have taken them, she would have thrust 
 upon her all her own possessions ; and now 
 whenever she saw a pretty thing, she wanted 
 it, not for herself, but for Belle, and was con- 
 stantly begging her papa and mamma to buy 
 this, that, and the other for her little cousin. 
 And as she became more and more unselfish 
 and yielding towards Belle, she became so 
 towards others, and more obedient and docile 
 to her parents ; till the self-willed, outrageous, 
 spoiled elf seemed really changing and quiet- 
 ing down into a tolerably well-behaved, rea- 
 sonable little child. 
 
 That she was really repentant and desirous 
 
MabeVs Generosity, 207 
 
 to make amends to Belle, she showed in a 
 very decided manner when her birthday came 
 around, as it did about three weeks after the 
 loss of the locket. 
 
 At this time her Grandmamma Walton 
 was accustomed to send her two gold half- 
 eagles ; a large sum for a child like Mabel, and 
 which the old lady probably supposed was put 
 away with care, or used to some good purpose 
 But hitherto it had always been frittered away 
 in toys, candies, and so forth, Mabel claiming 
 such and such portions of it to spend when 
 some trifle struck her fancy. 
 
 At the time the locket was first lost, her 
 mother had told her that it would be a good 
 thing if she should spend the money which 
 would come on her next birthday on a new 
 one for Belle ; and Mabel had readily agreed. 
 But Mr. Walton, knowing nothing of her 
 good intentions, had bought a handsome 
 locket, and given it to Belle to take the place, 
 as far as might be, of the one which was 
 gone. Belle had thanked him prettily, and 
 
2o8 Belle Powers'' Locket, 
 
 admired the gift ; then gave it to Daphne to 
 put away. 
 
 " Where I can't see it, Daffy, 'cause it 
 makes me feel like crying when I think it 
 was not a bit my own mamma's like that 
 other one I lost." 
 
 It was in vain that Daphne tried to per- 
 suade her to wear it : the child seemed to have 
 a half romantic, but touching sensitiveness 
 on the subject, which could not be overcome. 
 
 But Belle now having her uncle's gift, 
 Mrs. Walton told Mabel that she could spend 
 the money in some other way to gratify her 
 cousin ; and Mabel thought of first one thing, 
 then another, which she could purchase for 
 Belle. 
 
 But she had not yet decided upon any 
 thing when her birthday came, and with it 
 the usual gift from her grandmother. Run- 
 ning into Belle's nursery on that morning, she 
 found her little cousin standing by the side 
 of old Daphne, who, with her hands over her 
 face, was rocking herself to and fro, moan- 
 
MabeVs Generosity, 209 
 
 ing and crying, while Belle seemed to be 
 trying to comfort her. Near by stood another 
 colored woman, looking troubled also, though 
 not in the deep distress which Daphne showed. 
 In Daphne's lap laid the contents of Belle's 
 little purse and money-box, — pennies, five 
 and ten cent pieces, and so forth. 
 
 Mabel stood a moment in wonder at this 
 unusual state of affairs ; and then, full of the 
 business which had brought her, broke forth 
 with, — 
 
 "Belle! Belle! Make Daphne dress you 
 very quick. Papa is going to take us out to 
 buy something very nice for you with a whole 
 lot of money grandmamma sent me ; and then 
 he is going to take us for a nice long drive in 
 the Park, and let us run about and feed the 
 swans and see the animals. Make haste ! 
 make haste ! " 
 
 Belle shook her head sorrowfully. 
 
 " I can't leave Daphne, Mabel," she said. 
 
 " She has a great trouble. Somebody went 
 
 and did something naughty, and the people 
 14 
 
210 Belle Powers' Locket* 
 
 thought it was Daphne's boy," — Daphne's 
 boy was her grandson, — " and they've taken 
 him to prison ; but this woman knew it wasn't 
 him, and they say he can come out if he can 
 get a whole lot of money ; and this woman 
 came to tell Daphne ; but she hasn't money 
 enough, and I haven't either, and papa has 
 gone away to Philadelphia, and won't come 
 back till day after to-morrrow ; and what can 
 we do ? " and Belle's eyes filled, as she told 
 the story of her old nurse's trouble. 
 
 " And won't you come ? " said Mabel. 
 
 " No, thank you, Mabel : I couldn't." 
 
 " Now go, and take yer pleasure, my 
 honey," said Daphne, ever-mindful of her little 
 lady's happiness. " I'll make you ready." 
 
 " No, no, Daffy : I couldn't leave you. Oh ! 
 I do wish papa was home. He would fix it 
 all, and get poor Peter out of prison. You 
 are real good, Mabel ; but I couldn't care 
 much about the very prettiest present if I 
 had to leave Daphne all alone when she is 
 so sorry." 
 
MabeVs Generosity. 21 1 
 
 Mabel hesitated, and thought of those two 
 bright golden pieces. Here was a chance to 
 give Belle a real pleasure, if she chose. She 
 knew Belle well enough to feel sure that she 
 would far rather help her old nurse out of 
 this trouble than to have the most beautiful 
 gift for herself; and Mabel believed that any 
 thing might be done with that sum of money, 
 which was her own to spend as she pleased. 
 
 But, as we know, Mabel and Daphne had 
 never been, and were not yet, the best of 
 friends ; and it was partly Daphne's fault too. 
 She had no faith in Mabel's improvement, 
 and watched with disdainful and unbelieving 
 eyes her little attempts to be less selfish and 
 wilful. And Mabel knew this, and returned 
 the old woman's dislike with all her little 
 might. So how could she resolve to give up 
 her cherished plan for Daphne's relief ? To 
 be sure, it would give Belle more pleasure, 
 but it would give far less to herself; and, 
 indeed, she was not quite sure that she did 
 not feel just the least satisfaction in Daphne's 
 trouble. 
 
212 Belle Powers^ Locket, 
 
 " It serves her right for being so cross to 
 me all the time," she said to herself; but 
 then came a feeling of shame at the unkind 
 thought, and she was glad that Belle did not 
 know of it. 
 
 " Belle would give the money if it was 
 hers, to get Peter out of prison, I know," she 
 thought, nothing doubting that the two half- 
 eagles could do this ; " and maybe it would 
 be the best way to show her I do love her, and 
 am sorry for being so naughty to her about 
 the locket. I'll just do it ; but I better do it 
 pretty quick or I'll change my mind about it, 
 'cause I don't want to one bit." 
 
 She rushed from the room, leaving Belle to 
 think that she was vexed at her refusal to go 
 out with her ; but in two minutes she was 
 back with the gold pieces, which she thrust 
 into Belle's hand, saying, — 
 
 " There, Belle, if you would rather take 
 that black boy out of prison than have a 
 pretty present for you and me to play with, 
 you may. I will give you my money for it ; 
 
MabeVs Generosity. 213 
 
 but I don't do it 'cause I love Daphne, not 
 one bit." 
 
 It was not a very gracious way of bestow- 
 ing a favor, it was true ; but it was such a 
 piece of unwonted self-denial from Mabel that 
 her hearers were all taken by surprise, and 
 did not know what to say. Belle stood with 
 the gold pieces in her open hand, looking from 
 them to Mabel, and then at Daphne, who was 
 looking amazed and bewildered in her turn. 
 
 But now Mrs. Walton appeared. 
 
 "When Mabel had run back to her mamma's 
 room for her half-eagles, as she took them 
 from her box she told some incoherent story, 
 which Mrs. Walton had not understood, but 
 which speedily brought her after her little 
 girl to see what was to be the fate of the 
 money. There was no knowing what freak 
 might have taken the child. 
 
 " I want Belle to take those to bring 
 Daphne's black boy out of prison, mamma; 
 and she seems as if she didn't want to," said 
 Mabel, half-pouting. 
 
?I4 Belle Powers* Locket, 
 
 Then Daphne understood ; and, rising, 
 courtesied to Mrs. Walton, and told her 
 story; ending by saying that she had not 
 known what Miss Mabel meant, and she 
 begged Mrs. Walton's pardon, and she had 
 not thought of taking the child's money: 
 " Bress her heart ! an' I didn't desarve it, 
 cos I did take such a scunner at her." 
 
 Mrs. Walton seized Mabel in her arms, and 
 covered her with kisses ; while she lavished 
 upon her the most extravagant words of 
 praise and admiration. Mabel had expected 
 this when her mother should come to hear of 
 her offer to Daphne ; and, more than this, she 
 had been farther helped to make it by the 
 belief that her mother would not let her be 
 a loser. 
 
 " But you shall not spend your birthday 
 gift for that, my darling," she said : " perhaps 
 papa can see to it until Uncle Frederick comes 
 home. We will go and ask him, and tell him 
 what a good, generous girl you are.' , 
 
 Far wiser would it have been if Mrs. Wal- 
 
MabeVs Generosity, 215 
 
 ton had let Mabel learn to do good to others 
 by making some sacrifice of her own wishes ; 
 but she could not bear to have her darling 
 deprived of the slightest pleasure, on this day 
 of all others. So bidding Daphne take heart 
 till she should see what Mr. Walton said, she 
 took both children with her to tell him the 
 story. 
 
 Mr. Walton listened, and then kindly said 
 he would go and find out the truth of the case 
 at once ; and if he thought it right, he would 
 give bail for the lad, for that was what was 
 needed. 
 
 " But," he said, " if I do this, I should go at 
 once, that Daphne and her boy may not be 
 kept in misery longer than is necessary ; and 
 then my little girls must lose their promised 
 morning in the Park. The promise was made 
 to you first : are you both willing to give up 
 this pleasure for Daphne's sake ? " 
 
 There was no doubt about Belle ; but, as 
 Mr. Walton added, " it was Mabel's birthday, 
 and she must decide." 
 
216 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 Now indeed Mabel's generosity and self 
 denial were put to the proof, certainly far 
 more than Belle's. The latter loved her 
 faithful old nurse too dearly to hesitate for 
 one instant ; and, even had it not been so, the 
 sacrifice was by no means so great for her as 
 for Mabel. The Park with all its attractions 
 was no new thing to Belle : many a drive and 
 ramble had she had there ; but to Mabel, 
 who was a stranger in the city, it was not so 
 familiar, and had not yet lost its first charm 
 for her. And she had. been so delighted with 
 the thought of passing the morning there.' 
 How could she give it up for Daphne ? 
 
 Her father waited for her answer, and 
 would not let his wife speak when she would 
 have proposed some other plan ; Belle watched 
 her with wistful eyes ; and she could not make 
 up her mind to the sacrifice. She hesitated, 
 pouted, frowned ; and there were all the 
 signs of a coming storm. 
 
 " Yery well," said her father, gravely. " I 
 had hoped that my Mabel was really learning 
 
MabeVs Generosity . 217 
 
 to care a little for others, but I fear it is not 
 so. It must be as she decides. We will go 
 for our pleasure, leaving Daphne's boy to stay 
 another day in prison, for I have other busi- 
 ness to attend to later in the day ; or we will 
 give up this little treat to save her and him 
 much suffering. Which shall it be, Mabel ? " 
 
 " I said she could have my birthday money," 
 whimpered Mabel ; " and mamma said I was 
 as generous as any thing." 
 
 " Ah ! it did not cost you much to give up 
 the money, my child," said her father. " You 
 and Belle have more toys and pretty things 
 now than you know what to do with ; but you 
 are not generous enough to give up that on 
 which you have really set your heart." 
 
 Mabel looked over at Belle once more, and 
 as she met the beseeching look in her eyes 
 remembered that here was really the chance 
 to show her cousin that she wished to make 
 up for her past unkindness. 
 
 She dropped the pocket-handkerchief which 
 she was pettishly twisting into a string, low 
 
2l8 
 
 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 ered her raised shoulders, and running to 
 Belle threw her arms about her neck, and 
 said, — 
 
 " We'll give up the Park, and let papa go 
 to let out Peter, Belle, — so we will. I'll be 
 generous, even if I don't want to." 
 
 So it was settled, and Mr. Walton went on 
 his errand of mercy ; of which I need say no 
 more than that it was successful, and Peter 
 set free, to the joy of Belle and Daphne. 
 
XIV. 
 
 FOUND. 
 
 FORTNIGHT, three, four, five weeks 
 passed away ; and still nothing had 
 been seen or heard of Belle's lost 
 treasure. For the first few days the children 
 could talk of nothing else ; and it was only 
 Belle's determination to stand fast by her 
 cousin and take her part, that prevented them 
 from treating Mabel with open slights and 
 coldness. Dark looks and cool words would 
 certainly have fallen to her portion, but for 
 Belle ; and she knew and felt this, and it is 
 only justice to her to say that she was grateful 
 to Belle accordingly. 
 
 But by and by the affair became an old 
 
220 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 story, as every thing does in time, and the 
 children ceased to wonder over it ; and Mabel, 
 though never much of a favorite, was allowed 
 to come with them and join in their games as 
 usual. Only the little cousins thought much 
 about the locket ; Belle still grieving over her 
 loss, and Mabel mourning it almost as much, 
 with a feeling of guilt and shame added to 
 her sorrow for her cousin's sake. 
 
 Perhaps nothing could have done Mabel 
 more good than this sense of the wrong she 
 had done her cousin : it made her see how 
 indulgence in selfishness and wilfulness may 
 bring trouble and distress which we never 
 intended or dreamt of in our perverse mood. 
 Moreover she felt abashed whenever she re- 
 membered that the most, if not all of her 
 school-mates, and perhaps her teacher too, 
 believed her guilty of even theft. It is not 
 usually good for people to be unjustly sus- 
 pected ; but in this case it did Mabel no harm. 
 It made her less exacting and domineering at 
 school, and the wish to make amends to Belle 
 
Found, 221 
 
 male her more yielding and unselfish at home. 
 So her old bad habits were somewhat broken 
 in upon, and the praise and credit which she 
 gained from her parents and little cousin were 
 so pleasing to her that they caused her to 
 persevere and try to do still better. It was 
 not the best motive for improvement, to be 
 sure ; but it was something gained in the 
 right way ; and by and by Mabel came to the 
 discovery that she was really happier when 
 she was good than when she was naughty. 
 
 One day when she and Belle were paying a 
 visit to Maggie and Bessie, she gave what the 
 other children considered a very striking in- 
 stance of improvement. She had brought 
 with her a very beautiful doll, and to this doll 
 little Annie had taken a desperate fancy ; but 
 it was not thought safe to trust it to her hold, 
 although she begged for it piteously. Baby 
 though she was, Annie knew that she never 
 obtained any thing by screaming for it ; but 
 she pleaded for the doll, which was held 
 beyond her reach, with kisses and many 
 
222 Belle Powers^ Locket. 
 
 pretty, broken words, till it was hard to resist 
 her ; while Mabel was surprised that she did 
 not scream and cry for that which she wanted 
 so much, and could not help thinking that the 
 little one behaved far better than she would 
 have done herself. And at length her heart 
 was moved so that she could refuse Annie no 
 longer, although no one had thought her 
 unreasonable to do so. 
 
 " S'pose I sit down here on the rug by 
 Annie, and let her hold it while I watch her 
 very carefully," she said to Nurse, who was 
 vainly trying to divert baby's attention by offer- 
 ing her every thing else proper for her to have. 
 
 " I don't know, dear," said Mammy, 
 divided between the wish to indulge her 
 pet, and the fear that the doll would come 
 to harm in Annie's keeping. 
 
 " I'll be very careful of it," said Mabel. 
 " Put her down here by me, and I'll teach her 
 how to hold it nicely." 
 
 Nurse obeyed, and the baby was made 
 happy; while her little sisters and Belle 
 
Found. 223 
 
 looked on in pleased surprise at Mabel's 
 novel generosity. 
 
 " Mabel," said Maggie, " I'm going to make 
 you a compliment ; and it is that I never saw 
 a child improve more than you do 'most every 
 day. I expect one of these days you'll be 
 quite a benefactor." 
 
 " I expect she will too," said Belle. 
 " What does it mean ? " 
 
 " Somebody who is very generous and does 
 a great many kind things for people," said 
 Maggie. 
 
 " Then I'm certain you and Bessie are 
 benefactors," said Belle, pronouncing the 
 long word slowly, as if she were not quite 
 sure of it. 
 
 " We try to be," answered Maggie, de- 
 murely. 
 
 " I'm sure you are too, Belle," said Bessie. 
 
 " Yes : she just is," said Mabel. " But I 
 s'pose you don't think I am one." 
 
 " Um — well — not quite," said Bessie, 
 not wishing to hurt Mabel's feelings, but too 
 
224 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 truthful to say what she did not think ; " but 
 we have great hopes of you, Mabel. We 
 think it was pretty benef acting of you to let 
 Baby Annie have your new doll in her own 
 hands. It must have been pretty hard work." 
 
 " Yes," said Maggie : " we didn't expect 
 it of you, Mabel ; and we're very agreeably 
 disappointed in you." 
 
 Praise from her playmates was something 
 quite new and very pleasant to Mabel, and 
 she began to feel pretty well pleased with 
 herself. 
 
 " Yes," she said, with an air of superior 
 virtue, " I b'lieve I'm growing pretty good 
 now." 
 
 " You oughtn't to say that," said Bessie : 
 " you ought to say, i Perhaps I am a little bet- 
 ter than I used to be, but I hope I'll be better 
 yet.' " 
 
 " Why ? " asked Mabel, feeling that she 
 was not properly appreciated in her new 
 character. 
 
 " Because,'" answered Bessie, " it is not the 
 
Found. 225 
 
 fashion for people to talk about their own 
 goodness. They ought to wait and let other 
 people do it." 
 
 " Well," said Mabel, " I'm sure you were 
 doing it ; and so why can't I do it too ? " 
 
 " But it's yourself, you know," said Maggie ; 
 " and because 4 every crow thinks her own 
 young one the blackest,' that is not any 
 reason for her to talk about it." 
 
 " Crows caw, not talk, Maggie," said Bessie, 
 the matter of fact. 
 
 " Oh, well ! " said Maggie, " the lesson out 
 of the proverb is all the same." 
 
 " I didn't mean to be proud about it," said 
 Mabel, quite humbly ; " but I couldn't help 
 feeling a little nice when I thought I wasn't 
 so naughty as I used to be. Mamma says I 
 am better, and papa says so too." 
 
 "And we say so too," said Bessie, kissing 
 
 her, the first kiss she had ever given her of 
 
 her own free will ; " and we are very glad of 
 
 it, Mabel." 
 
 " I think it was Belle that made me a better 
 15 
 
226 Belle Powers' 1 Locket. 
 
 girl," said Mabel : " she was so good to me, 1 
 had to be. 'Least she was pretty mad with 
 me at first : wasn't you, Belle ? And before 
 I did a thing to her too ; but afterwards she 
 was real good to me. And you and Maggie 
 were good to me too ; and everybody liked 
 you, so I thought it must be nice to be good, 
 and I would be too. And I b'lieve I do like 
 it better." 
 
 "You see example is better than practice," 
 said Maggie, meaning "precept;" "and so 
 'cause Belle was good and kind herself, that 
 put you in a mind to be so ; and that ought to 
 make you very happy, Belle. I find it is very 
 true that if ' evil communications corrupt good 
 manners,' good communications also corrupt 
 evil manners." 
 
 Little Belle had not said much while the 
 others were talking on this subject, but now 
 she said quite softly to Bessie, — 
 
 " Bessie, do you think that I was a little 
 sunbeam to Mabel ? You know I said I 
 wouldn't be ; but papa told me that verse out 
 
Found. 227 
 
 of the Bible 'bout our Father making His sun 
 to shine on the evil and the good, and he said 
 that meant we ought to be good and like sun- 
 shine to everybody, if they were good or if 
 they were bad." 
 
 " Yes : I do think you were, Belle," 
 answered Bessie ; " and I b'lieve our Father 
 was very pleased with you, 'cause you know 
 Mabel was pretty evil when she first came 
 here ; and it was very hard for you, most of 
 all about the locket." 
 
 " Yes," said Belle, with a sigh ; " and now 
 I've had to make up my mind never to find 
 my locket. Papa told me I had better. He 
 says there is no hope of finding it now." 
 
 Meanwhile Maggie was congratulating Mabel 
 still further on her improved conduct. 
 
 " We're very glad, Mabel," she said, " that 
 we can be friends with you ; for we wouldn't 
 have liked you to be ' a heathen man and a 
 publican ' to us. We wouldn't like to be in that 
 case with anybody, but ' specially with Belle's 
 cousin, ' cause we're so very fond of her." 
 
228 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 " So am I," said Mabel, looking affection* 
 ately over at Belle. 
 
 And this was true. Mabel had really learned 
 to love Belle dearly and to trust her entirely ; 
 and, what was still better, she was becoming 
 anxious to copy the pretty lady-like behavior, 
 ready obedience, and sweet unselfishness, 
 which she saw practised in the daily life of 
 her cousin, and her little friends, Maggie and 
 Bessie Bradford. 
 
 Not that it must be thought that all went 
 smoothly on every occasion. Belle, as well as 
 Mabel, had a firm will and a high temper, 
 and she had been much indulged and some- 
 what spoiled by her father and nurse ; so that 
 now and then the two children would fall out 
 about some trifle, and perhaps have some 
 quick words, and, it might be, pout and sulk 
 at one another for a while. But Belle was 
 generally mindful of the " sunshine " she was 
 to shed about her, and so was soon ready to 
 make up and yield the disputed point; and 
 then Mabel would be shamed into repentance, 
 
Found, 229 
 
 and there would be harmony and peace 
 between them once more. 
 
 Yes : little Belle had truly proved a " sun- 
 beam " to Mabel, throwing light upon the 
 right way, and not only pointing it out to her 
 so plainly that she could not miss it, but mak- 
 ing it look so bright and attractive that she 
 turned with some willingness to walk there, 
 pleased to follow in the steps of her little 
 example. 
 
 And the sunshine which she set herself to 
 shed upon Mabel's way was reflected farther 
 still on all about them, till where there had 
 been discontent and weariness now reigned 
 harmony and happiness ; and all was peace. 
 
 Dora Johnson was a fat, chubby little thing, 
 round as a ball, and like the " Dumpling " her 
 school-mates called her ; looking as if she was 
 never troubled by a pain or an ache. But she 
 was subject now and then to a pain and ful- 
 ness in her head, for which the best remedy 
 was a turn in the open air ; and when one of 
 
230 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 these attacks came on in school, Miss Ashton 
 always allowed her to go for this, knowing 
 that Dora was a child to be trusted, who 
 would return to her studies as soon as she 
 was able. Taken in time, they passed away 
 soon with but little trouble, and her kind 
 teacher was watchful to prevent them as far 
 as possible. 
 
 " Dora, my deai s does your head trouble 
 you?" asked Miss Ashton, as she saw the 
 child press her hand to her forehead, while 
 oer face flushed suddenly. 
 
 " Yes'm," answered Dors*, dropping her 
 \>ook. 
 
 " Then wrap your cloak about you and go 
 \q: a turn on the piazza or in the garden, till 
 yt>u are better," said the lady. 
 
 Dora gladly obeyed, thankful for the relief 
 which the fresh, bracing air would bring to 
 her throbbing head. Going for her cloak, she 
 threw it around her, ran downstairs and out 
 upon the piazza. Her step was light ; and 
 whatever sound her little feet might have 
 
Found. 231 
 
 made upon the floor was drowned by the loud 
 and continuous hammering made by some 
 workmen, who were tinning the roof of a 
 neighboring house. 
 
 Dora walked once or twice the length of 
 the piazza, and was beginning to feel better, 
 when she heard the sound of voices below; 
 and presently she saw the cook come out from 
 the kitchen-door, followed by Marcia, the 
 colored girl. Cook had a large bundle in her 
 arm, and was evidently going out. 
 
 A door in the side of the garden-wall 
 opened upon the street which bounded one 
 side of it ; and, unfastening this, the cook 
 passed out, saying to Marcia, — 
 
 " Now mind and keep the door shut ; and 
 don't you be poking your head out, and leav 
 ing your work." 
 
 With which she disappeared; and Marcia 
 shut and bolted the door, then cut one or two 
 foolish antics as though she were pleased to 
 be rid of her. She did not see Dora ; for the 
 end of the piazza where the little girl stood 
 
232 Belle Powers* Locket. 
 
 looking out at her was screened by a lattice 
 over which ran a vine. There were no leaves 
 on the vine now, it is true ; but the stems and 
 tendrils helped to make that corner a good 
 hiding-place from any one who stood below. 
 
 Dora had no thought of hiding from Marcia ; 
 and she was about to speak to her, when she 
 saw the colored girl, after looking carefully 
 about her, stoop down, and with a bit of stick 
 begin to poke and pry between the stones at 
 the bottom of the wall, which was somewhat 
 out of repair at this part, and showed one or 
 two large cracks running along just above the 
 ground. 
 
 " What can she be doing ? " thought Dora ; 
 and curiosity held her silent till she should 
 see what Marcia would be at. 
 
 Though hidden herself, she could see the 
 girl very well, peeping down at her, as she 
 did, through the lattice and the vine. 
 
 Marcia pried and pried, stopping now and 
 then to look about her and listen, as if afraid 
 of being caught ; and at last fished up from 
 
Found. 233 
 
 between the stones something glittering 
 which looked like — was it possible ? — Dora 
 thought it looked like a slender chain with 
 something hanging to it. Could it be ? — 
 was it — Belle's locket? 
 
 She darted from her corner, along the 
 piazza, down the steps leading to the garden, 
 and around to the side of the wall where 
 Marcia was ; but the girl' saw and heard her 
 coming, and before she reached her the thing 
 she had held in her hand was dropped again 
 into its hiding-place between the stones. 
 
 Yet not so quickly but that Dora saw the mo- 
 tion of Marcia's hand, and she was more than 
 ever convinced that something was wrong. 
 
 They stood and faced one another, the little 
 lady and the colored girl : the former, stern 
 and indignant, as became one who had caught 
 a culprit in the act ; the other, sheepish and 
 guilty, wriggling her shoulders uneasily, and 
 not daring to meet the eye which accused her. 
 
 " Give me that," said Dora, severely. 
 
 " Give you what, Miss Johnson ? " said 
 
234 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 Marcia, twisting and wriggling more than 
 ever and vainly trying to put on an air of 
 innocence. 
 
 " What you had in your hand. I b'lieve 
 you've put it back in the wall, but you'll have 
 to let me see it," said Dora. 
 
 " I ain't got nothin', Miss ; and I s'pect 
 Miss Ash ton wants you. I hear her callin'," 
 said Marcia. 
 
 " She's not calling, and if she was I wouldn't 
 go till I knew what that was," answered Dora, 
 firmly. " She'll excuse me when I tell her 
 why." 
 
 Marcia persisted, and insisted that she had 
 had nothing in her hand ; but Dora knew 
 better. And though the girl tried every device 
 to rid herself of the young lady, she was not 
 to be moved. She would mount guard over 
 that hidden thing till she learned what it was, 
 if she stood there all day. 
 
 Equally determined was Marcia ; but she 
 coaxed and threatened and tried to frighten 
 in vain. Dora was a child of too much sense 
 
Found. 235 
 
 to be at all disturbed by the stories she told 
 of what would happen to her ; treated with 
 scorn all the bribes which Marcia promised ; 
 and repeated over and over again her resolu- 
 tion not to stir till she saw what was in that 
 crack. 
 
 As for Miss Ashton coming for her, it was 
 just what Dora wished for : she could tell her 
 teacher, and leave the matter in her hands, 
 sure that she would find means of coming at 
 the truth. And now there was Nelly Ran- 
 som's voice making itself heard. 
 
 " Dora ! Dora ! Where are you ? Miss 
 Ashton wants to know if you are worse." 
 
 " Come here, Nelly," said Dora ; while 
 Marcia grew more and more uneasy as she 
 found the toils of her own wickedness closing 
 down and down upon her. " You go and ask 
 Miss Ashton to come here very quick. I've 
 made a great discovery. Make haste." 
 
 Nelly obeyed, wondering much ; and Miss 
 Ashton, rather alarmed, speedily appeared on 
 the spot. 
 
236 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 Marcia, seeing that all was lost now, did 
 not wait for her wickedness to be revealed ; 
 but, as the young lady came down the steps, 
 shot away around the other side of the house 
 and out of sight. 
 
 Dora's story was soon told, and the crack 
 pointed out ; in another moment the little girl 
 and her teacher were busy following Marcia' s 
 example, and with bits of crooked stick trying 
 to poke out the hidden " shiny thing," as 
 Dora called it, — not yet sure enough to say 
 the locket. 
 
 " Oh ! Miss Ashton," said the excited child, 
 " I feel something, — I do, I do ! " and the next 
 moment she drew up with her hooked stick 
 — the locket ! — yes, Belle's long-lost locket ! 
 
 Dora's joy and exultation knew no bounds ; 
 and she would have rushed away with it to the 
 school-room at once, had not Miss Ashton 
 stopped her. 
 
 " Let me be the one to take it to Belle. 
 Oh ! do, Miss Ashton. I was the finder out," 
 said the child. 
 
Fotnid. 237 
 
 " Yes, you shall give it to her ; but I cannot 
 have the class excited and disturbed just now," 
 said the lady. " Besides, I want to know how 
 this came here." 
 
 " But, Miss Ashton," said Dora, " I don't 
 think I could keep it in. And then Mabel, 
 poor Mabel ! you wouldn't let any one think 
 she stole it a minute longer, would you ? Oh ! 
 I am so sorry I believed it of her, and was so 
 ugly to her about it." 
 
 There was reason in Dora's words ; and 
 Miss Ashton, knowing that the curiosity of 
 her young flock must already be excited, 
 concluded to let her reveal her prize, although 
 she felt sure that there would be little more 
 study that morning if she did so. 
 
 It was singular how the locket should have 
 come into Marcia's possession, and she did not 
 yet feel that Mabel was quite cleared. But 
 she gave Dora leave to make her good news 
 known, and to restore the locket to Belle. 
 
 Away rushed Dora, and running into the 
 school-room held aloft her prize, crying out, — 
 
238 Belle Powers" Locket. 
 
 " Found ! Found ! and I did it, Belle and 
 Mabel I "' 
 
 ■ Miss Ashton following close on Dora's steps 
 found her class in quite as much commotion 
 as she had expected. Belle, with the recovered 
 locket held fast in her little hands, was cover- 
 ing it with kisses, while tears and smiles were 
 struggling for the mastery. She flew into 
 Miss Ashton' s arms the moment she appeared, 
 but could find no words for all that was in 
 her heart. 
 
 But this could not be said for any of the 
 others ; for questions and exclamations were 
 poured forth in such numbers that it was 
 impossible to answer them all, and in spite 
 of Miss Ashton's warning " Sh ! sh ! " there 
 arose such a Babel of young voices that Mrs. 
 Ashton opened the door of her room and 
 asked the cause of the uproar. 
 
 A sudden hush fell upon the little ones 
 when her voice was heard ; and then Miss 
 Ashton told in a few words where and how 
 the locket had been found. 
 
Found. 239 
 
 Belle waited till she was through, and then 
 slipping from her teacher's lap ran over to 
 Mabel, who sat sobbing at her desk ; and the 
 two little cousins put their arms about one 
 another in a loving, congratulatory clasp. 
 
 " Oh ! Mabel," said Belle, " I am so glad I 
 b'lieved you didn't have it. I would feel so 
 bad if I had." 
 
 " I'm so glad it's come out," sobbed Mabel, 
 with a look and tone which went far towards 
 convincing Miss Ashton that the child's story 
 had really been true, and that, however mys- 
 terious it now seemed, Marcia in some way 
 had obtained possession of the locket without 
 Mabel's knowledge. 
 
 " So am I," said Dora, who had been one 
 of the most forward in believing Mabel guilty ; 
 " and I'm so sorry I was hateful to you about 
 it, Mabel. I'll make up to you for it as long 
 as I live ! See if I don't." 
 
 Congratulations were showered on both of 
 the little cousins ; and Belle's pleasure in the 
 recovery of her locket was increased tenfold 
 by knowing that Mabel was cleared. 
 
240 Belle Powers' Locket, 
 
 For when, after some difficulty, Marcia was 
 forced to confess how she had come by the 
 locket, she said that on the day when she had 
 been allowed to go to her sick sister, she had 
 forgotten a bundle she was to take with her, 
 and returned for it. Finding the gate unfas- 
 tened, she came in without ringing, entered 
 the house, and went up to her room without 
 notice. But on the way up she saw Mabel 
 run out from the school-room into the cloak- 
 room, and peeping at her through the crack 
 of the door saw her throw down some glitter- 
 ing object and cover it with her hat and sacque. 
 She passed on her way ; but, as she came 
 down, was tempted to go in and see what the 
 young lady had been hiding. At first it was 
 only curiosity ; but when she saw the pretty 
 thing, the wish to ha^ ° it came over her, and, 
 the temptation proving too strong, she snatched 
 it up, put the cloak and hat as she had found 
 them, and ran away out of the house as quiet- 
 ly as possible, no one knowing that she had 
 returned. But she dared not let any one see 
 
Found. 24X 
 
 the locket, and she had put it for safe hiding in 
 the crack in the wall, whence she could take 
 it out once in a while and look at it. But it 
 had been more trouble than pleasure to her ; 
 for Marcia had been taught better, and found 
 truly that " the way of transgressors is hard." 
 She was not very penitent now, but very 
 much frightened, believing that she would be 
 sent to prison. This was not done of course ; 
 but Marcia' s sin had deprived her of a good 
 home and its comforts. Mrs. Ashton would 
 have kept her, and still tried to do her good, 
 if she had not had her young pupils to consid- 
 er ; but Marcia had been much given to pil- 
 fering of late ; and this fault, so serious in any 
 place, was particularly so in a school. So 
 Marcia must go, in spite of all her promises, 
 — promises made so often before, and so often 
 broken. Mrs. and Miss Ashton still kept an 
 eye upon her, and did what they could to 
 befriend her ; but she lost much through a 
 sin which had brought her not the smallest 
 pleasure. 
 
242 Belle Powers' Locket. 
 
 And now we will say good-by for a while 
 to Belle and Mabel ; hoping that the latter, 
 profiting by the lessons and example set 
 before her, may also learn to draw light and 
 brightness from the Sun of Righteousness, 
 and herself prove a little sunbeam to all 
 about her path. 
 
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 The Violet in the Shade. „ 50 
 
 Light on the Lilv „ 50 
 
 Dolly's Charge „ ..... .50 
 
 Our Laddie. By Miss Tomlinson 50 
 
 Ursula. By Miss Bekenn 50 
 
 *D'AUBIGNE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORM A- 
 
 , TION IN THE TIME OF CALVIN. Complete. 8 vols. i2mo. 
 $8.00. 
 
 *D'AUBIGNE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORMA- 
 TION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 5 vols. £4.50. 
 

 
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