"I believe you," said Miss Meeks. "You have your faults, but I never knew untruth to be one of them. To show you that I trust you, I shall, if agreeable to you, request Miss McPherson to allow you to sit with me in the small room this afternoon and oversee the children's work." "Thank you, Miss Meeks; I shall like it very much," said Calista, and she turned away and followed the teacher into the dining-room, without so much as looking at Mary. She usually enjoyed the school dinners, which, if plain, were abundant and dealt out without stint; but to-day her roast mutton and cherry pie tart seemed to choke her. That Mary should use her so! She did not wonder at Antoinette; but Mary—Mary, whom she had looked upon as the very pattern and exemplar of all that was good, and loved with the passionate love of a first friendship. It seemed to Calista as if she would never believe in anybody again. If Calista was sorrowful, Mary herself was utterly wretched. At first she had tried to excuse herself to herself—to gloss the matter over as she had done with a good many things lately; but it would not do. She felt that she had told a lie, and meant to tell one, though every word she had said had been literally true. Calista had used these words, and had laughed as she did so; but Mary knew well enough that she had conveyed a false impression, and meant to convey one; that Calista had not laughed at Miss Meeks, but on the contrary had spoken of her with the greatest kindness. Ever since she had first been awakened in religious matters, Mary had cultivated the habit (and a most useful and excellent one it is) of retiring a few minutes at noon for self-examination and prayer. As she entered her room this day, she was strongly tempted to omit her usual exercise, and hurry down stairs; but the habit was too strong for her. She sat down in her usual place, and almost mechanically opened her Bible. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." (Matt. 5:23, 24.) Mary shut her book almost impatiently, and opened again. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15.)