"In this sort of way," answered Agnes. "One day lately, I heard a girl say something like this: Oh, you know, she asked me how I liked her drawing, and I said it was sweetly pretty; but really, you know, it was not a bit nice, nor a quarter as well done as so-and-so's.'" "Oh, Agnes! You did not hear me say that!" exclaimed Alice, shocked. "No, not you; but every day we hear this sort of compromise. If that girl I spoke of, had been taxed with not speaking the truth, she would have answered: Well, it was very pretty, or, if I didn't think so, she did, and that made it quite true.'" "I would not have said such a thing for the world," exclaimed Alice. "I am sure you would not; but I find, for myself, that these difficulties meet one at every step, and that our being 'girt about with truth' is an everyday necessity." "I'm sure it is," said John, "in a hundred ways. If we look-out for them, they will come to us fast enough, and we shall get used to watching ourselves." "Is that all about Truth?" asked Florence. "Not half enough, but you must think it out for yourselves; we shall not have time to-night for more than a few suggestions. We must now proceed to the 'Breastplate of Righteousness.'" "That's mine," said Hugh. "All of us need it," answered Agnes, "for I think it is one of our best weapons against Satan." "How?" asked Hugh. "Don't you see that it is only as we carry the 'Breastplate of Righteousness' we can face Satan boldly, without fear?" "But," said Hugh, very soberly, "I don't always feel bold when I meet Satan, for he often accuses me, and I have nothing to say!" "Yes," answered Agnes, "and that is the very reason, I believe, why our God has provided the Breastplate of Righteousness—not ours but His—the perfect righteousness of Christ, in which we may face all our foes with calm confidence. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?'" "That is a nice thought," said Hugh heartily; and Agnes, glancing up at the moment, saw the moonbeams resting on a very bright, earnest face, in which a look of peace had taken up its abode. "It strikes me, we shall find all we need, every piece as we come to them," said John. Agnes smiled to herself, and then Minnie, who was looking up in her eyes, said, "Shall we, Aggie?" "I should not wonder," she answered. "But what comes next?" asked Minnie. "'Shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace,'" said John. "That belongs to Agnes, and it suits her." "I wish it did," she answered; "but I have thought of it like this. To have feet always ready to do our Lord's bidding; to go everywhere, not with our own poor, bare, tired feet, but shod with His Gospel of peace; a covering which will make us welcome wherever we go." "What next, Agnes?" asked Hugh. "'The Shield of Faith,' Minnie's great piece of armour." "Yes, that's mine," nodded Minnie.