proper for him to have, and that contrary to an injunction which Sarah had often repeated, never to give him anything to eat; and another, in pilfering the sugar for herself. I have yet, with deep regret, to add one more, and that of a still deeper dye; one that is seldom found to be absent when wrong doings are entered upon; and that was, the telling of a lie.

One lump of sugar had been eaten by her, and a smaller one by Johnny, and two lumps secreted in her pocket, before the sound of Sarah's feet on the stairs created alarm in her heart; but hastening to her seat on the carpet, by the side of the little boy, she endeavoured to hide the workings of a guilty censcience, in talking to him, and amusing him with the rattle and other toys that were scattered about him.

But Johnny, who had been quiet enough, as well as his companion, whilst regaling upon the sugar, having come to the end of it, was not to be put off with either rattle or ball, when he found there was any thing so much more agreeable within his reach. In vain was Gertrude's exclamation of "Hush! hush! here, baby,-see,-see here!" Sugar

was what he wanted, and sugar he would have; and finding that he could not, he beat away the play-things, and set up such a tremendous cry just as Sarah opened the door, that alarmed, and not knowing what had happened, she rushed forward and took him on her lap. Her sitting down in a line with the sugar bason, immediately stopped his cries; for, catching a nearer view of it, he began stretching out his hands, and then clapping them together, and mumping with his mouth, in a way which intelligibly enough explained what it was he was crying for.

"Oh, you little rogue, is that what you want?" said Sarah.

Then, as if suddenly recollecting that it was odd he should so violently clamour for the sugar, unless he had already tasted it, she turned to Gertrude and said, "I hope, my dear, you have not been giving him sugar?"

Quite unlike her usual gentle manner of speaking, Gertrude now, rather angrily, and almost in tears, replied, "I'm sure I didn't!!"

There was something so agitated in her look and tone, that Sarah more than suspected the truth; and, perhaps, would have

pursued her inquiries in a way that would have brought it out, had not Charlotte at that moment entered the nursery, to remind Gertrude that school was begun, and Miss Robson waiting for her to come and read. If you should ever have observed, dear young friends, on a summer's day, a cloud suddenly arise, and cover the heavens, thus darkening and spreading such a heavy gloom over things, that the trees, plants, and flowers scarcely seem to be the same as they were but a little while before, when they were gilded with the cheerful beams of the glorious sun, you may form some idea, though but a faint one, of the melancholy change which the last half hour had been the means of effecting in Gertrude's feelings. The sunshine of her spirit was, indeed, suddenly overcast, and a heavy gloom, like that which the presence of a thunder-cloud spreads over a landscape, darkened her mind. She followed Charlotte, like a culprit, to the schoolroom,-so little hearing or heeding the sprightly remarks that her lively companion made to her in the way thither, that she, at last, asked her "if she were not well;" a question not unlikely to be put to Gertrude,

as her health was very delicate, and sometimes she was so much indisposed as to be unable to attend to her studies.

"If you have got the head-ache, Gertrude, I'm sure Miss Robson will excuse you," said Charlotte.

Alas! it was a worse ache that oppressed poor Gertrude now. It was the aching of a wounded conscience, of which it is said in holy writ, "the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?"

"I'm very well," said Gertrude, gloomily. Her very nature seemed to have undergone a change, and to have become dark and morose in consequence of yielding to the influence of him who is amongst "the rulers of the darkness of this world."

During the whole business of the morning, she was not merely silent, for that was usual with her; but there was a sullenness in her deportment which was so uncommon, that Miss Robson, after having, like Charlotte, inquired if she were not well, felt assured that something weighed upon her mind and occasioned her altered behaviour.

Poor Gertrude! she was now in a state by

no means uncommon with sinners, and one, which is as much to be dreaded and avoided as the transgressions which occasion it, and that is, a state of hardness and obduracy. Children like Gertrude are much more prone to fall into this state, than those who are of a more lively and open cast of mind; because their extreme reserve in communicating themselves, causes all their feelings, whether evil or good, to sink deeper, and remain longer in their hearts, than is the case with those who give vent to their emotions in words. That wicked one, therefore, who too well knows which of our weaknesses and sins will best serve his turn, pursued his assaults upon the poor child through her pride and reserve of character; and constantly suggesting to her not to be troubled, nobody could know what had passed, and to take care that nobody did, by keeping it as close in her own heart as possible, he reduced her exactly to the state most fitted to keep her his captive.

But, oh, it was a wretched state! and such an one as Gertrude had never before experienced. In vain did she try to follow Harriet and Charlotte to the garden, when