ed to Prudy."

Dotty looked up carelessly from the picture of a rose she held in her
hand, which she meant to adorn with yellow paint.

"O, yes 'm; you mean that money."

"There are several things you don't know, Dotty; and one is, that you
have no right to lose other people's things."

"No 'm."

"The money you dropped out of your porte-monnaie, yesterday, was
Prudy's, not yours; and what are you going to do about it?"

"Let me see; my mother'll come to-morrow; I'll ask her to give me some
more."

"But is that right? Dotty lost the money; must not Dotty be the one to
give it back?"

"O, grandma, I can't find it! The wind blew it away, or a horse
stepped on it. I can't find it, certainly."

"No; but you have money of your own. You can give some of that to
Prudy."

"Why-ee!" moaned Dotty. "Prudy's got ever so much. O, grandma, she
has; and my box is so empty it can't but just jingle."

"But, my dear, that has nothing to do with the case. If Prudy has a
great deal of money, you have no right to lose any of it. Don't you
think you ought to give it back?"

"O, no, grandma--I don't; because she doesn't need it! I wish she'd
give _me_ ten cents, for I do need it; I haven't but a tinty, tonty
mite."

Here Dotty threw herself on the sofa, the picture of despair. Grandma
was perplexed. Had she been pouring ideas into Dotty's mind too fast?
What should she say next?

"My dear little girl, suppose Prudy should lose some of your
money--what then?"

"I shouldn't like it at all, grandma. Don't let her go to my box--will
you?"

"Selfish little girl!" said grandma, looking keenly at Dotty's
troubled face. "You would expect Prudy to return every cent, if she
were in your place."

"Because--because--grandma--"

"Yes; and when I explain your duty to you, you don't understand me.
You would understand if you were not so selfish!"

Dotty winced.

"Don't come to me again, and complain of Jennie Vance."

Dotty could not meet her grandmother's searching gaze: it seemed to
cut into her heart like a sharp blade.

"Am I as bad as Jennie Vance? Yes, just us bad; and grandma knows it.
But then," said she aloud, though very faintly, "Prudy needn't have
put it in my porte-monnaie; she might have known I'd lose it."

"Dotty, I am not going to say any more about it now. You may think it
over to-day, and decide for yourself whether you are following the
Golden Rule. Or, if you choose, you may wait and talk with your
mothe