think was the first sound in my ears when I awoke
this morning, and has been returning upon me all day?--the words, "It
was a tree to be desired to make one wise."'

'Little wisdom we have gained from it,' said Anne.

'Eve's wisdom,' said Elizabeth, 'the knowledge of evil, and the wisdom
of vanity and vexation of spirit. But was it not curious, Anne? when
first I woke, before I had opened my eyes, those words were sounding in
my ears, like a dream of Papa's voice, reading the Lesson at church; I
almost fell asleep again, and again those words came back in Papa's
voice, and then I woke entirely, and before I had seen what kind of day
it was, before I knew whether it was Saturday or Sunday, I was sure
there was something wrong, and then there was all this black Mechanics'
Institute business before me. And all through this day those words
have been ringing in my ears, and coming upon me like the pressure of
King James's iron belt.'

'Have they indeed?' said Anne, 'I could hardly have believed it. I have
not seen your "look o'ercast and lower," like his.'

'Perhaps not,' said Elizabeth; 'but yet I was like him.

"Forward he rushed with double glee
Into the tide of revelry."

And I believe that having anything on my mind puts me in wilder
spirits, apparently, than usual, but I am sure that my merriment to-day
was no proof that I was happy. It was partly, I believe, from a mad
spirit, like what drives wicked men to drinking, and partly from folly
and levity. It was the same when Mamma's sister, Miss Dorothea
Hazleby, died; I am sure I was very sorry for Aunt Dorothy, for she was
a most amiable person, and had always been particularly kind to me, and
I was very sorry too for Mamma and old Mrs. Hazleby, who were
broken-hearted about it; yet would you believe it? the very day that
Papa was gone to Hastings, to the funeral, and Mamma was at home, too
ill and too wretched to go, even to her mother, I was out in the garden
with Horace and Dora, forgot all about her distress, and began a noisy
game with them close under her window. She sent Kate to tell them not
to make such a noise; and when we came in, and she found that it was my
doing, she gave me such a kind, grieved, reproachful look, that I think
I shall never forget it. And now it is most strange to think how
wildly and merrily I laughed at all Rupert's jokes, when I knew I was
in disgrace, and after having behaved so very ill.'

'Indeed,