e glad of the disaster; and she made a present of the
spoilt drawing to Geoffrey, telling him she was sure he would one day
be ashamed of so foolish a performance, but that meanwhile he might keep
it as a specimen of his taste. He had not the manners to apologize, but
he looked very silly and crest-fallen, and left the room in silence,
with the drawing in his hand.

When he was gone, Willy exclaimed, 'If it were not for losing Edward, I
should wish the holidays were over; Geoffrey is so disagreeable.'

'He is very thoughtless,' Margaret replied; 'but we must not be too hard
upon him. Let us recollect that he has no parents to teach him better,
nor brothers and sisters to call forth his consideration for others.
Poor Geoffrey has had neither example nor precept till now. But now Papa
and Mama give him good precepts; and if we try to set him good examples,
perhaps we may help him to improve.'

'Well, I'll hope for the best, and do what I can,' said Willy.
'Certainly he has some good qualities. He is as brave as a lion; and he
is good-natured about giving away his own things, though he is so
mischievous with other people's.'

'And he is clever in his way, notwithstanding his idleness,' added
Margaret. 'Those foolish figures that he put into my drawing were
uncommonly well done, though they were provoking to us.'

'You are the best girl in the world,' said Willy; 'and if you think
Geoffrey will improve, I'll think so too; but you must own there is room
for it.'

Perhaps Geoffrey did improve, but it seemed slow work, faults being more
easily acquired than cured; and for a long time I could perceive no
difference in him. Indeed, as his next piece of mischief concerned
myself, I thought him worse than ever.

I have often wondered at the extreme dislike which boys have to dolls. I
was the most inoffensive creature possible, giving myself no airs, and
interfering with nobody; yet even the gentle Willy was indifferent to
me. Edward, though he protected Rose in her patronage of me, despised
me thoroughly himself; and Geoffrey never lost an opportunity of
expressing his mortal hatred to me. I shrunk from Edward's contemptuous
notice, but I was not at all afraid of him, well knowing that neither he
nor Willy would hurt a hair of my head; but whenever Geoffrey came into
the room, terror seized my mind. He never passed my house without making
all kinds of ugly faces at me; and I felt instinctively that nothing but
the presence