s they do at me."

This speech was made under the influence of vehement passion, and was
concluded with a violent burst of tears.

Her cruel words inflicted a deep wound in the heart of the poor deformed
girl. For the first time she felt degraded in her own eyes; and the
afflictions under which she laboured seemed disgraceful; and she wished
that she had been deaf as well as unintelligible. But these feelings, so
foreign to her nature, were of short duration; after a brief but severe
mental struggle, she surmounted her just resentment, and forgave her
thoughtless sister for the unmerited reproach. Wiping the tears from her
pale dark cheeks, she smoothed the pillows for her sick mother, and
murmured with a sigh,--"Lord, it was Thy hand that made me as I am; let
me not rebel against Thy will."

The old woman was greatly excited by Sophy's unworthy conduct. With a
great effort she raised herself nearly upright in her bed, gazing
sternly upon her rebellious child.

"Mary, my darling!" she cried at last, when she saw the deformed vainly
striving to control the emotion which convulsed her whole frame--"bear
with patience the sinful reproaches of this weak, vain girl. The time
will come when she will be severely punished for her cruelty and
injustice. It would be well for her if the image of her God were
impressed upon her soul as it is upon yours, my good, dutiful child. The
clay perishes; but that which gives value to the clay shall flourish in
immortal youth and beauty when the heavens shall be no more. 'Then shall
the righteous shine forth like the sun'--Ah, me! I have forgotten the
rest of the text, but you, Mary, know it well; let it console you, my
dear girl, and dry these useless tears. I was pretty, like Sophy, once,
and, like her, I thought too highly of myself. Look at me now. Look at
these wrinkled care-worn cheeks--these wasted, useless limbs; are they
not a lesson to human pride and vanity? I never knew my real character
until I knew grief. Sorrow has been blessed to my soul, for had I never
tasted the cup of affliction, I had never known the necessity of a
Saviour. May his peace and blessing fortify your heart to endure every
trial which his wisdom may appoint, my poor afflicted lamb!"

Sophy's heart was softened by her mother's passionate appeal. Heartily
ashamed of herself, she approached nearer to her weeping sister.

"Mary," she faltered, in a tone of deep self-reproach, "I did not mean
to vex you. I k