ary said. "I know she blames me for having told Ellen Lee
what I did. But in that I acted conscientiously. I did to another as I
would have another do to me. I acted towards Ellen as I would act
towards Flora, were I to hear any one making statements that were
calculated to injure her. The result, I think, should satisfy Flora that
I was right in doing what I have done. Ellen, it now appears, was
entirely innocent of the charge made against her--as I knew she must be.
Araminta Thomas, to whom the report has been traced, regrets extremely,
that upon her hasty inferences, so serious a matter has grown up. She
acknowledged that she only _inferred_ that Ellen told an untruth. Flora
took this inference for a direct assertion, and thence came the charge
of falsehood against Ellen Gray. Has not, then, the result proved that
the course I took was the only right one? Does it not show that I would
have been guilty of a great wrong, if, to save the feelings of any one,
I had left an innocent person to bear the imputation of wrong?"

"It certainly does, Mary. And Flora cannot but see it in the same
light."

"And she will, surely, forgive me the pain I have occasioned her,"
resumed Mary, "seeing that I had no selfish end to gain in what I did,
but was moved only by the desire to vindicate injured innocence."

This appeal softened Flora's feelings toward Mary Lee. She saw that she
was wrong, and that Mary was right. Mary had been governed by a
high-minded regard for right. Pride soon yielded.

"Mary," said she, taking her hand, while the tears came into her eyes,
"I confess that I have been wrong, and you right. I shall not soon
forget this lesson. Forgive the unkind thought I have had of you, and
say to Ellen, from me, that I do most sincerely regret the part I have
taken in this matter."

"Will I ever learn to be guarded in my remarks!" Flora said, to her
aunt, after Mary had left them. "This is the third time I have been
called to account for speaking of others, within the last few months."

"Never, I suppose," Mrs. Marion replied, "until you learn to guard your
thoughts as well as your words. If, like Mary Lee, you were less
disposed to give credence to every disparaging report circulated about
others, you would need no guard placed over your tongue. It is from the
abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh. _A good man, out of the
good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man,
out of the evil