ieved, and begged her naughty brother not to deprive
poor Giles of his rabbit; but Charles was a wicked and covetous boy; he
therefore took Snowball from Giles, and carried her home in his arms,
and put her in a box. He went into the fields and gathered some green
herbs for her to eat, and said: 'I am glad I have got Snowball; now I
shall be quite happy.'

But how could Charles be happy when he had broken God's holy
commandment, which says, 'Thou shalt not covet'? Nurse and Clara told
him so, and begged him to give Snowball back again to Giles. But Charles
said he would not, for he meant to keep her all his life; but the next
morning, when he went into the stable to look at her, he found her
stretched at the bottom of the box. He called her, but Snowball did not
stir; he then took her out of the box to see what ailed her; but she was
quite cold and dead.

Oh dear! how Charles did cry! But it was of no use. He had better not
have taken her away from Giles, for he did not know what to feed her
with, and had given her among the greens he had gathered a herb called
hemlock, which is poisonous and will kill whatever eats of it; and it
had killed poor Snowball.

The coachman told Charles so when he saw how swollen she was, and
Charles cried the more. Giles cried too when he heard what a sad death
poor Snowball had died; but he had been a good dutiful boy in parting
with her when his mother wished it, though it had cost him much pain and
many tears.

Well, Charles's mother was gone a long time, more than a month, and it
would quite shock you to be told how naughty Charles was all that time;
at last a letter came to say she was very ill, and then another to tell
them she was dead.

What would Charles then have given if he had not grieved her so often
with his perverse temper and wicked conduct? He now said when he saw her
again, he would beg her to forgive him; but when Charles did see his
poor mother again she was in her coffin and could not hear him; and he
cried exceedingly, and wished he had been good. Clara, though she cried
as much as Charles for her dear mother, was glad she had obeyed her, and
been so good while she was away.

'And I will always be as good as if dear mother could see me, and love
me for it too,' said she to nurse the day after her mother was buried.

'My dear young lady,' said nurse, 'your mother _will_ see it, and love
you for doing your duty.'

'How can dear mother see me? Her eyes are close