ith Betty? is she in disgrace again?'

Betty was standing in her long nightdress at the foot of her small bed;
her hands were clenched, and there was a resolute, determined look upon
her flushed face.

'One of her obstinate fits,' said nurse angrily; 'she generally goes to
bed before Miss Molly, and because I have let her stay up a little
later to-night she is as contrary as she can be! I can do nothing with
her, a good whipping is what she wants!'

Betty's blue eyes wandered from nurse's face to her mother's, as if
seeking consolation there; her hands relaxed, and a slight quiver came
to the little lips.

'Are you going to a party, mother? may I come and kiss you?'

It was Molly who spoke. She was in the act of scrambling into bed, but
upon receiving permission she made her way, a little shyly, across to
where her mother was seated.

'Now keep your hands off my dress,' Mrs. Stuart said with a smile; but
she put her arm round the little figure and kissed her, and sent her
back to bed perfectly happy. All the children adored their mother,
though it was adoration at a distance.

'Now come here, Betty; what have you been doing? How is it that I
never visit the nursery without hearing complaints of your naughtiness?'

'I'm going to be good now,' said Betty, hanging her head, and coming
slowly forward into the firelight.

'She has refused to say her prayers,' said nurse sternly.

'I will say them now'; and Betty raised her eyes to her mother somewhat
wistfully.

'Why did you refuse to say them when nurse told you to?'

'Because Molly was saying her prayers.'

'Well, what had that to do with it?'

Betty did not answer.

'Answer me.'

The child looked round; nurse had left the room. She worked her little
foot backwards and forwards in the long-haired rug rather nervously,
and then, almost in a whisper, said,--

'God couldn't listen to both of us, and I wanted Him to listen to me.'

Mrs. Stuart gazed perplexedly at her little daughter, then laughed.

'You are a little goose! Go and say your prayers at once, and get into
bed. I have come here to talk to nurse.'

Betty crept away. Her mother's amused laugh had hurt her more than
nurse's scoldings. It was hard to have one's secret feelings brought
to light and scoffed at, and her sensitive little soul felt this,
though in a dim, uncertain way.

'I want to have God all to myself,' was her thought, as a few minutes
later she laid her little head d