ine, and you must give it to
me."

Just then a voice called from the bedroom,

"Children!"

"What, mother?" said Rollo.

"I want you both to come here."

Rollo and Lucy would both have been ashamed of their contention, were it
not that the pear looked so very rich and tempting, that they were both
very eager to have it.

"What is the difficulty?" said Rollo's mother, as soon as they stood
before her.

"Why, Lucy wants the pear," said Rollo, "and you gave them both to me,
and said I might do as I pleased with them. I am willing to give her the
apple."

"Yes, but he offered me my choice," said Lucy, "right hand or left, and
I chose the right, and now he ought to give it to me."

"And are you willing that I should decide it?" said the lady.

"Yes, mother," and "Yes, aunt," said Rollo and Lucy together.

"You have both done wrong; not _very_ wrong, but a little wrong; and I
think neither ought to have the whole of the pear. So I shall divide the
pear and the apple both between you; and I will tell you how you have
done wrong.

"You, Rollo, by asking her which she would have, implied that you would
leave it to chance to decide, and that you would let her have her fair
chance. Then you ought to have submitted to the result. If she had
chosen the left hand, she ought to have been content. If she had got the
apple, you would have had the credit of giving her an equal chance with
you, and she ought therefore to have had the full benefit of the chance.

"And then you, Lucy, did wrong, for, although Rollo asked you to choose,
he did not _actually promise_ you your choice, and as he was under no
obligation to give you either, you ought not to have insisted upon his
fulfilling his _implied promise_. Is it not so?"

The children both saw and admitted that it was.

"The best way, I think," she continued, "would have been for you, Rollo,
to have given the _pear_ to Lucy, as she was your visitor, and a young
lady too. Then she would have given you half in eating it. However, you
were not very much in the wrong, either of you. It was a sort of a
doubtful case. But I hope you see from it, Rollo, what I wanted to
teach you, that you are no more inclined to prefer other persons'
pleasure to your own, than other children are. Remember Jonas's couplet
hereafter. I think it is a very good one. Now go and get a knife, and
cut the fruit; and see, it does not rain but little; you can go and get
your pea-pods now."

Away went