beautiful little daughter with pain,
and wondered, as she had many times wondered before, if these bitter
experiences she was suffering would ever have the effect to make her a
better child.

Dotty did not understand the tender, regretful glance of her mother's
eyes. She was not as yet very well acquainted with the English language,
and did not know what "tolerably" meant; she supposed it meant
"remarkably."

"It's so queer," she thought, "that auntie should tell my mamma I've
been tol'ably good! Why, I haven't, I know I haven't: I've been tol'ably
bad!"

She looked up at her auntie in surprise, and at that moment there
entered into her small mind a doubt of Mrs. Eastman's truthfulness. It
was a very faint doubt, which she did not express even to herself. It
was almost incredible that a grown-up lady should tell the "thing which
is not," or even color the truth by so much as the shadow of a shade.
Still, when auntie had called Dotty a tol'ably good girl, she must have
known it was a mistake!

Dotty did not have a fever; but for several days she was not at all
well, and spent most of the time in her grandmamma's room, on the
lounge. It would have been a good opportunity for reflection, if Katie
had not been in the house. As it was, Dotty did think of her own conduct
for several minutes at a time, during the intervals when Katie was not
dancing attendance upon her. She decided never to disobey her mother
again, and said so. This, you remember, was nothing new; she had made
the same resolve fifty times before, and broken it as often.

Johnny, her little companion in naughtiness, escaped without so much as
a sore throat; but he suffered in another way. His father, learning of
his exploit upon the water, and being greatly incensed, punished him
severely. It was not often that Johnny was corrected, and this time he
was very indignant. He reflected that if it had not been for Dotty
Dimple his sin would not have been found out. Dotty had ceased to be a
"brick;" she was a tell-tale--a hateful, mean tell-tale; and he wished
she would go home and stay there.

"I'll pay her for this business," said Johnny, talking to his boots.

Just how he was going to "pay" his little cousin he did not know. As for
being sorry for his disobedience, I doubt if Johnny thought of such a
thing. He knew he had been in much peril, and now, while the remembrance
of the fright was still fresh in his mind, he was not likely to fall
into the same