THE DOLL AND HER FRIENDS. 59

“What sort of things do you consider to be
duties?” Margraret inquired.

“Oh, such things as letting’ oneself be tortured,
like Regulus ; or forgiving an enemy who has shot
poisoned arrows at one, like Coeur de Lion.”

“Well,” said Margaret smiling, “ such heroic
duties as those do not seem likely to fall im your
way just now, perhaps they never may. Our fel-
low-creatures are so kind to us, that we are seldom
called upon to fulfil any but small duties towards
them; or what you would consider such, for I can-
not allow any duty to be small, especially that of
doing as we would be done by. If we do not fulfil
that in trifles, we shall probably never fulfil it at all.
This is a serious thought, Geoffrey.”

Geoffrey looked up; and as he seemed inclined
to listen, Margaret continued talking to him kindly
‘but gravely, bringing many things before his mind
as duties which he had hitherto considered to be
matters of indifference. But Margaret would not
allow any thing to be a trifle in which one person
could give pain or pleasure, trouble or relief, annoy-
ance or comfort to another, or by which any one’s
own mind or habits could be either injured or im-
proved. She maintained that there was a right and
a wrong to every thing, and that right and wrong
could never be trifles, whether in great things or