THE PREVARICATION STORY. 71

something which he wanted very much, and
they would get to playing by the way, and
keep their father waiting for it two hours.
So, when their mother sent them to the
store, in the afternoon, they would be gone
till night, and sometimes not get home until
it was so late and dark, that she began to be
afraid that some accident had happened to
them. ‘Then, when they came home, and
she asked them what made them so late,
they would say that they went ‘as soon as
they could.’ That was what they almost
always said, that they went as soon as they
could.”’

‘And so they told a lie, as well as dis-
obeyed,” said Rollo.

“Why, not exactly ; for they loitered in
such a way that they hardly knew them-
selves how much time they wasted. ‘They
would go along very briskly a few steps, and
then stop to talk about something which
they picked up in the street, or to sit down
by the side of the road, or to talk with boys;
and then the time slipped away a great deal
faster than they supposed. Sometimes they
really stopped to play, and then they gener-
ally acknowledged it, if their father ques-