The White Lily. ai

 

 

He listened and listened, but there was no sound
of laughter across the meadows, and the sun had lost
its brightest smile, and the shadows were beginning
to grow long upon the grass before the children
appeared at last—this time, and for the first time
since the lily had known them, without a smile upon
their pretty lips.

What was the reason of the sad change? Children
who have never lived in that country would never
guess the reason; but the lily knew what it was
directly he saw Pearl and Ruby come down the path.
The children had disobeyed one of their great
mother’s laws.

In Pearl’s hand, as she came slowly down across
the stones, was one of the blossoms of the earth.

Yes; for the first time in their lives the children
had not been. content to believe what their mother
had told them without question. They had wanted
to see for themselves whether what she had said was
true; they had plucked one of her flowers to see if
it would really die.