The White Lily. 51

on every side, and the flowers were not going to
shrink away and be frightened. If the mouse was
going to be silly, well, the mouse could go its own way,
and Pearl would play with the flowers.

She turned in a pet, and ran back again to Ruby.

“Let us go back again and pick the pretty white
lily, Ruby,” said she. “The mouse is tiresome to-day,
and I don’t want to play with him any more.”

Ruby was standing on a little knoll surrounded
by a bed of lovely little purple flowers that looked
up at him with strange, wistful faces, in the midst of
which shone two bright eyes.

The flowers were thoughts, and they were good
thoughts ; for as Ruby stood among them, the evil
wishes that he had had faded away, and he did not
feel as though he wanted to go back and pick the
white lily now. .

“Let us try and forget about it, Pearl,’ he said.
“TI think we should be much happier if we amused
ourselves as we used to do.” .

He took Pearl’s hand and led her away from the