TEMPTATION 41

a nice little girl asking him to help her, and
surely it would not be civil to refuse to do
so. So little Hurly-Burly stood still and
hesitated. We should never hesitate between
right and wrong, and we may be very sure
that, although it often seems much the most
easy and most pleasant to do wrong, yet this
is sure to bring us into difficulties and
sorrows which are neither the one nor the
other. Whilst he was looking, first at the
little girl and next at the strawberries, I am
afraid that the boy forgot all about his poor
little brothers and sisters, the nurse, the
hedgehog, and the object of his visit to the
forest. He hesitated, as I have said, for a
moment, and then swung round on his left
heel, and was just going to step on to the
bank where the strawberries grew, when
somehow or other he noticed a curious, wild
look in the little girl’s eyes which struck him
as being so uncommon that he stopped short
before he had set his right foot down. He
could never tell exactly what it was, but it
was not common or natural, and it instantly
flashed across his mind that he ought to be
careful what he was about.

‘Come on, dear little boy,’ said the strange