take a peep into the crater. It must be awfully funny. Do come; do, do
come, Ethel darling.'

"'Oh, Minnie, don't,' cried the other, in great alarm. And I now
learned that the child-angel's name was Minnie. 'Minnie,' she cried,
clinging to the child-angel, 'you must not go. I would not have come
up if I had thought you would be so unreasonable.'

"'Ethel," said the other, 'you are really getting to be quite a scold.
How ridiculous it is in you to set yourself up in this place as a
duenna! How can I help going up? and only one peep. And I never saw a
crater in my life, and I'm dying to know what it looks like. I know
it's awfully funny; and it's horrid in you to be so unkind about it.
And I really must go. Won't you come? Do, do, dear--dearest darling,
do--do--do!'

"Ethel was firm, however, and tried to dissuade the other, but to no
purpose; for at length, with a laugh, the child-angel burst away, and
skipped lightly up the slope toward the crater.

"'Just one peep,' she said. 'Come, Ethel, I must, I really must, you
know.'

"She turned for an instant as she said this, and I saw the glory of
her child-face as it was irradiated by a smile of exquisite sweetness.
The play of feature, the light of her eyes, and the expression of
innocence and ignorance unconscious of danger, filled me with profound
sadness. And there was I, standing alone, seeing that sweet child
flinging herself to ruin, and yet unable to prevent her, simply
because I was bound hand and foot by the infernal restrictions of a