"Yes, my dear, I am very well," she replied; "but I saw something an hour
ago which has made me feel sad. Archy Benton was brought home from the
woods this afternoon, where he had gone for chestnuts, instead of going to
school, as he should have done, dreadfully hurt. He had fallen from a tree.
Both his arms are broken, and the doctor fears that he has received some
inward injury that may cause his death."

Charles turned pale, when his mother said this.

"Boys rarely get hurt, except when they are acting disobediently, or doing
some harm to others," remarked Mrs Murray. "If Archy had gone to school,
this dreadful accident would not have happened. His father told him that he
might go for chestnuts on Saturday, and if he had waited until then, I am
sure he might have gone into the woods and received no harm, for all who do
right are protected from evil."

"He tried to persuade me to go with him," said Charles, "and I was strongly
tempted to do so. But I resisted the temptation, and have felt glad about
it ever since."

Mrs Murray took her son's hand, and pressing it hard, said, with much
feeling,

"How rejoiced I am that you were able to resist his persuasions to do
wrong. Even if you had not been hurt yourself, the injury received by Archy
would have discovered to us that you were with him, and then how unhappy
your father and I would have been I cannot tell. And you would have been
unhappy, too. Ah! my son, there is only one true course for all of us, and
that is, to do right. Every deviation from this path brings trouble. An act
of a moment may make us wretched for days, weeks, months, or perhaps years.