"Oh no, Auntie; not you especially, but all the world, you know. 'It's
against the rule!' That sentence has always been my greatest
temptation. I do so long to try all those forbidden things; if I had
been Eve, and if the forbidden fruit had been a delicious peach
instead of a commonplace apple, I should certainly have taken it. Now
there was Miss Sykes at Corry Institute; she was always saying, 'Young
ladies, it is against the rule to go into the garret. Three bad marks
to any one who even opens the door.' That was enough for me; I slipped
off my shoes and climbed up the stairs, while a crowd of girls stood
in the hall to see what happened. I opened the door and went in, and
after a moment I stepped right through the lath and plastering and
hurt myself severely. Of course I got the bad marks, and a big bill
for lath and plastering in addition to my lame leg, and the whole
thing was Miss Sykes' fault."

"You deliberately disobeyed her rule, Bessie."

"Why have such a goose of a rule, then? Why didn't she say right out
that we must not go into the garret because there was no flooring
there? Then we would have understood the whole thing. For my part, I
don't believe in piling temptation in people's way like that."

"My dear child, we cannot always know. We must all sometimes be
content to give up our wills to the guidance of a Wiser Hand,--be
content simply to _trust_."

"I don't think that time will ever come to me, Aunt Faith; Hugh says
the human mind is sufficient for itself."

Aunt Faith sighed, and laid her hand gently on the young girl's dark