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"Well, I don't exactly know," said the boy.

"Didn't you ever do any of those things before?"

"Oh, yes, lots of times."

"And didn't She punish you?"

"No."

"Then what makes you think that She will now?"

"Why, everybody says She will," exclaimed the boy, half impatiently; "and—oh, wait a minute—your dress is caught on that briar. There, it is going to tear—hold on until I get out my knife and cut the branch so that we can loosen it more easily."

Marjorie stood still while the boy cut through the wood, and then, together they loosened the thorns, one by one. "How kind you are!" she said, when it was finished,—"and oh, what a pretty knife!"

"Yes," said the boy, looking down at the bright pearl handle;—"I've had that knife for two years and never lost it