Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmothers | Page 9

deal of mischief; and I must go at once to Mrs. Gray's and explain matters."
Dotty was distressed at the thought of Mrs. Gray, whose nose she could seem to see "going up in the air."
"Don't feel so sorry, little sister," said Prudy, as they walked off with their arms about each other's waist; "you didn't do just right, but I'm sure you've told the real white truth."
"So I have," said Dotty, holding up her head again; "and mother says that's worth a great deal!"
CHAPTER IV.
DOTTY'S CAMEL.
Matters were soon set right with Mrs. Gray, who was sorry she had not spoken frankly to Mrs. Parlin in the first place, instead of going secretly to the neighbors and complaining that she did not receive her due allowance of milk. Perhaps it was a good lesson for the doctor's wife; for she ceased to gossip about the Parlins, and even took the pains to correct the wrong story with regard to the pearl breastpin.
After this Dotty and Katie carried the milk as usual; only they never stopped under the acorn tree any more to play "King and Queen." Not that Dotty felt much shame. She held herself in high esteem. She knew she had done wrong, but thought that by telling the truth so nobly she had atoned for all.
"I am almost as good as the little girls in the Sunday school books," said she; "now there's Jennie Vance--I'm afraid she fibs."
Jennie called one day to ask Dotty and Flyaway to go to school with her.
"Jennie," said Miss Dimple, gravely, as they were walking with Katie between them, "do they ever read the Bible to you?"
"Yes; why?"
"O, nothing; only you don't act as if you know anything about it."
"I guess my mother is one of the first ladies in this town, Miss Dimple, and she's told me the story of Joseph's coat till I know it by heart."
"Well," said Dotty, looking very solemn, "it hasn't done you any good, Jennie Vance. Now, I learn verses every Sunday, and one is this: 'Lie not one to another.' What think of that?"
Jennie's black eyes snapped. "I heard that before ever you did."
"Lie not one to another," repeated Dotty, slowly. "Now, I'm one, Jennie, and you're another; and isn't it wicked when we tell the leastest speck of a fib?"
"Of course 'tis," was the prompt reply; "but I don't tell 'em."
"O, Jennie, who told your step-mother that Charlie Gray was tied up in a meal-bag? I'm afraid," said Dotty, laying her hand solemnly on little Katie's head as if it had been a pulpit-cushion, and she a minister preaching,--"I'm afraid, Jennie, you lie one to another."
"One to anudder," echoed Katie, breaking away and running after a toad. Jennie knitted her brows. "It doesn't look very well for such a small child as you are to preach to me, Dot Parlin!"
"But I always tell the white truth myself, Jennie, because God hears me. Do you think much about God?"
"No, I don't know as I do; nobody does, He's so far off," said Jennie, stooping to pluck an innocent flower.
"Why, Jennie, He isn't far off at all! He's everywhere, and here too. He holds this world, and all the people, right in His arms; right in His arms, just as if 'twas nothing but a baby."
Dotty's tones were low and earnest.
"Who told you so?" said Jennie.
"My mamma; and she says we couldn't move nor breathe without Him not a minute."
"There, I did then!" cried Jennie, taking a long breath; "I breathed way down ever so far, and I did it myself."
"O, but God let you."
Dotty felt very good and wise, and as she had finished giving her benighted friend a lesson, she thought she would speak now of every day matters.
"Look at those little puddles in the road," said she; "don't they make you think of pudding-sauce--molasses and cream, I mean--for hasty-pudding?"
"No," said Jennie, tossing her head, "I never saw any pudding-sauce that looked a speck like that dirty stuff! Besides, we don't use molasses at our house; rich folks never do; nobody but poor folks."
"O, what a story!" said Dotty, coloring. "I guess you have molasses gingerbread, if your father is the judge!"
Dotty was very much wounded. This was not the first time her little friend had referred to her own superior wealth. "Dear, dear! Wasn't it bad enough to have to wear Prudy's old clothes, when Jennie had new ones and no big sister? She's always telling hints about people's being poor! Why, my papa isn't much poor, only he don't buy me gold rings and silk dresses, and my mamma wouldn't let me wear 'em if he did; so there!"
By the time they reached the school-house, Dotty was almost too angry to speak. They took their seats with Katie between them (when she was not