ng far worse began to trouble her. She knew that she had lost the
grace of God out of her heart. Oh, how wretched she felt! Would God
forgive her again? Yes; she knew he would; for she had read that, "The
Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be
of a contrite spirit." This thought was a great comfort to her. But, oh!
what about her teacher? How could her teacher ever love and respect her
again? She would ask her pardon as soon as possible, but would she
forgive her?

It was not long until the teacher went to her desk for something, but
she took no notice of Bessie. Beaching out very timidly, Bessie touched
her and said, "O Miss Harrington, won't you please forgive me?" But the
teacher pretended not to hear her, and turned quickly away. The next
thought was, "What will Mama think and say? Oh, if only she did not have
to know about it!" With these thoughts coursing through her mind, Bessie
was unable to study; and by the time school closed, she was in great
distress.

After closing the school, the teacher paid no attention to Bessie for
some time; but when she had finished her evening duties and all the
pupils except Nora, Anna, and Bessie had left the building, she turned
to Bessie, fell upon her knees, and threw both arms around her. Bessie
sobbed, "Oh, please forgive me! please forgive me!" For some time the
teacher made no reply, and Nora muttered, "Catch me asking her
forgiveness!" At last the teacher, looking up through tearful eyes,
said, "Bessie dear, it is you who must forgive me. I should have been a
better example to you this afternoon. Let us pray." Then two sad hearts
were lifted to God in humble, earnest prayer that he would forgive them
for Jesus' sake. God heard their prayers, gave back the sweet peace that
they had lost out of their souls, and bound their hearts together in
Christian love and fellowship.

Nora went her way, provoked with her seatmate and angry because the joke
had not worked quite as she had expected. Anna, slipping her arm through
Bessie's walked home with her and told her all that Nora had done.
Bessie was surprised. She understood why things had taken the course
they had; but, knowing it was really Satan, who had been trying to
overthrow her own soul, she did not censure her seatmate.

Her only thought now was of how sad her mother would feel. Bessie
decided that the occurrence was too dreadful to tell her about and that
she would keep it a secret. T