nows." And she rolled the
ribbon about her fingers.

Karl was a little surprised. It did not seem like his mother, nor in
accordance with what she had often said to him about truth and
honesty, but he had faith in her, and was sure that she could do
nothing wrong. His Aunt Ruth, of whom he was very fond, and who had
great influence over him, was a weak woman in some respects, and much
more inclined to take the current of other's opinions than to give
herself the trouble of opposition. Her innate sense of honor was a
little disturbed at her sister's views of the case; but she failed to
say the right words which were in her thoughts, and which, if spoken,
might have helped the boy to see what was just and right.

A day or two afterward, Karl heard his mother say: "I saved a car
ticket this morning."

"How?" inquired her sister.

"The conductor forgot to ask for it."

"Why didn't you give it to him, mamma?" asked Karl.

"It was his business to look after his passengers," replied Mrs.
Omdorff, who felt rather uncomfortable at this question from her
little boy. "It will teach him a lesson."

Karl thought a moment, and then said: "But he won't know anything
about it."

"Oh, you're too sharp!" exclaimed his mother, with a laugh. "I wasn't
talking to you, anyhow."

"Little pitchers have big ears," said Aunt Ruth, echoing her sister's
laugh.

And so the matter was pushed aside, neither mother nor aunt imagining
that the bright and beautiful boy they both loved so tenderly had
received a lesson in dishonesty not soon to be forgotten.

"I do believe," said Mrs. Omdorff, not long afterward, as she sat
counting over some money, "that Poole has given me the wrong change."

Karl was in the room and heard her remark.

"Let me see," she added, going over the money again. "Two and a half,
three, four and three-quarters. It's a fact; I gave him a ten-dollar
bill, and here are four and three-quarters change."

"What did the goods amount to?" asked her sister.

"There were eleven yards of muslin at eighteen; that's a dollar and
ninety-eight cents. Two yards of silk at a dollar and a half, and an
eighth of a yard of velvet one dollar--making just five dollars and
ninety-eight cents. If it had come to six dollars, my right change
would have been four; but he has given me four and three-quarters."

Then, in a tone of satisfaction, she added: "I'm that much richer, you
see, Ruth."

Her sister smiled, but did not utter the