"Why, then, did you wish your aunt Jane had given you one like this?"
asked her mother.
"I don't care for her old dolly! She may keep it for all me," replied
Katy.
"But it shall be yours just as much as mine, Katy," said Nellie, in
tones so gentle and sweet that her sister ought to have kissed her for
them, and loved her more than she ever loved her before.
But she did not. She was envious. She was sorry the doll had been given
to Nellie--sorry because it was a prettier one than her own. It was a
very wicked feeling. She had some presents of her own, but her envy
spoiled all the pleasure she might have taken in them.
Nellie was almost sorry the doll had been given to her, when she saw how
Katy felt about it. Mrs. Green talked to the envious girl till she
cried, about her conduct. She tried to make her feel how odious and
wicked envy made her.
Whenever Katy saw the new doll, she seemed to be angry with her sister.
Poor Nellie's pleasure was nearly spoiled, and she even offered to
exchange her doll for Katy's, but her mother would not let her do so.
In a few days, however, she seemed to feel better, and the two sisters
had some good times with their dolls. I say she seemed to feel better,
but she really did not. She did not like it that Nellie's doll was a
finer one than her own.
Yet Nellie was happier, for she thought Katy was cured of her ill
feeling. Then she loved her doll more than ever. She was a cunning
little girl, and she thought so much of her new friend that she always
used to say "Dolly and I."
When her mother asked her where she had been, she would reply, "Dolly
and I have been having a nice time up stairs." "Dolly and I" used to do
ever so many things, and no two little ladies could ever enjoy
themselves more than did Dolly and Nellie.
I am sorry to say that Katy did not like Dolly at all. She could never
forgive her for moving her eyes, because Lady Jane could not move hers.
It is true that, after she saw how silly and wicked her envy made her
appear to others, she tried very hard not to show it.
We may be just as wicked without showing our sin to others, as we can be
when we let the world see just what we are. When we are wicked, the sin
is more in the heart than in the actions.
Men may seem to be very good when they are really very bad, though
people almost always find out such persons. Katy was just as wicked,
just as envious, when her sister thought she was kind and loving, as
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