s sitting in a
little bedroom, which had a door opening into the entry where Lucy and
Rollo had been reading, and she heard all the conversation. She knew
that though Rollo was generally a good boy, and was willing to know his
faults, and often endeavored to correct them, still that he was, like
all other boys, prone to selfishness and to vanity, and she thought that
she must take some way to show him clearly what the truth really was,
about his disinterestedness.

In a few minutes, therefore, she went out of the room, and took from the
store closet an apple and a pear. They were both good, but the pear was
particularly fine. It was large, mellow, and juicy. She then went back
to her seat, and called, "Rollo."

Rollo came running to her.

"Here," said she, "is an apple and a pear for you."

"Is one for me and one for Lucy?" said he.

"That is just as you please. I give them both to you. You may do what
you choose with them."

Rollo took the fruit, much pleased, and walked slowly back, hesitating
what to do. He thought he must certainly give one to Lucy, and as he had
just been boasting that he preferred another's pleasure to his own, he
was ashamed to offer her the apple; and yet he wanted the pear very much
himself.

If he had had a little more time, he would have hit upon a plan which
would have removed all the difficulty at once, by dividing both the
apple and the pear, and giving to Lucy half of each. But he did not
think of this. In fact his mother knew that, as he was going directly
bark to Lucy, he would not have much time to think but must act
according to the spontaneous impulse of his heart.

But though he did not think of dividing the apple and the pear, he
happened to hit upon a plan, which occurred to him just as he was going
back into the entry, that he thought would do.

He held the fruit behind him; the apple in one hand, and the pear in the
other. Lucy saw him coming, and said,

"What have you got, Rollo?"

"Which will you have, right hand or left?" said he in reply.

"Right."

Rollo held forward his right hand, and, lo! it was the pear. But he
could not bear to part with it, and he brought forward the other, and
said,

"No, you may have the apple."

"No," said Lucy; "the pear is fairly mine; you asked me which I would
have, and I said the right."

"But I want the pear," said Rollo; "you may have the apple. Mother gave
them both to me."

"I want the pear too," said Lucy; "it is m