n I had felt it
was,--involving for my own share no small amount of carelessness, and
some little pride and self-will; all of which "little foxes" had opened
the way to the commission of actual crime in another.

It was the day after that on which my uncle and aunt had arrived at the
Point,--mild, soft, and sunny; only the September haze upon sea and sky
to tell that the lingering summer was near its end.

We sat upon the piazza,--these two dear newcomers, my sister Milly, and
I. Father off upon some business; mother in the house attending to
Norman, who had come home with a sprained wrist; the children at play
upon the beach with Mammy, and their faithful pages, Bill and Jim, in
attendance. I had stipulated, with a fanciful idea that I was making
some righteous atonement, that I should be the one to relate the sad
story of my diamond earrings; and hence no one had until now mentioned
the subject in the hearing of my uncle and aunt.

The opportunity was propitious, the audience lenient and sympathetic;
and seated on the piazza-step, with my head resting against aunt
Emily's knee, and, as the tale proceeded, her dear hand tenderly
stroking my hair and cheek, I had told the story to its minutest
particular, taking, as the sober sight of after days has shown me, more
than the necessary amount of blame upon myself.

So my uncle and aunt now said; and, while inexpressibly shocked at such
heartless wickedness in one so young as the guilty girl, they would not
allow that their "own Amy" was at all blameworthy in the matter, and
only congratulated themselves and me upon the recovery of the earrings.
My name, and the likeness I bore to the Amy Rutherford in heaven, would
have pleaded for and won me absolution in a far worse case than this;
and they at once set themselves to work to demolish my almost morbid
fancies in connection with the theft of the jewels. The very fact that
I had now told them all was a relief, and my elastic spirits at once
began to rise from the weight which had burdened them during the last
few weeks.

"So that is the hero of your tale?" said uncle Rutherford, looking
thoughtfully down upon the beach where the little ones were enjoying
themselves to the utmost, and having matters all their own way, as
usual. Jim was lying prone upon the beach, while Allie and Daisy were
industriously covering him with sand; Bill assisting by filling their
pails for them. This was a daily amusement, and never palled.