make Nelly a good, obedient child.

After an hour she went back, and said, "Are you sorry, my dear, that you have been so naughty?"

"I don't love you. I want to go to Maria," was the only reply.

Her aunt sighed, when she found the little girl was not at all subdued, and she went out again.

If Nelly could have put her finger in her mouth, it would have been no punishment for her to stay there, for she could lie back in the chair and go to sleep.

When her uncle came home to dinner, he found Willie, and Frankie, and mamma, sitting silent and sad in the parlor, while from above stairs came the sound of loud and angry crying. The lady wept as she told her husband how naughty Nelly had behaved. "I had no idea," she said, "that she had so bad a temper."

"Shall I go up and talk with her?" asked the gentleman.

"If you think it best," replied mamma; "but I fear it will do no good. I have already been to her three times."

"Well, perhaps I had better leave her with you, then. I hope this will be a good lesson to her."

After dinner, Mrs. Gray carried a plate full of pudding to Nelly, and offered to feed her with it; but the stubborn child refused to eat. She made up faces at her aunt, and said many naughty words, which I should not want any little boy or girl to hear.

The lady came out of her room looking very pale and anxious, and at last began to cry. She was quite discouraged, and thought she would write to her brother, and tell him she could do nothing with his child. But if I do so, she thought, Nelly will be ruined. If she grows up with such a bad temper, is so untruthful and selfish, she will be a trial to herself and to her parents; and what is more than that, she can never have the blessing of God. "I will not give up yet," she said, aloud. "I will try her a little longer."

She then went down stairs, and told Frankie he might go out doors and play with his wheel-barrow; but the little fellow said, "I want to stay with you, mamma. Nelly makes my head ache." Poor child, he did not feel like play while his cousin was so naughty.

It was almost time for tea, when the lady, having once more asked God to direct her, entered the little chamber where her niece was sitting. Nelly was quiet now; but her lips stuck out with an ugly pout.

"My dear child," said the lady, sitting down near her, "it makes us all very unhappy to have you up here by yourself, when you might be playing and enjoying yourself with your cousins. When you came to live with us, we thought it was so pleasant to have a dear little girl running and dancing about the house! But now it seems sad because we know by your naughty temper you have not only offended us, but you have displeased God. I wish you would let me untie your hands, and see you my darling little Nelly once more."

"I'm sorry now," said Nelly, her lip quivering. "I will be good, aunty." The tears ran down the little girl's cheeks, but this time they were not angry tears.

Her aunt made haste to untie the towels, and took Nelly in her arms.

"I love you now," sobbed Nelly; "I love you dearly."

"And I love you, my dear, or I could not have kept you here so long," said her aunt, kissing her again and again. "I came a great many times to the door, and longed to take you from this great chair, and hear your happy voice once more; but I knew it would be wrong in me to do so until you were ready to say you were sorry, and to promise to be a good girl. You have offended God, my dear child. Shall I ask him to forgive you?"

"Yes, aunty."

Mrs. Gray then knelt with Nelly by the chair, and prayed God to forgive all her sins, and to help her to keep her new resolution to be good.

CHAPTER V.

After tea Nelly had a fine romp with her cousins on the lawn. Margie and Ponto were there too; and papa and mamma sat on the front steps, laughing and enjoying their sport. As the children ran round and round, the lady saw that Nelly's apron was unbuttoned, and that it troubled her as she played. She called, "Nelly, come here a minute."

The little girl stopped at once, and then ran to her aunt. Before this, when any one called her, she would say, "I can't come now;" or, "In a minute I will." The lady was very much pleased to see that the child obeyed promptly. When she had fastened the apron, Nelly clasped her arms about her aunt's neck, and kissed her. Her uncle smiled, and said, "You look very happy now, Nelly; I wish your mamma could see your rosy cheeks."

"Come, Nelly, it's your turn now," shouted Willie from the lawn.

A few days after this, Mrs. Gray sat busily sewing, while Frankie made a barn with his blocks, in which to put up the pedler's cart, and Nelly was undressing her doll. The sleeve did not come off easily, and as she pulled it roughly it tore. The little girl was angry, and began to cry.

"What is the matter?" asked her aunt.

"Dolly's dress is ugly, and it's all torn."

"Should you like to have a needle, and mend it, my dear?"

"O, yes, aunty."

"May I sew some too?" asked Frankie.

"Yes, darling, you may mend this stocking." She then threaded a needle for the little girl, and showed her how to put the stitches through, and afterwards gave Frankie a darning needle with some yarn. He had often sewed before, and he liked the business very much. There was no knot in the thread, and so he pulled it through and through. But he thought it was sewing for all that.

Nelly sat steadily at her work for a minute; but at last she threw it on the floor, and said, "I hate sewing, it's so hard."

"Let me see it, dear," said aunty.

Nelly picked it up, and put it into her hand.

She laughed when she looked at it, and Nelly laughed too; and then Frankie said, "O, what funny sewing!"

"I'll baste you some easier work," said her aunt; "and you shall have a little thimble to put on your finger. Then you will like to sew."

Nelly had behaved much better since she was punished, so that her uncle, aunt, and cousins loved her better than ever. Still there were many things in which they hoped she would improve.

One day her aunt found her sitting on the piazza alone, eating something, and as soon as she saw some one coming, she put it hastily in her pocket. It was not more than an hour before she complained of a bad pain in her stomach.

"What have you been eating, my dear?" asked her aunt.

"Nothing," said Nelly.

"Are you sure?" and the lady looked earnestly in her face.

"Yes, I am very sure," answered Nelly.

Mrs. Gray sent Sally for some warm peppermint water, and then laid the child on the lounge.

For some time she lay quite still, sucking her finger; but when her aunt glanced toward her to see if she were asleep, she noticed that Nelly looked very pale about the mouth; and presently she jumped up, and carried her to the closet,