“Yes,” said Marco.

Here there was a moment’s pause.  Marco thought that his cousin Forester was considering what should be done to James, for being so unaccommodating.  He did not know but that he would report him to his father and have him turned away; though Marco did not really wish to have him turned away.

But Forester said, after reflecting a moment, “That makes me think of a story I have got here; listen and hear it.”

[Illustration:  MARCO’S ROOM.]

So Forester took out his pocket-book and opened it, and then appeared to be turning over the leaves, for a moment, to find a place.  Then he began to read, or to appear to read, as follows: 

Once there was a little girl named Anne.  She came to her mother one day, as she was sitting in the parlor, and began to complain bitterly of her sister Mary.  Her sister Mary was older than she was, and had a doll.  Anne complained that Mary would not lend her her doll.

“Are you sure that she refused to lend you her doll?” asked her mother.

“Yes, mother, I am sure she did,” replied Anne.

“Perhaps she is playing with it herself,” said her mother.

“No,” replied Anne, “she is ironing in the kitchen.”

“I think you must be mistaken,” said her mother.  “Go and ask her again.  Don’t tell her I sent you, but ask her yourself, whether she really meant that she was not willing to lend you her doll.”

So Anne ran off to put the question to Mary again; presently she returned with the same answer.  “Mary,” she said, “would not lend it to her.”

“I am very sorry to hear it,” said her mother, “for now I suppose I shall have to punish you.”

“To punish her, you mean,” said Anne.

“No,” said her mother, “to punish you.  I don’t suppose she is to blame.”

“Why, mother—­how can I be to blame, for her not being willing to lend me her doll?”

“You are, I’ve no doubt,” said her mother.  “Mary is a good-natured, accommodating girl,—­always ready to do kindnesses, and if she has any unwillingness to lend any thing to you, it must be that you have created it yourself, by some misconduct.  So that it will prove, no doubt, that you are the one to be punished.”

Here Anne began to hang her head and look a little ashamed.  Her mother’s supposition proved to be correct, for, on inquiring, it appeared that Mary had lent her doll to Anne a few days before, and that when she wanted it again, Anne was unwilling to give it to her, and when Mary insisted on her bringing it to her, she became angry and threw the doll out the window.

“I never heard that story before, cousin Forester,” said Marco.  “And I did not know that you had stories in your pocket-book.”

Forester laughed and put up his pocket-book.

“I don’t believe there is any story there,” said Marco.  “You made it up for me, I verily believe.”