“I’ll get the high pink vases from the parlor,” said she.

“Yes,” added Larry.  “And the candlesticks with the glass hanging all round them like a fringe, that jingles when you touch them.”

The little girl brought the vases.  Then she carried in the candelabra, the crystal pendants ringing as she walked in a way that delighted Larry.  She knew perfectly well that she was never allowed to tamper with the costly ornaments in the parlor; but she excused herself by the plea:  “I’m doing it for the Blessed Virgin.”  Larry also had a certain uneasiness about it, but he said to himself:  “Oh, it must be all right if Abby thinks so!  She is a great deal older than I am, and ought to know.”

The shrine was certainly elaborate now.  The children were so engrossed with admiring it that they did not hear the house door open and close.  A step in the hall, however, reminded the little girl of her music lesson.

“Gracious, that must be Miss Remick!” she said, in confusion.

She quietly opened the door of the oratory, intending to peep into the parlor to see if the teacher was there.  To her surprise she encountered her mother, who had just come up the stairs.  But Mrs. Clayton was much more astonished by the sight which greeted, her eyes when she glanced into the oratory.

“O Abby,” she exclaimed, in distress and annoyance, “how could you be so disobedient!  O Larry, why did you help to do what you must have known I would not like?”

Larry grew very red in the face, looked down, and fumbled with one of the buttons of his jacket,

“But, mother,” began Abby, glibly, “it was for the Blessed Virgin, you know.  I was sure I could put down the carpet all right, and I thought you would be glad to be saved the trouble.”

“Put it down all right!” rejoined her mother.  “Why, you have ruined the carpet, Abby!”

Both children looked incredulous and astonished.

“Don’t you see that you have cut it up so shockingly that it is entirely spoiled?  What is left would have to be so pieced that I can not possibly use it for the dining-room, as I intended.”

Abby was mortified and abashed.  Larry grew more and more uncomfortable.

“And, then, the vases and candelabra!” continued Mrs. Clayton.  “Have you not been forbidden to lift or move them, daughter?”

“Yes, mother,” acknowledged the little girl.  “But I thought you wouldn’t mind when I wanted them for the altar.  I didn’t suppose you’d think anything you had was too good for the Blessed Virgin.”

“Certainly not,” was the reply.  “I had decided to place the candelabra on your little shrine.  The pink vases are not suitable.  But these ornaments are too heavy for you to carry.  It was only a happy chance that you did not drop and break them.  And, then, the statue!  Do you not remember that I would not permit you to move it yesterday?  How would you have felt if it had clipped from your clasp and been dashed to pieces?”