“I hope that you have not hurt yourself!” said one of the ladies, as Joseph, flushed and panting, scrambled to his feet.
“He _has_ hurt himself,” replied Mrs. Graham’s displeased voice. Joseph did not venture to lift up his eyes to her face. “He who has disregarded my wishes, and, at the very time when he was experiencing my kindness, wilfully disobeyed my command, has little right to expect more indulgence at my hand. I came prepared with another invitation to the young friends who have visited me to-day. I intended to ask them all to return here again when the summer sun shall have ripened those strawberries, when they shall be welcome to gather them for themselves; but as for Joseph, he has already had more than his share in the blossoms which he has destroyed, which never can bear any fruit—there is no use in his coming to look on while others enjoy what might have been his, if he could have learned the duty of obedience!”
Then was the time for Jack and Tom to have stepped forward and honestly owned their share in the fault. But I appeal to those who, like Joseph, have weakly yielded to the persuasions of those who tempted them to do wrong, whether the companions who have led them into trouble are the ones to try to help them out of it. The Higgins both were silent, and for this time escaped the punishment which is certain, sooner or later, to overtake those who persevere in a course of rebellion. Joseph’s heart swelled, a choking feeling was in his throat: to be thus disgraced before all, and debarred from a treat which he would so greatly have enjoyed, and to know that the punishment was just, turned all the pleasure of the day into bitterness.
Mrs. Graham saw his look of distress, and her gentle heart pitied the boy, though she felt too strongly how important the lesson might be to him through the whole course of his future life, to relax in her firm resolve. She followed him, however, as he sadly walked away to a more retired part of the garden. She laid her hand on his arm: he started, for he had not heard her noiseless step as she approached.
“You are very sorry for what has happened, Joseph—I see that you are; you are very sorry to have displeased a friend and forfeited a pleasure.”