The meeting at breakfast, you may suppose, was not a very pleasant one to Miss Lydia. Her Mamma, however, after reading the account of her fault, added, that she had acknowledged herself truly sorry and ashamed of it, and had learned her lesson very diligently; and then embracing her, said, she dared say she should never be obliged to put her to the blush again.

Miss Lydia now began the day with again trying to be very good; but not with half the spirit and cheerfulness that she had done before her fault; and in the course of the three or four next weeks she was very frequently off her guard. However she persevered in striving to be good, and often, when she had begun to speak crossly, or be idle, or argue with her Mamma, she would recollect herself, and stop short at once, and running to her Mamma, say, My dear Mamma do kiss me, and then I will be good. Acting thus, she became less and less apt to offend, and many days passed without one unpleasant story to tell.

It happened, however, one day, when she and her little brother were in the garden, that he took off the bench a nosegay she had just been tying up, with an intention of presenting it to her Mamma. She ran with some eagerness to take it from him; but the little fellow was tenacious of it; upon which she grew angry, and a contest ensued; at last, in a passion, she took hold of the tops of the flowers, and pulled them all to pieces, and threw her brother down by her violence. Edwin began crying; and she, who loved him dearly, forgot all her anger immediately, begged his pardon for having thrown him down, and asked, whether he was hurt? A few kisses and another flower soon made it up with little Edwin, and this quarrel passed over without being observed by any body, and had really been forgotten by Miss Lydia till she went to-bed.

Lydia, though she was not always free from faults, was a child of remarkable honour; and could not bear the thoughts, in any way, of deceiving any one. She could not, therefore, suffer her Mamma to say she had been good all day, when she felt so conscious of the contrary; and went, as soon as she was dressed, to confess the whole truth. As she passed the window, she saw a lady, for whom she had a particular respect, coming in, and as she well knew, to breakfast with her Mamma. This was a sad mortification to her: however, she went on into her Mamma’s room, and upon being asked, what the dog barked at, told her Mamma, Miss Hipkins was come to breakfast with her. She then stood by the window considering how she should begin to speak to her Mamma. Her affectionate mother, having watched her countenance, said, You look grave and perplexed, Lydia; I suppose you are thinking of the journal; but do not be alarmed, my love, I have not one fault to mention, and Miss Hipkins will rejoice to hear you are grown so good a girl. O! Mamma! said the dear girl, I cannot deceive you, nor receive praises I do not deserve. She then told all that passed between her and Edwin in the garden.

I have been very naughty, Mamma, said Lydia, and I shall be very much ashamed to hear it told; but I should be still more ashamed to be fondled and commended, while I thought, that if you knew as much of me as I do of myself, you would behave in a very different manner to me. Her Mamma caught her in her arms in a transport of affection, and said, May God for ever bless you, my dear child; and preserve to you that sincerity and singleness of heart which are so precious in his sight! Look up, my love; I shall relate your fault; but the story of your voluntary confession will reflect more honour upon you, than if no fault had been committed: and every thing may be hoped of a young person with so noble a disposition.—Come, let us go down.

A few days after this amiable behaviour of Miss Lydia’s, her Mamma received a letter to appoint a day for the arrival of some company, who were to stay a fortnight, and whom Miss Lydia had never seen.

On the evening on which they were to come, Miss Lydia joined her Mamma as she was walking alone in the garden, and, after some hesitation, said, she had a favour to beg of her, which was, that no stories might be read about her while the company staid.

Mamma.

Why not, my dear?

Lydia.

If I should happen to be naughty, I shall be so ashamed to hear it told before strangers!

Mamma.

Then you will have an additional motive to be attentive to your conduct; and surely you would submit to any method that is likely to make you good.

Lydia.

But to have every body know how naughty one is——

Mamma.

You seldom do wrong without being observed by somebody, and generally by more persons than you are aware of.—I speak after the common manner of speaking.—But to be more serious, there is a constant witness, Lydia—

Lydia.

I know, Mamma—God always sees me.

Mamma.

And is He not more to be feared than all the world put together? both because He is more able to punish you, and because, as He is the greatest of beings, it is more disgrace to appear dishonourable in His sight than in that of all the creatures He has made. But that is not all; you seem to dread that “Every body should know how naughty you are.”—Be careful then. There will come a day when all the men that ever were in the world, and all the angels that are in heaven, will be assembled together: and all those who have been wicked will have their sins proclaimed before this assembled multitude, and be disgraced before them all. Beware then, my child, of real offences, and watch now so continually over your behaviour, that, by correcting, while you are so young, all your little faults, you may be happily preserved from falling into such serious ones as will cover you with shame and confusion at that awful day.

Here they were interrupted by the arrival of all the company; but her mother’s words sunk deep into Miss Lydia’s mind, and from that time she was doubly careful of all her behaviour. During the whole fortnight that the company staid, she had no cause to regret the journal’s being produced. From that time, it was very seldom that any error of consequence was mentioned in it.

After having gotten the better of some bad habits she had contracted, she daily, by an attention to her Mamma’s advice, improved in every grace and accomplishment. The good-will with which she, applied to her different tasks, occasioned her making a great progress in them: and her constant good-humour and composedness of temper made her look always pretty and engaging. Her Mamma was so charmed with the sweetness of her behaviour, which was free from all noise, rudeness, or turbulence, that she studied every way in her power to indulge and gratify her; and if ever she was refused any thing, she knew it was because it was not fit for her; and, therefore, never asked nor wished about it again.