Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/44

 "I must go now." The Reverend Mr. Eaton smiled in the dark. Then he said: "I promised your mother that I wouldn't come up. I've broken my promise, of course; but for the sake of peace, I'd rather she didn't know. But if she asks you—tell her the truth. A man can't afford to have too many fibs on his conscience."

The next day at the first opportunity Edward, who had always spoken the truth to his mother, lied to her. He confessed to having broken the Dresden china urn. And after that things were better; but never the same. The confidence which Dear Mother had once had in her little boy had been badly shaken. There would always now be the unpleasant thought that since he was not naturally truthful he might be lying to her.

But she did not despair in the long run of winning him over to a love of truth for its own sake.

Wherefore at ten or eleven years of age there was probably not to be found in the whole of Westchester County a child more experienced and astute in formulating and speaking those untruths which tact, good manners and the fear of hurting other people's feelings demanded.

Edward Eaton had no especial gift for jealousy. But he could not help noticing that when anything really important was done for anybody it was al-