Susy walked home with downcast head and overflowing eyes.  Her heart was very heavy, for she felt she had been disgraced for life, and could never be respected any more.  Here was a trial so terrible that it caused the death of little Dandy to seem almost a trifle by comparison.

It was strange, Susy thought, how people could live through such severe troubles as had fallen to her lot to-day.  She was a little girl of quick and sensitive feelings, and a sharp word always wounded her more than a blow.  How that angry woman had talked about her mother!

Susy decided, upon the whole, that this was the sting—­this was the “pin in the lash,” which had hurt her more than the lash.  How dared Mrs. Lovejoy say a word about her own mother, who was certainly the best woman that ever lived, always excepting the good people in the Bible!

By the time she entered the house, her indignation had risen like a blaze, and burned away all her tears.  But should she tell her mother what Mrs. Lovejoy had said about her ownself, about her being “stuck up,” and holding her head pretty high?  Susy could not decide whether she ought to tell her, and risk the danger of almost breaking her heart!  But before she had time to decide, she had poured out the whole story in a torrent.

Strange to say, Mrs. Parlin listened with perfect calmness, and even said, when Susy had finished,—­

“Very well, my dear; now you may go and hang up your hood and cloak.”

“But, mother,” said Susy, rushing up stairs again, quite out of breath, “now I’ve taken care of my things; but did you understand what I said, mother?  Annie will never come into this house, never again!  Her mother forbids it!”

“That is quite fortunate for me, Susy, as it saves me the trouble of forbidding it myself!”

“Why, mother, you wouldn’t do such a thing as that!  Why, mother, I never heard of your doing such a thing in my life!”

“I should regret the necessity very much, my child; but wouldn’t it be better, on the whole, to have a little moral courage, and put an end to all intercourse between the two families, than to live in a constant broil?”

“Why, yes, mother, I suppose so.”

Susy was beginning to feel more composed.  She saw that her mother understood the whole story, yet her heart was far from being broken!

“What is moral courage, mother?”

“The courage to do right.”

“Did I have moral courage when I told Mrs. Lovejoy the truth?”

“Yes, dear.  It was hard for you, wasn’t it?  If it had been easy, there would have been no moral courage about it.”

“I am glad I had moral courage!” said Susy with animation.  “I knew I did something right, but I didn’t know what you called it.”

“Now,” continued Mrs. Parlin, “I have this very day been talking with a lady, who once lived next door to Mrs. Lovejoy; and she tells me enough about her to convince me that she is not a person I wish for a neighbor.  And I have heard enough about Annie, too, to feel very sure she is not a safe companion for my little daughter.”