Of course he suffered for it. The doctor had to be sent for in the
night, and the next day, though better, he was ill and weak, and had to
stay in bed--something no boy was ever known to enjoy.
He had hoped that the simple remedies mamma gave him as soon as he
confessed what he had done, and began to feel ill, would undo the
mischief, but they did not. Earl had to bear the full consequences of
his broken promise.
"Dear Earl, I am so sorry you are sick," cried Lilian, when she came in
to see him the next morning.
Kneeling by the bed she put one arm under his aching head and threw the
other over his shoulder, while Earl put one arm lovingly about his
sister.
"I'm sorry, too," he said, "but really, Lilian, I'm sorrier that I did
wrong. Mamma is so sorry she trusted me, and she says maybe she ought
not to have let me go into temptation. She said that when we both
promised she felt sure, and so let us go. Isn't it mean not to keep a
promise when you're trusted?"
"I was mean not to help you keep yours, when I promised to," Lilian
said, not wishing to scold Earl when he was ill in bed. "Mamma says,"
she went on, "that when I went security for you it meant that I must
help you to keep your word as well as to say that I felt sure you would,
so I didn't do my part as I should, you see."
"You told me to remember," said Earl.
"But not at the right time," said wise Lilian. "I ought to have looked
to see if you remembered, when the time came.
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