Norman Vallery

His mamma knew that it would be useless to argue with him, so with a sigh she placed him in his bed, and kneeling down, prayed that God would change him, for her love did not prevent her from seeing that his present heart was hard and bad, and that none of the qualities she desired him to possess could spring out of it.

She sat by his bedside till he was asleep, and then went back to Mrs Leslie.

Sweet Fanny felt sadly hurt and disappointed at the behaviour of her young brother, whom she had naturally expected to find as loving, and gentle, and ready to be pleased as she was. She consoled herself, however, with the thought that he was tired and out of sorts after his long journey, and hoped that the next day he would become more amiable and more like what she had fancied him to be.

Sleep soon visited her eyelids and as she was a brisk active little girl, she was awake betimes.

She had said her prayers and read a chapter in the Bible, which she did every morning to hersel