"
"And what commandment did you break then, my child?"
"Not the eighth--if I had kept the half-sovereign I should have
broken it," said Fanny, "for that says, thou shalt not steal--what
commandment did I break, grandmother; for I did not steal?"
"When we desire to have what is not ours Fanny, what do we do? we
covet; do we not?"
"Oh! yes--thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods," cried Fanny,
"that is the tenth commandment; and that half-sovereign was my
neighbor's goods, and that fat gentleman was my neighbor. But,
grandmother, it is very easy to break the tenth commandment."
"Very easy indeed, my dear," said Mrs. Newton, with first a faint
smile, and then a deep sigh, "therefore," she added, "we ought always
to pray like David, 'Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.'"
There is a very common saying, that when things are at the worst
they mend. It is hard to say when matters are at the worst; poor Mrs.
Newton knew they might yet be worse with her; but certainly, they
were very bad; and a few days after this, as Fanny was tying up her
flowers as usual, she lay on her bed thinking what she was to do, and
praying that God would direct her to some way of providing for the
poor child.
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