"
"Yes," she assented, still with the steady gaze of her blue eyes.
"Now your duty is clear," I went on. "If the sisters ask you if a wasp
flew into your room and tried to sting you, and you had to jump around
and kill it, and speak, before you could go on with your work, why, of
course you must tell them; but if they don't ask you, don't tell them.
It may seem ridiculous to you," I continued hurriedly, "to suppose that
they would ask such a question, but I put it in this way to show you the
principle of the thing."
She withdrew her eyes from my face, and fixed them upon the floor.
"The truth of the matter is," she said presently, "that I haven't done
anything wrong; at least I didn't intend to. I might have crouched down
in the corner, with my face to the wall, and have covered my head and
hands with my shawl, but I should have been obliged to stay there until
Sister Sarah came, and I should have been smothered to death; and
besides, I didn't think of it; so what I did do was the only thing I
could do, and I do not think I ought to be punished for it."
"Now it is settled," I said. "Your duty is to work here for the benefit
of your sisterhood, and you should not allow a wasp or any insect to
interfere with it.
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