While they were waiting Anna proposed that they should not tell their uncle that they had found the two apples, and so he would give them three more, which he would take from the tree; whereas, if he knew that they had already had one apiece, then he would only give them two more.

Ernest said that his uncle would ask them about it.

Anna said, 'No matter, we can tell him that we did not find any.' "Ernest seemed to be thinking about it for a moment, and then, shaking his head, said, 'No, I think we had better not tell him a lie!' "So when he saw their uncle coming he said, 'Come, Anna, let us go and tell him about it, just how it was.

So they ran together to meet their uncle, and told him that they had found two apples under the tree, one apiece, and had eaten them.

Then he gave them two more apiece, according to his promise, and they went home feeling contented and happy.
"They might have had one more apple apiece, probably, by combining together to tell a falsehood; but in that case they would have gone home feeling guilty and unhappy." _The Effect_.
Louisa's mother paused a moment, after finishing her story, to give Louisa time to think about it a little.
"I think," she added at length, after a suitable pause, "that it was a great deal better for them to tell the truth, as they did." "I think so too, mamma," said Louisa, at the same time casting down her eyes and looking a little confused.
"But you know," added her mother, speaking in a very kind and gentle tone, "that you did not tell me the truth to-day about the apple that Bridget gave you." Louisa paused a moment, looked in her mother's face, and then, reaching up to put her arms around her mother's neck, she said, "Mamma, I am determined never to tell you another wrong story as long as I live." _Only a Single Lesson, after all_.
Now it is not at all probable that if the case had ended here, Louisa would have kept her promise.