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+    <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wide, Wide World, by Susan Warner</title><style type="text/css">
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wide, Wide World, by Susan Warner
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wide, Wide World
+
+Author: Susan Warner
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2009 [EBook #28376]
+[Last updated: April 18, 2011]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Júlio Reis, Linda McKeown and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<div class="center">
+<a href="images/spine.jpg"><img alt="Book spine" src="images/spine-thumb.jpg" /></a>
+<a href="images/fcover.jpg"><img alt="Book cover" src="images/fcover-thumb.jpg" /></a>
+</div>
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p>
+<h1>The Wide, Wide World</h1>
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<div id="tpage">
+<div id="tpage_title"><i>The</i> Wide,<br /> Wide World</div>
+<div id="tpage_author"><i>By</i> SUSAN WARNER</div>
+<div id="tpage_illustration">
+<img src="images/illus-003.png" alt="title page floral separator" />
+</div>
+<div id="tpage_publisher">
+  <div id="tpagep_first">GROSSET AND DUNLAP</div>
+  PUBLISHERS &nbsp; &nbsp; : &nbsp; &nbsp; : &nbsp; &nbsp; NEW YORK
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="Conent" id="toc">
+<tbody><tr>
+<td><small>CHAP.</small></td><td></td><td class="right"><small>PAGE</small></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>I.</small></td><td><small>BREAKING THE NEWS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>II.</small></td><td><small>GIVES SORROW TO THE WINDS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>III.</small></td><td><small>THE WORTH OF A FINGER-RING</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>IV.</small></td><td><small>THE BITTER-SWEET OF LIFE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>V.</small></td><td><small>A PEEP INTO THE WIDE WORLD</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>VI.</small></td><td><small>NIGHT AND MORNING</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>VII.</small></td><td><small>"STRANGERS WALK AS FRIENDS"</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>VIII.</small></td><td><small>LEAVES US IN THE STREET</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>IX.</small></td><td><small>THE LITTLE QUEEN IN THE ARM-CHAIR</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>X.</small></td><td><small>MUD—AND WHAT CAME OF IT</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XI.</small></td><td><small>RUNNING AWAY WITH THE BROOK</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XII.</small></td><td><small>SPLITTERS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XIII.</small></td><td><small>HOPE DEFERRED</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XIV.</small></td><td><small>WORK</small> <i>not</i> <small>DEFERRED</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XV.</small></td><td><small>MOTHER EARTH RATHER THAN AUNT FORTUNE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XVI.</small></td><td><small>COUNSEL, CAKES, AND CAPTAIN PARRY</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XVII.</small></td><td><small>DIFFICULTY OF DOING RIGHT</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XVIII.</small></td><td><small>LOSES CARE ON THE CAT'S BACK</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XIX.</small></td><td><small>SHOWING THAT IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES WHITE IS BLACK</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XX.</small></td><td><small>HEADSICK AND HEARTSICK</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXI.</small></td><td><small>FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXII.</small></td><td><small>SHOWS HOW MR. VAN BRUNT COULD BE SHARP UPON SOME THINGS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXIII.</small></td><td><small>HOW MISS FORTUNE WENT OUT AND PLEASURE CAME IN</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXIV.</small></td><td><small>SWEEPING AND DUSTING</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXV.</small></td><td><small>SHOWING WHAT A NOISE A BEE CAN MAKE WHEN IT GETS INTO THE HOUSE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXVI.</small></td><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span><small>SUNDRY THINGS ROUND A POT OF CHOCOLATE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXVII.</small></td><td><small>THE JINGLING OF SLEIGH-BELLS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXVIII.</small></td><td><small>SCRAPS—OF MOROCCO AND TALK</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXIX.</small></td><td><small>STOCKINGS, TO WHICH THE "BAS BLEU" WAS NOTHING</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXX.</small></td><td><small>SUNDAY AT VENTNOR</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXI.</small></td><td><small>FLOWERS AND THORNS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXII.</small></td><td><small>THE BANKNOTE AND GEORGE WASHINGTON</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXIII.</small></td><td><small>A GATHERING CLOUD IN THE SPRING WEATHER</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXIV.</small></td><td><small>THE CLOUD OVERHEAD</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXV.</small></td><td><small>THIS "WORKING-DAY WORLD"</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_357">357</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXVI.</small></td><td><small>THE BROWNIE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXVII.</small></td><td><small>TIMOTHY AND HIS MASTER</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXVIII.</small></td><td><small>WHEREIN THE BLACK PRINCE ARRIVES OPPORTUNELY</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_395">395</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XXXIX.</small></td><td><small>HALCYON DAYS</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_406">406</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XL.</small></td><td><small>"PRODIGIOUS!"</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_419">419</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLI.</small></td><td><small>"THE CLOUDS RETURN AFTER THE RAIN"</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_428">428</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLII.</small></td><td><small>ONE LESS IN THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_438">438</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLIII.</small></td><td><small>THOSE THAT WERE LEFT</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_448">448</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLIV.</small></td><td><small>THE LITTLE SPIRIT THAT HAUNTED THE BIG HOUSE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_458">458</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLV.</small></td><td><small>THE GUARDIAN ANGEL</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_473">473</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLVI.</small></td><td><small>"SOMETHING TURNS UP"</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_487">487</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLVII.</small></td><td><small>THE WIDE WORLD GROWN WIDER</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_502">502</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLVIII.</small></td><td><small>HOW OLD FRIENDS WERE INVESTED WITH THE REGALIA</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_515">515</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>XLIX.</small></td><td><small>THOUGHT IS FREE</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_531">531</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>L.</small></td><td><small>TRIALS WITHOUT</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_542">542</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>LI.</small></td><td><small>TRIALS WITHIN</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_552">552</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="right"><small>LII.</small></td><td><small>"THOU!"</small></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_561">561</a></td>
+</tr></tbody></table>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THE_WIDE_WIDE_WORLD" id="THE_WIDE_WIDE_WORLD"></a>THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<div class="quote-text">
+Enjoy the spring of love and youth,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To some good angel leave the rest,</span><br />
+For time will teach thee soon the truth,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"There are no birds in last year's nest."</span><br />
+</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>"Mamma, what was that I heard papa saying to you this
+morning about his lawsuit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you just now. Ellen, pick up that shawl and
+spread it over me."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma!—are you cold in this warm room?"</p>
+
+<p>"A little,—there, that will do. Now, my daughter, let me
+be quiet awhile—don't disturb me."</p>
+
+<p>There was no one else in the room. Driven thus to her own
+resources, Ellen betook herself to the window and sought amusement
+there. The prospect without gave little promise of it.
+Rain was falling, and made the street and everything in it look
+dull and gloomy. The foot-passengers plashed through the
+water, and the horses and carriages plashed through the mud;
+gaiety had forsaken the side-walks, and equipages were few, and
+the people that were out were plainly there only because they
+could not help it. But yet Ellen, having seriously set herself to
+study everything that passed, presently became engaged in her
+occupation; and her thoughts travelling dreamily from one thing
+to another, she sat for a long time with her little face pressed
+against the window-frame, perfectly regardless of all but the
+moving world without.</p>
+
+<p>Daylight gradually faded away, and the street wore a more
+and more gloomy aspect. The rain poured, and now only an
+occasional carriage or footstep disturbed the sound of its steady
+pattering. Yet still Ellen sat with her face glued to the window
+as if spell-bound, gazing out at every dusky form that passed, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+though it had some strange interest for her. At length, in the
+distance, light after light began to appear; presently Ellen could
+see the dim figure of the lamplighter crossing the street, from
+side to side, with his ladder;—then he drew near enough for her
+to watch him as he hooked his ladder on the lamp-irons, ran up
+and lit the lamp, then shouldered the ladder and marched off
+quick, the light glancing on his wet oil-skin hat, rough greatcoat
+and lantern, and on the pavement and iron railings. The veriest
+moth could not have followed the light with more perseverance
+than did Ellen's eyes—till the lamplighter gradually disappeared
+from view, and the last lamp she could see was lit; and not till
+then did it occur to her that there was such a place as indoors.
+She took her face from the window. The room was dark and
+cheerless; and Ellen felt stiff and chilly. However, she made
+her way to the fire, and having found the poker, she applied it
+gently to the Liverpool coal with such good effect that a bright
+ruddy blaze sprang up and lighted the whole room. Ellen
+smiled at the result of her experiment. "That is something
+like," said she to herself; "who says I can't poke the fire?
+Now, let us see if I can't do something else. Do but see how
+those chairs are standing—one would think we had had a sewing
+circle here—there, go back to your places,—that looks a little
+better; now these curtains must come down, and I may as well
+shut the shutters too—and now this tablecloth must be content
+to hang straight, and mamma's box and the books must lie in
+their places and not all helter-skelter. Now, I wish mamma
+would wake up; I should think she might. I don't believe she
+is asleep, she don't look as if she was."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was right in this; her mother's face did not wear the
+look of sleep, nor indeed of repose at all; the lips were compressed,
+and the brow not calm. To try, however, whether she
+was asleep or no, and with the half-acknowledged intent to rouse
+her at all events, Ellen knelt down by her side and laid her face
+close to her mother's on the pillow. But this failed to draw
+either word or sign. After a minute or two Ellen tried stroking
+her mother's cheek very gently;—and this succeeded, for Mrs.
+Montgomery arrested the little hand as it passed her lips, and
+kissed it fondly two or three times.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't disturbed you, mamma, have I?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>Without replying, Mrs. Montgomery raised herself to a sitting
+posture, and, lifting both hands to her face, pushed back the
+hair from her forehead and temples, with a gesture which Ellen
+knew meant that she was making up her mind to some disagreeable
+or painful effort. Then taking both Ellen's hands, as she
+still knelt before her, she gazed in her face with a look even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+more fond than usual, Ellen thought, but much sadder too;
+though Mrs. Montgomery's cheerfulness had always been of a
+serious kind.</p>
+
+<p>"What question was that you were asking me awhile ago, my
+daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought, mamma, I heard papa telling you this morning,
+or yesterday, that he had lost that lawsuit."</p>
+
+<p>"You heard right, Ellen—he has lost it," said Mrs. Montgomery
+sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sorry, mamma?—does it trouble you?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know, my dear, that I am not apt to concern myself
+overmuch about the gain or the loss of money. I believe my
+Heavenly Father will give me what is good for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, mamma, why are you troubled?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, my child, I cannot carry out this principle in other
+matters, and leave quietly my <i>all</i> in His hands."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, dear mother? What makes you
+look so?"</p>
+
+<p>"This lawsuit, Ellen, has brought upon us more trouble than
+ever I thought a lawsuit could—the loss of it, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"How, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"It has caused an entire change of all our plans. Your father
+says he is too poor now to stay here any longer; and he has
+agreed to go soon on some government or military business to
+Europe."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mamma, that is bad; but he has been away a great
+deal before, and I am sure we were always very happy?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Ellen, he thinks now, and the doctor thinks too, that
+it is very important for my health that I should go with him."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he, mamma? And do you mean to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I must, my dear child."</p>
+
+<p>"Not, and leave <i>me</i>, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>The imploring look of mingled astonishment, terror, and
+sorrow with which Ellen uttered these words took from her
+mother all power of replying. It was not necessary, her little
+daughter understood only too well the silent answer of her eye.
+With a wild cry she flung her arms round her mother, and
+hiding her face in her lap gave way to a violent burst of grief
+that seemed for a few moments as if it would rend soul and
+body in twain. For her passions were by nature very strong,
+and by education very imperfectly controlled; and time, "that
+rider that breaks youth," had not as yet tried his hand upon
+her. And Mrs. Montgomery, in spite of the fortitude and calmness
+to which she had steeled herself, bent down over her, and
+folding her arms about her, yielded to sorrow deeper still, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+for a little while scarcely less violent in its expression than
+Ellen's own.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! she had too good reason. She knew that the chance
+of her ever returning to shield the little creature who was
+nearest her heart from the future evils and snares of life was
+very, very small. She had at first absolutely refused to leave
+Ellen when her husband proposed it, declaring that she would
+rather stay with her and die than take the chance of recovery
+at such a cost. But her physician assured her she could not
+live long without a change of climate; Captain Montgomery
+urged that it was better to submit to a temporary separation than
+to cling obstinately to her child for a few months and then leave
+her for ever; said he must himself go speedily to France, and
+that now was her best opportunity; assuring her, however, that
+his circumstances would not permit him to take Ellen along, but
+that she would be secure of a happy home with his sister during
+her mother's absence; and to the pressure of argument Captain
+Montgomery added the weight of authority—insisting on her
+compliance. Conscience also asked Mrs. Montgomery whether
+she had a <i>right</i> to neglect any chance of life that was offered her;
+and at last she yielded to the combined influence of motives no
+one of which would have had power sufficient to move her, and
+though with a secret consciousness it would be in vain, she consented
+to do as her friends wished. And it was for Ellen's sake
+she did it after all.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing but necessity had given her the courage to open the
+matter to her little daughter. She had foreseen and endeavoured
+to prepare herself for Ellen's anguish; but nature was too strong
+for her, and they clasped each other in a convulsive embrace
+while tears fell like rain.</p>
+
+<p>It was some minutes before Mrs. Montgomery recollected
+herself, and then though she struggled hard she could not immediately
+regain her composure. But Ellen's deep sobs at length
+fairly alarmed her; she saw the necessity, for both their sakes,
+of putting a stop to this state of violent excitement; self-command
+was restored at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen! Ellen! listen to me," she said; "my child, this is
+not right. Remember, my darling, who it is that brings this
+sorrow upon us—though we <i>must</i> sorrow, we must not rebel."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sobbed more gently; but that and the mute pressure of
+her arms was her only answer.</p>
+
+<p>"You will hurt both yourself and me, my daughter, if you
+cannot command yourself. Remember, dear Ellen, God sends no
+trouble upon His children but in love; and though we cannot see
+how, He will no doubt make all this work for our good."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know it, dear mother," sobbed Ellen; "but it's just as
+hard!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery's own heart answered so readily to the
+truth of Ellen's words that for the moment she could not
+speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Try, my daughter," she said after a pause; "try to compose
+yourself. I am afraid you will make me worse, Ellen, if
+you cannot—I am indeed."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had plenty of faults, but amidst them all love to her
+mother was the strongest feeling her heart knew. It had power
+enough now to move her as nothing else could have done; and
+exerting all her self-command, of which she had sometimes a
+good deal, she <i>did</i> calm herself, ceased sobbing, wiped her eyes,
+arose from her crouching posture, and seating herself on the sofa
+by her mother and laying her head on her bosom, she listened
+quietly to all the soothing words and cheering considerations with
+which Mrs. Montgomery endeavoured to lead her to take a more
+hopeful view of the subject. All she could urge, however, had
+but very partial success, though the conversation was prolonged
+far into the evening. Ellen said little, and did not weep any
+more; but in secret her heart refused consolation.</p>
+
+<p>Long before this the servant had brought in the tea-things.
+Nobody regarded it at the time, but the little kettle hissing
+away on the fire now by chance attracted Ellen's attention, and
+she suddenly recollected her mother had had no tea. To make
+her mother's tea was Ellen's regular business. She treated it as
+a very grave affair, and loved it as one of the pleasantest in the
+course of the day. She used in the first place to make sure that
+the kettle had really boiled; then she carefully poured some
+water into the teapot and rinsed it, both to make it clean and to
+make it hot; then she knew exactly how much tea to put into
+the tiny little teapot, which was just big enough to hold two
+cups of tea, and having poured a very little boiling water to it,
+she used to set it by the side of the fire while she made half a
+slice of toast. How careful Ellen was about that toast! The
+bread must not be cut too thick nor too thin; the fire must, if
+possible, burn clear and bright, and she herself held the bread
+on a fork, just at the right distance from the coals to get nicely
+browned without burning. When this was done to her satisfaction
+(and if the first piece failed she would take another), she
+filled up the little teapot from the boiling kettle, and proceeded
+to make a cup of tea. She knew, and was very careful to put in,
+just the quantity of milk and sugar that her mother liked; and
+then she used to carry the tea and toast on a little tray to her
+mother's side, and very often held it there for her while she ate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+All this Ellen did with the zeal that love gives, and though the
+same thing was to be gone over every night of the year, she was
+never wearied. It was a real pleasure; she had the greatest
+satisfaction in seeing that the little her mother could eat was
+prepared for her in the nicest possible manner; she knew her
+hands made it taste better; her mother often said so.</p>
+
+<p>But this evening other thoughts had driven this important
+business quite out of poor Ellen's mind. Now, however, when
+her eyes fell upon the little kettle, she recollected her mother
+had not had her tea, and must want it very much; and silently
+slipping off the sofa she set about getting it as usual. There was
+no doubt this time whether the kettle boiled or no; it had been
+hissing for an hour and more, calling as loud as it could to somebody
+to come and make the tea. So Ellen made it, and then
+began the toast. But she began to think too, as she watched it,
+how few more times she would be able to do so—how soon her
+pleasant tea-makings would be over—and the desolate feeling of
+separation began to come upon her before the time. These
+thoughts were too much for poor Ellen; the thick tears gathered
+so fast she could not see what she was doing; and she had no
+more than just turned the slice of bread on the fork when the
+sickness of heart quite overcame her; she could not go on.
+Toast and fork and all dropped from her hand into the ashes; and
+rushing to her mother's side, who was now lying down again, and
+throwing herself upon her, she burst into another fit of sorrow;
+not so violent as the former, but with a touch of hopelessness in
+it which went yet more to her mother's heart. Passion in the
+first said, "I cannot;" despair now seemed to say, "I must."</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Montgomery was too exhausted to either share or
+soothe Ellen's agitation. She lay in suffering silence; till after
+some time she said faintly, "Ellen, my love, I cannot bear this
+much longer."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was immediately brought to herself by these words.
+She arose, sorry and ashamed that she should have given occasion
+for them; and tenderly kissing her mother, assured her most
+sincerely and resolutely that she would not do so again. In a
+few minutes she was calm enough to finish making the tea, and
+having toasted another piece of bread, she brought it to her
+mother. Mrs. Montgomery swallowed a cup of tea, but no toast
+could be eaten that night.</p>
+
+<p>Both remained silent and quiet awhile after this, till the clock
+struck ten. "You had better go to bed, my daughter," said
+Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"I will, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you can read me a little before you go?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, mamma;" and Ellen brought the book:
+"where shall I read?"</p>
+
+<p>"The twenty-third psalm."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen began it, and went through it steadily and slowly,
+though her voice quavered a little.</p>
+
+<p>"'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.</p>
+
+<p>"'He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth
+me beside the still waters.</p>
+
+<p>"'He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of
+righteousness for His name's sake.</p>
+
+<p>"'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
+I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff
+they comfort me.</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
+enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.</p>
+
+<p>"'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
+my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.'"</p>
+
+<p>Long before she had finished Ellen's eyes were full, and her
+heart too. "If I only could feel these words as mamma does!" she
+said to herself. She did not dare look up till the traces of tears
+had passed away; then she saw that her mother was asleep.
+Those first sweet words had fallen like balm upon the sore heart;
+and mind and body had instantly found rest together.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen breathed the lightest possible kiss upon her forehead,
+and stole quietly out of the room to her own little bed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Not all the whispers that the soft winds utter<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speak earthly things—</span><br />
+There mingleth there, sometimes, a gentle flutter<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of angels' wings.</span></div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Amy Lathrop</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Sorrow and excitement made Ellen's eyelids heavy, and she
+slept late on the following morning. The great dressing-bell
+waked her. She started up with a confused notion that something
+was the matter; there was a weight on her heart that was
+very strange to it. A moment was enough to bring it all back;
+and she threw herself again on her pillow, yielding helplessly to
+the grief she had twice been obliged to control the evening
+before. Yet love was stronger than grief still, and she was
+careful to allow no sound to escape her that could reach the ears
+of her mother, who slept in the next room. Her resolve was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+firm to grieve her no more with useless expressions of sorrow; to
+keep it to herself as much as possible. But this very thought
+that she must keep it to herself gave an edge to poor Ellen's
+grief, and the convulsive clasp of her little arms round the pillow
+plainly showed that it needed none.</p>
+
+<p>The breakfast-bell again startled her, and she remembered
+she must not be too late downstairs, or her mother might inquire
+and find out the reason. "I will <i>not</i> trouble mother—I will not—I
+will not," she resolved to herself as she got out of bed,
+though the tears fell faster as she said so. Dressing was sad work
+to Ellen to-day; it went on very heavily. Tears dropped into
+the water as she stooped her head to the basin; and she hid her
+face in the towel to cry, instead of making the ordinary use of it.
+But the usual duties were dragged through at last, and she went
+to the window. "I'll not go down till papa is gone," she thought;
+"he'll ask me what is the matter with my eyes."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen opened the window. The rain was over; the lovely
+light of a fair September morning was beautifying everything it
+shone upon. Ellen had been accustomed to amuse herself a good
+deal at this window, though nothing was to be seen from it but
+an ugly city prospect of back walls of houses, with the yards
+belonging to them, and a bit of narrow street. But she had
+watched the people that showed themselves at the windows, and
+the children that played in the yards, and the women that went
+to the pumps, till she had become pretty well acquainted with
+the neighbourhood; and though they were for the most part
+dingy, dirty, and disagreeable—women, children, houses, and all—she
+certainly had taken a good deal of interest in their proceedings.
+It was all gone now. She could not bear to look at
+them; she felt as if it made her sick; and turning away her eyes
+she lifted them to the bright sky above her head, and gazed into
+its clear depth of blue till she almost forgot that there was such
+a thing as a city in the world. Little white clouds were chasing
+across it, driven by the fresh wind that was blowing away Ellen's
+hair from her face, and cooling her hot cheeks. That wind could
+not have been long in coming from the place of woods and
+flowers, it was so sweet still. Ellen looked till, she didn't know
+why, she felt calmed and soothed,—as if somebody was saying to
+her softly, "Cheer up, my child, cheer up;—things are not as
+bad as they might be:—things will be better." Her attention
+was attracted at length by voices below; she looked down, and
+saw there, in one of the yards, a poor deformed child, whom she
+had often noticed before, and always with sorrowful interest.
+Besides his bodily infirmity, he had a further claim on her sympathy,
+in having lost his mother within a few months. Ellen's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+heart was easily touched this morning; she felt for him very
+much. "Poor, poor little fellow!" she thought; "he's a great
+deal worse off than I am. <i>His</i> mother is dead; mine is only
+going away for a few months—not for ever—oh, what a difference!
+and then the joy of coming back again!"—poor Ellen was
+weeping already at the thought—"and I'll do, oh, how much!
+while she is gone—I'll do more than she can possibly expect
+from me—I'll astonish her—I'll delight her—I'll work harder
+than ever I did in my life before; I'll mend all my faults, and
+give her so much pleasure! But oh! if she only needn't go
+away! Oh, mamma!" Tears of mingled sweet and bitter were
+poured out fast, but the bitter had the largest share.</p>
+
+<p>The breakfast-table was still standing, and her father gone,
+when Ellen went downstairs. Mrs. Montgomery welcomed her
+with her usual quiet smile, and held out her hand. Ellen tried
+to smile in answer, but she was glad to hide her face in her
+mother's bosom; and the long close embrace was too close and
+too long,—it told of sorrow as well as love; and tears fell from
+the eyes of each that the other did not see.</p>
+
+<p>"Need I go to school to-day, mamma?" whispered Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I spoke to your father about that. You shall not go
+any more. We will be together now while we can."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wanted to ask how long that would be, but could not
+make up her mind to it.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, daughter, and take some breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you done, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I waited for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear mamma," with another embrace; "how
+good you are! but I don't think I want any."</p>
+
+<p>They drew their chairs to the table, but it was plain neither
+had much heart to eat; although Mrs. Montgomery with her
+own hand laid on Ellen's plate half of the little bird that had
+been boiled for her own breakfast. The half was too much for
+each of them.</p>
+
+<p>"What made you so late this morning, daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I got up late in the first place, mamma; and then I was a
+long time at the window."</p>
+
+<p>"At the window! Were you examining into your neighbours'
+affairs as usual?" said Mrs. Montgomery, surprised that it
+should have been so.—"Oh no, mamma, I didn't look at them
+at all—except poor little Billy. I was looking at the sky."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you see there that pleased you so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, mamma; it looked so lovely and peaceful—that
+pure blue spread over my head, and the little white clouds
+flying across it. I loved to look at it; it seemed to do me good."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Could you look at it, Ellen, without thinking of Him who
+made it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mamma," said Ellen, ceasing her breakfast, and now
+speaking with difficulty; "I did think of Him; perhaps that
+was the reason."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you think of Him, daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hoped, mamma—I felt—I thought—He would take care
+of me," said Ellen, bursting into tears, and throwing her arms
+round her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"He will, my dear daughter, He will, if you will only put
+your trust in Him, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen struggled hard to get back her composure, and after a
+few minutes succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, will you tell me what you mean exactly by my
+'putting my trust' in Him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you trust me, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you trust me?—in what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, mamma;—in the first place I trust every word you
+say—entirely—I know nothing could be truer. If you were to
+tell me black is white, mamma, I should think my eyes had been
+mistaken. Then everything you tell or advise me to do, I know
+it is right, perfectly. And I always feel safe when you are near
+me, because I know you'll take care of me. And I am glad to
+think I belong to you, and you have the management of me
+entirely, and I needn't manage myself, because I know I can't;
+and if I could, I'd rather you would, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter, it is just so; it is <i>just</i> so that I wish you to
+trust in God. He is truer, wiser, stronger, kinder, by far than I
+am, even if I could always be with you; and what will you do
+when I am away from you?—and what would you do, my child,
+if I were to be parted from you for ever?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma!" said Ellen, bursting into tears, and clasping
+her arms round her mother again—"Oh, dear mamma, don't talk
+about it!"</p>
+
+<p>Her mother fondly returned her caress, and one or two tears
+fell on Ellen's head as she did so, but that was all, and she said
+no more. Feeling severely the effects of the excitement and
+anxiety of the preceding day and night, she now stretched herself
+on the sofa and lay quite still. Ellen placed herself on a
+little bench at her side, with her back to the head of the sofa,
+that her mother might not see her face; and possessing herself
+of one of her hands, sat with her little head resting upon her
+mother, as quiet as she. They remained thus for two or three
+hours, without speaking; and Mrs. Montgomery was part of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+time slumbering; but now and then a tear ran down the side of
+the sofa and dropped on the carpet where Ellen sat; and now
+and then her lips were softly pressed to the hand she held, as
+if they would grow there. The doctor's entrance at last disturbed
+them. Doctor Green found his patient decidedly worse
+than he had reason to expect; and his sagacious eye had not
+passed back and forth many times between the mother and
+daughter before he saw how it was. He made no remark upon
+it, however, but continued for some moments a pleasant chatty
+conversation which he had begun with Mrs. Montgomery. He
+then called Ellen to him; he had rather taken a fancy to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Ellen," he said, rubbing one of her hands in his,
+"what do you think of this fine scheme of mine?"</p>
+
+<p>"What scheme, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this scheme of sending this sick lady over the water
+to get well. What do you think of it, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Will</i> it make her quite well, do you think, sir?" asked
+Ellen earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Will it make her well?' To be sure it will; do you think
+I don't know better than to send people all the way across the
+ocean for nothing? Who do you think would want Dr. Green
+if he sent people on wildgoose chases in that fashion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will she have to stay long there before she is cured, sir?"
+asked Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that I can't tell; that depends entirely on circumstances—perhaps
+longer, perhaps shorter. But now, Miss Ellen, I've
+got a word of business to say to you. You know you agreed to
+be my little nurse. Mrs. Nurse, this lady whom I put under
+your care the other day, isn't quite as well as she ought to be
+this morning; I am afraid you haven't taken proper care of her;
+she looks to me as if she had been too much excited. I've a
+notion she has been secretly taking half a bottle of wine, or
+reading some furious kind of a novel, or something of that sort—you
+understand? Now mind, Mrs. Nurse," said the doctor,
+changing his tone, "she <i>must not</i> be excited—you must take care
+that she is not—it isn't good for her. You mustn't let her talk
+much, or laugh much, or cry at all, on any account; she mustn't
+be worried in the least—will you remember? Now you know
+what I shall expect of you; you must be very careful—if that
+piece of toast of yours should chance to get burned, one of these
+fine evenings, I won't answer for the consequences. Good-bye,"
+said he, shaking Ellen's hand, "you needn't look sober about it;
+all you have to do is to let your mamma be as much like an
+oyster as possible—you understand? Good-bye." And Dr. Green
+took his leave.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Poor woman!" said the doctor to himself as he went down
+stairs (he was a humane man). "I wonder if she'll live till she
+gets to the other side! That's a nice little girl, too. Poor
+child! poor child!"</p>
+
+<p>Both mother and daughter silently acknowledged the justice
+of the doctor's advice, and determined to follow it. By common
+consent, as it seemed, each for several days avoided bringing the
+subject of sorrow to the other's mind, though no doubt it was
+constantly present to both. It was not spoken of—indeed, little
+of any kind was spoken of, but that never. Mrs. Montgomery
+was doubtless employed during this interval in preparing for
+what she believed was before her; endeavouring to resign herself
+and her child to Him in whose hands they were, and struggling
+to withdraw her affections from a world which she had a secret
+misgiving she was fast leaving. As for Ellen, the doctor's warning
+had served to strengthen the resolve she had already made,
+that she would not distress her mother with the sight of her
+sorrow; and she kept it, as far as she could. She let her mother
+see but very few tears, and those were quiet ones; though she
+drooped her head like a withered flower, and went about the
+house with an air of submissive sadness that tried her mother
+sorely. But when she was alone, and knew no one could see,
+sorrow had its way; and then there were sometimes agonies of
+grief that would almost have broken Mrs. Montgomery's resolution
+had she known them.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, could not last. Ellen was a child, and of most
+buoyant and elastic spirit naturally; it was not for one sorrow,
+however great, to utterly crush her. It would have taken years
+to do that. Moreover, she entertained not the slightest hope of
+being able by any means to alter her father's will. She regarded
+the dreaded evil as an inevitable thing. But though she was at
+first overwhelmed with sorrow, and for some days evidently pined
+under it sadly, hope at length <i>would</i> come back to her little heart;
+and no sooner in again, hope began to smooth the roughest, and
+soften the hardest, and touch the dark spots with light, in Ellen's
+future. The thoughts which had passed through her head that
+first morning as she had stood at her window, now came back
+again. Thoughts of wonderful improvement to be made during
+her mother's absence; of unheard-of efforts to learn and amend,
+which should all be crowned with success; and, above all, thoughts
+of that "coming home," when all these attainments and accomplishments
+should be displayed to the mother's delighted eyes,
+and her exertions receive their long-desired reward; they made
+Ellen's heart beat, and her eyes swim, and even brought a smile
+once more upon her lips. Mrs. Montgomery was rejoiced to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+the change; she felt that as much time had already been given
+to sorrow as they could afford to lose, and she had not known
+exactly how to proceed. Ellen's amended looks and spirits greatly
+relieved her.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking about, Ellen?" said she one
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was sewing, and while busy at her work her mother
+had two or three times observed a light smile pass over her face.
+Ellen looked up, still smiling, and answered, "Oh, mamma, I was
+thinking of different things—things that I mean to do while you
+are gone."</p>
+
+<p>"And what are these things?" inquired her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, it wouldn't do to tell you beforehand. I want
+to surprise you with them when you come back."</p>
+
+<p>A slight shudder passed over Mrs. Montgomery's frame, but
+Ellen did not see it. Mrs. Montgomery was silent. Ellen presently
+introduced another subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, what kind of a person is my aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. I have never seen her."</p>
+
+<p>"How has that happened, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your aunt has always lived in a remote country town, and I
+have been very much confined to two or three cities, and your
+father's long and repeated absences made travelling impossible
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought, but she did not say it, that it was very odd her
+father should not sometimes, when he <i>was</i> in the country, have
+gone to see his relations and taken her mother with him.</p>
+
+<p>"What is my aunt's name, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you must have heard that already, Ellen—Fortune
+Emerson."</p>
+
+<p>"Emerson! I thought she was papa's sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"So she is."</p>
+
+<p>"Then how comes her name not to be Montgomery?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is only his half-sister—the daughter of his mother, not
+the daughter of his father."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry for that," said Ellen gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid she will not be so likely to love me."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't think so, my child. Her loving or not loving
+you will depend solely and entirely upon yourself, Ellen. Don't
+forget that. If you are a good child, and make it your daily care
+to do your duty, she cannot help liking you, be she what she
+may; and on the other hand, if she have all the will in the world
+to love you, she cannot do it unless you will let her. It all
+depends on your behaviour."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, I can't help wishing dear aunt Bessy was alive,
+and I was going to her."</p>
+
+<p>Many a time the same wish had passed through Mrs. Montgomery's
+mind. But she kept down her rising heart, and went
+on calmly—</p>
+
+<p>"You must not expect, my child, to find anybody as indulgent
+as I am, or as ready to overlook and excuse your faults. It would
+be unreasonable to look for it, and you must not think hardly of
+your aunt when you find she is not your mother; but then it will
+be your own fault if she does not love you, in time, truly and
+tenderly. See that you render her all the respect and obedience
+you could render me. That is your bounden duty. She will
+stand in my place while she has the care of you—remember that,
+Ellen. And remember, too, that she will deserve more gratitude
+at your hands for showing you kindness than I do, because she
+cannot have the same feeling of love to make trouble easy."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, mamma," said Ellen, "I don't think so. It's that
+very feeling of love that I am grateful for. I don't care a fig for
+anything people do for me without that."</p>
+
+<p>"But you can make her love you, Ellen, if you try."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll try, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't be discouraged. Perhaps you may be disappointed
+in first appearances, but never mind that. Have patience,
+and let your motto be—if there's any occasion—Overcome evil
+with good. Will you put that among the things you mean to do
+while I am gone?" said Mrs. Montgomery with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try, dear mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"You will succeed if you try, dear, never fear, if you apply
+yourself in your trying to the only unfailing source of wisdom
+and strength, to Him without whom you can do nothing."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for a little.</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a place is it where my aunt lives?" asked
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father says it is a very pleasant place. He says the
+country is beautiful and very healthy, and full of charming walks
+and rides. You have never lived in the country. I think you
+will enjoy it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is not in a town?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No; it is not a great way from the town of Thirlwall, but
+your aunt lives in the open country. Your father says she is a
+capital housekeeper, and that you will learn more, and be in all
+respects a great deal happier and better off than you would be in
+a boarding-school here or anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's heart secretly questioned the truth of this last assertion
+very much.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Is there any school near?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father says there was an excellent one in Thirlwall
+when he was there."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen, "I think the greatest pleasure I shall
+have while you are gone will be writing to you. I have been
+thinking of it a good deal. I mean to tell you everything—absolutely
+everything, mamma. You know there will be nobody
+for me to talk to as I do to you" (Ellen's words came out with
+difficulty), "and when I feel badly I shall just shut myself up and
+write to you." She hid her face in her mother's lap.</p>
+
+<p>"I count upon it, my dear daughter. It will make quite as
+much the pleasure of my life, Ellen, as of yours."</p>
+
+<p>"But then, mother," said Ellen, brushing away the tears from
+her eyes, "it will be so long before my letters can get to you!
+The things I want you to know right away, you won't know
+perhaps in a month."</p>
+
+<p>"That's no matter, daughter; they will be just as good when
+they do get to me. Never think of that; write every day, and
+all manner of things that concern you,—just as particularly as if
+you were speaking to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll write to me, too, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I will—when I can. But Ellen, you say that when
+I am away and cannot hear you, there will be nobody to supply
+my place. Perhaps it will be so indeed; but then, my daughter,
+let it make you seek that friend who is never far away, nor out
+of hearing. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.
+You know He has said of His children: 'Before they call, I will
+answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.'"</p>
+
+<p>"But, mamma," said Ellen, her eyes filling instantly, "you
+know He is not my friend in the same way that He is yours."
+And hiding her face again, she added, "Oh, I wish He was!"</p>
+
+<p>"You know the way to make Him so, Ellen, <i>He</i> is willing;
+it only rests with you. Oh, my child, my child! if losing your
+mother might be the means of finding you that Better Friend, I
+should be quite willing—and glad to go—for ever."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence, only broken by Ellen's sobs. Mrs. Montgomery's
+voice had trembled, and her face was now covered with
+her hands; but she was not weeping; she was seeking a better
+relief where it had long been her habit to seek and find it. Both
+resumed their usual composure, and the employments which had
+been broken off, but neither chose to renew the conversation.
+Dinner, sleeping, and company prevented their having another
+opportunity during the rest of the day.</p>
+
+<p>But when evening came, they were again left to themselves.
+Captain Montgomery was away, which indeed was the case most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+of the time; friends had taken their departure; the curtains
+were down, the lamp lit, the little room looked cosy and comfortable;
+the servant had brought the tea-things, and withdrawn,
+and the mother and daughter were happily alone. Mrs. Montgomery
+knew that such occasions were numbered, and fast drawing
+to an end, and she felt each one to be very precious. She
+now lay on her couch, with her face partially shaded, and her
+eyes fixed upon her little daughter, who was now preparing the
+tea. She watched her, with thoughts and feelings not to be
+spoken, as the little figure went back and forward between the
+table and the fire, and the light shining full upon her busy face,
+showed that Ellen's whole soul was in her beloved duty. Tears
+would fall as she looked, and were not wiped away; but when
+Ellen, having finished her work, brought with a satisfied face the
+little tray of tea and toast to her mother, there was no longer
+any sign of them left. Mrs. Montgomery arose with her usual
+kind smile, to show her gratitude by honouring as far as possible
+what Ellen had provided.</p>
+
+<p>"You have more appetite to-night, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad, daughter," replied her mother, "to see that
+you have made up your mind to bear patiently this evil that has
+come upon us. I am glad for your sake, and I am glad for mine;
+and I am glad too because we have a great deal to do, and no
+time to lose in doing it."</p>
+
+<p>"What have we so much to do, mamma?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, many things," said her mother; "you will see. But now,
+Ellen, if there is anything you wish to talk to me about, any
+question you want to ask, anything you would like particularly
+to have, or to have done for you, I want you to tell it me as
+soon as possible, now while we can attend to it, for by-and-by
+perhaps we shall be hurried."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen with brightening eyes, "there is one
+thing I have thought of that I should like to have; shall I tell it
+you now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, you know I shall want to be writing a great deal;
+wouldn't it be a good thing for me to have a little box with some
+pens in it, and an inkstand, and some paper and wafers? Because,
+mamma, you know I shall be among strangers at first, and I
+shan't feel like asking them for these things as often as I shall
+want them, and maybe they wouldn't want to let me have them
+if I did."</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought of that already, daughter," said Mrs. Montgomery
+with a smile and a sigh. "I will certainly take care
+that you are well provided in that respect before you go."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How am I to go, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, who will go with me? You know I can't go alone,
+mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"No, my daughter, I'll not send you alone. But your father
+says it is impossible for <i>him</i> to take that journey at present, and it
+is yet more impossible for me. There is no help for it, daughter,
+but we must entrust you to the care of some friend going that
+way; but He that holds the winds and waters in the hollow of
+His hand can take care of you without any of our help, and it is
+to His keeping above all that I shall commit you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen made no remark, and seemed much less surprised and
+troubled than her mother had expected. In truth, the greater
+evil swallowed up the less. Parting from her mother, and for so
+long a time, it seemed to her comparatively a matter of little
+importance with whom she went, or how, or where. Except for
+this, the taking a long journey under a stranger's care would
+have been a dreadful thing to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know yet who it will be that I shall go with, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet; but it will be necessary to take the first good
+opportunity, for I cannot go till I have seen you off; and it is
+thought very desirable that I should get to sea before the severe
+weather comes."</p>
+
+<p>It was with a pang that these words were spoken and heard,
+but neither showed it to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"It has comforted me greatly, my dear child, that you have
+shown yourself so submissive and patient under this affliction.
+I should scarcely have been able to endure it if you had not
+exerted self-control. You have behaved beautifully."</p>
+
+<p>This was almost too much for poor Ellen. It required her
+utmost stretch of self-control to keep within any bounds of composure;
+and for some moments her flushed cheek, quivering lip,
+and heaving bosom told what a tumult her mother's last words
+had raised. Mrs. Montgomery saw she had gone too far, and
+willing to give both Ellen and herself time to recover, she laid
+her head on the pillow again and closed her eyes. Many thoughts
+coming thick upon one another presently filled her mind, and half-an-hour
+had passed before she again recollected what she had
+meant to say. She opened her eyes; Ellen was sitting at a little
+distance, staring into the fire, evidently as deep in meditation as
+her mother had been.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said Mrs. Montgomery, "did you ever fancy what
+kind of a Bible you would like to have?"</p>
+
+<p>"A Bible! mamma," said Ellen with sparkling eyes, "do you
+mean to give me a Bible?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"But, mamma," said Ellen gently, "I thought you couldn't
+afford it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have said so, and truly," answered her mother; "and hitherto
+you have been able to use mine, but I will not leave you now
+without one. I will find ways and means," said Mrs. Montgomery,
+smiling again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, thank you!" said Ellen, delighted; "how glad
+I shall be!" And after a pause of consideration she added,
+"Mamma, I never thought much about what sort of a one I should
+like; couldn't I tell better if I were to see the different kinds in
+the store?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so. Well, the first day that the weather is fine
+enough and I am well enough, I will go out with you and we will
+see about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid Dr. Green won't let you, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not ask him. I want to get you a Bible, and some
+other things that I will not leave you without, and nobody can do
+it but myself. I shall go, if I possibly can."</p>
+
+<p>"What other things, mamma?" asked Ellen, very much interested
+in the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it will do to tell you to-night," said Mrs.
+Montgomery, smiling. "I foresee that you and I should be kept
+awake quite too late if we were to enter upon it just now. We
+will leave it till to-morrow. Now read to me, love, and then to
+bed."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen obeyed; and went to sleep with brighter visions dancing
+before her eyes than had been the case for some time.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Sweetheart, we shall be rich ere we depart,<br />
+If fairings come thus plentifully in.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Ellen had to wait some time for the desired fine day. The
+equinoctial storms would have their way as usual, and Ellen
+thought they were longer than ever this year. But after many
+stormy days had tried her patience, there was at length a sudden
+change, both without and within doors. The clouds had done
+their work for that time, and fled away before a strong northerly
+wind, leaving the sky bright and fair. And Mrs. Montgomery's
+deceitful disease took a turn, and for a little space raised the
+hopes of her friends. All were rejoicing but two persons: Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+Montgomery was not deceived, neither was the doctor. The
+shopping project was kept a profound secret from him and from
+everybody except Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen watched now for a favourable day. Every morning as
+soon as she rose she went to the window to see what was the
+look of the weather; and about a week after the change above
+noticed, she was greatly pleased one morning, on opening her
+window as usual, to find the air and sky promising all that could
+be desired. It was one of those beautiful days in the end of
+September that sometimes herald October before it arrives—cloudless,
+brilliant, and breathing balm. "This will do," said
+Ellen to herself, in great satisfaction. "I think this will do; I
+hope mamma will think so."</p>
+
+<p>Hastily dressing herself, and a good deal excited already, she
+ran downstairs; and after the morning salutations, examined her
+mother's looks with as much anxiety as she had just done those
+of the weather. All was satisfactory there also; and Ellen ate
+her breakfast with an excellent appetite; but she said not a word
+of the intended expedition till her father should be gone. She
+contented herself with strengthening her hopes by making constant
+fresh inspections of the weather and her mother's countenance
+alternately; and her eyes returning from the window on one
+of these excursions and meeting her mother's face, saw a smile
+there which said all she wanted. Breakfast went on more vigorously
+than ever. But after breakfast it seemed to Ellen that
+her father never would go away. He took the newspaper, an
+uncommon thing for him, and pored over it most perseveringly,
+while Ellen was in a perfect fidget of impatience. Her mother,
+seeing the state she was in, and taking pity on her, sent her upstairs
+to do some little matters of business in her own room. These
+Ellen despatched with all possible zeal and speed; and coming
+down again found her father gone and her mother alone. She
+flew to kiss her in the first place, and then made the inquiry,
+"Don't you think to-day will do, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"As fine as possible, daughter; we could not have a better.
+But I must wait till the doctor has been here."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen after a pause, making a great effort of
+self-denial, "I am afraid you oughtn't to go out to get these
+things for me. Pray don't, mamma, if you think it will do you
+harm. I would rather go without them; indeed I would."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that, daughter," said Mrs. Montgomery, kissing
+her; "I am bent upon it; it would be quite as much of a disappointment
+to me as to you not to go. We have a lovely day
+for it, and we will take our time and walk slowly, and we haven't
+far to go either. But I must let Dr. Green make his visit first."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To fill up the time till he came Mrs. Montgomery employed
+Ellen in reading to her as usual. And this morning's reading
+Ellen long after remembered. Her mother directed her to several
+passages in different parts of the Bible that speak of heaven and
+its enjoyments; and though, when she began, her own little
+heart was full of excitement, in view of the day's plans, and beating
+with hope and pleasure, the sublime beauty of the words and
+thoughts, as she went on, awed her into quiet, and her mother's
+manner at length turned her attention entirely from herself.
+Mrs. Montgomery was lying on the sofa, and for the most part
+listened in silence, with her eyes closed; but sometimes saying a
+word or two that made Ellen feel how deep was the interest her
+mother had in the things she read of, and how pure and strong
+the pleasure she was even now taking in them; and sometimes
+there was a smile on her face that Ellen scarce liked to see; it
+gave her an indistinct feeling that her mother would not be long
+away from that heaven to which she seemed already to belong.
+Ellen had a sad consciousness too that she had no part with her
+mother in this matter. She could hardly go on. She came to
+that beautiful passage in the seventh of Revelation—</p>
+
+<p>"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are
+these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
+And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me,
+These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
+washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
+Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve
+Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the
+throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more,
+neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor
+any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
+shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
+waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."</p>
+
+<p>With difficulty and a husky voice Ellen got through it.
+Lifting then her eyes to her mother's face, she saw again the same
+singularly sweet smile. Ellen felt that she could not read another
+word; to her great relief the door opened, and Dr. Green came
+in. His appearance changed the whole course of her thoughts.
+All that was grave or painful fled quickly away; Ellen's head
+was immediately full again of what had filled it before she began
+to read.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the doctor had retired and was fairly out of hearing,
+"Now, mamma, shall we go?" said Ellen. "You needn't stir,
+mamma; I'll bring all your things to you, and put them on; may
+I, mamma? then you won't be a bit tired before you set out."</p>
+
+<p>Her mother assented; and with a great deal of tenderness and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+a great deal of eagerness, Ellen put on her stockings and shoes,
+arranged her hair, and did all that she could toward changing her
+dress, and putting on her bonnet and shawl; and greatly delighted
+she was when the business was accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, mamma, you look like yourself; I haven't seen you
+look so well this great while. I'm so glad you're going out
+again," said Ellen, putting her arms round her; "I do believe it
+will do you good. Now, mamma, I'll go and get ready; I'll be
+very quick about it; you shan't have to wait long for me."</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the two set forth from the house. The day
+was as fine as could be; there was no wind, there was no dust;
+the sun was not oppressive; and Mrs. Montgomery did feel refreshed
+and strengthened during the few steps they had to take
+to their first stopping-place.</p>
+
+<p>It was a jeweller's store. Ellen had never been in one before
+in her life, and her first feeling on entering was of dazzled wonderment
+at the glittering splendours around; this was presently
+forgotten in curiosity to know what her mother could possibly
+want there. She soon discovered that she had come to sell and
+not to buy. Mrs. Montgomery drew a ring from her finger, and
+after a little chaffering parted with it to the owner of the store
+for eighty dollars, being about three-quarters of its real value.
+The money was counted out, and she left the store.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen in a low voice, "wasn't that grandmamma's
+ring, which I thought you loved so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did love it, Ellen, but I love you better."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, I am very sorry!" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You need not be sorry, daughter. Jewels in themselves are
+the merest nothings to me; and as for the rest, it doesn't matter;
+I can remember my mother without any help from a trinket."</p>
+
+<p>There were tears, however, in Mrs. Montgomery's eyes, that
+showed the sacrifice had cost her something; and there were
+tears in Ellen's that told it was not thrown away upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you should know of this," continued Mrs. Montgomery;
+"you should not if I could have helped it. But set
+your heart quite at rest, Ellen; I assure you this use of my ring
+gives me more pleasure on the whole than any other I could have
+made of it."</p>
+
+<p>A grateful squeeze of her hand and glance into her face was
+Ellen's answer.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery had applied to her husband for the funds
+necessary to fit Ellen comfortably for the time they should be
+absent; and in answer he had given her a sum barely sufficient
+for her mere clothing. Mrs. Montgomery knew him better than
+to ask for a further supply, but she resolved to have recourse to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+other means to do what she had determined upon. Now that she
+was about to leave her little daughter, and it might be for ever,
+she had set her heart upon providing her with certain things
+which she thought important to her comfort and improvement,
+and which Ellen would go very long without if <i>she</i> did not give
+them to her, and <i>now</i>. Ellen had had very few presents in her
+life, and those always of the simplest and cheapest kind; her
+mother resolved that in the midst of the bitterness of this time
+she would give her one pleasure if she could; it might be the last.</p>
+
+<p>They stopped next at a book-store. "Oh, what a delicious
+smell of new books!" said Ellen, as they entered. "Mamma, if it
+wasn't for one thing, I should say I never was so happy in my life."</p>
+
+<p>Children's books, lying in tempting confusion near the door,
+immediately fastened Ellen's eyes and attention. She opened
+one, and was already deep in the interest of it, when the word
+"<i>Bibles</i>" struck her ear. Mrs. Montgomery was desiring the
+shopman to show her various kinds and sizes that she might
+choose from among them. Down went Ellen's book, and she
+flew to the place where a dozen different Bibles were presently
+displayed. Ellen's wits were ready to forsake her. Such beautiful
+Bibles she had never seen; she pored in ecstasy over their varieties
+of type and binding, and was very evidently in love with them all.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Ellen," said Mrs. Montgomery, "look and choose; take
+your time, and see which you like best."</p>
+
+<p>It was not likely that "Ellen's time" would be a short one.
+Her mother seeing this, took a chair at a little distance to await
+patiently her decision; and while Ellen's eyes were riveted on
+the Bibles, her own very naturally were fixed upon her. In the
+excitement and eagerness of the moment, Ellen had thrown off
+her light bonnet, and with flushed cheek and sparkling eye, and
+a brow grave with unusual care, as though a nation's fate were
+deciding, she was weighing the comparative advantages of large,
+small, and middle sized—black, blue, purple, and red—gilt and
+not gilt—clasp and no clasp. Everything but the Bibles before
+her Ellen had forgotten utterly; she was deep in what was to
+her the most important of business. She did not see the bystanders
+smile; she did not know there were any. To her
+mother's eye it was a most fair sight. Mrs. Montgomery gazed
+with rising emotions of pleasure and pain that struggled for the
+mastery, but pain at last got the better and rose very high.
+"How can I give thee up!" was the one thought of her heart.
+Unable to command herself, she rose and went to a distant part
+of the counter, where she seemed to be examining books; but
+tears, some of the bitterest she had ever shed, were falling thick
+upon the dusty floor, and she felt her heart like to break. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+little daughter at one end of the counter had forgotten there
+ever was such a thing as sorrow in the world; and she at the
+other was bowed beneath a weight of it that was nigh to crush
+her. But in her extremity she betook herself to that refuge she
+had never known to fail: it did not fail her now. She remembered
+the words Ellen had been reading to her that very morning,
+and they came like the breath of heaven upon the fever of her
+soul. "Not my will, but Thine be done." She strove and prayed
+to say it, and not in vain; and after a little while she was able
+to return to her seat. She felt that she had been shaken by a
+tempest, but she was calmer now than before.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was just as she had left her, and apparently just as far
+from coming to any conclusion. Mrs. Montgomery was resolved
+to let her take her way. Presently Ellen came over from the
+counter with a large royal octavo Bible, heavy enough to be a
+good lift for her. "Mamma," said she, laying it on her mother's
+lap and opening it, "what do you think of that? isn't that
+splendid?"</p>
+
+<p>"A most beautiful page indeed; is this your choice, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mamma, I don't know; what do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is rather inconveniently large and heavy for everyday
+use. It is quite a weight upon my lap. I shouldn't like to
+carry it in my hands long. You would want a little table on
+purpose to hold it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that wouldn't do at all," said Ellen, laughing; "I
+believe you are right, mamma; I wonder I didn't think of it.
+I might have known that myself."</p>
+
+<p>She took it back, and there followed another careful examination
+of the whole stock; and then Ellen came to her mother with
+a beautiful miniature edition in two volumes, gilt and clasped, and
+very perfect in all respects, but of exceedingly small print.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll have this, mamma," said she. "Isn't it a beauty?
+I could put it in my pocket, you know, and carry it anywhere with
+the greatest ease."</p>
+
+<p>"It would have one great objection to me," said Mrs. Montgomery,
+"inasmuch as I cannot possibly see to read it."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot you, mamma? But I can read it perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, take it; that is, if you will make up your mind
+to put on spectacles before your time."</p>
+
+<p>"Spectacles, mamma! I hope I shall never have to wear
+spectacles."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you propose to do when your sight fails, if you shall
+live so long?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mamma—if it comes to that—but you don't advise
+me then to take this little beauty?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Judge for yourself; I think you are old enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I know what you think though, mamma, and I dare say you
+are right too; I won't take it, though it's a pity. Well, I must
+look again."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery came to her help, for it was plain Ellen had
+lost the power of judging amidst so many tempting objects. But
+she presently simplified the matter by putting aside all that were
+decidedly too large, or too small, or too fine print. There remained
+three, of moderate size and sufficiently large type, but
+different binding. "Either of these, I think, will answer your
+purpose nicely," said Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, mamma, if you please, I will have the red one. I like
+that best, because it will put me in mind of yours."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery could find no fault with this reason. She
+paid for the red Bible, and directed it to be sent home. "Shan't
+I carry it, mamma?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you would find it in the way; we have several things to
+do yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Have we, mamma? I thought we only came to get a Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"That is enough for one day, I confess. I am a little afraid
+your head will be turned; but I must run the risk of it. I dare
+not lose the opportunity of this fine weather; I may not have such
+another. I wish to have the comfort of thinking when I am away,
+that I have left you with everything necessary to the keeping up
+of good habits—everything that will make them pleasant and easy.
+I wish you to be always neat, and tidy, and industrious; depending
+upon others as little as possible; and careful to improve yourself
+by every means, and especially by writing to me. I will leave
+you no excuse, Ellen, for failing in any of these duties. I trust
+you will not disappoint me in a single particular."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's heart was too full to speak; she again looked up tearfully
+and pressed her mother's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not expect to be disappointed, love," returned Mrs.
+Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>They now entered a large fancy store. "What are we to get
+here, mamma?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"A box to put your pens and paper in," said her mother,
+smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, to be sure," said Ellen; "I had almost forgotten that."
+She quite forgot it a minute after. It was the first time she
+had ever seen the inside of such a store; and the articles displayed
+on every side completely bewitched her. From one thing
+to another she went, admiring and wondering; in her wildest
+dreams she had never imagined such beautiful things. The store
+was fairyland.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery meanwhile attended to business. Having
+chosen a neat little japanned dressing-box, perfectly plain, but
+well supplied with everything a child could want in that line,
+she called Ellen from the delightful journey of discovery she was
+making round the store, and asked her what she thought of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it's a little beauty," said Ellen; "but I never saw
+such a place for beautiful things."</p>
+
+<p>"You think it will do then?" said her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"For me, mamma! You don't mean to give it to me? Oh,
+mother, how good you are! But I know what is the best way to
+thank you, and I'll do it. What a perfect little beauty! Mamma,
+I'm too happy."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not," said her mother, "for you know I haven't got
+you the box for your pens and paper yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mamma, I'll try and bear it," said Ellen, laughing.
+"But do get me the plainest little thing in the world, for you're
+giving me too much."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery asked to look at writing-desks, and was
+shown to another part of the store for the purpose. "Mamma,"
+said Ellen, in a low tone, as they went, "you're not going to get
+me a writing-desk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is the best kind of box for holding writing
+materials," said her mother, smiling; "don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what to say!" exclaimed Ellen. "I can't
+thank you, mamma—I haven't any words to do it. I think I
+shall go crazy."</p>
+
+<p>She was truly overcome with the weight of happiness. Words
+failed her, and tears came instead.</p>
+
+<p>From among a great many desks of all descriptions, Mrs.
+Montgomery with some difficulty succeeded in choosing one to
+her mind. It was of mahogany, not very large, but thoroughly
+well made and finished, and very convenient and perfect in its
+internal arrangements. Ellen was speechless; occasional looks at
+her mother, and deep sighs, were all she had now to offer. The
+desk was quite empty. "Ellen," said her mother, "do you
+remember the furniture of Miss Allen's desk that you were so
+pleased with a while ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly, mamma; I know all that was in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, you must prompt me if I forget anything. Your
+desk will be furnished with everything really useful. Merely
+showy matters we can dispense with. Now let us see. Here is
+a great empty place that I think wants some paper to fill it.
+Show me some of different sizes, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>The shopman obeyed, and Mrs. Montgomery stocked the desk
+well with letter paper, large and small. Ellen looked on in great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+satisfaction. "That will do nicely," she said. "That large paper
+will be beautiful whenever I am writing to you, mamma, you
+know, and the other will do for other times, when I haven't so
+much to say; though I am sure I don't know who there is in the
+world I should ever send letters to except you."</p>
+
+<p>"If there is nobody now, perhaps there will be at some future
+time," replied her mother. "I hope I shall not always be your
+only correspondent. Now what next?"</p>
+
+<p>"Envelopes, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure; I had forgotten them. Envelopes of both sizes
+to match."</p>
+
+<p>"Because, mamma, you know I might, and I certainly shall,
+want to write upon the fourth page of my letter, and I couldn't do
+it unless I had envelopes." A sufficient stock of envelopes was
+laid in.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen, "what do you think of a little note-paper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who are the notes to be written to, Ellen?" said Mrs.
+Montgomery, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't smile, mamma; you know, as you said, if I
+don't now know, perhaps I shall by-and-by. Miss Allen's desk
+had note-paper; that made me think of it."</p>
+
+<p>"So shall yours, daughter; while we are about it we will do
+the thing well. And your note-paper will keep quite safely in
+this nice little place provided for it, even if you should not want
+to use a sheet of it in half-a-dozen years."</p>
+
+<p>"How nice that is!" said Ellen admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose the note-paper must have envelopes too?" said
+Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, mamma; I suppose so," said Ellen, smiling;
+"Miss Allen's had."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now we have got all the paper we want, I think," said
+Mrs. Montgomery; "the next thing is ink—or an inkstand,
+rather."</p>
+
+<p>Different kinds were presented for her choice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, that one won't do," said Ellen anxiously; "you
+know the desk will be knocking about in a trunk, and the ink
+would run out and spoil everything. It should be one of those
+that shut tight. I don't see the right kind here." The shopman
+brought one.</p>
+
+<p>"There, mamma, do you see?" said Ellen; "it shuts with a
+spring, and nothing can possibly come out; do you see, mamma?
+You can turn it topsy-turvy."</p>
+
+<p>"I see you are quite right, daughter; it seems I should get on
+very ill without you to advise me. Fill the inkstand, if you please."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, what shall I do when my ink is gone? that inkstand
+will hold but a little, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Your aunt will supply you, of course, my dear, when you are
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather take some of my own by half," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You could not carry a bottle of ink in your desk without
+great danger to everything else in it. It would not do to
+venture."</p>
+
+<p>"We have excellent ink-powder," said the shopman, "in
+small packages, which can be very conveniently carried about.
+You see, ma'am, there is a compartment in the desk for such
+things; and the ink is very easily made at any time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will do nicely," said Ellen, "that is just the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Now what is to go in this other square place opposite the
+inkstand?" said Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the place for the box of lights, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of lights?"</p>
+
+<p>"For sealing letters, mamma, you know. They are not like
+your wax taper at all; they are little wax matches, that burn just
+long enough to seal one or two letters; Miss Allen showed me
+how she used them. Hers were in a nice little box just like the
+inkstand on the outside; and there was a place to light the
+matches, and a place to set them in while they are burning.
+There, mamma, that's it," said Ellen, as the shopman brought
+forth the article which she was describing, "that's it exactly; and
+that will just fit. Now, mamma, for the wax."</p>
+
+<p>"You want to seal your letter before you have written it," said
+Mrs. Montgomery; "we have not got the pens yet."</p>
+
+<p>"That's true, mamma; let us have the pens. And some quills
+too, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know how to make a pen, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mamma, not yet; but I want to learn very much. Miss
+Pichegru says that every lady ought to know how to make her
+own pens."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Pichegru is very right; but I think you are rather too
+young to learn. However, we will try. Now here are steel
+points enough to last you a great while, and as many quills as
+it is needful you should cut up for one year at least; we haven't
+a pen handle yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, mamma," said Ellen, holding out a plain ivory one,
+"don't you like this? I think that it is prettier than these that
+are all cut and fussed, or those other gay ones either."</p>
+
+<p>"I think so too, Ellen; the plainer the prettier. Now what
+comes next?"</p>
+
+<p>"The knife, mamma, to make the pens," said Ellen, smiling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"True, the knife. Let us see some of your best pen-knives.
+Now, Ellen, choose. That one won't do, my dear; it should have
+two blades—a large as well as a small one. You know you want
+to mend a pencil sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"So I do, mamma, to be sure, you're very right; here's a nice
+one. Now, mamma, the wax."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a box full; choose your own colours." Seeing it
+was likely to be a work of time, Mrs. Montgomery walked away
+to another part of the store. When she returned Ellen had made
+up an assortment of the oddest colours she could find.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't have any red, mamma, it is so common," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is the prettiest of all," said Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you, mamma? then I will have a stick of red on purpose
+to seal to you with."</p>
+
+<p>"And who do you intend shall have the benefit of the other
+colours?" inquired her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare, mamma," said Ellen, laughing, "I never thought
+of that; I am afraid they will have to go to you. You must not
+mind, mamma, if you get green and blue and yellow seals once in
+a while."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say I shall submit myself to it with a good grace," said
+Mrs. Montgomery. "But come, my dear, have we got all we
+want? This desk has been very long in furnishing."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't given me a seal yet, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"Seals! There are a variety before you; see if you can find
+one that you like. By the way, you cannot seal a letter, can
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, mamma," said Ellen, smiling again; "that is another
+of the things I have got to learn."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I think you had better have some wafers in the meantime."</p>
+
+<p>While Ellen was picking out her seal, which took not a little
+time, Mrs. Montgomery laid in a good supply of wafers of all sorts;
+and then went on further to furnish the desk with an ivory leaf-cutter,
+a paper-folder, a pounce-box, a ruler, and a neat little
+silver pencil; also some drawing-pencils, indiarubber, and sheets
+of drawing paper. She took a sad pleasure in adding everything
+she could think of that might be for Ellen's future use or advantage;
+but as with her own hands she placed in the desk one thing
+after another, the thought crossed her mind how Ellen would
+make drawings with those very pencils, on those very sheets of
+paper, which her eyes would never see! She turned away with
+a sigh, and receiving Ellen's seal from her hand, put that also in
+its place. Ellen had chosen one with her own name.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you send these things <i>at once</i>?" said Mrs. Montgomery;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+"I particularly wish to have them at home as early in the day as
+possible."</p>
+
+<p>The man promised. Mrs. Montgomery paid the bill, and she
+and Ellen left the store.</p>
+
+<p>They walked a little way in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot thank you, mamma," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not necessary, my dear child," said Mrs. Montgomery,
+returning the pressure of her hand; "I know all that you would
+say."</p>
+
+<p>There was as much sorrow as joy at that moment in the heart
+of the joy fullest of the two.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we going now, mamma?" said Ellen again, after
+a while.</p>
+
+<p>"I wished and intended to have gone to St. Clair &amp; Fleury's,
+to get you some merino and other things; but we have been
+detained so long already that I think I had better go home. I
+feel somewhat tired."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry, dear mamma," said Ellen; "I am afraid I
+kept you too long about that desk."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not keep me, daughter, any longer than I chose to
+be kept. But I think I will go home now, and take the chance
+of another fine day for the merino."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+How can I live without thee—how forego<br />
+Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined?</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Milton</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>When dinner was over and the table cleared away, the mother
+and daughter were left, as they always loved to be, alone. It
+was late in the afternoon and already somewhat dark, for clouds
+had gathered over the beautiful sky of the morning, and the wind
+rising now and then made its voice heard. Mrs. Montgomery was
+lying on the sofa: as usual, seemingly at ease; and Ellen was sitting
+on a little bench before the fire, very much at <i>her</i> ease indeed,
+without any seeming about it. She smiled as she met her
+mother's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You have made me very happy to-day, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad of it, my dear child. I hoped I should. I believe
+the whole affair has given me as much pleasure, Ellen, as it
+has you."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, I will take the greatest possible care of my new
+treasures."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you will. If I had doubted it, Ellen, most assuredly
+I should not have given them to you, sorry as I should have been
+to leave you without them. So you see you have not established
+a character for carefulness in vain."</p>
+
+<p>"And, mamma, I hope you have not given them to me in vain
+either. I will try to use them in the way that I know you wish
+me to; that will be the best way I can thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I have left you no excuse, Ellen. You know fully
+what I wish you to do and to be; and when I am away I shall
+please myself with thinking that my little daughter <i>is</i> following
+her mother's wishes; I shall believe so, Ellen. You will not let
+me be disappointed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, mamma," said Ellen, who was now in her mother's
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my child," said Mrs. Montgomery in a lighter tone,
+"my gifts will serve as reminders for you if you are ever tempted
+to forget my lessons. If you fail to send me letters, or if those
+you send are not what they ought to be, I think the desk will cry
+shame upon you. And if you ever go an hour with a hole in your
+stocking, or a tear in your dress, or a string off your petticoat, I
+hope the sight of your work-box will make you blush."</p>
+
+<p>"Work-box, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Oh, I forgot; you've not seen that."</p>
+
+<p>"No, mamma; what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear, that was one of the things you most wanted,
+but I thought it best not to overwhelm you quite this morning;
+so while you were on an exploring expedition round the store I
+chose and furnished one for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, mamma!" said Ellen, getting up and clasping
+her hands; "what shall I do? I don't know what to say; I can't
+say anything. Mamma, it's too much."</p>
+
+<p>So it seemed, for Ellen sat down and began to cry. Her
+mother silently reached out a hand to her, which she squeezed
+and kissed with all the energy of gratitude, love, and sorrow; till
+gently drawn by the same hand she was placed again in her
+mother's arms and upon her bosom. And in that tried resting-place
+she lay, calmed and quieted, till the shades of afternoon
+deepened into evening, and evening into night, and the light of
+the fire was all that was left to them.</p>
+
+<p>Though not a word had been spoken for a long time, Ellen
+was not asleep; her eyes were fixed on the red glow of the coals
+in the grate, and she was busily thinking, but not of them. Many
+sober thoughts were passing through her little head, and stirring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+her heart; a few were of her new possessions and bright projects—more
+of her mother. She was thinking how very, very precious
+was the heart she could feel beating where her cheek lay; she
+thought it was greater happiness to lie there than anything else
+in life could be; she thought she had rather even die so, on her
+mother's breast, than live long without her in the world; she felt
+that in earth or in heaven there was nothing so dear. Suddenly
+she broke the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, what does that mean, 'He that loveth father or
+mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me'?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means just what it says. If you love anybody or anything
+better than Jesus Christ, you cannot be one of His children."</p>
+
+<p>"But then, mamma," said Ellen, raising her head, "how <i>can</i>
+I be one of His children? I do love you a great deal better;
+how can I help it, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot help it, I know, my dear," said Mrs. Montgomery
+with a sigh, "except by His grace, who has promised to
+change the hearts of His people—to take away the heart of stone
+and give them a heart of flesh."</p>
+
+<p>"But is mine a heart of stone then, mamma, because I cannot
+help loving you best?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to me, dear Ellen," replied Mrs. Montgomery, pressing
+closer the little form that lay in her arms; "I have never found
+it so. But yet I know that the Lord Jesus is far, far more worthy
+of your affection than I am, and if your heart were not hardened
+by sin you would see Him so; it is only because you do not know
+Him that you love me better. Pray, pray, my dear child, that
+He would take away the power of sin, and show you Himself;
+that is all that is wanting."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, mamma," said Ellen tearfully. "Oh, mamma, what
+shall I do without you?"</p>
+
+<p>Alas, Mrs. Montgomery's heart echoed the question; she had
+no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen after a few minutes, "can I have no true
+love to Him at all unless I love Him <i>best</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dare not say that you can," answered her mother seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said Ellen after a little, again raising her head
+and looking her mother full in the face, as if willing to apply the
+severest test to this hard doctrine, and speaking with an indescribable
+expression, "do <i>you</i> love Him <i>better than you do me</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>She knew her mother loved the Saviour, but she thought it
+scarcely possible that herself could have but the second place in
+her heart; she ventured a bold question to prove whether her
+mother's practice would not contradict her theory.</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Montgomery answered steadily, "I do, my daughter;"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+and with a gush of tears Ellen sunk her head again upon her
+bosom. She had no more to say; her mouth was stopped for
+ever as to the <i>right</i> of the matter, though she still thought it an
+impossible duty in her own particular case.</p>
+
+<p>"I do indeed, my daughter," repeated Mrs. Montgomery;
+"that does not make my love to you the less, but the more,
+Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, mamma," said Ellen, clinging to her, "I wish
+you would teach me! I have only you, and I am going to lose
+you. What shall I do, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>With a voice that strove to be calm Mrs. Montgomery answered,
+"'I love them that love Me, and they that seek Me early
+shall find Me.'" And after a minute or two she added, "He
+who says this has promised too that He will 'gather the lambs
+with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.'"</p>
+
+<p>The words fell soothingly on Ellen's ear, and the slight
+tremor in the voice reminded her also that her mother must
+not be agitated. She checked herself instantly, and soon lay as
+before, quiet and still on her mother's bosom, with her eyes fixed
+on the fire; and Mrs. Montgomery did not know that when she
+now and then pressed a kiss upon the forehead that lay so near
+her lips, it every time brought the water to Ellen's eyes and a
+throb to her heart. But after some half or three-quarters of an
+hour had passed away, a sudden knock at the door found both
+mother and daughter asleep; it had to be repeated once or twice
+before the knocker could gain attention.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that, mamma?" said Ellen, starting up.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody at the door. Open it quickly, love."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did so, and found a man standing there, with his arms
+rather full of sundry packages.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, my things!" cried Ellen, clapping her hands;
+"here they are!"</p>
+
+<p>The man placed his burden on the table, and withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, I am so glad they are come! Now if I only
+had a light—this is my desk, I know, for it's the largest; and I
+think this is my dressing-box, as well as I can tell by feeling—yes,
+it is, here's the handle on top; and this is my dear work-box—not
+so big as the desk, nor so little as the dressing-box. Oh,
+mamma, mayn't I ring for a light?"</p>
+
+<p>There was no need, for a servant just then entered, bringing
+the wished-for candles, and the not-wished-for <i>tea</i>. Ellen was
+capering about in the most fantastic style, but suddenly stopped
+short at sight of the tea-things, and looked very grave. "Well,
+mamma, I'll tell you what I'll do," she said, after a pause of
+consideration; "I'll make the tea the first thing before I untie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+a single knot; won't that be best, mamma? Because I know if
+I once begin to look, I shan't want to stop. Don't you think
+that is wise, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>But alas! the fire had got very low; there was no making the
+tea quickly; and the toast was a work of time. And when all
+was over at length, it was then too late for Ellen to begin to
+undo packages. She struggled with impatience a minute or two,
+and then gave up the point very gracefully, and went to bed.</p>
+
+<p>She had a fine opportunity the next day to make up for the
+evening's disappointment. It was cloudy and stormy; going out
+was not to be thought of, and it was very unlikely that anybody
+would come in. Ellen joyfully allotted the whole morning to
+the examination and trial of her new possessions; and as soon as
+breakfast was over and the room clear she set about it. She first
+went through the desk and everything in it, making a running
+commentary on the excellence, fitness, and beauty of all it contained;
+then the dressing-box received a share, but a much
+smaller share, of attention; and lastly, with fingers trembling
+with eagerness she untied the packthread that was wound round
+the work-box, and slowly took off cover after cover; she almost
+screamed when the last was removed. The box was of satin-wood,
+beautifully finished, and lined with crimson silk; and Mrs.
+Montgomery had taken good care it should want nothing that
+Ellen might need to keep her clothes in perfect order.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, how beautiful! Oh, mamma, how good you are!
+Mamma, I promise you I'll never be a slattern. Here is more
+cotton than I can use up in a great while—every number, I do
+think; and needles, oh, the needles! what a parcel of them!
+and, mamma! what a lovely scissors! Did you choose it, mamma,
+or did it belong to the box?"</p>
+
+<p>"I chose it."</p>
+
+<p>"I might have guessed it, mamma, it's just like you. And
+here's a thimble—fits me exactly; and an emery-bag! how
+pretty!—and a bodkin! This is a great deal nicer than yours,
+mamma—yours is decidedly the worse for wear;—and what's
+this?—oh, to make eyelet holes with, I know. And oh, mamma,
+here is almost everything, I think—here are tapes, and buttons,
+and hooks and eyes, and darning cotton, and silk-winders, and
+pins, and all sorts of things. What's this for, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's a scissors to cut button-holes with. Try it on that
+piece of paper that lies by you, and you will see how it works."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see!" said Ellen, "how very nice that is. Well, I
+shall take great pains now to make my button-holes very handsomely."</p>
+
+<p>One survey of her riches could by no means satisfy Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+For some time she pleased herself with going over and over the
+contents of the box, finding each time something new to like.
+At length she closed it, and keeping it still in her lap, sat awhile
+looking thoughtfully into the fire; till turning towards her mother
+she met her gaze, fixed mournfully, almost tearfully, on herself.
+The box was instantly shoved aside, and getting up and bursting
+into tears, Ellen went to her. "Oh, dear mother," she said, "I
+wish they were all back in the store, if I could only keep you!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery answered only by folding her to her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no help for it, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is none. We know that all things shall work together
+for good to them that love God."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it will all be good for you, mamma, but what will it
+be for me?" And Ellen sobbed bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be all well, my precious child, I doubt not. I do not
+doubt it, Ellen. Do <i>you</i> not doubt it either, love; but from the
+hand that wounds, seek the healing. He wounds that He <i>may</i>
+heal. He does not afflict willingly. Perhaps He sees, Ellen,
+that you never would seek Him while you had me to cling to."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen clung to her at that moment; yet not more than her
+mother clung to her.</p>
+
+<p>"How happy we were, mamma, only a year ago—even a
+month."</p>
+
+<p>"We have no continuing city here," answered her mother
+with a sigh. "But there is a home, Ellen, where changes do
+not come; and they that are once gathered there are parted no
+more for ever; and all tears are wiped from their eyes. I believe
+I am going fast to that home; and now my greatest concern is
+that my little Ellen—my precious baby—may follow me and
+come there too."</p>
+
+<p>No more was said, nor could be said, till the sound of the
+doctor's steps upon the stair obliged each of them to assume an
+appearance of composure as speedily as possible. But they could
+not succeed perfectly enough to blind him. He did not seem
+very well satisfied, and told Ellen he believed he should have to
+get another nurse,—he was afraid she didn't obey orders.</p>
+
+<p>While the doctor was there Ellen's Bible was brought in; and
+no sooner was he gone than it underwent as thorough an examination
+as the boxes had received. Ellen went over every part of it
+with the same great care and satisfaction; but mixed with a
+different feeling. The words that caught her eye as she turned
+over the leaves seemed to echo what her mother had been saying
+to her. It began to grow dear already. After a little she rose
+and brought it to the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you satisfied with it, Ellen?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, mamma; it is perfectly beautiful, outside and inside.
+Now, mamma, will you please to write my name in this precious
+book—my name, and anything else you please, mother. I'll
+bring you my new pen to write it with, and I've got ink here—shall
+I?"</p>
+
+<p>She brought it; and Mrs. Montgomery wrote Ellen's name,
+and the date of the gift. The pen played a moment in her
+fingers, and then she wrote below the date—</p>
+
+<p>"'I love them that love Me; and they that seek Me early
+shall find Me.'"</p>
+
+<p>This was for Ellen; but the next words were not for her;
+what made her write them?—</p>
+
+<p>"'I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.'"</p>
+
+<p>They were written almost unconsciously, and as if bowed by
+an unseen force Mrs. Montgomery's head sank upon the open
+page, and her whole soul went up with her petition—</p>
+
+<p>"Let these words be my memorial, that I have trusted in
+Thee. And oh, when these miserable lips are silent for ever,
+remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast
+caused me to hope; and be unto my little one all Thou hast been
+to me. Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou? that dwellest in
+the heavens."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her face from the book, closed it, and gave it
+silently to Ellen. Ellen had noticed her action, but had no suspicion
+of the cause; she supposed that one of her mother's frequent
+feelings of weakness or sickness had made her lean her
+head upon the Bible, and she thought no more about it. However,
+Ellen felt that she wanted no more of her boxes that day.
+She took her old place by the side of her mother's sofa, with her
+head upon her mother's hand, and an expression of quiet sorrow
+in her face that it had not worn for several days.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+My child is yet a stranger in the world.<br />
+She hath not seen the change of fourteen years.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The next day would not do for the intended shopping; nor
+the next. The third day was fine, though cool and windy.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you can venture out to-day, mamma?" said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid not. I do not feel quite equal to it; and the
+wind is a great deal too high for me, besides."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, in a tone of one who is making up her
+mind to something, "we shall have a fine day by-and-by, I suppose,
+if we wait long enough; we had to wait a great while for
+our first shopping day. I wish such another would come round."</p>
+
+<p>"But the misfortune is," said her mother, "that we cannot
+afford to wait. November will soon be here, and your clothes
+may be suddenly wanted before they are ready, if we do not
+bestir ourselves. And Miss Rice is coming in a few days; I
+ought to have the merino ready for her."</p>
+
+<p>"What will you do, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, indeed, Ellen; I am greatly at a loss."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't papa get the stuffs for you, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's too busy; and besides, he knows nothing at all
+about shopping for me; he would be sure to bring me exactly
+what I do not want. I tried that once."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what will you do, mamma? Is there nobody else you
+could ask to get the things for you? Mrs. Foster would do it,
+mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"I know she would, and I should ask her without any difficulty,
+but she is confined to her room with a cold. I see nothing
+for it but to be patient and let things take their course, though
+if a favourable opportunity should offer you would have to go,
+clothes or no clothes; it would not do to lose the chance of a
+good escort."</p>
+
+<p>And Mrs. Montgomery's face showed that this possibility, of
+Ellen's going unprovided, gave her some uneasiness. Ellen observed
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind me, dearest mother; don't be in the least
+worried about my clothes. You don't know how little I think of
+them or care for them. It's no matter at all whether I have
+them or not."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery smiled, and passed her hand fondly over
+her little daughter's head, but presently resumed her anxious
+look out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma!" exclaimed Ellen, suddenly starting up, "a bright
+thought has just come into my head! <i>I'll</i> do it for you, mamma!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get the merino and things for you, mamma. You
+needn't smile—I will, indeed, if you will let me?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said her mother, "I don't doubt you would
+if goodwill only were wanting; but a great deal of skill and
+experience is necessary for a shopper, and what would you do
+without either?"</p>
+
+<p>"But see, mamma," pursued Ellen eagerly, "I'll tell you how
+I'll manage, and I know I can manage very well. You tell me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+exactly what coloured merino you want, and give me a little
+piece to show me how fine it should be, and tell me what price
+you wish to give, and then I'll go to the store and ask them to
+show me different pieces, you know; and if I see any I think you
+would like, I'll ask them to give me a little bit of it to show you;
+and then I'll bring it home, and if you like it you can give me
+the money, and tell me how many yards you want, and I can go
+back to the store and get it. Why can't I, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you could; but, my dear child, I am afraid you
+wouldn't like the business."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I should; indeed, mamma, I should like it dearly if I
+could help you so. Will you let me try, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like, my child, to venture you alone on such an
+errand, among crowds of people; I should be uneasy about you."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear mamma, what would the crowds of people do to me?
+I am not a bit afraid. You know, mamma, I have often taken
+walks alone—that's nothing new; and what harm should come
+to me while I am in the store! You needn't be the least uneasy
+about me—may I go?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery smiled, but was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"May I go, mamma?" repeated Ellen. "Let me go at least
+and try what I can do. What do you say, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what to say, my daughter, but I am in difficulty
+on either hand. I will let you go and see what you can do. It
+would be a great relief to me to get this merino by any means."</p>
+
+<p>"Then shall I go right away, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"As well now as ever. <i>You</i> are not afraid of the wind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think not," said Ellen; and away she scampered
+upstairs to get ready. With eager haste she dressed herself; then
+with great care and particularity took her mother's instructions as
+to the article wanted; and finally set out, sensible that a great
+trust was reposed in her, and feeling busy and important accordingly.
+But at the very bottom of Ellen's heart there was a little
+secret doubtfulness respecting her undertaking. She hardly knew
+it was there, but then she couldn't tell what it was that made her
+fingers so inclined to be tremulous while she was dressing, and
+that made her heart beat quicker than it ought, or than was
+pleasant, and one of her cheeks so much hotter than the other.
+However, she set forth upon her errand with a very brisk step,
+which she kept up till on turning a corner she came in sight of
+the place she was going to. Without thinking much about it,
+Ellen had directed her steps to St. Clair &amp; Fleury's. It was one
+of the largest and best stores in the city, and the one she knew
+where her mother generally made her purchases; and it did not
+occur to her that it might not be the best for her purpose on this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+occasion. But her steps slackened as soon as she came in sight of
+it, and continued to slacken as she drew nearer, and she went up
+the broad flight of marble steps in front of the store very slowly
+indeed, though they were exceedingly low and easy. Pleasure
+was not certainly the uppermost feeling in her mind now; yet she
+never thought of turning back. She knew that if she could
+succeed in the object of her mission her mother would be relieved
+from some anxiety; that was enough; she was bent on accomplishing
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Timidly she entered the large hall of the entrance. It was
+full of people, and the buzz of business was heard on all sides.
+Ellen had for some time past seldom gone a shopping with her
+mother, and had never been in this store but once or twice before.
+She had not the remotest idea where, or in what apartment of the
+building, the merino counter was situated, and she could see no
+one to speak to. She stood irresolute in the middle of the floor.
+Everybody seemed to be busily engaged with somebody else; and
+whenever an opening on one side or another appeared to promise
+her an opportunity, it was sure to be filled up before she could
+reach it, and disappointed and abashed she would return to her
+old station in the middle of the floor. Clerks frequently passed
+her, crossing the store in all directions, but they were always
+bustling along in a great hurry of business; they did not seem to
+notice her at all, and were gone before poor Ellen could speak to
+them. She knew well enough now, poor child, what it was that
+made her cheeks burn as they did, and her heart beat as if it
+would burst its bounds. She felt confused, and almost confounded,
+by the incessant hum of voices, and moving crowd of strange people
+all around her, while her little figure stood alone and unnoticed in
+the midst of them; and there seemed no prospect that she would
+be able to gain the ear or the eye of a single person. Once she
+determined to accost a man she saw advancing toward her from a
+distance, and actually made up to him for the purpose, but with a
+hurried bow, and "I beg your pardon, miss!" he brushed past.
+Ellen almost burst into tears. She longed to turn and run out of
+the store, but a faint hope remaining, and an unwillingness to give
+up her undertaking, kept her fast. At length one of the clerks
+at the desk observed her, and remarked to Mr. St. Clair who
+stood by, "There is a little girl, sir, who seems to be looking for
+something, or waiting for somebody; she has been standing there
+a good while." Mr. St. Clair upon this advanced, to poor Ellen's
+relief.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you wish, miss?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen had been so long preparing sentences, trying to
+utter them and failing in the attempt, that now, when an oppor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>tunity
+to speak and be heard was given her, the power of speech
+seemed to be gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish anything, miss?" inquired Mr. St. Clair again.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother sent me," stammered Ellen—"I wish, if you please,
+sir—mamma wished me to look at merinoes, sir, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Is your mamma in the store?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, "she is ill and cannot come out, and she
+sent me to look at merinoes for her, if you please, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Saunders," said Mr. St. Clair, "show this young lady
+the merinoes."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Saunders made his appearance from among a little group
+of clerks with whom he had been indulging in a few jokes by way
+of relief from the tedium of business. "Come this way," he said
+to Ellen; and sauntering before her, with a rather dissatisfied air,
+led the way out of the entrance hall into another and much
+larger apartment. There were plenty of people here too, and
+just as busy as those they had quitted. Mr. Saunders having
+brought Ellen to the merino counter, placed himself behind it;
+and leaning over it and fixing his eyes carelessly upon her, asked
+what she wanted to look at. His tone and manner struck Ellen most
+unpleasantly, and made her again wish herself out of the store.
+He was a tall, lank young man, with a quantity of fair hair combed
+down on each side of his face, a slovenly exterior, and the most
+disagreeable pair of eyes, Ellen thought, she had ever beheld.
+She could not bear to meet them, and cast down her own. Their
+look was bold, ill-bred, and ill-humoured; and Ellen felt, though
+she couldn't have told why, that she need not expect either kindness
+or politeness from him.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want to see, little one?" inquired this gentleman,
+as if he had a business on hand he would like to be rid of.
+Ellen heartily wished he was rid of it, and she too. "Merinoes,
+if you please," she answered, without looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what kind of merinoes? Here are all sorts and
+descriptions of merinoes, and I can't pull them all down, you
+know, for you to look at. What kind do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know without looking," said Ellen, "won't you
+please to show me some?"</p>
+
+<p>He tossed down several pieces upon the counter, and tumbled
+them about before her.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said he, "is that anything like what you want?
+There's a pink one, and there's a blue one, and there's a green
+one. Is that the kind?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is the kind," said Ellen; "but this isn't the colour
+I want."</p>
+
+<p>"What colour do you want?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Something dark, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there, that green's dark; won't that do? See, that
+would make up very pretty for you."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "mamma don't like green."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't she come and choose her stuffs herself, then?
+What colour <i>does</i> she like?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dark blue, or dark brown, or a nice grey would do," said
+Ellen, "if it is fine enough."</p>
+
+<p>"'Dark blue,' or 'dark brown,' or a 'nice grey,' eh! Well,
+she's pretty easy to suit. A dark blue I've showed you already;
+what's the matter with that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't dark enough," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he discontentedly, pulling down another piece,
+"how'll that do? That's dark enough."</p>
+
+<p>It was a fine and beautiful piece, very different from those he
+had showed her at first. Even Ellen could see that, and fumbling
+for her little pattern of merino, she compared it with the piece.
+They agreed perfectly as to fineness.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the price of this?" she asked, with trembling hope
+that she was going to be rewarded by success for all the trouble
+of her enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Two dollars a yard."</p>
+
+<p>Her hopes and countenance fell together. "That's too high,"
+she said with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Then take this other blue; come—it's a great deal prettier
+than that dark one, and not so dear; and I know your mother
+will like it better."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's cheeks were tingling and her heart throbbing, but she
+couldn't bear to give up.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you be so good as to show me some grey?"</p>
+
+<p>He slowly and ill-humouredly complied, and took down an
+excellent piece of dark grey, which Ellen fell in love with at
+once; but she was again disappointed; it was fourteen shillings.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you won't take that, take something else," said the
+man; "you can't have everything at once; if you will have cheap
+goods, of course you can't have the same quality that you like;
+but now here's this other blue, only twelve shillings, and I'll let
+you have it for ten if you'll take it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is too light and too coarse," said Ellen; "mamma
+wouldn't like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see," said he, seizing her pattern and pretending to
+compare it; "it's quite as fine as this, if that's all you want."</p>
+
+<p>"Could you," said Ellen timidly, "give me a little bit of this
+grey to show mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no!" said he impatiently, tossing over the cloths and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+throwing Ellen's pattern on the floor, "we can't cut up our
+goods; if people don't choose to buy of us they may go somewhere
+else, and if you cannot decide upon anything I must go
+and attend to those that can. I can't wait here all day."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Saunders?" said one of his brother
+clerks passing him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I've been here this half-hour showing cloths to a
+child that doesn't know merino from a sheep's back," said he,
+laughing. And some other customers coming up at the moment,
+he was as good as his word, and left Ellen, to attend to them.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen stood a moment stock still, just where he had left her,
+struggling with her feelings of mortification; she could not endure
+to let them be seen. Her face was on fire; her head was dizzy.
+She could not stir at first, and, in spite of her utmost efforts, she
+<i>could</i> not command back one or two rebel tears that forced their
+way; she lifted her hand to her face to remove them as quickly
+as possible. "What is all this about, my little girl?" said a
+strange voice at her side. Ellen started, and turned her face,
+with the tears but half wiped away, toward the speaker. It was
+an old gentleman, an odd old gentleman too, she thought; one
+she certainly would have been rather shy of if she had seen him
+under other circumstances. But though his face was odd, it
+looked kindly upon her, and it was a kind tone of voice in which
+this question had been put; so he seemed to her like a friend.
+"What is all this?" repeated the old gentleman. Ellen began
+to tell what it was, but the pride which had forbidden her to
+weep before strangers gave way at one touch of sympathy, and
+she poured out tears much faster than words as she related her
+story, so that it was some little time before the old gentleman
+could get a clear notion of her case. He waited very patiently
+till she had finished; but then he set himself in good earnest
+about righting the wrong. "Hallo! you, sir!" he shouted, in a
+voice that made everybody look round; "you merino man! come
+and show your goods: why aren't you at your post, sir?"—as Mr.
+Saunders came up with an altered countenance—"here's a young
+lady you've left standing unattended to I don't know how long;
+are these your manners?"</p>
+
+<p>"The young lady did not wish anything, I believe, sir,"
+returned Mr. Saunders softly.</p>
+
+<p>"You know better, you scoundrel," retorted the old gentleman,
+who was in a great passion; "I saw the whole matter with
+my own eyes. You are a disgrace to the store, sir, and deserve
+to be sent out of it, which you are like enough to be."</p>
+
+<p>"I really thought, sir," said Mr. Saunders smoothly,—for he
+knew the old gentleman, and knew very well he was a person<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+that must not be offended,—"I really thought—I was not aware,
+sir, that the young lady had any occasion for my services."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, show your wares, sir, and hold your tongue. Now, my
+dear, what did you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted a little bit of this grey merino, sir, to show to
+mamma. I couldn't buy it, you know, sir, until I found out
+whether she would like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Cut a piece, sir, without any words," said the old gentleman.
+Mr. Saunders obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you like this best?" pursued the old gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"I like this dark blue very much, sir, and I thought mamma
+would; but it's too high."</p>
+
+<p>"How much is it?" inquired he.</p>
+
+<p>"Fourteen shillings," replied Mr. Saunders.</p>
+
+<p>"He said it was two dollars!" exclaimed Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg pardon," said the crestfallen Mr. Saunders, "the
+young lady mistook me; I was speaking of another piece when I
+said two dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"He said this was two dollars and the grey fourteen shillings,"
+said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Is the grey fourteen shillings?" inquired the old gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"I think not, sir," answered Mr. Saunders; "I believe not,
+sir—I think it's only twelve—I'll inquire, if you please, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said the old gentleman, "I know it was only twelve—I
+know your tricks, sir. Cut a piece off the blue. Now, my
+dear, are there any more pieces of which you would like to take
+patterns to show your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said the overjoyed Ellen; "I am sure she will like
+one of these."</p>
+
+<p>"Now shall we go, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, sir," said Ellen, "I should like to have my bit
+of merino that I brought from home; mamma wanted me to bring
+it back again."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That gentleman threw it on the floor."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear, sir?" said the old gentleman; "find it
+directly."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Saunders found and delivered it, after stooping in search
+of it till he was very red in the face; and he was left, wishing
+heartily that he had some safe means of revenge, and obliged to
+come to the conclusion that none was within his reach, and that
+he must stomach his dignity in the best manner he could. But
+Ellen and her protector went forth most joyously together from
+the store.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you live far from here?" asked the old gentleman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir," said Ellen, "not very; it's only at Green's
+Hotel in Southing Street."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go with you," said he, "and when your mother has
+decided which merino she will have, we'll come right back and
+get it. I do not want to trust you again to the mercy of that
+saucy clerk."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, sir!" said Ellen, "that is just what I was
+afraid of. But I shall be giving you a great deal of trouble, sir,"
+she added in another tone.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you won't," said the old gentleman; "I can't be
+troubled, so you needn't say anything about that."</p>
+
+<p>They went gaily along—Ellen's heart about five times as light
+as the one with which she had travelled that very road a little
+while before. Her old friend was in a very cheerful mood too,
+for he assured Ellen, laughingly, that it was of no manner of use
+for her to be in a hurry, for he could not possibly set off and skip
+to Green's Hotel, as she seemed inclined to do. They got there
+at last. Ellen showed the old gentleman into the parlour, and ran
+upstairs in great haste to her mother. But in a few minutes she
+came down again, with a very April face, for smiles were playing
+in every feature, while the tears were yet wet upon her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma hopes you'll take the trouble, sir, to come upstairs,"
+she said, seizing his hand; "she wants to thank you yourself, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not necessary," said the old gentleman, "it is not
+necessary at all;" but he followed his little conductor, nevertheless,
+to the door of her mother's room, into which she ushered
+him with great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery was looking very ill—he saw that at a
+glance. She rose from her sofa, and extending her hand, thanked
+him with glistening eyes for his kindness to her child.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't deserve any thanks, ma'am," said the old gentleman;
+"I suppose my little friend has told you what made us
+acquainted?"</p>
+
+<p>"She gave me a very short account of it," said Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"She was very disagreeably tried," said the old gentleman.
+"I presume you do not need to be told, ma'am, that her behaviour
+was such as would have become any years. I assure you,
+ma'am, if I had no kindness in my composition to feel for the
+<i>child</i>, my honour as a gentleman would have made me interfere
+for the <i>lady</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery smiled, but looked through glistening eyes
+again on Ellen. "I am <i>very</i> glad to hear it," she replied. "I
+was very far from thinking, when I permitted her to go on this
+errand, that I was exposing her to anything more serious than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+annoyance a timid child would feel at having to transact business
+with strangers."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose not," said the old gentleman; "but it isn't a sort
+of thing that should be often done. There are all sorts of people
+in this world, and a little one alone in a crowd is in danger of
+being trampled upon."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery's heart answered this with an involuntary
+pang. He saw the shade that passed over her face as she said
+sadly—</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, sir; and it was with strong unwillingness that I
+allowed Ellen this morning to do as she had proposed; but in
+truth I was making a choice between difficulties. I am very
+sorry I chose as I did. If you are a father, sir, you know better
+than I can tell you how grateful I am for your kind interference."</p>
+
+<p>"Say nothing about that, ma'am; the less the better. I am
+an old man, and not good for much now, except to please young
+people. I think myself best off when I have the best chance to
+do that, so if you will be so good as to choose that merino, and
+let Miss Ellen and me go and despatch our business, you will be
+conferring and not receiving a favour. And any other errand
+that you please to entrust her with I'll undertake to see her safe
+through."</p>
+
+<p>His look and manner obliged Mrs. Montgomery to take him
+at his word. A very short examination of Ellen's patterns ended
+in favour of the grey merino; and Ellen was commissioned not
+only to get and pay for this, but also to choose a dark dress of the
+same stuff, and enough of a certain article for a nankeen coat; Mrs.
+Montgomery truly opining that the old gentleman's care would
+do more than see her scathless,—that it would have some regard
+to the justness and prudence of her purchases.</p>
+
+<p>In great glee Ellen set forth again with her new old friend.
+Her hand was fast in his, and her tongue ran very freely, for her
+heart was completely opened to him. He seemed as pleased to
+listen as she was to talk; and by little and little Ellen told him
+all her history; the troubles that had come upon her in consequence
+of her mother's illness, and her intended journey and
+prospects.</p>
+
+<p>That was a happy day to Ellen. They returned to St. Clair
+and Fleury's; bought the grey merino, and the nankeen, and a
+dark brown merino for a dress. "Do you want only one of
+these?" asked the old gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma said only one," said Ellen; "that will last me all
+the winter."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "I think two will be better. Let us have
+another off the same piece, Mr. Shopman."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But I am afraid mamma won't like it, sir," said Ellen
+gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, pho," said he, "your mother has nothing to do with
+this; this is my affair." He paid for it accordingly. "Now,
+Miss Ellen," said he, when they left the store, "have you got anything
+in the shape of a good warm winter bonnet? For it's as
+cold as the mischief up there in Thirlwall; your pasteboard
+things won't do; if you don't take good care of your ears you will
+lose them some fine frosty day. You must quilt and pad, and all
+sorts of things, to keep alive and comfortable. So you haven't a
+hood, eh? Do you think you and I could make out to choose
+one that your mother would think wasn't quite a fright? Come
+this way, and let us see. If she don't like it she can give it away,
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>He led the delighted Ellen into a milliner's shop, and after
+turning over a great many different articles, chose her a nice
+warm hood, or quilted bonnet. It was of dark blue silk, well
+made and pretty. He saw with great satisfaction that it fitted
+Ellen well, and would protect her ears nicely; and having paid
+for it and ordered it home, he and Ellen sallied forth into the
+street again. But he wouldn't let her thank him. "It is just
+the very thing I wanted, sir," said Ellen; "mamma was speaking
+about it the other day, and she did not see how I was ever to get
+one, because she did not feel at all able to go out, and I could
+not get one myself; I know she'll like it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you rather have something for yourself or your
+mother, Ellen, if you could choose, and have but one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for mamma, sir," said Ellen—"a great deal!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come in here," said he; "let us see if we can find anything
+she would like."</p>
+
+<p>It was a grocery store. After looking about a little, the old
+gentleman ordered sundry pounds of figs and white grapes to be
+packed up in papers; and being now very near home he took one
+parcel and Ellen the other till they came to the door of Green's
+Hotel, where he committed both to her care.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you come in, sir?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, "I can't this time—I must go home to
+dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"And shan't I see you any more, sir?" said Ellen, a shade
+coming over her face, which a minute before had been quite
+joyous.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know," said he kindly; "I hope you will.
+You shall hear from me again, at any rate, I promise you.
+We've spent one pleasant morning together, haven't we? Good-bye,
+good-bye."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen's hands were full, but the old gentleman took them in
+both his, packages and all, and shook them after a fashion, and
+again bidding her good-bye, walked away down the street.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Ellen and her mother were sitting quietly
+together, and Ellen had not finished her accustomed reading,
+when there came a knock at the door. "My old gentleman?"
+cried Ellen, as she sprang to open it. No—there was no old
+gentleman, but a black man with a brace of beautiful woodcocks
+in his hand. He bowed very civilly, and said he had been
+ordered to leave the birds with Miss Montgomery. Ellen, in
+surprise, took them from him, and likewise a note which he
+delivered into her hand. Ellen asked from whom the birds
+came, but with another polite bow the man said the note would
+inform her, and went away. In great curiosity she carried them
+and the note to her mother, to whom the letter was directed. It
+read thus:—</p>
+
+<p>"Will Mrs. Montgomery permit an old man to please himself
+in his own way, by showing his regard for her little daughter, and
+not feel that he is taking a liberty? The birds are <i>for Miss Ellen</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed Ellen, jumping with delight,
+"did you ever see such a dear old gentleman? Now I know
+what he meant yesterday, when he asked me if I would rather
+have something for myself or for you. How kind he is! to do
+just the very thing for me that he knows would give me the
+most pleasure. Now, mamma, these birds are mine, you know,
+and I give them to you. You must pay me a kiss for them,
+mamma; they are worth that. Aren't they beauties?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are very fine indeed," said Mrs. Montgomery; "this is
+just the season for woodcock, and these are in beautiful condition."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you like woodcocks, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how glad I am!" said Ellen. "I'll ask Sam to have them
+done very nicely for you, and then you will enjoy them so much."</p>
+
+<p>The waiter was called, and instructed accordingly, and to him
+the birds were committed, to be delivered to the care of the cook.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, mamma," said Ellen, "I think these birds have made
+me happy for all day."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I hope, daughter, they will make you busy for all day.
+You have ruffles to hem, and the skirts of your dresses to make,
+we need not wait for Miss Rice to do that; and when she comes
+you will have to help her, for I can do little. You can't be too
+industrious."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mamma, I am as willing as can be."</p>
+
+<p>This was the beginning of a pleasant two weeks to Ellen;
+weeks to which she often looked back afterwards, so quietly and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+swiftly the days fled away in busy occupation and sweet intercourse
+with her mother. The passions which were apt enough
+to rise in Ellen's mind upon occasion were for the present kept
+effectually in check. She could not forget that her days with
+her mother would very soon be at an end, for a long time at least;
+and this consciousness, always present to her mind, forbade even
+the wish to do anything that might grieve or disturb her. Love
+and tenderness had absolute rule for the time, and even had
+power to overcome the sorrowful thoughts that would often rise,
+so that in spite of them peace reigned. And perhaps both mother
+and daughter enjoyed this interval the more keenly because they
+knew that sorrow was at hand.</p>
+
+<p>All this while there was scarcely a day that the old gentleman's
+servant did not knock at their door, bearing a present of
+game. The second time he came with some fine larks; next was
+a superb grouse; then woodcock again. Curiosity strove with
+astonishment and gratitude in Ellen's mind. "Mamma," she
+said, after she had admired the grouse for five minutes, "I cannot
+rest without finding out who this old gentleman is."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry for that," replied Mrs. Montgomery gravely, "for
+I see no possible way of your doing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, mamma, couldn't I ask the man that brings the birds
+what his name is? He must know it."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not; it would be very dishonourable."</p>
+
+<p>"Would it, mamma?—why?"</p>
+
+<p>"This old gentleman has not chosen to tell you his name; he
+wrote his note without signing it, and his man has obviously been
+instructed not to disclose it; don't you remember, he did not tell
+it when you asked him the first time he came. Now this shows
+that the old gentleman wishes to keep it secret, and to try to
+find it out in any way would be a very unworthy return for his
+kindness."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it wouldn't be doing as I would be done by, to be sure;
+but would it be <i>dishonourable</i>, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very. It is very dishonourable to try to find out that about
+other people which does not concern you, and which they wish
+to keep from you. Remember that, my dear daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, mamma. I'll never do it, I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>"Even in talking with people, if you discern in them any
+unwillingness to speak upon a subject, avoid it immediately, provided,
+of course, that some higher interest does not oblige you to
+go on. That is true politeness, and true kindness, which are
+nearly the same; and <i>not</i> to do so, I assure you, Ellen, proves one
+wanting in true honour."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mamma, I don't care what his name is,—at least I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+won't try to find out,—but it does worry me that I cannot thank
+him. I wish he knew how much I feel obliged to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; write and tell him so."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma!" said Ellen, opening her eyes very wide, "can I—would
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly,—if you like. It would be very proper."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will! I declare that is a good notion. I'll do it the
+first thing, and then I can give it to that man if he comes to-morrow,
+as I suppose he will. Mamma," said she, on opening her
+desk, "how funny! don't you remember you wondered who I
+was going to write notes to? here is one now, mamma; it is very
+lucky I have got note-paper."</p>
+
+<p>More than one sheet of it was ruined before Ellen had satisfied
+herself with what she wrote. It was a full hour from the
+time she began when she brought the following note for her
+mother's inspection:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Ellen Montgomery does not know how to thank the old
+gentleman who is so kind to her. Mamma enjoys the birds very
+much, and I think I do more; for I have the double pleasure of
+giving them to mamma, and of eating them afterwards; but your
+kindness is the best of all. I can't tell you how much I am obliged
+to you, sir, but I will always love you for all you have done for me.</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Ellen Montgomery</span>."</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This note Mrs. Montgomery approved; and Ellen having with
+great care and great satisfaction enclosed it in an envelope,
+succeeded in sealing it according to rule, and very well. Mrs.
+Montgomery laughed when she saw the direction, but let it go.
+Without consulting her, Ellen had written on the outside, "To
+the old gentleman." She sent it the next morning by the hands
+of the same servant, who this time was the bearer of a plump
+partridge "To Miss Montgomery;" and her mind was a great
+deal easier on this subject from that time.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<p><i>Mac.</i> What is the night?</p>
+<p><i>Lady Mac.</i> Almost at odds with morning, which is which.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Macbeth</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>October was now far advanced. One evening, the evening
+of the last Sunday in the month, Mrs. Montgomery was lying
+in the parlour alone. Ellen had gone to bed some time before;
+and now in the stillness of the Sabbath evening the ticking of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+the clock was almost the only sound to be heard. The hands
+were rapidly approaching ten. Captain Montgomery was abroad;
+and he had been so—according to custom—or in bed, the whole
+day. The mother and daughter had had the Sabbath to themselves;
+and most quietly and sweetly it had passed. They had
+read together, prayed together, talked together a great deal, and
+the evening had been spent in singing hymns; but Mrs. Montgomery's
+strength failed here, and Ellen sang alone. <i>She</i> was not
+soon weary. Hymn succeeded hymn with fresh and varied
+pleasure, and her mother could not tire of listening. The sweet
+words, and the sweet airs—which were all old friends, and brought
+of themselves many a lesson of wisdom and consolation, by the
+mere force of association—needed not the recommendation of the
+clear childish voice in which they were sung, which was of all
+things the sweetest to Mrs. Montgomery's ear. She listened,
+till she almost felt as if earth were left behind, and she and her
+child already standing within the walls of that city where sorrow
+and sighing shall be no more, and the tears shall be wiped from
+all eyes for ever. Ellen's next hymn, however, brought her back
+to earth again, but though her tears flowed freely while she heard
+it, all her causes of sorrow could not render them bitter—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>God in Israel sows the seeds<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of affliction, pain, and toil;</span><br />
+These spring up and choke the weeds<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which would else o'erspread the soil.</span></p>
+
+<p>Trials make the promise sweet—<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trials give new life to prayer—</span><br />
+Trials bring me to His feet,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lay me low, and keep me there.</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"It is so indeed, dear Ellen," said Mrs. Montgomery, when
+she had finished, and holding the little singer to her breast; "I
+have always found it so. God is faithful. I have seen abundant
+cause to thank Him for all the evils He has made me suffer heretofore,
+and I do not doubt it will be the same with this last and
+worst one. Let us glorify Him in the fires, my daughter; and if
+earthly joys be stripped from us, and if we be torn from each
+other, let us cling the closer to Him—He can and He will in
+that case make up to us more than all we have lost."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt her utter inability to join in her mother's expressions
+of confidence and hope; to her there was no brightness on the
+cloud that hung over them—it was all dark. She could only press
+her lips in tearful silence to the one and the other of her mother's
+cheeks alternately. How sweet the sense of the coming parting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+made every such embrace! This one, for particular reasons, was
+often and long remembered. A few minutes they remained thus
+in each other's arms, cheek pressed against cheek, without speaking;
+but then Mrs. Montgomery remembered that Ellen's bedtime
+was already past, and dismissed her.</p>
+
+<p>For a while after Mrs. Montgomery remained just where Ellen
+had left her, her busy thoughts roaming over many things in the
+far past, and the sad present, and the uncertain future. She was
+unconscious of the passage of time, and did not notice how the
+silence deepened as the night drew on, till scarce a footfall was
+heard in the street, and the ticking of the clock sounded with
+that sad distinctness, which seems to say, "Time is going on—time
+is going on—and you are going with it,—do what you will
+you can't help that." It was just upon the stroke of ten, and
+Mrs. Montgomery was still wrapped in her deep musings, when a
+sharp, brisk footstep in the distance aroused her, rapidly approaching;
+and she knew very well whose it was, and that it would
+pause at the door, before she heard the quick run up the steps,
+succeeded by her husband's tread upon the staircase. And yet
+she saw him open the door with a kind of startled feeling, which
+his appearance now invariably caused her; the thought always
+darted through her head, "perhaps he brings news of Ellen's
+going." Something, it would have been impossible to say what,
+in his appearance or manner, confirmed this fear on the present
+occasion. Her heart felt sick, and she waited in silence to hear
+what he would say. <i>He</i> seemed very well pleased; sat down
+before the fire rubbing his hands, partly with cold and partly with
+satisfaction; and his first words were, "Well, we have got a fine
+opportunity for her at last."</p>
+
+<p>How little he was capable of understanding the pang this
+announcement gave his poor wife! But she only closed her eyes
+and kept perfectly quiet, and he never suspected it.</p>
+
+<p>He unbuttoned his coat, and taking the poker in his hand
+began to mend the fire, talking the while.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad of it, indeed," said he; "it's quite a load off
+my mind. Now we'll be gone directly, and high time it is—I'll
+take passage in the <i>England</i> the first thing to-morrow. And this
+is the best possible chance for Ellen—everything we could have
+desired. I began to feel very uneasy about it, it was getting so
+late, but I am quite relieved now."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it?" said Mrs. Montgomery, forcing herself to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it's Mrs. Dunscombe," said the captain, flourishing his
+poker by way of illustration; "you know her, don't you? Captain
+Dunscombe's wife; she going right through Thirlwall, and will
+take charge of Ellen as far as that, and there my sister will meet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+her with a waggon and take her straight home. Couldn't be anything
+better. I'll write to let Fortune know when to expect her.
+Mrs. Dunscombe is a lady of the first family and fashion—in the
+highest degree respectable; she is going on to Fort Jameson,
+with her daughter and a servant, and her husband is to follow her
+in a few days. I happened to hear of it to-day, and I immediately
+seized the opportunity to ask if she would not take
+Ellen with her as far as Thirlwall, and Dunscombe was only
+too glad to oblige me. I'm a very good friend of his, and he
+knows it."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon does she go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that's the only part of the business I am afraid you
+won't like, but there is no help for it; and after all it is a great
+deal better so than if you had time to wear yourselves out with
+mourning—better and easier too in the end."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon?" repeated Mrs. Montgomery, with an agonised
+accent.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I'm a little afraid of startling you—Dunscombe's wife
+must go, he told me, to-morrow morning; and we arranged that
+she should call in the carriage at six o'clock to take up Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery put her hands to her face and sank back
+against the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid you would take it so," said her husband, "but I
+don't think it is worth while. It is a great deal better as it is—a
+great deal better than if she had a long warning. You would
+fairly wear yourself out if you had time enough, and you haven't
+any strength to spare."</p>
+
+<p>It was some while before Mrs. Montgomery could recover
+composure and firmness enough to go on with what she had to
+do, though, knowing the necessity, she strove hard for it. For
+several minutes she remained quite silent and quiet, endeavouring
+to collect her scattered forces; then, sitting upright and drawing
+her shawl around her, she exclaimed, "I must waken Ellen immediately!"</p>
+
+<p>"Waken Ellen!" exclaimed her husband in his turn; "what
+on earth for? That's the very last thing to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you would not put off telling her until to-morrow
+morning?" said Mrs. Montgomery.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I would—that's the only proper way to do. Why
+in the world should you wake her up, just to spend the whole
+night in useless grieving?—unfitting her utterly for her journey,
+and doing yourself more harm than you can undo in a week.
+No, no; just let her sleep quietly, and you go to bed and do the
+same. Wake her up, indeed! I thought you were wiser."</p>
+
+<p>"But she will be so dreadfully shocked in the morning!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not one bit more than she would be to-night, and she won't
+have so much time to feel it. In the hurry and bustle of getting
+off she will not have time to think about her feelings; and once
+on the way she will do well enough,—children always do."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery looked undecided and unsatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take the responsibility of this matter on myself; you
+must not waken her, absolutely. It would not do at all," said the
+captain, poking the fire very energetically; "it would not do at
+all,—I cannot allow it."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery silently rose and lit a lamp.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not going into Ellen's room?" said the husband.</p>
+
+<p>"I must—I must put her things together."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll not disturb Ellen?" said he, in a tone that required
+a promise.</p>
+
+<p>"Not if I can help it."</p>
+
+<p>Twice Mrs. Montgomery stopped before she reached the door
+of Ellen's room, for her heart failed her. But she <i>must</i> go on, and
+the necessary preparations for the morrow <i>must</i> be made;—she
+knew it; and repeating this to herself, she gently turned the
+handle of the door and pushed it open, and guarding the light
+with her hand from Ellen's eyes, she set it where it would not
+shine upon her. Having done this, she set herself, without once
+glancing at her little daughter, to put all things in order for her
+early departure on the following morning. But it was a bitter
+piece of work for her. She first laid out all that Ellen would
+need to wear, the dark merino, the new nankeen coat, the white
+bonnet, the clean frill that her own hands had done up, the little
+gloves and shoes, and all the etceteras, with the thoughtfulness
+and the carefulness of love; but it went through and through her
+heart that it was the very last time a mother's fingers would ever
+be busy in arranging or preparing Ellen's attire; the very last
+time she would ever see or touch even the little inanimate things
+that belonged to her; and painful as the task was, she was loth
+to have it come to an end. It was with a kind of lingering unwillingness
+to quit her hold of them that one thing after another
+was stowed carefully and neatly away in the trunk. She felt it
+was love's last act; words might indeed a few times yet come
+over the ocean on a sheet of paper;—but sight, and hearing, and
+touch must all have done henceforth for ever. Keenly as Mrs.
+Montgomery felt this, she went on busily with her work all the
+while; and when the last thing was safely packed, shut the trunk
+and locked it without allowing herself to stop and think, and even
+drew the straps. And then, having finished all her task, she went
+to the bedside; she had not looked that way before.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was lying in the deep sweet sleep of childhood; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+easy position, the gentle breathing, and the flush of health upon
+the cheek showed that all causes of sorrow were for the present
+far removed. Yet not so far either; for once when Mrs. Montgomery
+stooped to kiss her, light as the touch of that kiss had
+been upon her lips, it seemed to awaken a train of sorrowful
+recollections in the little sleeper's mind. A shade passed over
+her face, and with gentle but sad accent the word "Mamma!"
+burst from the parted lips. Only a moment,—and the shade
+passed away, and the expression of peace settled again upon her
+brow; but Mrs. Montgomery dared not try the experiment a
+second time. Long she stood looking upon her, as if she knew
+she was looking her last; then she knelt by the bedside and hid
+her face in the coverings,—but no tears came; the struggle in
+her mind and her anxious fear for the morning's trial made weeping
+impossible. Her husband at length came to seek her, and it
+was well he did; she would have remained there on her knees all
+night. He feared something of the kind, and came to prevent it.
+Mrs. Montgomery suffered herself to be led away without making
+any opposition, and went to bed as usual, but sleep was far from
+her. The fear of Ellen's distress when she would be awakened
+and suddenly told the truth kept her in an agony. In restless
+wakefulness she tossed and turned uneasily upon her bed, watching
+for the dawn, and dreading unspeakably to see it. The
+captain, in happy unconsciousness of his wife's distress and utter
+inability to sympathise with it, was soon in a sound sleep, and his
+heavy breathing was an aggravation of her trouble; it kept repeating,
+what indeed she knew already, that the only one in the
+world who ought to have shared and soothed her grief was not
+capable of doing either. Wearied with watching and tossing to
+and fro, she at length lost herself a moment in uneasy slumber,
+from which she suddenly started in terror, and seizing her husband's
+arm to arouse him, exclaimed, "It is time to wake Ellen!"
+but she had to repeat her efforts two or three times before she
+succeeded in making herself heard.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" said he heavily, and not over well
+pleased at the interruption.</p>
+
+<p>"It is time to wake Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't," said he, relapsing; "it isn't time yet this great
+while."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes it is," said Mrs. Montgomery; "I am sure it is. I
+see the beginning of dawn in the east."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense; it's no such thing—it's the glimmer of the lamplight.
+What is the use of your exciting yourself so for nothing;
+it won't be dawn these two hours. Wait till I find my repeater,
+and I'll convince you." He found and struck it. "There! I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+told you so—only one quarter after four; it would be absurd to
+wake her yet. Do go to sleep and leave it to me; I'll take care
+it is done in proper time."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery sighed heavily, and again arranged herself
+to watch the eastern horizon, or rather with her face in that direction,
+for she could see nothing. But more quietly now she lay
+gazing into the darkness which it was in vain to try to penetrate,
+and thoughts succeeding thoughts in a more regular train, at last
+fairly cheated her into sleep, much as she wished to keep it off.
+She slept soundly for nearly an hour, and when she awoke the
+dawn had really begun to break in the eastern sky. She again
+aroused Captain Montgomery, who this time allowed it might be
+as well to get up; but it was with unutterable impatience that
+she saw him lighting a lamp and moving about as leisurely as if
+he had nothing more to do than to get ready for breakfast at eight
+o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do speak to Ellen!" she said, unable to control herself.
+"Never mind brushing your hair till afterwards. She will have
+no time for anything. Oh, do not wait any longer! What are
+you thinking of?"</p>
+
+<p>"What are <i>you</i> thinking of?" said the captain; "there's
+plenty of time. Do quiet yourself; you're getting as nervous as
+possible. I'm going immediately."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery fairly groaned with impatience and an
+agonising dread of what was to follow the disclosure to Ellen;
+but her husband coolly went on with his preparations, which indeed
+were not long in finishing, and then taking the lamp, he at
+last went. He had in truth delayed on purpose, wishing the final
+leave-taking to be as brief as possible, and the grey streaks of
+light in the east were plainly showing themselves when he opened
+the door of his little daughter's room. He found her lying very
+much as her mother had left her—in the same quiet sleep and
+with the same expression of calmness and peace spread over her
+whole face and person. It touched even him, and he was not
+readily touched by anything; it made him loth to say the word
+that would drive all that sweet expression so quickly and completely
+away. It must be said, however; the increasing light
+warned him he must not tarry, but it was with a hesitating and
+almost faltering voice that he said "Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>She stirred in her sleep, and the shadow came over her face
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen! Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>She started up, broad awake now, and both the shadow and
+the peaceful expression were gone from her face. It was a look
+of blank astonishment at first with which she regarded her father,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+but very soon indeed that changed into one of blank despair.
+He saw that she understood perfectly what he was there for, and
+that there was no need at all for him to trouble himself with
+making painful explanations.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Ellen," he said; "that's a good child, make haste
+and dress. There's no time to lose now, for the carriage will
+soon be at the door; and your mother wants to see you, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hastily obeyed him, and began to put on her stockings
+and shoes.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right; now you'll be ready directly. You are going
+with Mrs. Dunscombe; I have engaged her to take charge of
+you all the way quite to Thirlwall. She's the wife of Captain
+Dunscombe, whom you saw here the other day, you know; and
+her daughter is going with her, so you will have charming company.
+I dare say you will enjoy the journey very much, and
+your aunt will meet you at Thirlwall. Now, make haste; I expect
+the carriage every minute. I meant to have called you
+before, but I overslept myself. Don't be long."</p>
+
+<p>And nodding encouragement, her father left her.</p>
+
+<p>"How did she bear it?" asked Mrs. Montgomery when he
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Like a little hero; she didn't say a word or shed a tear. I
+expected nothing but that she would made a great fuss; but she
+has all the old spirit that you need
+to have—and have yet, for
+anything I know. She behaved admirably."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery sighed deeply. She understood far better
+than her husband what Ellen's feelings were, and could interpret
+much more truly than he the signs of them; the conclusions she
+drew from Ellen's silent and tearless reception of the news differed
+widely from his. She now waited anxiously and almost
+fearfully for her appearance, which did not come as soon as she
+expected it.</p>
+
+<p>It was a great relief to Ellen when her father ended his talking
+and left her to herself, for she felt she could not dress herself
+so quick with him standing there and looking at her, and his
+desire that she should be speedy in what she had to do could not
+be greater than her own. Her fingers did their work as fast as
+they could, with every joint trembling. But though a weight
+like a mountain was upon the poor child's heart, she could not
+cry and she could not pray, though true to her constant habit
+she fell on her knees by her bedside as she always did. It was in
+vain; all was in a whirl in her heart and head, and after a minute
+she rose again, clasping her little hands together with an expression
+of sorrow that it was well her mother could not see. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+was dressed very soon, but she shrank from going to her mother's
+room while her father was there. To save time she put on her
+coat, and everything but her bonnet and gloves, and then stood
+leaning against the bed-post, for she could not sit down, watching
+with most intense anxiety to hear her father's step come out
+of the room and go downstairs. Every minute seemed too long
+to be borne; poor Ellen began to feel as if she could not contain
+herself. Yet five had not passed away when she heard the roll
+of carriage-wheels which came to the door and then stopped, and
+immediately her father opening the door to come out. Without
+waiting any longer Ellen opened her own, and brushed past him
+into the room he had quitted. Mrs. Montgomery was still lying
+on the bed, for her husband had insisted on her not rising. She
+said not a word, but opened her arms to receive her little
+daughter; and with a cry of indescribable expression Ellen
+sprang upon the bed, and was folded in them. But then neither
+of them spoke or wept. What could words say? Heart met
+heart in that agony, for each knew all that was in the other.
+No,—not quite all. Ellen did not know that the whole of bitterness
+death had for her mother she was tasting then. But it was
+true. Death had no more power to give her pain after this parting
+should be over. His afterwork—the parting between soul
+and body—would be welcome rather; yes, very welcome. Mrs.
+Montgomery knew it all well. She knew this was the last embrace
+between them. She knew it was the very last time that
+dear little form would ever lie on her bosom, or be pressed in her
+arms; and it almost seemed to her that soul and body must part
+company too when they should be rent asunder. Ellen's grief
+was not like this;—<i>she</i> did not think it was the last time;—but
+she was a child of very high spirit and violent passions, untamed
+at all by sorrow's discipline; and in proportion violent was the
+tempest excited by this first real trial. Perhaps, too, her sorrow
+was sharpened by a sense of wrong and a feeling of indignation
+at her father's cruelty in not waking her earlier.</p>
+
+<p>Not many minutes had passed in this sad embrace, and no
+word had yet been spoken, no sound uttered, except Ellen's first
+inarticulate cry of mixed affection and despair, when Captain
+Montgomery's step was again heard slowly ascending the stairs.
+"He is coming to take me away!" thought Ellen; and in terror
+lest she should go without a word from her mother she burst
+forth with "Mamma! speak!"</p>
+
+<p>A moment before, and Mrs. Montgomery could not have
+spoken. But she could now; and as clearly and calmly the words
+were uttered as if nothing had been the matter, only her voice
+fell a little towards the last—"God bless my darling child; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+make her His own,—and bring her to that home where parting
+cannot be."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eyes had been dry until now; but when she heard the
+sweet sound of her mother's voice, it opened all the fountains of
+tenderness within her. She burst into uncontrollable weeping;
+it seemed as if she would pour out her very heart in tears; and
+she clung to her mother with a force that made it a difficult task
+for her father to remove her. He could not do it at first; and
+Ellen seemed not to hear anything that was said to her. He
+was very unwilling to use harshness; and after a little, though
+she had paid no attention to his entreaties or commands, yet
+sensible of the necessity of the case, she gradually relaxed her
+hold and suffered him to draw her away from her mother's arms.
+He carried her downstairs, and put her on the front seat of the
+carriage, beside Mrs. Dunscombe's maid,—but Ellen could never
+recollect how she got there, and she did not feel the touch of her
+father's hand, nor hear him when he bid her good-bye; and she
+did not know that he put a large paper of candies and sugar-plums
+in her lap. She knew nothing but that she had lost her
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>"It will not be so long," said the captain, in a kind of apologising
+way; "she will soon get over it, and you will not have any
+trouble with her."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," returned the lady, rather shortly; and then, as
+the captain was making his parting bow, she added, in no very
+pleased tone of voice, "Pray, Captain Montgomery, is this young
+lady to travel without a bonnet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bless me! no," said the captain. "How is this? Hasn't
+she a bonnet? I beg a thousand pardons, ma'am,—I'll bring it
+on the instant."</p>
+
+<p>After a little delay the bonnet was found, but the captain
+overlooked the gloves in his hurry.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry you have been delayed, ma'am," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope we may be able to reach the boat yet," replied the
+lady; "drive on as fast as you can."</p>
+
+<p>A very polite bow from Captain Montgomery—a very slight
+one from the lady—and off they drove.</p>
+
+<p>"Proud enough," thought the captain, as he went upstairs
+again. "I reckon she don't thank me for her travelling companion.
+But Ellen's off—that's one good thing; and now I'll go
+and engage berths in the <i>England</i>."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+So fair and foul a day I have not seen.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Macbeth</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The long drive to the boat was only a sorrowful blank to Ellen's
+recollection. She did not see the frowns that passed between
+her companions on her account. She did not know that
+her white bonnet was such a matter of merriment to Margaret
+Dunscombe and the maid, that they could hardly contain themselves.
+She did not find out that Miss Margaret's fingers were
+busy with her paper of sweets, which only a good string and a
+sound knot kept her from rifling. Yet she felt very well that
+nobody there cared in the least for her sorrow. It mattered
+nothing; she wept on in her loneliness, and knew nothing that
+happened, till the carriage stopped on the wharf; even then she
+did not raise her head. Mrs. Dunscombe got out, and saw her
+daughter and servant do the same; then, after giving some orders
+about the baggage, she returned to Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you get out, Miss Montgomery? or would you prefer to
+remain in the carriage? We must go on board directly."</p>
+
+<p>There was something, not in the words, but in the tone, that
+struck Ellen's heart with an entirely new feeling. Her tears
+stopped instantly, and wiping away quick the traces of them as
+well as she could, she got out of the carriage without a word, aided
+by Mrs. Dunscombe's hand. The party was presently joined by a
+fine-looking man, whom Ellen recognised as Captain Dunscombe.</p>
+
+<p>"Dunscombe, do put these girls on board, will you, and then
+come back to me; I want to speak to you. Timmins, you may
+go along and look after them."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Dunscombe obeyed. When they reached the deck,
+Margaret Dunscombe and the maid Timmins went straight to the
+cabin. Not feeling at all drawn towards their company, as indeed
+they had given her no reason, Ellen planted herself by the guards
+of the boat, not far from the gangway, to watch the busy scene
+that at another time would have had a great deal of interest and
+amusement for her. And interest it had now; but it was with a very,
+very grave little face that she looked on the bustling crowd. The
+weight on her heart was just as great as ever, but she felt this was
+not the time or the place to let it be seen; so for the present she
+occupied herself with what was passing before her, though it did
+not for one moment make her forget her sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>At last the boat rang her last bell. Captain Dunscombe put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+his wife on board, and had barely time to jump off the boat again
+when the plank was withdrawn. The men on shore cast off
+the great loops of ropes that held the boat to enormous wooden
+posts on the wharf, and they were off!</p>
+
+<p>At first it seemed to Ellen as if the wharf and the people upon
+it were sailing away from them backwards; but she presently forgot
+to think of them at all. She was gone!—she felt the bitterness
+of the whole truth; the blue water already lay between her and
+the shore, where she so much longed to be. In that confused mass
+of buildings at which she was gazing, but which would be so soon
+beyond even gazing distance, was the only spot she cared for in
+the world; her heart was there. She could not see the place, to
+be sure, nor tell exactly whereabouts it lay in all that wide-spread
+city; but it was there somewhere, and every minute was making
+it farther and farther off. It's a bitter thing that sailing away
+from all one loves; and poor Ellen felt it so. She stood leaning
+both her arms upon the rail, the tears running down her cheeks,
+and blinding her so that she could not see the place toward which
+her straining eyes were bent. Somebody touched her sleeve,—it
+was Timmins.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dunscombe sent me to tell you she wants you to come
+into the cabin, miss."</p>
+
+<p>Hastily wiping her eyes, Ellen obeyed the summons, and followed
+Timmins into the cabin. It was full of groups of ladies,
+children, and nurses,—bustling and noisy enough. Ellen wished
+she might have stayed outside; she wanted to be by herself; but
+as the next best thing, she mounted upon the bench which ran
+all round the saloon, and kneeling on the cushion by one of the
+windows, placed herself with the edge of her bonnet just touching
+the glass, so that nobody could see a bit of her face, while she
+could look out near by as well as from the deck. Presently her
+ear caught, as she thought, the voice of Mrs. Dunscombe, saying
+in rather an undertone, but laughing too, "What a figure she
+does cut in that outlandish bonnet!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had no particular reason to think <i>she</i> was meant, and
+yet she did think so. She remained quite still, but with raised
+colour and quickened breathing waited to hear what would come
+next. Nothing came at first, and she was beginning to think she
+had perhaps been mistaken, when she plainly heard Margaret
+Dunscombe say, in a loud whisper, "Mamma, I wish you could
+contrive some way to keep her in the cabin—can't you? she
+looks so odd in that queer sun-bonnet kind of a thing, that anybody
+would think she had come out of the woods, and no gloves
+too; I shouldn't like to have the Miss M'Arthurs think she belonged
+to us;—can't you, mamma?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If a thunderbolt had fallen at Ellen's feet, the shock would
+hardly have been greater. The lightning of passion shot through
+every vein. And it was not passion only; there was hurt feeling
+and wounded pride, and the sorrow of which her heart was full
+enough before, now wakened afresh. The child was beside herself.
+One wild wish for a hiding-place was the most pressing
+thought,—to be where tears could burst and her heart could
+break unseen. She slid off her bench and rushed through the
+crowd to the red curtain that cut off the far end of the saloon;
+and from there down to the cabin below,—people were everywhere.
+At last she spied a nook where she could be completely
+hidden. It was in the far-back end of the boat, just under the
+stairs by which she had come down. Nobody was sitting on the
+three or four large mahogany steps that ran round that end of
+the cabin and sloped up to the little cabin window; and creeping
+beneath the stairs, and seating herself on the lowest of these
+steps, the poor child found that she was quite screened and out
+of sight of every human creature. It was time indeed; her heart
+had been almost bursting with passion and pain, and now the
+pent-up tempest broke forth with a fury that racked her little
+frame from head to foot; and the more because she strove to
+stifle every sound of it as much as possible. It was the very
+bitterness of sorrow, without any softening thought to allay it,
+and sharpened and made more bitter by mortification and a passionate
+sense of unkindness and wrong. And through it all, how
+constantly in her heart the poor child was reaching forth longing
+arms towards her far-off mother, and calling in secret on her
+beloved name. "Oh, mamma! mamma!" was repeated numberless
+times, with the unspeakable bitterness of knowing that she
+would have been a sure refuge and protection from all this trouble,
+but was now where she could neither reach nor hear her. Alas!
+how soon and how sadly missed.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's distress was not soon quieted, or, if quieted for a
+moment, it was only to break out afresh. And then she was
+glad to sit still and rest herself.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she heard the voice of the chambermaid upstairs, at
+a distance at first, and coming nearer and nearer. "Breakfast
+ready, ladies—Ladies, breakfast ready!" and then came all the
+people in a rush, pouring down the stairs over Ellen's head. She
+kept quite still and close, for she did not want to see anybody,
+and could not bear that anybody should see her. Nobody did
+see her; they all went off into the next cabin, where breakfast
+was set. Ellen began to grow tired of her hiding-place, and to
+feel restless in her confinement; she thought this would be a
+good time to get away; so she crept from her station under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+stairs, and mounted them as quickly and as quietly as she could.
+She found almost nobody left in the saloon, and, breathing more
+freely, she possessed herself of her despised bonnet, which she
+had torn off her head in the first burst of her indignation, and
+passing gently out at the door, went up the stairs which led to
+the promenade deck; she felt as if she could not get far enough
+from Mrs. Dunscombe.</p>
+
+<p>The promenade deck was very pleasant in the bright morning
+sun; and nobody was there except a few gentlemen. Ellen sat
+down on one of the settees that were ranged along the middle of
+it, and much pleased at having found herself such a nice place
+of retreat, she once more took up her interrupted amusement of
+watching the banks of the river.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fair, mild day, near the end of October, and one of
+the loveliest of that lovely month. Poor Ellen, however, could
+not fairly enjoy it just now. There was enough darkness in her
+heart to put a veil over all nature's brightness. The thought did
+pass through her mind when she first went up, how very fair
+everything was;—but she soon forgot to think about it all. They
+were now in a wide part of the river; and the shore towards
+which she was looking was low and distant, and offered nothing
+to interest her. She ceased to look at it, and presently lost all
+sense of everything around and before her, for her thoughts went
+home. She remembered that sweet moment last night when she
+lay in her mother's arms, after she had stopped singing: could it
+be only last night? it seemed a long, long time ago. She went
+over again in imagination her shocked waking up that very
+morning,—how cruel that was!—her hurried dressing,—the
+miserable parting,—and those last words of her mother, that
+seemed to ring in her ears yet. "That home where parting
+cannot be." "Oh," thought Ellen, "how shall I ever get there?
+who is there to teach me now? Oh, what shall I do without you?
+Oh, mamma! how much I want you already!"</p>
+
+<p>While poor Ellen was thinking these things over and over,
+her little face had a deep sadness of expression it was sorrowful
+to see. She was perfectly calm; her violent excitement had all
+left her; her lip quivered a very little sometimes, but that was
+all; and one or two tears rolled slowly down the side of her face.
+Her eyes were fixed upon the dancing water, but it was very
+plain her thoughts were not, nor on anything else before her;
+and there was a forlorn look of hopeless sorrow on her lip and
+cheek and brow, enough to move anybody whose heart was not
+very hard. She was noticed, and with a feeling of compassion,
+by several people; but they all thought it was none of their business
+to speak to her, or they didn't know how. At length a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+gentleman who had been for some time walking up and down the
+deck, happened to look, as he passed, at her little pale face. He
+went to the end of his walk that time, but in coming back he
+stopped just in front of her, and bending down his face towards
+hers, said, "What is the matter with you, my little friend?"</p>
+
+<p>Though his figure had passed before her a great many times
+Ellen had not seen him at all; for "her eyes were with her heart,
+and that was far away." Her cheek flushed with surprise as she
+looked up. But there was no mistaking the look of kindness in
+the eyes that met hers, nor the gentleness and grave truthfulness
+of the whole countenance. It won her confidence immediately.
+All the floodgates of Ellen's heart were at once opened. She
+could not speak, but rising and clasping the hand that was held
+out to her in both her own, she bent down her head upon it, and
+burst into one of those uncontrollable agonies of weeping, such as
+the news of her mother's intended departure had occasioned that
+first sorrowful evening. He gently, and as soon as he could, drew
+her to a retired part of the deck where they were comparatively
+free from other people's eyes and ears; then taking her in his
+arms he endeavoured by many kind and soothing words to stay
+the torrent of her grief. This fit of weeping did Ellen more good
+than the former one; that only exhausted, this in some little
+measure relieved her.</p>
+
+<p>"What is all this about?" said her friend kindly. "Nay, never
+mind shedding any more tears about it, my child. Let me hear
+what it is; and perhaps we can find some help for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, you can't, sir," said Ellen sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let us see," said he, "perhaps I can. What is it that
+has troubled you so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have lost my mother, sir," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother! Lost her!—how?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is very ill, sir, and obliged to go away over the sea to
+France to get well; and papa could not take me with her," said
+poor Ellen, weeping again, "and I am obliged to go to be among
+strangers. Oh, what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you left your mother in the city?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir! I left her this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen Montgomery."</p>
+
+<p>"Is your mother obliged to go to Europe for her health?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; nothing else would have made her go, but the
+doctor said she would not live long if she didn't go, and that
+would cure her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you hope to see her come back by-and-by, don't
+you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; but it won't be this great, great, long while; it
+seems to me as if it was for ever."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen, do you know who it is that sends sickness and trouble
+upon us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I know; but I don't feel that that makes it any
+easier."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know <i>why</i> He sends it? He is the God of love,—He
+does not trouble us willingly,—He has said so;—why does
+He ever make us suffer? do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes He sees that if He lets them alone, His children
+will love some dear thing on the earth better than Himself,
+and He knows they will not be happy if they do so; and
+then, because He loves them, He takes it away,—perhaps it
+is a dear mother, or a dear daughter,—or else He hinders
+their enjoyment of it; that they may remember Him, and
+give their whole hearts to Him. He wants their whole hearts,
+that He may bless them. Are you one of His children,
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, with swimming eyes, but cast down to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that you are not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I do not love the Saviour."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not love Him, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid not, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you afraid not? what makes you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma said I could not love Him at all if I did not love
+Him best; and oh, sir," said Ellen, weeping, "I do love mamma
+a great deal better."</p>
+
+<p>"You love your mother better than you do the Saviour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir," said Ellen; "how can I help it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then if He had left you your mother, Ellen, you would
+never have cared or thought about Him?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it so?—would you, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir," said Ellen, weeping again; "oh, sir, how
+can I help it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Ellen, can you not see the love of your Heavenly
+Father in this trial? He saw that His little child was in
+danger of forgetting Him, and He loved you, Ellen; and so
+He has taken your dear mother, and sent you away where
+you will have no one to look to but Him; and now He says
+to you, 'My daughter, give <i>Me</i> thy heart.' Will you do it,
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wept exceedingly while the gentleman was saying these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+words, clasping his hands still in both hers; but she made no
+answer. He waited till she had become calmer, and then went
+on in a low tone—</p>
+
+<p>"What is the reason that you do not love the Saviour, my
+child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma says it is because my heart is so hard."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true; but you do not know how good and how lovely
+He is, or you could not help loving Him. Do you often think of
+Him, and think much of Him, and ask Him to show you Himself
+that you may love Him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, "not often."</p>
+
+<p>"You pray to Him, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; but not so."</p>
+
+<p>"But you ought to pray to Him so. We are all blind by
+nature, Ellen;—we are all hard-hearted; none of us can see Him
+or love Him unless He opens our eyes and touches our hearts;
+but He has promised to do this for those that seek Him. Do
+you remember what the blind man said when Jesus asked him
+what He should do for him?—he answered, 'Lord, that I may
+receive my sight!' That ought to be your prayer now, and mine
+too; and the Lord is just as ready to hear us as He was to hear
+the poor blind man; and you know He cured him. Will you
+ask Him, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>A smile was almost struggling through Ellen's tears as she
+lifted her face to that of her friend, but she instantly looked
+down again.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I put you in mind, Ellen, of some things about Christ
+that ought to make you love Him with all your heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir! if you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Then tell me first what it is that makes you love your mother
+so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't tell you, sir;—everything, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose the great thing is that she loves <i>you</i> so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir," said Ellen strongly.</p>
+
+<p>"But how do you know that she loves you? how has she
+shown it?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked at him, but could give no answer; it seemed to
+her that she must bring the whole experience of her life before
+him to form one.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said her friend, "that, to begin with the smallest
+thing, she has always been watchfully careful to provide everything
+that could be useful or necessary for you; she never forgot
+your wants, or was careless about them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And perhaps you recollect that she never minded trouble or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+expense or pain where your good was concerned;—she would
+sacrifice her own pleasure at any time for yours!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eyes gave a quick and strong answer to this, but she
+said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"And in all your griefs and pleasures you were sure of finding
+her ready and willing to feel with you and for you, and to help
+you if she could? And in all the times you have seen her tired,
+no fatigue ever wore out her patience, nor any naughtiness of
+yours ever lessened her love; she could not be weary of waiting
+upon you when you were sick, nor of bearing with you when you
+forgot your duty,—more ready always to receive you than you to
+return. Isn't it so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And you can recollect a great many words and looks of kindness
+and love—many and many endeavours to teach you and lead
+you in the right way—all showing the strongest desire for your
+happiness in this world, and in the next?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir," said Ellen tearfully; and then added, "do you
+know my mother, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, smiling, "not at all; but my own mother has
+been in many things like this to me, and I judged yours might
+have been such to you. Have I described her right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes indeed, sir," said Ellen, "exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"And in return for all this, you have given this dear mother
+the love and gratitude of your whole heart, haven't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I have, sir;" and Ellen's face said it more than her
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very right," he said gravely, "to love such a mother—to
+give her all possible duty and affection; she deserves it.
+But, Ellen, in all these very things I have been mentioning Jesus
+Christ has shown that He deserves it far more. Do you think, if
+you had never behaved like a child to your mother—if you had
+never made her the least return of love or regard—that she would
+have continued to love you as she does?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, "I do not think she would."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you ever made any fit return to God for His goodness
+to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet there has been no change in <i>His</i> kindness. Just
+look at it, and see what He has done and is doing for you. In
+the first place, it is not your mother, but He, who has given you
+every good and pleasant thing you have enjoyed in your whole
+life. You love your mother because she is so careful to provide
+for all your wants; but who gave her the materials to work with?
+She has only been, as it were, the hand by which He supplied you.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+And who gave you such a mother?—there are many mothers not
+like her;—who put into her heart the truth and love that have
+been blessing you ever since you were born? It is all—all God's
+doing, from first to last; but His child has forgotten Him in the
+very gifts of His mercy."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent, but looked very grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother never minded her own ease or pleasure when
+your good was concerned. Did Christ mind His? You know
+what He did to save sinners, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I know; mamma often told me."</p>
+
+<p>"'Though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor,
+that we through His poverty might be rich.' He took our
+burden of sin upon Himself, and suffered that terrible punishment—all
+to save you and such as you. And now He asks His
+children to leave off sinning and come back to Him who has
+bought them with His own blood. He did this because He
+<i>loved</i> you; does He not deserve to be loved in return?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had nothing to say; she hung down her head further
+and further.</p>
+
+<p>"And patient and kind as your mother is, the Lord Jesus is
+kinder and more patient still. In all your life so far, Ellen, you
+have not loved or obeyed Him; and yet He loves you, and is
+ready to be your friend. Is He not even to-day taking away
+your dear mother for the very purpose that He may draw you
+gently to Himself and fold you in His arms, as He has promised to
+do with His lambs? He knows you can never be happy anywhere
+else."</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman paused again, for he saw that the little
+listener's mind was full.</p>
+
+<p>"Has not Christ shown that He loves you better even than
+your mother does? And were there ever sweeter words of kindness
+than these?—</p>
+
+<p>"'Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them
+not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life
+for the sheep.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with
+loving-kindness have I drawn thee.'"</p>
+
+<p>He waited a minute, and then added gently, "Will you come
+to Him, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen lifted her tearful eyes to his; but there were tears
+there too, and her own sank instantly. She covered her face
+with her hands, and sobbed out in broken words, "Oh, if I could—but
+I don't know how."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish to be His child, Ellen?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir—if I could."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, my child, that sinful heart of yours is in the way,
+but the Lord Jesus can change it, and will, if you will give it to
+Him. He is looking upon you now, Ellen, with more kindness
+and love than any earthly father or mother could, waiting for you
+to give that little heart of yours to Him, that He may make it
+holy and fill it with blessing. He says, you know, 'Behold I
+stand at the door and knock.' Do not grieve Him away,
+Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sobbed, but all the passion and bitterness of her tears
+was gone. Her heart was completely melted.</p>
+
+<p>"If your mother were here, and could do for you what you
+want, would you doubt her love to do it? would you have any
+difficulty in asking her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then do not doubt His love who loves you better still.
+Come to Jesus. Do not fancy He is away up in heaven out of
+reach of hearing—He is here, close to you, and knows every
+wish and throb of your heart. Think you are in His presence
+and at His feet,—even now,—and say to Him in your heart,
+'Lord, look upon me—I am not fit to come to Thee, but Thou
+hast bid me come—take me and make me Thine own—take this
+hard heart that I can do nothing with, and make it holy and fill
+it with Thy love—I give it and myself into Thy hands, O dear
+Saviour!'"</p>
+
+<p>These words were spoken very low, that only Ellen could
+catch them. Her bowed head sank lower and lower till he
+ceased speaking. He added no more for some time; waited till
+she had resumed her usual attitude and appearance, and then
+said—</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen, could you join in heart with my words?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, sir,—I couldn't help it, all but the last."</p>
+
+<p>"All but the last?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Ellen, if you say the first part of my prayer with your
+whole heart, the Lord will enable you to say the last too,—do
+you believe that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you not make that your constant prayer till you are
+heard and answered?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>And he thought he saw that she was in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps the answer may not come at once,—it does not
+always; but it will come as surely as the sun will rise to-morrow
+morning. 'Then shall we know, if we <i>follow on</i> to know the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+Lord.' But then you must be in earnest. And if you are in
+earnest, is there nothing you have to do besides <i>praying</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked at him without making any answer.</p>
+
+<p>"When a person is in earnest, how does he show it?"</p>
+
+<p>"By doing everything he possibly can to get what he wants."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right," said her friend, smiling; "and has God bidden
+us to do nothing besides pray for a new heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; He has told us to do a great many things."</p>
+
+<p>"And will He be likely to grant that prayer, Ellen, if He
+sees that you do not care about displeasing Him in those 'great
+many things'?—will He judge that you are sincere in wishing
+for a new heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then if you are resolved to be a Christian, you will not be
+contented with praying for a new heart, but you will begin at
+once to be a servant of God. You can do nothing well without
+help, but you are sure the help will come; and from this good day
+you will seek to know and to do the will of God, trusting in His
+dear Son to perfect that which concerneth you. My little child,"
+said the gentleman, softly and kindly, "are you ready to say you
+will do this?"</p>
+
+<p>As she hesitated, he took a little book from his pocket, and
+turning over the leaves said, "I am going to leave you for a little
+while—I have a few moments' business downstairs to attend
+to; and I want you to look over this hymn and think carefully
+of what I have been saying, will you?—and resolve what you
+will do."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen got off his knee, where she had been sitting all this
+while, and silently taking the book, sat down in the chair he had
+quitted. Tears ran fast again, and many thoughts passed through
+her mind as her eyes went over and over the words to which he
+had pointed:—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+"Behold the Saviour at the door,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He gently knocks,—has knocked before,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Has waited long,—is waiting still,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">You treat no other friend so ill.</span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh lovely attitude!—He stands</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With open heart and outstretched hands.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh matchless kindness!—and He shows</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This matchless kindness to His foes.</span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Admit Him—for the human breast</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ne'er entertained so kind a guest.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Admit Him—for the hour's at hand</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When at <i>His</i> door, denied you'll stand.</span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Open my heart, Lord, enter in;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Slay every foe, and conquer sin.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here now to Thee I all resign,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My body, soul, and all are Thine."</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The last two lines Ellen longed to say, but could not; the two
+preceding were the very speech of her heart.</p>
+
+<p>Not more than fifteen minutes had passed when her friend
+came back again. The book hung in Ellen's hand; her eyes
+were fixed on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said kindly, and taking her hand, "what's your
+decision?" Ellen looked up.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you made up your mind on that matter we were talking
+about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," Ellen said in a low voice, casting her eyes down
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"And how have you decided, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will try to do as you said, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"You will begin to follow your Saviour, and to please Him,
+from this day forward?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will try, sir," said Ellen, meeting his eyes as she spoke.
+Again the look she saw made her burst into tears. She wept
+violently.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you and help you, my dear Ellen," said he, gently
+passing his hand over her head; "but do not cry any more—you
+have shed too many tears this morning already. We will not talk
+about this any more now."</p>
+
+<p>And he spoke only soothing and quieting words for a while to
+her: and then asked if she would like to go over the boat and see
+the different parts of it. Ellen's joyful agreement with this proposal
+was only qualified by the fear of giving him trouble. But
+he put that entirely by.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Time and the hour run through the roughest day.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The going over the boat held them a long time, for Ellen's
+new friend took kind pains to explain to her whatever he
+thought he could make interesting; he was amused to find how
+far she pushed her inquiries into the how and the why of things.
+For the time her sorrows were almost forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do now?" said he, when they had at last gone
+through the whole; "would you like to go to your friends?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I haven't any friends on board, sir," said Ellen, with a
+swelling heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't any friends on board! What do you mean? Are
+you alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, "not exactly alone; my father put me
+in the care of a lady that is going to Thirlwall; but they are
+strangers and not friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they <i>un</i>friends? I hope you don't think, Ellen, that
+strangers cannot be friends too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed, sir, I don't," said Ellen, looking up with a face
+that was fairly brilliant with its expression of gratitude and love.
+But casting it down again, she added, "But they are not my
+friends, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then," he said, smiling, "will you come with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir! if you will let me, and if I shan't be a trouble to
+you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Come this way," said he, "and we'll see if we cannot find a
+nice place to sit down, where no one will trouble us."</p>
+
+<p>Such a place was found. And Ellen would have been quite
+satisfied though the gentleman had done no more than merely to
+permit her to remain there by his side; but he took out his little
+Bible, and read and talked to her for some time, so pleasantly that
+neither her weariness nor the way could be thought of.</p>
+
+<p>When he ceased reading to her and began to read to himself,
+weariness and faintness stole over her. She had had nothing to
+eat, and had been violently excited that day. A little while she
+sat in a dreamy sort of quietude, then her thoughts grew misty, and
+the end of it was, she dropped her head against the arm of her
+friend and fell fast asleep. He smiled at first, but one look at
+the very pale little face changed the expression of his own. He
+gently put his arm round her and drew her head to a better
+resting-place than it had chosen.</p>
+
+<p>And there she slept till the dinner-bell rang. Timmins was
+sent out to look for her, but Timmins did not choose to meddle
+with the grave protector Ellen seemed to have gained; and Mrs.
+Dunscombe declared herself rejoiced that any other hands should
+have taken the charge of her.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, Ellen and her friend went up to the promenade
+deck again, and there for a while they paced up and down,
+enjoying the pleasant air and the quick motion, and the lovely
+appearance of everything in the mild hazy sunlight. Another
+gentleman, however, joining them, and entering into conversation,
+Ellen silently quitted her friend's hand and went and sat down at
+the side of the boat. After taking a few turns more, and while
+still engaged in talking, he drew his little hymn-book out of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+pocket, and with a smile put it into Ellen's hand as he passed.
+She gladly received it, and spent an hour or more very pleasantly
+in studying and turning it over. At the end of that time, the
+stranger having left him, Ellen's friend came and sat down by
+her side.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like my little book?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very much indeed, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you love hymns, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do, sir, dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you sometimes learn them by heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir, often. Mamma often made me. I have learnt
+two since I have been sitting here."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you?" said he. "Which are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of them is the one you showed me this morning, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is your mind now about the question I asked you
+this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen cast down her eyes from his inquiring glance, and
+answered in a low tone, "Just what it was then, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been thinking of it since?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought of it the whole time, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are resolved you will obey Christ henceforth?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am resolved to try, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen, if you are in earnest you will not try in
+vain. He never yet failed any that sincerely sought Him. Have
+you a Bible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir! a beautiful one. Mamma gave it to me the
+other day."</p>
+
+<p>He took the hymn-book from her hand, and turning over the
+leaves, marked several places in pencil.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to give you this," he said, "that it may serve to
+remind you of what we have talked of to-day, and of your
+resolution."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen flushed high with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"I have put this mark," said he, showing her a particular one,
+"in a few places of this book for you. Wherever you find it, you
+may know there is something I want you to take special notice of.
+There are some other marks here too, but they are mine. <i>These</i>
+are for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir," said Ellen, delighted. "I shall not forget."</p>
+
+<p>He knew from her face what she meant—not the <i>marks</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The day wore on, thanks to the unwearied kindness of her
+friend, with great comparative comfort to Ellen. Late in the afternoon
+they were resting from a long walk up and down the deck.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you got in this package that you take such care
+of?" said he, smiling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, candies," said Ellen. "I am always forgetting them.
+I meant to ask you to take some. Will you have some, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. What are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Almost all kinds, I believe, sir. I think the almonds are
+the best."</p>
+
+<p>He took one.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray take some more, sir," said Ellen. "I don't care for
+them in the least."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am more of a child than you—in this, at any rate—for
+I do care for them. But I have a little headache to-day; I
+mustn't meddle with sweets."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take some for to-morrow, sir. Please do!" said Ellen,
+dealing them out very freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, stop!" said he, "not a bit more. This won't do. I
+must put some of these back again. You'll want them to-morrow,
+too."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I shall," said Ellen. "I haven't wanted to
+touch them to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you'll feel brighter to-morrow, after a night's sleep. But
+aren't you afraid of catching cold? This wind is blowing pretty
+fresh, and you've been bonnetless all day. What's the reason?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked down, and coloured a good deal.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" said he, laughing. "Has any mischief
+befallen your bonnet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen in a low tone, her colour mounting higher
+and higher. "It was laughed at this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Laughed at! Who laughed at it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dunscombe and her daughter and her maid."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they? I don't see much reason in that, I confess.
+What did they think was the matter with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir. They said it was outlandish, and what a
+figure I looked in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, certainly that was not very polite. Put it on and let
+me see."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not the best judge of ladies' bonnets, it is true," said
+he, "but I can see nothing about it that is not perfectly proper
+and suitable—nothing in the world! So that is what has kept
+you bare-headed all day? Didn't your mother wish you to wear
+that bonnet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that ought to be enough for you. Will you be ashamed
+of what <i>she</i> approved, because some people that haven't probably
+half her sense choose to make merry with it?—is that right?" he
+said gently, "Is that honouring her as she deserves?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, looking up into his face, "but I never
+thought of that before. I am sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind being laughed at, my child. If your mother
+says a thing is right, that's enough for you; let them laugh!"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't be ashamed of my bonnet any more," said Ellen,
+tying it on, "but they made me very unhappy about it, and very
+angry too."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry for that," said her friend gravely. "Have you
+quite got over it, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir, long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not angry now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no unkindness left towards the people who laughed
+at you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like them much," said Ellen. "How can I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot of course <i>like</i> the company of ill-behaved people,
+and I do not wish that you should; but you can and ought to feel
+just as kindly disposed towards them as if they had never offended
+you—just as willing and inclined to please them or do them good.
+Now, could you offer Miss—what's her name?—some of your
+candies with as hearty goodwill as you could before she laughed
+at you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I couldn't. I don't feel as if I ever wished to see
+them again."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, my dear Ellen, you have something to do, if you were
+in earnest in the resolve you made this morning. 'If ye forgive
+unto men their trespasses, my Heavenly Father will also forgive
+you; but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will my
+Father forgive your trespasses!'"</p>
+
+<p>He was silent, and so was Ellen for some time. His words
+had raised a struggle in her mind, and she kept her face turned
+towards the shore, so that her bonnet shielded it from view; but
+she did not in the least know what she was looking at. The sun
+had been some time descending through a sky of cloudless splendour,
+and now was just kissing the mountain tops of the western
+horizon. Slowly and with great majesty he sank behind the distant
+blue line, till only a glittering edge appeared, and then that
+was gone. There were no clouds hanging over his setting, to be
+gilded and purpled by the parting rays, but a region of glory long
+remained, to show where his path had been.</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of both were fixed upon this beautiful scene, but
+only one was thinking of it. Just as the last glimpse of the sun
+had disappeared Ellen turned her face, bright again, towards her
+companion. He was intently gazing towards the hills that had
+so drawn Ellen's attention a while ago, and thinking still more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+intently, it was plain; so though her mouth had been open to
+speak, she turned her face away again as suddenly as it had just
+sought his. He saw the motion, however.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Ellen?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked again with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking, sir, of what you said to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said he, smiling in answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't <i>like</i> Mrs. and Miss Dunscombe as well as if they
+hadn't done so to me, but I will try to behave as if nothing had
+been the matter, and be as kind and polite to them as if they had
+been kind and polite to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And how about the sugar-plums?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sugar-plums! Oh," said Ellen, laughing, "Miss Margaret
+may have them all if she likes—I'm quite willing. Not but I had
+rather give them to you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"You give me something a great deal better when I see you
+try to overcome a wrong feeling. You mustn't rest till you get
+rid of every bit of ill-will that you feel for this and any other
+unkindness you may suffer. You cannot do it yourself, but you
+know who can help you. I hope you have asked him, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have, sir, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep asking Him, and He will do everything for you."</p>
+
+<p>A silence of some length followed. Ellen began to feel very
+much the fatigue of this exciting day, and sat quietly by her
+friend's side, leaning against him. The wind had changed about
+sundown, and now blew light from the south, so that they did
+not feel it at all.</p>
+
+<p>The light gradually faded away till only a silver glow in the
+west showed where the sun had set, and the sober grey of twilight
+was gently stealing over all the bright colours of sky, and river,
+and hill; now and then a twinkling light began to appear along
+the shores.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very tired," said Ellen's friend to her—"I see you
+are. A little more patience, my child; we shall be at our journey's
+end before a very great while."</p>
+
+<p>"I am almost sorry," said Ellen, "though I <i>am</i> tired. We
+don't go in the steamboat to-morrow, do we, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, in the stage."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall <i>you</i> be in the stage, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my child. But I am glad you and I have spent this day
+together."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir," said Ellen, "I don't know what I should have done
+if it hadn't been for you."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence again, and the gentleman almost thought his
+little charge had fallen asleep, she sat so still. But she suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+spoke again, and in a tone of voice that showed sleep was far
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew where mamma is now!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not doubt, my child, from what you told me that it is
+well with her wherever she is. Let that thought comfort you
+whenever you remember her."</p>
+
+<p>"She must want me so much," said poor Ellen, in a scarcely
+audible voice.</p>
+
+<p>"She has not lost her best friend, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, sir," said Ellen, with whom grief was now getting
+the mastery; "but oh, it's just near the time when I used to make
+the tea for her—who'll make it now? she'll want me—oh, what
+shall I do?" and overcome completely by this recollection, she
+threw herself into her friend's arms and sobbed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>There was no reasoning against this; he did not attempt it;
+but with the utmost gentleness and tenderness endeavoured, as
+soon as he might, to soothe and calm her. He succeeded at last;
+with a sort of despairing submission, Ellen ceased her tears, and
+arose to her former position. But he did not rest from his kind
+endeavours till her mind was really eased and comforted; which,
+however, was not long before the lights of a city began to appear
+in the distance. And with them appeared a dusky figure ascending
+the stairs, which, upon nearer approach, proved by the voice
+to be Timmins.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this Miss Montgomery?" said she; "I can't see, I am
+sure, it's so dark. Is that you, Miss Montgomery?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "it is I; do you want me?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, miss, Mrs. Dunscombe wants you to come right
+down; we're almost in, she says, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come directly, Miss Timmins," said Ellen. "Don't wait
+for me—I won't be a minute—I'll come directly."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Timmins retired, standing still a good deal in awe of the
+grave personage whose protection Ellen seemed to have gained.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go," said Ellen, standing up and extending her hand
+"Good-bye, sir."</p>
+
+<p>She could hardly say it. He drew her towards him and
+kissed her cheek once or twice; it was well he did, for it sent a
+thrill of pleasure to Ellen's heart that she did not get over that
+evening, nor all the next day.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you, my child," he said gravely, but cheerfully;
+"and good-night!—you will feel better, I trust, when you have
+had some rest and refreshment."</p>
+
+<p>He took care of her down the stairs, and saw her safe to the
+very door of the saloon, and within it; and there again took her
+hand and kindly bade her good-night.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen entered the saloon only to sit down and cry as if her
+heart would break. She saw and heard nothing till Mrs. Dunscombe's
+voice bade her make haste and be ready, for they were
+going ashore in five minutes.</p>
+
+<p>And in less than five minutes ashore they went.</p>
+
+<p>"Which hotel, ma'am?" asked the servant who carried her
+baggage—"the Eagle, or Foster's?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Eagle," said Mrs. Dunscombe.</p>
+
+<p>"Come this way, then, ma'am," said another man, the driver
+of the Eagle carriage. "Now, ma'am, step in, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dunscombe put her daughter in.</p>
+
+<p>"But it's full!" said she to the driver; "there isn't room for
+another one."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am, there is," said the driver, holding the door
+open; "there's plenty of room for you, ma'am—just get in,
+ma'am, if you please,—we'll be there in less than two minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Timmins, you'll have to walk," said Mrs. Dunscombe.
+"Miss Montgomery, would you rather ride, or walk with
+Timmins?"</p>
+
+<p>"How far is it, ma'am?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bless me! how can I tell how far it is? I don't know,
+I am sure,—not far; say quick,—would you rather walk or
+ride?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather walk, ma'am, if you please," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mrs. Dunscombe, getting in;—"Timmins,
+you know the way."</p>
+
+<p>And off went the coach with its load; but tired as she was,
+Ellen did not wish herself along.</p>
+
+<p>Picking a passage-way out of the crowd, she and Timmins
+now began to make their way up one of the comparatively quiet
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange place—that she felt. She had lived long
+enough in the place she had left to feel at home there; but here
+she came to no street or crossing that she had ever seen before;
+nothing looked familiar; all reminded her that she was a traveller.
+Only one pleasant thing Ellen saw on her walk, and that was the
+sky; and that looked just as it did at home; and very often
+Ellen's gaze was fixed upon it, much to the astonishment of Miss
+Timmins, who had to be not a little watchful for the safety of
+Ellen's feet while her eyes were thus employed. She had taken
+a great fancy to Ellen, however, and let her do as she pleased,
+keeping all her wonderment to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, Miss Ellen!" cried Timmins, giving her arm a
+great pull. "I declare I just saved you out of that gutter! poor
+child! you are dreadfully tired, ain't you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am very tired, Miss Timmins," said Ellen; "have we
+much further to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a great deal, dear; cheer up! we are almost there. I
+hope Mrs. Dunscombe will want to ride one of these days herself,
+and can't."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't say so, Miss Timmins," said Ellen, "I don't wish
+so, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should think you would," said Timmins. "I should
+think you'd be fit to poison her;—<i>I</i> should, I know, if I was in
+your place."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," said Ellen, "that wouldn't be right; that would be
+very wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Wrong!" said Timmins,—"why would it be wrong? she
+hasn't behaved good to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "but don't you know the Bible says if we
+do not forgive people what they do to us, we shall not be forgiven
+ourselves?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare!" said Miss Timmins, "you beat all! But
+here's the Eagle at last, and I am glad for your sake, dear."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was shown into the ladies' parlour. She was longing
+for a place to rest, but she saw directly it was not to be there.
+The room was large, and barely furnished; and round it were
+scattered part of the carriage-load of people that had arrived a
+quarter of an hour before her. They were waiting till their
+rooms should be ready. Ellen silently found herself a chair and
+sat down to wait with the rest, as patiently as she might. Few
+of them had as much cause for impatience; but she was the only
+perfectly mute and uncomplaining one there. Her two companions,
+however, between them, fully made up her share of
+fretting. At length a servant brought the welcome news that
+their room was ready, and the three marched upstairs. It
+made Ellen's very heart glad when they got there, to find a
+good-sized, cheerful-looking bed-room, comfortably furnished,
+with a bright fire burning, large curtains let down to the floor,
+and a nice warm carpet upon it. Taking off her bonnet, and
+only that, she sat down on a low cushion by the corner of the
+fire-place, and leaning her head against the jamb, fell fast asleep
+almost immediately. Mrs. Dunscombe set about arranging
+herself for the tea-table.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" she said, "one day of this precious journey is
+over!"</p>
+
+<p>"Does Ellen go with us to-morrow, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes!—quite to Thirlwall."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you haven't had much plague with her to-day,
+mamma."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No—I am sure I am much obliged to whoever has kept her
+out of my way."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is she going to sleep to-night?" asked Miss Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, I am sure. I suppose I shall have to have a
+cot brought in here for her."</p>
+
+<p>"What a plague!" said Miss Margaret. "It will lumber up
+the room so! There's no place to put it. Couldn't she sleep
+with Timmins?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she <i>could</i>, of course—just as well as not, only people
+would make such a fuss about it!—it wouldn't do;—we must
+bear it for once. I'll try and not be caught in such a scrape
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"How provoking!" said Miss Margaret. "How came father
+to do so without asking you about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he was bewitched, I suppose—men always are. Look
+here, Margaret, I can't go down to tea with a train of children at
+my heels. I shall leave you and Ellen up here, and I'll send up
+your tea to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, mamma!" said Margaret eagerly; "I want to go
+down with you. Look here, mamma! she's asleep, and you
+needn't wake her up—that's excuse enough. You can leave her
+to have tea up here, and let me go down with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Dunscombe, "I don't care; but make
+haste to get ready, for I expect every minute the tea-bell will
+ring."</p>
+
+<p>"Timmins! Timmins!" cried Margaret, "come here and fix
+me—quick! and step softly, will you? or you'll wake that young
+one up, and then, you see, I shall have to stay upstairs."</p>
+
+<p>This did not happen, however; Ellen's sleep was much too
+deep to be easily disturbed. The tea-bell itself, loud and shrill
+as it was, did not even make her eyelids tremble. After Mrs.
+and Miss Dunscombe were gone down, Timmins employed herself
+a little while in putting all things about the room to rights, and
+then sat down to take <i>her</i> rest, dividing her attention between
+the fire and Ellen, towards whom she seemed to feel more and
+more kindness, as she saw that she was likely to receive it from
+no one else. Presently came a knock at the door—"The tea for
+the young lady," on a waiter. Miss Timmins silently took the
+tray from the man and shut the door. "Well!" said she to herself,
+"if that ain't a pretty supper to send up to a child that has
+gone two hundred miles to-day and had no breakfast—a cup of
+tea, cold enough I'll warrant, bread and butter enough for a bird,
+and two little slices of ham as thick as a wafer! Well, I just
+wish Mrs. Dunscombe had to eat it herself, and nothing else!
+I'm not going to wake her up for that, I know, till I see whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+something better ain't to be had for love or money. So just you
+sleep on, darling, till I see what I can do for you."</p>
+
+<p>In great indignation downstairs went Miss Timmins, and at
+the foot of the stairs she met a rosy-cheeked, pleasant-faced girl
+coming up.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you the chambermaid?" said Timmins.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm <i>one</i> of the chambermaids," said the girl, smiling;
+"there's three of us in this house, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am a stranger here," said Timmins; "but I want you
+to help me, and I am sure you will. I've got a dear little girl
+upstairs that I want some supper for; she's a sweet child, and she's
+under the care of some proud folks here in the tea-room that think
+it too much trouble to look at her, and they've sent her up about
+supper enough for a mouse—and she's half-starving; she lost her
+breakfast this morning by their ugliness. Now ask one of the
+waiters to give me something nice for her, will you?—there's a
+good girl."</p>
+
+<p>"James!" said the girl in a loud whisper to one of the waiters
+who was crossing the hall. He instantly stopped and came
+towards them, tray in hand, and making several extra polite bows
+as he drew near.</p>
+
+<p>"What's on the supper-table, James?" said the smiling
+damsel.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything that ought to be there, Miss Johns," said the
+man, with another flourish.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, stop your nonsense," said the girl, "and tell me
+quick; I'm in a hurry."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pleasure to perform your commands, Miss Johns. I'll
+give you the whole bill of fare. There's a very fine beefsteak,
+fricasseed chickens, stewed oysters, sliced ham, cheese, preserved
+quinces—with the usual complement of bread and toast and
+muffins, and doughnuts, and new-year cake, and plenty of butter,
+likewise salt and pepper, likewise tea and coffee and sugar, likewise——"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said the girl. "Do stop, will you?" and then
+laughing and turning to Miss Timmins, she added, "What will
+you have?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'll have some of the chickens and oysters," said
+Timmins; "that will be the nicest for her, and a muffin or two."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, James, do you hear?" said the chambermaid; "I want
+you to get me now, right away, a nice little supper of chickens
+and oysters and a muffin—it's for a lady upstairs. Be as quick
+as you can."</p>
+
+<p>"I should be very happy to execute impossibilities for you,
+Miss Johns; but Mrs. Custers is at the table herself."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very well—that's nothing; she'll think it's for somebody
+upstairs—and so it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, but the upstairs people is Tim's business—I should be
+hauled over the coals directly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then ask Tim, will you? How slow you are! Now, James,
+if you don't I won't speak to you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Till to-morrow? I couldn't stand that. It shall be done,
+Miss Johns, instantum."</p>
+
+<p>Bowing and smiling, away went James, leaving the girls
+giggling on the staircase and highly gratified.</p>
+
+<p>"He always does what I want him to," said the good-humoured
+chambermaid; "but he generally makes a fuss about
+it first. He'll be back directly with what you want."</p>
+
+<p>Till he came, Miss Timmins filled up the time with telling her
+new friend as much as she knew about Ellen and Ellen's hardships,
+with which Miss Johns was so much interested that she
+declared she must go up and see her; and when James in a few
+minutes returned with a tray of nice things, the two women proceeded
+together to Mrs. Dunscombe's room. Ellen had moved
+so far as to put herself on the floor with her head on the cushion
+for a pillow, but she was as sound asleep as ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Just see now!" said Timmins; "there she lies on the floor—enough
+to give her her death of cold. Poor child, she's tired
+to death, and Mrs. Dunscombe made her walk up from the steamboat
+to-night rather than do it herself; I declare I wished the
+coach would break down, only for the other folks. I am glad I
+have got a good supper for her though—thank <i>you</i>, Miss Johns."</p>
+
+<p>"And I'll tell you what, I'll go and get you some nice hot
+tea," said the chambermaid, who was quite touched by the sight
+of Ellen's little pale face.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Timmins, "you're a darling. This is as
+cold as a stone."</p>
+
+<p>While the chambermaid went forth on her kind errand,
+Timmins stooped down by the little sleeper's side. "Miss
+Ellen!" she said; "Miss Ellen! wake up, dear—wake up and
+get some supper—come! you'll feel a great deal better for it;
+you shall sleep as much as you like afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Slowly Ellen raised herself and opened her eyes. "Where
+am I?" she asked, looking bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, dear," said Timmins; "wake up and eat something—it
+will do you good."</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh, poor Ellen arose and came to the fire. "You're
+tired to death, ain't you?" said Timmins.</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite," said Ellen. "I shouldn't mind that if my legs
+would not ache so—and my head too."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now I'm sorry!" said Timmins; "but your head will be
+better for eating, I know. See here, I've got you some nice
+chicken and oysters, and I'll make this muffin hot for you by the
+fire; and here comes your tea. Miss Johns, I'm your servant,
+and I'll be your bridesmaid with the greatest pleasure in life.
+Now, Miss Ellen, dear, just you put yourself on that low chair,
+and I'll fix you off."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thanked her, and did as she was told. Timmins brought
+another chair to her side, and placed the tray with her supper
+upon it, and prepared her muffin and tea; and having fairly seen
+Ellen begin to eat, she next took off her shoes, and seating herself
+on the carpet before her, she made her lap the resting-place for
+Ellen's feet, chafing them in her hands and heating them at the
+fire, saying there was nothing like rubbing and roasting to get
+rid of the leg-ache. By the help of the supper, the fire, and
+Timmins, Ellen mended rapidly. With tears in her eyes, she
+thanked the latter for her kindness.</p>
+
+<p>"Now just don't say one word about that," said Timmins;
+"I never was famous for kindness, as I know; but people must
+be kind sometimes in their lives, unless they happen to be made
+of stone, which I believe some people are. You feel better,
+don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"A great deal," said Ellen. "Oh, if I only could go to bed
+now!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you shall," said Timmins. "I know about your bed, and
+I'll go right away and have it brought in." And away she went.</p>
+
+<p>While she was gone, Ellen drew from her pocket her little
+hymn-book, to refresh herself with looking at it. How quickly
+and freshly it brought back to her mind the friend who had given
+it, and his conversations with her, and the resolve she had made;
+and again Ellen's whole heart offered the prayer she had repeated
+many times that day—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"Open my heart, Lord, enter in;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Slay every foe, and conquer sin."</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Her head was still bent upon her little book when Timmins
+entered. Timmins was not alone; Miss Johns and a little cot
+bedstead came in with her. The latter was put at the foot of
+Mrs. Dunscombe's bed, and speedily made up by the chambermaid,
+while Timmins undressed Ellen; and very soon all the
+sorrows and vexations of the day were forgotten in a sound, refreshing
+sleep. But not till she had removed her little hymn-book
+from the pocket of her frock to a safe station under her
+pillow; it was with her hand upon it that Ellen went to sleep; and
+it was in her hand still when she was waked the next morning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The next day was spent in a wearisome stage-coach, over a
+rough jolting road. Ellen's companions did nothing to make her
+way pleasant, but she sweetened theirs with her sugar-plums.
+Somewhat mollified, perhaps, after that, Miss Margaret condescended
+to enter into conversation with her, and Ellen underwent
+a thorough cross-examination as to all her own and her parents'
+affairs, past, present, and future, and likewise as to all that could
+be known of her yesterday's friend, till she was heartily worried
+and out of patience.</p>
+
+<p>It was just five o'clock when they reached her stopping-place.
+Ellen knew of no particular house to go to; so Mrs. Dunscombe
+set her down at the door of the principal inn of the town, called
+the "Star" of Thirlwall.</p>
+
+<p>The driver smacked his whip, and away went the stage again,
+and she was left standing alone beside her trunk before the piazza
+of the inn, watching Timmins, who was looking back at her out
+of the stage window, nodding and waving good-bye.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<p><i>Gadsby.</i> Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to London?</p>
+<p><i>2nd Car.</i> Time enough to go to bed with a candle, I warrant thee.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">King Henry IV</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Ellen had been whirled along over the roads for so many
+hours,—the rattle of the stage-coach had filled her ears for
+so long,—that now, suddenly still and quiet, she felt half stunned.
+She stood with a kind of dreamy feeling, looking after the departing
+stage-coach. In it there were three people whose faces she
+knew, and she could not count a fourth within many a mile. One
+of those was a friend, too, as the fluttering handkerchief of poor
+Miss Timmins gave token still. Yet Ellen did not wish herself
+back in the coach, although she continued to stand and gaze after
+it as it rattled off at a great rate down the little street, its huge
+body lumbering up and down every now and then, reminding her
+of sundry uncomfortable jolts; till the horses making a sudden
+turn to the right, it disappeared round a corner. Still for a
+minute Ellen watched the whirling cloud of dust it had left
+behind; but then the feeling of strangeness and loneliness came
+over her, and her heart sank. She cast a look up and down the
+street. The afternoon was lovely; the slant beams of the setting
+sun came back from gilded windows, and the houses and chimney-tops
+of the little town were in a glow; but she saw nothing bright<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+anywhere—in all the glory of the setting sun the little town
+looked strange and miserable. There was no sign of her having
+been expected; nobody was waiting to meet her. What was to
+be done next? Ellen had not the slightest idea.</p>
+
+<p>Her heart growing fainter and fainter, she turned again to
+the inn. A tall, awkward young countryman, with a cap set
+on one side of his head, was busying himself with sweeping the
+floor of the piazza, but in a very leisurely manner; and between
+every two strokes of his broom he was casting long looks at Ellen,
+evidently wondering who she was and what she could want there.
+Ellen saw it, and hoped he would ask her in words, for she could
+not answer his <i>looks</i> of curiosity, but she was disappointed. As he
+reached the end of the piazza, and gave his broom two or three
+knocks against the edge of the boards to clear it of dust, he indulged
+himself with one good long finishing look at Ellen, and
+then she saw he was going to take himself and his broom into the
+house. So in despair she ran up the two or three low steps of the
+piazza and presented herself before him. He stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please to tell me, sir," said poor Ellen, "if Miss
+Emerson is here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Emerson?" said he; "what Miss Emerson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir; Miss Emerson that lives not far from
+Thirlwall." Eyeing Ellen from head to foot, the man then trailed
+his broom into the house. Ellen followed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Forbes!" said he, "Mr. Forbes! do you know anything
+of Miss Emerson?"</p>
+
+<p>"What Miss Emerson?" said another man, with a big red
+face and a big round body, showing himself in a doorway which
+he nearly filled.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Emerson that lives a little way out of town."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Fortune Emerson? yes, I know her. What of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Has she been here to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here? what, in town? No, not as I've seen or heard.
+Why, who wants her?"</p>
+
+<p>"This little girl."</p>
+
+<p>And the man with the broom stepping back, disclosed Ellen
+to the view of the red-faced landlord. He advanced a step or
+two towards her.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want with Miss Fortune, little one?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I expected she would meet me here, sir," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"From New York."</p>
+
+<p>"The stage set her down just now," put in the other man.</p>
+
+<p>"And you thought Miss Fortune would meet you, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; she was to meet me and take me home."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Take you home? Are you going to Miss Fortune's home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you don't belong to her any way, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, "but she's my aunt."</p>
+
+<p>"She's your what?"</p>
+
+<p>"My aunt, sir; my father's sister."</p>
+
+<p>"Your father's sister! You ben't the daughter of Morgan
+Montgomery, be you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am," said Ellen, half-smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"And you are come to make a visit to Miss Fortune, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, smiling no longer.</p>
+
+<p>"And Miss Fortune ha'n't come up to meet you; that's real
+shabby of her; and how to get you down there to-night, I am
+sure it is more than I can tell." And he shouted, "Wife!"</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Mr. Forbes?" said a fat landlady, appearing
+in the doorway, which she filled near as well as her husband
+would have done.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," said Mr. Forbes, "here's Morgan Montgomery's
+daughter come to pay a visit to her aunt, Fortune Emerson.
+Don't you think she'll be glad to see her?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Forbes put this question with rather a curious look at his
+wife. She didn't answer him. She only looked at Ellen, looked
+grave, and gave a queer little nod of her head, which meant, Ellen
+could not make out what.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what's to be done?" continued Mr. Forbes. "Miss
+Fortune was to have come up to meet her, but she ain't here, and
+I don't know how in the world I can take the child down there
+to-night. The horses are both out to plough, you know; and
+besides, the tire is come off that waggon wheel. I couldn't
+possibly use it. And then it's a great question in my mind what
+Miss Fortune would say to me. I should get paid, I s'pose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you'd get paid," said his wife, with another little shake
+of her head; "but whether it would be the kind of pay you'd
+like, <i>I</i> don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's to be done, wife? Keep the child over night,
+and send word down yonder?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mrs. Forbes, "I'll tell you. I think I saw Van
+Brunt go by two or three hours ago with the ox-cart, and I guess
+he's somewhere up town yet; I ha'n't seen him go back. He can
+take the child home with him. Sam!" shouted Mrs. Forbes;
+"Sam! here!—Sam, run up street directly, and see if you see
+Mr. Van Brunt's ox-cart standing anywhere—I dare say he's at
+Mr. Miller's, or may be at Mr. Hammersley's the blacksmith—and
+ask him to stop here before he goes home. Now hurry! and don't
+run over him and then come back and tell me he ain't in town."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Forbes herself followed Sam to the door, and cast an
+exploring look in every direction.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see no signs of him—up nor down," said she, returning
+to Ellen; "but I'm pretty sure he ain't gone home. Come in
+here; come in here, dear, and make yourself comfortable; it'll be
+a while yet maybe afore Mr. Van Brunt comes, but he'll be along
+by-and-by;—come in here and rest yourself."</p>
+
+<p>She opened a door, and Ellen followed her into a large kitchen,
+where a fire was burning that showed wood must be plenty in
+those regions. Mrs. Forbes placed a low chair for her on the
+hearth, but herself remained standing by the side of the fire,
+looking earnestly and with a good deal of interest upon the little
+stranger. Ellen drew her white bonnet from her head, and sitting
+down with a wearied air, gazed sadly into the flames that were
+shedding their light upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to stop a good while with Miss Fortune?"
+said Mrs. Forbes.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am,—yes, I believe so," said Ellen faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha'n't you got no mother?" asked Mrs. Forbes suddenly,
+after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes!" said Ellen, looking up. But the question had
+touched the sore spot. Her head sank on her hands, and "Oh,
+mamma!" was uttered with a bitterness that even Mrs. Forbes
+could feel.</p>
+
+<p>"Now what made me ask you that!" said she. "Don't cry!—don't,
+love; poor little dear; you're as pale as a sheet; you're
+tired, I know—ain't you; now cheer up, do,—I can't bear to see
+you cry. You've come a great ways to-day, ha'n't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen nodded her head, but could give no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what will do you good," said Mrs. Forbes presently,
+getting up from the crouching posture she had taken to comfort
+Ellen; "you want something to eat,—that's the matter. I'll
+warrant you're half starved; no wonder you feel bad. Poor little
+thing! you shall have something good directly."</p>
+
+<p>And away she bustled to get it. Left alone, Ellen's tears
+flowed a few minutes very fast. She felt forlorn; and she was
+besides, as Mrs. Forbes opined, both tired and faint. But she
+did not wish to be found weeping, she checked her tears, and
+was sitting again quietly before the fire when the landlady
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Forbes had a great bowl of milk in one hand, and a
+plate of bread in the other, which she placed on the kitchen
+table, and setting a chair, called Ellen to come and partake of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, dear,—here is something that will do you good. I
+thought there was a piece of pie in the buttery, and so there was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+but Mr. Forbes must have got hold of it, for it ain't there now;
+and there ain't a bit of cake in the house for you; but I thought
+maybe you would like this as well as anything. Come!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thanked her, but said she did not want anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, you do," said Mrs. Forbes; "I know better. You're
+as pale as I don't know what. Come! this'll put roses in your
+cheek. Don't you like bread and milk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very much indeed, ma'am," said Ellen, "but I'm not
+hungry." She rose, however, and came to the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, try to eat a bit just to please me. It's real good
+country milk—not a bit of cream off. You don't get such milk
+as that in the city, I guess. That's right! I see the roses
+coming back to your cheeks already. Is your pa in New York
+now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"You expect your pa and ma up to Thirlwall by-and-by, don't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Forbes was surprised, and longed to ask why not, and
+what Ellen had come for; but the shade that had passed over
+her face as she answered the last question warned the landlady
+she was getting upon dangerous ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Does your aunt expect you to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so, ma'am,—I don't know,—she was to have met
+me; papa said he would write."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well! maybe something hindered her from coming.
+It's no matter; you'll get home just as well. Mr. Van Brunt
+will be here soon, I guess; it's most time for him to be along."</p>
+
+<p>She went to the front door to look out for him, but returned
+without any news. A few minutes passed in silence, for though
+full of curiosity, the good landlady dared not ask what she wanted
+to know, for fear of again exciting the sorrow of her little companion.
+She contented herself with looking at Ellen, who on
+her part, much rested and refreshed, had turned from the table,
+and was again, though somewhat less sadly, gazing into the fire.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the great wooden clock struck half-past five, with a
+whirling rickety voice, for all the world like a horse grasshopper.
+Ellen at first wondered where it came from, and was looking at
+the clumsy machine that reached nearly from the floor of the
+kitchen to the ceiling, when a door at the other end of the room
+opened, and "Good day, Mrs. Forbes," in a rough but not unpleasant
+voice, brought her head quickly round in that direction.
+There stood a large, strong-built man, with an ox-whip in his
+hand. He was well-made and rather handsome, but there was
+something of heaviness in the air of both face and person mixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+with his certainly good-humoured expression. His dress was as
+rough as his voice—a grey frock-coat, green velveteen pantaloons,
+and a fur cap that had seen its best days some time ago.</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, Mrs. Forbes," said this personage; "Sam said
+you wanted me to stop as I went along."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, how d'ye do, Mr. Van Brunt?" said the landlady,
+rising; "you've got the ox-cart with you, ha'n't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I've got the ox-cart," said the person addressed. "I
+came in town for a barrel of flour, and then the near ox had
+lost both his fore shoes off, and I had to go over there, and
+Hammersley has kept me a precious long time. What's wanting,
+Mrs. Forbes? I can't stop."</p>
+
+<p>"You've no load in the cart, have you?" said the landlady.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I should have had though, but Miller had no shorts
+nor fresh flour, nor won't till next week. What's to go down,
+Mrs. Forbes?"</p>
+
+<p>"The nicest load ever you carried, Mr. Van Brunt. Here's a
+little lady come to stay with Miss Fortune. She's a daughter of
+Captain Montgomery, Miss Fortune's brother, you know. She
+came by the stage a little while ago, and the thing is how to get
+her down to-night. She can go in the cart, can't she?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt looked a little doubtful, and pulling off his cap
+with one hand, while he scratched his head with the other, he
+examined Ellen from head to foot; much as if she had been some
+great bale of goods, and he were considering whether his cart
+would hold her or not.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he at length, "I don't know but she can; but
+there ain't nothing on 'arth for her to sit down upon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind; I'll fix that," said Mrs. Forbes. "Is there
+any straw in the bottom of the cart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll fix it," said Mrs. Forbes. "You get her trunk
+into the cart, will you, Mr. Van Brunt? and I'll see to the rest."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt moved off without another word to do what
+was desired of him,—apparently quite confounded at having a
+passenger instead of his more wonted load of bags and barrels.
+And his face still continued to wear the singular, doubtful expression
+it had put on at first hearing the news. Ellen's trunk was
+quickly hoisted in, however; and Mrs. Forbes presently appeared
+with a little armchair, which Mr. Van Brunt with an approving
+look bestowed in the cart, planting it with its back against the
+trunk to keep it steady. Mrs. Forbes then, raising herself on tiptoe
+by the side of the cart, took a view of the arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>"That won't do yet," said she; "her feet will be cold on
+that bare floor, and 'tain't over clean, neither. Here, Sally! run<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+up and fetch me that piece of carpet you'll find lying at the top
+of the back-stairs. Now, hurry! Now, Mr. Van Brunt, I depend
+upon you to get my things back again; will you see and bring
+'em the first time you come in town?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see about it. But what if I can't get hold of them?"
+answered the person addressed, with a half smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Mrs. Forbes, with another, "I leave that to you;
+you have your ways and means. Now, just spread this carpet
+down nicely under her chair, and then she'll be fixed. Now,
+my darling, you'll ride like a queen. But how are you going to
+get in? Will you let Mr. Van Brunt lift you up?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's "Oh no, ma'am, if you please!" was accompanied
+with such an evident shrinking from the proposal, that Mrs.
+Forbes did not press it. A chair was brought from the kitchen,
+and by making a long step from it to the top of the wheel, and
+then to the edge of the cart, Ellen was at length safely stowed
+in her place. Kind Mrs. Forbes then stretched herself up over
+the side of the cart to shake hands with her and bid her good-bye,
+telling her again she would ride like a queen. Ellen answered
+only "Good-bye, ma'am;" but it was said with a look of so much
+sweetness, and eyes swimming half in sadness and half in gratefulness,
+that the good landlady could not forget it.</p>
+
+<p>"I do think," said she, when she went back to her husband,
+"that is the dearest little thing, about, I ever did see."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said her husband, "I reckon Miss Fortune will
+think so too."</p>
+
+<p>The doubtful look came back to Mrs. Forbes' face, and with
+another little grave shake of her head she went into the
+kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"How kind she is! how good everybody is to me!" thought
+little Ellen, as she moved off in state in her chariot drawn by
+oxen. Quite a contrast this new way of travelling was to the
+noisy stage and swift steamer. Ellen did not know at first
+whether to like or dislike it; but she came to the conclusion
+that it was very funny, and a remarkably amusing way of getting
+along. There was one disadvantage about it certainly,—their
+rate of travel was very slow. Ellen wondered her charioteer
+did not make his animals go faster; but she soon forgot their lazy
+progress in the interest of novel sights and new scenes.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, very slowly, the good oxen drew the cart and the little
+queen in the arm-chair out of the town, and they entered upon
+the open country. The sun had already gone down when they
+left the inn, and the glow of his setting had faded a good deal by
+the time they got quite out of the town; but light enough was left
+still to delight Ellen with the pleasant look of the country. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+was a lovely evening, and quiet as summer; not a breath stirring.
+The leaves were all off the trees; the hills were brown; but the
+soft warm light that still lingered upon them forbade any look of
+harshness or dreariness. These hills lay towards the west, and
+at Thirlwall were not more than two miles distant, but sloping
+off more to the west as the range extended in a southerly direction.
+Between, the ground was beautifully broken. Rich fields
+and meadows lay on all sides, sometimes level, and sometimes
+with a soft, wavy surface, where Ellen thought it must be charming
+to run up and down. Every now and then these were varied
+by a little rising ground capped with a piece of woodland; and
+beautiful trees, many of them, were seen standing alone, especially
+by the roadside. All had a cheerful, pleasant look. The houses
+were very scattered; in the whole way they passed but few.
+Ellen's heart regularly began to beat when they came in sight of
+one, and "I wonder if that is Aunt Fortune's house!"—"Perhaps
+it is!"—or "I hope it is not!" were the thoughts that rose in her
+mind. But slowly the oxen brought her abreast of the houses,
+one after another, and slowly they passed on beyond, and there
+was no sign of getting home yet. Their way was through pleasant
+lanes towards the south, but constantly approaching the hills.
+About half a mile from Thirlwall they crossed a little river, not
+more than thirty yards broad, and after that the twilight deepened
+fast. The shades gathered on field and hill; everything grew
+brown, and then dusky; and then Ellen was obliged to content
+herself with what was very near, for further than that she could
+only see the outlines. She began again to think of their slow
+travelling, and to wonder that Mr. Van Brunt could be content
+with it. She wondered too what made him walk, when he might
+just as well have sat in the cart; the truth was he had chosen
+that for the purpose that he might have a good look at the little
+queen in the arm-chair. Apparently, however, he too now thought
+it might be as well to make a little haste, for he thundered out
+some orders to his oxen, accompanied with two or three strokes
+of his heavy lash, which, though not cruel by any means, went to
+Ellen's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Them lazy critters won't go fast anyhow," said he to Ellen,
+"they will take their own time; it ain't no use to cut them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no! pray don't, if you please!" said Ellen in a voice of
+earnest entreaty.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tain't fair, neither," continued Mr. Van Brunt, lashing his
+great whip from side to side without touching anything. "I have
+seen critters that would take any quantity of whipping to make
+them go, but them 'ere ain't of that kind; they'll work as long as
+they can stand, poor fellows!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was a little silence, during which Ellen eyed her rough
+charioteer, not knowing exactly what to make of him.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess this is the first time you ever rid in an ox-cart,
+ain't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen; "I never saw one before."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha'n't you never seen an ox-cart! Well, how do you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like it very much indeed. Have we much further to go
+before we get to Aunt Fortune's house?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Aunt Fortune's house!' a pretty good bit yet. You see
+that mountain over there?" pointing with his whip to a hill
+directly west of them, and about a mile distant.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Nose. Then you see that other?" pointing to
+one that lay some two miles further south; "Miss Fortune's house
+is just this side of that; it's all of two miles from here."</p>
+
+<p>And urged by this recollection, he again scolded and cheered
+the patient oxen, who for the most part kept on their steady way
+without any reminder. But perhaps it was for Ellen's sake that
+he scarcely touched them with the whip.</p>
+
+<p>"That don't hurt them, not a bit," he remarked to Ellen, "it
+only lets them know that I'm here, and they must mind their
+business. So you're Miss Fortune's niece, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mr. Van Brunt, with a desperate attempt at
+being complimentary, "I shouldn't care if you was mine too."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was somewhat astounded, and so utterly unable to echo
+the wish, that she said nothing. She did not know it, but Mr.
+Van Brunt had made, for him, most extraordinary efforts at sociability.
+Having quite exhausted himself, he now mounted into
+the cart and sat silent, only now and then uttering energetic
+"Gee's!" and "Haw's!" which greatly excited Ellen's wonderment.
+She discovered they were meant for the ears of the oxen,
+but more than that she could not make out.</p>
+
+<p>They plodded along very slowly, and the evening fell fast.
+As they left behind the hill which Mr. Van Brunt had called "the
+Nose," they could see, through an opening in the mountains, a bit
+of the western horizon, and some brightness still lingering there;
+but it was soon hid from view, and darkness veiled the whole
+country. Ellen could amuse herself no longer with looking
+about; she could see nothing very clearly but the outline of Mr.
+Van Brunt's broad back, just before her. But the stars had come
+out; and, brilliant and clear, they were looking down upon her with
+their thousand eyes. Ellen's heart jumped when she saw them with
+a mixed feeling of pleasure and sadness. They carried her right
+back to the last evening, when she was walking up the hill with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+Timmins; she remembered her anger against Mrs. Dunscombe,
+and her kind friend's warning not to indulge it, and all his teaching
+that day; and tears came with the thought, how glad she
+should be to hear him speak to her again. Still looking up at the
+beautiful quiet stars, she thought of her dear far-off mother,
+how long it was already since she had seen her; faster and faster
+the tears dropped; and then she thought of that glorious One
+who had made the stars, and was above them all, and who could
+and did see her mother and her, though ever so far apart, and
+could hear and bless them both. The little face was no longer
+upturned—it was buried in her hands and bowed to her lap, and
+tears streamed as she prayed that God would bless her dear
+mother and take care of her. Not once nor twice; the fulness of
+Ellen's heart could not be poured out in one asking. Greatly
+comforted at last at having, as it were, laid over the care of her
+mother upon One who was able, she thought of herself and her
+late resolution to serve Him. She was in the same mind still.
+She could not call herself a Christian yet, but she was resolved to
+be one; and she earnestly asked the Saviour she sought to make
+her and keep her His child. And then Ellen felt happy.</p>
+
+<p>Quiet, and weariness, and even drowsiness succeeded. It was
+well the night was still, for it had grown quite cool, and a breeze
+would have gone through and through Ellen's nankeen coat. As
+it was she began to be chilly, when Mr. Van Brunt, who, since he
+had got into the cart, had made no remarks except to his oxen,
+turned round a little and spoke to her again.</p>
+
+<p>"It's only a little bit of way we've got to go now," said he;
+"we're turning the corner."</p>
+
+<p>The words seemed to shoot through Ellen's heart. She was
+wide awake instantly, and quite warm; and, leaning forward in
+her little chair, she strove to pierce the darkness on either hand
+of her, to see whereabouts the house stood, and how things looked.
+She could discern nothing but misty shadows and outlines of she
+could not tell what, the starlight was too dim to reveal anything
+to a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"There's the house," said Mr. Van Brunt after a few minutes
+more; "do you see it yonder?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen strained her eyes, but could make out nothing, not even
+a glimpse of white. She sat back in her chair, her heart beating
+violently. Presently Mr. Van Brunt jumped down and opened a
+gate at the side of the road; and with a great deal of "gee"-ing,
+the oxen turned to the right, and drew the cart a little way
+uphill, then stopped on what seemed level ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are!" cried Mr. Van Brunt, as he threw his whip
+on the ground, "and late enough! You must be tired of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+little arm-chair by this time. Come to the side of the cart and
+I'll lift you down."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Ellen! There was no help for it. She came to the side
+of the cart, and taking her in his arms her rough charioteer set
+her very gently and carefully on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said he, "now you can run right in; do you see
+that little gate?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "I can't see anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, come here," said he, "and I'll show you. Here—you're
+running agin the fence; this way."</p>
+
+<p>And he opened a little wicket, which Ellen managed to
+stumble through.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said he, "go straight up to that door yonder, and
+open it, and you'll see where to go. Don't knock, but just pull
+the latch and go in."</p>
+
+<p>And he went off to his oxen. Ellen at first saw no door, and
+did not even know where to look for it; by degrees, as her head
+became clearer, the large dark shadow of the house stood before
+her, and a little glimmering light of a path seemed to lead onward
+from where she stood. With unsteady steps Ellen pursued it till
+her foot struck against the stone before the door. Her trembling
+fingers found the latch, lifted it, and she entered. All was dark;
+but at the right a window showed light glimmering within. Ellen
+made toward it, and groping, came to another door-latch. This
+was big and clumsy; however, she managed it, and pushing open
+the heavy door, went in.</p>
+
+<p>It was a good-sized cheerful-looking kitchen. A fine fire was
+burning in the enormous fireplace; the white walls and ceiling
+were yellow in the light of the flame. No candles were needed,
+and none were there. The supper table was set, and with its
+snow-white tablecloth and shining furniture, looked very comfortable
+indeed. But the only person there was an old woman, sitting
+by the side of the fire, with her back towards Ellen. She seemed
+to be knitting, but did not move nor look round. Ellen had come
+a step or two into the room, and there she stood, unable to speak
+or to go any further. "Can that be Aunt Fortune?" she thought;
+"she can't be as old as that!"</p>
+
+<p>In another minute a door opened at her right, just behind
+the old woman's back, and a second figure appeared at the top of
+a flight of stairs which led down from the kitchen. She came in,
+shutting the door behind her with her foot; and indeed, both
+hands were full, one holding a lamp and a knife, and the other a
+plate of butter. The sight of Ellen stopped her short.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this? and what do you leave the door open for,
+child?" she said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She advanced towards it, plate and lamp in hand, and setting
+her back against the door, shut it vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you? and what's wanting?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Ellen Montgomery, ma'am," said Ellen timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What?</i>" said the lady, with some emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you expect me, ma'am?" said Ellen; "papa said he
+would write."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, is this Ellen Montgomery?" said Miss Fortune,
+apparently forced to the conclusion that it must be.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune went to the table and put the butter and the
+lamp in their places. "Did you say your father wrote to tell me
+of your coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said he would, ma'am," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't! Never sent me a line. Just like him! I never yet
+knew Morgan Montgomery do a thing when he promised he would."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's face flushed, and her heart swelled. She stood motionless.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you get down here to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came in Mr. Van Brunt's ox-cart," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt's ox-cart! Then he's got home, has he?"
+And hearing at that instant a noise outside, Miss Fortune swept
+to the door, saying as she opened it, "Sit down, child, and take off
+your things."</p>
+
+<p>The first command at least Ellen obeyed gladly; she did not
+feel enough at home to comply with the second. She only took
+off her bonnet.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Van Brunt," said Miss Fortune at the door, "have
+you brought me a barrel of flour?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Fortune," said the voice of Ellen's charioteer, "I've
+brought you something better than that."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you find her?" said Miss Fortune, something
+shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"Up at Forbes's."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you got there?"</p>
+
+<p>"A trunk. Where is it to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"A trunk! Bless me! it must go upstairs; but how it is ever
+to get there, I am sure I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll find a way to get it there, I'll engage, if you'll be so good
+as to open the door for me, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed you won't! That'll never do! With your shoes!"
+said Miss Fortune, in a tone of indignant housewifery.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, without my shoes then," said Mr. Van Brunt, with a
+half giggle, as Ellen heard the shoes kicked off. "Now, ma'am,
+out of my way; give me a road."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune seized the lamp, and opening another door,
+ushered Mr. Van Brunt and the trunk out of the kitchen and up,
+Ellen saw not whither. In a minute or two they returned, and
+he of the ox-cart went out.</p>
+
+<p>"Supper's just ready, Mr. Van Brunt," said the mistress of
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't stay, ma'am, it's so late; must hurry home." And he
+closed the door behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"What made you so late?" asked Miss Fortune of Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am—I believe Mr. Van Brunt said the
+blacksmith had kept him."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune bustled about a few minutes in silence, setting
+some things on the table and filling the teapot.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," she said to Ellen, "take off your coat and come to
+the table. You must be hungry by this time. It's a good while
+since you had your dinner, ain't it? Come, mother."</p>
+
+<p>The old lady rose, and Miss Fortune taking her chair, set it by
+the side of the table next the fire. Ellen was opposite to her,
+and now, for the first time, the old lady seemed to know that she
+was in the room. She looked at her very attentively, but with an
+expressionless gaze which Ellen did not like to meet, though
+otherwise her face was calm and pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that?" inquired the old lady presently of Miss
+Fortune, in a half whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"That's Morgan's daughter," was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Morgan's daughter! Has Morgan a daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, mother; don't you remember I told you a month
+ago he was going to send her here?"</p>
+
+<p>The old lady turned again with a half shake of her head
+towards Ellen. "Morgan's daughter," she repeated to herself
+softly; "she's a pretty little girl—very pretty. Will you come
+round here and give me a kiss, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen submitted. The old lady folded her in her arms and
+kissed her affectionately. "That's your grandmother, Ellen," said
+Miss Fortune, as Ellen went back to her seat.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had no words to answer. Her aunt saw her weary, down
+look, and soon after supper proposed to take her upstairs. Ellen
+gladly followed her. Miss Fortune showed her to her room, and
+first asking if she wanted anything, left her to herself. It was a
+relief. Ellen's heart had been brimful and ready to run over for
+some time, but the tears could not come then. They did not
+now, till she had undressed and laid her weary little body on the
+bed; then they broke forth in an agony. "She did not kiss me!
+she didn't say she was glad to see me!" thought poor Ellen.
+But weariness this time was too much for sorrow and disappoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>ment.
+It was but a few minutes, and Ellen's brow was calm
+again, and her eyelids still, and with the tears wet upon her
+cheeks, she was fast asleep.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Nimble mischance, that com'st so swift of foot!</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The morning sun was shining full and strong in Ellen's eyes
+when she awoke. Bewildered at the strangeness of everything
+around her, she raised herself on her elbow, and took a
+long look at her new home. It could not help but seem cheerful.
+The bright beams of sunlight streaming in through the windows
+lighted on the wall and the old wainscoting, and paintless and
+rough as they were, Nature's own gilding more than made amends
+for their want of comeliness. Still Ellen was not much pleased
+with the result of her survey. The room was good-sized, and
+perfectly neat and clean. It had two large windows opening to
+the east, through which, morning by morning, the sun looked in;
+that was another blessing. But the floor was without the sign of
+a carpet, and the bare boards looked to Ellen very comfortless.
+The hard-finished walls were not very smooth nor particularly
+white. The doors and wood-work, though very neat, and even
+carved with some attempt at ornament, had never known the
+touch of paint, and had grown in the course of years to be of a
+light brown colour. The room was very bare of furniture, too.
+A dressing-table, pier-table, or what-not, stood between the
+windows, but it was only a half-circular top of pine board set
+upon three very long, bare-looking legs—altogether of a most
+awkward and unhappy appearance, Ellen thought, and quite too
+high for her to use with any comfort. No glass hung over it, nor
+anywhere else. On the north side of the room was a fireplace;
+against the opposite wall stood Ellen's trunk and two chairs.
+That was all, except the cot bed she was lying on, and which had
+its place opposite the windows. The coverlid of that came in for
+a share of her displeasure, being of home-made white and blue
+worsted mixed with cotton, exceedingly thick and heavy.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what sort of a blanket is under it," said Ellen, "if
+I can ever get it off to see! Pretty good, but the sheets are
+cotton, and so is the pillow-case."</p>
+
+<p>She was still leaning on her elbow, looking around her with a
+rather discontented face, when some door being opened down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>stairs,
+a great noise of hissing and spluttering came to her ears,
+and presently after there stole to her nostrils a steaming odour of
+something very savoury from the kitchen. It said as plainly as
+any dressing-bell that she had better get up. So up she jumped,
+and set about the business of dressing with great alacrity. Where
+was the distress of last night? Gone—with the darkness. She
+had slept well; the bracing atmosphere had restored strength and
+spirits; and the bright morning light made it impossible to be
+dull or down-hearted, in spite of the new cause she thought she
+had found. She went on quick with the business of the toilet;
+but when it came to the washing, she suddenly discovered that
+there were no conveniences for it in her room—no sign of pitcher
+or basin, or stand to hold them. Ellen was slightly dismayed,
+but presently recollected her arrival had not been looked for so
+soon, and probably the preparations for it had not been completed.
+So she finished dressing, and then set out to find her
+way to the kitchen. On opening the door, there was a little
+landing-place from which the stairs descended just in front of
+her, and at the left hand another door, which she supposed must
+lead to her aunt's room. At the foot of the stairs Ellen found
+herself in a large square room or hall, for one of its doors, on the
+east, opened to the outer air, and was in fact the front door of
+the house. Another Ellen tried on the south side; it would not
+open. A third, under the stairs, admitted her to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>The noise of hissing and spluttering now became quite violent,
+and the smell of the cooking, to Ellen's fancy, rather too strong
+to be pleasant. Before a good fire stood Miss Fortune holding
+the end of a very long iron handle, by which she was kept in
+communication with a flat vessel sitting on the fire, in which
+Ellen soon discovered all this noisy and odorous cooking was
+going on. A tall tin coffee-pot stood on some coals in the corner
+of the fireplace, and another little iron vessel in front also claimed
+a share of Miss Fortune's attention, for she every now and then
+leaned forward to give a stir to whatever was in it, making each
+time quite a spasmodic effort to do so without quitting her hold
+of the long handle. Ellen drew near and looked on with great
+curiosity, and not a little appetite, but Miss Fortune was far too
+busy to give her more than a passing glance. At length the
+hissing pan was brought to the hearth for some new arrangement
+of its contents, and Ellen seized the moment of peace and quiet
+to say, "Good morning, Aunt Fortune."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune was crouching by the pan turning her slices of
+pork. "How do you do this morning?" she answered without
+looking up.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen replied that she felt a great deal better.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Slept warm, did you?" said Miss Fortune, as she set the pan
+back on the fire. And Ellen could hardly answer, "Quite warm,
+ma'am," when the hissing and spluttering began again as loud as
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>"I must wait," thought Ellen, "till this is over before I say
+what I want to. I can't scream out to ask for a basin and
+towel."</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the pan was removed from the fire, and Miss
+Fortune went on to take out the brown slices of nicely fried pork
+and arrange them in a deep dish, leaving a small quantity of clear
+fat in the pan. Ellen, who was greatly interested, and observing
+every step most attentively, settled in her own mind that certainly
+this would be thrown away, being fit for nothing but the
+pigs. But Miss Fortune didn't think so, for she darted into some
+pantry close by, and returning with a cup of cream in her hand,
+emptied it all into the pork fat. Then she ran into the pantry
+again for a little round tin box, with a cover full of holes, and
+shaking this gently over the pan, a fine white shower of flour fell
+upon the cream. The pan was then replaced on the fire and
+stirred, and to Ellen's astonishment the whole changed, as if by
+magic, to a thick, stiff, white froth. It was not till Miss Fortune
+was carefully pouring this over the fried slices in the dish that
+Ellen suddenly recollected that breakfast was ready, and she
+was not.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune," she said timidly, "I haven't washed yet;
+there's no basin in my room."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune made no answer nor gave any sign of hearing;
+she went on dishing up breakfast. Ellen waited a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please, ma'am, to show me where I can wash
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Miss Fortune, suddenly standing erect, "you'll
+have to go down to the spout."</p>
+
+<p>"The spout, ma'am," said Ellen; "what's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll know it when you see it, I guess," answered her aunt,
+again stooping over her preparations. But in another moment
+she arose and said, "Just open that door there behind you, and go
+down the stairs and out at the door, and you'll see where it is, and
+what it is too."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen still lingered. "Would you be as good as to give me a
+towel, ma'am," she said timidly.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune dashed past her and out of another door, whence
+she presently returned with a clean towel which she threw over
+Ellen's arm, and then went back to her work.</p>
+
+<p>Opening the door by which she had first seen her aunt enter
+the night before, Ellen went down a steep flight of steps, and found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+herself in a lower kitchen, intended for common purposes. It
+seemed not to be used at all, at least there was no fire there, and
+a cellar-like feeling and smell instead. That was no wonder, for
+beyond the fireplace on the left hand was the opening to the
+cellar, which, running under the other part of the house, was on
+a level with this kitchen. It had no furniture but a table and
+two chairs. The thick heavy door stood open. Passing out,
+Ellen looked around her for water; in what shape or form it was
+to present itself she had no very clear idea. She soon spied, a
+few yards distant, a little stream of water pouring from the end
+of a pipe or trough raised about a foot and a half from the ground,
+and a well-worn path leading to it, left no doubt of its being "the
+spout." But when she had reached it Ellen was in no small
+puzzle as to how she should manage. The water was clear and
+bright, and poured very fast into a shallow wooden trough underneath,
+whence it ran off into the meadow and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall I do without a basin," thought Ellen, "I can't
+catch any water in my hands, it runs too fast. If I only could
+get my face under there—that would be fine!"</p>
+
+<p>Very carefully and cautiously she tried it, but the continual spattering
+of the water had made the board on which she stood so
+slippery that before her face could reach the stream she came
+very near tumbling headlong, and so taking more of a cold bath
+than she wished for. So she contented herself with the drops
+her hands could bring to her face—a scanty supply; but those
+drops were deliciously cold and fresh. And afterwards she pleased
+herself with holding her hands in the running water, till they
+were red with the cold. On the whole Ellen enjoyed her washing
+very much. The morning air came playing about her; its cool
+breath was on her cheek with health in its touch. The early sun
+was shining on tree, and meadow, and hill; the long shadows
+stretched over the grass, and the very brown out-houses looked
+bright. She thought it was the loveliest place she ever had seen.
+And that sparkling trickling water was certainly the purest and
+sweetest she had ever tasted. Where could it come from? It
+poured from a small trough made of the split trunk of a tree with
+a little groove or channel two inches wide hollowed out in it.
+But at the end of one of these troughs, another lapped on, and
+another at the end of that, and how many there were Ellen could
+not see, nor where the beginning of them was. Ellen stood
+gassing and wondering, drinking in the fresh air, hope and spirits
+rising every minute, when she suddenly recollected breakfast!
+She hurried in. As she expected, her aunt was at the table;
+but to her surprise, and not at all to her gratification, there was
+Mr. Van Brunt at the other end of it, eating away, very much at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+home indeed. In silent dismay Ellen drew her chair to the side
+of the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you find the spout?" asked Miss Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how do you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I like it very much indeed," said Ellen. "I think it is
+beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune's face rather softened at this, and she gave Ellen
+an abundant supply of all that was on the table. Her journey,
+the bracing air, and her cool morning wash, all together, had made
+Ellen very sharp, and she did justice to the breakfast. She thought
+never was coffee so good as this country coffee; nor anything
+so excellent as the brown bread and butter, both as sweet as
+bread and butter could be; neither was any cookery so entirely
+satisfactory as Miss Fortune's fried pork and potatoes. Yet her
+teaspoon was not silver; her knife could not boast of being either
+sharp or bright; and her fork was certainly made for anything
+else in the world but comfort and convenience, being of only two
+prongs, and those so far apart that Ellen had no small difficulty
+to carry the potato safely from her plate to her mouth. It mattered
+nothing; she was now looking on the bright side of things,
+and all this only made her breakfast taste the sweeter.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen rose from the table when she had finished, and stood a
+few minutes thoughtfully by the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune," she said at length timidly, "if you've no
+objection, I should like to go and take a good look all about."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Miss Fortune, "go where you like; I'll give
+you a week to do what you please with yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Ellen, as she ran off for her bonnet;
+"a week's a long time. I suppose," thought she, "I shall go to
+school at the end of that."</p>
+
+<p>Returning quickly with her white bonnet, Ellen opened the
+heavy kitchen door by which she had entered last night, and went
+out. She found herself in a kind of long shed. It had very
+rough walls and floor, and overhead showed the brown beams and
+rafters; two little windows and a door were on the side. All
+manner of rubbish lay there, especially at the farther end. There
+were scattered about and piled up various boxes, boards, farming
+and garden tools, old pieces of rope and sheepskin, old iron, a
+cheese-press, and what not. Ellen did not stay long to look, but
+went out to find something pleasanter. A few yards from the
+shed door was the little gate through which she had stumbled
+in the dark, and outside of that Ellen stood still awhile. It was a
+fair, pleasant day, and the country scene she looked upon was
+very pretty. Ellen thought so. Before her, at a little distance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+rose the great gable end of the barn, and a long row of outhouses
+stretched away from it towards the left. The ground was strewn
+thick with chips; and the reason was not hard to find, for a little
+way off, under an old stunted apple-tree, lay a huge log, well
+chipped on the upper surface, with the axe resting against it;
+and close by were some sticks of wood both chopped and unchopped.
+To the right the ground descended gently to a beautiful
+plane meadow, skirted on the hither side by a row of fine apple-trees.
+The smooth green flat tempted Ellen to a run, but first
+she looked to the left. There was the garden, she guessed, for
+there was a paling fence which enclosed a pretty large piece of
+ground; and between the garden and the house a green slope ran
+down to the spout. That reminded her that she intended making
+a journey of discovery up the course of the long trough. No
+time could be better than now, and she ran down the slope.</p>
+
+<p>The trough was supported at some height from the ground by
+little heaps of stones placed here and there along its whole course.
+Not far from the spout it crossed a fence. Ellen must cross it too
+to gain her object, and how that could be done was a great question;
+she resolved to try, however. But first she played awhile
+with the water, which had great charms for her. She dammed
+up the little channel with her fingers, forcing the water to flow
+over the side of the trough; there was something very pleasant
+in stopping the supply of the spout, and seeing the water trickling
+over where it had no business to go; and she did not heed that
+some of the drops took her frock in their way. She stooped her
+lips to the trough and drank of its sweet current,—only for fun's
+sake, for she was not thirsty. Finally, she set out to follow the
+stream up to its head. But poor Ellen had not gone more than
+half way towards the fence, when she all at once plunged into
+the mire. The green grass growing there had looked fair enough,
+but there was running water and black mud under the green
+grass, she found to her sorrow. Her shoes, her stockings, were
+full. What was to be done now? The journey of discovery must
+be given up. She forgot to think about where the water came
+from, in the more pressing question, "What will Aunt Fortune
+say?"—and the quick wish came that she had her mother to go
+to. However, she got out of the slough, and wiping her shoes
+as well as she could on the grass, she hastened back to the house.</p>
+
+<p>The kitchen was all put in order, the hearth swept, the irons
+at the fire, and Miss Fortune just pinning her ironing blanket on
+the table. "Well, what's the matter?" she said, when she saw
+Ellen's face; but as her glance reached the floor, her brow
+darkened. "Mercy on me!" she exclaimed, with slow emphasis,
+"what on earth have you been about? where have you been?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen explained.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you <i>have</i> made a figure of yourself! Sit down!" said
+her aunt shortly, as she thrust a chair down on the hearth before
+the fire; "I should have thought you'd have wit enough at your
+age to keep out of the ditch."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't see any ditch," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I suppose not," said Miss Fortune, who was energetically
+twitching off Ellen's shoes and stockings with her forefinger and
+thumb. "I suppose not! you were staring up at the moon or
+stars, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"It all looked green and smooth," said poor Ellen; "one part
+just like another; and the first thing I knew I was up to my
+ankles."</p>
+
+<p>"What were you there at all for?" said Miss Fortune, shortly
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't see where the water came from, and I wanted to
+find out."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've found out enough for one day, I hope. Just look
+at those stockings! Ha'n't you got never a pair of coloured stockings,
+that you must go poking into the mud with white ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say you never wore any but white ones at
+home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am; I never had any others."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune's thoughts seemed too much for speech, from
+the way in which she jumped up and went off without saying anything
+more. She presently came back with an old pair of grey
+socks, which she bade Ellen put on as soon as her feet were dry.</p>
+
+<p>"How many of those white stockings have you?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma bought me half-a-dozen pair of new ones just before
+I came away, and I had as many as that of old ones besides."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, go up to your trunk and bring'm all down to me—every
+pair of white stockings you have got. There's a pair of
+old slippers you can put on till your shoes are dry," she said,
+flinging them to her; "they aren't much too big for you."</p>
+
+<p>"They're not much too big for the <i>socks</i>, they're a great deal
+too big for me," thought Ellen; but she said nothing. She
+gathered all her stockings together and brought them downstairs,
+as her aunt had bidden her.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you may run out to the barn to Mr. Van Brunt; you'll
+find him there, and tell him I want him to bring me some white
+maple bark when he comes home to dinner—white maple bark,
+do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>Away went Ellen, but in a few minutes came back. "I can't
+get in," she said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those great doors are shut, and I can't open them. I
+knocked, but nobody came."</p>
+
+<p>"Knock at a barn door!" said Miss Fortune. "You must
+go in at the little cow-house door, at the left, and go round.
+He's in the lower barn-floor."</p>
+
+<p>The barn stood lower than the level of the chip-yard, from
+which a little bridge led to the great doorway of the second
+floor. Passing down the range of outhouses, Ellen came to the
+little door her aunt had spoken of. "But what in the world
+should I do if there be cows inside there?" said she to herself.
+She peeped in; the cow-house was perfectly empty; and cautiously,
+and with many a fearful glance to the right and left, lest
+some terrible horned animal should present itself, Ellen made
+her way across the cow-house, and through the barn-yard, littered
+thick with straw, wet and dry, to the lower barn-floor. The
+door of this stood wide open. Ellen looked with wonder and
+pleasure when she got in. It was an immense room—the sides
+showed nothing but hay up to the ceiling, except here and there
+an enormous upright post; the floor was perfectly clean, only a
+few locks of hay and grains of wheat scattered upon it; and a
+pleasant sweet smell was there, Ellen could not tell of what.
+But no Mr. Van Brunt. She looked about for him, she dragged
+her disagreeable slippers back and forth over the floor in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"Hilloa! what's wanting?" at length cried a rough voice she
+remembered very well. But where was the speaker? On every
+side, to every corner, her eyes turned without finding him. She
+looked up at last. There was the round face of Mr. Van Brunt
+peering down at her through a large opening or trap-door in the
+upper floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "have you come out here to help me thrash
+wheat?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen told him what she had come for.</p>
+
+<p>"White maple bark; well," said he in his slow way, "I'll
+bring it. I wonder what's in the wind now."</p>
+
+<p>So Ellen wondered, as she slowly went back to the house; and
+yet more, when her aunt set her to tacking her stockings together
+by two and two.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do with them, Aunt Fortune?" she
+at last ventured to say.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll see when the time comes."</p>
+
+<p>"Mayn't I keep out one pair?" said Ellen, who had a vague
+notion that by some mysterious means her stockings were to be
+prevented from ever looking white any more.</p>
+
+<p>"No; just do as I tell you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt came at dinner-time with the white maple
+bark. It was thrown forthwith into a brass kettle of water, which
+Miss Fortune had already hung over the fire. Ellen felt sure this
+had something to do with her stockings, but she could ask no
+questions; and as soon as dinner was over she went up to her
+room. It didn't look pleasant now. The brown wood-work and
+rough dingy walls had lost their gilding. The sunshine was out
+of it; and what was more, the sunshine was out of Ellen's heart
+too. She went to the window and opened it, but there was
+nothing to keep it open; it slid down again as soon as she let it
+go. Baffled and sad, she stood leaning her elbows on the window-sill,
+looking out on the grass-plat that lay before the door, and
+the little gate that opened on the lake, and the smooth meadow
+and rich broken country beyond. It was a very fair and pleasant
+scene in the soft sunlight of the last of October; but the charm
+of it was gone for Ellen; it was dreary. She looked without
+caring to look, or knowing what she was looking at; she felt the
+tears rising to her eyes, and, sick of the window, turned away.
+Her eye fell on her trunk; her next thought was of her desk
+inside of it, and suddenly her heart sprang. "I will write to
+mamma!" No sooner said than done. The trunk was quickly
+open, and hasty hands pulled out one thing after another till the
+desk was reached.</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall I do?" thought she; "there isn't a sign of a
+table. Oh, what a place! I'll shut my trunk and put it on that.
+But here are all these things to put back first."</p>
+
+<p>They were eagerly stowed away; and then kneeling by the
+side of the trunk, with loving hands, Ellen opened her desk. A
+sheet of paper was drawn from her store, and properly placed
+before her; the pen dipped in the ink, and at first with a hurried,
+then with a trembling hand she wrote, "My dear Mamma." But
+Ellen's heart had been swelling and swelling, with every letter of
+those three words, and scarcely was the last "a" finished, when
+the pen was dashed down, and flinging away from the desk, she
+threw herself on the floor in a passion of grief. It seemed as if
+she had her mother again in her arms, and was clinging with a
+death-grasp not to be parted from her. And then the feeling
+that she was parted! As much bitter sorrow as a little heart can
+know was in poor Ellen's now. In her childish despair she wished
+she could die, and almost thought she should. After a time,
+however, though not a short time, she rose from the floor and
+went to her writing again; her heart a little eased by weeping,
+yet the tears kept coming all the time, and she could not quite
+keep her paper from being blotted. The first sheet was spoiled
+before she was aware; she took another.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dearest Mamma</span>,—It makes me so glad and so sorry to write
+to you, that I don't know what to do. I want to see you so much,
+mamma, that it seems to me sometimes as if my heart would break.
+Oh, mamma, if I could just kiss you once more, I would give anything
+in the whole world. I can't be happy as long as you are
+away, and I'm afraid I can't be good either; but I will try. Oh, I
+will try, mamma. I have so much to say to you that I don't know
+where to begin. I am sure my paper will never hold it all. You
+will want to know about my journey. The first day was on the
+steamboat, you know. I should have had a dreadful time that day,
+mamma, but for something I'll tell you about. I was sitting up on
+the upper deck, thinking about you, and feeling very badly indeed,
+when a gentleman came and spoke to me, and asked me what was
+the matter. Mamma, I can't tell you how kind he was to me.
+He kept me with him the whole day. He took me all over the
+boat, and showed me all about a great many things, and he talked
+to me a great deal. Oh, mamma, how he talked to me. He read
+in the Bible to me, and explained it, and he tried to make me a
+Christian. And oh, mamma, when he was talking to me, how I
+wanted to do as he said, and I resolved I would. I did, mamma,
+and I've not forgotten it. I will try indeed, but I am afraid it will
+be very hard without you or him, or anybody else to help me. You
+couldn't have been kinder yourself, mamma; he kissed me at
+night when I bid him good-bye, and I was very sorry indeed. I
+wish I could see him again. Mamma, I will always love that
+gentleman, if I never see him again in the world. I wish there was
+somebody here that I could love, but there is not. You will want
+to know what sort of a person my Aunt Fortune is. I think she is
+very good-looking, or she would be if her nose was not quite so
+sharp; but, mamma, I can't tell you what sort of a feeling I have
+about her; it seems to me as if she was sharp all over. I am sure
+her eyes are as sharp as two needles. And she don't walk like
+other people; at least sometimes. She makes queer little
+jerks and starts and jumps, and flies about like I don't know
+what. I am afraid it is not right for me to write so about
+her; but may I not tell you, mamma? There's nobody else for
+me to talk to. I can't like Aunt Fortune much yet, and I am
+sure she don't like me; but I will try to make her. I have not
+forgotten what you said to me about that. Oh, dear mamma, I
+will try to mind everything you ever said to me in your life. I
+am afraid you won't like what I have written about Aunt Fortune;
+but indeed I have done nothing to displease her, and I will try
+not to. If you were only here, mamma, I should say it was the
+loveliest place I ever saw in my life. Perhaps, after all, I shall
+feel better, and be quite happy by-and-by; but oh, mamma, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+glad I shall be when I get a letter from you. I shall begin to
+look for it soon, and I think I shall go out of my wits with
+joy when it comes. I had the funniest ride down here from
+Thirlwall that you can think; how do you guess I came? In
+a cart drawn by oxen. They went so slow we were an
+age getting here; but I liked it very much. There was a
+good-natured man driving the oxen, and he was kind to me; but,
+mamma, what do you think? he eats at the table. I know what
+you would tell me; you would say I must not mind trifles. Well,
+I will try not, mamma. Oh, darling mother, I can't think much
+of anything but you. I think of you the whole time. Who
+makes tea for you now? Are you better? Are you going to
+leave New York soon? It seems dreadfully long since I saw you.
+I am tired, dear mamma, and cold; and it is getting dark. I
+must stop. I have a good big room to myself; that is a good
+thing. I should not like to sleep with Aunt Fortune. Good-night,
+dear mamma. I wish I could sleep with you once more.
+Oh, when will that be again, mamma? Good-night. Good-night.</p>
+
+<p class="right">"Your affectionate <span class="smcap">Ellen</span>."</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The letter finished was carefully folded, enclosed, and directed;
+and then with an odd mixture of pleasure and sadness, Ellen lit
+one of her little wax matches, as she called them, and sealed it
+very nicely. She looked at it fondly a minute when all was done,
+thinking of the dear fingers that would hold and open it; her next
+movement was to sink her face in her hands, and pray most
+earnestly for a blessing upon her mother and help for herself—poor
+Ellen felt she needed it. She was afraid of lingering lest
+tea should be ready; so, locking up her letter, she went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>The tea was ready. Miss Fortune and Mr. Van Brunt were at
+the table, and so was the old lady, whom Ellen had not seen
+before that day. She quietly drew up her chair to its place.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Miss Fortune, "I hope you feel better for your
+long stay upstairs."</p>
+
+<p>"I do, ma'am," said Ellen; "a great deal better."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been writing, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Writing what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been writing to mamma."</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Miss Fortune heard the trembling of Ellen's voice, or
+her sharp glance saw the lip quiver and eyelid droop. Something
+softened her. She spoke in a different tone; asked Ellen if her tea
+was good; took care she had plenty of the bread and butter, and
+excellent cheese, which was on the table; and lastly cut her a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+large piece of the pumpkin pie. Mr. Van Brunt too looked once or
+twice at Ellen's face as if he thought all was not right there. He
+was not so sharp as Miss Fortune, but the swollen eyes and tear
+stains were not quite lost upon him.</p>
+
+<p>After tea, when Mr. Van Brunt was gone, and the tea things
+cleared away, Ellen had the pleasure of finding out the mystery
+of the brass kettle and the white maple bark. The kettle now
+stood in the chimney corner. Miss Fortune, seating herself
+before it, threw in all Ellen's stockings except one pair, which she
+flung over to her, saying, "There, I don't care if you keep that
+one." Then, tucking up her sleeves to the elbows, she fished up
+pair after pair out of the kettle, and wringing them out hung them
+on chairs to dry. But, as Ellen had opined, they were no longer
+white, but of a fine slate colour. She looked on in silence, too
+much vexed to ask questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how do you like that?" said Miss Fortune at length,
+when she had got two or three chairs round the fire pretty well
+hung with a display of slate-coloured cotton legs.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like it at all," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>I</i> do. How many pair of white stockings would you
+like to drive into the mud and let me wash out every week?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> wash!" said Ellen in surprise; "I didn't think of <i>your</i>
+doing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Who did you think <i>was</i> going to do it? There's nothing in
+this house but goes through my hand, I can tell you, and so must
+you. I suppose you've lived all your life among people that
+thought a great deal of wetting their little finger; but I am not
+one of 'em, I guess you'll find."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was convinced of that already.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what are you thinking of?" said Miss Fortune
+presently.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm thinking of my nice white darning cotton," said Ellen.
+"I might just as well not have had it."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it wound or in the skein?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the skein."</p>
+
+<p>"Then just go right up and get it. I'll warrant I'll fix it so
+that you'll have a use for it."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen obeyed, but musing rather uncomfortably what else
+there was of hers that Miss Fortune could lay hands on. She
+seemed in imagination to see all her white things turning brown.
+She resolved she would keep her trunk well locked up; but what
+if her keys should be called for?</p>
+
+<p>She was dismissed to her room soon after the dyeing business
+was completed. It was rather a disagreeable surprise to find her
+bed still unmade; and she did not at all like the notion that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+making of it in future must depend entirely upon herself; Ellen
+had no fancy for such handiwork. She went to sleep in somewhat
+the same dissatisfied mood with which the day had been begun;
+displeasure at her coarse heavy coverlid and cotton sheets again
+taking its place among weightier matters; and dreamed of tying
+them together into a rope by which to let herself down out of the
+window; but when she had got so far, Ellen's sleep became sound,
+and the end of the dream was never known.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Downward, and ever farther.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ever the brook beside;</span><br />
+And ever fresher murmured,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ever clearer, the tide.</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">
+—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>. <i>From the German.</i>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Clouds and rain and cold winds kept Ellen within doors for
+several days. This did not better the state of matters between
+herself and her aunt. Shut up with her in the kitchen from
+morning till night, with the only variety of the old lady's company
+part of the time, Ellen thought neither of them improved upon
+acquaintance. Perhaps they thought the same of her; she was
+certainly not in her best mood. With nothing to do, the time
+hanging very heavy on her hands, disappointed, unhappy, frequently
+irritated, Ellen became at length very ready to take offence, and
+nowise disposed to pass it over or smooth it away. She seldom
+showed this in words, it is true, but it rankled in her mind. Listless
+and brooding, she sat day after day, comparing the present
+with the past, wishing vain wishes, indulging bootless regrets, and
+looking upon her aunt and grandmother with an eye of more settled
+aversion. The only other person she saw was Mr. Van Brunt, who
+came in regularly to meals; but he never said anything unless in
+answer to Miss Fortune's questions and remarks about the farm
+concerns. These did not interest her, and she was greatly wearied
+with the sameness of her life. She longed to go out again; but
+Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday passed, and the
+weather still kept her close prisoner. Monday brought a change,
+but though a cool drying wind blew all day, the ground was too
+wet to venture out.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of that day, as Miss Fortune was setting the
+table for tea, and Ellen sitting before the fire, feeling weary of
+everything, the kitchen door opened, and a girl somewhat larger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+and older than herself came in. She had a pitcher in her hand,
+and marching straight up to the tea-table, she said—</p>
+
+<p>"Will you let granny have a little milk to-night, Miss Fortune?
+I can't find the cow. I'll bring it back to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"You ha'n't lost her, Nancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have, though," said the other; "she's been away these two
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you go somewhere nearer for milk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know; I guess your'n is the sweetest," said the
+girl, with a look Ellen did not understand.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune took the pitcher and went into the pantry.
+While she was gone the two children improved the time in looking
+very hard at each other. Ellen's gaze was modest enough,
+though it showed a great deal of interest in the new object; but
+the broad, searching stare of the other seemed intended to take
+in all there was of Ellen from her head to her feet, and keep it,
+and find out what sort of a creature she was at once. Ellen
+almost shrank from the bold black eyes, but they never wavered,
+till Miss Fortune's voice broke the spell.</p>
+
+<p>"How's your grandmother, Nancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's tolerable, ma'am, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, if you don't bring it back to-morrow, you won't get any
+more in a hurry," said Miss Fortune, as she handed the pitcher
+back to the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll mind it," said the latter, with a little nod of her head,
+which seemed to say there was no danger of her forgetting.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that, Aunt Fortune?" said Ellen, when she was
+gone.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a girl that lives up on the mountain yonder."</p>
+
+<p>"But what's her name?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had just as lief you wouldn't know her name. She ain't a
+good girl. Don't you never have anything to do with her."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was in no mind to give credit to all her aunt's opinions,
+and she set this down as in part at least coming from ill-humour.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning was calm and fine, and Ellen spent nearly
+the whole of it out of doors. She did not venture near the ditch,
+but in every other direction she explored the ground, and examined
+what stood or grew upon it as thoroughly as she dared. Towards
+noon she was standing by the little gate at the back of the house,
+unwilling to go in, but not knowing what more to do, when Mr.
+Van Brunt came from the lane with a load of wood. Ellen watched
+the oxen toiling up the ascent, and thought it looked like very
+hard work; she was sorry for them.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that a very heavy load?" she asked of their driver, as
+he was throwing it down under the apple-tree.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Heavy? Not a bit of it. It ain't nothing at all to 'em.
+They'd take twice as much any day with pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't think so," said Ellen; "they don't look as if
+there was much pleasure about it. What makes them lean over
+so against each other when they are coming up hill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's just a way they've got. They're so fond of each
+other, I suppose. Perhaps they've something particular to say,
+and want to put their heads together for the purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, half laughing, "it can't be that; they
+wouldn't take the very hardest time for that; they would wait
+till they got to the top of the hill; but there they stand just as if
+they were asleep, only their eyes are open, poor things."</p>
+
+<p>"They're not very poor anyhow," said Mr. Van Brunt; "there
+ain't a finer yoke of oxen to be seen than them are, nor in better
+condition."</p>
+
+<p>He went on throwing the wood out of the cart, and Ellen
+stood looking at him.</p>
+
+<p>"What'll you give me if I'll make you a scup one of these
+days?" said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"A scup?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—a scup! How would you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what it is," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"A scup!—maybe you don't know it by that name; some
+folks call it a swing."</p>
+
+<p>"A swing! Oh yes," said Ellen; "now I know. Oh, I like
+it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to have one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed I should, very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what'll you give me if I'll fix you out?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen; "I have nothing to give. I'll
+be very much obliged to you indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Well now, come, I'll make a bargain with you; I'll engage
+to fix up a scup for you if you'll give me a kiss."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Ellen was struck dumb. The good-natured Dutchman
+had taken a fancy to the little pale-faced, sad-looking stranger,
+and really felt very kindly disposed towards her; but she neither
+knew nor at that moment cared about that. She stood motionless,
+utterly astounded at this unheard-of proposal, and not a little
+indignant; but when, with a good-natured smile upon his round
+face, he came near to claim the kiss he no doubt thought himself
+sure of, Ellen shot from him like an arrow from a bow. She
+rushed to the house, and bursting open the door, stood with
+flushed face and sparkling eyes in the presence of her astonished
+aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world is the matter?" exclaimed that lady.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He wanted to kiss me!" said Ellen, scarce knowing whom
+she was talking to, and crimsoning more and more.</p>
+
+<p>"Who wanted to kiss you?"</p>
+
+<p>"That man out there."</p>
+
+<p>"What man?"</p>
+
+<p>"That man that drives the oxen."</p>
+
+<p>"What, Mr. Van Brunt?" And Ellen never forgot the
+loud ha! ha! which burst from Miss Fortune's wide-opened
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why didn't you let him kiss you?"</p>
+
+<p>The laugh, the look, the tone, stung Ellen to the very quick.
+In a fury of passion she dashed away out of the kitchen and up
+to her own room. And there, for a while, the storm of anger
+drove over her with such violence that conscience had hardly time
+to whisper. Sorrow came in again as passion faded, and gentler
+but very bitter weeping took the place of convulsive sobs of rage
+and mortification, and then the whispers of conscience began to
+be heard a little. "Oh, mamma! mamma!" cried poor Ellen in
+her heart; "how miserable I am without you! I never can like
+Aunt Fortune; it's of no use—I never can like her. I hope I
+sha'n't get to hate her!—and that isn't right. I am forgetting
+all that is good, and there's nobody to put me in mind. Oh,
+mamma! if I could lay my head in your lap for a minute!" Then
+came thoughts of her Bible and hymn-book, and the friend who
+had given it—sorrowful thoughts they were; and at last, humbled
+and sad, poor Ellen sought that great Friend she knew she had
+displeased, and prayed earnestly to be made a good child. She
+felt and owned she was not one now.</p>
+
+<p>It was long after mid-day when Ellen rose from her knees.
+Her passion was all gone; she felt more gentle and pleasant than
+she had done for days; but at the bottom of her heart resentment
+was not all gone. She still thought she had cause to be
+angry, and she could not think of her aunt's look and tone without
+a thrill of painful feeling. In a very different mood, however,
+from that in which she had flown upstairs two or three hours
+before, she now came softly down and went out by the front door
+to avoid meeting her aunt. She had visited that morning a little
+brook which ran through the meadow on the other side of the
+road. It had great charms for her; and now crossing the lane
+and creeping under the fence, she made her way again to its
+banks. At a particular spot, where the brook made one of its
+sudden turns, Ellen sat down upon the grass and watched the
+dark water—whirling, brawling over the stones, hurrying past her
+with ever the same soft, pleasant sound, and she was never tired
+of it. She did not hear footsteps drawing near, and it was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+till some one was close beside her, and a voice spoke almost in
+her ears, that she raised her startled eyes and saw the little girl
+who had come the evening before for a pitcher of milk.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing?" said the latter.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm watching for fish," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Watching for fish!" said the other, rather disdainfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen; "there, in that little quiet place they
+come sometimes. I've seen two."</p>
+
+<p>"You can look for fish another time. Come now and take a
+walk with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you shall see. Come! I'll take you all about and show
+you where people live. You ha'n't been anywhere yet, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "and I should like dearly to go, but——"</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated. Her aunt's words came to mind, that this was
+not a good girl, and that she must have nothing to do with her;
+but she had not more than half believed them, and she could not
+possibly bring herself now to go in and ask Miss Fortune's leave
+to take this walk. "I am sure," thought Ellen, "she would
+refuse me if there was no reason in the world." And then the
+delight of rambling through the beautiful country and being
+for awhile in other company than that of her Aunt Fortune
+and the old grandmother! The temptation was too great to be
+withstood.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what are you thinking about?" said the girl. "What's
+the matter? Won't you come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "I'm ready. Which way shall we go?"</p>
+
+<p>With the assurance from the other that she would show her
+plenty of ways, they set off down the lane; Ellen with a secret
+fear of being seen and called back, till they had gone some distance,
+and the house was hid from view. Then her pleasure
+became great. The afternoon was fair and mild, the footing
+pleasant, and Ellen felt like a bird out of a cage. She was ready
+to be delighted with every trifle; her companion could not by
+any means understand or enter into her bursts of pleasure at
+many a little thing which she of the black eyes thought not
+worthy of notice. She tried to bring Ellen back to higher subjects
+of conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been here?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a good while," said Ellen; "I don't know exactly; it's
+a week, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, do you call that a good while?" said the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it seems a good while to me," said Ellen, sighing; "it
+seems as long as four, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you don't like to live here much, do you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I had rather be at home, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like your Aunt Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do I like her?" said Ellen, hesitating. "I think she's
+good-looking, and very smart."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you needn't tell me she's smart—everybody knows
+that; that ain't what I ask you. How do you <i>like</i> her?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do I like her?" said Ellen again; "how can I tell how
+I shall like her? I haven't lived with her but a week yet."</p>
+
+<p>"You might just as well ha' spoke out," said the other somewhat
+scornfully. "Do you think I don't know you half hate her
+already? and it'll be whole hating in another week more. When
+I first heard you'd come, I guessed you'd have a sweet time with
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't ask me why," said the other impatiently, "when
+you know as well as I do. Every soul that speaks of you says,
+'poor child,' and 'I'm glad I ain't her.' You needn't try to
+come cunning over me. I shall be too much for you, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you mean," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, I suppose you don't," said the other in the same
+tone; "of course you don't; I suppose you don't know whether
+your tongue is your own or somebody's else. You think Miss
+Fortune is an angel, and so do I; to be sure she is!"</p>
+
+<p>Not very well pleased with this kind of talk, Ellen walked on
+for a while in grave silence. Her companion meantime recollected
+herself; when she spoke again it was with an altered
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like him at all," said Ellen, reddening.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you?" said the other, surprised, "why, everybody
+likes him. What don't you like him for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like him," repeated Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't Miss Fortune queer to live in the way she does?"</p>
+
+<p>"What way?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, without any help—doing all her own work, and living
+all alone, when she's so rich as she is."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she rich?" asked Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Rich! I guess she is! she's one of the very best farms in
+the country, and money enough to have a dozen help, if she
+wanted 'em. Van Brunt takes care of the farm, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, of course he does! didn't you know that? what
+did you think he was at your house all the time for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I don't know," said Ellen. "And are those Aunt
+Fortune's oxen that he drives?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To be sure they are. Well, I do think you <i>are</i> green, to
+have been there all this time and not found that out. Mr. Van
+Brunt does just what he pleases over the whole farm, though;
+hires what help he wants, manages everything; and then he has
+his share of all that comes off it. I tell you what—you'd better
+make friends with Van Brunt, for if anybody can help you when
+your aunt gets one of her ugly fits, it's him; she don't care to
+meddle with him much."</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the lane, the two girls took a footpath leading across
+the fields. The stranger was greatly amused with Ellen's awkwardness
+in climbing fences. Where it was a possible thing, she
+was fain to crawl under; but once or twice that could not be
+done, and having with infinite difficulty mounted to the top rail,
+poor Ellen sat there in a most tottering condition, uncertain on
+which side of the fence she should tumble over, but seeing no
+other possible way of getting down. The more she trembled the
+more her companion laughed, standing aloof meanwhile, and insisting
+she should get down by herself. Necessity enabled her
+to do this at last, and each time the task became easier; but
+Ellen secretly made up her mind that her new friend was not
+likely to prove a very good one.</p>
+
+<p>As they went along, she pointed out to Ellen two or three
+houses in the distance, and gave her not a little gossip about the
+people who lived in them; but all this Ellen scarcely heard, and
+cared nothing at all about. She had paused by the side of a
+large rock standing alone by the wayside, and was looking very
+closely at its surface.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this curious brown stuff," said Ellen, "growing all
+over the rock—like shrivelled and dried-up leaves? Isn't it
+curious? Part of it stands out like a leaf, and part of it sticks
+fast; I wonder if it grows here, or what it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind," said the other; "it always grows on the
+rocks everywhere. I don't know what it is, and what's more, I
+don't care. 'Taint worth looking at. Come!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen followed her. But presently the path entered an open
+woodland, and now her delight broke forth beyond bounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how pleasant this is! how lovely this is! Isn't it beautiful?"
+she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't <i>what</i> beautiful? I do think you are the queerest girl,
+Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, everything," said Ellen, not minding the latter part
+of the sentence; "the ground is beautiful, and those tall trees,
+and that beautiful blue sky—only look at it."</p>
+
+<p>"The ground is all covered with stones and rocks—is that
+what you call beautiful? and the trees are as homely as they can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+be, with their great brown stems and no leaves. Come! what
+<i>are</i> you staring at?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eyes were fixed on a string of dark spots which were
+rapidly passing overhead.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark," said she; "do you hear that noise? What is that?
+What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it only a flock of ducks," said the other contemptuously;
+"come! do come!"</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen was rooted to the ground, and her eyes followed
+the airy travellers till the last one had quitted the piece of blue
+sky which the surrounding woods left to be seen. And scarcely
+were these gone when a second flight came in view, following
+exactly in the track of the first.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they going?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I don't know where they are going; they never
+told me. I know where <i>I</i> am going; I should like to know
+whether you are going along with me."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen, however, was in no hurry. The ducks had disappeared,
+but her eye had caught something else that charmed it.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but moss."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that moss? How beautiful! how green and soft it is!
+I declare it's as soft as a carpet."</p>
+
+<p>"As soft as a carpet!" repeated the other: "I should like to
+see a carpet as soft as that! <i>you</i> never did, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I have, though," said Ellen, who was gently jumping
+up and down on the green moss to try its softness, with a face of
+great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it a bit," said the other; "all the carpets I
+ever saw were as hard as a board, and harder: as soft as that,
+indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, still jumping up and down, with bonnet
+off, and glowing cheek, and hair dancing about her face, "you
+may believe what you like; but I've seen a carpet as soft as this,
+and softer, too; only one, though."</p>
+
+<p>"What was it made of?"</p>
+
+<p>"What other carpets are made of, I suppose. Come, I'll go
+with you now. I do think this is the loveliest place I ever did
+see. Are there any flowers here in the spring?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know—yes, lots of 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty ones?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You'd</i> think so, I suppose; I never look at 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how lovely that will be," said Ellen, clasping her hands;
+"how pleasant it must be to live in the country!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pleasant, indeed!" said the other; "I think it's hateful.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+You'd think so too if you lived where I do. It makes me mad at
+granny every day because she won't go to Thirlwall. Wait till
+we get out of the wood, and I'll show you where I live. You
+can't see it from here."</p>
+
+<p>Shocked a little at her companion's language, Ellen again
+walked on in sober silence. Gradually the ground became more
+broken, sinking rapidly from the side of the path, and rising
+again in a steep bank on the other side of a narrow dell; both
+sides were thickly wooded, but stripped of green, now, except
+where here and there a hemlock flung its graceful branches
+abroad and stood in lonely beauty among its leafless companions.
+Now, the gurgling of waters was heard.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is that?" said Ellen, stopping short.</p>
+
+<p>"'Way down, down, at the bottom, there. It's the brook."</p>
+
+<p>"What brook? Not the same that goes by Aunt Fortune's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's the very same. It's the crookedest thing you ever
+saw. It runs over there," said the speaker, pointing with her
+arm, "and then it takes a turn and goes that way, and then it
+comes round so, and then it shoots off in that way again and
+passes by your house; and after that the dear knows where it
+goes, for I don't. But I don't suppose it could run straight if it
+was to try to."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't we get down to it?" asked Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure we can, unless you're as afraid of steep banks as
+you are of fences."</p>
+
+<p>Very steep indeed it was, and strewn with loose stones, but
+Ellen did not falter here, and though once or twice in imminent
+danger of exchanging her cautious stepping for one long roll to
+the bottom, she got there safely on her two feet. When there,
+everything was forgotten in delight. It was a wild little place.
+The high, close sides of the dell left only a little strip of sky
+overhead; and at their feet ran the brook, much more noisy and
+lively here than where Ellen had before made its acquaintance;
+leaping from rock to rock, eddying round large stones, and boiling
+over the small ones, and now and then pouring quietly over some
+great trunk of a tree that had fallen across its bed, and dammed
+up the whole stream. Ellen could scarcely contain herself at
+the magnificence of many of the waterfalls, the beauty of the
+little quiet pools where the water lay still behind some large
+stone, and the variety of graceful, tiny cascades.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Nancy!" cried Ellen, "that's the Falls of Niagara—do
+you see?—that large one; oh, that is splendid! and this
+will do for Trenton Falls—what a fine foam it makes—isn't it a
+beauty?—and what shall we call this? I don't know what to
+call it; I wish we could name them all, but there's no end to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+them. Oh, just look at that one! that's too pretty not to have a
+name. What shall it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Black Falls," suggested the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Black," said Ellen dubiously, "why—I don't like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the water's all dark and black, don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, "let it be Black, then; but I don't like
+it. Now remember,—this is Niagara—that is Black—and this
+is Trenton. And what is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you are a-going to name them all," said Nancy, "we
+sha'n't get home to-night; you might as well name all the trees;
+there's a hundred of 'em and more. I say, Ellen! suppos'n we
+follow the brook instead of climbing up yonder again; it will take
+us out to the open fields by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do let's!" said Ellen; "that will be lovely."</p>
+
+<p>It proved a rough way; but Ellen still thought and called it
+"lovely." Often by the side of the stream there was no footing
+at all, and the girls picked their way over the stones, large and
+small, wet and dry, which strewed its bed, against which the
+water foamed and fumed and fretted, as if in great impatience.
+It was ticklish work getting along over these stones; now tottering
+on an unsteady one, now slipping on a wet one, and every
+now and then making huge leaps from rock to rock, which there
+was no other method of reaching, at the imminent hazard of
+falling in. But they laughed at the
+danger; sprang on in great
+glee, delighted with the exercise and the fun; didn't stay long
+enough anywhere to lose their balance, and enjoyed themselves
+amazingly. There was many a hairbreadth escape, many an
+<i>almost</i> sousing; but that made it all the more lively. The brook
+formed, as Nancy had said, a constant succession of little waterfalls,
+its course being quite steep and very rocky; and in some
+places there were pools quite deep enough to have given them a
+thorough wetting, to say no more, if they had missed their footing
+and tumbled in. But this did not happen. In due time, though
+with no little difficulty, they reached the spot where the brook
+came forth from the wood into the open day, and thence making
+a sharp turn to the right, skirted along by the edge of the trees,
+as if unwilling to part company with them.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we'd better get back into the lane now," said Miss
+Nancy, "we're a pretty good long way from home."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<p>Behind the door stand bags o' meal,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in the ark is plenty.</span><br />
+And good hard cakes his mither makes,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And mony a sweeter dainty.</span><br />
+A good fat sow, a sleeky cow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are standing in the byre;</span><br />
+While winking puss, wi' mealy mou',<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is playing round the fire.</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Scotch Song</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>They left the wood and the brook behind them, and crossed
+a large stubble field; then got over a fence into another.
+They were in the midst of this when Nancy stopped Ellen, and
+bade her look up towards the west, where towered a high mountain,
+no longer hid from their view by the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you I'd show you where I live," said she. "Look up
+now, clear to the top of the mountain, almost, and a little to the
+right; do you see that little mite of a house there? Look sharp,—it's
+a'most as brown as the rock,—do you see it?—it's close by
+that big pine-tree, but it don't look big from here—it's just by
+that little dark spot near the top."</p>
+
+<p>"I see it," said Ellen, "I see it now; do you live 'way up
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I do; and that's just what I wish I didn't.
+But granny likes it; she will live there. I'm blessed if I know
+what for, if it ain't to plague me. Do you think you'd like to
+live up on the top of a mountain like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think I should," said Ellen. "Isn't it very cold
+up there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cold! you don't know anything about it. The wind comes
+there, I tell you—enough to cut you in two; I have to take and
+hold on to the trees sometimes to keep from being blowed away.
+And then granny sends me out every morning before it's light,
+no matter how deep the snow is, to look for the cow; and it's so
+bitter cold I expect nothing else but I'll be froze to death some
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Ellen, with a look of horror, "how can she
+do so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she don't care," said the other; "she sees my nose
+freeze off every winter, and it don't make no difference."</p>
+
+<p>"Freeze your nose off!" said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To be sure," said the other, nodding gravely, "every winter;
+it grows out again when the warm weather comes."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that the reason why it is so little?" said Ellen innocently,
+and with great curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Little!" said the other, crimsoning in a fury; "what do
+you mean by that? It's as big as yours any day, I can tell
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen involuntarily put her hand to her face to see if Nancy
+spoke true. Somewhat reassured to find a very decided ridge
+where her companion's nose was wanting in the line of beauty,
+she answered in her turn—</p>
+
+<p>"It's no such thing, Nancy! you oughtn't to say so; you
+know better."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>don't</i> know better! I <i>ought</i> to say so!" replied the other
+furiously. "If I had your nose I'd be glad to have it freeze off;
+I'd a sight rather have none. I'd pull it every day, if I was you,
+to make it grow."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall believe what Aunt Fortune said of you was true," said
+Ellen. She had coloured very high, but she added no more, and
+walked on in dignified silence. Nancy stalked before her in silence
+that was meant to be dignified too, though it had not exactly
+that air. By degrees each cooled down, and Nancy was trying to
+find out what Miss Fortune had said of her, when on the edge of
+the next field they met the brook again. After running a long
+way to the right it had swept round, and here was flowing gently
+in the opposite direction. But how were they ever to cross it?
+The brook ran in a smooth current between them and a rising
+bank on the other side so high as to prevent their seeing what
+lay beyond. There were no stepping-stones now. The only
+thing that looked like a bridge was an old log that had fallen
+across the brook, or perhaps had at some time or other been put
+there on purpose, and that lay more than half in the water; what
+remained of its surface was green with moss and slippery with
+slime. Ellen was sadly afraid to trust herself on it; but what to
+do—Nancy soon settled the question as far as she was concerned.
+Pulling off her thick shoes, she ran fearlessly upon
+the rude bridge; her clinging bare feet carried her safely over,
+and Ellen soon saw her re-shoeing herself in triumph on the
+opposite side; but thus left behind and alone, her own difficulty
+increased.</p>
+
+<p>"Pull off your shoes and do as I did," said Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't," said Ellen; "I'm afraid of wetting my feet; I know
+mamma wouldn't let me."</p>
+
+<p>"Afraid of wetting your feet!" said the other; "what a
+chickaninny you are! Well, if you try to come over with your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+shoes on you'll fall in, I tell you; and then you'll wet more than
+your feet. But come along somehow, for I won't stand here
+waiting much longer."</p>
+
+<p>Thus urged, Ellen set out upon her perilous journey over the
+bridge. Slowly and fearfully, and with as much care as possible,
+she set step by step upon the slippery log. Already half of the
+danger was passed, when, reaching forward to grasp Nancy's outstretched
+hand, she missed it—<i>perhaps</i> that was Nancy's fault—poor
+Ellen lost her balance, and went in head foremost. The
+water was deep enough to cover her completely as she lay, though
+not enough to prevent her getting up again. She was greatly
+frightened, but managed to struggle up first to a sitting posture,
+and then to her feet, and then to wade out to the shore; though,
+dizzy and sick, she came nearly falling back again more than
+once. The water was very cold; and, thoroughly sobered, poor
+Ellen felt chill enough in body and mind too; all her fine spirits
+were gone; and not the less because Nancy had risen to a great
+pitch of delight at her misfortune. The air rang with her laughter;
+she likened Ellen to every ridiculous thing she could think of.
+Too miserable to be angry, Ellen could not laugh, and would not
+cry, but she exclaimed in distress—</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what shall I do! I am so cold!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come along," said Nancy; "give me your hand; we'll run
+right over to Mrs. Van Brunt's—'tain't far—it's just over here.
+There," said she, as they got to the top of the bank, and came within
+sight of a house standing only a few fields off—"there it is!
+Run, Ellen, and we'll be there directly."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Mrs. Van Brunt?" Ellen contrived to say as Nancy
+hurried her along.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is she?—run, Ellen!—why, she's just Mrs. Van Brunt—your
+Mr. Van Brunt's mother, you know—make haste, Ellen—we
+had rain enough the other day; I'm afraid it wouldn't be good
+for the grass if you stayed too long in one place; hurry! I'm afraid
+you'll catch cold—you got your feet wet after all, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>Run they did; and a few minutes brought them to Mrs. Van
+Brunt's door. The little brick walk leading to it from the courtyard
+gate was as neat as a pin; so was everything else the eye
+could rest on; and when Nancy went in poor Ellen stayed <i>her</i>
+foot at the door, unwilling to carry her wet shoes and dripping
+garments any further. She could hear, however, what was
+going on.</p>
+
+<p>"Hillo! Mrs. Van Brunt," shouted Nancy; "where are you?—oh!
+Mrs. Van Brunt, are you out of water? 'cos if you are I've
+brought you a plenty; the person that has it don't want it; she's
+just at the door; she wouldn't bring it in till she knew you wanted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+it. Oh, Mrs. Van Brunt, don't look so or you'll kill me with
+laughing. Come and see! come and see!"</p>
+
+<p>The steps within drew near the door, and first Nancy showed
+herself, and then a little old woman, not very old either, of very
+kind, pleasant countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"What is all this?" said she in great surprise. "Bless me!
+poor little dear! what is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing in the world but a drowned rat, Mrs. Van Brunt,
+don't you see?" said Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Go home, Nancy Vawse! go home," said the old lady;
+"you're a regular bad girl. I do believe this is some mischief o'
+yourn, go right off home; it's time you were after your cow a
+great while ago."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke, she drew Ellen in, and shut the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little dear!" said the old lady kindly, "what has happened
+to you? Come to the fire, love, you're trembling with the
+cold. Oh dear! dear! you're soaking wet; this is all along of
+Nancy somehow, I know; how was it, love? Ain't you Miss
+Fortune's little girl? Never mind, don't talk, darling; there
+ain't one bit of colour in your face, not one bit."</p>
+
+<p>Good Mrs. Van Brunt had drawn Ellen to the fire, and all this
+while she was pulling off as fast as possible her wet clothes. Then
+sending a girl who was in waiting, for clean towels, she rubbed
+Ellen dry from head to foot, and wrapping her in a blanket, left
+her in a chair before the fire, while she went to seek something
+for her to put on. Ellen had managed to tell who she was, and
+how her mischance had come about, but little else, though the
+kind old lady had kept on pouring out words of sorrow and pity
+during the whole time. She came trotting back directly with
+one of her own short gowns, the only thing that she could lay
+hands on that was anywhere near Ellen's length. Enormously
+big it was for her, but Mrs. Van Brunt wrapped it round and
+round, and the blanket over it again, and then she bustled about till
+she had prepared a tumbler of hot drink which she said was to
+keep Ellen from catching cold. It was anything but agreeable,
+being made from some bitter herb, and sweetened with molasses;
+but Ellen swallowed it, as she would anything else at such kind
+hands, and the old lady carried her herself into a little room
+opening out of the kitchen, and laid her in a bed that had been
+warmed for her. Excessively tired and weak as she was, Ellen
+scarcely needed the help of the hot herb tea to fall into a very
+deep sleep; perhaps it might not have lasted so very long as it
+did, but for that. Afternoon changed for evening, evening grew
+quite dark, still Ellen did not stir; and after every little journey
+into the bedroom to see how she was doing, Mrs. Van Brunt came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+back saying how glad she was to see her sleeping so finely.
+Other eyes looked on for a minute—kind and gentle eyes;
+though Mrs. Van Brunt's were kind and gentle too; once a
+soft kiss touched her forehead, there was no danger of waking
+her.</p>
+
+<p>It was perfectly dark in the little bedroom, and had been so
+a good while, when Ellen was aroused by some noise, and then a
+rough voice she knew very well. Feeling faint and weak, and
+not more than half awake yet, she lay still and listened. She
+heard the outer door open and shut, and then the voice said—</p>
+
+<p>"So, mother, you've got my stray sheep here, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay," said the voice of Mrs. Van Brunt. "Have you been
+looking for her? How did you know she was here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Looking for her! ay, looking for her ever since sundown.
+She has been missing at the house since some time this forenoon.
+I believe her aunt got a bit scared about her; anyhow I did.
+She's a queer little chip as ever I see."</p>
+
+<p>"She's a dear little soul, <i>I</i> know," said his mother; "you
+needn't say nothin' agin her, I ain't a-going to believe it."</p>
+
+<p>"No more am I—I'm the best friend she's got, if she only
+knowed it; but don't you think," said Mr. Van Brunt, laughing,
+"I asked her to give me a kiss this forenoon, and if I'd been
+an owl she couldn't ha' been more scared; she went off like a
+streak, and Miss Fortune said she was as mad as she could be,
+and that's the last of her."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you find her out?"</p>
+
+<p>"I met that mischievous Vawse girl, and I made her tell me;
+she had no mind to at first. It'll be the worse for Ellen if she
+takes to that wicked thing."</p>
+
+<p>"She won't. Nancy has been taking her for a walk, and
+worked it so as to get her into the brook, and then she brought
+her here, just as dripping wet as she could be. I gave her something
+hot and put her to bed, and she'll do, I reckon; but I tell
+you it gave me queer feelings to see the poor little thing just as
+white as ashes, and all of a tremble, and looking so sorrowful too.
+She's sleeping finely now; but it ain't right to see a child's face
+look so; it ain't right," repeated Mrs. Van Brunt thoughtfully.
+"You ha'n't had supper, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, mother, and I must take that young one back. Ain't
+she awake yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see directly; but she ain't going home, nor you neither,
+'Brahm, till you've got your supper; it would be a sin to let her.
+She shall have a taste of my splitters this very night; I've been
+making them o' purpose for her. So you may just take off your
+hat and sit down."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You mean to let her know where to come when she wants
+good things, mother. Well, I won't say splitters ain't worth
+waiting for."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen heard him sit down, and then she guessed from the
+words that passed that Mrs. Van Brunt and her little maid were
+busied in making the cakes. She lay quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a good friend, 'Brahm," began the old lady again,
+"nobody knows that better than me; but I hope that poor little
+thing has got another one to-day that'll do more for her than
+you can."</p>
+
+<p>"What, yourself, mother? I don't know about that."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; do you think I mean myself? There, turn it quick,
+Sally! Miss Alice has been here."</p>
+
+<p>"How; this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just a little before dark, on her grey pony. She came in
+for a minute, and I took her—that'll burn, Sally!—I took her in
+to see the child while she was asleep, and I told her all you told
+me about her. She didn't say much, but she looked at her very
+sweet, as she always does, and I guess—there—now I'll see after
+my little sleeper."</p>
+
+<p>And presently Mrs. Van Brunt came to the bedside with a
+light, and her arms full of Ellen's dry clothes. Ellen felt as if she
+could have put her arms round her kind old friend and hugged
+her with all her heart; but it was not her way to show her feelings
+before strangers. She suffered Mrs. Van Brunt to dress her
+in silence, only saying with a sigh, "How kind you are to me,
+ma'am;" to which the old lady replied with a kiss, and telling
+her she mustn't say a word about that.</p>
+
+<p>The kitchen was bright with firelight and candlelight; the
+tea-table looked beautiful with its piles of white splitters, besides
+plenty of other and more substantial things; and at the corner of
+the hearth sat Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"So," said he, smiling, as Ellen came in and took her stand
+at the opposite corner, "so I drove you away this morning? You
+ain't mad with me yet, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen crossed directly over to him, and putting her little hand
+in his great rough one, said, "I am very much obliged to you,
+Mr. Van Brunt, for taking so much trouble to come and look
+after me."</p>
+
+<p>She said it with a look of gratitude and trust that pleased him
+very much.</p>
+
+<p>"Trouble, indeed!" said he good-humouredly, "I'll take
+twice as much any day for what you wouldn't give me this
+forenoon. But never fear, Miss Ellen, I ain't a-goin' to ask you
+that again."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He shook the little hand, and from that time Ellen and her
+rough charioteer were firm friends.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Van Brunt now summoned them to table, and Ellen was
+well feasted with the splitters, which were a kind of rich short-cake
+baked in irons, very thin and crisp, and then split in two
+and buttered, whence their name. A pleasant meal was that.
+Whatever an epicure might have thought of the tea, to Ellen, in
+her famished state, it was delicious; and no epicure could have
+found fault with the cold ham and the butter and the cakes; but
+far better than all was the spirit of kindness that was there.
+Ellen feasted on that more than on anything else. If her host
+and hostess were not very polished, they could not have been outdone
+in their kind care of her and kind attention to her wants.
+And when the supper was at length over, Mrs. Van Brunt declared
+a little colour had come back to the pale cheeks. The colour came
+back in good earnest a few minutes after, when a great tortoise-shell
+cat walked into the room. Ellen jumped down from her chair, and
+presently was bestowing the tenderest caresses upon pussy, who
+stretched out her head and purred as if she liked them very
+well.</p>
+
+<p>"What a nice cat," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"She has five kittens," said Mrs. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Five kittens!" said Ellen. "Oh, may I come some time and
+see them?"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall see 'em right away, dear, and come as often as you
+like too. Sally, just take a basket, and go fetch them kittens
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Upon this Mr. Van Brunt began to talk about its being time
+to go, if they were going. But his mother insisted that Ellen
+should stay where she was; she said she was not fit to go home
+that night, that she oughtn't to walk a step, and that 'Brahm
+should go and tell Miss Fortune the child was safe and well, and
+would be with her early in the morning. Mr. Van Brunt shook
+his head two or three times, but finally agreed, to Ellen's great
+joy. When he came back she was sitting on the floor before the
+fire, with all the five kittens in her lap, and the old mother cat
+walking around and over her and them. But she looked up with
+a happier face than he had ever seen her wear, and told him she
+was "<i>so</i> much obliged to him for taking such a long walk for
+her;" and Mr. Van Brunt felt that, like his oxen, he could have
+done a great deal more with pleasure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+It's hardly in a body's pow'r<br />
+To keep at times frae being sour.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Before the sun was up the next morning, Mrs. Van Brunt
+came into Ellen's room and aroused her.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a real shame to wake you up," she said, "when you
+were sleeping so finely; but 'Brahm wants to be off to his work,
+and won't stay for breakfast. Slept sound, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, indeed; as sound as a top," said Ellen, rubbing
+her eyes; "I am hardly awake yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare it's too bad," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "but there's
+no help for it. You don't feel no headache, do you, nor pain in
+your bones?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, not a bit of it; I feel nicely."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! well," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "then your tumble into
+the brook didn't do you any mischief; I thought it wouldn't.
+Poor little soul!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad I did fall in," said Ellen, "for if I hadn't I
+shouldn't have come here, Mrs. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>The old lady instantly kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! mayn't I just take one look at the kitties?" said
+Ellen, when she was ready to go.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed you shall," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "if 'Brahm's hurry
+was ever so much; and it ain't besides. Come here, dear."</p>
+
+<p>She took Ellen back to a waste lumber-room, where in a
+corner, on some old pieces of carpet, lay pussy and her family.
+How fondly Ellen's hand was passed over each little soft back!
+How hard it was for her to leave them!</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't you like to take one home with you, dear?" said
+Mrs. Van Brunt at length.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! may I?" said Ellen, looking up in delight; "are you
+in earnest? Oh, thank you, dear Mrs. Van Brunt! Oh, I shall
+be so glad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, choose one, then, dear; choose the one you like best,
+and 'Brahm shall carry it for you."</p>
+
+<p>The choice was made, and Mrs. Van Brunt and Ellen returned
+to the kitchen, where Mr. Van Brunt had already been waiting
+some time. He shook his head when he saw what was in the
+basket his mother handed to him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That won't do," said he; "I can't do that, mother. I'll
+undertake to see Miss Ellen safe home, but the cat 'ud be more
+than I could manage. I think I'd hardly get off with a whole
+skin 'tween the one and t'other."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now!" said Mrs. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen gave a longing look at her black-and-white favourite,
+which was uneasily endeavouring to find out the height of the
+basket, and mewing at the same time with a most ungratified
+expression. However, though sadly disappointed, she submitted
+with a very good grace to what could not be helped. First
+setting down the little cat out of the basket it seemed to like so
+ill, and giving it one farewell pat and squeeze, she turned to the
+kind old lady who stood watching her, and throwing her arms
+around her neck, silently spoke her gratitude in a hearty hug
+and kiss.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, ma'am," said she; "I may come and see them
+some time again, and see you, mayn't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed you shall, my darling," said the old woman, "just as
+often as you like;—just as often as you can get away. I'll make
+'Brahm bring you home sometimes. 'Brahm, you'll bring her,
+won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's two words to that bargain, mother, I can tell you;
+but if I don't, I'll know the reason on't."</p>
+
+<p>And away they went. Ellen drew two or three sighs at first,
+but she could not help brightening up soon. It was early—not
+sunrise; the cool freshness of the air was enough to give one new
+life and spirit; the sky was fair and bright; and Mr. Van Brunt
+marched along at a quick pace. Enlivened by the exercise,
+Ellen speedily forgot everything disagreeable; and her little
+head was filled with pleasant things. She watched where the
+silver light in the east foretold the sun's coming. She watched
+the silver changed to gold, till a rich yellow tint was flung over
+the whole landscape; and then broke the first rays of light upon
+the tops of the western hills—the sun was up. It was a new
+sight to Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"How beautiful! Oh, how beautiful!" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mr. Van Brunt, in his slow way, "it'll be a fine
+day for the field. I guess I'll go with the oxen over to that 'ere
+big meadow."</p>
+
+<p>"Just look," said Ellen, "how the light comes creeping
+down the side of the mountain—now it has got to the wood—Oh,
+do look at the tops of the trees! Oh! I wish mamma was
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt didn't know what to say to this. He rather
+wished so too for her sake.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There," said Ellen, "now the sunshine is on the fence, and
+the road, and everything. I wonder what is the reason that the
+sun shines first upon the top of the mountain, and then comes
+so slowly down the side; why don't it shine on the whole at
+once?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt shook his head in ignorance. "He guessed
+it always did so," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "I suppose it does, but that's the very
+thing—I want to know the reason why. And I noticed just
+now, it shone in my face before it touched my hands. Isn't it
+queer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!—there's a great many queer things, if you come
+to that," said Mr. Van Brunt philosophically.</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen's head ran on from one thing to another, and her
+next question was not so wide of the subject as her companion
+might have thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt, are there any schools about here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Schools?" said the person addressed. "Yes, there's plenty
+of schools."</p>
+
+<p>"Good ones?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't exactly know about that. There's Captain
+Conklin's. That had ought to be a good 'un. He's a regular
+smart man, they say."</p>
+
+<p>"Whereabouts is that?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"His school? It's a mile or so the other side of my
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"And how far is it from your house to Aunt Fortune's?"</p>
+
+<p>"A good deal better than two mile, but we'll be there before
+long. You ain't tired, be you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen. But this reminder gave a new turn to her
+thoughts, and her spirits were suddenly checked. Her former
+brisk and springing step changed to so slow and lagging a one
+that Mr. Van Brunt more than once repeated his remark that he
+saw she was tired.</p>
+
+<p>If it was that, Ellen grew tired very fast. She lagged more
+and more as they neared the house, and at last quite fell behind,
+and allowed Mr. Van Brunt to go in first.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune was busy about the breakfast, and as Mr. Van
+Brunt afterwards described it, "looking as if she could have bitten
+off a tenpenny nail," and indeed as if the operation would have
+been rather gratifying than otherwise. She gave them no notice
+at first, bustling to and fro with great energy, but all of a sudden
+she brought up directly in front of Ellen, and said—</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you come home last night?"</p>
+
+<p>The words were jerked out rather than spoken.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I got wet in the brook," said Ellen, "and Mrs. Van Brunt
+was so kind as to keep me."</p>
+
+<p>"Which way did you go out of the house yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Through the front door."</p>
+
+<p>"The front door was locked."</p>
+
+<p>"I unlocked it."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you go out that way for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't want to come this way."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" Ellen hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" demanded Miss Fortune, still more emphatically
+than before.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't want to see you, ma'am," said Ellen, flushing.</p>
+
+<p>"If ever you do so again!" said Miss Fortune in a kind of
+cold fury. "I've a great mind to whip you for this, as ever I had
+to eat."</p>
+
+<p>The flush faded on Ellen's cheek, and a shiver visibly passed
+over her—not from fear. She stood with downcast eyes and compressed
+lips, a certain instinct of childish dignity warning her to
+be silent. Mr. Van Brunt put himself in between.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come!" said he, "this is getting to be too much of a
+good thing. Beat your cream, ma'am, as much as you like, or if
+you want to try your hand on something else you'll have to take
+me first, I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>"Now don't <i>you</i> meddle, Van Brunt," said the lady sharply,
+"with what ain't no business o' yourn."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about that," said Mr. Van Brunt. "Maybe it
+is my business; but meddle or no meddle, Miss Fortune, it is
+time for me to be in the field, and if you ha'n't no better breakfast
+for Miss Ellen and me than all this here, we'll just go right away
+hum again; but there's something in your kettle there that smells
+uncommonly nice, and I wish you'd just let us have it and no
+more words."</p>
+
+<p>No more words did Miss Fortune waste on any one that
+morning. She went on with her work and dished up the breakfast
+in silence, and with a face that Ellen did not quite understand,
+only she thought she had never in her life seen one so
+disagreeable. The meal was a very solemn and uncomfortable
+one. Ellen could scarcely swallow, and her aunt was near in the
+same condition. Mr. Van Brunt and the old lady alone despatched
+their breakfast as usual, with no other attempts at conversation
+than the common mumbling on the part of the latter,
+which nobody minded, and one or two strange grunts from the
+former, the meaning of which, if they had any, nobody tried to
+find out.</p>
+
+<p>There was a breach now between Ellen and her aunt that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+neither could make any effort to mend. Miss Fortune did not
+renew the disagreeable conversation that Mr. Van Brunt had
+broken off. She left Ellen entirely to herself, scarcely speaking
+to her, or seeming to know when she went out or came in. And
+this lasted day after day. Wearily they passed. After one or
+two, Mr. Van Brunt seemed to stand just where he did before in
+Miss Fortune's good graces, but not Ellen. To her, when others
+were not by, her face wore constantly something of the same cold,
+hard, disagreeable expression it had put on after Mr. Van Brunt's
+interference—a look that Ellen came to regard with absolute
+abhorrence. She kept away by herself as much as she could; but
+she did not know what to do with her time, and for want of
+something better often spent it in tears. She went to bed cheerless
+night after night, and arose spiritless morning after morning,
+and this lasted till Mr. Van Brunt more than once told his mother
+that "that poor little thing was going wandering about like a
+ghost, and growing thinner and paler every day, and he didn't
+know what she would come to if she went on so."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen longed now for a letter with unspeakable longing, but
+none came. Day after day brought new disappointment, each
+day more hard to bear. Of her only friend, Mr. Van Brunt, she
+saw little. He was much away in the fields during the fine
+weather, and when it rained Ellen herself was prisoner at home,
+whither he never came but at meal times. The old grandmother
+was very much disposed to make much of her; but Ellen
+shrank, she hardly knew why, from her fond caresses, and never
+found herself alone with her if she could help it, for then she was
+regularly called to the old lady's side and obliged to go through
+a course of kissing, fondling, and praising she would gladly have
+escaped. In her aunt's presence this was seldom attempted, and
+never permitted to go on. Miss Fortune was sure to pull Ellen
+away and bid her mother "stop that palavering," avowing that
+"it made her sick." Ellen had one faint hope that her aunt
+would think of sending her to school, as she employed her in
+nothing at home, and certainly took small delight in her company;
+but no hint of the kind dropped from Miss Fortune's lips,
+and Ellen's longing look for this as well as for a word from her
+mother was daily doomed to be ungratified and to grow more
+keen by delay.</p>
+
+<p>One pleasure only remained to Ellen in the course of the day,
+and that one she enjoyed with the carefulness of a miser. It was
+seeing the cows milked, morning and evening. For this she got
+up very early, and watched till the men came for the pails; and
+then away she bounded out of the house and to the barn-yard.
+There were the milky mothers, five in number, standing about,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+each in her own corner of the yard or cow-house, waiting to be
+relieved of their burden of milk. They were fine gentle animals,
+in excellent condition, and looking every way happy and comfortable;
+nothing living under Mr. Van Brunt's care was ever
+suffered to look otherwise. He was always in the barn or barn-yard
+at milking time, and under his protection Ellen felt safe
+and looked on at her ease. It was a very pretty scene—at least
+she thought so. The gentle cows standing quietly to be milked
+as if they enjoyed it, and munching the cud; and the white
+stream of milk foaming into the pails; then there was the interest
+of seeing whether Sam or Johnny would get through first; and
+how near Jane or Dolly would come to rivalling Streaky's fine
+pailful; and at last Ellen allowed Mr. Van Brunt to teach herself
+how to milk. She began with trembling, but learnt fast enough;
+and more than one pailful of milk that Miss Fortune strained had
+been, unknown to her, drawn by Ellen's fingers. These minutes
+in the farm-yard were the pleasantest in Ellen's day. While
+they lasted every care was forgotten, and her little face was as
+bright as the morning; but the milking was quickly over, and
+the cloud gathered on Ellen's brow almost as soon as the shadow
+of the house fell upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the post-office, Mr. Van Brunt?" she asked one
+morning, as she stood watching the sharpening of an axe upon
+the grindstone. The axe was in that gentleman's hand, and its
+edge carefully laid to the whirling stone, which one of the farm
+boys was turning.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the post-office? Why, over to Thirlwall, to be
+sure," replied Mr. Van Brunt, glancing up at her from his work.
+"Faster, Johnny."</p>
+
+<p>"And how often do letters come here?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, Johnny!—some more water—mind your business,
+will you!—Just as often as I go to fetch 'em, Miss Ellen,
+and no oftener."</p>
+
+<p>"And how often do you go, Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only when I've some other errand, Miss Ellen; my grain
+would never be in the barn if I was running to post-office every
+other thing, and for what ain't there too. I don't get a letter
+but two or three times a year, I s'pose, though I call, I guess,
+half-a-dozen times."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but there's one there now, or soon will be, I know, for
+me," said Ellen. "When do you think you'll go again, Mr. Van
+Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now if I'd ha' knowed that I'd ha' gone to Thirlwall yesterday—I
+was within a mile of it. I don't see as I can go this week
+anyhow in the world; but I'll make some errand there the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+day I can, Miss Ellen, that you may depend on. You shan't
+wait for your letter a bit longer than I can help."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, Mr. Van Brunt, you are very kind. Then
+the letters never come except when you go after them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No—yes, they do come once in a while by old Mr. Swaim, but
+he ha'n't been here this great while."</p>
+
+<p>"And who's he?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he's a queer old chip that goes round the country on all
+sorts of errands; he comes along once in a while. That'll do,
+Johnny. I believe this here tool is as sharp as I have any occasion
+for."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of pouring water upon the grindstone?" said
+Ellen; "why wouldn't it do as well dry?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell, I am sure," replied Mr. Van Brunt, who was
+slowly drawing his thumb over the edge of the axe; "your
+questions are a good deal too sharp for me, Miss Ellen; I only
+know it would spoil the axe, or the grindstone, or both most
+likely."</p>
+
+<p>"It's very odd," said Ellen thoughtfully; "I wish I knew
+everything. But, oh dear! I am not likely to know anything,"
+said she, her countenance suddenly changing from its pleased
+inquisitive look to a cloud of disappointment and sorrow. Mr.
+Van Brunt noticed the change.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't your aunt going to send you to school, then?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen, sighing; "she never speaks about
+it, nor about anything else. But I declare I'll make her!" she
+exclaimed, changing again. "I'll go right in and ask her, and
+then she'll have to tell me. I will! I am tired of living so.
+I'll know what she means to do, and then I can tell you what
+<i>I</i> must do."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt, seemingly dubious about the success of
+this line of conduct, stroked his chin and his axe alternately
+two or three times in silence, and finally walked off. Ellen,
+without waiting for her courage to cool, went directly into the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune, however, was not in the kitchen; to follow her
+into her secret haunts, the dairy, cellar, or lower kitchen, was not
+to be thought of. Ellen waited awhile, but her aunt did not
+come, and the excitement of the moment cooled down. She was
+not quite so ready to enter upon the business as she had felt at
+first; she had even some qualms about it.</p>
+
+<p>"But I'll do it," said Ellen to herself; "it will be hard, but
+I'll do it!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+For my part, he keeps me here rustically<br />
+At home, or, to speak more properly, stays<br />
+Me here at home unkept.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">As You Like It</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The next morning after breakfast Ellen found the chance she
+rather dreaded than wished for. Mr. Van Brunt had gone
+out; the old lady had not left her room, and Miss Fortune was
+quietly seated by the fire, busied with some mysteries of cooking.
+Like a true coward, Ellen could not make up her mind to bolt
+at once into the thick of the matter, but thought to come to it
+gradually—always a bad way.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that, Aunt Fortune?" said she, after she had
+watched her with a beating heart for about five minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"What is what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, what is that you are straining through the colander
+into that jar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hop-water."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm scalding this meal with it to make turnpikes."</p>
+
+<p>"Turnpikes!" said Ellen; "I thought turnpikes were high,
+smooth roads with toll-gates every now and then—that's what
+mamma told me they were."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all the kind of turnpikes your mamma knew anything
+about, I reckon," said Miss Fortune, in a tone that conveyed the
+notion that Mrs. Montgomery's education had been very incomplete.
+"And indeed," she added immediately after, "if she had
+made more turnpikes and paid fewer tolls, it would have been
+just as well, I'm thinking."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt the tone, if she did not thoroughly understand the
+words. She was silent a moment; then remembering her purpose,
+she began again. "What are these, then, Aunt Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cakes, child, cakes! turnpike cakes—what I raise the bread
+with."</p>
+
+<p>"What, those little brown cakes I have seen you melt in
+water and mix in the flour when you make bread?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us! yes! you've seen hundreds of 'em since you've
+been here, if you never saw one before."</p>
+
+<p>"I never did," said Ellen. "But what are they called turnpikes
+for?"</p>
+
+<p>"The land knows! I don't. For mercy's sake stop asking me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+questions, Ellen; I don't know what's got into you; you'll drive
+me crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"But there's one more question I want to ask very much,"
+said Ellen, with her heart beating.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, ask it then quick, and have done, and take yourself
+off. I have other fish to fry than to answer all your questions."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune, however, was still quietly seated by the fire
+stirring her meal and hop-water, and Ellen could not be quick;
+the words stuck in her throat—came out at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune, I wanted to ask you if I may go to school?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's heart sprang with a feeling of joy, a little qualified by
+the peculiar dry tone in which the word was uttered.</p>
+
+<p>"When may I go?"</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, ma'am. To which school shall I go, Aunt
+Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"To whichever you like."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't know anything about them," said Ellen; "how
+can I tell which is best?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"What schools are there near here?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"There's Captain Conklin's down at the Cross, and Miss
+Emerson's at Thirlwall."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hesitated. The name was against her, but nevertheless
+she concluded on the whole that the lady's school would be the
+pleasantest.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Miss Emerson any relation of yours?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I should like to go to her school the best. I will go
+there if you will let me—may I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And I will begin next Monday—may I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wished exceedingly that her aunt would speak in some
+other tone of voice; it was a continual damper to her rising hopes.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get my books ready," said she; "and look 'em over a
+little too, I guess. But what will be the best way for me to go,
+Aunt Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't walk so far, could I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know best."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't, I am sure," said Ellen; "it's four miles to Thirlwall,
+Mr. Van Brunt said; that would be too much for me to walk
+twice a day; and I should be afraid besides."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A dead silence.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Aunt Fortune, do please tell me what I am to do. How
+can I know unless you tell me? What way is there that I can go
+to school?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is unfortunate that I don't keep a carriage," said Miss
+Fortune; "but Mr. Van Brunt can go for you morning and
+evening in the ox-cart, if that will answer."</p>
+
+<p>"The ox-cart! But, dear me! it would take him all day,
+Aunt Fortune. It takes hours and hours to go and come with
+the oxen; Mr. Van Brunt wouldn't have time to do anything but
+carry me to school and bring me home."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course; but that's of no consequence," said Miss Fortune,
+in the same dry tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I can't go—there's no help for it," said Ellen despondingly.
+"Why didn't you say so before. When you said yes I
+thought you meant yes."</p>
+
+<p>She covered her face. Miss Fortune rose with a half smile
+and carried her jar of scalded meal into the pantry. She then
+came back and commenced the operation of washing-up the
+breakfast things.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, if I only had a little pony," said Ellen, "that would
+carry me there and back, and go trotting about with me everywhere—how
+nice that would be!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that would be very nice! And who do you think would
+go trotting about after the pony? I suppose you would leave
+that to Mr. Van Brunt; and I should have to go trotting about
+after you, to pick you up in case you broke your neck in some
+ditch or gully; it would be a very nice affair altogether, I think."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent. Her hopes had fallen to the ground, and
+her disappointment was unsoothed by one word of kindness or
+sympathy. With all her old grievances fresh in her mind, she
+sat thinking her aunt was the very most disagreeable person she
+ever had the misfortune to meet with. No amiable feelings were
+working within her; and the cloud on her brow was of displeasure
+and disgust, as well as sadness and sorrow. Her aunt saw it.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking of?" said she rather sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking," said Ellen, "I am very sorry I cannot go to
+school."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what do you want to learn so much? You know how
+to read and write and cipher, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Read and write and cipher?" said Ellen: "to be sure I do;
+but that's nothing—that's only the beginning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do you want to learn besides?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a great many things."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a great many things," said Ellen; "French, and Italian,
+and Latin, and music, and arithmetic, and chemistry, and all
+about animals and plants and insects—I forget what it's called—and—oh,
+I can't recollect; a great many things. Every now and
+then I think of something I want to learn; I can't remember
+them now. But I'm doing nothing," said Ellen sadly; "learning
+nothing—I am not studying and improving myself as I meant
+to; mamma will be disappointed when she comes back, and I
+meant to please her so much!" The tears were fast coming;
+she put her hand upon her eyes to force them back.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are so tired of being idle," said Miss Fortune, "I'll
+warrant I'll give you something to do; and something to learn
+too, that you want enough more than all those crinkumcrankums;
+I wonder what good they'd ever do you! That's the way your
+mother was brought up, I suppose. If she had been trained to
+use her hands and do something useful instead of thinking herself
+above it, maybe she wouldn't have had to go to sea for her
+health just now; it doesn't do for women to be bookworms."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma isn't a bookworm!" said Ellen indignantly; "I don't
+know what you mean; and she never thinks herself above being
+useful; it's very strange you should say so when you don't know
+anything about her."</p>
+
+<p>"I know she ha'n't brought you up to know manners, anyhow,"
+said Miss Fortune. "Look here, I'll give you something to do—just
+you put those plates and dishes together ready for washing,
+while I am downstairs."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen obeyed, unwillingly enough. She had neither knowledge
+of the business nor any liking for it; so it is no wonder
+Miss Fortune at her return was not well pleased.</p>
+
+<p>"But I never did such a thing before," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"There it is now!" said Miss Fortune. "I wonder where
+your eyes have been every single time that I have done it since
+you have been here. I should think your own sense might have
+told you! But you're too busy learning of Mr. Van Brunt to
+know what's going on in the house. Is that what you call made
+ready for washing? Now just have the goodness to scrape every
+plate clean off and put them nicely in a pile here; and turn out
+the slops out of the tea-cups and saucers and set them by themselves.
+Well! what makes you handle them so? Are you afraid
+they'll burn you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like to take hold of things people have drunk out
+of," said Ellen, who was indeed touching the cups and saucers
+very delicately with the tips of her fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," said Miss Fortune, "don't you let me hear no
+more of that, or I vow I'll give you something to do you won't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+like. Now put the spoons here, and the knives and forks together
+here; and carry the salt-cellar and the pepper-box and the butter
+and the sugar into the buttery."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know where to put them," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along, then, and I'll show you; it's time you did. I
+reckon you'll feel better when you've something to do, and you
+shall have plenty. There—put them in that cupboard, and set
+the butter up here, and put the bread in this box, do you see?
+now don't let me have to show you twice over."</p>
+
+<p>This was Ellen's first introduction to the buttery; she had
+never dared to go in there before. It was a long, light closet or
+pantry, lined on the left side, and at the further end, with wide
+shelves up to the ceiling. On these shelves stood many capacious
+pans and basins of tin and earthenware, filled with milk, and most
+of them coated with superb yellow cream. Midway was the
+window, before which Miss Fortune was accustomed to skim her
+milk, and at the side of it was the mouth of a wooden pipe, or
+covered trough, which conveyed the refuse milk down to an
+enormous hogshead standing at the lower kitchen door, whence
+it was drawn as wanted for the use of the pigs. Beyond the
+window in the buttery, and on the higher shelves, were rows of
+yellow cheeses; forty or fifty were there at least. On the right
+hand of the door was the cupboard, and a short range of shelves,
+which held in ordinary all sorts of matters for the table, both
+dishes and eatables. Floor and shelves were well painted with
+thick yellow paint, hard and shining, and clean as could be; and
+there was a faint pleasant smell of dairy things.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not find out all this at once, but in the course of a
+day or two, during which her visits to the buttery were many.
+Miss Fortune kept her word, and found her plenty to do; Ellen's
+life soon became a pretty busy one. She did not like this at all;
+it was a kind of work she had no love for; yet no doubt it was a
+good exchange for the miserable moping life she had lately led.
+Anything was better than that. One concern, however, lay upon
+poor Ellen's mind with pressing weight—her neglected studies
+and wasted time; for no better than wasted she counted it.
+"What shall I do?" she said to herself after several of these
+busy days had passed; "I am doing nothing—I am learning
+nothing—I shall forget all I have learnt, directly. At this rate I
+shall not know any more than all these people around me; and
+what <i>will</i> mamma say?—Well, if I can't go to school I know what
+I will do," she said, taking a sudden resolve, "I'll study by myself!
+I'll see what I can do; it will be better than nothing, any way.
+I'll begin this very day!"</p>
+
+<p>With new life Ellen sprang upstairs to her room, and forthwith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+began pulling all the things out of her trunk to get at her books.
+They were at the very bottom; and by the time she had reached
+them half the floor was strewn with the various articles of her
+wardrobe; without minding them in her first eagerness, Ellen
+pounced at the books.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are, my dear Numa Pompilius," said she, drawing
+out a little French book she had just begun to read, "and here
+<i>you</i> are, old grammar and dictionary; and here is my history—very
+glad to see you, Mr. Goldsmith! And what in the world's
+this?—wrapped up as if it was something great—oh, my expositor!
+I am not glad to see <i>you</i>, I am sure; never want to look
+at your face or your back again. My copy-book!—I wonder
+who'll set copies for me now! My arithmetic—that's you!
+Geography and atlas—all right! And my slate!—but dear me!
+I don't believe I've such a thing as a slate-pencil in the world.
+Where shall I get one, I wonder? Well, I'll manage. And
+that's all—that's all, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>With all her heart Ellen would have begun her studying at
+once, but there were all her things on the floor silently saying,
+"Put us up first."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said she to herself, "it's too bad to have nothing
+in the shape of a bureau to keep one's clothes in. I wonder if I
+am to live in a trunk, as mamma says, all the time I am here,
+and have to go down to the bottom of it every time I want a
+pocket-handkerchief or a pair of stockings. How I do despise
+those grey stockings! But what can I do? It's too bad to
+squeeze my nice things up so. I wonder what is behind those
+doors! I'll find out, I know, before long."</p>
+
+<p>On the north side of Ellen's room were three doors. She
+had never opened them, but now took it into her head to see
+what was there, thinking she might possibly find what would
+help her out of her difficulty. She had some little fear of meddling
+with anything in her aunt's domain, so she fastened her
+own door to guard against interruption while she was busied in
+making discoveries.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of her bed, in the corner, was one large door
+fastened by a button, as indeed they were all. This opened, she
+found, upon a flight of stairs, leading as she supposed to the
+garret; but Ellen did not care to go up and see. They were
+lighted by half of a large window, across the middle of which the
+stairs went up. She quickly shut that door and opened the next,
+a little one. Here she found a tiny closet under the stairs, lighted
+by the other half of the window. There was nothing in it but a
+broad low shelf or step under the stairs, where Ellen presently decided
+she could stow away her books very nicely. "It only wants a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+little brushing out," said Ellen, "and it will do very well." The
+other door, in the other corner, admitted her to a large light
+closet, perfectly empty. "Now if there were only some hooks
+or pegs here," thought Ellen, "to hang up dresses on—but why
+shouldn't I drive some nails? I will! I will! Oh, that'll be
+fine!"</p>
+
+<p>Unfastening her door in a hurry she ran downstairs, and her
+heart beating between pleasure and the excitement of daring so
+far without her aunt's knowledge, she ran out and crossed the
+chip-yard to the barn, where she had some hope of finding Mr.
+Van Brunt. By the time she got to the little cow-house door a
+great noise of knocking or pounding in the barn made her sure
+he was there, and she went on to the lower barn-floor. There
+he was, he and the two farm boys (who, by-the-bye, were grown
+men), all three threshing wheat. Ellen stopped at the door, and
+for a minute forgot what she had come for in the pleasure of
+looking at them. The clean floor was strewn with grain, upon
+which the heavy flails came down one after another with quick
+regular beat—one—two—three—one—two—three,—keeping perfect
+time. The pleasant sound could be heard afar off, though,
+indeed, where Ellen stood it was rather too loud to be pleasant.
+Her little voice had no chance of being heard; she stood still
+and waited. Presently Johnny, who was opposite, caught a sight
+of her, and without stopping his work said to his leader, "Somebody
+there for you, Mr. Van Brunt." That gentleman's flail
+ceased its motion, then he threw it down and went to the door
+to help Ellen up the high step.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "have you come out to see what's going
+on?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "I've been looking—but Mr. Van Brunt,
+could you be so good as to let me have a hammer and half-a-dozen
+nails?"</p>
+
+<p>"A hammer and half-a-dozen nails? Come this way," said he.</p>
+
+<p>They went out of the barn-yard and across the chip-yard to
+an out-house below the garden and not far from the spout, called
+the poultry-house, though it was quite as much the property of
+the hogs, who had a regular sleeping apartment there, where
+corn was always fed out to the fatting ones. Opening a kind of
+granary storeroom, where the corn for this purpose was stored,
+Mr. Van Brunt took down from a shelf a large hammer and a box
+of nails, and asked Ellen what size she wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty large."</p>
+
+<p>"So?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; a good deal bigger yet I should like."</p>
+
+<p>"'A good deal bigger yet'—who wants 'em?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do," said Ellen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"You do! Do you think your little arms can manage the
+big hammer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I guess so; I'll try."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you want 'em driv?"</p>
+
+<p>"Up in a closet in my room," said Ellen, speaking as softly
+as if she had feared her aunt was at the corner; "I want 'em to
+hang up dresses and things."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt half smiled, and put up the hammer and nails
+on the shelf again.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I'll tell you what we'll do," said he; "you can't
+manage them big things. I'll put 'em up for you to-night when I
+come in to supper."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm afraid she won't let you," said Ellen doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Never you mind about that," said he; "I'll fix it. Maybe
+we won't ask her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you," said Ellen joyfully, her face recovering its
+full sunshine in answer to his smile; and, clapping her hands, she
+ran back to the house, while more slowly Mr. Van Brunt returned
+to the threshers. Ellen seized dust-pan and brush and ran up to
+her room, and setting about the business with right good will,
+she soon had her closets in beautiful order. The books, writing-desk,
+and work-box were then bestowed very carefully in the
+one; in the other her coats and dresses, neatly folded up in a
+pile on the floor, waiting till the nails should be driven. Then
+the remainder of her things were gathered up from the floor, and
+neatly arranged in the trunk again. Having done all this, Ellen's
+satisfaction was unbounded. By this time dinner was ready. As
+soon after dinner as she could escape from Miss Fortune's calls
+upon her, Ellen stole up to her room and her books, and began
+work in earnest. The whole afternoon was spent over sums, and
+verbs, and maps, and pages of history. A little before tea, as
+Ellen was setting the table, Mr. Van Brunt came into the kitchen
+with a bag on his back.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you got there, Mr. Van Brunt?" said Miss
+Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"A bag of seed corn."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Put it up in the garret for safe keeping."</p>
+
+<p>"Set it down in the corner, and I'll take it up to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am,—rather go myself, if it's all the same
+to you. You needn't be scared, I've left my shoes at the door.
+Miss Ellen, I believe I've got to go through your room."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was glad to run before to hide her laughter. When
+they reached her room, Mr. Van Brunt produced a hammer out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+of the bag, and taking a handful of nails from his pocket, put up
+a fine row of them along her closet wall; then, while she hung
+up her dresses, he went on to the garret, and Ellen heard him
+hammering there too. Presently he came down, and they
+returned to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"What's all that knocking?" said Miss Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been driving some nails," said Mr. Van Brunt coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"Up in the garret!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and in Miss Ellen's closet; she said she wanted some."</p>
+
+<p>"You should ha' spoke to <i>me</i> about it," said Miss Fortune to
+Ellen. There was displeasure enough in her face; but she said
+no more, and the matter blew over much better than Ellen had
+feared.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen steadily pursued her plan of studying, in spite of some
+discouragements.</p>
+
+<p>A letter written about ten days after gave her mother an
+account of her endeavours and of her success. It was a despairing
+account. Ellen complained that she wanted help to understand,
+and lacked time to study; that her aunt kept her busy, and, she
+believed, took pleasure in breaking her off from her books; and
+she bitterly said her mother must expect to find an ignorant little
+daughter when she came home. It ended with, "Oh, if I could
+just see you, and kiss you, and put my arms round you, mamma,
+I'd be willing to die."</p>
+
+<p>This letter was despatched the next morning by Mr. Van
+Brunt; and Ellen waited and watched with great anxiety for his
+return from Thirlwall in the afternoon.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>An ant dropped into the water; a wood pigeon took pity of her and
+threw her a little bough.—<span class="smcap">L'Estrange</span>.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>The afternoon was already half spent when Mr. Van Brunt's
+ox-cart was seen returning. Ellen was standing by the little
+gate that opened on the chip-yard; and with her heart beating
+anxiously she watched the slow-coming oxen; how slowly they
+came! At last they turned out of the lane and drew the cart up
+the ascent; and stopping beneath the apple-tree Mr. Van Brunt
+leisurely got down, and flinging back his whip, came to the gate.
+But the little face that met him there, quivering with hope and
+fear, made his own quite sober. "I'm really <i>very</i> sorry, Miss
+Ellen——" he began.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That was enough. Ellen waited to hear no more, but turned
+away, the cold chill of disappointment coming over her heart.
+She had borne the former delays pretty well, but this was one too
+many, and she felt sick. She went round to the front stoop,
+where scarcely ever anybody came, and sitting down on the steps
+wept sadly and despairingly.</p>
+
+<p>It might have been half-an-hour or more after, that the kitchen
+door slowly opened and Ellen came in. Wishing her aunt should
+not see her swollen eyes, she was going quietly through to her
+own room when Miss Fortune called her. Ellen stopped. Miss
+Fortune was sitting before the fire with an open letter lying in
+her lap and another in her hand. The latter she held out to
+Ellen, saying, "Here, child, come and take this."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" said Ellen, slowly coming towards her.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see what it is?" said Miss Fortune, still holding
+it out.</p>
+
+<p>"But who is it from?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"A letter from mamma, and not to me?" said Ellen with
+changing colour. She took it quick from her aunt's hand. But
+her colour changed more as her eye fell upon the first words,
+"My dear Ellen," and turning the paper she saw upon the back,
+"Miss Ellen Montgomery." Her next look was to her aunt's
+face, with her eye fired and her cheek paled with anger, and when
+she spoke her voice was not the same.</p>
+
+<p>"This is <i>my</i> letter," she said, trembling; "who opened it?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune's conscience must have troubled her a little, for
+her eye wavered uneasily. Only for a second, though.</p>
+
+<p>"Who opened it?" she answered; "<i>I</i> opened it. I should like
+to know who has a better right. And I shall open every one that
+comes, to serve you for looking so; that you may depend upon."</p>
+
+<p>The look and the words and the injury together, fairly put
+Ellen beside herself. She dashed the letter to the ground, and
+livid and trembling with various feelings—rage was not the only
+one—she ran from her aunt's presence. She did not shed any
+tears now; she could not: they were absolutely burnt up by
+passion. She walked her room with trembling steps, clasping and
+wringing her hands now and then, wildly thinking what <i>could</i> she
+do to get out of this dreadful state of things, and unable to see
+anything but misery before her. She walked, for she could not
+sit down; but presently she felt that she could not breathe the
+air of the house; and taking her bonnet she went down, passed
+through the kitchen and went out. Miss Fortune asked where
+she was going, and bade her stay within doors, but Ellen paid no
+attention to her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She stood still a moment outside the little gate. She might
+have stood long to look. The mellow light of an Indian summer
+afternoon lay upon the meadow, and the old barn and chip-yard;
+there was beauty in them all under its smile. Not a breath was
+stirring. The rays of the sun struggled through the blue haze,
+which hung upon the hills and softened every distant object; and
+the silence of nature all around was absolute, made more noticeable
+by the far-off voice of somebody, it might be Mr. Van Brunt,
+calling to his oxen, very far off, and not to be seen: the sound
+came softly to her ear through the stillness. "Peace" was the
+whisper of nature to her troubled child; but Ellen's heart was in
+a whirl; she could not hear the whisper. It was a relief, however,
+to be out of the house and in the sweet open air. Ellen breathed
+more freely, and pausing a moment there, and clasping her hands
+together once more in sorrow, she went down the road and out
+at the gate, and exchanging her quick, broken step for a slow
+measured one, she took the way towards Thirlwall. Little regarding
+the loveliness which that day was upon every slope and
+roadside, Ellen presently quitted the Thirlwall road, and half
+unconsciously turned into a path on the left which she had never
+taken before—perhaps for that reason. It was not much travelled
+evidently; the grass grew green on both sides, and even in the
+middle of the way, though here and there the track of wheels
+could be seen. Ellen did not care about where she was going;
+she only found it pleasant to walk on and get farther from home.
+The road or lane led towards a mountain somewhat to the northwest
+of Miss Fortune's; the same which Mr. Van Brunt had once
+named to Ellen as "the Nose." After three-quarters of an hour
+the road began gently to ascend the mountain, rising towards the
+north. About one-third of the way from the bottom Ellen came
+to a little footpath on the left, which allured her by its promise of
+prettiness, and she forsook the lane for it. The promise was
+abundantly fulfilled; it was a most lovely, wild, wood-way path;
+but withal not a little steep and rocky. Ellen began to grow
+weary. The lane went on towards the north; the path rather
+led off towards the southern edge of the mountain, rising all the
+while; but before she reached that Ellen came to what she
+thought a good resting-place, where the path opened upon a
+small level platform or ledge of the hill. The mountain rose
+steep behind her, and sank very steep immediately before her,
+leaving a very superb view of the open country from the north-east
+to the south-east. Carpeted with moss, and furnished with
+fallen stones and pieces of rock, this was a fine resting-place for
+the wayfarer, or loitering-place for the lover of nature. Ellen
+seated herself on one of the stones, and looked sadly and wearily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+towards the east, at first very careless of the exceeding beauty of
+what she beheld there.</p>
+
+<p>For miles and miles, on every side but the west, lay stretched
+before her a beautifully broken country. The November haze
+hung over it now like a thin veil, giving great sweetness and softness
+to the scene. Far in the distance a range of low hills showed
+like a misty cloud; near by, at the mountain's foot, the fields and
+farm-houses and roads lay a pictured map. About a mile and a
+half to the south rose the mountain where Nancy Vawse lived,
+craggy and bare; but the leafless trees and stern, jagged rocks
+were wrapped in the haze; and through this the sun, now near
+the setting, threw his mellowing rays, touching every slope and
+ridge with a rich, warm glow.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Ellen did not heed the picturesque effect of all this, yet
+the sweet influences of nature reached her, and softened while
+they increased her sorrow. She felt her own heart sadly out of
+tune with the peace and loveliness of all she saw. Her eye
+sought those distant hills—how very far off they were? and yet
+all that wide tract of country was but a little piece of what lay
+between her and her mother. Her eye sought those hills—but
+her mind overpassed them and went far beyond, over many such
+a tract, till it reached the loved one at last. But oh! how much
+between! "I cannot reach her!—she cannot reach me!" thought
+poor Ellen. Her eyes had been filling and dropping tears for
+some time, but now came the rush of the pent-up storm, and the
+floods of grief were kept back no longer.</p>
+
+<p>When once fairly excited Ellen's passions were always extreme.
+During the former peaceful and happy part of her life the occasions
+of such excitement had been very rare. Of late, unhappily, they
+had occurred much oftener. Many were the bitter fits of tears
+she had known within a few weeks. But now it seemed as if all
+the scattered causes of sorrow that had wrought those tears were
+gathered together and pressing upon her at once; and that the
+burden would crush her to the earth. To the earth it brought
+her literally. She slid from her seat at first, and embracing the
+stone on which she had sat, she leaned her head there; but
+presently in her agony quitting her hold of that, she cast herself
+down upon the moss, lying at full length upon the cold ground,
+which seemed to her childish fancy the best friend she had left.
+But Ellen was wrought up to the last pitch of grief and passion.
+Tears brought no relief. Convulsive weeping only exhausted her.
+In the extremity of her distress and despair, and in that lonely
+place, out of hearing of every one, she sobbed aloud, and even
+screamed, for almost the first time in her life; and these fits of
+violence were succeeded by exhaustion, during which she ceased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+to shed tears and lay quite still, drawing only long, sobbing sighs
+now and then.</p>
+
+<p>How long Ellen had lain there, or how long this would have
+gone on before her strength had been quite worn out, no one can
+tell. In one of these fits of forced quiet, when she lay as still as
+the rocks around her, she heard a voice close by say, "What is
+the matter, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>The silver sweetness of the tone came singularly upon the
+tempest in Ellen's mind. She got up hastily, and brushing away
+the tears from her dimmed eyes, she saw a young lady standing
+there, and a face, whose sweetness well matched the voice, looking
+upon her with grave concern. She stood motionless and
+silent.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>The tone found Ellen's heart, and brought the water to her
+eyes again, though with a difference. She covered her face with
+her hands. But gentle hands were placed upon hers and drew
+them away; and the lady, sitting down on Ellen's stone, took her
+in her arms; and Ellen hid her face in the bosom of a better
+friend than the cold earth had been like to prove her. But the
+change overcame her; and the soft whisper, "Don't cry any
+more," made it impossible to stop crying. Nothing further was
+said for some time; the lady waited till Ellen grew calmer. When
+she saw her able to answer, she said gently—</p>
+
+<p>"What does all this mean, my child? What troubles you?
+Tell me, and I think we can find a way to mend matters."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen answered the tone of voice with a faint smile, but the
+words with another gush of tears.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Ellen Montgomery, aren't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so. This isn't the first time I have seen you; I
+have seen you once before."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked up surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you, ma'am. I am sure I have never seen you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I know that. I saw you when you didn't see me.
+Where, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell, I am sure," said Ellen; "I can't guess; I haven't
+seen you at Aunt Fortune's, and I haven't been anywhere else."</p>
+
+<p>"You have forgotten," said the lady. "Did you never hear
+of a little girl who went to take a walk once upon a time, and had
+an unlucky fall into a brook? and then went to a kind old lady's
+house where she was dried and put to bed and went to sleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Ellen. "Did you see me there, ma'am, and
+when I was asleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you there when you were asleep; and Mrs. Van Brunt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+told me who you were and where you lived; and when I came
+here a little while ago I knew you again very soon. And I knew
+what the matter was too, pretty well; but, nevertheless, tell me
+all about it, Ellen; perhaps I can help you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen shook her head dejectedly. "Nobody in this world can
+help me," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's one in heaven that can," said the lady steadily.
+"Nothing is too bad for Him to mend. Have you asked <i>His</i>
+help, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen began to weep again. "Oh, if I could I would tell you
+all about it, ma'am," she said; "but there are so many things, I
+don't know where to begin; I don't know when I should ever
+get through."</p>
+
+<p>"So many things that trouble you, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry for that indeed. But never mind, dear, tell me
+what they are. Begin with the worst, and if I haven't time to
+hear them all now, I'll find time another day. Begin with the
+worst."</p>
+
+<p>But she waited in vain for an answer, and became distressed
+herself at Ellen's distress, which was extreme.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry so, my child, don't cry so," she said, pressing her
+in her arms. "What is the matter? Hardly anything in this
+world is so bad it can't be mended. I think I know what troubles
+you so—it is that your dear mother is away from you, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, ma'am," Ellen could scarcely articulate. But struggling
+with herself for a minute or two, she then spoke again, and
+more clearly.</p>
+
+<p>"The worst is—oh! the worst is—that I meant—I meant—to
+be a good child, and I have been worse than ever I was in my
+life before."</p>
+
+<p>Her tears gushed forth.</p>
+
+<p>"But how, Ellen?" said her surprised friend after a pause.
+"I don't quite understand you. When did you 'mean to be a
+good child?' Didn't you always mean so? and what have you
+been doing?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen made a great effort and ceased crying, straightened herself,
+dashed away her tears, as if determined to shed no more, and
+presently spoke calmly, though a choking sob every now and then
+threatened to interrupt her.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you, ma'am. The first day I left mamma, when I
+was on board the steamboat and feeling as badly as I could feel,
+a kind, kind gentleman, I don't know who he was, came to me
+and spoke to me, and took care of me the whole day. Oh, if I
+could see him again! He talked to me a great deal; he wanted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+me to be a Christian; he wanted me to make up my mind to
+begin that day to be one; and, ma'am, I did. I did resolve with
+my whole heart, and I thought I should be different from that
+time from what I had ever been before. But I think I have never
+been so bad in my life as I have been since then. Instead of feeling
+right I have felt wrong all the time, almost, and I can't help
+it. I have been passionate and cross, and bad feelings keep coming,
+and I know it's wrong, and it makes me miserable. And yet, oh,
+ma'am, I haven't changed my mind a bit; I think just the same
+as I did that day; I want to be a Christian more than anything
+else in the world, but I am not; and what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Her face sank into her hands again.</p>
+
+<p>"And this is your great trouble?" said her friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember who said, 'Come unto Me, all ye that
+labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked up inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are grieved to find yourself so unlike what you would be.
+You wish to be a child of the dear Saviour, and to have your heart
+filled with His love, and to do what will please Him. Do you?
+Have you gone to Him day by day, and night by night, and told
+Him so? have you begged Him to give you strength to get the
+better of your wrong feelings, and asked Him to change you, and
+make you His child?"</p>
+
+<p>"At first I did, ma'am," said Ellen in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Not lately?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," in a low tone still, and looking down.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have neglected your Bible and prayer for some
+time past?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hardly uttered, "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am," said Ellen, weeping, "that is one of
+the things that made me think myself so very wicked. I couldn't
+like to read my Bible or pray either, though I always used to
+before. My Bible lay down quite at the bottom of my trunk, and
+I even didn't like to raise my things enough to see the cover of
+it. I was so full of bad feelings I didn't feel fit to pray or read
+either."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that is the way with the wisest of us," said her companion;
+"how apt we are to shrink most from our Physician just
+when we are in most need of Him! But, Ellen, dear, that isn't
+right. No hand but His can touch that sickness you are complaining
+of. Seek it, love, seek it. He will hear and help you,
+no doubt of it, in every trouble you carry simply and humbly to
+His feet; He has <i>promised</i>, you know."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen was weeping very much, but less bitterly than before;
+the clouds were breaking and light beginning to shine through.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we pray together now?" said her companion after a
+few minutes' pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if you please, ma'am, do!" Ellen answered through her
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>And they knelt together there on the moss beside the stone,
+where Ellen's head rested and her friend's folded hands were
+laid. It might have been two children speaking to their father,
+for the simplicity of that prayer; difference of age seemed to be
+forgotten, and what suited one suited the other. It was not
+without difficulty that the speaker carried it calmly through, for
+Ellen's sobs went nigh to check her more than once. When
+they rose Ellen silently sought her friend's arms again, and laying
+her face on her shoulder and putting both arms round her neck,
+she wept still,—but what different tears! It was like the gentle
+rain falling through sunshine, after the dark cloud and the
+thunder and the hurricane have passed by. And they kissed
+each other before either of them spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not forget your Bible and prayer again, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am sure you will find your causes of trouble grow
+less. I will not hear the rest of them now. In a day or two I
+hope you will be able to give me a very different account from
+what you would have done an hour ago; but besides that it is
+getting late, and it will not do for us to stay too long up here;
+you have a good way to go to reach home. Will you come and
+see me to-morrow afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am, indeed I will!—if I can; and if you will tell
+me where."</p>
+
+<p>"Instead of turning up this little rocky path you must keep
+straight on in the road, that's all; and it's the first house you
+come to. It isn't very far from here. Where were you going on
+the mountain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nowhere, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been any higher than this?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Then before we go away I want to show you something.
+I'll take you over the Bridge of the Nose; it isn't but a step or
+two more; a little rough to be sure, but you mustn't mind that."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the 'Bridge of the Nose,' ma'am?" said Ellen, as
+they left her resting-place, and began to toil up the path which
+grew more steep and rocky than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"You know this mountain is called the Nose. Just here it
+runs out to a very thin sharp edge. We shall come to a place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+presently where you turn a very sharp corner to get from one
+side of the hill to the other; and my brother named it jokingly
+the Bridge of the Nose."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do they give the mountain such a queer name?" said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, I'm sure. The people say that from one point
+of view this side of it looks very like a man's nose; but I never
+could find it out, and have some doubt about the fact. But now
+here we are! Just come round this great rock,—mind how you
+step, Ellen,—now look there!"</p>
+
+<p>The rock they had just turned was at their backs, and they
+looked towards the west. Both exclaimed at the beauty before
+them. The view was not so extended as the one they had left.
+On the north and south sides the broken wavy outline of mountains
+closed in the horizon; but far to the west stretched an
+opening between the hills through which the setting sun sent his
+long beams, even to their feet. In the distance all was a golden
+haze; nearer, on the right and left, the hills were lit up singularly,
+and there was a most beautiful mingling of deep hazy shadow
+and bright glowing mountain sides and ridges. A glory was upon
+the valley. Far down below at their feet lay a large lake gleaming
+in the sunlight; and at the upper end of it a village of some
+size showed like a cluster of white dots.</p>
+
+<p>"How beautiful!" said the lady again. "Ellen, dear, He
+whose hand raised up those mountains, and has painted them so
+gloriously, is the very same One who has said to you and to me,
+'Ask, and it shall be given you.'"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked up; their eyes met; her answer was in that
+grateful glance.</p>
+
+<p>The lady sat down and drew Ellen close to her. "Do you see
+that little white village yonder, down at the far end of the lake?
+That is the village of Carra-carra, and that is Carra-carra lake.
+That is where I go to church; you cannot see the little church
+from here. My father preaches there every Sunday morning."</p>
+
+<p>"You must have a long way to go," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—a pretty long way, but it's very pleasant though. I
+mount my little grey pony, and he carries me there in quick
+time, when I will let him. I never wish the way shorter. I go
+in all sorts of weathers too, Ellen; Sharp and I don't mind frost
+and snow."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Sharp?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"My pony. An odd name, isn't it. It wasn't of my choosing,
+Ellen, but he deserves it if ever pony did. He's a very cunning
+little fellow. Where do you go, Ellen? To Thirlwall?"</p>
+
+<p>"To church, ma'am? I don't go anywhere."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't your aunt go to church?"</p>
+
+<p>"She hasn't since I have been here."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you do with yourself on Sunday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, ma'am; I don't know what to do with myself all
+the day long. I get tired of being in the house, and I go out of
+doors, and then I get tired of being out of doors and come in
+again. I wanted a kitten dreadfully, but Mr. Van Brunt said
+Aunt Fortune would not let me keep one."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you want a kitten to help you keep Sunday, Ellen,"
+said her friend, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did, ma'am," said Ellen, smiling again; "I thought
+it would be a great deal of company for me. I got very tired of
+reading all day long, and I had nothing to read but the Bible;
+and you know, ma'am, I told you I have been all wrong ever since
+I came here, and I didn't like to read that much."</p>
+
+<p>"My poor child," said the lady, "you have been hardly bestead,
+I think. What if you were to come and spend next Sunday with
+me? Don't you think I should do instead of a kitten?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am, I am sure of it," said Ellen, clinging to her.
+"Oh, I'll come gladly if you will let me, and if Aunt Fortune will
+let me; and I hope she will, for she said last Sunday I was the
+plague of her life."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do to make her say so?" said her friend
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Only asked her for some books, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, I see I am getting upon another of your
+troubles, and we haven't time for that now. By your own account
+you have been much in fault yourself; and I trust you will find
+all things mend with your own mending. But now there goes
+the sun!—and you and I must follow his example."</p>
+
+<p>The lake ceased to gleam, and the houses of the village were
+less plainly to be seen; still the mountain heads were as bright
+as ever. Gradually the shadows crept up their sides, while the
+grey of evening settled deeper and deeper upon the valley.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said Ellen, "that's just what I was wondering at the
+other morning; only then the light shone upon the top of the
+mountains first and walked down, and now it leaves the bottom
+first and walks up. I asked Mr. Van Brunt about it, and he
+could not tell me. That's another of my troubles,—there's
+nobody that can tell me anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Put me in mind of it to-morrow, and I'll try to make you
+understand it," said the lady, "but we must not tarry now. I
+see you are likely to find me work enough, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not ask you a question, ma'am, if you don't like it," said
+Ellen earnestly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do like, I do like," said the other. "I spoke laughingly,
+for I see you will be apt to ask me a good many. As many as
+you please, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Ellen, as they ran down the hill,
+"they keep coming into my head all the while."</p>
+
+<p>It was easier going down than coming up. They soon arrived
+at the place where Ellen had left the road to take the wood-path.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we part," said the lady. "Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>There was a kiss and a squeeze of the hand, but when Ellen
+would have turned away the lady still held her fast.</p>
+
+<p>"You are an odd little girl," said she. "I gave you liberty
+to ask me questions."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," said Ellen doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a question you have not asked me that I have been
+expecting. Do you know who I am?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, very much," said Ellen, laughing at her friend's
+look; "but mamma told me never to try to find out anything
+about other people that they didn't wish me to know, or that
+wasn't my business."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think this is your business decidedly. Who are you
+going to ask for when you come to see me to-morrow? Will
+you ask for 'the young lady that lives in this house?' or will
+you give a description of my nose, and eyes, and inches?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said the lady, changing her tone, "do you
+know you please me very much? For one person that shows
+herself well-bred in this matter there are a thousand, I think,
+that ask impertinent questions. I am very glad you are an exception
+to the common rule. But, dear Ellen, I am quite willing
+you should know my name—it is Alice Humphreys. Now, kiss
+me again and run home; it is quite, quite time; I have kept you
+too late. Good-night, my dear. Tell your aunt I beg she will
+allow you to take tea with me to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>They parted, and Ellen hastened homewards, urged by the
+rapidly-growing dusk of the evening. She trod the green turf
+with a step lighter and quicker than it had been a few hours
+before, and she regained her home in much less time than it had
+taken her to come from thence to the mountain. Lights were in
+the kitchen, and the table set; but though weary and faint she
+was willing to forego her supper rather than meet her aunt just
+then; so she stole quietly up to her room. She did not forget
+her friend's advice. She had no light; she could not read; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+Ellen did pray. She did carry all her heart-sickness, her wants,
+and her woes, to that Friend whose ear is always open to hear
+the cry of those who call upon Him in truth; and then, relieved,
+refreshed, almost healed, she went to bed and slept sweetly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+"After long storms and tempests overblowne,<br />
+The sunne at length his joyous face doth cleare;<br />
+So when as fortune all her spight hath showne,<br />
+Some blissfull houres at last must needs appeare;<br />
+Else should afflicted wights oft-times despeire."</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author"><span class="smcap">Faërie Queene</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Early next morning Ellen awoke with a sense that something
+pleasant had happened. Then the joyful reality darted into
+her mind, and jumping out of bed she set about her morning work
+with a better heart than she had been able to bring to it for
+many a long day. When she had finished she went to the window.
+She had found out how to keep it open now, by means of a big
+nail stuck in a hole under the sash. It was very early, and in
+the perfect stillness the soft gurgle of the little brook came distinctly
+to her ear. Ellen leaned her arms on the window-sill,
+and tasted the morning air; almost wondering at its sweetness
+and at the loveliness of field and sky and the bright eastern
+horizon. For days and days all had looked dark and sad.</p>
+
+<p>There were two reasons for the change. In the first place
+Ellen had made up her mind to go straight on in the path of
+duty; in the second place she had found a friend. Her little
+heart bounded with delight and swelled with thankfulness at the
+thought of Alice Humphreys. She was once more at peace with
+herself, and had even some notion of being by-and-by at peace
+with her aunt; though a sad twinge came over her whenever she
+thought of her mother's letter.</p>
+
+<p>"But there is only one way for me," she thought; "I'll do as
+that dear Miss Humphreys told me—it's good and early, and I
+shall have a fine time before breakfast yet to myself. And I'll
+get up so every morning and have it!—that'll be the very best
+plan I can hit upon."</p>
+
+<p>As she thought this she drew forth her Bible from its place at
+the bottom of her trunk; and opening it at hazard she began to
+read the 18th chapter of Matthew. Some of it she did not quite
+understand; but she paused with pleasure at the 14th verse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+"That means me," she thought. The 21st and 22nd verses
+struck her a good deal, but when she came to the last she was
+almost startled.</p>
+
+<p>"There it is again!" she said. "That is exactly what that
+gentleman said to me. I thought I was forgiven, but how can I
+be, for I feel I have not forgiven Aunt Fortune."</p>
+
+<p>Laying aside her book, Ellen kneeled down; but this one
+thought so pressed upon her mind that she could think of scarce
+anything else; and her prayer this morning was an urgent and
+repeated petition that she might be enabled "from her heart"
+to forgive her Aunt Fortune "all her trespasses." Poor Ellen!
+she felt it was very hard work. At the very minute she was
+striving to feel at peace with her aunt, one grievance after
+another would start up to remembrance, and she knew the feelings
+that met them were far enough from the spirit of forgiveness.
+In the midst of this she was called down. She rose with
+tears in her eyes, and "What shall I do?" in her heart. Bowing
+her head once more she earnestly prayed that if she could not
+yet <i>feel</i> right towards her aunt, she might be kept at least from
+acting or speaking wrong. Poor Ellen! In the heart is the
+spring of action; and she found it so this morning.</p>
+
+<p>Her aunt and Mr. Van Brunt were already at the table.
+Ellen took her place in silence, for one look at her aunt's face
+told her that no "good-morning" would be accepted. Miss
+Fortune was in a particularly bad humour, owing among other
+things to Mr. Van Brunt's having refused to eat his breakfast
+unless Ellen were called. An unlucky piece of kindness. She
+neither spoke to Ellen nor looked at her; Mr. Van Brunt did
+what in him lay to make amends. He helped her very carefully
+to the cold pork and potatoes, and handed her the well-piled
+platter of griddle-cakes.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the first buckwheats of the season," said he, "and I
+told Miss Fortune I warn't agoing to eat one on 'em if you didn't
+come down to enjoy 'em along with us. Take two—take two!—you
+want 'em to keep each other hot."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's look and smile thanked him, as following his
+advice she covered one generous "buckwheat" with another
+as ample.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the thing! Now here's some prime maple. You
+like 'em, I guess, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet—I have never seen any," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Never seen buckwheats! why, they're 'most as good as my
+mother's splitters. Buckwheat cakes and maple molasses,—that's
+food fit for a king, <i>I</i> think—- when they're good; and Miss
+Fortune's always first-rate."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune did not relent at all at this compliment.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you so white this morning?" Mr. Van Brunt
+presently went on; "you ain't well; be you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen doubtfully. "I'm well——"</p>
+
+<p>"She's as well as I am, Mr. Van Brunt, if you don't go and
+put her up to any notions!" Miss Fortune said in a kind of
+choked voice.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt hemmed, and said no more to the end of
+breakfast-time.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen rather dreaded what was to come next, for her aunt's
+look was ominous. In dead silence the things were put away,
+and put up, and in course of washing and drying, when Miss
+Fortune suddenly broke forth.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do with yourself yesterday afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was up on the mountain," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"What mountain?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe they call it 'the Nose.'"</p>
+
+<p>"What business had you up there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't any business there."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you go there for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing! you expect me to believe that? you call yourself
+a truth-teller, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma used to say I was," said poor Ellen, striving to
+swallow her feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother! I dare say—mothers always are blind. I dare
+say she took every thing you said for gospel."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent, from sheer want of words that were pointed
+enough to suit her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish Morgan could have had the gumption to marry in his
+own country; but he must go running after a Scotch woman! A
+Yankee would have brought up his child to be worth something.
+Give me Yankees!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen set down the cup she was wiping.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know anything about my mother," she said.
+"You oughtn't to speak so—it's not right."</p>
+
+<p>"Why ain't it right, I should like to know?" said Miss
+Fortune; "this is a free country, I guess. Our tongues ain't
+tied—we're all free here."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we were," muttered Ellen; "I know what I'd do."</p>
+
+<p>"What would you do?" said Miss Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent. Her aunt repeated the question in a sharper
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I oughtn't to say what I was going to," said Ellen; "I'd
+rather not."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Miss Fortune; "you began, and you shall
+finish it. I will hear what it was."</p>
+
+<p>"I was going to say, if we were all free I would run away."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that <i>is</i> a beautiful, well-behaved speech! I am glad to
+have heard it. I admire it very much. Now what were you doing
+yesterday up on the Nose? Please to go on wiping. There's a
+pile ready for you. What were you doing yesterday afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you alone or with somebody?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was alone part of the time."</p>
+
+<p>"And who were you with the rest of the time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Humphreys."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Humphreys! what were you doing with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Talking."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see her before?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you find her?"</p>
+
+<p>"She found me, up on the hill."</p>
+
+<p>"What were you talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"What were you talking about?" repeated Miss Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather not tell."</p>
+
+<p>"And I had rather you <i>should</i> tell—so out with it."</p>
+
+<p>"I was alone with Miss Humphreys," said Ellen; "and it is
+no matter what we were talking about—it doesn't concern anybody
+but her and me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it does, it concerns me," said her aunt, "and I choose
+to know. What were you talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you tell me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, low but resolutely.</p>
+
+<p>"I vow you're enough to try the patience of Job! Look here,"
+said Miss Fortune, setting down what she had in her hands, "I
+<i>will</i> know! I don't care what it was, but you shall tell me or I'll
+find a way to make you. I'll give you such a——"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! stop!" said Ellen wildly, "you must not speak to me
+so! Mamma never did, and you have no <i>right</i> to! If mamma or
+papa were here you would not <i>dare</i> talk to me so."</p>
+
+<p>The answer to this was a sharp box on the ear from Miss
+Fortune's wet hand. Half stunned, less by the blow than the
+tumult of feeling it roused, Ellen stood a moment, and then
+throwing down her towel she ran out of the room, shivering with
+passion, and brushing off the soapy water left on her face as if it
+had been her aunt's very hand. Violent tears burst forth as soon
+as she reached her own room, tears at first of anger and morti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>fication
+only; but conscience presently began to whisper, "You
+are wrong! you are wrong!" and tears of sorrow mingled with
+the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Ellen, "why couldn't I keep still? when I had
+resolved so this morning, why couldn't I be quiet? But she ought
+not to have provoked me so dreadfully, I couldn't help it." "You
+are wrong," said conscience again, and her tears flowed faster.
+And then came back her morning trouble—the duty and the
+difficulty of forgiving. Forgive her Aunt Fortune! with her whole
+heart in a passion of displeasure against her! Alas! Ellen began
+to feel and acknowledge that indeed all was wrong. But what to
+do? There was just one comfort, the visit to Miss Humphreys
+in the afternoon. "She will tell me," thought Ellen; "she will
+help me. But in the meanwhile?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had not much time to think; her aunt called her down
+and set her to work. She was very busy till dinner-time, and very
+unhappy; but twenty times in the course of the morning did Ellen
+pause for a moment, and covering her face with her hands pray
+that a heart to forgive might be given her.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as possible after dinner she made her escape to her
+room that she might prepare for her walk. Conscience was not
+quite easy that she was going without the knowledge of her aunt.
+She had debated the question with herself and could not make up
+her mind to hazard losing her visit.</p>
+
+<p>So she dressed herself very carefully. One of her dark
+merinos was affectionately put on; her single pair of white
+stockings; shoes, ruffle, cape—Ellen saw that all was faultlessly
+neat, just as her mother used to have it; and the nice blue hood
+lay upon the bed ready to be put on the last thing, when she
+heard her aunt's voice calling.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen! come down and do your ironing—right away, now!
+the irons are hot."</p>
+
+<p>For one moment Ellen stood still in dismay; then slowly
+undressed, dressed again and went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Come! you've been an age," said Miss Fortune; "now make
+haste; there ain't but a handful; and I want to mop up."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen took courage again; ironed away with right good will;
+and as there was really but a handful of things she had soon done,
+even to taking off the ironing blanket and putting up the irons.
+In the meantime she had changed her mind as to stealing off
+without leave—conscience was too strong for her; and though
+with a beating heart, she told of Miss Humphreys' desire and her
+half engagement.</p>
+
+<p>"You may go where you like—I am sure I do not care what
+you do with yourself," was Miss Fortune's reply.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Full of delight at this ungracious permission, Ellen fled upstairs,
+and dressing much quicker than before, was soon on her way.</p>
+
+<p>But at first she went rather sadly. In spite of all her good
+resolves and wishes, everything that day had gone wrong; and
+Ellen felt that the root of the evil was in her own heart. Some
+tears fell as she walked. Farther from her aunt's house, however,
+her spirits began to rise; her foot fell lighter on the green
+sward. Hope and expectation quickened her steps; and when
+at length she passed the little wood-path it was almost on a run.
+Not very far beyond that her glad eyes saw the house she was in
+quest of.</p>
+
+<p>It was a large white house; not very white either, for its last
+dress of paint had grown old long ago. It stood close by the
+road, and the trees of the wood seemed to throng it round on
+every side. Ellen mounted the few steps that led to the front
+door, and knocked; but as she could only just reach the high
+knocker, she was not likely to alarm anybody with the noise she
+made. After a great many little faint raps, which, if anybody
+heard them, might easily have been mistaken for the attacks of
+some rat's teeth upon the wainscot, Ellen grew weary of her
+fruitless toil of standing on tiptoe, and resolved, though doubtfully,
+to go round the house and see if there was any other way
+of getting in. Turning the far corner, she saw a long, low outbuilding
+or shed jutting out from the side of the house. On the
+farther side of this Ellen found an elderly woman standing in
+front of the shed, which was there open and paved, and wringing
+some clothes out of a tub of water. She was a pleasant woman
+to look at, very trim and tidy, and a good-humoured eye and
+smile when she saw Ellen. Ellen made up to her and asked for
+Miss Humphreys.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, where in the world did you come from?" said the
+woman; "I don't receive company at the back of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"I knocked at the front door till I was tired," said Ellen,
+smiling in return.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice must ha' been asleep. Now, honey, you have
+come so far round to find me, will you go a little farther and find
+Miss Alice? Just go round this corner and keep straight along
+till you come to the glass door—there you'll find her. Stop!—maybe
+she's asleep; I may as well go along with you
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>She wrung the water from her hands and led the way.</p>
+
+<p>A little space of green grass stretched in front of the shed,
+and Ellen found it extended all along that side of the house like
+a very narrow lawn; at the edge of it shot up the high forest
+trees; nothing between them and the house but the smooth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+grass and a narrow worn footpath. The woods were now all
+brown stems, except here and there a superb hemlock and some
+scattered silvery birches. But the grass was still green, and the
+last day of the Indian summer hung its soft veil over all; the
+foliage of the forest was hardly missed. They passed another
+hall door, opposite the one where Ellen had tried her strength
+and patience upon the knocker; a little farther on they paused
+at the glass door. One step led to it. Ellen's conductress
+looked in first through one of the panes, and then opening the
+door motioned her to enter.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are, my new acquaintance," said Alice, smiling
+and kissing her. "I began to think something was the matter,
+you tarried so late. We don't keep fashionable hours in the
+country, you know. But I'm very glad to see you. Take off
+your things and lay them on that settee by the door. You see
+I've a settee for summer and a sofa for winter; for here I am, in
+this room, at all times of the year; and a very pleasant room I
+think it, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed I do, ma'am," said Ellen, pulling off her last
+glove.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but wait till you have taken tea with me half-a-dozen
+times, and then see if you don't say it is pleasant. Nothing can
+be so pleasant that is quite new. But now come here and look
+out of this window, or door, whichever you choose to call it. Do
+you see what a beautiful view I have here? The wood was
+just as thick all along as it is on the right and left; I felt half
+smothered to be so shut in, so I got my brother and Thomas to
+take axes and go to work there; and many a large tree they cut
+down for me, till you see they opened a way through the woods
+for the view of that beautiful stretch of country. I should grow
+melancholy if I had that wall of trees pressing on my vision all
+the time; it always comforts me to look off, far away, to those
+distant blue hills."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't those the hills I was looking at yesterday?" said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"From up on the mountain?—the very same; this is part of
+the very same view, and a noble view it is. Every morning,
+Ellen, the sun rising behind those hills shines in through this
+door and lights up my room; and in winter he looks in at that
+south window, so I have him all the time. To be sure, if I want
+to see him set I must take a walk for it, but that isn't unpleasant;
+and you know we cannot have everything at once."</p>
+
+<p>It was a very beautiful extent of woodland, meadow, and hill,
+that was seen picture-fashion through the gap cut in the forest;
+the wall of trees on each side serving as a frame to shut it in, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+the descent of the mountain from almost the edge of the lawn,
+being very rapid. The opening had been skilfully cut; the
+effect was remarkable and very fine; the light on the picture
+being often quite different from that on the frame or on the
+hither side of the frame.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Ellen," said Alice, turning from the window, "take a
+good look at my room. I want you to know it and feel at home
+in it; for whenever you can run away from your aunt's, this is
+your home—do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>A smile was on each face. Ellen felt that she was understanding
+it very fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, next the door, you see, is my summer settee; and in
+summer it very often walks out of doors to accommodate people
+on the grass plat. I have a great fancy for taking tea out of
+doors, Ellen, in warm weather; and if you do not mind a mosquito
+or two I shall be always happy to have your company.
+That door opens into the hall; look out and see, for I want you
+to get the geography of the house. That odd-looking, lumbering,
+painted concern is my cabinet of curiosities. I tried my best
+to make the carpenter man at Thirlwall understand what sort of a
+thing I wanted, and did all but show him how to make it; but
+as the southerners say,'he hasn't made it right no how!' There
+I keep my dried flowers, my minerals, and a very odd collection
+of curious things of all sorts that I am constantly picking up.
+I'll show you them some day, Ellen. Have you a fancy for
+curiosities?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, I believe so."</p>
+
+<p>"Believe so!—not more sure than that? Are you a lover of
+dead moths, and empty beetle-skins, and butterflies' wings, and
+dry tufts of moss, and curious stones, and pieces of ribbon-grass,
+and strange birds' nests! These are some of the things I used
+to delight in when I was about as old as you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am," said Ellen. "I never was where I
+could get them."</p>
+
+<p>"Weren't you! Poor child! Then you have been shut up to
+brick walls and paving-stones all your life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, all my life."</p>
+
+<p>"But now you have seen a little of the country, don't you
+think you shall like it better?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a great deal better!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that's right. I am sure you will. On that other side,
+you see, is my winter sofa. It's a very comfortable resting-place
+I can tell you, Ellen, as I have proved by many a sweet nap; and
+its old chintz covers are very pleasant to me, for I remember them
+as far back as I remember anything."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was a sigh here; but Alice passed on and opened a door
+near the end of the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"Look in here, Ellen; this is my bedroom."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how lovely!" Ellen exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>The carpet covered only the middle of the floor, the rest was
+painted white. The furniture was common, but neat as wax.
+Ample curtains of white dimity clothed the three windows and
+lightly draped the bed. The toilet-table was covered with snow-white
+muslin, and by the toilet cushion stood, late as it was, a
+glass of flowers. Ellen thought it must be a pleasure to sleep
+there.</p>
+
+<p>"This," said Alice, when they came out, "between my door
+and the fireplace is a cupboard. Here be cups and saucers, and so
+forth. In that other corner beyond the fireplace you see my
+flower-stand. Do you love flowers, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I love them dearly, Miss Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"I have some pretty ones out yet, and shall have one or two
+in the winter; but I can't keep a great many here, I haven't room
+for them, I have hard work to save these from frost. There's a
+beautiful daphne that will be out by-and-by, and make the whole
+house sweet. But here, Ellen, on this side between the windows,
+is my greatest treasure—my precious books. All these are mine.
+Now, my dear, it is time to introduce you to my most excellent of
+easy chairs—the best things in the room, aren't they? Put yourself
+in that—now, do you feel at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much indeed, ma'am," said Ellen, laughing, as Alice
+placed her in the deep easy chair.</p>
+
+<p>There were two things in the room that Alice had not mentioned,
+and while she mended the fire Ellen looked at them.
+One was the portrait of a gentleman, grave and good-looking;
+this had very little of her attention. The other was the counter
+portrait of a lady; a fine dignified countenance that had a charm
+for Ellen. It hung over the fireplace in an excellent light, and
+the mild eye and somewhat of a peculiar expression about the
+mouth bore such likeness to Alice, though older, that Ellen had
+no doubt whose it was.</p>
+
+<p>Alice presently drew a chair close to Ellen's side, and kissed
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust, my child," she said, "that you feel better to-day
+than you did yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I do, ma'am—a great deal better," Ellen answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I hope the reason is that you have returned to your
+duty, and are resolved, not to be a Christian by-and-by, but to
+lead a Christian's life now."</p>
+
+<p>"I have resolved so, ma'am, I did resolve so last night and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+this morning; but yet I have been doing nothing but wrong all
+to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Alice was silent. Ellen's lips quivered for a moment, and then
+she went on—</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ma'am, how I have wanted to see you to-day to tell me
+what I <i>should</i> do! I resolved and resolved this morning, and
+then as soon as I got downstairs I began to have bad feelings
+towards Aunt Fortune, and I have been full of bad feelings all
+day; and I couldn't help it."</p>
+
+<p>"It will not do to say that we cannot help what is wrong,
+Ellen. What is the reason that you have bad feelings towards
+your aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"She don't like me, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"But how happens that, Ellen? I am afraid you don't like
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, I don't, to be sure; how can I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why cannot you, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't, ma'am! I wish I could. But, oh, ma'am, I
+should have liked her—I might have liked her if she had been
+kind, but she never has. Even that first night I came she never
+kissed me, nor said she was glad to see me."</p>
+
+<p>"That was failing in kindness certainly, but is she <i>un</i>kind to
+you, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am, indeed she is. She talks to me, and talks to
+me, in a way that almost drives me out of my wits; and to-day
+she even struck me! She has no right to do it," said Ellen, firing
+with passion, "she has no <i>right</i> to!—and she has no right to talk
+as she does about mamma. She did it to-day, and she has done
+it before. I can't bear it! and I can't bear <i>her</i>! I can't <i>bear</i>
+her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, hush," said Alice, drawing the excited child to her
+arms, for Ellen had risen from her seat, "you must not talk so,
+Ellen; you are not feeling right now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, I am not," said Ellen coldly and sadly. She sat
+a moment, and then turning to her companion put both arms
+round her neck, and hid her face on her shoulder again; and
+without raising it she gave her the history of the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"What has brought about this dreadful state of things?" said
+Alice after a few minutes. "Whose fault is it, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is Aunt Fortune's fault," said Ellen, raising
+her head; "I don't think it is mine. If she had behaved well
+to me I should have behaved well to her. I meant to, I am
+sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that you do not think you have been in
+fault at all in the matter?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, I do not mean to say that. I have been very
+much in fault—very often—I know that. I get very angry and
+vexed, and sometimes I say nothing, but sometimes I get out of
+all patience and say things I ought not. I did so to-day; but it
+is so very hard to keep still when I am in such a passion, and now
+I have got to feel so towards Aunt Fortune that I don't like the
+sight of her; I hate the very look of her bonnet hanging up on
+the wall. I know it isn't right; and it makes me miserable; and
+I can't help it, for I grow worse and worse every day; and what
+shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's tears came faster than her words.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen, my child," said Alice after a while, "there is but one
+way. You know what I said to you yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, but, dear Miss Alice, in my reading this morning
+I came to that verse that speaks about not being forgiven if we
+do not forgive others; and oh! how it troubles me; for I can't
+feel that I forgive Aunt Fortune; I feel vexed whenever the
+thought of her comes into my head; and how can I behave right
+to her while I feel so?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are right there, my dear; you cannot indeed; the
+heart must be set right before the life can be."</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall I do to set it right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pray."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Miss Alice, I have been praying all this morning that
+I might forgive Aunt Fortune; and yet I cannot do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray still, my dear," said Alice, pressing her closer in her
+arms, "pray still; if you are in earnest the answer will come.
+But there is something else you can do, and must do, Ellen,
+besides praying, or praying may be in vain."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"You acknowledge yourself in fault—have you made all the
+amends you can? Have you, as soon as you have seen yourself
+in the wrong, gone to your Aunt Fortune and acknowledged it,
+and humbly asked her pardon?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen answered "no" in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, my child, your duty is plain before you. The next
+thing after doing wrong is to make all the amends in your power;
+confess your fault, and ask forgiveness, both of God and man.
+Pride struggles against it—I see yours does—but, my child,
+'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.'"
+Ellen burst into tears and cried heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Mind your own wrong doings, my child, and you will not be
+half so disposed to quarrel with those of other people. But,
+Ellen dear, if you will not humble yourself to this you must not
+count upon an answer to your prayer. 'If thou bring thy gift<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother had aught
+against thee,'—what then?—'Leave there thy gift before the
+altar? go first and be reconciled to thy brother, and then
+come.'"</p>
+
+<p>"But it is so hard to forgive," sobbed Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Hard! yes, it is hard when our hearts are so. But there is
+little love to Christ and no just sense of His love to us in the
+heart that finds it hard. Pride and selfishness make it hard;
+the heart full of love to the dear Saviour <i>cannot</i> lay up offences
+against itself."</p>
+
+<p>"I have said quite enough," said Alice after a pause; "you
+know what you want, my dear Ellen, and what you ought to do.
+I shall leave you for a little while to change my dress, for I have
+been walking and riding all the morning. Make a good use of
+the time while I am gone."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did make good use of the time. When Alice returned
+she met her with another face than she had worn all that day,
+humbler and quieter; and flinging her arms around her, she
+said—</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask Aunt Fortune's forgiveness; I feel I can do it
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"And how about <i>forgiving</i>, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think God will help me to forgive her," said Ellen; "I
+have asked Him. At any rate I will ask her to forgive me. But
+oh, Miss Alice! what would have become of me without you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't lean upon me, dear Ellen; remember you have a
+better Friend than I always near you; trust in Him; if I have
+done you any good, don't forget it was He brought me to you
+yesterday afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"There's just one thing that troubles me now," said Ellen,
+"mamma's letter. I am thinking of it all the time; I feel as if
+I should fly to get it!"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll see about that. Cannot you ask your aunt for it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like to."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, Ellen; there is some pride there yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will try," said Ellen; "but sometimes, I know, she
+would not give it to me if I were to ask her. But I'll try, if I
+can."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, to change the subject—at what o'clock did you
+dine to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am—at the same time we always do, I
+believe."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is twelve o'clock, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am; but I was so full of coming here and other
+things that I couldn't eat."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose you would have no objection to an early
+tea?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am—whenever you please," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall please it pretty soon. I have had no dinner at all
+to-day, Ellen; I have been out and about all the morning, and
+had just taken a little nap when you came in. Come this way
+and let me show you some of my housekeeping."</p>
+
+<p>She led the way across the hall to the room on the opposite
+side—a large, well-appointed, and spotlessly-neat kitchen. Ellen
+could not help exclaiming at its pleasantness.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes—I think it is. I have been in many a parlour
+that I do not like as well. Beyond this is a lower kitchen where
+Margery does all her rough work; nothing comes up the steps
+that lead from that to this but the very nicest and daintiest of
+kitchen matters. Margery, is my father gone to Thirlwall?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Alice, he's at Carra-carra; Thomas heard him say
+he wouldn't be back early."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shall not wait for him. Margery, if you will put the
+kettle on and see to the fire, I'll make some of my cakes for tea."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it, Miss Alice; it's not good for you to go so long
+without eating."</p>
+
+<p>Alice now rolled up her sleeves above the elbows, and tying
+a large white apron before her, set about gathering the different
+things she wanted for her work, to Ellen's great amusement. A
+white moulding-board was placed upon a table as white; and
+round it soon grouped the pail of flour, the plate of nice yellow
+butter, the bowl of cream, the sieve, tray, and sundry etceteras.
+And then, first sifting some flour into the tray, Alice began to
+throw in the other things one after another, and toss the whole
+about with a carelessness that looked as if all would go wrong,
+but with a confidence that seemed to say all was going right.
+Ellen gazed in comical wonderment.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think cakes were made without hands?" said Alice,
+laughing at her look. "You saw me wash mine before I began."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm not thinking of that," said Ellen; "I am not afraid
+of your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you never see your mother do this?" said Alice, who
+was now turning and rolling about the dough upon the board in
+a way that seemed to Ellen curious beyond expression.</p>
+
+<p>"No, never," she said. "Mamma never kept house, and I
+never saw anybody do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then your aunt does not let you into the mysteries of bread
+and butter making?"</p>
+
+<p>"Butter-making! Oh," said Ellen with a sigh, "I have
+enough of that."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Alice now applied a smooth wooden roller to the cake with
+such quickness and skill that the lump forthwith lay spread upon
+the board in a thin even layer, and she next cut it into little
+round cakes with the edge of a tumbler. Half the board was
+covered with the nice little white things, which Ellen declared
+looked good enough to eat already, and she had quite forgotten
+all possible causes of vexation—past, present, or future—when
+suddenly a large grey cat jumped upon the table, and, coolly
+walking upon the moulding-board, planted his paw directly in
+the middle of one of his mistress's cakes.</p>
+
+<p>"Take him off—oh, Ellen!" cried Alice; "take him off! I
+can't touch him." But Ellen was a little afraid.</p>
+
+<p>Alice then gently tried to shove puss off with her elbow, but
+he seemed to think that was very good fun, purred, whisked his
+great tail over Alice's bare arm, and rubbed his head against it,
+having evidently no notion that he was not just where he ought
+to be. Alice and Ellen were too much amused to try any violent
+method of relief; but Margery, happily coming in, seized puss
+in both hands and set him on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Just look at the print of his paw in that cake," said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"He has set his mark on it, certainly. I think it is his now,
+by the right of possession if not the right of discovery."</p>
+
+<p>"I think he discovered the cakes too," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. He shall have that one baked for his supper."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he like cakes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed he does. He is very particular and delicate about
+his eating, is Captain Parry."</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Parry!" said Ellen. "Is that his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Alice, laughing; "I don't wonder you look astonished,
+Ellen. I have had that cat five years, and when he was
+first given me, my brother Jack, who was younger then than he
+is now, and had been reading Captain Parry's Voyages, gave
+him that name, and would have him called so. Oh, Jack!" said
+Alice, half laughing and half crying.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wondered why; but she went to wash her hands, and
+when her face was again turned to Ellen it was as unruffled as
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Margery, my cakes are ready," said she, "and Ellen and I
+are ready too."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Miss Alice, the kettle is just going to boil; you
+shall have tea in a trice. I'll do some eggs for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Something—anything," said Alice; "I feel one cannot live
+without eating. Come, Ellen, you and I will go and set the tea-table."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen was very happy arranging the cups and saucers and
+other things that Alice handed her from the cupboard; and
+when a few minutes after the tea and the cakes came in, and
+she and Alice were cosily seated, poor Ellen hardly knew herself
+in such a pleasant state of things.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+The very sooth of it is, that an ill-habit has the force of an ill-fate.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">L'Estrange</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>"Ellen, dear," said Alice, as she poured out Ellen's second
+cup of tea, "have we run through the list of your
+troubles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, Miss Alice, indeed we haven't; but we have got
+through the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the next one so bad it would spoil our supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "it couldn't do that, but it's bad enough
+though; it's about my not going to school. Miss Alice, I promised
+myself I would learn so much while mamma was away, and
+surprise her when she came back, and instead of that, I am not
+learning anything. I don't mean not learning <i>anything</i>," said
+Ellen, correcting herself; "but I can't do much. When I found
+Aunt Fortune wasn't going to send me to school, I determined I
+would try to study by myself; and I have tried, but I can't get
+along."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, don't lay down your knife and fork and look so
+doleful," said Alice, smiling, "this is a matter I can help you in.
+What are you studying?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some things I can manage well enough," said Ellen, "the
+easy things; but I cannot understand my arithmetic without some
+one to explain it to me; and French I can do nothing at all with,
+and that is what I wanted to learn most of all; and often I want
+to ask questions about my history."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose," said Alice, "you go on studying by yourself as
+much and as well as you can, and bring your books up to me two
+or three times a week; I will hear and explain and answer questions
+to your heart's content, unless you should be too hard for
+me. What do you say to that?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen said nothing to it, but the colour that rushed to her
+cheeks, the surprised look of delight, were answer enough.</p>
+
+<p>"It will do, then," said Alice, "and I have no doubt we shall
+untie the knot of those arithmetical problems very soon. But,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+Ellen, my dear, I cannot help you in French, for I do not know
+it myself. What will you do about that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am; I am sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I, for your sake. I can help you in Latin, if that
+would be any comfort to you."</p>
+
+<p>"It wouldn't be much comfort to me," said Ellen, laughing;
+"mamma wanted me to learn Latin, but I wanted to learn
+French a great deal more. I don't care about Latin, except to
+please her."</p>
+
+<p>"Permit me to ask if you know English?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am, I hope so; I knew that a great while ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you? I am very happy to make your acquaintance
+then, for the number of young ladies who <i>do</i> know English is,
+in my opinion, remarkably small. Are you sure of the fact,
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why yes, Miss Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you undertake to write me a note of two pages that
+shall not have one fault of grammar, nor one word spelt wrong,
+nor anything in it that is not good English? You may take for
+a subject the history of this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, if you wish it. I hope I can write a note that
+long without making mistakes."</p>
+
+<p>Alice smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not stop to inquire," she said, "whether <i>that long</i> is
+Latin or French; but, Ellen, my dear, it is not English."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen blushed a little, though she laughed too.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I have got into the way of saying that by hearing
+Aunt Fortune and Mr. Van Brunt say it; I don't think I ever did
+before I came here."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you so anxious to learn French for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma knows it, and I have often heard her talk French
+with a great many people; and papa and I always wanted to be
+able to talk it too; and mamma wanted me to learn it; she said
+there were a great many French books I ought to read."</p>
+
+<p>"That last is true, no doubt. Ellen, I will make a bargain
+with you,—if you will study English with me, I will study French
+with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Miss Alice," said Ellen, caressing her, "I'll do it without
+that; I'll study anything you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Ellen, I believe you would. But I should like to know
+it for my own sake; we'll study it together; we shall get along
+nicely, I have no doubt; we can learn to read it, at least, and
+that is the main point."</p>
+
+<p>"But how shall we know what to call the words?" said Ellen
+doubtfully.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That is a grave question," said Alice, smiling. "I am afraid
+we should hit upon a style of pronunciation that a Frenchman
+would make nothing of. I have it!" she exclaimed, clapping
+her hands—"where there's a will there's a way—it always
+happens so. Ellen, I have an old friend upon the mountain who
+will give us exactly what we want, unless I am greatly mistaken.
+We'll go and see her; that is the very thing!—my old friend
+Mrs. Vawse."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Vawse!" repeated Ellen; "not the grandmother of
+that Nancy Vawse?"</p>
+
+<p>"The very same. Her name is not Vawse; the country people
+call it so, and I being one of the country people have fallen into
+the way of it; but her real name is Vosier. She was born a
+Swiss, and brought up in a wealthy French family, as the personal
+attendant of a young lady to whom she became exceedingly
+attached. This lady finally married an American gentleman;
+and so great was Mrs. Vawse's love to her, that she left country
+and family to follow her here. In a few years her mistress died;
+she married; and since that time she has been tossed from trouble
+to trouble; a perfect sea of troubles;—till now she is left like a
+wreck upon this mountain top. A fine wreck she is! I go to
+see her very often, and next time I will call for you, and we will
+propose our French plan; nothing will please her better, I know.
+By the way, Ellen, are you as well versed in the other common
+branches of education as you are in your mother tongue?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Geography, for instance; do you know it well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, I believe so; I am sure I have studied it till I
+am sick of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you give me the boundaries of Great Thibet or Peru?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather not try," she said; "I am not sure. I can't
+remember those queer countries in Asia and South America half
+so well as Europe and North America."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know anything about the surface of the country in
+Italy or France; the character and condition of the people; what
+kind of climate they have, and what grows there most freely?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why no, ma'am," said Ellen; "nobody ever taught me that."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to go over the atlas again, talking about all
+these matters, as well as the mere outlines of the countries you
+have studied before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, dearly!" exclaimed Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think we may let Margery have the tea-things. But
+here is Captain's cake."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, may I give him his supper?" said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. You must carve it for him; you know I told you
+he is very particular. Give him some of the egg, too—he likes
+that. Now, where is the Captain?" Not far off; for scarcely
+had Alice opened the door and called him once or twice, when
+with a queer little note of answer, he came hurriedly trotting in.</p>
+
+<p>"He generally has his supper in the outer kitchen," said Alice,
+"but I grant him leave to have it here to-night as a particular
+honour to him and you."</p>
+
+<p>"How handsome he is! and how large!" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he is very handsome, and more than that he is very
+sensible for a cat. Do you see how prettily his paws are marked?
+Jack used to say he had white gloves on."</p>
+
+<p>"And white boots too," said Ellen. "No, only one leg is
+white; pussy's boots aren't mates. Is he good-natured?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very—if you don't meddle with him."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't call that being good-natured," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I; but truth obliges me to say the Captain does not
+permit anybody to take liberties with him. He is a character,
+Captain Parry. Come out on the lawn, Ellen, and we will let
+Margery clear away."</p>
+
+<p>"What a pleasant face Margery has," said Ellen, as the door
+closed behind them; "and what a pleasant way she has of speaking.
+I like to hear her—the words come out so clear, and I
+don't know how, but not like other people."</p>
+
+<p>"You have a quick ear, Ellen; you are very right. Margery
+had lived too long in England before she came here to lose her
+trick of speech afterwards. But Thomas speaks as thick as a
+Yankee, and always did."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Margery is English?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure. She came over with us twelve years ago for the
+pure love of my father and mother, and I believe now she looks
+upon John and me as her own children. I think she could
+scarcely love us more if we were so in truth. Thomas—you
+haven't seen Thomas yet, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"He is an excellent good man in his way, and as faithful as
+the day is long; but he isn't equal to his wife. Perhaps I am
+partial. Margery came to America for the love of us, and Thomas
+came for the love of Margery; there's a difference."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Miss Alice!—--"</p>
+
+<p>"What, Miss Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"You said Margery came over <i>with you</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, is that what makes you look so astonished?"</p>
+
+<p>"But then you are English, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of that? You won't love me the less, will you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," said Ellen; "my own mother came from Scotland,
+Aunt Fortune says."</p>
+
+<p>"I am English born, Ellen, but you may count me half
+American if you like, for I have spent rather more than half my
+life here. Come this way, Ellen, and I'll show you my garden. It
+is some distance off, but as near as a spot could be found fit for it."</p>
+
+<p>They quitted the house by a little steep path leading down
+the mountain, which in two or three minutes brought them to a
+clear bit of ground. It was not large, but lying very prettily
+among the trees, with an open view to the east and south-east.
+On the extreme edge and at the lower end of it was fixed a rude
+bench, well sheltered by the towering forest trees. Here Alice
+and Ellen sat down.</p>
+
+<p>It was near sunset, the air cool and sweet, the evening light
+upon field and sky.</p>
+
+<p>"How fair it is!" said Alice musingly. "How fair and lovely!
+Look at those long shadows of the mountains, Ellen, and how bright
+the light is on the far hills. It won't be so long. A little while
+more, and our Indian summer will be over; and then the clouds,
+the frost, and the wind, and the snow. Well, let them come."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish they wouldn't, I am sure," said Ellen. "I am sorry
+enough they are coming."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? All seasons have their pleasures. I am not sorry at
+all. I like the cold very much."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you wouldn't, Miss Alice, if you had to wash every
+morning where I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, where is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Down at the spout."</p>
+
+<p>"At the <i>spout</i>! What is that, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>"The spout of water, ma'am, just down a little way from the
+kitchen door. The water comes in a little long, very long trough
+from a spring at the back of the pig-field, and at the end of the
+trough, where it pours out, is the spout."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you no conveniences for washing in your room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a sign of such a thing, ma'am. I have washed at the
+spout ever since I have been here," said Ellen, laughing in spite
+of her vexation.</p>
+
+<p>"And do the pigs share the water with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"The pigs? Oh no, ma'am. The trough is raised up from
+the ground on little heaps of stones. They can't get at the water,
+unless they drink at the spring, and I don't think they do that,
+so many big stones stand around it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Ellen, I must say that it is rather uncomfortable, even
+without any danger of four-footed society."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't so bad just now," said Ellen, "in this warm weather,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+but in that cold time we had a week or two back, do you remember,
+Miss Alice?—just before the Indian summer began?—oh,
+how disagreeable it was! Early in the morning, you know, the
+sun scarcely up, and the cold wind blowing my hair and my
+clothes all about, and then that board before the spout, that I
+have to stand on, is always kept wet by the spattering of the
+water, and it's muddy besides and very slippery—there's a kind
+of green stuff comes upon it, and I can't stoop down for fear of
+muddying myself. I have to tuck my clothes round me and
+bend over as well as I can, and fetch up a little water to my face
+in the hollow of my hand, and of course I have to do that a great
+many times before I get enough. I can't help laughing," said
+Ellen, "but it isn't a laughing matter for all that."</p>
+
+<p>"So you wash your face in your hands, and have no pitcher
+but a long wooden trough? Poor child! I am sorry for you. I
+think you must have some other way of managing before the
+snow comes."</p>
+
+<p>"The water is bitterly cold already," said Ellen. "It's the
+coldest water I ever saw. Mamma gave me a nice dressing-box
+before I came away, but I found very soon this was a queer place
+for a dressing-box to come to. Why, Miss Alice, if I take out my
+brush or comb I haven't any table to lay them on but one that's
+too high, and my poor dressing-box has to stay on the floor. And
+I haven't a sign of a bureau; all my things are tumbling about
+in my trunk."</p>
+
+<p>"I think if I were in your place I would not permit <i>that</i>, at
+any rate," said Alice. "If my things were confined to my trunk
+I would have them keep good order there, at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, so they do," said Ellen; "pretty good order. I didn't
+mean 'tumbling about' exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"Always try to say what you mean <i>exactly</i>. But now, Ellen
+love, do you know I must send you away? Do you see the sunlight
+has quitted those distant hills? And it will be quite gone
+soon. You must hasten home."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen made no answer. Alice had taken her on her lap again,
+and she was nestling there with her friend's arms wrapped around
+her. Both were quite still for a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"Next week, if nothing happens, we will begin to be busy
+with our books. You shall come to me on Tuesday and Friday;
+and all the other days you must study as hard as you can at
+home, for I am very particular, I forewarn you."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose Aunt Fortune should not let me come?" said
+Ellen, without stirring.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she will. You need not speak about it; I'll come down
+and ask her myself, and nobody ever refuses me anything."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't think they would," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Then don't you set the first example," said Alice laughingly.
+"I ask you to be cheerful and happy, and grow wiser and better
+every day."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Miss Alice! How can I promise that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Ellen, it is very easy. There is One who has promised
+to hear and answer you when you cry to Him; He will make
+you in His own likeness again; and to know and love Him and
+not be happy is impossible. That blessed Saviour!" said Alice;
+"oh, what should you and I do without Him, Ellen? 'As rivers
+of waters in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a
+weary land.' How beautiful! how true! how often I think of
+that."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent, though entering into the feeling of the words.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember Him, dear Ellen; remember your best friend.
+Learn more of Christ, our dear Saviour, and you can't help but
+be happy. Never fancy you are helpless and friendless while
+you have Him to go to. Whenever you feel wearied and sorry,
+flee to the shadow of that great rock; will you? and do you
+understand me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am—yes, ma'am," said Ellen, as she lifted her lips
+to kiss her friend. Alice heartily returned the kiss, and pressing
+Ellen in her arms, said—</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Ellen, dear, you <i>must</i> go; I dare not keep you any
+longer. It will be too late now, I fear, before you reach home."</p>
+
+<p>Quick they mounted the little path again, and soon were at
+the house; and Ellen was putting on her things.</p>
+
+<p>"Next Tuesday, remember—but before that! Sunday—you
+are to spend Sunday with me; come bright and early."</p>
+
+<p>"How early?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, as early as you please—before breakfast—and our
+Sunday morning breakfasts aren't late, Ellen; we have to set off
+betimes to go to church."</p>
+
+<p>Kisses and good-byes; and then Ellen was running down the
+road at a great rate, for twilight was beginning to gather, and
+she had a good way to go.</p>
+
+<p>She ran till out of breath; then walked a while to gather
+breath; then ran again. Running down hill is a pretty quick
+way of travelling; so before very long she saw her aunt's house
+at a distance. She walked now. She had come all the way in
+good spirits, though with a sense upon her mind of something
+disagreeable to come; when she saw the house this disagreeable
+something swallowed up all her thoughts, and she walked
+leisurely on, pondering what she had to do, and what she was
+like to meet in the doing of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If Aunt Fortune should be in a bad humour—and say something
+to vex me—but I'll not be vexed. But it will be very hard
+to help it; but I <i>will not</i> be vexed; I have done wrong, and I'll
+tell her so, and ask her to forgive me; it will be hard—but I'll
+do it—I'll say what I ought to say, and then, however she takes
+it, I shall have the comfort of knowing I have done right."
+"But," said conscience, "you must not say it stiffly and proudly;
+you must say it humbly, and as if you really felt and meant it."
+"I will," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>She paused in the shed and looked through the window to
+see what was the promise of things within. Not good; her
+aunt's step sounded heavy and ominous; Ellen guessed she was
+not in a pleasant state of mind. She opened the door—no doubt
+of it—the whole air of Miss Fortune's figure, to the very handkerchief
+that was tied round her head, spoke displeasure.</p>
+
+<p>"She isn't in a good mood," said Ellen, as she went upstairs
+to leave her bonnet and cape there; "I never knew her to be
+good-humoured when she had that handkerchief on."</p>
+
+<p>She returned to the kitchen immediately. Her aunt was
+busied in washing and wiping the dishes.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come home rather late," said Ellen pleasantly;
+"shall I help you, Aunt Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>Her aunt cast a look at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you may help me. Go and put on a pair of white
+gloves and a silk apron, and then you'll be ready."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked down at herself. "Oh, my merino! I forgot
+about that. I'll go and change it."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune said nothing, and Ellen went.</p>
+
+<p>When she came back the things were all wiped, and as she
+was about to put some of them away, her aunt took them out
+of her hands, bidding her "go and sit down!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen obeyed and was mute; while Miss Fortune dashed
+round with a display of energy there seemed to be no particular
+call for, and speedily had everything in its place and all straight
+and square about the kitchen. When she was, as a last thing,
+brushing the crumbs, from the floor into the fire, she broke the
+silence again. The old grandmother sat in the chimney-corner, but
+she seldom was very talkative in the presence of her stern daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you come home for to-night? Why didn't you
+stay at Mr. Humphreys'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice didn't ask me."</p>
+
+<p>"That means, I suppose, that you would if she had?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am; Miss Alice wouldn't have asked me
+to do anything that wasn't right."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no! of course not;—Miss Alice is a piece of perfection;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+everybody says so; and I suppose you'd sing the same song, who
+haven't seen her three times."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I would," said Ellen; "I could have told that in
+one seeing. I'd do anything in the world for Miss Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay—I dare say, that's the way of it. You can show not
+one bit of goodness or pleasantness to the person that does the
+most for you and has all the care of you, but the first stranger
+that comes along you can be all honey to them, and make yourself
+out too good for common folks, and go and tell great tales
+how you are used at home, I suppose. I am sick of it!" said
+Miss Fortune, setting up the andirons and throwing the tongs
+and shovel into the corner, in a way that made the iron ring
+again. "One might as good be a stepmother at once, and done
+with it! Come, mother, it's time for you to go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>The old lady rose with the meekness of habitual submission,
+and went upstairs with her daughter. Ellen had time to bethink
+herself while they were gone, and resolved to lose no time when
+her aunt came back in doing what she had to do. She would
+fain have persuaded herself to put it off. "It is late," she said to
+herself, "it isn't a good time. It will be better to go to bed now,
+and ask Aunt Fortune's pardon to-morrow." But conscience said,
+"<i>First</i> be reconciled to thy brother."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune came down presently. But before Ellen could
+get any words out, her aunt prevented her.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, light your candle and be off; I want you out of the
+way; I can't do anything with half-a-dozen people about."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen rose. "I want to say something to you first, Aunt
+Fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"Say it and be quick; I haven't time to stand talking."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune," said Ellen, stumbling over her words—"I
+want to tell you that I know I was wrong this morning, and I am
+sorry, and I hope you'll forgive me."</p>
+
+<p>A kind of indignant laugh escaped from Miss Fortune's lips.</p>
+
+<p>"It's easy talking; I'd rather have acting. I'd rather see
+people mend their ways than stand and make speeches about
+them. Being sorry don't help the matter much."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'll try not to do so any more," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"When I see you don't I shall begin to think there is something
+in it. Actions speak louder than words. I don't believe
+in this jumping into goodness all at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will try not to, at any rate," said Ellen, sighing.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be very glad to see it. What has brought you into
+this sudden fit of dutifulness and fine talking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice told me I ought to ask your pardon for what I
+had done wrong," said Ellen, scarce able to keep from crying;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+"and I know I did wrong this morning, and I did wrong the other
+day about the letter; and I am sorry, whether you believe it
+or no."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice told you, did she? So all this is to please Miss
+Alice. I suppose you were afraid your friend Miss Alice would
+hear of some of your goings on, and thought you had better make
+up with me. Is that it?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen answered, "No, ma'am," in a low tone, but had no voice
+to say more.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish Miss Alice would look after her own affairs, and let
+other people's houses alone. That's always the way with your
+pieces of perfection; they're eternally finding out something that
+isn't as it ought to be among their neighbours. I think people
+that don't set up for being quite such great things get along quite
+as well in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was strongly tempted to reply, but kept her lips shut.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what," said Miss Fortune, "if you want me to
+believe that all this talk means something, I'll tell you what you
+shall do. You shall just tell Mr. Van Brunt to-morrow about it all,
+and how ugly you have been these two days, and let him know
+you were wrong and I was right. I believe he thinks you cannot
+do anything wrong, and I should like him to know it for once."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen struggled hard with herself before she could speak;
+Miss Fortune's lips began to wear a scornful smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell him!" said Ellen at length; "I'll tell him I was
+wrong, if you wish me to."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> wish it. I like people's eyes to be opened. It'll do
+him good, I guess, and you too. Now have you anything more
+to say?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hesitated: the colour came and went; she knew it wasn't
+a good time, but how could she wait?</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune," she said, "you know I told you I behaved
+very ill about that letter—won't you forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive you, yes, child; I don't care anything about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then will you be so good as to let me have my letter again?"
+said Ellen timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't be bothered to look for it now; I'll see about it
+some other time; take your candle and go to bed now, if you've
+nothing more to say."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen took her candle and went. Some tears were wrung
+from her by hurt feeling and disappointment; but she had the
+smile of conscience, and as she believed, of Him whose witness
+conscience is. She remembered that "great rock in a weary
+land," and she went to sleep in the shadow of it.</p>
+
+<p>The next day was Saturday. Ellen was up early, and after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+carefully performing her toilet duties, she had a nice long hour
+before it was time to go downstairs. The use she made of
+this hour had fitted her to do cheerfully and well her morning
+work; and Ellen would have sat down to breakfast in excellent
+spirits if it had not been for her promised disclosure to Mr. Van
+Brunt. It vexed her a little. "I told Aunt Fortune—that was all
+right; but why I should be obliged to tell Mr. Van Brunt I don't
+know. But if it convinces Aunt Fortune that I am in earnest,
+and meant what I say, then I had better."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt looked uncommonly grave, she thought; her
+aunt, uncommonly satisfied. Ellen had more than half a guess at
+the reason of both; but make up her mind to speak, she could
+not, during all breakfast time. She ate without knowing what
+she was eating.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt at length, having finished his meal without
+saying a syllable, arose and was about to go forth, when Miss
+Fortune stopped him. "Wait a minute, Mr. Van Brunt," she
+said, "Ellen has something to say to you. Go ahead, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen <i>felt</i>, rather than saw, the smile with which these words
+were spoken. She crimsoned and hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen and I had some trouble yesterday," said Miss Fortune,
+"and she wants to tell you about it." Mr. Van Brunt stood
+gravely waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen raised her eyes, which were full, to his face. "Mr. Van
+Brunt," she said, "Aunt Fortune wants me to tell you what I told
+her last night—that I knew I behaved as I ought not to her
+yesterday, and the day before, and other times."</p>
+
+<p>"And what made you do that?" said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him," said Miss Fortune, colouring, "that you were in
+the wrong and I was in the right—then he'll believe it, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"I was wrong," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"And I was right," said Miss Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent. Mr. Van Brunt looked from one to the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak," said Miss Fortune; "tell him the whole if you
+mean what you say."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you said you were wrong," said Miss Fortune; "that's
+only half of the business; if you were wrong I was right; why
+don't you say so, and not make such a shilly-shally piece of work
+of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I said I was wrong," said Ellen, "and so I was; but I
+never said you were right, Aunt Fortune; and I don't think so."</p>
+
+<p>These words, though moderately spoken, were enough to put
+Miss Fortune in a rage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What did I do that was wrong?" she said; "come, I should
+like to know. What was it, Ellen? Out with it; say everything
+you can think of; stop and hear it, Mr. Van Brunt; come, Ellen,
+let's hear the whole!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am, I've heerd quite enough," said that
+gentleman, as he went out and closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>"And I have said too much," said Ellen. "Pray forgive me,
+Aunt Fortune. I shouldn't have said that if you hadn't pressed
+me so; I forgot myself a moment. I am sorry I said that."</p>
+
+<p>"Forgot yourself!" said Miss Fortune: "I wish you'd forget
+yourself out of my house. Please to forget the place where I am
+for to-day, anyhow; I've got enough of you for one while. You had
+better go to Miss Alice and get a new lesson, and tell her you are
+coming on finely."</p>
+
+<p>Gladly would Ellen indeed have gone to Miss Alice, but as
+the next day was Sunday she thought it best to wait. She went
+sorrowfully to her own room. "Why couldn't I be quiet?" said
+Ellen. "If I had only held my tongue that unfortunate minute!
+What possessed me to say that?"</p>
+
+<p>Strong passion—strong pride—both long unbroken; and Ellen
+had yet to learn that many a prayer and many a tear, much watchfulness,
+much help from on high, must be hers before she could
+be thoroughly dispossessed of these evil spirits. But she knew her
+sickness; she had applied to the Physician; she was in a fair
+way to be well.</p>
+
+<p>One thought in her solitary room that day drew streams of
+tears down Ellen's cheeks. "My letter—my letter! what shall
+I do to get you!" she said to herself. "It serves me right; I
+oughtn't to have got in a passion; oh, I have got a lesson this
+time."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Tranquilitie</span><br />
+So purely sate there, that waves great nor small<br />
+Did ever rise to any height at all.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Chapman</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The Sunday with Alice met all Ellen's hopes. She wrote a
+very long letter to her mother, giving the full history of the
+day. How pleasantly they had ridden to church on the pretty
+grey pony, she half the way, and Alice the other half, talking to
+each other all the while; for Mr. Humphreys had ridden on
+before. How lovely the road was, "winding about round the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+mountain, up and down," and with such a wide, fair view, and
+"part of the time close along by the edge of the water." This
+had been Ellen's first ride on horseback. Then the letter
+described the little Carra-carra church, Mr. Humphreys' excellent
+sermon, "every word of which she could understand;" Alice's
+Sunday School, in which she was sole teacher, and how Ellen had
+four little ones put under <i>her</i> care; and told how while Mr. Humphreys
+went on to hold a second service at a village some six
+miles off, his daughter ministered to two infirm old women at
+Carra-carra, reading and explaining the Bible to the one, and to
+the other, who was blind, repeating the whole substance of her
+father's sermon. "Miss Alice told me that nobody could enjoy a
+sermon better than that old woman, but she cannot go out, and
+every Sunday Miss Alice goes and preaches to her, she says."
+How Ellen went home in the boat with Thomas and Margery,
+and spent the rest of the day and night also at the parsonage;
+and how polite and kind Mr. Humphreys had been. "He's a
+very grave-looking man indeed," said the letter, "and not a bit
+like Miss Alice; he is a great deal older than I expected."</p>
+
+<p>This letter was much the longest Ellen had ever written in
+her life; but she had set her heart on having her mother's
+sympathy in her new pleasures, though not to be had but after
+the lapse of many weeks and beyond a sad interval of land and
+sea. Still, she must have it; and her little fingers travelled
+busily over the paper hour after hour, as she found time, till the
+long epistle was finished. She was hard at work at it on Tuesday
+afternoon when her aunt called her down; and obeying the call,
+to her great surprise and delight she found Alice seated in the
+chimney corner and chatting away with her old grandmother,
+who looked remarkably pleased. Miss Fortune was bustling
+round as usual, looking at nobody, though putting in her word
+now and then.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Ellen," said Alice, "get your bonnet; I am going up
+the mountain to see Mrs. Vawse, and your aunt has given leave
+for you to go with me. Wrap yourself up well, for it is not
+warm."</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for a word of answer, Ellen joyfully ran off.</p>
+
+<p>"You have chosen rather an ugly day for your walk, Miss
+Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't expect pretty days in December, Miss Fortune. I am
+only too happy it doesn't storm; it will by to-morrow, I think.
+But I have learned not to mind weathers."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know you have," said Miss Fortune. "You'll stop
+up on the mountain till supper-time, I guess, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes; I shall want something to fortify me before coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+home after such a long tramp. You see I have brought a basket
+along. I thought it safest to take a loaf of bread with me, for no
+one can tell what may be in Mrs. Vawse's cupboard, and to lose
+our supper is not a thing to be thought of."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, have you looked out for butter, too? for you'll find
+none where you're going. I don't know how the old lady lives
+up there, but it's without butter, I reckon."</p>
+
+<p>"I have taken care of that, too, thank you, Miss Fortune.
+You see I'm a far-sighted creature."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said her aunt, as Ellen now, cloaked and hooded,
+came in, "go into the buttery and fetch out one of them
+pumpkin pies to put in Miss Alice's basket."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Miss Fortune," said Alice, smiling, "I shall tell
+Mrs. Vawse who it comes from. Now, my dear, let's be off; we
+have a long walk before us."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was quite ready to be off. But no sooner had she opened
+the outer shed door than her voice was heard in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"A cat! What cat is this? Miss Alice! look here; here's
+the Captain, I do believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the Captain, indeed," said Alice. "Oh, pussy,
+pussy, what have you come for?"</p>
+
+<p>Pussy walked up to his mistress, and stroking himself and his
+great tail against her dress, seemed to say that he had come for
+her sake, and that it made no difference to him where she was
+going.</p>
+
+<p>"He was sitting as gravely as possible," said Ellen, "on the
+stone just outside the door, waiting for the door to be opened.
+How could he have come there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he has followed me," said Alice; "he often does;
+but I came quick, and I thought I had left him at home to-day.
+This is too long an expedition for him. Kitty, I wish you had
+stayed at home."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty did not think so; he was arching his neck and purring
+in acknowledgment of Alice's soft touch.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you send him back?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear, he is the most sensible of cats, no doubt, but
+he could by no means understand such an order. No, we must
+let him trot on after us, and when he gets tired I will carry him;
+it won't be the first time by a good many."</p>
+
+<p>They set off with a quick pace, which the weather forbade
+them to slacken. It was somewhat as Miss Fortune had said, an
+ugly afternoon. The clouds hung cold and grey, and the air had
+a raw chill feeling that betokened a coming snow. The wind
+blew strong too, and seemed to carry the chillness through all
+manner of wrappers. Alice and Ellen, however, did not much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+care for it; they walked and ran by turns, only stopping once in
+a while when poor Captain's uneasy cry warned them they had
+left him too far behind. Still he would not submit to be carried,
+but jumped down whenever Alice attempted it, and trotted on
+most perseveringly. As they neared the foot of the mountain
+they were somewhat sheltered from the wind, and could afford to
+walk more slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"How is it between you and your Aunt Fortune now?" said
+Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we don't get on well at all, Miss Alice, and I don't
+know exactly what to do. You know I said I would ask her
+pardon. Well, I did, that same night after I got home, but it
+was very disagreeable. She didn't seem to believe I was in
+earnest, and wanted me to tell Mr. Van Brunt that I had been
+wrong. I thought that was rather hard; but at any rate I said I
+would; and next morning I did tell him so; and I believe all
+would have done well if I could only have been quiet; but Aunt
+Fortune said something that vexed me, and almost before I knew
+it I said something that vexed her dreadfully. It was nothing
+very bad, Miss Alice, though I ought not to have said it; and I
+was sorry two minutes after, but I just got provoked; and
+what shall I do, for it's so hard to prevent it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The only thing I know," said Alice, with a slight smile, "is
+to be full of that charity which among other lovely ways of showing
+itself has this—that it is 'not easily provoked.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I am easily provoked," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you know one thing at any rate that is to be watched
+and prayed and guarded against; it is no little matter to be
+acquainted with one's own weak points."</p>
+
+<p>"I tried so hard to keep quiet that morning," said Ellen,
+"and if I only could have let that unlucky speech alone—but
+somehow I forgot myself, and I just told her what I thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Which it is very often best not to do."</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe," said Ellen, "Aunt Fortune would like to have
+Mr. Van Brunt not like me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Alice—"what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, I suppose, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you are not going to lay it up against her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am—I hope not."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, dear Ellen, don't take up the trade of suspecting
+evil; you could not take up a worse; and even when it is forced
+upon you, see as little of it as you can, and forget as soon as you
+can what you see. Your aunt, it may be, is not a very happy
+person, and no one can tell but those that are unhappy how hard
+it is not to be unamiable too. Return good for evil as fast as you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+can; and you will soon either have nothing to complain of or be
+very well able to bear it."</p>
+
+<p>They now began to go up the mountain, and the path became
+in places steep and rugged enough. "There is an easier way on
+the other side," said Alice, "but this is the nearest for us."
+Captain Parry now showed signs of being decidedly weary, and
+permitted Alice to take him up. But he presently mounted from
+her arms to her shoulder, and to Ellen's great amusement kept
+his place there, passing from one shoulder to the other, and every
+now and then sticking his nose up into her bonnet as if to kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>does</i> he do that for?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Because he loves me and is pleased," said Alice. "Put
+your ear close, Ellen, and hear the quiet way he is purring to himself—do
+you hear?—that's his way; he very seldom purrs aloud."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a very funny cat," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Cat," said Alice—"there isn't such a cat as this to be seen.
+He's a cat to be respected, my old Captain Parry. He is not to
+be laughed at, Ellen, I can tell you."</p>
+
+<p>The travellers went on with goodwill; but the path was so
+steep and the way so long, that when about half way up the
+mountain they were fain to follow the example of their four-footed
+companion, and rest themselves. They sat down on the ground.
+They had warmed themselves with walking, but the weather was
+as chill and disagreeable and gusty as ever; every now and then
+the wind came sweeping by, catching up the dried leaves at their
+feet and whirling and scattering them off to a distance—winter's
+warning voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I never was in the country before when the leaves were off
+the trees," said Ellen. "It isn't so pretty, Miss Alice, do you
+think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"So pretty? No, I suppose not, if we were to have it all the
+while; but I like the change very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you like to see the leaves off the trees?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—in the time of it. There's beauty in the leafless trees
+that you cannot see in summer. Just look, Ellen—no, I cannot
+find you a nice specimen here, they grow too thick; but where
+they have room the way the branches spread and ramify, or branch
+out again, is most beautiful. There's first the trunk—then the
+large branches—then those divide into smaller ones; and those
+part and part again into smaller and smaller twigs, till you are
+canopied as it were with a network of fine stems. And when the
+snow falls gently on them—Oh, Ellen, winter has its own beauties.
+I love it all; the cold, and the wind, and the snow, and the bare
+forests, and our little river of ice. What pleasant sleigh-rides to
+church I have had upon that river. And then the evergreens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>—look
+at them; you don't know in summer how much they are
+worth; wait till you see the hemlock branches bending with a
+weight of snow, and then if you don't say the winter is beautiful,
+I'll give you up as a young lady of bad taste."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say I shall," said Ellen; "I am sure I shall like what
+you like. But, Miss Alice, what makes the leaves fall when the
+cold weather comes?"</p>
+
+<p>"A very pretty question, Ellen, and one that can't be answered
+in a breath."</p>
+
+<p>"I asked Aunt Fortune the other day," said Ellen, laughing
+very heartily—"and she told me to hush up and not be a fool;
+and I told her I really wanted to know, and she said she wouldn't
+make herself a simpleton if she was in my place; so I thought I
+might as well be quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"By the time the cold weather comes, Ellen, the leaves have
+done their work and are no more needed. Do you know what
+work they have to do?—do you know what is the use of leaves?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, for prettiness, I suppose," said Ellen, "and to give
+shade—I don't know anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"Shade is one of their uses, no doubt, and prettiness too; He
+who made the trees made them 'pleasant to the eyes' as well as
+'good for food.' So we have an infinite variety of leaves; one
+shape would have done the work just as well for every kind of
+tree, but then we should have lost a great deal of pleasure. But,
+Ellen, the tree could not live without leaves. In the spring the
+thin sap which the roots suck up from the ground is drawn into
+the leaves; there by the help of the sun and air it is thickened
+and prepared in a way you cannot understand, and goes back to
+supply the wood with the various matters necessary for its growth
+and hardness. After this has gone on some time the little vessels
+of the leaves become clogged and stopped up with earthy and
+other matter; they cease to do their work any longer; the hot
+sun dries them up more and more, and by the time the frost comes
+they are as good as dead. That finishes them, and they drop off
+from the branch that needs them no more. Do you understand
+all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, very well," said Ellen; "and it's exactly what I
+wanted to know, and very curious. So the trees couldn't live
+without leaves?"</p>
+
+<p>"No more than you could without a heart and lungs."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to know that," said Ellen. "Then how is it
+with the evergreens, Miss Alice? Why don't their leaves die and
+drop off too?"</p>
+
+<p>"They do; look how the ground is carpeted under that pine
+tree."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But they stay green all winter, don't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; their leaves are fitted to resist frost; I don't know
+what the people in cold countries would do else. They have the
+fate of all other leaves, however; they live awhile, do their work,
+and then die; not all at once, though; there is always a supply
+left on the tree. Are we rested enough to begin again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am," said Ellen; "I don't know about the Captain. Poor
+fellow! he's fast asleep. I declare it's too bad to wake you up,
+pussy. Haven't we had a pleasant little rest, Miss Alice? I
+have learnt something while we have been sitting here."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>That</i> is pleasant, Ellen," said Alice, as they began their upward
+march—"I would I might be all the while learning something."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have been teaching, Miss Alice, and that's as good.
+Mamma used to say it is more blessed to give than to receive."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Ellen," said Alice, smiling; "that ought to
+satisfy me certainly."</p>
+
+<p>They bent themselves against the steep hill again and pressed
+on. As they rose higher they felt it grow more cold and bleak;
+the woods gave them less shelter, and the wind swept round the
+mountain head and over them with great force, making their way
+quite difficult.</p>
+
+<p>"Courage, Ellen!" said Alice, as they struggled on; "we'll
+soon be there."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," said the panting Ellen, as making an effort she
+came up alongside of Alice—"I wonder why Mrs. Vawse will live
+in such a disagreeable place."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not disagreeable to her, Ellen; though I must say I
+should not like to have too much of this wind."</p>
+
+<p>"But does she really like to live up here better than down
+below where it is warmer?—and all alone too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she does. Ask her why, Ellen, and see what she will
+tell you. She likes it so much better that this little cottage was
+built on purpose for her ten years ago, by a good old friend of hers,
+a connection of the lady whom she followed to this country."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, "she must have a queer taste—that is all
+I can say."</p>
+
+<p>They were now within a few easy steps of the house, which
+did not look so uncomfortable when they came close to it. It
+was small and low, of only one storey, though it is true the roof
+ran up very steep to a high and sharp gable. It was perched so
+snugly in a niche of the hill that the little yard was completely
+sheltered with a high wall of rock. The house itself stood out
+more boldly, and caught pretty well near all the winds that blew;
+but so, Alice informed Ellen, the inmate likes to have it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And that roof," said Alice, "she begged Mr. Marshman
+when the cottage was building that the roof might be high and
+pointed; she said her eyes were tired with the low roofs of this
+country, and if he would have it made so it would be a great
+relief to them."</p>
+
+<p>The odd roof Ellen thought was pretty. But they now
+reached the door, protected with a deep porch. Alice entered
+and knocked at the other door. They were bade to come in. A
+woman was there stepping briskly back and forth before a large
+spinning-wheel. She half turned her head to see who the comers
+were, then stopped her wheel instantly, and came to meet them
+with open arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice! dear Miss Alice, how glad I am to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"And I you, dear Mrs. Vawse," said Alice, kissing her.
+"Here's another friend you must welcome for my sake—little
+Ellen Montgomery."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to see Miss Ellen," said the old woman, kissing
+her also; and Ellen did not shrink from the kiss, so pleasant
+were the lips that tendered it; so kind and frank the smile, so
+winning the eye; so agreeable the whole air of the person. She
+turned from Ellen again to Miss Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a long while that I have not seen you, dear—not since
+you went to Mrs. Marshman's. And what a day you have chosen
+to come at last!"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help that," said Alice, pulling off her bonnet, "I
+couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to see you dolefully, Mrs.
+Vawse."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear? what's the matter? I have wanted to see
+<i>you</i>, but not dolefully."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the very thing, Mrs. Vawse; I wanted to see you to
+get a lesson of quiet contentment."</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought you wanted such a lesson, Miss Alice.
+What's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't get over John's going away."</p>
+
+<p>Her lip trembled and her eye was swimming as she said so.
+The old woman passed her hands over the gentle head and kissed
+her brow.</p>
+
+<p>"So I thought—so I felt, when my mistress died; and my
+husband; and my sons, one after the other. But now I think I
+can say with Paul, 'I have learned in whatsoever state I am
+therewith to be content.' I think so; maybe that I deceive
+myself; but they are all gone, and I am certain that I am content
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"Then surely I ought to be," said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not till one looses one's hold of other things and looks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+to Jesus alone that one finds how much He can do. 'There is a
+friend that sticketh closer than a brother;' but I never knew all
+that meant till I had no other friends to lean upon; nay, I should
+not say <i>no</i> other friends; but my dearest were taken away. You
+have <i>your</i> dearest still, Miss Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"Two of them," said Alice faintly; "and hardly that
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not one," said the old woman, "I have not one; but
+my home is in heaven, and my Saviour is there preparing a place
+for me. I know it—I am sure of it—and I can wait a little while,
+and rejoice all the while I am waiting. Dearest Miss Alice—'none
+of them that trust in Him shall be desolate;' don't you
+believe that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do surely, Mrs. Vawse," said Alice, wiping away a tear or
+two, "but I forget it sometimes; or the pressure of present pain
+is too much for all that faith and hope can do."</p>
+
+<p>"It hinders faith and hope from acting—that is the trouble.
+'They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.'
+I know that is true, of my own experience; so will you,
+dear."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, Mrs. Vawse—I know it all; but it does me good
+to hear you say it. I thought I should become accustomed to
+John's absence, but I do not at all; the autumn winds all the
+while seem to sing to me that he is away."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear love," said the old lady, "it sorrows me much to
+hear you speak so; I would take away this trial from you if I
+could; but He knows best. Seek to live nearer to the Lord,
+dear Miss Alice, and He will give you much more than He has
+taken away."</p>
+
+<p>Alice again brushed away some tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I felt I must come and see you to-day," said she, "and
+you have comforted me already. The sound of your voice
+always does me good. I catch courage and patience from you,
+I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"'As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance
+of his friend.' How did you leave Mr. and Mrs. Marshman?
+and has Mr. George returned yet?"</p>
+
+<p>Drawing their chairs together, a close conversation began.
+Ellen had been painfully interested and surprised by what went
+before, but the low tone of voice now seemed to be not meant
+for her ear, and turning away her attention, she amused herself
+with taking a general survey.</p>
+
+<p>It was easy to see that Mrs. Vawse lived in this room, and
+probably had no other to live in. Her bed was in one corner;
+cupboards filled the deep recesses on each side of the chimney,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+and in the wide fireplace the crane and the hooks and trammels
+hanging upon it showed that the bedroom and sitting-room was
+the kitchen too. Most of the floor was covered with a thick rag
+carpet; where the boards could be seen they were beautifully
+clean and white, and everything else in the room in this respect
+matched with the boards. The panes of glass in the little windows
+were clean and bright as panes of glass could be made; the
+hearth was clean swept up; the cupboard doors were unstained
+and unsoiled, though fingers had worn the paint off; dust was
+nowhere. On a little stand by the chimney corner lay a large
+Bible and another book, close beside stood a cushioned arm-chair.
+Some other apartment there probably was where wood and stores
+were kept; nothing was to be seen here that did not agree
+with a very comfortable face of the whole. It looked as if one
+might be happy there; it looked as if somebody <i>was</i> happy there;
+and a glance at the old lady of the house would not alter the
+opinion. Many a glance Ellen gave her as she sat talking with
+Alice; and with every one she felt more and more drawn towards
+her. She was somewhat under the common size, and rather
+stout; her countenance most agreeable; there was sense, character,
+sweetness in it. Some wrinkles no doubt were there too;
+lines deep-marked that spoke of sorrows once known. Those
+storms had all passed away; the last shadow of a cloud had
+departed; her evening sun was shining clear and bright towards
+the setting; and her brow was beautifully placid, not as though
+it never had been, but as if it never could be ruffled again. Respect
+no one could help feeling for her; and more than respect
+one felt would grow with acquaintance. Her dress was very odd,
+Ellen thought. It was not American, and what it was she did
+not know, but supposed Mrs. Vawse must have a lingering fancy
+for the costume as well as for the roofs of her fatherland. More
+than all her eye turned again and again to the face, which seemed
+to her in its changing expression winning and pleasant exceedingly.
+The mouth had not forgotten to smile, nor the eye to
+laugh; and though this was not often seen, the constant play of
+feature showed a deep and lively sympathy in all Alice was saying,
+and held Ellen's charmed gaze; and when the old lady's
+looks and words were at length turned to herself she blushed to
+think how long she had been looking steadily at a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"Little Miss Ellen, how do you like my house on the rock
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am," said Ellen; "I like it very much, only
+I don't think I should like it so well in winter."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not certain that I don't like it then best of all. Why
+would you not like it in winter?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't like the cold, ma'am, and to be alone."</p>
+
+<p>"I like to be alone: but cold? I am in no danger of freezing,
+Miss Ellen. I make myself very warm—keep good fires—and my
+house is too strong for the wind to blow it away. Don't you want
+to go out and see my cow? I have one of the best cows that ever
+you saw; her name is Snow; there is not a black hair upon her;
+she is all white. Come, Miss Alice; Mr. Marshman sent her to me
+a month ago; she's a great treasure, and worth looking at."</p>
+
+<p>They went across the yard to the tiny barn or outhouse, where
+they found Snow nicely cared for. She was in a warm stable, a
+nice bedding of straw upon the floor, and plenty of hay laid up for
+her. Snow deserved it, for she was a beauty, and a very well-behaved
+cow, letting Alice and Ellen stroke her and pat her and
+feel of her thick hide, with the most perfect placidity. Mrs.
+Vawse meanwhile went to the door to look out.</p>
+
+<p>"Nancy ought to be home to milk her," she said; "I must
+give you supper and send you off. I've no feeling nor smell
+if snow isn't thick in the air somewhere; we shall see it here
+soon."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll milk her," said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll milk her!" said Ellen; "I'll milk her! Ah, do let me;
+I know how to milk; Mr. Van Brunt taught me, and I have done
+it several times. May I? I should like it dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall do it surely, my child," said Mrs. Vawse. "Come
+with me, and I'll give you the pail and the milking-stool."</p>
+
+<p>When Alice and Ellen came in with the milk they found the
+kettle on, the little table set, and Mrs. Vawse very busy at
+another table.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing, Mrs. Vawse, may I ask?" said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm just stirring up some Indian meal for you; I find I have
+not but a crust left."</p>
+
+<p>"Please to put that away, ma'am, for another time. Do you
+think I didn't know better than to come up to this mountain-top
+without bringing along something to live upon while I am here?
+Here's a basket, ma'am, and in it are divers things; I believe
+Margery and I between us have packed up enough for two or
+three suppers, to say nothing of Miss Fortune's pie. There it is—sure
+to be good, you know; and here are some of my cakes
+that you like so much, Mrs. Vawse," said Alice, as she went on
+pulling the things out of the basket; "there is a bowl of butter—that's
+not wanted, I see—and here is a loaf of bread; and that's
+all. Ellen, my dear, this basket will be lighter to carry down than
+it was to bring up."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad of it, I am sure," said Ellen; "my arm hasn't done
+aching yet, though I had it so little while."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I am glad to hear that kettle singing," said their hostess.
+"I can give you good tea, Miss Alice; you'll think so, I know, for
+it's the same Mr. John sent me. It is very fine tea; and he sent
+me a noble supply, like himself," continued Mrs. Vawse, taking
+some out of her little caddy. "I ought not to say I have no
+friends left; I cannot eat a meal that I am not reminded of two
+good ones. Mr. John knew one of my weak points when he sent
+me that box of Souchong."</p>
+
+<p>The supper was ready, and the little party gathered round the
+table. The tea did credit to the judgment of the giver and the
+skill of the maker, but they were no critics that drank it. Alice
+and Ellen were much too hungry and too happy to be particular.
+Miss Fortune's pumpkin pie was declared to be very fine, and so
+were Mrs. Vawse's cheese and butter. Eating and talking went
+on with great spirit, their old friend seeming scarce less pleased
+or less lively than themselves. Alice proposed the French plan,
+and Mrs. Vawse entered into it very frankly; it was easy to see
+that the style of building and of dress to which she had been
+accustomed in early life were not the only things remembered
+kindly for old time's sake. It was settled they should meet as
+frequently as might be, either here or at the parsonage, and
+become good Frenchwomen with all convenient speed.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you wish to walk so far to see me again, little Miss
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am!"</p>
+
+<p>"You won't fear the deep snow, and the wind and cold, and
+the steep hill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, ma'am, I won't mind them a bit; but, ma'am, Miss
+Alice told me to ask you why you loved better to live up here
+than down where it is warmer. I shouldn't ask if she hadn't said
+I might."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen has a great fancy for getting at the reason of everything,
+Mrs. Vawse," said Alice, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"You wonder anybody should choose it, don't you, Miss
+Ellen?" said the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, a little."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you the reason, my child. It is for the love of my
+old home and the memory of my young days. Till I was as old
+as you are, and a little older, I lived among the mountains and
+upon them; and after that for many a year they were just before
+my eyes every day, stretching away for more than <i>one</i> hundred
+miles, and piled up one above another, fifty times as big as any
+you ever saw; these are only molehills to them. I loved them—oh,
+how I love them still! If I have one unsatisfied wish," said
+the old lady, turning to Alice, "it is to see my Alps again; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+that will never be. Now, Miss Ellen, it is not that I fancy, when
+I get to the top of this hill, that I am among my own mountains,
+but I can breathe better here than down in the plain. I feel
+more free; and in the village I would not live for gold, unless
+that duty bade me."</p>
+
+<p>"But all alone, so far from everybody?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am never lonely; and, old as I am, I don't mind a long walk
+or a rough road any more than your young feet do."</p>
+
+<p>"But isn't it very cold?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is very cold; what of that? I make a good blazing
+fire, and then I like to hear the wind whistle."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but you wouldn't like to have it whistling inside as
+well as out," said Alice. "I will come and do the listing and
+caulking for you in a day or two. Oh, you have it done without
+me. I am sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"No need to be sorry, dear; I am glad—you don't look fit for
+any troublesome jobs."</p>
+
+<p>"I am fit enough," said Alice. "Don't put up the curtains;
+I'll come and do it."</p>
+
+<p>"You must come with a stronger face, then," said her old
+friend; "have you wearied yourself with walking all this way?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was a little weary," said Alice, "but your nice tea has
+made me up again."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could keep you all night," said Mrs. Vawse, looking
+out, "but your father would be uneasy. I am afraid the storm
+will catch you before you get home; and you aren't fit to breast
+it. Little Ellen, too, don't look as if she was made of iron. Can't
+you stay with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must not—it wouldn't do," said Alice, who was hastily
+putting on her things; "we'll soon run down the hill. But we are
+leaving you alone. Where's Nancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"She'll not come if there's a promise of a storm," said Mrs.
+Vawse; "she often stays out all night."</p>
+
+<p>"And leaves you alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am never alone," said the old lady quietly; "I have nothing
+to fear; but I am uneasy about you, dear. Mind my words; don't
+try to go back the way you came; take the other road; it's easier;
+and stop when you get to Mrs. Van Brunt's; Mr. Van Brunt will
+take you the rest of the way in his little waggon."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it is needful?" said Alice doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure it is best. Hasten down. Adieu, mon enfant."</p>
+
+<p>They kissed and embraced her and hurried out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+November chill blaws loud wi' angry sough;<br />
+The shortening winter day is near a close</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The clouds hung thick and low; the wind was less than it had
+been. They took the path Mrs. Vawse had spoken of; it was
+broader and easier than the other, winding more gently down the
+mountain; it was sometimes, indeed, travelled by horses, though
+far too steep for any kind of carriage. Alice and Ellen ran along
+without giving much heed to anything but their footing, down,
+down, running and bounding, hand in hand, till want of breath
+obliged them to slacken their pace.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it will snow?—soon?" asked Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it will snow, how soon I cannot tell. Have you had
+a pleasant afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very."</p>
+
+<p>"I always have when I go there. Now, Ellen, there is an
+example of contentment for you. If ever a woman loved husband
+and children and friends Mrs. Vawse loved hers; I know this
+from those who knew her long ago; and now look at her. Of
+them all she has none left but the orphan daughter of her youngest
+son, and you know a little what sort of a child that is."</p>
+
+<p>"She must be a very bad girl," said Ellen; "you can't think
+what stories she told me about her grandmother."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Nancy," said Alice. "Mrs. Vawse has no money nor
+property of any kind, except what is in her house; but there is
+not a more independent woman breathing. She does all sorts of
+things to support herself. Now, for instance, Ellen, if anybody is
+sick within ten miles round, the family are too happy to get Mrs.
+Vawse for a nurse. She is an admirable one. Then she goes out
+tailoring at the farmers' houses; she brings home wool and returns
+it spun into yarn; she brings home yarn and knits it up into
+stockings and socks; all sorts of odd jobs. I have seen her picking
+hops; she isn't above doing anything, and yet she never forgets
+her own dignity. I think wherever she goes and whatever she is
+about she is at all times one of the most truly ladylike persons I
+have ever seen. And everybody respects her; everybody likes to
+gain her goodwill; she is known all over the country; and all the
+country are her friends."</p>
+
+<p>"They pay her for doing these things, don't they?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Certainly; not often in money; more commonly in various
+kinds of matters that she wants—flour, and sugar, and Indian
+meal, and pork, and ham, and vegetables, and wool—anything;
+it is but a little of each that she wants. She has friends that
+would not permit her to earn another sixpence if they could help
+it, but she likes better to live as she does. And she is always as
+you saw her to-day—cheerful and happy as a little girl."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was turning over Alice's last words and thinking that
+little girls were not <i>always</i> the cheerfullest and happiest creatures
+in the world, when Alice suddenly exclaimed, "It is snowing!
+Come, Ellen, we must make haste now!" and set off at a
+quickened pace. Quick as they might, they had gone not a
+hundred yards when the whole air was filled with the falling
+flakes, and the wind which had lulled for a little now rose with
+greater violence and swept round the mountain furiously. The
+storm had come in good earnest, and promised to be no trifling
+one. Alice and Ellen ran on, holding each other's hands and
+strengthening themselves against the blast, but their journey
+became every moment more difficult. The air was dark with the
+thick-falling snow; the wind seemed to blow in every direction
+by turns, but chiefly against them, blinding their eyes with the
+snow, and making it necessary to use no small effort to keep on
+their way. Ellen hardly knew where she went, but allowed herself
+to be pulled along by Alice, or as well pulled <i>her</i> along; it
+was hard to say which hurried most. In the midst of this dashing
+on down the hill Alice all at once came to a sudden stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the Captain?" said she.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen. "I haven't thought of him since
+we left Mrs. Vawse's."</p>
+
+<p>Alice turned her back to the wind and looked up the road
+they had come—there was nothing but wind and snow there;
+how furiously it blew! Alice called, "Pussy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we walk up the road a little way, or shall we stand
+and wait for him here?" said Ellen, trembling half from exertion
+and half from a vague fear of she knew not what.</p>
+
+<p>Alice called again;—no answer, but a wild gust of wind and
+snow that drove past.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't go on and leave him," said Alice; "he might perish
+in the storm." And she began to walk slowly back, calling at
+intervals, "Pussy!—kitty!—pussy!"—and listening for an answer
+that came not. Ellen was very unwilling to tarry, and nowise
+inclined to prolong their journey by going backwards. She
+thought the storm grew darker and wilder every moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps Captain stayed up at Mrs. Vawse's," she said, "and,
+didn't follow us down."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No," said Alice, "I am sure he did. Hark!—wasn't that
+he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't hear anything," said Ellen, after a pause of anxious
+listening.</p>
+
+<p>Alice went a few steps further.</p>
+
+<p>"I hear him!" she said; "I hear him! poor kitty!"—and
+she set off at a quick pace up the hill. Ellen followed, but
+presently a burst of wind and snow brought them both to a stand.
+Alice faltered a little at this, in doubt whether to go up or
+down. But then to their great joy Captain's far-off cry was
+heard, and both Alice and Ellen strained their voices to cheer
+and direct him. In a few minutes he came in sight, trotting
+hurriedly along through the snow, and on reaching his mistress
+he sat down immediately on the ground without offering any
+caress; a sure sign that he was tired. Alice stooped down and
+took him up in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Kitty!" she said, "you've done your part for to-day, I
+think; I'll do the rest. Ellen, dear, it's of no use to tire ourselves
+out at once; we will go moderately. Keep hold of my cloak,
+my child; it takes both of my arms to hold this big cat. Now,
+never mind the snow; we can bear being blown about a little.
+Are you very tired?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "not very; I am a little tired; but I don't
+care for that if we can only get home safe."</p>
+
+<p>"There's no difficulty about that, I hope. Nay, there may be
+some <i>difficulty</i>, but we shall get there I think in good safety after
+a while. I wish we were there now, for your sake, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind me," said Ellen gratefully; "I am sorry for
+<i>you</i>, Miss Alice; you have the hardest time of it with that heavy
+load to carry; I wish I could help you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, my dear, but nobody could do that; I doubt if
+Captain would lie in any arms but mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me carry the basket, then," said Ellen; "do, Miss
+Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear, it hangs very well on my arm. Take it gently;
+Mrs. Van Brunt's isn't very far off; we shall feel the wind less
+when we turn."</p>
+
+<p>But the road seemed long. The storm did not increase in
+violence, truly there was no need of that, but the looked-for
+turning was not soon found, and the gathering darkness warned
+them day was drawing towards a close. As they neared the
+bottom of the hill Alice made a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a path that turns off from this and makes a shorter
+cut to Mrs. Van Brunt's, but it must be above here; I must have
+missed it, though I have been on the watch constantly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She looked up and down. It would have been a sharp eye
+indeed that had detected any slight opening in the woods on
+either side of the path, which the driving snowstorm blended into
+one continuous wall of trees. They could be seen stretching
+darkly before and behind them; but more than that—where
+they stood near together and where scattered apart—was all
+confusion, through that fast-falling shower of flakes.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we go back and look for the path?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid we shouldn't find it if we did," said Alice; "we
+should only lose our time, and we have none to lose. I think we
+had better go straight forward."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it much further this way than the other path we have
+missed?"</p>
+
+<p>"A good deal—all of half a mile. I am sorry; but courage,
+my child! we shall know better than to go out in snowy weather
+next time—on long expeditions at least."</p>
+
+<p>They had to shout to make each other hear, so drove the
+snow and wind through the trees and into their very faces and
+ears. They plodded on. It was plodding; the snow lay thick
+enough now to make their footing uneasy, and grew deeper every
+moment; their shoes were full; their feet and ankles were wet,
+and their steps began to drag heavily over the ground. Ellen
+clung as close to Alice's cloak as their hurried travelling would
+permit; sometimes one of Alice's hands was loosened for a
+moment to be passed round Ellen's shoulders, and a word of
+courage or comfort in the clear calm tone cheered her to renewed
+exertion. The night fell fast; it was very darkling by the time
+they reached the bottom of the hill, and the road did not yet
+allow them to turn their faces towards Mrs. Van Brunt's. A
+wearisome piece of the way this was, leading them <i>from</i> the
+place they wished to reach. They could not go fast either;
+they were too weary, and the walking too heavy. Captain
+had the best of it; snug and quiet he lay wrapped in Alice's
+cloak and fast asleep, little wotting how tired his mistress's
+arms were.</p>
+
+<p>The path at length brought them to the long-desired turning;
+but it was by this time so dark that the fences on each side of
+the road showed but dimly. They had not spoken for a while;
+as they turned the corner a sigh of mingled weariness and satisfaction
+escaped from Ellen's lips. It reached Alice's ear.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, love?" said the sweet voice. No trace
+of weariness was allowed to come into it.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad we have got here at last," said Ellen, looking
+up with another sigh, and removing her hand for an instant from
+its grasp on the cloak to Alice's arm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My poor child! I wish I could carry you too. Can you
+hold on a little longer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, dear Miss Alice, I can hold on."</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen's voice was not so well guarded. It was like her
+steps, a little unsteady. She presently spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice—are you afraid?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid of your getting sick, my child, and a little afraid
+of it for myself;—of nothing else. What is there to be afraid
+of?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is very dark," said Ellen; "and the storm is so thick—do
+you think you can find the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it perfectly; it is nothing but to keep straight on;
+and the fences would prevent us from getting out of the road. It
+is hard walking, I know, but we shall get there by-and-by; bear
+up as well as you can, dear. I am sorry I can give you no help
+but words. Don't you think a nice bright fire will look comfortable
+after all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, yes!" answered Ellen rather sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are <i>you</i> afraid, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Alice—not much—I don't like it's being so dark, I
+can't see where I am going."</p>
+
+<p>"The darkness makes our way longer and more tedious; it
+will do us no other harm, love. I wish I had a hand to give you,
+but this great cat must have both of mine. The darkness and
+the light are both alike to our Father; we are in His hands;
+we are safe enough, dear Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's hand left the cloak again for an instant to press Alice's
+arm in answer; her voice failed at the minute. Then clinging
+anew as close to her side as she could get, they toiled patiently
+on. The wind had somewhat lessened of its violence, and besides
+it blew not now in their faces, but against their backs, helping
+them on. Still the snow continued to fall very fast, and already
+lay thick upon the ground; every half-hour increased the heaviness
+and painfulness of their march; and darkness gathered till
+the very fences could no longer be seen. It was pitch dark; to
+hold the middle of the road was impossible; their only way
+was to keep along by one of the fences; and for fear of hurting
+themselves against some outstanding post or stone it was necessary
+to travel quite gently. They were indeed in no condition to travel
+otherwise if light had not been wanting. Slowly and patiently,
+with painful care groping their way, they pushed on through the
+snow and the thick night. Alice could <i>feel</i> the earnestness of
+Ellen's grasp upon her clothes; and her close pressing up to her
+made their progress still slower and more difficult than it would
+otherwise have been.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"What, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would speak to me once in a while."</p>
+
+<p>Alice freed one of her hands and took hold of Ellen's.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been so busy picking my way along, I have neglected
+you, haven't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, ma'am. But I like to hear the sound of your voice
+sometimes, it makes me feel better."</p>
+
+<p>"This is an odd kind of travelling, isn't it?" said Alice
+cheerfully; "in the dark, and feeling our way along? This will
+be quite an adventure to talk about, won't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"It is easier going this way, don't you find it so? The wind
+helps us forward."</p>
+
+<p>"It helps me too much," said Ellen; "I wish it wouldn't be
+quite so very kind. Why, Miss Alice, I have enough to do to hold
+myself together sometimes. It almost makes me run, though I
+am so very tired."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is better than having it in our faces, at any rate.
+Tired you are, I know, and must be. We shall want to rest all
+day to-morrow, shan't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know," said Ellen, sighing; "I shall be glad when
+we begin. How long do you think it will be, Miss Alice, before
+we get to Mrs. Van Brunt's?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child, I cannot tell you. I have not the least
+notion whereabouts we are. I can see no waymarks, and I cannot
+judge at all of the rate at which we have come."</p>
+
+<p>"But what if we should have passed it in this darkness?" said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think that," said Alice, though a cold doubt
+struck her mind at Ellen's words; "I think we shall see the
+glimmer of Mrs. Van Brunt's family candle by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p>But more uneasily and more keenly now she strove to see that
+glimmer through the darkness; strove till the darkness seemed
+to press painfully upon her eyeballs, and she almost doubted her
+being able to see any light, if light there were; it was all blank,
+thick darkness still. She began to question anxiously with herself
+which side of the house was Mrs. Van Brunt's ordinary sitting-room—whether
+she should see the light from it before or after
+passing the house; and now her glance was directed often behind
+her, that they might be sure in any case of not missing their
+desired haven. In vain she looked forward or back; it was all
+one; no cheering glimmer of lamp or candle greeted her straining
+eyes. Hurriedly now from time to time the comforting words
+were spoken to Ellen, for to pursue the long stretch of way that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+led onward from Mr. Van Brunt's to Miss Fortune's would be a
+very serious matter; Alice wanted comfort herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we get there soon, do you think, Miss Alice?" said
+poor Ellen, whose wearied feet carried her painfully over the
+deepening snow. The tone of voice went to Alice's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, my darling; I hope so," she answered; but it
+was spoken rather patiently than cheerfully. "Fear nothing,
+dear Ellen; remember Who has the care of us; darkness and
+light are both alike to Him! nothing will do us any real
+harm."</p>
+
+<p>"How tired you must be, dear Miss Alice, carrying pussy!"
+Ellen said with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time Alice echoed the sigh; but almost immediately
+Ellen exclaimed in a totally different tone, "There's a
+light! but it isn't a candle, it is moving about. What is it?
+What is it, Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>They stopped and looked. A light there certainly was, dimly
+seen, moving at some little distance from the fence on the opposite
+side of the road. All of a sudden it disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" whispered Ellen fearfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, my love, yet; wait——"</p>
+
+<p>They waited several minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"What could it be?" said Ellen. "It was certainly a light;
+I saw it as plainly as ever I saw anything. What can it have
+done with itself? There it is again! going the other way!"</p>
+
+<p>Alice waited no longer, but screamed out, "Who's there?"</p>
+
+<p>But the light paid no attention to her cry; it travelled on.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo!" called Alice again, as loud as she could.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo!" answered a rough, deep voice. The light suddenly
+stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"That's he! that's he!" exclaimed Ellen, in an ecstasy, and
+almost dancing. "I know it; it's Mr. Van Brunt! it's Mr. Van
+Brunt! Oh, Miss Alice——!"</p>
+
+<p>Struggling between crying and laughing, Ellen could not
+stand it, but gave way to a good fit of crying. Alice felt the
+infection, but controlled herself, though her eyes watered as her
+heart sent up its grateful tribute; as well as she could, she
+answered the halloo.</p>
+
+<p>The light was seen advancing towards them. Presently it
+glimmered faintly behind the fence, showing a bit of the dark
+rails covered with snow, and they could dimly see the figure of
+a man getting over them. He crossed the road to where they
+stood. It was Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Van Brunt," said Alice's
+sweet voice, but it trembled a little.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That gentleman, at first dumb with astonishment, lifted his
+lantern to survey them, and assure his eyes that his ears had not
+been mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice!—My goodness alive!—How in the name of
+wonder!—And my poor little lamb!—But what on 'arth, ma'am!
+you must be half dead. Come this way; just come back a little
+bit. Why, where were you going, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"To your house, Mr. Van Brunt; I have been looking for it
+with no little anxiety, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"Looking for it! Why, how on 'arth! you wouldn't see the
+biggest house ever was built half a yard off such a plaguy night
+as this."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I should see the light from the windows, Mr. Van
+Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>"The light from the windows! Bless my soul! the storm
+rattled so again the windows that mother made me pull the great
+shutters to. I won't have 'em shut again of a stormy night, that's
+a fact; you'd ha' gone far enough afore you'd ha' seen the light
+through them shutters."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we had passed the house already, hadn't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed had you, ma'am. I guess you saw my light, ha'n't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and glad enough we were to see it, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so. It happened so to-night—now that is a queer
+thing—I minded that I hadn't untied my horse. He's a trick
+of being untied at night, and won't sleep well if he ain't; and
+mother wanted me to let him alone 'cause of the awful storm, but
+I couldn't go to my bed in peace till I had seen him to his'n. So
+that's how my lantern came to be going to the barn in such an
+awk'ard night as this."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the little gate, and Mr. Van Brunt with
+some difficulty pulled it open. The snow lay thick upon the neat
+brick walk which Ellen had trod the first time with wet feet and
+dripping garments. A few steps farther and they came to the
+same door that had opened then so hospitably to receive her.
+As the faint light of the lantern was thrown upon the old latch
+and door-posts, Ellen felt at home, and a sense of comfort sank
+down into her heart which she had not known for some
+time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+True is, that whilome that good poet said,<br />
+The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne:<br />
+For a man by nothing is so well bewrayed<br />
+As by his manners, in which plaine is showne<br />
+Of what degree and what race he is growne.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Faerie Queene</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt flung open the door, and the two wet and
+weary travellers stepped after him into the same cheerful,
+comfortable-looking kitchen that had received Ellen once
+before. Just the same—tidy, clean-swept up, a good fire, and
+the same old red-backed chairs standing round on the hearth in
+most cosy fashion. It seemed to Ellen a perfect storehouse of
+comfort; the very walls had a kind face for her. There were no
+other faces, however; the chairs were all empty. Mr. Van Brunt
+put Alice in one and Ellen in another, and shouted, "Mother!
+here!" muttering that she had taken herself off with the light
+somewhere. Not very far; for in half a minute, answering the
+call, Mrs. Van Brunt and the light came hurriedly in.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, 'Brahm? who's this? why, 'taint Miss
+Alice! My gracious me! and all wet! oh dear, dear! poor lamb!
+Why, Miss Alice, dear, where have you been?—and if that ain't
+my little Ellen! oh dear! what a fix you are in;—well, darling,
+I'm glad to see you again, a'most any way."</p>
+
+<p>She crossed over to kiss Ellen as she said this; but surprise
+was not more quickly alive than kindness and hospitality. She
+fell to work immediately to remove Alice's wet things, and to do
+whatever their joint prudence and experience might suggest to
+ward off any ill effects from the fatigue and exposure the wanderers
+had suffered; and while she was thus employed, Mr. Van Brunt
+busied himself with Ellen, who was really in no condition to help
+herself. It was curious to see him carefully taking off Ellen's wet
+hood (not the blue one), and knocking it gently to get rid of the
+snow; evidently thinking that ladies' things must have delicate
+handling. He tried the cloak next, but boggled sadly at the
+fastening of that, and at last was fain to call in help.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Nancy! where are you? step here and see if you can
+undo this here thing, whatever you call it; I believe my fingers
+are too big for it."</p>
+
+<p>It was Ellen's former acquaintance who came forward in obe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>dience
+to this call. Ellen had not seen before that she was in
+the room. Nancy grinned a mischievous smile of recognition as
+she stooped to Ellen's throat, and undid the fastening of the
+cloak, and then shortly enough bade her "get up, that she might
+take it off." Ellen obeyed, but was very glad to sit down again.
+While Nancy went to the door to shake the cloak, Mr. Van Brunt
+was gently pulling off Ellen's wet gloves, and on Nancy's return,
+he directed her to take off the shoes, which were filled with snow.
+Nancy sat down on the floor before Ellen to obey this order; and,
+tired and exhausted as she was, Ellen felt the different manner in
+which her hands and feet were waited upon.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you get into this scrape?" said Nancy; "<i>this</i> was
+none of my doings, anyhow. It'll never be dry weather, Ellen,
+where you are. I won't put on my Sunday go-to-meeting clothes
+when I go a-walking with you. You had ought to ha' been a
+duck or a goose, or something like that. What's that for, Mr.
+Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>This last query, pretty sharply spoken, was in answer to a light
+touch of that gentleman's hand upon Miss Nancy's ear, which
+came rather as a surprise. He deigned no reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a fine gentleman!" said Nancy tartly.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you done what I gave you to do?" said Mr. Van Brunt
+coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—there!" said Nancy, holding up Ellen's bare feet on
+one hand, while the fingers of the other, secretly applied in
+ticklish fashion to the soles of them, caused Ellen suddenly to
+start and scream.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up!" said Mr. Van Brunt; Nancy didn't think best to disobey.
+"Mother, ha'n't you got nothing you want Nancy to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sally," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "you and Nancy go and fetch
+here a couple of pails of hot water, right away."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, and mind what you are about," said Mr. Van Brunt, "and
+after that keep out of this room, and don't whisper again till I give
+you leave. Now, Miss Ellen, dear, how do you feel?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen said in words that she felt "nicely." But the eyes and
+the smile said a great deal more; Ellen's heart was running over.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she'll feel nicely, I'll be bound," said Mrs. Van Brunt;
+"wait till she gets her feet soaked, and then——!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do feel nicely now," said Ellen. And Alice smiled in
+answer to their inquiries, and said if she only knew her father was
+easy there would be nothing wanting to her happiness.</p>
+
+<p>The bathing of their feet was a great refreshment, and their
+kind hostess had got ready a plentiful supply of hot herb tea, with
+which both Alice and Ellen were well dosed. While they sat
+sipping this, toasting their feet before the fire, Mrs. Van Brunt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+and the girls meanwhile preparing their room, Mr. Van Brunt
+suddenly entered. He was cloaked and hatted, and had a riding
+whip in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any word you'd like to get home, Miss Alice? I'm
+going to ride a good piece that way, and I can stop as good as not."</p>
+
+<p>"To-night, Mr. Van Brunt!" exclaimed Alice in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt's silence seemed to say that to-night was the
+time and no other.</p>
+
+<p>"But the storm is too bad," urged Alice. "Pray don't go till
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray don't, Mr. Van Brunt!" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't help it—I've got business; must go. What shall I say,
+ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should be <i>very</i> glad," said Alice, "to have my father know
+where I am. Are you going very near the Nose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very near."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall be greatly obliged if you will be so kind as to
+stop and relieve my father's anxiety. But how can you go in such
+weather? and so dark as it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear," said Mr. Van Brunt. "We'll be back in half-an-hour,
+if 'Brahm and me don't come across a snow-drift a <i>leetle</i>
+too deep. Good-night, ma'am." And out he went.</p>
+
+<p>"'Back in half-an-hour,'" said Alice, musing. "Why, he said
+he had been to untie his horse for the night! He must be going
+on our account, I am sure, Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>"On <i>your</i> account," said Ellen, smiling. "Oh, I knew that
+all the time, Miss Alice. I don't think he'll stop to relieve Aunt
+Fortune's anxiety."</p>
+
+<p>Alice sprang to call him back, but Mrs. Van Brunt assured
+her it was too late, and that she need not be uneasy, for her son
+"didn't mind the storm no more than a weather-board." 'Brahm
+and 'Brahm could go anywhere in any sort of a time. "He was
+agoing without speaking to you, but I told him he had better, for
+maybe you wanted to send some word particular. And your
+room's ready now, dear, and you'd better go to bed and sleep as
+long as you can."</p>
+
+<p>They went thankfully. "Isn't this a pleasant room?" said
+Ellen, who saw everything in rose-colour; "and a nice bed. But
+I feel as if I could sleep on the floor to-night. Isn't it a'most
+worth while to have such a time, Miss Alice, for the sake of the
+pleasure afterwards?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Ellen," said Alice, smiling; "I won't say that;
+though it is worth paying a price for to find how much kindness
+there is in some people's hearts. As to sleeping on the floor, I
+must say I never felt less inclined to it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am tired enough too," said Ellen, as they laid themselves
+down. "Two nights with you in a week! Oh those weeks
+before I saw you, Miss Alice!"</p>
+
+<p>One earnest kiss for good night; and Ellen's sigh of pleasure
+on touching the pillow was scarcely breathed when sleep deep
+and sound fell upon her eyelids.</p>
+
+<p>It was very late next morning when they awoke, having slept
+rather heavily than well. They crawled out of bed feeling stiff
+and sore in every limb; each confessing to more evil effects from
+their adventure than she had been aware of the evening before.
+All the rubbing and bathing and drinking that Mrs. Van Brunt
+had administered had been too little to undo what wet and cold
+and fatigue had done. But Mrs. Van Brunt had set her breakfast-table
+with everything her house could furnish that was nice; a
+bountifully-spread board it was. Mr. Humphreys was there too;
+and no bad feelings of two of the party could prevent that from
+being a most cheerful and pleasant meal. Even Mr Humphreys
+and Mr. Van Brunt, two persons not usually given to many words,
+came out wonderfully on this occasion; gratitude and pleasure in
+the one, and generous feeling on the part of the other, untied
+their tongues; and Ellen looked from one to the other in some
+amazement to see how agreeable they could be. Kindness and
+hospitality always kept Mrs. Van Brunt in full flow; and Alice,
+whatever she felt, exerted herself, and supplied what was wanting
+everywhere; like the transparent glazing which painters use to
+spread over the dead colour of their pictures; unknown, it was
+she gave her life and harmony to the whole. And Ellen in her
+enjoyment of everything and everybody, forgot or despised aches
+and pains, and even whispered to Alice that coffee was making
+her well again.</p>
+
+<p>But happily breakfasts must come to an end, and so did this,
+prolonged though it was. Immediately after, the party, whom
+circumstances had gathered for the first and probably the last
+time, scattered again; but the meeting had left pleasant effects
+on all minds. Mrs. Van Brunt was in general delight that she
+had entertained so many people she thought a great deal of, and
+particularly glad of the chance of showing her kind feelings
+towards two of the number. Mr. Humphreys remarked upon
+"that very sensible, good-hearted man, Mr. Van Brunt, towards
+whom he felt himself under great obligation." Mr. Van Brunt
+said, "the minister warn't such a grum man as people called
+him;" and moreover said, "it was a good thing to have an education,
+and he had a notion to read more." As for Alice and Ellen,
+they went away full of kind feeling for every one, and much love
+to each other. This was true of them before; but their late<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+troubles had drawn them closer together and given them fresh
+occasion to value their friends.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Humphreys had brought the little one-horse sleigh for his
+daughter, and soon after breakfast Ellen saw it drive off with her.
+Mr. Van Brunt then harnessed his own and carried Ellen home.
+Ill though she felt, the poor child made an effort and spent part
+of the morning in finishing the long letter to her mother which
+had been on the stocks since Monday. The effort became painful
+towards the last; and the aching limbs and trembling hand of
+which she complained were the first beginnings of a serious fit of
+illness. She went to bed that same afternoon, and did not leave
+it again for two weeks. Cold had taken violent hold of her
+system; fever set in and ran high; and half the time little Ellen's
+wits were roving in delirium. Nothing however could be too
+much for Miss Fortune's energies; she was as much at home in
+a sick room as in a well one. She flew about with increased
+agility; was upstairs and downstairs twenty times in the course
+of the day, and kept all straight everywhere. Ellen's room was
+always the picture of neatness; the fire, the wood-fire, was taken
+care of; Miss Fortune seemed to know by instinct when it wanted
+a fresh supply, and to be on the spot by magic to give it. Ellen's
+medicines were dealt out in proper time; her gruels and drinks
+perfectly well made and arranged with appetising nicety on a
+little table by the bedside where she could reach them herself;
+and Miss Fortune was generally at hand when she was wanted.
+But in spite of all this there was something missing in that sick
+room—there was a great want; and whenever the delirium was
+upon her Ellen made no secret of it. She was never violent; but
+she moaned, sometimes impatiently and sometimes plaintively,
+for her mother. It was a vexation to Miss Fortune to hear her.
+The name of her mother was all the time on her lips; if by chance
+her aunt's name came in, it was spoken in a way that generally
+sent her bouncing out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," poor Ellen would say, "just lay your hand on my
+forehead, will you? it's so hot. Oh do, mamma!—where are
+you? Do put your hand on my forehead, won't you? Oh, do
+speak to me, why don't you, mamma? Oh, why don't she come
+to me?"</p>
+
+<p>Once when Ellen was uneasily calling in this fashion for her
+mother's hand, Miss Fortune softly laid her own upon the child's
+brow; but the quick sudden jerk of the head from under it told
+her how well Ellen knew the one from the other; and little as
+she cared for Ellen it was wormwood to her.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune was not without offers of help during this sick
+time. Mrs. Van Brunt, and afterwards Mrs. Vawse, asked leave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+to come and nurse Ellen; but Miss Fortune declared it was more
+plague than profit to her, and she couldn't be bothered with
+having strangers about. Mrs. Van Brunt she suffered much
+against her will to come for a day or two; at the end of that Miss
+Fortune found means to get rid of her civilly. Mrs. Vawse she
+would not allow to stay an hour. The old lady got leave however
+to go up to the sick-room for a few minutes. Ellen, who was
+then in a high fever, informed her that her mother was downstairs,
+and her Aunt Fortune would not let her come up; she pleaded
+with tears that she might come, and entreated Mrs. Vawse to
+take her aunt away and send her mother. Mrs. Vawse tried to
+soothe her. Miss Fortune grew impatient.</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth's the use," said she, "of talking to a child
+that's out of her head? She can't hear reason; that's the way
+she gets into whenever the fever's on her. I have the pleasure
+of hearing that sort of thing all the time. Come away, Mrs.
+Vawse, and leave her; she can't be better any way than alone,
+and I am in the room every other thing; she's just as well
+quiet. Nobody knows," said Miss Fortune, on her way downstairs,
+"nobody knows the blessing of taking care of other
+people's children that ha'n't tried it. <i>I've</i> tried it, to my heart's
+content."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Vawse sighed, but departed in silence.</p>
+
+<p>It was not when the fever was on her and delirium high that
+Ellen most felt the want she then so pitifully made known. There
+were other times, when her head was aching, and weary and weak
+she lay still there, oh, how she longed then for the dear wonted
+face; the old quiet smile that carried so much of comfort and
+assurance with it; the voice that was like heaven's music; the
+touch of that loved hand to which she had clung for so many years!
+She could scarcely bear to think of it sometimes. In the still
+wakeful hours of night, when the only sound to be heard was the
+heavy breathing of her aunt asleep on the floor by her side, and
+in the long solitary day, when the only variety to be looked for was
+Miss Fortune's flitting in and out, and there came to be a sameness
+about that, Ellen mourned her loss bitterly. Many and many
+were the silent tears that rolled down and wet her pillow; many
+a long-drawn sigh came from the very bottom of Ellen's heart;
+she was too weak and subdued now for violent weeping. She
+wondered sadly why Alice did not come to see her; it was another
+great grief added to the former. She never chose, however, to
+mention her name to her aunt. She kept her wonder and her
+sorrow to herself—all the harder to bear for that. After two
+weeks Ellen began to mend, and then she became exceeding
+weary of being alone and shut up to her room. It was a pleasure to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+have her Bible and hymn-book lying upon the bed, and a great
+comfort when she was able to look at a few words; but that was
+not very often, and she longed to see somebody and hear something
+besides her aunt's dry questions and answers.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon Ellen was sitting, alone as usual, bolstered up
+in bed. Her little hymn-book was clasped in her hand; though
+not equal to reading, she felt the touch of it a solace. Half
+dozing, half waking, she had been perfectly quiet for some time,
+when the sudden and not very gentle opening of the room door
+caused her to start and open her eyes. They opened wider than
+usual, for instead of her Aunt Fortune it was the figure of Miss
+Nancy Vawse that presented itself. She came in briskly, and
+shutting the door behind her advanced to the bedside.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said she, "there you are! Why, you look smart
+enough. I've come to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you?" said Ellen uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Fortune's gone out, and she told me to come and take
+care of you; so I'm going to spend the afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you?" said Ellen again.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—ain't you glad? I knew you must be lonely, so I
+thought I'd come."</p>
+
+<p>There was a mischievous twinkle in Nancy's eyes. Ellen for
+once in her life wished for her aunt's presence.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing indeed? It's a fine thing to lie there and do
+nothing. You won't get well in a hurry, I guess, will you? You
+look as well as I do this minute. Oh, I always knew you was a
+sham."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very much mistaken," said Ellen indignantly; "I
+have been very sick, and I am not at all well yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Fiddle-dee-dee! it's very nice to think so; I guess you're
+lazy. How soft and good those pillows do look, to be sure.
+Come, Ellen, try getting up a little. <i>I</i> believe you hurt yourself
+with sleeping. It'll do you good to be out of bed awhile; come,
+get up."</p>
+
+<p>She pulled Ellen's arm as she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, Nancy, let me alone!" cried Ellen, struggling with all
+her force; "I mustn't—I can't! I mustn't get up; what do you
+mean? I'm not able to sit up at all; let me go!"</p>
+
+<p>She succeeded in freeing herself from Nancy's grasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you're an obstinate piece," said the other; "have your
+own way. But mind, I'm left in charge of you; is it time for you
+to take your physic?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not taking any," said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What are you taking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but gruel and little things."</p>
+
+<p>"'Gruel and little things;' little things means something
+good, I s'pose. Well, is it time for you to take some gruel or one
+of the little things?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't want any."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's nothing; people never know what's good for
+them; I'm your nurse now, and I'm going to give it to you when
+I think you want it. Let me feel your pulse—yes, your pulse
+says gruel is wanting. I shall put some down to warm right
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't take it," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a likely story! You'd better not say so. I rather
+s'pose you will if I give it to you. Look here, Ellen, you'd better
+mind how you behave; you're going to do just what I tell you. I
+know how to manage you; if you make any fuss I shall just tickle
+you finely," said Nancy, as she prepared a bed of coals, and set the
+cup of gruel on it to get hot; "I'll do it in no time at all, my
+young lady, so you'd better mind."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Ellen involuntarily curled up her feet under the bedclothes
+so as to get them as far as possible out of harm's way
+She judged the best thing was to keep quiet if she could, so she
+said nothing. Nancy was in great glee; with something of the
+same spirit of mischief that a cat shows when she has a captured
+mouse at the end of her paws. While the gruel was heating she
+spun round the room in quest of amusement; and her sudden jerks
+and flings from one place and thing to another had so much of
+lawlessness that Ellen was in perpetual terror as to what she
+might take it into her head to do next.</p>
+
+<p>"Where does that door lead to?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that one leads to the garret," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>believe</i> so? why don't you say it does, at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't been up to see."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't! you expect me to believe that, I s'pose? I
+am not quite such a gull as you take me for. What's up
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course! I declare I don't know what you are up to
+exactly; but if you won't tell me I'll find out for myself pretty
+quick, that's one thing."</p>
+
+<p>She flung open the door and ran up; and Ellen heard her
+feet trampling overhead from one end of the house to the other;
+and sounds too of pushing and pulling things over the floor; it
+was plain Nancy was rummaging.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, as she turned uneasily upon her bed, "it's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+no affair of mine; I can't help it, whatever she does. But oh,
+won't Aunt Fortune be angry!"</p>
+
+<p>Nancy presently came down with her frock gathered up into
+a bag before her.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think I have got here?" said she. "I s'pose
+you didn't know there was a basket of fine hickory nuts up there
+in the corner? Was it you or Miss Fortune that hid them away
+so nicely? I s'pose she thought nobody would ever think of
+looking behind the great blue chest and under the feather bed,
+but it takes me! Miss Fortune was afraid of your stealing 'em I
+guess, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"She needn't have been," said Ellen indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I suppose you wouldn't take 'em if you saw 'em; you
+wouldn't eat 'em if they were cracked for you, would you?"</p>
+
+<p>She flung some on Ellen's bed as she spoke. Nancy had
+seated herself on the floor, and using for a hammer a piece of old
+iron she had brought down with her from the garret, she was
+cracking the nuts on the clean white hearth.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I wouldn't!" said Ellen, throwing them back; "and
+you oughtn't to crack them there, Nancy; you'll make a dreadful
+muss."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think I care?" said the other scornfully.
+She leisurely cracked and eat as many as she pleased of the nuts,
+bestowing the rest in the bosom of her frock. Ellen watched
+fearfully for her next move. If she should open the little door
+and get among her books and boxes!</p>
+
+<p>Nancy's first care, however, was the cup of gruel. It was
+found too hot for any mortal lips to bear, so it was set on one
+side to cool. Then, taking up her rambling examination of the
+room, she went from window to window.</p>
+
+<p>"What fine big windows! one might get in here easy enough.
+I declare, Ellen, some night I'll set the ladder up against here,
+and the first thing you'll see will be me coming in. You'll have
+me to sleep with you before you think."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll fasten my windows," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you won't. You'll do it a night or two, may be, but
+then you'll forget it. I shall find them open when I come. Oh,
+I'll come!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I could call Aunt Fortune," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you couldn't, 'cause if you spoke a word I'd tickle you
+to death; that's what I'd do. I know how to fix you off. And
+if you did call her I'd just whap out of the window and run off
+with my ladder, and then you'd get a fine combing for disturbing
+the house. What's in this trunk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only my clothes and things," said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh goody! that's fine; now I'll have a look at 'em. That's
+just what I wanted, only I didn't know it. Where's the key?
+Oh, here it is sticking in—that's good!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please don't!" said Ellen, raising herself on her elbows,
+"they're all in nice order, and you'll get them all in confusion.
+Oh, do let them alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"You'd best be quiet or I'll come and see you," said Nancy;
+"I'm just going to look at everything in it, and if I find any
+thing out of sorts, you'll get it. What's this? ruffles, I declare!
+ain't you fine! I'll see how they look on me. What a plague!
+you haven't a glass in the room. Never mind—I am used to
+dressing without a glass."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wish you wouldn't," said Ellen, who was worried to
+the last degree at seeing her nicely done-up ruffles round Nancy's
+neck; "they're so nice, and you'll muss them all up."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry about it," said Nancy coolly, "I ain't agoing to
+eat 'm. My goodness! what a fine hood! ain't that pretty?"</p>
+
+<p>The nice blue hood was turned about in Nancy's fingers, and
+well looked at inside and out. Ellen was in distress for fear it
+would go on Nancy's head, as well as the ruffles round her neck;
+but it didn't; she flung it at length on one side, and went on
+pulling out one thing after another, strewing them very carelessly
+about the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"What's here? a pair of dirty stockings, as I am alive. Ain't
+you ashamed to put dirty stockings in your trunk?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are no such thing," said Ellen, who in her vexation
+was in danger of forgetting her fear—"I've worn them but
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"They've no business in here anyhow," said Nancy, rolling
+them up in a hard ball and giving them a sudden fling at Ellen.
+They just missed her face and struck the wall beyond. Ellen
+seized them to throw back, but her weakness warned her she was
+not able, and a moment reminded her of the folly of doing anything
+to rouse Nancy, who for the present was pretty quiet.
+Ellen lay upon her pillow and looked on, ready to cry with vexation.
+All her nicely-stowed piles of white clothes were ruthlessly
+hurled out and tumbled about; her capes tried on; her summer
+dresses unfolded, displayed, criticised. Nancy decided one was
+too short; another very ugly; a third horribly ill-made; and
+when she had done with each it was cast out of her way on one
+side or the other as the case might be.</p>
+
+<p>The floor was littered with clothes in various states of disarrangement
+and confusion. The bottom of the trunk was
+reached at last, and then Nancy suddenly recollected her gruel,
+and sprang to it. But it had grown cold again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This won't do," said Nancy, as she put it on the coals again,
+"it must be just right; it'll warm soon, and then, Miss Ellen,
+you're agoing to take it whether or no. I hope you won't give
+me the pleasure of pouring it down."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile she opened the little door of Ellen's study closet
+and went in there, though Ellen begged her not. She pulled
+the door to, and stayed some time perfectly quiet. Not able to
+see or hear what she was doing, and fretted beyond measure that
+her workbox and writing-desk should be at Nancy's mercy, or
+even feel the touch of her fingers, Ellen at last could stand it no
+longer, but threw herself out of the bed, weak as she was, and
+went to see what was going on. Nancy was seated quietly on
+the floor, examining with much seeming interest the contents of
+the workbox, trying on the thimble, cutting bits of thread with
+the scissors, and marking the ends of the spools, with whatever
+like pieces of mischief her restless spirit could devise; but when
+Ellen opened the door she put the box from her and started up.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness me!" said she, "this'll never do. What are
+you out here for? You'll catch your death with those dear little
+bare feet, and we shall have the mischief to pay."</p>
+
+<p>As she said this she caught up Ellen in her arms as if she had
+been a baby and carried her back to the bed, where she laid her
+with two or three little shakes, and then proceeded to spread up
+the clothes and tuck her in all round. She then ran for the gruel.
+Ellen was in great question whether to give way to tears or vexation;
+but with some difficulty determined upon vexation as the
+best plan. Nancy prepared the gruel to her liking, and brought
+it to the bedside; but to get it swallowed was another matter.
+Nancy was resolved Ellen should take it. Ellen had less strength
+but quite as much obstinacy as her enemy, and she was equally
+resolved not to drink a drop. Between laughing on Nancy's
+part and very serious anger on Ellen's a struggle ensued. Nancy
+tried to force it down, but Ellen's shut teeth were as firm as a
+vice, and the end was that two-thirds were bestowed on the
+sheet. Ellen burst into tears; Nancy laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I <i>do</i> think," said she, "you are one of the hardest
+customers ever I came across. I shouldn't want to have the
+managing of you when you get a little bigger. Oh, the way Miss
+Fortune will look when she comes in here will be a caution!
+Oh, what fun!"</p>
+
+<p>Nancy shouted and clapped her hands. "Come, stop crying!"
+said she; "what a baby you are! What are you crying for?
+Come, stop. I'll make you laugh if you don't."</p>
+
+<p>Two or three little applications of Nancy's fingers made her
+words good, but laughing was mixed with crying, and Ellen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+writhed in hysterics. Just then came a little knock at the door.
+Ellen did not hear it, but it quieted Nancy. She stood still a
+moment, and then as the knock was repeated she called out
+boldly, "Come in!" Ellen raised her head "to see who there
+might be," and great was the surprise of both and the joy of
+one as the tall form and broad shoulders of Mr. Van Brunt
+presented themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Van Brunt," sobbed Ellen, "I am so glad to see
+you! Won't you please send Nancy away!"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing here?" said the astonished Dutchman.</p>
+
+<p>"Look and see, Mr. Van Brunt," said Nancy, with a smile of
+mischief's own curling; "you won't be long finding out, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Take yourself off, and don't let me hear of your being caught
+here again."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go when I'm ready, thank you," said Nancy; "and as
+to the rest I haven't been caught the first time yet; I don't
+know what you mean."</p>
+
+<p>She sprang as she finished her sentence, for Mr. Van Brunt
+made a sudden movement to catch her then and there. He was
+foiled, and then began a running chase round the room, in the
+course of which Nancy dodged, pushed, and sprang with the
+power of squeezing by impassables and overleaping impossibilities,
+that, to say the least of it, was remarkable. The room was
+too small for her, and she was caught at last.</p>
+
+<p>"I vow," said Mr. Van Brunt, as he pinioned her hands, "I
+should like to see you play blind-man's-buff for once, if I waren't
+the blind man."</p>
+
+<p>"How'd you see me if you was?" said Nancy scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Miss Ellen," said Mr. Van Brunt, as he brought her
+to Ellen's bedside, "here she is safe; what shall I do with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you will only send her away and not let her come back,
+Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen, "I'll be so much obliged to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go," said Nancy. "I declare you are a real mean
+Dutchman, Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>He took both her hands in one and laid the other lightly over
+her ears.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll let you go," said he. "Now, don't you be caught here
+again if you know what is good for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>He saw Miss Nancy out of the door and then came back to
+Ellen, who was crying heartily again from nervous vexation.</p>
+
+<p>"She's gone," said he. "What has that wicked thing been
+doing, Miss Ellen? What's the matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen, "you can't think how she
+has worried me; she has been here this great while. Just look
+at all my things on the floor, and that isn't the half."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt gave a long whistle as his eye surveyed the
+tokens of Miss Nancy's mischief-making, over and through which
+both she and himself had been chasing at full speed, making the
+state of matters rather worse than it was before.</p>
+
+<p>"I do say," said he slowly, "that is too bad. I'd fix them
+up again for you, Miss Ellen, if I knew how; but my hands are
+almost as clumsy as my feet, and I see the marks of them there.
+It's too bad, I declare. I didn't know what I was going on."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen; "I don't mind
+what you have done a bit. I'm <i>so</i> glad to see you!"</p>
+
+<p>She put out her little hand to him as she spoke. He took it
+in his now silently, but though he said and showed nothing of it,
+Ellen's look and tone of affection thrilled his heart with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do?" said he kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a great deal better," said Ellen. "Sit down, won't
+you, Mr. Van Brunt? I want to see you a little."</p>
+
+<p>Horses wouldn't have drawn him away after that. He sat
+down.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't you going to be up again some of these days?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I hope so," said Ellen, sighing; "I am very tired
+of lying here."</p>
+
+<p>He looked round the room; got up and mended the fire;
+then came and sat down again.</p>
+
+<p>"I was up yesterday for a minute," said Ellen, "but the chair
+tired me so, I was glad to get back to bed again."</p>
+
+<p>It was no wonder! harder and straighter-backed chairs never
+were invented. Probably Mr. Van Brunt thought so.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't you like to have a rocking-cheer?" said he
+suddenly, as if a bright thought had struck him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, how much I should!" said Ellen, with another long-drawn
+breath; "but there isn't such a thing in the house that
+ever I saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, but there is in other houses, though," said Mr. Van
+Brunt, with as near an approach to a smile as his lips commonly
+made; "we'll see!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen smiled more broadly. "But don't you give yourself
+any trouble for me," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"Trouble, indeed!" said Mr. Van Brunt; "I don't know anything
+about that. How came that wicked thing up here to
+plague you?"</p>
+
+<p>"She said Aunt Fortune left her to take care of me."</p>
+
+<p>"That's one of her lies. Your aunt's gone out, I know; but
+she's a trifle wiser than to do such a thing as that. She has
+plagued you badly, ha'n't she?"</p>
+
+<p>He might have thought so. The colour which excitement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+brought into Ellen's face had faded away, and she had settled
+herself back against her pillow with an expression of weakness
+and weariness that the strong man saw and felt.</p>
+
+<p>"What is there I can do for you?" said he, with a gentleness
+that seemed almost strange from such lips.</p>
+
+<p>"If you would," said Ellen faintly, "if you <i>could</i> be so kind
+as to read me a hymn, I should be so glad. I've had nobody to
+read to me."</p>
+
+<p>Her hand put the little book towards him as she said so.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt would vastly rather any one had asked him to
+plough an acre. He was to the full as much confounded as poor
+Ellen had once been at a request of his. He hesitated and looked
+towards Ellen, wishing for an excuse. But the pale little face
+that lay there against the pillow, the drooping eyelids, the meek,
+helpless look of the little child put all excuses out of his head;
+and though he would have chosen to do almost anything else, he
+took the book, and asked her "Where?" She said anywhere;
+and he took the first he saw.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"Poor, weak, and worthless though I am,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I have a rich, almighty friend;</span><br />
+Jesus the Saviour is His name,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He freely loves, and without end."</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Ellen, with a sigh of pleasure, and folding her
+hands on her breast—"how lovely that is!"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped and looked at her a moment, and then went on
+with increased gravity.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"He ransomed me from hell with blood,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And by His pow'r my foes controlled;</span><br />
+He found me wand'ring far from God,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And brought me to His chosen fold."</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Fold!" said Ellen, opening her eyes; "what is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's where sheep are penned, ain't it?" said Mr. Van Brunt,
+after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Ellen, "that's it; I remember; that's like
+what he said, 'I am the good shepherd,' and 'the Lord is my
+shepherd;' I know now. Go on, please."</p>
+
+<p>He finished the hymn without more interruption. Looking
+again towards Ellen, he was surprised to see several large tears
+finding their way down her cheeks from under the wet eyelashes.
+But she quickly wiped them away.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you read them things for," said he, "if they make
+you feel bad?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Feel bad!" said Ellen. "Oh, they don't; they make me
+happy; I love them dearly. I never read that one before. You
+can't think how much I am obliged to you for reading it to me.
+Will you let me see where it is?"</p>
+
+<p>He gave it her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there's his mark!" said Ellen, with sparkling eyes.
+"Now, Mr. Van Brunt, would you be so very good as to read it
+once more?"</p>
+
+<p>He obeyed. It was easier this time. She listened as before
+with closed eyes, but the colour came and went once or twice.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you very much," she said, when he had done. "Are
+you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must; I have some things to look after."</p>
+
+<p>She held his hand still.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt, don't <i>you</i> love hymns?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know much about 'em, Miss Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt, are you one of that fold?"</p>
+
+<p>"What fold?"</p>
+
+<p>"The fold of Christ's people."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afeard not, Miss Ellen," said he soberly, after a minute's
+pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Because," said Ellen, bursting into tears, "I wish you were,
+very much."</p>
+
+<p>She carried the great brown hand to her lips before she let it
+go. He went without saying a word. But when he got out, he
+stopped and looked at a little tear she had left on the back of it.
+And he looked till one of his own fell there to keep it company.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Oh, that <i>had</i>, how sad a passage 'tis!</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The next day, about the middle of the afternoon, a light step
+crossed the shed, and the great door opening gently, in walked
+Miss Alice Humphreys. The room was all "redd up," and Miss
+Fortune and her mother sat there at work, one picking over white
+beans at the table, the other in her usual seat by the fire, and at
+her usual employment, which was knitting. Alice came forward,
+and asked the old lady how she did.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty well. Oh, pretty well!" she answered, with the look
+of bland good-humour her face almost always wore; "and glad
+to see you, dear. Take a chair."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Alice did so, quite aware that the other person in the room
+was <i>not</i> glad to see her.</p>
+
+<p>"And how goes the world with you, Miss Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! It's a queer kind of world, I think," answered
+that lady dryly, sweeping some of the picked beans into her pan.
+"I get a'most sick of it sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter?" said Alice pleasantly. "May I ask,
+has anything happened to trouble you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," said the other somewhat impatiently. "Nothing
+that's any matter to any one but myself. It's no use speaking
+about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Fortune never would take the world easy," said the
+old woman, shaking her head from side to side. "Never would;
+I never could get her."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, do hush, mother, will you?" said the daughter, turning
+round upon her with startling sharpness of look and tone.
+"Take the world easy! You always did. I'm glad I ain't like
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it's a bad way, after all," said Alice. "What's
+the use of taking it hard, Miss Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"The way one goes on!" said that lady, picking away at her
+beans very fast, and not answering Alice's question. "I'm tired of
+it. Toil, toil, and drive, drive, from morning to night; and what's
+the end of it all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much," said Alice gravely, "if our toiling looks no
+further than <i>this</i> world. When we go we shall carry nothing
+away with us. I should think it would be very wearisome to toil
+only for what we cannot keep nor stay long to enjoy."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pity you warn't a minister, Miss Alice," said Miss
+Fortune dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, Miss Fortune," said Alice, smiling. "The family
+would be overstocked. My father is one, and my brother will be
+another. A third would be too much. You must be so good as
+to let me preach without taking orders."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wish every minister was as good a one as you'd make,"
+said Miss Fortune, her hard face giving way a little. "At any
+rate, nobody'd mind anything you'd say, Miss Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be unlucky, in one sense," said Alice, "but I
+believe I know what you mean. But, Miss Fortune, no one would
+dream the world went very hard with you. I don't know anybody,
+I think, lives in more independent comfort and plenty, and
+has things more to her mind. I never come to the house that I
+am not struck with the fine look of the farm and all that belongs
+to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the old lady, nodding her head two or three times,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+"Mr. Van Brunt is a good farmer—very good. There's no doubt
+about that."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what <i>he'd</i> do," said Miss Fortune, quickly and
+sharply as before, "if there warn't a head to manage for him!
+Oh, the farm's well enough, Miss Alice. 'Tain't that. Every
+one knows where his own shoe pinches."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd let me into the secret, then, Miss Fortune.
+I'm a cobbler by profession."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune's ill-humour was giving way, but something disagreeable
+seemed again to cross her mind. Her brow darkened.</p>
+
+<p>"I say it's a poor kind of world, and I'm sick of it! One may
+slave and slave one's life out for other people, and what thanks
+do you get? I'm sick of it."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a little body upstairs, or I'm much mistaken, who
+will give you very sincere thanks for every kindness shown her."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune tossed her head, and brushing the refuse beans
+into her lap, she pushed back her chair with a jerk to go to the
+fire with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Much you know about her, Miss Alice! Thanks, indeed! I
+haven't seen the sign of such a thing since she's been here, for all
+I have worked and worked and had plague enough with her, I am
+sure. Deliver me from other people's children, say I!"</p>
+
+<p>"After all, Miss Fortune," said Alice soberly, "it is not what
+we <i>do</i> for people that makes them love us; or at least, everything
+depends on the way things are done. A look of love, a word of
+kindness, goes further towards winning the heart than years of
+service or benefactions mountain-high without them."</p>
+
+<p>"Does she say I am unkind to her?" asked Miss Fortune
+fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," said Alice. "Words on her part are unnecessary.
+It is easy to see from your own that there is no love lost
+between you, and I am very sorry it is so."</p>
+
+<p>"Love, indeed!" said Miss Fortune, with great indignation.
+"There never was any to lose, I can assure you. She plagues the
+very life out of me. Why, she hadn't been here three days before
+she went off with that girl Nancy Vawse, that I had told her
+never to go near, and was gone all night. That's the time she
+got in the brook. And if you'd seen her face when I was scolding
+her about it! It was like seven thunder-clouds. Much you know
+about it! I dare say she's very sweet to you; that's the way she
+is to everybody beside me. They all think she's too good to live,
+and it just makes me mad!"</p>
+
+<p>"She told me herself," said Alice, "of her behaving ill another
+time about her mother's letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that was another time. I wish you'd seen her."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I believe she saw and felt her fault in that case. Didn't
+she ask your pardon? She said she would."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Miss Fortune dryly, "after a fashion."</p>
+
+<p>"Has she had her letter yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"How is she to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she's well enough—she's sitting up. You can go up and
+see her."</p>
+
+<p>"I will directly," said Alice. "But now, Miss Fortune, I am
+going to ask a favour of you. Will you do me a great pleasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Miss Alice, if I can."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think Ellen has been sufficiently punished for her ill-behaviour—if
+you do not think it right to withhold her letter still—will
+you let me have the pleasure of giving it to her? I should
+take it as a great favour to myself."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune made no kind of reply to this, but stalked out of
+the room, and in a few minutes stalked in again with the letter,
+which she gave to Alice, only saying shortly, "It came to me in
+a letter from her father."</p>
+
+<p>"You are willing she should have it?" said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes; do what you like with it."</p>
+
+<p>Alice now went softly upstairs. She found Ellen's door a little
+ajar, and looking in, could see Ellen seated in a rocking-chair
+between the door and the fire, in her double gown, and with her
+hymn-book in her hand. It happened that Ellen had spent a
+good part of that afternoon in crying for her lost letter; and the
+face that she turned to the door on hearing some slight noise outside
+was very white and thin indeed; and though it was placid too,
+her eye searched the crack of the door with a keen wistfulness that
+went to Alice's heart. But as the door was gently pushed open,
+and the eye caught the figure that stood behind it, the sudden
+and entire change of expression took away all her powers of
+speech. Ellen's face became radiant; she rose from her chair,
+and as Alice came silently in and kneeling down to be near her,
+took her in her arms, Ellen put both hers round Alice's neck and
+laid her face there; one was too happy and the other too touched
+to say a word.</p>
+
+<p>"My poor child!" was Alice's first expression.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I ain't," said Ellen, tightening the squeeze of her arms
+round Alice's neck; "I am not poor at all now."</p>
+
+<p>Alice presently rose, sat down in the rocking-chair, and took
+Ellen in her lap; and Ellen rested her head on her bosom, as she
+had been wont to do of old time on her mother's.</p>
+
+<p>"I am too happy," she murmured. But she was weeping, and
+the current of tears seemed to gather force as it flowed. What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+was little Ellen thinking of just then? Oh! those times gone by,
+when she had sat just so; her head pillowed on another as gentle
+a breast; kind arms wrapped round her, just as now; the same little
+old double-gown; the same weak, helpless feeling; the same
+committing herself to the strength and care of another; how
+much the same, and oh! how much not the same! And Ellen
+knew both. Blessing as she did the breast on which she leaned
+and the arms whose pressure she felt, they yet reminded her
+sadly of those most loved and so very far away; and it was an odd
+mixture of relief and regret, joy and sorrow, gratified and ungratified
+affection, that opened the sluices of her eyes. Tears
+poured.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, my love?" said Alice softly.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," whispered Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you so glad to see me? or so sorry? or what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, glad and sorry both, I think," said Ellen, with a long
+breath, and sitting up.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you wanted me so much, my poor child?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you how much," said Ellen, her words cut short.</p>
+
+<p>"And didn't you know that I have been sick too? What did
+you think had become of me? Why, Mrs. Vawse was with me a
+whole week, and this is the very first day I have been able to go
+out. It is so fine to-day I was permitted to ride Sharp down."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that it?" said Ellen. "I did wonder, Miss Alice; I
+did wonder very much why you did not come to see me; but I
+never liked to ask Aunt Fortune, because——"</p>
+
+<p>"Because what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know as I ought to say what I was going to. I had
+a feeling she would be glad about what I was sorry about."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know <i>that</i> you ought to say," said Alice. "Remember,
+you are to study English with me."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen smiled a glad smile.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have had a weary two weeks of it, haven't you,
+dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Ellen, with another long-drawn sigh, "how weary!
+Part of that time, to be sure, I was out of my head; but I have
+got <i>so</i> tired lying here all alone; Aunt Fortune coming in and
+out was just as good as nobody."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child!" said Alice, "you have had a worse time than I."</p>
+
+<p>"I used to lie and watch that crack in the door at the foot of
+my bed," said Ellen, "and I got so tired of it I hated to see it,
+but when I opened my eyes I couldn't help looking at it, and
+watching all the little ins and outs in the crack till I was as sick
+of it as could be. And that button, too, that fastens the door,
+and the little round mark the button has made, and thinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+how far the button went round. And then if I looked towards
+the windows I would go right to counting the panes, first up and
+down and then across; and I didn't want to count them, but I
+couldn't help it; and watching to see through which pane the
+sky looked brightest. Oh, I got so sick of it all! There was
+only the fire that I didn't get tired of looking at; I always liked
+to lie and look at that, except when it hurt my eyes. And, oh,
+how I wanted to see you, Miss Alice! You can't think how sad
+I felt that you didn't come to see me. I couldn't think what
+could be the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have been with you, dear, and not have left you, if
+I had not been tied at home myself."</p>
+
+<p>"So I thought; and that made it seem so very strange. But,
+oh! don't you think," said Ellen, her face suddenly brightening,
+"don't you think, Mr. Van Brunt came up to see me last night?
+Wasn't it good of him? He even sat down and read to me; only
+think of that. And isn't he kind? he asked if I would like a
+rocking-chair; and of course I said yes, for these other chairs are
+dreadful, they break my back; and there wasn't such a thing as
+a rocking-chair in Aunt Fortune's house, she hates 'em, she says;
+and this morning, the first thing I knew, in walked Mr. Van
+Brunt with this nice rocking-chair. Just get up and see how nice
+it is; you see the back is cushioned, and the elbows, as well as
+the seat; it's queer looking, ain't it? but it's very comfortable.
+Wasn't it good of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was very kind, I think. But do you know, Ellen, I am
+going to have a quarrel with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What about?" said Ellen. "I don't believe it's anything
+very bad, for you look pretty good-humoured, considering."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing <i>very</i> bad," said Alice, "but still enough to quarrel
+about. You have twice said '<i>ain't</i>' since I have been here."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Ellen laughing, "is that all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Alice, "and my English ears don't like it at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they shan't hear it," said Ellen, kissing her. "I don't
+know what makes me say it; I never used to. But I've got more
+to tell you; I've had more visitors. Who do you think came to
+see me?—you'd never guess—Nancy Vawse!—Mr. Van Brunt
+came in the very nick of time, when I was almost worried to
+death with her. Only think of <i>her</i> coming up here! unknown to
+everybody. And she stayed an age, and how she <i>did</i> go on. She
+cracked nuts on the hearth; she got every stitch of my clothes
+out of my trunk and scattered them over the floor; she tried to
+make me drink gruel till between us we spilled a great parcel on
+the bed; and she had begun to tickle me when Mr. Van Brunt
+came. Oh, wasn't I glad to see him! And when Aunt Fortune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+came up and saw it all she was as angry as she could be; and she
+scolded and scolded, till at last I told her it was none of my doing—I
+couldn't help it at all—and she needn't talk so to me about
+it; and then she said it was my fault the whole of it! that if I
+hadn't scraped acquaintance with Nancy when she had forbidden
+me, all this would never have happened."</p>
+
+<p>"There is some truth in that, isn't there, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so; but I think it might all have happened whether
+or no; and at any rate it is a little hard to talk so to me about it
+now when it's all over and can't be helped. Oh, I have been so
+tired to-day, Miss Alice! Aunt Fortune has been in such a bad
+humour."</p>
+
+<p>"What put her in a bad humour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, all this about Nancy, in the first place; and then I
+know she didn't like Mr. Van Brunt's bringing the rocking-chair
+for me; she couldn't say much, but I could see by her face. And
+then Mrs. Van Brunt's coming—I don't think she liked that. Oh,
+Mrs. Van Brunt came to see me this morning, and brought me a
+custard. How many people are kind to me!—everywhere I go."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope, dear Ellen, you don't forget whose kindness sends
+them all."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't, Miss Alice; I always think of that now; and it
+seems you can't think how pleasant to me sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I hope you can bear unkindness from one poor woman—who,
+after all, isn't as happy as you are—without feeling any
+ill-will towards her in return."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I feel ill-will towards her," said Ellen; "I
+always try as hard as I can not to; but I can't <i>like</i> her, Miss
+Alice; and I do get out of patience. It's very easy to put me out
+of patience, I think; it takes almost nothing sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"But remember, 'charity suffereth long and is kind.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And I try all the while, dear Miss Alice, to keep down my
+bad feelings," said Ellen, her eyes watering as she spoke; "I
+try and pray to get rid of them, and I hope I shall by-and-by; I
+believe I am very bad."</p>
+
+<p>Alice drew her closer.</p>
+
+<p>"I have felt very sad part of to-day," said Ellen presently;
+"Aunt Fortune, and my being so lonely, and my poor letter,
+altogether; but part of the time I felt a great deal better. I was
+learning that lovely hymn—do you know it, Miss Alice? 'Poor,
+weak, and worthless though I am'?——"</p>
+
+<p>Alice went on:—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"'I have a rich almighty friend,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.8em;">Jesus the Saviour is His name,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.8em;">He freely loves and without end.'</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>"Oh, dear Ellen, whoever can say that has no right to be
+unhappy. No matter what happens, we have enough to be
+glad of."</p>
+
+<p>"And then I was thinking of those words in the Psalms—'Blessed
+is the man'—stop, I'll find it; I don't know exactly
+how it goes;—'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven;
+whose sin is covered.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, indeed!" said Alice. "It is a shame that any trifles
+should worry much those whose sins are forgiven them, and who
+are the children of the great King. Poor Miss Fortune never
+knew the sweetness of those words. We ought to be sorry for
+her, and pray for her, Ellen; and never, never, even in thought,
+return evil for evil. It is not like Christ to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not, I will not, if I can help it," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You can help it; but there is only one way. Now, Ellen
+dear, I have three pieces of news for you that I think you will
+like. One concerns you, another myself, and the third concerns
+both you and myself. Which will you have first?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three pieces of good news!" said Ellen, with opening eyes;
+"I think I'll have my part first."</p>
+
+<p>Directing Ellen's eyes to her pocket, Alice slowly made the
+corner of the letter show itself. Ellen's colour came and went
+quick as it was drawn forth; but when it was fairly out, and she
+knew it again, she flung herself upon it with a desperate eagerness
+Alice had not looked for; she was startled at the half-frantic
+way in which the child clasped and kissed it, weeping bitterly at
+the same time. Her transport was almost hysterical. She had
+opened the letter, but she was not able to read a word; and quitting
+Alice's arms she threw herself upon the bed, sobbing in a
+mixture of joy and sorrow that seemed to take away her reason.
+Alice looked on surprised a moment, but only a moment, and
+turned away.</p>
+
+<p>When Ellen was able to begin her letter, the reading of it
+served to throw her back into fresh fits of tears. Many a word
+of Mrs. Montgomery's went so to her little daughter's heart that
+its very inmost cords of love and tenderness were wrung. It is
+true the letter was short and very simple, but it came from her
+mother's heart; it was written by her mother's hand, and the
+very old-remembered handwriting had mighty power to move
+her. She was so wrapped up in her own feelings that through
+it all she never noticed that Alice was not near her, that Alice
+did not speak to comfort her. When the letter had been read
+time after time, and wept over again and again, and Ellen at last
+was folding it up for the present, she bethought herself of her
+friend, and turned to look after her. Alice was sitting by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+window, her face hid in her hands, and as Ellen drew near she
+was surprised to see that <i>her</i> tears were flowing, and her breast
+heaving. Ellen came quite close, and softly laid her hand on
+Alice's shoulder. But it drew no attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice," said Ellen, almost fearfully, "<i>dear</i> Miss Alice,"
+and her own eyes filled fast again, "what is the matter? won't
+you tell me? Oh, don't do so! please don't!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not," said Alice, lifting her head; "I am sorry I have
+troubled you, dear; I am sorry I could not help it."</p>
+
+<p>She kissed Ellen, who stood anxious and sorrowful by her
+side, and brushed away her tears. But Ellen saw she had been
+shedding a great many.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, dear Miss Alice? what has happened to
+trouble you? won't you tell me?" Ellen was almost crying
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>Alice came back to the rocking-chair, and took Ellen in her
+arms again; but she did not answer her. Leaning her face
+against Ellen's forehead she remained silent. Ellen ventured to
+ask no more questions; but lifting her hand once or twice caressingly
+to Alice's face, she was distressed to find her cheek wet
+still. Alice spoke at last.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't fair not to tell you what is the matter, dear Ellen,
+since I have let you see me sorrowing. It is nothing new, nor
+anything I would have otherwise if I could. It is only that I
+have had a mother once, and have lost her; and you brought back
+the old time so strongly, that I could not command myself."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt a hot tear drop upon her forehead, and again ventured
+to speak her sympathy only by silently stroking Alice's
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all past now," said Alice; "it is all well. I would not
+have her back again. I shall go to her, I hope, by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no! you must stay with me," said Ellen, clasping both
+arms round her.</p>
+
+<p>There was a long silence, during which they remained locked
+in each other's arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen dear," said Alice, at length, "we are both motherless,
+for the present at least—both of us almost alone; I think God
+has brought us together to be a comfort to each other. We will
+be sisters while He permits us to be so. Don't call me Miss
+Alice any more. You shall be my little sister and I will be your
+elder sister, and my home shall be your home as well."</p>
+
+
+
+<p>Ellen's arms were drawn very close round her companion at
+this, but she said nothing, and her face was laid in Alice's bosom. There was another very long pause. Then Alice spoke in a
+livelier tone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Come, Ellen! look up; you and I have forgotten ourselves;
+it isn't good for sick people to get down in the dumps. Look up
+and let me see these pale cheeks. Don't you want something
+to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"What would you say to a cup of chicken broth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I should like it very much!" said Ellen, with new
+energy.</p>
+
+<p>"Margery made me some particularly nice, as she always
+does; and I took it into my head a little might not come
+amiss to you; so I resolved to stand the chance of Sharp's
+jolting it all over me, and I rode down with a little pail of it
+on my arm. Let me rake open these coals and you shall have
+some directly."</p>
+
+<p>"And did you come without being spattered?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a drop. Is this what you use to warm things in? Never
+mind, it has had gruel in it; I'll set the tin pail on the fire; it
+won't hurt it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so much obliged to you," said Ellen, "for do you
+know, I have got quite tired of gruel, and panada I can't
+bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am very glad I brought it."</p>
+
+<p>While it was warming Alice washed Ellen's gruel cup and
+spoon, and presently she had the satisfaction of seeing Ellen
+eating the broth with that keen enjoyment none know but those
+that have been sick and are getting well. She smiled to see her
+gaining strength almost in the very act of swallowing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said she presently, "I have been considering your
+dressing-table. It looks rather doleful. I'll make you a present
+of some dimity, and when you come to see me you shall make
+a cover for it that will reach down to the floor and hide those
+long legs."</p>
+
+<p>"That wouldn't do at all," said Ellen; "Aunt Fortune would
+go off into all sorts of fits."</p>
+
+<p>"What about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the washing, Miss Alice—to have such a great thing
+to wash every now and then. You can't think what a fuss she
+makes if I have more than just so many white clothes in the wash
+every week."</p>
+
+<p>"That's too bad," said Alice. "Suppose you bring it up to
+me—it wouldn't be often—and I'll have it washed for you, if you
+care enough about it to take the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed I do!" said Ellen; "I should like it very much,
+and I'll get Mr. Van Brunt to—no, I can't, Aunt Fortune won't
+let me. I was going to say I would get him to saw off the legs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+and make it lower for me, and then my dressing-box would stand
+so nicely on the top. Maybe I can yet. Oh, I never showed
+you my boxes and things."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen brought them all out and displayed their beauties. In
+the course of going over the writing-desk she came to the secret
+drawer and a little money in it.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that puts me in mind," she said. "Miss Alice, this
+money is to be spent for some poor child. Now, I've been thinking
+that Nancy has behaved so to me I should like to give her
+something to show her that I don't feel unkindly about it; what
+do you think would be a good thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Ellen; I'll take the matter into consideration."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think a Bible would do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps that would do as well as anything; I'll think
+about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to do it very much," said Ellen, "for she has
+vexed me wonderfully."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Ellen, would you like to hear my other pieces of news?
+or have you no curiosity?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, indeed," said Ellen; "I had forgotten it entirely;
+what is it, Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know I told you one concerns only myself, but it is great
+news to me. I learnt this morning that my brother will come to
+spend the holidays with me. It is many months since I have seen
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he live far away?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he has gone far away to pursue his studies, and cannot
+come home often. The other piece of news is that I intend, if
+you have no objection, to ask Miss Fortune's leave to have you
+spend the holidays with me too."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, delightful!" said Ellen, starting up and clapping her
+hands, and then throwing them round her adopted sister's neck;
+"dear Alice, how good you are!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose I may reckon upon your consent," said
+Alice, "and I'll speak to Miss Fortune without delay."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, dear Miss Alice; how glad I am! I shall be
+happy all the time from now till then thinking of it. You aren't
+going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, don't go yet! Sit down again; you know you're my
+sister—don't you want to read mamma's letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, Ellen, I should like it very much."</p>
+
+<p>She sat down, and Ellen gave her the letter, and stood by
+while she read it, watching her with glistening eyes; and though
+as she saw Alice's fill her own overflowed again, she hung over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+her still to the last; going over every line this time with a new
+pleasure.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="right" style="margin-right: 5em;">
+"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, <i>Saturday, Nov. 22, 18—</i>,</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Ellen</span>,—I meant to have written to you before, but
+have been scarcely able to do so. I did make one or two efforts
+which came to nothing; I was obliged to give it up before finishing
+anything that could be called a letter. To-day I feel much stronger
+than I have at any time since your departure.</p>
+
+<p>"I have missed you, my dear child, very much. There is not
+an hour in the day, nor a half-hour, that the want of you does not
+come home to my heart; and I think I have missed you in my
+very dreams. This separation is a very hard thing to bear. But
+the hand that has arranged it does nothing amiss; we must trust
+Him, my daughter, that all will be well. I feel it <i>is</i> well, though
+sometimes the thought of your dear little face is almost too much
+for me. I will thank God I have had such a blessing so long, and
+I now commit my treasure to Him. It is an unspeakable comfort
+to me to do this, for nothing committed to His care is ever forgotten
+or neglected. Oh, my daughter, never forget to pray; never
+slight it. It is almost my only refuge, now I have lost you, and
+it bears me up. How often—how often, through years gone by,
+when heart-sick and faint, I have fallen on my knees, and
+presently there have been, as it were, drops of cool water sprinkled
+upon my spirit's fever. Learn to love prayer, dear Ellen, and
+then you will have a cure for all the sorrows of life. And keep
+this letter, that if ever you are like to forget it, your mother's
+testimony may come to mind again.</p>
+
+<p>"My tea, that used to be so pleasant, has become a sad meal
+to me. I drink it mechanically and set down my cup, remembering
+only that the dear little hand which used to minister to my
+wants is near me no more. My child! my child! words are poor
+to express the heart's yearnings; my spirit is near you all the
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Your old gentleman has paid me several visits. The day
+after you went came some beautiful pigeons. I sent word back
+that you were no longer here to enjoy his gifts, and the next day
+he came to see me. He has shown himself very kind. And all
+this, dear Ellen, had for its immediate cause your proper and lady-like
+behaviour in the store. That thought has been sweeter to me
+than all the old gentleman's birds and fruit. I am sorry to inform
+you that though I have seen him so many times I am still perfectly
+ignorant of his name.</p>
+
+<p>"We set sail Monday in the <i>England</i>. Your father has secured
+a nice state-room for me, and I have a store of comforts laid up
+for the voyage. So next week you may imagine me out on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+broad ocean, with nothing but sky and clouds and water to be
+seen around me, and probably much too sick to look at those.
+Never mind that; the sickness is good for me.</p>
+
+<p>"I will write you as soon as I can again, and send by the first
+conveyance.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, my dear baby—my precious child—farewell. May
+the blessing of God be with you!—Your affectionate mother,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">E. Montgomery</span>."</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"You ought to be a good child, Ellen," said Alice, as she
+dashed away some tears. "Thank you for letting me see this;
+it has been a great pleasure to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said Ellen, "you feel as if you knew mamma a
+little."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough to honour and respect her very much. Now, good-bye,
+my love; I must be at home before it is late. I will see you
+again before Christmas comes."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+When icicles hang by the wall,<br />
+And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,<br />
+And Tom bears logs into the hall,<br />
+And milk comes frozen home in pail.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>To Ellen's sorrow, she was pronounced next morning well enough
+to come downstairs; her aunt averring that "it was no use to
+keep a fire burning up there for nothing." She must get up and
+dress in the cold again; and winter had fairly set in now; the
+19th of December rose clear and keen. Ellen looked sighingly
+at the heap of ashes and the dead brands in the fireplace where
+the bright little fire had blazed so cheerfully the evening before.
+But regrets did not help the matter; and shivering she began to
+dress as fast as she could. Since her illness, a basin and pitcher
+had been brought into her room, so the washing at the spout was
+ended for the present; and though the basin had no place but a
+chair, and the pitcher must stand on the floor, Ellen thought
+herself too happy. But how cold it was! The wind swept past
+her windows, giving wintry shakes to the panes of glass, and
+through many an opening in the wooden frame-work of the house
+it came in and saluted Ellen's bare arms and neck. She hurried
+to finish her dressing, and wrapping her double-gown over all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+went down to the kitchen. It was another climate there. A
+great fire was burning that it quite cheered Ellen's heart to look
+at; and the air seemed to be full of coffee and buckwheat cakes;
+Ellen almost thought she should get enough breakfast by the sense
+of smell.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! here you are," said Miss Fortune. "What have you
+got that thing on for?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was so cold upstairs," said Ellen, drawing up her shoulders.
+The warmth had not got inside of her wrapper yet.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, t'ain't cold here; you better pull it off right away.
+I've no notion of people's making themselves tender. You'll be
+warm enough directly. Breakfast'll warm you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt almost inclined to quarrel with the breakfast that
+was offered in exchange for her comfortable wrapper; she pulled
+it off, however, and sat down without saying anything. Mr.
+Van Brunt put some cakes on her plate.</p>
+
+<p>"If breakfast's agoing to warm you," said he, "make haste
+and get something down; or drink a cup of coffee; you're as
+blue as skim milk."</p>
+
+<p>"Am I?" said Ellen laughingly; "I feel blue; but I can't
+eat such a pile of cakes as that, Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>As a general thing the meals at Miss Fortune's were silent
+solemnities; an occasional consultation, or a few questions and
+remarks about farm affairs, being all that ever passed. The
+breakfast this morning was a singular exception to the common
+rule.</p>
+
+<p>"I am in a regular quandary," said the mistress of the house,
+when the meal was about half over.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt looked up for an instant, and asked, "What
+about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how I am ever going to do to get those apples and
+sausage-meat done. If I go to doing 'em myself I shall about
+get through by spring."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you make a bee?" said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't enough of either on 'em to make it worth while. I
+ain't agoing to have all the bother of a bee without something to
+show for't."</p>
+
+<p>"Turn 'em both into one," suggested her counsellor, going
+on with his breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"Both?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; let 'em pare apples in one room and cut pork in
+t'other."</p>
+
+<p>"But I wonder who ever heard of such a thing before," said
+Miss Fortune, pausing with her cup of coffee half way to her
+lips. Presently, however, it was carried to her mouth, drunk off,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+and set down with an air of determination. "I don't care," said
+she, "if it never was heard of. I'll do it for once anyhow. I'm
+not one of them to care what folks say. I'll have it so. But I
+won't have them to tea, mind you; I'd rather throw apples and
+all into the fire at once. I'll have but one plague of setting
+tables, and that I won't have 'em to tea, I'll make it up to 'em
+in the supper though."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take care to publish that," said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you go and do such a thing," said Miss Fortune
+earnestly. "I shall have the whole country on my hands. I
+won't have but just as many on 'em as'll do what I want done;
+that'll be as much as I can stand under. Don't you whisper a
+word of it to a living creature. I'll go round and ask 'em myself
+to come Monday evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Monday evening—then I suppose you'd like to have up the
+sleigh this afternoon. Who's acoming?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; I ha'n't asked 'em yet."</p>
+
+<p>"They'll every soul come that's asked, that you may depend;
+there ain't one on 'em that would miss of it for a dollar."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune bridled a little at the implied tribute to her
+housekeeping.</p>
+
+<p>"If I was some folks I wouldn't let people know I was in
+such a mighty hurry to get a good supper," she observed rather
+scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Mr. Van Brunt; "I think a good supper
+ain't a bad thing; and I've no objection to folks knowing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw! I don't mean <i>you</i>," said Miss Fortune; "I was
+thinking of those Lawsons, and other folks."</p>
+
+<p>"If you're agoing to ask <i>them</i> to your bee you ain't of my
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am though," replied Miss Fortune; "there's a good
+many hands of 'em; they can turn off a good lot of work in an
+evening; and they always take care to get me to <i>their</i> bees. I
+may as well get something out of them in return if I can."</p>
+
+<p>"They'll reckon on getting as much as they can out o' <i>you</i>, if
+they come, there's no sort of doubt in my mind. It's my belief
+Mimy Lawson will kill herself some of these days upon green
+corn. She was at home to tea one day last summer, and I declare
+I thought——"</p>
+
+<p>What Mr. Van Brunt thought he left his hearers to guess.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let them kill themselves if they like," said Miss
+Fortune; "I am sure I am willing; there'll be enough; I ain't
+agoing to mince matters when once I begin. Now let me see.
+There's five of the Lawsons to begin with—I suppose they'll all
+come; Bill Huff, and Jany, that's seven——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That Bill Huff is as good natured a fellow as ever broke
+ground," remarked Mr. Van Brunt. "Ain't better people in the
+town than them Huffs are."</p>
+
+<p>"They're well enough," said Miss Fortune. "Seven—and
+the Hitchcocks, there's three of them, that'll make ten——"</p>
+
+<p>"Dennison's ain't far from there," said Mr. Van Brunt.
+"Dan Dennison's a fine hand at a'most anything, in doors or
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"That's more than you can say for his sister. Cilly Dennison
+gives herself so many airs it's altogether too much for plain
+country folks. I should like to know what she thinks herself.
+It's a'most too much for my stomach to see her flourishing that
+watch and chain."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of troubling yourself about other people's
+notions?" said Mr. Van Brunt. "If folks want to take the road
+let 'em have it. That's my way. I am satisfied, provided they
+don't run me over."</p>
+
+<p>"'Taint <i>my</i> way then, I'd have you to know," said Miss
+Fortune; "I despise it. And 'tain't your way neither, Van Brunt;
+what did you give Tom Larkens a cow-hiding for?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause he deserved it, if ever a man did," said Mr. Van
+Brunt, quite rousing up; "he was treating that little brother of
+his'n in a way a boy shouldn't be treated, and I am glad I did it.
+I gave him notice to quit before I laid a finger on him. He warn't
+doing nothing to <i>me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"And how much good do you suppose it did?" said Miss
+Fortune rather scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It did just the good I wanted to do. He has seen fit to let
+little Billy alone ever since."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess I'll let the Dennisons come," said Miss
+Fortune; "that makes twelve, and you and your mother are
+fourteen. I suppose that man Marshchalk will come dangling
+along after the Hitchcocks."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure he will; and his aunt, Miss Janet, will come with
+him most likely."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there's no help for it," said Miss Fortune. "That
+makes sixteen."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you ask Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I! she's another of your proud set. I don't want to see
+anybody that thinks she's going to do me a favour by coming."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's lips opened, but wisdom came in time to stop the words
+that were on her tongue. It did not, however, prevent the quick
+little turn of her head, which showed what she thought, and the
+pale cheeks were for a moment bright enough.</p>
+
+<p>"She is, and I don't care who hears it," repeated Miss Fortune.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+"I suppose she'd look as sober as a judge too if she saw cider on
+the table; they say she won't touch a drop ever, and thinks it's
+wicked; and if that ain't setting oneself up for better than other
+folks, I don't know what is."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her paring apples at the Huffs' though," said Mr. Van
+Brunt, "and as pleasant as anybody; but she didn't stay to
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd ask Mrs. Vawse if I could get word to her," said Miss
+Fortune; "but I can never travel up that mountain. If I get a
+sight of Nancy I'll tell her."</p>
+
+<p>"There she is then," said Mr. Van Brunt, looking towards the
+little window that opened into the shed. And there indeed was
+the face of Miss Nancy pressed flat against the glass, peering into
+the room. Miss Fortune beckoned to her.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the most impudent, shameless, outrageous piece
+of——What are you doing at the window?" said she, as Nancy
+came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Looking at you, Miss Fortune," said Nancy coolly. "What
+have you been talking about this great while? If there had only
+been a pane of glass broken I needn't have asked."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue," said Miss Fortune, "and listen to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll listen, ma'am," said Nancy; "but it's of no use to hold
+my tongue. I do try sometimes, but I never could keep it long."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you done?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am," said Nancy, shaking her head; "it's
+just as it happens."</p>
+
+<p>"You tell your granny I'm going to have a bee here next
+Monday evening, and ask her if she'll come to it."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy nodded. "If it's good weather," she added conditionally.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, Nancy!" said Miss Fortune—"here!" for Nancy was
+shutting the door behind her. "As sure as you come here Monday
+night without your grandma you'll go out of the house quicker
+than you came in; see if you don't!"</p>
+
+<p>With another gracious nod and smile Nancy departed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mr. Van Brunt, rising, "I'll despatch this business
+downstairs, and then I'll bring up the sleigh. The pickle's ready,
+I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it ain't," said Miss Fortune. "I couldn't make it yesterday;
+but it's all in the kettle, and I told Sam to make a fire downstairs,
+so you can put it on when you go down. The kits are all
+ready, and the salt and everything else."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt went down the stairs that led to the lower
+kitchen, and Miss Fortune, to make up for lost time, set about her
+morning's work with even an uncommon measure of activity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+Ellen, in consideration of her being still weak, was not required
+to do anything. She sat and looked on, keeping out of the way
+of her bustling aunt as far as it was possible; but Miss Fortune's
+gyrations were of that character that no one could tell five minutes
+beforehand what she might consider "in the way." Ellen wished
+for her quiet room again. Mr. Van Brunt's voice sounded downstairs
+in tones of business; what could he be about? It must be
+very uncommon business that kept him in the house. Ellen grew
+restless with the desire to go and see, and to change her aunt's
+company for his; and no sooner was Miss Fortune fairly shut up
+in the buttery at some secret work, than Ellen gently opened the
+door at the head of the lower stairs and looked down. Mr. Van
+Brunt was standing at the bottom, and he looked up.</p>
+
+<p>"May I come down there, Mr. Van Brunt?" said Ellen softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Come down here? to be sure you may. You may always
+come straight where I am without asking any questions."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen went down. But before she reached the bottom stair
+she stopped with almost a start, and stood fixed with such a horrified
+face that neither Mr. Van Brunt nor Sam Larkens, who was
+there, could help laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" said the former, "they're all dead
+enough, Miss Ellen; you needn't be scared."</p>
+
+<p>Three enormous hogs which had been killed the day before
+greeted Ellen's eyes. They lay in different parts of the room,
+with each a cob in his mouth. A fourth lay stretched upon his
+back on the kitchen table, which was drawn out into the middle
+of the floor. Ellen stood fast on the stair.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they been killed?" was her first astonished exclamation,
+to which Sam responded with another burst.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, Sam Larkens," said Mr. Van Brunt. "Yes, Miss
+Ellen, they've been killed, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Are these the same pigs I used to see you feeding with corn,
+Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"The identical same ones," replied that gentleman, as laying
+hold of the head of the one on the table and applying his long
+sharp knife with the other hand, he, while he was speaking,
+severed it neatly and quickly from the trunk. "And very fine
+porkers they are; I ain't ashamed of 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"And what's going to be done with them now?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am just going to cut them up and lay them down. Bless
+my heart! you never see nothing of the kind before, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen. "What do you mean by 'laying them
+down,' Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, laying 'em down in salt for pork and hams. You want
+to see the whole operation, don't you? Well, here's a seat for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+you. You'd better fetch that painted coat o' yourn and wrap
+round you, for it ain't quite so warm here as upstairs; but it's
+getting warmer. Sam, just you shut that door to, and throw on
+another log."</p>
+
+<p>Sam built up as large a fire as could be made under a very
+large kettle that hung in the chimney. When Ellen came down
+in her wrapper she was established close in the chimney corner;
+and then Mr. Van Brunt, not thinking her quite safe from the
+keen currents of air that would find their way into the room,
+despatched Sam for an old buffalo robe that lay in the shed. This
+he himself, with great care, wrapped round her, feet and chair and
+all, and secured it in various places with old forks. He declared
+then she looked for all the world like an Indian, except her face,
+and in high good-humour both, he went to cutting up the pork,
+and Ellen, from out of her buffalo robe, watched him.</p>
+
+<p>It was beautifully done. Even Ellen could see that, although
+she could not have known if it had been done ill. The knife,
+guided by strength and skill, seemed to go with the greatest ease
+and certainty just where he wished it; the hams were beautifully
+trimmed out; the pieces fashioned clean; no ragged cutting; and
+his quick-going knife disposed of carcase after carcase with admirable
+neatness and celerity. Sam meanwhile arranged the pieces
+in different parcels at his direction, and minded the kettle, in
+which a great boiling and scumming was going on. Ellen was
+too much amused for a while to ask any questions. When the
+cutting up was all done, the hams and shoulders were put in a
+cask by themselves, and Mr. Van Brunt began to pack down the
+other pieces in the kits, strewing them with an abundance of salt.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of putting all that salt with the pork, Mr.
+Van Brunt?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"It wouldn't keep good without that; it would spoil very
+quick."</p>
+
+<p>"Will the salt make it keep?"</p>
+
+<p>"All the year round—as sweet as a nut."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what is the reason of that?" said Ellen. "Will
+salt make everything keep good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everything in the world—if it only has enough of it, and is
+kept dry and cool."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to do the hams in the same way?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; they are to go in that pickle over the fire."</p>
+
+<p>"In this kettle? what is in it?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You must ask Miss Fortune about that; sugar and salt and
+saltpetre and molasses, and I don't know what all."</p>
+
+<p>"And will this make the hams so different from the rest of the
+pork?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No; they've got to be smoked after they have laid in that
+for a while."</p>
+
+<p>"Smoked!" said Ellen; "how?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, ha'n't you been in the smoke-house? The hams has to
+be taken out of the pickle and hung up there; and then we make
+a little fire of oak chips and keep it burning night and day."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long must they stay in the smoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, three or four weeks or so."</p>
+
+<p>"And then they are done?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then they are done."</p>
+
+<p>"How very curious!" said Ellen. "Then it's the smoke that
+gives them that nice taste? I never knew smoke was good for
+anything before."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen!" said the voice of Miss Fortune from the top of the
+stairs, "come right up here this minute! you'll catch your death!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's countenance fell.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no sort of fear of that, ma'am," said Mr. Van Brunt
+quietly, "and Miss Ellen is fastened up so she can't get loose;
+and I can't let her out just now."</p>
+
+<p>The upper door was shut again pretty sharply, but that was
+the only audible expression of opinion with which Miss Fortune
+favoured them.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess my leather curtains keep off the wind, don't they?"
+said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed they do," said Ellen, "I don't feel a breath;
+I am as warm as a toast, too warm almost. How nicely you have
+fixed me up, Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that 'ere old buffalo had done its work," he said,
+"but I'll never say anything is good for nothing again. Have
+you found out where the apples are yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha'n't Miss Fortune showed you? Well, it's time you'd
+know. Sam, take that little basket and go fill it at the bin; I
+guess you know where they be, for I believe you put 'em there."</p>
+
+<p>Sam went into the cellar, and presently returned with the
+basket nicely filled. He handed it to Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Are all these for me?" she said in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Every one of 'em," said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't like to," said Ellen; "what will Aunt Fortune
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"She won't say a word," said Mr. Van Brunt; "and don't you
+say a word neither, but whenever you want apples just go to the
+bin and take 'em. <i>I</i> give you leave. It's right at the end of the
+far cellar, at the left-hand corner; there are the bins and all sorts
+of apples in 'em. You've got a pretty variety there, ha'n't you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all sorts," said Ellen, "and what beauties! and I love
+apples very much—red and yellow, and speckled and green.
+What a great monster!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's a Swar; they ain't as good as most of the others;
+these are Seek-no-furthers."</p>
+
+<p>"Seek-no-further!" said Ellen; "what a funny name. It
+ought to be a mighty good apple. <i>I</i> shall seek further, at any
+rate. What is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's as good an apple as you've got in the basket; that's a
+real Orson pippin, a very fine kind. I'll fetch you some up from
+home some day though, that are better than the best of those."</p>
+
+<p>The pork was all packed; the kettle was lifted off the fire;
+Mr. Van Brunt was wiping his hands from the salt.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I suppose I must go," said Ellen, with a little sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, <i>I</i> must go," said he, "so I suppose I may as well let
+you out of your tent first."</p>
+
+<p>"I have had such a nice time," said Ellen; "I had got <i>so</i>
+tired of doing nothing upstairs. I am <i>very</i> much obliged to you,
+Mr. Van Brunt. But," said she, stopping as she had taken up
+her basket to go—"aren't you going to put the hams in the
+pickle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, laughing, "it must wait to get cold first. But
+you'll make a capital farmer's wife, there's no mistake."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen blushed and ran upstairs with her apples. To bestow
+them safely in her closet was her first care; the rest of the
+morning was spent in increasing weariness and listlessness. She
+had brought down her little hymn-book, thinking to amuse herself
+with learning a hymn, but it would not do; eyes and head
+both refused their part of the work; and when at last Mr. Van
+Brunt came in to a late dinner, he found Ellen seated flat on the
+hearth before the fire, her right arm curled round upon the hard
+wooden bottom of one of the chairs, and her head pillowed upon
+that, fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless my soul!" said Mr. Van Brunt, "what's become of
+that 'ere rocking-cheer?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's upstairs, I suppose. You can go fetch it if you've a
+mind to," answered Miss Fortune, dryly enough.</p>
+
+<p>He did so immediately; and Ellen barely waked up to feel
+herself lifted from the floor, and placed in the friendly rocking-chair;
+Mr. Van Brunt remarking at the same time that "it
+might be well enough to let well folks lie on the floor, and sleep
+on cheers, but cushions warn't a bit too soft for sick ones."</p>
+
+<p>Among the cushions Ellen went to sleep again with a much
+better prospect of rest; and either sleeping or dozing passed
+away the time for a good while.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+O that I were an Orange tree,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That busy plant!</span><br />
+Then should I always laden be,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And never want</span><br />
+Some fruit for him that dresseth me.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">G. Herbert</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>She was thoroughly roused at last by the slamming of the
+house-door after her aunt. She and Mr. Van Brunt had gone
+forth on their sleighing expedition, and Ellen waked to find herself
+quite alone.</p>
+
+<p>She could not long have doubted that her aunt was away,
+even if she had not caught a glimpse of her bonnet going out of
+the shed-door—the stillness was so uncommon. No such quiet
+could be with Miss Fortune anywhere about the premises. The
+old grandmother must have been abed and asleep too, for a
+cricket under the hearth, and a wood-fire in the chimney had it
+all to themselves, and made the only sounds that were heard;
+the first singing out every now and then in a very contented and
+cheerful style, and the latter giving occasional little snaps and
+sparks that just served to make one take notice how very quietly
+and steadily it was burning.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune had left the room put up in the last extreme of
+neatness. Not a speck of dust could be supposed to lie on the
+shining painted floor; the back of every chair was in its place
+against the wall. The very hearth-stone shone, and the heads
+of the large iron nails in the floor were polished to steel. Ellen
+sat a while listening to the soothing chirrup of the cricket and
+the pleasant crackling of the flames. It was a fine cold winter's
+day. The two little windows at the far end of the kitchen
+looked out upon an expanse of snow; and the large lilac bush
+that grew close by the wall, moved lightly by the wind, drew its
+icy fingers over the panes of glass. Wintry it was without; but
+that made the warmth and comfort within seem all the more.
+Ellen would have enjoyed it very much if she had had any one to
+talk to; as it was she felt rather lonely and sad. She had begun
+to learn a hymn; but it had set her off upon a long train of
+thought; and with her head resting on her hand, her fingers
+pressed into her cheek, the other hand with the hymn-book
+lying listlessly in her lap, and eyes staring into the fire, she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+sitting the very picture of meditation when the door opened and
+Alice Humphreys came in. Ellen started up.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm so glad to see you! I'm all alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Left alone, are you?" said Alice, as Ellen's warm lips were
+pressed again and again to her cold cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Aunt Fortune's gone out. Come and sit down here in
+the rocking-chair. How cold you are. Oh, do you know she is
+going to have a great bee here Monday evening. What is a <i>bee</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>Alice smiled. "Why," said she, "when people here in the
+country have so much of any kind of work to do that their own
+hands are not enough for it, they send and call in their neighbours
+to help them—that's a bee. A large party in the course
+of a long evening can do a great deal."</p>
+
+<p>"But why do they call it a <i>bee</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, unless they mean to be like a hive of bees for
+the time. 'As busy as a bee,' you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they ought to call it a hive and not a bee, I should
+think. Aunt Fortune is going to ask sixteen people. I wish you
+were coming."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know but I am?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know you aren't. Aunt Fortune isn't going to ask
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure of that, are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I wish I wasn't. Oh, how she vexed me this morning
+by something she said."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't get vexed so easily, my child. Don't let every
+little untoward thing roughen your temper."</p>
+
+<p>"But I couldn't help it, dear Miss Alice; it was about you.
+I don't know whether I ought to tell you; but I don't think
+you'll mind it, and I know it isn't true. She said she didn't want
+you to come because you were one of the proud set."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did <i>you</i> say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. I had it just on the end of my tongue to say, 'It's
+no such thing;' but I didn't say it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you were so wise. Dear Ellen, that is nothing to
+be vexed about. If it were true, indeed, you might be sorry. I
+trust Miss Fortune is mistaken. I shall try and find some way to
+make her change her mind. I am glad you told me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am <i>so</i> glad you are come, dear Alice!" said Ellen again.
+"I wish I could have you always." And the long, very close
+pressure of her two arms about her friend said as much. There
+was a long pause. The cheek of Alice rested on Ellen's head
+which nestled against her; both were busily thinking, but neither
+spoke; and the cricket chirped and the flames crackled without
+being listened to.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alice," said Ellen, after a long time, "I wish you would
+talk over a hymn with me."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean, my dear?" said Alice, rousing herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, read it over and explain it. Mamma used to do it
+sometimes. I have been thinking a great deal about her to-day,
+and I think I'm very different from what I ought to be. I wish you
+would talk to me and make me better, Miss Alice."</p>
+
+<p>Alice pressed an earnest kiss upon the tearful little face that
+was uplifted to her, and presently said—</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I shall be a poor substitute for your mother,
+Ellen. What hymn shall we take?"</p>
+
+<p>"Any one—this one if you like. Mamma likes it very much.
+I was looking it over to-day.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"'A charge to keep I have—<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A God to glorify;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A never-dying soul to save,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And fit it for the sky.'"</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Alice read the first line and paused.</p>
+
+<p>"There now," said Ellen, "what is a charge?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I do, but I wish you would tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"Try to tell me first."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it something that is given one to do?—I don't know
+exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"It is something given one in trust, to be done or taken care
+of. I remember very well once when I was about your age my
+mother had occasion to go out for half-an-hour, and she left me
+in charge of my little baby sister; she gave me a <i>charge</i> not to
+let anything disturb her while she was away, and to keep her
+asleep if I could. And I remember how I kept my charge too.
+I was not to take her out of the cradle, but I sat beside her the
+whole time; I would not suffer a fly to light on her little fair
+cheek; I scarcely took my eyes from her; I made John keep
+pussy at a distance; and whenever one of the little round dimpled
+arms was thrown out upon the coverlet, I carefully drew something
+over it again."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she dead?" said Ellen timidly, her eyes watering in
+sympathy with Alice's.</p>
+
+<p>"She is dead, my dear; she died before we left England."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand what a charge is," said Ellen, after a little
+while, "but what is this charge the hymn speaks of? What
+charge have I to keep?"</p>
+
+<p>"The hymn goes on to tell you. The next line gives you part
+of it. 'A God to glorify.'"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To glorify!" said Ellen doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—that is to honour—to give Him all the honour that
+belongs to Him."</p>
+
+<p>"But can <i>I</i> honour <i>Him</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly; either honour or dishonour; you cannot help
+doing one."</p>
+
+<p>"I!" said Ellen again.</p>
+
+<p>"Must not your behaviour speak either well or ill for the
+mother who has brought you up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know that."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; when a child of God lives as he ought to do,
+people cannot help having high and noble thoughts of that
+glorious One whom he serves, and of that perfect law he obeys.
+Little as they may love the ways of religion, in their own secret
+hearts they <i>cannot help</i> confessing that there is a God, and that
+they ought to serve Him. But a worldling, and still more an
+unfaithful Christian, just helps people to forget there is such a
+Being, and makes them think either that religion is a sham, or
+that they may safely go on despising it. I have heard it said,
+Ellen, that Christians are the only Bible some people ever read;
+and it is true; all they know of religion is what they get from
+the lives of its professors; and oh, were the world but full of the
+right kind of example, the kingdom of darkness could not stand.
+'Arise, shine!' is a word that every Christian ought to take home."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can I shine?" asked Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen!—in the faithful, patient, self-denying performance
+of every duty as it comes to hand—'whatsoever thy
+hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It is very little that <i>I</i> can do," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps more than you think, but never mind that. All
+are not great stars in the Church; you may be only a little rushlight.
+See you burn well!"</p>
+
+<p>"I remember," said Ellen, musing, "mamma once told me
+when I was going somewhere that people would think strangely
+of <i>her</i> if I didn't behave well."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Why, Ellen, I formed an opinion of her very
+soon after I saw you."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you?" said Ellen, with a wonderfully brightened face;
+"what was it? Was it good? ah, do tell me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not quite sure of the wisdom of that," said Alice, smiling;
+"you might take home the praise that is justly her right
+and not yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, indeed," said Ellen, "I had rather she should have
+it than I. Please tell me what you thought of her, dear Alice—I
+know it was good, at any rate."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will tell you," said Alice, "at all risks. I thought
+your mother was a lady, from the honourable notions she had
+given you; and from your ready obedience to her, which was
+evidently the obedience of love, I judged she had been a good
+mother in the true sense of the term. I thought she must be a
+refined and cultivated person, from the manner of your speech
+and behaviour; and I was sure she was a Christian, because she
+had taught you the truth, and evidently had tried to lead you
+in it."</p>
+
+<p>The quivering face of delight with which Ellen began to
+listen gave way, long before Alice had done, to a burst of tears.</p>
+
+<p>"It makes me so glad to hear you say that," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"The praise of it is your mother's, you know, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; but you make me so glad!" And hiding her
+face in Alice's lap, she fairly sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>"You understand now, don't you, how Christians may honour
+or dishonour their Heavenly Father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do; but it makes me afraid to think of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Afraid? It ought rather to make you glad. It is a great
+honour and happiness for us to be permitted to honour Him—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+'A never-dying soul to save,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And fit it for the sky.'</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Yes, that is the great duty you owe yourself. Oh, never forget
+it, dear Ellen! And whatever would hinder you, have nothing
+to do with it. 'What will it profit a man though he gain the
+whole world, and lose his own soul?'—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+'To serve the present age,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My calling to fulfil—'"</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"What is 'the present age'?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"All the people who are living in the world at this time."</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear Alice, what can I do to the present age?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing to the most part of them certainly; and yet, dear
+Ellen, if your little rushlight shines well there is just so much
+the less darkness in the world, though perhaps you light only a
+very little corner. Every Christian is a blessing to the world,
+another grain of salt to go towards sweetening and saving the
+mass."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very pleasant to think of," said Ellen, musing.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if we were but full of love to our Saviour, how pleasant
+it would be to do anything for Him! how many ways we should
+find of honouring Him by doing good."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would tell me some of the ways that I can do
+it," said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You will find them fast enough if you seek them, Ellen.
+No one is so poor or so young but he has one talent at least to
+use for God."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew what mine is," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your daily example as perfect as it can be?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent and shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Christ pleased not Himself, and went about doing good;
+and He said, 'If any man serve Me, let him <i>follow Me</i>.' Remember
+that. Perhaps your aunt is unreasonable and unkind; see with
+how much patience and perfect sweetness of temper you can
+bear and forbear; see if you cannot win her over by untiring
+gentleness, obedience, and meekness. Is there no improvement
+to be made here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh me, yes!" answered Ellen, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Then your old grandmother. Can you do nothing to cheer
+her life in her old age and helplessness? Can't you find some
+way of giving her pleasure? some way of amusing a long tedious
+hour now and then?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked very grave; in her inmost heart she knew this
+was a duty she shrank from.</p>
+
+<p>"He 'went about doing good.' Keep that in mind. A kind
+word spoken—a little thing done to smooth the way of one, or
+lighten the load of another—teaching those who need teaching—entreating those who are walking in the wrong way. Oh, my
+child, there is work enough!—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>'To serve the present age,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">My calling to fulfil;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O may it all my powers engage</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To do my Maker's will.</span></p>
+
+<p>Arm me with jealous care,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As in Thy sight to live;</span><br />
+And oh! thy servant, Lord, prepare<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A strict account to give.'"</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"An account of what?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You know what an account is. If I give Thomas a dollar
+to spend for me at Carra-carra, I expect he will give me an exact
+<i>account</i> when he comes back, what he has done with every shilling
+of it. So must we give an account of what we have done
+with everything our Lord has committed to our care—our hands,
+our tongue, our time, our minds, our influence; how much we
+have honoured Him, how much good we have done to others,
+how fast and how far we have grown holy and fit for heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"It almost frightens me to hear you talk, Miss Alice."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not <i>frighten</i>, dear Ellen—that is not the word; <i>sober</i> we
+ought to be, mindful to do nothing we shall not wish to remember
+in the great day of account. Do you recollect how that day is
+described? Where is your Bible?"</p>
+
+<p>She opened at the twentieth chapter of the Revelation.</p>
+
+<p>"'And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it,
+from whose face the earth and the heaven flew away; and there
+was found no place for them.</p>
+
+<p>"'And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
+and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which
+is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things
+which were written in the books, according to their works. And
+the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell
+delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged
+every man according to their works. And death and hell were
+cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.</p>
+
+<p>"'And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
+cast into the lake of fire.'"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen shivered. "That is dreadful!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a dreadful day to all but those whose names are
+written in the Lamb's book of life; not dreadful to them, dear
+Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"But how shall I be sure, dear Alice, that <i>my</i> name is written
+there? and I can't be happy if I am not sure."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," said Alice tenderly, as Ellen's anxious face
+and glistening eyes were raised to hers, "if you love Jesus Christ
+you may know you are His child, and none shall pluck you out of
+His hand."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can I tell whether I do love him really? sometimes
+I think I do, and then again sometimes I am afraid I don't
+at all."</p>
+
+<p>Alice answered in the words of Christ: "'He that hath My
+commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't keep His commandments!" said Ellen, the tears
+running down her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Perfectly</i>, none of us do. But, dear Ellen, <i>that</i> is not the
+question. Is it your heart's desire and effort to keep them? Are
+you grieved when you fail? There is the point. You cannot love
+Christ without loving to please Him."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen rose, and putting both arms round Alice's neck, laid her
+head there, as her manner sometimes was, tears flowing fast.</p>
+
+<p>"I sometimes think I do love Him a little," she said, "but I
+do so many wrong things. But He will teach me to love Him if
+I ask Him, won't He, dear Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed He will, dear Ellen," said Alice, folding her arms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+round her little adopted sister, "<i>indeed</i> He will. He has promised
+that. Remember what He told somebody who was almost
+in despair: 'Fear not; only believe.'"</p>
+
+<p>Alice's neck was wet with Ellen's tears; and after they had
+ceased to flow, her arms kept their hold and her head its resting-place
+on Alice's shoulder for some time. It was necessary at last
+for Alice to leave her.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen waited till the sound of her horse's footsteps died away
+on the road; and then, sinking on her knees beside her rocking-chair,
+she poured forth her whole heart in prayers and tears. She
+confessed many a fault and shortcoming that none knew but herself,
+and most earnestly besought help that "her little rushlight
+might shine bright." Prayer was to little Ellen what it is to all
+that know it—the satisfying of doubt, the soothing of care, the
+quieting of trouble. She had knelt down very uneasy; but she
+knew that God has promised to be the hearer of prayer, and she
+rose up very comforted, her mind fixing on those most sweet
+words Alice had brought to her memory: "Fear not; only
+believe." When Miss Fortune returned Ellen was quietly asleep
+again in her rocking-chair, with her face very pale, but calm as an
+evening sunbeam.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare if that child ain't sleeping her life away!"
+said Miss Fortune. "She's slept this whole blessed forenoon; I
+suppose she'll want to be alive and dancing the whole night to
+pay for it."</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you what she'll want a sight more," said Mr. Van
+Brunt, who had followed her in; it must have been to see about
+Ellen, for he was never known to do such a thing before or
+since; "I'll tell you what she'll want, and that's a right hot
+supper. She eat as nigh as possible nothing at all this noon.
+There ain't much danger of her dancing a hole in your floor this
+some time."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept?</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Taming of the Shrew</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Great preparations were making all Saturday and Monday for
+the expected gathering. From morning till night Miss
+Fortune was in a perpetual bustle. The great oven was heated
+no less than three several times on Saturday alone. Ellen could
+hear the breaking of eggs in the buttery, and the sound of beating
+or whisking for a long time together; and then Miss Fortune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+would come out with floury hands, and plates of empty egg shells
+made their appearance. But Ellen saw no more. Whenever the
+coals were swept out of the oven, and Miss Fortune had made
+sure that the heat was just right for her purposes, Ellen was sent
+out of the way, and when she got back there was nothing to be
+seen but the fast shut oven door. It was just the same when the
+dishes, in all their perfection, were to come out of the oven again.
+The utmost Ellen was permitted to see was the napkin covering
+some stray cake or pie that by chance had to pass through the
+kitchen where she was.</p>
+
+<p>As she could neither help nor look on, the day passed rather
+wearily. She tried studying; a very little she found was enough
+to satisfy both mind and body in their present state. She longed
+to go out again and see how the snow looked, but a fierce wind
+all the fore part of the day made it unfit for her. Towards the
+middle of the afternoon she saw with joy that it had lulled, and
+though very cold, was so bright and calm that she might venture.
+She had eagerly opened the kitchen door to go up and get ready,
+when a long weary yawn from her old grandmother made her
+look back. The old lady had laid her knitting in her lap and
+bent her face down to her hand, which she was rubbing across
+her brow, as if to clear away the tired feeling that had settled
+there. Ellen's conscience instantly brought up Alice's words,
+"Can't you do something to pass away a tedious hour now
+and then?" The first feeling was of vexed regret that they
+should have come into her head at that moment; then conscience
+said that was very selfish. There was a struggle. Ellen stood
+with the door in her hand, unable to go out or come in. But not
+long. As the words came back upon her memory, "A charge to
+keep I have," her mind was made up; after one moment's prayer
+for help and forgiveness she shut the door, came back to the fireplace,
+and spoke in a cheerful tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Grandma, wouldn't you like to have me read something to
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Read!" answered the old lady. "Laws a me! <i>I</i> don't read
+nothing, deary."</p>
+
+<p>"But wouldn't you like to have <i>me</i> read to you, grandma?"</p>
+
+<p>The old lady in answer to this laid down her knitting, folded
+both arms round Ellen, and kissing her a great many times, declared
+she should like anything that came out of that sweet little
+mouth. As soon as she was set free Ellen brought her Bible, sat
+down close beside her, and read chapter after chapter; rewarded
+even then by seeing that, though her grandmother said nothing,
+she was listening with fixed attention, bending down over her
+knitting as if in earnest care to catch every word. And when at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+last she stopped, warned by certain noises downstairs that her
+aunt would presently be bustling in, the old lady again hugged
+her close to her bosom, kissing her forehead and cheeks and lips,
+and declaring that she was "a great deal sweeter than any sugar-plums;"
+and Ellen was very much surprised to feel her face wet
+with a tear from her grandmother's cheek. Hastily kissing her
+again (for the first time in her life), she ran out of the room, her
+own tears starting and her heart swelling big. "Oh! how much
+pleasure," she thought, "I might have given my poor grandma,
+and how I have let her alone all this while! How wrong I have
+been! But it shan't be so in future."</p>
+
+<p>It was not quite sundown, and Ellen thought she might yet
+have two or three minutes in the open air; so she wrapped up
+very warm and went out to the chip-yard.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's heart was very light; she had just been fulfilling a
+duty that cost her a little self-denial, and the reward had already
+come. And now it seemed to her that she had never seen anything
+so perfectly beautiful as the scene before her—the brilliant
+snow that lay in a thick carpet over all the fields and hills, and
+the pale streaks of sunlight stretching across it between the long
+shadows that reached now from the barn to the house. One
+moment the light tinted the snow-capped fences and whitened
+barn-roofs: then the lights and the shadows vanished together,
+and it was all one cold, dazzling white. Oh, how glorious!
+Ellen almost shouted to herself. It was too cold to stand still;
+she ran to the barn-yard to see the cows milked. There they
+were, all her old friends—Streaky and Dolly and Jane and Sukey
+and Betty Flynn—sleek and contented; winter and summer
+were all the same to them. And Mr. Van Brunt was very glad
+to see her there again, and Sam Larkens and Johnny Low looked
+as if they were too, and Ellen told them with great truth she
+was very glad indeed to be there; and then she went in to supper
+with Mr. Van Brunt and an amazing appetite.</p>
+
+<p>That was Saturday. Sunday passed quietly, though Ellen
+could not help suspecting it was not entirely a day of rest to her
+aunt; there was a savoury smell of cooking in the morning which
+nothing that came on the table by any means accounted for, and
+Miss Fortune was scarcely to be seen the whole day.</p>
+
+<p>With Monday morning began a grand bustle, and Ellen was
+well enough now to come in for her share. The kitchen, parlour,
+hall, shed, and lower kitchen must all be thoroughly swept and
+dusted; this was given to her, and a morning's work pretty near
+she found it. Then she had to rub bright all the brass handles
+of the doors, and the big brass andirons in the parlour, and the
+brass candlesticks on the parlour mantelpiece. When at last she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+got through and came to the fire to warm herself, she found her
+grandmother lamenting that her snuff-box was empty, and asking
+her daughter to fill it for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I can't be bothered to be running upstairs to fill snuffboxes,"
+answered that lady; "you'll have to wait."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get it, grandma," said Ellen, "if you'll tell me where."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down and be quiet!" said Miss Fortune. "You go into
+my room just when I bid you, and not till then."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sat down; but no sooner was Miss Fortune hid in the
+buttery than the old lady beckoned her to her side, and nodding
+her head a great many times, gave her the box, saying softly—</p>
+
+<p>"You can run up now; she won't see you, deary. It's in a
+jar in the closet. Now's the time."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not bear to say no. She hesitated a minute, and
+then boldly opened the buttery door.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep out! What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"She wanted me to go for the snuff," said Ellen, in a whisper;
+"please do let me. I won't look at anything nor touch anything,
+but just get the snuff."</p>
+
+<p>With an impatient gesture her aunt snatched the box from
+her hand, pushed Ellen out of the buttery, and shut the door.
+The old lady kissed and fondled her as if she had done what she
+had only tried to do; smoothed down her hair, praising its
+beauty, and whispered—</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, deary; you'll read to grandma, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>It cost Ellen no effort now. With the beginning of kind
+offices to her poor old parent, kind feeling had sprung up fast;
+instead of disliking and shunning she had begun to love her.</p>
+
+<p>There was no dinner for any one this day. Mr. and Mrs. Van
+Brunt came to an early tea; after which Ellen was sent to dress
+herself, and Mr. Van Brunt to get some pieces of wood for the
+meat-choppers. He came back presently with an armful of
+square bits of wood, and sitting down before the fire, began to
+whittle the rough-sawn ends over the hearth. His mother grew
+nervous. Miss Fortune bore it as she would have borne it from
+no one else, but vexation was gathering in her breast for the first
+occasion. Presently Ellen's voice was heard singing down the
+stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd give something to stop that child's pipe!" said Miss
+Fortune. "She's eternally singing the same thing over and
+over—something about 'a charge to keep.' I'd a good notion
+to give her a charge to keep this morning; it would have been
+to hold her tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"That would have been a public loss, <i>I</i> think," said Mr. Van
+Brunt gravely.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, you <i>are</i> making a precious litter!" said the lady,
+turning short upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said he, in the same tone. "It's nothing
+but what the fire'll burn up, anyhow. Don't worry yourself
+about it."</p>
+
+<p>Just as Ellen came in, so did Nancy by the other door.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you here for?" said Miss Fortune, with an ireful
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come to see the folks and get some peaches," said Nancy.
+"Come to help along, to be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't your grandma coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, she ain't. I knew she wouldn't be of much use,
+so I thought I wouldn't ask her."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune immediately ordered her out. Half laughing,
+half serious, Nancy tried to keep her ground. But Miss Fortune
+was in no mood to hear parleying. She laid violent hands on the
+passive Nancy, and between pulling and pushing at last got her
+out and shut the door. Her next sudden move was to haul off
+her mother to bed. Ellen looked her sorrow at this, and Mr.
+Van Brunt whistled <i>his</i> thoughts; but that either made nothing,
+or made Miss Fortune more determined. Off she went with her
+old mother under her arm. While she was gone Ellen brought
+the broom to sweep up the hearth, but Mr. Van Brunt would not
+let her.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, "it's more than you nor I can do. You know,"
+said he, with a sly look, "we might sweep up the shavings into
+the wrong corner."</p>
+
+<p>This entirely overset Ellen's gravity, and unluckily she could
+not get it back again, even though warned by Mrs. Van Brunt
+that her aunt was coming. Trying only made it worse, and Miss
+Fortune's entrance was but the signal for a fresh burst of hearty
+merriment. What she was laughing at was of course instantly
+asked, in no pleased tone of voice. Ellen could not tell, and her
+silence and blushing only made her aunt more curious.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, leave bothering her," said Mr. Van Brunt at last.
+"She was only laughing at some of my nonsense, and she won't
+tell on me."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you swear to that?" said the lady sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! No, I won't swear, unless you will go before a
+magistrate with me; but it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if you think I am as easy blinded as all that comes
+to?" said Miss Fortune scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>And Ellen saw that her aunt's displeasure was all gathered
+upon her for the evening. She was thinking of Alice's words,
+and trying to arm herself with patience and gentleness, when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+door opened, and in walked Nancy as demurely as if nobody had
+ever seen her before.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Fortune, granny sent me to tell you she is sorry she
+can't come to-night. She don't think it would do for her to be
+out so late. She's a little touch of the rheumatics, she says."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Miss Fortune. "Now, clear out."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better not say so, Miss Fortune. I'll do as much
+for you as any two of the rest; see if I don't!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care if you did as much as fifty!" said Miss Fortune
+impatiently. "I won't have you here; so go, or I'll give you
+something to help you along."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy saw she had no chance with Miss Fortune in her present
+humour, and went quickly out. A little while after Ellen was
+standing at the window, from which, through the shed window,
+she had a view of the chip-yard, and there she saw Nancy lingering
+still, walking round and round in a circle, and kicking the snow
+with her feet in a discontented fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad she isn't going to be here," thought Ellen.
+"But, poor thing! I dare say she is very much disappointed. And
+how sorry she will feel going back all that long, long way home!
+What if I should get her leave to stay? Wouldn't it be a fine way
+of returning good for evil? But, oh dear! I don't want her here!
+But that's no matter."</p>
+
+<p>The next minute Mr. Van Brunt was half startled by Ellen's
+hand on his shoulder, and the softest of whispers in his ear. He
+looked up, very much surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, do <i>you</i> want her?" said he, likewise in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "but I know I should feel very sorry if I
+was in her place."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt whistled quietly to himself. "Well!" said he,
+"you <i>are</i> a good-natured piece."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Fortune," said he presently, "if that mischievous girl
+comes in again, I recommend you to let her stay."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause it's true what she said—she'll do you as much good as
+half-a-dozen. She'll behave herself this evening, I'll engage, or if
+she don't I'll make her."</p>
+
+<p>"She's too impudent to live! But I don't care; her grandmother
+is another sort. But I guess she is gone by this time."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen waited only till her aunt's back was turned. She slipped
+downstairs and out at the kitchen door, and ran up the slope to
+the fence of the chip-yard.</p>
+
+<p>"Nancy—Nancy!"</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Nancy, wheeling about.</p>
+
+<p>"If you go in now, I guess Aunt Fortune will let you stay."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think so?" said the other surlily.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause Mr. Van Brunt was speaking to her about it. Go in,
+and you'll see."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy looked doubtfully at Ellen's face, and then ran hastily
+in. More slowly Ellen went back by the way she came. When
+she reached the upper kitchen she found Nancy as busy as possible—as
+much at home already as if she had been there all day,
+helping to set the table in the hall, and going to and fro between
+that and the buttery with an important face. Ellen was not
+suffered to help, nor even to stand and see what was doing, so she
+sat down in the corner by her old friend Mrs. Van Brunt, and
+with her head in her lap watched by the firelight the busy figures
+that went back and forward, and Mr. Van Brunt, who still sat
+working at his bits of board. There were pleasant thoughts in
+Ellen's head that kept the dancing blaze company. Mr. Van
+Brunt once looked up and asked her what she was smiling at.
+The smile brightened at his question, but he got no more answer.</p>
+
+<p>At last the supper was all set out in the hall so that it could
+very easily be brought into the parlour when the time came; the
+waiter with the best cups and saucers, which always stood covered
+with a napkin on the table in the front room, was carried away;
+the great pile of wood in the parlour fireplace, built ever since
+morning, was kindled; all was in apple-pie order, and nothing
+was left but to sweep up the shavings that Mr. Van Brunt had
+made. This was done; and then Nancy seized hold of Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along," said she, pulling her to the window—"come
+along, and let us watch the folks come in."</p>
+
+<p>"But it isn't time for them to be here yet," said Ellen; "the
+fire is only just burning."</p>
+
+<p>"Fiddle-de-dee! they won't wait for the fire to burn, I can
+tell you. They'll be along directly, some of them. I wonder
+what Miss Fortune is thinking of—that fire had ought to have
+been burning this long time ago, but they won't set to work till
+they all get here, that's one thing. Do you know what's going
+to be for supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't that funny! Then I'm better off than you. I say,
+Ellen, any one would think <i>I</i> was Miss Fortune's niece and you
+was somebody else, wouldn't they? Goodness! I'm glad I ain't.
+I am going to make part of the supper myself—what do you
+think of that? Miss Fortune always has grand suppers—when
+she has 'em at all; 'tain't very often, that's one thing. I wish
+she'd have a bee every week, I know, and let me come and help.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+Hark!—didn't I tell you? there's somebody coming this minute;
+don't you hear the sleigh-bells? I'll tell you who it is now; it's
+the Lawsons; you see if it ain't. It's good it's such a bright night—we
+can see 'em first-rate. There—here they come—just as I
+told you—here's Mimy Lawson, the first one—if there's anybody
+I do despise it's Mimy Lawson."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said Ellen. The door opened and the lady herself
+walked in, followed by three others—large, tall women, muffled
+from head to foot against the cold. The quiet kitchen was
+speedily changed into a scene of bustle. Loud talking and
+laughing—a vast deal of unrobing—pushing back and pulling
+up chairs on the hearth—and Nancy and Ellen running in and
+out of the room with countless wrappers, cloaks, shawls, comforters,
+hoods, mittens, and moccasins.</p>
+
+<p>"What a precious muss it will be to get 'em all their own
+things when they come to go away again," said Nancy. "Throw
+'em all down there, Ellen, in that heap. Now, come quick—somebody
+else'll be here directly."</p>
+
+<p>"Which is Miss Mimy?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That big ugly woman in a purple frock. The one next her
+is Kitty—the black-haired one is Mary, and t'other is Fanny.
+Ugh! don't look at 'em; I can't bear 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause I don't, I can tell you; reason good. They are as
+stingy as they can live. Their way is to get as much as they can
+out of other folks, and let other folks get as little as they can out
+of them. I know 'em. Just watch that purple frock when it
+comes to the eating. There's Mr. Bob."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bob—Bob Lawson. He's a precious small young man for
+such a big one. There—go take his hat. Miss Fortune," said
+Nancy, coming forward, "mayn't the gentlemen take care of their
+own things in the stoop, or must the young ladies wait upon them
+too? t'other room won't hold everything neither."</p>
+
+<p>This speech raised a general laugh, in the midst of which Mr.
+Bob carried his own hat and cloak into the shed as desired.
+Before Nancy had done chuckling came another arrival; a tall,
+lank gentleman, with one of those unhappy-shaped faces that are
+very broad at the eyes and very narrow across the chops, and
+having a particularly grave and dull expression. He was welcomed
+with such a shout of mingled laughter, greeting, and
+jesting, that the room was in a complete hurly-burly; and a
+plain-looking stout elderly lady, who had come in just behind
+him, was suffered to stand unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Miss Janet," whispered Nancy—"Mr. Marshchalk's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+aunt. Nobody wants to see her here; she's one of your pious
+kind, and that's a kind your aunt don't take to."</p>
+
+<p>Instantly Ellen was at her side, offering gently to relieve her
+of hood and cloak, and with a tap on his arm drawing Mr. Van
+Brunt's attention to the neglected person.</p>
+
+<p>Quite touched by the respectful politeness of her manner, the
+old lady inquired of Miss Fortune as Ellen went off with a load of
+mufflers, "Who was that sweet little thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a kind of sweetmeats that is kept for company, Miss
+Janet," replied Miss Fortune, with a darkened brow.</p>
+
+<p>"She's too good for everyday use, that's a fact," remarked
+Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune coloured and tossed her head, and the company
+were for a moment still with surprise. Another arrival set them
+agoing again.</p>
+
+<p>"Here come the Hitchcocks, Ellen," said Nancy. "Walk in,
+Miss Mary—walk in, Miss Jenny—Mr. Marshchalk has been here
+this great while."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Mary Hitchcock was in nothing remarkable. Miss Jenny
+when her wrappers were taken off showed a neat little round
+figure, and a round face of very bright and good-humoured expression.
+It fastened Ellen's eye, till Nancy whispered her to
+look at Mr. Juniper Hitchcock, and that young gentleman entered
+dressed in the last style of elegance. His hair was arranged in a
+faultless manner—unless perhaps it had a <i>little</i> too much of the
+tallow-candle; for when he had sat for a while before the fire it
+had somewhat the look of being excessively wet with perspiration.
+His boots were as shiny as his hair; his waistcoat was of a
+startling pattern; his pantaloons were very tightly strapped
+down; and at the end of a showy watch-ribbon hung some
+showy seals.</p>
+
+<p>The kitchen was now one buzz of talk and good-humour.
+Ellen stood half smiling to herself to see the universal smile,
+when Nancy twitched her.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's more coming—Cilly Dennison, I guess—no, it's too
+tall; <i>who</i> is it?"</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen flung open the door with a half-uttered scream and
+threw herself into the arms of Alice, and then led her in; her
+face full of such extreme joy that it was perhaps one reason why
+her aunt's wore a very doubtful air as she came forward. That
+could not stand however against the graceful politeness and
+pleasantness of Alice's greeting. Miss Fortune's brow smoothed,
+her voice cleared, she told Miss Humphreys she was very welcome,
+and she meant it. Clinging close to her friend as she went
+from one to another, Ellen was delighted to see that every one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
+echoed the welcome. Every face brightened at meeting hers,
+every eye softened, and Jenny Hitchcock even threw her arms
+round Alice and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen left now the window to Nancy and stood fast by her
+adopted sister, with a face of satisfaction it was pleasant to see,
+watching her very lips as they moved. Soon the door opened
+again, and various voices hailed the new-comer as "Jane," "Jany,"
+and "Jane Huff." She was a decidedly plain-looking country
+girl, but when she came near, Ellen saw a sober, sensible face and
+a look of thorough good-nature which immediately ranked her
+next to Jenny Hitchcock in her fancy. Mr. Bill Huff followed, a
+sturdy young man; quite as plain and hardly so sensible-looking,
+he was still more shining with good-nature. He made no pretension
+to the elegance of Mr. Juniper Hitchcock; but before the
+evening was over, Ellen had a vastly greater respect for him.</p>
+
+<p>Last, not least, came the Dennisons; it took Ellen some time
+to make up her mind about them. Miss Cilly, or Cecilia, was certainly
+very elegant indeed. Her hair was in the extremest state
+of nicety, with a little round curl plastered in front of each ear;
+how she coaxed them to stay there Ellen could not conceive. She
+wore a real watch, there was no doubt of that, and there was
+even a ring on one of her fingers with two or three blue or red
+stones in it. Her dress was smart, and so was her figure, and her
+face was pretty; and Ellen overheard one of the Lawsons whisper
+to Jenny Hitchcock that "there wasn't a greater lady in the land
+than Cilly Dennison." Her brother was very different; tall and
+athletic, and rather handsome, <i>he</i> made no pretension to be a
+gentleman. He valued his fine farming and fine cattle a great
+deal higher than Juniper Hitchcock's gentility.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+W' merry sangs, an' friendly cracks,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I wat they didna weary;</span><br />
+An' unco tales, an' funnie jokes,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their sports were cheap an' cheery.</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>As the party were all gathered it was time to set to work. The
+fire in the front room was burning up finely now, but Miss
+Fortune had no idea of having pork-chopping or apple-paring done
+there. One party was despatched downstairs into the lower
+kitchen; the others made a circle round the fire. Every one was
+furnished with a sharp knife, and a basket of apples was given to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>
+each two or three. Now, it would be hard to say whether talking
+or working went on best. Not faster moved the tongues than
+the fingers; not smoother went the knives than the flow of talk;
+while there was a constant leaping of quarters of apples from the
+hands that had prepared them into the bowls, trays, or what not
+that stood on the hearth to receive them. Ellen had nothing to
+do; her aunt had managed it so, though she would gladly have
+shared the work that looked so pretty and pleasant in other
+people's hands. Miss Fortune would not let her; so she watched
+the rest, and amused herself as well as she could with hearing
+and seeing; and standing between Alice and Jenny Hitchcock,
+she handed them the apples out of the basket as fast as they
+were ready for them. It was a pleasant evening that. Laughing
+and talking went on merrily; stories were told; anecdotes, gossip,
+jokes, passed from mouth to mouth; and not one made himself
+so agreeable, or had so much to do with the life and pleasure of
+the party, as Alice. Ellen saw it, delighted. The pared apples
+kept dancing into the bowls and trays; the baskets got empty
+surprisingly fast; Nancy and Ellen had to run to the barrels in
+the shed again and again for fresh supplies.</p>
+
+<p>"Do they mean to do all these to-night?" said Ellen to
+Nancy on one of these occasions.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what <i>they</i> mean, I am sure," replied Nancy,
+diving down into the barrel to reach the apples; "if you had
+asked me what <i>Miss Fortune</i> meant, I might ha' given a guess."</p>
+
+<p>"But only look," said Ellen—"only so many done, and all
+these to do!—Well, I know what 'busy as a bee' means now if
+I never did before."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll know it better to-morrow, I can tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, wait till you see. I wouldn't be you to-morrow for
+something though. Do you like sewing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sewing!" said Ellen. But "Girls! girls! what are you
+leaving the door open for?" sounded from the kitchen, as they
+hurried in.</p>
+
+<p>"Most got through, Nancy?" inquired Bob Lawson. (Miss
+Fortune had gone downstairs.)</p>
+
+<p>"Ha'n't begun to, Mr. Lawson. There's every bit as many to
+do as there was at your house t'other night."</p>
+
+<p>"What on airth does she want with such a sight of 'em,"
+inquired Dan Dennison.</p>
+
+<p>"Live on pies and apple-sass till next summer," suggested
+Mimy Lawson.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the stuff for my money!" replied her brother;
+"'taters and apple-sass is my sass in the winter."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It's good those is easy got," said his sister Mary; "the sass
+is the most of the dinner to Bob most commonly."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they fixing for more apple-sass downstairs?" Mr. Dennison
+went on rather dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"No—hush!" said Juniper Hitchcock—"sassages!"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Dan, as he speared up an apple out of the
+basket on the point of his knife, "ain't that something like what
+you call killing two——"</p>
+
+<p>"Just that exactly," said Jenny Hitchcock, as Dan broke off
+short, and the mistress of the house walked in. "Ellen," she
+whispered, "don't you want to go downstairs and see when the
+folks are coming up to help us? And tell the doctor he must be
+spry, for we ain't agoing to get through in a hurry," she added,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Which is the doctor, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"The doctor—Doctor Marshchalk—don't you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is he a doctor?" said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not exactly, I suppose, but he's just as good as the real.
+He's a natural knack at putting bones in their places, and all that
+sort of thing. There was a man broke his leg horribly at Thirlwall
+the other day, and Gibson was out of the way, and Marshchalk
+set it, and did it famously, they said. So go, Ellen, and bring us
+word what they are all about."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt was head of the party in the lower kitchen.
+He stood at one end of the table, cutting with his huge knife
+the hard frozen pork into very thin slices, which the rest of the
+company took, and before they had time to thaw cut up into
+small dice on the little boards Mr. Van Brunt had prepared. As
+large a fire as the chimney would hold was built up and blazing
+finely; the room looked as cosy and bright as the one upstairs,
+and the people as busy and as talkative. They had less to do,
+however, or they had been more smart, for they were drawing
+to the end of their chopping; of which Miss Janet declared
+herself very glad, for she said, "the wind came sweeping in
+under the doors and freezing her feet the whole time, and
+she was sure the biggest fire ever was built couldn't warm that
+room;" an opinion in which Mrs. Van Brunt agreed perfectly.
+Miss Janet no sooner spied Ellen standing in the chimney-corner
+than she called her to her side, kissed her, and talked
+to her a long time, and finally fumbling in her pocket brought
+forth an odd little three-cornered pin-cushion which she gave
+her for a keepsake. Jane Huff and her brother also took kind
+notice of her; and Ellen began to think the world was full
+of nice people. About half-past eight the choppers went up
+and joined the company who were paring apples; the circle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+was a very large one now, and the buzz of tongues grew quite
+furious.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you smiling at?" asked Alice of Ellen, who stood
+at her elbow.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know," said Ellen, smiling more broadly; and
+presently added, "they're all so kind to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, everybody—Miss Jenny, and Miss Jane Huff, and Miss
+Janet, and Mrs. Van Brunt, and Mr. Huff, they all speak so
+kindly and look so kindly at me. But it's very funny what a
+notion people have for kissing—I wish they hadn't—I've run
+away from three kisses already, and I'm so afraid somebody else
+will try next."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't seem very bitterly displeased," said Alice, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I am, though, I can't bear it," said Ellen, laughing and
+blushing. "There's Mr. Dennison caught me in the first place
+and tried to kiss me, but I tried so hard to get away I believe he
+saw I was really in good earnest and let me go. And just now,
+only think of it, while I was standing talking to Miss Jane Huff
+downstairs, her brother caught me and kissed me before I knew
+what he was going to do. I declare it's too bad!" said Ellen,
+rubbing her cheek very hard as if she would rub off the affront.</p>
+
+<p>"You must let it pass, my dear; it is one way of expressing
+kindness. They feel kindly towards you or they would not do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I wish they wouldn't feel quite so kindly," said Ellen,
+"that's all. Hark! what was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" said somebody else, and instantly there was
+silence, broken again after a minute or two by the faint blast of
+a horn.</p>
+
+<p>"It's old Father Swaim, I reckon," said Mr. Van Brunt. "I'll
+go fetch him in."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes! bring him in—bring him in," was heard on all
+sides.</p>
+
+<p>"That horn makes me think of what happened to me once,"
+said Jenny Hitchcock to Ellen. "I was a little girl at school,
+not so big as you are, and one afternoon, when we were all as
+still as mice and studying away, we heard Father Swaim's
+horn——"</p>
+
+<p>"What does he blow it for?" said Ellen, as Jenny stooped
+for her knife which she had let fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, to let people know he's there, you know. Did you
+never see Father Swaim?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"La! he's the funniest old fellow! He goes round and
+round the country carrying the newspapers; and we get him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+bring us our letters from the post-office, when there are any. He
+carries 'em in a pair of saddle-bags hanging across that old white
+horse of his; I don't think that horse will ever grow old, no more
+than his master; and in summer he has a stick—so long—with a
+horse's tail tied to the end of it, to brush away the flies, for the
+poor horse has had <i>his</i> tail cut off pretty short. I wonder if it
+isn't the very same," said Jenny, laughing heartily: "Father
+Swaim thought he could manage it best, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was it that happened to you that time at school?"
+said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, when we heard the horn blow, our master, the schoolmaster,
+you know, went out to get a paper; and I was tired with
+sitting still, so I jumped up and ran across the room and then
+back again, and over and back again five or six times; and when
+he came in one of the girls up and told of it. It was Fanny
+Lawson," said Jenny in a whisper to Alice, "and I think she
+ain't much different now from what she was then. I can hear
+her now, 'Mr. Starks, Jenny Hitchcock's been running all round
+the room.' Well, what do you think he did to me? He took
+hold of my two hands and swung me round and round by the
+arms till I didn't know which was head and which was feet."</p>
+
+<p>"What a queer schoolmaster?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Queer enough; you may say that. His name was Starks;
+the boys used to call him Starksification. We did hate him, that's
+a fact. I'll tell you what he did to a black boy of ours—you know
+our black Sam, Alice?—I forget what he had been doing; but
+Starks took him so, by the rims of the ears and danced him up
+and down upon the floor."</p>
+
+<p>"But didn't that hurt him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hurt him! I guess it did! he meant it should. He tied
+me under the table once. Sometimes when he wanted to punish
+two boys at a time he would set them to spit in each other's
+faces."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't tell me about him!" cried Ellen, with a face of
+horror; "I don't like to hear it."</p>
+
+<p>Jenny laughed; and just then the door opened and Mr. Van
+Brunt and the old news-carrier came in.</p>
+
+<p>He was a venerable, mild-looking old man, with thin hair as
+white as snow. He wore a long snuff-coloured coat, and a broad-brimmed
+hat, the sides of which were oddly looped up to the crown
+with twine; his tin horn or trumpet was in his hand. His saddle-bags
+were on Mr. Van Brunt's arm. As soon as she saw him Ellen
+was fevered with the notion that perhaps he had something for
+her, and she forgot everything else. It would seem that the rest
+of the company had the same hope, for they crowded round him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+shouting out welcomes and questions and inquiries for letters, all
+in a breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, softly," said the old man, sitting down slowly; "not
+all at once; I can't attend to you all at once; one at a time—one
+at a time."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't attend to 'em at all till you're ready," said Miss
+Fortune; "let 'em wait." And she handed him a glass of cider.</p>
+
+<p>He drank it off at a breath, smacking his lips as he gave back
+the glass to her hand, and exclaiming, "That's prime!" Then
+taking up his saddle-bags from the floor, he began slowly to undo
+the fastenings.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to our house to-night, ain't you, Father
+Swaim?" said Jenny.</p>
+
+<p>"That's where I <i>was</i> going," said the old man; "I <i>was</i> agoing
+to stop with your father, Miss Jenny; but since I've got into
+farmer Van Brunt's hands, I don't know any more what's going to
+become of me; and after that glass of cider I don't much care.
+Now, let's see, let's see—'Miss Jenny Hitchcock,' here's something
+for you. I should like very much to know what's inside of
+that letter, there's a blue seal to it. Ah, young folks, young
+folks!"</p>
+
+<p>Jenny received her letter amidst a great deal of laughing
+and joking, and seemed herself quite as much amused as
+anybody.</p>
+
+<p>"'Jedediah B. Lawson,'—there's for your father, Miss Mimy;
+that saves me a long tramp, if you've twenty-one cents in your
+pocket, that is; if you ha'n't, I shall be obleeged to tramp after
+that. Here's something for 'most all of you, I'm thinking. 'Miss
+Cecilia Dennison,' your fair hands—how's the Squire? rheumatism,
+eh? I think I'm a younger man now than your father, Cecilly;
+and yet I must ha' seen a good many years more than Squire
+Dennison; I must surely. 'Miss Fortune Emerson,' that's for
+you; a double letter, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen with a beating heart had pressed nearer and nearer to
+the old man, till she stood close by his right hand, and could see
+every letter as he handed it out. A spot of deepening red was
+on each cheek as her eye eagerly scanned letter after letter; it
+spread to a sudden flush when the last name was read. Alice
+watched in some anxiety her keen look as it followed the letter
+from the old man's hand to her aunt's, and thence to the pocket,
+where Miss Fortune coolly bestowed it. Ellen could not stand
+this; she sprang forward across the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune, there's a letter inside of that for me—won't
+you give it to me?—won't you give it to me?" she repeated,
+trembling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her aunt did not notice her by so much as a look; she turned
+away and began talking to some one else. The red had left Ellen's
+face when Alice could see it again; it was livid and spotted from
+stifled passion. She stood in a kind of maze. But as her eyes
+caught Alice's anxious and sorrowful look, she covered her face
+with her hands, and as quick as possible made her escape out of
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>For some minutes Alice heard none of the hubbub around her.
+Then came a knock at the door, and the voice of Thomas Grimes
+saying to Mr. Van Brunt that Miss Humphreys' horse was
+there.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Swaim," said Alice, rising, "I don't like to leave you
+with these gay friends of ours; you'll stand no chance of rest with
+them to-night. Will you ride home with me?"</p>
+
+<p>Many of the party began to beg Alice would stay to supper,
+but she said her father would be uneasy. The old news-carrier
+concluded to go with her, for he said "there was a pint he wanted
+to mention to Parson Humphreys that he had forgotten to bring
+for'ard when they were talking on that 'ere subject two months
+ago." So Nancy brought her things from the next room and
+helped her on with them, and looked pleased, as well she might,
+at the smile and kind words with which she was rewarded. Alice
+lingered at her leave-taking, hoping to see Ellen; but it was not
+till the last moment that Ellen came in. She did not say a word;
+but the two little arms were put around Alice's neck, and held
+her with a long, close earnestness which did not pass from her
+mind all the evening afterward.</p>
+
+<p>When she was gone the company sat down again to business;
+and apple-paring went on more steadily than ever for a while, till
+the bottom of the barrels was seen, and the last basketful of apples
+was duly emptied. Then there was a general shout; the kitchen
+was quickly cleared, and everybody's face brightened, as much
+as to say, "Now for fun!" While Ellen and Nancy and Miss
+Fortune and Mrs. Van Brunt were running all ways with trays,
+pans, baskets, knives, and buckets, the fun began by Mr. Juniper
+Hitchcock's whistling in his dog and setting him to do various
+feats for the amusement of the company. There followed such a
+rushing, leaping, barking, laughing, and scolding, on the part of
+the dog and his admirers, that the room was in an uproar. He
+jumped over a stick; he got into a chair and sat up on two legs;
+he kissed the ladies' hands; he suffered an apple-paring to be
+laid across his nose, then threw it up with a jerk and caught it in
+his mouth. Nothing very remarkable certainly, but, as Miss
+Fortune observed to somebody, "if he had been the learned pig
+there couldn't ha' been more fuss made over him."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen stood looking on, smiling partly at the dog and his
+master, and partly at the antics of the company. Presently Mr.
+Van Brunt, bending down to her, said—</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter with your eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said Ellen, starting—"at least nothing that's any
+matter, I meant."</p>
+
+<p>"Come here," said he, drawing her on one side; "tell me
+all about it—what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind—please don't ask me, Mr. Van Brunt. I ought
+not to tell you—it isn't any matter."</p>
+
+<p>But her eyes were full again, and he still held her fast doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I'll</i> tell you about it, Mr. Van Brunt," said Nancy, as she
+came past them, "you let her go, and I'll tell you by-and-by."</p>
+
+<p>And Ellen tried in vain afterwards to make her promise she
+would not.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, June," said Miss Jenny, "we have got enough of you
+and Jumper—turn him out; we are going to have the cat now.
+Come!—Puss, puss in the corner! go off in t'other room, will you,
+everybody that don't want to play. Puss, puss!"</p>
+
+<p>Now the fun began in good earnest, and few minutes had
+passed before Ellen was laughing with all her heart, as if she
+never had had anything to cry for in her life. After "puss, puss
+in the corner," came "blind-man's-buff;" and this was played
+with great spirit, the two most distinguished being Nancy and Dan
+Dennison, though Miss Fortune played admirably well. Ellen had
+seen Nancy play before; but she forgot her own part of the game
+in sheer amazement at the way Mr. Dennison managed his long
+body, which seemed to go where there was no room for it, and
+vanish into air just when the grasp of some grasping "blind man"
+was ready to fasten upon him. And when <i>he</i> was blinded, he
+seemed to know by instinct where the walls were, and keeping
+clear of them he would swoop like a hawk from one end of
+the room to the other, pouncing upon the unlucky people who
+could by no means get out of the way fast enough. When this
+had lasted a while there was a general call for "the fox and the
+goose;" and Miss Fortune was pitched upon for the latter; she
+having in the other game showed herself capable of good generalship.
+But who for the fox? Mr. Van Brunt?</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," said Mr. Van Brunt—"there ain't nothing of the
+fox about me; Miss Fortune would beat me all hollow."</p>
+
+<p>"Who then, farmer?" said Bill Huff; "come, who is the fox?
+Will I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not you, Bill; the goose 'ud be too much for you."</p>
+
+<p>There was a general shout, and cries of "who then?" "who
+then?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dan Dennison," said Mr. Van Brunt. "Now look out for a
+sharp fight."</p>
+
+<p>Amidst a great deal of laughing and confusion the line was
+formed, each person taking hold of a handkerchief or band passed
+round the waist of the person before him, except when the women
+held by each other's skirts. They were ranged according to height,
+the tallest being next their leader the "goose." Mr. Van Brunt
+and the elder ladies, and two or three more, chose to be lookers-on,
+and took post outside the door.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Dennison began by taking off his coat, to give himself
+more freedom in his movements; for his business was to catch
+the train of the goose, one by one, as each in turn became the
+hindmost; while <i>her</i> object was to baffle him and keep her family
+together, meeting him with outspread arms at every rush he made
+to seize one of her brood; while the long train behind her,
+following her quick movements and swaying from side to side
+to get out of the reach of the furious fox, was sometimes in the
+shape of the letter C, and sometimes in that of the letter S, and
+sometimes looked like a long snake with a curling tail. Loud
+was the laughter, shrill the shrieks, as the fox drove them hither
+and thither, and seemed to be in all parts of the room at once.
+He was a cunning fox that, as well as a bold one. Sometimes,
+when they thought him quite safe, held at bay by the goose, he
+dived under or leaped over her outstretched arms, and <i>almost</i>
+snatched hold of little Ellen, who being the least was the last one
+of the party. But Ellen played very well, and just escaped him
+two or three times, till he declared she gave him so much trouble
+that when he caught her he would "kiss her the worst kind."
+Ellen played none the worse for that; however she was caught
+at last, and kissed too; there was no help for it, so she bore it
+as well as she could. Then she watched, and laughed till the
+tears ran down her cheeks to see how the fox and the goose
+dodged each other, what tricks were played, and how the long
+train pulled each other about. At length Nancy was caught;
+and then Jenny Hitchcock; and then Cecilia Dennison;
+and then Jane Huff, and so on, till at last the fox and
+the goose had a long struggle for Mimy Lawson, which would
+never have come to an end if Mimy had not gone over to the
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>There was a general pause. The hot and tired company were
+seated round the room, panting and fanning themselves with
+their pocket-handkerchiefs, and speaking in broken sentences;
+glad to rest even from laughing. Miss Fortune had thrown
+herself down on a seat close by Ellen, when Nancy came up and
+softly asked, "Is it time to beat the eggs now?" Miss Fortune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+nodded, and then drew her close to receive a long whisper in
+her ear, at the end of which Nancy ran off.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there anything <i>I</i> can do, Aunt Fortune?" said Ellen, so
+gently and timidly that it ought to have won a kind answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said her aunt, "you may go and put yourself to bed;
+it's high time long ago." And looking round as she moved off
+she added "Go!"—with a little nod that as much as said, "I am
+in earnest."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's heart throbbed; she stood doubtful. One word to
+Mr. Van Brunt and she need not go, that she knew. But as surely
+too that word would make trouble and do harm. And then she
+remembered, "A charge to keep I have!" She turned quick
+and quitted the room.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sat down on the first stair she came to, for her bosom was
+heaving up and down, and she was determined not to cry. The
+sounds of talking and laughing came to her ear from the parlour,
+and there at her side stood the covered-up supper; for a few
+minutes it was hard work to keep her resolve. The thick breath
+came and went very fast. Through the fanlights of the hall door,
+opposite to which she was sitting, the bright moonlight streamed
+in; and presently, as Ellen quieted, it seemed to her fancy like a
+gentle messenger from its Maker, bidding His child remember
+Him; and then came up some words in her memory that her
+mother's lips had fastened there long ago; "I love them that love
+me, and they that seek me early shall find me." She remembered
+her mother had told her it is Jesus who says this. Her lost
+pleasure was well-nigh forgotten; and yet as she sat gazing into
+the moonlight Ellen's eyes were gathering tears very fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I <i>am</i> seeking Him," she thought; "can it be that He
+loves me! Oh, I'm so glad!"</p>
+
+<p>And they were glad tears that little Ellen wiped away as she
+went upstairs; for it was too cold to sit there long if the moon
+was ever so bright.</p>
+
+<p>She had her hand on the latch of the door when her grandmother
+called out from the other room to know who was there.</p>
+
+<p>"It's I, grandma."</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't somebody there? Come in here—who is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's I, grandma," said Ellen, coming to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in here, deary," said the old woman, in a lower tone;
+"what is it all? what's the matter? who's downstairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a bee, grandma; there's nothing the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"A bee! who's been stung? what's all the noise about?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tisn't that kind of bee, grandma; don't you know? there's
+a parcel of people that came to pare apples, and they've been
+playing games in the parlour—that's all."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Paring apples, eh? Is there company below?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am; a whole parcel of people."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" said the old lady, "I oughtn't to ha' been abed!
+Why ha'n't Fortune told me? I'll get right up. Ellen, you go
+in that fur closet and bring me my paddysoy that hangs there,
+and then help me on with my things; I'll get right up. Dear
+me! what was Fortune thinking about?"</p>
+
+<p>The moonlight served very well instead of candles. After
+twice bringing the wrong dresses Ellen at last hit upon the
+"paddysoy," which the old lady knew immediately by the touch.
+In haste, and not without some fear and trembling on Ellen's
+part, she was arrayed in it; her best cap put on, not over hair in
+the best order, Ellen feared, but the old lady would not stay to
+have it made better; Ellen took care of her down the stairs, and
+after opening the door for her went back to her room.</p>
+
+<p>A little while had passed, and Ellen was just tying her night-cap
+strings and ready to go peacefully to sleep, when Nancy burst in.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen! hurry! you must come right downstairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Downstairs! why, I am just ready to go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter, you must come right away down. There's Mr.
+Van Brunt says he won't begin supper till you come."</p>
+
+<p>"But does Aunt Fortune know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I tell you! and the quicker you come the better she'll
+be pleased. She sent me after you in all sorts of a hurry. She
+said she didn't know where you was."</p>
+
+<p>"Said she didn't know where I was! Why, she told me herself——,"
+Ellen began and stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course!" said Nancy, "don't you think I know that?
+But <i>he</i> don't, and if you want to plague her you'll just tell him.
+Now come and be quick, will you. The supper's splendid."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen lost the first view of the table, for everything had begun
+to be pulled to pieces before she came in. The company were
+all crowded round the table, eating and talking and helping
+themselves; and ham and bread and butter, pumpkin pies and
+mince pies and apple pies, cakes of various kinds, and glasses of
+egg-nogg and cider, were in everybody's hands. One dish in the
+middle of the big table had won the praise of every tongue; nobody
+could guess and many asked how it was made, but Miss
+Fortune kept a satisfied silence, pleased to see the constant
+stream of comers to the big dish till it was near empty. Just
+then Mr. Van Brunt, seeing Ellen had nothing, gathered up all
+that was left and gave it to her.</p>
+
+<p>It was sweet and cold and rich. Ellen told her mother afterwards
+it was the best thing she had ever tasted except the ice-cream
+she once gave her in New York. She had taken, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>ever,
+but one spoonful when her eye fell upon Nancy, standing
+back of all the company, and forgotten. Nancy had been upon
+her good behaviour all the evening, and it was a singular proof of
+this that she had not pushed in and helped herself among the
+first. Ellen's eye went once or twice from her plate to Nancy,
+and then she crossed over and offered it to her. It was eagerly
+taken, and, a little disappointed, Ellen stepped back again. But
+she soon forgot the disappointment. "She'll know now that I
+don't bear her any grudge," she thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha'n't you got nothing?" said Nancy, coming up presently;
+"that wasn't your'n that you gave me, was it?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen nodded smilingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there ain't no more of it," said Nancy. "The bowl is
+empty."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, didn't you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you're a queer little fish," said Nancy. "What did
+you get Mr. Van Brunt to let me in for?"</p>
+
+<p>"How did you know I did?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cause he told me. Say—what did you do it for? Mr.
+Dennison, won't you give Ellen a piece of cake or something?
+Here—take this," said Nancy, pouncing upon a glass of egg-nogg
+which a gap in the company enabled her to reach; "I made it
+more than half myself. Ain't it good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very," said Ellen, smacking her lips; "what's in it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, plenty of good things. But what made you ask Mr.
+Van Brunt to let me stop to-night? you didn't tell me—did you
+want me to stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said Ellen; "don't ask me any questions."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but I will though, and you've got to answer me. Why
+did you? Come! do you like me?—say."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like you, I dare say, if you would be different."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't care," said Nancy, after a little pause, "I like
+<i>you</i>, though you're as queer as you can be. I don't care whether
+you like me or not. Look here, Ellen, <i>that</i> cake there is the best,
+I know it is, for I've tried 'em all. You know I told Van Brunt
+I would tell him what you were crying about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I asked you not. Did you?"</p>
+
+<p>Nancy nodded, being at the moment still further engaged in
+"trying" the cake.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you did. What did he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't say much to <i>me</i>—somebody else will hear of it, I
+guess. He <i>was</i> mad about it, or I am mistaken. What makes
+you sorry?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It will only do harm, and make Aunt Fortune angry."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's just what I should like if I were you. I can't
+make you out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd a great deal rather have her like me," said Ellen. "Was
+she vexed when grandma came down?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but she had to keep it to herself if she was;
+everybody else was so glad, and Mr. Van Brunt made such a fuss.
+Just look at the old lady, how pleased she is. I declare, if the
+folks ain't talking of going. Come, Ellen, now for the cloaks!
+you and me'll finish our supper afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>That, however, was not to be. Nancy was offered a ride home
+to Mrs. Van Brunt's and a lodging there. They were ready
+cloaked and shawled, and Ellen was still hunting for Miss Janet's
+things in the moonlit hall, when she heard Nancy close by, in a
+lower tone than common, say—</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen, will you kiss me?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen dropped her armful of things, and taking Nancy's hands,
+gave her truly the kiss of peace.</p>
+
+<p>When she went up to undress for the second time, she found
+on her bed—her letter! And with tears Ellen kneeled down and
+gave earnest thanks for this blessing, and that she had been able
+to gain Nancy's goodwill.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Macbeth</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>It was Tuesday, the 22nd of December, and late in the day.
+Not a pleasant afternoon. The grey snow-clouds hung low;
+the air was keen and raw. It was already growing dark, and
+Alice was sitting alone in the firelight, when two little feet came
+running round the corner of the house; the glass door opened,
+and Ellen rushed in.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come! I have come!" she exclaimed. "Oh, dear
+Alice! I'm so glad!"</p>
+
+<p>So was Alice, if her kiss meant anything.</p>
+
+<p>"But how late, my child! how late you are."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I thought I never was going to get done," said Ellen,
+pulling off her things in a great hurry, and throwing them on the
+sofa; "but I am here at last. Oh, I'm so glad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what has been the matter?" said Alice, folding up
+what Ellen laid down.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a great deal of matter; I couldn't think what Nancy
+meant last night; I know very well now. I shan't want to see
+any more apples all winter. What do you think I have been
+about all to-day, dear Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing that has done you much harm," said Alice, smiling,
+"if I am to guess from your looks. You are as rosy as a good
+Spitzenberg yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"That's very funny," said Ellen, laughing, "for Aunt Fortune
+said awhile ago that my cheeks were just the colour of two mealy
+potatoes."</p>
+
+<p>"But about the apples?" said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this morning I was thinking I would come here so
+early, when the first thing I knew Aunt Fortune brought out all
+those heaps and heaps of apples into the kitchen, and made me
+sit down on the floor, and then she gave me a great big needle,
+and set me to stringing them all together, and as fast as I strung
+them, she hung them up all round the ceiling. I tried very
+hard to get through before, but I could not, and I am so tired!
+I thought I never <i>should</i> get to the bottom of that big basket."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, love; come to the fire; we'll try and forget all
+disagreeable things while we are together."</p>
+
+<p>"I have forgotten it almost already," said Ellen, as she sat
+down in Alice's lap, and laid her face against hers; "I don't care
+for it at all now."</p>
+
+<p>But her cheeks were fast fading into the uncomfortable colour
+Miss Fortune had spoken of; and weariness and weakness kept
+her for awhile quiet in Alice's arms, overcoming even the pleasure
+of talking. They sat so till the clock struck half-past five; then
+Alice proposed they should go into the kitchen and see Margery,
+and order the tea made, which she had no doubt Ellen wanted.
+Margery welcomed her with great cordiality. She liked anybody
+that Alice liked, but she had besides declared to her husband
+that Ellen was "an uncommon well-behaved child." She said
+she would put the tea to draw, and they should have it in a very
+few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Miss Alice, there's an Irish body out by, waiting to
+speak to you. I was just coming in to tell you; will you please
+to see her now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, let her come in. Is she in the cold, Margery?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Alice; there's a fire there this evening. I'll call
+her."</p>
+
+<p>The woman came up from the lower kitchen at the summons.
+She was young, rather pretty, and with a pleasant countenance,
+but unwashed, uncombed, untidy; no wonder Margery's nicety
+had shrunk from introducing her into her spotless upper kitchen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+The unfailing Irish cloak was drawn about her, the hood brought
+over her head, and on the head and shoulders the snow lay white,
+not yet melted away.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you wish to speak to me, my friend?" said Alice
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"If ye plase, ma'am, it's the master I'm wanting," said the
+woman, dropping a curtsey.</p>
+
+<p>"My father? Margery, will you tell him?"</p>
+
+<p>Margery departed.</p>
+
+<p>"Come nearer the fire," said Alice, "and sit down; my father
+will be here presently. It is snowing again, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is, ma'am; a bitter storm."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come far?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a good bit, my lady, it's more nor a mile beyant Carra,
+just right forgin the ould big hill they call the Catchback; in
+Jemmy Morrison's woods, where Pat M'Farren's clearing is; it's
+there I live, my lady."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a long distance, indeed, for a walk in the snow,"
+said Alice kindly; "sit down and come nearer the fire. Margery
+will give you something to refresh you."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank ye, my lady, but I want nothing man can give me
+the night; and when one's on an arrant of life and death, it's
+little the cold or the storm can do to put out the heart's fire."</p>
+
+<p>"Life and death? who is sick?" said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"It's my own child, ma'am; my own boy; all the child I
+have; and I'll have none by the morning light."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he so ill?" said Alice; "what is the matter with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Myself doesn't know."</p>
+
+<p>The voice was fainter; the brown cloak was drawn over her
+face; and Alice and Ellen saw her shoulders heaving with the
+grief she kept from bursting out. They exchanged glances.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," said Alice again presently, laying her hand upon
+the wet shoulder; "sit down and rest; my father will be here
+directly. Margery—oh, that's right; a cup of tea will do her
+good. What do you want with my father?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord bless ye! I'll tell you, my lady."</p>
+
+<p>She drank off the tea, but refused something more substantial
+that Margery offered her.</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord bless ye! I couldn't. My lady, there wasn't a
+stronger, nor a prettier, nor a swater child, nor couldn't be, nor
+he was when we left it; it'll be three years come the fifteenth of
+April next; but I'm thinking the bitter winters o' this cowld
+country has chilled the life out o' him, and trouble's cowlder
+than all," she added, in a lower tone. "I seed him grow waker
+an' waker, an' his daar face grew thinner an' thinner, and the red<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
+all left it; only two burning spots was on it some days; an' I
+worried the life out o' me for him, an' all I could do, I couldn't
+do nothing at all to help him, but he just growd waker an' waker.
+I axed the father wouldn't he see the doctor about him; but he's
+an 'asy kind o' man, my lady, an' he said he would, an' he never
+did to this day; an' John, he always said it was no use sinding
+for the doctor, an' looked so swate at me, an' said for me not to
+fret, for sure he'd be better soon, or he'd go to a better place.
+An' I thought he was like a heavenly angel itself already, an'
+always was, but then more nor ever. Och! it's soon that he'll
+be one entirely, let Father Shannon say what he will."</p>
+
+<p>She sobbed for a minute, while Alice and Ellen looked on,
+silent and pitying.</p>
+
+<p>"An' to-night, my lady, he's very bad," she went on, wiping
+away the tears that came quickly again; "an' I seed he was
+going fast from me, an' I was breaking my heart wid the loss of
+him, whin I heard one of the men that was in it say, 'What's
+this he's saying?' says he. 'An' what is it thin?' says I.
+'About the jantleman that praaches at Carra,' says he; 'he's a
+calling for him,' says he. I knowed there wasn't a praast at all
+at Carra, an' I thought he was draaming, or out o' his head, or
+crazy wid his sickness, like; an' I went up close to him, an' says
+I, 'John,' says I, 'what is it you want?' says I; 'an' sure if it's
+anything in heaven above or in earth beneath that yer own
+mother can get for ye,' says I, 'ye shall have it,' says I. An' he
+put up his two arms to my neck, an' pulled my face down to his
+lips, that was hot wid the faver, an' kissed me, he did; an', says
+he, 'Mother daar,' says he, 'if ye love me,' says he, 'fetch me
+the good jantleman that praaches at Carra till I spake to him.'
+'Is it the praast you want, John, my boy?' says I; 'sure he's in
+it,' says I; for Michael had been for Father Shannon, an' he had
+come home wid him half-an-hour before. 'Oh no, mother,' says
+he, 'it's not him at all that I maan; it's the jantleman that
+spakes in the little white church at Carra; he's not a praast at
+all,' says he. 'An' who is he thin?' says I, getting up from the
+bed, 'or where will I find him, or how will I get to him?' 'Ye'll
+not stir a fut for him thin the night, Kitty Dolan,' says my
+husband; 'are ye mad?' says he; 'sure it's not his own head
+the child has at all at all, or it's a little hiritic, he is,' says he;
+'an' ye won't show the disrespect to the praast in yer own house.'
+'I'm maaning none,' says I; 'nor more he isn't a hiritic; but if
+he was, he's a born angel to Michael Dolan anyhow,' says I; 'an'
+wid the kiss of his lips on my face wouldn't I do the arrant of
+my own boy, an' he a-dying? by the blessing an' I will, if twenty
+men stud between me an' it. So tell me where I'll find him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+this praast, if there's the love o' mercy in any sowl o' ye,' says I.
+But they wouldn't spake a word for me, not one of them; so I
+axed an' axed at one place an' other, till here I am. An' now,
+my lady, will the master go for me to my poor boy? for he'd
+maybe be dead while I stand here."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I will," said Mr. Humphreys, who had come in while
+she was speaking. "Wait but one moment."</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he came back ready, and he and the woman set
+forth to their walk. Alice looked out anxiously after them.</p>
+
+<p>"It storms very hard," she said, "and he has not had his
+tea! But he couldn't wait. Come, Ellen love, we'll have ours.
+How will he ever get back again! it will be so deep by that
+time."</p>
+
+<p>There was a cloud on the fair brow for a few minutes, but it
+passed away, and quiet and calm as ever she sat down at the little
+tea-table with Ellen. From <i>her</i> face all shadows seemed to have
+flown for ever. Hungry and happy, she enjoyed Margery's good
+bread and butter, and the nice honey, and from time to time cast
+very bright looks at the dear face on the other side of the table,
+which could not help looking bright in reply. Ellen was well
+pleased for her part that the third seat was empty. But Alice
+looked thoughtful sometimes as a gust of wind swept by, and
+once or twice went to the window.</p>
+
+<p>After tea Alice took out her work, and Ellen put herself contentedly
+down on the rug, and sat leaning back against her.
+Silent for very contentment for a while, she sat looking gravely
+into the fire; while Alice's fingers drove a little steel hook
+through and through some purse silk in a mysterious fashion that
+no eye could be quick enough to follow, and with such skill and
+steadiness that the work grew fast under her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I had such a funny dream last night," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you? What about?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was pleasant too," said Ellen, twisting herself round to
+talk—"but very queer. I dreamed about that gentleman that
+was so kind to me on board the boat—you know?—I told you
+about him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I dreamed of seeing him somewhere, I don't know
+where, and he didn't look a bit like himself, only I knew who it
+was; and I thought I didn't like to speak to him for fear he
+wouldn't know <i>me</i>, but then I thought he did, and came up and
+took my hand, and seemed so glad to see me; and he asked me
+if I had been <i>pious</i> since he saw me."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen stopped to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you tell him?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I told him yes. And then I thought he seemed so very
+pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"Dreamers do not always keep close to the truth, it seems."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> didn't," said Ellen. "But then I thought I had, in my
+dream."</p>
+
+<p>"Had what? Kept close to the truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no;—been what he said."</p>
+
+<p>"Dreams are queer things," said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been far enough from being good to-day," said Ellen
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"How so, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Miss Alice—because I never <i>am</i> good, I
+suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"But what has been the matter to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, those apples! I thought I would come here so early,
+and then when I found I must do all those baskets of apples first
+I was very ill-humoured; and Aunt Fortune saw I was, and said
+something that made me worse. And I tried as hard as I could
+to get through before dinner, and when I found I couldn't I said
+I wouldn't come to dinner, but she made me, and that vexed
+me more, and I wouldn't eat scarcely anything, and then when
+I got back to the apples again I sewed so hard that I ran the
+needle into my finger ever so far—see there! what a mark it left!—and
+Aunt Fortune said it served me right and she was glad of it,
+and that made me angry. I knew I was wrong afterwards, and
+I was very sorry. Isn't it strange, dear Alice, I should do so
+when I have resolved so hard I wouldn't?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very, my darling, as long as we have such evil hearts as
+ours are—it <i>is</i> strange they should be so evil."</p>
+
+<p>"I told Aunt Fortune afterwards I was sorry, but she said
+'actions speak louder than words, and words are cheap.' If she
+only wouldn't say that just as she does! it does worry me so."</p>
+
+<p>"Patience!" said Alice, passing her hand over Ellen's hair as
+she sat looking sorrowfully up at her; "you must try not to give
+her occasion. Never mind what she says, and overcome evil
+with good."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what mamma said!" exclaimed Ellen, rising to
+throw her arms round Alice's neck, and kissing her with all the
+energy of love, gratitude, repentance, and sorrowful recollection.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what do you think!" she said suddenly, her face changing
+again—"I got my letter last night!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your letter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the letter the old man brought—don't you know?
+And it was written on the ship, and there was only a little bit
+from mamma, and a little bit from papa, but so good! Papa says<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+she is a great deal better, and he has no doubt he will bring her
+back in the spring or summer quite well again. Isn't that
+good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, dear Ellen. I am very glad for you."</p>
+
+<p>"It was on my bed last night. I can't think how it got
+there—and don't care either, so long as I have got it. What are
+you making?"</p>
+
+<p>"A purse," said Alice, laying it on the table for her inspection.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be very pretty. Is the other end to be like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and these tassels to finish them off."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's beautiful!" said Ellen, laying them down to try
+the effect; "and these rings to fasten it with. Is it black?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dark green. I am making it for my brother John."</p>
+
+<p>"A Christmas present!" exclaimed Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid not; he will hardly be here by that time. It
+may do for New Year."</p>
+
+<p>"How pleasant it must be to make Christmas and New Year
+presents!" said Ellen, after she had watched Alice's busy fingers
+for a few minutes. "I wish I could make something for somebody.
+Oh, I wonder if I couldn't make something for Mr. Van Brunt!
+Oh, I should like to very much!"</p>
+
+<p>Alice smiled at Ellen's very wide-open eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What could you make for him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know—that's the thing. He keeps his money in
+his pocket—and besides, I don't know how to make purses."</p>
+
+<p>"There are other things besides purses. How would a watch-guard
+do? Does he wear a watch?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether he does or not. He doesn't every
+day, I am sure; but I don't know about Sundays."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we won't venture upon that. You might knit him a
+nightcap."</p>
+
+<p>"A nightcap? You're joking, Alice, aren't you? I don't
+think a nightcap would be pretty for a Christmas present, do
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what shall we do, Ellen?" said Alice, laughing. "I
+made a pocket pin-cushion for papa once when I was a little
+girl; but I fancy Mr. Van Brunt would not know exactly what
+use to make of such a convenience. I don't think you could fail
+to please him though, with anything you should hit upon."</p>
+
+<p>"I have got a dollar," said Ellen, "to buy stuff with; it
+came in my letter last night. If I only knew what!"</p>
+
+<p>Down she went on the rug again, and Alice worked in silence,
+while Ellen's thoughts ran over every possible and impossible
+article of Mr. Van Brunt's dress.</p>
+
+<p>"I have some nice pieces of fine linen," said Alice; "suppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>
+I cut out a collar for him, and you can make it and stitch it, and
+then Margery will starch and iron it for you, all ready to give
+to him. How will that do? Can you stitch well enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I guess I can," said Ellen. "Oh, thank you, dear
+Alice! you are the best help that ever was. Will he like that, do
+you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure he will very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that will do nicely," said Ellen, much relieved. "And
+now, what do you think about Nancy's Bible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing could be better, only that I am afraid Nancy would
+either sell it for something else, or let it go to destruction very
+quickly. I never heard of her spending five minutes over a book,
+and the Bible, I am afraid, last of all."</p>
+
+<p>"But I think," said Ellen slowly, "I think she would not spoil
+it or sell it either if <i>I</i> gave it to her."</p>
+
+<p>And she told Alice about Nancy's asking for the kiss last
+night.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the most hopeful thing I have heard about Nancy for
+a long time," said Alice. "We will get her the Bible by all
+means, my dear—a nice one—and I hope you will be able to persuade
+her to read it."</p>
+
+<p>She rose as she spoke and went to the glass door. Ellen
+followed her, and they looked out into the night. It was very
+dark. She opened the door a moment, but the wind drove the
+snow into their faces, and they were glad to shut it again.</p>
+
+<p>"It's almost as bad as the night we were out, isn't it?" said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Not such a heavy fall of snow, I think, but it is very windy
+and cold. Papa will be late getting home."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you are worried, dear Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not <i>much</i> worried, love. I have often known papa out
+late before, but this is rather a hard night for a long walk. Come,
+we'll try to make a good use of the time while we are waiting.
+Suppose you read to me while I work."</p>
+
+<p>She took down a volume of Cowper and found his account of
+the three pet hares. Ellen read it, and then several of his smaller
+pieces of poetry. Then followed a long talk about hares and other
+animals; about Cowper and his friends and his way of life. Time
+passed swiftly away; it was getting late.</p>
+
+<p>"How weary papa will be," said Alice, "he has had nothing
+to eat since dinner. I'll tell you what we'll do, Ellen," she
+exclaimed, as she threw her work down, "we'll make some chocolate
+for him—that'll be the very thing. Ellen, dear, run into the
+kitchen and ask Margery to bring me the little chocolate pot,
+and a pitcher of night's milk."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Margery brought them. The pot was set on the coals, and
+Alice had cut up the chocolate that it might melt the quicker.
+Ellen watched it with great interest till it was melted and the
+boiling water stirred in, and the whole was simmering quietly on
+the coals.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it done now?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it must boil a little while, and then the milk must be
+put in, and when that is boiled the eggs, and then it will be
+done."</p>
+
+<p>With Margery and the chocolate pot the cat had walked in.
+Ellen immediately tried to improve his acquaintance; that was
+not so easy. The Captain chose the corner of the rug farthest
+from her, in spite of all her calling and coaxing, paying her no
+more attention than if he had not heard her. Ellen crossed over
+to him and began most tenderly and respectfully to stroke his
+head and back, touching his soft hair with great care. Parry
+presently lifted up his head uneasily, as much as to say, "I
+wonder how long this is going to last," and finding there was
+every prospect of its lasting some time, he fairly got up and
+walked to the other end of the rug. Ellen followed him and
+tried again, with exactly the same effect.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, cat, you aren't very kind," said she, at length; "Alice,
+he won't let me have anything to do with him."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, my dear, he is so unsociable; he is a cat of very
+bad taste, that is all I can say."</p>
+
+<p>"But I never saw such a cat! he won't let me touch him
+ever so softly; he lifts up his head and looks as cross!—and then
+walks off."</p>
+
+<p>"He don't know you yet, and truth is, Parry has no fancy for
+extending the circle of his acquaintance. Oh, kitty, kitty!"
+said Alice, fondly stroking his head, "why don't you behave
+better?"</p>
+
+<p>Parry lifted his head, and opened and shut his eyes, with an
+expression of great satisfaction very different from that he had
+bestowed on Ellen. Ellen gave him up for the present as a
+hopeless case, and turned her attention to the chocolate, which
+had now received the milk, and must be watched lest it should
+run over, which Alice said it would very easily do when once it
+began to boil again. Meanwhile Ellen wanted to know what
+chocolate was made of, where it came from, where it was made
+best, burning her little face in the fire all the time lest the pot
+should boil over while she was not looking. At last the chocolate
+began to gather a rich froth, and Ellen called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alice, look here quick; here's the shape of the spoon
+on the top of the chocolate! do look at it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>An iron spoon was in the pot, and its shape was distinctly
+raised on the smooth frothy surface. As they were both bending
+forward to watch it, Alice waiting to take the pot off the moment
+it began to boil, Ellen heard a slight click of the lock of the
+door, and turning her head was a little startled to see a stranger
+there, standing still at the far end of the room. She touched
+Alice's arm without looking round. But Alice started to her feet
+with a slight scream, and in another minute had thrown her arms
+round the stranger and was locked in his. Ellen knew what it
+meant now very well. She turned away as if she had nothing to
+do with what was going on there, and lifted the pot of chocolate
+off the fire with infinite difficulty; but it was going to boil
+over, and she would have broken her back rather than not do it.
+And then she stood with her back to the brother and sister,
+looking into the fire, as if she was determined not to see them
+till she couldn't help it. But what she was thinking of, Ellen
+could not have told, then or afterward. It was but a few minutes,
+though it seemed to her a great many, before they drew near the
+fire. Curiosity began to be strong, and she looked round to see
+if the new-comer was like Alice. No, not a bit—how different!—darker
+hair and eyes—not a bit like her; handsome enough,
+too, to be her brother. And Alice did not look like herself; her
+usually calm, sweet face was quivering and sparkling now, lit up
+as Ellen had never seen it, oh, how bright! Poor Ellen herself
+had never looked duller in her life; and when Alice said gaily,
+"This is my brother, Ellen," her confusion of thoughts and feelings
+resolved themselves into a flood of tears; she sprang and hid
+her face in Alice's arms.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's were not the only eyes that were full just then, but of
+course she didn't know that.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Ellen," whispered Alice presently, "look up! what
+kind of a welcome is this? come! we have no business with tears
+just now—won't you run into the kitchen for me, love," she
+added more low, "and ask Margery to bring some bread and
+butter, and anything else she has that is fit for a traveller?"</p>
+
+<p>Glad of an escape, Ellen darted away that her wet face might
+not be seen. The brother and sister were busily talking when
+she returned.</p>
+
+<p>"John," said Alice, "this is my little sister that I wrote to
+you about—Ellen Montgomery. Ellen, this is your brother as
+well as mine, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! stop!" said her brother. "Miss Ellen, this sister of
+mine is giving us away to each other at a great rate—I should
+like to know first what you say to it. Are you willing to take a
+strange brother upon her recommendation?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Half inclined to laugh, Ellen glanced at the speaker's face,
+but meeting the grave though somewhat comical look of two
+very keen eyes, she looked down again, and merely answered
+"yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then if I am to be your brother you must give me a brother's
+right, you know," said he, drawing her gently to him, and kissing
+her gravely on the lips.</p>
+
+<p>Probably Ellen thought there was a difference between John
+Humphreys and Mr. Van Brunt, or the young gentlemen of the
+apple-paring; for though she coloured a good deal, she made no
+objection and showed no displeasure. Alice and she now busied
+themselves with getting the cups and saucers out of the cupboard,
+and setting the table; but all that evening, through whatever
+was doing, Ellen's eyes sought the stranger as if by fascination.
+She watched him whenever she could without being noticed. At
+first she was in doubt what to think of him; she was quite sure
+from that one look into his eyes that he was a person to be feared;
+there was no doubt of that, as to the rest she didn't know.</p>
+
+<p>"And what have my two sisters been doing to spend the
+evening?" said John Humphreys, one time that Alice was gone
+into the kitchen on some kind errand for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Talking, sir," said Ellen doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Talking! this whole evening? Alice must have improved.
+What have you been talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hares and dogs, and about Mr. Cowper, and some other
+things——"</p>
+
+<p>"Private affairs, eh?" said he, with again the look Ellen had
+seen before.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Ellen, nodding and laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"And how came you upon Mr. Cowper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to be talking about Mr. Cowper?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was reading about his hares, and about John Gilpin; and
+then Alice told me about Mr. Cowper and his friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know after all that you have had a pleasanter
+evening than I have had," said her questioner, "though I have
+been riding hard with the cold wind in my face, and the driving
+snow doing all it could to discomfort me. I have had this very
+bright fireside before me all the way."</p>
+
+<p>He fell into a fit of grave musing, which lasted till Alice came
+in. Then suddenly fell a fumbling in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a note for you," said he, throwing it into her lap.</p>
+
+<p>"A note!—Sophia Marshman!—where did you get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"From her own hand. Passing there to-day, I thought I
+must stop a moment to speak to them, and had no notion of doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+more; but Mrs. Marshman was very kind, and Miss Sophia in
+despair, so the end of it was I dismounted and went in to await
+the preparing of that billet, while my poor nag was led off to the
+stables and a fresh horse supplied me. I fancy that tells you on
+what conditions."</p>
+
+<p>"Charming!" said Alice, "to spend Christmas—I am very
+glad; I should like to very much—with you, dear. If I can only
+get papa—but I think he will; it will do him a great deal of
+good. To-morrow, she says, we must come; but I doubt the
+weather will not let us; we shall see."</p>
+
+<p>"I rode Prince Charlie down. He is a good traveller, and
+the sleighing will be fine if the snow be not too deep. The old
+sleigh is in being yet, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes! in good order. Ellen, what are you looking so
+grave about? you are going too."</p>
+
+<p>"I!" said Ellen, a great spot of crimson coming in each
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure; do you think I am going to leave you behind."</p>
+
+<p>"But——"</p>
+
+<p>"But what?"</p>
+
+<p>"There won't be room."</p>
+
+<p>"Room in the sleigh? Then we'll put John on Prince Charlie,
+and let him ride there postillion-fashion."</p>
+
+<p>"But—Mr. Humphreys?"</p>
+
+<p>"He always goes on horseback; he will ride Sharp or old
+John."</p>
+
+<p>In great delight Ellen gave Alice an earnest kiss; and then
+they all gathered round the table to take their chocolate, or
+rather to see John take his, which his sister would not let him
+wait for any longer. The storm had ceased, and through the
+broken clouds the moon and stars were looking out, so they were
+no more uneasy for Mr. Humphreys, and expected him every
+moment. Still the supper was begun and ended without him,
+and they had drawn round the fire again before his welcome step
+was at last heard.</p>
+
+<p>There was new joy then; new embracing, and questioning
+and answering; the little circle opened to let him in; and Alice
+brought the corner of the table to his side, and poured him out a
+cup of hot chocolate. But after drinking half of it, and neglecting
+the eatables beside him, he sat with one hand in the other,
+his arm leaning on his knee, with a kind of softened gravity upon
+his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your chocolate right, papa?" said Alice at length.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Very</i> good, my daughter!"</p>
+
+<p>He finished the cup, but then went back to his old attitude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
+and look. Gradually they ceased their conversation, and waited
+with respectful affection and some curiosity for him to speak;
+something of more than common interest seemed to be in his
+thoughts. He sat looking earnestly in the fire, sometimes with
+almost a smile on his face, and gently striking one hand in
+the palm of the other. And sitting so, without moving or
+stirring his eyes, he said at last, as though the words had been
+forced from him, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
+gift!"</p>
+
+<p>As he added no more, Alice said gently, "What have you
+seen to-night, papa?"</p>
+
+<p>He roused himself and pushed the empty cup towards her.</p>
+
+<p>"A little more, my daughter; I have seen the fairest sight,
+almost, a man can see in this world. I have seen a little ransomed
+spirit go home to its rest. Oh, that 'unspeakable gift!'"</p>
+
+<p>He pressed his lips thoughtfully together while he stirred his
+chocolate; but having drunk it he pushed the table from him,
+and drew up his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"You had a long way to go, papa," observed Alice again.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a long way there; I don't know what it was coming
+home; I never thought of it. How independent the spirit can
+be of externals! I scarcely felt the storm to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I," said his son.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a long way to go," said Mr. Humphreys; "that poor
+woman—that Mrs. Dolan—she lives in the woods behind the
+Cat's Back, a mile beyond Carra-carra, or more, it seemed a long
+mile to-night; and a more miserable place I never saw yet. A
+little rickety shanty, the storm was hardly kept out of it, and no
+appearance of comfort or nicety anywhere or in anything. There
+were several men gathered round the fire, and in a corner, on a
+miserable kind of bed, I saw the sick child. His eye met mine
+the moment I went in, and I thought I had seen him before, but
+couldn't at first make out where. Do you remember, Alice, a
+little ragged boy, with a remarkably bright, pleasant face, who
+has planted himself regularly every Sunday morning for some
+time past in the south aisle of the church, and stood there all
+service time?"</p>
+
+<p>Alice said No.</p>
+
+<p>"I have noticed him often, and noticed him as paying a most
+fixed and steady attention. I have repeatedly tried to catch him
+on his way out of church, to speak to him, but always failed. I
+asked him to-night, when I first went in, if he knew me. 'I do,
+sir,' he said. I asked him where he had seen me. He said, 'In
+the church beyant.' 'So,' said I, 'you are the little boy I have
+seen there so regularly; what did you come there for?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'To hear yer honour spake the good words.'</p>
+
+<p>"'What good words?' said I; 'about what?'</p>
+
+<p>"He said, 'About Him that was slain, and washed us from
+our sins in His own blood.'</p>
+
+<p>"'And do you think He has washed away yours?' I said.</p>
+
+<p>"He smiled at me very expressively. I suppose it was somewhat
+difficult for him to speak; and to tell the truth so it was
+for me, for I was taken by surprise; but the people in the hut
+had gathered round, and I wished to hear him say more, for their
+sake as well as my own. I asked him why he thought his sins
+were washed away. He gave me for answer part of the verse,
+'Suffer little children to come unto Me,' but did not finish it.
+'Do you think you are very sick, John?' I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'I am, sir,' he said. 'I'll not be long here.'</p>
+
+<p>"'And where do you think you are going, then?' said I.</p>
+
+<p>"He lifted one little thin bony arm from under his coverlid,
+and through all the dirt and pallor of his face the smile of heaven
+I am sure was on it, as he looked and pointed upward and
+answered, 'Jesus!'</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him presently, as soon as I could, what he had
+wished to see me for. I don't know whether he heard me or
+not; he lay with his eyes half closed, breathing with difficulty.
+I doubted whether he would speak again, and indeed, for myself,
+I had heard and seen enough to satisfy me entirely; for the sake
+of the group around the bed I could have desired something
+further. They kept perfect stillness; awed, I think, by a profession
+of faith such as they had never heard before. They and
+I stood watching him, and at the end of a few minutes, not more
+than ten or fifteen, he opened his eyes, and with sudden life and
+strength rose up half way in bed, exclaiming, 'Thanks be to God
+for His unspeakable gift!'—and then fell back—just dead."</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman's voice was husky as he finished, for Alice
+and Ellen were both weeping, and John Humphreys had covered
+his face with his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I have felt," said the old gentleman presently, "as if I
+could have shouted out his words—his dying words—all the way
+as I came home. My little girl," said he, drawing Ellen to him,
+"do you know the meaning of those sweet things of which little
+John Dolan's mind was so full?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what it is to be a sinner? and what it is to be
+a forgiven child of God?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I do, sir," Ellen said.</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her forehead and blessed her; and then said, "Let
+us pray."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was late; the servants had gone to bed, and they were
+alone. Oh, what a thanksgiving Mr. Humphreys poured forth
+for that "unspeakable gift;" that they, every one there, had
+been made to know and rejoice in it; for the poor little boy, rich
+in faith, who had just gone home in the same rejoicing; for their
+own loved one who was there already; and for the hope of joining
+them soon in safety and joy, to sing with them the "new
+song" for ever and ever.</p>
+
+<p>There were no dry eyes in the room. And when they arose,
+Mr. Humphreys, after giving his daughter the usual kiss for good-night,
+gave one to Ellen too, which he had never done before, and
+then going to his son and laying both hands on his shoulders, kissed
+his cheek also; then silently took his candle and went.</p>
+
+<p>They lingered a little while after he was gone, standing round
+the fire as if loth to part, but in grave silence, each busy with his
+own thoughts. Alice's ended by fixing on her brother, for laying
+her hand and her head carelessly on his shoulder, she said, "And
+so you have been well all this time, John?"</p>
+
+<p>He turned his face towards her without speaking, but Ellen
+as well as his sister saw the look of love with which he answered
+her question, rather of endearment than inquiry; and from that
+minute Ellen's mind was made up as to the doubt which had
+troubled her. She went to bed quite satisfied that her new
+brother was a decided acquisition.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+The night was winter in his roughest mood.<br />
+The morning sharp and clear . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; .<br />
+ &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . &nbsp; . The vault is blue<br />
+Without a cloud, and white without a speck<br />
+The dazzling splendour of the scene below.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Cowper</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Before Ellen's eyes were open the next morning, almost
+before she awoke, the thought of the Christmas visit, the
+sleigh-ride, John Humphreys, and the weather, all rushed into her
+mind at once, and started her half up in the bed to look out
+of the window. Well frosted the panes of glass were, but
+at the corners and edges unmistakable bright gleams of light
+came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alice, it's beautiful!" exclaimed Ellen; "look how the
+sun is shining! and 'tisn't very cold. Are we going to-day?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet, Ellie, but we shall know very soon. We'll
+settle that at breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>At breakfast it was settled. They were to go, and set off
+directly. Mr. Humphreys could not go with them, because he
+had promised to bury little John Dolan; the priest had declared
+<i>he</i> would have nothing to do with it, and the poor mother had
+applied to Mr. Humphreys, as being the clergyman her child had
+most trusted and loved to hear. It seemed that little John had
+persuaded her out of half her prejudices by his affectionate talk
+and blameless behaviour during some time past. Mr. Humphreys,
+therefore, must stay at home that day. He promised, however,
+to follow them the next, and would by no means permit them to
+wait for him. He said the day was fine, and they must improve
+it; and he should be pleased to have them with their friends as
+long as possible.</p>
+
+<p>So the little travelling bag was stuffed with more things than
+it seemed possible to get into it. Among the rest Ellen brought
+her little red Bible, which Alice decided should go in John's
+pocket; the little carpet-bag could not take it. Ellen was afraid
+it never would be locked. By dint of much pushing and crowding,
+however, locked it was; and they made themselves ready. Over
+Ellen's merino dress and coat went an old fur tippet; a little shawl
+was tied round her neck; her feet were cased in a pair of warm
+moccasins, which belonging to Margery were of course a world too
+big for her, but "anything but cold," as their owner said. Her
+nice blue hood would protect her head well, and Alice gave her a
+green veil to save her eyes from the glare of the snow. When
+Ellen shuffled out of Alice's room in this trim, John gave her one
+of his grave looks, and saying she looked like Mother Bunch,
+begged to know how she expected to get to the sleigh; he said
+she would want a <i>foot</i>man indeed to wait upon her, to pick up her
+slippers, if she went in that fashion. However, he ended by
+picking <i>her</i> up, carried her, and set her down safely in the sleigh.
+Alice followed, and in another minute they were off.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's delight was unbounded. Presently they turned round
+a corner and left the house behind out of sight; and they were
+speeding away along a road that was quite new to her. Ellen's
+heart felt like dancing for joy. Nobody would have thought it,
+she sat so still and quiet between Alice and her brother; but her
+eyes were very bright as they looked joyously about her, and every
+now and then she could not help smiling to herself. Nothing was
+wanting to the pleasure of that ride. The day was of winter's
+fairest; the blue sky as clear as if clouds had never dimmed or
+crossed it. None crossed it now. It was cold, but not bitterly
+cold, nor windy; the sleigh skimmed along over the smooth frozen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+surface of the snow as if it was no trouble at all to Prince Charlie
+to draw it; and the sleigh-bells jingled and rang, the very music
+for Ellen's thoughts to dance to. And then with somebody she
+liked very much on each side of her, and pleasures untold in the
+prospect, no wonder she felt as if her heart could not hold any
+more. The green veil could not be kept on, everything looked so
+beautiful in that morning's sun. The long wide slopes of untrodden
+and unspotted snow too bright sometimes for the eye to look
+at; the shadows that here and there lay upon it, of woodland and
+scattered trees; the very brown fences, and the bare arms and
+branches of the leafless trees showing sharp against the white
+ground and clear bright heaven; all seemed lovely in her eyes.
+For</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"It is content of heart<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Gives nature power to please."</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>She could see nothing that was not pleasant. And besides they
+were in a nice little red sleigh, with a warm buffalo robe, and
+Prince Charlie was a fine spirited grey that scarcely ever needed
+to be touched with the whip; at a word of encouragement from
+his driver he would toss his head and set forward with new life,
+making all the bells jingle again. To be sure she would have
+been just as happy if they had had the poorest of vehicles on
+runners, with old John instead; but still it was pleasanter so.</p>
+
+<p>Their road at first was through a fine undulating country like
+that between the Nose and Thirlwall; farmhouses and patches of
+woodland scattered here and there. It would seem that the
+minds of all the party were full of the same thoughts, for after a
+very long silence Alice's first word, almost sigh, was—</p>
+
+<p>"This is a beautiful world, John!"</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful!—wherever you can escape from the signs of
+man's presence and influence."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that almost too strong?" said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head, smiling somewhat sadly, and touched
+Prince Charlie, who was indulging himself in a walk.</p>
+
+<p>"But there are bright exceptions," said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe it; never so much as when I come home."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there none around you, then, in whom you can have
+confidence and sympathy?"</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head again. "Not enough, Alice. I long for
+you every day of my life."</p>
+
+<p>Alice turned her head quick away.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be so, my dear sister," he said presently; "we can
+never expect to find it otherwise. There are, as you say, bright
+exceptions—many of them; but in almost all I find some sad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+want. We must wait till we join the spirits of the just made
+perfect, before we see society that will be all we wish for."</p>
+
+<p>"What is Ellen thinking of all this while?" said Alice presently,
+bending down to see her face. "As grave as a judge!—what
+are you musing about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," said Ellen, "how men could help the
+world's being beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't trouble your little head with that question," said
+John, smiling; "long may it be before you are able to answer
+it. Look at those snowbirds!"</p>
+
+<p>By degrees the day wore on. About one o'clock they stopped
+at a farm-house to let the horse rest, and to stretch their own
+limbs, which Ellen for her part was very glad to do. The people
+of the house received them with great hospitality, and offered
+them pumpkin pies and sweet cider. Alice had brought a basket
+of sandwiches, and Prince Charlie was furnished with a bag of
+corn Thomas had stowed away in the sleigh for him; so they
+were all well refreshed and rested and warmed before they set
+off again.</p>
+
+<p>From home to Ventnor, Mr. Marshman's place, was more
+than thirty miles, and the longest, because the most difficult,
+part of the way was still before them. Ellen, however, soon
+became sleepy, from riding in the keen air; she was content now
+to have the green veil over her face, and sitting down in the
+bottom of the sleigh, her head leaning against Alice, and covered
+well with the buffalo robe, she slept in happy unconsciousness
+of hill and dale, wind and sun, and all the remaining hours of
+the way.</p>
+
+<p>It was drawing towards four o'clock when Alice with some
+difficulty roused her to see the approach to the house and get
+wide awake before they should reach it. They turned from
+the road and entered by a gateway into some pleasure-grounds,
+through which a short drive brought them to the house. These
+grounds were fine, but the wide lawns were a smooth spread of
+snow now; the great skeletons of oaks and elms were bare and
+wintry; and patches of shrubbery offered little but tufts and
+bunches of brown twigs and stems. It might have looked dreary,
+but that some well-grown evergreens were clustered round the
+house, and others scattered here and there relieved the eye; a
+few holly bushes, singly and in groups, proudly displayed their
+bright dark leaves and red berries; and one unrivalled hemlock
+on the west threw its graceful shadow quite across the lawn,
+on which, as on itself, the white chimney-tops, and the naked
+branches of oaks and elms, was the faint smile of the afternoon
+sun.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A servant came to take the horse, and Ellen, being first rid
+of her moccasins, went with John and Alice up the broad flight
+of steps and into the house. They entered a large handsome
+square hall with a blue and white stone floor, at one side of
+which the staircase went winding up. Here they were met by a
+young lady, very lively and pleasant-faced, who threw her arms
+round Alice and kissed her a great many times, seeming very
+glad indeed to see her. She welcomed Ellen too with such
+warmth that she began to feel almost as if she had been sent
+for and expected; told Mr. John he had behaved admirably; and
+then led them into a large room where was a group of ladies and
+gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p>The welcome they got here was less lively but quite as kind.
+Mr. and Mrs. Marshman were fine, handsome old people, of stately
+presence, and most dignified as well as kind in their deportment.
+Ellen saw that Alice was at home here, as if she had been a
+daughter of the family. Mrs. Marshman also stooped down and
+kissed herself, telling her she was very glad she had come, and
+that there were a number of young people there who would be
+much pleased to have her help them keep Christmas. Ellen
+could not make out yet who any of the rest of the company
+were. John and Alice seemed to know them all, and there
+was a buzz of pleasant voices and a great bustle of shaking
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>The children had all gone out to walk, and as they had had
+their dinner a great while ago it was decided that Ellen should
+take hers that day with the elder part of the family. While they
+were waiting to be called to dinner and everybody else was
+talking and laughing, old Mr. Marshman took notice of little
+Ellen, and drawing her from Alice's side to his own, began a
+long conversation. He asked her a great many questions, some
+of them such funny ones that she could not help laughing, but
+she answered them all, and now and then so that she made him
+laugh too. By the time the butler came to say dinner was ready
+she had almost forgotten she was a stranger. Mr. Marshman
+himself led her to the dining-room, begging the elder ladies
+would excuse him, but he felt bound to give his attention to
+the greatest stranger in the company. He placed her on his
+right hand and took the greatest care of her all dinner-time;
+once sending her plate the whole length of the table for some
+particular little thing he thought she would like. On the
+other side of Ellen sat Mrs. Chauncey, one of Mr. Marshman's
+daughters; a lady with a sweet, gentle, quiet face and manner
+that made Ellen like to sit by her. Another daughter, Mrs.
+Gillespie, had more of her mother's stately bearing; the third,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+Miss Sophia, who met them first in the hall, was very unlike both
+the others, but lively and agreeable and good-humoured.</p>
+
+<p>Dinner gave place to the dessert, and that in its turn was
+removed with the cloth. Ellen was engaged in munching almonds
+and raisins, admiring the brightness of the mahogany, and the
+richly-cut and coloured glass, and silver decanter stands, which
+were reflected in it, when a door at the farther end of the room
+half-opened, a little figure came partly in, and holding the door
+in her hand, stood looking doubtfully along the table, as if seeking
+for some one.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Ellen?" said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Bland told me, mamma," she began, her eye not ceasing
+its uneasy quest, but then breaking off and springing to Alice's
+side, she threw her arms around her neck, and gave her certainly
+the warmest of all the warm welcomes she had had that day.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo!" cried Mr. Marshman, rapping on the table, "that's
+too much for any one's share. Come here, you baggage, and give
+me just such another."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl came near accordingly, and hugged and kissed
+him with a very good will, remarking, however, "Ah, but I've
+seen you before to-day, grandpapa!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here's somebody you've not seen before," said he
+good-humouredly, pulling her round to Ellen. "Here's a new
+friend for you, a young lady from the great city, so you must
+brush up your country manners—Miss Ellen Montgomery, come
+from—pshaw! what is it? Come from——"</p>
+
+<p>"London, grandpapa?" said the little girl, as with a mixture
+of simplicity and kindness she took Ellen's hand and kissed her
+on the cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"From Carra-carra, sir?" said Ellen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Go along with you," said he, laughing, and pinching her
+cheek. "Take her away, Ellen, take her away, and mind you
+take good care of her. Tell Mrs. Bland she is one of grandpapa's
+guests."</p>
+
+<p>The two children had not, however reached the door when
+Ellen Chauncey exclaimed, "Wait, oh! wait a minute! I must
+speak to Aunt Sophia about the bag." And flying to her side,
+there followed an earnest whispering, and then a nod and a smile
+from Aunt Sophia; and, satisfied, Ellen returned to her companion
+and led her out of the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>"We have both got the same name," said she, as they went
+along a wide corridor. "How shall we know which is which?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Ellen, laughing, "when you say 'Ellen' I shall
+know you mean me, and when I say it you will know I mean you.
+I shouldn't be calling myself, you know."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but when somebody else calls 'Ellen,' we shall both
+have to run. Do you run when you are called?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but I do always; mamma always makes me. I thought
+perhaps you were like Marianne Gillespie. She waits often as
+much as half-a-minute before she stirs when anybody calls her.
+Did you come with Miss Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much! Oh, very much!"</p>
+
+<p>Little Ellen looked at her companion's rising colour with a
+glance of mixed curiosity and pleasure, in which lay a strong
+promise of growing love.</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," she answered gaily. "I am very glad she is come,
+and I am very glad you are come, too."</p>
+
+<p>The little speaker pushed open a door, and led Ellen into
+the presence of a group of young people rather older than
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Marianne," said she to one of them, a handsome girl of
+fourteen, "this is Miss Ellen Montgomery. She came with Alice,
+and she is come to keep Christmas with us. Aren't you glad?
+There'll be quite a parcel of us when what's-her-name comes,
+won't there?"</p>
+
+<p>Marianne shook hands with Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"She is one of grandpapa's guests, I can tell you," said little
+Ellen Chauncey, "and he says we must brush up our country
+manners; she's come from the great city."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think we are a set of ignoramuses, Miss Ellen?"
+inquired a well-grown boy of fifteen, who looked enough like
+Marianne Gillespie to prove him her brother.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what that is," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, do they do things better in the great city than we do
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how you do them here," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you? Come, stand out of my way, right and left, all
+of you, will you, and give me a chance? Now, then!"</p>
+
+<p>Conscious that he was amusing most of the party, he placed
+himself gravely at a little distance from Ellen, and marching
+solemnly up to her, bowed down to her knees; then slowly raising
+his head, stepped back.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen Montgomery, I am rejoiced to have the pleasure
+of seeing you at Ventnor. Isn't that polite, now? Is that like
+what you have been accustomed to, Miss Montgomery?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, thank you," said Ellen, who laughed in spite of
+herself. The mirth of the others redoubled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"May I request to be informed, then," continued Gillespie,
+"what is the fashion of making bows in the great city?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen. "I never saw a boy make a bow
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I guess country manners will do for you," said
+William, turning on his heel.</p>
+
+<p>"You're giving her a pretty specimen of 'em, Bill," said
+another boy.</p>
+
+<p>"For shame, William!" cried little Ellen Chauncey. "Didn't
+I tell you she was one of grandpapa's guests? Come here, Ellen;
+I'll take you somewhere else!"</p>
+
+<p>She seized Ellen's hand and pulled her towards the door, but
+suddenly stopped again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I forgot to tell you!" she said. "I asked Aunt Sophia
+about the bag of moroccos, and she said she would have 'em early
+to-morrow morning, and then we can divide 'em right away."</p>
+
+<p>"We mustn't divide 'em till Maggie comes," said Marianne.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, not till Maggie comes," said little Ellen; and then
+ran off again.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad you are come," said she; "the others are all
+so much older, and they have all so much to do together—and
+now you can help me think what I will make for mamma. Hush!
+don't say a word about it!"</p>
+
+<p>They entered the large drawing-room, where old and young
+were gathered for tea. The children, who had dined early, sat
+down to a well-spread table, at which Miss Sophia presided; the
+elder persons were standing or sitting in different parts of the
+room. Ellen, not being hungry, had leisure to look about her,
+and her eye soon wandered from the tea-table in search of her
+old friends. Alice was sitting by Mrs. Marshman, talking with
+two other ladies; but Ellen smiled presently as she caught her
+eye from the far end of the room, and got a little nod of recognition.
+John came up just then to set down his coffee-cup, and
+asked her what she was smiling at.</p>
+
+<p>"That's city manners," said William Gillespie, "to laugh at
+what's going on."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt we shall all follow the example," said John
+Humphreys gravely, "if the young gentleman will try to give us
+a smile."</p>
+
+<p>The young gentleman had just accommodated himself with an
+outrageously large mouthful of bread and sweetmeats, and if ever
+so well-disposed, compliance with the request was impossible.
+None of the rest, however, not even his sister, could keep their
+countenances, for the eye of the speaker had pointed and
+sharpened his words; and William, very red in the face, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>
+understood to mumble, as soon as mumbling was possible, that
+"he wouldn't laugh unless he had a mind to," and a threat to
+"do something" to his tormentor.</p>
+
+<p>"Only not eat me," said John, with a shade of expression in
+his look and tone which overcame the whole party, himself and
+poor William alone retaining entire gravity.</p>
+
+<p>"What's all this—what's all this? What's all this laughing
+about?" said old Mr. Marshman, looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"This young gentleman, sir," said John, "has been endeavouring—with
+a mouthful of arguments—to prove to us the inferiority
+of city manners to those learned in the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Will!" said the old gentleman, glancing doubtfully at
+William's discomfited face; then added sternly, "I don't care
+where your manners were learnt, sir, but I advise you to be very
+particular as to the sort you bring with you here. Now, Sophia,
+let us have some music."</p>
+
+<p>He set the children a-dancing, and as Ellen did not know
+how, he kept her by him, and kept her very much amused too,
+in his own way; then he would have her join in the dancing, and
+bade Ellen Chauncey give her lessons. There was a little backwardness
+at first, and then Ellen was jumping away with the rest,
+and thinking it perfectly delightful, as Miss Sophia's piano rattled
+out merry jigs and tunes, and little feet flew over the floor as
+light as the hearts they belonged to. At eight o'clock the young
+ones were dismissed, and bade good-night to their elders; and
+pleased with the kind kiss Mrs. Marshman had given her as
+well as her little granddaughter, Ellen went off to bed very
+happy.</p>
+
+<p>The room to which her companion led her was the very picture
+of comfort. It was not too large, furnished with plain old-fashioned
+furniture, and lighted and warmed by a cheerful wood
+fire. The very old brass-headed andirons that stretched themselves
+out upon the hearth with such a look of being at home,
+seemed to say, "You have come to the right place for comfort."
+A little dark mahogany bookcase in one place—an odd toilet-table
+of the same stuff in another: and opposite the fire an
+old-fashioned high post-bedstead, with its handsome Marseilles
+quilt and ample pillows, looked very tempting. Between this
+and the far side of the room, in the corner, another bed was
+spread on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Aunt Sophia's room," said little Ellen Chauncey;
+"this is where you are to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"And where will Alice be?" said the other Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she'll sleep here, in this bed, with Aunt Sophia; that
+is because the house is so full, you know; and here is your bed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>
+here on the floor. Oh, delicious! I wish I was going to sleep
+here. Don't you love to sleep on the floor? I do. I think it's
+fun."</p>
+
+<p>Anybody might have thought it fun to sleep on that bed, for
+instead of a bedstead it was luxuriously piled on mattresses. The
+two children sat down together on the foot of it.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Aunt Sophia's room," continued little Ellen, "and
+next to it, out of that door, is our dressing-room, and next to
+that is where mamma and I sleep. Do you undress and dress
+yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure I do," said Ellen, "always."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I; but Marianne Gillespie won't even put on her shoes
+and stockings for herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Who does it, then?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Lester—Aunt Matilda's maid. Mamma sent away her
+maid when we came here, and she says if she had fifty she would
+like me to do everything I can for myself. I shouldn't think it
+was pleasant to have any one put on one's shoes and stockings
+for you, should you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," said Ellen. "Then you live here all the
+time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ever since papa didn't come back from that long
+voyage—we live here since then."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he coming back soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said little Ellen gravely, "he never came back—he
+never will come back any more."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was sorry she had asked, and both children were silent
+for a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what!" said little Ellen, jumping up, "mamma
+said we mustn't sit up too long talking, so I'll run and get my
+things and bring 'em here, and we can undress together; won't
+that be a nice way?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+He that loses anything, and gets wisdom by it, is a gainer by the loss.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">L'Estrange</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Left alone in the strange room with the flickering fire, how
+quickly Ellen's thoughts left Ventnor and flew over the sea.
+They often travelled that road, it is true, but now perhaps the
+very home look of everything, where yet <i>she</i> was not at home,
+might have sent them. There was a bitter twinge or two, and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>
+a minute Ellen's head drooped. "To-morrow will be Christmas
+eve—last Christmas eve—oh, mamma!"</p>
+
+<p>Little Ellen Chauncey soon came back, and sitting down
+beside her on the foot of the bed, began the business of undressing.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you love Christmas time?" said she. "I think it's
+the pleasantest in all the year; we always have a house full of
+people, and such fine times. But then in summer I think <i>that's</i>
+the pleasantest. I s'pose they're all pleasant. Do you hang up
+your stocking?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you? Why, I always did ever since I can remember.
+I used to think, when I was a little girl, you know," said she,
+laughing, "I used to think that Santa Claus came down the
+chimney, and I used to hang up my stocking as near the fireplace
+as I could; but I know better than that now; I don't care where
+I hang it. You know who Santa Claus is, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's nobody," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, he is; he's a great many people; he's whoever gives
+you anything. <i>My</i> Santa Claus is mamma, and grandpapa, and
+grandmamma, and Aunt Sophia, and Aunt Matilda; and I thought
+I should have had Uncle George too this Christmas, but he couldn't
+come. Uncle Howard never gives me anything. I am sorry
+Uncle George couldn't come; I like him the best of all my
+uncles."</p>
+
+<p>"I never had anybody but mamma to give me presents," said
+Ellen, "and she never gave me much more at Christmas than at
+other times."</p>
+
+<p>"I used to have presents from mamma and grandpapa too, both
+Christmas and New Year; but now I have grown so old, mamma
+only gives me something Christmas and grandpapa only New
+Year. It would be too much, you know, for me to have both
+when my presents are so big. I don't believe a stocking would
+hold 'em much longer. But oh! we've got such a fine plan in our
+heads," said little Ellen, lowering her voice and speaking with
+open eyes and great energy; "<i>we</i> are going to make presents this
+year—we children. Won't it be fine? We are going to make
+what we like for anybody we choose, and let nobody know anything
+about it; and then New Year's morning, you know, when
+the things are all under the napkins, we will give ours to somebody
+to put where they belong, and nobody will know anything about
+them till they see them there. Won't it be fine? I'm so glad
+you are here, for I want you to tell me what I shall make."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it for?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma; you know I can't make for everybody, so I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>
+think I had rather it should be for mamma. I <i>thought</i> of making her
+a needle-book with white backs, and getting Gilbert Gillespie to
+paint them—he can paint beautifully—and having her name and
+something else written very nicely inside. How do you think
+that would do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think it would do very nicely," said Ellen, "very
+nicely indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish Uncle George was at home, though, to write it for
+me; he writes so beautifully; I can't do it well enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I can't either," said Ellen. "Perhaps somebody
+else can."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who. Aunt Sophia scribbles and scratches, and
+besides, I don't want her to know anything about it. But there's
+another thing I don't know how to fix, and that's the edges
+of the leaves—the leaves for the needles; they must be fixed
+somehow."</p>
+
+<p>"I can show you how to do that," said Ellen, brightening.
+"Mamma had a needle book that was given to her that had the
+edges beautifully fixed; and I wanted to know how it was done,
+and she showed me. I'll show you that. It takes a good while,
+but that's no matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you; how nice that is! Oh no, that's no matter.
+And then it will do very well, won't it? Now, if I can only catch
+Gilbert in a good-humour—he isn't my cousin, he's Marianne's
+cousin—that big boy you saw downstairs—he's so big he won't
+have anything to say to me sometimes—but I guess I'll get him to
+do this. Don't you want to make something for somebody?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen <i>had</i> had one or two feverish thoughts on this subject
+since the beginning of the conversation; but she only said—</p>
+
+<p>"It's no matter—you know I haven't got anything here; and
+besides, I shall not be here till New Year."</p>
+
+<p>"Not here till New Year! yes, you shall," said little Ellen,
+throwing herself upon her neck; "indeed you aren't going away
+before that. I <i>know</i> you aren't; I heard grandmamma and Aunt
+Sophia talking about it. Say you will stay here till New Year—do."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to very much indeed," said Ellen, "if Alice
+does."</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of half-a-dozen kisses with which her little companion
+rewarded this speech, somebody close by said pleasantly—</p>
+
+<p>"What time of night do you suppose it is?"</p>
+
+<p>The girls started; there was Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed her little daughter, springing to
+her feet, "I hope you haven't heard what we have been talking
+about?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not a word," said Mrs. Chauncey, smiling; "but as to-morrow
+will be long enough to talk in, hadn't you better go to bed now?"</p>
+
+<p>Her daughter obeyed her immediately, after one more hug to
+Ellen, and telling her she was <i>so</i> glad she had come. Mrs.
+Chauncey stayed to see Ellen in bed, and press one kind motherly
+kiss upon her face, so tenderly that Ellen's eyes were moistened
+as she withdrew. But in her dreams that night the rosy sweet
+face, blue eyes, and little plump figure of Ellen Chauncey played
+the greatest part.</p>
+
+<p>She slept till Alice was obliged to waken her the next morning,
+and then got up with her head in a charming confusion of
+pleasures past and pleasures to come—things known and unknown
+to be made for everybody's New Year presents—linen
+collars and painted needle-books; and no sooner was breakfast
+over than she was showing and explaining to Ellen Chauncey a
+particularly splendid and mysterious way of embroidering the
+edges of needle-book leaves. Deep in this they were still an
+hour afterwards, and in the comparative merits of purple and
+rose-colour, when a little hubbub arose at the other end of the
+room on the arrival of a new-comer. Ellen Chauncey looked up
+from her work, then dropped it, exclaiming, "There she is! now
+for the bag!" and pulled Ellen along with her towards the party.
+A young lady was in the midst of it, talking so fast that she had
+not time to take off her cloak and bonnet. As her eye met
+Ellen's, however, she came to a sudden pause. It was Margaret
+Dunscombe. Ellen's face certainly showed no pleasure; Margaret's
+darkened with a very disagreeable surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness, Ellen Montgomery, how on earth did you get
+<i>here</i>?" said Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know her?" asked one of the girls, as the two
+Ellens went off after "Aunt Sophia."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I know her? Yes, just enough—exactly. How did she
+get here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Humphreys brought her."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's Miss Humphreys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said Marianne, lowering her tone; "that's her
+brother in the window."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's brother?—hers or Miss Humphreys'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Humphreys'. Did you never see her? She is here,
+or has been here, a great deal of the time. Grandma calls her
+her fourth daughter, and she is just as much at home as if she
+was; and she brought her here."</p>
+
+<p>"And she's at home too, I suppose. Well, it's no business of
+mine."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you know of her?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, enough—that's just it—don't want to know any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you needn't; but what's the matter with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know; I'll tell you some other time; she's a
+conceited little piece. We had the care of her coming up the
+river, that's how I come to know about her. Ma said it was the
+last child she would be bothered with in that way."</p>
+
+<p>Presently the two girls came back, bringing word to clear the
+table, for Aunt Sophia was coming with the moroccos. As soon
+as she came Ellen Chauncey sprang to her neck and whispered
+an earnest question. "Certainly!" Aunt Sophia said, as she
+poured out the contents of the bag; and her little niece delightedly
+told Ellen <i>she</i> was to have her share as well as the rest.</p>
+
+<p>The table was now strewn with pieces of morocco of all sizes
+and colours, which were hastily turned over and examined with
+eager hands and sparkling eyes. Some were mere scraps, to be
+sure, but others showed a breadth and length of beauty which
+was declared to be "first-rate" and "fine," and one beautiful
+large piece of blue morocco in particular was made up in imagination
+by two or three of the party in as many different ways.
+Marianne wanted it for a book-cover, Margaret declared she
+could make a lovely reticule with it, and Ellen could not help
+thinking it would make a very pretty needle-box, such a one as
+she had seen in the possession of one of the girls, and longed to
+make for Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's to be done now?" said Miss Sophia, "or am I
+not to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you're not to know—you're not to know, Aunt Sophia,"
+cried the girls; "you mustn't ask."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what they are going to do with 'em," said
+George Walsh, coming up to her with a mischievous face, and
+adding in a loud whisper, shielding his mouth with his hand;
+"they're going to make pr——"</p>
+
+<p>He was laid hold of forcibly by the whole party screaming
+and laughing, and stopped short from finishing his speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, I'll take my departure," said Miss Sophia; "but
+how will you manage to divide all these scraps?"</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose we were to put them in the bag again, and you
+hold the bag, and we were to draw them out without looking,"
+said Ellen Chauncey, "as we used to do with the sugar-plums."</p>
+
+<p>As no better plan was thought of this was agreed upon, and
+little Ellen, shutting up her eyes very tight, stuck in her hand
+and pulled out a little bit of green morocco about the size of
+a dollar. Ellen Montgomery came next; then Margaret, then
+Marianne, then their mutual friend Isabel Hawthorn. Each
+had to take her turn a great many times, and at the end of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>
+drawing the pieces were found to be pretty equally divided among
+the party, with the exception of Ellen, who, besides several other
+good pieces, had drawn the famous blue.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do very nicely," said little Ellen Chauncey; "I
+am glad you have got that, Ellen. Now, Aunt Sophy! one thing
+more—you know the silks and ribbons you promised us."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless me! I haven't done yet, eh? Well, you shall have
+them, but we are all going out to walk now; I'll give them to
+you this afternoon. Come! put these away, and get on your
+bonnets and cloaks."</p>
+
+<p>A hard measure! but it was done. After the walk came
+dinner; after dinner Aunt Sophia had to be found and waited
+on, till she had fairly sought out and delivered to their hands
+the wished-for bundles of silks and satins. It gave great
+satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"But how shall we do about dividing these?" said little
+Ellen; "shall we draw lots again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Ellen," said Marianne, "that won't do, because we
+might every one get just the things we do not want. I want one
+colour or stuff to go with my morocco, and you want another to go
+with yours; and you might get mine and I might get yours. We
+had best each choose in turn what we like, beginning at Isabel."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said little Ellen, "I'm agreed."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything for a quiet life," said George Walsh.</p>
+
+<p>But this business of choosing was found to be very long and
+very difficult, each one was so fearful of not taking the exact
+piece she wanted most. The elder members of the family began
+to gather for dinner, and several came and stood round the table
+where the children were, little noticed by them, they were so
+wrapped up in silks and satins. Ellen seemed the least interested
+person at the table, and had made her selections with the least
+delay and difficulty; and now, as it was not her turn, sat very
+soberly looking on with her head resting on her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare it's too vexatious!" said Margaret Dunscombe;
+"here I've got this beautiful piece of blue satin, and can't do anything
+with it; it just matches that blue morocco—it's a perfect
+match—I could have made a splendid thing of it, and I have got
+some cord and tassels that would just do—I declare it's too bad."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's colour changed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, choose, Margaret," said Marianne.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what to choose—- that's the thing. What can
+one do with red and purple morocco and blue satin? I might as
+well give up. I've a great notion to take this piece of yellow
+satin and dress up a Turkish doll to frighten the next young one
+I meet with."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would, Margaret, and give it to me when it's
+done," cried little Ellen Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Tain't made yet," said the other dryly.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's colour had changed and changed; her hand twitched
+nervously, and she glanced uneasily from Margaret's store of
+finery to her own.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, choose, Margaret," said Ellen Chauncey; "I dare say
+Ellen wants the blue morocco as much as you do."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't!" said Ellen abruptly, throwing it over the table
+to her; "take it, Margaret, you may have it."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" said the other astounded.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean you may have it," said Ellen; "I don't want it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll tell you what," said the other, "I'll give you yellow
+satin for it—or some of my red morocco?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I had rather not," repeated Ellen; "I don't want it—you
+may have it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very generously done," remarked Miss Sophia; "I hope
+you'll all take a lesson in the art of being obliging."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a noble little girl," said Mrs. Gillespie.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen crimsoned. "No, ma'am, I'm not indeed," she said,
+looking at them with eyes that were filling fast, "please don't say
+so—I don't deserve it."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall say what I think, my dear," said Mrs. Gillespie,
+smiling, "but I'm glad you add the grace of modesty to that of
+generosity; it is the more uncommon of the two."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not modest! I am not generous! you mustn't say so,"
+cried Ellen. She struggled; the blood rushed to the surface,
+suffusing every particle of skin that could be seen; then left it, as
+with eyes cast down she went on—"I don't deserve to be praised!
+it was more Margaret's than mine. I oughtn't to have kept it at
+all, for I saw a little bit when I put my hand in. I didn't mean
+to, but I did!"</p>
+
+<p>Raising her eyes hastily to Alice's face, they met those of
+John, who was standing behind her. She had not counted upon
+him for one of her listeners; she knew Mrs. Gillespie, Mrs.
+Chauncey, Miss Sophia, and Alice had heard her, but this was the
+one drop too much. Her head sank; she covered her face a
+moment, and then made her escape out of the room before even
+Ellen could follow her.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence. Alice seemed to have some
+difficulty not to follow Ellen's example. Margaret pouted;
+Mrs. Chauncey's eyes filled with tears, and her little daughter
+seemed divided between doubt and dismay. Her first move,
+however, was to run off in pursuit of Ellen. Alice went
+after her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Here's a beautiful example of honour and honesty for you!"
+said Margaret Dunscombe, at length.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is," said John quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"An uncommon instance," said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad everybody thinks so," said Margaret sullenly; "I
+hope I shan't copy it, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are in no danger," said John again.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Margaret, who, between her desire of speaking
+and her desire of concealing her vexation, did not know what
+to do with herself; "everybody must judge for himself, I
+suppose; I've got enough of her, for my part."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you ever see her before?" said Isabel Hawthorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she came up the river with us—mamma had to take care
+of her—she was with us two days."</p>
+
+<p>"And didn't you like her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I guess I didn't! she was a perfect plague. All the day
+on board the steamboat she scarcely came near us; we couldn't
+pretend to keep sight of her; mamma had to send her maid out
+to look after her I don't know how many times. She scraped
+acquaintance with some strange man on board, and liked his
+company better than ours, for she stayed with him the whole
+blessed day, waking and sleeping: of course mamma didn't like
+it at all. She didn't go a single meal with us; you know of course
+that wasn't proper behaviour."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," said Isabel.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said John coolly, "she chose the society she
+thought the pleasantest Probably Miss Margaret's politeness
+was more than she had been accustomed to."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret coloured, not quite knowing what to make of the
+speaker or his speech.</p>
+
+<p>"It would take much to make me believe," said gentle Mrs.
+Chauncey, "that a child of such refined and delicate feeling as
+that little girl evidently has, could take pleasure in improper
+company."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret had a reply at her tongue's end, but she had also an
+uneasy feeling that there were eyes not far off too keen of sight
+to be baffled; she kept silence till the group dispersed, and she
+had an opportunity of whispering in Marianne's ear that "<i>that</i> was
+the very most disagreeable man she had ever seen in her life."</p>
+
+<p>"What a singular fancy you have taken to this little pet of
+Alice's, Mr. John," said Mrs. Marshman's youngest daughter.
+"You quite surprise me."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think me a misanthrope, Miss Sophia?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, not at all; but I always had a notion you would
+not be easily pleased in the choice of favourites."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>Easily!</i> When a simple, intelligent child of twelve or
+thirteen is a common character, then I will allow that I am
+easily pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"Twelve or thirteen!" said Miss Sophia; "what are you
+thinking about? Alice says she is only ten or eleven."</p>
+
+<p>"In years, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"How gravely you take me up!" said the young lady, laughing.
+"My dear Mr. John, 'in years perhaps,' you may call yourself
+twenty, but in everything else you might much better pass for
+thirty or forty."</p>
+
+<p>As they were called to dinner, Alice and Ellen Chauncey came
+back; the former looking a little serious, the latter crying, and
+wishing aloud that all the moroccos had been in the fire. They
+had not been able to find Ellen. Neither was she in the drawing-room
+when they returned to it after dinner; and a second search
+was made in vain. John went to the library, which was separate
+from the other rooms, thinking she might have chosen that for a
+hiding-place. She was not there; but the pleasant light of the
+room, where only the fire was burning, invited a stay. He sat
+down in the deep window, and was musingly looking out into the
+moonlight, when the door softly opened, and Ellen came in. She
+stole in noiselessly, so that he did not hear her, and <i>she</i> thought
+the room empty; till in passing slowly down toward the fire, she
+came upon him in the window. Her start first let him know she
+was there; she would have run, but one of her hands was caught,
+and she could not get it away.</p>
+
+<p>"Running away from your brother, Ellie!" said he kindly.
+"What is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen shrunk from meeting his eye, and was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I know all, Ellie," said he, still very kindly; "I have seen
+all; why do you shun me?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen said nothing; the big tears began to run down her face
+and frock.</p>
+
+<p>"You are taking this matter too hardly, dear Ellen," he said,
+drawing her close to him; "you did wrong, but you have done
+all you could to repair the wrong; neither man nor woman can
+do more than that."</p>
+
+<p>But though encouraged by his manner, the tears flowed faster
+than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you been? Alice was looking for you, and little
+Ellen Chauncey was in great trouble. I don't know what dreadful
+thing she thought you had done with yourself. Come! lift up
+your head and let me see you smile again."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen lifted her head, but could not her eyes, though she
+tried to smile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I want to talk to you a little about this," said he. "You
+know you gave me leave to be your brother; will you let me ask
+you a question or two?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes; whatever you please," Ellen said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then sit down here," said he, making room for her on the
+wide window-seat, but still keeping hold of her hand, and speaking
+very gently. "You said you saw when you took the morocco; I
+don't quite understand; how was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Ellen, "we were not to look, and we had
+gone three times round, and nobody had got that large piece
+yet, and we all wanted it; and I did not mean to look at
+all, but I don't know how it was, just before I shut my eyes,
+I happened to see the corner of it sticking up, and then I
+took it."</p>
+
+<p>"With your eyes open?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, with them shut. And I had scarcely got it when I
+was sorry for it, and wished it back."</p>
+
+<p>"You will wonder at me, perhaps, Ellie," said John, "but I
+am not very sorry this has happened. You are no worse than
+before; it has only made you see what you are—very, very weak,
+quite unable to keep yourself right without constant help. Sudden
+temptation was too much for you; so it has many a time been for
+me, and so it has happened to the best men on earth. I
+suppose if you had had a minute's time to think, you would not
+have done as you did?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed!" said Ellen. "I was sorry a minute after."</p>
+
+<p>"And I dare say the thought of it weighed upon your mind
+ever since?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes!" said Ellen; "it wasn't out of my head a minute
+the whole day."</p>
+
+<p>"Then let it make you very humble, dear Ellie, and let it
+make you in future keep close to our dear Saviour, without whose
+help we cannot stand a moment."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sobbed; and he allowed her to do so for a few minutes,
+then said, "But you have not been thinking much about Him,
+Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>The sobs ceased; he saw his words had taken hold.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it right," he said softly, "that we should be more troubled
+about what people will think of us, than for having displeased or
+dishonoured Him?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen now looked up, and in her look was all the answer he
+wished.</p>
+
+<p>"You understand me, I see," said he. "Be humbled in the
+dust before Him; the more the better; but whenever we are
+greatly concerned, for our own sakes, about other people's opinion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>
+we may be sure we are thinking too little of God and what will
+please Him."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry," said poor Ellen, from whose eyes the tears
+began to drop again; "I am very wrong, but I couldn't bear to
+think what Alice would think, and you, and all of them——"</p>
+
+<p>"Here's Alice to speak for herself," said John.</p>
+
+<p>As Alice came up with a quick step and knelt down before
+her, Ellen sprang to her neck, and they held each other very fast
+indeed. John walked up and down the room. Presently he
+stopped before them.</p>
+
+<p>"All's well again," said Alice, "and we're going in to tea."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled and held out his hand, which Ellen took, but he
+would not leave the library, declaring they had a quarter of an
+hour still. So they sauntered up and down the long room,
+talking of different things, so pleasantly that Ellen near forgot
+her troubles. Then came in Miss Sophia to find them, and then
+Mr. Marshman, and Marianne to call them to tea; so the going
+into the drawing-room was not half so bad as Ellen thought it
+would be.</p>
+
+<p>She behaved very well; her face was touchingly humble that
+night; and all the evening she kept fast by either Alice or John,
+without budging an inch. And as little Ellen Chauncey and her
+cousin George Walsh chose to be where she was, the young party
+was quite divided; and not the least merry portion of it was that
+mixed with the older people. Little Ellen was half beside herself
+with spirits; the secret of which perhaps was the fact, which
+she several times in the course of the evening whispered to Ellen
+as a great piece of news, that "it was Christmas Eve!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,<br />
+The minutes winged their way wi' pleasure.<br />
+Kings may be blest, but <i>they</i> were glorious,<br />
+O'er all the ills o' life victorious.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Christmas morning was dawning grey, but it was still far
+from broad daylight, when Ellen was awakened. She found
+little Ellen Chauncey pulling and pushing at her shoulders, and
+whispering, "Ellen! Ellen!" in a tone that showed a great fear
+of waking somebody up. There she was, in night-gown and
+night-cap, and barefooted too, with a face brimful of excitement,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>
+and as wide awake as possible. Ellen roused herself in no little
+surprise, and asked what the matter was.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to look at my stocking," whispered her visitor;
+"don't you want to get up and come with me? it's just here in
+the other room—come! don't make any noise."</p>
+
+<p>"But what if you should find nothing in it?" said Ellen
+laughingly, as she bounded out of bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but I shall, I know; I always do; never fear. Hush!
+step ever so softly; I don't want to wake anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"It's hardly light enough for you to see," whispered Ellen,
+as the two little barefooted white figures glided out of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, it is; that's all the fun. Hush! don't make a bit
+of noise—I know where it hangs—mamma always puts it at the
+back of her big easy chair—come this way—here it is! Oh,
+Ellen! there's two of 'em! There's one for you! there's one for
+you."</p>
+
+<p>In a tumult of delight one Ellen capered about the floor on
+the tips of her little bare toes, while the other, not less happy,
+stood still for pleasure. The dancer finished by hugging and
+kissing her with all her heart, declaring she was so glad she
+didn't know what to do.</p>
+
+<p>"But how shall we know which is which?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they are both alike," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No—at any rate one's for me, and t'other's for you. Stop!
+here are pieces of paper, with our names on, I guess—let's turn
+the chair a little bit to the light—there—yes!—Ellen—M-o-n—there,
+that's yours; my name doesn't begin with an M; and this
+is mine!"</p>
+
+<p>Another caper round the room, and then she brought up in
+front of the chair where Ellen was still standing.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what's in 'em," she said; "I want to look, and I
+<i>don't</i> want to. Come, you begin."</p>
+
+<p>"But that's no stocking of mine," said Ellen, a smile gradually
+breaking upon her sober little face; "my leg never was as big as
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuffed, isn't it?" said Ellen Chauncey. "Oh, do make
+haste, and see what is in yours. I want to know, so I don't know
+what to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, will you take out of yours as fast as I take out of
+mine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well!"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, mysterious delight, and delightful mystery, of the stuffed
+stocking! Ellen's trembling fingers sought the top, and then
+very suddenly left it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can't think what it is," said she, laughing; "it feels so
+funny."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind! make haste," said Ellen Chauncey; "it
+won't hurt you, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it won't hurt me," said Ellen; "but——"</p>
+
+<p>She drew forth a great bunch of white grapes.</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid! isn't it?" said Ellen Chauncey. "Now for
+mine."</p>
+
+<p>It was the counterpart of Ellen's bunch.</p>
+
+<p>"So far, so good," said she. "Now for the next."</p>
+
+<p>The next thing in each stocking was a large horn of sugar-plums.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's fine, isn't it?" said Ellen Chauncey; "yours is
+tied with white ribbon and mine with blue; that's all the difference.
+Oh, and your paper's red and mine is purple."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and the pictures are different," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I had rather they would be different, wouldn't you?
+I think it's just as pleasant. One's as big as the other, at any
+rate. Come—what's next!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen drew out a little bundle, which being opened proved to
+be a nice little pair of dark kid gloves.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wonder who gave me this," she said; "it's just what
+I wanted. How pretty! Oh, I am so glad. I guess who it
+was."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, look here," said the other Ellen, who had been diving
+into <i>her</i> stocking, "I've got a ball—this is just what I wanted
+too; George told me if I'd get one he'd show me how to play.
+Isn't it pretty? Isn't it funny we should each get just what we
+wanted? Oh, this is a very nice ball. I'm glad I have got it.
+Why, here is another great round thing in my stocking! what
+can it be? they wouldn't give me <i>two</i> balls," said she, chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>"So there is in mine!" said Ellen. "Maybe they're
+apples."</p>
+
+<p>"They aren't! they wouldn't give us apples; besides, it is
+soft. Pull it out and see."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they are oranges," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> never felt such a soft orange," said little Ellen Chauncey.
+"Come, Ellen! stop laughing, and let's see."</p>
+
+<p>They were two great scarlet satin pincushions, with E. C. and
+E. M. very neatly stuck in pins.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we shan't want pins for a good while, shall we?" said
+Ellen. "Who gave us these?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said little Ellen Chauncey; "Mrs. Bland."</p>
+
+<p>"She was very kind to make one for me," said Ellen. "Now
+for the next!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The next thing was a little bottle of Cologne water.</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell who put that in," said her friend; "Aunt Sophia.
+I know her little bottles of Cologne water. Do you love Cologne
+water? Aunt Sophia's is delicious."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did like it very much, and was extremely pleased.
+Ellen Chauncey had also a new pair of scissors, which gave entire
+satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I wonder what all this toe is stuffed with," said she;
+"raisins and almonds, I declare! and yours the same, isn't it?
+Well, don't you think we have got enough sweet things?
+Isn't this a pretty good Christmas?"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you about, you monkeys?" cried the voice of
+Aunt Sophia from the dressing-room door. "Alice, Alice! do
+look at them. Come right back to bed, both of you. Crazy
+pates! It is lucky it is Christmas day—if it was any other in the
+year we should have you both sick in bed; as it is, I suppose you
+will go scot free."</p>
+
+<p>Laughing and rosy with pleasure, they came back and got
+into bed together; and for an hour afterwards the two kept up a
+most animated conversation, intermixed with long chuckles and
+bursts of merriment, and whispered communications of immense
+importance. The arrangement of the painted needle-book was
+entirely decided upon in this consultation; also two or three
+other matters; and the two children seemed to have already
+lived a day since daybreak by the time they came down to
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast Ellen applied secretly to Alice to know if she
+could write <i>very</i> beautifully; she exceedingly wanted something
+done.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not like to venture, Ellie, if it must be so superfine;
+but John can do it for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Can he? Do you think he would?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure he will if you ask him."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't like to ask him," said Ellen, casting a doubtful
+glance at the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! he's only reading the newspaper. You won't
+disturb him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you won't say anything about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen accordingly went near and said gently, "Mr. Humphreys,"
+but he did not seem to hear her. "Mr. Humphreys!"—a
+little louder.</p>
+
+<p>"He has not arrived yet," said John, looking round gravely.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke so gravely that Ellen could not tell whether he was
+joking or serious. Her face of extreme perplexity was too much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
+for his command of countenance. "Whom do you want to speak
+to?" said he, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted to speak to you, sir," said Ellen, "if you are not
+now too busy."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Mr. Humphreys</i> is always busy," said he, shaking his head,
+"but <i>Mr. John</i> can attend to you at any time, and <i>John</i> will do
+for you whatever you please to ask him."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Mr. John," said Ellen, laughing, "if you please, I
+wanted to ask you to do something for me very much indeed, if
+you are not too busy; Alice said I shouldn't disturb you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all; I've been long enough over this stupid newspaper.
+What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want you, if you will be so good," said Ellen, "to write a
+little bit for me on something, very beautifully."</p>
+
+<p>"'Very beautifully!' Well—come to the library; we will
+see."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is a great secret," said Ellen; "you won't tell anybody?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tortures shan't draw it from me—when I know what it is,"
+said he, with one of his comical looks.</p>
+
+<p>In high glee Ellen ran for the pieces of Bristol board which
+were to form the backs of the needle-book, and brought them to
+the library; and explained how room was to be left in the middle
+of each for a painting, a rose on one, a butterfly on the other;
+the writing to be as elegant as possible, above, beneath, and
+roundabout, as the fancy of the writer should choose.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is to be inscribed on this most original of needle-books?"
+said John, as he carefully mended his pen.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" said Ellen, "I'll tell you in a minute—on this one,
+the front, you know, is to go, 'To my dear mother, many happy
+New Years;'—and on this side, 'From her dear little daughter,
+Ellen Chauncey.' You know," she added, "Mrs. Chauncey isn't
+to know anything about it till New Year's day; nor anybody
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"Trust me," said John. "If I am asked any questions they
+shall find me as obscure as an oracle."</p>
+
+<p>"What is an oracle, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said John, smiling, "this pen won't do yet—the old
+heathens believed there were certain spots of earth to which
+some of their gods had more favour than to others, and where
+they would permit mortals to come nearer to them, and would
+even deign to answer their questions."</p>
+
+<p>"And they did?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Did they what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did they answer their questions?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Did <i>who</i> answer their questions?"</p>
+
+<p>"The—oh! to be sure," said Ellen, "there were no such gods.
+But what made people think they answered them? and how
+could they ask questions?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it was a contrivance of the priests to increase
+their power and wealth. There was always a temple built near,
+with priests and priestesses; the questions were put through them;
+and they would not ask them except on great occasions, or for
+people of consequence who could pay them well by making
+splendid gifts to the god."</p>
+
+<p>"But I should think the people would have thought the
+priests or priestesses had made up the answer themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they did sometimes. But people had not the Bible
+then, and did not know as much as we know. It was not unnatural
+to think the gods would take care a little for the poor
+people that lived on the earth. Besides, there was a good deal
+of management and trickery about the answers of the oracle that
+helped to deceive."</p>
+
+<p>"How was it?" said Ellen; "how could they manage? and
+what was <i>the oracle</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"The oracle was either the answer itself, or the god who was
+supposed to give it, or the place where it was given; and there
+were different ways of managing. At one place the priest hid
+himself in the hollow body or among the branches of an oak tree,
+and the people thought the tree spoke to them. Sometimes the
+oracle was delivered by a woman who pretended to be put into
+a kind of fit—tearing her hair and beating her breast."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose the oracle made a mistake?—what would the
+people think then?"</p>
+
+<p>"The answers were generally contrived so that they would
+seem to come true in any event."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how they could do that," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well—just imagine that I am an oracle, and come to
+me with some question; I'll answer you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't tell what's going to happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No matter—you ask me truly and I'll answer you oracularly."</p>
+
+<p>"That means, like an oracle, I suppose!" said Ellen. "Well—Mr.
+John, will Alice be pleased with what I am going to give
+her for her New Year?"</p>
+
+<p>"She will be pleased with what she will receive on that
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but," said Ellen, laughing, "that isn't fair; you haven't
+answered me; perhaps somebody else will give her something,
+and then she might be pleased with that and not with
+mine."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Exactly—but the oracle never means to be understood."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I won't come to you," said Ellen. "I don't like such
+answers. Now for the needle-book!"</p>
+
+<p>Breathlessly she looked on while the skilful pen did its work;
+and her exclamations of delight and admiration when the first
+cover was handed to her were not loud but deep.</p>
+
+<p>"It will do, then, will it? Now, let us see—'From her dear
+little daughter,' there—now 'Ellen Chauncey' I suppose must be
+in hieroglyphics."</p>
+
+<p>"In what?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean written in some difficult character."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen. "But what was that you said?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hieroglyphics!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen added no more, though she was not satisfied. He
+looked up and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to know what that means?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you please," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>The pen was laid down while he explained, to a most eager
+little listener. Even the great business of the moment was forgotten.
+From hieroglyphics they went to the pyramids; and
+Ellen had got to the top of one and was enjoying the prospect
+(in imagination), when she suddenly came down to tell John of
+her stuffed stocking and its contents. The pen went on again,
+and came to the end of the writing by the time Ellen had got to
+the toe of the stocking.</p>
+
+<p>"Wasn't it very strange they should give me so many things?"
+said she; "people that don't know me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," said John, smiling, "I cannot say I think it
+was <i>very</i> strange. Is this all the business you had for my
+hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is all; and I am <i>very</i> much obliged to you, Mr. John."</p>
+
+<p>Her grateful affectionate eye said much more, and he felt
+well paid.</p>
+
+<p>Gilbert was next applied to, to paint the rose and the butterfly,
+which, finding so excellent a beginning made in the work,
+he was very ready to do. The girls were then free to set about
+the embroidery of the leaves, which was by no means the business
+of an hour.</p>
+
+<p>A very happy Christmas day was that. With their needles
+and thimbles, and rose-coloured silk, they kept by themselves in
+a corner, or in the library, out of the way; and sweetening their
+talk with a sugar-plum now and then, neither tongues nor needles
+knew any flagging. It was wonderful how they found so much
+to say, but there was no lack. Ellen Chauncey especially was
+inexhaustible. Several times too that day the Cologne bottle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>
+was handled, the gloves looked at and fondled, the ball tried,
+and the new scissors extolled as "just the thing for their work."
+Ellen attempted to let her companion into the mystery of oracles
+and hieroglyphics, but was fain to give it up; little Ellen showed
+a decided preference for American, not to say Ventnor, subjects,
+where she felt more at home.</p>
+
+<p>Then came Mr. Humphreys; and Ellen was glad, both for
+her own sake and because she loved to see Alice pleased. Then
+came the great merry Christmas dinner, when the girls had, not
+talked themselves out, but tired themselves with working. Young
+and old dined together to-day, and the children not set by themselves,
+but scattered among the grown-up people; and as Ellen
+was nicely placed between Alice and little Ellen Chauncey, she
+enjoyed it all very much. The large long table surrounded with
+happy faces; tones of cheerfulness and looks of kindness, and
+lively talk; the superb display of plate and glass and china; the
+stately dinner; and last but not least, the plum-pudding. There
+was sparkling wine too, and a great deal of drinking of healths;
+but Ellen noticed that Alice and her brother smilingly drank all
+theirs in water; so when old Mr. Marshman called to her to
+"hold out her glass," she held it out to be sure and let him fill
+it, but she lifted her tumbler of water to her lips instead, after
+making him a very low bow. Mr. Marshman laughed at her a
+great deal, and asked her if she was "a proselyte to the new
+notions;" and Ellen laughed with him, without having the least
+idea what he meant, and was extremely happy. It was very pleasant
+too when they went into the drawing-room to take coffee.
+The young ones were permitted to have coffee to-night as a great
+favour. Old Mrs. Marshman had the two little ones on either
+side of her; and was so kind, and held Ellen's hand in her own,
+and talked to her about her mother, till Ellen loved her.</p>
+
+<p>After tea there was a great call for games, and young and old
+joined in them. They played the Old Curiosity Shop; and Ellen
+thought Mr. John's curiosities could not be matched. They
+played the Old Family Coach, Mr. Howard Marshman being the
+manager, and Ellen laughed till she was tired; she was the coach
+door, and he kept her opening and shutting and swinging and
+breaking, it seemed all the while, though most of the rest were
+worked just as hard. When they were well tired they sat down
+to rest and hear music, and Ellen enjoyed that exceedingly.
+Alice sang, and Mrs. Gillespie, and Miss Sophia, and another lady,
+and Mr. Howard; sometimes alone, sometimes three or four or
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>At last came ten o'clock and the young ones were sent off;
+and from beginning to end that had been a Christmas day of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>
+unbroken and unclouded pleasure. Ellen's last act was to take
+another look at her Cologne bottle, gloves, pin-cushion, grapes,
+and paper of sugar-plums, which were laid side by side carefully
+in a drawer.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+But though life's valley be a vale of tears,<br />
+A brighter scene beyond that vale appears,<br />
+Whose glory, with a light that never fades,<br />
+Shoots between scattered rocks and opening shades.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Cowper</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Humphreys was persuaded to stay over Sunday at
+Ventnor; and it was also settled that his children should not
+leave it till after New Year. This was less their own wish than
+his; he said Alice wanted the change, and he wished she looked
+a little fatter. Besides the earnest pleading of the whole family
+was not to be denied. Ellen was very glad of this, though there
+was one drawback to the pleasures of Ventnor—she could not feel
+quite at home with any of the young people, but only Ellen
+Chauncey and her cousin George Walsh. This seemed very
+strange to her; she almost thought Margaret Dunscombe was at
+the bottom of it all, but she recollected she had felt something
+of this before Margaret came. She tried to think nothing
+about it; and in truth it was not able to prevent her from
+being very happy. The breach, however, was destined to grow
+wider.</p>
+
+<p>About four miles from Ventnor was a large town called
+Randolph. Thither they drove to church Sunday morning, the
+whole family; but the hour of dinner and the distance prevented
+any one from going in the afternoon. The members of the
+family were scattered in different parts of the house, most in
+their own rooms. Ellen with some difficulty made her escape
+from her young companions, whose manner of spending the time
+did not satisfy her notions of what was right on that day, and
+went to look in the library for her friends. They were there,
+and alone; Alice half reclining on the sofa, half in her brother's
+arms; he was reading or talking to her; there was a book in
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Is anything the matter?" said Ellen, as she drew near;
+"aren't you well, dear Alice?—Headache? oh, I am sorry.
+Oh! I know——"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p><p>She darted away. In two minutes she was back again with a
+pleased face, her bunch of grapes in one hand, her bottle of
+Cologne water in the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you open that, please, Mr. John," said she; "I can't
+open it; I guess it will do her good, for Ellen says it's delicious.
+Mamma used to have Cologne water for her headaches. And
+here, dear Alice, won't you eat these?—do!—try one."</p>
+
+<p>"Hasn't that bottle been open yet?" said Alice, as she
+smilingly took a grape.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no, to be sure it hasn't. I wasn't going to open it till
+I wanted it. Eat them all, dear Alice, please do!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't think you have eaten one yourself, Ellen, by
+the look of the bunch. And here are a great many too many
+for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have, I've eaten two; I don't want 'em. I give them
+all to you and Mr. John. I had a great deal rather!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen took, however, as precious payment Alice's look and
+kiss; and then with a delicate consciousness that perhaps the
+brother and sister might like to be alone, she left the library.
+She did not know where to go, for Miss Sophia was stretched on
+the bed in her room, and she did not want any company. At
+last with her little Bible she placed herself on the old sofa in the
+hall above stairs, which was perfectly well warmed, and for some
+time she was left there in peace. It was pleasant, after all the
+hubbub of the morning, to have a little quiet time that seemed
+like Sunday; and the sweet Bible words came, as they often now
+came to Ellen, with a healing breath. But after half-an-hour or
+so, to her dismay she heard a door open, and the whole gang of
+children came trooping into the hall below, where they soon
+made such a noise that reading or thinking was out of the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"What a bother it is that one can't play games on a Sunday!"
+said Marianne Gillespie.</p>
+
+<p>"One <i>can</i> play games on a Sunday," answered her brother,
+"Where's the odds? It's all Sunday's good for, <i>I</i> think."</p>
+
+<p>"William! William!" sounded the shocked voice of little
+Ellen Chauncey, "you're a real wicked boy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well now!" said William, "how am I wicked? Now say,
+I should like to know. How is it any more wicked for us to play
+games than it is for Aunt Sophia to lie abed and sleep, or for
+Uncle Howard to read novels, or for grandpa to talk politics, or
+for mother to talk about the fashions?—there was she and Miss
+What's-her-name for ever so long this morning doing everything
+but <i>make</i> a dress. Now, which is the worst?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, William! William! for shame! for shame!" said little
+Ellen again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do hush, Ellen Chauncey! will you?" said Marianne
+sharply; "and you had better hush too, William, if you know
+what is good for yourself. I don't care whether it's right or
+wrong, I do get dolefully tired with doing nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, so do I!" said Margaret, yawning. "I wish one could
+sleep all Sunday."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what," said George, "I know a game we can
+play, and no harm, either, for it's all out of the Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you? let's hear it, George," cried the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it's good for anything if it is out of the Bible,"
+said Margaret. "Now stare, Ellen Chauncey, do!"</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>ain't</i> staring," said Ellen indignantly, "but I don't believe
+it is right to play it, if it <i>is</i> out of the Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is though," said George. "Now listen; I'll think
+of somebody in the Bible, some man or woman, you know; and
+you may all ask me twenty questions about him to see if you can
+find out who it is."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of questions?"</p>
+
+<p>"Any kind of questions, whatever you like."</p>
+
+<p>"That will improve your knowledge of Scripture history,"
+said Gilbert.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure; and exercise our memory," said Isabel Hawthorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and then we are thinking of good people and what
+they did all the time," said little Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Or bad people and what they did," said William.</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't know enough about people and things in the
+Bible," said Margaret; "I couldn't guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind; it will be all the more fun," said George.
+"Come! let's begin. Who'll take somebody?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think this will be fine!" said little Ellen Chauncey;
+"but Ellen—where's Ellen? we want her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, we don't want her! we've enough without her; she
+won't play!" shouted William, as the little girl ran upstairs.
+She persevered, however. Ellen had left her sofa before this,
+and was found seated on the foot of her bed. As far and as long
+as she could she withstood her little friend's entreaties, and very
+unwillingly at last yielded and went with her downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we are ready," said little Ellen Chauncey; "I have
+told Ellen what the game is; who's going to begin?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have begun," said William. "Gilbert has thought of
+somebody. Man or woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Man."</p>
+
+<p>"Young or old?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he was young first and old afterwards."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw, William! what a ridiculous question," said his sister.
+"Besides, you mustn't ask more than one at a time. Rich or poor,
+Gilbert?"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! why, I suppose he was moderately well off. I
+dare say I should think myself a lucky fellow if I had as much."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you answering truly, Gilbert?"</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my honour!"</p>
+
+<p>"Was he in a high or low station of life?" asked Miss
+Hawthorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither at the top nor the bottom of the ladder—a very
+respectable person indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"But we are not getting on," said Margaret. "According to
+you he wasn't anything in particular; what kind of a person was
+he, Gilbert?"</p>
+
+<p>"A very good man."</p>
+
+<p>"Handsome or ugly?"</p>
+
+<p>"History don't say."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what <i>does</i> it say?" said George; "what did he
+do?"</p>
+
+<p>"He took a journey once upon a time."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean <i>why</i> he went, or what was the <i>object</i> of his
+going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the one's the same as the other, ain't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what was the object of his going?"</p>
+
+<p>"He went after a wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Samson! Samson!" shouted William and Isabel and Ellen
+Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"No, it wasn't Samson either."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't think of anybody else that went after a wife," said
+George. "That king—what's his name?—that married Esther?"</p>
+
+<p>The children screamed. "<i>He</i> didn't go after a wife, George;
+his wives were brought to him. Was it Jacob?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he didn't go after a wife either," said Gilbert; "he
+married two of them, but he didn't go to his uncle's to find them.
+You had better go on with your questions. You have had eight
+already. If you don't look out you won't catch me. Come!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did he get the wife that he went after?" asked Ellen
+Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"He was never married that I know of," said Gilbert.</p>
+
+<p>"What was the reason he failed?" said Isabel.</p>
+
+<p>"He did not fail."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he bring home his wife, then? You said he wasn't
+married."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He never was that I know of; but he brought home a wife
+notwithstanding."</p>
+
+<p>"But how funny you are, Gilbert," said little Ellen. "He had
+a wife and he hadn't a wife; what became of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"She lived and flourished. Twelve questions; take care."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody asked what country he was of," said Margaret;
+"what was he, Gilbert?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was a Damascene."</p>
+
+<p>"A <i>what</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of Damascus—of Damascus. You know where Damascus
+is, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fiddle!" said Marianne; "I thought he was a Jew. Did
+he live before or after the Flood?"</p>
+
+<p>"After. I should think you might have known that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't make out anything about him," said Marianne.
+"We shall have to give it up."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, not yet," said William. "Where did he go after
+his wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"Too close a question."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that don't count. Had he ever seen her before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never."</p>
+
+<p>"Was she willing to go with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very willing. Ladies always are when they go to be
+married."</p>
+
+<p>"And what became of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was married and lived happily, as I told you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said <i>he</i> wasn't married."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what then? I didn't say she married <i>him</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Whom did she marry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that is asking the whole; I can't tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Had they far to go?" asked Isabel.</p>
+
+<p>"Several days' journey; I don't know how far."</p>
+
+<p>"How did they travel?"</p>
+
+<p>"On camels."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it the Queen of Sheba?" said little Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>There was a roar of laughter at this happy thought, and poor
+little Ellen declared she forgot all but about the journey; she
+remembered the Queen of Sheba had taken a journey, and the
+camels in the picture of the Queen of Sheba, and that made her
+think of her.</p>
+
+<p>The children gave up. Questioning seemed hopeless; and
+Gilbert at last told them his thought. It was Eleazar, Abraham's
+steward, whom he sent to fetch a wife for his son Isaac.</p>
+
+<p>"Why haven't <i>you</i> guessed, little mumchance?" said Gilbert
+to Ellen Montgomery.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have guessed," said Ellen; "I knew who it was some time
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why didn't you say so? and you haven't asked a single
+question," said George.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you haven't asked a single question," said Ellen
+Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a great deal too good for that," said William; "she
+thinks it is wicked, and that we are not at all nice proper-behaved
+boys and girls to be playing on Sunday; she is very sorry she
+could not help being amused."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Do</i> you think it is wicked, Ellen?" asked her little friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it isn't right?" said George Walsh.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hesitated; she saw they were all waiting to hear what
+she would say. She coloured, and looked down at her little
+Bible which was still in her hand. It encouraged her.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to say anything rude," she began; "I don't
+think it is quite right to play such plays, or any plays."</p>
+
+<p>She was attacked with impatient cries of "Why not? Why
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," said Ellen, trembling with the effort she made,
+"I think Sunday was meant to be spent in growing better and
+learning good things; and I don't think such plays would help
+one at all to do that; and I have a kind of <i>feeling</i> that I ought
+not to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hope you'll act according to your <i>feelings</i> then," said
+William; "I am sure nobody has any objection. You had better
+go somewhere else though, for we are going on; we have been
+learning to be good long enough for one day. Come! I have
+thought of somebody."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not help feeling hurt and sorry at the half sneer
+she saw in the look and manner of the others as well as in
+William's words. She wished for no better than to go away, but
+as she did so her bosom swelled and the tears started and her
+breath came quicker. She found Alice lying down and asleep,
+Miss Sophia beside her; so she stole out again and went down
+to the library. Finding nobody, she took possession of the sofa
+and tried to read again; reading somehow did not go well, and
+she fell to musing on what had just passed. She thought of the
+unkindness of the children; how sure she was it was wrong to
+spend any part of Sunday in such games; what Alice would
+think of it, and John, and her mother; and how the Sundays
+long ago used to be spent, when that dear mother was with
+her; and then she wondered how <i>she</i> was passing this very one—while
+Ellen was sitting here in the library alone, what <i>she</i> was
+doing in that far-away land; and she thought if there only <i>were</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+such things as oracles that could tell truly, how much she would
+like to ask about her.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen!" said the voice of John from the window.</p>
+
+<p>She started up; she had thought she was alone; but there he
+was lying in the window seat.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here. What are you thinking about? I didn't know
+you were there till I heard two or three very long sighs. What is
+the matter with my little sister?"</p>
+
+<p>He took her hand and drew her fondly up to him. "What
+were you thinking about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking about different things; nothing is the
+matter," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Then what are those tears in your eyes for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said she, laughing; "there weren't any till I
+came here. I was thinking just now about mamma."</p>
+
+<p>He said no more, still, however, keeping her beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think," said Ellen presently, after a few minutes'
+musing look out of the window, "it would be very pleasant if
+there were such things as oracles—don't you, Mr. John?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"But wouldn't you like to know something about what's going
+to happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do know a great deal about it."</p>
+
+<p>"About what is going to happen?"</p>
+
+<p>He smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a great deal, Ellie, enough to give me work for all the
+rest of my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you mean from the Bible!—I was thinking of other
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"It is best not to know the other things, Ellie; I am very
+glad to know those the Bible teaches us."</p>
+
+<p>"But it doesn't tell us much, does it? What does it tell
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go to the window and tell me what you see."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see anything in particular," said Ellen, after taking a
+grave look out.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what in general?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there is the lawn covered with snow, and the trees and
+bushes; and the sun is shining on everything just as it did the
+day we came; and there's the long shadow of that hemlock across
+the snow, and the blue sky."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, look out again, Ellie, and listen. I know that a day is
+to come when those heavens shall be wrapped together as a scroll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>—they shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old
+like a garment; and it and all the works that are therein shall
+be burned up."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke Ellen's fancy tried to follow, to picture the ruin
+and desolation of all that stood so fair and seemed to stand so
+firm before her; but the sun shone on, the branches waved
+gently in the wind, the shadows lay still on the snow, and the
+blue heaven was fair and cloudless. Fancy was baffled. She
+turned from the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe it?" said John.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "I know it; but I think it is very disagreeable
+to think about it."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be, Ellie," said he, bringing her again to his side,
+"very disagreeable—very miserable indeed, if we knew no more
+than that. But we know more—read here."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen took his little Bible and read at the open place.</p>
+
+<p>"'Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the
+former shall not be remembered, neither come into mind.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Why won't they be remembered?" said Ellen; "shall we
+forget all about them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not think that is meant. The new heavens and the
+new earth will be so much more lovely and pleasant that we shall
+not want to think of these."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eyes sought the window again.</p>
+
+<p>"You are thinking that it is hardly possible," said John, with
+a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is <i>possible</i>," said Ellen, "but——"</p>
+
+<p>"But lovely as this world is, Ellie, man has filled it with sin,
+and sin has everywhere brought its punishment, and under the
+weight of both the earth groans. There will be no sin <i>there</i>;
+sorrow and sighing shall flee away; love to each other and love
+to their blessed King will fill all hearts, and His presence will be
+with them. Don't you see that even if that world shall be in
+itself no better than this, it will yet be far, far more lovely than
+this can ever be with the shadow of sin upon it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes!" said Ellen. "I know whenever I feel wrong in
+any way nothing seems pretty or pleasant to me, or not half
+so much."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said John. "I see you understand me. I like
+to think of that land, Ellen—very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John," said Ellen, "don't you think people will know
+each other again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those that love each other here? I have no doubt of it."</p>
+
+<p>Before either John or Ellen had broken the long musing fit
+that followed these words, they were joined by Alice. Her head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
+was better; and taking her place in the window-seat, the talk
+began again, between the brother and sister now; Ellen too
+happy to sit with them and listen. They talked of that land
+again, of the happy company preparing for it; of their dead
+mother, but not much of her; of the glory of their King, and the
+joy of His service, even here—till thoughts grew too strong for
+words, and silence again stole upon the group. The short winter
+day came to an end; the sunlight faded away into moonlight.
+No shadows lay now on the lawn; and from where she sat Ellen
+could see the great hemlock all silvered with the moonlight
+which began to steal in at the window. It was very, very beautiful:
+yet she could think now without sorrow that all this should
+come to an end, because of that new heaven and new earth
+wherein righteousness should dwell.</p>
+
+<p>"We have eaten up all your grapes, Ellie," said Alice, "or
+rather <i>I</i> have, for John didn't help me much. I think I never
+ate so sweet grapes in my life. John said the reason was because
+every one tasted of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no evil without some good," Alice went on; "except
+for my headache, John would not have held my head by the hour
+as he did; and you couldn't have given me the pleasure you did,
+Ellie. Oh, Jack! there has been many a day lately when I would
+gladly have had a headache for the power of laying my head on
+your shoulder."</p>
+
+<p>"And if mamma had not gone away I should never have
+known you," said Ellen. "I wish she never <i>had</i> gone, but I am
+very, very glad for this."</p>
+
+<p>She had kneeled upon the window-seat and clasped Alice
+round the neck, just as they were called to tea. The conversation
+had banished every disagreeable feeling from Ellen's mind.
+She met her companions in the drawing-room, almost forgetting
+that she had any cause of complaint against them. And this
+appeared when in the course of the evening it came in her way to
+perform some little office of politeness for Marianne. It was done
+with the gracefulness that could only come from a spirit entirely
+free from ungrateful feelings. The children felt it, and for the
+time were shamed into better behaviour. The evening passed
+pleasantly, and Ellen went to bed very happy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+The ancient heroes were illustrious,<br />
+For being benign, and not blustrous.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Hudibras</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The next day it happened that the young people were amusing
+themselves with talking in a room where John Humphreys,
+walking up and down, was amusing <i>himself</i> with thinking. In the
+course of his walk, he began to find their amusement rather disturbing
+to his. The children were all grouped closely around
+Margaret Dunscombe, who was entertaining them with a long
+and very detailed account of a wedding and great party at Randolph
+which she had had the happiness of attending. Eagerly
+fighting her battles over again, and pleased with the rapt attention
+of her hearers, the speaker forgot herself, and raised her
+voice much more than she meant to do. As every turn of his
+walk brought John near, there came to his ears sufficient bits and
+scraps of Margaret's story to give him a very fair sample of the
+whole; and he was sorry to see Ellen among the rest, and as the
+rest, hanging upon her lips and drinking in what seemed to him
+to be very poor nonsense. "Her gown was all blue satin, trimmed
+here—and so—you know, with the most <i>exquisite</i> lace, as deep as
+that—and on the shoulders and here—you know, it was looped
+up with the most lovely bunches of"—here John lost the sense.
+When he came near again she had got upon a different topic—"'Miss
+Simmons,' says I, 'what did you do that for?' 'Why,'
+says she, 'how could I help it? I saw Mr. Payne coming, and I
+thought I'd get behind you, and so——.'" The next time the
+speaker was saying with great animation, "And lo, and behold,
+when I was in the midst of all my pleasure, up comes a little
+gentleman of about his dimensions——." He had not taken
+many turns when he saw that Margaret's nonsense was branching
+out right and left into worse than nonsense.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said he suddenly, "I want you in the library."</p>
+
+<p>"My conscience!" said Margaret as he left the room, "King
+John the Second, and no less."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go on till I come back," said Ellen. "I won't be
+three minutes. Just wait for me."</p>
+
+<p>She found John seated at one of the tables in the library,
+sharpening a pencil.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said he, in his usual manner, "I want you to do
+something for me."</p>
+
+<p>She waited eagerly to hear what, but instead of telling her he
+took a piece of drawing-paper and began to sketch something.
+Ellen stood by, wondering and impatient, to the last degree; not
+caring, however, to show her impatience, though her very feet
+were twitching to run back to her companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said John, as he finished the old stump of a tree
+with one branch left on it, and a little bit of ground at the
+bottom, "did you ever try your hand at drawing?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Then sit down here," said he, rising from his chair, "and let
+me see what you can make of that."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't know how," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I will teach you. There is a piece of paper, and this pencil
+is sharp enough. Is that chair too low for you?"</p>
+
+<p>He placed another, and with extreme unwillingness and some
+displeasure Ellen sat down. It was on her tongue to ask if another
+time would not do, but somehow she could not get the words out.
+John showed her how to hold her pencil, how to place her paper,
+where to begin, and how to go on; and then went to the other
+end of the room and took up his walk again. Ellen at first felt
+more inclined to drive her pencil <i>through</i> the paper than to make
+quiet marks upon it. However necessity was upon her. She
+began her work, and once fairly begun, it grew delightfully interesting.
+Her vexation went off entirely; she forgot Margaret and
+her story; the wrinkles on the old trunk smoothed those on her
+brow, and those troublesome leaves at the branch end brushed
+away all thoughts of everything else. Her cheeks were burning
+with intense interest, when the library door burst open and the
+whole troop of children rushed in; they wanted Ellen for a round
+game in which all their number were needed; and she must come
+directly.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't come just yet," said she; "I must finish this first."</p>
+
+<p>"Afterwards will just do as well," said George; "come, Ellen,
+do! you can finish it afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't," said Ellen; "I can't leave it till it's done.
+Why, I thought Mr. John was here! I didn't see him go out.
+I'll come in a little while."</p>
+
+<p>"Did <i>he</i> set you about that precious piece of business?" said
+William.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said Margaret, "he's fitter to be the Grand Turk
+than any one else I know of."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you," said William, putting his mouth close to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>
+ear, and speaking in a disagreeable loud whisper, "it's the biggest
+gobbler in the yard."</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't you ashamed, William?" cried little Ellen Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it exactly," said Margaret; "always strutting
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't a bit," said Ellen, very angry; "I've seen people
+a great deal more like gobblers than he is."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said William, reddening in his turn, "I had rather, at
+any rate, be a good turkey gobbler than one of those outlandish
+birds that have an appetite for stones and glass and bits of morocco,
+and such things. Come, let us leave her to do the Grand Turk's
+bidding. Come, Ellen Chauncey, you mustn't stay to interrupt
+her; we want you!"</p>
+
+<p>They left her alone. Ellen had coloured, but William's words
+did not hit very sore. Since John's talk with her about the matter
+referred to she had thought of it humbly and wisely; it is only
+pride that makes such fault-finding very hard to bear. She was
+very sorry, however, that they had fallen out again, and that her
+own passion, as she feared, had been the cause. A few tears
+had to be wiped away before she could see exactly how the old
+tree stood; then, taking up her pencil, she soon forgot everything
+in her work. It was finished, and with head now on one side,
+now on the other, she was looking at her picture with very great
+satisfaction, when her eye caught the figure of John standing
+before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it done?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"It is done," said Ellen, smiling, as she rose up to let him
+come. He sat down to look at it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very well," he said; "better than I expected. It is
+very well indeed. Is this your <i>first</i> trial, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the first."</p>
+
+<p>"You found it pleasant work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very! very pleasant. I like it dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will teach you. This shows you have a taste for it,
+and that is precisely what I wanted to find out. I will give you
+an easier copy next time. I rather expected when you sat down,"
+said he, smiling a little, "that the old tree would grow a good
+deal more crooked under your hands than I meant it to be."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen blushed exceedingly. "I do believe, Mr. John," she
+said, stammering, "that you know everything I am thinking
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"I might do that, Ellen, without being as wise as an oracle.
+But I do not expect to make any very painful discoveries in that
+line," answered John Humphreys.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought, if he did not, it would not be her fault. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
+truly repented her momentary anger and hasty speech to William.
+Not that he did not deserve it, or that it was not true; but it was
+unwise, and had done mischief, and "it was not a bit like peacemaking,
+nor meek at all," Ellen said to herself. She had been
+reading that morning the fifth chapter of Matthew, and it ran in
+her head, "Blessed are the meek;" "Blessed are the peacemakers:
+for they shall be called the children of God." She
+strove to get back a pleasant feeling toward her young companions,
+and prayed that she might not be angry at anything
+they should say. She was tried again at tea-time.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Sophia had quitted the table, bidding William hand the
+dough-nuts to those who could not reach them. Marianne took
+a great while to make her choice. Her brother grew impatient.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hope you have suited yourself," said he. "Come,
+Miss Montgomery, don't you be as long; my arm is tired. Shut
+your eyes, and then you'll be sure to get the biggest one in the
+basket."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Ellen," said John, who none of the children thought
+was near, "it would be ungenerous; I wouldn't deprive Master
+William of his best arguments."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by my arguments?" said William
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Generally, those which are the most difficult to take in,"
+answered his tormentor, with perfect gravity.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen tried to keep from smiling, but could not; and others
+of the party did not try. William and his sister were enraged,
+the more because John had said nothing they could take hold of,
+or even repeat. Gilbert made common cause with them.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I was grown up for once," said William.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you fight <i>me</i>, sir?" asked Gilbert, who was a matter of
+three years older, and well grown enough.</p>
+
+<p>His question received no answer, and was repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid you'd lay me up with a sprained ankle," said
+John, "and I should not get back to Doncaster as quickly as I
+must."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very mean of him," said Gilbert, as John walked away;
+"I could whip him, I know."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's that?" said Mr. Howard Marshman.</p>
+
+<p>"John Humphreys."</p>
+
+<p>"John Humphreys! You had better not meddle with him,
+my dear fellow. It would be no particular proof of wisdom."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he's no such great affair," said Gilbert; "he is tall
+enough, to be sure, but I don't believe he is heavier than I am."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You don't know, in the first place, how to judge of the size
+of a perfectly well-made man; and in the second place, <i>I</i> was not
+a match for him a year ago; so you may judge. I do not know
+precisely," he went on to the lady he was walking with, "what
+it takes to rouse John Humphreys, but when he <i>is</i> roused,
+he seems to me to have strength enough for twice his bone
+and muscle. I have seen him do curious things once or
+twice!"</p>
+
+<p>"That quiet Mr. Humphreys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Mr. Howard; "gunpowder is pretty quiet
+stuff so long as it keeps cool."</p>
+
+<p>The next day another matter happened to disturb Ellen.
+Margaret had received an elegant pair of ear-rings as a Christmas
+present, and was showing them for the admiration of her young
+friends. Ellen's did not satisfy her.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't they splendid?" said she. "Tell the truth now, Ellen
+Montgomery, wouldn't you give a great deal if somebody would
+send you such a pair?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are very pretty," said Ellen, "but I don't think I care
+much for such things; I would rather have the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you avaricious! Mr. Marshman!" cried Margaret, as the
+old gentleman was just then passing through the room, "here's
+Ellen Montgomery says she'd rather have money than anything
+else for <i>her</i> present."</p>
+
+<p>He did not seem to hear her, and went out without making
+any reply.</p>
+
+<p>"O Margaret!" said Ellen, shocked and distressed, "how
+could you! how could you! What will Mr. Marshman think?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret answered she didn't care what he thought. Ellen
+could only hope he had not heard.</p>
+
+<p>But a day or two after, when neither Ellen nor her friends
+were present, Mr. Marshman asked who it was that had told him
+Ellen Montgomery would like money better than anything else
+for her New Year's present.</p>
+
+<p>"It was I, sir," said Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds very unlike her to say so," remarked Mrs.
+Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she say so?" inquired Mr. Marshman.</p>
+
+<p>"I understood her so," said Margaret; "I understood her to
+say she wouldn't care for anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"I am disappointed in her," said the old gentleman; "I
+wouldn't have believed it."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe it," said Mrs. Chauncey quietly; "there
+has been some mistake."</p>
+
+<p>It was hard for Ellen now to keep to what she thought right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>
+Disagreeable feelings would rise when she remembered the impoliteness,
+the half-sneer, the whole taunt, and the real unkindness
+of several of the young party. She found herself ready to
+be irritated, inclined to dislike the sight of those, even wishing
+to visit some sort of punishment upon them. But Christian
+principle had taken strong hold in little Ellen's heart; she fought
+her evil tempers manfully. It was not an easy battle to gain.
+Ellen found that resentment and pride had roots deep enough to
+keep her pulling up the shoots for a good while. She used to get
+alone when she could, to read a verse, if no more, of her Bible,
+and pray; she could forgive William and Margaret more easily
+then. Solitude and darkness saw many a prayer and tear of hers
+that week. As she struggled thus to get rid of sin, and to be
+more like what would please God, she grew humble and happy.
+Never was such a struggle carried on by faith in Him without
+success. And after a time, though a twinge of the old feeling
+might come, it was very slight; she would bid William and
+Margaret good-morning, and join them in any enterprise of
+pleasure or business, with a brow as unclouded as the sun. They,
+however, were too conscious of having behaved unbecomingly
+towards their little strange guest to be over fond of her company.
+For the most part she and Ellen Chauncey were left to
+each other.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the famous needle-book was in a fair way to be
+finished. Great dismay had at first been excited in the breast of
+the intended giver by the discovery that Gilbert had consulted
+what seemed to be a very extraordinary fancy, in making the rose
+a yellow one. Ellen did her best to comfort her. She asked
+Alice, and found there were such things as yellow roses, and they
+were very beautiful too; and, besides, it would match so nicely the
+yellow butterfly on the other leaf.</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather it wouldn't match!" said Ellen Chauncey;
+"and it don't match the rose-coloured silk besides. Are the
+yellow roses sweet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "but <i>this</i> couldn't have been a sweet rose
+at any rate, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but," said the other, bursting out into a fresh passion of
+inconsolable tears, "I wanted it should be the <i>picture</i> of a sweet
+rose! And I think he might have put a purple butterfly; yellow
+butterflies are so common! I had a great deal rather had a
+purple butterfly and a red rose!"</p>
+
+<p>What cannot be cured, however, must be endured. The tears
+were dried in course of time, and the needle-book with its yellow
+pictures and pink edges was very neatly finished. Ellen had
+been busy too on her own account. Alice had got a piece of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>
+fine linen for her from Miss Sophia; the collar for Mr. Van Brunt
+had been cut out, and Ellen with great pleasure had made it.
+The stitching, the strings, and the very button-holes, after infinite
+pains, were all finished by Thursday night. She had also
+made a needle-case for Alice, not of so much pretension as the
+other one; this was green morocco lined with crimson satin; no
+leaves, but ribbon stitched in to hold papers of needles, and a
+place for a bodkin. Ellen worked very hard at this; it was made
+with the extremest care, and made beautifully. Ellen Chauncey
+admired it very much, and anew lamented the uncouth variety
+of colours in her own. It was a grave question whether pink or
+yellow ribbon should be used for the latter; Ellen Montgomery
+recommended pink, she herself inclined to yellow; and tired of
+doubting, at last resolved to split the difference, and put one
+string of each colour. Ellen thought that did not mend matters,
+but wisely kept her thoughts to herself. Besides the needle-case
+for Alice, she had snatched the time whenever she could get
+away from Ellen Chauncey to work at something for her. She
+had begged Alice's advice and help; and between them, out of
+Ellen's scraps of morocco and silk, they had manufactured a little
+bag of all the colours of the rainbow, and very pretty and tasteful
+withal. Ellen thought it a <i>chef-d'œuvre</i>, and was unbounded in
+her admiration. It lay folded up in white paper in a locked
+drawer ready for New Year's day. In addition to all these pieces
+of business, John had begun to give her drawing lessons, according
+to his promise. These became Ellen's delight. She would
+willingly have spent much more time upon them than he would
+allow her. It was the most loved employment of the day. Her
+teacher's skill was not greater than the perfect gentleness and
+kindness with which he taught. Ellen thought of Mr. Howard's
+speech about gunpowder; she could not understand it.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your conclusion on the whole?" asked John one
+day, as he stood beside her mending a pencil.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Ellen, laughing and blushing, "how <i>could</i> you
+guess what I was thinking about, Mr. John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very difficult when you are eyeing me so hard."</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," said Ellen; "I don't know whether it is
+right in me to tell it, because somebody said you——"</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Were like gunpowder."</p>
+
+<p>"Very kind of somebody! And so you have been in doubt of
+an explosion?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I don't know; I wondered what he meant."</p>
+
+<p>"Never believe what you hear said of people, Ellen; judge
+for yourself. Look here; that house has suffered from a severe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>
+gale of wind, I should think; all the uprights are slanting off to
+the right; can't you set it up straight?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen laughed at the tumble-down condition of the house as
+thus pointed out to her, and set about reforming it.</p>
+
+<p>It was Thursday afternoon that Alice and Ellen were left
+alone in the library, several of the family having been called out
+to receive some visitors; Alice had excused herself, and Ellen, as
+soon as they were gone, nestled up to her side.</p>
+
+<p>"How pleasant it is to be alone together, dear Alice! I don't
+have you even at night now."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very pleasant, dear Ellie! Home will not look disagreeable
+again, will it? even after all our gaiety here."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed! at least <i>your</i> home won't; I don't know what
+mine will. Oh me! I had almost forgotten Aunt Fortune!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, dear Ellie! You and I have each something
+to bear; we must be brave and bear it manfully. There is a
+Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, you know. We shan't
+be unhappy if we do our duty and love Him."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon is Mr. John going away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for all next week. And so long as he stays, I do not
+mean that you shall leave me."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen cried for joy.</p>
+
+<p>"I can manage it with Miss Fortune, I know," said Alice.
+"These fine drawing lessons must not be interrupted. John is
+very much pleased with your performances."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he?" said Ellen, delighted; "I have taken all the pains
+I could."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the sure way to success, Ellie. But, Ellie, I want to
+ask you about something. What was that you said to Margaret
+Dunscombe about wanting money for a New Year's present?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know it, then!" cried Ellen, starting up. "Oh, I am
+so glad! I wanted to speak to you about it so, I didn't know
+what to do, and I thought I oughtn't to. What shall I do about
+it, dear Alice? How did you know? George said you were not
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Chauncey told me; she thought there had been some
+mistake, or something wrong; how was it, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Ellen, "she was showing us her ear-rings, and
+asking us what we thought of them, and she asked me if I
+wouldn't like to have such a pair; and I thought I would a great
+deal rather have the money they cost, to buy other things with,
+you know, that I would like better; and I said so; and just then
+Mr. Marshman came in, and she called out to him, loud, that I
+wanted money for a present, or would like it better than anything
+else, or something like that. O Alice, how I felt! I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>
+frightened; but then I hoped Mr. Marshman did not hear her,
+for he did not say anything; but the next day George told me
+all about what she had been saying in there, and oh, it made me
+so unhappy!" said poor Ellen, looking very dismal. "What <i>will</i>
+Mr. Marshman think of me? he will think I expected a present,
+and I never <i>dreamed</i> of such a thing; it makes me ashamed to
+speak of it, even; and I <i>can't bear</i> he should think so; I can't
+bear it. What shall I do, dear Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you can do, dear Ellie, but be patient. Mr.
+Marshman will not think anything very hard of you, I dare say."</p>
+
+<p>"But I think he does already; he hasn't kissed me since that
+as he did before; I know he does, and I don't know what to do.
+How could Margaret say that! oh, how could she! it was very
+unkind. What can I do?" said Ellen again, after a pause, and
+wiping away a few tears. "Couldn't Mrs. Chauncey tell Mr.
+Marshman not to give me anything, for that I never expected it,
+and would a great deal rather not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no, Ellie, I do not think that would be exactly the
+best or most dignified way."</p>
+
+<p>"What, then, dear Alice? I'll do just as you say."</p>
+
+<p>"I would just remain quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"But Ellen says the things are all put on the plates in the
+morning; and if there should be money on mine—I don't know
+what I should do, I should feel so badly. I couldn't keep it,
+Alice!—I couldn't!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well—you need not!—but remain quiet in the meanwhile;
+and if it should be so, then say what you please, only take
+care that you say it in a right spirit and in a right manner. Nobody
+can hurt you much, my child, while you keep the even path
+of duty; poor Margaret is her own worst enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"Then if there should be money in the morning, I may tell
+Mr. Marshman the truth about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly—only do not be in haste; speak gently."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wish everybody would be kind and pleasant always!"
+said poor Ellen, but half comforted.</p>
+
+<p>"What a sigh was there!" said John, coming in. "What is
+the matter with my little sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the minor trials of life, John," said Alice, with a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, something you can't help," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"And something I mustn't know. Well, to change the scene—suppose
+you go with me to visit the greenhouse and hothouses.
+Have you seen them yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, as she eagerly sprang forward to take his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>
+hand; "Ellen promised to go with me, but we have been so
+busy."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come, Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," said Alice, "I wish I could, but I shall be wanted
+elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom, I wonder, so much as by me," said her brother.
+"However, after to-morrow I will have you all to myself."</p>
+
+<p>As he and Ellen were crossing the hall they met Mrs.
+Marshman.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going, John?" said she.</p>
+
+<p>"Where I ought to have been before, ma'am—to pay my
+respects to Mr. Hutchinson."</p>
+
+<p>"You've not seen him yet? that is very ungrateful of you.
+Hutchinson is one of your warmest friends and admirers. There
+are few people he mentions with so much respect, or that he is
+so glad to see, as Mr. John Humphreys."</p>
+
+<p>"A distinction I owe, I fear, principally to my English blood,"
+said John, shaking his head.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not altogether that," said Mrs. Marshman, laughing;
+"though I do believe I am the only Yankee good Hutchinson
+has ever made up his mind entirely to like. But go and see him,
+do, he will be very much pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Mr. Hutchinson?" said Ellen, as they went on.</p>
+
+<p>"He is the gardener, or rather the head-gardener. He came
+out with his master some thirty or forty years ago, but his old
+English prejudice will go to the grave with him, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"But why don't he like the Americans?"</p>
+
+<p>John laughed. "It would never do for me to attempt to
+answer that question, Ellie, fond of going to the bottom of things
+as you are. We should just get to hard fighting about tea-time,
+and should barely make peace by mid-day to-morrow at the
+most moderate calculation. You shall have an answer to your
+question, however."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not conceive what he meant, but resolved to wait
+for his promised answer.</p>
+
+<p>As they entered the large and beautifully-kept greenhouse,
+Hutchinson came from the farther end of it to meet them—an old
+man of most respectable appearance. He bowed very civilly, and
+then slipped his priming-knife into his left hand to leave the right
+at liberty for John, who shook it cordially.</p>
+
+<p>"And why 'aven't you been to see me before, Mr. John? I
+have thought it rather 'ard of you; Miss h'Alice has come several
+times."</p>
+
+<p>"The ladies have more leisure, Mr. Hutchinson. You look
+flourishing here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, sir, pretty middling within doors; but I don't like
+the climate, Mr. John, I don't like the climate, sir. There's no
+country like h'England, I believe, for my business. 'Ere's a fine
+rose, sir—if you'll step a bit this way—quite a new kind—I got
+it over last h'autumn—the Palmerston it is. Those are fine buds,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>The old man was evidently much pleased to see his visitor,
+and presently plunged him deep into English politics, for which
+he seemed to have lost no interest by forty years' life in America.
+As Ellen could not understand what they were talking about, she
+quitted John's side, and went wandering about by herself. From
+the moment the sweet aromatic smell of the plants had greeted
+her she had been in a high state of delight; and now, lost to all
+the world beside, from the mystery of one beautiful and strange
+green thing to another, she went wandering and admiring, and now
+and then timidly advancing her nose to see if something glorious
+was something sweet too. She could hardly leave a superb cactus,
+in the petals of which there was such a singular blending of
+scarlet and crimson as almost to dazzle her sight; and if the
+pleasure of smell could intoxicate she would have <i>reeled</i> away
+from a luxuriant daphne odorata in full flower, over which she
+feasted for a long time. The variety of green leaves alone was a
+marvel to her; some rough and brown-streaked, some shining as
+if they were varnished, others of hair-like delicacy of structure—all
+lovely. At last she stood still with admiration and almost
+held her breath before a white camellia.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that flower make you think of, Ellen?" said
+John, coming up; his friend the gardener had left him to seek a
+newspaper in which he wished to show him a paragraph.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen—"I couldn't think of anything
+but itself."</p>
+
+<p>"It reminds me of what I ought to be—and of what I shall
+be if I ever see heaven; it seems to me the emblem of a sinless
+pure spirit, looking up in fearless spotlessness. Do you remember
+what was said to the old Church of Sardis? 'Thou hast a few
+names that have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk
+with me in white, for they are worthy.'"</p>
+
+<p>The tears rushed to Ellen's eyes, she felt she was so very
+unlike this; but Mr. Hutchinson coming back prevented anything
+more from being said. She looked at the white camellia;
+it seemed to speak to her.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the paragraph, sir," said the old gardener, giving the
+paper to John. "'Ere's a little lady that is fond of flowers, if I
+don't make a mistake; this is somebody I've not seen before.
+Is this the little lady Miss h'Ellen was telling me about?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I presume so," said John; "she is Miss Ellen Montgomery,
+a sister of mine, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Marshman's guest."</p>
+
+<p>"By both names h'entitled to my greatest respect," said the
+old man, stepping back and making a very low bow to Ellen,
+with his hand upon his heart, at which she could not help
+laughing. "I am very glad to see Miss h'Ellen. What can I
+do to make her remember old 'Utchinson? Would Miss h'Ellen
+like a bouquet?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not venture to say yes, but her blush and sparkling
+eyes answered him. The old gardener understood her, and was
+as good as his word. He began with cutting a beautiful sprig
+of a large purple geranium, then a slip of lemon myrtle. Ellen
+watched him as the bunch grew in his hand, and could hardly
+believe her eyes as one beauty after another was added to what
+became a most elegant bouquet. And most sweet too; to her
+joy the delicious daphne and fragrant lemon blossom went to
+make part of it. Her thanks, when it was given her, were made
+with few words but with all her face; the old gardener smiled,
+and was quite satisfied that his gift was not thrown away. He
+afterwards showed them his hothouses, where Ellen was astonished
+and very much interested to see ripe oranges and lemons in abundance,
+and pines too, such as she had been eating since she came
+to Ventnor, thinking nothing less than that they grew so near
+home. The grapes had all been cut.</p>
+
+<p>There was to be quite a party at Ventnor in the evening of
+New Year's day. Ellen knew this, and destined her precious
+flowers for Alice's adornment. How to keep them in the meanwhile?
+She consulted Mr. John, and, according to his advice,
+took them to Mrs. Bland, the housekeeper, to be put in water
+and kept in a safe place for her till the time. She knew Mrs.
+Bland, for Ellen Chauncey and she had often gone to her room
+to work where none of the children would find and trouble
+them. Mrs. Bland promised to take famous care of the flowers,
+and said she would do it with the greatest pleasure. Mr.
+Marshman's guests, she added smilingly, must have everything
+they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean, Mrs. Bland?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see, Miss Ellen, there's a deal of company always
+coming, and some is Mrs. Gillespie's friends, and some Mr.
+Howard's, and some to see Miss Sophia more particularly, and some
+belong to Mrs. Marshman, or the whole family maybe; but now
+and then <i>Mr</i>. Marshman has an old English friend or so, that he
+sets the greatest store by; and them he calls <i>his</i> guests, and the
+best in the house is hardly good enough for them, or the country
+either."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And so I am one of Mr. Marshman's guests!" said Ellen;
+"I didn't know what it meant."</p>
+
+<p>She saved but one little piece of rose-geranium from her
+flowers, for the gratification of her own nose, and skipped away
+through the hall to rejoin her companions, very light-hearted
+indeed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+This life, sae far's I understand,<br />
+Is a' enchanted fairy-land,<br />
+Where pleasure is the magic wand<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That, wielded right,</span><br />
+Makes hours like minutes, hand in hand,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Dance in fu' light.</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>New Year's morning dawned.</p>
+
+<p>"How I wish breakfast was over!" thought Ellen as she
+was dressing. However, there is no way of getting <i>over</i> this life
+but by going through it; so when the bell rang she went down
+as usual. Mr. Marshman had decreed that he would not have a
+confusion of gifts at the breakfast-table; other people might
+make presents in their own way; they must not interfere with
+his. Needle-cases, bags, and so forth, must therefore wait another
+opportunity; and Ellen Chauncey decided it would just make the
+pleasure so much longer, and was a great improvement on the
+old plan. "Happy New Years" and pleasant greetings were
+exchanged as the party gathered in the breakfast-room; pleasure
+sat on all faces except Ellen's, and many a one wore a broad
+smile as they sat down to table. For the napkins were in singular
+disarrangement this morning; instead of being neatly
+folded up on the plates, in their usual fashion, they were in
+all sorts of disorder, sticking up in curious angles, some high,
+some low, some half folded, some quite unfolded, according to
+the size and shape of that which they covered. It was worth
+while to see that long tableful, and the faces of the company,
+before yet a napkin was touched. An anxious glance at her own
+showed Ellen that it lay quite flat; Alice's, which was next, had
+an odd little rising in the middle, as if there were a small dumpling
+under it. Ellen was in an agony for this pause to come to an
+end. It was broken by some of the older persons, and then in a
+trice every plate was uncovered. And then what a buzz! pleasure
+and thanks and admiration, and even laughter. Ellen dreaded at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>
+first to look at her plate; she bethought her, however, that if she
+waited long she would have to do it with all eyes upon her; she
+lifted the napkin slowly—yes—just as she feared—there lay a
+clean bank-note—of what value she could not see, for confusion
+covered her; the blood rushed to her cheeks and the tears to her
+eyes. She could not have spoken, and happily it was no time
+then; everybody else was speaking; she could not have been
+heard. She had time to cool and recollect herself: but she sat
+with her eyes cast down, fastened upon her plate and the unfortunate
+bank-bill, which she detested with all her heart. She
+did not know what Alice had received; she understood nothing
+that was going on, till Alice touched her, and said gently, "Mr.
+Marshman is speaking to you, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir!" said Ellen, starting.</p>
+
+<p>"You need not look so terrified," said Mr. Marshman, smiling;
+"I only asked you if your bill was a counterfeit—something seems
+to be wrong about it."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked at her plate and hesitated. Her lip trembled.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" continued the old gentleman. "Is anything
+the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen desperately took up the bill, and with burning cheeks
+marched to his end of the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very much obliged to you, sir, but I had a great deal
+rather not; if you please—if you will please to be so good as to
+let me give it back to you—I should be very glad."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, hoity toity!" said the old gentleman, "what's all this?
+what's the matter? don't you like it? I thought I was doing the
+very thing that would please you best of all."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry you should think so, sir," said Ellen, who
+had recovered a little breath, but had the greatest difficulty to
+keep back her tears; "I never thought of such a thing as your
+giving me anything, sir, till somebody spoke of it, and I had rather
+never have anything in the world than that you should think what
+you thought about me."</p>
+
+<p>"What did I think about you?"</p>
+
+<p>"George told me that somebody told you, sir, I wanted money
+for my present."</p>
+
+<p>"And didn't you say so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I didn't, sir!" said Ellen, with sudden fire. "I never
+thought of such a thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>did</i> you say then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret was showing us her ear-rings, and she asked me if
+I wouldn't like to have some like them; and I couldn't help
+thinking I would a great deal rather have the money they would
+cost to buy something for Alice; and just when I said so you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
+came in, sir, and she said what she did. I was very much ashamed.
+I wasn't thinking of you, sir, at all, nor of New Year."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you would like something else better than money."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, nothing at all, if you please. If you'll only be so
+good as not to give me this I will be very much obliged to you
+indeed; and please not to think I could be so shameful as you
+thought I was."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's face was not to be withstood. The old gentleman
+took the bill from her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I will never think anything of you," said he, "but what is
+the very tip-top of honourable propriety. But you make <i>me</i>
+ashamed now—what am I going to do with this? Here have you
+come and made me a present, and I feel very awkward indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care what you do with it, sir," said Ellen, laughing,
+though in imminent danger of bursting into tears—"I am very
+glad it is out of <i>my</i> hands."</p>
+
+<p>"But you needn't think I am going to let you off so," said he;
+"you must give me half-a-dozen kisses at least to prove that you
+have forgiven me for making so great a blunder."</p>
+
+<p>"Half-a-dozen is too many at once," said Ellen gaily, "three
+now and three to-night."</p>
+
+<p>So she gave the old gentleman three kisses, but he caught her
+in his arms and gave her a dozen at least; after which he found
+out that the waiter was holding a cup of coffee at his elbow, and
+Ellen went back to her place with a very good appetite for her
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast the needle-cases were delivered. Both gave
+the most entire satisfaction. Mrs. Chauncey assured her daughter
+that she would quite as lief have a yellow as a red rose on the
+cover, and that she liked the inscription extremely, which the
+little girl acknowledged to have been a joint device of her own
+and Ellen's. Ellen's bag gave great delight, and was paraded all
+over the house.</p>
+
+<p>After the bustle of thanks and rejoicing was at last over, and
+when she had a minute to herself, which Ellen Chauncey did not
+give her for a good while, Ellen bethought her of her flowers—a
+sweet gift still to be made. Why not make it now? why should
+not Alice have the pleasure of them all day? A bright thought!
+Ellen ran forthwith to the housekeeper's room, and after a long
+admiring look at her treasures, carried them glass and all to the
+library, where Alice and John often were in the morning alone.
+Alice thanked her in the way she liked best, and then the flowers
+were smelled and admired afresh.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing could have been pleasanter to me, Ellie, except Mr.
+Marshman's gift."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And what was that, Alice? I haven't seen it yet."</p>
+
+<p>Alice pulled out of her pocket a small round morocco case, the
+very thing that Ellen had thought looked like a dumpling under
+the napkin, and opened it.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Mr. John!" exclaimed Ellen. "Oh, how beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>Neither of her hearers could help laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very fine, Ellie," said Alice; "you are quite right.
+Now I know what was the business that took John to Randolph
+every day, and kept him there so long, while I was wondering at
+him unspeakably. Kind, kind Mr. Marshman."</p>
+
+<p>"Did Mr. John get anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ask him, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you get anything, Mr. John?" said Ellen, going up to
+him where he was reading on the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"I got this," said John, handing her a little book which lay
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this? Wime's—Wiem's—Life of Washington—Washington?
+he was—may I look at it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly!"</p>
+
+<p>She opened the book, and presently sat down on the floor
+where she was by the side of the sofa. Whatever she had found
+within the leaves of the book, she had certainly lost herself. An
+hour passed. Ellen had not spoken or moved except to turn
+over leaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen!" said John.</p>
+
+<p>She looked up, her cheeks coloured high.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you found there?" said he, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a great deal! But—did Mr. Marshman give you this?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Ellen, looking puzzled, "I thought you said you
+got this this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I got it last night. I got it for you, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"For me!" said Ellen, her colour deepening very much—"for
+me! did you? Oh, thank you!—oh, I'm so very much
+obliged to you, Mr. John."</p>
+
+<p>"It is only an answer to one of your questions."</p>
+
+<p>"This! is it?—I don't know what, I am sure. Oh, I wish I
+could do something to please you, Mr. John!"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall, Ellie; you shall give me a brother's right again."</p>
+
+<p>Blushingly Ellen approached her lips to receive one of his
+grave kisses; and then, not at all displeased, went down on the
+floor and was lost in her book.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the long joy of that New Year's day! how shall it be
+told? The pleasure of that delightful book, in which she was
+wrapped the whole day; even when called off, as she often was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>
+by Ellen Chauncey to help her in fifty little matters of business
+or pleasure. These were attended to, and faithfully and cheerfully,
+but <i>the book</i> was in her head all the while. And this pleasure
+was mixed with Alice's pleasure, the flowers and the miniature,
+and Mr. Marshman's restored kindness. She never met John's
+or Alice's eye that day without a smile. Even when she went to
+be dressed her book went with her, and was laid on the bed
+within sight, ready to be taken up the moment she was at
+liberty. Ellen Chauncey lent her a white frock, which was found
+to answer very well with a tuck let out; and Alice herself dressed
+her. While this was doing, Margaret Dunscombe put her head
+in at the door to ask Anne, Miss Sophia's maid, if she was almost
+ready to come and curl her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I can't say that I am, Miss Margaret," said Anne.
+"I've something to do for Miss Humphreys, and Miss Sophia
+hasn't so much as done the first thing towards beginning to get
+ready yet. It'll be a good hour and more."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret went away exclaiming impatiently that she could
+get nobody to help her, and would have to wait till everybody
+was downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes after she heard Ellen's voice at the door of her
+room asking if she might come in.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—what's that? what do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll fix your hair if you'll let me," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You? I don't believe you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I can; I used to do mamma's very often; I am not
+afraid if you'll trust me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thank you, I don't care if you try then," said Margaret,
+seating herself, "it won't do any harm, at any rate; and I want to
+be downstairs before anybody gets here; I think it's half the fun
+to see them come in. Bless me! you're dressed and all ready."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret's hair was in long thick curls; it was not a trifling
+matter to dress them. Ellen plodded through it patiently and
+faithfully, taking great pains, and doing the work well; and then
+went back to Alice. Margaret's thanks, not very gracefully given,
+would have been a poor reward for the loss of three-quarters of an
+hour of pleasure. But Ellen was very happy in having done right.
+It was no longer time to read; they must go downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>The New Year's party was a nondescript, young and old
+together; a goodly number of both were gathered from Randolph
+and the neighbouring country. There were games for the
+young, dancing for the gay, and a superb supper for all; and the
+big bright rooms were full of bright faces. It was a very happy
+evening to Ellen. For a good part of it Mr. Marshman took possession
+of her, or kept her near him; and his extreme kindness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>
+would alone have made the evening pass pleasantly; she was sure
+he was her firm friend again.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the evening Mrs. Chauncey found occasion to
+ask her about her journey up the river, without at all mentioning
+Margaret or what she had said.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen answered that she had come with Mrs. Dunscombe and
+her daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you have a pleasant time?" asked Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no, ma'am," said Ellen, "I don't know—it was partly
+pleasant and partly unpleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"What made it so, love?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had left mamma that morning, and that made me unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said it was partly pleasant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that was because I had such a good friend on board,"
+said Ellen, her face lighting up as his image came before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Who was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am, who he was."</p>
+
+<p>"A stranger to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am—I never saw him before—I wish I could see
+him again."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you find him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't find him—he found me, when I was sitting up on
+the highest part of the boat."</p>
+
+<p>"And your friends with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dunscombe and her daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; they were down in the cabin."</p>
+
+<p>"And what business had you to be walking about the boat
+alone?" said Mr. Marshman good-humouredly.</p>
+
+<p>"They were strangers, sir," said Ellen, colouring a little.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, so was this man—your friend—a stranger too, wasn't
+he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he was a very different stranger," said Ellen, smiling;
+"and he wasn't a stranger long, besides."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you must tell me more about him; come, I'm curious.
+What sort of a strange friend was this?"</p>
+
+<p>"He wasn't a <i>strange</i> friend," said Ellen, laughing; "he
+was a very, very good friend; he took care of me the whole day;
+he was very good and very kind."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a man?" said Mrs. Chauncey; "a gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, ma'am!" said Ellen, looking surprised at the question.
+"I am sure he was."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he look like?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen tried to tell, but the portrait was not very distinct.</p>
+
+<p>"What did he wear? Coat or cloak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Coat—dark brown, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"This was in the end of October, wasn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought a moment and answered "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And you don't know his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; I wish I did."</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you," said Mrs. Chauncey, smiling; "he is one
+of my best friends too, Ellen; it is my brother, Mr. George
+Marshman."</p>
+
+<p>How Ellen's face crimsoned! Mr. Marshman asked how she
+knew.</p>
+
+<p>"It was then he came up the river, you know, sir; and don't
+you remember his speaking of a little girl on board the boat who
+was travelling with strangers, and whom he endeavoured to
+befriend? I had forgotten it entirely till a minute or two ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Margaret Dunscombe!" cried George Walsh, "what
+kind of a person was that you said Ellen was so fond of when
+you came up the river?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, nor care," said Margaret. "Somebody she
+picked up somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"It was Mr. George Marshman!"</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle George!" exclaimed Ellen Chauncey, running up to
+the group her cousin had quitted; "<i>My</i> Uncle George? Do you
+know Uncle George, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much—I mean—yes," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen Chauncey was delighted. So was Ellen Montgomery.
+It seemed to bring the whole family nearer to her, and they felt
+it too. Mrs. Marshman kissed her when she heard it, and said
+she remembered very well her son's speaking of her, and was
+very glad to find who it was. And now, Ellen thought, she
+would surely see him again some time.</p>
+
+<p>The next day they left Ventnor. Ellen Chauncey was very
+sorry to lose her new friend, and begged she would come again
+"as soon as she could." All the family said the same. Mr.
+Marshman told her she must give him a large place in her heart,
+or he should be jealous of her "strange friend;" and Alice was
+charged to bring her whenever she came to see them.</p>
+
+<p>The drive back to Carra-carra was scarcely less pleasant than
+the drive out had been; and home, Ellen said, looked lovely.
+That is, Alice's home, which she began to think more her own
+than any other. The pleasure of the past ten days, though great,
+had not been unmixed; the week that followed was one of perfect
+enjoyment. In Mr. Humphrey's household there was an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>
+atmosphere of peace and purity that even a child could feel, and
+in which such a child as Ellen throve exceedingly. The drawing
+lessons went on with great success; other lessons were begun;
+there were fine long walks, and charming sleigh-rides, and more
+than one visit to Mrs. Vawse; and what Ellen perhaps liked best
+of all, the long evenings of conversation and reading aloud, and
+bright firelights, and brighter sympathy and intelligence and affection.
+That week did them all good, and no one more than Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>It was a little hard to go back to Miss Fortune's and begin
+her old life there. She went on the evening of the day John
+had departed. They were at supper.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Miss Fortune, as Ellen entered, "have you got
+enough of visiting? I should be ashamed to go where I wasn't
+wanted, for my part."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't, Aunt Fortune," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"She's been nowhere but what's done her good," said Mr.
+Van Brunt; "she's reely growed handsome since she's been
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"Grown a fiddlestick!" said Miss Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"She couldn't grow handsomer than she was before," said
+the old grandmother, hugging and kissing her little granddaughter
+with great delight; "the sweetest posie in the garden
+she always was!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt looked as if he entirely agreed with the old
+lady. That, while it made some amends for Miss Fortune's dryness,
+perhaps increased it. She remarked, that "she thanked
+Heaven she could always make herself contented at home;"
+which Ellen could not help thinking was a happiness for the rest
+of the world.</p>
+
+<p>In the matter of the collar, it was hard to say whether the
+giver or receiver had the most satisfaction. Ellen had begged
+him not to speak of it to her aunt; and accordingly one Sunday
+when he came there with it on, both he and she were in a state
+of exquisite delight. Miss Fortune's attention was at last aroused;
+she made a particular review of him, and ended it by declaring
+that "he looked uncommonly dandified, but she could not make
+out what he had done to himself;" a remark which transported
+Mr. Van Brunt and Ellen beyond all bounds of prudence.</p>
+
+<p>Nancy's Bible, which had been purchased for her at Randolph,
+was given to her the first opportunity. Ellen anxiously watched
+her as she slowly turned it over, her face showing, however, very
+decided approbation of the style of the gift. She shook her head
+once or twice, and then said—</p>
+
+<p>"What did you give this to me for, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I wanted to give you something for New Year,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>
+said Ellen, "and I thought that would be the best thing—if you
+would only read it, it would make you so happy and good."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> are good, I believe," said Nancy, "but I don't expect
+ever to be myself—I don't think I <i>could</i> be. You might as well
+teach a snake not to wriggle."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not good at all," said Ellen, "we're none of us good"—and
+the tears rose to her eyes—"but the Bible will teach us
+how to be. If you'll only read it! please Nancy, do! say you
+will read a little every day."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't want me to make a promise I shouldn't keep, I
+guess, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shouldn't keep that, so I won't promise it; but I
+tell you what I <i>will</i> do, I'll take precious fine care of it, and keep
+it always for your sake."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, sighing, "I am glad you will even do so
+much as that. But Nancy—before you begin to read the Bible
+you may have to go where you never can read it, nor be happy
+nor good neither."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy made no answer, but walked away, Ellen thought,
+rather more soberly than usual.</p>
+
+<p>This conversation had cost Ellen some effort. It had not
+been made without a good deal of thought and some prayer.
+She could not hope she had done much good, but she had done
+her duty. And it happened that Mr. Van Brunt, standing behind
+the angle of the wall, had heard every word.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">If erst he wished, now he longed sore.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Fairfax</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Ellen's life had nothing to mark it for many months. The
+rest of the winter passed quietly away, every day being full
+of employment. At home the state of matters was rather
+bettered. Either Miss Fortune was softened by Ellen's gentle
+inoffensive ways and obedient usefulness, or she had resolved to
+bear what could not be helped, and make the best of the little
+inmate she could not get rid of. She was certainly resolved to
+make the <i>most</i> of her. Ellen was kept on the jump a great deal
+of the time; she was runner of errands and maid-of-all-work; to
+set the table and clear it was only a trifle in the list of her every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>day
+duties; and they were not ended till the last supper dish
+was put away and the hearth swept up. Miss Fortune never
+spared herself, and never spared Ellen, so long as she had any
+occasion for her.</p>
+
+<p>There were, however, long pieces of time that were left free;
+these Ellen seized for her studies and used most diligently,
+urged on by a three or fourfold motive. For the love of them,
+and for her own sake—that John might think she had done well—that
+she might presently please and satisfy Alice—above all,
+that her mother's wishes might be answered. This thought,
+whenever it came, was a spur to her efforts; so was each of the
+others; and Christian feeling added another and kept all the rest
+in force. Without this, indolence might have weakened, or
+temptation surprised her resolution; little Ellen was open to
+both; but if ever she found herself growing careless, from either
+cause, conscience was sure to smite her, and then would rush in
+all the motives that called upon her to persevere. Soon faithfulness
+began to bring its reward. With delight she found herself
+getting the better of difficulties, beginning to see a little through
+the mists of ignorance, making some sensible progress on the long
+road of learning. Study grew delightful; her lessons with Alice
+one of her greatest enjoyments. And as they were a labour of
+love to both teacher and scholar, and as it was the aim of each to
+see quite to the bottom of every matter, where it was possible,
+and to leave no difficulties behind them on the road which they
+had not cleared away, no wonder Ellen went forward steadily
+and rapidly. Reading also became a wonderful pleasure. Wiem's
+Life of Washington was read, and read, and read over again,
+till she almost knew it by heart; and from that she went to
+Alice's library, and ransacked it for what would suit her. Happily
+it was a well-picked one, and Ellen could not light upon many
+books that would do her mischief. For those, Alice's wish was
+enough; she never opened them. Furthermore, Alice insisted
+that when Ellen had only fairly begun a book she should go
+through with it; not capriciously leave it for another, nor have
+half-a-dozen about at one time. But when Ellen had read it
+once she commonly wanted to go over it again, and seldom laid
+it aside until she had sucked the sweetness all out of it.</p>
+
+<p>As for drawing, it could not go on very fast while the cold
+weather lasted. Ellen had no place at home where she could
+spread out her paper and copies without danger of being disturbed.
+Her only chance was at the parsonage. John had put
+all her pencils in order before he went, and had left her an
+abundance of copies, marked as she was to take them. They, or
+some of them, were bestowed in Alice's desk; and whenever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>
+Ellen had a spare hour or two, of a fine morning or afternoon,
+she made the best of her way to the mountain; it made no
+difference whether Alice were at home or not; she went in,
+coaxed up the fire, and began her work. It happened many a
+time that Alice, coming home from a walk or a run in the woods,
+saw the little hood and cloak on the settee before she opened the
+glass door, and knew very well how she should find Ellen, bending
+intently over her desk. These runs to the mountain were
+very frequent; sometimes to draw, sometimes to recite, always
+to see Alice and be happy. Ellen grew rosy and hardy, and in
+spite of her separation from her mother, she was very happy too.
+Her extreme and varied occupation made this possible. She had
+no time to indulge useless sorrow; on the contrary, her thoughts
+were taken up with agreeable matters, either doing or to be done;
+and at night she was far too tired and sleepy to lie awake musing.
+And besides, she hoped that her mother would come back in the
+spring, or the summer at farthest. It is true Ellen had no liking
+for the kind of business her aunt gave her; it was oftentimes a
+trial of temper and patience. Miss Fortune was not the pleasantest
+work-mistress in the world, and Ellen was apt to wish to
+be doing something else; but, after all, this was not amiss. Besides
+the discipline of character, these trials made the pleasant
+things with which they were mixed up seem doubly pleasant, the
+disagreeable parts of her life relished the agreeable wonderfully.
+After spending the whole morning with Miss Fortune in the
+depths of housework, how delightful it was to forget all in drawing
+some nice little cottage with a bit of stone wall and a barrel
+in front; or to go with Alice, in thought, to the south of France,
+and learn how the peasants manage their vines and make the
+wine from them; or run over the Rock of Gibraltar with the
+monkeys; or at another time, seated on a little bench in the
+chimney corner, when the fire blazed up well, before the candles
+were lighted, to forget the kitchen and the supper and her
+bustling aunt, and sail round the world with Captain Cook. Yes—these
+things were all the sweeter for being tasted by snatches.</p>
+
+<p>Spring brought new occupation; household labours began to
+increase in number and measure; her leisure times were shortened.
+But pleasures were increased too. When the snow went off, and
+spring-like days began to come, and birds' notes were heard again,
+and the trees put out their young leaves, and the brown mountains
+were looking soft and green, Ellen's heart bounded at the
+sight. The springing grass was lovely to see; dandelions were
+marvels of beauty; to her each wild wood flower was a never-to-be-enough
+admired and loved wonder. She used to take long
+rambles with Mr. Van Brunt when business led him to the woods,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>
+sometimes riding part of the way on the ox-sled. Always a basket
+for flowers went along; and when the sled stopped, she would
+wander all around seeking among the piled-up dead leaves for
+the white wind-flower, and pretty little hang-head uvularia, and
+delicate blood-root, and the wild geranium and columbine; and
+many others the names of which she did not know. They were
+like friends to Ellen; she gathered them affectionately as well as
+admiringly into her little basket, and seemed to purify herself in
+their pure companionship. Even Mr. Van Brunt came to have an
+indistinct notion that Ellen and flowers were made to be together.
+After he found what a pleasure it was to her to go on these expeditions,
+he made it a point, whenever he was bound to the
+woods of a fine day, to come to the house for her. Miss Fortune
+might object as she pleased; he always found an answer; and at
+last Ellen, to her great joy, would be told, "Well! go get your
+bonnet and be off with yourself." Once under the shadow of the
+big trees, the dried leaves crackling beneath her feet, and alone
+with her kind conductor, and Miss Fortune and all in the world
+that was disagreeable was forgotten—forgotten, no more to be
+remembered till the walk should come to an end. And it would
+have surprised anybody to hear the long conversations she and
+Mr. Van Brunt kept up, he, the silentest man in Thirlwall! Their
+talk often ran upon trees, among which Mr. Van Brunt was at
+home. Ellen wanted to become acquainted with them, as well as
+with the little flowers that grew at their feet; and he tried to
+teach her how to know each separate kind by the bark, and leaf,
+and manner of growth. The pine and hemlock and fir were easily
+learnt; the white birch too; beyond those at first she was perpetually
+confounding one with another. Mr. Van Brunt had to
+go over and over his instructions; never weary, always vastly
+amused. Pleasant lessons these were! Ellen thought so, and
+Mr. Van Brunt thought so too.</p>
+
+<p>Then there were walks with Alice, pleasanter still, if that
+could be. And even in the house Ellen managed to keep a token
+of spring-time. On her toilet-table, the three uncouth legs of
+which were now hidden by a neat dimity cover, there always
+stood a broken tumbler with a supply of flowers. The supply was
+very varied, it is true; sometimes only a handful of dandelions,
+sometimes a huge bunch of lilac flowers, which could not be persuaded
+to stay in the glass without the help of the wall, against
+which it leaned in very undignified style; sometimes the bouquet
+was of really delicate and beautiful wild flowers. All were
+charming in Ellen's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>As the days grew long and the weather warm, Alice and she
+began to make frequent trips to the Cat's Back, and French came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>
+very much into fashion. They generally took Sharp to ease the
+long way, and rested themselves with a good stay on the mountain.
+Their coming was always a joy to the old lady. She was
+dearly fond of them both, and delighted to hear from their lips
+the language she loved best. After a time they spoke nothing
+else when with her. She was well qualified to teach them; and,
+indeed, her general education had been far from contemptible,
+though nature had done more for her. As the language grew
+familiar to them, she loved to tell and they to hear long stories of
+her youth and native country, scenes and people so very different
+from all Ellen had ever seen or heard of; and told in a lively
+simple style which she could not have given in English, and with
+a sweet colouring of Christian thought and feeling. Many things
+made these visits good and pleasant. It was not the least of
+Alice's and Ellen's joy to carry their old friend something that
+might be for her comfort in her lonely way of life. For even
+Miss Fortune now and then told Ellen "she might take a piece
+of that cheese along with her;" or "she wondered if the old lady
+would like a little fresh meat? she guessed she'd cut her a bit of
+that nice lamb; she wouldn't want but a little piece." A singular
+testimony this was to the respect and esteem Mrs. Vawse had
+from everybody. Miss Fortune very, very seldom was known to
+take a bit from her own comforts to add to those of another. The
+ruling passion of this lady was thrift; her next, good housewifery.
+First, to gather to herself and heap up of what the world most
+esteems; after that, to be known as the most thorough housekeeper
+and the smartest woman in Thirlwall.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen made other visits she did not like so well. In the course
+of the winter and summer she became acquainted with most of the
+neighbourhood. She sometimes went with her aunt to a formal
+tea-drinking, one, two, three, or four miles off, as the case might
+be. They were not very pleasant. To some places she was asked
+by herself; and though the people invariably showed themselves
+very kind, and did their best to please her, Ellen seldom cared to
+go a second time; liked even home and Miss Fortune better.
+There were a few exceptions: Jenny Hitchcock was one of her
+favourites, and Jane Huff was another; and all of their respective
+families came in, with good reason, for a share of her regard, Mr.
+Juniper indeed excepted. Once they went to a quilting at Squire
+Dennison's; the house was spotlessly neat and well ordered; the
+people all kind; but Ellen thought they did not seem to know
+how to be pleasant. Dan Dennison alone had no stiffness about
+him. Miss Fortune remarked with pride that even in this family
+of pretension, as she thought it, the refreshments could bear
+no comparison with hers. Once they were invited to tea at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>
+Lawsons'; but Ellen told Alice, with much apparent disgust, that
+she never wanted to go again. Mrs. Van Brunt she saw often.
+To Thirlwall Miss Fortune never went.</p>
+
+<p>Twice in the course of the summer Ellen had a very great
+pleasure in the company of little Ellen Chauncey. Once Miss
+Sophia brought her, and once her mother; and the last time they
+made a visit of two weeks. On both occasions Ellen was sent for
+to the parsonage and kept while they stayed; and the pleasure
+that she and her little friend had together cannot be told. It was
+unmixed now. Rambling about through the woods and over the
+fields, no matter where, it was all enchanting; helping Alice
+garden; helping Thomas make hay, and the mischief they did his
+haycocks by tumbling upon them, and the patience with which
+he bore it; the looking for eggs; the helping Margery churn, and
+the helping each other set tables; the pleasant mornings and
+pleasant evenings and pleasant mid-days, it cannot be told. Long
+to be remembered, sweet and pure, was the pleasure of those
+summer days, unclouded by a shade of discontent or disagreement
+on either brow. Ellen loved the whole Marshman family now,
+for the sake of one, the one she had first known; and little Ellen
+Chauncey repeatedly told her mother in private that Ellen Montgomery
+was the very nicest girl she had ever seen. They met
+with joy and parted with sorrow, entreating and promising, if
+possible, a speedy meeting again.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst all the improvements and enjoyments of these summer
+months, and they had a great deal of both, for Ellen there was
+one cause of sorrow she could not help feeling, and it began to
+press more and more. Letters—they came slowly, and when
+they came they were not at all satisfactory. Those in her mother's
+hand dwindled and dwindled, till at last there came only mere
+scraps of letters from her; and sometimes after a long interval one
+from Captain Montgomery would come alone. Ellen's heart
+sickened with long-deferred hope. She wondered what could
+make her mother neglect a matter so necessary for her happiness;
+sometimes she fancied they were travelling about, and it might be
+inconvenient to write; sometimes she thought perhaps they were
+coming home without letting her know, and would suddenly surprise
+her some day and make her half lose her wits with joy. But
+they did not come, nor write; and whatever was the reason, Ellen
+felt it was very sad, and sadder and sadder as the summer went
+on. Her own letters became pitiful in their supplications for
+letters; they had been very cheerful and filled with encouraging
+matter, and in part they were still.</p>
+
+<p>For a while her mind was diverted from this sad subject, and
+her brow cleared up, when John came home in August. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>
+before, Alice gained Miss Fortune's leave to keep her at the parsonage
+the whole time of his stay, which was several weeks.
+Ellen wondered that it was so easily granted, but she was much
+too happy to spend time in thinking about it. Miss Fortune had
+several reasons. She was unwilling to displease Miss Humphreys,
+and conscious that it would be a shame to her to stand openly in
+the way of Ellen's good. Besides, though Ellen's services were
+lost for a time, yet she said she got tired of setting her to work;
+she liked to dash round the house alone, without thinking what
+somebody else was doing or ought to be doing. In short, she
+liked to have her out of the way for a while. Furthermore, it
+did not please her that Mr. Van Brunt and her little handmaid
+were, as she expressed it, "so thick." His first thought and his
+last thought, she said, she believed were for Ellen, whether she
+came in or went out; and Miss Fortune was accustomed to be
+chief, not only in her own house, but in the regards of all
+who came to it. At any rate the leave was granted, and Ellen
+went.</p>
+
+<p>And now was repeated the pleasure of the first week in
+January. It would have been increased, but that increase was
+not possible. There was only the difference between lovely
+winter and lovely summer weather; it was seldom very hot in
+Thirlwall. The fields and hills were covered with green instead of
+white; fluttering leaves had taken the place of snow-covered sprays
+and sparkling icicles; and for the keen north and brisk northwester,
+soft summer airs were blowing. Ellen saw no other difference,
+except that perhaps, if it could be, there was something
+more of tenderness in the manner of Alice and her brother towards
+her. No little sister could have been more cherished and cared
+for. If there was a change, Mr. Humphreys shared it. It is true
+he seldom took much part in the conversation, and seldomer was
+with them in any of their pursuits or pleasures. He generally
+kept by himself in his study. But whenever he did speak to
+Ellen his tone was particularly gentle and his look kind. He
+sometimes called her "My little daughter," which always gave
+Ellen great pleasure; she would jump at such times with double
+zeal to do anything he asked her.</p>
+
+<p>Now drawing went on with new vigour under the eye of her
+master. And many things beside. John took a great deal of
+pains with her in various ways. He made her read to him; he
+helped her and Alice with their French; he went with them to
+Mrs. Vawse's; and even Mr. Humphreys went there too one
+afternoon to tea. How much Ellen enjoyed that afternoon!
+They took with them a great basket of provisions, for Mrs. Vawse
+could not be expected to entertain so large a party; and borrowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>
+Jenny Hitchcock's pony, which with old John and Sharp mounted
+three of the company; they took turns in walking. Nobody
+minded that. The fine weather, the beautiful mountain-top, the
+general pleasure, Mr. Humphreys' uncommon spirits and talkableness,
+the oddity of their way of travelling, and of a tea-party up
+on the "Cat's Back," and furthermore, the fact that Nancy stayed
+at home and behaved very well the whole time, all together filled
+Ellen's cup of happiness, for the time, as full as it could hold.
+She never forgot that afternoon. And the ride home was the
+best of all. The sun was low by the time they reached the
+plain; long shadows lay across their road; the soft air just stirred
+the leaves on the branches; stillness and loveliness were over all
+things; and down the mountain and along the roads through
+the open country, the whole way, John walked at her bridle; so
+kind in his care of her, so pleasant in his talk to her, teaching
+her how to sit in the saddle and hold the reins and whip, and
+much more important things too, that Ellen thought a pleasanter
+thing could not be than to ride so. After that they took a great
+many rides, borrowing Jenny's pony or some other, and explored
+the beautiful country far and near. And almost daily John had
+up Sharp and gave Ellen a regular lesson. She often thought,
+and sometimes looked, what she had once said to him, "I wish I
+could do something for <i>you</i>, Mr. John;" but he smiled and said
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>At last he was gone. And in all the week he had been at
+home, and in many weeks before, no letter had come for Ellen.
+The thought had been kept from weighing upon her by the
+thousand pleasures that filled up every moment of his stay; she
+could not be sad then, or only for a minute; hope threw off the
+sorrow as soon as it was felt; and she forgot how time flew.
+But when his visit was over, and she went back to her old place
+and her old life at her aunt's, the old feeling came back in greater
+strength. She began again to count the days and the weeks;
+to feel the bitter unsatisfied longing. Tears would drop down
+upon her Bible; tears streamed from her eyes when she prayed
+that God would make her mother well and bring her home to
+her quickly, oh, quickly!—and little Ellen's face began to wear
+once more something of its old look.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow,<br />
+All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing,<br />
+All the dull deep pain, and constant anguish of patience!</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>One day in the early part of September, she was standing in
+front of the house at the little wicket that opened on the
+road. With her back against the open gate, she was gently
+moving it to and fro, half enjoying the weather and the scene,
+half indulging the melancholy mood which drove her from the
+presence of her bustling aunt. The gurgling sound of the brook
+a few steps off was a great deal more soothing to her ear than
+Miss Fortune's sharp tones. By-and-by a horseman came in
+sight at the far end of the road, and the brook was forgotten.
+What made Ellen look at him so sharply? Poor child, she was
+always expecting news. At first she could only see that the man
+rode a white horse; then, as he came nearer, an odd looped-up
+hat showed itself, and something queer in his hand, what was
+it? who is it?—The old newsman! Ellen was sure. Yes—she
+could now see his saddle-bags, and the white horse-tail set in a
+handle with which he was brushing away the flies from his horse;
+the tin trumpet was in his other hand, to blow withal. He was a
+venerable old figure with all his oddities; clad in a suit of snuff
+brown, with a neat quiet look about him, he and the saddle-bags
+and the white horse jogged on together as if they belonged to
+nothing else in the world but each other. In an ecstasy of
+fear and hope Ellen watched the pace of the old horse to see
+if it gave any sign of slackening near the gate. Her breath
+came short, she hardly breathed at all, she was trembling
+from head to foot. <i>Would</i> he stop, or was he going on? Oh,
+the long agony of two minutes! He stopped. Ellen went
+towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"What little gal is this?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Ellen Montgomery, sir," said Ellen, eagerly; "Miss
+Fortune's niece—I live here."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a bit," said the old man, taking up his saddle-bags,
+"Miss Fortune's niece, eh? Well—I believe—as I've got somethin'
+for her—somethin' here—aunt well, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"That's more than you be, ain't it?" said he, glancing side<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>ways
+at Ellen's face. "How do you know but I've got a letter
+for you here, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>The colour rushed to that face, and she clasped her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear, no," said he, "I ha'n't got any for you—it's for
+the old lady—there, run in with it, dear."</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen knew before she touched it that it was a foreign
+letter, and dashed into the house with it. Miss Fortune coolly
+sent her back to pay the postage.</p>
+
+<p>When she came in again her aunt was still reading the letter.
+But her look, Ellen <i>felt</i>, was unpromising. She did not venture
+to speak; expectation was chilled. She stood till Miss Fortune
+began to fold up the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there nothing for me?" she said then, timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, why don't she write to me!" cried Ellen, bursting into
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune stalked about the room without any particular
+purpose, as far as could be seen.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very strange!" said Ellen sorrowfully. "I am afraid
+she is worse—does papa say she is worse?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if she had only sent me a message! I should think she
+might. Oh, I wish she had!—three words!—does papa say why
+she don't write?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very strange!" repeated poor Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father talks of coming home," said Miss Fortune, after
+a few minutes, during which Ellen had been silently weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Home!—then she must be better!" said Ellen, with new
+life. "Does papa say she is better?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"But what does he mean?" said Ellen uneasily. "I don't
+see what he means; he doesn't say she is worse, and he doesn't
+say she is better, what <i>does</i> he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He don't say much about anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he say when they are coming home?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune mumbled something about "Spring," and
+whisked off to the buttery. Ellen thought no more was to be
+got out of her. She felt miserable. Her father and aunt both
+seemed to act strangely; and where to find comfort she scarcely
+knew. She had been one day telling her doubts and sorrows to
+John. He did not try to raise her hopes, but said, "Troubles
+will come in this world, Ellie; the best is to trust them and ourselves
+to our dear Saviour, and let trials drive us to Him. Seek
+to love Him more and to be patient under His will; the good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>
+Shepherd means nothing but kindness to any lamb in His flock,
+you may be sure of that, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen remembered his words and tried to follow them now,
+but she could not be "patient under His will" yet, not quite. It
+was very hard to be patient in such uncertainty. With swimming
+eyes she turned over her Bible in search of comfort, and found it.
+Her eye lit upon words she knew very well, but that were like
+the fresh sight of a friend's face for all that. "Let not your
+heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
+Father's house are many mansions." There is no parting there,
+thought little Ellen. She cried a long time; but she was comforted
+nevertheless. The heart that rests on the blessed One
+who said those words can never be quite desolate.</p>
+
+<p>For several days things went on in the old train, only her aunt,
+she thought, was sometimes rather queer, not quite as usual in
+her manner towards her. Mr. Van Brunt was not <i>rather</i> but <i>very</i>
+queer; he scarce spoke or looked at Ellen; bolted down his food
+and was off without a word; and even stayed away entirely from
+two or three meals. She saw nobody else. Weather and other
+circumstances prevented her going to the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon she was giving her best attention to a French
+lesson, when she heard herself called. Miss Fortune was in the
+lower kitchen dipping candles. Ellen ran down.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what's got into these candles," said Miss Fortune.
+"I can't make 'em hang together; the tallow ain't good,
+I guess. Where's the nearest place they keep bees?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have got bees at Mrs. Hitchcock's," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"So they have in Egypt, for anything I know," said her
+aunt; "one would be about as much good now as t'other. Mrs.
+Lowndes'; that ain't far off. Put on your bonnet, Ellen, and run
+over there, and ask her to let me have a little bees-wax. I'll pay
+her in something she likes best."</p>
+
+<p>"Does Mrs. Lowndes keep bee-hives?" said Ellen doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"No—she makes the bees-wax herself," said Miss Fortune, in
+the tone she always took when anybody presumed to suppose she
+might be mistaken in anything.</p>
+
+<p>"How much shall I ask for?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know—a pretty good piece."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was not very clear what quantity this might mean.
+However, she wisely asked no more questions, and set out upon
+her walk. It was hot and disagreeable; just the time of day
+when the sun had most power, and Mrs. Lowndes' house was
+about half way on the road to Alice's. It was not a place where
+Ellen liked to go, though the people always made much of her;
+she did not fancy them, and regularly kept out of their way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
+when she could. Miss Mary Lawson was sitting with Mrs.
+Lowndes and her daughter when Ellen came in and briefly gave
+her aunt's message.</p>
+
+<p>"Bees-wax," said Mrs. Lowndes, "well, I don't know. How
+much does she want?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am, exactly; she said a pretty good
+piece."</p>
+
+<p>"What's it for? do you know, honey?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe it's to put in some tallow for candles," said Ellen;
+"the tallow was too soft, she said."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know Miss Fortune's tallow was ever anything but
+the hardest," said Sarah Lowndes.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better not let your aunt know you've told on her,
+Ellen," remarked Mary Lawson; "she won't thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Had she a good lot of tallow to make up?" inquired the
+mother, preparing to cut her bees-wax.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am; she had a big kettle, but I don't
+know how full it was."</p>
+
+<p>"You may as well cut a good piece, ma, while you are about
+it," said the daughter; "and ask her to let us have a piece of
+her sage cheese, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it worth while to weigh it?" whispered Mrs. Lowndes.</p>
+
+<p>Her daughter answered in the same tone, and Miss Mary
+joining them, a conversation of some length went on over the
+bees-wax which Ellen could not hear. The tones of the speakers
+became lower and lower; till at length her own name and an
+incautious sentence were spoken more distinctly and reached her.</p>
+
+<p>"Shouldn't you think Miss Fortune might put a black ribbon
+at least on her bonnet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody but her would."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!—--" They whispered again under breath.</p>
+
+<p>The words entered Ellen's heart like cold iron. She did not
+move, hand or foot; she sat motionless with pain and fear, yet
+what she feared she dared not think. When the bees-wax was
+given her she rose up from her chair and stood gazing into Mrs.
+Lowndes' face as if she had lost her senses.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness, child, how you look!" said that lady. "What
+ails you, honey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ma'am," said Ellen, "what was that you said, about——"</p>
+
+<p>"About what, dear?" said Mrs. Lowndes, with a startled
+look at the others.</p>
+
+<p>"About—a ribbon," said Ellen, struggling to get the words
+out of white lips.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness!" said the other; "did you ever hear anything
+like that? I didn't say nothing about a ribbon, dear."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you suppose her aunt ha'n't told her?" said Miss Mary
+in an undertone.</p>
+
+<p>"Told me what?" cried Ellen, "oh what? what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I was a thousand miles off!" said Mrs. Lowndes; "I
+don't know, dear—I don't know what it is—Miss Alice knows."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ask Miss Alice," said Mary Lawson; "she knows better
+than we do."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked doubtfully from one to the other; then as "Go
+ask Miss Alice," was repeated on all sides, she caught up her
+bonnet, and flinging the bees-wax from her hand, darted out of
+the house. Those she had left looked at each other a minute
+in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't that too bad now!" exclaimed Mrs. Lowndes, crossing
+the room to shut the door. "But what could I say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Which way did she go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, I am sure; I had no head to look, or anything
+else. I wonder if I had ought to ha' told her. But I couldn't
+ha' done it."</p>
+
+<p>"Just look at her bees-wax!" said Sarah Lowndes.</p>
+
+<p>"She will kill herself if she runs up the mountain at that
+rate," said Mary Lawson.</p>
+
+<p>They all made a rush to the door to look after her.</p>
+
+<p>"She ain't in sight," said Mrs. Lowndes; "if she's gone the
+way to the Nose, she's got as far as them big poplars already, or
+she'd be somewhere this side of 'em where we could see her."</p>
+
+<p>"You hadn't ought to ha' let her go, ma, in all this sun," said
+Miss Lowndes.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said Mrs. Lowndes, "she scared me so I hadn't
+three idees left in my head. I wish I knew where she was,
+though, poor little soul!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was far on her way to the mountain, pressed forward by
+a fear that knew no stay of heat or fatigue; they were little to
+her that day. She saw nothing on her way; all within and without
+was swallowed up in that one feeling; yet she dared not
+think what it was she feared. She put that by. Alice knew,
+Alice would tell her! On that goal her heart fixed, to that she
+pressed on; but oh, the while, what a cloud was gathering over
+her spirit, and growing darker and darker. Her hurry of mind
+and hurry of body made each other worse; it must be so; and
+when she at last ran round the corner of the house and burst in
+at the glass door she was in a frightful state.</p>
+
+<p>Alice started up and faced her as she came in, but with a
+look that stopped Ellen short. She stood still; the colour in her
+cheeks, as her eyes read Alice's, faded quite away; words and
+the power to speak them were gone together. Alas! the need<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+to utter them was gone too. Alice burst into tears and held out
+her arms, saying only, "My poor child!" Ellen reached her
+arms, and strength and spirit seemed to fail there. Alice thought
+she had fainted; she laid her on the sofa, called Margery, and
+tried the usual things, weeping bitterly herself as she did so. It
+was not fainting, however; Ellen's senses soon came back, but
+she seemed like a person stunned with a great blow, and Alice
+wished grief had had any other effect upon her. It lasted for
+days. A kind of stupor hung over her; tears did not come; the
+violent strain of every nerve and feeling seemed to have left her
+benumbed. She would sleep long heavy sleeps the greater part
+of the time, and seemed to have no power to do anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Her adopted sister watched her constantly, and for those days
+lived but to watch her. She had heard all Ellen's story from
+Mary Lawson and Mr. Van Brunt, who had both been to the
+parsonage, one on Mrs. Lowndes' part, the other on his own, to
+ask about her, and she dreaded that a violent fit of illness might
+be brought on by all Ellen had undergone. She was mistaken,
+however; Ellen was not ill; but her whole mind and body bowed
+under the weight of the blow that had come upon her. As the
+first stupor wore off there were indeed more lively signs of grief;
+she would weep till she wept her eyes out, and that often, but it
+was very quietly; no passionate sobbing, no noisy crying; sorrow
+had taken too strong hold to be struggled with, and Ellen meekly
+bowed her head to it. Alice saw this with the greatest alarm.
+She had refused to let her go back to her aunt's; it was impossible
+to do otherwise; yet it may be that Ellen would have been
+better there. The busy industry to which she would have been
+forced at home might have roused her. As it was, nothing drew
+her, and nothing could be found to draw her, from her own
+thoughts. Her interest in everything seemed to be gone. Books
+had lost their charm; walks and drives and staying at home were
+all one, except indeed that she rather liked best the latter.
+Appetite failed, her cheeks grew colourless, and Alice began to
+fear that if a stop were not soon put to this gradual sinking, it
+would at last end with her life; but all her efforts were without
+fruit; and the winter was a sorrowful one not to Ellen alone.</p>
+
+<p>As it wore on, there came to be one thing in which Ellen
+again took pleasure, and that was her Bible. She used to get
+alone or into a corner with it, and turn the leaves over and over,
+looking out its gentle promises and sweet comforting words to
+the weak and the sorrowing. She loved to read about Christ,
+all He said and did; all His kindness to His people and tender
+care of them; the love shown them here, and the joys prepared
+for them hereafter. She began to cling more to that one un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>changeable
+Friend from whose love neither life nor death can
+sever those that believe in Him; and her heart, tossed and shaken
+as it had been, began to take rest again in that happy resting-place
+with stronger affection and even with greater joy than ever
+before. Yet, for all that, this joy often kept company with bitter
+weeping; the stirring of anything like pleasure roused sorrow up
+afresh; and though Ellen's look of sadness grew less dark, Alice
+could not see that her face was at all less white and thin. She
+never spoke of her mother after once hearing when and where
+she had died; she never hinted at her loss, except exclaiming in
+an agony, "I shall get no more letters!" and Alice dared not
+touch upon what the child seemed to avoid so carefully, though
+Ellen sometimes wept on her bosom, and often sat for hours still
+and silent with her head in her lap.</p>
+
+<p>The time drew nigh when John was expected home for the
+holidays. In the meanwhile they had had many visits from other
+friends. Mr. Van Brunt had come several times, enough to set
+the whole neighbourhood a-wondering, if they had only known
+it; his good old mother oftener still. Mrs. Vawse as often as
+possible. Miss Fortune once; and that because, as she said to
+herself, "everybody would be talking about what was none of
+their business if she didn't." As neither she nor Ellen knew in
+the least what to say to each other, the visit was rather a dull
+one, spite of all Alice could do. Jenny Hitchcock and the Huffs,
+and the Dennisons, and others, came now and then, but Ellen did
+not like to see any of them all but Mrs. Vawse. Alice longed for
+her brother.</p>
+
+<p>He came at last, just before New Year's day. It was the
+middle of a fine afternoon, and Alice and her father had gone in
+the sleigh to Carra-carra. Ellen had chosen to stay behind, but
+Margery did not know this, and of course did not tell John.
+After paying a visit to her in the kitchen, he had come back to
+the empty sitting-room, and was thoughtfully walking up and
+down the floor, when the door of Alice's room slowly opened, and
+Ellen appeared. It was never her way, when she could help
+it, to show violent feeling before other people, so she had been
+trying to steel herself to meet John without crying, and now
+came in with her little grave face prepared not to give way. His
+first look had like to overset it all.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellie!" said he; "I thought everybody was gone. My dear
+Ellie!—--"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could hardly stand the tone of these three words, and
+she bore with the greatest difficulty the kiss that followed them;
+it took but a word or two more, and a glance at the old look and
+smile, to break down entirely all her guard. According to her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>
+usual fashion, she was rushing away; but John held her fast, and
+though gently, drew her close to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not let you forget that I am your brother, Ellie,"
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hid her face on his shoulder, and cried as if she had
+never cried before.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellie," said he, after a while, speaking low and tenderly,
+"the Bible says, 'We have known and believed the love that
+God hath towards us'; have you remembered and believed this
+lately?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you remembered that God loves every sinner that has
+believed in His dear Son? and loves them so well that He will
+let nothing come near them to harm them? and loves them
+never better than when He sends bitter trouble on them? It is
+wonderful! but it is true. Have you thought of this, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not in anger He does it; it is not that He has forgotten
+you; it is not that He is careless of your trembling little heart,
+never, never! If you are His child, all is done in love, and
+shall work good for you; and if we often cannot see how, it
+is because we are weak and foolish, and can see but a very little
+way."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen listened, with her face hid on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love Christ, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded, weeping afresh.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love Him less since He has brought you into this
+great sorrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," sobbed Ellen; "<i>more</i>."</p>
+
+<p>He drew her closer to his breast, and was silent a little
+while.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to hear you say that! then all will be well.
+And haven't you the best reason to think that all <i>is</i> well with
+your dear mother?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen almost shrieked. Her mother's name had not been
+spoken before her in a great while, and she could hardly bear to
+hear it now. Her whole frame quivered with hysterical sobs.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Ellie!" said John, in a tone that, low as it was, somehow
+found its way through all her agitation, and calmed her like
+a spell; "have you not good reason to believe that all is well
+with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes! oh yes!"</p>
+
+<p>"She loved and trusted Him too; and now she is with Him;
+she has reached that bright home where there is no more sin, nor
+sorrow, nor death."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nor parting either," sobbed Ellen, whose agitation was
+excessive.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor parting! and though <i>we</i> are parted from them, it is but
+for a little; let us watch and keep our garments clean, and soon
+we shall be all together, and have done with tears for ever. <i>She</i>
+has done with them now. Did you hear from her again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no; not a word!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a hard trial. But in it all, believe, dear Ellie, the
+love that God hath toward us; remember that our dear Saviour
+is near us, and feels for us, and is the same at all times. And
+don't cry so, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her once or twice, and begged her to calm herself.
+For it seemed as if Ellen's very heart was flowing away in her
+tears; yet they were gentler and softer far than at the beginning.
+The conversation had been a great relief. The silence between
+her and Alice on the thing always in her mind, a silence neither
+of them dared to break, had grown painful. The spell was taken
+off; and though at first Ellen's tears knew no measure, she was
+easier even then; as John soothed her and went on with his kind
+talk, gradually leading it away from their first subject to other
+things, she grew not only calm, but more peaceful at heart than
+months had seen her. She was quite herself again before Alice
+came home.</p>
+
+<p>"You have done her good already," exclaimed Alice as soon
+as Ellen was out of the room; "I knew you would; I saw it in
+her face as soon as I came in."</p>
+
+<p>"It is time," said her brother. "She is a dear little thing!"</p>
+
+<p>The next day, in the middle of the morning, Ellen, to her
+great surprise, saw Sharp brought before the door with the side-saddle
+on, and Mr. John carefully looking to the girth, and
+shortening the stirrup.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Alice," she exclaimed, "what is Mr. John going
+to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Ellie, I am sure; he does queer things sometimes.
+What makes you ask?"</p>
+
+<p>Before she could answer, he opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Ellen, go and get ready. Bundle up well, for it is
+rather frosty. Alice, has she a pair of gloves that are warm
+enough? Lend her yours, and I'll see if I can find some at
+Thirlwall."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought she would rather not go; to anybody else she
+would have said so. Half a minute she stood still, then went to
+put on her things.</p>
+
+<p>"Alice, you will be ready by the time we get back? in half-an-hour."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen had an excellent lesson, and her master took care it
+should not be an easy one. She came back looking as she had
+not done all winter. Alice was not quite ready; while waiting
+for her, John went to the bookcase and took down the first
+volume of "Rollin's Ancient History;" and giving it to Ellen,
+said he would talk with her to-morrow about the first twenty
+pages. The consequence was, the hour and a half of their absence,
+instead of being moped away, was spent in hard study. A pair
+of gloves was bought at Thirlwall; Jenny Hitchcock's pony was
+sent for; and after that, every day when the weather would at
+all do, they took a long ride. By degrees reading and drawing
+and all her studies were added to the history, till Ellen's time
+was well filled with business again. Alice had endeavoured to
+bring this about before, but fruitlessly. What she asked of her
+Ellen indeed <i>tried</i> to do; what John told her <i>was done</i>. She
+grew a different creature. Appetite came back; the colour
+sprang again to her cheek; hope, meek and sober as it was,
+relighted her eye. In her eagerness to please and satisfy her
+teacher, her whole soul was given to the performance of whatever
+he wished her to do. The effect was all that he looked for.</p>
+
+<p>The second evening after he came, John called Ellen to his
+side, saying he had something he wanted to read to her. It was
+before candles were brought, but the room was full of light from
+the blazing wood fire. Ellen glanced at his book as she came to
+the sofa; it was a largish volume in a black leather cover a good
+deal worn; it did not look at all interesting.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It is called," said John, "'The Pilgrim's Progress from this
+World to a Better.'"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought it did not <i>sound</i> at all interesting. She had
+never been more mistaken in her life, and that she found almost
+as soon as he began. Her attention was nailed; the listless,
+careless mood in which she sat down was changed for one of rapt
+delight; she devoured every word that fell from the reader's lips;
+indeed they were given their fullest effect by a very fine voice
+and singularly fine reading. Whenever anything might not be
+quite clear to Ellen, John stopped to make it so; and with his
+help, and without it, many a lesson went home. Next day she
+looked a long time for the book; it could not be found; she was
+forced to wait until evening. Then, to her great joy, it was
+brought out again, and John asked her if she wished to hear
+some more of it. After that, every evening while he was at
+home they spent an hour with the "Pilgrim." Alice would leave
+her work and come to the sofa too; and with her head on her
+brother's shoulder, her hand in his, and Ellen's face leaning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>
+against his other arm, that was the common way they placed
+themselves to see and hear. No words can tell Ellen's enjoyment
+of those readings. They made her sometimes laugh and sometimes
+cry; they had much to do in carrying on the cure which
+John's wisdom and kindness had begun.</p>
+
+<p>They came to the place where Christian loses his burden at
+the cross; and as he stood looking and weeping, three shining
+ones came to him. The first said to him, "Thy sins be forgiven
+thee;" the second stripped him of his rags and clothed him
+with a change of raiment; the third also set a mark on his
+forehead.</p>
+
+<p>John explained what was meant by the rags and the change
+of raiment.</p>
+
+<p>"And the mark in his forehead?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the mark of God's children—the change wrought in
+them by the Holy Spirit—the change that makes them different
+from others, and different from their old selves."</p>
+
+<p>"Do all Christians have it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. None can be a Christian without it."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can any one tell whether one has it or no?" said
+Ellen, very gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Carry your heart and life to the Bible and see how they
+agree. The Bible gives a great many signs and descriptions by
+which Christians may know themselves—know both what they
+are and what they ought to be. If you find your own feelings
+and manner of life at one with these Bible words, you may hope
+that the Holy Spirit has changed you and set His mark
+upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would tell me of one of those places," said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"The Bible is full of them. 'To them that believe <i>Christ
+is precious</i>,' there is one. 'If ye love me <i>keep my commandments</i>';
+'He that saith He abideth in Him ought himself also
+<i>so to walk even as He walked</i>'; 'Oh how <i>love I Thy law</i>.' The
+Bible is full of them, Ellie; but you have need to ask for great
+help when you go to try yourself by them; the heart is deceitful."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked sober all the rest of the evening, and the next
+day she pondered the matter a good deal.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I am changed," she said to herself at last. "I
+didn't use to like to read the Bible, and now I do very much; I
+never liked praying in old times, and now, oh, what should I do
+without it! I didn't love Jesus at all, but I am sure I do now.
+I don't keep His commandments, but I do <i>try</i> to keep them;
+I <i>must</i> be changed a little. Oh, I wish mamma had known it
+before——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Weeping with mixed sorrow and thankful joy, Ellen bent her
+head upon her little Bible to pray that she might be <i>more</i> changed;
+and then, as she often did, raised the cover to look at the text in
+the beloved handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>"I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall
+find me."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's tears were blinding her. "That has come true," she
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>"I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee."</p>
+
+<p>"That has come true too!" she said, almost in surprise, "and
+mamma believed it would." And then, as by a flash, came back
+to her mind the time it was written; she remembered how when
+it was done her mother's head had sunk upon the open page; she
+seemed to see again the thin fingers tightly clasped; she had not
+understood it then; she did now! "She was praying for me,"
+thought Ellen; "she was praying for me! she believed that would
+come true."</p>
+
+<p>The book was dashed down, and Ellen fell upon her knees in
+a perfect agony of weeping.</p>
+
+<p>Even this, when she was calm again, served to steady her
+mind. There seemed to be a link of communion between her
+mother and her that was wanting before. The promise, written
+and believed in by the one, realised and rejoiced in by the other,
+was a dear something in common, though one had in the meanwhile
+removed to heaven, and the other was still a lingerer on the
+earth. Ellen bound the words upon her heart.</p>
+
+<p>Another time, when they came to the last scene of Christian's
+journey, Ellen's tears ran very fast. John asked if he should pass
+it over? if it distressed her? She said, Oh no, it did not distress
+her; she wanted him to go on, and he went on, though
+himself much distressed, and Alice was near as bad as Ellen.
+But the next evening, to his surprise, Ellen begged that before
+he went on to the second part he would read that piece over
+again. And when he lent her the book, with only the charge
+that she should not go further than he had been, she pored over
+that scene with untiring pleasure till she almost had it by heart.
+In short, never was a child more comforted and contented with
+a book than Ellen was with the "Pilgrim's Progress." That was
+a blessed visit of John's. Alice said he had come like a sunbeam
+into the house; she dreaded to think what would be when he
+went away.</p>
+
+<p>She wrote him, however, when he had been gone a few weeks,
+that his will seemed to carry all before it, present or absent.
+Ellen went on steadily mending; at least she did not go back
+any. They were keeping up their rides, also their studies, most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>
+diligently. Ellen was untiring in her efforts to do whatever he
+had wished her, and was springing forward, Alice said, in her
+improvement.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+I keep his house, and I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat,
+and make the beds, and do all myself.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The spring had come, and Alice and Ellen were looking forward
+to pleasanter rides and walks after the sun should have got a
+little warmth and the snow should be gone, when one morning,
+in the early part of March, Mr. Van Brunt made his appearance.
+Miss Fortune was not well, and had sent him to beg that Ellen
+would come back to her. He was sorry, he said; he knew Ellen
+was in the best place: but her aunt wanted her, and "he s'posed
+she'd have to go." He did not know what was the matter with
+Miss Fortune; it was a little of one thing and a little of another;
+"he s'posed she'd overdid, and it was a wonder, for he didn't
+know she <i>could</i> do it. <i>She</i> thought she was as tough as a piece of
+shoe-leather, but even that could be wore out."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked blank. However, she hurriedly set herself to
+get her things together, and with Alice's help, in half-an-hour
+she was ready to go. The parting was hard. They held each
+other fast a good while, and kissed each other many times without
+speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, dear Ellie," whispered Alice at last; "I'll come and
+see you soon. Remember what John said when he went away."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not trust herself to speak. She pulled herself away
+from Alice, and turned to Mr. Van Brunt, saying by her manner
+that she was ready. He took her bundle, and they went out of
+the house together.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen made a manful effort all the way down the hill to stifle
+the tears that were choking her. She knew they would greatly
+disturb her companion, and she did succeed, though with great
+difficulty, in keeping them back. Luckily for her, he said hardly
+anything during the whole walk; she could not have borne to
+answer a question. It was no fault of Mr. Van Brunt's that he
+was so silent. He was beating his brains the whole way to think
+of something it would do to say, and could not suit himself. His
+single remark was, "that it was like to be a fine spring for the
+maple, and he guessed they'd make a heap of sugar."</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the door he told her she would find her
+aunt upstairs, and himself turned off to the barn. Ellen stopped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>
+a minute upon the threshold to remember the last time she had
+crossed it, and the <i>first</i> time. How changed everything now!
+And the thought came, was <i>this</i> now to be her home for ever?
+She had need again to remember John's words. When bidding
+her good-bye he had said, "My little pilgrim, I hope you will
+keep the straight road, and win the praise of the servant who was
+faithful over a few things." "I will try!" thought poor Ellen;
+and then she passed through the kitchen and went up to her
+own room. Here, without stopping to think, she took off her
+things, gave one strange look at the old familiar place and her
+trunk in the corner, fell on her knees for one minute, and then
+went to her aunt's room.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in!" cried Miss Fortune, when Ellen had knocked.
+"Well, Ellen, there you are. I am thankful it is you. I was
+afraid it might be Mimy Lawson or Sarah Lowndes, or some of
+the rest of the set; I know they'll all come scampering here as
+soon as they hear I'm laid up."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you very sick, Aunt Fortune?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"La! no, child. I shall be up again to-morrow; but I felt
+queer this morning, somehow, and I thought I'd try lying down.
+I expect I've caught some cold."</p>
+
+<p>There was no doubt of this, but this was not all. Besides
+catching cold, and doing her best to bring it about, Miss Fortune
+had overtasked her strength; and by dint of economy, housewifery,
+and <i>smartness</i>, had brought on herself the severe punishment of
+lying idle and helpless for a much longer time than she at first
+reckoned on.</p>
+
+<p>"What can I do for you, Aunt Fortune?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing as I know," said Miss Fortune, "only let me
+alone and don't ask me anything, and keep people out of the
+house. Mercy! my head feels as if it would go crazy! Ellen,
+look here," said she, raising herself on her elbow, "I won't have
+anybody come into this house, if I lie here till doomsday, I won't.
+Now, you mind me. I ain't agoing to have Mimy Lawson, nor
+nobody else, poking all round into every hole and corner, and
+turning every cheese upside down to see what's under it. There
+ain't one of 'em too good for it, and they sha'n't have a chance.
+They'll be streaking here, a dozen of 'em, to help take care of
+the house; but I don't care what becomes of the house—I won't
+have anybody in it. Promise me you won't let Mr. Van Brunt
+bring any one here to help. I know I can trust to you to do
+what I tell you. Promise me!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen promised, a good deal gratified at her aunt's last words,
+and once more asked if she could do anything for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know!" said Miss Fortune, flinging herself back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>
+on her pillow. "I don't care what you do if you only keep the
+house clear. There's the clothes in the basket under the table
+downstairs—you might begin to iron 'em; they're only rough
+dry. But don't come asking me about anything; I can't bear it.
+Ellen, don't let a soul go into the buttery except yourself. And,
+Ellen! I don't care if you make me a little catnip tea. The
+catnip's up in the storeroom, the furthest door in the back attic—here's
+the keys. Don't go fussing with anything else there."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought the prospect before her rather doleful when
+she reached the kitchen. It was in order, to be sure, and clean;
+but it looked as if the mistress was away. The fire had gone out,
+the room was cold; even so little a matter as catnip tea seemed
+a thing far off and hard to come by. While she stood looking at
+the great logs in the fireplace, which she could hardly move, and
+thinking it was rather a dismal state of things, in came Mr. Van
+Brunt with his good-natured face, and wanted to know if he could
+do anything for her. The very room seemed more comfortable
+as soon as his big figure was in it. He set about kindling the
+fire forthwith, while Ellen went up to the storeroom. A well-filled
+storeroom! Among other things, there hung at least a
+dozen bunches of dried herbs from one of the rafters. Ellen
+thought she knew catnip, but after smelling of two or three she
+became utterly puzzled, and was fain to carry a leaf of several
+kinds down to Mr. Van Brunt to find out which was which.
+When she came down again she found he had hung on the kettle
+for her, and swept up the hearth; so Ellen, wisely thinking it
+was best to keep busy, put the ironing blanket on the table, and
+folded the clothes, and set the irons to the fire. By this time
+the kettle boiled. How to make catnip tea Ellen did not exactly
+know, but supposed it must follow the same rules as black tea, in
+the making of which she felt herself very much at home. So she
+put a pinch or two of catnip leaves into the pot, poured a little
+water on them, and left it to draw. Meanwhile came in kind
+Mr. Van Brunt with an armful or two of small short sticks for the
+fire, which Ellen could manage.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could stay here and take care of you all the while,"
+said he; "but I'll be round. If you want anything you must
+come to the door and holler."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen began to thank him.</p>
+
+<p>"Just don't say anything about that," said he, moving his
+hands as if he were shaking her thanks out of them; "I'd back
+all the wood you could burn every day for the pleasure of having
+you hum again, if I didn't know you was better where you was;
+but I can't help that. Now, who am I going to get to stay with
+you? Who would you like to have?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nobody, if you please, Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen; "Aunt
+Fortune don't wish it, and I had rather not, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>He stood up and looked at her in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you don't mean to say," said he, "that you are thinking,
+or she is thinking, you can get along here alone without
+help?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get along somehow," said Ellen. "Never mind, please
+let me, Mr. Van Brunt; it would worry Aunt Fortune very much
+to have anybody; don't say anything about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Worry her!" said he; and he muttered something Ellen
+did not quite understand, about "bringing the old woman to
+reason."</p>
+
+<p>However he went off for the present; and Ellen filled up her
+teapot and carried it upstairs. Her old grandmother was awake;
+before, when Ellen was in the room, she had been napping; now
+she showed the greatest delight at seeing her; fondled her, kissed
+her, cried over her, and finally insisted on getting up directly
+and going downstairs. Ellen received and returned her caresses
+with great tenderness, and then began to help her to rise and
+dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, do," said Miss Fortune; "I shall have a little better
+chance of sleeping. My stars! Ellen, what do you call this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it catnip?" said Ellen, alarmed.</p>
+
+<p>"Catnip! it tastes of nothing but the tea-kettle. It's as weak
+as dish-water. Take it down and make some more. How much
+did you put in? you want a good double handful, stalks and all;
+make it strong. I can't drink such stuff as that. I think if I
+could get into a sweat I should be better."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen went down, established her grandmother in her old
+corner, and made some more tea. Then, her irons being hot, she
+began to iron; doing double duty at the same time, for Mrs.
+Montgomery had one of her talking fits on, and it was necessary
+to hear and answer a great many things. Presently the first
+visitor appeared in the shape of Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Ellen!" said she; "so Miss Fortune is really sick for
+once, and you are keeping house. Ain't you grand?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't feel very grand," said Ellen. "I don't know what
+is the matter with these clothes; I <i>cannot</i> make 'em look
+smooth."</p>
+
+<p>"Irons ain't hot," said Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes they are, too hot. I've scorched a towel already."</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness, Ellen! I guess you have. If Miss Fortune
+was down you'd get it. Why, they're bone dry!" said Nancy,
+plunging her hand into the basket; "you haven't sprinkled 'em,
+have you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To be sure," said Ellen, with an awakened face, "I forgot
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Here, get out of the way, <i>I'll</i> do it for you," said Nancy,
+rolling up her sleeves, and pushing Ellen from the table; "you
+just get me a bowl of water, will you? and we'll have 'em done
+in no time. Who's acoming to help you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody! you poor chicken; do you think you're agoing to
+do all the work of the house yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "but I can do a good deal, and the rest
+will have to go."</p>
+
+<p>"You ain't going to do no such thing; I'll stay myself."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you can't, Nancy," said Ellen quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I will if I've a mind to. I should like to know how
+you'd help it; Miss Fortune's abed."</p>
+
+<p>"I could help it though," said Ellen; "but I am sure you
+won't when I ask you not."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do anything you please," said Nancy, "if you'll get Miss
+Fortune to let me stay. Come do, Ellen! It will be splendid;
+and I'll help you finely, and I won't bother you neither. Come!
+go ask her; if you don't, I will."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't, Nancy; she don't want anybody; and it worries her
+to talk to her. I can't go and ask her."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy impatiently flung down the cloth she was sprinkling
+and ran upstairs. In a few minutes she came down with a
+triumphant face, and bade Ellen go up to her aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said Miss Fortune, "if I let Nancy stay will you take
+care of the keys and keep her out of the buttery?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try to, ma'am, as well as I can."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd as lief have her as anybody," said Miss Fortune, "if
+she'd behave; she was with me a little in the winter; she is
+smart and knows the ways; if I was sure she would behave herself,
+but I am afraid she will go rampaging about the house like
+a wild cat."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I could prevent that," said Ellen, who, to say truth,
+was willing to have anybody come to share what she felt would
+be a very great burden. "She knows I could tell Mr. Van Brunt
+if she didn't do right, and she would be afraid of that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Miss Fortune disconsolately, "let her stay then.
+Oh dear, to lie here! but tell her, if she don't do just what you
+tell her, I'll have Mr. Van Brunt turn her out by the ears. And
+don't let her come near me, for she drives me mad. And, Ellen,
+put the keys in your pocket. Have you got a pocket in that
+dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Put 'em in there and don't take 'em out. Now go."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy agreed to the conditions with great glee; and the
+little housekeeper felt her mind a good deal easier; for though
+Nancy herself was somewhat of a charge, she was strong and
+willing and ready, and if she liked anybody, liked Ellen. Mr.
+Van Brunt privately asked Ellen if she chose to have Nancy stay;
+and told her, if she gave her any trouble to let him know, and he
+would make short work with her. The young lady herself also
+had a hint on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what," said Nancy, when this business was
+settled, "we'll let the men go off to Miss Van Brunt's to meals;
+we'll have enough to do without 'em. That's how Miss Fortune
+has fixed herself, she would have Sam and Johnny in to board;
+they never used to, you know, afore this winter."</p>
+
+<p>"The men may go," said Ellen, "but I had a great deal
+rather Mr. Van Brunt would stay than not, if we can only
+manage to cook things for him; we should have to do it at any rate
+for ourselves, and for grandma."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>I</i> ain't as fond as him as all that," said Nancy, "but
+it'll have to be as you like, I suppose. We'll feed him somehow."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt came in to ask if they had anything in the
+house for supper. Ellen told him "plenty," and would have him
+come in just as usual. There was nothing to do but to make tea;
+cold meat and bread and butter and cheese were all in the
+buttery; so that evening went off very quietly.</p>
+
+<p>When she came down the next morning the fire was burning
+nicely, and the kettle on and singing. Not Nancy's work; Mr.
+Van Brunt had slept in the kitchen, whether on the table, the
+floor, or the chairs, was best known to himself; and before going
+to his work had left everything he could think of ready done to
+her hand; wood for the fire, pails of water brought from the
+spout, and some matters in the lower kitchen got out of the way.
+Ellen stood warming herself at the blaze, when it suddenly
+darted into her head that it was milking time. In another
+minute she had thrown open the door and was running across
+the chip-yard to the barn. There, in the old place, were all her
+old friends, both four-legged and two-legged; and with great
+delight she found Dolly had a fine calf and Streaky another
+superb one brindled just like herself. Ellen longed to get near
+enough to touch their little innocent heads, but it was impossible;
+and recollecting the business on her hands, she too danced away.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!" said Nancy, when Ellen told her of the new
+inmates of the barn-yard: "there'll be work to do! Get your
+milk-pans ready, Ellen; in a couple of weeks we'll be making
+butter."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fortune will be well by that time, I hope," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"She won't, then, so you may just make up your mind to it.
+Dr. Gibson was to see her yesterday forenoon, and he stopped at
+Miss Lowndes' on his way back; and he said it was a chance
+if she got up again in a month an' more. So that's what it is,
+you see."</p>
+
+<p>"A month and more." It was all that. Miss Fortune was
+not dangerously ill; but one part of the time in a low, nervous
+fever, part of the time encumbered with other ailments, she lay
+from week to week, bearing her confinement as ill as possible,
+and making it as disagreeable and burdensome as possible for
+Ellen to attend upon her. Those were weeks of trial. Ellen's
+patience and principle and temper were all put to the proof. She
+had no love, in the first place, for household work, and now her
+whole time was filled up with it. Studies could not be thought
+of. Reading was only to be had by mere snatches. Walks and
+rides were at an end. Often when already very tired she had to
+run up and down stairs for her aunt, or stand and bathe her face
+and hands with vinegar, or read the paper to her when Miss
+Fortune declared she was so nervous she should fly out of her skin
+if she didn't hear something besides the wind. And very often
+when she was not wanted upstairs, her old grandmother would
+beg her to come and read to <i>her</i>—perhaps at the very moment
+when Ellen was busiest. Ellen did her best. Miss Fortune
+never could be put off; her old mother sometimes could, with a
+kiss and a promise; but not always; and then, rather than she
+should fret, Ellen would leave everything and give half-an-hour
+to soothing and satisfying her. She loved to do this at other
+times; now it was sometimes burdensome. Nancy could not
+help her at all in these matters, for neither Miss Fortune nor the
+old lady would let her come near them. Besides all this there
+was a measure of care constantly upon Ellen's mind; she felt
+charged with the welfare of all about the house; and under the
+effort to meet the charge, joined to the unceasing bodily exertion,
+she grew thin and pale. She was tired with Nancy's talk; she
+longed to be reading and studying again; she longed, oh how
+she longed! for Alice's and John's company again; and it was no
+wonder if she sometimes cast very sad longing looks further back
+still. Now and then an old fit of weeping would come. But
+Ellen remembered John's words; and often in the midst of her
+work, stopping short with a sort of pang of sorrow and weariness,
+and the difficulty of doing right, she would press her hands
+together and say to herself, "I will try to be a good pilgrim!"
+Her morning hour of prayer was very precious now; and her
+Bible grew more and more dear. Little Ellen found its words a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
+mighty refreshment; and often when reading it she loved to
+recall what Alice had said at this and the other place, and John,
+and Mr. Marshman, and before them her mother. The passages
+about heaven, which she well remembered reading to her one
+particular morning, became great favourites; they were joined
+with her mother in Ellen's thoughts; and she used to go over
+and over them till she nearly knew them by heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>do</i> you keep reading that for, the whole time?" said
+Nancy one day.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I like to," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you do, you're the first one ever I saw that did."</p>
+
+<p>"O Nancy!" said Ellen; "your grandma!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she does, I believe," said Nancy, "for she's always at
+it; but all the rest of the folks that ever I saw are happy to get
+it out of their hands, <i>I</i> know. They think they must read a
+little, and so they do, and they are too glad if something happens
+to break 'em off. You needn't tell <i>me</i>; I've seen 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish <i>you</i> loved it, Nancy," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do you love it for? come! let's hear; maybe
+you'll convert me."</p>
+
+<p>"I love it for a great many reasons," said Ellen, who had
+some difficulty in speaking of what she felt Nancy could not
+understand.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I ain't any wiser yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I like to read it because I want to go to heaven, and it tells
+me how."</p>
+
+<p>"But what's the use?" said Nancy; "you ain't going to die
+yet; you are too young; you have time enough."</p>
+
+<p>"O Nancy! little John Dolan, and Eleanor Parsons, and
+Mary Huff, all younger than you and I; how can you say so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Nancy, "at any rate, that ain't reading it because
+you love it; it's because you must, like other folks."</p>
+
+<p>"That's only one of my reasons," said Ellen, hesitating and
+speaking gravely; "I like to read about the Saviour, and what
+He has done for me, and what a friend He will be to me, and
+how He forgives me. I had rather have the Bible, Nancy, than all
+the other books in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"That ain't saying much," said Nancy; "but how come you
+to be so sure you are forgiven?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because the Bible says, 'He that believeth on Him shall not
+be ashamed,' and I believe in Him; and that He will not cast
+out any one that comes to Him, and I have come to Him; and
+that He loves those that love Him, and I love Him. If it did not
+speak so very plainly I should be afraid, but it makes me happy
+to read such verses as these. I wish you knew, Nancy, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>
+happy it makes me." This profession of faith was not spoken
+without starting tears. Nancy made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>As Miss Fortune had foretold, plenty of people came to the
+house with proffers of service. Nancy's being there made it easy
+for Ellen to get rid of them all. Many were the marvels that
+Miss Fortune should trust her house "to two girls like that," and
+many the guesses that she would rue it when she got up again.
+People were wrong. Things went on very steadily and in an
+orderly manner; and Nancy kept the peace as she would have
+done in few houses. Bold and insolent as she sometimes was to
+others, she regarded Ellen with a mixed notion of respect and protection,
+which led her at once to shun doing anything that would
+grieve her, and to thrust her aside from every heavy or difficult
+job, taking the brunt herself. Nancy might well do this, for she
+was at least twice as strong as Ellen; but she would not have
+done it for everybody.</p>
+
+<p>There were visits of kindness as well as visits of officiousness.
+Alice and Mrs. Van Brunt and Margery, one or the other every
+day. Margery would come in and mix up a batch of bread;
+Alice would bring a bowl of butter, or a basket of cake; and
+Mrs. Van Brunt sent whole dinners. Mr. Van Brunt was there
+always at night, and about the place as much as possible during
+the day; when obliged to be absent, he stationed Sam Larkens
+to guard the house, also to bring wood and water, and do whatever
+he was bid. All the help, however, that was given from
+abroad could not make Ellen's life an easy one; Mr. Van Brunt's
+wishes that Miss Fortune would get up again began to come
+very often. The history of one day may serve for the history
+of all those weeks.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the beginning of April. Ellen came downstairs
+early, but come when she would she found the fire made and
+the kettle on. Ellen felt a little as if she had not quite slept
+off the remembrance of yesterday's fatigue; however, that was
+no matter; she set to work. She swept up the kitchen, got her
+milk strainer and pans ready upon the buttery shelf, and began
+to set the table. By the time this was half done, in came Sam
+Larkens with two great pails of milk, and Johnny Low followed
+with another. They were much too heavy for Ellen to lift, but,
+true to her charge, she let no one come into the buttery but
+herself; she brought the pans to the door, where Sam filled them
+for her, and as each was done she set it in its place on the shelf.
+This took some time, for there were eight of them. She had
+scarce wiped up the spilt milk and finished setting the table when
+Mr. Van Brunt came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning!" said he. "How d'ye do to-day?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd look a little redder in the face. Don't you be
+too busy. Where's Nancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she's busy out with the clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Same as ever upstairs? What are you going to do for
+breakfast, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Mr. Van Brunt; there isn't anything cooked
+in the house; we have eaten everything up."</p>
+
+<p>"Cleaned out, eh? Bread and all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, not bread; there's plenty of that, but there's nothing
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, never mind; you bring me a ham and a dozen of eggs,
+and I'll make you a first-rate breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen laughed, for this was not the first time Mr. Van Brunt
+had acted as cook for the family. While she got what he had
+asked for, and bared a place on the table for his operations, he
+went to the spout and washed his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Now a sharp knife, Ellen, and the frying-pan, and a dish,
+and that's all I want of you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen brought them, and while he was busy with the ham she
+made the coffee and set it by the side of the fire to boil; got the
+cream and butter, and set the bread on the table; and then set
+herself down to rest, and amuse herself with Mr. Van Brunt's
+cookery. He was no mean hand, his slices of ham were very
+artist-like, and frying away in the most unexceptional manner.
+Ellen watched him and laughed at him, till the ham was taken
+out and all the eggs broke in; then, after seeing that the coffee
+was right, she went upstairs to dress her grandmother—always the
+last thing before breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's frying ham and eggs downstairs?" inquired Miss
+Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>This answer was unexpected. Miss Fortune tossed her head
+over in a dissatisfied kind of way, and told Ellen to "tell him to
+be careful."</p>
+
+<p>"Of what?" thought Ellen; and wisely concluded with herself
+not to deliver the message; very certain she should laugh if
+she did, and she had running in her head an indistinct notion of
+the command, "Honour thy father and thy mother."</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast was ready but no one there when she got downstairs.
+She placed her grandmother at table, and called Nancy, who all
+this time had been getting the clothes out of the rinsing water
+and hanging them out on the line to dry; the said clothes having
+been washed the day before by Miss Sarah Lowndes, who came
+there for the purpose. Ellen poured out the coffee, and then in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>
+came Mr. Van Brunt with a head of early lettuce which he had
+pulled in the garden and washed at the spout. Ellen had to jump
+up again to get the salt and pepper and vinegar; but she always
+jumped willingly for Mr. Van Brunt. The meals were pleasanter
+during those weeks than in all the time Ellen had been in Thirlwall
+before; or she thought so. That sharp eye at the head of
+the table was pleasantly missed. They with one accord sat longer
+at meals; more talking and laughing went on; nobody felt afraid
+of being snapped up. Mr. Van Brunt praised Ellen's coffee (he
+had taught her how to make it), and she praised his ham and eggs.
+Old Mrs. Montgomery praised everything, and seemed to be in
+particular comfort: talking as much as she had a mind, and was
+respectfully attended to. Nancy was in high feather; and the
+clatter of knives and forks and teacups went on very pleasantly.
+But at last chairs were pushed from the table, and work began
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Nancy went back to her tubs. Ellen supplied her grandmother
+with her knitting and filled her snuff-box; cleared the table and
+put up the dishes ready for washing. Then she went into the
+buttery to skim the cream. This was a part of the work she liked.
+It was heavy lifting the pans of milk to the skimming shelf before
+the window, but as Ellen drew her spoon round the edge of the
+cream she liked to see it wrinkle up in thick yellow leathery folds,
+showing how deep and rich it was; it looked half butter already.
+She knew how to take it off now very nicely. The cream was set
+by in a vessel for future churning, and the milk, as each pan was
+skimmed, was poured down the wooden trough at the left of the
+window through which it went into a great hogshead at the lower
+kitchen door.</p>
+
+<p>This done, Ellen went upstairs to her aunt. Dr. Gibson always
+came early, and she and her room must be put in apple-pie order
+first. It was a long and wearisome job. Ellen brought the basin
+for her to wash her face and hands; then combed her hair and put
+on her clean cap. That was always the first thing. The next was
+to make the bed; and for this, Miss Fortune, weak or strong,
+wrapped herself up and tumbled out upon the floor. When she
+was comfortably placed again, Ellen had to go through a laborious
+dusting of the room and all the things in it, even taking a dust-pan
+and brush to the floor if any speck of dust or crumbs could be
+seen there. Every rung of every chair must be gone over, though
+ever so clean; every article put up or put out of the way; Miss
+Fortune made the most of the little province of housekeeping that
+was left her; and a fluttering tape escaping through the crank of
+the door would have put her whole spirit topsy-turvy. When all
+was to her mind, and not before, she would have her breakfast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
+Only gruel and biscuit, or toast and tea, or some such trifle, but
+Ellen must prepare it, and bring it upstairs, and wait till it was
+eaten. And very particularly it must be prepared, and very faultlessly
+it must be served, or with an impatient expression of disgust
+Miss Fortune would send it down again. On the whole Ellen
+always thought herself happy when this part of her day was well
+over.</p>
+
+<p>When she got down this morning she found the kitchen in
+nice order, and Nancy standing by the fire in a little sort of pause,
+having just done her breakfast dishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Nancy, "what are you going to do now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Put away these dishes, and then churn," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness! so you are. What's going to be for dinner,
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's more than I know," said Ellen, laughing. "We have
+eaten up Mrs. Van Brunt's pie and washed the dish; there's nothing
+but some cold potatoes."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>That</i> won't do," said Nancy. "I tell you what, Ellen, we'll
+just boil pot for to-day; somebody else will send us something by
+to-morrow most likely."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you mean by 'boil pot,'"&nbsp;said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you don't know everything yet, by half. <i>I</i> know—I'll fix
+it. You just give me the things, Miss Housekeeper, that's all
+you've got to do; I want a piece of pork and a piece of beef, and
+all the vegetables you've got."</p>
+
+<p>"All?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Every soul on 'em. Don't be scared, Ellen; you shall see
+what I can do in the way of cookery; if you don't like it you
+needn't eat it. What have you got in the cellar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come and see, and take what you want, Nancy; there is
+plenty of potatoes and carrots and onions, and beets, I believe;
+the turnips are all gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Parsnips out in the yard, ain't there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but you'll have to do with a piece of pork, Nancy; I
+don't know anything about beef."</p>
+
+<p>While Nancy went round the cellar gathering in her apron
+the various roots she wanted, Ellen uncovered the pork barrel,
+and after looking a minute at the dark pickle she never loved to
+plunge into, bravely bared her arm and fished up a piece of pork.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Nancy, just help me with this churn out of the cellar,
+will you? and then you may go."</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness! it is heavy," said Nancy. "You'll have a
+time of it, Ellen; but I can't help you."</p>
+
+<p>She went off to the garden for parsnips, and Ellen quietly
+put in the dasher and the cover, and began to churn. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>
+tiresome work. The churn was pretty full, as Nancy had said;
+the cream was rich and cold, and at the end of half-an-hour grew
+very stiff. It spattered and sputtered up on Ellen's face and
+hands and apron, and over the floor; legs and arms were both
+weary; but still that pitiless dasher must go up and down, hard
+as it might be to force it either way; she must not stop. In this
+state of matters she heard a pair of thick shoes come clumping
+down the stairs, and beheld Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are," said he. "Churning!—been long at it?"</p>
+
+<p>"A good while," said Ellen, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know when."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt stepped to the door and shouted for Sam
+Larkens. He was ordered to take the churn and bring the
+butter; and Ellen, very glad of rest, went out to amuse herself
+with feeding the chickens, and then upstairs to see what Nancy
+was doing.</p>
+
+<p>"Butter come?" said Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Sam has taken it. How are you getting on? Oh, I
+am tired!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm getting on first-rate; I've got all the things in."</p>
+
+<p>"In what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, in the pot!—in a pot of water, boiling away as fast as
+they can; we'll have dinner directly. Hurra! who comes there?"</p>
+
+<p>She jumped to the door. It was Thomas, bringing Margery's
+respects, and a custard-pie for Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said Nancy, "it's a good thing to have friends,
+ain't it? I'll try and get some. Hollo! what's wanting? Mr.
+Van Brunt's calling you, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen ran down.</p>
+
+<p>"The butter's come," said he. "Now do you know what to
+do with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," said Ellen, smiling; "Margery showed me nicely."</p>
+
+<p>He brought her a pail of water from the spout, and stood by
+with a pleased kind of look, while she carefully lifted the cover
+and rinsed down the little bits of butter which stuck to it and
+the dasher; took out the butter with her ladle into a large
+wooden bowl, washed it, and finally salted it.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't take too much pains," said he; "the less of the hand
+it gets the better. That will do very well."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, are you ready?" said Nancy, coming downstairs,
+"'cause dinner is. My goodness! ain't that a fine lot of butter?
+there's four pounds, ain't there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five," said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"And as sweet as it can be," said Ellen. "Beautiful, isn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>
+it? Yes; I'm ready, as soon as I set this in the cellar and cover
+it up."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy's dish, the pork, potatoes, carrots, beans and cabbage,
+all boiled in the same pot together, was found very much to
+everybody's taste except Ellen's. She made her dinner off
+potatoes and bread, the former of which she declared, laughing,
+were very porky and cabbagy; her meal would have been an
+extremely light one had it not been for the custard-pie.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner new labours began. Nancy had forgotten to
+hang on a pot of water for the dishes; so after putting away the
+eatables in the buttery, while the water was heating, Ellen
+warmed some gruel and carried it with a plate of biscuit upstairs
+to her aunt. But Miss Fortune said she was tired of gruel and
+couldn't eat it; she must have some milk porridge; and she gave
+Ellen very particular directions how to make it. Ellen sighed
+only once as she went down with her despised dish of gruel, and
+set about doing her best to fulfil her aunt's wishes. The first
+dish of milk she burnt; another sigh and another trial; better
+care this time had better success, and Ellen had the satisfaction
+to see her aunt perfectly suited with her dinner.</p>
+
+<p>When she came down with the empty bowl, Nancy had a
+pile of dishes ready washed, and Ellen took the towel to dry
+them. Mrs. Montgomery, who had been in an uncommonly
+quiet fit all day, now laid down her knitting, and asked if Ellen
+would not come and read to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Presently, grandma, as soon as I have done here."</p>
+
+<p>"I know somebody that's tired," said Nancy. "I tell you
+what, Ellen, you had better take to liking pork; you can't work
+on potatoes. I ain't tired a bit. There's somebody coming to
+the door again! Do run and open it, will you? My hands are
+wet. I wonder why folks can't come in without giving so much
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>It was Thomas again, with a package for Ellen which had
+just come, he said, and Miss Alice thought she would like to
+have it directly. Ellen thanked her and thanked him, with a
+face from which all signs of weariness had fled away. The parcel
+was sealed up, and directed in a hand she was pretty sure she
+knew. Her fingers burned to break the seal; but she would not
+open it there, neither leave her work unfinished; she went on
+wiping the dishes with trembling hands and a beating heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" said Nancy; "what did Thomas Grimes
+want? What have you got there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen, smiling; "something good, I
+guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Something good! Is it something to eat?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "I didn't mean anything to eat when I
+said something good; I don't think those are the best things."</p>
+
+<p>To Ellen's delight she saw that her grandmother had forgotten
+about the reading, and was quietly taking short naps with her
+head against the chimney. So she put away the last dish, and
+then seized her package and flew upstairs. She was sure it had
+come from Doncaster; she was right. It was a beautiful copy of
+the Pilgrim's Progress, on the first leaf written, "To my little
+sister, Ellen Montgomery, from J. H.;" and within the cover
+lay a letter. This letter Ellen read in the course of the next six
+days at least twice as many times; and never without crying
+over it.</p>
+
+<p>"Alice has told me" (said John) "about your new troubles.
+There is said to be a time 'when clouds return after the rain.'
+I am sorry, my little sister, this time should come to you so early.
+I often think of you, and wish I could be near you. Still, dear
+Ellie, the good Husbandman knows what His plants want; do
+you believe that, and can you trust Him? They should have
+nothing but sunshine if that was good for them. He knows it is
+not; so there come clouds and rains, and 'stormy winds fulfilling
+His will.' And what is it all for? 'Herein is my Father glorified,
+<i>that ye bear much fruit</i>;' do not disappoint His purpose,
+Ellie. We shall have sunshine enough by-and-by, but I know it is
+hard for so young a one as my little sister to look much forward;
+so do not look forward, Ellie; look up! look off unto Jesus, from
+all your duties, troubles, and wants; He will help you in them
+all. The more you look up to Him the more He will look down
+to you; and He especially said,'Suffer <i>little children</i> to come unto
+Me'; you see you are particularly invited." Ellen was a long
+time upstairs, and when she came down it was with red eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Montgomery was now awake and asked for the reading
+again, and for three-quarters of an hour Ellen and she were quietly
+busy with the Bible. Nancy meanwhile was downstairs washing
+the dairy things. When her grandmother released her Ellen had
+to go up to wait upon her aunt; after which she went into the
+buttery and skimmed the cream, and got the pans ready for the
+evening milk. By this time it was five o'clock, and Nancy came
+in with the basket of dry clothes, at which Ellen looked with the
+sorrowful consciousness that they must be sprinkled and folded
+by-and-by, and ironed to-morrow. It happened, however, that
+Jane Huff came in just then with a quantity of hot short-cake
+for tea, and seeing the basket, she very kindly took the business
+of sprinkling and folding upon herself. This gave Ellen spirits
+to carry out a plan she had long had, to delight the whole family
+with some eggs scrambled in Margery's fashion; after the milk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>
+was strained and put away she went about it, while Nancy set
+the table. A nice bed of coals was prepared; the spider set over
+them, the eggs broken in, peppered and salted, and she began
+carefully to stir them as she had seen Margery do. But instead
+of acting right the eggs maliciously stuck fast to the spider and
+burned. Ellen was confounded.</p>
+
+<p>"How much butter did you put in?" said Mr. Van Brunt,
+who had come in, and stood looking on.</p>
+
+<p>"Butter?" said Ellen, looking up; "oh, I forgot all about it!
+I ought to have put that in, oughtn't I? I'm sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said Mr. Van Brunt, "'taint worth your being
+sorry about. Here, Nancy, clean off this spider, and we'll try
+again."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Miss Fortune was heard screaming; Ellen
+ran up.</p>
+
+<p>"What did she want?" said Mr. Van Brunt when she came
+down again.</p>
+
+<p>"She wanted to know what was burning."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did she say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Said I mustn't use any more eggs without asking her."</p>
+
+<p>"That ain't fair play," said Mr. Van Brunt; "you and I are
+the head of the house now, I take it. You just use as many on
+'em as you've a mind; and all you spile I'll fetch you again from
+hum. That's you, Nancy! Now, Ellen, here's the spider; try
+again; let's have plenty of butter in this time, and plenty of eggs
+too." This time the eggs were scrambled to a nicety, and the
+supper met with great favour from all parties.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's day was done when the dishes were. The whole
+family went early to bed. She was weary, but she could rest
+well. She had made her old grandmother comfortable; she had
+kept the peace with Nancy; she had pleased Mr. Van Brunt;
+she had faithfully served her aunt. Her sleep was uncrossed by
+a dream, untroubled by a single jar of conscience; and her awaking
+to another day of labour, though by no means joyful, was yet
+not unhopeful or unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>She had a hard trial a day or two after. It was in the end of
+the afternoon, she had her big apron on, and was in the buttery
+skimming the milk, when she heard the kitchen door open, and
+footsteps enter the kitchen. Out went little Ellen to see who it
+was, and there stood Alice and old Mr. Marshman! He was
+going to take Alice home with him the next morning, and wanted
+Ellen to go too; and they had come to ask her. Ellen knew it
+was impossible—that is, that it would not be right, and she said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>
+so; and in spite of Alice's wistful look, and Mr. Marshman's insisting,
+she stood her ground, not without some difficulty and some
+glistening of the eyes. They had to give it up. Mr. Marshman
+then wanted to know what she meant by swallowing herself up in
+an apron in that sort of way? so Ellen had him into the buttery
+and showed him what she had been about. He would see her
+skim several pans, and laughed at her prodigiously; though there
+was a queer look about his eyes, too, all the time. And when he
+went away he held her in his arms, and kissed her again and
+again, and said that "some of these days he would take her away
+from her aunt, and she should have her no more." Ellen stood
+and looked after them till they were out of sight, and then went
+upstairs and had a good cry.</p>
+
+<p>The butter-making soon became quite too much for Ellen to
+manage, so Jane Huff and Jenny Hitchcock were engaged to
+come by turns and do the heavy part of it; all within the buttery
+being still left to Ellen, for Miss Fortune would have no one
+else go there. It was a great help to have them take even so
+much off her hands, and they often did some other little odd
+jobs for her. The milk, however, seemed to increase as fast as
+the days grew longer, and Ellen could not find that she was much
+less busy. The days were growing pleasant too; soft airs began to
+come; the grass was of a beautiful green; the buds on the branches
+began to swell, and on some trees to put out. When Ellen had a
+moment of time she used to run across the chip-yard to the barn,
+or round the garden, or down to the brook, and drink in the
+sweet air and the lovely sights which never had seemed quite so
+lovely before. If once in a while she could get half-an-hour
+before tea, she used to take her book and sit down on the
+threshold of the front door or on the big log under the apple-tree
+in the chip-yard. In those minutes the reading was doubly
+sweet, or else the loveliness of earth and sky was such that Ellen
+could not take her eyes from them, till she saw Sam or Johnny
+coming out of the cow-house door with the pails of milk, or heard
+their heavy tramp over the chips; then she had to jump and
+run. Those were sweet half-hours. Ellen did not at first know
+how much reason she had to be delighted with her "Pilgrim's
+Progress;" she saw, to be sure, that it was a fine copy, well
+bound, with beautiful cuts. But when she came to look further,
+she found all through the book, on the margin or at the bottom
+of the leaves, in John's beautiful handwriting, a great many notes—simple,
+short, plain, exactly what was needed to open the whole
+book to her and make it of the greatest possible use and pleasure.
+Many things she remembered hearing from his lips when they
+were reading it together; there was a large part of the book<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
+where all was new, the part he had not had time to finish. How
+Ellen loved the book and the giver when she found those beautiful
+notes, it is impossible to tell. She counted it her greatest
+treasure next to her little red Bible.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Oh what will I do wi' him, quo' he,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What will I do wi' him?</span><br />
+What will I do wi' him, quo' he,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What will I do wi' him?</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Old Song</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>In the course of time Miss Fortune showed signs of mending,
+and at last, towards the latter end of April, she was able to
+come downstairs. All parties hailed this event for different
+reasons; even Nancy was grown tired of her regular life, and
+willing to have a change. Ellen's joy was, however, soon diminished
+by the terrible rummaging which took place. Miss Fortune's
+hands were yet obliged to lie still, but her eyes did double duty;
+<i>they</i> were never known to be idle in the best of times, and it
+seemed to Ellen now as if they were taking amends for all their
+weeks of forced rest. Oh, those eyes! Dust was found where
+Ellen had never dreamed of looking for any; things were said to
+be "dreadfully in the way" where she had never found it out;
+disorder and dirt were groaned over, where Ellen did not know
+the fact or was utterly ignorant how to help it; waste was suspected
+where none had been, and carelessness charged where
+rather praise was due. Impatient to have things to her mind, and
+as yet unable to do anything herself, Miss Fortune kept Nancy
+and Ellen running, till both wished her back in bed; and even
+Mr. Van Brunt grumbled that "to pay Ellen for having grown
+white and poor, her aunt was going to work the little flesh she
+had left off her bones." It was rather hard to bear, just when
+she was looking for ease too; her patience and temper were more
+tried than in all those weeks before. But if there was small
+pleasure in pleasing her aunt, Ellen did earnestly wish to please
+God; she struggled against ill temper, prayed against it; and
+though she often blamed herself in secret, she did so go through
+that week as to call forth Mr. Van Brunt's admiration, and even
+to stir a little the conscience of her aunt. Mr. Van Brunt comforted
+her with the remark that "it is darkest just before day,"
+and so it proved. Before the week was at an end, Miss Fortune<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>
+began, as she expressed it, to "take hold;" Jenny Hitchcock and
+Jane Huff were excused from any more butter-making; Nancy
+was sent away; Ellen's labours were much lightened; and the
+house was itself again.</p>
+
+<p>The third of May came. For the first time in near two months,
+Ellen found in the afternoon that she could be spared awhile;
+there was no need to think twice what she would do with her
+leisure. Perhaps Margery could tell her something of Alice!
+Hastily and joyfully she exchanged her working frock for a
+merino, put on nice shoes and stockings and ruffle again, and
+taking her bonnet and gloves to put on out of doors, away she ran.
+Who can tell how pleasant it seemed, after so many weeks, to be
+able to walk abroad again, and to walk to the mountain! Ellen
+snuffed the sweet air, skipped on the green sward, picked nosegays
+of grass and dandelion, and at last unable to contain herself set
+off to run. Fatigue soon brought this to a stop; then she walked
+more leisurely on, enjoying. It was a lovely spring day. Ellen's
+eyes were gladdened by it; she felt thankful in her heart that
+God had made everything so beautiful; she thought it was
+pleasant to think <i>He</i> had made them; pleasant to see in them
+everywhere so much of the wisdom and power and goodness of
+Him she looked up to with joy as her best friend. She felt quietly
+happy, and sure He would take care of her. Then a thought of
+Alice came into her head; she set off to run again, and kept it up
+this time till she got to the old house and ran round the corner.
+She stopped at the shed door, and went through into the lower
+kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Miss Ellen, dear!" exclaimed Margery, "if that isn't
+you! Aren't you come in the <i>very</i> nick of time! How <i>do</i> you do?
+I am <i>very</i> glad to see you—uncommon glad to be sure. What
+witch told you to come here just now? Run in, run into the
+parlour, and see what you'll find there."</p>
+
+<p>"Has Alice come back?" cried Ellen. But Margery only
+laughed and said, "Run in!"</p>
+
+<p>Up the steps, through the kitchen, and across the hall Ellen
+ran, burst open the parlour door, and was in Alice's arms. There
+were others in the room; but Ellen did not seem to know it,
+clinging to her and holding her in a fast glad embrace, till Alice
+bade her look up and attend to somebody else. And then she
+was seized round the neck by little Ellen Chauncey; and then
+came her mother, and then Miss Sophia. The two children were
+overjoyed to see each other, while their joy was touching to see,
+from the shade of sorrow in the one, and of sympathy in the other.
+Ellen was scarcely less glad to see kind Mrs. Chauncey; Miss
+Sophia's greeting, too, was very affectionate. But Ellen returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>
+to Alice, and rested herself in her lap, with one hand round her
+neck, the other hand being in little Ellen's grasp.</p>
+
+<p>"And now you are happy, I suppose?" said Miss Sophia,
+when they were thus placed.</p>
+
+<p>"Very," said Ellen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but you'll be happier by-and-by," said Ellen Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Ellen!" said Miss Sophia; "what curious things
+children are! You didn't expect to find us all here, did you,
+Ellen Montgomery?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, ma'am," said Ellen, drawing Alice's cheek
+nearer for another kiss.</p>
+
+<p>"We have but just come, Ellie," said her sister. "I should
+not have been long in finding you out. My child, how thin you
+have got."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll grow fat again now," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"How is Miss Fortune?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she is up again and well."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any reason to expect your father home, Ellen?"
+said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am; Aunt Fortune says perhaps he will be here in
+a week."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are very happy in looking forward, aren't you?"
+said Miss Sophia, not noticing the cloud that had come over
+Ellen's brow.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen hesitated, coloured, coloured more, and finally, with a
+sudden motion, hid her face against Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"When did he sail, Ellie?" said Alice gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"In the <i>Duc d'Orleans</i>—he said he would——"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>When?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"The 5th of April. Oh, I can't help it!" exclaimed Ellen,
+failing in the effort to control herself; she clasped Alice as if she
+feared even then the separating hand. Alice bent her head
+down and whispered words of comfort.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma!" said little Ellen Chauncey under her breath, and
+looking solemn to the last degree, "don't Ellen want to see her
+father?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's afraid that he may take her away where she will not
+be with Alice any more; and you know she has no mother
+to go to."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Ellen, with a very enlightened face; "but he
+won't, will he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not; I think not."</p>
+
+<p>Cheered again, the little girl drew near and silently took one
+of Ellen's hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall not be parted, Ellie," said Alice, "you need not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>
+fear. If your father takes you away from your Aunt Fortune, I
+think it will be only to give you to me. You need not fear yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma says so too, Ellen," said her little friend.</p>
+
+<p>This was strong consolation. Ellen looked up and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Now come with me," said Ellen Chauncey, pulling her hand,
+"I want you to show me something; let's go down to the garden,
+come! exercise is good for you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said her mother, smiling, "Ellen has had exercise
+enough lately; you mustn't take her down to the garden now;
+you would find nothing there. Come here!"</p>
+
+<p>A long whisper followed, which seemed to satisfy little Ellen
+and she ran out of the room. Some time passed in pleasant talk
+and telling all that had happened since they had seen each other;
+then little Ellen came back and called Ellen Montgomery to the
+glass door, saying she wanted her to look at something.</p>
+
+<p>"It is only a horse we brought with us," said Miss Sophia.
+"Ellen thinks it is a great beauty, and can't rest till you have
+seen it."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen went accordingly to the door. There, to be sure, was
+Thomas before it holding a pony bridled and saddled. He was
+certainly a very pretty little creature; brown all over except one
+white forefoot; his coat shone, it was so glossy; his limbs were
+fine; his eye gentle and bright; his tail long enough to please
+the children. He stood as quiet as a lamb, whether Thomas
+held him or not.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a beauty!" said Ellen; "what a lovely little
+horse!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't he!" said Ellen Chauncey; "and he goes so beautifully
+besides, and never starts nor nothing; and he is as good-natured
+as a little dog."</p>
+
+<p>"As a <i>good-natured</i> little dog, she means, Ellen," said Miss
+Sophia; "there are little dogs of very various character."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he looks good-natured," said Ellen. "What a pretty
+head! and what a beautiful new side-saddle, and all. I never
+saw such a dear little horse in my life. Is it yours, Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Alice, "it is a present to a friend of Mr. Marshman's."</p>
+
+<p>"She'll be a very happy friend, I should think," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I said," said Ellen Chauncey, dancing up and
+down, "that's what I said. I said you'd be happier by-and-by,
+didn't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"I?" said Ellen, colouring.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you—you are the friend it is for; it's for you, it's for you!
+you are grandpa's friend, aren't you?" she repeated, springing
+upon Ellen, and hugging her up in an ecstasy of delight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But it isn't really for me, is it?" said Ellen, now looking
+almost pale. "O Alice!—--"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come," said Miss Sophia, "what will papa say if I tell
+him you received his present so? come, hold up your head! Put
+on your bonnet and try him: come, Ellen! let's see you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not know whether to cry or laugh, till she mounted
+the pretty pony; that settled the matter. Not Ellen Chauncey's
+unspeakable delight was as great as her own. She rode slowly
+up and down before the house, and once agoing would not have
+known how to stop if she had not recollected that the pony had
+travelled thirty miles that day and must be tired. Ellen took
+not another turn after that. She jumped down, and begged
+Thomas to take the tenderest care of him; patted his neck; ran
+into the kitchen to beg of Margery a piece of bread to give him
+from her hand; examined the new stirrup and housings, and the
+pony all over a dozen times; and after watching him as Thomas
+led him off, till he was out of sight, finally came back into the
+house with a face of marvellous contentment. She tried to
+fashion some message of thanks for the kind giver of the pony;
+but she wanted to express so much that no words would do.
+Mrs. Chauncey, however, smiled and assured her she knew
+exactly what to say.</p>
+
+<p>"That pony has been destined for you, Ellen," she said, "this
+year and more; but my father waited to have him thoroughly
+well broken. You need not be afraid of him; he is perfectly
+gentle and well-trained; if he had not been sure of that my
+father would never have sent him; though Mr. John <i>is</i> making
+such a horsewoman of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could thank him," said Ellen; "but I don't know
+how."</p>
+
+<p>"What will you call him, Ellen?" said Miss Sophia. "My
+father has dubbed him 'George Marshman'; he says you will
+like that, as my brother is such a favourite of yours."</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't <i>really</i>, did he?" said Ellen, looking from Sophia
+to Alice. "I needn't call him that, need I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not unless you like," said Miss Sophia, laughing, "you may
+change it; but what <i>will</i> you call him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen very gravely, "he must have a
+name to be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"But why don't you call him that?" said Ellen Chauncey;
+"George is a very pretty name; I like that; I should call him
+'Uncle George.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I couldn't!" said Ellen, "I couldn't call him so; I
+shouldn't like it at all."</p>
+
+<p>"George Washington!" said Mrs. Chauncey.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed!" said Ellen. "I guess I wouldn't!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why? is it too good, or not good enough?" said Miss
+Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"Too good! A great deal too good for a horse! I wouldn't
+for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"How would Brandywine do then, since you are so patriotic?"
+said Miss Sophia, looking amused.</p>
+
+<p>"What is 'patriotic'?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"A patriot, Ellen," said Alice, smiling, "is one who has a
+strong and true love for his country."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I am patriotic," said Ellen, "but I
+won't call him Brandywine. Why, Miss Sophia!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I wouldn't either," said Ellen Chauncey; "it isn't a
+pretty name. Call him 'Seraphine'!—like Miss Angell's pony—that's
+pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no—'Seraphine'! nonsense!" said Miss Sophia; "call
+him Benedict Arnold, Ellen; and then it will be a relief to your
+mind to whip him."</p>
+
+<p>"Whip him!" said Ellen, "I don't want to whip him, I am
+sure; and I should be afraid to besides."</p>
+
+<p>"Hasn't John taught you that lesson yet?" said the young
+lady; "he is perfect in it himself. Do you remember, Alice, the
+chastising he gave that fine black horse of ours we called the
+'Black Prince'?—a beautiful creature he was—more than a year
+ago? My conscience! he frightened me to death."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember," said Alice; "I remember I could not look on."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he do that for?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Ellen Montgomery?" said Miss Sophia,
+laughing, "where did you get that long face from? Are you
+thinking of John or the horse?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eye turned to Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said Alice, smiling, though she spoke
+seriously, "it was necessary; it sometimes is necessary to do such
+things. You do not suppose John would do it cruelly or unnecessarily?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's face shortened considerably.</p>
+
+<p>"But what had the horse been doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"He had not been doing anything; he would <i>not</i> do, that was
+the trouble; he was as obstinate as a mule."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said Alice, "it was no such terrible matter
+as Sophia's words have made you believe. It was a clear case of
+obstinacy. The horse was resolved to have his own way and not
+to do what his rider required of him; it was necessary that either
+the horse or the man should give up; and as John has no fancy
+for giving up, he carried his point—partly by management,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>
+partly, I confess, by a judicious use of the whip and spur; but
+there was no such furious flagellation as Sophia seems to mean,
+and which a good horseman would scarce be guilty of."</p>
+
+<p>"A very determined 'use,'" said Miss Sophia. "I advise you,
+Ellen, not to trust your pony to Mr. John; he'll have no mercy
+on him."</p>
+
+<p>"Sophia is laughing, Ellen," said Alice. "You and I know
+John, do we not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then he did right?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly right—except in mounting the horse at all, which
+I never wished him to do. No one on the place would ride him."</p>
+
+<p>"He carried John beautifully all the day after that though,"
+said Miss Sophia, "and I dare say he might have ridden him to
+the end of the chapter if you would have let papa give him to
+him. But he was of no use to anybody else. Howard couldn't
+manage him—I suppose he was too lazy. Papa was delighted
+enough that day to have given John anything. And I can tell
+you Black Prince the Second is spirited enough; I am afraid you
+won't like him."</p>
+
+<p>"John has a present of a horse too, Ellen," said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"Has he?—from Mr. Marshman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad! Oh, what rides we can take now, can't we,
+Alice? We shan't want to borrow Jenny's pony any more. What
+kind of a horse is Mr. John's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Black—perfectly black."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he handsome?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very."</p>
+
+<p>"Is his name Black Prince?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen began to consider the possibility of calling her pony the
+Brown Princess, or by some similar title—the name of John's
+two charges seeming the very most striking a horse could be
+known by.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't forget, Alice," said Mrs. Chauncey, "to tell John to
+stop for him on his way home. It will give us a chance of seeing
+him, which is not a common pleasure, in any sense of the term."</p>
+
+<p>They went back to the subject of the name, which Ellen
+pondered with uneasy visions of John and her poor pony flitting
+through her head. The little horse was hard to fit, or else
+Ellen's taste was very hard to suit; a great many names were
+proposed, none of which were to her mind. Charley, and Cherry,
+and Brown, and Dash, and Jumper—but she said they had
+"John" and "Jenny" already in Thirlwall, and she didn't want a
+"Charley;" "Brown" was not pretty, and she hoped he wouldn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>
+"dash" at anything, nor be a "jumper" when she was on his
+back. Cherry she mused awhile about, but it wouldn't do.</p>
+
+<p>"Call him Fairy," said Ellen Chauncey; "that's a pretty
+name. Mamma says she used to have a horse called Fairy. Do,
+Ellen! call him Fairy."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "he can't have a lady's name—that's the
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I have it, Ellen!" said Alice; "I have a name for you—call
+him 'The Brownie.'"</p>
+
+<p>"'The Brownie?'" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—brownies are male fairies; and brown is his colour;
+so how will that do?"</p>
+
+<p>It was soon decided that it would do very well. It was simple,
+descriptive, and not common; Ellen made up her mind that "The
+Brownie" should be his name. No sooner given, it began to
+grow dear. Ellen's face quitted its look of anxious gravity and
+came out into the broadest and fullest satisfaction. She never
+showed joy boisterously; but there was a light in her eye which
+brought many a smile into those of her friends as they sat round
+the tea-table.</p>
+
+<p>After tea it was necessary to go home, much to the sorrow of
+all parties. Ellen knew, however, it would not do to stay; Miss
+Fortune was but just got well, and perhaps already thinking herself
+ill-used. She put on her things.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to take your pony home with you?" inquired
+Miss Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, ma'am, not to-night. I must see about a place for
+him; and besides, poor fellow, he is tired, I dare say."</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe you would take more care of his legs than of
+your own," said Miss Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll be here to-morrow early, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, won't I!" exclaimed Ellen, as she sprang to Alice's
+neck; "as early as I can, at least; I don't know when Aunt
+Fortune will have done with me."</p>
+
+<p>The way home seemed as nothing. If she was tired she did
+not know it. The Brownie! the Brownie!—the thought of him
+carried her as cleverly over the ground as his very back would
+have done. She came running into the chip-yard.</p>
+
+<p>"Hollo!" cried Mr. Van Brunt, who was standing under the
+apple-tree cutting a piece of wood for the tongue of the ox-cart,
+which had been broken, "I'm glad to see you <i>can</i> run. I was
+afeard you'd hardly be able to stand by this time; but there you
+come like a young deer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen, coming close up to him
+and speaking in an undertone, "you don't know what a present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>
+I have had! What do you think Mr. Marshman has sent me
+from Ventnor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't guess," said Mr. Van Brunt, resting the end of his
+pole on the log and chipping at it with his hatchet; "never
+guessed anything in my life; what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has sent me the most beautiful little horse you ever
+saw!—for my own—for me to ride; and a new beautiful saddle
+and bridle; you never saw anything so beautiful, Mr. Van Brunt;
+he is all brown, with one white forefoot, and I've named him
+'The Brownie'; and oh, Mr. Van Brunt! do you think Aunt
+Fortune will let him come here?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Brunt chipped away at his pole, and was looking
+very good-humoured.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you know I couldn't have half the good of him if
+he had to stay away from me up on the mountain. I shall want
+to ride him every day. Do you think Aunt Fortune will let him
+be kept here, Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess she will," said Mr. Van Brunt soberly, and his tone
+said to Ellen, "<i>I</i> will, if she don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Then will you ask her and see about it?—if you please, Mr.
+Van Brunt. I'd rather you would. And you won't have him
+put to plough or anything, will you, Mr. Van Brunt? Miss
+Sophia says it would spoil him."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll plough myself first," said Mr. Van Brunt with his half
+smile; "there sha'n't be a hair of his coat turned the wrong
+way. <i>I'll</i> see to him—as if he was a prince."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh thank you, dear Mr. Van Brunt! How good you are.
+Then I shall not speak about him at all till you do, remember.
+I am <i>very</i> much obliged to you, Mr. Van Brunt!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen ran in. She got a chiding for her long stay, but it fell
+upon ears that could not hear. The Brownie came like a shield
+between her and all trouble. She smiled at her aunt's hard
+words as if they had been sugar-plums. And her sleep that
+night might have been prairie land, for the multitude of horses
+of all sorts that chased through it.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heerd the news?" said Mr. Van Brunt, when he
+had got his second cup of coffee at breakfast next morning.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Miss Fortune. "What news?"</p>
+
+<p>"There ain't as much news as there used to be when I was
+young," said the old lady; "seems to me I don't hear nothing
+nowadays."</p>
+
+<p>"You might if you'd keep your ears open, mother. <i>What</i>
+news, Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here's Ellen got a splendid little horse sent her a
+present from some of her great friends—Mr. Marshchalk——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Marshman," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Marshman. There ain't the like in the country, as I've
+heerd tell; and I expect next thing she'll be flying over all the
+fields and fences like smoke."</p>
+
+<p>There was a meaning silence. Ellen's heart beat.</p>
+
+<p>"What's going to be done with him, do you suppose?" said
+Miss Fortune. Her look said, "If you think I am coming round
+you are mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Mr. Van Brunt slowly, "I s'pose he'll eat
+grass in the meadow—and there'll be a place fixed for him in
+the stables."</p>
+
+<p>"Not in <i>my</i> stables," said the lady shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"No—in mine," said Mr. Van Brunt, half smiling; "and
+I'll settle with you about it by-and-by—when we square up our
+accounts."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Fortune was very much vexed; Ellen could see that;
+but she said no more, good or bad, about the matter; so the
+Brownie was allowed to take quiet possession of meadow and
+stables, to his mistress's unbounded joy.</p>
+
+<p>Anybody that knew Mr. Van Brunt would have been surprised
+to hear what he said that morning; for he was thought
+to be quite as keen a looker after the main chance as Miss Fortune
+herself, only somehow it was never laid against him as it
+was against her. However that might be, it was plain he took
+pleasure in keeping his word about the pony. Ellen herself
+could not have asked more careful kindness for her favourite
+than the Brownie had from every man and boy about the farm.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Thou must run to him; for thou hast stayed so long that going will
+scarce serve the turn.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Captain Montgomery did <i>not</i> come the next week, nor
+the week after; and what is more, the <i>Duck Dorleens</i>, as his
+sister called the ship in which he had taken passage, was never
+heard of from that time. She sailed duly on the 5th of April,
+as they learned from the papers; but whatever became of her
+she never reached port. It remained a doubt whether Captain
+Montgomery had actually gone in her; and Ellen had many
+weeks of anxious watching, first for himself, and then for news of
+him in case he were still in France. None ever came. Anxiety
+gradually faded into uncertainty; and by midsummer no doubt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>
+of the truth remained in any mind. If Captain Montgomery
+had been alive, he would certainly have written, if not before,
+on learning the fate of the vessel in which he had told his friends
+to expect him home.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen rather felt that she was an orphan than that she had
+lost her father. She had never learned to love him, he had
+never given her much cause. Comparatively a small portion of
+her life had been passed in his society, and she looked back to
+it as the least agreeable of all; and it had not been possible for
+her to expect with pleasure his return to America and visit to
+Thirlwall; she dreaded it. Life had nothing now worse for her
+than a separation from Alice and John Humphreys; she feared her
+father might take her away and put her in some dreadful boarding-school,
+or carry her about the world wherever he went, a wretched
+wanderer from everything good and pleasant. The knowledge
+of his death had less pain for her than the removal of this fear
+brought relief.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt sometimes, soberly and sadly, that she was thrown
+upon the wide world now. To all intents and purposes so she
+had been a year and three-quarters before; but it was something
+to have a father and mother living even on the other side of the
+world. Now, Miss Fortune was her sole guardian and owner.
+However, she could hardly realise that, with Alice and John so
+near at hand. Without reasoning much about it, she felt tolerably
+secure that they would take care of her interests, and make good
+their claim to interfere if ever need were.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen and her little horse grew more and more fond of each
+other. This friendship, no doubt, was a comfort to the Brownie;
+but to his mistress it made a large part of the pleasure of her
+everyday life. To visit him was her delight at all hours, early
+and late; and it is to the Brownie's credit that he always seemed
+as glad to see her as she was to see him. At any time Ellen's
+voice would bring him from the far end of the meadow where
+he was allowed to run. He would come trotting up at her call,
+and stand to have her scratch his forehead or, pat him and talk to
+him; and though the Brownie could not answer her speeches,
+he certainly seemed to hear them with pleasure. Then, throwing
+up his head, he would bound off, take a turn in the field, and
+come back again to stand as still as a lamb as long as she stayed
+there herself. Now and then, when she had a little more time,
+she would cross the fence and take a walk with him; and there,
+with his nose just at her elbow, wherever she went the Brownie
+went after her. After a while there was no need that she should
+call him; if he saw or heard her at a distance it was enough; he
+would come running up directly. Ellen loved him dearly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She gave him more proof of it than words and caresses.
+Many were the apples and scraps of bread hoarded up for him;
+and if these failed, Ellen sometimes took him a little salt to show
+that he was not forgotten. There were not, certainly, many
+scraps left at Miss Fortune's table; nor apples to be had at home
+for such a purpose, except what she gathered up from the poor
+ones that were left under the trees for the hogs; but Ellen had
+other sources of supply. Once she had begged from Jenny
+Hitchcock a waste bit that she was going to throw away; Jenny
+found what she wanted to do with it, and after that many a
+basket of apples and many a piece of cold short-cake was set by
+for her. Margery, too, remembered the Brownie when disposing
+of her odds and ends; likewise did Mrs. Van Brunt; so that
+among them all Ellen seldom wanted something to give him.
+Mr. Marshman did not know what happiness he was bestowing
+when he sent her that little horse. Many, many were the hours of
+enjoyment she had upon his back. Ellen went nowhere but upon
+the Brownie. Alice made her a riding-dress of dark gingham;
+and it was the admiration of the country to see her trotting or
+cantering by, all alone, and always looking happy. Ellen soon
+found that if the Brownie was to do her much good she must
+learn to saddle and bridle him herself. This was very awkward
+at first, but there was no help for it. Mr. Van Brunt showed
+her how to manage, and after a while it became quite easy. She
+used to call the Brownie to the bar-place, put the bridle on, and
+let him out; and then he would stand motionless before her
+while she fastened the saddle on; looking round sometimes as
+if to make sure that it was she herself, and giving a little kind
+of satisfied neigh when he saw that it was. Ellen's heart began
+to dance as soon as she felt him moving under her; and once
+off and away on the docile and spirited little animal, over the
+roads, through the lanes, up and down the hills, her horse her
+only companion, but having the most perfect understanding
+with him, both Ellen and the Brownie cast care to the winds.
+"I do believe," said Mr. Van Brunt, "that critter would a <i>leetle</i>
+rather have Ellen on his back than not." He was the Brownie's
+next best friend. Miss Fortune never said anything to him or
+of him.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen, however, reaped a reward for her faithful steadiness to
+duty while her aunt was ill. Things were never after that as
+they had been before. She was looked on with a different eye.
+To be sure, Miss Fortune tasked her as much as ever, spoke as
+sharply, was as ready to scold if anything went wrong; all that
+was just as it used to be, but beneath all that Ellen felt with great
+satisfaction that she was trusted and believed. She was no longer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>
+an interloper, in everybody's way; she was not watched and
+suspected; her aunt treated her as one of the family and a person to
+be depended on. It was a very great comfort to little Ellen's life.
+Miss Fortune even owned that "she believed she was an honest
+child and meant to do right," a great deal from her; Miss Fortune
+was never over forward to give any one the praise of <i>honesty</i>.
+Ellen now went out and came in without feeling she was an alien.
+And though her aunt was always bent on keeping herself and
+everybody else at work, she did not now show any particular
+desire for breaking off Ellen from her studies; and was generally
+willing, when the work was pretty well done up, that she should
+saddle the Brownie and be off to Alice or Mrs. Vawse.</p>
+
+<p>Though Ellen was happy, it was a sober kind of happiness; the
+sun shining behind a cloud. And if others thought her so, it was
+not because she laughed loudly or wore a merry face.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help but think," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "that that
+child has something more to make her happy than what she gets
+in this world."</p>
+
+<p>There was a quilting party gathered that afternoon at Mrs.
+Van Brunt's house.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no doubt of that, neighbour," said Mrs. Vawse;
+"nobody ever found enough here to make him happy yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't want to see a prettier girl than that," said
+Mrs. Lowndes; "you'll never catch her, working at home or
+riding along on that handsome little critter of her'n, that she
+ha'n't a pleasant look and a smile for you, and as pretty behaved
+as can be. I never see her look sorrowful but once."</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't that a pretty horse?" said Mimy Lawson.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I've</i> seen her look sorrowful though," said Sarah Lowndes;
+"I've been up at the house when Miss Fortune was hustling
+everybody round, and as sharp as vinegar, and you'd think it
+would take Job's patience to stand it; and for all there wouldn't
+be a bit of crossness in that child's face, she'd go round, and not
+say a word that wasn't just so; you'd ha' thought her bread was
+all spread with honey; and everybody knows it ain't. I don't see
+how she could do it, for my part. I know <i>I</i> couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, neighbour," said Mrs. Vawse, "Ellen looks higher than
+to please her aunt; she tries to please her God; and one can bear
+people's words or looks when one is pleasing Him. She is a dear
+child!"</p>
+
+<p>"And there's 'Brahm," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "he thinks the
+hull world of her. I never see him take so to any one. There
+ain't an airthly thing he wouldn't do to please her. If she was his
+own child I've no idee he could set her up more than he does."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well!" said Nancy, coming up, "good reason! Ellen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>
+don't set <i>him</i> up any, does she? I wish you'd just seen her once,
+the time when Miss Fortune was abed, the way she'd look out for
+him! Mr. Van Brunt's as good as at home in that house, sure
+enough; whoever's downstairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless her dear little heart!" said his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"A good name is better than precious ointment."</p>
+
+<p>August had come, and John was daily expected home. One
+morning Miss Fortune was in the lower kitchen, up to the elbows
+in making a rich fall cheese; Ellen was busy upstairs, when her
+aunt shouted to her to "come and see what was all that splashing
+and crashing in the garden." Ellen ran out.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Aunt Fortune," said she, "Timothy has broken down
+the fence and got in."</p>
+
+<p>"Timothy!" said Miss Fortune, "what Timothy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Timothy, the near ox," said Ellen laughing; "he has
+knocked down the fence over there where it was low, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"The near ox!" said Miss Fortune, "I wish he warn't quite
+so near this time. Mercy! he'll be at the corn and over everything.
+Run and drive him into the barn-yard, can't you?"</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen stood still and shook her head. "He wouldn't stir
+for me," she said; "and besides I am as afraid of that ox as can
+be. If it was Clover I wouldn't mind!"</p>
+
+<p>"But he'll have every bit of the corn eaten up in five minutes!
+Where's Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard him say he was going home till noon," said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"And Sam Larkens is gone to mill—and Johnny Low is laid
+up with the shakes. Very careless of Mr. Van Brunt!" said Miss
+Fortune, drawing her arms out of the cheese-tub, wringing off the
+whey, "I wish he'd mind his own oxen. There was no business
+to be a low place in the fence! Well, come along! you ain't
+afraid with me, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen followed, at a respectful distance. Miss Fortune, however,
+feared the face of neither man nor beast; she pulled up a
+bean poll, and made such a show of fight that Timothy, after
+looking at her a little, fairly turned tail, and marched out of the
+breach he had made. Miss Fortune went after, and rested not
+till she had driven him quite into the meadow; get him into the
+barn-yard she could not.</p>
+
+<p>"You ain't worth a straw, Ellen!" said she, when she came
+back; "couldn't you ha' headed him and driv' him into the barn-yard?
+Now that plaguy beast will just be back again by the time
+I get well to work. He ha'n't done much mischief yet—there's
+Mr. Van Brunt's salary, he's made a pretty mess of; I'm glad on't!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>
+He should ha' put potatoes, as I told him. I don't know what's
+to be done—I can't be leaving my cheese to run and mind the
+garden every minute, if it was full of Timothys; and <i>you'd</i> be
+scared if a mosquito flew at you; you had better go right off for
+Mr. Van Brunt and fetch him straight home—serve him right!
+he has no business to leave things so. Run along, and don't let
+the grass grow under your feet!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wisely thought her pony's feet would do the business
+quicker. She ran and put on her gingham dress and saddled
+and bridled the Brownie in three minutes; but before setting off
+she had to scream to her aunt that Timothy was just coming
+round the corner of the barn again; and Miss Fortune rushed
+out to the garden as Ellen and the Brownie walked down to the
+gate.</p>
+
+<p>The weather was fine, and Ellen thought to herself it was an
+ill wind that blew no good. She was getting a nice ride in the
+early morning, that she would not have had but for Timothy's
+lawless behaviour. To ride at that time was particularly pleasant
+and rare; and forgetting how she had left poor Miss Fortune
+between the ox and the cheese-tub, Ellen and the Brownie cantered
+on in excellent spirits.</p>
+
+<p>She looked in vain as she passed his grounds to see Mr. Van
+Brunt in the garden or about the barn. She went on to the
+little gate of the courtyard, dismounted, and led the Brownie in.
+Here she was met by Nancy, who came running from the way of
+the barn-yard.</p>
+
+<p>"How d'ye do, Nancy?" said Ellen; "where's Mr. Van
+Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, Ellen! what do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want Mr. Van Brunt, where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt! he's out in the barn, but he's used himself
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"Used himself up! what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he's fixed himself in fine style; he's fell through the
+trap-door and broke his leg."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nancy!" screamed Ellen, "he hasn't! how could he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, easy enough if he didn't look where he was going,
+there's so much hay on the floor. But it's a pretty bad place to
+fall."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know his leg is broken?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause he says so, and anybody with eyes can see it must
+be. I'm going over to Hitchcock's to get somebody to come and
+help in with him; for you know me and Mrs. Van Brunt ain't
+Samsons."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Mrs. Van Brunt?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She's out there—in a terrible to do."</p>
+
+<p>Nancy sped on to the Hitchcocks'; and greatly frightened
+and distressed, Ellen ran over to the barn, trembling like an
+aspen. Mr. Van Brunt was lying in the lower floor, just where
+he had fallen; one leg doubled under him in such a way as left
+no doubt it must be broken. He had lain there some time before
+any one found him; and on trying to change his position when
+he saw his mother's distress, he had fainted from pain. She sat
+by weeping most bitterly. Ellen could bear but one look at Mr.
+Van Brunt; that one sickened her. She went up to his poor
+mother, and getting down on her knees by her side, put both
+arms round her neck.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Don't</i> cry so, dear Mrs. Van Brunt" (Ellen was crying so she
+could hardly speak herself), "pray don't do so! he'll be better—Oh,
+what shall we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ain't it dreadful!" said poor Mrs. Van Brunt. "Oh,
+'Brahm, 'Brahm! my son! the best son that ever was to me—Oh,
+to see him, there—ain't it dreadful? he's dying!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, he isn't," said Ellen, "oh no, he isn't! What shall
+we do, Mrs. Van Brunt? what shall we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"The doctor," said Mrs. Van Brunt, "he said send for the
+doctor! but I can't go, and there's nobody to send. Oh, he'll
+die! Oh my dear 'Brahm; I wish it was me!"</p>
+
+<p>"What doctor?" said Ellen; "I'll find somebody to go; tell
+me what doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Gibson, he said; but he's away off to Thirlwall; and he's
+been lying here all the morning a'ready! nobody found him—he
+couldn't make us hear. Oh, isn't it dreadful?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't cry so, dear Mrs. Van Brunt," said Ellen, pressing
+her cheek to the poor old lady's; "he'll be better—he will! I've
+got the Brownie here, and I'll ride over to Mrs. Hitchcock's and
+get somebody to go right away for the doctor. I won't be long,
+we'll have him here in a little while, <i>don't</i> feel so bad!"</p>
+
+<p>"You're a dear blessed darling!" said the old lady, hugging
+and kissing her, "if ever there was one. Make haste, dear, if
+you love him! he loves you!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen stayed but to give her another kiss. Trembling so that
+she could hardly stand she made her way back to the house, led
+out the Brownie again, and set off full speed for Mrs. Hitchcock's.
+It was well her pony was sure-footed, for letting the reins hang,
+Ellen bent over his neck crying bitterly, only urging him now
+and then to greater speed, till at length the feeling that she had
+something to do came to her help. She straightened herself,
+gathered up her reins, and by the time she reached Mrs. Hitchcock's
+was looking calm again, though very sad and very earnest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>
+She did not alight, but stopped before the door and called Jenny.
+Jenny came out, expressing her pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Jenny," said Ellen, "isn't there somebody here that
+will go right off to Thirlwall for Dr. Gibson? Mr. Van Brunt has
+broken his leg, I am afraid, and wants the doctor directly."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, dear Ellen," said Jenny, "the men have just gone off
+this minute to Mrs. Van Brunt's. Nancy was here for them to
+come and help move him in a great hurry. How did it happen?
+I couldn't get anything out of Nancy."</p>
+
+<p>"He fell down through the trap-door. But, dear Jenny, isn't
+there <i>anybody</i> about? Oh," said Ellen, clasping her hands, "I
+want somebody to go for the doctor <i>so</i> much."</p>
+
+<p>"There ain't a living soul!" said Jenny; "two of the men
+and all the teams are 'way on the other side of the hill ploughing,
+and pa and June and Black Bill have gone over, as I told you;
+but I don't believe they'll be enough. Where's his leg broke?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't meet them," said Ellen; "I came away only a little
+while after Nancy."</p>
+
+<p>"They went 'cross lots, I guess—that's how it was; and that's
+the way Nancy got the start of you."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" said Ellen. She could not bear to wait
+till they returned; if she rode back she might miss them again,
+besides the delay; and then a man on foot would make a long
+journey of it. Jenny told her of a house or two where she might
+try for a messenger; but they were strangers to her; she could
+not make up her mind to ask such a favour of them. Her friends
+were too far out of the way.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go myself!" she said suddenly. "Tell 'em, dear Jenny,
+will you, that I have gone for Dr. Gibson, and that I'll bring him
+back as quick as ever I can. I know the road to Thirlwall."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Ellen! you mustn't," said Jenny; "I am afraid to have
+you go all that way alone. Wait till the men come back, they
+won't be long."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't, Jenny," said Ellen, "I can't wait; I must go.
+You needn't be afraid. Tell 'em I'll be as quick as I can."</p>
+
+<p>"But see, Ellen!" cried Jenny, as she was moving off, "I
+don't like to have you!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must, Jenny. Never mind."</p>
+
+<p>"But see, Ellen!" cried Jenny again, "if you <i>will</i> go—if you
+don't find Dr. Gibson just get Dr. Marshchalk, he's every bit as
+good and some folks think he's better; he'll do just as well.
+Good-bye!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen nodded and rode off. There was a little fluttering of
+the heart at taking so much upon herself; she had never been
+to Thirlwall but once since the first time she saw it. But she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>
+thought of Mr. Van Brunt, suffering for help which could not be
+obtained, and it was impossible for her to hesitate. "I am sure
+I am doing right," she thought, "and what is there to be afraid
+of? If I ride two miles alone, why shouldn't I four? And I am
+doing right—God will take care of me." Ellen earnestly asked
+Him to do so; and after that she felt pretty easy. "Now, dear
+Brownie," said she, patting his neck, "you and I have work to
+do to-day, behave like a good little horse as you are." The
+Brownie answered with a little cheerful kind of neigh, as much
+as to say, Never fear me! They trotted on nicely.</p>
+
+<p>But nothing could help that being a disagreeable ride. Do
+what she would, Ellen felt a little afraid when she found herself
+on a long piece of road where she had never been alone before.
+There were not many houses on the way; the few there were
+looked strange; Ellen did not know exactly where she was, or
+how near the end of her journey; it seemed a long one. She
+felt rather lonely; a little shy of meeting people, and yet a little
+unwilling to have the intervals between them so very long. She
+repeated to herself, "I am doing right—God will take care of
+me," still there was a nervous trembling at heart. Sometimes
+she would pat her pony's neck and say, "Trot on, dear Brownie!
+we'll soon be there!" by way of cheering herself; for certainly
+the Brownie needed no cheering, and was trotting on bravely.
+Then the thought of Mr. Van Brunt, as she had seen him lying
+on the barn floor, made her feel sick and miserable; many tears
+fell during her ride when she remembered him. "Heaven will
+be a good place," thought little Ellen as she went; "there will
+be no sickness, no pain, no sorrow; but Mr. Van Brunt!—I
+wonder if he is fit to go to heaven?" This was a new matter of
+thought and uneasiness, not now for the first time in Ellen's
+mind; and so the time passed till she crossed the bridge over
+the little river, and saw the houses of Thirlwall stretching away
+in the distance. Then she felt comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>Long before, she had bethought her that she did not know
+where to find Dr. Gibson, and had forgotten to ask Jenny. For
+one instant Ellen drew bridle, but it was too far to go back, and
+she recollected anybody could tell her where the doctor lived.
+When she got to Thirlwall, however, Ellen found that she did
+not like to ask <i>anybody</i>; she remembered her old friend Mrs.
+Forbes of the Star Inn, and resolved she would go there in the
+first place. She rode slowly up the street, and looking carefully
+till she came to the house. There was no mistaking it; there
+was the very same big star over the front door that had caught
+her eye from the coach-window, and there was the very same
+boy or man, Sam, lounging on the sidewalk. Ellen reined up,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>
+and asked him to ask Mrs. Forbes if she would be so good as to
+come out to her for one minute. Sam gave her a long Yankee
+look and disappeared, coming back again directly with the landlady.</p>
+
+<p>"How d'ye do, Mrs. Forbes?" said Ellen, holding out her
+hand; "don't you know me? I am Ellen Montgomery—that
+you were so kind to, and gave me bread and milk—when I first
+came here—Miss Fortune's——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bless your dear little heart," cried the landlady; "don't
+I know you? and ain't I glad to see you! I must have a kiss.
+Bless you! I couldn't mistake you in Jerusalem, but the sun was
+in my eyes in that way I was a'most blind. But ain't you grown
+though! Forget you? I guess I ha'n't! there's one o' your
+friends wouldn't let me do that in a hurry; if I ha'n't seen you
+I've heerd on you. But what are you sitting there in the sun
+for? Come in—come in—and I'll give you something better
+than bread and milk this time. Come, jump down."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't, Mrs. Forbes," said Ellen; "I am in a great
+hurry. Mr. Van Brunt has broken his leg, and I want to find
+the doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt?" cried the landlady. "Broken his leg!
+The land's sakes! how did he do that? <i>he</i> too!"</p>
+
+<p>"He fell down through the trap-door in the barn; and I
+want to get Dr. Gibson as soon as I can to come to him. Where
+does he live, Mrs. Forbes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Gibson? You won't catch him to hum, dear; he's
+flying round somewheres. But how come the trap-door to be
+open? and how happened Mr. Van Brunt not to see it afore he
+put his foot in it? Dear! I declare I'm real sorry to hear you
+tell. How happened it, darlin'? I'm cur'ous to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Mrs. Forbes," said Ellen; "but oh, where
+shall I find Dr. Gibson? Do tell me! He ought to be there
+now. Oh, help me! Where shall I go for him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare," said the landlady, stepping back a pace;
+"I don't know as I can tell. There ain't no sort of likelihood
+that he's to hum at this time o' day. Sam! you lazy feller, you
+ha'n't got nothing to do but to gape at folks; ha' you seen the
+doctor go by this forenoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"I seen him go down to Mis' Perriman's," said Sam. "Mis'
+Perriman was a dyin', Jim Barstow said."</p>
+
+<p>"How long since?" said his mistress.</p>
+
+<p>But Sam shuffled and shuffled, looked every way but at Ellen
+or Mrs. Forbes, and "didn't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Mrs. Forbes, turning to Ellen, "I don't
+know but you might about as well go down to the post-office;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>
+but if <i>I</i> was you, I'd just get Dr. Marshchalk instead! He's a
+smarter man than Dr. Gibson any day in the year; and he ain't
+quite so awful high neither, and that's something. <i>I'd</i> get Dr.
+Marshchalk; they say there ain't the like o' him in the country
+for settin' bones; it's quite a gift—he takes to it natural like."</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen said Mr. Van Brunt wanted Dr. Gibson, and if she
+could she must find him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Forbes, "every one has their fancies. <i>I</i>
+wouldn't let Dr. Gibson come near me with a pair of tongs; but
+anyhow, if you must have him, your best way is to go right
+straight down to the post-office and ask for him there. Maybe
+you'll catch him."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Ellen. "Where is the post-office?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's that white-faced house down street," said the landlady,
+pointing with her finger where Ellen saw no lack of white-faced
+houses. "You see that big red store with the man standing out
+in front?—the next white house below, that is Mis' Perriman's;
+just run right in and ask for Dr. Gibson. Good-bye, dear; I'm
+real sorry you can't come in. That first white house."</p>
+
+<p>Glad to get free, Ellen rode smartly down to the post-office.
+Nobody before the door; there was nothing for it but to get off
+here and go in; she did not know the people either. "Never
+mind; wait for me a minute, dear Brownie, like a good little
+horse as you are!"</p>
+
+<p>No fear of the Brownie. He stood as if he did not mean to
+budge again in a century. At first going in Ellen saw nobody in
+the post-office; presently, at an opening in a kind of boxed-up
+place in one corner, a face looked out and asked what she wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Dr. Gibson here?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the owner of the face, with a disagreeable kind
+of smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't this Miss Perriman's house?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are in the right box, my dear, and no mistake," said
+the young man; "but then it ain't Dr. Gibson's house, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me, sir, where I can find him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't indeed. The doctor never tells me where he is going,
+and I never ask him. I am sorry I didn't this morning, for your
+sake."</p>
+
+<p>The way, and the look, made the words extremely disagreeable,
+and furthermore, Ellen had an uncomfortable feeling that neither
+was new to her. Where <i>had</i> she seen the man before? She
+puzzled herself to think. Where but in a dream had she seen
+that bold, ill-favoured face, that horrible smile, that sandy hair?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span>
+She knew—it was Mr. Saunders, the man who had sold her the
+merino at St. Clair &amp; Fleury's. She knew him, and she was very
+sorry to see that he knew her. All she desired now was to get
+out of the house and away; but on turning she saw another man,
+older and respectable-looking, whose face encouraged her to ask
+again if Dr. Gibson was there. He was not, the man said; he
+had been there and gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know where I should be likely to find him, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't," said he. "Who wants him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to see him, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"For yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; Mr. Van Brunt has broken his leg, and wants Dr.
+Gibson to come directly and set it."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt," said he. "Farmer Van Brunt that lives
+down towards the Cat's Back? I'm very sorry! How did it
+happen?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen told as shortly as possible, and again begged to know
+where she might look for Dr. Gibson.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "the best plan I can think of will be for
+you——How did you come here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came on horseback, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, well, the best plan will be for you to ride up to his
+house; maybe he'll have left word there, and anyhow <i>you</i> can
+leave word for him to come down as soon as he gets home. Do
+you know where the doctor lives?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Come here," said he, pulling her to the door. "You can't
+see it from here; but you must ride up street till you have passed
+two churches, one on the right hand first, and then a good piece
+beyond you'll come to another red brick one on the left hand;
+and Dr. Gibson lives in the next block but one after that, on the
+other side. Anybody will tell you the house. Is that your
+horse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. I'm very much obliged to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I will say! if you ha'n't the prettiest fit-out in Thirlwall.
+Shall I help you? Will you have a cheer?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I thank you, sir; I'll bring him up to this step; it
+will do just as well. I am <i>very</i> much obliged to you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>He did not seem to hear her thanks; he was all eyes, and,
+with his clerk, stood looking after her till she was out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Ellen found it a long way up to the doctor's. The post-office
+was near the lower end of the town and the doctor's house
+was near the upper; she passed one church and then the other;
+but there was a long distance between, or what she thought so.
+Happily the Brownie did not seem tired at all; his little mistress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>
+<i>was</i> tired and disheartened too. And there all this time was
+poor Mr. Van Brunt lying without a doctor! She could not bear
+to think of it.</p>
+
+<p>She jumped down when she came to the block she had been
+told of, and easily found the house where Dr. Gibson lived. She
+knocked at the door. A grey-haired woman with a very dead-and-alive
+face presented herself. Ellen asked for the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"He ain't to hum."</p>
+
+<p>"When will he be at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't say."</p>
+
+<p>"Before dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman shook her head. "Guess not till late in the
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has gone to Babcock—gone to 'attend a consummation,'
+I guess, he told me—Babcock is a considerable long way."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me where Dr. Marshchalk lives?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you'd better wait till Dr. Gibson comes back, ha'n't
+you?" said the woman coaxingly; "he'll be along by-and-by.
+If you'll leave me your name I'll give it to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot wait," said Ellen, "I am in a dreadful hurry. Will
+you be so good as to tell me where Dr. Marshchalk lives?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well—if so be you're in such a takin' you can't wait—you
+know where Miss Forbes lives?"</p>
+
+<p>"At the inn?—the Star—yes."</p>
+
+<p>"He lives a few doors this side o' her'n; you'll know it the
+first minute you set your eyes on it—it's painted a bright yaller."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thanked her, once more mounted, and rode down the
+street.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+And he had ridden o'er dale and down<br />
+By eight o'clock in the day,<br />
+When he was ware of a bold Tanner,<br />
+Came riding along the way.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Old Ballad</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The yellow door, as the old woman had said, was not to be
+mistaken. Again Ellen dismounted and knocked; then she
+heard a slow step coming along the entry, and the pleasant kind
+face of Miss Janet appeared at the open door. It was a real
+refreshment, and Ellen wanted one.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, it's dear little—ain't it—her that lives down to Miss
+Fortune Emerson's?—yes, it is; come in, dear; I'm very glad to
+see you. How's all at your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is the doctor at home, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear, he ain't to home just this minute, but he'll be in
+directly. Come in;—is that your horse?—just hitch him to the
+post there so he won't run away, and come right in. Who did
+you come along with?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody, ma'am; I came alone," said Ellen, while she obeyed
+Miss Janet's directions.</p>
+
+<p>"Alone! on that 'ere little skittish creeter?—he's as handsome
+as a picture too—why do tell if you warn't afraid? it a'most scares
+me to think of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I was a little afraid," said Ellen, as she followed Miss Janet
+along the entry, "but I couldn't help that. You think the doctor
+will soon be in, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear, sure of it," said Miss Janet, kissing Ellen and
+taking off her bonnet; "he won't be five minutes, for it's a'most
+dinner time. What's the matter, dear? is Miss Fortune sick
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Ellen sadly, "Mr. Van Brunt has fallen
+through the trap-door in the barn and broken his leg."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried the old lady, with a face of real horror, "you
+don't tell me! Fell through the trap-door! and he ain't a light
+weight neither. Oh, that is a lamentable event! And how is
+the poor old mother, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is very much troubled, ma'am," said Ellen, crying at the
+remembrance: "and he has been lying ever since early this
+morning without anybody to set it; I have been going round and
+round for a doctor this ever so long."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, warn't there nobody to come but you, you poor lamb?"
+said Miss Janet.</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; nobody quick enough; and I had the Brownie,
+there, and so I came."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, cheer up, dear! the doctor will be here now, and we'll
+send him right off; he won't be long about his dinner, I'll engage.
+Come and set in this big cheer—do—it'll rest you; I see you're
+a'most tired out, and it ain't a wonder. There, don't that feel
+better? now I'll give you a little sup of dinner, for you won't
+want to swallow it at the rate Leander will his'n. Dear! dear!
+to think of poor Mr. Van Brunt. He's a likely man too; I'm very
+sorry for him and his poor mother. A kind body she is as ever
+the sun shined upon."</p>
+
+<p>"And so is he," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, so I daresay," said Miss Janet, "but I don't know so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span>
+much about him; howsoever he's got everybody's good word as
+far as I know; he's a likely man."</p>
+
+<p>The little room in which Miss Janet had brought Ellen was
+very plainly furnished indeed, but as neat as hands could make it.
+The carpet was as crumbless and lintless as if meals were never
+taken there nor work seen; and yet a little table ready set for
+dinner forbade the one conclusion, and a huge basket of naperies
+in one corner showed that Miss Janet's industry did not spend
+itself in housework alone. Before the fire stood a pretty good-sized
+kettle, and a very appetising smell came from it to Ellen's
+nose. In spite of sorrow and anxiety her ride had made her
+hungry. It was not without pleasure that she saw her kind
+hostess arm herself with a deep plate and tin dipper, and carefully
+taking off the pot cover, so that no drops might fall on the hearth,
+proceed to ladle out a goodly supply of what Ellen knew was that
+excellent country dish called pot-pie. Excellent it is when well
+made, and that was Miss Janet's. The pieces of crust were white
+and light like new bread, the very tit-bits of the meat she culled
+out for Ellen; and the soup-gravy poured over all would have met
+even Miss Fortune's wishes, from its just degree of richness and
+exact seasoning. Smoking hot it was placed before Ellen on a
+little stand by her easy-chair, with some nice bread and butter;
+and presently Miss Janet poured her out a cup of tea; "for," she
+said, "Leander never could take his dinner without it." Ellen's
+appetite needed no silver fork. Tea and pot-pie were never
+better liked; yet Miss Janet's enjoyment was perhaps greater
+still. She sat talking and looking at her little visitor with secret
+but immense satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard what fine doings we're agoing to have here
+by-and-by?" said she. "The doctor's tired of me; he's going
+to get a new housekeeper; he's going to get married some of
+these days."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he?" said Ellen. "Not to Jenny?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed he is—to Jenny—Jenny Hitchcock; and a nice
+little wife she'll make him. You're a great friend of Jenny,
+I know."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not just yet—by-and-by—after we get a little smarted
+up, I guess; before a great while. Don't you think he'll be a
+happy man?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not help wondering, as the doctor just then came
+in, and she looked up at his unfortunate three-cornered face,
+whether Jenny would be a happy woman. But as people often
+do, she only judged from the outside; Jenny had not made such
+a bad choice after all.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The doctor said he would go directly to Mr. Van Brunt after
+he had been over to Mrs. Sibnorth's; it wouldn't be a minute.
+Ellen meant to ride back in his company; and having finished her
+dinner, waited now only for him. But the one minute passed—two
+minutes—ten—twenty—she waited impatiently, but he came
+not.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you how it must be," said his sister, "he's gone off
+without his dinner, calculating to get it at Miss Hitchcock's;
+he'd be glad of the chance. That's how it is, dear; and you'll
+have to ride home alone. I'm real sorry. S'pose you stop till
+evening, and I'll make the doctor go along with you. But, oh
+dear! maybe he wouldn't be able to neither; he's got to go up
+to that tiresome Mrs. Robin's; it's too bad. Well, take good care
+of yourself, darling. Couldn't you stop till it's cooler? Well,
+come and see me as soon as you can again, but don't come
+without some one else along! Good-bye! I wish I could keep
+you."</p>
+
+<p>She went to the door to see her mount, and smiled and
+nodded her off.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was greatly refreshed with her rest and her dinner; it
+grieved her that the Brownie had not fared as well. All the
+refreshment that kind words and patting could give him she
+gave, promised him the freshest of water and the sweetest of hay
+when he should reach home, and begged him to keep up his
+spirits and hold on for a little longer. It may be doubted whether
+the Brownie understood the full sense of her words, but he probably
+knew what the kind tones and gentle hand meant. He
+answered cheerfully; threw up his head and gave a little neigh,
+as much as to say, <i>he</i> wasn't going to mind a few hours of sunshine;
+and trotted on as if he knew his face was towards home—which
+no doubt he did. Luckily it was not a very hot day;
+for August it was remarkably cool and beautiful; indeed, there
+was little very hot weather ever known in Thirlwall. Ellen's
+heart felt easier, now that her business was done; and when she
+had left the town behind her and was again in the fields, she was
+less timid than she had been before; she was going towards
+home; that makes a great difference; and every step was bringing
+her nearer. "I am glad I came after all," she thought;
+"but I hope I shall never have to do such a thing again. But I
+am glad I came."</p>
+
+<p>She had no more than crossed the little bridge, however,
+when she saw what brought her heart into her mouth. It was
+Mr. Saunders, lolling under it tree. What could he have come
+there for at that time of day? A vague feeling crossed her mind
+that if she could only get past him she should pass a danger; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>
+thought to ride by without seeming to see him, and quietly gave
+the Brownie a pat to make him go faster. But as she drew near
+Mr. Saunders rose up, came to the middle of the road, and taking
+hold of her bridle, checked her pony's pace so that he could walk
+alongside, to Ellen's unspeakable dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"What's kept you so long?" said he; "I've been looking out
+for you this great while. Had hard work to find the doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you please to let go of my horse?" said Ellen, her
+heart beating very fast; "I am in a great hurry to get home;
+please don't keep me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I want to see you a little," said Mr. Saunders; "you
+ain't in such a hurry to get away from me as that comes to, are
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"It's quite a long time since I saw you last," said he; "how
+have the merinoes worn?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not bear to look at his face, and did not see the
+expression which went with these words, yet she <i>felt</i> it.</p>
+
+<p>"They have worn very well," said she; "but I want to get
+home very much—<i>please</i> let me go."</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet—not yet," said he—"oh no, not yet. I want to
+talk to you. Why, what are you in such a devil of a hurry for?
+I came out on purpose; do you think I am going to have all my
+long waiting for nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not know what to say; her heart sprang with a
+nameless pang to the thought, if she ever got free from this!
+Meanwhile she was not free.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose horse is that you're on?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mine," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your'n! that's a likely story. I guess he ain't your'n, and
+so you won't mind if I touch him up a little; I want to see how
+well you can sit on a horse."</p>
+
+<p>Passing his arm through the bridle as he said these words,
+Mr. Saunders led the pony down to the side of the road where
+grew a clump of high bushes, and with some trouble cut off a
+long stout sapling. Ellen looked in every direction while he was
+doing this, despairing, as she looked, of aid from any quarter of
+the broad quiet open country. Oh for wings! But she could
+not leave the Brownie if she had them.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the middle of the road, Mr. Saunders amused
+himself as they walked along with stripping off all the leaves and
+little twigs from his sapling, leaving it when done a very good
+imitation of an ox-whip in size and length, with a fine lash-like
+point. Ellen watched him in an ecstasy of apprehension, afraid
+alike to speak or to be silent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There! what do you think of that?" said he, giving it two
+or three switches in the air to try its suppleness and toughness;
+"don't that look like a whip? Now we'll see how he'll go!"</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't do anything with it," said Ellen earnestly; "I
+never touch him with a whip—he doesn't need it—he isn't used
+to it; pray, pray do not!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we'll just tickle him a little with it," said Mr. Saunders
+coolly; "I want to see how well you'll sit him; just make him
+caper a little bit."</p>
+
+<p>He accordingly applied the switch lightly to the Brownie's
+heels, enough to annoy without hurting him. The Brownie
+showed signs of uneasiness, quitted his quiet pace, and took to
+little starts and springs and whiskey motions, most unpleasing to
+his rider.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do not!" cried Ellen, almost beside herself; "he's
+very spirited, and I don't know what he will do if you trouble
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"You let me take care of that," said Mr. Saunders; "if he
+troubles <i>me</i> I'll give it to him! If he rears up, only you catch
+hold of his mane and hold on tight, and you won't fall off; I
+want to see him rear."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll give him bad tricks!" said Ellen. "Oh, pray
+don't do so! It's very bad for him to be teased. I am afraid
+he will kick if you do so, and he'd be ruined if he got a habit of
+kicking. Oh, <i>please</i> let us go!" said she, with the most acute
+accent of entreaty—"I want to be home."</p>
+
+<p>"You keep quiet," said Mr. Saunders coolly; "if he kicks I'll
+give him such a lathering as he never had yet; he won't do it
+but once. I ain't agoing to hurt him, but I am agoing to make
+him rear; no, I won't—I'll make him leap over a rail, the first
+bar-place we come to; that'll be prettier."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you mustn't do that," said Ellen; "I have not learned
+to leap yet; I couldn't keep on; you mustn't do that, if you
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"You just hold fast and hold your tongue. Catch hold of his
+ears, and you'll stick on fast enough; if you can't you may get
+down, for I am going to make him take the leap whether you
+will or no." Ellen feared still more to get off and leave the
+Brownie to her tormentor's mercy than to stay where she was
+and take her chance. She tried in vain, as well as she could, to
+soothe her horse; the touches of the whip coming now in one
+place and now in another, and some of them pretty sharp, he
+began to grow very frisky indeed; and she began to be very
+much frightened for fear she should suddenly be jerked off.
+With a good deal of presence of mind, though wrought up to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>
+terrible pitch of excitement and fear, Ellen gave her best attention
+to keeping her seat as the Brownie sprang and started and
+jumped to one side and the other; Mr. Saunders holding the
+bridle as loose as possible so as to give him plenty of room. For
+some little time he amused himself with this game, the horse
+growing more and more irritated. At length a smart stroke of
+the whip upon his haunches made the Brownie spring in a way
+that brought Ellen's heart into her mouth, and almost threw
+her off.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't!" cried Ellen, bursting into tears for the first
+time; she had with great effort commanded them back until now.
+"Poor Brownie! How can you! Oh, please let us go!—please
+let us go!"</p>
+
+<p>For one minute she dropped her face in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet!" said Mr. Saunders. "Here's a bar-place—now
+for the leap!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wiped away her tears, forced back those that were
+coming, and began the most earnest remonstrance and pleading
+with Mr. Saunders that she knew how to make. He paid her no
+sort of attention. He led the Brownie to the side of the road,
+let down all the bars but the lower two, let go the bridle, and
+stood a little off prepared with his whip to force the horse to
+take the spring.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you I shall fall," said Ellen, reining him back. "How
+can you be so cruel? I want to go home!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you ain't agoing home yet. Get off if you are afraid,"
+said Mr. Saunders.</p>
+
+<p>But though trembling in every nerve from head to foot,
+Ellen fancied the Brownie was safer so long as he had her on his
+back; she would not leave him. She pleaded her best, which
+Mr. Saunders heard as if it was amusing, and without making any
+answer kept the horse capering in front of the bars, pretending
+every minute he was going to whip him up to take the leap. His
+object, however, was merely to gratify the smallest of minds by
+teasing a child he had a spite against; he had no intention to
+risk breaking her bones by a fall from her horse; so in time he
+had enough of the bar-place; took the bridle again and walked
+on. Ellen drew breath a little more freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear how I handled your old gentleman after that
+time?" said Mr. Saunders.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen made no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"No one ever affronts me that don't hear news of it afterwards,
+and so he found to his cost. <i>I</i> paid him off, to my heart's
+content. I gave the old fellow a lesson to behave in future. I
+forgive him now entirely. By the way, I've a little account to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>
+settle with you. Didn't you ask Mr. Perriman this morning if
+Dr. Gibson was in the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who it was," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, hadn't I told you just before he warn't there?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do that for, eh? Didn't you believe me?"</p>
+
+<p>Still she did not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"I say!" said Mr. Saunders, touching the Brownie as he
+spoke, "did you think I told you a lie about it?—eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know but he might be there," Ellen forced herself
+to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you didn't believe me?" said he, always with that
+same smile upon his face; Ellen knew that.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that warn't handsome of you; and I am agoing to
+punish you for it, somehow or 'nother; but it ain't pretty to
+quarrel with ladies, so Brownie and me'll settle it together. You
+won't mind that, I dare say."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do?" said Ellen, as he once more
+drew her down to the side of the fence.</p>
+
+<p>"Get off, and you'll see," said he, laughing. "Get off, and
+you'll see."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want to do?" repeated Ellen, though scarce
+able to speak the words.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm just going to tickle Brownie a little, to teach you to
+believe honest folks when they speak the truth. Get off!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I won't," said Ellen, throwing both arms round the neck
+of her pony. "Poor Brownie! You shan't do it. He hasn't
+done you any harm, nor I either. You are a bad man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Get off!" repeated Mr. Saunders.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not!" said Ellen, still clinging fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said he coolly, "then I will take you off; it
+don't make much difference. We'll go along a little further till
+I find a nice stone for you to sit down upon. If you had got off
+then I wouldn't ha' done much to him, but I'll give it to him
+now! If he hasn't been used to a whip he'll know pretty well
+what it means by the time I have done with him; and then you
+may go home as fast as you can."</p>
+
+<p>It is very likely Mr. Saunders would have been as good, or as
+bad, as his word. His behaviour to Ellen in the store at New
+York, and the measures taken by the old gentleman who had
+befriended her, had been the cause of his dismissal from the
+employ of Messrs. St. Clair and Fleury. Two or three other
+attempts to get into business had come to nothing, and he had
+been obliged to return to his native town. Ever since, Ellen and
+the old gentleman had lived in his memory as objects of the deepest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span>
+spite;—the one for interfering, the other for having been the
+innocent cause; and he no sooner saw her in the post-office than
+he promised himself revenge, such revenge as only the meanest
+and most cowardly spirit could have taken pleasure in. His best
+way of distressing Ellen, he found, was through her horse; he had
+almost satisfied himself; but very naturally his feelings of spite
+had grown stronger and blunter with indulgence, and he meant
+to wind up with such a treatment of her pony, real or seeming,
+as he knew would give great pain to the pony's mistress. He
+was prevented.</p>
+
+<p>As they went slowly along, Ellen still clasping the Brownie's
+neck, and resolved to cling to him to the last, Mr. Saunders
+making him caper in a way very uncomfortable to her, one was
+too busy and the other too deafened by fear to notice the sound
+of fast approaching hoofs behind them. It happened that John
+Humphreys had passed the night at Ventnor; and having an
+errand to do for a friend at Thirlwall, had taken that road,
+which led him but a few miles out of his way, and was now
+at full speed on his way home. He had never made the
+Brownie's acquaintance, and did not recognise Ellen as he came
+up; but in passing them, some strange notion crossing his mind,
+he wheeled his horse round directly in front of the astonished
+pair.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen quitted her pony's neck, and stretching out both arms
+towards him, exclaimed, and almost shrieked, "Oh, John, John!
+send him away! make him let me go!"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you about, sir?" said the new comer sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's none of your business!" answered Mr. Saunders, in
+whom rage for the time overcame cowardice.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your hand off the bridle!" with a slight touch of the
+riding-whip upon the hand in question.</p>
+
+<p>"Not for you, brother," said Mr. Saunders sneeringly. "I'll
+walk with any lady I've a mind to. Look out for yourself!"</p>
+
+<p>"We will dispense with your further attendance," said John
+coolly. "Do you hear me? Do as I order you!"</p>
+
+<p>The speaker did not put himself in a passion, and Mr.
+Saunders, accustomed for his own part to make bluster serve
+instead of prowess, despised a command so calmly given. Ellen,
+who knew the voice, and still better, could read the eye, drew
+conclusions very different. She was almost breathless with terror.
+Saunders was enraged and mortified at an interference that
+promised to baffle him; he was a stout young man, and judged
+himself the stronger of the two, and took notice besides that the
+stranger had nothing in his hand but a slight riding-whip. He
+answered very insolently and with an oath; and John saw that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>
+he was taking the bridle in his left hand and shifting his sapling
+whip so as to bring the club end of it uppermost. The next
+instant he aimed a furious blow at his adversary's horse. The
+quick eye and hand of the rider disappointed that with a sudden
+swerve. In another moment, and Ellen hardly saw how, it was
+so quick, John had dismounted, taken Mr. Saunders by the collar,
+and hurled him quite over into the gully at the side of the road,
+where he lay at full length without stirring. "Ride on, Ellen!"
+said her deliverer.</p>
+
+<p>She obeyed. He stayed a moment to say to his fallen
+adversary a few words of pointed warning as to ever repeating
+his offence; then remounted and spurred forward to join Ellen.
+All her power of keeping up was gone, now that the necessity
+was over. Her head was once more bowed on her pony's neck,
+her whole frame shaking with convulsive sobs; she could scarce
+with great effort keep from crying out aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellie!" said her adopted brother, in a voice that could
+hardly be known for the one that had last spoken. She had no
+words, but as he gently took one of her hands, the convulsive
+squeeze it gave him showed the state of nervous excitement she
+was in. It was very long before his utmost efforts could soothe
+her, or she could command herself enough to tell him her story.
+When at last told, it was with many tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh how could he! how could he!" said poor Ellen; "how
+could he do so—it was very hard!"</p>
+
+<p>An involuntary touch of the spurs made John's horse start.</p>
+
+<p>"But what took you to Thirlwall alone?" said he; "you have
+not told me that yet."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen went back to Timothy's invasion of the cabbages, and
+gave him the whole history of the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought when I was going for the doctor at first," said she,
+"and then afterwards when I had found him, what a good thing
+it was that Timothy broke down the garden fence and got in this
+morning; for if it had not been for that I should not have gone
+to Mr. Van Brunt's; and then again after that I thought, if he
+only hadn't!"</p>
+
+<p>"Little things often draw after them long trains of circumstances,"
+said John, "and that shows the folly of those
+people who think that God does not stoop to concern Himself
+about trifles; life, and much more than life, may hang upon the
+turn of a hand. But, Ellen, you must ride no more alone.
+Promise me that you will not."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not to Thirlwall, certainly," said Ellen, "but mayn't I
+to Alice's? how can I help it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well—to Alice's—that is a safe part of the country; but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>
+should like to know a little more of your horse before trusting
+you even there."</p>
+
+<p>"Of the Brownie?" said Ellen; "oh, he is as good as he can
+be; you need not be afraid of him; he has no trick at all; there
+never was such a good little horse."</p>
+
+<p>John smiled. "How do you like mine?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that your new one? Oh, what a beauty!—oh me—what
+a beauty! I didn't look at him before. Oh, I like him much!
+he's handsomer than the Brownie; do you like him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well! this is the first trial I have made of him. I was
+at Mr. Marshman's last night, and they detained me this morning,
+or I should have been here much earlier. I am very well satisfied
+with him so far."</p>
+
+<p>"And if you had <i>not</i> been detained," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Ellie, I should not have fretted at my late breakfast,
+and having to try Mr. Marshman's favourite mare, if I had known
+what good purpose the delay was to serve. I wish I could have
+been here half-an-hour sooner, though."</p>
+
+<p>"Is his name the Black Prince?" said Ellen, returning to the
+horse.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I believe so; but you shall change it, Ellie, if you can
+find one you like better."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I cannot! I like that very much. How beautiful he is!
+Is he good?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," said John, smiling; "if he is not I shall be at the
+pains to make him so. We are hardly acquainted yet."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked doubtfully at the black horse and his rider, and
+patting the Brownie's neck, observed with great satisfaction that
+<i>he</i> was very good.</p>
+
+<p>John had been riding very slowly on Ellen's account; they
+now mended their pace. He saw, however, that she still looked
+miserable, and exerted himself to turn her thoughts from everything
+disagreeable. Much to her amusement he rode round her
+two or three times, to view her horse and show her his own;
+commended the Brownie; praised her bridle hand; corrected
+several things about her riding; and by degrees engaged her in a
+very animated conversation. Ellen roused up; the colour came
+back to her cheeks; and when they reached home and rode round
+to the glass door she looked almost like herself.</p>
+
+<p>She sprang off as usual without waiting for any help. John
+scarce saw that she had done so, when Alice's cry of joy brought
+him to the door, and from that together they went into their
+father's study. Ellen was left alone on the lawn. Something
+was the matter, for she stood with swimming eyes and a trembling
+lip rubbing her stirrup, which really needed no polishing, and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>getting
+the tired horses, which would have had her sympathy at
+any other time. What <i>was</i> the matter? Only—that Mr. John
+had forgotten the kiss he always gave her on going or coming.
+Ellen was jealous of it as a pledge of sistership, and could not
+want it; and though she tried as hard as she could to get her face
+in order, so that she might go in and meet them, somehow it
+seemed to take a great while. She was still busy with her stirrup,
+when she suddenly felt two hands on her shoulders, and looking
+up, received the very kiss, the want of which she had been lamenting.
+But John saw the tears in her eyes, and asked her, she
+thought, with somewhat of a comical look, what the matter was.
+Ellen was ashamed to tell, but he had her there by the shoulders,
+and besides, whatever that eye demanded, she never knew how to
+keep back, so with some difficulty she told him.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a foolish child, Ellie," said he gently, and kissing her
+again. "Run in out of the sun while I see to the horses."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen ran in and told her long story to Alice; and then feeling
+very weary and weak she sat on the sofa and lay resting in her
+arms in a state of the most entire and unruffled happiness. Alice,
+however, after a while, transferred her to bed, thinking, with
+good reason, that a long sleep would be the best thing for her.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now is the pleasant time,</span><br />
+The cool, the silent, save where silence yields<br />
+To the night-warbling bird; that now awake,<br />
+Tunes sweetest her love-laboured song; now reigns<br />
+Full orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light<br />
+Shadowy, sets off the face of things.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Milton</span></div>
+
+
+<p>When Ellen came out of Alice's room again it was late in the
+afternoon. The sun was so low that the shadow of the house
+had crossed the narrow lawn and mounted up near to the top of
+the trees; but on them he was still shining brightly, and on the
+broad landscape beyond, which lay open to view through the gap
+in the trees. The glass door was open; the sweet summer air
+and the sound of birds and insects and fluttering leaves floated
+into the room, making the stillness musical. On the threshold
+pussy sat crouched, with his fore feet doubled under his breast,
+watching with intense gravity the operations of Margery, who was
+setting the table on the lawn just before his eyes. Alice was
+paring peaches.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we are going to have tea out of doors, aren't we?" said
+Ellen, "I'm very glad. What a lovely evening, isn't it? Just
+look at pussy, will you, Alice? don't you believe he knows what
+Margery is doing? Why didn't you call me to go along with you
+after peaches?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were doing the very best thing you possibly
+could, Ellie, my dear. How do you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nicely now? Where's Mr. John? I hope he won't ask
+for my last drawing to-night, I want to fix the top of that tree
+before he sees it."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Fix</i> the top of your tree, you little Yankee!" said Alice;
+"what do you think John would say to that! <i>un</i>fix it, you mean;
+it is too stiff already, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what <i>shall</i> I say?" said Ellen, laughing. "I am sorry
+that is Yankee, for I suppose one must speak English. I want to
+do something to my tree, then. Where is he, Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone down to Mr. Van Brunt's to see how he is, and to
+speak to Miss Fortune about you on his way back."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh how kind of him! he's <i>very</i> good; that is just what I want
+to know; but I am sorry, after this long ride——"</p>
+
+<p>"He don't mind <i>that</i>, Ellie. He'll be home presently."</p>
+
+<p>"How nice those peaches look; they are as good as strawberries,
+don't you think so? better, I don't know which is the
+best; but Mr. John likes these best, don't he? Now you've
+done; shall I set them on the table? and here's a pitcher of
+splendid cream, Alice!"</p>
+
+<p>"You had better not tell John so, or he will make you define
+<i>splendid</i>."</p>
+
+<p>John came back in good time, and brought word that Mr. Van
+Brunt was doing very well, so far as could be known; also, that
+Miss Fortune consented to Ellen's remaining where she was. He
+wisely did not say, however, that her consent had been slow to
+gain till he had hinted at his readiness to provide a substitute for
+Ellen's services; on which Miss Fortune had instantly declared
+that she did not want her, and she might stay as long as she
+pleased. This was all that was needed to complete Ellen's felicity.</p>
+
+<p>"Wasn't your poor horse too tired to go out again this afternoon,
+Mr. John?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not ride him, Ellie; I took yours."</p>
+
+<p>"The Brownie! did you? I'm very glad! How did you like
+him? But perhaps <i>he</i> was tired a little, and you couldn't tell
+so well to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"He was not tired with any work you had given him, Ellie;
+perhaps he may be a little now."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Ellen, somewhat alarmed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have been trying him; and instead of going quietly along
+the road we have been taking some of the fences in our way. As
+I intend practising you at the bar, I wished to make sure in the
+first place that he knew his lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how did he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly well; I believe he is a good little fellow. I wanted
+to satisfy myself if he was fit to be trusted with you, and I rather
+think Mr. Marshman has taken care of that."</p>
+
+<p>The whole wall of trees was in shadow when the little family
+sat down to table; but there was still the sunlit picture behind;
+and there was another kind of sunshine in every face at the table.
+Quietly happy the whole four, or at least the whole three, were;
+first, in being together; after that, in all things besides. Never
+was tea so refreshing, or bread and butter so sweet, or the song
+of birds so delightsome. When the birds had gone to their nests,
+the cricket and grasshopper and tree toad and katy-did, and
+nameless other songsters, kept up a concert—nature's own, in
+delicious harmony with woods and flowers, and summer breezes
+and evening light. Ellen's cup of enjoyment was running over.
+From one beautiful thing to another her eye wandered, from one
+joy to another her thoughts went, till her heart full fixed on the
+God who had made and given them all, and that Redeemer whose
+blood had been their purchase money. From the dear friends
+beside her, the best-loved she had in the world, she thought of
+the one dearer yet, from whom death had separated her, yet
+living still, and to whom death would restore her, thanks to Him
+who had burst the bonds of death and broken the gates of the
+grave, and made a way for His ransomed to pass over. And the
+thought of Him was the joyfullest of all!</p>
+
+<p>"You look happy, Ellie," said her adopted brother.</p>
+
+<p>"So I am," said Ellen, smiling a very bright smile.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking about?"</p>
+
+<p>But John saw it would not do to press his question.</p>
+
+<p>"You remind me," said he, "of some old fairy story that my
+childish ears received, in which the fountains of the sweet and
+bitter waters of life were said to stand very near each other, and
+to mingle their streams but a little way from their source. Your
+tears and smiles seem to be brothers and sisters; whenever we see
+one we may be sure the other is not far off."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Jack," said Alice, laughing, "what an unhappy
+simile! Are brothers and sisters always found like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish they were," said John, sighing and smiling; "but my
+last words had nothing to do with my simile as you call it."</p>
+
+<p>When tea was over, and Margery had withdrawn the things
+and taken away the table, they still lingered in their places. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>
+was far too pleasant to go in. Mr. Humphreys moved his chair
+to the side of the house, and throwing a handkerchief over his
+head to defend him from the mosquitoes, a few of which were
+buzzing about, he either listened, meditated, or slept; most probably
+one of the two latter; for the conversation was not very
+loud nor very lively; it was happiness enough merely to breathe
+so near each other. The sun left the distant fields and hills; soft
+twilight stole through the woods, down the gap, and over the
+plain; the grass lost its green; the wall of trees grew dark and
+dusky; and very faint and dim showed the picture that was so
+bright a little while ago. As they sat quite silent, listening to
+what nature had to say to them, or letting fancy and memory
+take their way, the silence was broken—hardly broken—by the
+distinct far-off cry of a whip-poor-will. Alice grasped her
+brother's arm, and they remained motionless, while it came
+nearer, nearer—then quite near—with its clear, wild, shrill,
+melancholy note sounding close by them again and again,
+strangely, plaintively; then leaving the lawn, it was heard further
+and further off, till the last faint "whip-poor-will," in the far
+distance, ended its pretty interlude. It was almost too dark to
+read faces, but the eyes of the brother and sister had sought each
+other and remained fixed till the bird was out of hearing; then
+Alice's hand was removed to his, and her head found its old place
+on her brother's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes, John," said Alice, "I am afraid I have one tie
+too strong to this world. I cannot bear, as I ought, to have you
+away from me."</p>
+
+<p>Her brother's lips were instantly pressed to her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"I may say to you, Alice, as Colonel Gardiner said to his wife,
+'We have an eternity to spend together!'"</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," said Alice, after a pause, "how those can bear
+to love and be loved, whose affection can see nothing but a blank
+beyond the grave."</p>
+
+<p>"Few people, I believe," said her brother, "would come
+exactly under that description; most flatter themselves with a
+vague hope of reunion after death."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is a miserable hope—very different from ours."</p>
+
+<p>"Very different indeed! and miserable; for it can only deceive;
+but ours is sure. 'Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with
+Him.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Precious!" said Alice. "How exactly fitted to every want
+and mood of the mind are the sweet Bible words."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Mr. Humphreys, rousing himself, "I am going
+in! These mosquitoes have half eaten me up. Are you going to
+sit there all night?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We are thinking of it, papa," said Alice cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>He went in, and was heard calling Margery for a light.</p>
+
+<p>They had better lights on the lawn. The stars began to peep
+out through the soft blue, and as the blue grew deeper they came
+out more and brighter, till all heaven was hung with lamps. But
+that was not all. In the eastern horizon, just above the low hills
+that bordered the far side of the plain, a white light, spreading
+and growing and brightening, promised the moon, and promised
+that she would rise very splendid; and even before she came
+began to throw a faint lustre over the landscape. All eyes were
+fastened, and exclamations burst, as the first silver edge showed
+itself, and the moon rapidly rising looked on them with her whole
+broad bright face; lighting up not only their faces and figures
+but the wide country view that was spread out below, and
+touching most beautifully the trees in the edge of the gap, and
+faintly the lawn; while the wall of wood stood in deeper and
+blacker shadow than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that beautiful!" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Come round here, Ellie," said John. "Alice may have you
+all the rest of the year, but when I am at home you belong to
+me. What was your little head busied upon a while ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"When?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"When I asked you——"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know—I remember. I was thinking——"</p>
+
+<p>"Well——?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking—do you want me to tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless you would rather not."</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking about Jesus Christ," said Ellen, in a low
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"What about Him, dear Ellie?" said her brother, drawing
+her closer to his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Different things—I was thinking of what He said about little
+children—and about what He said, you know—'In my Father's
+house are many mansions'; and I was thinking that mamma
+was there; and I thought—that we all——"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could get no further.</p>
+
+<p>"'He that believeth in Him shall not be ashamed,'" said
+John softly. "'This is the promise that He hath promised us,
+even eternal life; and who shall separate us from the love of
+Christ? Not death, nor things present, nor things to come. But
+he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure;'
+let us remember that too."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John," said Ellen presently, "don't you like some of the
+chapters in the Revelation very much?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p><p>"Yes, very much. Why?—do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I remember reading parts of them to mamma, and
+that is one reason, I suppose; but I like them very much. There
+is a great deal I can't understand, though."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing finer in the Bible than parts of that book,"
+said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John," said Ellen, "what is meant by the 'white
+stone'?"</p>
+
+<p>"And in the stone a new name written——"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Baxter says it is the sense of God's love in the heart;
+and indeed that is it 'which no man knoweth saving him that
+receiveth it.' This, I take it, Ellen, was Christian's certificate, which
+he used to comfort himself with reading in, you remember?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can a child have it?" said Ellen thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly—many children have had it—you may have it.
+Only seek it faithfully. 'Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and
+worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways.'
+And Christ said, 'He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
+and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him.' There
+is no failure in these promises, Ellie; He that made them is the
+same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."</p>
+
+<p>For a little while each was busy with his own meditations.
+The moon meanwhile, rising higher and higher, poured a flood
+of light through the gap in the woods before them, and stealing
+among the trees here and there lit up a spot of ground under
+their deep shadow. The distant picture lay in mazy brightness.
+All was still, but the ceaseless chirrup of insects and gentle
+flapping of leaves; the summer air just touched their cheeks
+with the lightest breath of a kiss, sweet from distant hay-fields,
+and nearer pines and hemlocks, and other of nature's numberless
+perfume-boxes. The hay-harvest had been remarkably late
+this year.</p>
+
+<p>"This is higher enjoyment," said John, "than half those
+who make their homes in rich houses and mighty palaces have
+any notion of."</p>
+
+<p>"But cannot rich people look at the moon?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but the taste for pure pleasure is commonly gone when
+people make a trade of pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John," Ellen began.</p>
+
+<p>"I will forewarn you," said he, "that Mr. John has made up
+his mind he will do nothing more for you. So if you have anything
+to ask, it must lie still, unless you will begin again."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen drew back. He looked grave, but she saw Alice
+smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall I do?" said she, a little perplexed and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>
+half laughing. "What do you mean, Mr. John? What does he
+mean, Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"You could speak without a 'Mr.' to me this morning when
+you were in trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Ellen, laughing, "I forgot myself then."</p>
+
+<p>"Have the goodness to forget yourself permanently for the
+future."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that man hurt this morning, John?" said his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"What man?"</p>
+
+<p>"That man you delivered Ellen from."</p>
+
+<p>"Hurt? no—nothing material; I did not wish to hurt him.
+He richly deserved punishment, but it was not for me to give it."</p>
+
+<p>"He was in no hurry to get up," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think he ventured upon that till we were well
+out of the way. He lifted his head and looked after us as we
+rode off."</p>
+
+<p>"But I wanted to ask something," said Ellen. "Oh! what
+is the reason the moon looks so much larger when she first gets
+up than she does afterwards?"</p>
+
+<p>"Whom are you asking?"</p>
+
+<p>"You."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is <i>you</i>? Here are two people in the moonlight."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John Humphreys, Alice's brother, and that Thomas
+calls 'the young master,'" said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"You are more shy of taking a leap than your little horse
+is," said John, smiling, "but I shall bring you up to it yet. What
+is the cause of the sudden enlargement of my thumb?"</p>
+
+<p>He had drawn a small magnifying glass from his pocket and
+held it between his hand and Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is not enlarged," said Ellen, "it is only magnified."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the glass makes it look larger."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know how, or why?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>He put up the glass again.</p>
+
+<p>"But what do you mean by that?" said Ellen; "there is
+no magnifying glass between us and the moon to make <i>her</i> look
+larger."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes!" said Ellen; "I am perfectly sure; there is
+nothing in the world. There she is, right up there, looking
+straight down upon us, and there is nothing between."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it that keeps up that pleasant fluttering of leaves
+in the wood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the wind."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And what is the wind?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is air—air moving, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. Then there <i>is</i> something between us and the
+moon."</p>
+
+<p>"The air? But, Mr. John, one can see quite clearly through
+the air; it doesn't make things look larger or smaller."</p>
+
+<p>"How far do you suppose the air reaches from us towards
+the moon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, all the way, don't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No—only about forty miles. If it reached all the way there
+would indeed be no magnifying glass in the case."</p>
+
+<p>"But how is it?" said Ellen. "I don't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you to-night, Ellie. There is a long ladder of
+knowledge to go up before we can get to the moon, but we will
+begin to mount to-morrow, if nothing happens. Alice, you have
+that little book of Conversations on Natural Philosophy, which
+you and I used to delight ourselves with in old time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Safe and sound in the bookcase," said Alice. "I have
+thought of giving it to Ellen before, but she has been busy
+enough with what she had already."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done Rollin now, though," said Ellen; "that is
+lucky. I am ready for the moon."</p>
+
+<p>This new study was begun the next day, and Ellen took great
+delight in it. She would have run on too fast in her eagerness
+but for the steady hand of her teacher; he obliged her to be
+very thorough. This was only one of her items of business.
+The weeks of John's stay were as usual not merely weeks of
+constant and varied delight, but of constant and swift improvement
+too.</p>
+
+<p>A good deal of time was given to the riding-lessons. John
+busied himself one morning in preparing a bar for her on the
+lawn; so placed that it might fall if the horse's heels touched
+it. Here Ellen learned to take first standing, and then running,
+leaps. She was afraid at first, but habit wore that off; and the
+bar was raised higher and higher, till Margery declared she
+"couldn't stand and look at her going over it." Then John made
+her ride without the stirrup, and with her hands behind her,
+while he, holding the horse by a long halter, made him go round
+in a circle, slowly at first, and afterwards trotting and cantering,
+till Ellen felt almost as secure on his back as in a chair. It took
+a good many lessons, however, to bring her to this, and she
+trembled very much at the beginning. Her teacher was careful
+and gentle, but determined; and whatever he said she did,
+tremble or no tremble; and in general loved her riding lessons
+dearly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Drawing too went on finely. He began to let her draw
+things from nature; and many a pleasant morning the three
+went out together with pencils and books and work, and spent
+hours in the open air. They would find a pretty point of view,
+or a nice shady place where the breeze came, and where there
+was some good old rock with a tree beside it, or a piece of fence,
+or the house or barn in the distance, for Ellen to sketch; and
+while she drew and Alice worked, John read aloud to them.
+Sometimes he took a pencil too, and Alice read; and often, often
+pencils, books, and work were all laid down; and talk, lively,
+serious, earnest, always delightful, took the place of them. When
+Ellen could not understand the words, at least she could read
+the faces; and that was a study she was never weary of. At
+home there were other studies and much reading; many tea-drinkings
+on the lawn, and even breakfastings, which she thought
+pleasanter still.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as it was decided that Mr. Van Brunt's leg was doing
+well, and in a fair way to be sound again, Ellen went to see him;
+and after that rarely let two days pass without going again. John
+and Alice used to ride with her so far, and taking a turn beyond
+while she made her visit, call for her on their way back. She
+had a strong motive for going in the pleasure her presence always
+gave, both to Mr. Van Brunt and his mother. Sam Larkens had
+been to Thirlwall and seen Mrs. Forbes, and from him they had
+heard the story of her riding up and down the town in search of
+the doctor; neither of them could forget it. Mrs. Van Brunt
+poured out her affection in all sorts of expressions whenever she
+had Ellen's ear; her son was not a man of many words; but
+Ellen knew his face and manner well enough without them, and
+read there whenever she went into his room what gave her great
+pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, Mr. Van Brunt?" she said on one of these
+occasions.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm getting along, I s'pose," said he; "getting along
+as well as a man can that's lying on his back from morning
+to night; prostrated, as 'Squire Dennison said his corn was
+t'other day."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very tiresome, isn't it?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the tiresomest work that ever was, for a man that
+has two arms to be adoing nothing, day after day. And what
+bothers me is the wheat in that ten-acre lot, that <i>ought</i> to be
+prostrated too, and ain't, nor ain't like to be, as I know, unless
+the rain comes and does it. Sam and Johnny 'll make no headway
+at all with it—I can tell as well as if I see 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"But Sam is good, isn't he?" said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sam's as good a boy as ever was; but then Johnny Low is
+mischievous, you see, and he gets Sam out of his tracks once in a
+while. I never see a finer growth of wheat. I had a sight rather
+cut and harvest the hull of it than to lie here and think of it
+getting spoiled. I'm a'most out o' conceit o' trap-doors, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not help smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"What can I do for you, Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"There ain't nothing," said he; "I wish there was. How are
+you coming along at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen; "I am not there just now, you
+know; I am staying up with Miss Alice again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh ay! while her brother's at home. He's a splendid man,
+that young Mr. Humphreys, ain't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>I</i> knew that a great while ago," said Ellen, the bright
+colour of pleasure overspreading her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>I</i> didn't, you see, till the other day, when he came
+here, very kindly, to see how I was getting on. I wish something
+would bring him again. I never heerd a man talk I liked
+to hear so much."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen secretly resolved something <i>should</i> bring him; and went
+on with a purpose she had had for some time in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't it be pleasant, while you are lying there and can
+do nothing—wouldn't you like to have me read something to you,
+Mr. Van Brunt? <i>I</i> should like to, very much."</p>
+
+<p>"It's just like you," said he gratefully, "to think of that;
+but I wouldn't have you be bothered with it."</p>
+
+<p>"It wouldn't indeed. I should like it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you've a mind," said he; "I can't say but it would
+be a kind o' comfort to keep that grain out o' my head a while.
+Seems to me I have cut and housed it all three times over
+already. Read just whatever you have a mind to. If you was
+to go over a last year's almanac, it would be as good as a fiddle
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do better for you than that, Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen,
+laughing in high glee at having gained her point. She had
+secretly brought her "Pilgrim's Progress" with her, and now with
+marvellous satisfaction drew it forth.</p>
+
+<p>"I ha'n't been as much of a reader as I had ought to," said
+Mr. Van Brunt, as she opened the book and turned to the first
+page; "but, however, I understand my business pretty well; and
+a man can't be everything to once. Now let's hear what you've
+got there."</p>
+
+<p>With a throbbing heart Ellen began, and read, notes and all,
+till the sound of trampling hoofs and Alice's voice made her break
+off. It encouraged and delighted her to see that Mr. Van Brunt's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span>
+attention was perfectly fixed. He lay still, without moving his
+eyes from her face, till she stopped; then thanking her, he declared
+that was a "first-rate book," and he "should like mainly
+to hear the hull on it."</p>
+
+<p>From that time Ellen was diligent in her attendance on him.
+That she might have more time for reading than the old plan
+gave her, she set off by herself alone some time before the others,
+of course riding home with them. It cost her a little sometimes
+to forego so much of their company; but she never saw the look
+of grateful pleasure with which she was welcomed without ceasing
+to regret her self-denial. How Ellen blessed those notes as she
+went on with her reading! They said exactly what she wanted
+Mr. Van Brunt to hear, and in the best way, and were too short
+and simple to interrupt the interest of the story. After a while
+she ventured to ask if she might read him a chapter in the Bible.
+He agreed very readily; owning "he hadn't ought to be so long
+without reading one as he had been." Ellen then made it a rule
+to herself, without asking any more questions, to end every reading
+with a chapter in the Bible; and she carefully sought out those
+that might be most likely to take hold of his judgment or feelings.
+They took hold of her own very deeply, by the means; what
+was strong or tender before, now seemed to her too mighty to
+be withstood; and Ellen read not only with her lips but with her
+whole heart the precious words, longing that they might come
+with their just effect upon Mr. Van Brunt's mind.</p>
+
+<p>Once as she finished reading the tenth chapter of John, a
+favourite chapter, which between her own feeling of it and her
+strong wish for him had moved her even to tears, she cast a
+glance at his face to see how he took it. His head was a little
+turned to one side, and his eyes closed; she thought he was
+asleep. Ellen was very much disappointed. She sank her head
+upon her book and prayed that a time might come when he
+would know the worth of those words. The touch of his hand
+startled her.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" said he. "Are you tired?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, looking hastily up; "oh no! I'm not
+tired."</p>
+
+<p>"But what ails you?" said the astonished Mr. Van Brunt;
+"what have you been a crying for? what's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind," said Ellen, brushing her hand over her
+eyes, "it's no matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but I want to know," said Mr. Van Brunt; "you shan't
+have anything to vex you that <i>I</i> can help; what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is nothing, Mr. Van Brunt," said Ellen, bursting into
+tears again, "only I thought you were asleep; I—I thought you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>
+didn't care enough about the Bible to keep awake; I want so
+much that you should be a Christian!"</p>
+
+<p>He half groaned and turned his head away.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you wish that so much?" said he, after a minute
+or two.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I want you to be happy," said Ellen, "and I know
+you can't without."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am pretty tolerable happy," said he; "as happy as
+most folks, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want you to be happy when you die, too," said Ellen;
+"I want to meet you in heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I will go there, surely," said he gravely, "when the
+time comes."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was uneasily silent, not knowing what to say.</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't as good as I ought to be," said he presently, with a
+half sigh; "I ain't good enough to go to heaven; I wish I was.
+<i>You</i> are, I <i>do</i> believe."</p>
+
+<p>"I! Oh no, Mr. Van Brunt, do not say that; I am not good
+at all; I am full of wrong things."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wish I was full of wrong things too, in the same way,"
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am," said Ellen, "whether you will believe it or not.
+Nobody is good, Mr. Van Brunt. But Jesus Christ has died for
+us, and if we ask Him, He will forgive us, and wash away our sins,
+and teach us to love Him, and make us good, and take us to be
+with Him in heaven. Oh, I wish you would ask Him!" she repeated
+with an earnestness that went to his heart. "I don't
+believe any one can be very happy that doesn't love Him."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that what makes <i>you</i> happy?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a great many things to make me happy," said Ellen,
+soberly, "but that is the greatest of all. It always makes me
+happy to think of Him, and it makes everything else a thousand
+times pleasanter. I wish you knew how it is, Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent for a little, and disturbed, Ellen thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said he at length, "'taint the folks that thinks themselves
+the best that <i>is</i> the best always; if you ain't good I should
+like to know what goodness is. <i>There's</i> somebody that thinks you
+be," said he a minute or two afterwards, as the horses were heard
+coming to the gate.</p>
+
+<p>"No, she knows me better than that," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't any <i>she</i> that I mean," said Mr. Van Brunt. "There's
+somebody else out there, ain't there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" said Ellen, "Mr. John? Oh no, indeed he don't.
+It was only this morning he was telling me of something I did
+that was wrong." Her eyes watered as she spoke.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He must have mighty sharp eyes, then," said Mr. Van Brunt,
+"for it beats all <i>my</i> powers of seeing things."</p>
+
+<p>"And so he has," said Ellen, putting on her bonnet, "he
+always knows what I am thinking of just as well as if I told him.
+Good-bye!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," said he; "I ha'n't forgotten what you've been
+saying, and I don't mean to."</p>
+
+<p>How full of sweet pleasure was the ride home!</p>
+
+<p>The "something wrong," of which Ellen had spoken, was this.
+The day before, it happened that Mr. John had broken her off from
+a very engaging book to take her drawing-lesson; and as he stooped
+down to give a touch or two to the piece she was to copy, he said,
+"I don't want you to read any more of that, Ellie; it is not a
+good book for you." Ellen did not for a moment question that
+he was right, nor wish to disobey; but she had become very much
+interested, and was a good deal annoyed at having such a sudden
+stop put to her pleasure. She said nothing, and went on with her
+work. In a little while Alice asked her to hold a skein of cotton
+for her while she wound it. Ellen was annoyed again at the interruption;
+the harp-strings were jarring yet, and gave fresh discord
+to every touch. She had, however, no mind to let her vexation
+be seen; she went immediately and held the cotton, and as soon
+as it was done sat down again to her drawing. Before ten minutes
+had passed Margery came to set the table for dinner; Ellen's
+papers and desk must move.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is not dinner-time yet this great while, Margery,"
+said she; "it isn't much after twelve."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Ellen," said Margery under her breath, for John
+was in one corner of the room reading, "but by-and-by I'll be
+busy with the chops and frying the salsify, and I couldn't leave
+the kitchen; if you'll let me have the table now."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen said no more, and moved her things to a stand before the
+window, where she went on with her copying till dinner was
+ready. Whatever the reason was, however, her pencil did not
+work smoothly; her eye did not see true; and she lacked her
+usual steady patience. The next morning, after an hour and
+more's work and much painstaking, the drawing was finished.
+Ellen had quite forgotten her yesterday's trouble. But when
+John came to review her drawing, he found several faults with it;
+pointed out two or three places in which it had suffered from
+haste and want of care; and asked her how it had happened.
+Ellen knew it happened yesterday. She was vexed again, though
+she did her best not to show it; she stood quietly and heard what
+he had to say. He then told her to get ready for her riding
+lesson.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mayn't I just make this right first?" said Ellen; "it won't
+take me long."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, "you have been sitting long enough; I must
+break you off. The Brownie will be here in ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was impatiently eager to mend the bad places in her
+drawing, and impatiently displeased at being obliged to ride first.
+Slowly and reluctantly she went to get ready; John was already
+gone; she would not have moved so leisurely if he had been anywhere
+within seeing distance. As it was, she found it convenient
+to quicken her movements; and was at the door ready as soon as
+he and the Brownie. She was soon thoroughly engaged in the
+management of herself and her horse; a little smart riding shook
+all the ill humour out of her, and she was entirely herself again.
+At the end of fifteen or twenty minutes they drew up under the
+shade of a tree to let the Brownie rest a little. It was a warm
+day, and John had taken off his hat and stood resting too, with
+his arm leaning on the neck of the horse. Presently he looked
+round to Ellen, and asked her with a smile if she felt right again.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Ellen, the crimson of her cheeks mounting to her
+forehead. But her eye sank immediately at the answering glance
+of his. He then, in very few words, set the matter before her,
+with such a happy mixture of pointedness and kindness, that
+while the reproof, coming from him, went to the quick, Ellen yet
+joined with it no thought of harshness or severity. She was completely
+subdued, however; the rest of the lesson had to be given
+up, and for an hour Ellen's tears could not be stayed. But it was,
+and John had meant it should be, a strong check given to her
+besetting sin. It had a long and lasting effect.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<p><i>Speed.</i> But tell me true, will't be a match?</p>
+<p><i>Laun.</i> Ask my dog; if he say, ay, it will; if he say, no, it will; if he
+shake his tail and say nothing, it will.</p></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">
+—<span class="smcap">Two Gentlemen of Verona</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>In due time Mr. Van Brunt was on his legs again, much to
+everybody's joy, and much to the advantage of fields, fences,
+and grain. Sam and Johnny found they must "spring to," as
+their leader said; and Miss Fortune declared she was thankful
+she could draw a long breath again, for do what she would she
+couldn't be everywhere. Before this John and the Black Prince
+had departed, and Alice and Ellen were left alone again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How long will it be, dear Alice," said Ellen, as they stood
+sorrowfully looking down the road by which he had gone, "before
+he will be through that—before he will be able to leave
+Doncaster?"</p>
+
+<p>"Next summer."</p>
+
+<p>"And what will he do then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then he will be ordained."</p>
+
+<p>"Ordained?—what is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"He will be solemnly set apart for the work of the ministry,
+and appointed to it by a number of clergymen."</p>
+
+<p>"And then will he come and stay at home, Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what then, dear Ellen," said Alice, sighing;
+"he may for a little; but papa wishes very much that before he
+is settled anywhere he should visit England and Scotland and see
+our friends there, though I hardly think John will do it unless
+he sees some further reason for going. If he do not, he will probably
+soon be called somewhere—Mr. Marshman wants him to
+come to Randolph. I don't know how it will be."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Ellen, with a kind of acquiescing sigh, "at any
+rate now we must wait until next Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>The winter passed away with little to mark it except the
+usual visits to Ventnor; which, however, by common consent,
+Alice and Ellen had agreed should <i>not</i> be when John was at
+home. At all other times they were much prized and enjoyed.
+Every two or three months Mr. Marshman was sure to come for
+them, or Mr. Howard, or perhaps the carriage only with a letter;
+and it was bargained that Mr. Humphreys should follow to see
+them home. It was not always that Ellen could go, but the disappointments
+were seldom; she too had become quite domesticated
+at Ventnor, and was sincerely loved by the whole family.
+Many as were the times she had been there, it had oddly happened
+that she had never met her old friend of the boat again;
+but she was very much attached to old Mr. and Mrs. Marshman,
+and Mrs. Chauncey and her daughter, the latter of whom reckoned
+all the rest of her young friends as nothing compared with
+Ellen Montgomery. Ellen, in her opinion, did everything better
+than any one else of her age.</p>
+
+<p>"She has good teachers," said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed! I should think she had. Alice—- I should
+think anybody would learn well with her; and Mr. John—I suppose
+he's as good, though I don't know so much about him; but he
+must be a great deal better teacher than Mr. Sandford, mamma,
+for Ellen draws <i>ten times</i> as well as I do!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps that is your fault and not Mr. Sandford's," said her
+mother, "though I rather think you overrate the difference."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I take pains enough, if that's all," said the little
+girl; "what more can I do, mamma? But Ellen is so pleasant
+about it always; she never seems to think she does better than
+I; and she is always ready to help me and take ever so much
+time to show me how to do things; she is <i>so</i> pleasant; isn't she,
+mamma? I know I have heard you say she is very polite."</p>
+
+<p>"She is certainly that," said Mrs. Gillespie, "and there is a
+grace in her politeness that can only proceed from great natural
+delicacy and refinement of character. How she can have such
+manners, living and working in the way you say she does, I confess
+is beyond my comprehension."</p>
+
+<p>"One would not readily forget the notion of good-breeding
+in the society of Alice and John Humphreys," said Miss Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"And Mr. Humphreys," said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no society about him," said Miss Sophia; "he don't
+say two dozen words a day."</p>
+
+<p>"But she is not with them," said Mrs. Gillespie.</p>
+
+<p>"She is with them a great deal. Aunt Matilda," said Ellen
+Chauncey, "and they teach her everything, and she does learn!
+She must be very clever; don't you think she is, mamma?
+Mamma, she beats me entirely in speaking French, and she knows
+all about English history and arithmetic!—and did you ever hear
+her sing, mamma?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe she beats you, as you call it, in generous
+estimation of others," said Mrs. Chauncey smiling, and bending
+forward to kiss her daughter; "but what is the reason Ellen is
+so much better read in history than you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, mamma, unless—I wish I wasn't so fond of
+reading stories."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen Montgomery is just as fond of them, I'll warrant,"
+said Miss Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Oh I know she is fond of them; but then Alice and
+Mr. John don't let her read them, except now and then one."</p>
+
+<p>"I fancy she does it though when their backs are turned,"
+said Mrs. Gillespie.</p>
+
+<p>"She! Oh, Aunt Matilda! she wouldn't do the least thing
+they don't like for the whole world. I know she never reads a
+story when she is here, unless it is my Sunday books, without
+asking Alice first."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a most extraordinary child!" said Mrs. Gillespie.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a <i>good</i> child!" said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mamma, and that is what I wanted to say; I do not
+think Ellen is so polite because she is so much with Alice and
+John, but because she is so sweet and good. I don't think she
+could <i>help</i> being polite."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is not that," said Mrs. Gillespie; "mere sweetness and
+goodness would never give so much elegance of manner. As far
+as I have seen, Ellen Montgomery is a <i>perfectly</i> well-behaved child."</p>
+
+<p>"That she is," said Mrs. Chauncey; "but neither would any
+cultivation or example be sufficient for it without Ellen's thorough
+good principle and great sweetness of temper."</p>
+
+<p>"That's exactly what <i>I</i> think, mamma," said Ellen Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's sweetness of temper was not entirely born with her;
+it was one of the blessed fruits of religion and discipline. Discipline
+has not done with it yet. When the winter came on, and
+the housework grew less, and with renewed vigour she was bending
+herself to improvement in all sorts of ways, it unluckily came into
+Miss Fortune's head that some of Ellen's spare time might be
+turned to account in a new line. With this lady, to propose and
+to do were two things always very near together. The very next
+day Ellen was summoned to help her downstairs with the big
+spinning-wheel. Most unsuspiciously, and with her accustomed
+pleasantness, Ellen did it. But when she was sent up again for
+the rolls of wool, and Miss Fortune, after setting up the wheel,
+put one of them into her hand and instructed her how to draw
+out and twist the thread of yarn, she saw all that was coming.
+She saw it with dismay. So much yarn as Miss Fortune might
+think it well she should spin, so much time must be taken daily
+from her beloved reading and writing, drawing and studying;
+her very heart sank within her. She made no remonstrance, unless
+her disconsolate face might be thought one; she stood half a day
+at the big spinning-wheel, fretting secretly, while Miss Fortune
+went round with an inward chuckle visible in her countenance,
+that in spite of herself increased Ellen's vexation. And this was
+not the annoyance of a day; she must expect it day after day
+through the whole winter. It was a grievous trial. Ellen cried
+for a great while when she got to her own room, and a long hard
+struggle was necessary before she could resolve to do her duty.
+"To be patient and quiet! and spin nobody knows how much
+yarn—and my poor history and philosophy and drawing and
+French and reading!" Ellen cried very heartily. But she knew
+what she ought to do: she prayed long, humbly, earnestly, that
+"her little rushlight might shine bright;" and her aunt had no
+cause to complain of her. Sometimes, if overpressed, Ellen would
+ask Miss Fortune to let her stop; saying, as Alice had advised
+her, that <i>she</i> wished to have her do such and such things. Miss
+Fortune never made any objection; and the hours of spinning
+that wrought so many knots of yarn for her aunt, wrought better
+things yet for the little spinner: patience and gentleness grew
+with the practice of them; this wearisome work was one of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span>
+many seemingly untoward things which in reality bring out good.
+The time Ellen <i>did</i> secure to herself was held the more precious
+and used the more carefully. After all it was a very profitable
+and pleasant winter to her.</p>
+
+<p>John's visit came as usual at the holidays, and was enjoyed as
+usual; only that every one seemed to Ellen more pleasant than
+the last. The sole other event that broke the quiet course of
+things (beside the journeys to Ventnor) was the death of Mrs.
+Van Brunt. This happened very unexpectedly and after a short
+illness, not far from the end of January. Ellen was very sorry;
+both for her own sake and Mr. Van Brunt's, who she was sure
+felt much, though according to his general custom he said nothing.
+Ellen felt for him none the less. She little thought what
+an important bearing this event would have upon her own future
+well-being.</p>
+
+<p>The winter passed and the spring came. One fine mild
+pleasant afternoon early in May, Mr. Van Brunt came into the
+kitchen and asked Ellen if she wanted to go with him and see
+the sheep salted. Ellen was seated at the table with a large tin
+pan in her lap, and before her a huge heap of white beans which
+she was picking over for the Saturday's favourite dish of pork
+and beans. She looked up at him with a hopeless face.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to go very much indeed, Mr. Van Brunt, but
+you see I can't. All these to do!"</p>
+
+<p>"Beans, eh?" said he, putting one or two in his mouth.
+"Where's your aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen pointed to the buttery. He immediately went to the
+door and rapped on it with his knuckles.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, ma'am!" said he, "can't you let this child go with
+me? I want her along to help feed the sheep."</p>
+
+<p>To Ellen's astonishment her aunt called to her through the
+closed door to "go along and leave the beans till she came back."
+Joyfully Ellen obeyed. She turned her back upon the beans,
+careless of the big heap which would still be there to pick over
+when she returned; and ran to get her bonnet. In all the time
+she had been at Thirlwall something had always prevented her
+seeing the sheep fed with salt, and she went eagerly out of the
+door with Mr. Van Brunt to a new pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>They crossed two or three meadows back of the barn to a low
+rocky hill covered with trees. On the other side of this they
+came to a fine field of spring wheat. Footsteps must not go over
+the young grain; Ellen and Mr. Van Brunt coasted carefully
+round by the fence to another piece of rocky woodland that lay
+on the far side of the wheatfield. It was a very fine afternoon.
+The grass was green in the meadow; the trees were beginning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>
+to show their leaves; the air was soft and spring-like. In great
+glee Ellen danced along, luckily needing no entertainment from
+Mr. Van Brunt, who was devoted to his salt-pan. His natural
+taciturnity seemed greater than ever; he amused himself all the
+way over the meadow with turning over his salt and tasting it,
+till Ellen laughingly told him she believed he was as fond of it
+as the sheep were; and then he took to chucking little bits of it
+right and left, at anything he saw that was big enough to serve
+for a mark. Ellen stopped him again by laughing at his wastefulness;
+and so they came to the wood. She left him then to do
+as he liked, while she ran hither and thither to search for flowers.
+It was slow getting through the wood. He was fain to stop and
+wait for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't these lovely?" said Ellen as she came up with her
+hands full of anemones, "and look—there's the liverwort. I
+thought it must be out before now—the dear little thing! but I
+can't find any blood-root, Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they're gone," said Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose they must," said Ellen. "I am sorry; I like them
+so much. Oh, I believe I did get them earlier than this two
+years ago when I used to take so many walks with you.
+Only think of my not having been to look for flowers before this
+spring."</p>
+
+<p>"It hadn't ought to ha' happened so, that's a fact," said Mr.
+Van Brunt. "I don't know how it has."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there are my yellow bells!" exclaimed Ellen. "Oh,
+you beauties! Aren't they, Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't say but what I think an ear of wheat's handsomer,"
+said he, with his half smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mr. Van Brunt! how can you? but an ear of wheat's
+pretty too. Oh, Mr. Van Brunt, what <i>is</i> that? Do you get me
+some of it, will you, please? Oh, how beautiful! what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's black birch," said he; "<i>'tis</i> kind o' handsome; stop,
+I'll find you some oak blossoms directly. There's some Solomon's
+seal—do you want some of that?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sprang to it with exclamations of joy, and before she
+could rise from her stooping posture discovered some cowslips to
+be scrambled for. Wild columbine, the delicate corydalis, and
+more uvularias, which she called yellow bells, were added to her
+handful, till it grew a very elegant bunch indeed. Mr. Van Brunt
+looked complacently on, much as Ellen would at a kitten running
+round after its tail.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I won't keep you any longer, Mr. Van Brunt," said
+she, when her hands were as full as they could hold; "I have
+kept you a great while; you are very good to wait for me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They took up their line of march again, and after crossing the
+last piece of rocky woodland came to an open hillside, sloping
+gently up, at the foot of which were several large flat stones.</p>
+
+<p>"But where are the sheep, Mr. Van Brunt?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they ain't fur," said he. "You keep quiet, 'cause
+they don't know you; and they are mighty scary. Just stand
+still there by the fence. Ca-nan! ca-nan! Ca-nan, nan, nan, nan,
+nan, nan, nan!"</p>
+
+<p>This was the sheep call, and raising his voice, Mr. Van Brunt
+made it sound abroad far over the hills. Again and again it
+sounded; and then Ellen saw the white nose of a sheep at the
+edge of the woods on the top of the hill. On the call's sounding
+again the sheep set forward, and in a long train they came
+running along a narrow footpath down towards where Mr. Van
+Brunt was standing with his pan. The soft tramp of a multitude
+of light hoofs in another direction turned Ellen's eyes that way,
+and there were two more single files of sheep running down the
+hill from different points in the woodland. The pretty things came
+scampering along, seeming in a great hurry, till they got very
+near; then the whole multitude came to a sudden halt, and looked
+very wistfully and doubtfully indeed at Mr. Van Brunt and the
+strange little figure standing so still by the fence. They seemed
+in great doubt, every sheep of them, whether Mr. Van Brunt was
+not a traitor, who had put on a friend's voice and lured them
+down there with some dark evil intent, which he was going to
+carry out by means of that same dangerous-looking stranger by
+the fence. Ellen almost expected to see them turn about and
+go as fast as they had come. But Mr. Van Brunt gently repeating
+his call, went quietly up to the nearest stone and began to scatter
+the salt upon it, full in their view. Doubt was at an end; he
+had hung out the white flag; they flocked down to the stones, no
+longer at all in fear of double-dealing, and crowded to get at the
+salt; the rocks where it was strewn were covered with more sheep
+than Ellen would have thought it possible could stand upon them.
+They were like pieces of floating ice heaped up with snow, or
+queen cakes with an immoderately thick frosting. It was one
+scene of pushing and crowding; those which had not had their
+share of the feast forcing themselves to get at it, and shoving
+others off in consequence. Ellen was wonderfully pleased. It
+was a new and pretty sight, the busy hustling crowd of gentle
+creatures; with the soft noise of their tread upon grass and
+stones, and the eager devouring of the salt. She was fixed with
+pleasure, looking and listening; and did not move till the entertainment
+was over, and the body of the flock were carelessly
+scattering here and there, while a few that had perhaps been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span>
+disappointed of their part still lingered upon the stones in the
+vain hope of yet licking a little saltness from them.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, "I never knew what salt was worth
+before. How they do love it! Is it good for them, Mr. Van
+Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good for them?" said he, "to be sure it is good for them.
+There ain't a critter that walks as I know, that it ain't good for—'cept
+chickens, and it's very queer it kills them."</p>
+
+<p>They turned to go homeward. Ellen had taken the empty
+pan to lay her flowers in, thinking it would be better for them than
+the heat of her hand; and greatly pleased with what she had
+come to see, and enjoying her walk as much as it was possible,
+she was going home very happy! yet she could not help missing
+Mr. Van Brunt's old sociableness. He was uncommonly silent,
+even for him, considering that he and Ellen were alone together;
+and she wondered what had possessed him with a desire to cut
+down all the young saplings he came to that were large enough for
+walking sticks. He did not want to make any use of them, that
+was certain, for as fast as he cut and trimmed out one he threw
+it away and cut another. Ellen was glad when they got out into
+the open fields where there were none to be found.</p>
+
+<p>"It is just about this time a year ago," said she, "that Aunt
+Fortune was getting well of her long fit of sickness."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" said Mr. Van Brunt, with a very profound air;
+"something is always happening most years."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not know what to make of this philosophical
+remark.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad nothing is happening this year," said she;
+"I think it is a great deal pleasanter to have things go on
+quietly."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, something might happen without hindering things going
+on quietly, I s'pose—mightn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen, wonderingly; "why, Mr. Van
+Brunt, what <i>is</i> going to happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said he, half laughing, "you're as cute as a razor;
+I didn't say there was anything going to happen, did I?"</p>
+
+<p>"But is there?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha'n't your aunt said nothing to you about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," said Ellen, "she never tells me anything; what
+is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the story is," said Mr. Van Brunt, "at least I know, for
+I've understood as much from herself, that—I believe she is going
+to be married before long."</p>
+
+<p>"She!" exclaimed Ellen. "Married!—Aunt Fortune!"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so," said Mr. Van Brunt, making a lunge at a tuft<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span>
+of tall grass and pulling off two or three spears of it, which he
+carried to his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>There was a long silence, during which Ellen saw nothing in
+earth, air, or sky, and knew no longer whether she was passing
+through woodland or meadow. To frame words into another
+sentence was past her power. They came in sight of the barn at
+length. She would not have much more time.</p>
+
+<p>"Will it be soon, Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, pretty soon, as soon as next week, I guess; so I thought
+it was time you ought to be told. Do you know to who?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't <i>know</i>" said Ellen in a low voice; "I couldn't help
+guessing."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon you've guessed about right," said he, without looking
+at her.</p>
+
+<p>There was another silence, during which it seemed to Ellen
+that her thoughts were tumbling head over heels, they were in
+such confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"The short and the long of it is," said Mr. Van Brunt, as they
+rounded the corner of the barn, "we have made up our minds to
+draw in the same yoke; and we're both on us pretty go-ahead
+folks, so I guess we'll contrive to pull the cart along. I had just
+as lief tell you, Ellen, that all this was as good as settled a long
+spell back—'afore ever you came to Thirlwall; but I was never
+agoing to leave my old mother without a home; so I stuck to her,
+and would, to the end of time, if I had never been married. But
+now she is gone, and there is nothing to keep me to the old
+place any longer. So now you know the hull on it, and I wanted
+you should."</p>
+
+<p>With this particularly cool statement of his matrimonial
+views, Mr. Van Brunt turned off into the barn-yard, leaving Ellen
+to go home by herself. She felt as if she were walking on air
+while she crossed the chip-yard, and the very house had a seeming
+of unreality. Mechanically she put her flowers in water, and
+sat down to finish the beans; but the beans might have been
+flowers and the flowers beans for all the difference Ellen saw in
+them. Miss Fortune and she shunned each other's faces most
+carefully for a long time; Ellen felt it impossible to meet her
+eyes; and it is a matter of great uncertainty which in fact did
+first look at the other. Other than this there was no manner
+of difference in anything without or within the house. Mr.
+Van Brunt's being absolutely speechless was not a <i>very</i> uncommon
+thing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Poor little, pretty, fluttering thing,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Must we no longer live together?</span><br />
+And dost thou prune thy trembling wing<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To take thy flight thou knowest not whither?</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Prior</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>As soon as she could, Ellen carried this wonderful news to Alice,
+and eagerly poured out the whole story, her walk and all.
+She was somewhat disappointed at the calmness of her hearer.</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't seem half as surprised as I expected, Alice; I
+thought you would be so much surprised."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not surprised at all, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Not!—aren't you!—why, did you know anything of this
+before?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not <i>know</i>, but I suspected. I thought it was very
+likely. I am <i>very</i> glad it is so."</p>
+
+<p>"Glad! are you glad? I am so sorry;—why are you glad,
+Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you sorry, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, because!—I don't know—it seems so queer!—I don't
+like it at all. I am very sorry indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"For your aunt's sake, or for Mr. Van Brunt's sake?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, do you think he or she will be a loser by the
+bargain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he, to be sure; I think he will; I don't think she
+will. I think he is a great deal too good. And besides—I
+wonder if he wants to really; it was settled so long ago—may-be
+he has changed his mind since."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any reason to think so, Ellie?" said Alice,
+smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; I don't think he seemed particularly glad."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be safest to conclude that Mr. Van Brunt knows
+his own mind, my dear; and it is certainly pleasanter for us to
+hope so."</p>
+
+<p>"But then, besides," said Ellen, with a face of great perplexity
+and vexation, "I don't know; it don't seem right! How can I
+ever? must I? do you think I shall have to call him anything but
+Mr. Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>Alice could not help smiling again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is your objection, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, because I <i>can't</i>! I couldn't do it somehow. It would
+seem so strange. Must I, Alice? Why in the world are you glad,
+dear Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"It smooths my way for a plan I have had in my head; you
+will know by-and-by why I am glad, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am glad if you are glad," said Ellen, sighing; "I don't
+know why I was so sorry, I couldn't help it; I suppose I shan't
+mind it after a while."</p>
+
+<p>She sat for a few minutes, musing over the possibility or
+impossibility of ever forming her lips to the words "Uncle
+Abraham," "Uncle Van Brunt," or barely "Uncle;" her soul
+rebelled against all three. "Yet if he should think me unkind,
+then I must; oh, rather fifty times over than that!" Looking
+up, she saw a change in Alice's countenance, and tenderly
+asked—</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, oh dear Alice? what are you thinking
+about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking, Ellie, how I shall tell you something that
+will give you pain."</p>
+
+<p>"Pain! you needn't be afraid of giving me pain," said Ellen,
+fondly, throwing her arms around her, "tell me, dear Alice; is
+it something I have done that is wrong? what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Alice kissed her, and burst into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, oh dear Alice?" said Ellen, encircling
+Alice's head with both her arms; "oh don't cry! do tell me what
+it is?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is only sorrow for you, dear Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"But why?" said Ellen, in some alarm; "why are you
+sorry for me? I don't care, if it don't trouble you, indeed I
+don't! Never mind me; is it something that troubles you, dear
+Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, except for the effect it may have on others."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I can bear it," said Ellen; "you need not be afraid
+to tell me, dear Alice; what is it? don't be sorry for me!"</p>
+
+<p>But the expression of Alice's face was such that she could not
+help being afraid to hear; she anxiously repeated "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Alice fondly smoothed back the hair from her brow, looking
+herself somewhat anxiously and somewhat sadly upon the uplifted
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose, Ellie," she said at length, "that you and I were
+taking a journey together—a troublesome, dangerous journey—and
+that <i>I</i> had a way of getting at once safe to the end of it;
+would you be willing to let me go, and you do without me for the
+rest of the way?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I would rather you should take me with you," said Ellen, in
+a kind of maze of wonder and fear; "why, where are you going,
+Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I am going home, Ellie, before you."</p>
+
+<p>"Home?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, home I feel it to be; it is not a strange land; I thank
+God it is my <i>home</i> I am going to."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sat looking at her, stupefied.</p>
+
+<p>"It is your home too, love, I trust and believe," said Alice,
+tenderly; "we shall be together at last. I am not sorry for
+myself; I only grieve to leave you alone, and others, but God
+knows best. We must both look to Him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Alice," said Ellen, starting up suddenly, "what do you
+mean? what do you mean? I don't understand you; what do you
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not understand me, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"But Alice! but Alice, <i>dear</i> Alice, what makes you say so?
+is there anything the matter, with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do I look well, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>With an eye sharpened to painful keenness, Ellen sought in
+Alice's face for the tokens of what she wished and what she
+feared. It <i>had</i> once or twice lately flitted through her mind that
+Alice was very thin, and seemed to want her old strength,
+whether in riding, or walking, or any other exertion; and it <i>had</i>
+struck her that the bright spots of colour in Alice's face were
+just like what her mother's cheeks used to wear in her last
+illness. These thoughts had just come and gone; but now as
+she recalled them and was forced to acknowledge the justness
+of them, and her review of Alice's face pressed them home
+anew, hope for a moment faded. She grew white, even to
+the lips.</p>
+
+<p>"My poor Ellie! my poor Ellie!" said Alice, pressing
+her little sister to her bosom, "it must be! We must say
+'the Lord's will be done'; we must not forget He does all
+things well."</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen rallied; she raised her head again; she could not
+believe what Alice had told her. To her mind it seemed an evil
+<i>too great to happen</i>; it could not be! Alice saw this in her look,
+and again sadly stroked her hair from her brow. "It must be,
+Ellie," she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"But have you seen somebody? have you asked somebody?"
+said Ellen; "some doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen, and I have asked," said Alice; "it was not
+necessary, but I have done both. They think as I do."</p>
+
+<p>"But these Thirlwall doctors——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not them; I did not apply to them. I saw an excellent
+physician at Randolph, the last time I went to Ventnor."</p>
+
+<p>"And he said——"</p>
+
+<p>"As I have told you." Ellen's countenance fell—fell.</p>
+
+<p>"It is easier for me to leave you than for you to be left, I
+know that, my dear little Ellie! You have no reason to be sorry
+for me; I <i>am</i> sorry for you: but the hand that is taking me away
+is one that will touch neither of us but to do us good; I know
+that too. We must both look away to our dear Saviour, and not
+for a moment doubt His love. I do not; you must not. Is it
+not said that 'He loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, who never stirred her eyes from Alice's.</p>
+
+<p>"And might He not, did it not rest with a word of His lips,
+to keep Lazarus from dying, and save his sisters from all the
+bitter sorrow his death caused them?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Ellen said, "Yes," or her lips seemed to say it.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet there were reasons, good reasons, why He should
+not, little as poor Martha and Mary could understand it. But
+had He at all ceased to <i>love them</i> when He bade all that trouble
+come? Do you remember, Ellie—oh how beautiful those words
+are!—when at last He arrived near the place, and first one sister
+came to Him with the touching reminder that He might have
+saved them from this, and then the other, weeping and falling at
+His feet, and repeating 'Lord, if thou hadst been here'! when
+He saw their tears, and more, saw the torn hearts that tears
+could not ease, He even wept with them too! Oh, I thank God
+for those words! He saw reason to strike, and His hand did not
+spare; but His love shed tears for them! and He is just the
+same now."</p>
+
+<p>Some drops fell from Alice's eyes, not sorrowful ones; Ellen
+had hid her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us never doubt His love, dear Ellie, and surely then we
+can bear whatever that love may bring upon us. I do trust it.
+I do believe it shall be well with them that fear God. I believe
+it will be well for me when I die, well for you, my dear, dear
+Ellie; well even for my father——"</p>
+
+<p>She did not finish the sentence, afraid to trust herself. But
+oh, Ellen knew what it would have been; and it suddenly startled
+into life all the load of grief that had been settling heavily on
+her heart. Her thoughts had not looked that way before; now
+when they did, this new vision of misery was too much to bear.
+Quite unable to contain herself, and unwilling to pain Alice more
+than she could help, with a smothered burst of feeling she sprang
+away, out of the door, into the woods, where she would be
+unseen and unheard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And there, in the first burst of her agony, Ellen almost thought
+she should die. Her grief had not now indeed the goading sting
+of impatience; she knew the hand that gave the blow, and did
+not raise her own against it; she believed too what Alice had
+been saying, and the sense of it was, in a manner, present with
+her in her darkest time. But her spirit died within her; she
+bowed her head as if she were never to lift it up again; and she
+was ready to say with Job, "What good is my life to me?"</p>
+
+<p>It was long, very long after, when slowly and mournfully she
+came in again to kiss Alice before going back to her aunt's. She
+would have done it hurriedly and turned away; but Alice held
+her and looked sadly for a minute into the woe-begone little face,
+then clasped her close and kissed her again and again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alice," sobbed Ellen on her neck, "aren't you mistaken?
+maybe you are mistaken?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not mistaken, my dear Ellie, my own Ellie," said Alice's
+clear sweet voice; "nor sorry, except for others. I will talk with
+you more about this. You will be sorry for me at first, and then
+I hope you will be glad. It is only that I am going home a little
+before you. Remember what I was saying to you a while ago.
+Will you tell Mr. Van Brunt I should like to see him for a few
+minutes some time when he has leisure? And come to me early
+to-morrow, love."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could hardly get home. Her blinded eyes could not see
+where she was stepping; and again and again her fulness of heart
+got the better of everything else, and unmindful of the growing
+twilight she sat down on a stone by the wayside or flung herself
+on the ground to let sorrows have full sway. In one of these fits
+of bitter struggling with pain, there came on her mind, like a
+sunbeam across a cloud, the thought of Jesus weeping at the
+grave of Lazarus. It came with singular power. Did He love
+them so well? thought Ellen—and is He looking down upon us
+with the same tenderness even now? She felt that the sun was
+shining still, though the cloud might be between; her broken
+heart crept to His feet and laid its burden there, and after a few
+minutes she rose up and went on her way, keeping that thought
+still close to her heart. The unspeakable tears that were shed
+during those few minutes were that softened outpouring of the
+heart that leaves it eased. Very, very sorrowful as she was, she
+went on calmly now and stopped no more.</p>
+
+<p>It was getting dark, and a little way from the gate on the road,
+she met Mr. Van Brunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was beginning to get scared about you," said he.
+"I was coming to see where you was. How come you so
+late?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen made no answer, and as he now came nearer and he
+could see more distinctly, his tone changed.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" said he, "you ha'n't been well! what
+has happened? what ails you, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>In astonishment and then in alarm, he saw that she was unable
+to speak, and anxiously and kindly begged her to let him know
+what was the matter, and if he could do anything. Ellen shook
+her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't Miss Alice well?" said he; "you ha'n't heerd no bad
+news up there on the hill, have you?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was not willing to answer this question with yea or nay.
+She recovered herself enough to give him Alice's message.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be sure and go," said he, "but you ha'n't told me yet
+what's the matter! Has anything happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "don't ask me—she'll tell you—don't
+ask me."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'll go up the first thing in the morning, then," said
+he, "before breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "better not—perhaps she wouldn't be up
+so early."</p>
+
+<p>"After breakfast then—I'll go up right after breakfast. I
+was agoing with the boys up into that 'ere wheat lot, but anyhow
+I'll do that first. They won't have a chance to do much bad or
+good before I get back to them, I reckon."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as possible she made her escape from Miss Fortune's
+eye and questions of curiosity which she could not bear to answer,
+and got to her own room. There the first thing she did was to
+find the eleventh chapter of John. She read it as she never had
+read it before; she found in it what she never had found before;
+one of those cordials that none but the sorrowing drink. On the
+love of Christ, as there shown, little Ellen's heart fastened; and
+with that one sweetening thought amid all its deep sadness, her
+sleep that night might have been envied by many a luxurious
+roller in pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>At Alice's wish she immediately took up her quarters at the
+parsonage, to leave her no more. But she could not see much
+difference in her from what she had been for several weeks past;
+and with the natural hopefulness of childhood, her mind presently
+almost refused to believe the extremity of the evil which had been
+threatened. Alice herself was constantly cheerful, and sought by
+all means to further Ellen's cheerfulness! though careful at the
+same time to forbid, as far as she could, the rising of the hope she
+saw Ellen was inclined to cherish.</p>
+
+<p>One evening they were sitting together at the window, looking
+out upon the same old lawn and distant landscape, now in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span>
+the fresh greenness of the young spring. The woods were not
+yet in full leaf; and the light of the setting sun upon the trees
+bordering the other side of the lawn showed them in the most
+exquisite and varied shades of colour. Some had the tender green
+of the new leaf, some were in the red or yellow browns of the
+half-opened bud; others in various stages of forwardness mixing
+all the tints between, and the evergreens standing dark as ever,
+setting off the delicate hues of the surrounding foliage. This was
+all softened off in the distance; the very light of the spring was
+mild and tender compared with that of other seasons; and the
+air that stole round the corner of the house and came in at the
+open window was laden with aromatic fragrance. Alice and Ellen
+had been for some time silently breathing it, and gazing thoughtfully
+on the loveliness that was abroad.</p>
+
+<p>"I used to think," said Alice, "that it must be a very hard
+thing to leave such a beautiful world. Did you ever think so,
+Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen faintly, "I don't remember."</p>
+
+<p>"I used to think so," said Alice, "but I do not now, Ellie;
+my feeling has changed. Do <i>you</i> feel so now, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, why do you talk about it, dear Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"For many reasons, dear Ellie. Come here and sit in my lap
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid you cannot bear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I can. Sit here, and let your head rest where it used
+to;" and Alice laid her cheek upon Ellen's forehead. "You are a
+great comfort to me, dear Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alice, don't say so; you'll kill me!" exclaimed Ellen, in
+great distress.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I not say so, love?" said Alice soothingly. "I
+like to say it, and you will be glad to know it by-and-by. You
+are a <i>great</i> comfort to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And what have you been to me?" said Ellen, weeping
+bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"What I cannot be much longer; and I want to accustom you
+to think of it, and to think of it rightly. I want you to know
+that if I am sorry at all in the thought, it is for the sake of others,
+not myself. Ellie, you yourself will be glad for me in a little
+while; you will not wish me back."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I know you will not—after a while; and I shall leave
+you in good hands—I have arranged for that, my dear little
+sister."</p>
+
+<p>The sorrowing child neither knew nor cared what she meant,
+but a mute caress answered the <i>spirit</i> of Alice's words.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Look up, Ellie—look out again. Lovely—lovely! all that
+is—but I know heaven is a great deal more lovely. Feasted as
+our eyes are with beauty, I believe that eye has not seen, nor
+heart imagined, the things that God has prepared for them that
+love Him. <i>You</i> believe that, Ellie; you must not be so <i>very</i> sorry
+that I have gone to see it a little before you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could say nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"After all, Ellie, it is not beautiful things nor a beautiful
+world that make people happy—it is loving and being loved; and
+that is the reason why I am happy in the thought of heaven. I
+shall, if He receives me—I shall be with my Saviour; I shall see
+Him and know Him, without any of the clouds that come between
+here. I am often forgetting and displeasing Him now—never
+serving Him well nor loving Him right. I shall be glad to find
+myself where all that will be done with for ever. I shall be like
+Him! Why do you cry so, Ellie?" said Alice tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it, Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"It is only my love for you—and for two more—that could
+make me wish to stay here—nothing else; and I give all that up,
+because I do not know what is best for you or myself. And I
+look to meet you all again before long. Try to think of it as I
+do, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall I do without you?" said poor Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you, Ellie. You must come here and take my
+place, and take care of those I leave behind; will you? and they
+will take care of you."</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Ellen, looking up eagerly, "Aunt Fortune——"</p>
+
+<p>"I have managed all that. Will you do it, Ellen? I shall
+feel easy and happy about you, and far easier and happier about
+my father, if I leave you established here, to be to him, as far
+as you can, what I have been. Will you promise me, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>In words it was not possible; but what silent kisses, and
+the close pressure of the arms round Alice's neck could say,
+was said.</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied, then," said Alice presently. "My father
+will be your father—think him so, dear Ellie, and I know John
+will take care of you. And my place will not be empty. I am
+very, very glad."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt her place surely would be empty, but she could
+not say so.</p>
+
+<p>"It was for this I was so glad of your aunt's marriage,
+Ellie," Alice soon went on. "I foresaw she might raise some
+difficulties in my way, hard to remove perhaps; but now I have
+seen Mr. Van Brunt, and he has promised me that nothing shall
+hinder your taking up your abode and making your home entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span>
+here. Though I believe, Ellie, he would truly have loved to
+have you in his own house."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure he would," said Ellen, "but oh, how much
+rather——"</p>
+
+<p>"He behaved very well about it the other morning; in a
+very manly, frank, kind way; showed a good deal of feeling I
+think, too. He gave me to understand that for his own sake
+he should be extremely sorry to let you go; but he assured me
+that nothing over which he had any control should stand in the
+way of your good."</p>
+
+<p>"He is <i>very</i> kind—he is <i>very</i> good—he is always so," said
+Ellen. "I love Mr. Van Brunt very much. He always was as
+kind to me as he could be."</p>
+
+<p>They were silent for a few minutes, and Alice was looking
+out of the window again. The sun had set, and the colouring
+of all without was graver. Yet it was but the change from one
+beauty to another. The sweet air seemed still sweeter than
+before the sun went down.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be happy, dear Ellie, in knowing that I am.
+I am happy now. I enjoy all this, and I love you all, but I can
+leave it and can leave you—yes, both—for I would seek Jesus!
+He who has taught me to love Him will not forsake me now.
+Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life,
+and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. I thank
+Him! Oh, I thank Him!"</p>
+
+<p>Alice's face did not belie her words, though her eyes shone
+through tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellie, dear, you must love Him with all your heart, and live
+constantly in His presence. I know if you do He will make
+you happy in any event. He can always give more than He
+takes away. Oh, how good He is! and what wretched returns
+we make Him! I was miserable when John first went away to
+Doncaster; I did not know how to bear it. But now, Ellie, I
+think I can see it has done me good, and I can even be thankful
+for it. All things are ours, all things; the world, and life,
+and death too."</p>
+
+<p>"Alice," said Ellen, as well as she could, "you know what you
+were saying to me the other day?"</p>
+
+<p>"About what, love?"</p>
+
+<p>"That about—you know—that chapter——"</p>
+
+<p>"About the death of Lazarus?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It has comforted me very much."</p>
+
+<p>"So it has me, Ellie. It has been exceeding sweet to me at
+different times. Come, sing to me—'How firm a foundation.'"</p>
+
+<p>From time to time Alice led to this kind of conversation, both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span>
+for Ellen's sake and her own pleasure. Meanwhile she made her
+go on with all her usual studies and duties; and but for these
+talks Ellen would have scarce known how to believe that it could
+be true which she feared.</p>
+
+<p>The wedding of Miss Fortune and Mr. Van Brunt was a very
+quiet one. It happened at far too busy a time of year, and they
+were too cool calculators, and looked upon their union in much too
+business-like a point of view, to dream of such a wild thing as a
+wedding-tour, or even resolve upon so troublesome a thing as a
+wedding-party. Miss Fortune would not have left her cheese and
+butter-making to see all the New Yorks and Bostons that ever
+were built; and she would have scorned a trip to Randolph.
+And Mr. Van Brunt would as certainly have wished himself all
+the while back among his furrows and crops. So one day they
+were quietly married at home, the Rev. Mr. Clark having been
+fetched from Thirlwall for the purpose. Mr. Van Brunt would
+have preferred that Mr. Humphreys should perform the ceremony;
+but Miss Fortune was quite decided in favour of the
+Thirlwall gentleman, and of course he it was.</p>
+
+<p>The talk ran high all over the country on the subject of this
+marriage, and opinions were greatly divided; some, congratulating
+Mr. Van Brunt on having made himself one of the richest landholders
+"in town" by the junction of another fat farm to his own;
+some pitying him for having got more than his match within
+doors, and "guessing he'd missed his reckoning for once."</p>
+
+<p>"If he has, then," said Sam Larkins, who heard some of these
+condoling remarks, "it's the first time in his life, I can tell you.
+If <i>she</i> ain't a little mistaken, I wish I mayn't get a month's wages
+in a year to come. I tell you, you don't know Van Brunt; he's
+as easy as anybody as long as he don't care about what you're
+doing; but if he once takes a notion you can't make him gee nor
+haw no more than you can our near ox Timothy when he's out o'
+yoke; and he's as ugly a beast to manage as ever I see when he
+ain't yoked up. Why, bless you! there ha'n't been a thing done
+on the farm this five years but just what he liked—<i>she</i> don't know
+it. I've heerd her," said Sam, chuckling, "I've heerd her a telling
+him how she wanted this thing done, and t'other, and he'd just
+not say a word and go and do it right t'other way. It'll be a
+wonder if somebody ain't considerably startled in her calculations
+afore summer's out."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She enjoys sure peace for evermore.</span><br />
+As weather-beaten ship arrived on happy shore.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Spenser</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>It was impossible at first to make Mr. Humphreys believe that
+Alice was right in her notion about her health. The greatness
+of the evil was such that his mind refused to receive it, much
+as Ellen's had done. His unbelief, however, lasted longer than
+hers. Constantly with Alice as she was, and talking to her on the
+subject, Ellen slowly gave up the hope she had clung to; though
+still, bending all her energies to the present pleasure and comfort
+of her adopted sister, her mind shrank from looking at the end.
+Daily and hourly, in every way, she strove to be what Alice said
+she was, a comfort to her, and she succeeded. Daily and hourly
+Alice's look and smile and manner said the same thing over and
+over. It was Ellen's precious reward, and in seeking to earn it
+she half the time earned another in forgetting herself. It was
+different with Mr. Humphreys. He saw much less of his
+daughter; and when he was with her, it was impossible for Alice,
+with all her efforts, to speak to him as freely and plainly as she
+was in the habit of speaking to Ellen. The consequences were
+such as grieved her, but could not be helped.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as it was known that her health was failing, Sophia
+Marshman came and took up her abode at the parsonage. Ellen
+was almost sorry; it broke up in a measure the sweet and peaceful
+way of life she and Alice had held together ever since her own
+coming. Miss Sophia could not make a third in their conversations.
+But as Alice's strength grew less and she needed more
+attendance and help, it was plain her friend's being there was a
+happy thing for both Alice and Ellen. Miss Sophia was active,
+cheerful, untiring in her affectionate care, always pleasant in
+manner and temper; a very useful person in a house where one
+was ailing. Mrs. Vawse was often there too, and to her Ellen
+clung, whenever she came, as to a pillar of strength. Miss Sophia
+could do nothing to help <i>her</i>; Mrs. Vawse could, a great deal.</p>
+
+<p>Alice had refused to write or allow others to write to her
+brother. She said he was just finishing his course of study at
+Doncaster; she would not have him disturbed or broken off by
+bad news from home. In August he would be quite through; the
+first of August he would be home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before the middle of June, however, her health began to fail
+much more rapidly than she had counted upon. It became too
+likely that if she waited for his regular return at the first of August
+she would see but little of her brother. She at last reluctantly
+consented that Mrs. Chauncey should write to him; and from that
+moment counted the days.</p>
+
+<p>Her father had scarcely till now given up his old confidence
+respecting her. He came into her room one morning when just
+about to set out for Carra-carra to visit one or two of his poor
+parishioners.</p>
+
+<p>"How are you to-day, my daughter?" he asked tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"Easy, papa, and happy," said Alice.</p>
+
+<p>"You are looking better," said he. "We shall have you well
+again among us yet."</p>
+
+<p>There was some sorrow for him in Alice's smile, as she looked
+up at him and answered, "Yes, papa, in the land where the inhabitants
+shall no more say 'I am sick.'"</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her hastily and went out.</p>
+
+<p>"I almost wish I was in your place, Alice," said Miss Sophia.
+"I hope I may be half as happy when my time comes."</p>
+
+<p>"What right have you to hope so, Sophia?" said Alice, rather
+sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure," said the other, after a pause, "you have
+been ten times as good as I. I don't wonder you feel easy
+when you look back and think how blameless your life has
+been."</p>
+
+<p>"Sophia, Sophia!" said Alice, "you know it is not that. I
+never did a good thing in all my life that was not mixed and
+spoiled with evil. I never came up to the full measure of duty
+in any matter."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely," said Miss Sophia, "if one does the best one
+can, it will be accepted?"</p>
+
+<p>"It won't do to trust to that, Sophia. God's law requires
+perfection; and nothing less than perfection will be received as
+payment of its demand. If you owe a hundred dollars, and your
+creditor will not hold you quit for anything less than the whole
+sum, it is of no manner of signification whether you offer him ten
+or twenty."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, according to that," said Miss Sophia, "it makes no
+difference what kind of life one leads."</p>
+
+<p>Alice sighed and shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"The fruit shows what the tree is. Love to God <i>will</i> strive
+to please Him—always."</p>
+
+<p>"And is it of no use to strive to please Him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of no manner of use, if you make that your <i>trust</i>."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't see what one <i>is</i> to trust to," said Miss Sophia,
+"if it isn't a good life."</p>
+
+<p>"I will answer you," said Alice, with a smile in which there
+was no sorrow, "in some words that I love very much, of an old
+Scotchman, I think—'I have taken all my good deeds and all my
+bad, and have cast them together in a heap before the Lord;
+and from them all I have fled to Jesus Christ, and in Him alone
+I have sweet peace.'"</p>
+
+<p>Sophia was silenced for a minute by her look.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said she, "I don't understand it; that is what George
+is always talking about; but I can't understand him."</p>
+
+<p>"I am <i>very</i> sorry you cannot," said Alice gravely.</p>
+
+<p>They were both silent for a little while.</p>
+
+<p>"If all Christians were like you," said Miss Sophia, "I might
+think more about it; but they are such a dull set; there seems
+to be no life nor pleasure among them."</p>
+
+<p>Alice thought of these lines—</p>
+
+<p>
+"Their pleasures rise to things unseen,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond the bounds of time;</span><br />
+Where neither eyes nor ears have been,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor thoughts of mortals climb."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"You judge," she said, "like the rest of the world, of that
+which they see not. After all, <i>they</i> know best whether they are
+happy. What do you think of Mrs. Vawse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what to think of her; she is wonderful to me;
+she is past my comprehension entirely. Don't make <i>her</i> an
+example."</p>
+
+<p>"No, religion has done that for me. What do you think of
+your brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"George—<i>he</i> is happy—there is no doubt of that; he is the
+happiest person in the family, by all odds; but then I think he
+has a natural knack at being happy; it is impossible for anything
+to put him out."</p>
+
+<p>Alice smiled and shook her head again.</p>
+
+<p>"Sophistry, Sophia. What do you think of <i>me</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see what reason you have to be anything but
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>"What have I to make me so?"</p>
+
+<p>Sophia was silent. Alice laid her thin hand upon hers.</p>
+
+<p>"I am leaving all I love in this world. Should I be happy if
+I were not going to somewhat I love better? Should I be happy
+if I had no secure prospect of meeting with them again?—or if
+I were doubtful of my reception in that place whither I hope to
+go to."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sophia burst into tears. "Well, I don't know," said she; "I
+suppose you are right; but I don't understand it."</p>
+
+<p>Alice drew her face down to hers and whispered something
+in her ear.</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly Alice had much around as well as within her to
+make a declining life happy. Mrs. Vawse and Miss Marshman
+were two friends and nurses not to be surpassed, in their different
+ways. Margery's motherly affection, her zeal, and her skill, left
+nothing for heart to wish in her line of duty. And all that
+affection, taste, and kindness, which abundant means could supply,
+was at Alice's command. Still her greatest comfort was Ellen.
+Her constant thoughtful care; the thousand tender attentions,
+from the roses daily gathered for her table to the chapters she
+read and the hymns she sung to her; the smile that often covered
+a pang; the pleasant words and tone that many a time came
+from a sinking heart; they were Alice's daily and nightly cordial.
+Ellen had learned self-command in more than one school; affection,
+as once before, was her powerful teacher now, and taught
+her well. Sophia openly confessed that Ellen was the best
+nurse; and Margery, when nobody heard her, muttered blessings
+on the child's head.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Humphreys came in often to see his daughter, but never
+stayed long. It was plain he could not bear it. It might have
+been difficult too for Alice to bear, but she wished for her
+brother. She reckoned the time from Mrs. Chauncey's letter to
+that when he might be looked for; but some irregularities in
+the course of the post-office made it impossible to count with
+certainty upon the exact time of his arrival. Meanwhile her
+failure was very rapid. Mrs. Vawse began to fear he would not
+arrive in time.</p>
+
+<p>The weeks of June ran out; the roses, all but a few late
+kinds, blossomed and died.</p>
+
+<p>July came.</p>
+
+<p>One morning when Ellen went into her room, Alice drew
+her close to her and said, "You remember, Ellie, in the 'Pilgrim's
+Progress,' when Christiana and her companions were sent to go
+over the river?—I think the messenger has come for me. You
+mustn't cry, love—listen—this is the token he seems to bring
+me—'I have loved thee with an everlasting love.' I am sure
+of it, Ellie; I have no doubt of it—so don't cry for me. You
+have been my dear comfort—my blessing—we shall love each
+other in heaven, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>Alice kissed her earnestly several times, and then Ellen
+escaped from her arms and fled away. It was long before she
+could come back again. But she came at last; and went on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>
+through all that day as she had done for weeks before. The
+day seemed long, for every member of the family was on the
+watch for John's arrival, and it was thought his sister would not
+live to see another. It wore away; hour after hour passed without
+his coming; and the night fell. Alice showed no impatience,
+but she evidently wished and watched for him; and Ellen, whose
+affection read her face and knew what to make of the look at the
+opening door—the eye turned towards the window—the attitude
+of listening—grew feverish with her intense desire that she should
+be gratified.</p>
+
+<p>From motives of convenience, Alice had moved upstairs to a
+room that John generally occupied when he was at home, directly
+over the sitting-room, and with pleasant windows towards the
+east. Mrs. Chauncey, Miss Sophia, and Mrs. Vawse were all
+there. Alice was lying quietly on the bed, and seemed to be
+dozing; but Ellen noticed, after lights were brought, that every
+now and then she opened her eyes and gave an inquiring look
+round the room. Ellen could not bear it; slipping softly out, she
+went downstairs and seated herself on the threshold of the glass
+door, as if by watching there she could be any nearer the knowledge
+of what she wished for.</p>
+
+<p>It was a perfectly still summer night. The moon shone
+brightly on the little lawn and poured its rays over Ellen, just
+as it had done one well-remembered evening near a year ago.
+Ellen's thoughts went back to it. How like and how unlike!
+All around was just the same as it had been then; the cool
+moonlight upon the distant fields, the trees in the gap lit up,
+as then, the lawn a flood of brightness. But there was no happy
+party gathered there now; they were scattered. One was away;
+one a sorrowful watcher alone in the moonlight; one waiting to
+be gone where there is no need of moon or stars for evermore.
+Ellen almost wondered they could shine so bright upon those
+that had no heart to rejoice in them; she thought they looked
+down coldly and unfeelingly upon her distress. She remembered
+the whip-poor-will; none was heard to-night, near or far; she
+was glad of it; it would have been too much; and there were no
+fluttering leaves; the air was absolutely still. Ellen looked up
+again at the moon and stars. They shone calmly on, despite the
+reproaches she cast upon them; and as she still gazed up towards
+them in their purity and steadfastness, other thoughts began to
+come into her head of that which was more pure still, and more
+steadfast. How long they have been shining, thought Ellen;
+going on just the same from night to night and from year to
+year, as if they never would come to an end. But they <i>will</i> come
+to an end; the time <i>will</i> come when they stop shining, bright<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span>
+as they are; and then, when all they are swept away, then
+heaven will be only begun; that will never end! never. And in
+a few years we who were so happy a year ago and are so sorry
+now, shall be all glad together there, this will be all over! And
+then as she looked, and the tears sprang to her thoughts, a
+favourite hymn of Alice's came to her remembrance.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"Ye stars are but the shining dust<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Of my divine abode;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The pavements of those heavenly courts</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Where I shall see my God.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Father of eternal lights</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Shall there His beams display;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And not one moment's darkness mix</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With that unvaried day."</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Not one moment's darkness!' Oh," thought little Ellen,
+"there are a great many here!" Still gazing up at the bright
+calm heavens, while the tears ran fast down her face, and fell
+into her lap, there came trooping through Ellen's mind many of
+those words she had been in the habit of reading to her mother
+and Alice, and which she knew and loved so well.</p>
+
+<p>"And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle,
+neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light;
+and they shall reign for ever and ever. And there shall be no
+more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in
+it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His
+face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And God shall
+wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
+death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
+pain: for the former things have passed away."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
+and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
+be also."</p>
+
+<p>While Ellen was yet going over and over these precious
+things, with a strong sense of their preciousness in all her throbbing
+grief, there came to her ear through the perfect stillness of
+the night the faint, far-off, not-to-be-mistaken sound of quick-coming
+horse's feet, nearer and nearer every second. It came
+with a mingled pang of pain and pleasure, both very acute; she
+rose instantly to her feet, and stood pressing her hand to her
+heart while the quick-measured beat of hoofs grew louder and
+louder, until it ceased at the very door. The minutes were few,
+but they were moments of intense bitterness. The tired horse
+stooped his head, as the rider flung himself from the saddle and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span>
+came to the door where Ellen stood fixed. A look asked, and a
+look answered, the question that lips could not speak. Ellen
+only pointed the way, and uttered the words, "up stairs;" and
+John rushed thither. He checked himself, however, at the door
+of the room, and opened it and went in as calmly as if he had
+but come from a walk. But his caution was very needless. Alice
+knew his step, she knew <i>his horse's step</i> too well; she had raised
+herself up and stretched out both arms towards him before he
+entered. In another moment they were round his neck, and she
+was supported in his. There was a long, long silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you happy, Alice?" whispered her brother.</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly. This was all I wanted. Kiss me, dear John."</p>
+
+<p>As he did so, again and again, she felt his tears on her cheek,
+and put up her hands to his face to wipe them away; kissed him
+then, and then once again laid her head on his breast. They
+remained so a little while without stirring, except that some
+whispers were exchanged too low for others to hear, and once
+more she raised her face to kiss him. A few minutes after those
+who could look saw his colour change; he felt the arms unclasp
+their hold; and as he laid her gently back on the pillow, they
+fell languidly down; the will and the power that had sustained
+them were gone. <i>Alice</i> was gone; but the departing spirit had
+left a ray of brightness on its earthly house; there was a half
+smile on the sweet face, of most entire peace and satisfaction.
+Her brother looked for a moment, closed the eyes, kissed, once
+and again, the sweet lips, and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen saw him no more that night, nor knew how he passed
+it. For her, wearied with grief and excitement, it was spent in
+long heavy slumber. From the pitch to which her spirits had
+been wrought by care, sorrow, and self-restraint, they now suddenly
+and completely sank down; naturally and happily, she lost
+all sense of trouble in sleep.</p>
+
+<p>When sleep at last left her, and she stole downstairs into the
+sitting-room in the morning, it was rather early. Nobody was
+stirring about the house but herself. It seemed deserted; the
+old sitting-room looked empty and forlorn; the stillness was
+oppressive. Ellen could not bear it. Softly opening the glass
+door, she went out upon the lawn, where everything was sparkling
+in the early freshness of the summer morning. How could it
+look so pleasant without, when all pleasantness was gone within?
+It pressed upon Ellen's heart. With a restless feeling of pain,
+she went on, round the corner of the house, and paced slowly
+along the road till she came to the footpath that led up to
+the place on the mountain John had called the Bridge of the
+Nose. Ellen took that path, often travelled and much loved by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span>
+her; and slowly, with slow-dripping tears, made her way up over
+moss wet with the dew, and the stones and rocks with which the
+rough way was strewn. She passed the place where Alice at
+first found her; she remembered it well; there was the very
+stone beside which they had kneeled together, and where Alice's
+folded hands were laid. Ellen knelt down beside it again, and
+for a moment laid her cheek to the cold stone while her arms
+embraced it, and a second time it was watered with tears. She
+rose up again quickly and went on her way, toiling up the steep
+path beyond, till she turned the edge of the mountain and stood
+on the old place where she and Alice that evening had watched
+the setting sun. Many a setting sun they had watched from
+thence; it had been a favourite pleasure of them both to run up
+there for a few minutes before or after tea and see the sun go
+down at the far end of the long valley. It seemed to Ellen one
+of Alice's haunts; she missed her there; and the thought went
+keenly home that there she would come with her no more. She
+sat down on the stone she called her own, and leaning her
+head on Alice's, which was close by, she wept bitterly, yet not
+very long; she was too tired and subdued for bitter weeping;
+she raised her head again, and wiping away her tears, looked
+abroad over the beautiful landscape. Never more beautiful than
+then.</p>
+
+<p>The early sun filled the valley with patches of light and shade.
+The sides and tops of the hills looking towards the east were
+bright with the cool brightness of the morning; beyond and
+between them deep shadows lay. The sun could not yet look at
+that side of the mountain where Ellen sat, nor at the long reach
+of ground it screened from his view, stretching from the mountain
+foot to the other end of the valley; but to the left, between that
+and the Cat's Back, the rays of the sun streamed through, touching
+the houses of the village, showing the lake, and making every
+tree and barn and clump of wood in the distance stand out in
+bright relief. Deliciously cool, both the air and the light, though
+a warm day was promised. The night had swept away all the
+heat of yesterday. Now, the air was fresh with the dew and
+sweet from hayfield and meadow; and the birds were singing
+like mad all around. There was no answering echo in the little
+human heart that looked and listened. Ellen loved all these
+things too well not to notice them even now; she felt their full
+beauty; but she felt it sadly. "<i>She</i> will look at it no more!"
+she said to herself. But instantly came an answer to her thought:
+"Behold I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former
+shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Thy sun shall no
+more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span>
+Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
+shall be ended."</p>
+
+<p>"She is there now," thought Ellen, "she is happy, why should
+I be sorry for her? I am not; but oh! I must be sorry for
+myself. Oh, Alice! dear Alice!"</p>
+
+<p>She wept; but then again came sweeping over her mind the
+words with which she was so familiar, "the days of thy mourning
+shall be ended;" and again with her regret mingled the consciousness
+that it must be for herself alone. And for herself,
+"Can I not trust Him whom she trusted?" she thought. Somewhat
+soothed and more calm, she sat still looking down into the
+brightening valley or off to the hills that stretched away on either
+hand of it; when up through the still air the sound of the little
+Carra-carra church bell came to her ear. It rang for a minute
+and then stopped. It crossed Ellen's mind to wonder what it
+could be ringing for at that time of day; but she went back to
+her musings and had entirely forgotten it, when again, clear and
+full through the stillness, the sound came pealing up.</p>
+
+<p>"One—two!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen knew now! It went through her very heart.</p>
+
+<p>It is the custom in the country to toll the church bell upon
+occasions of death of any one in the township or parish. A few
+strokes are rung by way of drawing attention; these are followed
+after a little pause by a single one if the knell is for a man, or
+two for a woman. Then another short pause. Then follows the
+number of years the person has lived, told in short, rather slow
+strokes, as one would count them up. After pausing once more
+the tolling begins, and is kept up for some time; the strokes
+following in slow and sad succession, each one being permitted to
+die quite away before another breaks upon the ear.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had been told of this custom, but habit had never made
+it familiar. Only once she had happened to hear this notice of
+death given out; and that was long ago; the bell could not be
+heard at Miss Fortune's house. It came upon her now with all
+the force of novelty and surprise. As the number of the years
+of Alice's life was sadly told out, every stroke was to her as if it
+fell upon a raw nerve. Ellen hid her face in her lap and tried
+to keep from counting, but she could not; and as the tremulous
+sound of the last of the twenty-four died away upon the air, she
+was shuddering from head to foot. A burst of tears relieved her
+when the sound ceased.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a voice close beside her said low, as if the speaker
+might not trust its higher tones, "I will lift up mine eyes unto
+the hills, from whence cometh my help!"</p>
+
+<p>How differently <i>that</i> sound struck upon Ellen's ear! With an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span>
+indescribable air of mingled tenderness, weariness, and sorrow,
+she slowly rose from her seat and put both her arms round the
+speaker's neck. Neither said a word; but to Ellen the arm that
+held her was more than all words; it was the dividing line between
+her and the world, on this side everything, on that side
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>No word was spoken for many minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said her brother softly, "how came you
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," whispered Ellen, "there was nobody there—I
+couldn't stay in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we go home now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes—whenever you please."</p>
+
+<p>But neither moved yet. Ellen had raised her head; she still
+stood with her arm upon her brother's shoulder; the eyes of both
+were on the scene before them; the thoughts of neither. He
+presently spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us try to love our God better, Ellie, the less we have
+left to love in this world; that is His meaning—let sorrow but
+bring us closer to Him. Dear Alice is well—she is well, and if
+we are made to suffer, we know and we love the hand that has
+done it, do we not, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen put her hands to her face; she thought her heart would
+break. He gently drew her to a seat on the stone beside him,
+and still keeping his arm round her, slowly and soothingly went
+on—</p>
+
+<p>"Think that she is happy; think that she is safe; think that
+she is with that blessed One whose face we seek at a distance,
+satisfied with His likeness instead of wearily struggling with sin;
+think that sweetly and easily she has got home; and it is our
+home too. We must weep, because we are left alone; but for
+her 'I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the
+dead that die in the Lord'!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke in low and sweet tones, Ellen's tears calmed and
+stopped; but she still kept her hands to her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we go home, Ellie?" said her brother, after another
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>She rose up instantly and said yes. But he held her still, and
+looking for a moment at the tokens of watching and grief and
+care in her countenance, he gently kissed the pale little face,
+adding a word of endearment which almost broke Ellen's heart
+again. Then taking her hand they went down the mountain
+together.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+I have seen angels by the sick one's pillow;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There was the soft tone and the soundless tread,</span><br />
+Where smitten hearts were drooping like the willow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They stood "between the living and the dead."</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Unknown</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The whole Marshman family arrived to-day from Ventnor, some
+to see Alice's lovely remains, and all to follow them to the
+grave. The parsonage could not hold so many; the two Mr.
+Marshmans, therefore, with Major and Mrs. Gillespie, made their
+quarters at Thirlwall. Margery's hands were full enough with
+those that were left.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon, however, she found time for a visit to the
+room, <i>the</i> room. She was standing at the foot of the bed, gazing
+on the sweet face she loved so dearly, when Mrs. Chauncey and
+Mrs. Vawse came up for the same purpose. All three stood some
+time in silence.</p>
+
+<p>The bed was strewn with flowers, somewhat singularly disposed.
+Upon the pillow, and upon and about the hands which
+were folded on the breast, were scattered some of the rich late
+roses, roses and rosebuds, strewn with beautiful and profuse carelessness.
+A single stem of white lilies lay on the side of the bed;
+the rest of the flowers, a large quantity, covered the feet, seeming
+to have been flung there without any attempt at arrangement.
+They were of various kinds, chosen, however, with exquisite taste
+and feeling. Beside the roses, there were none that were not
+either white or distinguished for their fragrance. The delicate
+white verbena, the pure feverfew, mignonette, sweet geranium,
+white myrtle, the rich-scented heliotrope, were mingled with the
+late blossoming damask and purple roses; no yellow flowers, no
+purple, except those mentioned; even the flaunting petunia,
+though white, had been left out by the nice hand that had culled
+them. But the arranging of these beauties seemed to have been
+little more than attempted; though indeed it might be questioned
+whether the finest art could have bettered the effect of
+what the overtasked hand of affection had left half done. Mrs.
+Chauncey, however, after a while began slowly to take a flower
+or two from the foot and place them on other parts of the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Will Mrs. Chauncey pardon my being so bold," said Margery
+then, who had looked on with no pleasure while this was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span>
+doing, "but if she had seen when those flowers were put there,
+it wouldn't be her wish, I am sure it wouldn't be her wish, to stir
+one of them."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Chauncey's hand, which was stretched out for a fourth,
+drew back.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, who put them there?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think she is sleeping, ma'am. Poor child! she's the
+most wearied of us all with sorrow and watching," said Margery,
+weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"You saw her bring them up, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her, ma'am. Oh, will I ever forget it as long as I
+live!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Mrs. Chauncey gently.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a thing one should have seen, ma'am, to understand. I
+don't know as I can tell it well."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing, however, that Mrs. Chauncey still looked her wish,
+Margery went on, half under her breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, ma'am, the way it was, I had come up to get some
+linen out of the closet, for I had watched my time; Mrs. Chauncey
+sees, I was afeared of finding Mr. John here, and I knew that he
+was lying down just then, so——"</p>
+
+<p>"Lying down, was he?" said Mrs. Vawse. "I did not know
+he had taken any rest to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"It was very little he took, ma'am, indeed, though there was
+need enough, I am sure; he had been up with his father the
+live-long blessed night. And then the first thing this morning
+he was away after Miss Ellen, poor child! wherever she had
+betaken herself to; I happened to see her before anybody was
+out, going round the corner of the house, and so I knew when he
+asked me for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Was she going after flowers <i>then</i>?" said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, ma'am, it was a long time after; it was this morning
+some time. I had come up to the linen closet, knowing Mr.
+John was in his room, and I thought I was safe; and I had just
+taken two or three pieces on my arm, you know, ma'am, when
+somehow I forgot myself, and forgot what I had come for, and
+leaving what I should ha' been adoing, I was standing there,
+looking out this way at the dear features I never thought to see
+in death—and I had entirely forgotten what I was there for,
+ma'am—when I heard Miss Ellen's little footstep coming softly
+upstairs. I didn't want her to catch sight of me just then, so I
+had just drew myself back a bit, so as I could see her without
+her seeing me back in the closet where I was. But it had like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span>
+to have got the better of me entirely, ma'am, when I see her
+come in with a lap full of them flowers, and looking so as she did
+too! but with much trouble I kept quiet. She went up and
+stood by the side of the bed, just where Mrs. Chauncey is standing,
+with her sweet sad little face—it's the hardest thing to see
+a child's face look so—and the flowers all gathered up in her
+frock. It was odd to see her, she didn't cry—not at all—only
+once I saw her brow wrinkle, but it seemed as if she had a mind
+not to, for she put her hand up to her face and held it a little,
+and then she began to take out the flowers one by one, and she'd
+lay a rose here and a rose-bud there, and so; and then she went
+round to the other side and laid the lilies, and two or three more
+roses there on the pillow. But I could see all the while it was
+getting too much for her; I see very soon she wouldn't get
+through; she just placed two or three more, and one rose there
+in that hand, and that was the last. I could see it working in
+her face; she turned as pale as her lilies all at once, and just
+tossed up all the flowers out of her frock on the bed-foot there—that's
+just as they fell—and down she went on her knees, and
+her face in her hands on the side of the bed. I thought no
+more about my linen," said Margery, weeping—"I couldn't do
+anything but look at that child kneeling there, and her flowers—and
+all beside her she used to call her sister, and that couldn't
+be a sister to her no more; and she's without a sister now to be
+sure, poor child!"</p>
+
+<p>"She has a brother, unless I am mistaken," said Mrs.
+Chauncey, when she could speak.</p>
+
+<p>"And that's just what I was going to tell you, ma'am. She
+had been there five or ten minutes without moving, or more—I
+am sure I don't know how long it was, I didn't think how time
+went—when the first thing I knew I heard another step, and
+Mr. John came in. I thought, and expected, he was taking some
+sleep; but I suppose," said Margery sighing, "he couldn't rest.
+I knew his step, and just drew myself back further. He came just
+where you are, ma'am, and stood with his arms folded a long time
+looking. I don't know how Miss Ellen didn't hear him come in;
+but however she didn't; and they were both as still as death, one
+on one side and the other on the other side. And I wondered
+he didn't see her; but her white dress and all—and I suppose he
+had no thought but for one thing. I knew the first minute he
+did see her, when he looked over and spied her on the other side
+of the bed; I see his colour change; and then his mouth took
+the look it always did whenever he sets himself to do anything.
+He stood a minute, and then he went round and knelt down
+beside of her, and softly took away one of her hands from under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span>
+her face, and held it in both of his own, and then he made such
+a prayer! Oh," said Margery, her tears falling fast at the recollection,
+"I never heard the like! I never did. He gave thanks
+for Miss Alice, and he had reason enough, to be sure, and for
+himself and Miss Ellen—I wondered to hear him! and he prayed
+for them too, and others—and—oh, I thought I couldn't stand
+and hear him; and I was afeared to breathe the whole time, lest
+he would know I was there. It was the beautifullest prayer I did
+ever hear, or ever shall, however."</p>
+
+<p>"And how did Ellen behave?" said Mrs. Chauncey, when she
+could speak.</p>
+
+<p>"She didn't stir, nor make the least motion nor sound, till he
+had done, and spoke to her. They stood a little while then, and
+Mr. John put the rest of the flowers up there round her hands
+and the pillow—Miss Ellen hadn't put more than half-a-dozen; I
+noticed how he kept hold of Miss Ellen's hand all the time. I
+heard her begin to tell him how she didn't finish the flowers, and
+he told her, 'I saw it all, Ellie,' he said; and he said 'it didn't
+want finishing.' I wondered how he should see it, but I suppose
+he did, however. <i>I</i> understood it very well. They went away
+downstairs after that."</p>
+
+<p>"He is beautifully changed," said Mrs. Vawse.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am," said Margery, "I've heard that said
+afore, but I can't say as I ever could see it. He always was the
+same to me—always the honourablest, truest, noblest—my husband
+says he was a bit fiery, but I never could tell that the one temper
+was sweeter than the other; only everybody always did whatever
+Mr. John wanted, to be sure; but he was the perfectest gentleman,
+always."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not seen either Mr. John or Ellen since my mother
+came," said Mrs. Chauncey.</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Margery, "they were out reading under
+the trees for a long time; and Miss Ellen came in the kitchen
+way a little while ago and went to lie down."</p>
+
+<p>"How is Mr. Humphreys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't tell you, ma'am; he is worse than any one knows
+of, I am afraid, unless Mr. John; you will not see him, ma'am;
+he has not been here once, nor don't mean to, I think. It will
+go hard with my poor master, I am afraid," said Margery, weeping;
+"dear Miss Alice said Miss Ellen was to take her place;
+but it would want an angel to do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen will do a great deal," said Mrs. Vawse; "Mr. Humphreys
+loves her well now, I know."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I, ma'am, I am sure; and so does every one; but
+still——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Margery broke off her sentence and sorrowfully went downstairs.
+Mrs. Chauncey moved no more flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon of the next day Margery came softly
+into Ellen's room.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen, dear, you are awake, aren't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Margery," said Ellen, sitting up on the bed; "come in.
+What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came to ask Miss Ellen if she <i>could</i> do me a great favour;
+there's a strange gentleman come, and nobody has seen him yet,
+and it don't seem right. He has been here this some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you told Mr. John?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Ellen; he's in the library with my master; and
+somehow I dursn't go to the door; mayhap they wouldn't be best
+pleased. <i>Would</i> Miss Ellen mind telling Mr. John of the gentleman's
+being here?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen would mind it very much, there was no doubt of that;
+Margery could hardly have asked her to put a greater force upon
+herself; she did not say so.</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure he is there, Margery?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite sure, Miss Ellen. I am very sorry to disturb you;
+but if you wouldn't mind—I am ashamed to have the gentleman
+left to himself so long."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it, Margery."</p>
+
+<p>She got up, slipped on her shoes, and mechanically smoothing
+her hair, set off to the library. On the way she almost repented
+her willingness to oblige Margery; the errand was marvellously
+disagreeable to her. She had never gone to that room except
+with Alice; never entered it uninvited. She could hardly make
+up her mind to knock at the door. But she had promised; it
+must be done.</p>
+
+<p>The first fearful tap was too light to rouse any mortal ears.
+At the second, though not much better, she heard some one move,
+and John opened the door. Without waiting to hear her speak
+he immediately drew her in, very unwillingly on her part, and
+led her silently up to his father. The old gentleman was sitting
+in his great study-chair with a book open at his side. He turned
+from it as she came up, took her hand in his and held it for a few
+moments without speaking. Ellen dared not raise her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"My little girl," said he very gravely, though not without a tone
+of kindness too, "are you coming here to cheer my loneliness?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen in vain struggled to speak an articulate word; it was
+impossible; she suddenly stooped down and touched her lips to
+the hand that lay on the arm of the chair. He put the hand
+tenderly upon her head.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you," said he, "abundantly, for all the love you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span>
+showed <i>her</i>. Come—if you will—and be, as far as a withered
+heart will let you, all that she wished. All is yours—except what
+will be buried with her."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was awed and pained very much. Not because the
+words and manner were sad and solemn; it was the <i>tone</i> that distressed
+her. There was no tearfulness in it; it trembled a little;
+it seemed to come indeed from a withered heart. She shook
+with the effort she made to control herself. John asked her
+presently what she had come for.</p>
+
+<p>"A gentleman," said Ellen—"there's a gentleman—a
+stranger——"</p>
+
+<p>He went immediately out to see him, leaving her standing
+there. Ellen did not know whether to go too or stay, she
+thought from his not taking her with him he wished her to stay;
+she stood doubtfully. Presently she heard steps coming back
+along the hall—steps of two persons—the door opened, and the
+strange gentleman came in. No stranger to Ellen! she knew
+him in a moment; it was her old friend, her friend of the boat—Mr.
+George Marshman.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Humphreys rose up to meet him, and the two gentlemen
+shook hands in silence. Ellen had at first shrunk out of the way
+to the other side of the room, and now when she saw an opportunity
+she was going to make her escape, but John gently detained
+her; and she stood still by his side, though with a kind of
+feeling that it was not there the best place or time for her old
+friend to recognise her. He was sitting by Mr. Humphreys and
+for the present quite occupied with him. Ellen thought nothing
+of what they were saying; with eyes eagerly fixed upon Mr.
+Marshman she was reading memory's long story over again. The
+same pleasant look and kind tone that she remembered so well
+came to comfort her in her first sorrow—the old way of speaking,
+and even of moving an arm or hand, the familiar figure and face;
+how they took Ellen's thoughts back to the deck of the steamboat,
+the hymns, the talks; the love and kindness that led and persuaded
+her so faithfully and effectually to do her duty; it was all
+present again; and Ellen gazed at him as at a picture of the past,
+forgetting for the moment everything else. The same love and
+kindness were endeavouring now to say something for Mr. Humphreys'
+relief; it was a hard task. The old gentleman heard and
+answered, for the most part briefly, but so as to show that his
+friend laboured in vain; the bitterness and hardness of grief were
+unallayed yet. It was not till John made some slight remark
+that Mr. Marshman turned his head that way; he looked for a
+moment in some surprise, and then said, his countenance lightening,
+"Is that Ellen Montgomery?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen sprang across at that word to take his outstretched
+hand. But as she felt the well-remembered grasp of it, and met
+the whole look, the thought of which she had treasured up for
+years, it was too much. Back as in a flood to her heart, seemed
+to come at once all the thoughts and feelings of the time since
+then; the difference of this meeting from the joyful one she had
+so often pictured to herself; the sorrow of that time mixed with
+the sorrow now; and the sense that the very hand that had wiped
+those first tears away was the one now laid in the dust by death.
+All thronged on her heart at once; and it was too much. She
+had scarce touched Mr. Marshman's hand when she hastily withdrew
+her own, and gave way to an overwhelming burst of sorrow.
+It was infectious. There was such an utter absence of all bitterness
+or hardness in the tone of this grief; there was so touching
+an expression of submission mingled with it, that even Mr. Humphreys
+was overcome. Ellen was not the only subdued weeper
+there; not the only one whose tears came from a broken-up heart.
+For a few minutes the silence of stifled sobs was in the room, till
+Ellen recovered enough to make her escape; and then the colour
+of sorrow was lightened, in one breast at least.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," said Mr. Humphreys, "I can hear you now better
+than I could a little while ago. I had almost forgotten that God
+is good. 'Light in the darkness'; I see it now. That child has
+given me a lesson."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not know what had passed around her, nor what
+had followed her quitting the room. But she thought when
+John came to the tea-table he looked relieved. If his general
+kindness and tenderness of manner towards herself <i>could</i> have
+been greater than usual, she might have thought it was that
+night; but she only thought he felt better.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Marshman was not permitted to leave the house. He
+was a great comfort to everybody. Not himself overburdened
+with sorrow, he was able to make that effort for the good of the
+rest, which no one yet had been equal to. The whole family,
+except Mr. Humphreys, were gathered together at this time;
+and his grave, cheerful, unceasing kindness made that by far the
+most comfortable meal that had been taken. It was exceeding
+grateful to Ellen to see and hear him, from the old remembrance
+as well as the present effect. And he had not forgotten his old
+kindness for her; she saw it in his look, his words, his voice,
+shown in every way; and the feeling that she had got her old
+friend again and should never lose him now gave her more deep
+pleasure than anything else could possibly have done at that
+time. His own family too had not seen him in a long time, so
+his presence was a matter of general satisfaction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Later in the evening Ellen was sitting beside him on the
+sofa, looking and listening—he was like a piece of old music to
+her—when John came to the back of the sofa and said he wanted
+to speak to her. She went with him to the other side of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellie," said he in a low voice, "I think my father would
+like to hear you sing a hymn, do you think you could?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked up, with a peculiar mixture of uncertainty and
+resolution in her countenance, and said yes.</p>
+
+<p>"Not if it will pain you too much, and not unless you think
+you can surely go through with it, Ellen," he said gently.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "I will try."</p>
+
+<p>"Will it not give you too much pain? do you think you
+can?"</p>
+
+<p>"No—I will try!" she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>As she went along the hall she said and resolved to herself
+that she <i>would</i> do it. The library was dark; coming
+from the light Ellen at first could see nothing. John placed
+her in a chair, and went away himself to a little distance
+where he remained perfectly still. She covered her face with
+her hands for a minute, and prayed for strength; she was
+afraid to try.</p>
+
+<p>Alice and her brother were remarkable for beauty of voice
+and utterance. The latter Ellen had in part caught from them;
+in the former she thought herself greatly inferior. Perhaps she
+underrated herself; her voice, though not indeed powerful, was
+low and sweet, and very clear; and the entire simplicity and
+feeling with which she sang hymns was more effectual than any
+higher qualities of tone and compass. She had been very much
+accustomed to sing with Alice, who excelled in beautiful truth
+and simplicity of expression; listening with delight, as she had
+often done, and often joining with her, Ellen had caught something
+of her manner.</p>
+
+<p>She thought nothing of all this now; she had a trying task
+to go through. Sing!—then, and there! And what should she
+sing? All that class of hymns that bore directly on the subject
+of their sorrow must be left on one side; she hardly dared think
+of them. Instinctively she took up another class, that without
+baring the wound would lay the balm close to it. A few minutes
+of deep stillness were in the dark room; then very low, and in
+tones that trembled a little, rose the words—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a believer's ear;</span><br />
+It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And drives away his fear."</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span>
+The tremble in her voice ceased, as she went on—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"It makes the wounded spirit whole,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And calms the troubled breast;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Tis manna to the hungry soul,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And to the weary, rest.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">By him my prayers acceptance gain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Although with sin defiled;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Satan accuses me in vain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And I am owned a child.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Weak is the effort of my heart,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And cold my warmest thought,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But when I see thee as thou art,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">I'll praise thee as I ought.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Till then I would thy love proclaim</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With every lab'ring breath;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And may the music of thy name</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Refresh my soul in death."</span><br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Ellen paused a minute. There was not a sound to be heard
+in the room. She thought of the hymn, "Loving Kindness;"
+but the tune, and the spirit of the words, was too lively. Her
+mother's favourite, "'Tis my happiness below," but Ellen could
+not venture that; she strove to forget it as fast as possible. She
+sang, clearly and sweetly as ever now—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"Hark, my soul, it is the Lord,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Tis thy Saviour, hear his word;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou me!</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'I delivered thee when bound,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And when bleeding healed thy wound;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Sought thee wandering, set thee right,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Turned thy darkness into light.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Can a mother's tender care</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Cease toward the child she bare?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yea—<i>she</i> may forgetful be,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yet will I remember thee.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Mine is an unchanging love;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Higher than the heights above,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Deeper than the depths beneath,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Free and faithful, strong as death.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Thou shalt see my glory soon,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When the work of life is done,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Partner of my throne shalt be,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Say, poor sinner, lovest thou me?'</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Lord, it is my chief complaint</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That my love is weak and faint;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yet I love thee and adore,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh for grace to love thee more!"</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Ellen's task was no longer painful, but most delightful. She
+hoped she was doing some good; and that hope enabled her, after
+the first trembling beginning, to go on without any difficulty.
+She was not thinking of herself. It was very well she could not
+see the effect upon her auditors. Through the dark her eyes
+could only just discern a dark figure stretched upon the sofa and
+another standing by the mantelpiece. The room was profoundly
+still, except when she was singing. The choice of hymns gave
+her the greatest trouble. She thought of "Jerusalem, my happy
+home," but it would not do; she and Alice had too often sung it
+in strains of joy. Happily came to her mind the beautiful,</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord," &amp;c.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>She went through all the seven long verses. Still, when Ellen
+paused at the end of this, the breathless silence seemed to invite
+her to go on. She waited a minute to gather breath. The blessed
+words had gone down into her very heart; did they ever seem
+half so sweet before? She was cheered and strengthened, and
+thought she could go through with the next hymn, though it had
+been much loved and often used, both by her mother and Alice.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+"Jesus, lover of my soul,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Let me to thy bosom fly,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">While the billows near me roll,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">While the tempest still is nigh.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Till the storm of life be past:—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Safe into the haven guide,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O receive my soul at last!</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Other refuge have I none,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hangs my helpless soul on thee—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Leave, ah! leave me not alone!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Still support and comfort me.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All my trust on thee is stayed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All my help from thee I bring:—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Cover my defenceless head,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Beneath the shadow of thy wing.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thou, O Christ, art all I want;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">More than all in thee I find;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Heal the sick, and lead the blind.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Just and holy is thy name,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I am all unrighteousness;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Vile and full of sin I am,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thou art full of truth and grace."</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Still silence; "silence that spoke!" Ellen did not know
+what it said, except that her hearers did not wish her to stop.
+Her next was a favourite hymn of them all.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"What are these in bright array," &amp;c.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Ellen had allowed her thoughts to travel too far along with
+the words, for in the last lines her voice was unsteady and faint.
+She was fain to make a longer pause than usual to recover herself.
+But in vain; the tender nerve was touched; there was no stilling
+its quivering.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said Mr. Humphreys then, after a few minutes. She
+rose and went to the sofa. He folded her close to his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, my child," he said presently; "you have been a
+comfort to me. Nothing but a choir of angels could have been
+sweeter."</p>
+
+<p>As Ellen went away back through the hall her tears almost
+choked her; but for all that there was a strong throb of pleasure
+at her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been a comfort to him," she repeated. "Oh, dear
+Alice! so I will."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+A child no more!—a maiden now—<br />
+A graceful maiden with a gentle brow;<br />
+A cheek tinged lightly, and a dove-like eye,<br />
+And all hearts bless her as she passes by.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Mary Howitt</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The whole Marshman family returned to Ventnor immediately
+after the funeral, Mr. George excepted; he stayed with Mr.
+Humphreys over the Sabbath, and preached for him; and much
+to every one's pleasure lingered still a day or two longer; then he
+was obliged to leave them. John also must go back to Doncaster
+for a few weeks; he would not be able to get home again before
+the early part of August. For the month between, and as much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span>longer indeed as possible, Mrs. Marshman wished to have Ellen
+at Ventnor; assuring her that it was to be her home always
+whenever she chose to make it so. At first neither Mrs. Marshman
+nor her daughters would take any denial; and old Mr. Marshman
+was fixed upon it. But Ellen begged with tears that she might
+stay at home, and begin at once, as far as she could, to take Alice's
+place. Her kind friends insisted that it would do her harm to
+be left alone for so long, at such a season. Mr. Humphreys at
+the best of times kept very much to himself, and now he would
+more than ever; she would be very lonely. "But how lonely <i>he</i>
+will be if I go away!" said Ellen: "I can't go." Finding that
+her heart was set upon it, and that it would be a real grief to her
+to go to Ventnor, John at last joined to excuse her; and he made
+an arrangement with Mrs. Vawse instead that she should come
+and stay with Ellen at the parsonage till he came back. This
+gave Ellen great satisfaction; and her kind Ventnor friends were
+obliged unwillingly to leave her.</p>
+
+<p>The first few days after John's departure were indeed sad
+days—very sad to every one; it could not be otherwise. Ellen
+drooped miserably. She had, however, the best possible companion
+in her old Swiss friend. Her good sense, her steady
+cheerfulness, her firm principle, were always awake for Ellen's
+good, ever ready to comfort her, to cheer her, to prevent her
+from giving undue way to sorrow, to urge her to useful exertion.
+Affection and gratitude, to the living and the dead, gave powerful
+aid to these efforts. Ellen rose up in the morning and lay down
+at night with the present pressing wish to do and be for the
+ease and comfort of her adopted father and brother all that
+it was possible for her. Very soon, so soon as she could rouse
+herself to anything, she began to turn over in her mind all
+manner of ways and means for this end. And in general,
+whatever Alice would have wished, what John did wish, was
+law to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Margery," said Ellen one day, "I wish you would tell me
+all the things Alice used to do; so that I may begin to do them,
+you know, as soon as I can."</p>
+
+<p>"What things, Miss Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, the things she used to do about the house, or to
+help you, don't you know? all sorts of things. I want to know
+them all, so that I may do them as she did. I want to very
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Ellen, dear," said Margery tearfully, "you are
+too little and tender to do them things; I'd be sorry to see you,
+indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why no, I am not, Margery," said Ellen; "don't you know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span>
+how I used to do at Aunt Fortune's? Now tell me—please, dear
+Margery. If I can't do it, I won't, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Ellen, she used to see to various things about the
+house; I don't know as I can tell 'em all directly; some was to
+help me; and some to please her father or Mr. John, if he was
+at home; she thought of every one before herself, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what, Margery? what are they? Tell me all you can
+remember?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Miss Ellen, for one thing, she used to go into the
+library every morning to put it in order, and dust the books and
+papers and things; in fact, she took the charge of that room
+entirely; I never went into it at all, unless once or twice in the
+year, or to wash the windows."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked grave; she thought with herself there might be
+a difficulty in the way of her taking this part of Alice's daily
+duties; she did not feel that she had the freedom of the library.</p>
+
+<p>"And then," said Margery, "she used to skim the cream for
+me, most mornings, when I'd be busy; and wash up the breakfast
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I forgot all about the breakfast things!" exclaimed
+Ellen, "how could I? I'll do them to be sure after this. I
+never thought of them, Margery. And I'll skim the cream too."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Miss Ellen, I wouldn't want you to; I didn't mention
+it for that, but you was wishing me tell you—I don't want you
+to trouble your dear little head about such work. It was more
+the thoughtfulness that cared about me than the help of all
+she could do, though that wasn't a little; I'll get along well
+enough!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I should like to, it would make me happier; and don't
+you think <i>I</i> want to help you too, Margery?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord bless you, Miss Ellen," said Margery, in a sort of
+desperation, setting down one iron and taking up another, "don't
+talk in that way or you'll upset me entirely. I ain't a bit better
+than a child," said she, her tears falling fast on the sheet she
+was hurriedly ironing.</p>
+
+<p>"What else, dear Margery?" said Ellen presently. "Tell
+me what else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Ellen," said Margery, dashing away the water
+from either eye, "she used to look over the clothes when they
+went up from the wash; and put them away; and mend them
+if there was any places wanted mending."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I don't know how to manage that," said Ellen,
+very gravely. "There is one thing I can do, I can darn stockings
+very nicely; but that's only one kind of mending. I don't
+know much about the other kinds."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah well; but <i>she</i> did, however," said Margery, searching in
+her basket of clothes for some particular pieces. "A beautiful
+mender she was, to be sure! Look here, Miss Ellen, just see
+that patch—the way it is put on—so evenly by a thread all
+round; and the stitches, see—and see the way this rent is darned
+down; oh, that was the way she did everything!"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't do it so," said Ellen, sighing, "but I can learn; that
+I can do. You will teach me, Margery, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, Miss Ellen, dear, it's more than I can myself; but
+I will tell you who will, and that's Mrs. Vawse. I am thinking
+it was her she learned of in the first place—but I ain't certain.
+Anyhow, she's a first-rate hand."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll get her to teach me," said Ellen; "that will do
+very nicely. And now, Margery, what else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, Miss Ellen—I don't know—there was a thousand
+little things that I'd only recollect at the minute; she'd set the
+table for me when my hands was uncommon full; and often
+she'd come out and make some little thing for the master when
+I wouldn't have the time to do the same myself; and I can't tell—one
+can't think of those things but just at the minute. Dear
+Miss Ellen, I'd be sorry indeed to see you atrying your little
+hands to do all that she done."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Margery," said Ellen, and she threw her arms
+round the kind old woman as she spoke. "I won't trouble you—and
+you won't be troubled if I am awkward about anything at
+first, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>Margery could only throw down her holder to return most
+affectionately as well as respectfully Ellen's caress, and press a
+very hearty kiss upon her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen next went to Mrs. Vawse to beg her help in the mending
+and patching line. Her old friend was very glad to see her
+take up anything with interest, and readily agreed to do her best
+in the matter. So some old clothes were looked up; pieces of
+linen, cotton, and flannel gathered together; a large basket found
+to hold all these rags of shape and no shape; and for the next
+week or two Ellen was indefatigable. She would sit making vain
+endeavours to arrange a large linen patch properly, till her cheeks
+were burning with excitement; and bend over a darn, doing her
+best to make invisible stitches, till Mrs. Vawse was obliged to
+assure her it was quite unnecessary to take <i>so much</i> pains. Taking
+pains, however, is the sure way to success. Ellen could not rest
+satisfied till she had equalled Alice's patching and darning; and
+though, when Mrs. Vawse left her, she had not quite reached
+that point, she was bidding fair to do so in a little while.</p>
+
+<p>In other things she was more at home. She could skim milk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span>
+well enough, and immediately began to do it for Margery. She
+at once also took upon herself the care of the parlour cupboard
+and all the things in it, which she well knew had been Alice's
+office; and, thanks to Miss Fortune's training, even Margery was
+quite satisfied with her neat and orderly manner of doing it.
+Ellen begged her when the clothes came up from the wash, to
+show her where everything went, so that for the future she might
+be able to put them away; and she studied the shelves of the
+linen closet, and the chests of drawers in Mr. Humphreys' room,
+till she almost knew them by heart. As to the library, she dared
+not venture. She saw Mr. Humphreys at meals and at prayers—only
+then. He had never asked her to come into his study since
+the night she sang to him, and as for <i>her</i> asking—nothing could
+have been more impossible. Even when he was out of the house,
+out by the hour, Ellen never thought of going where she had not
+been expressly permitted to go.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Van Brunt informed his wife of Ellen's purpose to
+desert her service and make her future home at the parsonage,
+the lady's astonishment was only less than her indignation, the
+latter not at all lessened by learning that Ellen was to become the
+adopted child of the house. For a while her words of displeasure
+were poured forth in a torrent; Mr. Van Brunt meantime saying
+very little, and standing by like a steadfast rock that the waves
+dash <i>past</i>, not <i>upon</i>. She declared that this was "the cap-sheaf
+of Miss Humphreys' doings; she might have been wise enough
+to have expected as much; she wouldn't have been such a fool if
+she had! This was what she had let Ellen go there for! a pretty
+return!" But she went on. "She wondered who they thought
+they had to deal with; did they think she was going to let Ellen
+go in that way? <i>she</i> had the first and only right to her; and
+Ellen had no more business to go and give herself away than one
+of her oxen; they would find it out, she guessed, pretty quick;
+Mr. John and all; she'd have her back in no time!" What were
+her thoughts and feelings, when, after having spent her breath,
+she found her husband quietly opposed to this conclusion, words
+cannot tell. <i>Her</i> words could not; she was absolutely dumb, till
+he had said his say; and then, appalled by the serenity of his
+manner, she left indignation on one side for the present and
+began to argue the matter. But Mr. Van Brunt coolly said he
+had promised; she might get as many helps as she liked, he
+would pay for them and welcome; but Ellen would have to stay
+where she was. He had promised Miss Alice; and he wouldn't
+break his word "for kings, lords, and commons." A most extraordinary
+expletive for a good Republican—which Mr. Van Brunt
+had probably inherited from his father and grandfather. What
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span>can waves do against a rock? The whilome Miss Fortune disdained
+a struggle which must end in her own confusion, and
+wisely kept her chagrin to herself, never even approaching the
+subject afterwards, with him or any other person. Ellen had left
+the whole matter to Mr. Van Brunt, expecting a storm and not
+wishing to share it. Happily it all blew over.</p>
+
+<p>As the month drew to an end, and indeed long before, Ellen's
+thoughts began to go forward eagerly to John coming home. She
+had learned by this time how to mend clothes; she had grown
+somewhat wonted to her new round of little household duties; in
+everything else the want of him was felt. Study flagged; though
+knowing what his wish would be, and what her duty was, she
+faithfully tried to go on with it. She had no heart for riding or
+walking by herself. She was lonely; she was sorrowful; she was
+weary; all Mrs. Vawse's pleasant society was not worth the mere
+knowledge that <i>he</i> was in the house; she longed for his coming.</p>
+
+<p>He had written what day they might expect him. But when
+it came Ellen found that her feeling had changed; it did not look
+the bright day she had expected it would. Up to that time she had
+thought only of herself; now she remembered what sort of a coming
+home this must be to him; and she dreaded almost as much as
+she wished for the moment of his arrival. Mrs. Vawse was surprised
+to see that her face was sadder that day than it had been
+for many past; she could not understand it. Ellen did not
+explain. It was late in the day before he reached home, and her
+anxious watch of hope and fear for the sound of his horse's feet
+grew very painful. She busied herself with setting the tea-table;
+it was all done; and she could by no means do anything else.
+She could not go to the door to listen there; she remembered too
+well the last time; and she knew he would remember it.</p>
+
+<p>He came at last. Ellen's feelings had judged rightly of his,
+for the greeting was without a word on either side; and when he
+left the room to go to his father, it was very, very long before he
+came back. And it seemed to Ellen for several days that he was
+more grave and talked less than even the last time he had been
+at home. She was sorry when Mrs. Vawse proposed to leave
+them. But the old lady wisely said they would all feel better
+when she was gone; and it was so. Truly as she was respected
+and esteemed, on all sides, it was felt a relief by every one of the
+family when she went back to her mountain top. They were left
+to themselves; they saw what their numbers were; there was no
+restraint upon looks, words, or silence. Ellen saw at once that
+the gentlemen felt easier, that was enough to make her so. The
+extreme oppression that had grieved and disappointed her the
+first few days after John's return, gave place to a softened gravity;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span>
+and the household fell again into all its old ways; only that upon
+every brow there was a chastened air of sorrow, in everything
+that was said a tone of remembrance, and that a little figure was
+going about where Alice's used to move as mistress of the house.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to her brother, that little figure was an exceeding busy
+one. She had in the first place, her household duties, in discharging
+which she was perfectly untiring. From the cream
+skimmed for Margery, and the cups of coffee poured out every
+morning for Mr. Humphreys and her brother, to the famous
+mending, which took up often one half of Saturday, whatever she
+did was done with her best diligence and care; and from love to
+both the dead and the living, Ellen's zeal never slackened. These
+things, however, filled but a small part of her time, let her be as
+particular as she would; and Mr. John effectually hindered her
+from being too particular. He soon found plenty for both her
+and himself to do.</p>
+
+<p>Not that they ever forgot or tried to forget Alice; on the
+contrary. They sought to remember her, humbly, calmly, hopefully,
+thankfully. By diligent performance of duty, by Christian
+faith, by conversation and prayer, they strove to do this; and after
+a time succeeded. Sober that winter was, but it was very far
+from being an unhappy one.</p>
+
+<p>"John," said Ellen one day, some time after Mrs. Vawse had
+left them, "do you think Mr. Humphreys would let me go into
+his study every day when he is out, to put it in order and dust the
+books?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. But why does not Margery do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"She does, I believe, but she never used to; and I should
+like to do it very much if I was sure he would not dislike it. I
+would be careful not to disturb anything; I would leave everything
+just as I found it."</p>
+
+<p>"You may go when you please, and do what you please there,
+Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't like to—I couldn't without speaking to him first;
+I should be afraid he would come back, and find me there, and he
+might think I hadn't had leave."</p>
+
+<p>"And you wish <i>me</i> to speak to him, is that it? Cannot you
+muster resolution enough for that, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was satisfied, for she knew by his tone he would do what
+she wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said John, the next morning at breakfast, "Ellen
+wishes to take upon herself the daily care of your study, but she
+is afraid to venture without being assured it will please you to see
+her there."</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman laid his hand affectionately on Ellen's head,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span>
+and told her she was welcome to come and go when she would;
+the whole house was hers.</p>
+
+<p>The grave kindness and tenderness of the tone and action
+spoiled Ellen's breakfast. She could not look at anybody, nor
+hold up her head for the rest of the time.</p>
+
+<p>As Alice had anticipated, her brother was called to take charge
+of a church at Randolph, and at the same time another more
+distant was offered him. He refused them both, rightly judging
+that his place for the present was at home. But the call from
+Randolph being pressed upon him very much, he at length
+agreed to preach for them during the winter; riding thither
+for the purpose every Saturday, and returning to Carra-carra on
+Monday.</p>
+
+<p>As the winter wore on, a grave cheerfulness stole over the
+household. Ellen little thought how much she had to do with it.
+She never heard Margery tell her husband, which she often did
+with great affection, "that that blessed child was the light of the
+house," and those who felt it the most said nothing. Ellen was
+sure, indeed, from the way in which Mr. Humphreys spoke to
+her, looked at her, now and then laid his hand on her head, and
+sometimes, very rarely, kissed her forehead, that he loved her
+and loved to see her about; and that her wish of supplying Alice's
+place was in some little measure fulfilled. Few as those words
+and looks were, they said more to Ellen than whole discourses
+would from other people; the least of them gladdened her heart
+with the feeling that she was a comfort to him. But she never
+knew how much. Deep as the gloom still over him was, Ellen
+never dreamed how much deeper it would have been but for the
+little figure flitting round and filling up the vacancy; how much
+he reposed on the gentle look of affection, the pleasant voice, the
+watchful thoughtfulness that never left anything undone that she
+could do for his pleasure. Perhaps he did not know it himself.
+She was not sure he even noticed many of the little things she
+daily did or tried to do for him. Always silent and reserved, he
+was more so now than ever; she saw him little, and very seldom
+long at a time, unless when they were riding to church together;
+he was always in his study or abroad. But the trifles she thought
+he did not see were noted and registered, and repaid with all the
+affection he had to give.</p>
+
+<p>As for Mr. John, it never came into Ellen's head to think
+whether she was a comfort to him; he was a comfort to <i>her</i>; she
+looked at it in quite another point of view. He had gone to his
+old sleeping-room upstairs, which Margery had settled with herself
+he would make his study; and for that he had taken the
+sitting-room. This was Ellen's study too, so she was constantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span>
+with him; and of the quietest she thought her movements would
+have to be.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you stepping so softly for?" said he, one day
+catching her hand as she was passing near him.</p>
+
+<p>"You were busy—I thought you were busy," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"And what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid of disturbing you."</p>
+
+<p>"You never disturb me," said he; "you need not fear it.
+Step as you please, and do not shut the doors carefully. I see
+you and hear you, but without any disturbance."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen found it was so. But she was an exception to the general
+rule; other people disturbed him, as she had one or two occasions
+of knowing.</p>
+
+<p>Of one thing she was perfectly sure, whatever he might be
+doing, that he saw and heard her; and equally sure that if anything
+were not right she should sooner or later hear of it. But
+this was a censorship Ellen rather loved than feared. In the first
+place, she was never misunderstood; in the second, however
+ironical and severe he might be to others, and Ellen knew he
+could be both when there was occasion, he never was either to
+her. With great plainness always, but with an equally happy
+choice of time and manner, he either said or looked what he
+wished her to understand. This happened indeed only about
+comparative trifles; to have seriously displeased him, Ellen would
+have thought the last great evil that could fall upon her in this
+world.</p>
+
+<p>One day Margery came into the room with a paper in her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen," said she in a low tone, "here is Anthony Fox
+again—he has brought another of his curious letters that he
+wants to know if Miss Ellen will be so good as to write out for
+him once more. He says he is ashamed to trouble you so
+much."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was reading, comfortably ensconced in the corner of
+the wide sofa. She gave a glance, a most ungratified one, at the
+very original document in Margery's hand. Unpromising it
+certainly looked.</p>
+
+<p>"Another! Dear me! I wonder if there isn't somebody
+else he could get to do it for him, Margery? I think I have had
+my share. You don't know what a piece of work it is to copy
+out one of those scrawls. It takes me ever so long in the first
+place to find what he has written, and then to put it so that any
+one else can make sense of it—I've got about enough of it. Don't
+you suppose he could find plenty of other people to do it for
+him?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Miss Ellen, I suppose he could."</p>
+
+<p>"Then ask him, do; won't you, Margery? I'm so tired of
+it! and this is the third one; and I've got something else to do.
+Ask him if there isn't somebody else he can get to do it; if there
+isn't, I will; tell him I am busy."</p>
+
+<p>Margery withdrew, and Ellen buried herself again in her
+book. Anthony Fox was a poor Irishman, whose uncouth attempts
+at a letter Ellen had once offered to write out and make
+straight for him, upon hearing Margery tell of his lamenting that
+he could not make one fit to send <i>home</i> to his mother.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Margery came in again, stopping this time at the
+table which Mr. John had pushed to the far side of the room to
+get away from the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, sir," she said, "I am ashamed to be so
+troublesome, but this Irish body, this Anthony Fox, has begged
+me, and I didn't know how to refuse him, to come in and ask
+for a sheet of paper and a pen for him, sir, he wants to copy a
+letter, if Mr. John would be so good; a quill pen, sir, if you
+please; he cannot write with any other."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said John coolly. "Ellen will do it."</p>
+
+<p>Margery looked in some doubt from the table to the sofa,
+but Ellen instantly rose up and with a burning cheek came
+forward and took the paper from the hand where Margery still
+held it.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask him to wait a little while, Margery," she said hurriedly.
+"I'll do it as soon as I can, tell him in half-an-hour."</p>
+
+<p>It was not a very easy nor quick job. Ellen worked at it
+patiently, and finished it well by the end of the half-hour,
+though with a burning cheek still; and a dimness over her eyes
+frequently obliged her to stop till she could clear them. It was
+done, and she carried it out to the kitchen herself.</p>
+
+<p>The poor man's thanks were very warm; but that was not
+what Ellen wanted. She could not rest until she had got another
+word from her brother. He was busy; she dared not speak to
+him; she sat fidgeting and uneasy in the corner of the sofa till
+it was time to get ready for riding. She had plenty of time to
+make up her mind about the right and the wrong of her own
+conduct.</p>
+
+<p>During the ride he was just as usual, and she began to think
+he did not mean to say anything more on the matter. Pleasant
+talk and pleasant exercise had almost driven it out of her head,
+when, as they were walking their horses over a level place, he
+suddenly began—</p>
+
+<p>"By-the-bye, you are too busy, Ellie," said he. "Which of
+your studies shall we cut off?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>Please</i>, Mr. John," said Ellen, blushing, "don't say anything
+about that! I was not studying at all—I was just amusing myself
+with a book—I was only selfish and lazy."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Only</i>—I would rather you were too busy, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eyes filled.</p>
+
+<p>"I was wrong," she said, "I knew it at the time, at least as
+soon as you spoke I knew it, and a little before; I was very
+wrong!"</p>
+
+<p>And his keen eye saw that the confession was not out of
+compliment to him merely; it came from the heart.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right now," he said, smiling. "But how are your
+reins?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's heart was at rest again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I forgot them," said she gaily, "I was thinking of
+something else."</p>
+
+<p>"You must not talk when you are riding, unless you can
+contrive to manage two things at once; and no more lose command
+of your horse than you would of yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eye met his with all the contrition, affection, and ingenuousness
+that even he wished to see there; and they put
+their horses to the canter.</p>
+
+<p>This winter was in many ways a very precious one to Ellen.
+French gave her now no trouble; she was a clever arithmetician;
+she knew geography admirably; and was tolerably at home in
+both English and American history; the way was cleared for the
+course of improvement in which her brother's hand led and helped
+her. He put her into Latin; carried on the study of natural
+philosophy they had begun the year before, and which with his
+instructions was perfectly delightful to Ellen; he gave her some
+works of stronger reading than she had yet tried, beside histories
+in French and English, and higher branches of arithmetic. These
+things were not crowded together so as to fatigue, nor hurried
+through so as to overload. Carefully and thoroughly she was
+obliged to put her mind through every subject they entered
+upon; and just at that age, opening as her understanding was,
+it grappled eagerly with all that he gave her, as well from love
+to learning as from love to him. In reading, too, she began to
+take new and strong delight. Especially two or three new
+English periodicals, which John sent for on purpose for her,
+were mines of pleasure to Ellen. There was no fiction in them
+either; they were as full of instruction as of interest. At all
+times of the day and night, in her intervals of business, Ellen
+might be seen with one of these in her hand; nestled among the
+cushions of the sofa, or on a little bench by the side of the fireplace
+in the twilight, where she could have the benefit of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span>
+blaze, which she loved to read by as well as ever. Sorrowful
+remembrances were then flown, all things present were out of
+view, and Ellen's face was dreamingly happy.</p>
+
+<p>It was well there was always somebody by who, whatever he
+might himself be doing, never lost sight of her. If ever Ellen
+was in danger of bending too long over her studies or indulging
+herself too much in the sofa-corner, she was sure to be broken off
+to take an hour or two of smart exercise, riding or walking, or to
+recite some lesson (and their recitations were very lively things),
+or to read aloud or to talk. Sometimes, if he saw that she seemed
+to be drooping or a little sad, he would come and sit down by her
+side, or call her to his, find out what she was thinking about, and
+then, instead of slurring it over, talk of it fairly and set it before
+her in such a light that it was impossible to think of it again
+gloomily, for that day at least. Sometimes he took other ways,
+but never when he was present allowed her long to look weary or
+sorrowful. He often read to her, and every day made her read
+aloud to him. This Ellen disliked very much at first, and ended
+with as much liking it. She had an admirable teacher. He
+taught her how to manage her voice and how to manage the
+language, in both which he excelled himself, and was determined
+that she should; and besides this, their reading often led to
+talking that Ellen delighted in. Always when he was making
+copies for her she read to him, and once, at any rate, in the course
+of the day.</p>
+
+<p>Every day when the weather would permit, the Black Prince
+and the Brownie with their respective riders might be seen abroad
+in the country far and wide. In the course of their rides Ellen's
+horsemanship was diligently perfected. Very often their turning-place
+was on the top of the Cat's Back, and the horses had a rest
+and Mrs. Vawse a visit before they went down again. They had
+long walks, too, by hill and dale; pleasantly silent or pleasantly
+talkative, all pleasant to Ellen!</p>
+
+<p>Her only lonely or sorrowful time was when John was gone
+to Randolph. It began early Saturday morning, and perhaps
+ended with Sunday night, for all Monday was hope and expectation.
+Even Saturday she had not much time to mope; that
+was the day for her great week's mending. When John was
+gone and her morning affairs were out of the way, Ellen brought
+out her work-basket, and established herself on the sofa for a
+quiet day's sewing, without the lest fear of interruption. But
+sewing did not always hinder thinking. And then certainly the
+room did seem very empty, and very still; and the clock, which
+she never heard the rest of the week, kept ticking an ungracious
+reminder that she was alone. Ellen would sometimes forget it in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span>
+the intense interest of some nice little piece of repair which must
+be exquisitely done in a wristband or a glove; and then perhaps
+Margery would softly open the door and come in.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen, dear, you're lonesome enough; isn't there something
+I can do for you? I can't rest for thinking of your being
+here all by yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind," said Ellen, smiling, "I am doing very
+well. I am living in hopes of Monday. Come and look here,
+Margery. How will that do? Don't you think I am learning to
+mend?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's beautiful, Miss Ellen! I can't make out how you've
+learned so quick. I'll tell Mr. John some time who does these
+things for him."</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed, Margery, don't you. <i>Please</i> not, Margery. I
+like to do it very much indeed, but I don't want he should know
+it, nor Mr. Humphreys. Now you won't, Margery, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen, dear, I wouldn't do the least little thing as
+would be worrisome to you for the whole world. Aren't you
+tired sitting here all alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sometimes, a little," said Ellen, sighing. "I can't help
+that, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel it even out there in the kitchen," said Margery; "I
+feel it lonesome hearing the house so still; I miss the want of
+Mr. John's step up and down the room. How fond he is of
+walking so, to be sure! How do you manage, Miss Ellen, with
+him making his study here? Don't you have to keep uncommon
+quiet?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen; "no quieter than I like. I do just as I
+have a mind to."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought, to be sure," said Margery, "he would have taken
+upstairs for his study, or the next room, one or t'other; he used
+to be mighty particular in old times; he didn't like to have
+anybody round when he was busy. But I am glad he is altered,
+however; it is better for you, Miss Ellen, dear, though I didn't
+know how you was ever going to make out at first."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thought for a minute, when Margery was gone, whether
+it could be that John was putting a force upon his liking for her
+sake, bearing her presence when he would rather have been
+without it. But she thought of it only a minute; she was sure,
+when she recollected herself, that however it happened, she was
+no hindrance to him in any kind of work; that she went out and
+came in, and as he had said, he saw and heard her without any
+disturbance. Besides, he had said so, and that was enough.</p>
+
+<p>Saturday evening she generally contrived to busy herself in
+her books. But when Sunday morning came with its calmness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span>
+and brightness; when the business of the week was put away,
+and quietness abroad and at home invited to recollection, then
+Ellen's thoughts went back to old times, and then she missed the
+calm, sweet face that had agreed so well with the day. She
+missed her in the morning when the early sun streamed in through
+the empty room. She missed her at the breakfast-table, where
+John was not to take her place. On the ride to church, where
+Mr. Humphreys was now her silent companion, and every tree on
+the road and every opening in the landscape seemed to call Alice
+to see it with her. Very much she missed her in church. The
+empty seat beside her, the unused hymn-book on the shelf, the
+want of her sweet voice in the singing, oh, how it went to Ellen's
+heart. And Mr. Humphreys' grave, steadfast look and tone kept
+it in her mind; she saw it was in his. Those Sunday mornings
+tried Ellen. At first they were bitterly sad; her tears used to
+flow abundantly whenever they could unseen. Time softened
+this feeling.</p>
+
+<p>While Mr. Humphreys went on to his second service in the
+village beyond, Ellen stayed at Carra-carra, and tried to teach a
+Sunday-school. She determined as far as she could to supply
+beyond the home circle the loss that was not felt only there.
+She was able, however, to gather together but her own four
+children whom she had constantly taught from the beginning, and
+two others. The rest were scattered. After her lunch, which,
+having no companion but Margery, was now a short one, Ellen
+went next to the two old women that Alice had been accustomed
+to attend for the purpose of reading, and what Ellen called preaching.
+These poor old people had sadly lamented the loss of the
+faithful friend whose place they never expected to see supplied in
+this world, and whose kindness had constantly sweetened their
+lives with one great pleasure a week. Ellen felt afraid to take
+so much upon herself, as to try to do for them what Alice had done;
+however, she resolved; and at the very first attempt their gratitude
+and joy far overpaid her for the effort she had made. Practice
+and the motive she had soon enabled Ellen to remember and
+repeat faithfully the greater part of Mr. Humphreys' morning
+sermon. Reading the Bible to Mrs. Blockson was easy; she had
+often done that; and to repair the loss of Alice's pleasant comments
+and explanations she bethought her of her 'Pilgrim's
+Progress.' To her delight the old woman heard it greedily, and
+seemed to take great comfort in it; often referring to what Ellen
+had read before, and begging to hear such a piece over again.
+Ellen generally went home pretty thoroughly tired, yet feeling
+happy; the pleasure of doing good still far overbalanced the
+pains.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sunday evening was another lonely time; Ellen spent it as
+best she could. Sometimes with her Bible and prayer, and then
+she ceased to be lonely; sometimes with so many pleasant thoughts
+that had sprung up out of the employments of the morning that
+she could not be sorrowful; sometimes she could not help being
+both. In any case, she was very apt when the darkness fell to
+take to singing hymns; and it grew to be a habit with Mr.
+Humphreys when he heard her to come out of his study and lie
+down upon the sofa and listen, suffering no light in the room but
+that of the fire. Ellen never was better pleased than when
+her Sunday evenings were spent so. She sang with wonderful
+pleasure when she sang for him; and she made it her business
+to fill her memory with all the beautiful hymns she ever knew or
+could find, or that he liked particularly.</p>
+
+<p>With the first opening of her eyes on Monday morning came
+the thought, "John will be at home to-day!" That was enough
+to carry Ellen pleasantly through whatever the day might bring.
+She generally kept her mending of stockings for Monday morning,
+because with that thought in head she did not mind anything.
+She had no visits from Margery on Monday; but Ellen sang over
+her work, sprang about with happy energy, and studied the
+hardest; for John in what he expected her to do made no calculations
+for work of which he knew nothing. He was never at
+home till late in the day; and when Ellen had done all she had
+to do, and set the supper-table with punctilious care, and a face
+of busy happiness, it would have been a pleasure to see, if there
+had been any one to look at it, she would take what happened to
+be the favourite book and plant herself near the glass door; like
+a very epicure, to enjoy both the present and the future at once.
+Even then the present often made her forget the future; she
+would be lost in her book, perhaps hunting the elephant in India
+or fighting Nelson's battles over again, and the first news she
+would have of what she had set herself there to watch for would
+be the click of the door-lock or a tap on the glass, for the horse
+was almost always left at the further door. Back then she came,
+from India or the Nile; down went the book; Ellen had no more
+thought but for what was before her.</p>
+
+<p>For the rest of that evening the measure of Ellen's happiness
+was full. It did not matter whether John were in a talkative or
+a thoughtful mood; whether he spoke to her and looked at her or
+not; it was pleasure enough to feel that he was there. She was
+perfectly satisfied merely to sit down near him, though she did not
+get a word by the hour together.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">Ne in all the welkin was no cloud.</div>
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Chaucer</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>One Monday evening, John being tired, was resting in the
+corner of the sofa. The silence had lasted a long time.
+Ellen thought so, and standing near, she by-and-by put her hand
+gently into one of his, which he was thoughtfully passing through
+the locks of his hair. Her hand was clasped immediately, and,
+quitting his abstracted look, he asked what she had been doing
+that day? Ellen's thoughts went back to toes of stockings and a
+long rent in her dress; she merely answered, smiling, that she
+had been busy.</p>
+
+<p>"Too busy, I'm afraid. Come round here and sit down. What
+have you been busy about?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen never thought of trying to evade a question of his. She
+coloured and hesitated. He did not press it any further.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John," said Ellen, when the silence seemed to have set
+in again, "there is something I have been wanting to ask you this
+great while——"</p>
+
+<p>"Why hasn't it been <i>asked</i> this great while?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't quite like to. I didn't know what you would say
+to it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry I am at all terrible to you, Ellie!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you are not!" said Ellen, laughing; "how you talk!
+But I don't much like to ask people things."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about that," said he, smiling; "my memory
+rather seems to say that you ask things pretty often."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes—those things; but I mean I don't like to ask things
+when I am not quite sure how people will take it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, certainly, to hesitate when you are doubtful
+in such a matter; but it is best not to be doubtful when I am
+concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Ellen, "I wish very much—I was going to ask—if
+you would have any objection to let me read one of your
+sermons?"</p>
+
+<p>"None in the world, Ellie," said he, smiling; "but they have
+never been written yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Not written!"</p>
+
+<p>"No; there is all I had to guide me yesterday."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A half sheet of paper! and only written on one side! Oh,
+I can make nothing of this. What is <i>this</i>? Hebrew?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shorthand."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that all? I cannot understand it," said Ellen, sighing
+as she gave back the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"What if you were to go with me next time? They want to
+see you very much at Ventnor."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I want to see them," said Ellen; "very much
+indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Marshman sent a most earnest request by me that you
+would come to her the next time I go to Randolph."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen gave the matter a very serious consideration, if one
+might judge by her face.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to go—<i>very</i> much," said Ellen slowly;
+"but——"</p>
+
+<p>"But you do not think it would be pleasant?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said Ellen, laughing, "I don't mean that; but I
+think I would rather not."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have some reasons."</p>
+
+<p>"You must give me very good ones, or I think I shall overrule
+your decision, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"I have <i>very</i> good ones—plenty of them—only——"</p>
+
+<p>A glance, somewhat comical in its keenness, overturned
+Ellen's hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"I have indeed," said she, laughing, "only I did not want to
+tell you. The reason why I didn't wish to go was because I
+thought I should be missed. You don't know how much I miss
+you," said she, with tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I was afraid of. Your reasons make against
+you, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not. I don't think they ought."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Ellie, I am very sure my father would rather miss
+you once or twice than have you want what would be good
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that! I am sure of that! but that don't alter my
+feeling, you know. And besides—that isn't all."</p>
+
+<p>"Who else will miss you?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's quick look seemed to say that he knew too much
+already, and that she did not wish him to know more. He did
+not repeat the question, but Ellen felt that her secret was no
+longer entirely her own.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you do, Ellie, when you feel lonely?" he went
+on presently.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen's eyes watered at the tone in which these words were
+spoken; she answered, "Different things."</p>
+
+<p>"The best remedy for it is prayer. In seeking the face of
+our best Friend we forget the loss of others. That is what I try,
+Ellie, when I feel alone. Do you try it?" said he softly.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked up; she could not well speak at that moment.</p>
+
+<p>"There is an antidote in that for every trouble. You know
+who said, 'he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that
+believeth on Me shall never thirst.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It troubles me," said he, after a pause, "to leave you so
+much alone. I don't know that it were not best to take you
+with me every week."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no!" said Ellen; "don't think of me. I don't mind it
+indeed. I do not always feel so—sometimes, but I get along
+very well; and I would rather stay here, indeed I would. I am
+always happy as soon as Monday morning comes."</p>
+
+<p>He rose up suddenly and began to walk up and down the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. John——"</p>
+
+<p>"What, Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do sometimes seek His face very much when I cannot
+find it."</p>
+
+<p>She hid her face in the sofa cushion. He was silent a few
+minutes, and then stopped his walk.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something wrong then with you, Ellie," he said
+gently. "How has it been through the week? If you can let
+day after day pass without remembering your best Friend, it may
+be that when you feel the want you will not readily find Him.
+How is it daily, Ellie? is seeking His face your first concern? do
+you give a sufficient time faithfully to your Bible and prayer?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen shook her head; no words were possible. He took
+up his walk again. The silence had lasted a length of time, and
+he was still walking when Ellen came to his side and laid her
+hand on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you settled that question with your conscience,
+Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>She weepingly answered yes. They walked a few turns up
+and down.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you promise me, Ellie, that every day when it shall be
+possible, you will give an hour <i>at least</i> to this business—whatever
+else may be done or undone?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen promised; and then with her hand in his they continued
+their walk through the room till Mr. Humphreys and the servants
+came in. Her brother's prayer that night Ellen never
+forgot.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No more was said at that time about her going to Ventnor;
+but a week or two after, John smilingly told her to get all her
+private affairs arranged and to let her friends know they need not
+expect to see her the next Sunday, for that he was going to take
+her with him. As she saw he had made up his mind, Ellen said
+nothing in the way of objecting; and now that the decision was
+taken from her was really very glad to go. She arranged everything,
+as he had said, and was ready Saturday morning to set off
+with a very light heart.</p>
+
+<p>They went in the sleigh. In a happy quiet mood of mind,
+Ellen enjoyed everything exceedingly. She had not been to
+Ventnor in several months; the change of scene was very grateful.
+She could not help thinking, as they slid along smoothly
+and swiftly over the hard-frozen snow, that it <i>was</i> a good deal
+pleasanter, for once, than sitting alone in the parlour at home
+with her work-basket. Those days of solitary duty, however,
+had prepared her for the pleasure of this one; Ellen knew that,
+and was ready to be thankful for everything. Throughout the
+whole way, whether the eye and mind silently indulged in roving,
+or still better loved talk interrupted, as it often did, Ellen
+was in a state of most unmixed and unruffled satisfaction. John
+had not the slightest reason to doubt the correctness of his judgment
+in bringing her. He went in but a moment at Ventnor,
+and leaving her there, proceeded himself to Randolph.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was received as a precious lending that must be taken
+the greatest care of and enjoyed as much as possible while one
+has it. Mrs. Marshman and Mrs. Chauncey treated her as if she
+had been their own child. Ellen Chauncey overwhelmed her
+with joyful caresses, and could scarcely let her out of her arms
+by night or by day. She was more than ever Mr. Marshman's
+pet; but indeed she was well petted by all the family. It was a
+very happy visit.</p>
+
+<p>Even Sunday left nothing to wish for. To her great joy not
+only Mrs. Chauncey went with her in the morning to hear her
+brother (for his church was not the one the family attended), but
+the carriage was ordered in the afternoon also; and Mrs. Chauncey
+and her daughter and Miss Sophia went with her again.
+When they returned Miss Sophia, who had taken a very great
+fancy to her, brought her into her own room and made her lie
+down with her upon the bed, though Ellen insisted she was not
+tired.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you ought to be, if you are not," said the lady. "I
+am. Keep away, Ellen Chauncey, you can't be anywhere without
+talking. You can live without Ellen for half-an hour, can't
+ye? Leave us a little while in quiet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen for her part was quite willing to be quiet. But Miss
+Sophia was not sleepy, and it soon appeared had no intention of
+being silent herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how do you like your brother in the pulpit?" she
+began.</p>
+
+<p>"I like him anywhere, ma'am," said Ellen, with a very unequivocal
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought he would have come here with you last night! it
+is very mean of him! He never comes near us; he always goes
+to some wretched little lodging or place in the town there—always;
+never so much as looks at Ventnor, unless sometimes he
+may stop for a minute at the door."</p>
+
+<p>"He said he would come here to-night," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Amazing condescending of him! However, he isn't like
+anybody else; I suppose we must not judge him by common
+rules. How is Mr. Humphreys, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am," said Ellen, "it is hard to tell; he
+doesn't say much. I think he is rather more cheerful—if anything—than
+I expected he would be."</p>
+
+<p>"And how do you get along there, poor child! with only two
+such grave people about you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I get along very well, ma'am," said Ellen, with what Miss
+Sophia thought a somewhat curious smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you will grow to be as sober as the rest of them,"
+said she. "How does Mr. John behave?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen turned so indubitably curious a look upon her at this
+that Miss Sophia half laughed and went on.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Humphreys was not always as silent and reserved as he
+is now; I remember him when he was different; though I don't
+think he ever was much like his son. Did you ever hear
+about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"About what, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, about coming to this country; what brought him to
+Carra-carra?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"My father, you see, had come out long before, but the two
+families had been always very intimate in England, and it was
+kept up after he came away. He was a particular friend of an
+elder brother of Mr. Humphreys; his estate and my grandfather's
+lay very near each other; and besides, there were other things
+that drew them to each other; he married my aunt, for one. My
+father made several journeys back and forth in the course of
+years, and so kept up his attachment to the whole family, you
+know; and he became very desirous to get Mr. Humphreys over
+here—this Mr. Humphreys, you know. He was the younger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span>
+brother—younger brothers in England generally have little or
+nothing; but you don't know anything about that, Ellen. <i>He</i>
+hadn't anything then but his living, and that was a small one;
+he had some property left him though, just before he came to
+America."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Miss Sophia"—Ellen hesitated—"are you sure they
+would like I should hear all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, child!—of course they would; everybody knows it.
+Some things made Mr. Humphreys as willing to leave England
+about that time as my father was to have him. An excellent
+situation was offered him in one of the best institutions here, and
+he came out. That's about—let me see—I was just twelve years
+old and Alice was one year younger. She and I were just like
+sisters always from that time. We lived near together, and saw
+each other every day, and our two families were just like one.
+But they were liked by everybody. Mrs. Humphreys was a very
+fine person—very; oh very! I never saw any woman I admired
+more. Her death almost killed her husband; and I think Alice—I
+don't know—there isn't the least sign of delicate health
+about Mr. Humphreys nor Mr. John—not the slightest—nor about
+Mrs. Humphreys either. She was a very fine woman!"</p>
+
+<p>"How long ago did she die?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Five—six, seven—seven years ago. Mr. John had been
+left in England till a little before. Mr. Humphreys was never
+the same after that. He wouldn't hold his professorship any
+longer; he couldn't bear society; he just went and buried himself
+at Carra-carra. That was a little after we came here."</p>
+
+<p>How much all this interested Ellen! She was glad however
+when Miss Sophia seemed to have talked herself out, for she
+wanted very much to think over John's sermon. And as Miss
+Sophia happily fell into a doze soon after, she had a long quiet
+time for it, till it grew dark, and Ellen Chauncey, whose impatience
+could hold no longer, came to seek her.</p>
+
+<p>John came in the evening. Ellen's patience and politeness
+were severely tried in the course of it; for while she longed
+exceedingly to hear what her brother and the older members of
+the family were talking about—animated, delightful conversation
+she was sure—Ellen Chauncey detained her in another part
+of the room; and for a good part of the evening she had to
+bridle her impatience, and attend to what she did not care about.
+She did it, and Ellen Chauncey did not suspect it; and at last
+she found means to draw both her and herself near the larger
+group. But they seemed to have got through what they were
+talking about; there was a lull. Ellen waited; and hoped they
+would begin again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You had a full church this afternoon, Mr. John," said Miss
+Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>He bowed gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know whom you had among your auditors? the ——
+and —— were there;" naming some distinguished strangers in
+the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I saw them."</p>
+
+<p>"You 'think' you did! Is that an excess of pride or an
+excess of modesty? Now, do be a reasonable creature, and confess
+that you are not insensible to the pleasure and honour of
+addressing such an audience!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen saw something like a flash of contempt for an instant
+in his face, instantly succeeded by a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Honestly, Miss Sophia, I was much more interested in an
+old woman that sat at the foot of the pulpit stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"That old thing!" said Miss Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her," said Mrs. Chauncey; "poor old creature! she
+seemed most deeply attentive when I looked at her."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her," cried Ellen Chauncey, "and the tears were
+running down her cheeks several times."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't see her," said Ellen Montgomery, as John's eye
+met hers. He smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"But do you mean to say," continued Miss Sophia, "that you
+are absolutely careless as to who hears you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have always one hearer, Miss Sophia, of so much dignity,
+that it sinks the rest into great insignificance."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a rebuke," said Miss Sophia; "but nevertheless I
+shall tell you that I liked you very much this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you will tell me next," said the young lady,
+laughing, "that you are sorry to hear me say so."</p>
+
+<p>"I am," said he gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, may I ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"You show me that I have quite failed in my aim, so far at
+least as one of my hearers was concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember what Louis the Fourteenth said to
+Massillon?—Mon père, j'ai entendu plusieurs grands orateurs
+dans ma chapelle; j'en ai été fort content, pour vous, toutes
+les fois que je vous ai entendu, j'ai été très mécontent de moi-même!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen smiled. Miss Sophia was silent for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you really mean to be understood, that provided you
+fail of your aim, as you say, you do not care a straw what people
+think of you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As I would take a bankrupt's promissory note in lieu of
+told gold. It gives me small gratification, Miss Sophia—very
+small indeed—to see the bowing head of the grain that yet my
+sickle cannot reach."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree with you most heartily," said Mr. George Marshman.
+The conversation dropped; and the two gentlemen began another
+in an undertone, pacing up and down the floor together.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, not sorrowfully, Ellen entered the sleigh
+again and they set off homewards.</p>
+
+<p>"What a sober little piece that is," said Mr. Howard.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! sober!" cried Ellen Chauncey. "That is because you
+don't know her, Uncle Howard. She is the cheerfullest, happiest
+girl that I ever saw always."</p>
+
+<p>"Except Ellen Chauncey—always," said her uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a singular child," said Mrs. Gillespie. "She is grave
+certainly, but she don't look moped at all, and I should think
+she would be, to death."</p>
+
+<p>"There's not a bit of moping about her," said Miss Sophia.
+"She can laugh and smile as well as anybody; though she has
+sometimes that peculiar grave look of the eyes that would make
+a stranger doubt it. I think John Humphreys has infected her;
+he has something of the same look himself."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure whether it is the eyes or the mouth, Sophia,"
+said Mr. Howard.</p>
+
+<p>"It is both," said Miss Sophia. "Did you ever see the eyes
+look one way and the mouth another?"</p>
+
+<p>"And besides," said Ellen Chauncey, "she has reason to look
+sober, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a fascinating child," said Mrs. Gillespie. "I cannot
+comprehend where she gets the manner she has. I never
+saw a more perfectly polite child; and there she has been for
+months with nobody to speak to her but two gentlemen and the
+servants. It is natural to her, I suppose; she can have nobody
+to teach her."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so sure as to that," said Miss Sophia; "but I have
+noticed the same thing often. Did you observe her last night,
+Matilda, when John Humphreys came in? you were talking to
+her at the moment; I saw her, before the door was opened, I saw
+the colour come and her eyes sparkle, but she did not look towards
+him for an instant, till you had finished what you were saying
+to her, and she had given, as she always does, her modest quiet
+answer; and then her eye went straight as an arrow to where
+he was standing."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet," said Mrs. Chauncey, "she never moved towards
+him when you did, but stayed quietly on that side of the room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span>
+with the young ones till he came round to them, and it was some
+time too."</p>
+
+<p>"She is an odd child," said Miss Sophia, laughing; "what do
+you think she said to me yesterday? I was talking to her and
+getting rather communicative on the subject of my neighbours'
+affairs; and she asked me gravely—the little monkey—if I was
+sure they would like her to hear it? I felt quite rebuked; though
+I didn't choose to let her know as much."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish Mr. John would bring her every week," said Ellen
+Chauncey, sighing; "it would be so pleasant to have her."</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of the winter Mr. Humphreys began to
+propose that his son should visit England and Scotland during
+the following summer. He wished him to see his family
+and to know his native country, as well as some of the most
+distinguished men and institutions in both kingdoms. Mr.
+George Marshman also urged upon him some business in which
+he thought he could be eminently useful. But Mr. John declined
+both propositions, still thinking he had more important
+duties at home. This only cloud that rose above Ellen's
+horizon, scattered away.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, it was a Monday, in the twilight, John was as
+usual pacing up and down the floor. Ellen was reading in the
+window.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late for you, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "I know—I will stop in two minutes."</p>
+
+<p>But in a quarter of that time she had lost every thought of
+stopping, and knew no longer that it was growing dusk. Somebody
+else, however, had not forgotten it. The two minutes were
+not ended, when a hand came between her and the page and
+quietly drew the book away.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon!" cried Ellen, starting up. "I
+entirely forgot all about it!"</p>
+
+<p>He did not look displeased; he was smiling. He drew her
+arm within his.</p>
+
+<p>"Come and walk with me. Have you had any exercise
+to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"No!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had a good deal to do, and I had fixed myself so nicely on
+the sofa with my books; and it looked cold and disagreeable out
+of doors."</p>
+
+<p>"Since when have you ceased to be a fixture?"</p>
+
+<p>"What! Oh," said Ellen, laughing, "how shall I ever get rid
+of that troublesome word? What shall I say? I had <i>arranged</i>
+myself, <i>established</i> myself, so nicely on the sofa."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And did you think that a sufficient reason for not going out?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "I did not; and I did not decide that I
+would not go; and yet I let it keep me at home after all; just
+as I did about reading a few minutes ago. I meant to stop, but
+I forgot, and I should have gone on I don't know how long if you
+had not stopped me. I very often do so."</p>
+
+<p>He paused a minute and then said—</p>
+
+<p>"You must not do so any more, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>The tone, in which there was a great deal both of love and
+decision, wound round Ellen's heart, and constrained her to
+answer immediately—</p>
+
+<p>"I will not—I will not."</p>
+
+<p>"Never parley with conscience; it's a dangerous habit."</p>
+
+<p>"But then—it was only——"</p>
+
+<p>"About trifles; I grant you; but the habit is no trifle. There
+will not be a just firmness of mind and steadfastness of action,
+where tampering with duty is permitted even in little things."</p>
+
+<p>"I will try not to do it," Ellen repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, smiling, "let it stand as at first. '<i>I will not</i>,'
+means something; '<i>I will try</i>,' is very apt to come to nothing.
+'I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart!' not 'I will <i>try</i>.'
+Your reliance is precisely the same in either case."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not, John," said Ellen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"What were you poring over so intently a while ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was an old magazine—Blackwood's Magazine, I believe, is
+the name of it. I found two great piles of them in a closet
+upstairs the other day; and I brought this one down."</p>
+
+<p>"This is the first that you have read?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I got very much interested in a curious story there;
+why?"</p>
+
+<p>"What will you say, Ellie, if I ask you to leave the rest of the
+two piles unopened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I will say that I will do it, of course," said Ellen, with
+a little smothered sigh of regret, however; "if you wish it."</p>
+
+<p>"I do wish it, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I'll let them alone then. I have enough other
+reading; I don't know how I happened to take that one up;
+because I saw it there, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you finished Nelson yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes! I finished it Saturday night. Oh, I like it very
+much? I am going all over it again, though. I like Nelson very
+much; don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; as well as I can like a man of very fine qualities without
+principle."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he that?" said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes; did you not find it out? I am afraid your eyes were
+blinded by admiration."</p>
+
+<p>"Were they?" said Ellen. "I thought he was so very fine in
+everything; and I should be sorry to think he was not."</p>
+
+<p>"Look over the book again by all means, with a more critical
+eye; and when you have done so you shall give me your cool
+estimate of his character."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, me?" said Ellen. "Well, but I don't know whether I
+can give you a <i>cool</i> estimate of him; however, I'll try. I cannot
+think coolly of him now, just after Trafalgar. I think it was a
+shame that Collingwood did not anchor as Nelson told him to;
+don't you? I think he might have been obeyed while he was
+living, at least."</p>
+
+<p>"It is difficult," said John, smiling, "to judge correctly of
+many actions without having been on the spot and in the circumstances
+of the actors. I believe you and I must leave the
+question of Trafalgar to more nautical heads."</p>
+
+<p>"How pleasant this moonlight is!" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes it pleasant?"</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>makes</i> it pleasant! I don't know! I never thought of
+such a thing. It is <i>made</i> to be pleasant. I can't tell <i>why</i>; can
+anybody?"</p>
+
+<p>"The eye loves light for many reasons, but all kinds of light
+are not equally agreeable. What makes the peculiar charm of
+those long streams of pale light across the floor? and the shadowy
+brightness without?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must tell," said Ellen; "I cannot."</p>
+
+<p>"You know we enjoy anything much more by contrast; I
+think that is one reason. Night is the reign of darkness which
+we do not love; and here is light struggling with the darkness,
+not enough to overcome it entirely, but yet banishing it to
+nooks and corners and distant parts, by the side of which it
+shows itself in contrasted beauty. Our eyes bless the unwonted
+victory."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, "we only have moonlight nights once in
+a while."</p>
+
+<p>"But that is only one reason out of many, and not the greatest.
+It is a very refined pleasure, and to resolve it into its elements is
+something like trying to divide one of these same white rays of
+light into the many various coloured ones that go to form it; and
+not by any means so easy a task."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is no wonder I couldn't answer," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you are hardly a full-grown philosopher yet, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"The moonlight is so calm and quiet," Ellen observed admiringly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And why is it calm and quiet? I must have an answer to
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Because <i>we</i> are generally calm and quiet at such times!"
+Ellen ventured after a little thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely! we and the world. And association has given
+the moon herself the same character. Besides that her mild
+sober light is not fitted for the purposes of active employment,
+and therefore the more graciously invites us to the pleasures of
+thought and fancy."</p>
+
+<p>"I am loving it more and more, the more you talk about it,"
+said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"And there you have touched another reason, Ellie, for the
+pleasure we have, not only in moonlight, but in most other things.
+When two things have been in the mind together, and made any
+impression, the mind <i>associates</i> them; and you cannot see or think
+of the one without bringing back the remembrance or the feeling
+of the other. If we have enjoyed the moonlight in pleasant
+scenes, in happy hours, with friends that we loved—though the
+sight of it may not always make us directly remember them, it
+yet brings with it a waft from the feeling of the old times, sweet
+as long as life lasts!"</p>
+
+<p>"And sorrowful things may be associated too?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and sorrowful things. But this power of association is
+the cause of half the pleasure we enjoy. There is a tune my
+mother used to sing—I cannot hear it now without being carried
+swiftly back to my boyish days, to the very spirit of the time;
+I <i>feel</i> myself spring over the green sward as I did then."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know that is true," said Ellen. "The camellia, the
+white camellia, you know, I like it so much ever since what you
+said about it one day. I never see it without thinking of it; and
+it would not seem half so beautiful but for that."</p>
+
+<p>"What did I say about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you remember? you said it was like what you ought
+to be, and what you should be if you ever reached heaven; and
+you repeated that verse in the Revelation about 'those that have
+not defiled their garments.' I always think of it. It seems to
+give me a lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"How eloquent of beautiful lessons all nature would be to
+us," said John musingly, "if we had but the eye and ear to take
+them in."</p>
+
+<p>"And in that way you would heap associations upon associations?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; till our storehouse of pleasure was very full."</p>
+
+<p>"You do that now," said Ellen. "I wish you would teach
+me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have read precious things sometimes in the bunches of
+flowers you are so fond of, Ellie. Cannot you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know—I only think of themselves, except sometimes
+they make me think of Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"You know from any works we may form some judgment of
+the mind and character of their author?"</p>
+
+<p>"From their writings, I know you can," said Ellen; "from
+what other works?"</p>
+
+<p>"From any which are not mechanical; from any in which the
+mind, not the hand, has been the creating power. I saw you
+very much interested the other day in the Eddystone lighthouse;
+did it help you to form no opinion of Mr. Smeaton?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, certainly," said Ellen, "I admired him exceedingly
+for his cleverness and perseverance; but what other works?
+I can't think of any."</p>
+
+<p>"There is the lighthouse, that is one thing. What do you
+think of the ocean waves that now and then overwhelm it?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen half shuddered. "I shouldn't like to go to sea, John!
+But you were speaking of men's works and women's works?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, women's works; I cannot help forming some notion of
+a lady's mind and character from the way she dresses herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you? do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help doing it. Many things appear in the style of
+a lady's dress that she never dreams of; the style of her thoughts
+among others."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity ladies didn't know that," said Ellen, laughing;
+"they would be very careful."</p>
+
+<p>"It wouldn't mend the matter, Ellie. That is one of the
+things in which people are obliged to speak truth. As the mind
+is, so it will show itself."</p>
+
+<p>"But we have got a great way from the flowers," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall bring me some to-morrow, Ellie, and we will read
+them together."</p>
+
+<p>"There are plenty over there now," said Ellen, looking towards
+the little flower-stand, which was as full and as flourishing as ever,
+"but we can't see them well by this light."</p>
+
+<p>"A bunch of flowers seems to bring me very near the hand
+that made them. They are the work of His fingers; and I cannot
+consider them without being joyfully assured of the glory and
+loveliness of their Creator. It is written as plainly to me in their
+delicate painting and sweet breath and curious structure, as in
+the very pages of the Bible; though no doubt without the Bible
+I could not read the flowers."</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought much of that," said Ellen. "And then you
+find particular lessons in particular flowers?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come here!" said Ellen, pulling him towards the flower-stand,
+"and tell me what this daphne is like—you need not see
+that, only smell it, that's enough; do, John, and tell me what it
+is like!"</p>
+
+<p>He smiled as he complied with her request, and walked away
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it?" said Ellen; "I know you have thought
+of something."</p>
+
+<p>"It is like the fragrance that Christian society sometimes
+leaves upon the spirit; when it is just what it ought to be."</p>
+
+<p>"My Mr. Marshman!" exclaimed Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>John smiled again. "I thought of him, Ellie. And I thought
+also of Cowper's lines—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"'When one who holds communion with the skies,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Descends and dwells among us meaner things,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It is as if an angel shook his wings!'"</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Ellie was silent a moment from pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I have got an association now with the daphne!" she
+said joyously; and presently added, sighing, "How much you see
+in everything that I do not see at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Time, Ellie," said John; "there must be time for that. It
+will come. Time is cried out upon as a great thief; it is people's
+own fault. Use him but well, and you will get from his hand
+more than he will ever take from you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's thoughts travelled on a little way from this speech,
+and then came a sigh, of some burden, as it seemed; and her face
+was softly laid against the arm she held.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us leave all that to God," said John gently.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen started. "How did you know—how could you know
+what I was thinking of?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps my thoughts took the same road," said he, smiling.
+"But, Ellie, dear, let us look to that one source of happiness that
+can never be dried up; it is not safe to count upon anything
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not wonderful," said Ellen in a tremulous voice, "if
+I——"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not wonderful, Ellie, nor wrong. But we, who look up
+to God as our Father, who rejoice in Christ our Saviour, we are
+happy, whatever beside we may gain or lose. Let us trust Him,
+and never doubt that, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"But still——" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"But still, we will hope and pray alike in that matter. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span>
+while we do, and may, with our whole hearts, let us leave ourselves
+in our Father's hand. The joy of the knowledge of Christ!
+the joy the world cannot intermeddle with, the peace it cannot
+take away! Let us make that our own, Ellie; and for the rest
+put away all anxious care about what we cannot control."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's hand, however, did not just then lie quite so lightly
+on his arm as it did a few minutes ago; he could feel that; and
+could see the glitter of one or two tears in the moonlight as they
+fell. The hand was fondly taken in his; and as they slowly paced
+up and down, he went on in low tones of kindness and cheerfulness
+with his pleasant talk, till she was too happy in the present
+to be anxious about the future; looked up again and brightly into
+his face, and questions and answers came as gaily as ever.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Who knows what may happen? Patience and shuffle the cards!...
+Perhaps after all, I shall some day go to Rome, and come back St. Peter.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The rest of the winter, or rather the early part of the spring,
+passed happily away. March, at Thirlwall, seemed more to
+belong to the former than the latter. Then spring came in good
+earnest; April and May brought warm days and wild flowers.
+Ellen refreshed herself and adorned the room with quantities of
+them; and as soon as might be she set about restoring the winter-ruined
+garden. Mr. John was not fond of gardening; he provided
+her with all manner of tools, ordered whatever work she
+wanted to be done for her, supplied her with new plants, and
+seeds, and roots, and was always ready to give her his help in any
+operations or press of business that called for it. But for the
+most part Ellen hoed, and raked, and transplanted, and sowed
+seeds, while he walked or read; often giving his counsel, indeed,
+asked and unasked, and always coming in between her and any
+difficult or heavy job. The hours thus spent were to Ellen hours
+of unmixed delight. When he did not choose to go himself he
+sent Thomas with her, as the garden was some little distance
+down the mountain, away from the house and from everybody;
+he never allowed her to go there alone.</p>
+
+<p>As if to verify Mr. Van Brunt's remark, that "something is
+always happening most years," about the middle of May there
+came letters that after all determined John's going abroad. The
+sudden death of two relatives, one after the other, had left the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span>
+family estate to Mr. Humphreys; it required the personal
+attendance either of himself or his son; he could not, therefore
+his son must, go. Once on the other side the Atlantic, Mr.
+John thought it best his going should fulfil all the ends for which
+both Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Marshman had desired it; this
+would occasion his stay to be prolonged to at least a year, probably
+more. And he must set off without delay.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst, not of his hurry, for Mr. John seldom was or
+seemed to be in a hurry about anything; but in the midst of his
+business, he took special care of everything that concerned or
+could possibly concern Ellen. He arranged what books she could
+read, what studies she could carry on; and directed that about
+these matters as well as about all others she should keep up a
+constant communication with him by letter. He requested Mrs.
+Chauncey to see that she wanted nothing, and to act as her
+general guardian in all minor things, respecting which Mr. Humphreys
+could be expected to take no thought whatever. And
+what Ellen thanked him for most of all, he found time for all his
+wonted rides, and she thought more than his wonted talks with
+her; endeavouring as he well knew how, both to strengthen and
+cheer her mind in view of his long absence. The memory of
+those hours never went from her.</p>
+
+<p>The family at Ventnor were exceeding desirous that she should
+make one of them during all the time John should be gone; they
+urged it with every possible argument. Ellen said little, but he
+knew she did not wish it; and finally compounded the matter
+by arranging that she should stay at the parsonage through the
+summer, and spend the winter at Ventnor, sharing all Ellen
+Chauncey's advantages of every kind. Ellen was all the more
+pleased with this arrangement that Mr. George Marshman would
+be at home. The church John had been serving were becoming
+exceedingly attached to him, and would by no means hear of
+giving him up; and Mr. George engaged, if possible, to supply
+his place while he should be away. Ellen Chauncey was in
+ecstasies. And it was further promised that the summer should
+not pass without as many visits on both sides as could well be
+brought about.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had the comfort, at the last, of hearing John say that
+she had behaved unexceptionably well where he knew it was
+difficult for her to behave well at all. That <i>was</i> a comfort from
+him, whose notions of unexceptionable behaviour she knew were
+remarkably high. But the parting, after all, was a dreadfully
+hard matter; though softened as much as it could be at the time
+and rendered very sweet to Ellen's memory by the tenderness,
+gentleness, and kindness, with which her brother without checking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span>
+soothed her grief. He was to go early in the morning; and he
+made Ellen take leave of him the night before; but he was in no
+hurry to send her away; and when at length he told her it was
+very late, and she rose up to go, he went with her to the very
+door of her room and there bade her good-night.</p>
+
+<p>How the next days passed Ellen hardly knew; they were
+unspeakably long.</p>
+
+<p>Not a week after, one morning Nancy Vawse came into the
+kitchen, and asked in her blunt fashion—</p>
+
+<p>"Is Ellen Montgomery at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe Miss Ellen is in the parlour," said Margery dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to speak to her."</p>
+
+<p>Margery silently went across the hall to the sitting-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen, dear," she said softly, "here is that Nancy girl
+wanting to speak with you—will you please to see her?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen eagerly desired Margery to let her in, by no means displeased
+to have some interruption to the sorrowful thoughts she
+could not banish. She received Nancy very kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare, Ellen!" said that young lady, whose wandering
+eye was upon everything but Ellen herself, "ain't you as
+fine as a fiddle? I guess you never touch your fingers to a file
+nowadays, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"A file!" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You ha'n't forgot what it means, I suppose," said Nancy,
+somewhat scornfully, "'cause if you think I'm agoing to swallow
+that, you're mistaken. I've seen you file off tables down yonder a
+few times, ha'n't I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I remember now," said Ellen, smiling; "it is so long
+since I heard the word that I didn't know what you meant.
+Margery calls it a dish-cloth, or a floor-cloth, or something else."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you don't touch one nowadays, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "I have other things to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess you have. You've got enough of books now,
+for once, ha'n't you? What a lot! I say, Ellen, have you got to
+read all these?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, in time," said Ellen, smiling. "Why haven't you
+been to see me before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know!" said Nancy, whose roving eye looked a
+little as if she felt herself out of her sphere. "I didn't know as
+you would care to see me now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry you should think so, Nancy; I would be as
+glad to see you as ever. I have not forgotten all your old kindness
+to me when Aunt Fortune was sick."</p>
+
+<p>"You've forgotten all that went before that, I s'pose," said
+Nancy, with a half laugh. "You beat all! Most folks remember<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span>
+and forget just t'other way exactly. But besides, I didn't know
+but I should catch myself in queer company."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am all alone now," said Ellen, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you warn't I wouldn't be here, I can tell you. What
+do you think I have come for to-day, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"For anything but to see me?"</p>
+
+<p>Nancy nodded very decisively.</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I possibly guess? What have you got tucked up
+in your apron there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that's the very thing," said Nancy. "What <i>have</i> I got,
+sure enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't tell through your apron," said Ellen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"And <i>I</i> can't tell either; that's more, ain't it. Now listen,
+and I'll tell you where I got it, and then you may find out what
+it is, for I don't know. Promise me you won't tell anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like to promise that, Nancy."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it might be something I ought to tell somebody
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"But it ain't."</p>
+
+<p>"If it isn't I won't tell. Can't you leave it so?"</p>
+
+<p>"But what a plague! Here I have gone and done all this just
+for you, and now you must go and make a fuss. What hurt would
+it do you to promise? it's nobody's business but yours and mine,
+and somebody else's that won't make any talk about it, I promise
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't speak of it, certainly, Nancy, unless I think I ought;
+can't you trust me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't give two straws for anybody else's say so," said
+Nancy; "but as you're as stiff as the mischief, I s'pose I'll have
+to let it go. I'll trust you! Now listen. It don't look like anything,
+does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," said Ellen, laughing; "you hold your apron so
+loose that I cannot see anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now listen. You know I've been helping down at
+your aunt's—did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I have, these six weeks. You never see anything
+go on quieter than they do, Ellen. I declare it's fun. Miss
+Fortune never was so good in her days. I don't mean she ain't
+as ugly as ever, you know, but she has to keep it in. All I have
+to do if I think anything is going wrong, I just let her think I am
+going to speak to <i>him</i> about it; only I have to do it very cunning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span>
+for fear she should guess what I am up to; and the next thing I
+know it's all straight. He <i>is</i> about the coolest shaver," said
+Nancy, "I ever did see. The way he walks through her notions
+once in a while—not very often, mind you, but when he takes a
+fancy—it's fun to see! Oh, I can get along there first-rate, now.
+<i>You'd</i> have a royal time, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nancy—your story?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you be in a hurry! I am going to take my time. Well,
+I've been there this six weeks; doing all sorts of things, you
+know, taking your place, Ellen; don't you wish you was back in
+it? Well, a couple of weeks since Mrs. Van took it into her head
+she would have up the waggon and go to Thirlwall to get herself
+some things; a queer start for her; but at any rate Van Brunt
+brought up the waggon, and in she got and off they went. Now
+<i>she meant</i>, you must know, that I should be fast in the cellar-kitchen
+all the while she was gone, and she thought she had
+given me enough to keep me busy there; but I was up to her!
+I was as spry as a cricket, and flew round, and got things put up;
+and then I thought I'd have some fun. What do you think I
+did? Mrs. Montgomery was quietly sitting in the chimney-corner,
+and I had the whole house to myself. How Van Brunt looks out
+for her, Ellen; he won't let her be put out for anything or
+anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad of it," said Ellen, her face flushing and her eyes
+watering; "it is just like him. I love him for it."</p>
+
+<p>"The other night she was mourning and lamenting at a great
+rate because she hadn't you to read to her; and what do
+you think he does but goes and takes the book and sits down
+and reads to her himself. You should have seen Mrs. Van's
+face!"</p>
+
+<p>"What book?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"What book?—why, your book—the Bible. There ain't any
+other book in the house as I know. What on earth are you crying
+for, Ellen? He's fetched over his mother's old Bible, and there
+it lays on a shelf in the cupboard; and he has it out every once
+in a while. Maybe he's coming round, Ellen. But do hold up
+your head and listen to me! I can't talk to you while you lie
+with your head in the cushion like that. I ha'n't more than
+begun my story yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, I ain't in any hurry," said Nancy, "because as soon
+as I've finished I shall have to be off; and it's fun to talk to you.
+What do you think I did when I had done up all my chores?—where
+do you think I found this, eh? <i>you'd</i> never guess."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" said Ellen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No matter what it is; I don't know; where do you think I
+found it?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I tell? I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be angry with me when I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"If it was anybody else," said Nancy, "I'd ha' seen 'em shot
+afore I'd ha' done it, or told of it either; but you ain't like anybody
+else. Look here!" said she, tapping her apron gently with one
+finger and slowly marking off each word, "this—came out of—your—aunt's—box—in—the
+closet upstairs—in—her room."</p>
+
+<p>"Nancy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, Nancy! there it is. Now you look. 'Twon't alter it,
+Ellen; that's where it was, if you look till tea-time."</p>
+
+<p>"But how came you there?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause I wanted to amuse myself, I tell you. Partly to
+please myself, and partly because Mrs. Van would be so mad if
+she knew it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nancy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't say it was right, but anyhow I did it; you
+ha'n't heard what I found yet."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better put it right back again, Nancy, the first time
+you have a chance."</p>
+
+<p>"Put it back again!—I'll give it to you, and then <i>you</i> may
+put it back again, if you have a mind. I should like to see you!
+Why, you don't know what I found."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did you find?"</p>
+
+<p>"The box was chuck full of all sorts of things, and I had a
+mind to see what was in it, so I pulled 'em out one after the
+other till I got to the bottom. At the very bottom was some
+letters and papers, and there—staring right in my face—the first
+thing I see was, 'Miss Ellen Montgomery.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Nancy!" screamed Ellen, "a letter for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!—and sit down, will you?—yes, a whole package of
+letters for you. Well, thought I, Mrs. Van has no right to that
+anyhow, and she ain't agoing to take the care of it any more; so
+I just took it up and put it in the bosom of my frock while I
+looked to see if there was any more for you, but there warn't.
+There it is."</p>
+
+<p>And she tossed the package into Ellen's lap. Ellen's head
+swam.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, good-bye!" said Nancy, rising; "I may go now, I
+suppose, and no thanks to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do—I do thank you very much, Nancy," cried Ellen,
+starting up and taking her by the hand—"I do thank you, though
+it wasn't right; but oh, how could she! how could she!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" said Nancy; "to ask that of Mrs. Van! she
+could do anything. <i>Why</i> she did it, ain't so easy to tell."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen, bewildered, scarcely knew, only <i>felt</i>, that Nancy had
+gone. The outer cover of her package, the seal of which was
+broken, contained three letters; two addressed to Ellen, in her
+father's hand, the third to another person. The seals of these
+had not been broken. The first that Ellen opened she saw was
+all in the same hand with the direction; she threw it down and
+eagerly tried the other. And yes! there was indeed the beloved
+character of which she never thought to have seen another
+specimen. Ellen's heart swelled with many feelings; thankfulness,
+tenderness, joy, and sorrow, past and present; <i>that</i> letter
+was not thrown down, but grasped, while tears fell much too fast
+for eyes to do their work. It was long before she could get far
+in the letter. But when she had fairly begun it, she went on
+swiftly, and almost breathlessly, to the end.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear, dear little Ellen</span>,—I am scarcely able—but I must
+write to you once more. <i>Once</i> more, daughter, for it is not permitted
+me to see your face again in this world. I look to see it,
+my dear child, where it will be fairer than ever here it seemed,
+even to me. I shall die in this hope and expectation. Ellen,
+remember it. Your last letters have greatly encouraged and rejoiced
+me. I am comforted, and can leave you quietly in that
+hand that has led me and I believe is leading you. God bless
+you, my child!</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen, I have a mother living, and she wishes to receive you
+as her own when I am gone. It is best you should know at once
+why I never spoke to you of her. After your Aunt Bessy married
+and went to New York, it displeased and grieved my mother
+greatly that I too, who had always been her favourite child,
+should leave her for an American home. And when I persisted,
+in spite of all that entreaties and authority could urge, she said
+she forgave me for destroying all her prospects of happiness, but
+that after I should be married and gone she should consider me
+as lost to her entirely, and so I must consider myself. She never
+wrote to me, and I never wrote to her after I reached America.
+She was dead to me. I do not say that I did not deserve it.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have written to her lately and she has written to me.
+She permits me to die in the joy of being entirely forgiven, and
+in the further joy of knowing that the only source of care I had
+left is done away. She will take you to her heart, to the place
+I once filled, and I believe fill yet. She longs to have you, and
+to have you as entirely her own, in all respects; and to this, in
+consideration of the wandering life your father leads, and will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span>lead, I am willing and he is willing to agree. It is arranged so.
+The old happy home of my childhood will be yours, my Ellen.
+It joys me to think of it. Your father will write to your aunt
+and to you on the subject, and furnish you with funds. It is our
+desire that you should take advantage of the very first opportunity
+of proper persons going to Scotland who will be willing to
+take charge of you. Your dear friends, Mr. and Miss Humphreys,
+will, I dare say, help you in this.</p>
+
+<p>"To them I could say much, if I had strength. But words
+are little. If blessings and prayers from a full heart are worth
+anything, they are the richer. My love and gratitude to them
+cannot——"</p></div>
+
+<p>The writer had failed here; and what there was of the letter
+had evidently been written at different times. Captain Montgomery's
+was to the same purpose. He directed Ellen to embrace
+the first opportunity of suitable guardians, to cross the Atlantic
+and repair to No.—George Street, Edinburgh; and that Miss
+Fortune would give her the money she would need, which he had
+written to her to do, and that the accompanying letter Ellen
+was to carry with her and deliver to Mrs. Lindsay, her grandmother.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt as if her head would split. She took up that letter,
+gazed at the strange name and direction which had taken such
+new and startling interest for her, wondered over the thought of
+what she was ordered to do with it, marvelled what sort of fingers
+they were which would open it, or whether it would ever be
+opened; and finally in a perfect maze, unable to read, think, or
+even weep, she carried her package of letters into her own room,
+the room that had been Alice's, laid herself on the bed, and them
+beside her; and fell into a deep sleep.</p>
+
+<p>She woke up towards evening with the pressure of a mountain
+weight upon her mind. Her thoughts and feelings were a maze
+still; and not Mr. Humphreys himself could be more grave and
+abstracted than poor Ellen was that night. So many points were
+to be settled—so many questions answered to herself—it was a
+good while before Ellen could disentangle them, and know what
+she did think and feel, and what she would do.</p>
+
+<p>She very soon found out her own mind upon one subject—she
+would be exceeding sorry to be obliged to obey the directions
+in the letters. But must she obey them?</p>
+
+<p>"I have promised Alice," thought Ellen; "I have promised
+Mr. Humphreys—I can't be adopted twice. And this Mrs.
+Lindsay, my grandmother! she cannot be nice or she wouldn't
+have treated my mother so. She cannot be a nice person; hard,
+she must be hard; I never want to see her. My mother! But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span>
+then my mother loved her, and was very glad to have me go to
+her. Oh! oh! how could she! how could they do so! when
+they didn't know how it might be with me, and what dear friends
+they might make me leave! Oh, it was cruel! But then they
+did <i>not</i> know, that is the very thing—they thought I would have
+nobody but Aunt Fortune, and so it's no wonder—Oh, what shall
+I do! What <i>ought</i> I to do? These people in Scotland must have
+given me up by this time; it's, let me see—it's just about three
+years now, a little less, since these letters were written, and circumstances
+are changed; I have a home and a father and a
+brother; may I not judge for myself? But my mother and my
+father have ordered me, what shall I do! If John were only
+here—but perhaps he would make me go, he might think it
+right. And to leave him, and maybe never to see him again!
+and Mr. Humphreys! and how lonely he would be without me.
+I cannot! I will not! Oh, what <i>shall</i> I do! What shall I do!"
+Ellen's meditations gradually plunged her in despair; for she
+could not look at the event of being obliged to go, and she could
+not get rid of the feeling that perhaps it might come to that.
+She wept bitterly; it didn't mend the matter. She thought
+painfully, fearfully, long; and was no nearer an end. She could
+not endure to submit the matter to Mr. Humphreys; she feared
+his decision; and she feared also that he would give her the
+money Miss Fortune had failed to supply for the journey; how
+much it might be Ellen had no idea. She could not dismiss the
+subject as decided by circumstances, for conscience pricked her
+with the fifth commandment. She was miserable. It happily
+occurred to her at last to take counsel with Mrs. Vawse; this
+might be done she knew without betraying Nancy; Mrs. Vawse
+was much too honourable to press her as to how she came by the
+letters, and her word could easily be obtained not to speak of the
+affairs to any one. As for Miss Fortune's conduct, it must be
+made known; there was no help for that. So it was settled;
+and Ellen's breast was a little lightened of its load of care for
+that time; she had leisure to think of some other things.</p>
+
+<p>Why had Miss Fortune kept back the letters? Ellen guessed
+pretty well, but she did not know quite all. The package, with
+its accompanying despatch to Miss Fortune, had arrived shortly
+after Ellen first heard the news of her mother's death, when she
+was refuged with Alice at the parsonage. At the time of its
+being sent Captain Montgomery's movements were extremely
+uncertain; and in obedience to the earnest request of his wife he
+directed that without waiting for his own return Ellen should
+immediately set out for Scotland. Part of the money for her
+expenses he sent; the rest he desired his sister to furnish, pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span>mising
+to make all straight when he should come home. But it
+happened that he was already this lady's debtor in a small amount,
+which Miss Fortune had serious doubts of ever being repaid; she
+instantly determined that if she had once been a fool in lending
+him money, she would not a second time in adding to the sum;
+if he wanted to send his daughter on a wild-goose chase after
+great relations, he might come home himself and see to it; it was
+none of her business. Quietly taking the remittance to refund
+his own owing, she of course threw the letters into her box, as the
+delivery of them would expose the whole transaction. There they
+lay till Nancy found them.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning after breakfast Ellen came into the
+kitchen, and begged Margery to ask Thomas to bring the
+Brownie to the door. Surprised at the energy in her tone and
+manner, Margery gave the message, and added that Miss Ellen
+seemed to have picked up wonderfully; she hadn't heard her
+speak so brisk since Mr. John went away.</p>
+
+<p>The Brownie was soon at the door, but not so soon as Ellen,
+who had dressed in feverish haste. The Brownie was not alone;
+there was old John saddled and bridled, and Thomas Grimes in
+waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"It's not necessary for you to take that trouble, Thomas," said
+Ellen; "I don't mind going alone at all."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Ellen (Thomas touched his hat)—but
+Mr. John left particular orders that I was to go with Miss
+Ellen whenever it pleased her to ride; never failing."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he?" said Ellen; "but is it convenient for you now,
+Thomas? I want to go as far as Mrs. Vawse's."</p>
+
+<p>"It's always convenient, Miss Ellen, always; Miss Ellen need
+not think of that at all, I am always ready."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen mounted upon the Brownie, sighing for the want of the
+hand that used to lift her to the saddle; and, spurred by this
+recollection, set off at a round pace.</p>
+
+<p>Soon she was at Mrs. Vawse's; and soon finding her alone,
+Ellen had spread out all her difficulties before her and given her
+the letters to read. Mrs. Vawse readily promised to speak on the
+subject to no one without Ellen's leave; her suspicions fell upon
+Mr. Van Brunt, not her grand-daughter. She heard all the story,
+and read the letters before making any remark.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, dear Mrs. Vawse," said Ellen anxiously, when the last
+one was folded up and laid on the table, "what do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, my child, you must go," said the old lady steadily.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked keenly, as if to find some other answer in her
+face; her own changing more and more for a minute till she sunk
+it in her hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Cela vous donne beaucoup de chagrin, je le vois bien," said
+the old lady tenderly. (Their conversations were always in Mrs.
+Vawse's tongue.)</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Ellen presently, lifting her head again (there
+were no tears), "I cannot go without money."</p>
+
+<p>"That can be obtained without any difficulty."</p>
+
+<p>"From whom? I cannot ask Aunt Fortune for it, Mrs.
+Vawse; I could not do it!"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no difficulty about the money. Show your letters
+to Mr. Humphreys."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I cannot!" said Ellen, covering her face again.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you let me do it? I will speak to him if you permit
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"But what use? <i>He</i> ought not to give me the money, Mrs.
+Vawse! It would not be right; and to show him the letters
+would be like asking him for it. Oh, I can't bear to do that!"</p>
+
+<p>"He would give it you, Ellen, with the greatest pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, Mrs. Vawse," said Ellen, bursting into tears, "he
+would never be pleased to send me away from him! I know—I
+know—he would miss me. Oh what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not <i>that</i>, my dear Ellen," said the old lady coming to her
+and gently stroking her head with both hands. "You must do
+what is <i>right</i>; and you know it cannot be but that will be best
+and happiest for you in the end."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh I wish—I wish," exclaimed Ellen from the bottom of her
+heart, "those letters had never been found!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Ellen, <i>that</i> is not right."</p>
+
+<p>"But I promised Alice, Mrs. Vawse; ought I go away and
+leave him? Oh, Mrs. Vawse, it is very hard! <i>Ought</i> I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your father and your mother have said it, my child."</p>
+
+<p>"But they never would have said it if they had known!"</p>
+
+<p>"But they did not know, Ellen; and here it is."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen wept violently, regardless of the caresses and soothing
+words which her old friend lavished upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"There is one thing!" said she at last, raising her head, "I
+don't know of anybody going to Scotland, and I am not likely to;
+and if I only do not before autumn, that is not a good time to go,
+and then comes winter."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said Mrs. Vawse sorrowfully, "I must
+drive you from your last hope. Don't you know that Mrs.
+Gillespie is going abroad with all her family?—next month, I
+think."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen grew pale for a minute, and sat holding bitter counsel
+with her own heart. Mrs. Vawse hardly knew what to say
+next.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You need not feel uneasy about your journeying expenses,"
+she remarked after a pause; "you can easily repay them, if you
+wish, when you reach your friends in Scotland."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen did not hear her. She looked up with an odd expression
+of determination in her face, determination taking its stand
+upon difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>"I shan't stay there, Mrs. Vawse, if I go! I shall go, I
+suppose, if I must; but do you think anything will keep me
+there? Never!"</p>
+
+<p>"You will stay for the same reason that you go for, Ellen;
+to do your duty."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, till I am old enough to choose for myself, Mrs. Vawse,
+and then I shall come back; if they will let me."</p>
+
+<p>"Whom do you mean by 'they'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Humphreys and Mr. John."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellen," said the old lady kindly, "be satisfied
+with doing your duty now; leave the future. While you follow
+Him, God will be your friend; is not that enough? and all
+things shall work for your good. You do not know what you
+will wish when the time comes you speak of. You do not know
+what new friends you may find to love."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had in her own heart the warrant for what she had said,
+and what she saw by her smile Mrs. Vawse doubted; but she
+disdained to assert what she could bring nothing to prove. She
+took a sorrowful leave of her old friend and returned home.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner when Mr. Humphreys was about going back to
+his study, Ellen timidly stopped him and gave him her letters,
+and asked him to look at them sometime when he had leisure.
+She told him also where they were found and how long they had
+lain there, and that Mrs. Vawse had said she ought to show them
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>She guessed he would read them at once, and she waited
+with a beating heart. In a little while she heard his step
+coming back along the hall. He came and sat down by her on
+the sofa and took her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your wish in this matter, my child?" he said
+gravely and cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's look answered that.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do whatever you say I must, sir," she said faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"I dare not ask myself what <i>I</i> would wish, Ellen; the matter
+is taken out of our hands. You must do your parents' will, my
+child. I will try to hope that you will gain more than I lose.
+As the Lord pleases! If I am bereaved of my children, I am
+bereaved."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gillespie," he said, after a pause, "is about going to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span>
+England; I know not how soon. It will be best for you to see
+her at once and make all arrangements that may be necessary.
+I will go with you to-morrow to Ventnor, if the day be a good
+one."</p>
+
+<p>There was something Ellen longed to say, but it was impossible
+to get it out; she could not utter a word. She had
+pressed her hands upon her face to try to keep herself quiet;
+but Mr. Humphreys could see the deep crimson flushing to the
+very roots of her hair. He drew her close within his arms for a
+moment, kissed her forehead, Ellen <i>felt</i> it was sadly, and went
+away. It was well she did not hear him sigh as he went back
+along the hall; it was well she did not see the face of more
+settled gravity with which he sat down to his writing; she had
+enough of her own.</p>
+
+<p>They went to Ventnor. Mrs. Gillespie with great pleasure
+undertook the charge of her, and promised to deliver her safely
+to her friends in Scotland. It was arranged that she should go
+back to Thirlwall to make her adieus; and that in a week or two
+a carriage should be sent to bring her to Ventnor, where her
+preparations for the journey should be made, and whence the
+whole party would set off.</p>
+
+<p>"So you are going to be a Scotchwoman after all, Ellen,"
+said Miss Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a great deal rather be an American, Miss Sophia."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Hutchinson will tell you," said the young lady, "that
+it is infinitely more desirable to be a Scotchwoman than that."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's face, however, looked so little inclined to be merry
+that she took up the subject in another tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, do you know," said she, "I have been thinking
+it is a very happy thing for you. I don't know what would become
+of you alone in that great parsonage house. You would
+mope yourself to death in a little while; especially now that Mr.
+John is gone."</p>
+
+<p>"He will be back," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but what if he is? he can't stay at Thirlwall, child.
+He can't live thirty miles from his church, you know. Did you
+think he would? They think all the world of him already. I
+expect they'll barely put up with Mr. George while he is gone;
+they will want Mr. John all to themselves when he comes back,
+you may rely on that. What <i>are</i> you thinking of, child?"</p>
+
+<p>For Ellen's eyes were sparkling with two or three thoughts
+which Miss Sophia could not read.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to know what you are smiling at," she said,
+with some curiosity. But the smile was almost immediately
+quenched in tears.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Miss Sophia's discouraging talk, Ellen
+privately agreed with Ellen Chauncey that the Brownie should
+be sent to her to keep and use as her own, <i>till his mistress should
+come back</i>; both children being entirely of opinion that the
+arrangement was a most unexceptionable one.</p>
+
+<p>It was not forgotten that the lapse of three years since the
+date of the letters left some uncertainty as to the present state
+of affairs among Ellen's friends in Scotland; but this doubt was
+not thought sufficient to justify her letting pass so excellent an
+opportunity of making the journey, especially as Captain Montgomery's
+letter spoke of an <i>uncle</i>, to whom, equally with her
+grandmother, Ellen was to be consigned. In case circumstances
+would permit it, Mrs. Gillespie engaged to keep Ellen with her,
+and bring her home to America when she herself should return.</p>
+
+<p>And in little more than a month they were gone; adieus and
+preparations and all were over. Ellen's parting with Mrs. Vawse
+was very tender and very sad; with Mr. Van Brunt, extremely
+and gratefully affectionate, on both sides; with her aunt, constrained
+and brief; with Margery, very sorrowful indeed. But
+Ellen's longest and most lingering adieu was to Captain Parry,
+the old grey cat. For one whole evening she sat with him in
+her arms; and over poor pussy were shed the tears that fell for
+many better loved and better deserving personages, as well as
+those not a few that were wept for him. Since Alice's death
+Parry had transferred his entire confidence and esteem to Ellen;
+whether from feeling a want, or because love and tenderness had
+taught her the touch and the tone that were fitted to win his
+regard. Only John shared it. Ellen was his chief favourite and
+almost constant companion. And bitterer tears Ellen shed at no
+time than that evening before she went away, over the old cat.
+She could not distress kitty with her distress, nor weary him
+with the calls upon his sympathy, though indeed it is true that
+he sundry times poked his nose up wonderingly and caressingly
+in her face. She had no remonstrance or interruption to fear;
+and taking pussy as the emblem and representative of the whole
+household, Ellen wept them all over him, with a tenderness and
+a bitterness that were somehow intensified by the sight of the
+grey coat, and white paws, and kindly face, of her unconscious
+old brute friend.</p>
+
+<p>The old people at Carra-carra were taken leave of; the
+Brownie too, with great difficulty. And Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm really sorry you are going, Ellen," said she; "you're
+the only soul in town I care about. I wish I'd thrown them
+letters in the fire after all! Who'd ha' thought it!"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen could not help in her heart echoing the wish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm really sorry, Ellen," she repeated. "Ain't there something
+I can do for you when you are gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, dear Nancy," said Ellen, weeping, "if you would
+only take care of your dear grandmother. She is left alone now.
+If you would only take care of her, and read your Bible, and be
+good, Nancy. Oh, Nancy, Nancy! do, do!"</p>
+
+<p>They kissed each other, and Nancy went away fairly crying.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Marshman's own woman, a steady, excellent person, had
+come in the carriage for Ellen. And the next morning early
+after breakfast, when everything else was ready, she went into
+Mr. Humphreys' study to bid the last dreaded good-bye. She
+thought her obedience was costing her dear.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly a silent parting. He held her a long time
+in his arms; and there Ellen bitterly thought her place ought
+to be. "What have I to do to seek new relations?" she said
+to herself. But she was speechless; till gently relaxing his hold
+he tenderly smoothed back her disordered hair, and kissing her,
+said a very few grave words of blessing and counsel. Ellen
+gathered all her strength together then, for she had something
+that <i>must</i> be spoken.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said she, falling on her knees before him and looking
+up in his face, "this don't alter—you do not take back what you
+said, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What that I said, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"That," said Ellen, hiding her face in her hands on his knee,
+and scarce able to speak with great effort, "that which you said
+when I first came—that which you said about——"</p>
+
+<p>"About what, my dear child?"</p>
+
+<p>"My going away don't change anything, does it, sir? Mayn't
+I come back, if ever I can?"</p>
+
+<p>He raised her up and drew her close to his bosom again.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear little daughter," said he, "you cannot be so glad
+to come back as my arms and my heart will be to receive you.
+I scarce dare hope to see that day, but all in this house is yours,
+dear Ellen, as well when in Scotland as here. I take back
+nothing, my daughter. Nothing is changed."</p>
+
+<p>A word or two more of affection and blessing, which Ellen
+was utterly unable to answer in any way, and she went to the
+carriage; with one drop of cordial in her heart, that she fed upon
+a long while. "He called me his daughter! he never said that
+before since Alice died! Oh, so I will be as long as I live, if I
+find fifty new relations. But what good will a daughter three
+thousand miles off do him?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<p><i>Speed.</i> Item. <i>She is proud.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Laun.</i> Out with that;—it was Eve's legacy, and cannot be ta'en
+from her.</p></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>The voyage was peaceful and prosperous; in due time the
+whole party found themselves safe in London. Ever since
+they set out Ellen had been constantly gaining on Mrs. Gillespie's
+good will; the major hardly saw her but she had something to
+say about that "best-bred child in the world." "Best-hearted
+too, I think," said the major; and even Mrs. Gillespie owned
+that there was something more than good-breeding in Ellen's
+politeness. She had good trial of it; Mrs. Gillespie was much
+longer ailing than any of the party; and when Ellen got well,
+it was her great pleasure to devote herself to the service of the
+only member of the Marshman family now within her reach.
+She could never do too much. She watched by her, read to her,
+was quick to see and perform all the little offices of attention
+and kindness where a servant's hand is not so acceptable; and
+withal never was in the way nor put herself forward. Mrs.
+Gillespie's own daughter was much less helpful. Both she and
+William, however, had long since forgotten the old grudge, and
+treated Ellen as well as they did anybody; rather better. Major
+Gillespie was attentive and kind as possible to the gentle, well-behaved
+little body that was always at his wife's pillow; and
+even Lester, the maid, told one of her friends "she was such a
+sweet little lady, that it was a pleasure and gratification to do anything
+for her." Lester acted this out; and in her kindly disposition
+Ellen found very substantial comfort and benefit throughout
+the voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gillespie told her husband she should be rejoiced if it
+turned out that they might keep Ellen with them, and carry
+her back to America; she only wished it were not for Mr.
+Humphreys but herself. As their destination was not now Scotland
+but Paris, it was proposed to write to Ellen's friends to
+ascertain whether any change had occurred, or whether they still
+wished to receive her. This, however, was rendered unnecessary.
+They were scarcely established in their hotel, when a gentleman
+from Edinburgh, an intimate friend of the Ventnor family, and
+whom Ellen herself had more than once met there, came to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span>
+see them. Mrs. Gillespie bethought herself to make inquiries
+of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you happen to know a family of Lindsays in George
+Street, Mr. Dundas?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lindsays? Yes, perfectly well. Do you know them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I am very much interested in one of the family.
+Is the old lady living?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly; not very old either, not above sixty or sixty-five;
+and as hale and alert as at forty. A very fine old lady."</p>
+
+<p>"A very large family?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no; Mr. Lindsay is a widower this some years, with no
+children; and there is a widowed daughter lately come home—Lady
+Keith. That's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lindsay—that is the son?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. You would like them. They are excellent people—excellent
+family—wealthy—beautiful country seat on the south
+bank of the Tyne, some miles out of Edinburgh. I was down
+there two weeks ago;—entertain most handsomely and agreeably,
+two things that do not always go together. You meet a
+pleasanter circle nowhere than at Lindsay's."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is the whole family?" said Mrs. Gillespie.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all. There were two daughters married in America
+some dozen or so years ago. Mrs. Lindsay took it very hard, I
+believe; but she bore up, and bears up now as if misfortune had
+never crossed her path; though the death of Mr. Lindsay's wife
+and son was another great blow. I don't believe there is a grey
+hair on her head at this moment. There is some peculiarity about
+them perhaps, some pride too; but that is an amiable weakness,"
+he added, laughing, as he rose to go. "Mrs. Gillespie, I am
+sure, will not find fault with them for it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's an insinuation, Mr. Dundas; but look here, what I
+am bringing to Mrs. Lindsay in the shape of a granddaughter."</p>
+
+<p>"What, my old acquaintance, Miss Ellen! Is it possible?
+My dear madam, if you had such a treasure for sale, they would
+pour half their fortune into your lap to purchase it, and the other
+half at her feet."</p>
+
+<p>"I would not take it, Mr. Dundas."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be no mean price, I assure you, in itself, however
+it might be comparatively. I give Miss Ellen joy."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Ellen took none of his giving.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Ellen, my dear," said Mrs. Gillespie, when he was gone,
+"we shall never have you back in America again. I give up all
+hopes of it. Why do you look so solemn, my love? You are a
+strange child; most girls would be delighted at such a prospect
+opening before them."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You forget what I leave, Mrs. Gillespie."</p>
+
+<p>"So will you, my love, in a few days; though I love you for
+remembering so well those that have been kind to you. But you
+don't realise yet what is before you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you'll have a good time, Ellen," said Marianne; "I
+wonder you are not out of your wits with joy. <i>I</i> should be."</p>
+
+<p>"You may as well make over the Brownie to me, Ellen," said
+William; "I expect you'll never want him again."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot, you know, William; I lent him to Ellen Chauncey."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Lent</i> him!—that's a good one. For how long?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen smiled, though sighing inwardly to see how very much
+narrowed was her prospect of ever mounting him again. She
+did not care to explain herself to those around her. Still, at the
+very bottom of her heart lay two thoughts in which her hope
+refuged itself. One was a peculiar assurance that whatever
+her brother pleased, nothing could hinder him from accomplishing;
+the other, a like confidence that it would not please him to
+leave his little sister unlooked after. But all began to grow
+misty, and it seemed now as if Scotland must henceforth be the
+limit of her horizon.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving their children at a relation's house, Major and Mrs.
+Gillespie accompanied her to the north. They travelled post,
+and arriving in the evening at Edinburgh, put up at a hotel in
+Princes Street. It was agreed that Ellen should not seek her
+new home till the morrow; she should eat one more supper and
+breakfast with her old friends, and have a night's rest first. She
+was very glad of it. The Major and Mrs. Gillespie were enchanted
+with the noble view from their parlour windows; while
+they were eagerly conversing together, Ellen sat alone at the
+other window, looking out upon the curious Old Town. There
+was all the fascination of novelty and beauty about that singular
+picturesque mass of buildings, in its sober colouring, growing
+more sober as the twilight fell; and just before outlines were
+lost in the dusk, lights began feebly to twinkle here and there,
+and grew brighter and more as the night came on, till their
+brilliant multitude were all that could be seen where the curious
+jumble of chimneys and house-tops and crooked ways had shown
+a little before. Ellen sat watching this lighting up of the Old
+Town, feeling strangely that she was in the midst of new scenes
+indeed, entering upon a new stage of life; and having some difficulty
+to persuade herself that she was really Ellen Montgomery.
+The scene of extreme beauty before her seemed rather to increase
+the confusion and sadness of her mind. Happily, joyfully, Ellen
+remembered, as she sat gazing over the darkening city and its
+brightening lights, that there was One near her who could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span>
+change; that Scotland was no remove from Him; that His providence
+as well as His heaven was over her there; that there,
+not less than in America, she was His child. She rejoiced, as
+she sat in her dusky window, over His words of assurance, "I
+am the good Shepherd and know My sheep, and am known of
+Mine;" and she looked up into the clear sky (that at least was
+home-like), in tearful thankfulness, and with earnest prayer that
+she might be kept from evil. Ellen guessed she might have
+special need to offer that prayer. And as again her eye wandered
+over the singular bright spectacle that kept reminding her she
+was a stranger in a strange place, her heart joyfully leaned upon
+another loved sentence, "This God is our God for ever and ever;
+He will be our Guide even unto death."</p>
+
+<p>She was called from her window to supper.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how well you look!" said Mrs. Gillespie; "I expected
+you would have been half tired to death. Doesn't she look
+well?"</p>
+
+<p>"As if she was neither tired, hungry, nor sleepy," said Major
+Gillespie kindly; "and yet she must be all three."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was all three. But she had the rest of a quiet mind.</p>
+
+<p>In the same quiet mind, a little fluttered and anxious now,
+she set out in the post-chaise the next morning with her kind
+friends to No.—George Street. It was their intention, after
+leaving her, to go straight on to England. They were in a hurry
+to be there; and Mrs. Gillespie judged that the presence of a
+stranger at the meeting between Ellen and her new relations
+would be desired by none of the parties. But when they reached
+the house they found the family were not at home; they were in
+the country—at their place on the Tyne. The direction was
+obtained, and the horses' heads turned that way. After a drive
+of some length, through what kind of a country Ellen could
+hardly have told, they arrived at the place.</p>
+
+<p>It was beautifully situated; and through well-kept grounds
+they drove up to a large, rather old-fashioned, substantial-looking
+house. "The ladies were at home;" and that ascertained, Ellen
+took a kind leave of Mrs. Gillespie, shook hands with the Major
+at the door, and was left alone for the second time in her life to
+make her acquaintance with new and untried friends. She stood
+for one second looking after the retreating carriage—one swift
+thought went to her adopted father and brother far away, one to
+her Friend in heaven—and Ellen quietly turned to the servant
+and asked for Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>She was shown into a large room where nobody was, and sat
+down with a beating heart while the servant went upstairs;
+looking with a strange feeling upon what was to be her future<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span>
+home. The house was handsome, comfortably, luxuriously furnished;
+but without any attempt at display. Things rather old-fashioned
+than otherwise; plain, even homely in some instances;
+yet evidently there was no sparing of money in any line of use
+or comfort; nor were reading and writing, painting and music,
+strangers there. Unconsciously acting upon her brother's principle
+of judging of people from their works, Ellen, from what she
+saw gathered around her, formed a favourable opinion of her
+relations; without thinking of it, for indeed she was thinking of
+something else.</p>
+
+<p>A lady presently entered and said that Mrs. Lindsay was not
+very well. Seeing Ellen's very hesitating look, she added, "Shall
+I carry her any message for you?"</p>
+
+<p>This lady was well-looking and well-dressed; but somehow
+there was something in her face or manner that encouraged Ellen
+to an explanation; she could make none. She silently gave her
+her father's letter, with which the lady left the room.</p>
+
+<p>In a minute or two she returned and said her mother would
+see Ellen upstairs, and asked her to come with her. This then
+must be Lady Keith! but no sign of recognition! Ellen wondered,
+as her trembling feet carried her upstairs, and to the door of a
+room where the lady motioned her to enter; she did not follow
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>A large, pleasant dressing-room; but Ellen saw nothing but
+the dignified figure and searching glance of a lady in black,
+standing in the middle of the floor. At the look which instantly
+followed her entering, however, Ellen sprang forward, and was
+received in arms that folded her as fondly and as closely as ever
+those of her own mother had done. Without releasing her from
+their clasp, Mrs. Lindsay presently sat down; and placing Ellen
+on her lap, and for a long time without speaking a word, she
+overwhelmed her with caresses, caresses often interrupted with
+passionate bursts of tears. Ellen herself cried heartily for company,
+though Mrs. Lindsay little guessed why. Along with the
+joy and tenderness arising from the finding a relation that so
+much loved and valued her, and along with the sympathy that
+entered into Mrs. Lindsay's thoughts, there mixed other feelings.
+She began to know, as if by instinct, what kind of a person her
+grandmother was. The clasp of the arms that were about her said
+as plainly as possible, "I will never let you go!" Ellen felt it;
+she did not know in her confusion whether she was glad or most
+sorry; and this uncertainty mightily helped the flow of her
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>When this scene had lasted some time Mrs. Lindsay began
+with the utmost tenderness to take off Ellen's gloves, her cape<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span>
+(her bonnet had been hastily thrown off long before), and smoothing
+back her hair, and taking the fair little face in her hands,
+she looked at it and pressed it to her own, as indeed something
+most dearly prized and valued. Then saying, "I must lie down;
+come in here, love," she led her into the next room, locked the
+door, made Ellen stretch herself on the bed; and placing herself
+beside her, drew her close to her bosom again, murmuring, "My
+own child, my precious child, my Ellen, my own darling, why did
+you stay away so long from me? tell me!"</p>
+
+<p>It was necessary to tell; and this could not be done without
+revealing Miss Fortune's disgraceful conduct. Ellen was sorry
+for that; she knew her mother's American match had been unpopular
+with her friends; and now what notions this must give
+them of one at least of the near connections to whom it had
+introduced her. She winced under what might be her grandmother's
+thoughts. Mrs. Lindsay heard her in absolute silence,
+and made no comment; and at the end again kissed her lips and
+cheeks, and embracing her, Ellen <i>felt</i>, as a recovered treasure
+that would not be parted with. She was not satisfied till she
+had drawn Ellen's head fairly to rest on her breast, and then her
+caressing hand often touched her cheek, or smoothed back her
+hair softly, now and then asking slight questions about her voyage
+and journey; till, exhausted from excitement more than fatigue,
+Ellen fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Her grandmother was beside her when she awoke, and busied
+herself with evident delight in helping her to get off her travelling
+clothes and put on others; and then she took her downstairs and
+presented her to her aunt.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Keith had not been at home, nor in Scotland, at the
+time the letters passed between Mrs. Montgomery and her mother;
+and the result of that correspondence respecting Ellen had been
+known to no one except Mrs. Lindsay and her son. They had
+long given her up; the rather as they had seen in the papers
+the name of Captain Montgomery among those lost in the ill-fated
+<i>Duc d'Orleans</i>. Lady Keith therefore had no suspicion who
+Ellen might be. She received her affectionately, but Ellen did
+not get rid of her first impression.</p>
+
+<p>Her uncle she did not see until late in the day, when he came
+home. The evening was extremely fair, and having obtained
+permission, Ellen wandered out into the shrubbery; glad to be
+alone, and glad for a moment to exchange new faces for old; the
+flowers were old friends to her, and never had looked more friendly
+than then. New and old both were there. Ellen went on softly
+from flower-bed to flower-bed, soothed and rested, stopping here
+to smell one, or there to gaze at some old favourite or new beauty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span>
+thinking curious thoughts of the past and the future, and through
+it all taking a quiet lesson from the flowers; when a servant came
+after her with a request from Mrs. Lindsay that she would return
+to the house. Ellen hurried in; she guessed for what, and was
+sure as soon as she opened the door and saw the figure of a
+gentleman sitting before Mrs. Lindsay. Ellen remembered well
+she was sent to her uncle as well as her grandmother, and she
+came forward with a beating heart to Mrs. Lindsay's outstretched
+hand, which presented her to this other ruler of her destiny.
+He was very different from Lady Keith, her anxious glance saw
+that at once—more like his mother. A man not far from fifty
+years old; fine-looking and stately like her. Ellen was not left
+long in suspense; his look instantly softened as his mother's had
+done; he drew her to his arms with great affection, and evidently
+with very great pleasure; then held her off for a moment while
+he looked at her changing colour and downcast eye, and folded
+her close in his arms again, from which he seemed hardly willing
+to let her go, whispering as he kissed her, "You are my own
+child now, you are my little daughter, do you know that, Ellen?
+I am your father henceforth; you belong to me entirely, and I
+belong to you; my own little daughter!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how many times one may be adopted?" thought
+Ellen that evening; "but to be sure, my father and my mother
+have quite given me up here, that makes a difference; they had
+a right to give me away if they pleased. I suppose I do belong
+to my uncle and grandmother in good earnest, and I cannot help
+myself. Well! but Mr. Humphreys seems a great deal more like
+my father than my Uncle Lindsay. I cannot help that, but how
+they would be vexed if they knew it!"</p>
+
+<p>That was profoundly true.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was in a few days the dear pet and darling of the whole
+household, without exception and almost without limit. At first,
+for a day or two, there was a little lurking doubt, a little anxiety,
+a constant watch, on the part of all her friends, whether they
+were not going to find something in their newly acquired treasure
+to disappoint them; whether it could be that there was nothing
+behind to belie the first promise. Less keen observers, however,
+could not have failed to see very soon that there was no <i>disappointment</i>
+to be looked for; Ellen was just what she seemed,
+without the shadow of a cloak in anything. Doubts vanished;
+and Ellen had not been three days in the house when she was
+taken home to two hearts at least in unbounded love and tenderness.
+When Mr. Lindsay was present he was not satisfied without
+having Ellen in his arms or close beside him; and if not there she
+was at the side of her grandmother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was nothing, however, in the character of this fondness,
+great as it was, that would have inclined any child to presume
+upon it. Ellen was least of all likely to try; but if her will, by
+any chance, had run counter to theirs, she would have found it
+impossible to maintain her ground. She understood this from
+the first with her grandmother; and in one or two trifles since
+had been more and more confirmed in the feeling that they would
+do with her and make of her precisely what they pleased, without
+the smallest regard to her fancy. If it jumped with theirs, very
+well; if not, it must yield. In one matter Ellen had been roused
+to plead very hard, and even with tears, to have her wish, which
+she verily thought she ought to have had. Mrs. Lindsay smiled
+and kissed her, and went on with the utmost coolness in what
+she was doing, which she carried through without in the least
+regarding Ellen's distress or showing the slightest discomposure;
+and the same thing was repeated every day, till Ellen got used to
+it. Her uncle she had never seen tried; but she knew it would
+be the same with him. When Mr. Lindsay clasped her to his
+bosom Ellen felt it was as <i>his own</i>; his eye always seemed to
+repeat, "<i>my own</i> little daughter;" and in his own manner love
+was mingled with as much authority. Perhaps Ellen did not like
+them much the worse for this, as she had no sort of disposition to
+displease them in anything; but it gave rise to sundry thoughts,
+however, which she kept to herself; thoughts that went both to
+the future and the past.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Keith, it may be, had less <i>heart</i> to give than her mother
+and brother, but pride took up the matter instead; and according
+to her measure Ellen held with her the same place she held
+with Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay; being the great delight and darling
+of all three; and with all three, seemingly, the great object
+in life.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after her arrival, a week or more, she underwent
+one evening a kind of catechising from her aunt as to her former
+manner of life; where she had been and with whom since her
+mother left her; what she had been doing; whether she had
+been to school, and how her time was spent at home, &amp;c., &amp;c.
+No comments whatever were made on her answers, but a something
+in her aunt's face and manner induced Ellen to make her
+replies as brief and to give her as little information in them as
+she could. She did not feel inclined to enlarge upon anything,
+or to go at all further than the questions obliged her; and Lady
+Keith ended without having more than a very general notion of
+Ellen's way of life for three or four years past. This conversation
+was repeated to her grandmother and uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"To think," said the latter the next morning at breakfast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span>—"to
+think that the backwoods of America should have turned us
+out such a little specimen of——"</p>
+
+<p>"Of what, uncle?" said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I shall not tell you that," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is extraordinary," said Lady Keith, "how after living
+among a parcel of thick-headed and thicker tongued Yankees she
+could come out and speak pure English in a clear voice; it is an
+enigma to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, Catherine," said Mr. Lindsay, laughing, "you are
+touching Ellen's nationality; look here," said he, drawing his
+fingers down her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"She must learn to have no nationality but yours," said Lady
+Keith somewhat shortly.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's lips were open, but she spoke not.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well you have come out from the Americans, you see,
+Ellen," pursued Mr. Lindsay; "your aunt does not like them."</p>
+
+<p>"But why, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said he gravely, "don't you know that they are a
+parcel of rebels who have broken loose from all loyalty and fealty,
+that no good Briton has any business to like?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are not in earnest, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> are, I see," said he, looking amused. "Are you one of
+those who make a saint of George Washington?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "I think he was a great deal better than
+some saints. But I don't think the Americans were rebels."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a little rebel yourself. Do you mean to say you
+think the Americans were right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say you think they were wrong, uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you," said he, "if I had been in the English army
+I would have fought them with all my heart."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I had been in the American army I would have fought
+<i>you</i> with all my heart, Uncle Lindsay."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come," said he, laughing, "<i>you</i> fight! you don't look
+as if you would do battle with a good-sized mosquito."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but I mean if I had been a man," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better put in that qualification. After all, I am
+inclined to think it may be as well for you on the whole that we
+did not meet. I don't know but we might have had a pretty stiff
+encounter, though."</p>
+
+<p>"A good cause is stronger than a bad one, uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"But Ellen, these Americans forfeited entirely the character
+of good friends to England and good subjects to King George."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but it was King George's fault, uncle; he and the
+English forfeited their characters first."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said Mr. Lindsay, laughing, "if your sword had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span>
+been as stout as your tongue, I don't know how I might have
+come off in that same encounter."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope Ellen will get rid of these strange notions about the
+Americans," said Lady Keith discontentedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not, Aunt Keith," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get them?" said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"What, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"These notions?"</p>
+
+<p>"In reading, sir; reading different books; and talking."</p>
+
+<p>"Reading! so you did read in the backwoods?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir!" said Ellen, with a look of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you read on this subject?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two lives of Washington, and some in the Annual Register,
+and part of Graham's United States; and one or two other little
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"But those gave you only one side, Ellen; you should read
+the English account of the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"So I did, sir; the Annual Register gave me both sides; the
+bills and messages were enough."</p>
+
+<p>"What Annual Register?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir; it is English; written by Burke, I
+believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word! And what else have you read?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that's all about America," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but about other things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know, sir," said Ellen, smiling; "a great many
+books; I can't tell them all."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you spend all your time over your books?"</p>
+
+<p>"A good deal, sir, lately; not so much before."</p>
+
+<p>"How was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't, sir. I had a great many other things to do."</p>
+
+<p>"What else had you to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Different things," said Ellen, hesitating from the remembrance
+of her aunt's manner the night before.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come! answer me."</p>
+
+<p>"I had to sweep and dust," said Ellen, colouring, "and set
+tables and wash and wipe dishes, and churn, and spin, and——"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen <i>heard</i> Lady Keith's look in her "could you have conceived
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do with her?" said Mrs. Lindsay; "send her
+to school or keep her at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you never been to school, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; except for a very little while, more than three years
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like it?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I would a <i>great</i> deal rather study at home, sir, if you will
+let me."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you know now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can't tell, sir," said Ellen; "I don't know anything
+very well, unless——"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless what?" said her uncle, laughing; "come! now for
+your accomplishments."</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather not say what I was going to, uncle; please don't
+ask me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said he; "I shan't let you off. Unless what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was going to say, unless riding," said Ellen, colouring.</p>
+
+<p>"Riding! And pray how did you learn to ride? Catch a
+horse by the mane and mount him by the fence and canter off
+bare-backed? was that it? eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, sir," said Ellen, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but about your other accomplishments. You do not
+know anything of French, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get that?"</p>
+
+<p>"An old Swiss lady in the mountains taught me."</p>
+
+<p>"Country riding and Swiss French," muttered her uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she teach you to speak it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay and his mother exchanged glances, which Ellen
+interpreted, "Worse and worse."</p>
+
+<p>"One thing at least can be mended," observed Mr. Lindsay.
+"She shall go to De Courcey's riding-school as soon as we get to
+Edinburgh."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, uncle, I don't think that will be necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"Who taught you to ride, Ellen?" asked Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I fancy a few lessons will do you no harm," she
+remarked.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen coloured and was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"You know nothing of music, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot play, uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you sing?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can sing hymns."</p>
+
+<p>"Sing hymns! That's the only fault I find with you, Ellen,
+you are too sober. I should like to see you a little more gay, like
+other children."</p>
+
+<p>"But, uncle, I am not unhappy because I am sober."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am," said he. "I do not know precisely what I shall
+do with you; I must do something!"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you sing nothing but hymns?" said Lady Keith.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," said Ellen, with some humour twinkling about
+her eyes and mouth, "I can sing 'Hail Columbia'!"</p>
+
+<p>"Absurd," said Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Ellen," said her uncle, laughing, "I did not know you
+could be so stubborn; I thought you were made up of gentleness
+and mildness. Let me have a good look at you, there's not much
+stubbornness in those eyes," he said fondly.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will never salute <i>my</i> ears with your American
+ditty," said Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut," said Mr. Lindsay, "she shall sing what she pleases,
+and the more the better."</p>
+
+<p>"She has a very sweet voice," said her grandmother.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in speaking, I know; I have not heard it tried otherwise;
+and very nice English it turns out. Where did you get
+your English, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"From my brother," said Ellen, with a smile of pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay's brow rather clouded. "Whom do you mean by
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"The brother of the lady who was so kind to me." Ellen
+disliked to speak the loved names in the hearing of ears to which
+she knew they would be unlovely.</p>
+
+<p>"How was she so kind to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir! in everything—I cannot tell you; she was my friend
+when I had only one beside; she did everything for me."</p>
+
+<p>"And who was the other friend?—your aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"This brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; that was before I knew him."</p>
+
+<p>"Who then?"</p>
+
+<p>"His name was Mr. Van Brunt."</p>
+
+<p>"Van Brunt! Humph! And what was he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was a farmer, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"A Dutch farmer, eh? how came you to have anything to do
+with <i>him</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"He managed my aunt's farm, and was a great deal in the
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"He was! And what makes you call this other <i>your
+brother</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"His sister called me her sister—and that makes me his."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very absurd," said Lady Keith, "when they are nothing
+at all to her, and ought not to be."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems then you did not find a friend in your aunt,
+Ellen? eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think she loved me much," said Ellen in a low
+voice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad we are clear of obligation on <i>her</i> score," said
+Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Obligation! And so you had nothing else to depend on,
+Ellen, but this man—this Van something—this Dutchman?
+What did he do for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"A great deal, sir;" Ellen would have said more, but a feeling
+in her throat stopped her.</p>
+
+<p>"Now just hear that, will you?" said Lady Keith. "Just
+think of her in that farm-house, with that sweeping and dusting
+woman and a Dutch farmer, for these three years!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, "not all the time; this last year I have
+been——"</p>
+
+<p>"Where, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"At the other house, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"What house is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where that lady and gentleman lived that were my best
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's all very well," said Lady Keith, "but it is past
+now; it is all over; you need not think of them any more. We
+will find you better friends than any of these Dutch Brunters or
+Grunters."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Aunt Keith!" said Ellen, "if you knew——" But she
+burst into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come," said Mr. Lindsay, taking her into his arms, "I
+will not have that. Hush, my daughter. What is the matter,
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen had with some difficulty contained herself two or
+three times before in the course of the conversation, and she wept
+now rather violently.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," said Ellen, thoroughly roused, "I love them dearly!
+and I ought to love them with all my heart. I cannot forget
+them, and never shall; and I can never have better friends—never!
+it's impossible—oh, it's impossible."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay said nothing at first except to soothe her; but
+when she had wept herself into quietness upon his breast he
+whispered—</p>
+
+<p>"It is right to love these people if they were kind to you, but
+as your aunt says, that is past. It is not necessary to go back to
+it. Forget that you were American, Ellen, you belong to me;
+your name is not Montgomery any more, it is Lindsay; and I will
+not have you call me 'uncle'—I am your father; you are my own
+little daughter, and must do precisely what I tell you. Do you
+understand me?"</p>
+
+<p>He would have a "yes" from her, and then added, "Go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span>
+and get yourself ready, and I will take you with me to
+Edinburgh."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's tears had been like to burst forth again at his words;
+with great effort she controlled herself and obeyed him.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do precisely what he tells me, of course," she said to
+herself, as she went to get ready; "but there are some things he
+cannot command; nor I neither; I am glad of that! Forget
+indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>She could not help loving her uncle; for the lips that kissed
+her were very kind as well as very peremptory; and if the hand
+that pressed her cheek was, as she felt it was, the hand of power,
+its touch was also exceeding fond. And as she was no more
+inclined to dispute his will than he to permit it, the harmony
+between them was perfect and unbroken.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+Bear a lily in thy hand;<br />
+Gates of brass cannot withstand<br />
+One touch of that magic wand.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay had some reason that morning to wish that
+Ellen would look merrier; it was a very sober little face he
+saw by his side as the carriage rolled smoothly on with them
+towards Edinburgh; almost pale in its sadness. He lavished the
+tenderest kindness upon her, and, without going back by so much
+as a hint to the subjects of the morning, he exerted himself to
+direct her attention to the various objects of note and interest
+they were passing. The day was fine and the country, also the
+carriage and the horses; Ellen was dearly fond of driving; and
+long before they reached the city Mr. Lindsay had the satisfaction
+of seeing her smile break again, her eye brighten, and her
+happy attention fixing on the things he pointed out to her, and
+many others that she found for herself on the way—his horses
+first of all. Mr. Lindsay might relax his efforts and look on with
+secret triumph; Ellen was in the full train of delighted observation.</p>
+
+<p>"You are easily pleased, Ellen," he said, in answer to one of
+her simple remarks of admiration.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a great deal to please me," said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"What would you like to see in Edinburgh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir; anything you please."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then I will show you a little of the city, in the first place."</p>
+
+<p>They drove through the streets of Edinburgh, both the Old
+and the New town, in various directions; Mr. Lindsay extremely
+pleased to see that Ellen was so, and much amused at the
+curiosity shown in her questions, which, however, were by no
+means as free and frequent as they might have been had John
+Humphreys filled her uncle's place.</p>
+
+<p>"What large building is that over there?" said Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That? that is Holyrood House."</p>
+
+<p>"Holyrood! I have heard of that before; isn't that where
+Queen Mary's rooms are? Where Rizzio was killed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; would you like to see them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh <i>very</i> much!"</p>
+
+<p>"Drive to the Abbey. So you have read Scottish history as
+well as American, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very much, sir; only the 'Tales of a Grandfather' yet.
+But what made me say that, I have read an account of Holyrood
+House somewhere, Uncle——"</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, sir; I forgot; it seems strange to me,"
+said Ellen, looking distressed.</p>
+
+<p>"It must not seem strange to you, my daughter; what were
+you going to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir. Oh, I was going to ask if the silver cross
+is here now, to be seen?"</p>
+
+<p>"What silver cross?"</p>
+
+<p>"That one from which the Abbey was named, the silver rood
+that was given, they pretended, to—I forget now what king."</p>
+
+<p>"David First, the founder of the Abbey? No, it is not here,
+Ellen; David the Second lost it to the English. But why do you
+say <i>pretended</i>, Ellen? It was a very real affair; kept in England
+for a long time with great veneration."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; I know the <i>cross</i> was real; I mean it was
+pretended that an angel gave it to King David when he was
+hunting here."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how can you tell but that was so? King David was
+made a saint, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir," said Ellen, laughing, "I know better than that; I
+know it was only a monkish trick."</p>
+
+<p>"Monkish trick! which do you mean? the giving of the cross,
+or making the king a saint?"</p>
+
+<p>"Both, sir," said Ellen, still smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"At that rate," said Mr. Lindsay, much amused, "if you are
+such a sceptic, you will take no comfort in anything at the Abbey,
+you will not believe anything is genuine."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I will believe what you tell me, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you? I must be careful what I say to you then, or I
+may run the risk of losing my own credit."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay spoke this half jestingly, half in earnest. They
+went over the palace.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this very old, sir?" asked Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Not very; it has been burnt and demolished and rebuilt, till
+nothing is left of the old Abbey of King David but the ruins of
+the chapel, which you shall see presently. The oldest part of the
+House is that we are going to see now, built by James Fifth,
+Mary's father, where her rooms are."</p>
+
+<p>At these rooms Ellen looked with intense interest. She pored
+over the old furniture, the needlework of which she was told was
+at least in part the work of the beautiful Queen's own fingers;
+gazed at the stains in the floor of the bed-chamber, said to be
+those of Rizzio's blood; meditated over the trap-door in the
+passage, by which the conspirators had come up; and finally sat
+down in the room and tried to realise the scene which had once
+been acted there. She tried to imagine the poor Queen and her
+attendant and her favourite Rizzio sitting there at supper, and
+how that door, that very door, had opened, and Ruthven's ghastly
+figure, pale and weak from illness, presented itself, and then
+others; the alarm of the moment; how Rizzio knew they were
+come for him and fled to the Queen for protection; how she was
+withheld from giving it, and the unhappy man pulled away from
+her and stabbed with a great many wounds before her face; and
+there, there! no doubt, his blood fell!</p>
+
+<p>"You are tired; this doesn't please you much," said Mr.
+Lindsay, noticing her grave look.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it pleases me <i>very</i> much!" said Ellen, starting up; "I
+do not wonder she swore vengeance."</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Queen Mary, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Were you thinking of her all this while? I am glad of it.
+I spoke to you once without getting a word. I was afraid this
+was not amusing enough to detain your thoughts."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, it was," said Ellen; "I have been trying to think
+all about that. I like to look at old things very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you would like to see the regalia."</p>
+
+<p>"The what, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Royal things—the old diadem and sceptre, &amp;c., of
+the Scottish kings. Well, come," said he, as he read the
+answer in Ellen's face, "we will go; but first let us see the
+old chapel."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span></p><p>With this Ellen was wonderfully pleased. This was much
+older still than Queen Mary's rooms. Ellen admired the wild
+melancholy look of the gothic pillars and arches springing from
+the green turf, the large carved window empty of glass, the
+broken walls; and looking up to the blue sky, she tried to
+imagine the time when the gothic roof closed overhead, and
+music sounded through the arches, and trains of stoled monks
+paced through them, where now the very pavement was not.
+Strange it seemed, and hard, to go back and realise it; but in
+the midst of this, the familiar face of the sky set Ellen's thoughts
+off upon a new track, and suddenly they were <i>at home</i>—on the
+lawn before the parsonage. The monks and the abbey were forgotten;
+she silently gave her hand to her uncle, and walked with
+him to the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the Crown room, Ellen fell into another fit of grave
+attention; but Mr. Lindsay, taught better, did not this time
+mistake rapt interest for absence of mind. He answered questions
+and gave her several pieces of information, and let her take
+her own time to gaze and meditate.</p>
+
+<p>"This beautiful sword," said he, "was a present from Pope
+Julius Second to James Fourth."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about the Popes," said Ellen. "James
+Fourth?—I forget what kind of a king he was."</p>
+
+<p>"He was a very good king. He was the one that died at
+Flodden."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, and wore an iron girdle because he had fought against
+his father, poor man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why 'poor man,' Ellen? He was a very royal prince. Why
+do you say 'poor man'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he didn't know any better, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't know any better than what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Than to think an iron girdle would do him any good."</p>
+
+<p>"But why wouldn't it do him any good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, you know, sir, that is not the way we can have our
+sins forgiven."</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>is</i> the way?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen looked at him to see if he was in jest or earnest. Her
+look staggered him a little, but he repeated his question. She cast
+her eyes down and answered—</p>
+
+<p>"Jesus Christ said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; no
+man cometh unto the Father but by me.'"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay said no more.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish that was the Bruce's crown," said Ellen after a while.
+"I should like to see anything that belonged to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take you to the field of Bannockburn some day; that
+belonged to him with a vengeance. It lies over yonder."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Bannockburn! will you? and Stirling Castle! Oh, how I
+should like that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Stirling Castle," said Mr. Lindsay, smiling at Ellen's clasped
+hands of delight; "what do you know of Stirling Castle?"</p>
+
+<p>"From the history, you know, sir; and the Lord of the Isles—</p>
+
+<p>
+'Old Stirling's towers arose in light——'"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>
+"'And twined in links of silver bright<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Her winding river lay.'"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"That's this same river Forth, Ellen. Do you know any
+more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on and tell me all you can remember."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>All!</i> that would be a great deal, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on till I tell you to stop."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen gave him a good part of the battle, with introduction
+to it.</p>
+
+<p>"You have a good memory, Ellen," he said, looking pleased.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I like it, sir; that makes it easy to remember. I
+like the Scots people."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you!" said Mr. Lindsay, much gratified. "I did not
+know you liked anything on this side of the water. Why do you
+like them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they never would be conquered by the English."</p>
+
+<p>"So," said Mr. Lindsay, half amused and half disappointed,
+"the long and the short of it is, you like them because they
+fought the enemies you were so eager to have a blow at."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir," said Ellen, laughing, "I do not mean that at
+all; the French were England's enemies too, and helped us besides,
+but I like the Scots a great deal better than the French.
+I like them because they would be free."</p>
+
+<p>"You have an extraordinary taste for freedom! And pray,
+are all the American children as strong republicans as yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir; I hope so."</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty well, upon my word! Then I suppose even the
+Bruce cannot rival your favourite Washington in your esteem?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh?" said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I like Washington better, sir, of course; but I like Bruce
+very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you prefer Washington?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should have to think to tell you that, sir."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very well, think, and answer me."</p>
+
+<p>"One reason, I suppose, is because he was an American," said
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not reason enough for so reasonable a person as you
+are, Ellen; you must try again, or give up your preference."</p>
+
+<p>"I like Bruce very much indeed," said Ellen musingly, "but
+he did what he did for <i>himself</i>, Washington didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I am not quite sure as to either of your positions."</p>
+
+<p>"And, besides," said Ellen, "Bruce did one or two wrong
+things. Washington always did right."</p>
+
+<p>"He did, eh? What do you think of the murder of Andre?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it was right," said Ellen firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Your reasons, my little reasoner?" asked Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"If it had not been right, Washington would not have
+done it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha! so at that rate you may reconcile yourself to anything
+that chances to be done by a favourite."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Ellen, a little confused, but standing her
+ground, "but when a person <i>always</i> does right, if he happened to
+do something that I don't know enough to understand, I have
+good reason to think it is right, even though I cannot understand
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well! but apply the same rule of judgment to the
+Bruce, can't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing could make me think the murder of the Red
+Comyn right, sir. Bruce didn't think so himself."</p>
+
+<p>"But remember, there is a great difference in the times, those
+were rude and uncivilised compared to these; you must make
+allowance for that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I do! but I like the civilised times best."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of this fellow over here—what's his
+name?—whose monument I was showing you—Nelson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I used to like him very much, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And you do not now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I do; I cannot help liking him."</p>
+
+<p>"That is to say, you would if you could?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think, sir, I ought to like a man merely for being
+great unless he was good. Washington was great and good
+both."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is the matter with Nelson?" said Mr. Lindsay,
+with an expression of intense amusement. "I 'used to think,'
+as you say, that he was a very noble fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"So he was, sir; but he wasn't a good man."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you know, sir, he left his wife; and Lady Hamilton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span>
+persuaded him to do one or two other very dishonourable things;
+it was a great pity!"</p>
+
+<p>"So you will not like any great man that is not good as well.
+What is your definition of a good man, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"One who always does right because it is right, no matter
+whether it is convenient or not," said Ellen, after a little hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, you draw the line close. But opinions
+differ as to what is right; how shall we know?"</p>
+
+<p>"From the Bible, sir," said Ellen quickly, with a look that half
+amused and half abashed him.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Ellen, are you yourself <i>good</i> after this nice
+fashion?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; but I wish to be."</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe that. But after all, Ellen, you might like
+Nelson; those were only the spots in the sun."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; but can a man be a truly great man who is not
+master of himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is an excellent remark."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not mine, sir," said Ellen, blushing; "it was told me;
+I did not find out all that about Nelson myself; I did not see it
+all the first time I read his life; I thought he was perfect."</p>
+
+<p>"I know who <i>I</i> think is," said Mr. Lindsay, kissing her.</p>
+
+<p>They drove now to his house in George Street. Mr. Lindsay
+had some business to attend to, and would leave her there for an
+hour or two. And that their fast might not be too long unbroken,
+Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, was directed to furnish
+them with some biscuits in the library, whither Mr. Lindsay led
+Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>She liked the looks of it very much. Plenty of books, old-looking
+comfortable furniture, pleasant light; all manner of
+et ceteras around, which rejoiced Ellen's heart. Mr. Lindsay
+noticed her pleased glance passing from one thing to another.
+He placed her in a deep easy-chair, took off her bonnet and
+threw it on the sofa, and kissing her fondly, asked her if she felt
+at home.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," Ellen said; but her look said it would not take
+long to make her do so. She sat enjoying her rest, and munching
+her biscuit with great appetite and satisfaction, when Mr. Lindsay
+poured her out a glass of sweet wine.</p>
+
+<p>The glass of wine looked to Ellen like an enemy marching
+up to attack her. Because Alice and John did not drink it, she
+had always, at first without other reason, done the same; and
+she was determined not to forsake their example now. She took
+no notice of the glass of wine, though she had ceased to see any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span>thing
+else in the room, and went on, seemingly as before, eating
+her biscuits, though she no longer knew how they tasted.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you drink your wine, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish any, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir; I have never drunk any."</p>
+
+<p>"No! Taste it and see."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather not, sir, if you please. I don't care for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Taste it, Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>This command was not to be disobeyed. The blood rushed
+to Ellen's temples as she just touched the glass to her lips and
+set it down again.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"What, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like it very well, sir, but I would rather not drink it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen coloured again at this exceedingly difficult question, and
+answered as well as she could, that she had never been accustomed
+to it, and would rather not.</p>
+
+<p>"It is of no sort of consequence what you have been accustomed
+to," said Mr. Lindsay. "You are to drink it all, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen dared not disobey. When biscuits and wine were disposed
+of, Mr. Lindsay drew her close to his side, and encircling
+her fondly with his arms, said—</p>
+
+<p>"I shall leave you now for an hour or two, and you must
+amuse yourself as you can. The book-cases are open—perhaps
+you can find something there; or there are prints in those portfolios;
+or you can go over the house and make yourself acquainted
+with your new home. If you want anything, ask Mrs. Allen.
+Does it look pleasant to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very," Ellen said.</p>
+
+<p>"You are at home here, daughter; go where you will and do
+what you will. I shall not leave you long. But before I go,
+Ellen, let me hear you call me father."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen obeyed, trembling, for it seemed to her that it was to
+set her hand and seal to the deed of gift her father and mother
+had made. But there was no retreat; it was spoken; and Mr.
+Lindsay, folding her close in his arms, kissed her again and again.</p>
+
+<p>"Never let me hear you call me anything else, Ellen. You
+are mine own now—my own child—my own little daughter. You
+shall do just what pleases me in everything, and let bygones be
+bygones. And now lie down there and rest, daughter; you are
+trembling from head to foot; rest and amuse yourself in any way
+you like till I return."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He left the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I have done it now!" thought Ellen, as she sat in the corner
+of the sofa where Mr. Lindsay had tenderly placed her; "I have
+called him my father, I am bound to obey him after this. I
+wonder what in the world they will make me do next. If he
+chooses to make me drink wine every day, I must do it! I cannot
+help myself. That is only a little matter. But what if they
+were to want me to do something wrong?—they might; John
+never did, I could not have disobeyed <i>him</i>, possibly; but I could
+them, if it was necessary, and if it is necessary I will. I should
+have a dreadful time; I wonder if I could go through with it.
+Oh yes, I could, if it was right; and besides would rather bear
+anything in the world from them than have John displeased with
+me; a great deal rather. But perhaps after all they will not
+want anything wrong of me. I wonder if this is really to be
+my home always, and if I shall ever get home again? John
+will not leave me here; but I don't see how in the world he
+can help it, for my father and my mother, and I myself; I
+know what he would tell me if he was here, and I'll try to do
+it. God will take care of me if I follow Him; it is none of my
+business."</p>
+
+<p>Simply and heartily commending her interests to His keeping,
+Ellen tried to lay aside the care of herself. She went on musing;
+how very different and how much greater her enjoyment would
+have been that day if John had been with her. Mr. Lindsay, to
+be sure, had answered her questions with abundant kindness and
+sufficient ability; but his answers did not, as those of her brother
+often did, skilfully draw her on from one thing to another, till
+a train of thought was opened which at the setting out she never
+dreamed of; and along with the joy of acquiring new knowledge
+she had the pleasure of discovering new fields of it to be explored,
+and the delight of the felt exercise and enlargement of her own
+powers, which were sure to be actively called into play. Mr.
+Lindsay told her what she asked, and there left her. Ellen
+found herself growing melancholy over the comparison she was
+drawing; and wisely went to the book-cases to divert her
+thoughts. Finding presently a history of Scotland, she took it
+down, resolving to refresh her memory on a subject which had
+gained such new and strange interest for her. Before long,
+however, fatigue, and the wine she had drunk, effectually got
+the better of studious thoughts; she stretched herself on the sofa
+and fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>There Mr. Lindsay found her a couple of hours afterwards
+under the guard of the housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>"I cam in, sir," she said, whispering; "it's mair than an hour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span>
+back, and she's been sleeping just like a baby ever syne; she
+hasna stirred a finger. Oh, Mr. Lindsay, it's a bonny bairn, and
+a gude. What a blessing to the house!"</p>
+
+<p>"You're about right there, I believe, Maggie; but how have
+you learned it so fast?"</p>
+
+<p>"I canna be mista'en, Mr. George; I ken it as weel as if we
+had had a year auld acquentance; I ken it by thae sweet mouth
+and een, and by the look she gied me when you tauld her,
+sir, I had been in the house near as long's yoursel. And look
+at her eenow. There's heaven's peace within, I'm a'maist
+assured."</p>
+
+<p>The kiss that wakened Ellen found her in the midst of a
+dream. She thought that John was a king of Scotland, and
+standing before her in regal attire. She offered him, she thought,
+a glass of wine, but raising the sword of state, silver scabbard
+and all, he with a tremendous swing of it dashed the glass out
+of her hands; and then as she stood abashed, he went forward
+with one of his old grave kind looks to kiss her. As the kiss
+touched her lips Ellen opened her eyes to find her brother transformed
+into Mr. Lindsay, and the empty glass standing safe and
+sound upon the table.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have had a pleasant nap," said Mr. Lindsay, "you
+wake up smiling. Come, make haste, I have left a friend in the
+carriage. Bring your book along if you want it."</p>
+
+<p>The presence of the stranger, who was going down to spend
+a day or two at "The Braes," prevented Ellen from having any
+talking to do. Comfortably placed in the corner of the front
+seat of the barouche, leaning on the elbow of the carriage, she
+was left to her own musings. She could hardly realise the
+change in her circumstances. The carriage rolling fast and
+smoothly on—the two gentlemen opposite to her, one her father—the
+strange, varied, beautiful scenes they were flitting by; the
+long shadows made by the descending sun; the cool evening air;
+Ellen, leaning back in the wide easy seat, felt as if she were in a
+dream. It was singularly pleasant; she could not help but enjoy
+it all very much; and yet it seemed to her as if she were caught
+in a net from which she had no power to get free, and she longed
+to clasp that hand that could, she thought, draw her whence and
+whither it pleased. "But Mr. Lindsay opposite? I have called
+him my father; I have given myself to him," she thought; "but
+I gave myself to somebody else first; I can't undo that, and I
+never will!" Again she tried to quiet and resign the care of
+herself to better wisdom and greater strength than her own.
+"This may all be arranged, easily, in some way I could never
+dream of," she said to herself; "I have no business to be uneasy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span>
+Two months ago, and I was quietly at home, and seemed to be
+fixed there for ever; and now, without anything extraordinary
+happening, here I am, just as fixed. Yes, and before that at Aunt
+Fortune's it didn't seem possible that I could ever get away from
+being her child, and yet how easily all that was managed. And
+just so in some way that I cannot imagine, things may open so as
+to let me out smoothly from this." She resolved to be patient,
+and take thankfully what she at present had to enjoy; and in
+this mood of mind the drive home was beautiful; and the evening
+was happily absorbed in the history of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>It was a grave question in the family that same evening
+whether Ellen should be sent to school. Lady Keith was decided
+in favour of it; her mother seemed doubtful; Mr. Lindsay, who
+had a vision of the little figure lying asleep on his library sofa,
+thought the room had never looked so cheerful before, and had
+near made up his mind that she should be its constant adornment
+the coming winter. Lady Keith urged the school plan.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a boarding-school," said Mrs. Lindsay; "I will not hear
+of that."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but a day-school; it would do her a vast deal of good,
+I am certain; her notions want shaking up very much. And I
+never saw a child of her age so much a child."</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you <i>I</i> never saw one so much a woman. She has
+asked me to-day, I suppose," said he, smiling, "a hundred questions
+or less; and I assure you there was not one foolish or vain
+one among them; not one that was not sensible, and most of
+them singularly so."</p>
+
+<p>"She was greatly pleased with her day," said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw such a baby-face in my life," said Lady Keith,
+"in a child of her years."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a face of uncommon intelligence," said her brother.</p>
+
+<p>"It is both," said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I was struck with it the other day," said Lady Keith—"the
+day she slept so long upon the sofa upstairs after she was dressed;
+she had been crying about something, and her eyelashes were
+wet still, and she had that curious grave innocent look you only
+see in infants; you might have thought she was fourteen months,
+instead of fourteen years, old; fourteen and a half she says she is."</p>
+
+<p>"Crying!" said Mr. Lindsay; "what was the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said Mrs. Lindsay, "but that she had been
+obliged to submit to me in something that did not please her."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she give you any cause of displeasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, though I can see she has strong passions. But she is
+the first child I ever saw that I think I could not get angry
+with."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mother's heart half misgave her, I believe," said Lady Keith,
+laughing; "she sat there looking at her for an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"She seems to be perfectly gentle and submissive," said Mr.
+Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but don't trust too much to appearances," said his
+sister. "If she is not a true Lindsay after all, I am mistaken.
+Did you see her colour once or twice this morning, when something
+was said that did not please her?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can judge nothing from that," said Mr. Lindsay; "she
+colours at everything. You should have seen her to-day when I
+told her I would take her to Bannockburn."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! she has got the right side of you; you will be able to
+discern no faults in her presently."</p>
+
+<p>"She has used no arts for it, sister; she is a straightforward
+little hussy, and that is one thing I like about her, though I was
+as near as possible being provoked with her once or twice to-day.
+There is only one thing I wish was altered;—she has her head
+filled with strange notions—absurd for a child of her age; I don't
+know what to do to get rid of them."</p>
+
+<p>After some more conversation, it was decided that school
+would be the best thing for this end, and half decided that Ellen
+should go.</p>
+
+<p>But this half decision Mr. Lindsay found it very difficult to
+keep to, and circumstances soon destroyed it entirely. Company
+was constantly coming and going at "The Braes," and much of
+it of a kind that Ellen exceedingly liked to see and hear; intelligent,
+cultivated, well-informed people, whose conversation was
+highly agreeable and always useful to her. Ellen had nothing
+to do with the talking, so she made good use of her ears.</p>
+
+<p>One evening Mr. Lindsay, a M. Villars, and M. Muller, a Swiss
+gentleman and a noted man of science, very much at home in
+Mr. Lindsay's house, were carrying on, in French, a conversation
+in which the two foreigners took part against their host. M.
+Villars began with talking about Lafayette; from him they went
+to the American Revolution and Washington, from them to other
+patriots and other republics, ancient and modern—MM. Villars
+and Muller taking the side of freedom, and pressing Mr. Lindsay
+hard with argument, authority, example, and historical testimony.
+Ellen as usual was fast by his side, and delighted to see that he
+could by no means make good his ground. The ladies at the
+other end of the room would several times have drawn her away,
+but happily for her, and also as usual, Mr. Lindsay's arm was
+around her shoulders, and she was left in quiet to listen. The
+conversation was very lively, and on a subject very interesting to
+her; for America had been always a darling theme; Scottish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span>
+struggles for freedom were fresh in her mind; her attention had
+long ago been called to Switzerland and its history by Alice and
+Mrs. Vawse, and French history had formed a good part of her last
+winter's reading. She listened with the most eager delight, too
+much engrossed to notice the good-humoured glances that were
+every now and then given her by one of the speakers. Not Mr.
+Lindsay; though his hand was upon her shoulder or playing with
+the light curls that fell over her temples, <i>he</i> did not see that her
+face was flushed with interest, or notice the quick smile and
+sparkle of the eye that followed every turn in the conversation
+that favoured her wishes or foiled his—it was M. Muller. They
+came to the Swiss, and their famous struggle for freedom against
+Austrian oppression. M. Muller wished to speak of the noted
+battle in which that freedom was made sure, but for the moment
+its name had escaped him.</p>
+
+<p>"Par ma foi," said M. Villars, "il m'a entièrement passé!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay could not or would not help him out. But M.
+Muller suddenly turned to Ellen, in whose face he thought he saw
+a look of intelligence, and begged of her the missing name.</p>
+
+<p>"Est-ce Morgarten, monsieur?" said Ellen, blushing.</p>
+
+<p>"Morgarten! c'est ça!" said he with a polite, pleased bow of
+thanks. Mr. Lindsay was little less astonished than the Duke of
+Argyle when his gardener claimed to be the owner of a Latin
+work on mathematics.</p>
+
+<p>The conversation presently took a new turn with M. Villars;
+and M. Muller withdrawing from it addressed himself to Ellen.
+He was a pleasant-looking elderly gentleman; she had never seen
+him before that evening.</p>
+
+<p>"You know French well, then?" said he, speaking to her in
+that tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir," said Ellen modestly.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have heard of the Swiss mountaineers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; a great deal."</p>
+
+<p>He opened his watch and showed her in the back of it an
+exquisite little painting, asking her if she knew what it was.</p>
+
+<p>"It is an Alpine châlet, is it not, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>He was pleased, and went on, always in French, to tell Ellen
+that Switzerland was his country; and drawing a little aside from
+the other talkers, he entered into a long and, to her, most delightful
+conversation. In the pleasantest manner, he gave her a vast
+deal of very entertaining detail about the country and the manners
+and the habits of the people of the Alps, especially in the Tyrol,
+where he had often travelled. It would have been hard to tell
+whether the child had most pleasure in receiving, or the man of
+deep study and science most pleasure in giving, all manner of in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span>formation.
+He saw, he said, that she was very fond of the heroes
+of freedom, and asked if she had ever heard of Andrew Hofer, the
+Tyrolese peasant who led on his brethren in their noble endeavours
+to rid themselves of French and Bavarian oppression. Ellen
+had never heard of him.</p>
+
+<p>"You know William Tell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," Ellen said, she knew him.</p>
+
+<p>"And Bonaparte?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very well."</p>
+
+<p>He went on then to give her in a very interesting way the
+history of Hofer; how when Napoleon made over his country to
+the rule of the King of Bavaria, who oppressed them, they rose in
+mass; overcame army after army that was sent against them in
+their mountain fastnesses, and freed themselves from the hated
+Bavarian government; how, years after, Napoleon was at last too
+strong for them; Hofer and his companions defeated, hunted like
+wild beasts, shot down like them; how Hofer was at last betrayed
+by a friend, taken, and executed, being only seen to weep at
+parting with his family. The beautiful story was well told, and
+the speaker was animated by the eager, deep attention and
+sympathy of his auditor, whose changing colour, smiles, and even
+tears, showed how well she entered into the feelings of the
+patriots in their struggle, triumph, and downfall; till, as he
+finished, she was left full of pity for them and hatred of Napoleon.
+They talked of the Alps again. M. Muller put his hand in his
+pocket, and pulled out a little painting in mosaic to show her,
+which he said had been given him that day. It was a beautiful
+piece of pietra dura work—Mont Blanc. He assured her the
+mountain often looked exactly so. Ellen admired it very much.
+It was meant to be set for a brooch or some such thing, he said,
+and he asked if she would keep it and sometimes wear it, to
+"remember the Swiss, and to do him a pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Moi, monsieur!" said Ellen, colouring high with surprise and
+pleasure, "je suis bien obligée, mais, monsieur, je ne saurais vous
+remercier!"</p>
+
+<p>He would count himself well paid, he said, with a single touch
+of her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Tenez, monsieur!" said Ellen, blushing, but smiling, and
+tendering back the mosaic.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed and bowed and begged her pardon, and said she
+must keep it to assure him she had forgiven him; and then he
+asked by what name he might remember her.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, je m'appelle Ellen M——"</p>
+
+<p>She stopped short in utter and blank uncertainty what to call
+herself; Montgomery she dared not; Lindsay stuck in her throat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Have you forgotten it?" said M. Muller, amused at her look,
+"or is it a secret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell M. Muller your name, Ellen," said Mr. Lindsay, turning
+round from a group where he was standing at a little distance.
+The tone was stern and displeased. Ellen felt it keenly, and with
+difficulty, and some hesitation still, murmured—"Ellen Lindsay."</p>
+
+<p>"Lindsay? Are you the daughter of my friend Mr. Lindsay?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Ellen hesitated, in great doubt how to answer, but finally,
+not without starting tears, said—</p>
+
+<p>"Oui, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Your memory is bad to-night," said Mr. Lindsay in her ear;
+"you had better go where you can refresh it."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen took this as a hint to leave the room, which she did
+immediately, not a little hurt at the displeasure she did not think
+she had deserved; she loved Mr. Lindsay the best of all her
+relations, and really loved him. She went to bed and to sleep
+again that night with wet eyelashes.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, M. Muller was gratifying Mr. Lindsay in a high
+degree by the praises he bestowed upon his daughter, her intelligence,
+her manners, her modesty, and her <i>French</i>. He asked if she
+was to be in Edinburgh that winter, and whether she would be at
+school; and Mr. Lindsay declaring himself undecided on the latter
+point, M. Muller said he should be pleased, if she had leisure, to
+have her come to his rooms two or three times a week to read
+with him. This offer, from a person of M. Muller's standing and
+studious habits, Mr. Lindsay justly took as both a great compliment
+and a great promise of advantage to Ellen. He at once,
+and with much pleasure, accepted it. So the question of school
+was settled.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen resolved the next morning to lose no time in making up
+her difference with Mr. Lindsay, and schooled herself to use a
+form of words that she thought would please him. Pride said
+indeed, "Do no such thing; don't go to making acknowledgments
+when you have not been in the wrong; you are not bound
+to humble yourself before unjust displeasure." Pride pleaded
+powerfully. But neither Ellen's heart nor her conscience would
+permit her to take this advice. "He loves me very much," she
+thought, "and perhaps he did not understand me last night;
+and besides, I owe him—yes, I do!—a child's obedience now. I
+ought not to leave him displeased with me a moment longer than
+I can help. And besides, I couldn't be happy so. God gives
+grace to the humble. I will humble myself."</p>
+
+<p>To have a chance for executing this determination she went
+downstairs a good deal earlier than usual; she knew Mr. Lindsay
+was generally there before the rest of the family, and she hoped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[Pg 530]</a></span>
+to see him alone. It was too soon even for him, however; the
+rooms were empty. So Ellen took her book from the table, and
+being perfectly at peace with herself, sat down in the window
+and was presently lost in the interest of what she was reading.
+She did not know of Mr. Lindsay's approach till a little imperative
+tap on her shoulder startled her.</p>
+
+<p>"What were you thinking of last night? what made you
+answer M. Muller in the way you did?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen started up, but to utter her prepared speech was no
+longer possible.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know what to say," she said, looking down.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?" said he angrily. "Didn't
+you know what I wished you to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—but—do not speak to me in that way!" exclaimed
+Ellen, covering her face with her hands. Pride struggled to
+keep back the tears that wanted to flow.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall choose my own method of speaking. Why did you
+not say what you knew I wished you to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid—I didn't know—but he would think what
+wasn't true."</p>
+
+<p>"That is precisely what I wish him and all the world to
+think. I will have no difference made, Ellen, either by them or
+you. Now lift up your head and listen to me," said he, taking
+both her hands. "I lay my commands upon you, whenever the
+like questions may be asked again, that you answer simply
+according to what I have told you, without any explanation or
+addition. It is true, and if people draw conclusions that are
+not true, it is what I wish. Do you understand me?" Ellen
+bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you obey me?" She answered again in the same
+mute way.</p>
+
+<p>He ceased to hold her at arm's length, and sitting down in
+her chair drew her close to him, saying more kindly—</p>
+
+<p>"You must not displease me, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no thought of displeasing you, sir," said Ellen, bursting
+into tears, "and I was very sorry for it last night. I did not
+mean to disobey you—I only hesitated——"</p>
+
+<p>"Hesitate no more. My commands may serve to remove the
+cause of it. You are my daughter, Ellen, and I am your father.
+Poor child!" said he, for Ellen was violently agitated, "I don't
+believe I shall have much difficulty with you."</p>
+
+<p>"If you will only not speak and look at me so," said Ellen;
+"it makes me very unhappy——"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" said he, kissing her; "do not give me occasion."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not give you occasion, sir."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, Ellen!" said Mr. Lindsay, half displeased again, "I
+shall begin to think your Aunt Keith is right, that you are a true
+Lindsay. But so am I, and I will have only obedience from you—without
+either answering or argument."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall," murmured Ellen. "But do not be displeased
+with me, father."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had schooled herself to say that word; she knew it
+would greatly please him; and she was not mistaken; though it
+was spoken so low that his ears could but just catch it. Displeasure
+was entirely overcome. He pressed her to his heart,
+kissing her with great tenderness, and would not let her go from
+his arms till he had seen her smile again; and during all the day
+he was not willing to have her out of his sight.</p>
+
+<p>It would have been easy that morning for Ellen to have made
+a breach between them that would not readily have been healed.
+One word of humility had prevented it all, and fastened her more
+firmly than ever in Mr. Lindsay's affection. She met with nothing
+from him but tokens of great and tender fondness; and Lady
+Keith told her mother apart that there would be no doing anything
+with George; she saw he was getting bewitched with that
+child.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+My heart is sair, I dare nae tell.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My heart is sair for somebody;</span><br />
+I could wake a winter night<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the sake of somebody.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh-hon! for somebody!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh hey! for somebody!</span><br />
+I wad do—what wad I not,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the sake of somebody.</span></div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Scotch Song</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>In a few weeks they moved to Edinburgh, where arrangements
+were speedily made for giving Ellen every means of improvement
+that masters and mistresses, books and instruments, could
+afford.</p>
+
+<p>The house in George Street was large and pleasant. To
+Ellen's great joy a pretty little room opening from the first
+landing-place of the private staircase was assigned for her special
+use as a study and work-room; and fitted up nicely for her with
+a small book-case, a practising piano, and various et ceteras. Here
+her beloved desk took its place on a table in the middle of the
+floor, where Ellen thought she would make many a new drawing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span>
+when she was by herself. Her work-box was accommodated
+with a smaller stand near the window. A glass door at one
+end of the room opened upon a small iron balcony; this door
+and balcony Ellen esteemed a very particular treasure. With
+marvellous satisfaction she arranged and arranged her little
+sanctum till she had all things to her mind, and it only wanted,
+she thought, a glass of flowers. "I will have that, too, some of
+these days," she said to herself; and resolved to deserve her
+pretty room by being very busy there. It was hers alone, open
+indeed to her friends when they chose to keep her company;
+but lessons were taken elsewhere; in the library or the music-room,
+or more frequently her grandmother's dressing-room.
+Wherever, or whatever, Mrs. Lindsay or Lady Keith was always
+present.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was the plaything, pride, and delight of the whole
+family. Not so much, however, Lady Keith's plaything as her
+pride; while pride had a less share in the affection of the other
+two, or rather perhaps was more overtopped by it. Ellen felt,
+however, that all their hearts were set upon her: felt it gratefully,
+and determined she would give them all the pleasure she
+possibly could. Her love for other friends, friends that they
+knew nothing of, <i>American</i> friends, was, she knew, the sore
+point with them; she resolved not to speak of those friends, nor
+allude to them, especially in any way that would show how much
+of her heart was out of Scotland. But this wise resolution it
+was very hard for poor Ellen to keep. She was unaccustomed
+to concealments; and in ways that she could neither foresee nor
+prevent, the unwelcome truth would come up, and the sore was
+not healed.</p>
+
+<p>One day Ellen had a headache and was sent to lie down.
+Alone, and quietly stretched on her bed, very naturally Ellen's
+thoughts went back to the last time she had had a headache,
+<i>at home</i>, as she always called it to herself. She recalled with a
+straitened heart the gentle and tender manner of John's care
+for her; how nicely he had placed her on the sofa; how he sat
+by her side bathing her temples, or laying his cool hand on her
+forehead, and once, she remembered, his lips. "I wonder,"
+thought Ellen, "what I ever did to make him love me so much,
+as I know he does?" She remembered how, when she was able
+to listen, he still sat beside her, talking such sweet words of
+kindness and comfort and amusement, that she almost loved to
+be sick to have such tending, and looked up at him as at an
+angel. She felt it all over again. Unfortunately, after she had
+fallen asleep, Mrs. Lindsay came in to see how she was, and
+two tears, the last pair of them, were slowly making their way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span>
+down her cheeks. Her grandmother saw them, and did not
+rest till she knew the cause. Ellen was extremely sorry to tell,
+she did her best to get off from it, but she did not know how
+to evade questions; and those that were put to her indeed
+admitted of no evasion.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, just after they came to Edinburgh, it was
+remarked one morning at breakfast that Ellen was very straight
+and carried herself well.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no thanks to me," said Ellen, smiling, "they never
+would let me hold myself ill."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is 'they'?" said Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother and sister."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish, George," said Lady Keith, discontentedly, "that
+you would lay your commands upon Ellen to use that form of
+expression no more. My ears are absolutely sick of it."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not hear it very often, Aunt Keith," Ellen could
+not help saying.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite often enough; and I know it is upon your lips a
+thousand times when you do not speak it."</p>
+
+<p>"And if Ellen does, we do not," said Mrs. Lindsay, "wish
+to claim kindred with all the world."</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to take up such an absurd habit?" said Lady
+Keith. "It isn't like you."</p>
+
+<p>"They took it up first," said Ellen; "I was too glad——"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I daresay they had their reasons for taking it up," said
+her aunt; "they had acted from interested motives, no doubt;
+people always do."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very much mistaken, Aunt Keith," said Ellen, with
+uncontrollable feeling; "you do not in the least know what you
+are talking about!"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly Mr. Lindsay's fingers tapped her lips. Ellen coloured
+painfully, but after an instant's hesitation she said—</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Aunt Keith, I should not have said that."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mr. Lindsay. "But understand, Ellen,
+however you may have taken it up—this habit—you will lay it
+down for the future. Let us hear no more of brothers and
+sisters. <i>I</i> cannot, as your grandmother says, fraternise with all
+the world, especially with unknown relations."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad you have made that regulation," said Mrs.
+Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot conceive how Ellen has got such a way of it," said
+Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very natural," said Ellen, with some huskiness of voice,
+"that I should say so, because I feel so."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not mean to say," said Mr. Lindsay, "that this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</a></span>
+Mr. and Miss somebody—these people—I don't know their
+names——"</p>
+
+<p>"There is only one now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"This person you call your brother—do you mean to say you
+have the same regard for him as if he had been born so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ellen, cheek and eye suddenly firing, "but a
+thousand times more!"</p>
+
+<p>She was exceedingly sorry the next minute after she had said
+this! for she knew it had given both pain and displeasure in a
+great degree. No answer was made. Ellen dared not look at
+anybody, and needed not; she wished the silence might be
+broken; but nothing was heard except a low "whew!" from Mr.
+Lindsay, till he rose up and left the room. Ellen was sure he
+was very much displeased. Even the ladies were too much
+offended to speak on the subject; and she was merely bade to
+go to her room. She went there, and sitting down on the floor,
+covered her face with her hands. "What shall I do? what shall
+I do?" she said to herself. "I never shall govern this tongue
+of mine. Oh, I wish I had not said that! they never will forgive
+it. What <i>can</i> I do to make them pleased with me again? Shall
+I go to my father's study and beg him—but I can't ask him to
+forgive me—I haven't done wrong—I can't unsay what I said.
+I can do nothing. I can only go in the way of my duty and do
+the best I can—and maybe they will come round again. But,
+oh, dear!"</p>
+
+<p>A flood of tears followed this resolution.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen kept it; she tried to be blameless in all her work and
+behaviour, but she sorrowfully felt that her friends did not forgive
+her. There was a cool air of displeasure about all they said
+and did; the hand of fondness was not laid upon her shoulder,
+she was not wrapped in loving arms, as she used to be a dozen
+times a day; no kisses fell on her brow or lips. Ellen felt it,
+more from Mr. Lindsay than both the others; her spirits sank;
+she had been forbidden to speak of her absent friends, but that
+was not the way to make her forget them; and there was scarce
+a minute in the day when her brother was not present to her
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Sunday came; her first Sunday in Edinburgh. All went to
+church in the morning; in the afternoon Ellen found that nobody
+was going; her grandmother was lying down. She asked permission
+to go alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to go because you think you must? or for
+pleasure?" said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"For pleasure!" said Ellen's tongue, her eyes opening at the
+same time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You may go."</p>
+
+<p>With eager delight Ellen got ready, and was hastening along
+the hall to the door, when she met Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"To church, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Alone! What do you want to go for? No, no, I shan't
+let you. Come in here—I want you with me; you have been
+once to-day already, haven't you? You do not want to go
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do indeed, sir, very much," said Ellen, as she reluctantly
+followed him into the library, "if you have no objection. You
+know I have not seen Edinburgh yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Edinburgh! that's true, so you haven't," said he, looking at
+her discomfited face. "Well, go, if you want to go so much."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen got to the hall door, no further; she rushed back to
+the library.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say right when I said that," she burst forth; "that
+was not the reason I wanted to go. I will stay, if you wish me,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish it," said he in surprise; "I don't know what
+you mean—I am willing you should go if you like it. Away with
+you! it is time."</p>
+
+<p>Once more Ellen set out, but this time with a heart full;
+much too full to think of anything she saw by the way. It was
+with a singular feeling of pleasure that she entered the church
+alone. It was a strange church to her, never seen but once before,
+and as she softly passed up the broad aisle she saw nothing in the
+building or the people around her that was not strange, no familiar
+face, no familiar thing. But it was a church, and she was alone; quite
+alone in the midst of that crowd; and she went up to the empty
+pew and ensconced herself in the far corner of it, with a curious
+feeling of quiet and of being at home. She was no sooner seated,
+however, than leaning forward as much as possible to screen herself
+from observation, bending her head upon her knees, she burst
+into an agony of tears. It was a great relief to be able to weep
+freely; at home she was afraid of being seen or heard or questioned;
+now she was alone and free, and she poured out her very
+heart in weeping that she with difficulty kept from being loud
+weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh how could I say that! how could I say that! Oh what
+<i>would</i> John have thought of me if he had heard it. Am I beginning
+already to lose my truth? am I going backward already?
+Oh what shall I do! what will become of me if I do not watch
+over myself—there is no one to help me or lead me right—not a
+single one—all to lead me wrong! what will become of me?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[Pg 536]</a></span>
+But there is One who has promised to keep those that follow
+Him—He is sufficient, without any others—I have not kept near
+enough to Him! that is it; I have not remembered nor loved
+Him. 'If ye love me, keep my commandments.' I have not!
+I have not! Oh, but I will! I will; and He will be with me,
+and help me and bless me, and all will go right with me."</p>
+
+<p>With bitter tears Ellen mingled as eager prayers for forgiveness
+and help to be faithful. She resolved that nothing, come
+what would, should tempt her to swerve one iota from the straight
+line of truth; she resolved to be more careful of her private hour;
+she thought she had scarcely had her full hour a day lately; she
+resolved to make the Bible her only and her constant rule of life
+in everything; and she prayed, such prayers as a heart thoroughly
+in earnest can pray, for the seal to these resolutions. Not one
+word of the sermon did Ellen hear; but she never passed a more
+profitable hour in church in her life.</p>
+
+<p><i>All</i> her tears were not from the spring of these thoughts and
+feelings; some were the pouring out of the gathered sadness of
+the week; some came from recollections, oh, how tender and
+strong! of lost and distant friends. Her mother—and Alice—and
+Mr. Humphreys—and Margery—and Mr. Van Brunt—and
+Mr. George Marshman; and she longed, with longing that seemed
+as if it would have burst her heart, to see her brother. She
+longed for the pleasant voice, the eye of thousand expressions,
+into which she always looked as if she had never seen it before,
+the calm look that told he was satisfied with her, the touch of
+his hand, which many a time had said a volume. Ellen thought
+she would give anything in the world to see him and hear him
+speak one word. As this could not be, she resolved with the
+greatest care to do what would please him; that when she did
+see him he might find her all he wished.</p>
+
+<p>She had wept herself out; she had refreshed and strengthened
+herself by fleeing to the stronghold of the prisoners of hope; and
+when the last hymn was given out she raised her head and took
+the book to find it. To her great surprise, she saw Mr. Lindsay
+sitting at the other end of the pew, with folded arms, like a man
+not thinking of what was going on around him. Ellen was
+startled, but obeying the instinct that told her what he would
+like, she immediately moved down the pew and stood beside him
+while the last hymn was singing; and if Ellen had joined in no
+other part of the service that afternoon, she at least did in that
+with all her heart. They walked home then without a word on
+either side. Mr. Lindsay did not quit her hand till he had drawn
+her into the library. There he threw off her bonnet and wrappers,
+and taking her in his arms, exclaimed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[Pg 537]</a></span>—</p>
+
+<p>"My poor little darling! what was the matter with you this
+afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>There was so much of kindness again in his tone, that overjoyed,
+Ellen eagerly returned his caress, and assured him that
+there was nothing the matter with her now.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing the matter!" said he, tenderly pressing her face
+against his own, "nothing the matter! with these pale cheeks
+and wet eyes? nothing <i>now</i>, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that I am so glad to hear you speak kindly to me
+again, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Kindly? I will never speak any way but kindly to you,
+daughter. Come! I will not have any more tears; you have
+shed enough for to-day, I am sure; lift up your face and I will
+kiss them away. What was the matter with you, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>But he had to wait a little while for an answer. "What was
+it, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"One thing," said Ellen, "I was sorry for what I had said to
+you, sir, just before I went out."</p>
+
+<p>"What was that? I do not remember anything that deserved
+to be a cause of grief."</p>
+
+<p>"I told you, sir, when I wanted you to let me go to church,
+that I hadn't seen Edinburgh yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, that wasn't being quite true; and I was very sorry
+for it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not true? yes it was; what do you mean? you had <i>not</i> seen
+Edinburgh."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, but I mean—<i>that</i> was true, but I said it to make you
+believe what wasn't true."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"I meant you to think, sir, that that was the reason why I
+wanted to go to church—to see the city and the new sights; and
+it wasn't at all."</p>
+
+<p>"What was it then?" Ellen hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"I always love to go, sir; and besides, I believe I wanted to
+be alone."</p>
+
+<p>"And you were not, after all," said Mr. Lindsay, again
+pressing her cheek to his, "for I followed you there. But, Ellen,
+my child, you were troubled without reason; you had said
+nothing that was false."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, sir, but I had made you believe what was false."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word," said Mr. Lindsay, "you are a nice reasoner.
+And are you always true upon this close scale?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I was, sir, but you see I am not. I am sure I hate
+everything else!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[Pg 538]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will not quarrel with you for being true," said Mr.
+Lindsay. "I wish there was a little more of it in the world.
+Was this the cause of all those tears this afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; not all."</p>
+
+<p>"What beside, Ellen?" Ellen looked down, and was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Come—I must know."</p>
+
+<p>"Must I tell you all, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must, indeed," said he, smiling; "I will have the
+whole, daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"I had been feeling sorry all the week because you and
+grandmother and Aunt Keith were displeased with me."</p>
+
+<p>Again Mr. Lindsay's silent caress in its tenderness seemed to
+say that she should never have the same complaint to make
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Was that all, Ellen?" as she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you wouldn't ask me further; please do not! I shall
+displease you again."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not be displeased."</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking of Mr. Humphreys," said Ellen in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know, sir; you say I must not call him——"</p>
+
+<p>"What were you thinking of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was wishing very much I could see him again."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you <i>are</i> a truth-teller," said Mr. Lindsay, "or bolder
+than I think you."</p>
+
+<p>"You said you would not be displeased, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither will I, daughter; but what shall I do to make you
+forget these people?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, sir; I cannot forget them; I shouldn't deserve to
+have you love me a bit if I could. Let me love them, and do
+not be angry with me for it."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not satisfied to have your body here and your
+heart somewhere else."</p>
+
+<p>"I must have a poor little kind of heart," said Ellen, smiling
+amidst her tears, "if it had room in it for only one person."</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said Mr. Lindsay inquisitively, "did you <i>insinuate</i> a
+falsehood there?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>"There is honesty in those eyes," said he, "if there is honesty
+anywhere in the world. I am satisfied—that is, half-satisfied.
+Now lie there, my little daughter, and rest," said he, laying her
+upon the sofa; "you look as if you needed it."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't need anything now," said Ellen, as she laid her cheek<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[Pg 539]</a></span>
+upon the grateful pillow, "except one thing—if grandmother
+would only forgive me too."</p>
+
+<p>"You must try not to offend your grandmother, Ellen, for she
+does not very readily forgive; but I think we can arrange this
+matter. Go you to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," said Ellen, smiling as she closed her eyes, "why
+everybody calls me 'little'; I don't think I am very little.
+Everybody says 'little.'"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay thought he understood it when, a few minutes
+after, he sat watching her as she really had fallen asleep. The
+innocent brow, the perfect sweet calm of the face, seemed to
+belong to much younger years. Even Mr. Lindsay could not
+help recollecting the house-keeper's comment, "Heaven's peace
+within;" scarcely Ellen's own mother ever watched over her
+with more fond tenderness than her adopted father did now.</p>
+
+<p>For several days after this he would hardly permit her to leave
+him. He made her bring her books and study where he was; he
+went out and came in with her; and kept her by his side whenever
+they joined the rest of the family at meals or in the evening.
+Whether Mr. Lindsay intended it or not, this had soon the effect
+to abate the displeasure of his mother and sister. Ellen was
+almost taken out of their hands, and they thought it expedient
+not to let him have the whole of her. And though Ellen could
+better bear their cold looks and words since she had Mr. Lindsay's
+favour again, she was very glad when they smiled upon her too,
+and went dancing about with quite a happy face.</p>
+
+<p>She was now very busy. She had masters for the piano, and
+singing, and different branches of knowledge; she went to M.
+Muller regularly twice a week; and soon her riding-attendance
+began. She had said no more on the subject, but went quietly,
+hoping they would find out their mistake before long. Lady
+Keith always accompanied her.</p>
+
+<p>One day Ellen had ridden near her usual time, when a young
+lady with whom she attended a German class came up to where
+she was resting. This lady was several years older than Ellen,
+but had taken a fancy to her.</p>
+
+<p>"How finely you got on yesterday," said she, "making us all
+ashamed. Ah, I guess M. Muller helped you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Ellen, smiling, "he did help me a little; he helped
+me with some troublesome pronunciations."</p>
+
+<p>"With nothing else, I suppose? Ah, well, we must submit to
+be stupid. How do you do to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am very tired, Miss Gordon."</p>
+
+<p>"Tired? Oh, you're not used to it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't that," said Ellen; "I <i>am</i> used to it, that is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[Pg 540]</a></span>
+reason I am tired. I am accustomed to ride up and down the
+country at any pace I like; and it is very tiresome to walk
+stupidly round and round for an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"But do you know how to manage a horse? I thought you
+were only just beginning to learn."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, I have been learning this great while; only they don't
+think I know how, and they have never seen me. Are you just
+come, Miss Gordon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and they are bringing out Sophronisbe for me; do you
+know Sophronisbe? look, that light grey, isn't she beautiful? she's
+the loveliest creature in the whole stud."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know!" said Ellen; "I saw you on her the other day;
+she went charmingly. How long shall I be kept walking here,
+Miss Gordon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I don't know; I should think they would find out;
+what does De Courcy say to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he comes and looks at me and says, 'Très bien, très bien,'
+and 'Allez comme ça,' and then he walks off."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare that is too bad," said Miss Gordon, laughing.
+"Look here, I've got a good thought in my head; suppose you
+mount Sophronisbe in my place, without saying anything to
+anybody, and let them see what you are up to. Can you trust
+yourself? she's very spirited."</p>
+
+<p>"I could trust myself," said Ellen; "but, thank you, I think
+I had better not."</p>
+
+<p>"Afraid?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not at all: but my aunt and father would not like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! how should they dislike it; there's no sort
+of danger, you know. Come! I thought you sat wonderfully
+for a beginner. I am surprised De Courcy hadn't better eyes.
+I guess you have learned German before, Ellen? Come, will
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen declined, preferring her plodding walk round the
+ring to any putting of herself forward. Presently Mr. Lindsay
+came in. It was the first time he had been there. His eyes soon
+singled out Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter sits well," he remarked to the riding-master.</p>
+
+<p>"A merveille! Mademoiselle Lindsay does ride remarquablement
+pour une beginner; qui ne fait que commencer. Would it
+be possible that she has had no lessons before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes; she has had lessons—of what sort I don't know,"
+said Mr. Lindsay, going up to Ellen. "How do you like it,
+Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like it at all, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were so fond of riding."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[Pg 541]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't call this riding, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! what <i>do</i> you call riding? Here, M. de Courcy, won't
+you have the goodness to put this young lady on another horse, and
+see if she knows anything about handling him?"</p>
+
+<p>"With great pleasure!" M. de Courcy would do anything that
+was requested of him. Ellen was taken out of the ring of walkers,
+and mounted on a fine animal, and set by herself to have her skill
+tried in as many various ways as M. de Courcy's ingenuity could
+point out. Never did she bear herself more erectly; never were
+her hand and her horse's mouth on nicer terms of acquaintanceship;
+never, even to please her master, had she so given her
+whole soul to the single business of managing her horse and herself
+perfectly well. She knew as little as she cared that a number
+of persons besides her friends were standing to look at her; she
+thought of only two people there; Mr. Lindsay and her aunt;
+and the riding-master, as his opinion might affect theirs.</p>
+
+<p>"C'est très bien—c'est très bien," he muttered—"c'est parfaitement—Monsieur,
+mademoiselle votre fille has had good
+lessons—voilà qui est entièrement comme il faut."</p>
+
+<p>"Assez bien," said Mr. Lindsay smiling. "The little
+gipsy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle," said the riding-master, as she paused before
+them, "pourquoi, wherefore have you stopped in your canter
+tantôt—a little while ago—et puis récommencé?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur, he led with the wrong foot."</p>
+
+<p>"C'est ça—justement!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you practised leaping, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Try her, M. de Courcy. How high will you go, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"As high as you please, sir," said Ellen, leaning over and
+patting her horse's neck to hide her smile.</p>
+
+<p>"How you look, child!" said Mr. Lindsay in a pleased tone.
+"So <i>this</i> is what you call riding?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a little more like it, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was tried with standing and running leaps, higher and
+higher, till Mr. Lindsay would have no more of it; and M. de
+Courcy assured him that his daughter had been taught by a
+very accomplished rider, and there was little or nothing left
+for him to do; il n'y pouvait plus; but he should be very happy
+to have her come there to practise, and show an example to his
+pupils.</p>
+
+<p>The very bright colour in Ellen's face as she heard this might
+have been mistaken for the flush of gratified vanity, it was
+nothing less. Not one word of this praise did she take to herself,
+nor had she sought for herself; it was all for somebody else; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[Pg 542]</a></span>
+perhaps so Lady Keith understood it, for she looked rather discomfited.
+But Mr. Lindsay was exceedingly pleased, and promised
+Ellen that as soon as the warm weather came she should
+have a horse and rides to her heart's content.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+She was his care, his hope, and his delight,<br />
+Most in his thought, and ever in his sight.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Dryden</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Ellen might now have been in some danger of being spoiled,
+not indeed with over-indulgence, for that was not the
+temper of the family, but from finding herself a person of so
+much consequence. She could not but feel that in the minds of
+every one of her three friends she was the object of greatest
+importance; their thoughts and care were principally occupied
+with her. Even Lady Keith was perpetually watching, superintending,
+and admonishing; though she every now and then
+remarked with a kind of surprise, that "really she scarcely ever
+had to say anything to Ellen; she thought she must know things
+by instinct." To Mr. Lindsay and his mother she was the idol of
+life; and except when by chance her will might cross theirs, she
+had what she wished and did what she pleased.</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen happily had two safeguards which effectually kept
+her from pride or presumption.</p>
+
+<p>One was her love for her brother and longing remembrance of
+him. There was no one to take his place, not indeed in her affections,
+for that would have been impossible, but in the daily course
+of her life. She missed him in everything. She had abundance
+of kindness and fondness shown her, but the <i>sympathy</i> was wanting.
+She was talked <i>to</i>, but not <i>with</i>. No one now knew always
+what she was thinking of, nor if they did would patiently draw
+out her thoughts, canvass them, set them right, or show them
+wrong. No one now could tell what she was <i>feeling</i>, nor had the
+art sweetly, in a way she scarce knew how, to do away with
+sadness, or dulness, or perverseness, and leave her spirits clear
+and bright as the noonday. With all the petting and fondness
+she had from her new friends, Ellen felt alone. She was petted
+and fondled as a darling possession—a dear plaything—a thing
+to be cared for, taught, governed, disposed of, with the greatest
+affection and delight; but John's was a higher style of kindness,
+that entered into all her innermost feelings and wants; and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[Pg 543]</a></span>
+was a higher style of authority too, that reached where theirs
+could never attain; an authority Ellen always felt it utterly impossible
+to dispute; it was sure to be exerted on the side of what
+was right, and she could better have borne hard words from Mr.
+Lindsay than a glance of her brother's eye. Ellen made no
+objection to the imperativeness of her new guardians; it seldom
+was called up so as to trouble her, and she was not of late particularly
+fond of having her own way; but she sometimes drew
+comparisons.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not any sooner—I could not as soon—have disobeyed
+John; and yet he never would have spoken to me as they do if
+I had."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Some</i> pride, perhaps," she said, remembering Mr. Dundas's
+words; "I should say a great deal—John isn't proud; and yet—I
+don't know—he isn't proud as they are; I wish I knew what
+kinds of pride are right and what wrong—he would tell me if he
+was here."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you in a 'brown study' about, Ellen?" said Mr.
+Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking, sir, about different kinds of pride—I wish I
+knew the right from the wrong—or is there any good kind?"</p>
+
+<p>"All good, Ellen—all good," said Mr. Lindsay, "provided
+you do not have too much of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like me to be proud, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he, laughing and pinching her cheek, "as proud
+as you like; if you only don't let me see any of it."</p>
+
+<p>Not very satisfactory; but that was the way with the few
+questions of any magnitude Ellen ventured to ask; she was kissed
+and laughed at, called metaphysical or philosophical, and dismissed
+with no light on the subject. She sighed for her brother.
+The hours with M. Muller were the best substitute she had; they
+were dearly prized by her, and, to say truth, by him. He had no
+family, he lived alone, and the visits of his docile and intelligent
+little pupil became very pleasant breaks in the monotony of his
+home life. Truly kind-hearted and benevolent, and a true lover
+of knowledge, he delighted to impart it. Ellen soon found she
+might ask him as many questions as she pleased, that were at all
+proper to the subject they were upon; and he, amused and interested,
+was equally able and willing to answer her. Often,
+when not particularly busy, he allowed her hour to become two.
+Excellent hours for Ellen. M. Muller had made his proposition
+to Mr. Lindsay, partly from grateful regard for him, and partly to
+gratify the fancy he had taken to Ellen on account of her simplicity,
+intelligence, and good manners. This latter motive did not
+disappoint him. He grew very much attached to his little pupil;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[Pg 544]</a></span>
+an attachment which Ellen faithfully returned, both in kind, and
+by every trifling service that it could fall in her way to render him.
+Fine flowers and fruit, that it was her special delight to carry to
+M. Muller; little jobs of copying, or setting in order some disorderly
+matters in his rooms, where he soon would trust her to do
+anything; or a book from her father's library; and once or twice,
+when he was indisposed, reading to him as she did by the hour
+patiently, matters that could neither interest nor concern her.
+On the whole, and with good reason, the days when they were to
+meet were hailed with as much pleasure perhaps by M. Muller as
+by Ellen herself.</p>
+
+<p>Her other safeguard was the precious hour alone which she
+had promised John never to lose when she could help it. The
+only time she could have was the early morning before the rest
+of the family were up. To this hour, and it was often more than
+an hour, Ellen was faithful. Her little Bible was extremely
+precious now; Ellen had never gone to it with a deeper sense of
+need; and never did she find more comfort in being able to disburden
+her heart in prayer of its load of cares and wishes. Never
+more than now had she felt the preciousness of that Friend who
+draws closer to His children the closer they draw to Him; she
+had never realised more the joy of having Him to go to. It was
+her special delight to pray for those loved ones she could do
+nothing else for; it was a joy to think that He who hears prayer
+is equally present with all His people, and that though thousands
+of miles lie between the petitioner and the petitioned for, the
+breath of prayer may span the distance and pour blessings on the
+far-off head. The burden of thoughts and affections gathered
+during the twenty-three hours, was laid down in the twenty-fourth;
+and Ellen could meet her friends at the breakfast-table
+with a sunshiny face. Little they thought where her heart had
+been, or where it had got its sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>But notwithstanding this, Ellen had too much to remember
+and regret than to be otherwise than sober—soberer than her
+friends liked. They noticed with sorrow that the sunshine wore
+off as the day rolled on; that though ready to smile upon occasion,
+her face always settled again into a gravity they thought altogether
+unsuitable. Mrs. Lindsay fancied she knew the cause, and
+resolved to break it up.</p>
+
+<p>From the first of Ellen's coming her grandmother had taken
+the entire charge of her toilet. Whatever Mrs. Lindsay's notions
+in general might be as to the propriety of young girls learning to
+take care of themselves, Ellen was much too precious a plaything
+to be trusted to any other hands, even her own. At eleven
+o'clock regularly every day she went to her grandmother's dress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[Pg 545]</a></span>ing-room
+for a very elaborate bathing and dressing; though not
+a very long one, for all Mrs. Lindsay's acts were energetic. Now,
+without any hint as to the reason, she was directed to come to
+her grandmother an hour before the breakfast time, to go through
+then the course of cold-water sponging and hair-gloving that Mrs.
+Lindsay was accustomed to administer at eleven. Ellen heard in
+silence, and obeyed, but made up her hour by rising earlier than
+usual, so as to have it before going to her grandmother. It was
+a little difficult at first, but she soon got into the habit of it,
+though the mornings were dark and cold. After a while it
+chanced that this came to Mrs. Lindsay's ears, and Ellen was told
+to come to her as soon as she was out of bed in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"But, grandmother," said Ellen, "I am up a great while before
+you; I should find you asleep; don't I come soon enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you get up so early for?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know, ma'am, I told you some time ago. I want some
+time to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not good for you to be up so long before breakfast, and
+in these cold mornings. Do not rise in future till I send for you."</p>
+
+<p>"But, grandmother, that is the only time for me, there isn't
+an hour after breakfast that I can have regularly to myself; and
+I cannot be happy if I do not have some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Let it be as I said," said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you let me come to you at eleven o'clock again,
+ma'am? <i>do</i>, grandmother!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lindsay touched her lips; a way of silencing her that
+Ellen particularly disliked, and which both Mr. Lindsay and his
+mother were accustomed to use.</p>
+
+<p>She thought a great deal on the subject, and came soberly to
+the conclusion that it was her duty to disobey. "I promised
+John," she said to herself, "I will never break that promise! I'll
+do anything rather. And besides, if I had not, it is just as much
+my duty—a duty that no one here has a right to command me
+against. I will do what I think right, come what may."</p>
+
+<p>She could not without its coming to the knowledge of her
+grandmother. A week, or rather two, after the former conversation,
+Mrs. Lindsay made inquiries of Mason, her woman, who was
+obliged to confess that Miss Ellen's light was always burning
+when she went to call her.</p>
+
+<p>"Ellen," said Mrs. Lindsay the same day, "have you obeyed
+me in what I told you the other morning about lying in bed till
+you are sent for?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"You are frank, to venture to tell me so. Why have you disobeyed
+me?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[Pg 546]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Because, grandmother, I thought it was right."</p>
+
+<p>"You think it is right to disobey, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, if——"</p>
+
+<p>"If what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, grandmother, there is One I must obey even before
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"If what?" repeated Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Please do not ask me, grandmother; I don't want to say
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Say it at once, Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is right to disobey if I am told to do what is
+wrong," said Ellen in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you to be the judge of right and wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Who, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know what is the reason," said Mrs. Lindsay, "that
+I cannot be very angry with you. Ellen, I repeat the order I
+gave you the other day. Promise me to obey."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot, grandmother; I <i>must</i> have that hour; I cannot do
+without it."</p>
+
+<p>"So must I be obeyed, I assure you, Ellen. You will sleep in
+my room henceforth."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen heard her in despair; she did not know what to do.
+<i>Appealing</i> was not to be thought of. There was, as she said, no
+time she could count upon after breakfast. During the whole
+day and evening she was either busy with her studies or masters,
+or in the company of her grandmother or Mr. Lindsay; and if not
+there, liable to be called to them at any moment. Her grandmother's
+expedient for increasing her cheerfulness had marvellous
+ill-success. Ellen drooped under the sense of wrong, as well as
+the loss of her greatest comfort. For two days she felt and
+looked forlorn, and smiling now seemed to be a difficult matter.
+Mr. Lindsay happened to be remarkably busy those two days, so
+that he did not notice what was going on. At the end of them,
+however, in the evening, he called Ellen to him, and whisperingly
+asked what was the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, sir," said Ellen, "only grandmother will not let
+me do something I cannot be happy without doing."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it one of the things you want to do because it is right,
+whether it is convenient or not?" he asked, smiling. Ellen could
+not smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father," she whispered, putting her face close to his,
+"if you would only get grandmother to let me do it!"</p>
+
+<p>The words were spoken with a sob, and Mr. Lindsay felt her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[Pg 547]</a></span>
+warm tears upon his neck. He had, however, far too much
+respect for his mother to say anything against her proceedings
+while Ellen was present; he simply answered that she must do
+whatever her grandmother said. But when Ellen had left the
+room, which she did immediately, he took the matter up. Mrs.
+Lindsay explained and insisted that Ellen was spoiling herself for
+life and the world by a set of dull religious notions that were
+utterly unfit for a child; that she would very soon get over thinking
+about her habit of morning prayer, and would then do much
+better. Mr. Lindsay looked grave; but with Ellen's tears yet
+wet upon his cheek, he could not dismiss the matter so lightly,
+and persisted in desiring that his mother should give up the
+point, which she utterly refused to do.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen meanwhile had fled to her own room. The moonlight
+was quietly streaming in through the casement; it looked to her
+like an old friend. She threw herself down on the floor, close by
+the glass, and after some tears which she could not help shedding,
+she raised her head and looked thoughtfully out. It was very
+seldom now that she had a chance of the kind; she was rarely
+alone but when she was busy.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if that same moon is this minute shining in at the
+glass door at home?—no, to be sure it can't this minute—what
+am I thinking of?—but it was there or will be there, let me see,
+east, west, it was there some time this morning, I suppose; looking
+right into our old sitting-room. Oh, moon, I wish I was in
+your place for once, to look in there too! But it is all empty
+now, there's nobody there, Mr. Humphreys would be in his
+study, how lonely, how lonely he must be! Oh, I wish I was
+back there with him!—John isn't there though—no matter—he
+will be, and I could do so much for Mr. Humphreys in the meanwhile.
+He must miss me. I wonder where John is—nobody
+writes to me; I should think some one might. I wonder if I am
+ever to see them again. Oh, he will come to see me surely
+before he goes home! but then he will have to go away without
+me again—I am fast now—fast enough—but oh! am I to be
+separated from them for ever? Well! I shall see them in
+heaven!"</p>
+
+<p>It was a "Well" of bitter acquiescence, and washed down with
+bitter tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it my bonny Miss Ellen?" said the voice of the housekeeper,
+coming softly in; "is my bairn sitting a' her lane in the
+dark? Why are ye no wi' the rest o' the folk, Miss Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like to be alone, Mrs. Allen, and the moon shines in here
+nicely?"</p>
+
+<p>"Greeting!" exclaimed the old lady, drawing nearer; "I ken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[Pg 548]</a></span>
+it by the sound o' your voice; greeting eenow! Are ye no weel,
+Miss Ellen? What vexes my bairn? Oh, but your father would
+be vexed an' he kenned it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Mrs. Allen," said Ellen; "I shall get over it
+directly; don't say anything about it."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm wae to see ye," said the kind old woman, stooping
+down and stroking the head that again Ellen had bowed on her
+knees. "Will ye no tell me what vexes ye? Ye suld be as blithe
+as a bird the lang day."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't, Mrs. Allen, while I am away from my friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Frinds! and wha has mair frinds than yoursel', Miss Ellen,
+or better frinds?—father and mither and a'; where wad ye find
+thae that will love ye mair?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but I haven't my brother!" sobbed Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Your brither, Miss Ellen? An' wha's he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's everything, Mrs. Allen! he's everything! I shall
+never be happy without him!—never! never!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, <i>dear</i> Miss Ellen! for the love of a' that's gude;
+dinna talk that gate! and dinna greet sae! your father wad be
+sair vexed to hear ye or to see ye."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help it," said Ellen; "it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be sae; but dear Miss Ellen, dinna let it come to
+your father's ken; ye're his very heart's idol; he disna merit
+aught but gude frae ye."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, Mrs. Allen," said Ellen, weeping, "and so I <i>do</i>
+love him—better than anybody in the world, except two. But
+oh, I want my brother!—I don't know how to be happy or good
+either without him. I want him all the while."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen, I kenned and loved your dear mither weel for
+mony a day. Will ye mind if I speak a word to her bairn?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear Mrs. Allen; I'll thank you. Did you know my
+mother!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wha suld if I didna? She was brought up in my arms, and
+a dear lassie. Ye're no muckle like her, Miss Ellen; ye're mair
+bonny than her; and no a'thegither sae frack; though she was
+douce and kind too."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish——" Ellen began, and stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear bairn, there is Ane abuve wha disposes a' things
+for us; and He isna weel pleased when His children fash themselves
+wi' His dispensations. He has ta'en and placed you here,
+for your ain gude I trust,—I'm sure it's for the gude of us a',—and
+if ye haena a' things ye wad wish, Miss Ellen, ye hae Him;
+dinna forget that, my ain bairn."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen returned heartily and silently the embrace of the old
+Scotchwoman, and when she left her, set herself to follow her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[Pg 549]</a></span>
+advice. She tried to gather her scattered thoughts and smooth
+her ruffled feelings, in using this quiet time to the best advantage.
+At the end of half-an-hour she felt like another creature;
+and began to refresh herself with softly singing some of her old
+hymns.</p>
+
+<p>The argument which was carried on in the parlour sank at
+length into silence without coming to any conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Miss Ellen?" Mrs. Lindsay asked of a servant
+that came in.</p>
+
+<p>"She is up in her room, ma'am, singing."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell her I want her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, stop," said Mr. Lindsay; "I'll go myself."</p>
+
+<p>Her door was a little ajar, and he softly opened it without
+disturbing her. Ellen was still sitting on the floor before the
+window, looking out through it, and in rather a low tone singing
+the last verse of the hymn "Rock of Ages:"—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"While I draw this fleeting breath,—<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When my eyelids close in death,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When I rise to worlds unknown,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And behold Thee on Thy throne,—</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Rock of Ages, cleft for me,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Let me hide myself in Thee."</span>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay stood still at the door. Ellen paused a minute,
+and then sang "Jerusalem, my happy home." Her utterance
+was so distinct that he heard every word. He did not move till
+she had finished, and then he came softly in.</p>
+
+<p>"Singing songs to the moon, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen started and got up from the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; I was singing them to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Not entirely, for I heard the last one. Why do you make
+yourself sober singing such sad things?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't, sir; they are not sad to me; they are delightful. I
+love them dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to love them? it is not natural for a child of
+your age. What do you love them for, my little daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir, there are a great many reasons, I don't know how
+many."</p>
+
+<p>"I will have patience, Ellen; I want to hear them all."</p>
+
+<p>"I love them because I love to think of the things the hymns
+are about; I love the tunes, dearly; and I like both the words
+and the tunes better, I believe, because I have sung them so
+often with friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I guessed as much. Isn't that the strongest reason
+of the three?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[Pg 550]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir; I don't think it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Is all your heart in America, Ellen, or have you any left to
+bestow on us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Not very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I love <i>you</i>, father," said Ellen, laying her cheek gently
+alongside of his.</p>
+
+<p>"And your grandmother, Ellen?" said Mr. Lindsay, clasping
+his arms around her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>But he well understood that the "yes" was fainter.</p>
+
+<p>"And your aunt?—speak, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't love her as much as I wish I did," said Ellen; "I
+love her a little, I suppose. Oh, why do you ask me such a hard
+question, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is something you have nothing to do with," said Mr.
+Lindsay, half laughing. "Sit down here," he added, placing her
+on his knee, "and sing to me again."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was heartened by the tone of his voice, and pleased
+with the request. She immediately sang with great spirit a little
+Methodist hymn she had learned when a mere child. The wild
+air and simple words singularly suited each other.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+"O Canaan—bright Canaan—<br />
+I am bound for the land of Canaan.<br />
+O Canaan! it is my happy, happy home—<br />
+I am bound for the land of Canaan."
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Does that sound sad, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, I think it does, rather, Ellen. Does it make you
+feel merry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not <i>merry</i>, sir, it isn't <i>merry</i>; but I like it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"The tune or the words?"</p>
+
+<p>"Both, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by the land of Canaan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you like to think about that? at your age?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, certainly, sir! Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why <i>do</i> you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it is a bright and happy place," said Ellen gravely;
+"where there is no darkness, nor sorrow, nor death, neither pain
+nor crying; and my mother is there, and my dear Alice, and my
+Saviour is there; and I hope I shall be there too."</p>
+
+<p>"You are shedding tears now, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I am, sir, it is not because I am unhappy. It doesn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[Pg 551]</a></span>
+make me unhappy to think of these things—it makes me glad;
+and the more I think of them the happier I am."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a strange child. I am afraid your grandmother is
+right, and that you are hurting yourself with poring over serious
+matters that you are too young for."</p>
+
+<p>"She would not think so if she knew," said Ellen, sighing.
+"I should not be happy at all without that, and you would not
+love me half so well, nor she either. Oh, father," she exclaimed,
+pressing his hand in both her own and laying her face upon it,
+"do not let me be hindered in that! forbid me anything you
+please, but not that! the better I learn to please my best Friend,
+the better I shall please you."</p>
+
+<p>"Whom do you mean by 'your best friend'?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord my Redeemer."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get these notions?" said Mr. Lindsay after
+a short pause.</p>
+
+<p>"From my mother, first, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"She had none of them when I knew her."</p>
+
+<p>"She had afterwards, then, sir; and oh!" Ellen hesitated,
+"I wish everybody had them too!"</p>
+
+<p>"My little daughter," said Mr. Lindsay, affectionately kissing
+the cheeks and eyes which were moist again, "I shall indulge
+you in this matter. But you must keep your brow clear, or I
+shall revoke my grant. And you belong to me now; and there
+are some things I want you to forget, and not remember, you
+understand? Now don't sing songs to the moon any more to-night—good-night,
+my daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"They think religion is a strange melancholy thing," said
+Ellen to herself as she went to bed; "I must not give them
+reason to think so—I must let my rushlight burn bright—I must
+take care—I never had more need!"</p>
+
+<p>And with an earnest prayer for help to do so, she laid her
+head on the pillow.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay told his mother he had made up his mind to let
+Ellen have her way for a while, and begged that she might
+return to her old room and hours again. Mrs. Lindsay would
+not hear of it. Ellen had disobeyed her orders, she said; she
+must take the consequences.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a bold little hussy to venture it," said Mr. Lindsay,
+"but I do not think there is any naughtiness in her heart."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not a bit. I could not be angry with her. It is only
+those preposterous notions she has got from somebody or other."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay said no more. Next morning he asked Ellen
+privately what she did the first thing after breakfast. "Practise
+on the piano for an hour," she said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[Pg 552]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you do it at any other time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I could practise in the afternoon, only grandmother
+likes to have me with her."</p>
+
+<p>"Let it be done then, Ellen, in future."</p>
+
+<p>"And what shall I do with the hour after breakfast, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever you please," said he, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen thanked him in the way she knew he best liked, and
+gratefully resolved he should have as little cause as possible to
+complain of her. Very little cause indeed did he or any one else
+have. No fault could be found with her performance of duty;
+and her cheerfulness was constant and unvarying. She remembered
+her brother's recipe against loneliness, and made use
+of it; she remembered Mrs. Allen's advice, and followed it; she
+grasped the promises, "he that cometh to Me shall never hunger,"
+and "seek and ye shall find," precious words that never yet disappointed
+any one; and though tears might often fall that nobody
+knew of, and she might not be so <i>merry</i> as her friends would have
+liked to see her; though her cheerfulness was touched with
+sobriety, they could not complain; for her brow was always unruffled,
+her voice clear, her smile ready.</p>
+
+<p>After a while she was restored to her own sleeping-room
+again, and permitted to take up her former habits.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Other days come back on me</span><br />
+With recollected music.</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Byron</span>.</div>
+
+
+<p>Though nothing could be smoother than the general course
+of her life, Ellen's principles were still now and then severely
+tried.</p>
+
+<p>Of all in the house, next to Mr. Lindsay, she liked the company
+of the old housekeeper best. She was a simple-minded
+Christian, a most benevolent and kind-hearted, and withal sensible
+and respectable, person, devotedly attached to the family, and
+very fond of Ellen in particular. Ellen loved, when she could,
+to get alone with her, and hear her talk of her mother's young
+days; and she loved furthermore, and almost as much, to talk to
+Mrs. Allen of her own. Ellen could to no one else lisp a word
+on the subject; and without dwelling directly on those that she
+loved, she delighted to tell over to an interested listener the
+things she had done, seen, and felt, with them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[Pg 553]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish that child was a little more like other people," said
+Lady Keith one evening in the latter end of the winter.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Mr. Lindsay, "I don't remember at this
+moment any one that I think she could resemble without losing
+more than she gained."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's of no use to talk to you about Ellen, brother! You
+can take up things fast enough when you find them out, but you
+never will see with other people's eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"What do your eyes see, Catherine?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is altogether too childish for her years; she is really a
+baby."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Mr. Lindsay, smiling; "you should ask
+M. Muller about that. He was holding forth to me for a
+quarter of an hour the other day, and could not stint in her
+praises. She will go on, he says, just as fast as he pleases to
+take her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, in intelligence and so on, I know she is not wanting;
+that is not what I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"She is perfectly ladylike always," said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know that, and perfectly childlike too."</p>
+
+<p>"I like that," said Mr. Lindsay; "I have no fancy for your
+grown-up little girls."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said Lady Keith in despair, "you may like it; but
+I tell you she is too much of a child nevertheless in other ways.
+She hasn't an idea of a thousand things. It was only the other
+day she was setting out to go, at mid-day, through the streets
+with a basket on her arm, with some of that fruit for M. Muller,
+I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"If she has any fault," said Mr. Lindsay, "it is want of pride;
+but I don't know, I can't say I wish she had more of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, of course! I suppose not. And it doesn't take anything
+at all to make the tears come in her eyes; the other day
+I didn't know whether to laugh or be vexed at the way she went
+on with a kitten for half-an-hour or more. I wish you had seen
+her! I am not sure she didn't cry over that. Now I suppose
+the next thing, brother, you will go and make her a present
+of one."</p>
+
+<p>"If you have no heavier charges to bring," said Mr. Lindsay,
+smiling, "I'll take breath and think about it."</p>
+
+<p>"But she isn't like anybody else; she don't care for young
+companions; she don't seem to fancy any one out of the family
+unless it is old Mrs. Allen, and she is absurd about her. You
+know she is not very well lately, and Ellen goes to see her I know
+every day regularly; and there are the Gordons and Carpenters
+and Murrays and Mackintoshes, she sees them continually, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[Pg 554]</a></span>
+don't think she takes a great deal of pleasure in their company.
+The fact is, she is too sober."</p>
+
+<p>"She has as sweet a smile as I ever saw," said Mr. Lindsay,
+"and as hearty a laugh, when she does laugh; she is none of
+your gigglers."</p>
+
+<p>"But when she does laugh," said Lady Keith, "it is not when
+other people do. I think she is generally grave when there is
+most merriment around her."</p>
+
+<p>"I love to hear her laugh," said Mrs. Lindsay; "it is in such
+a low sweet tone, and seems to come so from the very spring of
+enjoyment. Yet I must say I think Catherine is half right."</p>
+
+<p>"With half an advocate," said Lady Keith, "I shall not effect
+much."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay uttered a low whistle. At this moment the door
+opened, and Ellen came gravely in, with a book in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, Ellen," said Mr. Lindsay, holding out his hand;
+"here's your aunt says you don't like anybody. How is it? are
+you of an unsociable disposition?"</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's smile would have been a sufficient apology to him for
+a much graver fault.</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody out of the house, I meant," said Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, Ellen, and clear yourself," said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I like some people," said Ellen, smiling; "I don't think I
+like a great many people <i>very</i> much."</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't like young people," said Lady Keith; "that
+is what I complain of, and it's unnatural. Now there's the other
+day, when you went to ride with Miss Gordon and her brother,
+and Miss MacPherson and her brother, I heard you say you were
+not sorry to get home. Now where will you find pleasanter young
+people?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you like them, Ellen?" said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I do like them, ma'am, tolerably."</p>
+
+<p>"What does 'tolerably' mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should have liked my ride better the other day," said
+Ellen, "if they had talked about sensible things."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" said Lady Keith. "Society cannot be made
+up of M. Mullers."</p>
+
+<p>"What did they talk about, Ellen?" said Mr. Lindsay, who
+seemed amused.</p>
+
+<p>"About partners in dancing, at least the ladies did, and
+dresses, and different gentlemen, and what this one said and the
+other one said; it wasn't very amusing to me."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay laughed. "And the gentlemen, Ellen, how did
+you like them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't like them particularly, sir."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[Pg 555]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What have you against <i>them</i>, Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish to say anything against them, Aunt Keith."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come—speak out."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't like their talking, sir, any better than the ladies';
+and besides that, I don't think they were very polite."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" said Mr. Lindsay, highly amused.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it was very polite," said Ellen, "for them to
+sit still on their horses when I went out, and let Brocklesby help
+me to mount. They took me up at M. Muller's, you know, sir;
+M. Muller had been obliged to go out and leave me."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay threw a glance at his sister which she rather
+resented.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray what do you expect, Ellen?" said she. "You
+are a mere child; do you think you ought to be treated as a
+woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish to be treated as anything but a child, Aunt
+Keith."</p>
+
+<p>But Ellen remembered well one day at home when John
+had been before the door on horseback, and she had run out
+to give him a message, his instantly dismounting to hear it.
+"And I was more a child then," she thought, "and he wasn't a
+stranger."</p>
+
+<p>"Whom <i>do</i> you like, Ellen?" inquired Mr. Lindsay, who
+looked extremely satisfied with the result of the examination.</p>
+
+<p>"I like M. Muller, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Allen."</p>
+
+<p>"There!" exclaimed Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come from her room just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"What's your fancy for going there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like to hear her talk, sir, and to read to her; it gives her
+a great deal of pleasure; and I like to talk to her."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you talk about?"</p>
+
+<p>"She talks to me about my mother——"</p>
+
+<p>"And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like to talk to her about old times," said Ellen, changing
+colour.</p>
+
+<p>"Profitable conversation!" said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not go to her room any more, Ellen," said Mr.
+Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>In great dismay at what Mrs. Allen would think, Ellen began
+a remonstrance. But only one word was uttered; Mr. Lindsay's
+hand was upon her lips. He next took the book she still held.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this what you have been reading to her?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[Pg 556]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ellen bowed in answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Who wrote all this?"</p>
+
+<p>Before she could speak he had turned to the front leaf and
+read, "To my little sister." He quietly put the book in his
+pocket; and Ellen as quietly left the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you have said that," said Lady Keith. "You are
+quick enough when you see anything for yourself, but you never
+will believe other people."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing wrong here," said Mr. Lindsay, "only I
+will not have her going back to those old recollections she is so
+fond of. I wish I could make her drink Lethe!"</p>
+
+<p>"What is the book?" said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know," said he, turning it over, "except it is from
+that person that seems to have obtained such an ascendency over
+her—it is full of his notes—it is a religious work."</p>
+
+<p>"She reads a great deal too much of that sort of thing," said
+Mrs. Lindsay. "I wish you would contrive to put a stop to it.
+You can do it better than any one else; she is very fond of you."</p>
+
+<p>That was not a good argument. Mr. Lindsay was silent; his
+thoughts went back to the conversation held that evening in
+Ellen's room, and to certain other things; and perhaps he was
+thinking that if religion had much to do with making her what
+she was, it was a tree that bore good fruits.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," said Lady Keith, "that is one reason why she takes
+so little to the young people she sees. I have seen her sit perfectly
+grave when they were all laughing and talking around her—it
+really looks singular—I don't like it—I presume she would have
+thought it wicked to laugh with them. And the other night, I
+missed her from the younger part of the company, where she
+should have been, and there she was in the other room with
+M. Muller and somebody else, gravely listening to their conversation!"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her," said Mr. Lindsay, smiling, "and she looked anything
+but dull or sober; I would rather have her gravity, after all,
+Catherine, than anybody else's merriment, I know."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish she had never been detained in America after the
+time when she should have come to us," said Mrs. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish the woman had what she deserves that kept back the
+letters," said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed," said his sister, "and I have been in continual
+fear of a visit from that very person that you say gave Ellen the
+book."</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't here!" said Mr. Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know where he is; but he <i>was</i> on this side of the
+water at the time Ellen came on; so she told me."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[Pg 557]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish he was in Egypt!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't intend he shall see her if he comes," said Lady Keith,
+"if I can possibly prevent it. I gave Porterfield orders, if any
+one asked for her, to tell me immediately, and not her upon any
+account; but nobody has come hitherto, and I am in hopes none
+will."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay rose and walked up and down the room with
+folded arms in a very thoughtful style.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen with some difficulty bore herself as usual throughout the
+next day and evening, though constantly on the rack to get possession
+of her book again. It was not spoken of nor hinted at.
+When another morning came she could stand it no longer; she
+went soon after breakfast into Mr. Lindsay's study, where he was
+writing. Ellen came behind him, and laying both her arms over
+his shoulders, said in his ear—</p>
+
+<p>"Will you let me have my book again, father?"</p>
+
+<p>A kiss was her only answer. Ellen waited.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to the book-case," said Mr. Lindsay presently, "or
+to the book-store, and choose out anything you like, Ellen,
+instead."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't exchange it for all that is in them!" she answered
+with some warmth, and with the husky feeling coming in her
+throat. Mr. Lindsay said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate," whispered Ellen after a minute, "you will not
+destroy it, or do anything to it?—you will take care of it, and let
+me have it again, won't you, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will try to take care of you, my daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Again Ellen paused; and then came round in front of him to
+plead to more purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do anything in the world for you, sir," she said earnestly,
+"if you will give me my book again."</p>
+
+<p>"You must do anything in the world for me," said he, smiling
+and pinching her cheek, "without that."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is mine!" Ellen ventured to urge, though trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come!" said Mr. Lindsay, his tone changing; "and
+you are mine, you must understand."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen stood silent, struggling between the alternate surgings
+of passion and checks of prudence and conscience. But at last
+the wave rolled too high and broke. Clasping her hands to her
+face, she exclaimed, not indeed violently, but with sufficient energy
+of expression, "Oh, it's not right! it's not right!"</p>
+
+<p>"Go to your room and consider of that," said Mr. Lindsay.
+"I do not wish to see you again to-day, Ellen."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen was wretched. Not for grief at her loss merely; that
+she could have borne; that had not even the greatest share in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[Pg 558]</a></span>
+distress; she was at war with herself. Her mind was in a perfect
+turmoil. She had been a passionate child in earlier days; under
+religion's happy reign that had long ceased to be true of her; it
+was only very rarely that she or those around her were led to remember
+or suspect that it had once been the case. She was surprised
+and half-frightened at herself now, to find the strength of
+the old temper suddenly roused. She was utterly and exceedingly
+out of humour with Mr. Lindsay, and consequently with everybody
+and everything else; consequently conscience would not give
+her a moment's peace; consequently that day was a long and
+bitter fight betwixt right and wrong. Duties were neglected,
+because she could not give her mind to them; then they crowded
+upon her notice at undue times; all was miserable confusion. In
+vain she would try to reason and school herself into right feeling;
+at one thought of her lost treasure passion would come flooding
+up and drown all her reasonings and endeavours. She grew
+absolutely weary.</p>
+
+<p>But the day passed and the night came, and she went to bed
+without being able to make up her mind; and she arose in the
+morning to renew the battle.</p>
+
+<p>"How long is this miserable condition to last!" she said to
+herself. "'Till you can entirely give up your feeling of resentment,
+and apologise to Mr. Lindsay," said conscience. "Apologise!
+but I haven't done wrong." "Yes, you have," said conscience;
+"you spoke improperly; he is justly displeased; and you must
+make an apology before there can be any peace." "But I said
+the truth—it is <i>not</i> right—it is not right! it is wrong; and am I
+to go and make an apology? I can't do it." "Yes, for the wrong
+you have done," said conscience, "that is all your concern. And
+he has a right to do what he pleases with you and yours, and he
+may have his own reasons for what he has done; and he loves you
+very much, and you ought not to let him remain displeased with
+you one moment longer than you can help—he is in the place of
+a father to you, and you owe him a child's duty."</p>
+
+<p>But pride and passion still fought against reason and conscience,
+and Ellen was miserable. The dressing-bell rang.</p>
+
+<p>"There, I shall have to go down to breakfast directly, and they
+will see how I look, they will see I am angry and ill-humoured.
+Well, I <i>ought</i> to be angry. But what will they think then of my
+religion? is my rushlight burning bright? am I honouring Christ
+now? is <i>this</i> the way to make His name and His truth lovely in
+their eyes? Oh, shame! shame! I have enough to humble
+myself for. And all yesterday, at any rate, they know I was
+angry."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen threw herself upon her knees; and when she rose up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[Pg 559]</a></span>
+the spirit of pride was entirely broken, and resentment had died
+with self-justification.</p>
+
+<p>The breakfast-bell rang before she was quite ready. She was
+afraid she could not see Mr. Lindsay until he should be at the table.
+"But it shall make no difference," she said to herself, "they know
+I have offended him, it is right they should hear what I have to
+say."</p>
+
+<p>They were all at the table. But it made no difference. Ellen
+went straight to Mr. Lindsay, and laying one hand timidly in his,
+and the other on his shoulder, she at once humbly and frankly
+confessed that she had spoken as she ought not the day before,
+and that she was very sorry she had displeased him, and begged
+his forgiveness. It was instantly granted.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a good child, Ellen," said Mr. Lindsay, as he fondly
+embraced her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, sir! don't call me so, I am everything in the world
+but that."</p>
+
+<p>"Then all the rest of the world are good children. Why
+didn't you come to me before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I couldn't, sir; I felt wrong all day yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay laughed and kissed her, and bade her sit down
+and eat her breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>It was about a month after this that he made her a present
+of a beautiful little watch. Ellen's first look was of great delight;
+the second was one of curious doubtful expression, directed to his
+face, half tendering the watch back to him as she saw that he
+understood her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said he, smiling, "do you mean to say you would
+rather have that than this?"</p>
+
+<p>"A great deal!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, hanging the watch round her neck, "you
+shall not have it; but you may make your mind easy, for I
+have it safe and it shall come back to you again some time or
+other."</p>
+
+<p>With this promise Ellen was obliged to be satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The summer passed in the enjoyment of all that wealth, of
+purse and of affection both, could bestow upon their darling. Early
+in the season the family returned to "The Braes." Ellen liked it
+there much better than in the city; there was more that reminded
+her of old times. The sky and the land, though different from those
+she best loved, were yet but another expression of nature's face;
+it was the same face still; and on many a sunbeam Ellen travelled
+across the Atlantic.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> She was sorry to lose M. Muller, but she
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[Pg 560]</a></span>could not have kept him in Edinburgh; he quitted Scotland about
+that time.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Then by a sunbeam I will climb to thee."—<span class="smcap">George Herbert</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Other masters attended her in the country, or she went to
+Edinburgh to attend them. Mr. Lindsay liked that very well; he
+was often there himself, and after her lesson he loved to have her
+with him in the library and at dinner and during the drive home.
+Ellen liked it because it was so pleasant to him; and besides,
+there was a variety about it, and the drives were always her
+delight, and she chose his company at any time rather than that
+of her aunt and grandmother. So, many a happy day that summer
+had she and Mr. Lindsay together; and many an odd pleasure in
+the course of them did he find or make for her. Sometimes it was
+a new book, sometimes a new sight, sometimes a new trinket.
+According to his promise, he had purchased her a fine horse; and
+almost daily Ellen was upon his back, and with Mr. Lindsay in
+the course of the summer scoured the country far and near.
+Every scene of any historic interest within a good distance of
+"The Braes" was visited, and some of them again and again.
+Pleasures of all kinds were at Ellen's disposal; and to her father
+and grandmother she was truly the light of their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>And Ellen was happy; but it was not all these things, nor
+even her affection for Mr. Lindsay, that made her so. He saw her
+calm and sunshiny face and busy, happy demeanour, and fancied,
+though he sometimes had doubts about it, that she did not trouble
+herself much with old recollections, or would in time get over
+them. It was so. Ellen never forgot; and sometimes when she
+seemed busiest and happiest, it was the thought of an absent and
+distant friend that was nerving her energies and giving colour to
+her cheeks. Still, as at first, it was in her hour alone that Ellen
+laid down care and took up submission; it was that calmed her
+brow and brightened her smile. And though now and then she
+shed bitter tears, and repeated her despairing exclamation, "Well!
+I will see him in heaven!" in general she lived on hope, and kept
+at the bottom of her heart some of her old feeling of confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps her brow grew somewhat meeker and her smile less
+bright as the year rolled on. Months flew by, and brought her
+no letters. Ellen marvelled and sorrowed in vain. One day,
+mourning over it to Mrs. Allen, the good housekeeper asked her
+if her friends knew her address? Ellen at first said, "to be sure,"
+but after a few minutes' reflection was obliged to confess that
+she was not certain about it. It would have been just like Mr.
+Humphreys to lose sight entirely of such a matter, and very
+natural for her, in her grief and confusion of mind and inexperience,
+to be equally forgetful. She wrote immediately to Mr.
+Humphreys and supplied the defect; and hope brightened again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">[Pg 561]</a></span>
+Once before she had written, on the occasion of the refunding
+her expenses. Mr. Lindsay and his mother were very prompt to
+do this, though Ellen could not tell what the exact amount might
+be; they took care to be on the safe side, and sent more than
+enough. Ellen's mind had changed since she came to Scotland;
+she was sorry to have the money go; she understood the feeling
+with which it was sent, and it hurt her.</p>
+
+<p>Two or three months after the date of her last letter, she
+received at length one from Mr. Humphreys—a long, very kind,
+and very wise one. She lived upon it for a good while. Mr.
+Lindsay's bills were returned. Mr. Humphreys declined utterly
+to accept them, telling Ellen that he looked upon her as his own
+child up to the time that her friends took her out of his hands,
+and that he owed her more than she owed him. Ellen gave the
+money—she dared not give the whole message—to Mr. Lindsay.
+The bills were instantly and haughtily re-enclosed and sent back
+to America.</p>
+
+<p>Still nothing was heard from Mr. John. Ellen wondered,
+waited, wept; sadly quieted herself into submission, and as time
+went on, clung faster and faster to her Bible and the refuge she
+found there.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII</h2>
+
+<div class="quote-text">
+<p><i>Hon.</i>—Why didn't you show him up, blockhead?</p>
+<p><i>Butler.</i>—Show him up, sir? With all my heart, sir,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Up or down, all's one to me.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="quote-author">—<span class="smcap">Good-natured Man</span>.</div>
+
+<p>One evening, it was New Year's eve, a large party was expected
+at Mr. Lindsay's. Ellen was not of an age to go abroad to
+parties, but at home her father and grandmother never could
+bear to do without her when they had company. Generally Ellen
+liked it very much; not called upon to take any active part herself,
+she had leisure to observe and enjoy in quiet; and often
+heard music, and often by Mr. Lindsay's side listened to conversation,
+in which she took great pleasure. To-night, however, it
+happened that Ellen's thoughts were running on other things;
+and Mrs. Lindsay's woman, who had come in to dress her, was
+not at all satisfied with her grave looks and the little concern she
+seemed to take in what was going on.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish, Miss Ellen, you'd please hold your head up, and look
+somewhere; I don't know when I'll get your hair done if you
+keep it down so."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">[Pg 562]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mason, I think that'll do; it looks very well; you needn't
+do anything more."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Ellen, but you know it's your grandmother
+that must be satisfied, and she will have it just so; there,
+now that's going to look lovely; but indeed, Miss Ellen, she
+won't be pleased if you carry such a soberish face downstairs, and
+what will the master say! Most young ladies would be as bright
+as a bee at being going to see so many people, and indeed it's
+what you should."</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather see one or two persons than one or two hundred,"
+said Ellen, speaking half to herself and half to Mrs. Mason.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, for pity's sake, Miss Ellen, dear, if you can, don't look
+as if it was a funeral it was. There! 'tain't much trouble to fix
+you, anyhow; if you'd only care a little more about it, it would
+be a blessing. Stop till I fix this lace. The master will call you
+his white rose-bud to-night, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing new," said Ellen, half smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Mason left her; and feeling the want of something to raise
+her spirits, Ellen sorrowfully went to her Bible, and slowly turning
+it over, looked along its pages to catch a sight of something
+cheering before she went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide
+even unto death.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that enough?" thought Ellen, as her eyes filled in
+answer. "It ought to be, John would say it was; oh! where
+is he?"</p>
+
+<p>She went on turning leaf after leaf.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"That is true surely," she thought. "And I do trust in
+Him; I am blessed; I am happy, come what may. He will let
+nothing come to those that trust in Him but what is good for
+them; if He is my God, I have enough to make me happy; I
+ought to be happy; I will be happy; I will trust Him, and take
+what He gives me; and try to leave, as John used to tell me, my
+affairs in His hand."</p>
+
+<p>For a minute tears flowed; then they were wiped away; and
+the smile she gave Mr. Lindsay when she met him in the hall
+was not less bright than usual.</p>
+
+<p>The company were gathered, but it was still early in the
+evening, when a gentleman came who declined to enter the
+drawing-room, and asked for Miss Lindsay.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Lindsay is engaged."</p>
+
+<p>"An' what for suld ye say sae, Mr. Porterfield?" cried the
+voice of the housekeeper, who was passing in the hall, "when ye
+ken as weel as I do that Miss Ellen——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_563" id="Page_563">[Pg 563]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The butler stopped her with saying something about "my
+lady," and repeated his answer to the gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>The latter wrote a word or two on a card which he drew from
+his pocket, and desired him to carry it to Miss Ellen. He carried
+it to Lady Keith.</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of a person, Porterfield?" said Lady Keith,
+crumpling the paper in her fingers, and withdrawing a little from
+the company.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncommon fine gentleman, my lady," Porterfield answered,
+in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"A gentleman?" said Lady Keith inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Certain, my lady! and as up and down spoken as if he was
+a prince of the blood; he's somebody that is not accustomed to
+be said 'no' to, for sure."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Keith hesitated. Recollecting, however, that she had
+just left Ellen safe in the music-room, she made up her mind,
+and desired Porterfield to show the stranger in. As he entered,
+unannounced, her eyes unwillingly verified the butler's judgment;
+and to the inquiry whether he might see Miss Lindsay
+she answered very politely, though with regrets, that Miss
+Lindsay was engaged.</p>
+
+<p>"May I be pardoned for asking," said the stranger, with the
+slightest possible approach to a smile, "whether that decision is
+imperative? I leave Scotland to-morrow—my reasons for wishing
+to see Miss Lindsay this evening are urgent."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Keith could hardly believe her ears, or command her
+countenance to keep company with her expressions of "sorrow
+that it was impossible—Miss Lindsay could not have the pleasure
+that evening."</p>
+
+<p>"May I beg then to know at what hour I may hope to see
+her to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>Hastily resolving that Ellen should on the morrow accept a
+long-given invitation, Lady Keith answered that she would not be
+in town—she would leave Edinburgh at an early hour.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger bowed and withdrew; that was all the bystanders
+saw. But Lady Keith, who had winced under an eye
+that she could not help fancying read her too well, saw that in
+his parting look which made her uneasy: beckoning a servant
+who stood near, she ordered him to wait upon that gentleman to
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>The man obeyed; but the stranger did not take his cloak,
+and made no motion to go.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir! not that way," he said sternly, as the servant laid
+his hand on the lock; "show me to Miss Lindsay!"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ellen?" said the man doubtfully, coming back, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_564" id="Page_564">[Pg 564]</a></span>
+thinking from the gentleman's manner that he must have misunderstood
+Lady Keith; "where is Miss Ellen, Arthur?"</p>
+
+<p>The person addressed threw his head back towards the door
+he had just come from on the other side of the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"This way, sir, if you please; what name, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No name—stand back!" said the stranger, as he entered.</p>
+
+<p>There were a number of people gathered round a lady who
+was at the piano singing. Ellen was there in the midst of them.
+The gentleman advanced quietly to the edge of the group and
+stood there without being noticed; Ellen's eyes were bent on
+the floor. The expression of her face touched and pleased him
+greatly; it was precisely what he wished to see. Without having
+the least shadow of sorrow upon it, there was in all its lines that
+singular mixture of gravity and sweetness that is never seen but
+where religion and discipline have done their work well; the
+writing of the wisdom that looks soberly, and the love that looks
+kindly, on all things. He was not sure at first whether she were
+intently listening to the music or whether her mind was upon
+something far different and far away; he thought the latter. He
+was right. Ellen at the moment had escaped from the company
+and the noisy sounds of the performer at her side; and while her
+eye was curiously tracing out the pattern of the carpet, her mind
+was resting itself in one of the verses she had been reading that
+same evening. Suddenly, and as it seemed from no connection
+with anything in or out of her thoughts, there came to her mind
+the image of John as she had first seen him that first evening she
+ever saw him at Carra-carra, when she looked up from the boiling
+chocolate and espied him standing in an attitude of waiting near
+the door. Ellen at first wondered how that thought should have
+come into her head just then; the next moment, from a sudden
+impulse, she raised her eyes to search for the cause, and saw John's
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>It would not be easy to describe the change in Ellen's face.
+Lightning makes as quick and as brilliant an illumination, but
+lightning does not stay. With a spring she reached him, and
+seizing both his hands drew him out of the door near which they
+were standing; and as soon as they were hidden from view threw
+herself into his arms in an agony of joy. Before, however, either
+of them could say a word, she had caught his hand again, and
+led him back along the hall to the private staircase; she mounted
+it rapidly to <i>her room</i>; and there again she threw herself into
+his arms, exclaiming, "Oh, John! my dear John! my dear
+brother!"</p>
+
+<p>But neither smiles nor words would do for the overcharged
+heart. The tide of joy ran too strong, and too much swelled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_565" id="Page_565">[Pg 565]</a></span>
+from the open sources of love and memory to keep any bounds.
+And it kept none. Ellen sat down and, bowing her head on the
+arm of the sofa, wept with all the vehement passion of her childhood,
+quivering from head to foot with convulsive sobs. John
+might guess from the outpouring how much her heart had been
+secretly gathering for months past. For a little while he walked
+up and down the room; but this excessive agitation he was not
+willing should continue. He said nothing; sitting down beside
+Ellen on the sofa, he quietly possessed himself of one of her hands;
+and when in her excitement the hand struggled to get away
+again, it was not permitted. Ellen understood that very well and
+immediately checked herself. Better than words, the calm firm
+grasp of his hand quieted her. Her sobbing stilled; she turned
+from the arm of the sofa, and leaning her head upon him took
+his hand in both hers and pressed it to her lips as if she were
+half beside herself. But that was not permitted to last either,
+for his hand quickly imprisoned hers again. There was silence
+still. Ellen could not look up yet, and neither seemed very
+forward to speak; she sat gradually quieting down into fulness
+of happiness.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you never would come, John," at length Ellen
+half whispered, half said.</p>
+
+<p>"And I cannot stay now. I must leave you to-morrow, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen started up and looked up now.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me! For how long? Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Home."</p>
+
+<p>"To America?" Ellen's heart died within her. Was <i>this</i> the
+end of all her hopes? did her confidence end <i>here</i>? She shed no
+tears now. He could see that she grew absolutely still from
+intense feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Ellie?" said the low gentle tones she so
+well remembered; "I am leaving you but for a time. I <i>must</i> go
+home now, but if I live you will see me again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wish I was going with you!" Ellen exclaimed, bursting
+into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellie!" said her brother in an altered voice, drawing
+her again to his arms, "you cannot wish it more than I."</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought you would leave me here, John."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither would I, if I could help it; neither will I a minute
+longer than I can help; but we must both wait, my own Ellie.
+Do not cry so, for my sake!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait? till when?" said Ellen, not a little reassured.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no power now to remove you from your legal guardians,
+and you have no right to choose for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"And when shall I?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_566" id="Page_566">[Pg 566]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"In a few years."</p>
+
+<p>"A few years! But in the meantime, John, what shall I do
+without you? If I could see you once in a while, but there is no
+one here, not a single one to help me to keep right; no one talks
+to me as you used to; and I am all the while afraid I shall go
+wrong in something; what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"What the weak must always do, Ellie—seek for strength
+where it may be had."</p>
+
+<p>"And so I do, John," said Ellen, weeping; "but I want you,
+oh, how much!"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not happy here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am happy, at least I thought I was half-an-hour ago,
+as happy as I can be. I have everything to make me happy
+except what would do it."</p>
+
+<p>"We must both have recourse to our old remedy against
+sorrow and loneliness—you have not forgotten the use of it,
+Ellie?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, John," said Ellen, meeting his eyes with a tearful
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"They love you here, do they not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much—too much."</p>
+
+<p>"And you love them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a doubtful 'yes.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I do love my father—very much; and my grandmother too,
+though not so much. I cannot help loving them, they love me
+so. But they are so unlike you!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not much to the purpose, after all," said John, smiling.
+"There are varieties of excellence in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, but that isn't what I mean; it isn't a variety of
+excellence. They make me do everything they have a mind;
+I don't mean," she added, smiling, "that <i>that</i> is not like you,
+but you always had a reason; they are different. My father
+makes me drink wine every now and then; I don't like to do it,
+and he knows I do not, and I think that is the reason I have
+to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not a matter of great importance, Ellie, provided
+they do not make you do something wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"They could not do that, I hope; and there is another thing
+they cannot make me do."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stay here when you will take me away."</p>
+
+<p>There was a few minutes' thoughtful pause on both sides.</p>
+
+<p>"You are grown, Ellie," said John, "you are not the child I
+left you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_567" id="Page_567">[Pg 567]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Ellen, smiling. "It seems to me I am
+just the same."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see—look at me!"</p>
+
+<p>She raised her face, and amidst smiles and tears its look was
+not less clear and frank than his was penetrating. "Just the
+same," was the verdict of her brother's eyes a moment afterwards.
+Ellen's smile grew bright as she read it there.</p>
+
+<p>"Why have you never come or written before, John?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know where you were. I have not been in England
+for many months until quite lately, and I could not get your
+address. I think my father was without it for a long time, and
+when at last he sent it to me, the letter miscarried—never reached
+me—there were delays upon delays."</p>
+
+<p>"And when did you get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I preferred coming to writing."</p>
+
+<p>"And now you must go home so soon!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must, Ellie. My business has lingered on a great while,
+and it is quite time I should return. I expect to sail next week—Mrs.
+Gillespie is going with me—her husband stays behind till
+spring."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"I made a friend of a friend of yours whom I met in Switzerland
+last summer—M. Muller."</p>
+
+<p>"M. Muller! did you? Oh, I am very glad! I am very glad
+you know him—he is the best friend I have got here, after my
+father. I don't know what I should have done without him."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard him talk of you," said John, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"He has just come back; he was to be here this evening."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause again.</p>
+
+<p>"It does not seem right to go home without you, Ellie,"
+said her brother then. "I think you belong to me more than
+to anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"That is exactly what I think!" said Ellen, with one of her
+bright looks, and then bursting into tears. "I am very glad you
+think so too! I will always do whatever you tell me—just as I
+used to—no matter what anybody else says."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I shall try you in two or three things, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you! in what? Oh, it would make me so happy—so
+much happier if I could be doing something to please you. I
+wish I was at home with you again!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will bring that about, Ellie, by-and-by, if you make your
+words good."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be happy then," said Ellen, her old confidence standing
+stronger than ever, "because I know you will if you say so.
+Though how you will manage it I cannot conceive. My father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_568" id="Page_568">[Pg 568]</a></span>
+and grandmother and aunt cannot bear to hear me speak of
+America. I believe they would be glad if there wasn't such a
+place in the world. They would not even let me think of it
+if they could help it; I never dare mention your name, or say
+a word about old times. They are afraid of my loving anybody,
+I believe. They want to have me all to themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"What will they say to you then, Ellie, if you leave them to
+give yourself to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help it," replied Ellen, "they must say what they
+please;" and with abundance of energy, and not a few tears,
+she went on, "I love them, but I had given myself to you a great
+while ago; long before I was his daughter you called me your
+little sister—I can't undo that, John, and I don't want to—it
+doesn't make a bit of difference that we were not born so!"</p>
+
+<p>John suddenly rose and began to walk up and down the
+room. Ellen soon came to his side, and leaning upon his arm,
+as she had been used to do in past times, walked up and down
+with him, at first silently.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it you wanted me to do, John?" she said gently at
+length; "you said 'two or three' things?"</p>
+
+<p>"One is that you keep up a regular and full correspondence
+with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad that you will let me do that," said Ellen,
+"that is exactly what I should like, but——"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid they will not let me."</p>
+
+<p>"I will arrange that."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Ellen joyously, "then it will do. Oh, it
+will make me so happy! And you will write to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I will tell you everything about myself; and you will
+tell me how I ought to do in all sorts of things; that will be
+next best to being with you. And then you will keep me
+right."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't promise you that, Ellie," said John, smiling, "you
+must learn to keep yourself right."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you will, though, however you may smile. What
+next?"</p>
+
+<p>"Read no novels."</p>
+
+<p>"I never do, John. I knew you did not like it, and I have
+taken good care to keep out of the way of them. If I had told
+anybody why, though, they would have made me read a dozen."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Ellie!" said her brother, "you must need some care
+to keep a straight line where your course lies now."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I do, John," said Ellen, her eyes filling with tears;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569">[Pg 569]</a></span>
+"oh, now I have felt that sometimes! And then how I wanted
+you!"</p>
+
+<p>Her hand was fondly taken in his, as many a time it had
+been taken of old, and for a long time they paced up and down;
+the conversation running sometimes in the strain that both loved
+and Ellen now never heard; sometimes on other matters; such
+a conversation as those she had lived upon in former days, and
+now drank in with a delight and eagerness inexpressible. Mr.
+Lindsay would have been in dismay to have seen her uplifted
+face, which, though tears were many a time there, was sparkling
+and glowing with life and joy in a manner he had never known
+it. She almost forgot what the morrow would bring, in the
+exquisite pleasure of the instant, and hung upon every word and
+look of her brother as if her life were there.</p>
+
+<p>"And in a few weeks," said Ellen, at length, "you will be in
+our own dear sitting-room again, and riding on the Black Prince!
+and I shall be here! and it will be——"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be empty without you, Ellie! but we have a friend
+that is sufficient; let us love Him and be patient."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very hard to be patient," murmured Ellen. "But,
+dear John, there was something else you wanted me to do?
+what is it? you said 'two or three' things."</p>
+
+<p>"I will leave that to another time."</p>
+
+<p>"But why? I will do it, whatever it be—pray tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, smiling, "not now; you shall know by-and-by—the
+time is not yet. Have you heard of your old friend, Mr.
+Van Brunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"No—what of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He has come out before the world as a Christian man."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he?"</p>
+
+<p>John took a letter from his pocket and opened it.</p>
+
+<p>"You may see what my father says of him; and what he says
+of you too, Ellie; he has missed you much."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I was afraid he would," said Ellen, "I was sure he
+did!"</p>
+
+<p>She took the letter, but she could not see the words. John
+told her she might keep it to read at her leisure.</p>
+
+<p>"And how are they all at Ventnor? and how is Mrs. Vawse?
+and Margery?"</p>
+
+<p>"All well. Mrs. Vawse spends about half her time at my
+father's."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad of that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Marshman wrote me to bring you back with me if I
+could, and said she had a home for you always at Ventnor."</p>
+
+<p>"How kind she is," said Ellen; "how many friends I find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570">[Pg 570]</a></span>
+everywhere. It seems to me, John, that almost everybody loves
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"That <i>is</i> a singular circumstance! However, I am no exception
+to the rule, Ellie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know that," said Ellen, laughing. "And Mr. George?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. George is well."</p>
+
+<p>"How much I love him!" said Ellen. "How much I would
+give to see him. I wish you could tell me about poor Captain
+and the Brownie, but I don't suppose you have heard of them.
+Oh, when I think of it all at home, how I want to be there!
+Oh, John, sometimes lately I have almost thought I should only
+see you again in heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Ellie! I shall see you there, I trust; but if we live
+we shall spend our lives here together first. And while we are
+parted we will keep as near as possible by praying for and writing
+to each other. And what God orders let us quietly submit to."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen had much ado to command herself at the tone of these
+words and John's manner, as he clasped her in his arms and
+kissed her brow and lips. She strove to keep back a show of
+feeling that would distress and might displease him. But the
+next moment her fluttering spirits were stilled by hearing the few
+soft words of a prayer that he breathed over her head. It was a
+prayer for her and for himself, and one of its petitions was that
+they might be kept to see each other again. Ellen wrote the
+words on her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>He showed his watch.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shall see you to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall you be here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly; where else should I be? What time must you
+set out?"</p>
+
+<p>"I need not till afternoon, but—How early can I see you?"</p>
+
+<p>"As early as you please. Oh, spend all the time with me you
+can, John!"</p>
+
+<p>So it was arranged.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Ellie, you must go downstairs and present me to
+Mr. Lindsay."</p>
+
+<p>"To my father!"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Ellen's face was a compound of expressions.
+She instantly acquiesced, however, and went down with her
+brother, her heart, it must be confessed, going very pit-a-pat
+indeed. She took him into the library, which was not this
+evening thrown open to company, and sent a servant for Mr.
+Lindsay. While waiting for his coming, Ellen felt as if she had
+not the fair use of her senses. Was that John Humphreys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_571" id="Page_571">[Pg 571]</a></span>
+quietly walking up and down the library?—Mr. Lindsay's library?
+and was she about to introduce her brother to the person who
+had forbidden her to mention his name? There was something,
+however, in Mr. John's figure and air, in his utter coolness, that
+insensibly restated her spirits. Triumphant confidence in him
+overcame the fear of Mr. Lindsay; and when he appeared, Ellen
+with tolerable composure met him, her hand upon John's arm,
+and said, "Father, this is Mr. Humphreys"—<i>my brother</i> she
+dared not add.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope Mr. Lindsay will pardon my giving him this trouble,"
+said the latter; "we have one thing in common which should
+forbid our being strangers to each other. I, at least, was unwilling
+to leave Scotland without making myself known to Mr.
+Lindsay."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lindsay most devoutly wished the "thing in common"
+had been anything else. He bowed, and was "happy to have
+the pleasure," but evidently neither pleased nor happy. Ellen
+could see that.</p>
+
+<p>"May I take up five minutes of Mr. Lindsay's time to explain,
+perhaps to apologise," said John, slightly smiling, "for
+what I have said?"</p>
+
+<p>A little ashamed, it might be, to have his feeling suspected,
+Mr. Lindsay instantly granted the request, and politely invited
+his unwelcome guest to be seated. Obeying a glance from her
+brother which she understood, Ellen withdrew to the further
+side of the room, where she could not hear what they said. John
+took up the history of Ellen's acquaintance with his family, and
+briefly gave it to Mr. Lindsay, scarce touching on the benefits by
+them conferred on her, and skilfully dwelling rather on Ellen
+herself and setting forth what she had been to them. Mr. Lindsay
+could not be unconscious of what his visitor delicately omitted to
+hint at, neither could he help making secretly to himself some
+most unwilling admissions; and though he might wish the speaker
+at the antipodes, and doubtless did, yet the sketch was too happily
+given, and his fondness for Ellen too great, for him not to be
+delightedly interested in what was said of her. And however
+strong might have been his desire to dismiss his guest in a very
+summary manner, or to treat him with haughty reserve, the
+graceful dignity of Mr. Humphreys' manners made either expedient
+impossible. Mr. Lindsay felt constrained to meet him
+on his own ground—the ground of high-bred frankness, and
+grew secretly still more afraid that his real feelings should be
+discerned.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen from afar, where she could not hear the words, watched
+the countenances with great anxiety and great admiration. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_572" id="Page_572">[Pg 572]</a></span>
+could see that while her brother spoke with his usual perfect
+ease, Mr. Lindsay was embarrassed. She half read the truth.
+She saw the entire politeness while she also saw the secret discomposure,
+and she felt that the politeness was forced from him.
+As the conversation went on, however, she wonderingly saw that
+the cloud on his brow lessened—she saw him even smile; and
+when at last they rose, and she drew near, she almost thought
+her ears were playing her false when she heard Mr. Lindsay beg
+her brother to go in with him to the company and be presented
+to Mrs. Lindsay. After a moment's hesitation this invitation was
+accepted, and they went together into the drawing room.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen felt as if she was in a dream. With a face as grave as
+usual, but with an inward exultation and rejoicing in her brother
+impossible to describe, she saw him going about among the
+company, talking to her grandmother—yes, and her grandmother
+did not look less pleasant than usual—recognising M. Muller, and
+in conversation with other people whom he knew. With indescribable
+glee Ellen saw that Mr. Lindsay managed most of the
+time to be of the same group. Never more than that night did
+she triumphantly think that Mr. John could do anything. He
+finished the evening there. Ellen took care not to seem too
+much occupied with him; but she contrived to be near when he
+was talking with M. Muller, and to hang upon her father's arm
+when he was in Mr. John's neighbourhood. And when the latter
+had taken leave, and was in the hall, Ellen was there before he
+could be gone. And there came Mr. Lindsay too behind her!</p>
+
+<p>"You will come early to-morrow morning, John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come to breakfast, Mr. Humphreys, will you?" said Mr.
+Lindsay, with sufficient cordiality.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Humphreys declined this invitation, in spite of the
+timid touch of Ellen's fingers upon his arm, which begged for a
+different answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I will be with you early, Ellie," he said, however.</p>
+
+<p>"And oh! John," said Ellen suddenly, "order a horse and
+let us have one ride together; let me show you Edinburgh."</p>
+
+<p>"By all means," said Mr. Lindsay, "let us show you Edinburgh;
+but order no horses, Mr. Humphreys, for mine are at
+your service."</p>
+
+<p>Ellen's other hand was gratefully laid upon her father's arm
+as this second proposal was made and accepted.</p>
+
+<p>"Let <i>us</i> show you Edinburgh," said Ellen to herself, as she
+and Mr. Lindsay slowly and gravely went back through the hall.
+"So there is an end of my fine morning! But, however, how
+foolish I am! John has his own ways of doing things—he can
+make it pleasant in spite of everything."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_573" id="Page_573">[Pg 573]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She went to bed, not to sleep indeed, for a long time, but to
+cry for joy and all sorts of feelings at once.</p>
+
+<p>Good came out of evil, as it often does, and as Ellen's heart
+presaged it would when she arose the next morning. The ride
+was preceded by half-an-hour's chat between Mr. John, Mr.
+Lindsay, and her grandmother; in which the delight of the
+evening before was renewed and confirmed. Ellen was obliged
+to look down to hide the too bright satisfaction that she felt was
+shining in her face. She took no part in the conversation, it was
+enough to hear. She sat with charmed ears, seeing her brother
+overturning all her father's and grandmother's prejudices, and
+making his own way to their respect at least, in spite of themselves.
+Her marvelling still almost kept even pace with her joy.
+"I knew he would do what he pleased," she said to herself. "I
+knew they could not help that; but I did not dream he would
+ever make them <i>like</i> him—that I never dreamed!"</p>
+
+<p>On the ride again, Ellen could not wish that her father were
+not with them. She wished for nothing; it was all a maze of
+pleasure, which there was nothing to mar but the sense that she
+would by-and-by wake up and find it was a dream. And no, not
+that either. It was a solid good and blessing, which, though it
+must come to an end, she should never lose. For the present
+there was hardly anything to be thought of but enjoyment. She
+shrewdly guessed that Mr. Lindsay would have enjoyed it too, but
+for herself; there was a little constraint about him still, she could
+see. There was none about Mr. John; in the delight of his
+words and looks and presence, Ellen half the time forgot Mr.
+Lindsay entirely; she had enough of them, she did not for one
+moment wish Mr. Lindsay had less.</p>
+
+<p>At last the long, beautiful ride came to an end; and the rest of
+the morning soon sped away, though, as Ellen had expected, she
+was not permitted to spend any part of it alone with her brother.
+Mr. Lindsay asked him to dinner, but this was declined.</p>
+
+<p>Not till long after he was gone did Ellen read Mr. Humphreys'
+letter. One bit of it may be given.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Brunt has lately joined our little church. This has
+given me great pleasure. He has been a regular attendant for a
+long time before. He ascribes much to your instrumentality;
+but says his first thoughts (earnest ones) on the subject of
+religion were on the occasion of a tear that fell from Ellen's eye
+upon his hand one day when she was talking to him about the
+matter. He never got over the impression. In his own words,
+'it scared him!' That was a dear child! I did not know how
+dear till I had lost her. I did not know how severely I should
+feel her absence; nor had I the least notion, when she was with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_574" id="Page_574">[Pg 574]</a></span>
+us, of many things respecting her that I have learned since. I
+half hoped we should yet have her back, but that will not be. I
+shall be glad to see you, my son."</p>
+
+<p>The correspondence with John was begun immediately, and
+was the delight of Ellen's life. Mrs. Lindsay and her daughter
+wished to put a stop to it; but Mr. Lindsay drily said that Mr.
+Humphreys had frankly spoken of it before him, and as he had
+made no objection then, he could not now.</p>
+
+<p>Ellen puzzled herself a little to think what could be the third
+thing John wanted of her; but whatever it were, she was very
+sure she would do it!</p>
+
+<p>For the gratification of those who are never satisfied, one
+word shall be added, to wit, that—</p>
+
+<p>The seed so early sown in little Ellen's mind, and so carefully
+tended by sundry hands, grew in the course of time to all the
+fair structure and comely perfection it had bid fair to reach;
+storms and winds that had visited it did but cause the root to
+take deeper hold; and at the point of its young maturity it
+happily fell again into those hands that had of all been most
+successful in its culture. In other words, to speak intelligibly,
+Ellen did in no wise disappoint her brother's wishes, nor he hers.
+Three or four more years of Scottish discipline wrought her no
+ill; they did but serve to temper and beautify her Christian
+character; and then, to her unspeakable joy, she went back to
+spend her life with the friends and guardians she best loved, and
+to be to them still more than she had been to her Scottish
+relations, the "light of the eyes."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center" style="margin-top: 6ex;"><small><strong>THE END</strong></small></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_575" id="Page_575">[Pg 575]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<div style="line-height: 125%; letter-spacing: 0.05em; font-size: 150%;">
+<span class="smcap">Grosset &amp; Dunlap's</span> Good Value Edition of
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+<td>All Sorts and Conditions of Men</td><td class="right">Besant and Rice</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>The Last Days of Pompeii</td><td class="right">Bulwer-Lytton</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>Pilgrim's Progress</td><td class="right">John Bunyan</td>
+</tr><tr>
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+</tr><tr>
+<td>Uncle Tom's Cabin</td><td class="right">Harriet Beecher Stowe</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>The Wide Wide World</td><td class="right">Susan Warner</td>
+</tr></tbody></table>
+
+<hr class="double-line" /><div class="center">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_576" id="Page_576">[Pg 576]</a></span>
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+Mrs. Jerningham's Journal<br />
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+</div>
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+
+<div class="center">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_577" id="Page_577">[Pg 577]</a></span>
+<div style="font-size: 250%; line-height: 125%;">
+<i>Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam</i>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Rendered into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald.
+A correct version of the text of the Fourth Edition, with
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+Size, 5-1/4 x 7-5/8. <span class="smcap">Price</span>, $1.25.</p>
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+
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+
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+
+<p class="center" style="font-size: 200%; line-height: 125%;">
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+
+<p class="center">
+<i>All books sent postpaid on receipt of price</i></p><hr class="double-line" />
+
+<p>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_578" id="Page_578">[Pg 578]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center" style="letter-spacing: 0.1em; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 175%; line-height: 125%;">
+<i>No Field Collection is Complete<br />
+Without this Book</i></p>
+
+<div class="center" style="line-height: 125%; font-size: 250%;">
+A LITTLE BOOK <i>of</i><br />TRIBUNE VERSE</div>
+
+<div class="center" style="border-top: 3px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); border-bottom: 3px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); padding: 0.5ex; margin-top: 2ex; margin-bottom: 2ex; font-size: 150%;">
+<i>By </i> EUGENE FIELD
+</div>
+
+<p>Compiled and edited by <span class="smcap">Joseph G. Brown</span>, formerly
+city editor of the <i>Denver Tribune</i>, and an intimate friend
+and associate of the poet during the several years in
+which he was on the staff of that paper.</p>
+
+<p>This volume resurrects a literary treasure which has
+been buried for many years in the forgotten files of a
+newspaper, and it is, as nearly as it has been possible to
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+
+<p>These poems are the early products of Field's genius.
+They breathe the spirit of Western life of twenty years
+ago. The reckless cowboy, the bucking broncho, the
+hardy miner, the English tenderfoot, the coquettish
+belle, and all the foibles and extravagances of Western
+social life, are depicted with a naivete and satire, tempered
+with sympathy and pathos, which no other writer
+could imitate.</p>
+
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+GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</div>
+<strong>11 East 16th Street, <span class="smcap">New York</span></strong>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="mynote">
+<p><b>Transcriber's notes:</b></p>
+
+<p>Alternative spelling and hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original publication.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wide, Wide World, by Susan Warner
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+</body>
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+
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:38:16 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:38:16 -0700
commit	07a5fa60aae59a0ff2298a4745bc03ec2d9da671 (patch)
tree	c93e72de70349e9f993f508e7167d54e0ffbbbed /28376-h