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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of What She Could, 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: What She Could
+
+Author: Susan Warner
+
+Release Date: October 1, 2009 [EBook #30146]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT SHE COULD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Daniel Fromont.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: This is the first of a series of four novels by
+Susan Warner, all of which are in the Project Gutenberg collection:
+
+  1. What She Could
+  2. Opportunities
+  3. The House in Town
+  4. Trading]
+
+
+
+
+
+WHAT SHE COULD.
+
+
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF
+
+"THE WIDE WIDE WORLD," &c.
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+
+JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
+
+MDCCCLXXI.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+"WHAT SHE COULD."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+"Girls, there's a Band!"
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A Band--in the Sunday-School."
+
+"I am sure there is a careless girl in the house," put in another
+speaker. "Go and wipe your feet, Maria; look at the snow you have
+brought in."
+
+"But, mamma----"
+
+"Go and get rid of that snow before you say another word. And you too,
+Matilda; see, child, what lumps of snow are sticking to your shoes. Was
+there no mat at the door?"
+
+"There was a cold wind there," muttered Maria, as she went to obey
+orders. "What harm does a little snow do?"
+
+But while she went to the door again, her sister, a pretty, delicate
+child of fewer years, stood still, and adroitly slipped her feet out of
+the snowy shoes she had brought in, which she put in the corner of the
+fireplace to thaw and dry off; the little stocking feet standing
+comfortably on the rug before the blaze. It was so neatly done, the
+mother and elder sisters looked on and could not chide. Neatness suited
+the place. The room was full of warm comfort; the furniture in nice
+order; the work, several kinds of which were in as many hands, though
+lying about also on chairs and tables, had yet the look of order and
+method. You would have said at once that there was something good in
+the family. The child in front of the fire told more for it. Her
+delicate features, the refined look and manner with which she stood
+there in her uncovered feet, even a little sort of fastidious grace
+which one or two movements testified, drew the eyes of mother and
+sisters, and manifestly stopped their tongues; even called forth a
+smile or two.
+
+"What is all this Maria is talking about, Matilda?"
+
+"Why, we have been to the Sunday-School meeting, mamma."
+
+"I know that; and it was not a night fit for you to go. What ever
+possessed you and Maria?" remarked one of the sisters.
+
+"Why, Mr. Richmond wanted to see all the Sunday-School," said Matilda,
+thoughtfully. "He wanted you too, I suppose; and you were not there."
+
+"There is no use in having a meeting such a night. Of course, a great
+many people could not be there. It ought to have been put off."
+
+"Well, it was not put off," said Matilda.
+
+"What did he want? What was Maria talking about?"
+
+"She is the best one to ask," said the child.
+
+At the same moment Maria came in from getting rid of the snow, and
+enquired if Tilly had told them everything? Finding all was right, she
+sat down contentedly before the fire and stretched out her feet towards
+it.
+
+"We've had a splendid time, I can tell you," she began.
+
+"What was done in particular?" asked one of the older girls, who was
+making a bonnet. "More than usual?"
+
+"A great many things in particular, and one in general. We've made a
+Band."
+
+"I have made several since you have been away," the other sister
+remarked.
+
+"You know we cannot understand that unless you explain," said the
+bonnet-maker.
+
+"You must let Maria take her own manner," said their mother.
+
+"Well, now, I'll tell you all about it," said Maria. "There weren't a
+great many people there, to begin with."
+
+"Of course not! such a night."
+
+"So there were plenty of empty benches, and it didn't look like a
+meeting at all, at first; and I wondered if it would come to anything;
+but then Mr. Richmond came in, and I saw _he_ meant something."
+
+"Mr. Richmond always does mean something," interrupted Matilda.
+
+"You hush, Tilly! Well, there were prayers first, of course; and then
+Mr. Richmond stood up in the aisle, and said he wanted to know how many
+of us all there were willing to be really good."
+
+"The servants of Christ, he said," Matilda explained.
+
+"Yes, the servants of Christ, of course; and he said he didn't know any
+better way to get at it than that we should all stand up."
+
+A burst of laughter from all Maria's audience a little confused her.
+Only Matilda looked gravely at her sister, as if she were making bad
+work of it. Maria coloured, stammered, and began again.
+
+"You all know what I mean! You know what I mean, mamma? Mr. Richmond
+did not say that we should _all_ stand up."
+
+"Then why did you say it?"
+
+"I thought you would understand. He said that all those should stand
+up, so that he might see who they were, who were willing to be real
+workers for Christ; those who were willing to give themselves to the
+Lord, and to do everything or anything he gave them to do for Him. So
+we stood up, and Mr. Richmond went round and took our names down."
+
+"Everybody who was there?"
+
+"Why, no!--those who were willing to do as Mr. Richmond said."
+
+"Did _you_ stand up?" asked one of her sisters.
+
+"Yes; I did."
+
+"Who else?"
+
+After a pause----
+
+"Oh, a great many people! All the members of the church, of course; and
+then a good many more that aren't. Esther Trembleton rose, and Ailie
+Swan, and Mattie Van Dyke, and Frances Barth, and Mrs. Rice. And little
+Mary Edwards, she was there, and she rose, and Willie Edwards; and Mr.
+Bates got up and said he was happy to see this day. I think he was
+ready to cry, he was so glad."
+
+"And is this the 'Band' you spoke of?"
+
+"This is the Sunday-School Working Band; that is what Mr. Richmond
+called it."
+
+"What work are you going to do?"
+
+"I don't know! Mr. Richmond said he could not tell just yet; but we are
+to have meetings and all sorts of things. And then Mr. Richmond talked."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"Oh, I can't tell. You know how he talks."
+
+"He said what the Band were to do," remarked Matilda.
+
+"I told what that was."
+
+"You did not tell what he said."
+
+"Why, yes, I did; he said they were to do all the work for Christ that
+they could; and they were to pray a great deal, and pray for each other
+a great deal; and they were to live right."
+
+"Uncompromising Christian lives, he said. Mamma, what does
+'uncompromising' mean?"
+
+"Why, you know!" put in her sister.
+
+"Tell, then, Maria," said the mother.
+
+"Matilda must know, mamma; for Mr. Richmond explained it enough."
+
+"Then certainly you must."
+
+"I can't talk like Mr. Richmond, though," said Maria. "Letty, you'll
+spoil that bonnet if you put red flowers in."
+
+"That's as _you_ think," said Letty. "Blue would be very dull."
+
+"Mamma, what is uncompromising?" pursued Matilda, a pair of large,
+serious brown eyes fastening on her mother's face to await the answer.
+
+"Did not Mr. Richmond tell you?"
+
+"If he did, I did not understand, mamma."
+
+"Then he ought to use words you _can_ understand; that is all I have to
+say. I cannot undertake to be Mr. Richmond's dictionary. Uncompromising
+means different things at different times. It isn't a word for you,
+Tilly," the mother added, with a smile at the child.
+
+"There is only one thing Tilly will ever be uncompromising about," her
+oldest sister remarked.
+
+"What is that?" the little one asked quick.
+
+"Girls, stop talking and go to bed," said their mother. "Letitia and
+Anne, put up work; I am tired. Maria, you and Tilly go at once and be
+out of the way."
+
+"I can't see how I am in the way," remarked Maria. "Letty has not done
+her bonnet yet, and she will not go till she has."
+
+"Letty, I am not going to wait for that bonnet."
+
+"No, ma'am; there is no need."
+
+"I am not going to leave you up, either. I know how that works. The
+bonnet can be finished to-morrow. And, Anne, roll up your ruffles.
+Come, girls!"
+
+"What a lovely mantilla that is going to be; isn't it, mamma?" said
+Maria. "Won't Anne look nice when she gets it on? I wish you'd let me
+have one just like it, mamma."
+
+"I do not care about your having one just like it," said Anne. "What
+would be the use of that?"
+
+"The same use, I suppose----"
+
+"Maria, go to bed!" said her mother "And Matilda. Look what o'clock it
+is."
+
+"I can't go, mamma, unless somebody will bring me some shoes. Mine are
+wet."
+
+"Maria, fetch Tilly a pair of shoes. And go, children."
+
+The children went; but Maria grumbled.
+
+"Why couldn't you come up-stairs in your stocking feet? _I_ should."
+
+"It isn't nice," said the little one.
+
+"Nice! you're so terribly nice you can't do anything other people do.
+There is no use in our coming to bed now; Anne and Letty will sit up
+till eleven o'clock, I shouldn't wonder; and we might just as well as
+not. Mamma can't get them to bed. Letty and Anne ought to have been at
+the meeting to-night. I wonder if they would have risen? Why did not
+you rise, Matilda?"
+
+"I had not thought about it."
+
+"Can't you do anything without thinking about it first?"
+
+"I do not understand it yet."
+
+"Understand! why, nothing is easier than to understand. Of course, we
+are all to be as good as we can be, that's all."
+
+"You don't think that is much," said the little one, as she began
+slowly to undress herself. The work of undressing and dressing was
+always slow with Tilly. Every article of clothing taken off was to be
+delicately folded and nicely laid away at night; and taken out and put
+on with equal care and punctiliousness in the morning. Maria's
+stockings went one way and her shoes another; while Tilly's were put
+exactly ready for use under her chair. And Maria's clothes presently
+lay in a heap on the floor. But not till some time after Matilda's neat
+arrangements had been made and she herself was safe in bed. Maria had
+dallied while the other was undressing.
+
+"I think you are very curious, Matilda!" she exclaimed, as she followed
+her sister into bed. "I shouldn't think it required much _thinking_, to
+know that one ought to be good."
+
+"You haven't put out the candle, Maria."
+
+Maria bounced from her bed, and bounced in again.
+
+"O Maria!" said Matilda in a moment or two, plaintively; "you've
+_blown_ it out! and the room is all filled with smoke."
+
+"It doesn't make any difference," said Maria.
+
+"It is very disagreeable."
+
+"It will be gone in a minute."
+
+"No, it won't, for I can see the red spark on the end of the candle
+now."
+
+"You are so particular, Tilly!" said her sister. "If _you_ ever take a
+notion to be good, you'll have to leave off some of your ways, I can
+tell you. You needn't mind a little smell of candle-smoke. Go to sleep,
+and forget it."
+
+"Don't good people mind disagreeable things?" said Matilda.
+
+"No, of course, they don't. How could they get along, you know? Don't
+you remember what Mr. Richmond said?"
+
+"I don't remember that he said _that_. But then, Maria, would you mind
+getting up to snuff out that candle? It's dreadful!"
+
+"Nonsense! I shan't do it. I've just got warm."
+
+Another minute or two gave tokens that Maria was past minding
+discomfort of any sort. She was fast asleep. Tilly waited, panted,
+looked at the glimmering red end of the candle snuff; finally got out
+of bed and crept to the dressing-table where it stood, and with some
+trouble managed to put a stop to smoke for that night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The house in which these things happened was a brown house, standing on
+the great high-road of travel which ran through the country, and just
+where a considerable village had clustered round it. From the upper
+windows you caught a glimpse of a fine range of blue mountains, lying
+miles away, and with indeed a broad river flowing between; but the
+river was too far off to be seen, and hidden behind intervening ground.
+From the lower windows you looked out into the village street; clean
+and wide, with comfortable houses standing along the way, not crowded
+together; and with gardens between and behind them, and many trees
+shielding and overhanging. The trees were bare now; the gardens a
+spread of snow; the street a white way for sleigh-runners;
+nevertheless, the aspect of the whole was hopeful, comfortable,
+thriving, even a little ambitious. Within this particular house, if you
+went in, you would see comfort, but little pretension; a neat look of
+things, but such things as had been mended and saved, and would not be
+rashly replaced. It was very respectable, therefore, and had no look of
+poverty. So of the family gathered around the breakfast-table on the
+morning after the Sunday-School meeting. It was a fair group, healthy
+and bright; the four girls and their mother. They were nicely dressed;
+and good appetites spoke of good spirits; and the provision on the
+table was abundant though plain.
+
+Maria asked if Letty had finished her bonnet last night. Letty said she
+had.
+
+"And did you put those red flowers in?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"That will be gay."
+
+"Not too gay. Just enough. The bonnet would be nothing if it had not
+flowers."
+
+Maria's spoon paused half way to mouth. "I wonder," she said, gravely,
+"if Mr. Richmond likes red flowers?"
+
+"He has nothing to do with _my_ bonnet," said Letitia. "And no more
+have you. You need not raise the question. I shall wear what becomes
+me."
+
+"What is the difference whether one wears red or blue, Maria?" said her
+mother. "Do you think one colour is more religious than another?--or
+more wicked? What do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing, ma'am," Maria answered, a little abashed. "I was only
+thinking."
+
+"I think Mr. Richmond likes flowers everywhere," said Matilda; "and all
+colours."
+
+"People that are very religious do not wear flowers in their bonnets
+though, do they?" said Maria.
+
+"Mr. Richmond did not say any such thing!" said Matilda, indignantly.
+
+"What did he say? What was all this last night's talk about?" said
+Anne. "I did not understand half of it. Was it against red flowers, or
+red anything?"
+
+"I did not understand any of it," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Why, mamma, I told you all, as plain as could be," said Maria. "I told
+you he made a Band----"
+
+"He didn't," interrupted Matilda; "the Band made themselves."
+
+But at this, the shout that went round the breakfast-table threatened
+to endanger the dishes.
+
+"It's no use trying to talk," said Maria, sullenly, "if you laugh so. I
+told you there was a Band; ever so many of us rose up and agreed that
+we would belong to it."
+
+"Matilda, are you in it too?" the mother asked.
+
+"No, mamma."
+
+"Why not? How comes that?"
+
+"She wasn't ready," her sister said.
+
+"Why not, Tilly?"
+
+"Mamma, I want to understand," said the child.
+
+"Quite right; so do I."
+
+"Wouldn't you do what Mr. Richmond says, whether you understand or
+not?" inquired Maria, severely.
+
+"I would rather know what it is, first," said Matilda, in her way,
+which was a compound of cool and demure, but quite natural.
+
+"And when is the next meeting?" said Letitia. "I guess I'll go."
+
+"It won't be for a week," said Matilda.
+
+"And will you join the Band, Letty?" Maria asked somewhat eagerly.
+
+"How, join it?"
+
+"Why, rise up, when you are asked."
+
+"What does 'rising up' mean, Maria? What do you rise for?"
+
+"Why, it means just that you promise to be good, you know."
+
+"But I have heard you promise that a number of times, it seems to me;
+without 'rising up,' as you call it. Will the promise not better, if
+you make it on your feet instead of sitting?"
+
+"Now, mamma," said Maria, flushing, "isn't that just wicked in Letitia?"
+
+"My dear, I do not understand one word at present of what this is all
+about," her mother answered.
+
+Perhaps Matilda was in the same mood, for she was a thoughtful little
+child all the way to school that morning. And at the close of the
+school day, when the children were going home, she went slowly and
+demurely along the icy street, while her sister and companions made a
+merry time. There had been a little thaw in the middle of the day, and
+now it had turned cold again, and the sidewalks were a glare of ice.
+Matilda was afraid, and went cautiously; Maria and the others took the
+opportunity for a grand slide, and ran and slipped and slid and sailed
+away homewards, like mad things. One after another, they passed her and
+rushed along, till Matilda was left the last, slowly shuffling her
+little feet over the track the feet of the others had made doubly
+slippery; when quick steps came up behind her, and a pleasant voice
+spoke--
+
+"Are you afraid you are going to tumble down?"
+
+Matilda started, but lifted her eyes very contentedly then to the face
+of the speaker. They had a good way to go, for he was a tall young man.
+But he was looking down towards her with a bright face, and two good,
+clear blue eyes, and a smile; and his hand presently clasped hers.
+Matilda had no objection.
+
+"Where is everybody else? how come you to be all alone?"
+
+"They have gone ahead, sliding on the ice."
+
+"And you do not practise sliding?"
+
+"I am always afraid I shall fall down."
+
+"The best way is not to be afraid; and then you don't fall down. See;
+no! hold fast. I shall not let you slip!"
+
+And the gentleman and Matilda slid along the street for half a block.
+
+"How do you like that?"
+
+"Very well, Mr. Richmond, with you holding me."
+
+"It doesn't give you courage, eh? Well, we will walk on soberly
+together. I didn't see you stand when Maria did last night?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond, I did not know just what it all meant; and so I sat
+still."
+
+"You did not know just what it all meant?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then you were perfectly right to sit still. But that means that I did
+not speak so that you could understand me? Was it so?"
+
+"I did not understand----" said Matilda.
+
+"It comes to that, I suppose. It is my fault. Well, I shall remember
+and be very careful what I say the next time. I will speak so that you
+will understand. But in that case, I want you to do one thing for me,
+Tilly; will you?"
+
+"If I can, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Do you think I would ask something you could not do?"
+
+Matilda looked up to the blue eyes again; they were fastened upon her
+gravely, and she hesitated.
+
+"Mr. Richmond--I don't know. You might."
+
+"I hope not," he said, smiling. "I will try not. You won't promise me?"
+
+"If I can I will, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"I am only going to ask you, when you hear what I have to say next
+time, if you understand it, will you do what you think you ought to do?"
+
+There fell a silence upon that. Mr. Richmond's firm step on the icy
+ground and Matilda's light footfall passed by house after house, and
+still the little one's tongue seemed to be tied. They turned the
+corner, and went their way along Matilda's own street, where the light
+of afternoon was now fading, and the western sky was throwing a
+reflection of its own. Past the butcher's shop, and the post-office,
+and house after house; and still Matilda was silent, and her conductor
+did not speak, until they stopped before the little gate leading to the
+house, which was placed somewhat back from the road. At the gate Mr.
+Richmond stood still.
+
+"What about my question, Matilda?" he said, without loosing his hold of
+the little hand which had rested so willingly in his all the way.
+
+"Aren't you coming in, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Not to-night. What about my question?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said the child, slowly,--"I do not always do the things
+I ought to do."
+
+"No; I know you do not. But will you do _that_ thing, which you will
+think you ought to do, when you have heard me, and understood what I
+say, the next time the Band has a meeting?"
+
+Matilda stood silent, her hand still in Mr. Richmond's.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Perhaps I shall not want to do it," she said, looking up frankly.
+
+"I ask you to do it all the same."
+
+Matilda did not move, and now her face showed great perplexity.
+
+"Well?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling at last.
+
+"Perhaps I _cannot_ do it, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Then, if you think you cannot do it, will you come and tell me?"
+
+Matilda hesitated and pondered and hesitated.
+
+"Do you wish it very much, Mr. Richmond?" she said, looking up
+appealingly into his face.
+
+"I do wish it very much."
+
+"Then I will!" said Matilda, with a sigh.
+
+He nodded, shook her hand, and turned away with quick steps. Matilda
+went in and climbed the stairs to the room she and Maria shared
+together.
+
+"What were you talking to Mr. Richmond so long about?" said Maria.
+
+"I wasn't talking to Mr. Richmond. He was talking to me."
+
+"What's the difference? But I wish he would talk to Ailie Swan; she
+wants it, I know. That girl is too much!"
+
+"What has she done?"
+
+"Oh, _you_ don't know; she isn't in your set. _I_ know. She's just
+disagreeable. I think people ought to be civil, if they are ever so
+good."
+
+"I thought good people were civil always."
+
+"Shows you don't know much."
+
+"Isn't Ailie Swan civil?"
+
+"I do not call it civility. What do you think, Tilly? I asked her if my
+South America wasn't good? and she said she thought it was not. Isn't
+that civility?"
+
+"What did you ask her for?"
+
+"Because! I knew my South America was good."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+"Nonsense! You do not know the first thing about it." But she gave her
+little sister the sheet on which the map was drawn. Matilda took it to
+a table under the window, where the dying light from the western sky
+fell brightest; and putting both elbows on the table and her head in
+her hands, studied the map.
+
+"Where is the atlas?"
+
+"What do you want of the atlas?"
+
+"I want to see if it is like."
+
+"It is like, of course, child."
+
+"I can't tell without seeing," Matilda persisted. And Maria grumblingly
+brought the atlas, open at the map in question. Matilda took it and
+studied anew.
+
+"It is getting dark," said she at length. "But your South America is
+crooked, Maria."
+
+"It isn't!" said Maria, vehemently. "How should it be crooked, when we
+angle it on, just according to the rules?"
+
+"Angle it on?" repeated Matilda, looking at her sister.
+
+"Yes. Oh, you don't understand, child; how should you? I told you you
+didn't know anything about it. Of course, we have rules and things to
+go by; and my South America was put on just right."
+
+"It is not straight, though," said Matilda.
+
+"Why, no, it isn't straight; it is not meant to be straight; it is all
+crookly crawly, going in and out, all round."
+
+"But it don't stand straight," said Matilda; "and it looks _thin_, too,
+Maria; it don't puff out as much as the real South America does."
+
+"Puff out!" Maria repeated. "It's as good as Ailie's, anyhow; and a
+great deal better than Frances Barth's. Frances got a great blot on
+hers; she's so careless. George Van Dyke is making a nice one; and Ben
+Barth is doing a splendid map; but then Ben does everything----"
+
+Here there was a great call to tea from below, and the girls went down.
+Down-stairs there was excitement. A letter had come from Mrs. Candy,
+Mrs. Englefield's sister, saying that she herself with her daughter
+Clarissa would be with them the beginning of the week. .
+
+"To stay, mamma? O mamma, is Aunt Candy coming to stay? Do tell me. Is
+she coming to stay?" Maria exclaimed and questioned.
+
+"She will stay a night with us, Maria. Don't be so eager."
+
+"Only a night, mamma? Won't she be here longer?"
+
+"She is coming to stay till summer, Maria," said her eldest sister. "Do
+be reasonable."
+
+"I think it is reasonable to want to know," said Maria. "_You_ knew; so
+you didn't care about it."
+
+"I care a great deal; what do you mean?" said Anne.
+
+"I mean you didn't care about knowing. O mamma, can't I have my dress
+finished before they come?"
+
+"What dress, Maria?" her sister went on; for Mrs. Englefield was busy
+with the letter.
+
+"My new merino. It is almost done; it only wants finishing."
+
+"There's all the braid to put on, isn't there?"
+
+"Well, that isn't much. Mamma, cannot I have my red merino finished
+before they come? I have got nothing to wear."
+
+"What can you mean, Maria? You have everything you want. That is only
+for your best dress."
+
+"But, mamma, it is just when I should want it, when they come; you'll
+be having everybody to tea. Won't you have it done for me? please,
+mamma?"
+
+"I think you can do it for yourself, Maria. I have no objection to your
+finishing it."
+
+"I cannot put on that braid--in that quirlicue pattern, mamma; I never
+did such work as that; and I haven't time, besides."
+
+"Nor inclination," said Letitia, laughing. "Come, Maria, it is time you
+learned to do something for yourself. Matilda, now, might plead
+inexperience, and have some reason; but you are quite old enough."
+
+The dispute would have gone on, but Mrs. Englefield desired silence,
+and the family drew round the tea-table. Other plans for the following
+weeks filled every tongue. Mrs. Candy was well off; a widow with one
+child, her daughter Clarissa; she had been in Europe for several years;
+coming back now to her own country, she was bending her steps first of
+all to her sister's house and family.
+
+"We shall have the new fashions, straight from Paris," Anne remarked.
+
+"Has Aunt Candy been in Paris? I thought she was in Scotland, mamma?"
+
+"People may go to Paris, if they have been in Scotland, Maria. It is
+not so far as around the world."
+
+"But has she been in Paris?"
+
+"Lately."
+
+"Mamma, what is Aunt Candy going to do with herself when summer comes?
+She says, 'till summer.'"
+
+"When she tells us, I shall know, Letty. At present I am as ignorant as
+you."
+
+"Do you think she will buy a house here, and make her home here?"
+
+"That depends on how well she likes Shadywalk, I imagine."
+
+"I hope she will!"
+
+"I would like to see, first, what she is," said Maria. "We shall have
+time enough for that, if they stay with us till summer. How old, mamma,
+is Clarissa Candy?"
+
+"Over your age, Maria, by a year or so."
+
+"Will she go to school with us, do you suppose, mamma?"
+
+"I really cannot tell, Maria. I think it very likely."
+
+"Is Aunt Candy very rich?"
+
+"You talk like a foolish girl. Why do you want to know?"
+
+"I was thinking whether Clarissa would be dressed a great deal better
+than we are."
+
+"And what if she is?"
+
+"Nothing. I was thinking. That's all."
+
+"I don't think it signifies," said Matilda.
+
+"Oh! Matilda has found her tongue! I was waiting to see when she would
+speak," cried Anne. "What don't signify, little one?"
+
+"It don't signify, I think, whether any one is dressed better than
+another; anybody--Clarissa or anybody else."
+
+"Well, you are mistaken then," said Anne; "for it does signify. All the
+world knows it; and what is more, all the world feels it."
+
+"I don't think I do," said Matilda.
+
+"Your time has not come."
+
+"_Your_ time had come, though, before you were as old as she," said her
+mother; "and Maria's and Letty's."
+
+"I know Matilda is a wonderful child," said Anne, "but her time will
+come too, mamma; and _she_ will find it makes a difference whether she
+is dressed one way or another."
+
+"I think _that_ now," observed Matilda.
+
+"Anybody that has to fasten Tilly's dresses knows that," laughed Maria.
+"I don't make half so much fuss."
+
+"I wish you did," said her mother. "You are not near careful enough in
+putting on your things. Now putting on is half the battle."
+
+The argument lasted till Tilly and Maria went back to the consideration
+of South America, which was brought down-stairs to the lamp.
+
+"You haven't got the Amazon right," said Matilda; "and Rio Janeiro is
+too far down; and it's all crooked--don't you see?"
+
+"No!" said Maria; "and if it is, Ailie Swan needn't have said hers was
+better."
+
+"You asked her."
+
+"Well, if I did?"
+
+"What could she say?"
+
+"I don't care; it was awfully rude; and people ought to be polite, if
+they're ever so good."
+
+"What is all that?" said Mrs. Englefield. "That is not Tilly's map?"
+
+"Oh no, mamma; she can't draw maps; she is only setting up for a judge."
+
+"She would do it as well as that, if she would try," said her mother.
+"I wish you would love your studies, Matilda. You could do so well if
+you pleased."
+
+"Clarissa Candy will make you both ashamed," said Anne. "She has
+learned everything, and is terribly smart; 'going on to learn
+everything else,' her mother says."
+
+"Mamma," said Maria, "I have only my green silk and my blue delaine for
+nice dresses; and the silk is old-fashioned, you know, and the delaine
+is too short; and I want my merino finished."
+
+"Finish it, then."
+
+Maria pouted.
+
+"I cannot afford every indulgence to you, as your aunt can to Clarissa;
+you must make it up by your own industry."
+
+"But can I, mamma?"
+
+"Can you what?"
+
+"If I am very smart, can you give me things, if I make them up, that I
+can be as well dressed as Clarissa Candy?"
+
+"Let us see the merino made first," said her mother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+There was great interest now at Shadywalk, at least in one house, to
+know when the Liverpool steamer, _City of Pride_, would be in.
+Conjectures proving unsatisfactory and uncertain, the whole family took
+to studying the marine lists in the daily papers; and when everybody
+else had looked them over, the last one of the family did it again with
+extra care; lest by some singular coincidence the letters forming the
+_City of Pride_ might have escaped the eyes so keen set to find them.
+The paper grew better than a novel. It furnished a great deal of matter
+for conversation, besides; for all the steamers which had got in were
+talked over, with their dates of sailing, and number of days on the
+passage; with each of which the times, certain and probable, of the
+_City of Pride_ were compared. Then there was the question, whether
+Aunt Candy might have changed her mind at the last minute, and waited
+for another steamer; and the reports of the weather lately experienced
+at sea were anxiously read and put alongside of the weather lately
+experienced at Shadywalk.
+
+Preparations in the house went on diligently; whatever might help it to
+make a better impression, or afford greater comfort to the expected
+guests, was carefully done. Mrs. Englefield even talked of getting a
+new stair-carpet, but contented herself with having the old one taken
+up and put down again, the stairs washed, and the stair-rods
+brightened; the spare room, the large corner chamber looking to the
+north and west, was scrupulously swept and dusted; furniture rubbed;
+little white knitted mats laid on the dressing-table; the chintz
+curtains taken down and put up again; a new nice chamber set of white
+china was bought, for the pitcher of the old set had an ugly nick in it
+and looked shabby; the towel rack was filled with white napery; the
+handsomest Marseilles quilt was spread on the bed; the stove was
+blackened and polished. It looked "very respectable," Anne said, when
+all was done.
+
+What private preparations went on, besides, on the part of the girls,
+it would be hard to say. Maria worked hard at her braiding--that was
+open to anybody's observation; but there were less obvious flutings and
+ironings down in the kitchen, and adjusting of ribbons and flowers in
+secret consultations up-stairs. And one piece of care was made public
+by Maria, who announced that Letty had trimmed her old bonnet three
+times over before she would be suited.
+
+"Very well," said Letty, contentedly. "I should like to know who would
+wear an old thing when he could have a new; and mine is like new now."
+
+"Things can't be new always," said Matilda.
+
+"What then?" her sisters asked, laughing.
+
+"Then it must be respectable for them to be old, sometimes."
+
+"Respectable! Not very pleasant, when they are to be set alongside of
+things as new and nice as they can be. I like to be as good as anybody,
+for my part."
+
+"Mamma," said Matilda, "do you know there is a great hole in the door
+mat?"
+
+"It is worn out a great deal too soon," said Mrs. Englefield; "I shall
+tell Mr. Hard that his goods do not last; to be sure, you children do
+kick it to pieces with the snow."
+
+"But, mamma, I should think you might get another, and let that one go
+to the kitchen."
+
+"And then, wouldn't you like me to buy a new hall cloth? there is very
+nearly a hole in that."
+
+"Oh yes, mamma!"
+
+"I cannot do it, children. I am not as rich as your Aunt Candy. You
+must be contented to let things be as they are."
+
+The girls seemed to take it as a grave fact, to judge by their faces.
+
+"And I think all this is very foolish talking and feeling. People are
+not any better for being rich."
+
+"But they are a great deal happier," said Letitia.
+
+"I don't know, I am sure. I never was tried. I think you had better put
+the thought out of your heads. I should be sorry if you were not as
+happy as your cousin, and with as much reason."
+
+"Mamma's being sorry doesn't help the matter," said Letitia, softly. "I
+know I should be happier if I had what I want. It is just nonsense to
+say I should not. And mamma would herself."
+
+That evening, the end of the week it was, the newspaper rewarded the
+first eyes that looked at its columns, with the intelligence that the
+_City of Pride_ had been telegraphed. She would be in that night. And
+the list of passengers duly showed the names of Mrs. Candy and
+daughter. The family could hardly wait over Sunday now. Monday
+morning's train, they settled it, would bring the travellers. Sunday
+was spent in a flutter. But, however, that Monday, as well as that
+Sunday, was a lost day. The washing was put off, and a special dinner
+cooked, in vain. The children stayed at home and did not go to school,
+and did nothing. Nobody did anything to speak of. To be sure, there was
+a great deal of running up and down stairs; setting and clearing
+tables; going to and from the post-office; but when night came, the
+house and everything in it was just where the morning had found them;
+only, all the humanity in it was tired with looking out of windows.
+
+"That's the worst of expecting people!" Mrs. Englefield observed, as
+she wearily put herself in an arm-chair, and Letitia drew the window
+curtains. "You never know what to do, and the thing you do is sure to
+be the wrong thing. Here Judith might as well have done her washing as
+not; and now it's to do to-morrow, when we don't want it in the way,
+and it will be in the way."
+
+"Don't you think they will come to-night, mamma?" said Matilda.
+
+"I don't know, I am sure. I know no more than you do. How can I tell?
+Only don't ask me any more questions."
+
+"Would you have tea yet, mamma?" said Letitia.
+
+"There's a question, now! I tell you, don't ask me. Just when you like."
+
+"There's no train due for a good while, mamma; they _couldn't_ come for
+two or three hours. I think we had better have tea."
+
+So she went off to prepare it, just as Matilda who had put her face
+outside of the window curtain, proclaimed that somebody was coming to
+the door.
+
+"Only one person though, mamma. Mamma! it's Miss Redwood--Mr.
+Richmond's Miss Redwood."
+
+"It wanted but that!" Mrs. Englefield exclaimed, with a sort of
+resigned despair. "Let her in, Matilda. I locked the door."
+
+The person who followed Matilda to the sitting-room was a slim woman,
+in black costume, neither new nor fashionable. Indeed, it had no such
+pretensions; for the fashion at that time was for small bonnets, but
+Miss Redwood's shadowed her face with a reminiscence of the
+coal-scuttle shapes, once worn many years before. The face under the
+bonnet was thin and sharp-featured; yet a certain delicate softness of
+skin saved it from being harsh; there was even a little peachy bloom on
+the cheeks. The eyes were soft and keen at once; at least there was no
+want of benevolence in them, while their glance was swift and shrewd
+enough, and full of business activity.
+
+"Miss Redwood, how do you do? I am glad to see you. Do sit down," was
+Mrs. Englefield's salutation, made without rising.
+
+"How do you do, Mis' Englefield? Why--seems as if you was expectin'
+folks here?"
+
+"Just what we are doing; and it is some of the hardest work one can do."
+
+"Depends on who you expect, seems to me. And I guess 'tain't harder
+work than what I've been doing to-day. I've been makin' soap. Got it
+done, too. And 'tain't to do agin till this time next year comes round."
+
+"Can you make enough at once for the whole year? I cannot."
+
+"'Spects you use a passel, don't ye?"
+
+"Of course--in so large a family. But you're a great hand for soap,
+Miss Redwood, if folks say true?"
+
+"Cellar ain't never out of it," said Miss Redwood, shaking her head.
+"It's strong, mine is; that's where it is. You see I've my own leach
+sot up, and there's lots o' ashes; the minister, he likes to burn wood,
+and I like it, for it gives me my ley; and I don't have no trouble with
+it; the minister, he saws it and splits it and chops it, and then when
+all's done he brings it in, and he puts it on. All I have to do is to
+get my ashes. I did think, when I first come, and the minister he told
+me he calculated to burn wood in his room, I did think I should give
+up. 'Why sir,' says I, 'it'll take a load o' wood a day, to fill that
+ere chimney; and I hate to see a chimney standin' empty with two or
+three sticks a makin' believe have a fire in the bottom of it.
+Besides,' says I, 'stoves is a sight cleaner and nicer, Mr. Richmond,
+and they don't smoke nor nothin', and they're always ready.' 'I'll take
+care of the fire,' says he, 'if you'll take care of the ashes.' Well,
+it had to be; but I declare I thought I should have enough to do to
+take care of the ashes; a-flyin' over everything in the world as they
+would, and nobody but my two hands to dust with; but I do believe the
+minister's wood burns quieter than other folks', and somehow it don't
+fly nor smoke nor nothin', and the room keeps decent."
+
+"Your whole house is as neat as a pin. But you have no children there
+to put it out of order, Miss Redwood."
+
+"Guess we do," said the minister's housekeeper quietly; "there ain't
+any sort o' thing in the village but the minister has it in there by
+turns. There ain't any sort o' shoes as walks, not to speak of boots,
+that don't go over my carpets and floors; little and big, and brushed
+and unbrushed. I tell you, Mis' Englefield, they're goin' in between
+them two doors all the week long."
+
+"I don't know how you manage them, I'm sure."
+
+"Well, _I_ don't," said the housekeeper. "The back is fitted to the
+burden, they say; and I always _did_ pray that if I had work to do, I
+might be able to do it; and I always was, somehow. And it's a
+first-rate place to go and warm your feet, when the minister is out,"
+she added after a pause.
+
+"What?" said Mrs. Englefield, laughing.
+
+"The minister's fire, to be sure, that I was talkin' about. Of course,
+I have to go in to see it's safe, when he ain't there; and sometimes I
+think it's cheaper to sit down and watch it than to be always runnin'."
+
+"Mr. Richmond was a lucky man when he got you for a housekeeper," said
+Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Miss Redwood, contemplatively, with rather a
+sweet look on her old face. "I 'spose I might as well say I was a lucky
+woman when I got his house to keep. It come all by chance, too, you may
+say----"
+
+"Mamma, tea is ready," Maria here interrupted.
+
+"Miss Redwood, will you come down and have tea with us?"
+
+"No; but what I come to ask was somethin' different. I was so taken up
+with my soap-kettle all day, I just forgot somethin' more important,
+and didn't make no new risin'; and I hain't got none to-night for the
+minister's bread. I know you're one of the folks that likes sweet
+bread, Mis' Englefield, and has it; and I've come to beg a cup o' your
+risin'."
+
+One of the girls was sent for the article, and Mrs. Englefield went on.
+
+"The minister's an easy man to live with, I suppose; isn't he?"
+
+"What sort do you mean by that, Mrs. Englefield?"
+
+"Why! I mean he is easily suited, and don't give more trouble than can
+be helped, and don't take it hard when things go wrong.
+
+"Things don't go wrong, fur's I know," said Miss Redwood. "Not with
+him, nor with me."
+
+"Easily pleased, isn't he?"
+
+"When folks do just what they'd ought to do, he _is_," said the
+housekeeper with some energy. "I have no sort of patience, for my part,
+with the folks that are pleased when they hadn't ought to be pleased."
+
+"But isn't that what Mr. Richmond preaches to us all the time? that we
+ought to be pleased with everybody?"
+
+"Why, no, mamma!" said Matilda.
+
+"I thought he did."
+
+"I take it t'other way," Miss Redwood observed. "It comes close, it
+does, some of the minister's talk; but I always think, if I had a right
+to be better pleased with myself, maybe other folks' onesidedness
+wouldn't worry me. I'll do as much for you, next time, Miss Letty," she
+said, rising to take what that young lady had brought her. And
+therewith away she went.
+
+"Well, we have got off with our lives this time," said Mrs. Englefield.
+"Now, girls, let us have tea."
+
+"Mamma, I believe here they are this minute," said Matilda. "The
+omnibus is stopping."
+
+It was declared to be impossible; but nevertheless found true. The
+omnibus was certainly at the door, backing down upon the side walk; and
+two figures did get out of it and came through the little courtyard to
+the house. And then all doubts were resolved; Mrs. Candy was in the
+arms of her sister, and the cousins were looking at each other.
+
+That is, as soon as people could get their wrappings off. Letty and
+Maria were assiduous in their endeavours to relieve Miss Clarissa of
+her hood and furs and the cloakings and mufflings which a night ride
+had rendered necessary; while Anne waited upon her aunt; and
+impressions were forming and opinions taking ground, under all the
+confused chatter about the journey, the train, the omnibus, and the
+_City of Pride;_ opinions and impressions which were likely enough to
+get turned topsy-turvy in another day or two; but for the present
+nobody knew that.
+
+"And here is somebody who says nothing!" Mrs. Candy remarked, stooping
+down to touch Matilda's hair with a light finger.
+
+"Tilly does the thinking for the family," said Mrs. Englefield. "Now do
+come down and have some tea."
+
+"Down? Where are we going?" said Mrs. Candy. "Your house stands on the
+ground level, I noticed."
+
+"Oh, we have a very nice basement; and just for eating, you know, it
+does not make much difference where you are--and it is so much more
+convenient, being near the kitchen."
+
+"In Germany we used to take our meals in the open air a great deal,"
+Mrs. Candy went on, as the party filed down the narrow stairs.
+
+"In the open air! Not at this season?"
+
+"Well, not with the thermometer at zero," said Mrs. Candy, laughing a
+little. "Nor at quite so high a temperature as you have here!"
+
+The room down-stairs was bright enough, and looked cheerful, with its
+well-spread table and tea-urn; but it was low, and full of close stove
+heat. The travellers got as far from the source of this as the limits
+of the table would let them, and presently begged for an open door. But
+Mrs. Englefield's tea was good; and very soon the family talk began to
+move naturally. Mrs. Candy pleased her nieces. A fine-looking and also
+a kind-looking woman, with a good figure, well clothed in a handsome
+travelling dress; a gold watch and chain; and an easy, good-humoured,
+and at the same time, sensible air and way of talking. It was not
+difficult to get acquainted with her; she met all advances more than
+half way; and her talk even that first evening was full of amusement
+and novelty for the young people. It was less easy to know what to
+think of Clarissa. Her cousins held a consultation about her that night
+before going to sleep.
+
+"She looks as old as Letty."
+
+"But she isn't. Oh, she don't, either."
+
+"She's well looking; don't you think so?"
+
+"I'll tell you what I think," said Matilda. "She's beau-ti-ful."
+
+"I don't think _so_," said Letty; "but she's an uncommon looking girl."
+
+"How old _is_ she?"
+
+"She is sixteen."
+
+"Well! Maria's only half a year younger than that."
+
+"She hasn't said three words yet; so I cannot tell what she is," Anne
+remarked.
+
+"She didn't like going down into the basement," said Letty.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I know she didn't!"
+
+"I should like to know where she would go; there is no other place,"
+said Maria.
+
+"I suppose that is just what she didn't like," said Letitia.
+
+"There might be, though," Matilda began again. "If mamma would open the
+back room behind the parlour, and move the table and things up
+there,--I think it would be a great deal pleasanter."
+
+"That's like Matilda!" the other girls exclaimed in chorus.
+
+"Well, I _don't_ think that basement room is pleasant," said the girl.
+"I never did. I am always glad to get out of it."
+
+"And now, I suppose, you will be taking all Clarissa's dainty ways, in
+addition to your own!" said Letitia. "I wonder what will become of the
+rest of us."
+
+"What dainty ways has Clarissa?" Matilda inquired.
+
+"You can see for yourself. She doesn't like the heat of a stove; and
+she must look at her watch to see what time it is, though the clock was
+right opposite to her."
+
+"I am sure I would look at a watch, if I had it," Matilda added.
+
+"And did you see what travelling gloves she wore?"
+
+"Why not?" said Matilda.
+
+"Why not, of course! you will have no eyes for any one shortly but
+Clarissa Candy; I can see it. But she is a member of the Church, isn't
+she?"
+
+"What if she is?" said Matilda. "Mamma read that in one of Aunt Candy's
+letters, I remember."
+
+"We'll see what Mr. Richmond will say to her. Maria reports that he
+does not like red flowers; I wonder what he will think of some other
+things."
+
+"That is only Maria's nonsense," Matilda insisted. "I know Mr. Richmond
+likes red flowers; he has got a red lily in his room."
+
+"In his room--oh yes! but not in people's bonnets, you know; nor in
+their heads; if they are Christians."
+
+"I can't imagine what people's being Christians has to do with red
+flowers," said Matilda. "Besides, Clarissa hadn't any flowers about her
+at all. I don't know what you are talking of."
+
+"Didn't you see her gold chain, though, that hung round her neck?"
+
+"Her watch was on that. Mayn't Christians wear gold chains? What
+nonsense you do talk, Letitia!"
+
+"I shouldn't want to be a Christian if I thought I couldn't wear
+anything," Maria remarked.
+
+"Nor would I," said Letitia. "So I advise you, my dears, to be a little
+careful how you join Bands and such things. You may find that Mr.
+Richmond is not just the sort of Christian you want to be."
+
+The conclave broke up, having reached a termination of general
+dissatisfaction common to such conclaves. Maria went to bed grumbling.
+Matilda was as usual silent.
+
+The next day, however, found all the family as bright as itself. It was
+a cold day in January; snow on the ground; a clear, sharp sunshine
+glittering from white roofs and fence tops and the banks of snow heaped
+against the fences, and shining on twigs and branches of the bare
+trees; coming into houses with its cheery and keen look at everything
+it found, as if bidding the dark sides of things, and the dusty
+corners, to change their characters and be light and fair. In the
+basement the family gathered for breakfast in happy mood, ready to be
+pleased with each other; so pleasure was the order of the day. Pleasure
+had a good deal to feed on, too; for after the long breakfast was over
+and the conversation had adjourned to the parlour, there came the
+bestowing of presents which Clarissa had brought for her friends. And
+they were so many and so satisfactory, that the criticisms of the past
+night were certainly for the present forgotten; Letitia forgave her
+cousin her daintiness, and Maria overlooked the gold watch. Matilda as
+usual said little, beyond the civil, needful words, which that little
+girl always spoke gracefully.
+
+"You are a character, my dear, I see," her aunt observed, drawing
+Matilda to her side caressingly.
+
+"What is that, Aunt Candy?"
+
+"Well, I don't know, my dear," her aunt answered, laughing; "you put me
+to define and prove my words, and you bring me into difficulty. I
+think, however, I shall be safe in saying, that a 'character' is a
+person who has his own thoughts."
+
+"But doesn't everybody?"
+
+"Have his own thoughts? No, my dear; the majority have the thoughts of
+other people."
+
+"How can they, Aunt Candy?"
+
+"Just by not thinking for themselves. It saves a great deal of trouble."
+
+"But we all think for ourselves," said Matilda.
+
+"Do we? Reflect a little. Don't _some_ of you think like other people?
+about ways of doing, and acting, and dressing, for instance?"
+
+"Oh yes. But, Aunt Candy, if people think for themselves, _must_ they
+do unlike other people?"
+
+"If they follow out their thoughts, they must, child."
+
+"That suits Matilda then," said her sister Anne.
+
+"Well, it is very nice for a family to have one character in it," said
+Mrs. Candy.
+
+"But, Aunt Candy, isn't Clarissa a character too?"
+
+"I don't know, Tilly; I really have not found it out, if she is. Up to
+this time she always thinks as I think. Now she has given you the
+tokens of remembrance she has brought home for you; what do you think
+_I_ have got?"
+
+"O aunt, nothing more!" exclaimed Anne.
+
+"Clarissa and I are two people, if neither of us is a character,
+however," said Mrs. Candy. "Her gifts are not my gifts. But mine shall
+be different from hers. And if there is more than one character among
+us, I should like to find it out; and this will do it."
+
+So saying, she fetched out her purse and presented to each of her
+sister's children a bank-note for twenty-five dollars.
+
+Mrs. Englefield exclaimed and protested. But Mrs. Candy laid her hand
+on her sister's mouth, and declared she must please herself in her own
+way.
+
+"What do you want us to do with this, Aunt Candy?" Matilda inquired in
+a sort of contemplative wonder.
+
+"Just whatever will please you, will please each of you, best. Only
+that. That is my condition, girls, if I may call it so. You are not to
+spend that money for any claims of duty or conscience; but simply in
+that way which will afford you the highest pleasure."
+
+Thanks were warm and gratification very high; and in the best mood in
+the world the new relations sat down to talk to each other and study
+each other for the remainder of the day. Clarissa pleased her cousins.
+She was undoubtedly extremely pretty, with big, brown, honest eyes,
+that gave a good full look into the face she was speaking to; beautiful
+hair a little lighter in colour, and great sweetness of outline and
+feature. Yet she was reserved; very quiet; very self-possessed--to a
+degree that almost carried an air of superiority in the minds of her
+cousins. Those large brown eyes of hers would be lifted swiftly to the
+face of some one speaking, and then go down again, with no sign of
+agreeing or disagreeing--indeed, with no sign of her thought at all;
+but she _had_ thoughts of course; why should she not show them, as her
+cousins did? It was almost supercilious, to the fancy of Anne and
+Letitia; Matilda and Maria were fascinated. Then her hands were more
+delicate than those of Mrs. Englefield's children; and there were one
+or two costly rings on them. Anne and Letty did not understand their
+value, but nevertheless even they could guess that they belonged to a
+superior description of jewellery from that which was displayed beneath
+the glass cases of Mr. Kurtz the watchmaker of Shadywalk. Then
+Clarissa's dress was of fine quality, and made beautifully, and her
+little gold watch with its chain "put a finish upon it," Anne said. A
+little hair necklace with a gold clasp was round her neck besides; and
+her comb was real tortoise-shell. Clarissa was dainty, there was no
+doubt; but her sweet mouth was grave and modest; her words were few;
+her manners were very kindly and proper; and her cousins on the whole
+were obliged to approve her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+"What is all this hurry about?" Clarissa inquired one evening, as they
+were going down-stairs in answer to the tea-bell; "why are we earlier
+than usual? Anne says we are."
+
+"Oh, because it is prayer-meeting night--no, not prayer meeting, it
+isn't either, but our Band-meeting; and we have to be early for that,
+you know. Oh, you don't know anything about our Band; but you will,
+to-night. You'll join it, won't you, Clarissa?"
+
+"I know something about Bands," said Clarissa; "but I never belonged to
+one. Is it the custom here for ladies to do such things?"
+
+"What things? And do you know about bands? like ours?"
+
+"I daresay I shall find I have something to learn," said Clarissa.
+
+"There is a great deal to learn from Mr. Richmond, I can tell you,"
+said Maria. "Oh, you don't know Mr. Richmond, you haven't seen him,
+because Sunday was so stormy. Well, you'll see him to-night."
+
+"Aunt Englefield," said Clarissa, when they were seated at the
+tea-table,--"is your Mr. Richmond Band-master as well as clergyman?"
+
+"Bands are a mystery to me, Clarissa," said Mrs. Englefield; "I do not
+understand Maria when she gets upon that subject. I hope you will be
+able to enlighten me some time. Are you going to-night?--well, then, I
+shall hope to be wiser when you return."
+
+Tea was hurried through, cloaks and furs and hoods and all sorts of
+wrappings were put on; and the party set forth, Anne and Letitia this
+time going along. It was pleasanter out than in. White streets and
+clear starlight, and still, cold, fine air. About the corner a few men
+and boys were congregated as usual; after passing them and turning into
+the other street, few passengers were to be seen. Here and there one,
+or a group, making for the lecture-room; here and there somebody
+seeking a friend's house for pleasure; nobody was out on business at
+Shadywalk in the evening, and no waggons or sleighs got belated in the
+darkness. It would have been very dark, but for the snow and the stars.
+There were no shop-windows illuminated, and no lamps along the street
+and no gas anywhere. Past the shut-up houses and stores, in the dim,
+snowy street, the little cluster of girls went swiftly on.
+
+"You are in a great hurry," said Clarissa.
+
+"Oh, we want to get there before anything begins," Maria said. "And
+it's cold, besides!"
+
+"What church is this we are passing?"
+
+"Oh, this is our church. You haven't seen it. It is real nice inside."
+
+"Not outside?" said Clarissa. "Well, I cannot see it in this light. And
+is that next place the one we are going to?"
+
+"Yes, that's our lecture-room. That's _very_ nice."
+
+So it was. Pleasant light from withinside streamed warm through the
+hanging window-blinds of the long windows, and promised welcome before
+they got in. At the door, under the projecting hood, a lamp shone
+bright upon the entrance steps. People were flocking in. The opening
+door let them into a cheerful room, not large, with long rows of seats
+on either hand of a wide, matted aisle; the view closed by a little
+desk at the farther end on a raised platform. Right and left of the
+desk, two small transepts did somewhat to enlarge the accommodations of
+the place, which had a cosy, home look, comfortable and bright.
+
+"Where do those doors lead to?" Clarissa whispered;--"behind the desk?"
+
+"Oh, those open to the infant class room. Isn't it nice?" Maria
+answered.
+
+"It is small," said Clarissa.
+
+"It is large enough, though. _We_ shall not fill it to-night."
+
+And they did not. There was only a little company gathered, of various
+ages. Some quite grown people; many who were younger. They had drawn
+towards the upper end of the room, and clustered near the platform.
+
+"There is Mr. Richmond," Maria whispered presently; "do you see him? he
+is up there near the desk talking to Mr. Barker,--Mr. Barker is one of
+our teachers, but he has got nothing to do with the Band. That is Mrs.
+Trembleton, isn't she pretty?--sitting down there in front; she always
+sits just there, if she can, and I have seen her ever so put out if she
+couldn't when somebody else had got it, you know. And there"----
+
+"But, Maria," whispered Clarissa, gravely, "do you think it is quite
+proper to whisper so in church?"
+
+"This isn't church!" Maria replied, with great readiness.
+
+"What then?"
+
+"Why, it is only our Sunday-Schoolroom; and this is a Band meeting."
+
+"It looks very like church to me," said Clarissa. "Hush! don't whisper
+any more."
+
+For the minister now took his stand at the little desk before
+mentioned; and even Maria was quiet enough during the prayer with which
+he began the proceedings. But then Mr. Richmond came in front of the
+desk, and began to speak seriously indeed, but with an easy simplicity
+which Clarissa thought was "not like church."
+
+"It may not be known to everybody present," Mr. Richmond began,
+"exactly what was done at our last meeting here Thursday night. I wish
+it to be very well understood, that every one may join with us in the
+action we took, intelligently;--or keep away from it, intelligently. I
+wish it to be thoroughly understood. We simply pledged ourselves, some
+of us who were here Thursday night, to live and work for Christ to the
+best and the utmost of our ability, as He would give us grace to do. We
+pledged ourselves to each other and to our Master; to the end that we
+might the better help each other, being so pledged; and that we might
+enter into some system and plan of work by which we might accomplish
+much more than we could hope to do without plan or system. I have a
+list in my hand of various kinds of work which it may be well for us to
+attempt; some kinds will suit some people, and other kinds will suit
+other people; but before we go into a consideration of these, I will
+read something else to you. We must do this thing--we must enter into
+this pledge to God and each other, those of us who enter into
+it,--knowing exactly what we do, and if possible, why we do it. I have
+drawn up in a few words what we mean, or what we ought to mean, in
+giving this pledge; and now I am going to read it to you; and after I
+have read it I shall ask all of you who have heard it and agreed to it,
+to rise up, without any regard to the question whether you were among
+those who rose last Thursday or not. I wish no one to stand who does
+not fully and intelligently agree to every word of this covenant;--but
+I hope that will be the case with every one of you all. The children
+can understand it as well as the grown people. This is the covenant:--
+
+"'We are the servants of Christ.
+
+"'And as He died for all, that they which live should not live unto
+themselves but unto Him; so we do not count ourselves to belong to
+ourselves. We are the Lord's.
+
+"'We want to do all we can do, that would please Him and honour Him,
+whether it be in our own hearts or in the world.
+
+"'So we stand ready to do His will; in telling the good news to others;
+in showing how precious we hold it; in carrying help of every sort to
+our neighbour, upon every opportunity; walking as children of the
+Light; if by any means we may advance our Lord's kingdom and glory.
+
+"'And all this we will try to do, by His help,--trusting in His grace
+and resting in His promises, whose word cannot fail.'
+
+"Now," said Mr. Richmond, when he had read this, which he read very
+slowly and deliberately, as if he wished that every one should weigh
+every word, "I am going to ask you to rise and so declare your
+agreement with this covenant--all of you who have heard and understood
+it, and who are ready to pledge yourselves to its responsibilities.
+Every one whose own mind and wish this covenant expresses will please
+rise."
+
+The little stir which this request occasioned through the room, left
+few of the assembly in their seats. Maria, as soon as she was upon her
+feet, looked to see how it was with her companions. To her great
+satisfaction, Clarissa was standing beside her; but Anne and Letitia
+were sitting in their places, and so was Matilda in hers beyond them.
+Maria frowned and nodded at her, but Mr. Richmond had desired the
+people to sit down again before these signs could take any effect.
+
+"It is as I hoped," Mr. Richmond said in a satisfied voice. "I have no
+alteration to make in my lists, beyond the addition of one or two new
+names; and that sort of alteration I shall be glad to make whenever
+people will let me. I will receive new names at any time, of those who
+wish to join our Band--our Working Band. I do not know what we shall
+call ourselves; but one thing is certain, we mean to be a working
+people. Now, suppose we see what kinds of work we are prepared to
+undertake--each one of us in particular. Of course, we are _all_ to do
+_all_ we can, and of _all_ kinds; but there are some kinds of work that
+each one can do better than he can do others; and to those particular
+lines of effort each one will pledge himself to give special attention.
+
+"The first thing on my list is--
+
+"'_Bringing new scholars to the school_. Who will take this as his
+special work? Observe, it is not meant that you should ask any children
+to come to our school who are already members of some other school. We
+do not wish that. But who will undertake to look out and bring in some
+of the children that go nowhere? All who want to do this, raise your
+hands."
+
+There was a show of hands.
+
+"We must have a secretary," said Mr. Richmond. "Mr. Van Dyke, here is
+paper and ink; will you kindly come and write for us? We want to put
+down all the names that enlist in this department of work. This is
+Number One. Put down, opposite to Number One, Mattie Van Dyke, Willie
+Edwards, Mary Edwards, Maria Englefield."
+
+Mr. Richmond went on giving the names until some eight or ten were
+registered. The children looked delighted. It was great doings.
+
+The next thing on Mr. Richmond's list was the "_School-singing_." He
+explained that he wished the special attention of those who could give
+it to this matter; that they should always stand ready to help the
+singing in the Sunday-School, and make it just as good as it could be,
+and keep it good; that they should not wait for others, if there was no
+one to lead, but start the hymn themselves and carry it through with
+spirit.
+
+There were not so many that pledged themselves to this work; but, as
+before, Maria was one.
+
+The third thing, was "_Welcoming strangers and new scholars_" in the
+church and in the school. Here a breeze sprung up. Mr. Richmond had
+remarked upon the great importance of this duty and the common neglect
+of it; nevertheless there seemed to be some prospect that the neglect
+would continue. Mrs. Trembleton asked, "How were such strangers to be
+welcomed?"
+
+"What would you like yourself, Mrs. Trembleton? Suppose you were to go
+to a strange church, where you knew nobody. Would it be pleasant to
+have some one come up and take your hand and say you were welcome? and
+give you a greeting when you met in the street?--perhaps come to see
+you?"
+
+"I think," said Mrs. Trembleton, after a pause, "it would depend a good
+deal on who it was did it!"
+
+"Whether it would be pleasant?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling. "But you do
+not doubt that it would be pleasant to any stranger to have _you_ come
+up and speak and shake hands, and do such offices of kindness?"
+
+"It might be pleasant to them," said Mrs. Trembleton. "I don't think I
+should like to do it to everybody."
+
+"What do you say, Miss Benyon?" Mr. Richmond asked.
+
+"Oh, I couldn't, Mr. Richmond!" the young lady answered, shrinking.
+
+"I'll do it," spoke out one of the boys.
+
+"George Lockwood will welcome strangers, Mr. Van Dyke," said the
+minister. "And Willie Edwards holds up his hand,--and Ben Barth. But
+shall we have none but the boys to do the welcoming? The new scholars
+will not be all boys. Ah! there is Miss Peach; Ellen Peach, Mr. Van
+Dyke;--and Maria Englefield,--and Sarah Bent."
+
+"Won't it make confusion in the school?" Mr. Van Dyke suggested.
+
+"Will not what make confusion?"
+
+"Why, if half-a-dozen scholars are jumping up and leaving their
+classes, to receive somebody who is coming in?"
+
+"I did not say that they should choose lesson time--or school time at
+all--for their kind civilities. After school is over--or when meeting
+in the street--or going into church. Opportunities will present
+themselves. It is rather the will that seems to be wanting than the
+way."
+
+"It seems to me," spoke out another lady, "this welcoming of strangers
+is everybody's business."
+
+"Proverbially nobody's business, Miss Fitch," Mr. Richmond answered
+with a smile. "You will leave it for me to do; and I shall conclude
+that Mrs. Trembleton will attend to it; Mrs. Trembleton does not like
+the charge;--and there we are. Esther, what do you say?"
+
+"Oh, I should not like to do it, Mr. Richmond!"
+
+Nobody seemed to like to do it. Some were shy; some were humble, or
+thought they were; some fancied themselves of too little consequence;
+some of too much! Mr. Richmond went on to the next thing, which was
+"_Temperance Work_." Here there was no want of volunteers. Boys and
+girls and young ladies, and even men, were ready to pledge themselves
+to this cause. The names were many. It took some time to get them all
+down.
+
+Then came what Mr. Richmond's list called "_Aid and Comfort;_" and
+which he explained to mean, the giving of all sorts of material and
+social aid that the cases of sick and poor and distressed might call
+for. Anybody who would visit such cases, and provide or procure what
+they needed, or anybody unable to visit who would furnish the necessary
+supplies if called upon, might be enrolled on this committee. Plenty of
+people were ready for this.
+
+"_Visiting absent scholars_" found quite a number willing to engage in
+it. The cause of "_Missionary Collections_" and "_Sunday-School
+prayer-meetings_" found but few; evidently those were not popular
+objects. "_Promoting attendance upon church_" did not meet with much
+favour. The tenth department of work was "_Carrying the Message_". This
+Mr. Richmond explained to mean, the telling the good news of Christ to
+all who have not heard or who do not accept it; to everybody we can
+reach, at home and abroad, wherever we may. There were not a few who
+were ready to pledge themselves to this; as also to "_Bible Reading_"
+in houses where sickness or poverty or ignorance made such work
+desirable. But "_Tract Distributing_," which one would have thought a
+very kindred effort with the two last, was much more cautiously
+undertaken. Some boys were ready for it; a few girls; very few grown up
+people of either sex.
+
+The young people of Mrs. Englefield's family walked home more silently
+than they had come. To be sure, there was a little throng of persons
+going their way; they could not speak in private. So under the still,
+bright stars, they went home without telling any of their thoughts to
+each other. But perhaps the air was chilly after coming out of the
+heated lecture-room; for they all poured into the parlour to get warm,
+before going up-stairs to take off their things.
+
+"Well, you are late," Mrs. Englefield said.
+
+"Yes; but we had, oh, such a nice meeting!" Maria answered.
+
+"What was it all about? Now, I hope, we shall get at some light on the
+subject."
+
+But the light was not in a hurry to come. Anne and Letitia loosened
+their bonnet strings, and sat down; Maria and Matilda threw off their
+cloaks and hoods and sought the fire; nobody volunteered to be
+spokesman for the party.
+
+"What was done, Clarissa?" her mother asked.
+
+"I can hardly tell, mamma. A sort of association formed, for doing
+parish work."
+
+"I do not think much of associations," Mrs. Candy said. "People can
+work just as well in private, if they would only be content. Did _you_
+join this association?"
+
+"What is _parish work_, Clarissa?" Matilda asked.
+
+"Why, work in the parish, of course," Mrs. Englefield answered.
+
+"I don't know what the parish is, mamma?"
+
+"Don't you? Well,--all the people that Mr. Richmond has the care of, I
+suppose; isn't it, sister?"
+
+"But who has he the care of?" Matilda persisted, looking up at her
+mother earnestly.
+
+"Well, child," said Mrs. Englefield, half laughing, "in a sort, he has
+the care of all the people he preaches to."
+
+"Does he?" said Matilda. But at that the laugh became general.
+
+"Why not, Tilly?" said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"Who gave him the care of us?" said Matilda, thoughtfully.
+
+"A minister always has the care of a church when he has a church," said
+Mrs. Candy. "Is this Tilly's way of going into things in general,
+Marianne?"
+
+"_But_," said Matilda,--"can anybody take a church and take care of
+people, if he has a mind?"
+
+"No; only a man who has been properly educated and appointed."
+
+"Then how comes he to have the _care_ of us?"
+
+"Come here, Tilly," said Clarissa. And she began a whispered
+explanation, to which the little girl listened intently.
+
+"I do not hear yet what was the business done to-night?" Mrs.
+Englefield went on.
+
+"Why, there were committees formed," said Letitia, "for doing every
+sort of business under heaven."
+
+"Committees!" said the two ladies who had stayed at home.
+
+"Maria can tell you," said Anne. "Maria, on how many committees are
+you?"
+
+Maria hugged the fire and did not answer.
+
+"On how many, Maria?"
+
+"I don't know. I didn't count."
+
+"I lost count, too," her sister said. "Let me see. Mamma, Maria has
+undertaken to find and bring in new scholars for the school."
+
+"I hope she will be punctual in going herself, then," said Mrs.
+Englefield. "She _hasn't_ been, this six months past, to my knowledge."
+
+"Oh, but I am now, mamma," said Maria.
+
+"She has undertaken to practise for the school singing."
+
+"I didn't," said Maria. "I only said I would help in it."
+
+"Your help will not be worth much without practising. She has promised
+to undertake temperance work, too. _How_ she will manage it, I do not
+know; unless she is going to begin upon us here at home. We are all
+such hard drinkers."
+
+"Almost all the Sunday-School are engaged to help in temperance work,"
+said Maria, standing on her defence.
+
+"How are _you_ going to do anything?" her mother asked. "You have
+neither brothers, nor father, nor cousins, in danger, that you can go
+to work upon them. What are you going to do, Maria?"
+
+"That is but the beginning, mamma," Anne went on. "Maria is also
+engaged to visit the sick and afflicted, and make soup and give
+medicine for them."
+
+"Why, I did not, Anne!" Maria exclaimed again.
+
+"What did you mean, then, by joining the 'Aid and Comfort' committee?"
+
+"I did not say I would make soup, or give medicine. Everybody does not
+make soup."
+
+"No; and so I thought that is just what the 'Aid and Comfort' committee
+agreed to do."
+
+"And the doctors give the medicine," said Matilda. "Clarissa is on that
+committee too."
+
+"We can go together," said Maria; "and we can find something to do."
+
+"Something for somebody else to do," said Anne. "You can find who would
+like some soup, can't you?"
+
+"There are next to no poor people in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield.
+"I don't believe there is anybody in the village who would like some
+soup better than I should."
+
+"There are several doctors," said Anne; "so I am afraid there are sick
+people occasionally. Else the doctors will soon be in want of soup.
+But, mamma, _that_ is not the whole of Maria's engagements. She has
+pledged herself to 'carry the message,' read the Bible, and distribute
+tracts."
+
+"Don't you read the Bible now, Maria?" her mother asked.
+
+"Oh yes, mamma," said Matilda. "This means reading the Bible to
+somebody who is blind, you know, or sick and can't read, or who doesn't
+know how."
+
+"There are no such people in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield, promptly.
+
+"Shadywalk is a happy village then," said her sister.
+
+"When do you expect to find time for all these things, Maria?" her
+mother continued. "Do you know what a state your bureau drawers are in,
+at this minute? You told me you had been too busy to attend to them.
+And the frock that you spilt ink on, the week before last, at school,
+you have not mended; and you need it--and you said you could not get a
+minute."
+
+"I have been busy about something else, mamma," Maria said.
+
+"That braiding. Yes. But there is always 'something else.' There are
+other things that ought to begin at home besides charity. Do _you_
+belong to this association, Matilda?"
+
+"No, mamma," came in a low voice from the child.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+The answer was not ready.
+
+"Have you joined it, Clarissa?" her mother asked.
+
+"Yes, mamma."
+
+"And what have you pledged yourself to do?"
+
+"I think nothing, mamma, that I was not properly pledged to before."
+
+"Such as what?"
+
+"I gave my name for the visiting and helping sick and poor people; for
+the singing in the school;--I believe that is all, mamma."
+
+"I shall not let you go where there is sickness," said Mrs Candy. "When
+did you pledge yourself to that ever?"
+
+"When I took the vows of the Church, mamma," Clarissa said, with a
+little hesitation, "I suppose I engaged to do some of these things."
+
+"Some of them; I have no objection to your singing as much as you like;
+but as to your going where there are fevers and bad air, and all that
+sort of thing, I should not be willing at all."
+
+"There will not be much occasion for it in Shadywalk," said Mrs.
+Englefield. "We have few poor people; there are not many who have not
+friends of their own to take care of them."
+
+"Anne and Letitia, you have nothing to do with all this?" their aunt
+asked.
+
+"I have enough to do as it is, Aunt Candy," said Anne.
+
+"And I don't like the new sorts of work, Aunt Erminia," said Letitia.
+
+"I know you wanted to stand up with us this evening, though," said
+Maria. "You felt bad because you didn't."
+
+This remark threatened to disturb the harmony of the party; so Mrs.
+Englefield broke it up, and sent everybody to bed.
+
+"How do you like our Mr. Richmond, Clarissa?" she asked, as they were
+separating.
+
+"I don't know, Aunt Marianne; it struck me he was something of an
+enthusiast."
+
+"That is just what I think," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Those people are dangerous, Marianne," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The next day but one, in the afternoon, a little figure set out from
+Mrs. Englefield's gate on a solitary expedition. She had left her
+sisters and cousin in high debate, over the various probabilities of
+pleasure attainable through the means of twenty-five dollars. Matilda
+listened gravely for a while; then left them, put on her hood and
+cloak, and went out alone. It was rather late in the short winter
+afternoon; the slanting sunbeams made a gleam of cheer, though it was
+cold cheer too, upon the snowy streets. They stretched away, the white
+streets, heaped with banks of snow where the gutters should be,
+overhung with brown branches of trees, where in summer the leafy canopy
+made a pleasant shade all along the way. No shade was wanted now; the
+air was growing more keen already since the sun had got so far down in
+the west. Tilly turned the corner, where by Mr. Forshew's hardware shop
+there was often a country waggon standing, and always a knot of
+loitering men and boys gathering or retailing the news, if there was
+any; when there was none, seeking a poorer amusement still in stories
+and jests, mingled with profanity and tobacco. Tilly was always glad to
+have passed the corner; not that there was the least danger of
+incivility from any one lingering there, but she did not like the
+neighbourhood of such people. She turned up towards the church, which
+stood in one of the principal streets of the village. Matilda herself
+lived in the other principal street. The two were at right angles to
+each other, each extending perhaps half a mile, with comfortable houses
+standing along the way; about the "corner" they stood close together,
+for that was the business quarter, and there were the stores. Passing
+the stores and shops, there came next a succession of dwelling-houses,
+some of more and some of less pretension; in general it was _less_. The
+new houses of the successful tradesmen were for the most part in the
+street where Matilda's mother lived. These were many of them old and
+low; some were poor. Here there was a doctor's shop; there a heap of
+dingy sheep skins and brown calf hides cast down at a door, told of the
+leather store; here and there hung out a milliner's sign. A few steps
+further on the other side of the way, a great brick factory stood;
+Matilda had no very distinct notion of what wares it turned out, but
+the children believed they were iron works of some sort. A cross street
+here led to side ways which extended parallel with the main
+thoroughfare, one on the north and one on the south of it, and which,
+though more scatteringly built up, were yet a considerable enlargement
+of the village. A little further on, and Matilda had reached the
+church; in her language _the_ church, though only one of several in
+which the villagers delighted. A great creamy-brown edifice, of no
+particular style of architecture, with a broad porch upheld by a row of
+big pillars, and a little square tower where hung a bell, declared to
+be the sweetest and clearest of all in the neighbourhood. So, many
+thought, were the utterances inside the church. Just beyond, Matilda
+could see the lecture-room, with its transepts, and its pretty hood
+over the door, for all which and sundry other particulars concerning it
+she had a private favour; but Matilda did not go so far this afternoon.
+Short of the lecture-room, a gate in the fence of the church grounds
+stood open; a large gate, through which waggons and carriages sometimes
+passed; Matilda turned in there, and picked her way over the ridgy snow
+down the lane that led to the parsonage.
+
+The parsonage sat thus quietly back from the sights and noises of the
+street; a little brown house, it looked, half hidden in summer by the
+sweeping foliage of the elms that overarched the little lane; half
+sheltered now in winter by a goodly pine-tree that stood in the centre
+of the little plot of grass round which swept the road to the
+front-door. Wheels or runners had been there, for the road was tracked
+with them; but not many, for the villagers needed no such help to get
+to the minister, and there were few of the church people who lived at a
+distance and could leave their work and take their teams on a week-day
+to come a-pleasuring; and still fewer who were rich enough to do as
+they liked at all times. There were some; but Matilda ran little risk
+of meeting them; and so mounted the parsonage steps and lifted the
+knocker with no more than her own private reasons for hesitation,
+whatever those might be. She knocked, however, and steps carne within,
+and Miss Redwood opened the door.
+
+"Well!" she said, "here's the first one this blessed afternoon. I
+thought I was going to get along for once without any one; but such
+luck don't come to me. Wipe the snow off, dear, will you, clean? for my
+hall's as nice as--well, I don't know what; as nice as it had ought to
+be. That will do. Now, come in, for the air's growin' right sharp. What
+is it, my dear?"
+
+"Is Mr. Richmond at home?" Matilda asked.
+
+"Well, I s'pose he is. I hain't hearn him nor seen him go out since
+noon. Do ye want to see him, or is it a message?--ye want to see him,
+eh. Well, I s'pose he'll see you--if he ain't too busy--and I don't
+know when he gets time for all he has to do, but he gets it; so I
+s'pose I had ought to be satisfied. _I_ don't, I know; but I s'pose men
+and women is different. Some folks would say that's a reason why men
+was created the first and the best; but I don't think so myself. And
+here I am an old goose, a-talkin' to little Tilly Englefield about
+philosophy, instead o' lettin' her into the minister's room. Well, come
+in, dear; round this way; the minister has taken a notion to keep that
+door shut up because of the cold."
+
+Miss Redwood had not been idle during the utterance of this speech.
+First she had been shaking the snow from the door mat on which
+Matilda's feet had left it; then she seized a broom and brushed the
+white masses from the hall carpet out to the piazza, and even off the
+painted boards of that. Finally came in, shut the door, and led Matilda
+to the back of the hall, where it turned, and two doors, indeed three,
+confronted each other across a yard of intervening space. The
+housekeeper knocked at the one which led into the front room; then set
+it open for Matilda to go in, and closed it after her.
+
+A pleasant room that was, though nothing in the world could be more
+unadorned. Deal shelves all around were filled with books; a table or
+two were piled with them; one, before the fire, was filled as well with
+papers and writing materials. This fronted, however, a real blazing
+fire, the very thing Miss Redwood had once been so uneasy about; in a
+wide open chimney-place, where two great old-fashioned brass andirons
+with round heads held a generous load of oak and hickory sticks, softly
+snapping and blazing. The sweet smell of the place struck Matilda's
+sense, almost before she saw the minister. It was a pure, quiet,
+scented atmosphere that the room held; where comfort and study seemed
+to lurk in the very folds of the chintz window-curtains, and to shine
+in the firelight, and certainly seemed to fill Mr. Richmond's arm-chair
+even when he was not in it. He rose out of it now to meet his little
+visitor, and laid study on the table. Of one sort.
+
+"All's well at home, Tilly?" he asked, as he put her into his own chair.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you do not come to me with any message but to see me yourself?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That's nice. Now while you are talking to me, I will roast you an
+apple."
+
+Matilda looked on with great curiosity and as great a sense of relief,
+while Mr. Richmond took out of a cupboard a plate of apples, chose a
+fine one with a good bit of stem, tied a long pack-thread to this, and
+then hung the apple by a loop at the other end of the string, to a hook
+in the woodwork over the fireplace. The apple, suspended in front of
+the blazing fire, began a succession of swift revolutions; first in one
+direction and then in the other, as the string twisted or untwisted.
+
+"Did you ever roast an apple so?"
+
+"No, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"It is the best way in the world--when you haven't got any other."
+
+"We haven't got that way at our house," said Matilda; "for we have no
+fires; nothing but stoves."
+
+"You speak as if you thought fires were the best plan of the two."
+
+"Oh, I do, Mr. Richmond! I do _not_ like stoves at all. They're so
+close."
+
+"I always thought stoves were rather close," said Mr. Richmond. "Now
+what did you come to see me roast apples for this afternoon? Did you
+come to keep your promise?"
+
+"Yes, sir," Matilda answered, rather faintly.
+
+"Are you sorry you made the promise?" Mr. Richmond inquired, looking at
+her. But the look was so pleasant, that Matilda's could not keep its
+solemnity. She had come in with a good deal.
+
+"I don't know but I _was_ sorry," she said.
+
+"And you are not sorry now?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"That is all the better. Now what did you want to say to me, Matilda?"
+
+"You know you made me say I would come, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Did I? I think not. I do not think I _made_ you say anything--do you
+think I did?"
+
+"Well, you _asked_ me, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Just what did I ask you?"
+
+"You asked me, if I would come and tell you--you said you _wished_ I
+would come and tell you--if----"
+
+And Matilda made a great pause. The eyes of her friend seemed only to
+be watching the apple, yet perhaps they knew that her little lips were
+unsteady and were trying to get steady. He left his seat to attend to
+the roast; got a plate and put on the hearth under it; arranged the
+fire; then came and with his own hands removed Matilda's hood and
+loosened and threw back her cloak; and while he did this he repeated
+his question, in tones that were encouragement itself.
+
+"I wished you would come and tell me if--if what?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond--if I thought I could not do something that I
+thought--I ought."
+
+"Yes, I believe that was it, Tilly. Now, to begin with one thing at a
+time, what do you think you 'ought' to do?"
+
+"Last night, I mean, Mr. Richmond; I mean, the night before last, at
+the meeting."
+
+"I know. Well, what did you think then you ought to do?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond, I think, I thought that I ought to rise up when Maria
+and the others did."
+
+"I knew you thought so. Why did you not, then, Matilda?"
+
+"I couldn't."
+
+"Do you know why you could not?"
+
+Again there was difficulty of speech on the child's part. Mr.
+Richmond's saying that "he knew" she had had such feelings, was an
+endorsement to her conscience; and Matilda could not immediately get
+over a certain swelling in her throat, which threatened to put a stop
+to the conversation. The minister waited, and she struggled.
+
+"Why could _you_ not do what the others did, Matilda?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond--I didn't want to do the things."
+
+"What things? Bringing new scholars to the Sunday-School, for instance?"
+
+"Oh no, sir, I wouldn't mind doing _that_, or some other things either.
+But----"
+
+"You mean, you do not want to pledge yourself to be a servant of the
+Lord Jesus Christ?"
+
+"No, sir," after a pause, and low.
+
+"Well, Tilly," said the minister, "I can only be very sorry for you.
+You keep yourself out of a great joy."
+
+"But, Mr. Richmond," said Matilda, down whose cheeks quiet tears were
+now running, one after another; "don't you think I am very young yet to
+be a member of the Church?"
+
+"Do you think Jesus died for you, Tilly?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Do you believe He loves you now?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You understand all about that. Does _He_ want you to be His obedient
+child and dear servant?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"You know all about that, too. Can you think of any reason why you
+should for another year refuse to love Him, refuse to mind Him, and do
+all that your example and influence can do to keep others from loving
+and minding Him? When He so loves and has loved you?"
+
+Tilly's little hands went up to her face now, and the room was very
+still; only the flames softly flickering in the fireplace, and the
+apple sputtering before the fire. Mr. Richmond did not say a word for
+several minutes.
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Matilda at last, "do you think anybody cares what
+I do?--when I am so little?"
+
+"I think the Lord Jesus cares. He said nobody was to hinder the little
+children from coming to Him. And I would rather be in His arms and have
+Him bless me, if I were you, than be anywhere else, or have anything
+else. And so would you, Tilly."
+
+"But, Mr. Richmond--it is because I am not good."
+
+"Yes, I know it. But that is a reason for giving yourself to the Lord
+Jesus. He will make you good; and there is no other way."
+
+But Tilly's trouble at this got beyond management. She left her seat
+and came to Mr. Richmond, letting his arm draw her up to him, and
+dropping her head on his shoulder.
+
+"O Mr. Richmond," she said, "I don't know how!"
+
+"Don't know how to give yourself to Jesus? Do it in your heart, Tilly.
+He is there. Tell Him He may have you for His own child. He is at the
+door of your heart knocking; open the door and bid Him come in. He will
+make it a glad place if you do."
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said the child, with great difficulty between her
+sobs--"won't you tell Him that I will?"
+
+They kneeled down and the minister made a short prayer. But then he
+said--
+
+"Now, Tilly, I want you to tell the Lord yourself."
+
+"I can't, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"I think you can. And I want you to try."
+
+They waited and waited. Tilly sobbed softly, but the minister waited
+still. At last Tilly's tears ceased; then with her little hands spread
+before her face, she said very slowly--
+
+"O Lord, I am a naughty child. I want to be good. I will do everything
+that you tell me. Please take my heart and make it all new, and help me
+to be strong and do right. Amen."
+
+They rose up, but Mr. Richmond kept the child within his arm, where she
+had been standing.
+
+"Now, Tilly, how do we know that our prayers are heard?"
+
+"God has promised, hasn't He, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Where? in what words?"
+
+Tilly hesitated, and then repeated part of the verse, "Ask, and it
+shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find."
+
+"And look here," said Mr. Richmond, half turning, so as to bring her
+and himself within reach of the Bible that lay at his elbow on the
+table--"see here, Matilda. Read these words."
+
+"'If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.'"
+
+"And here,"--
+
+"'Whatsover ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.'"
+
+"Does Jesus ever break His promises?"
+
+"No, Mr. Richmond; He can't."
+
+"Then remember that, whenever you think of to-day, and whenever you
+feel troubled or weak. _You_ are weak, but He is strong; and He cannot
+break His promises. So you and I are safe, as long as we hold to Him."
+
+There was silence a little while, and Mr. Richmond set the apple to
+twirling again. It had untwisted its string and was hanging still.
+
+"I am to put your name now, I suppose, Tilly, among the names of our
+Band; am I?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"What work would you like specially to do?"
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Richmond; I will think."
+
+"Very well; that is right. And there is another place where your name
+ought to go--is there not?"
+
+"I don't know, sir."
+
+"Yes; among those who desire to be members of the Church; to tell the
+world they are Christ's people."
+
+"Oh no, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Why 'oh no, Mr. Richmond'?"
+
+"I am not good enough. I want to be better first."
+
+"How do you expect to get better?"
+
+Silence.
+
+"I suppose your thought is, that Jesus will make your heart new, as you
+asked Him just now, and help you to be strong. Is that it?--Yes. And
+you do not expect to accomplish the change or grow strong by your own
+power?"
+
+"Oh no, sir."
+
+"Don't you think Jesus loves you now as well as He will by and by, and
+is as ready to help you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Then, Tilly, I call it just distrust of Him, to hold off from what He
+commands you to do, for fear He will not help you to do it. I would be
+ashamed to offer such an excuse to Him."
+
+"But--has He commanded _that_, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"He has commanded us to confess openly that we are His servants, hasn't
+He? and to be baptized in token of the change He has wrought in us, and
+as a sign that we belong to Him? How can we do either the one or the
+other without joining the Church?"
+
+"I thought"--Matilda began, but seemingly did not like to tell what she
+had thought.
+
+"Let us have it, Tilly," said her friend, drawing her closer to him.
+"You and I are talking confidentially, and it is best in those cases to
+talk all out. So what did you think?"
+
+"I thought there were people who were the servants of Christ, and yet
+did not join any church," Matilda said softly.
+
+"By not doing it, they as good as say to the world that they are not
+His servants. And the world judges accordingly. I have known people
+under such a delusion; but when they were honest, I have always known
+them to come out of it. If you give all you have to the Lord Jesus, you
+must certainly give your influence."
+
+"But, I thought I might wait," Tilly said again.
+
+"Till when?"
+
+"I don't know," she whispered.
+
+"Wait for what?"
+
+"Till I was more like what--I ought to be, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Till you were more like the Lord Jesus?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Do you not think the quickest way to grow like Him would be to do and
+obey every word He says?"
+
+Matilda bowed her head a little.
+
+"You will be more likely to grow good and strong that way than any
+other; and I am sure the Lord will be more likely to help you if you
+trust Him, than if you do not trust Him."
+
+"I think so too," Matilda assented.
+
+"Then we will do everything, shall we, that we think our Lord would
+like to have us do? and we will trust Him to help us through with it?"
+Mr. Richmond said, with an affectionate look at the child beside him;
+and Matilda met the look and answered it with another.
+
+"But, Mr. Richmond----"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"There is one question I should like to ask."
+
+"Ask it."
+
+"Why ought people to be baptized?"
+
+"Because our Lord commands it. Isn't that a good reason?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but--what does it mean, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"It is a way of saying to the world, that we have left it, and belong
+to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a way of saying to the world, that His
+blood has washed away our sins and His Spirit has made our hearts
+clean; or that we trust Him to do both things for us. And it is the
+appointed way of saying all this to the world; _His_ appointed way. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Now, do you not think that those who love the Lord Jesus, ought to be
+glad to follow His will in this matter?"
+
+"Yes, sir," Matilda said again, raising her eyes frankly to Mr.
+Richmond's face.
+
+"Would you be willing to be left out, when next I baptize some of those
+who wish to make it publicly known that they are Christ's?"
+
+"No, sir." And presently she added. "When will that be, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered, thoughtfully. "Not immediately. You and I
+must have some more talks before that time."
+
+"You are very good to me, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, gratefully.
+
+"Have we said all we ought to say this time? Are there any more
+questions to bring up?"
+
+"_I_ haven't any to bring up," Matilda said.
+
+"Is all clear that we have been talking about?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Now, will you be good to me, and stay and take supper with me? That
+knock at the door means that Miss Redwood would like to have me know
+that supper is ready. And you shall have this apple we have been
+roasting."
+
+"Mr. Richmond, I think mamma would be frightened if I did not go home."
+
+"She does not know where you are?"
+
+"Nobody knows," said Matilda.
+
+"Then it won't do to let you stay. You shall come another time, and we
+will roast another apple, won't you?"
+
+"I should like to come," said Matilda. "Mr. Richmond, didn't you say
+you were going to talk to the Band and explain things, when we have our
+meetings?"
+
+"I did say so. What do you want explained?"
+
+"Some time,--I would like to know just all it means, to be a servant of
+Christ."
+
+"All it means," said Mr. Richmond. "Well, it means a good deal, Tilly.
+I think we had better begin there with our explanations. I shall not
+make it a lecture; it will be more like a class; so you may ask as many
+questions as you please."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+The light of day was darkening fast, as Matilda ran home. Even the
+western sky gave no glow, when she reached her own gate and went in.
+After all, she had run but a very little way, in her first hurry; the
+rest of the walk was taken with sober steps.
+
+When she came down-stairs, she found the lamp lit and all the young
+heads of the family clustering together to look at something. It was
+Anne's purchase, she found; Anne had spent her aunt's gift in the
+purchase of a new silk dress; and she was displaying it.
+
+"It is a lovely colour," said Maria. "I think that shade of--what do
+you call it? is just the prettiest in the world. What _do_ you call it,
+Clarissa? and where did you get it, Anne?"
+
+"It is pearl gray," said Clarissa.
+
+"I would have got blue, while I was about it," said Letitia; "there is
+nothing like blue; and it becomes you, Anne. You ought to have got
+blue. I would have had one dress that suited me, if I was you, if I
+never had another."
+
+"This will suit me, I think," said Anne.
+
+"Aren't you going to trim it with anything? Dresses are so much trimmed
+now-a-days; and this colour will not be anything unless you trim it."
+
+Anne replied by producing the trimming. The exclamations of delight and
+approval lasted for several minutes.
+
+"What are you going to get, Letitia?" Maria asked.
+
+"I have not decided."
+
+"I don't know, but I will have a watch," said Maria. "You can get a
+very good silver watch, a really good one, you know for twenty-five
+dollars."
+
+"But a silver watch!" said Anne. "I would not wear anything but a gold
+watch."
+
+"How am I going to get a gold watch, I should like to know?" said
+Maria. "I think it would be splendid."
+
+"But what do you want of a watch, Maria?" her little sister asked.
+
+"Oh, here is Matilda coming out! Just like her! Not a word about Anne's
+dress; and now she says, what do I want with a watch. Why, what other
+people want with one; I want to see the time of day."
+
+"I don't think you do," said Matilda. "When do you?"
+
+"Why, I should like to know in school, when it is recess time; and at
+home, when it is time to go to school."
+
+"But the bell rings," said Matilda.
+
+"Well, I don't always hear the bell, child."
+
+"But when you don't hear it, I tell you."
+
+"Yes, and it's very tiresome to have you telling me, too. I'd rather
+have my own watch. But I don't know what I will have; sometimes I think
+I'll just buy summer dresses, and then for once I'd have a plenty; I do
+like to have plenty of anything. And there's a necklace and earrings at
+Mr. Kurtz's that I want. Such lovely earrings!"
+
+"Well, Matilda, what are you thinking of?" Letitia burst forth. "Such a
+face! One would think it was wicked to wear earrings. What is it, you
+queer child?"
+
+But Matilda did not say what she was thinking of. The elder ladies came
+in, and the party adjourned to the tea-table.
+
+A few hours later, when the girls had gone to their room, Matilda
+asked--
+
+"When are you going to look for new scholars, Maria?"
+
+"_What?_" was Maria's energetic and not very graceful response.
+
+"When are you going to look for some new scholars to bring to the
+school?"
+
+"The Sunday-School!" said Maria. "I thought you meant the school where
+we go every day. I don't know."
+
+"You promised you would try."
+
+"Well, so I will, when I see any I _can_ bring."
+
+"But don't you think you ought to go and look for them?"
+
+"How can I, Tilly? I don't know where to go; and I haven't got time,
+besides."
+
+"I think I know where we could go," said Matilda, "and maybe we could
+get one, at any rate. Don't you know the Dows' house? on the turnpike
+road?--beyond the bridge ever so far?"
+
+"The Dows'!" said Maria. "Yes, I know the Dows' house; but who's there?
+Nothing but old folks."
+
+"Yes, there are two children; I have seen them; two or three; but they
+don't come to school."
+
+"Then I don't believe they want to," said Maria; "they could come if
+they wanted to, I am sure."
+
+"Don't you think we might go and ask them? Perhaps they would come if
+anybody asked them."
+
+"Yes, we might," said Maria; "but you see, Tilly, I haven't any time.
+It'll take me every bit of time I can get between now and Sunday to
+finish putting the braid on that frock; you have no idea how much time
+it takes. It curls round this way, and then twists over that way, and
+then gives two curls, so and so; and it takes a great while to do it. I
+almost wish I had chosen an easier pattern; only this is so pretty."
+
+"But you promised, Maria."
+
+"I didn't promise to go and look up people, child. I only promised to
+do what I could. Besides, what have _you_ got to do with it? You did
+not promise at all."
+
+"I will go with you, if you will go up to the Dows'," said Matilda.
+
+"Oh, well!--don't worry, and I'll see about it."
+
+"But will you go? Come, Maria, let us go."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Any afternoon. To-morrow."
+
+"What makes you want to go?" said Maria, looking at her.
+
+"I think you _ought_ to go," Matilda answered, demurely.
+
+"And I say, what have you got to do with it? I don't see what
+particular concern of mine the Dows are, anyhow."
+
+Matilda sat a long while thinking after this speech. She was on the
+floor, pulling off her stockings and unlacing her boots; and while her
+fingers moved slowly, drawing out the laces, her cogitations were very
+busy. What concern _were_ the Dows of hers or Maria's? They were not
+pleasant people to go near, she judged, from the look of their house
+and dooryard as she had seen it in passing; and the uncombed, fly-away
+head of the little girl gave her a shudder as she remembered it. They
+were not people that were often seen in church; they could not be good;
+maybe they used bad language; certainly they could not be expected to
+know how to "behave." Slowly the laces were pulled out of Matilda's
+boots, and her face grew into portentous gravity.
+
+"Aren't you coming to bed?" said Maria. "What can you be thinking of?"
+
+"I am thinking of the Dows?"
+
+"What about them? I never thought about them three times in my life."
+
+"But oughtn't we to think about people, Maria?"
+
+"Nice people."
+
+"I mean, people that are not nice."
+
+"It will be new times when you do," said Maria. "Come! let the Dows
+alone and come to bed."
+
+"Maria," said her little sister as she obeyed this request, "I was
+thinking that Jesus thought about people that were not nice."
+
+"Well?" said Maria. "Do lie down! what is the use of getting into bed,
+if you are going to sit bolt upright like that and talk lectures? I
+don't see what has got into you."
+
+"Maria, it seems to me, now I think of it, that those were the
+particular people He did care about."
+
+"Don't you think He cared about good people?" said Maria, indignantly.
+
+"But they were not good at first. Nobody was good at first--till He
+made them good. He _said_ He didn't come to the good people; don't you
+remember?"
+
+"Well, what do you mean by all that? Are we not to care for anybody but
+the people that are not good? A nice life we should have of it?"
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, very thoughtfully, "I wonder what sort
+of a life He had?"
+
+"Tilly!" said Maria, rising up in her turn, "what has come to you? What
+book have you been reading? I shall tell mamma."
+
+"I have not been reading any book," said Matilda.
+
+"Then lie down and quit talking. How do you expect I am going to sleep?"
+
+"Let us go and see what we can do at the Dows, Maria, to-morrow, won't
+you?"
+
+But Maria either did not or would not hear; so the matter passed for
+that night. But the next day Matilda brought it up again. Maria found
+excuses to put her off. Matilda, however, was not to be put off
+permanently; she never forgot; and day after day the subject came up
+for discussion, until Maria at last consented.
+
+"I am going because you tease me so, Tilly," she said, as they set
+forth from the gate. "Just for that and nothing else. I don't like it a
+bit."
+
+"But you promised."
+
+"I didn't."
+
+"To bring in new scholars?"
+
+"I did not promise I would bring the Dow children; and I don't believe
+they'll come."
+
+The walk before the children was not long, and yet it almost took them
+out of the village. They passed the corner this time without turning,
+keeping the road, which was indeed part of the great high road which
+took Shadywalk in its way, as it took many another village. The houses
+in this direction soon began to scatter further apart from each other.
+They were houses of more pretension, too, with grounds and gardens and
+fruit trees about them; and built in styles that were notable, if not
+according to any particular rule. Soon the ground began to descend
+sharply towards the bed of a brook, which brawled along with impetuous
+waters towards a mill somewhere out of sight. It was a full, fine
+stream, mimicking the rapids and eddies of larger streams, with all
+their life and fury given to its smaller current. The waters looked
+black and wintry in contrast with the white snow of the shores. A
+foot-bridge spanned the brook, alongside of another bridge for
+carriages; and just beyond, the black walls of a ruin showed where
+another fine mill had once stood. That mill had been burnt. It was an
+old story; the girls did not so much as think about it now. Matilda's
+glance had gone the other way, where the stream rushed along from under
+the bridge and hurried down a winding glen, bordered by a road that
+seemed well traversed. A house could be seen down the glen, just where
+the road turned in company with the brook and was lost to view.
+
+"I wonder who lives down there?" said Matilda.
+
+"I don't know. Yes, I do, too; but I have forgotten."
+
+"I wonder if they come to church."
+
+"I don't know _that;_ and I shall not go to ask them. Why, Matilda, you
+never cared before whether people went to church."
+
+"Don't you care now?" was Matilda's rejoinder.
+
+"No! I don't care. I don't know those people. They may go to fifty
+churches, for aught I can tell."
+
+"But, Maria,"--said her little sister.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I do not understand you."
+
+"Very likely. _That_ isn't strange."
+
+"But, Maria,--you promised the other night--O Maria, what things you
+promised!"
+
+"What then?" said Maria. "What do you mean? What did I promise?"
+
+"You promised you would be a servant of Christ," Matilda said,
+anxiously.
+
+"Well, what if I did?" said Maria. "Of course I did; what then. Am I to
+find out whether everybody in Shadywalk goes to church, because I
+promised that? It is not my business."
+
+"Whose business is it?"
+
+"It is Mr. Richmond's business and Mr. Everett's business; and Mr.
+Schönflocker's business. I don't see what makes it mine."
+
+"Then you ought not to have said that you would bring new scholars to
+the school, I think, if you did not mean to do it; and whom do you mean
+to carry the message to, Maria? You said you would carry the message."
+
+"I don't know what carrying the message means," said Maria.
+
+Matilda let the question drop, and they went on their way in silence;
+rising now by another steep ascent on the other side of the brook,
+having crossed the bridge. The hill was steep enough to give their
+lungs play without talking. At the top of the hill the road forked; one
+branch turned off southwards; the high road turned east; the sisters
+followed this. A little way further, and both slackened their steps
+involuntarily as the house they were going to came full in view.
+
+It was like a great many others; brown with the weather, and having a
+certain forlorn look that a house gets when there are no loving eyes
+within it to care how it looks. The doors did not hang straight; the
+windows had broken panes; a tub here and a broken pitcher there stood
+in sight of every passer-by. A thin wreath of smoke curled up from the
+chimney, so it was certain that people lived there; but nothing else
+looked like it. The girls went in through the rickety gate. Over the
+house the bare branches of a cherry tree gave no promise of summery
+bloom; and some tufts of brown stems standing up from the snow hardly
+suggested the gay hollyhocks of the last season. The two girls
+slackened their steps yet more, and seemed not to know very well how to
+go on.
+
+"I don't like it, Tilly," Maria said. "I have a mind to give it up."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't, Maria," the little one replied; but she looked puzzled
+and doubtful.
+
+"Well, suppose they don't want to see us in here? it don't look as if
+they did."
+
+"We can try, Maria; it will do no harm to try."
+
+"I don't know that," said Maria. "I'll never come such an errand again,
+Matilda; never! I give you notice of that. What shall I do? Knock?"
+
+"I suppose so."
+
+Maria knocked. The next minute the upper half of the door was opened,
+and an oldish woman looked out. A dirty woman, with her hair all in
+fly-away order, and her dress very slatternly as well as soiled.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Are there some children here?" Maria began.
+
+"Children? yes, there's children here. There's my children."
+
+"Do they go to school?"
+
+"Has somebody been stealin' something, and you want to know if it's my
+children have done it?" said the woman. "'Cos they don't go to no
+school that _you_ ever see."
+
+"I did not mean any such thing," said Maria, quite taken aback.
+
+"Well, what _did_ you mean?" the woman asked sharply.
+
+"We want to see the children," Matilda put in. "May we come in and get
+warm, if you please?"
+
+The woman still held the door in her hand, and looked at the last
+speaker from head to foot; then half reluctantly opened the door.
+
+"I don't know as it'll hurt you to come in," she said; "but it won't do
+you much good; the place is all in a clutter, and it always is. Come
+along in, if you want to! and shut the door; 'tain't so warm here
+you'll need the wind in to help you. Want the children, did you say?
+what do you want of 'em?"
+
+Matilda thought privately that the wind would have been a good
+companion after all; no sooner was the door shut, than all remembrance
+of fresh air faded away. An inexpressible atmosphere filled the house,
+in which frying fat, smoke, soapsuds, and the odour of old garments,
+mingled and combined in proportions known to none but such
+dwelling-places. Yet it was not as bad as it might have been, by many
+degrees; the house was a little frame house, open at the joints; and it
+stood in the midst of heaven's free air; all the winds that came from
+the mountains and the river swept over and around it, came down the
+chimney sometimes, and breathed blessed breaths through every opening
+door and shackling window-frame. But to Matilda it seemed as bad as
+could be. So it seemed to her eyes too. Nothing clean; nothing
+comfortable; nothing in order; scraps of dinner on the floor; scraps of
+work under the table; a dirty cat in the corner by the stove; a wash
+tub occupying the other corner. The woman had her sleeves rolled up,
+and now plunged her arms into the tub again.
+
+"You can put in a stick of wood, if you want to," she said; "I guess
+the fire's got down. What did you come here for, hey? I hain't heard
+that yet, and I'm in a takin' to find out."
+
+"We thought maybe your children might like to go to Sunday-School,"
+said Maria, with a great deal of trepidation; "and we just came to ask
+them. That's all."
+
+"How did ye know but they went already?" the woman asked, looking at
+Maria from the corner of her eye.
+
+"I didn't know. I just came to ask them."
+
+"Well, I just advise you not to mix yourself with people's affairs till
+you _do_ know a little about 'em. What business is it o' yourn, eh,
+whether my children goes to Sunday-School? Sunday-School! what a poke
+it is!"
+
+"They did not come to _our_ Sunday-School," said Matilda, for her
+sister was nonplussed; "and we would like to have them come; unless
+they were going somewhere else."
+
+"They may speak for themselves," said Mrs. Dow; and she opened an inner
+door, and called in a shrill
+voice--"Araminty!--Jemimy!--Alexander!--come right along down, and if
+ye don't I'll whip ye."
+
+She went back to her washing-tub, and Maria and Matilda looked to see
+three depressed specimens of young human life appear at that inner
+door; but first tumbled down and burst in a sturdy, rugged young rascal
+of some eight or nine years; and after him a girl a little older, with
+the blackest of black eyes and hair, the latter hanging straight over
+her face and ears. The eyes of both fastened upon their strange
+visitors, and seemed as if they would move no more.
+
+"Them girls is come to get you to their Sunday-School," said the
+mother. "Don't you want for to go?"
+
+No answer, and no move of the black eyes. Matilda certainly thought
+they looked as if they feared the lifting of no mortal hand, their
+mother's or any other.
+
+"Would you like to go to Sunday-School?" inquired Maria politely,
+driven to speak by the necessities of the silence. But she might as
+well have asked Mrs. Dow's wash-tub. The mother laughed a little to
+herself.
+
+"Guess you might as well go along back the road ye come!" she said.
+"You won't get my Araminty Jemimy into no Sunday-School o' yourn this
+time. Maybe when she's growed older and wiser-like, she'll come and see
+you. She don' know what a Sunday-School's like. She thinks it's some
+sort of a trap."
+
+"I ain't afraid!" spoke out black eyes.
+
+"I didn't say you was," said her mother. "I might ha' said you was
+cunnin' enough to keep your foot out of it."
+
+"It is not a trap," said Matilda, boldly. "It is a pleasant place,
+where we sing, and learn nice things."
+
+"My children don't want to learn none o' your nice things," said the
+woman. "I can teach 'em to home."
+
+"But you don't!" said black eyes. "You don't _never_ learn us
+_nothing!_"
+
+There was not the slightest sweet desire of learning evidenced in this
+speech. It breathed nothing but defiance.
+
+"Alexander, won't _you_ come?" said Matilda, timidly, as her sister
+moved to the door. For Maria's courage gave out. But at that question
+the young urchin addressed set up a roar of hoarse laughter, throwing
+himself down and rolling over on the floor. His mother shoved him out
+of her way with a push that was very like a kick, and his sister,
+seizing a wringing wet piece of clothes from the wash-tub, dropped it
+spitefully on his head. There was promise of a fight; and Matilda and
+Maria hurried out. They hastened their steps through the garden, and
+even out in the high road they ran a little to get away from Mrs. Dow's
+neighbourhood.
+
+"Well!" said Maria, "what do you think now, Tilly? I hope you have got
+enough for once of this kind of thing. I promise you I have."
+
+"Hush!" said Matilda. "Some one is calling."
+
+They stopped and turned. A shout was certainly sent after them from the
+gate they had quitted--"Girls, hollo!--Sunday-School girls, hollo!"
+
+"Do you hear?" said Matilda.
+
+"Sunday-School girls!--come back!"
+
+"What can they want?" said Maria.
+
+"We must go see," said Matilda.
+
+So they went towards the gate again. By the gate they could soon see
+the shock head of Alexander; he had got rid of the wash-tub and his
+mother and his sister--all three; and he was waiting there to speak to
+them. The girls hurried up again till they confronted his grinning face
+on the other side of the gate.
+
+"What do you want?" said Maria. "What do you call us back for?"
+
+"I didn't call you," said the boy.
+
+"Yes, you did; you called us back; and we have come back all this way.
+What do you want to say?"
+
+Alexander's face was dull, even in his triumph. No sparkle or gleam of
+mischief prepared the girls for his next speech.
+
+"I say--ain't you green!"
+
+But another shout of rude laughter followed it; and another roll and
+tumble, though these last were on the snow. Maria and her sister turned
+and walked away till out of hearing.
+
+"I never heard of such horrible people!" said Maria; "never! And this
+is what you get, Matilda, by your dreadful going after Sunday-scholars
+and such things. I do hope you have got enough of it."
+
+But Matilda only drew deep sighs, one after another, at intervals, and
+made no reply.
+
+"Don't you see what a goose you are?" persisted Maria. "Don't you see?"
+
+"No," said Matilda. "I don't see that."
+
+"Well, you might. Just look at what a time we have had, only because
+you fancied there were two children at that house."
+
+"Well, there _are_ two children."
+
+"Such children!" said Maria,
+
+"I wish Mr. Richmond would go to see them," said Matilda.
+
+"It would be no use for Mr. Richmond or anybody to go and see them,"
+said Maria. "They are too wicked."
+
+"But you cannot tell beforehand," said Matilda.
+
+"And so I say, Tilly, the only way is to keep out of such places. I
+hope you'll be content now."
+
+Matilda was hardly content; for the sighs kept coming every now and
+then. So they went down the hill again, and over the bridge, past the
+glen and the burnt mill, and began to go up on the other side. Now
+across the way, at the top of the bank that overhung the dell, there
+stood a house of more than common size and elegance, in the midst of
+grounds that seemed to be carefully planted. A fine brick wall enclosed
+these grounds on the roadside, and at the top of the hill an iron gate
+gave entrance to them.
+
+"O Tilly," exclaimed Maria, "the Lardners' gate is open. Look! Suppose
+we go in."
+
+"I should not like to go in," said the little one.
+
+"Why not? There's nobody at home; they haven't come yet; and it's such
+a good chance. You know, Clarissa says that people have leave to go
+into people's great places and see them, in England, where she has
+been."
+
+"But this is not a great place, and we have not leave," urged Matilda.
+
+"Oh well, I'm going in. Come! we'll just go in for a minute. It's no
+harm. Come just for a minute."
+
+Matilda, however, stopped at the gate, and stood there waiting for her
+sister; while Maria stepped in cautiously and made her way as far as
+the front of the house. Here she turned and beckoned to Matilda to join
+her; but the little one stood fast.
+
+"What does she want of you?" a voice asked at her elbow. Matilda
+started. Two ladies were there.
+
+"She beckoned for me to go in where she is," said Matilda.
+
+"Well, why don't you go in?"
+
+The voice was kindly; the face of the lady was bending towards her
+graciously; but who it was Matilda did not know.
+
+"We have no leave to go in," she said. "I do not like to be there."
+
+"I dare say the people would let you come in, if they knew you wished
+it."
+
+"They do not know," said Matilda.
+
+"What a charming child!" said the lady apart to her companion. "My
+dear," she went on to Matilda, "will you come in on my invitation? This
+is my house, and you are welcome. I shall be as glad to see you as you
+to see the place. Come!"
+
+And she took Matilda's hand and led her in.
+
+Just at the crown of the bank the house stood, and from here the view
+was very lovely, even now in winter. Over the wide river, which lay
+full in view with its ice covering, to the opposite shores and the
+magnificent range of mountains, which, from Matilda's window at home,
+she could just see in a little bit. The full range lay here before the
+eye, white with snow, coloured and brightened by the sinking sun, which
+threw wonderful lights across them, and revealed beautiful depths and
+shadows. Still, cold, high, far-off; their calm majesty held Matilda's
+eye.
+
+"Are you looking at the mountains?" said the lady. "Yes, now come in
+and you shall look at my flowers. Your sister may come too," she added,
+nodding kindly to Maria; but she kept Matilda's hand, and so led her
+first upon the piazza, which was a single step above the ground, then
+into the hall. An octagon hall, paved with marble, and with large white
+statues holding post around its walls, and a vase of flowers on the
+balustrade at the foot of the staircase. But those were not the flowers
+the lady had meant; she passed on to one of the inner rooms, and from
+that to another, and finally into a pretty greenhouse, with glass
+windows looking out to the mountains and the river, filled on this side
+of the windows with tropical bloom. While the girls gazed in wonder,
+the lady stepped back into the room they had left, and threw off her
+wrappings. When she came again to the girls in the greenhouse, they
+hardly knew which to look at, her or the flowers; her dress and whole
+appearance were so unlike anything they had ever seen.
+
+"Which do you like best?" she said. "The roses, you know, of course;
+these are camellias,--and these--and these red ones too; all camellias.
+These are myrtle; these are heath; these are geraniums--all those are
+geraniums. This is Eupatorium--those, yes, those are azaleas, and
+those,--and all those. Yes, all azaleas. You like them? This is
+bigonia. What do you like best?"
+
+It was a long while before Matilda could divide and define her
+admiration enough to tell what she liked best. Carnations and heath
+were found at last to have her best favour. The lady cut a bouquet for
+her with plenty of carnations and heath, but a variety of other beauty
+too; then led the girls into the other room and offered them some rich
+cake and a glass of what Matilda supposed to be wine. She took the cake
+and refused the cordial.
+
+"It is very sweet," said the lady. "You will not dislike it; and it
+will warm you, this cold afternoon."
+
+"I may not drink wine, ma'am, thank you," Matilda answered.
+
+"It is not wine. Does it make you sick, my dear? Are you afraid to try
+it? Your sister is not afraid. I think it will do you good."
+
+Being thus reassured, Matilda put the glass to her lips, but
+immediately set it down again.
+
+"You do not like it?" said the lady.
+
+"I like it; but--it is strong?" said Matilda, inquiringly.
+
+"Why, yes, it would not be good for anything if it were not strong.
+Never mind that--if you like it. The glass does not hold but a
+thimbleful, and a thimbleful will not hurt you. Why, why not, my dear?"
+
+Matilda looked up, and coloured and hesitated.
+
+"I have promised not," she said.
+
+"So solemnly?" said the lady, laughing. "Is it your mother you have
+promised?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Not your mother? You have a mother?"
+
+"Oh yes, ma'am."
+
+"Would she have any objection?"
+
+"No, ma'am--I believe not."
+
+"Then whom have you made your promise to? Is it a religious scruple
+that some one has taught you?"
+
+"I have promised to do all I could for helping temperance work,"
+Matilda said at last.
+
+She was answered with a little ringing laugh, not unkindly but amused;
+and then her friend said gravely--
+
+"Your taking a glass of cordial in this house would not affect anything
+or anybody, little one. It would do _me_ no harm. I drink a glass of
+wine every day with my dinner. I shall go on doing it just the same. It
+will not make a bit of difference to me, whether you take your cordial
+or not."
+
+But Matilda looked at the lady, and did not look at her glass.
+
+"Do you think it will?" said the lady, laughing.
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Then your promise to help temperance work does not touch the cordial."
+
+"No ma'am, but----"
+
+"But?--what 'but'?"
+
+"It touches me."
+
+"Does it?" said the lady. "That is odd. You think a promise is a
+promise. Here is your sister taking her cordial; she has not made the
+same promise, I suppose?"
+
+Maria and Matilda glanced at each other.
+
+"She has?" cried the lady. "Yet you see she does not think as you do
+about it."
+
+The sisters did not look into each other's eyes again. Their friend
+watched them both.
+
+"I should like to know whom you have made such a promise to," she said
+coaxingly to Matilda. "Somebody that you love well enough to make you
+keep it. Won't you tell me? It is not your mother, you said. To whom
+did you make that promise, dear?"
+
+Matilda hesitated and looked up into the lady's face again.
+
+"I promised--the Lord Jesus," she said.
+
+"Good patience! she's religious!" the lady exclaimed, with a change
+coming over her face; Matilda could not tell what it was, only it did
+not look like displeasure. But she was graver than before, and she
+pressed the cordial no more; and at parting she told Matilda she must
+certainly come and see her again, and she should always have a bunch of
+flowers to pay her. So the girls went home, saying nothing at all to
+each other by the way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+It was tea-time at home by the time they got there. All during the
+meal, Maria held forth upon the adventures of the afternoon, especially
+the last.
+
+"Mamma, those people are somebody," she concluded.
+
+"I hope I am somebody," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Oh but you know what I mean, mamma."
+
+"I am not clear that I do."
+
+"And I, Maria,--am I not somebody?" her aunt asked.
+
+"Well, we're all _somebody_, of course, in one sense. Of course we're
+not _nobody_."
+
+"I am not so sure what you think about it," said Mrs. Candy. "I think
+that in your language, who isn't somebody is nobody."
+
+"Oh, well, we're _somebody_," said Maria. "But if you could see the
+splendid bunch of jewels that hung at Mrs. Laval's breast, you would
+know I say the truth."
+
+"Now we are getting at Maria's meaning," observed Clarissa.
+
+"I have no bunch of jewels hanging at my breast," said Mrs. Englefield;
+"if _that_ is what she means by 'somebody.'"
+
+"How large a bunch was it, Maria?" her aunt asked.
+
+"And is it certain that Maria's eyes could tell the true from the
+false, in such a matter as a bunch of jewellery?" suggested Clarissa.
+"They have not had a great deal of experience."
+
+Maria fired up. "I just wish you could see them for yourself!" she
+said. "False jewels, indeed! They sparkle like flashes of lightning.
+All glittering and flashing, red and white. I never saw anything so
+beautiful in all my life. And if you saw the rest of the dress, you
+would know that they couldn't be false jewels."
+
+"What sort of a face had she?"
+
+"I don't know,--handsome."
+
+"The bunch of jewels dazzled Maria's eyes," said Clarissa, sipping her
+tea.
+
+"No, not handsome, Maria," Matilda said.
+
+"Well, not handsome exactly, but pleasant. She had curls, and lightish
+hair; but her dress was so handsome, it made her look handsome. She
+took a _terrible_ fancy to Matilda."
+
+"Matilda is the youngest," said her mother.
+
+"It was thanks to Matilda we got into the house at all; and Matilda had
+the flowers. Nobody spoke of giving me any flowers."
+
+"Well, you know you do not care for them," interposed Matilda.
+
+"Mamma, those people are somebody--I can tell you!"
+
+"You speak as if there were nobody else in Shadywalk, Maria, that is
+anybody."
+
+"Well, Aunt Candy, I don't know any people like these."
+
+"Maria, you talk nonsense," said her mother.
+
+"Mamma, it is just what Aunt Erminia would say herself, if she knew the
+people."
+
+"What makes anybody 'somebody,' I should like to know? and what do you
+mean by it? Am I nobody, because I cannot wear red and white jewels at
+my throat?"
+
+"It wasn't at her throat at all, mamma; it was just here--on her waist."
+
+"A _bouquet de corsage_," said Clarissa. "The _waist_, as you call it,
+is at the belt."
+
+"Well, I am not a mantua-maker," said Maria.
+
+"No more than we are somebody," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"Well, you know what I mean," said Maria; "and you all think exactly
+the same. There is nobody else in Shadywalk that dresses so, or that
+has such flowers, or that has such a house."
+
+"Who are they, these people that she talks of?" Mrs. Candy asked.
+
+"They have lately bought the place. I know nothing about them. They
+were here for a little while in the summer; but only to turn everything
+upside down in the house and grounds, and make changes. I cannot
+imagine what has brought them here, to the country, in the depth of
+winter. They had nothing to do with anybody in Shadywalk, that I know
+of. Perhaps they will, now they have got in order. I believe they have
+lived out of America a good deal."
+
+"Is that what you mean by 'somebody,' Maria?" her aunt asked. "Perhaps
+I am 'somebody,' according to that."
+
+Maria's thoughts would not bear to be spoken, it seemed, for she did
+not speak them; and it must be a strong reason that kept Maria's
+opinions to herself. However, the family found something else to talk
+about, and Mrs. Laval was not mentioned again till Maria and Matilda
+went up to bed. Then Matilda had something to say.
+
+"Maria," she began with judicial gravity, "what was that Mrs. Laval
+gave us to drink?"
+
+"I don't know," said Maria; "but it was the best thing I ever tasted in
+all my life. It was some sort of wine, I guess; it was strong enough.
+But it was sweet; oh, it was nice!"
+
+"And you drank it!"
+
+"I guess I did! I only wished there was more of it."
+
+"But, Maria!----"
+
+"Well, what, 'Maria'?"
+
+"You promised, Maria, that you would do all you could for temperance
+work."
+
+"What then? I could not do anything for temperance there, child. As
+Mrs. Laval said."
+
+"You needn't have drunk the wine."
+
+"Why shouldn't I? Mrs. Laval gave it to me; I couldn't be rude."
+
+"But that is not keeping your promise."
+
+"I made no promise about it. I could do nothing in the world for
+temperance _there_, Tilly. What would Mrs. Laval care for anything _I_
+should say?"
+
+"But, Maria!" said her little sister, looking puzzled and troubled at
+once--"you cannot drink wine in one place, and try to hinder people
+from drinking it in another place."
+
+"Why can't I? It all depends on the place, Tilly, and the people."
+
+"And the wine, I suppose," said Matilda, severely.
+
+"Yes!" said Maria, boldly, "I dare say, if all wine was like that, Mr.
+Richmond would have no objection to it."
+
+"I don't see, Maria," said her sister, "what you made those promises
+for the other night. I think you ought not to have got up at all; it
+was the same as speaking; and if you do not mean to keep promises, you
+should not make them."
+
+"And what have you got to do with it?" said Maria in her turn. "You did
+not stand up with the rest of us; you have no business to lecture other
+people that are better than yourself. I am going to keep all the
+promises I ever made; but I did not engage to go poking into Mrs. Dow's
+wash kitchen, nor to be rude to Mrs. Laval; and I don't mean to do the
+one or the other, I give you notice."
+
+Matilda drew another of the long breaths that had come so many times
+that afternoon, and presently remarked that she was glad the next
+meeting of the Band would come in a few days.
+
+Maria sharply inquired, "Why?"
+
+"Because," said Matilda, "I hope Mr. Richmond will talk to us. I don't
+understand about things."
+
+"Of course you don't!" said Maria; "and if I were you I would not be so
+wise, till I did 'understand.'"
+
+Matilda got into bed, and Maria sat down to finish putting the braid on
+her dress.
+
+"Tilly, what are you going to get with your twenty-five dollars?"
+
+"I don't know yet."
+
+"I don't know whether I shall get a watch, or a dress, like Anne; or
+something else. What would you?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"What _are_ you going to get with your money, Matilda?"
+
+"I can't tell, Maria. I know what I am going to do with part; but I
+don't know what I am going to do with the other part."
+
+Maria could get no more from her.
+
+Nothing new happened in the family before the evening came for what
+Maria called the "Band meeting." Matilda went about between home and
+the school extremely quiet and demure, and reserved rather more than
+ordinary; but reserve was Matilda's way. Only Maria knew, and it
+irritated her, that her little sister was careful to lock herself up
+alone with her Bible, or rather with somebody else's Bible, for Matilda
+had none of her own, for a good long time every morning and evening.
+Maria thought sometimes she knew of her doing the same thing at the
+noon recess. She said nothing, but she watched. And her watching made
+her certain of it. Matilda unlocked her door and came out always with a
+face of quiet seriousness and a spirit in armour. Maria could not
+provoke her (and she tried); nor could any other temptations or
+difficulties, that she could see, shake a certain steady gentleness
+with which Matilda went through them. Matilda was never a passionate
+child, but she had been pleasure-loving and wayward. That was changing
+now; and Matilda was giving earnest care to her school-work.
+
+The desired evening for the "Band meeting" came, and the young people
+all went duly to the lecture-room; though Maria reminded her sisters
+that they did not belong there. Letitia and Anne chose to go in spite
+of that fact. The room, though not full, was filled towards the upper
+end; so the party were divided, and it happened that Matilda placed
+herself apart from her sisters, in the front, at the end of a seat near
+to Mr. Richmond. He was there already, standing by the little desk.
+
+After the prayer and singing, Mr. Richmond declared that they were come
+together for a talk; and he meant to make it a talk. He should ask
+questions when he chose, and everybody else might exercise the same
+liberty.
+
+"We are going to try to understand things," he said; "and by that
+somewhat vague expression I mean things connected with our covenant
+that we have made, and the work we have undertaken. Our covenant begins
+with the words, 'We are the servants of Christ.' Let us know exactly
+what we mean. What is it to be a servant of Christ? What is a servant,
+in the first place?"
+
+There was hesitation; then an answer from somewhere,--"He is somebody
+who does what he is told."
+
+"That would be a good servant," said Mr. Richmond, smiling; "but it
+will do. He is one who acts under the will of another, doing the work
+of another. A servant of Christ--what does he do?--and how does he do
+it?"
+
+There was no answer this time.
+
+"Let us look," said Mr. Richmond. "In the first verse of the first
+chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, Paul calls himself a servant of
+Jesus Christ; and in the ninth verse he says that he serves 'with his
+spirit.' Here is a mark. The service of Christ, you see, is in the
+first instance, not outward but inward. Not hand work, nor lip work,
+nor money giving; but service _in the spirit_. What is that?
+
+"It is having your will the same with God's will.
+
+"So now look and see. We all pledged ourselves the other night to do a
+great many sorts of outward service; good in themselves, and right and
+needful to do. But the first question is, Are we ourselves the servants
+of Christ? Do we in heart love and obey and agree to His will? If we
+are not doing that, or trying to do it, our other service is no service
+at all. It is a lie, and no service at all. Or it is service of
+ourselves."
+
+Mr. Richmond paused a little.
+
+"I have no reason to think that any of you did not mean true service,
+when the pledge was given the other night. So now let us see how this
+true service shows itself.
+
+"Jesus said, you remember, 'If any man serve me, let him follow me.'
+All we have to ask is, How did the Lord himself walk, that we should
+follow Him? I recommend you to study the story of His life very
+carefully and very constantly, and be continually getting new lessons
+from it. But now let us look just at one or two points.
+
+"Jesus said, 'As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the
+world.' Has he commanded us to be anything like that?"
+
+One of the boys answered, "Let your light so shine before men, that
+they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
+heaven."
+
+"How can our light shine?"
+
+"Doing good," another boy answered.
+
+"Being good," said one of the girls.
+
+"Very well; but what is there in doing and being good which has any
+resemblance to light? What does light do?"
+
+"It shows things," a boy said.
+
+"There's no darkness where the light comes," said a little girl.
+
+"Quite true; but how does our doing good and being good, 'show things'?
+What does it show?"
+
+After a little hesitation a voice replied, "It shows what is right."
+
+"It shows what people ought to do," a boy said.
+
+"It shows what is the will of God about us," said Mr. Richmond; "and
+the more exactly we are obedient to that will and conformed to it, the
+more brightly do we give light. And do you see? our light-giving
+depends on what we _are_. We give no light, except just so far as we
+are ourselves what God wills us to be. And then it shines out in all
+sorts of ways. I knew a little girl whose eyes were like two pure
+lamps, always; they were so loving and clear and true. I have known
+several people whose voices gave light as much as harmony; they were so
+sweet with the tones of a glad heart and a conscience at peace. I have
+seen faces that shone, almost like angel faces, with the love of God
+and the joy of heaven and the love of their fellow-men. Now this is the
+first thing the Lord calls us to be in His service--His light-bearers.
+The light comes from Him; we must get it from Him; and then we must
+shine! And of course our actions give light too, if they are obedient
+to the will of God. A boy who keeps the Sabbath holy is almost as good
+as a sermon to a boy who doesn't. One who refuses to touch the offered
+glass of wine, shows the light to another who drinks it. A loving
+answer shames a harsh spirit; and a child faithful to her duties at
+school is a beacon of truth to her fellows.
+
+"There is one thing more; and then I will talk to you no longer this
+evening. Jesus said, 'The Son of man is come to seek and to save that
+which is lost.' His servants must follow Him. Now, how much are you
+willing to do,--how far are you willing to go,--to accomplish what He
+came, and lived, and died for? and how will you set about it?"
+
+There was a long silence here; until Mr. Richmond urged that an answer
+should be given. Then at last somebody suggested--
+
+"Bringing new scholars to school?"
+
+"That is one thing to be done, certainly; and a very good thing. What
+else can we attempt? Remember,--it is to seek and to save the _lost!_"
+
+"We might carry tracts," another suggested.
+
+"You might; and if they are good tracts, and given with a kind word,
+and followed with a loving prayer, they will not be carried in vain.
+But to whom will you take them, Frank?"
+
+"Might take them to the boys in the school," Frank thought.
+
+"Where else?"
+
+"Might drop 'era around the corner," Mrs. Rice said.
+
+"Don't _drop_ them anywhere, where it is possible to give them," Mr.
+Richmond replied. "Do not ever be, or seem, ashamed of your wares. Give
+lovingly to almost anybody, and the gift will not be refused, if you
+choose the time and place wisely. Take people when they are alone, as
+much as you can. But the _lost_, remember. Who are the lost?"
+
+Silence; then a voice spoke--
+
+"People who don't come to church."
+
+"It is a bad sign when people do not come to church," said Mr.
+Richmond. "Still we may not make that an absolute test. Some people are
+sick and unable to come; some are deaf and unable to hear if they did
+come; some are so poor they have not decent clothes. Some live where
+there are no churches. Who are the _lost?_"
+
+"People who are not going to heaven," one little girl answered.
+
+"People who are not good," another said.
+
+"People who swear," said a boy.
+
+"Those people who do not love Jesus Christ," was the answer of the
+fourth.
+
+"That sums it all up," said Mr. Richmond. "Those who do not know the
+Lord Jesus. They are out of the way to heaven; they have never trusted
+in His blood for forgiveness; they are not good, for they have not got
+His help to make them good; and if they do not swear and do other
+dreadful things, it is only because the temptation is wanting. They are
+the lost. Now, does not every one of you know some friend or
+acquaintance who is a lost one? some brother or sister perhaps; or
+mother or father, or cousin or neighbour, who does not love Jesus the
+Lord? Those are the very first people for us to seek. Then, outside of
+those nearest ones, there is a whole world lost. Let us go after all,
+but especially those who have few to look after them."
+
+"It is harder to speak to those you know, than to those you don't
+know," Mrs. Trembleton said.
+
+"No matter. Jesus said, 'He that taketh not his cross and followeth
+after me, cannot be my disciple.' Let us go to the hardest cases."
+
+"Are not tracts best to use with them?" Mrs. Swan asked.
+
+"Use tracts or not, according to circumstances. Your own voice is often
+better than a tract, if it has the right ring to it. When
+
+  ''Tis joy, not duty,
+  To speak His beauty.'
+
+Speak _that_ as often and wherever you can. And 'whatsoever thy hand
+findeth to do, do it with thy might.' Now I have done asking questions,
+and you may ask me whatever you like. It is your turn."
+
+Mr. Richmond sat down.
+
+But the silence was unbroken.
+
+"I am here to answer questions, remember. Has no one anything to ask?
+Has no one found any difficulty to be met, and he does not know just
+how to meet it? Has no one found something to be done, and he does not
+know just who is to do it? Speak, and tell everything. Now is the time."
+
+Silence again, and then a little boy said--
+
+"I have found a feller that would like, I guess, to come to
+Sunday-School; but his toes is out o' his shoes."
+
+"Cannot he get another pair?" Mr. Richmond asked gravely.
+
+"I guess not, sir."
+
+"Then it is a case for the 'Aid and Comfort' committee," said Mr.
+Richmond. "Who is the head of your department? Who is chief of those
+who are looking up new scholars?"
+
+"John Depeyster."
+
+"Very well. Tell John Depeyster all about your little boy and his toes,
+and John will go to the head of the relief committee--that is, Miss
+Forshew--and she will see about it. Very well, Everett; you have made a
+good beginning. Who is next?"
+
+"I would like to know," said Miss Forshew, in a small voice, "where the
+relief committee are to get supplies from? If new shoes are to be
+bought, there must be funds."
+
+"That is the very thing the relief committee undertook, I thought,"
+said Mr. Richmond. "Must there be some scheme to relieve _them_ first?
+Your business abilities can manage that, Miss Forshew, or I am mistaken
+in them. But, dear friends, we are not going to serve Christ with that
+which costs us nothing--are we?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Ailie Swan, "may temperance people drink cider?"
+
+The laughter was universal now.
+
+"Because," said Ailie, unabashed, "I was talking to a boy about
+drinking it; and he said cider was nothing."
+
+"I have seen _some_ cider which was more than negative in its effects,"
+said Mr. Richmond. "I think you were right Ailie. Cider is only the
+juice of apples, to be sure; but it gets so unlike itself once in a
+while, that it is quite safe to have nothing to do with it."
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said another girl, "what are you to do if people are
+rude?"
+
+"The Bible says, 'A soft answer turneth away wrath,' Mary."
+
+"But suppose they will not listen to you?"
+
+"Be patient. People did not always listen to the Master, you remember."
+
+"But would you try again?"
+
+"If I had the least chance. We must not be afraid of 'taking the wind
+on our face,' as an old writer says. I would try again; and I would
+pray more for them. Did you try that, Mary?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Don't ever hope to do anything without prayer. Indeed, we must look to
+God to do all. _We_ are nothing. If anything is to be accomplished for
+the service of Christ by our hands, it must be by God's grace working
+through us and with us; no other way. The power is His, always. So
+whatever you do, pray, and hope in God, not in yourself."
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Frances Barth, "I do not understand about
+'carrying the message.' What does it mean?"
+
+"You know what the message is? We are commanded to preach the gospel to
+every creature."
+
+"But how can we do it?--people who are not ministers?"
+
+"It is not necessary to get up into a pulpit to preach the gospel."
+
+"No, sir; but--any way, how is one to 'carry the message'?"
+
+"First, I would say, be sure that you have a message to carry."
+
+"I thought you just said, Mr. Richmond, that the gospel is the
+message?" said Mrs. Trembleton.
+
+"It is the material of the message; but you know it must be very
+differently presented to different people."
+
+"I know; but how can you tell?"
+
+"As I said, be sure that you have a message to carry. Let your heart be
+full of some thought, or some truth, which you long to tell to another
+person, or long that another person should know. Then ask the Lord to
+give you the right word for that person; and ask Him to let His power
+go along with it."
+
+"Then one's own heart must be full first," said another lady, Mrs.
+Barth, thoughtfully.
+
+"It should be. And it may be."
+
+"One has so little time to give to these things," said Mrs. Trembleton.
+
+"Shall we serve the Lord with that which costs us nothing?" again said
+Mr. Richmond. But he did not prolong the conversation after that. He
+gave out a hymn and dismissed the assembly.
+
+Matilda being quite in the front, was some distance behind her sisters
+in coming out. As she passed slowly down the aisle, she came near two
+of her little acquaintances in one of the seats, who were busily
+talking.
+
+"It would be so nice!" she heard the one say to the other.
+
+"Where shall we do it?"
+
+"There's no place at our house."
+
+"No more there isn't at mine. There are so many people about all over.
+Where can we go?"
+
+"I'll tell you. Mr. Ulshoeffer has this place nice and warm long before
+Sunday-School time, on Sundays; let us come here. We could come awhile
+before the time, you know; and it would be so nice. Nobody would
+interrupt us. Oh, there's Matilda Englefield--Matilda, won't you come
+too? Oh, I forgot; you are not one of the Band."
+
+"Yes, I am," said Matilda.
+
+"Why, you didn't rise the other night when we all rose. I looked over
+at you to see."
+
+"I gave Mr. Richmond my name afterwards."
+
+"Oh, did you! oh, that's good. Now, Matilda, wouldn't you like to come
+with Mary and me?"
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Why, Mary said she would like to begin and read the Life of Jesus, you
+know, to see how He did live; if we are to follow Him, you know; and I
+said I would like it too; and we're going to do it together. And we're
+coming here Sundays, before time for Sunday-School, to have a good
+quiet place where nobody can trouble us. Don't you want to come too,
+Matilda?"
+
+"Yes. But other people will find it out and come too."
+
+"We'll lock the door; till it is time for the people to come to
+Sunday-School, you know."
+
+"But I don't believe _we_ can get in, Ailie," said Mary Edwards. "I
+guess Mr. Ulshoeffer keeps the door locked himself."
+
+"I know he does; but I know Regina Ulshoeffer, and she'll get leave for
+us and get the key. I know she will. Then we'll come, won't we?
+Good-night! Bring your Testament, Tilly!"
+
+The little group scattered at the lecture-room door, and Matilda ran
+after her party. They were far ahead; and when she caught up with them
+they were deep in eager talk, which was almost altercation. Matilda
+fell behind and kept out of it and out of hearing of it, till they got
+home.
+
+"Well!" said Mrs. Candy, as they entered the parlour, "what now? You do
+not look harmonious, considering. What have you had to-night?"
+
+"An impossible sort of enthusiasm, mamma," said Clarissa, as she drew
+off her handsome furs.
+
+"Impossible enthusiasm!" repeated Mrs. Candy.
+
+"What has Mr. Richmond been talking about?" asked Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Why, mamma," said Letitia, "we are all to spend our lives in feeding
+sick people, and clothing lazy people, and running after the society of
+wicked people, as far as I can make out; and our money of course goes
+on the same plan. I advise you to look after Maria and Matilda, for
+they are just wise enough to think it's all right; and they will be
+carrying it into practice before you know where you are."
+
+"It is not so at all!" began Maria, indignantly. "It is nothing like
+that, mamma. You know Mr. Richmond better."
+
+"I think I know you better, too. Look where your study books were
+thrown down to-day when you came from school. Take them away, before
+you do anything else or say anything more."
+
+Maria obeyed with a gloomy face.
+
+"Do you approve of Mr. Richmond, Aunt Marianne?" Clarissa asked. "If
+so, I will say no more; but I was astonished to-night. I thought he was
+a man of sense."
+
+"He _is_ a man of sense," said Mrs. Englefield; "but I always thought
+he carried his notions rather far."
+
+"Why, aunt, he would make missionaries and colporteurs and sisters of
+charity of us all. Sisters of charity are a magnificent institution, of
+course; but what would become of the world if we were _all_ sisters of
+charity? And the idea! that everybody is to spend his whole time and
+all his means in looking up vagrants and nursing fever cases! I never
+heard anything like it in my life. That, and doing the work of
+travelling Methodists!"
+
+"I wonder what the ministry is good for," said Mrs. Candy, "if
+everybody is to do the same work."
+
+"I do not understand it," said Mrs. Englefield. "I was not brought up
+to these extreme theories myself; and I do not intend that my children
+shall be."
+
+"But, mamma," said Maria, re-entering, "Mr. Richmond does not go into
+extreme theories."
+
+"Did you eat an apple after dinner?" said her mother.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"You ate it up here, instead of in the dining-room?"
+
+"Why, mamma, you know we often----"
+
+"Answer me. You ate it up here?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What did you do with the core and the peel?"
+
+"Mamma, I--you know I had no knife----"
+
+"What did you do with it?"
+
+No answer, except that Maria's cheeks grew bright.
+
+"You know what you did with it, I suppose. Now bring it to me, Maria."
+
+Colouring angrily as well as confusedly, Maria went to the mantelpiece
+where stood two little china vases, and took down one of them.
+
+"Carry it to your Aunt Candy," said her mother. "Look at it, Erminia.
+Now bring it here. Take this vase away, and empty it, and wash it, and
+put it in its place again; and never use it to put apple peels in, as
+long as you live."
+
+Maria burst into tears and went away with the vase.
+
+"Just a little careless," said her aunt.
+
+"Heedless--always was," said her mother. "Now Matilda is not so; and
+Anne and Letitia were neither of them so. It is a mystery to me, what
+makes one child so different from another child?"
+
+"Matilda is a little piece of thoughtfulness," said her aunt, drawing
+the child to her side and kissing her. "Don't you think a little too
+much, Tilly?"
+
+Matilda wondered whether her aunt thought quite enough.
+
+"Now, Maria," Mrs. Englefield went on as her other daughter came in,
+"are you purposing to enter into all Mr. Richmond's plans that Clarissa
+has been talking about?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, of course," Maria said.
+
+"Well, I want you to take notice, that I expect in the first place that
+all your home and school duties shall be perfectly performed. Religion,
+if it is good for anything, makes people do their duties. Your lessons
+must be perfect; your drawers kept in order; your clothes mended; you
+must be punctual at school and orderly at home; do you hear? And if all
+this is not done, I shall take all your pretended religion for nothing
+but a sham, and shall pay no respect to it at all. Now go to bed and
+act religion for a month before I hear you talk another word about it."
+
+Maria went silently up-stairs, accompanied by her little sister; but
+once in their room, she broke out--
+
+"Mamma is real cross to-night! It is just Clarissa's doing."
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Maria," her sister said; "she is not cross;
+she is worried. I know she is worried."
+
+"About Mr. Richmond?" said Maria.
+
+"I don't know about what. No, I guess she was worried before we came
+back."
+
+"She was cross anyhow!" said Maria. "How can one do everything
+_perfectly?_"
+
+"But that is just what Mr. Richmond said," Matilda urged gently.
+
+"What?"
+
+"That we should be light-bearers, you know. That is the way to be a
+light-bearer; to do everything perfectly."
+
+"Well, you may, if you can," said Maria. "I can't."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+"Tilly, that money burns my pocket," Maria said the next morning.
+
+"Then you had better put it somewhere else."
+
+"I suppose you think that is smart," said Maria, "but it isn't; for
+that is just what I mean to do. I mean to spend it, somehow."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"That's just what I don't know. There are so many things I want; and I
+do not know what I want most. I have a good mind to buy a writing-desk,
+for one thing."
+
+"Why, you have got one already."
+
+"I mean a handsome one--a real beauty, large, you know, and with
+everything in it. That lock of mine isn't good. Anybody could open it."
+
+"But there is nobody to do that," said Matilda. "Nobody comes here but
+you and me."
+
+"That don't make any difference!" said Maria, impatiently. "Don't be so
+stupid. I would like to have a nice thing, anyhow. Then sometimes I
+think I would rather have a gold chain--like Clarissa's."
+
+"You could not get that for twenty-five dollars," said Matilda.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Hers cost three or four times as much as that."
+
+"Did it?--Well, then I guess I will have the desk, or a whole lot of
+handsome summer dresses. I guess I will have that."
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, facing round upon her, "how much are
+you going to give to the Missionary Fund?"
+
+"The Missionary Fund?" said Maria.
+
+"Yes. You promised to help that, you know."
+
+"Not with my twenty-five dollars!" said Maria, energetically. "I think
+you are crazy, Matilda."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because! To ask me such a question as that. Aunt Candy's present!"
+
+"Didn't you promise?"
+
+"I did not promise to give my money any more than I usually give. I put
+a penny in every Sunday."
+
+"Then I don't see how you are going to help the Fund," said Matilda. "I
+don't see why you promised, either."
+
+"I promised, because I wanted to join the Band; and I am going to do
+everything I ought to do. I think I am just as good as you, Matilda."
+
+Matilda let the matter drop.
+
+It did not appear what _she_ was going to do with her money. She always
+said she had not decided. Only, one day soon after the last meeting
+recorded, Matilda was seen in one of the small bookstores of Shadywalk.
+There was not reading enough in the village to support a bookstore
+proper; so the books crept into one corner of the apothecaries' shops,
+with supplies of stationery to form a connecting link between them and
+the toilet articles on the opposite counter. To one of these modest
+retreats of literature, Matilda came this day and requested to look at
+Bibles. She chose one and paid for it; but she took a long time to make
+her choice; was excessively particular about the goodness of the
+binding and the clearness of the type; detecting an incipient loose
+leaf in one that was given her to examine; and finally going away
+perfectly satisfied. She said nothing about it at home; but of course
+Maria saw the new purchase immediately.
+
+"So you have been to get a Bible!" she said. "Did you get it with part
+of your twenty-five dollars?"
+
+"Yes. I had no other money, Maria, to get it with."
+
+"I think you are very foolish. What do you want a Bible for?"
+
+"I had none."
+
+"You could always read mine."
+
+"Not always. And Maria, you know, if we are to follow Jesus, we want to
+know very well, indeed, how He went and what He did and what He wants
+us to do; and we cannot know all that without a _great deal_ of study."
+
+"I have studying enough to do already, for my part," said Maria.
+
+"But you must study this."
+
+"I haven't a minute of time, Matilda--not a minute."
+
+"Then how will you know what to do?"
+
+"Just as well as you will, perhaps. I've got my map of South America to
+do all over, from the beginning."
+
+"And all the rest of the class?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then you are no worse off than the others. And Ailie Swan reads her
+Bible, I know."
+
+"I think I am just as good as Ailie Swan," said Maria, with a toss of
+her head.
+
+"But, Maria," said Maria's little sister, leaning her elbows on the
+table and looking earnestly up at her.
+
+"Well, what?"
+
+"Is that the right way to talk?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I don't see what Ailie has to do with your being good."
+
+"Nor I, I am sure," said Maria. "It was you brought her up."
+
+"Because, if she has time, I thought you might have time."
+
+"Well, I haven't time," said Maria. "It is as much as I can do, to
+study my lesson for Sunday-School."
+
+"Then, Maria, how _can_ you know how to be good?"
+
+"It is no part of goodness to go preaching to other people, I would
+have you know," said Maria.
+
+Matilda turned over the leaves of her new Bible lovingly, and said no
+more. But her sister failing her, she was all the more driven to seek
+the little meetings in the corner of the Sunday-School-room; and they
+grew to be more and more pleasant. At home nothing seemed to be right.
+Mrs. Englefield was not like herself. Anne and Letitia were gloomy and
+silent. The air was heavy. Even Clarissa's beautiful eyes, when they
+were slowly lifted up to look at somebody, according to her custom,
+seemed cold and distant as they were not at first. Clarissa visited
+several sick people and carried them nourishing things; but she looked
+calm disapproval when Maria proclaimed that Tilly had been all up Lilac
+Lane to look for a stray Sunday-School scholar. Mrs. Englefield laughed
+and did not interfere.
+
+"I would never let a child of mine go there alone," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"There is no danger in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"You will be sorry for it, sister."
+
+"Well; I am sorry for most things, sooner or later," said Mrs.
+Englefield.
+
+So weeks went by; until it came to be the end of winter, and something
+of spring was already stealing into the sunlight and softening the air;
+that wonderful nameless "something," which is nothing but a far-off
+kiss from Spring's fingers. One Sunday Mrs. Englefield had gone to bed
+with a headache; and hastening away from the dinner-table, Matilda went
+off to her appointment. Mr. Ulshoeffer had been propitious; he let the
+little girls have the key on the inside of the schoolroom door; and an
+hour before it was time for the classes of the school to be gathering,
+the three friends met at the gate and went in. They always sat in a
+far-off corner of one of the transepts, to be as cozy as possible. They
+were all punctual to-day, Ailie having the key of the door.
+
+"Girls, don't you get confused sometimes, with the things you hear
+people say?" she asked, as she unlocked the door. "I do; and then
+sometimes I get real worried."
+
+"So do I get worried!" Mary Edwards assented. "And I don't know what to
+say--that's the worst of it."
+
+"Now only to-day," Ailie went on, as they walked up the matted aisle
+with a delicious sense of being free and alone and confidential, "I
+heard some one say it was no use for children to be Christians; he said
+they didn't know their own minds, and don't know what they want, and by
+and by it will all be smoke. And when I hear such things, it affects me
+differently. Sometimes I get mad; and then sometimes it takes the
+strength all out of me."
+
+"But if we have the right sort of strength," said Matilda, "people
+can't take it from us, Ailie."
+
+"Well, mine seems to go," said Ailie. "And then I feel bad."
+
+"We know what we want," said Mary, "if we are children."
+
+"We know our own minds," said Matilda. "We _know_ we do. It is no
+matter what people say."
+
+"I wish they wouldn't say it," said Ailie. "Or I wish I needn't hear
+it. But it is good to come here and read, isn't it? And I think our
+talk helps us; don't you?"
+
+"It helps me," said Mary Edwards. "I've got nobody at home to talk to."
+
+"Let us begin, girls, or we shall not have time," said Matilda. "It's
+the fourteenth chapter."
+
+"Of Luke?" said Ailie. "Here it is. But I don't like Luke so well as
+Matthew; do you? Well, begin."
+
+They began and read on, verse by verse, until fourteen verses were
+read. There they paused.
+
+"What does this mean?" said Matilda, knitting her small brows.
+
+"Isn't it right to ask our friends to tea or anything? Why, Jesus went
+to dine with this Pharisee," said Mary, looking up.
+
+"Yes; but that is another thing," said Matilda. "You see, we must ask
+the people who have no friends."
+
+"But why not our friends too?"
+
+"Perhaps it would cost too much to ask _everybody_," said Ailie. "One
+would be giving parties all the time; and they cost, I can tell you."
+
+"But some people are rich enough," said Mary.
+
+"Those people don't make parties for the poor, though," said Ailie.
+"Catch them!"
+
+"But then, _can_ it mean that it is wrong to have our friends come and
+see us?" said Matilda.
+
+"It cannot be wrong. Don't you remember, Martha and Mary used to have
+Jesus come to their house? and they used to make suppers for Him."
+
+"But _He_ was poor," said Matilda.
+
+"That is different, too, from having a party, and making a great fuss,"
+said Ailie.
+
+"And _that_ is done just to pay one's debts," said Matilda, "for I have
+heard mother say so. People ask her, and so she must ask people. And
+that is what it means, girls, I guess. See, 'lest they also bid thee
+again, and a recompense be made thee.' That isn't making a feast for
+people that you love."
+
+"Then it is wicked to ask people just that they may ask you," said Mary
+Edwards.
+
+"Instead of that, we must ask people who _cannot_ ask us," said Matilda.
+
+"But how queer we should be!" said Ailie Swan. "Just think; we should
+not be like anybody else. And what should we do if people asked us?"
+
+"I don't care," said Matilda. "See, girls;--'thou shalt be recompensed
+at the resurrection of the just.'"
+
+"And is that what it means in the next verse?" said Mary Edwards. "But
+I don't understand that. 'Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
+kingdom of God.' Do they eat bread there? I thought they didn't."
+
+"It is like what we read a little way back," said Matilda, flirting
+over one or two leaves, "yes, here in the 12th chapter--'Blessed are
+those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily
+I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down
+to meat, and will come forth and serve them.'"
+
+"That means Jesus," said Mary Edwards. "He will make them to sit down
+to meat!--and will serve them. What does it mean, I wonder?"
+
+"It means, that Jesus will give them good things," said Ailie.
+
+"I guess they will be blessed, then, that eat when He feeds them," said
+the other little girl. "I would like to be there."
+
+"There is a verse or two that my Bible turns to," said Matilda. "In the
+Revelation. 'And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are
+called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Oh, don't you like to
+read in the Revelation? But we are all called; aren't we?"
+
+"And here, in our chapter," said Mary, "it goes on to tell of the
+people who were called and wouldn't come. So I suppose everybody is
+called; and some won't come."
+
+"Some don't get the invitation," said Matilda, looking up.
+
+"A good many don't, I guess," said Ailie. "Who do you think gets it in
+Lilac Lane?"
+
+"Nobody, hardly, I guess," said Mary Edwards; "there don't many people
+come to church out of Lilac Lane."
+
+"But then, girls," said Matilda, "don't you think we ought to take it
+there? the invitation, I mean?"
+
+"How can we? Why, there are lots of people in Lilac Lane that I would
+be afraid to speak to."
+
+"I wouldn't be afraid," said Matilda. "They wouldn't do us any harm."
+
+"But what would you say to them, Tilly?"
+
+"I would just ask them to come, Ailie. I would take the message to
+them. Just think, Ailie, of that time, of that supper--when Jesus will
+give good things with His own hand;--and how many people would come if
+they knew. I would tell everybody. Don't you think we ought to?"
+
+"I don't like to speak to people much," said Ailie. "They would think I
+was setting myself up."
+
+"It is only carrying the message," said Matilda. "And that is what
+Jesus was doing _all the time_, you know; and He has told us to follow
+Him."
+
+"Then must we be telling it all the time too?" asked Ailie. "We should
+do nothing else."
+
+"Oh yes, we should. That would not hinder," said Matilda. "It doesn't
+take so very long to say a word. Here is another verse, girls; this is
+in the Revelation too; listen. This must be what those other verses
+mean: '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.'"
+
+As if a thrill from some chord of an angel's harp had reached them, the
+children were still for a moment.
+
+"I don't believe the people are happy in Lilac Lane," said Matilda.
+
+"Maybe they are," said Ailie. "But I guess they can't be. People that
+are not good can't be happy."
+
+"And Jesus has given us the message to take to everybody," said
+Matilda; "and when we come up there to that supper, and He asks us if
+we took the message to the people in the lane, what shall we say? I
+know what I would like to say."
+
+"But there are other people, besides in the lane," said Ailie.
+
+"We must take it to them too," said Mary Edwards.
+
+"We _can't_ take it to everybody."
+
+"No; only to _everybody that we can_," said Matilda. "Just think how
+glad some of those people will be, when they hear it. What should we do
+if Mr. Richmond had never told it to us?"
+
+Ailie bit her lip. Whether by design or not, Mary Edwards turned to her
+Testament and read the next words that followed in course.
+
+"And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto
+them, If any man come unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
+wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
+also, he cannot be my disciple."
+
+And seeing Mr. Ulshoeffer coming to open the door, the little conclave
+broke up. The children and teachers came pouring in for the
+Sunday-School.
+
+Going out after it was over, Matilda noticed a face she had not seen; a
+boy older than herself, but not very old, standing near the door,
+looking at the small crowd that trooped along the aisle. The thought
+came to Matilda that he was a new scholar, and if so, somebody ought to
+welcome him; but nobody did, that she could see. He stood alone,
+looking at the people as if they were strange to him; with a good,
+bright, wide-awake face, handsome and bold. Matilda did not want to
+take the welcoming upon herself, but she thought somebody should do it;
+and the next minute she had paused in front of the stranger.
+
+"Is this the first time you have been here?" she asked, with a kind of
+shy grace. The boy's bright eyes came down to her with a look of
+surprise as he assented.
+
+"I am very glad to see you in our Sunday-School," she went on. "I hope
+it was pleasant."
+
+"It was pleasant enough," said the stranger. "There is a jolly fellow
+over there asked me to come--Ben Barth; are you his sister?"
+
+"Oh no," said Matilda. "Ben has his own sisters. I am not one of them."
+
+"I thought maybe he told you to speak to me."
+
+"Nobody told me," said Matilda. By this time they had followed the
+crowd out at the door, and were taking their way down the street.
+
+"What did you speak to me then, for?" said the boy, with a roguish look
+at her.
+
+"I thought you were a stranger."
+
+"And what if I was?"
+
+"I think, if you are a stranger anywhere, it is pleasant to have
+somebody speak to you."
+
+"You're a brick!" was the stranger's conclusion.
+
+"Am I?" said Matilda. "Why am I?"
+
+"You're a girl, I suppose, and don't understand things," said her
+companion. "Boys know what a brick is--when they see it."
+
+"Why, so do I," said Matilda, "don't I?"
+
+But the boy only laughed; and then asked Matilda where she lived, and
+if she had any brothers, and where she went to school.
+
+"I go to the other school, you see," said he; "that's how I've never
+seen you before. I wish you went to my school; and I'd give you a ride
+on my sled."
+
+"But you'll come to our Sunday-School, won't you?" Matilda asked.
+
+"To be sure I will; but you see, I can't take you on my sled on Sunday.
+They'd have all the ministers out after me."
+
+"Oh no!" said Matilda. "I was not thinking of the sled; but you are
+very kind."
+
+"I should like it," said the boy. "Yes, I am coming to the school;
+though I guess I've got an old fogy of a teacher. But the minister's a
+brick; isn't he?"
+
+"He isn't much like _me_," said Matilda, laughing. "And the sort of
+bricks that I know, one is very much like another."
+
+The boy laughed too, and asked if she didn't want to know his name?
+Matilda glanced again at the frank face and nice dress, and said yes.
+
+"My name's Norton Laval. What's yours?"
+
+"Matilda Englefield. I am going this way."
+
+"Yes, you go that way and I go this way, but we shall see each other
+again. Good-bye."
+
+So at the corner they parted; and Matilda went home, thinking that in
+this instance at least the welcoming of strangers had paid well. For
+this was a pleasant new acquaintance, she was sure. She mounted the
+stairs with happy feet to her room; and there found Maria in a flood of
+tears. Maria had stayed at home from Sunday-School to-day.
+
+"What is the matter, Maria?" her little sister inquired. "How's mamma?"
+
+"I don't know! Oh, nothing will ever be well again. O Tilly, what will
+become of us!"
+
+And here a storm of sobs and tears came on, in the midst of which
+Matilda's questions could get no attention. Matilda knew her sister,
+however, and waited.
+
+"O Tilly!--it's so dreadful!"
+
+"What?" said Matilda calmly.
+
+"We haven't got anything to live upon. Anne and Letty have been telling
+me. We haven't. We are going to be as poor as--as poor as anybody. We
+have got nothing to buy anything with--nothing at all! Anne says so."
+
+"Did mamma say so?"
+
+"Mother's sick. No, Aunt Candy told the girls. It's true. Somebody or
+something that had mamma's money--to take care of--has gone off, or
+been ruined, or something; and we are ruined! There is nothing left at
+all for us to live upon. And that is what has been troubling mamma all
+these weeks; and now it is certain, and she knows all about it; and I
+guess it is that has made her sick. Oh, what shall we do?"
+
+The turn of Matilda's head was inimitable and indescribable. It was not
+arrogance or affectation; it was perfectly natural to the child; but to
+a bystander it would have signified that she was aware Maria's views
+and statements were not to be relied upon and could not be made the
+basis of either opinion or action. She took off her things, and without
+another word made her way to the room of her elder sisters. They were
+both sitting there gloomily.
+
+"How is mamma?"
+
+"I don't know. I haven't seen her since dinner."
+
+It was with a little of the same half-graceful, half-competent gesture
+of the head that Matilda applied herself to Letitia.
+
+"What is all this story, Letty, that Maria has been telling me?"
+
+"How should I know? Maria tells a great many stories."
+
+"I mean, about what has been troubling mamma."
+
+"Maria had no business to tell you, and so trouble you with it."
+
+"But is it true, Letty? Anne, is it true?"
+
+"I suppose it is true--if you mean what she heard from me a little
+while ago. That is true."
+
+"And mamma has lost all her money?"
+
+"Every cent."
+
+"When did you know it, Anne and Letty?"
+
+"We have known it a day or two. It is true. It is all true, Tilly."
+
+"What is mamma going to do, then?"
+
+"Get well, I hope. That is the first thing. Aunt Candy says she will
+pay for her board and Clarissa's, and mamma and you can live on that.
+Letty and I must go get our living--somehow."
+
+And here Anne broke down. Matilda wanted to ask about Maria's fate in
+the general falling to pieces of the family; but her throat felt so
+full, she was afraid she could not. So she did not try; she turned and
+went down-stairs to her mother.
+
+Mrs. Englefield was dozing, flushed and uneasy; she hardly noticed who
+was with her; but asked for water, and then for Cologne water. Matilda
+brought the one and the other, and sat by the bedside wiping her
+mother's brow and cheeks with the Cologne. Nobody came to interrupt or
+relieve her for some time. The light of the afternoon began to fade,
+and the sunbeams came aslant from the western sky; and still the child
+sat there passing the handkerchief gently over her mother's face. And
+while she sat so, Matilda was thinking what possible ways there might
+be by which she could make money.
+
+"Tilly, is that you?" said Mrs. Englefield, faintly, as the sunbeams
+were just quitting the room.
+
+"Yes, mamma. Are you better?"
+
+"Is there no one else here?"
+
+"No, mamma. Aunt Candy is out; and I suppose the girls thought you were
+sleeping. Are you better, mamma? You have had a nice long nap."
+
+"It's been horrid!" said Mrs. Englefield. "I have dreamed of every
+possible dreadful thing."
+
+"But you feel better now?"
+
+"My head aches--no--oh, my head! Tilly----"
+
+"What, mamma?"
+
+"I am going to be sick. I shan't be about again for a while, I know. I
+want you to do just what I tell you."
+
+"Yes, mamma. What?"
+
+"Anne and Letty are going away."
+
+"Yes, mamma. I know."
+
+"Do you know why, dear?"
+
+The tone of tender, sorrowful sympathy in which this was said, overcame
+the child. As her mother's eyes with the question languidly sought her
+face, Matilda burst into tears and threw herself upon her neck.
+
+"No, don't," said Mrs. Englefield, faintly,--"I can't bear it. Don't,
+Matilda! Rise up and listen to me."
+
+Matilda did as she was told. She forced back her tears; stopped her
+sobs; dashed away the drops from the corners of her eyes; and sat up
+again to hear what her mother had to say to her.
+
+"Give me some more water first. Anne and Letty are going away, Tilly;
+and I cannot be up and see to anything; and I can't hire a woman to do
+what's to be done. You tell Maria, from me, she must stay home from
+school and take care of the house. You will do what you can, Tilly--oh,
+my head!--you can put rooms in order and such things; and Maria must go
+down into the kitchen and get the breakfast----"
+
+"Must Maria get the dinner too, mamma?"
+
+"Yes, the dinner----"
+
+"But _can_ she, mamma?"
+
+"She _must;_ or else your aunt Candy will hire somebody to do it; and
+that will come out of what she pays me, and we shall not have enough
+left. She _must_, Tilly."
+
+"But aunt Candy wouldn't mind, just while you are sick, mamma, would
+she?"
+
+"Yes! I know. Just you do as I tell you; promise me that you will."
+
+"I will, mamma."
+
+"Promise me that Maria will."
+
+"I guess she will, mamma. I'll try and make her. Shall I bring her
+here, and you tell her yourself?"
+
+"No, indeed. Don't bring Maria here. She would make such a row she
+would kill me. Anne and Letty will see to things, till they go--oh, I
+can't talk any longer. Give me some more water."
+
+She was presently dozing again; and Matilda, clasping her small hands,
+sat and thought over what was before her. It began to feel like a
+weight on her somewhere--on her shoulders, she thought, and lying on
+her heart too; and the longer she thought about it, the heavier and
+harder it pressed. The family to be broken up; her mother to be
+straitened for money--Matilda did not know very well what that meant,
+but it sounded disagreeable; her aunt suddenly presented in new and not
+pleasant colours; a general threatening cloud overshadowing all the
+future. Matilda began to get, what her strong little heart was not
+accustomed to, a feeling of real discouragement. What could she do? And
+then a word of the afternoon's lesson in the Sunday-School came freshly
+to mind. It had been quite new to Matilda, and had seemed to her very
+beautiful; but it took on quite another sort of beauty now,--"Cast thy
+burden upon the Lord; He shall sustain thee."
+
+"Will He?" thought Matilda. "Can He? May I tell Him about all this? and
+will He help me to bear it, and help me to do all that work, and to
+make Maria do hers? But He will, _for He has said so_."
+
+It was getting dusk in the room. Matilda knelt down by her chair, and
+poured out all her troubles into the Ear that would heed and could help
+her.
+
+"Who's here?" said the voice of Mrs. Candy, coming in. "Who is that?
+Matilda? How did you come here, Tilly?"
+
+"I have been taking care of my mother."
+
+"Have you? How is she? Well, you run down-stairs; I'll take care of her
+now. It is better for you not to be here. Don't come in again, unless I
+give you leave. Now you may go."
+
+"I wonder, must I mind her?" said Matilda to herself. "I do not see
+why. She is not mother; and if mother is sick, that does not give
+everybody else a right to say what I shall do. I think it is very queer
+of Aunt Candy to take that way with me."
+
+And I am afraid Matilda's head was carried a little with the air which
+was, to be sure, natural to her, and not unpretty, and yet which spoke
+of a good deal of conscious competency. It is no more than justice to
+Matilda to say that she did not ever put the feeling into any
+ill-mannerly form. It hardly appeared at all, except in this turn of
+her head, which all her own family knew, laughed at, admired, and even
+loved. So she went down-stairs to the parlour.
+
+"How is Aunt Marianne?" was the question from Clarissa. "Letty told me
+where you were. But, little one, it is not good for you to go into your
+mother's sick-room; you can do nothing, and you are better out. So
+mamma wishes you not to go in there till Aunt Marianne is better--you
+understand?"
+
+"Clarissa too!" thought Matilda to herself. But she made no answer. She
+came by the fire to warm herself; for her mother's room had been cold.
+
+"You shouldn't go so near the fire; you'll burn your dress," Clarissa
+remarked.
+
+"No," said Matilda; and she said but that one word.
+
+"You will take the colour out, if you do not set it on fire; and that
+is what I meant. That is your best dress, Tilly."
+
+It was true; and, sorely against her will, Matilda stepped a little
+back.
+
+"You were a great while at Sunday-School to-day," Clarissa went on.
+
+"No," said Matilda; "not longer than usual."
+
+"What do you learn there?"
+
+"Why, cousin Issa, what do you teach at _your_ Sunday-School?" said
+Matilda. For Clarissa had sheered off from Mr. Richmond's church, and
+gone into a neighbouring one which belonged to the denomination in
+which she had been brought up.
+
+"That is not good manners to answer one question with another, little
+one."
+
+"I thought one answer might serve for both," said Matilda.
+
+"I am afraid it would not. For in my Sunday-School I teach the
+Catechism."
+
+"Don't the Catechism tell about Jesus?"
+
+"Some things,--of course."
+
+"Our lessons tell all things about Him," said Matilda; "and that is
+what I learn."
+
+"Do you learn about yourself?"
+
+"What about myself?"
+
+"How you ought to behave, and how you ought not to behave."
+
+"Why, I think learning about Jesus teaches one _that_," said Matilda.
+
+"I think there is nothing so good as coming home to learn about home,"
+said Clarissa.
+
+The talk did not run in a way to please Matilda, and she was silent.
+Presently they were called down to tea. Everybody suffering from a fit
+of taciturnity.
+
+"Maria, sit up straight," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"I always sit so," was the answer.
+
+"_So_, is not very graceful. Matilda does not sit so."
+
+"Matilda was always straight; it's her way," said Maria.
+
+"Well, make it your way too. Come! straighten up. What shoulders! One
+would think you were a boy playing at leap-frog."
+
+"I don't know what 'leap-frog' is," said Maria, colouring; "and I don't
+think anybody would think I was anything but a girl anyhow. I get tired
+sitting up straight."
+
+"When?" asked Clarissa.
+
+Matilda's head was quite indescribable in the turn it gave at this
+moment. Her supper was done; she was leaving the table.
+
+"You are not going into your mother's room?" said her aunt, catching
+her hand as she passed.
+
+"You said you wished I would not."
+
+"Yes, my dear, I am going up there immediately. Don't go out either,
+Matilda."
+
+"I am going to church, Aunt Candy."
+
+"I think not. Not to-night. I do not approve of so much church-going
+for little girls. You can study your lesson, you know, for next Sunday.
+I do not want to have anybody else sick on my hands till your mother is
+well."
+
+Matilda's face expressed none of her disappointment; her head was even
+carried a little higher than usual as she left the room. But outside
+the door her steps flagged; and she went slowly up the stairs, asking
+herself if she was bound to mind what her aunt said. She was not clear
+about it. In the abstract, Matilda was well enough disposed to obey all
+lawful authority; just now a spirit of opposition had risen. Was this
+lawful authority? Mrs. Englefield was sick, to be sure; but did that
+give Mrs. Candy any right to interfere with what was known to be Mrs.
+Englefield's will when she was not sick? Matilda thought not. Then, on
+the other hand, she did not wish to do anything to displease her aunt,
+who had always been kind to her; she did not wish to change the
+relations between them. Slowly Matilda mounted stair after stair till
+she got to her room. There she stood by the window a moment, thinking
+and sorrowing; for if she did not wish to anger her aunt, neither did
+she wish to lose her evening in church, her sight of Mr. Richmond, and
+his sermon. And just then, the clear, sweet sound of the church bell
+came, with its first note, to tell that the service would begin in a
+quarter of an hour. It sounded like a friend's voice calling her. Her
+Aunt Candy's church bell joined in, and Mr. Everett's church, and Mr.
+Schönflocker's church; but that one which Mr. Ulshoeffer rang was the
+loudest of all to Matilda's ear. She could hardly stand it. Then Maria
+burst in.
+
+"What are you going to do?" said Matilda.
+
+"Do? Why, I am going to church, of course; and in a hurry."
+
+"And Anne and Letty?"
+
+"Certainly; and Issa too."
+
+Matilda said no more, but hastily made herself ready, and went down
+with the rest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Anne and Letitia were to leave home in the afternoon of Monday; and
+Maria and Matilda went to school that morning as usual. But when the
+noon hour came, Matilda called her sister into a corner of the emptied
+schoolroom, and sat down with a face of business.
+
+"What is the matter?" said Maria. "We must go home to dinner."
+
+"I should like to speak to you here first."
+
+"About what? Say it and be quick; for I am ever so hungry. Aunt Candy
+cut my breakfast short this morning."
+
+"I wanted to say to you that we had better take home our books."
+
+"What for?" said Maria, with opening eyes.
+
+"Because, Maria, mamma was talking to me last night about it. You know
+there will be no one at home now, after to-day, but you and me."
+
+"Aunt Erminia and Clarissa?"
+
+"Nobody to do anything, I mean."
+
+"Can't they do anything? I don't know what you are talking of, Matilda;
+but I know I want my dinner."
+
+"Who do you think will get dinner to-morrow?"
+
+"Well--mother's sick of course; and Anne and Letty are going. I should
+think Aunt Candy might."
+
+"No, she won't."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because mother said so. She won't do anything."
+
+"Then she'll have to get a girl to do things, I suppose."
+
+"But Maria, that is just what mother wants she shouldn't do; because
+she'd have to pay for it."
+
+"Who would have to pay for it?"
+
+"Mamma."
+
+"Why would she?"
+
+"She said so."
+
+"I don't see why she would, I am sure. If Aunt Erminia hires a girl,
+_she'll_ pay for her."
+
+"But that will come out of what Aunt Erminia pays to mamma; and what
+Aunt Erminia pays to mamma is what we have got to live upon."
+
+"Who said so?"
+
+"Mamma said so." Matilda answered with her lip trembling; for the
+bringing facts all down to hard detail was difficult to bear.
+
+"Well, I _do_ think," exclaimed Maria, "if I had a sister sick and not
+able to help herself, I would not be so mean!"
+
+Matilda sat still and cried and said nothing.
+
+"Who _is_ going to do all the work then, Tilly?"
+
+There would have been something comical, if it had not been sad, in the
+way the little girl looked up and said, "You and I."
+
+"I guess we will!" said Maria, with opening eyes. "You and I! Take care
+of the house, and wash the dishes, and cook the dinner, and everything!
+You know we couldn't, Matilda; and what's more, _I_ know we won't."
+
+"Yes, mamma wishes it. We must; and so we can, Maria."
+
+"_I_ can't," said Maria, taking down her school cloak.
+
+"But, Maria! we must. Mamma will be more sick if we do not; you heard
+what Aunt Candy said at breakfast, that she is fearfully nervous; and
+if she hears that there is a hired girl in the house, it will worry her
+dreadfully."
+
+"It will be Aunt Candy's fault then," said Maria, fastening her cloak.
+"I never heard of anybody so mean in all my life!--never."
+
+"But that don't help anything, Maria. And you and I _must_ do what
+mamma said. You know we shall have little enough to live on, as it is,
+and if you take the pay of a hired girl out of it, there will be so
+little left."
+
+"I've got my twenty-five dollars, that I can get summer dresses with; I
+am glad I haven't spent it," said Maria. "Come, Tilly; I'm going home."
+
+"But, Maria, you have not said what you ought to say yet."
+
+"What ought I to say?"
+
+"I will help and do my part. We can manage it. Come, Maria, say that
+you will."
+
+"Your part," said Maria. "What do you suppose your part would come to?
+What can such a child as you do?"
+
+"Maria, now is the time to show whether you are really one of the Band
+of workers."
+
+"I am, of course. I joined it."
+
+"That would not make you one of them, if you don't do what they
+promised to do."
+
+"When did I ever promise to be Aunt Candy's servant girl?" said Maria,
+fiercely. "I should like to know."
+
+"But 'we are the servants of Christ,'" said Matilda, softly, her eyes
+glistening through.
+
+"What then?"
+
+"We promised to try to do whatever would honour Him."
+
+"I don't know what all this affair has to do with it," said Maria. "You
+say _we_ promised;--you didn't?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"You didn't join the Band?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"When?"
+
+"A few days after you did."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me? Did you tell Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I think it is mean, that you did not tell me."
+
+"I am telling you now. But now, Maria, you know what you promised."
+
+"I did not promise this sort of thing at all, Tilly."
+
+"Yes, don't you know? 'we stand ready to do His will.' That's in the
+covenant."
+
+"But _this_ is not His will," insisted Maria. "This is Aunt Erminia's
+meanness."
+
+"But it certainly is His will that we should do what mamma says, and
+please her; and this is the work He has given us to do."
+
+Maria's answer this time was to sit down and cry for her part. Matilda
+did not join her, but stood by, patiently waiting. Maria cried and
+sobbed for several minutes; then she started up and set off homewards
+at a furious rate. Matilda gathered together her books and followed her
+sister; trying to comfort herself with the thought that this _was_
+certainly the work given them to do, and that she would try and make
+the best of it.
+
+The dinner was sorrowful enough. Maria, indeed, ate it as if
+remembering it was the last dinner for some time to come that she would
+find ready prepared for her. But Anne and Letty were broken down with
+grief; and Mrs. Candy's endeavours to comfort them were either not the
+right sort, or fell upon unready ears. Clarissa was composed as usual.
+
+"You were late from school, Maria and Matilda," their aunt remarked,
+finding Anne and Letty unmanageable. "What was the reason?"
+
+"Tilly was talking to me," Maria said.
+
+"You could talk on the way home, I should think. I dislike to have
+dinner eaten by stages; first one set coming, and then another. I am
+going to ask you to be punctual for the future. Do not be in a hurry,
+Maria; there is time enough, now you are here, to eat moderately."
+
+"I am hungry. I don't want to eat moderately, Aunt Erminia."
+
+"As much as you wish; but you can be moderate in manner, cannot you,
+even if not in quantity?"
+
+"Nobody ever told me I eat too much, before," said Maria.
+
+"There are a great many things that you have never been told, I
+suppose?" said Clarissa, lifting her handsome eyes quietly.
+
+"I don't care about your telling me either," said Maria.
+
+"My dear, that is not polite," interposed her aunt. "I am sorry to hear
+you speak so. Would you not like to have Issa, or any one, tell you
+things that you would be the better for. You would not wish to remain
+just as you are, to the end of your days?"
+
+"It don't hurt anybody but me," said Maria.
+
+"I beg your pardon. Everything that is not graceful and well-mannered,
+on the part of people in whose company we are, hurts me and Clarissa.
+It hurts me to have you bolt down your food as you were doing just
+now--if I am sitting at the same table with you. And it hurts me to
+have you speak rudely. I hope you will mend in all these things."
+
+"It will not hurt you to have us say good-bye," said Anne, rising. "I
+will do that now, if you please. Letty, I will leave you to take care
+of these things, and I will finish the packing. We must be quick, too."
+
+The farewell greetings with her aunt and cousin were soon spoken; and
+Maria and Matilda tore up-stairs after their sister, to pour out tears
+and complaints together during the remaining moments of her being at
+home. Matilda's tears, however, were quiet and her words very few.
+
+"Ain't she too bad!" exclaimed Maria.
+
+"You must try and hold your own the best you can," said Anne, "until
+mamma gets up again. Poor children! I am afraid she will be too much
+for you."
+
+"But, Anne, did you think Aunt Candy was like that?" said Maria. "She
+wasn't like that at first."
+
+"I guess she was. All she wanted was a chance. Now she's got it. Try
+and bear it the best you can till mamma is well. She cannot be worried
+now."
+
+"Is mamma very sick, Anne?" Matilda ventured.
+
+"N-o," said Anne, "but she might be, Tilly, if she was worried. The
+doctor says she is very nervous, and must be kept quiet. She has been
+worrying so long, you see. So you must try and not do anything to fret
+her."
+
+The prospect was sad. When the omnibus came to take Anne and Letty to
+the station, and when the last kisses and hugs were over, and the
+omnibus bounced away, carrying with it all they had at the moment, the
+two girls left at home felt forlorn enough. The only thing to be done
+was to rush up-stairs to their room and cry their hearts out. And that
+was done thoroughly.
+
+But by and by, Matilda's thoughts, in their very extreme need of
+comfort, began to take up the words again which she had once found so
+good: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord; He shall sustain thee." She left
+her sobbing, dried her eyes, sat down by the window, and found the
+place in her Bible, that her eyes might have the comfort of seeing and
+reading the words there. The Lord's words: Tilly knew they were true.
+But Maria sobbed on. At last her little sister called her.
+
+"What is it?" said she.
+
+"Come here,--and I will show you something good."
+
+"Good?--what?" said Maria, approaching the window. "Oh, words in the
+Bible!"
+
+"Read, Maria."
+
+"I have read them before," said the other, sullenly, after she had
+glanced at the place.
+
+"But they are true, Maria."
+
+"Well; they don't help me."
+
+"But they help _me_," said Matilda. "It's Jesus' promise to help."
+
+"I don't believe it is for such things as this."
+
+"Why not?" said Matilda, a sudden chill coming over her heart. "It says
+just, 'Cast thy burden'--it might be any burden; it does not signify
+what it is, Maria."
+
+"Yes, it does; it is not for such little things," said Maria. "It is
+for great religious people and their affairs. Oh dear! oh dear!"
+
+Sorely troubled now at having her supports knocked away from under her,
+Matilda eagerly sought further, if perchance she might find something
+that Maria could not question. Her Bible had a few references in the
+margin; consulting these, she presently found what she had need of; but
+a feeling of want of sympathy between them forbade her to show the new
+words to her sister. Matilda pored over them with great rest of heart;
+gave thanks for them; and might have used with truth David's
+language--"Thy words were found, and I did eat them." The words were
+these:--
+
+"Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication
+with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the
+peace of God that passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and
+minds through Christ Jesus."
+
+Matilda's eyes were dry and her voice was clear, when she reminded her
+sister that it was time to get tea. Maria was accustomed to do this
+frequently, and made no objection now. So the two went down together.
+Passing the parlour door, however, it opened, and Mrs. Candy called
+Matilda in.
+
+"I want to speak a word to you, Tilly," she said. "Did you go out last
+evening?"
+
+"Yes; I did, aunt Erminia."
+
+"You went to church?"
+
+Matilda assented; but though she had bowed her head, it seemed to be
+more erect than before.
+
+"And I had told you not to go, had I not? You understood that?"
+
+A silent assent was again all that the child gave.
+
+"I am accustomed to be obeyed," said Mrs. Candy. "That is my way. It
+may not be your mother's way; but all the same, I am mistress here
+while she is sick; mistress over you as well as the rest. You must obey
+me like all the rest. Will you?"
+
+What was meant by "all the rest" Matilda marvelled, seeing that nobody
+else but Maria and her own daughter were left in the house. This time
+she gave no sign of answering; she only stood and listened.
+
+"Will you obey me, Tilly?"
+
+Matilda was not sure whether she would. In her mind it depended on
+circumstances. She would obey, conditionally. But she would not
+compromise her dignity by words about it. She was silent.
+
+"I must be obeyed," Mrs. Candy went on, with mild tones, although a
+displeased face. "If not willingly, then unwillingly. I shall punish
+you, Matilda, if you disobey me; and so severely that you will find it
+best not to do it again. But I should be very sorry to have you drive
+me to such disagreeable doings. We should both be sorry together. It is
+much best not to let things come to such extremity."
+
+Matilda coloured high, but except that and the slight gesture of her
+head, she yet gave no reply.
+
+"That is enough upon that subject," the lady went on. "Only, I should
+be glad to have you tell me that you will try to please me."
+
+"I wish to please everybody--as far as I can," Matilda said at last.
+
+"Then you will please me?"
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"She hopes so, Issa," said Mrs. Candy, turning her head round towards
+where her daughter sat.
+
+"American children, mamma," was Clarissa's comment.
+
+"There is another thing, Matilda," Mrs. Candy resumed after a slight
+pause. "Your mother has told me that Maria is competent to do the work
+of the house until she gets well. Is she? and will Maria, do you think,
+try to please me as much as you do?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. I think she can--she and I. We will do it," Matilda
+answered more readily.
+
+"She and you! What can you do?"
+
+"I can help a little."
+
+"Well then, that is settled; and I need not look out for a girl?"
+
+"Oh no, aunt Candy. She and I can do it."
+
+"But mind, I must have things in order, and well done. It is my
+sister's choice, that Maria should do it. But it is not mine unless I
+can have everything in good order. You may tell Maria so, and let her
+understand what it is she is undertaking. I am to have no dusty stairs,
+and no half-set tables. If she wants instruction in anything, I am
+willing to give it; but I cannot have disorder. Now you may go and tell
+her; and tell her to have tea ready in half an hour."
+
+"What did she want of you?" Maria asked, when Matilda rejoined her
+down-stairs.
+
+"She wanted to talk to me about my going out last evening."
+
+"Oh! was she in a great fuss about it?"
+
+"And Maria, she wants tea to be ready in half an hour."
+
+"I'll have it ready sooner than that," said Maria, bustling about.
+
+"But you must not. She wants it in half an hour; you must not have it
+ready before."
+
+"Why not?" said Maria, stopping short.
+
+"Why, she wants it _then_. She has a right to have tea when she likes."
+
+But Matilda sighed as she spoke, for her aunt's likings were becoming a
+heavy burden to her, in the present and in the future. The two girls
+went gently round, setting the table, cutting the bread, putting out
+the sweetmeat, getting the teapot ready for the tea; then they stood
+together over the stove, waiting for the time to make it.
+
+"There's one comfort," Matilda said with another sigh;--"we can do it
+all for Christ."
+
+"What?" said Maria, starting.
+
+"It is work He has given us to do, you know, Maria; and we have
+promised to do everything we can to please Him. So we can do this to
+please Him."
+
+"I don't see how," said Maria. "_This_ isn't Band work;--do you think
+it is?"
+
+"It isn't Sunday-School work; but, Maria, you know, 'we are the
+servants of Christ.' Now He has given us this work to do."
+
+"That's just talking nonsense," said Maria. "There is no religion in
+pots and kettles."
+
+Matilda had to think her way out of that statement.
+
+"Maria, in the covenant, you know, we say 'we stand ready to do His
+will;' and you _know_ it is His will that we should have these things
+to do."
+
+"I don't!" said Maria; "that's a fact."
+
+"Then how comes it that we have them?"
+
+"Just because mamma is sick, and Aunt Erminia is too mean to live!"
+
+"You should not speak so," said Matilda. "How comes mamma to be sick?
+and how comes it that we have got no money to hire a girl?"
+
+"Because that man in New York was wicked, and ran away with mamma's
+money."
+
+"Maria," said Matilda, solemnly, "I don't see what you meant by joining
+the Band."
+
+"I meant more than you did!" said Maria, flaming out. "Such children as
+you are too young to join it."
+
+"We are not too young to be Christians."
+
+"You are too young to join the Church and be baptized."
+
+"Why?" said Matilda.
+
+"Oh, you are too young to _understand_. Anybody that knows will tell
+you so. And if you are not fit to be baptized and join the Church, you
+are not fit to join the Band. Now I can make the tea."
+
+Matilda looked hard at the teapot, as it stood on the stove while the
+tea was brewing; but she let her sister alone after that. When the meal
+was over, and the dishes washed and everything done, she and Maria went
+up to their own room, and Maria at once went to bed. Her little sister
+opened her Bible, and read, over and over, the words that had comforted
+her. They were words from God; promises and commands straight from
+heaven. Matilda took them so, and studied earnestly how she might do
+what they bade her. "Cast her burden on the Lord"--how was she to do
+that? Clearly, she was not to keep it on her own heart, she thought;
+she must trust that the Lord would take care of anything put into His
+hands. The words were very good. And the other words? "Be careful for
+nothing"--that was the same thing differently expressed; and Matilda
+felt very glad it had been written for her in both places and in both
+ways; and that she was ordered "in everything" to "make her requests
+known to God." She might not have dared, perhaps, in some little
+troubles that only concerned a child and were not important to anybody
+else; but now there could be no doubt--she might, and she must. She was
+very glad. But, "with thanksgiving?"--how could that be always? Now,
+for instance? Things were more disagreeable and sorrowful than in all
+her life she had ever known them; "give thanks"? must she? _now?_ And
+how could she? Matilda studied over it a good while. Finally took to
+praying over it. Asked to be taught how she could give thanks when she
+was sorry. And getting quite tired, at last went to bed, where Maria
+was already fast asleep.
+
+There is no denying that Matilda was sorry to wake up the next morning.
+But awake she found herself, and broad awake too; and the light outside
+the window admonished her she had no time then to lie and think. She
+roused Maria immediately, and herself began dressing without a moment's
+delay.
+
+"Oh, what's the hurry!" said Maria, yawning and stretching herself.
+"I'm sleepy."
+
+"But it isn't early, Maria."
+
+"Well; I don't want it to be early."
+
+"Yes, you do, Maria; you forget. We have a great deal on our hands.
+Make haste, please, and get up. Do, Maria!"
+
+"What have we got to do so much?" said Maria, with yawn the second.
+
+"Everything. You are so sleepy, you have forgotten."
+
+"Yes. I have forgotten," said Maria, closing her eyes.
+
+"O Maria, please do get up! I'm almost dressed; and I can't do the
+whole, you know. Won't you get up?"
+
+"What's the matter, Tilly?" said her sister, rolling over, and opening
+her eyes quietly at Matilda.
+
+"I am going down, Maria, in two minutes; and I cannot do everything,
+you know."
+
+"Clarissa'll help."
+
+"If you expect that, Maria, you will be disappointed. I wish you would
+come right down and make the fire."
+
+Maria lay still. Matilda finished her dressing, and then knelt down by
+the window.
+
+The burden upon her seemed rather heavy, and she went to her only
+source of help. Maria lay and looked at the little kneeling figure, so
+still there by the window; glanced at the growing light outside the
+window, then at her scattered articles of clothing, lying where she had
+thrown them or dropped them last night; and at last rolled herself out
+of bed and was dressing in earnest when Matilda rose up to go
+down-stairs.
+
+"Oh now, you'll soon be ready!" she exclaimed. "Make haste, Maria; and
+come down to the kitchen. The fire is the first thing."
+
+Then the little feet went with a light tread down the stairs, that she
+might disturb nobody, and paused in the hall. The light struggling in
+through the fanlights over the door; the air close; a smell of kerosene
+in the parlour; chairs and table in a state of disarrangement; the
+litter of Clarissa's work on the carpet; the parlour stove cold. Little
+Matilda wished to herself that some other hands were there, not hers,
+to do all that must be done. But clearly Maria would never get through
+with it. She stood looking a minute; then plunged into the work. She
+opened the shutters and the curtains, and threw up the windows. Then
+picked up the litter. Then she saw that the services of a broom were
+needed; and Matilda fetched the broom, and brushed out the parlour and
+the hall. It tired her arms; she was not used to it. Dusting the
+furniture was more in her line; and then Matilda came to the conclusion
+that if a fire was to be kindled in time this morning, it must be done
+by herself; Maria would be fully occupied in the kitchen. So
+down-stairs she went for billets of wood for kindling. There was Maria,
+in trouble.
+
+"This stove won't draw, Tilly."
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"Why _that_. It won't draw. It just smokes."
+
+"It always does draw, Maria."
+
+"Well, it won't to-day."
+
+"Did you put kindling enough in?"
+
+"There's nothing but kindling!--and smoke."
+
+"Why, you've got the damper turned," said Matilda, coming up to look;
+"see, that's the matter. It won't light with the damper turned."
+
+"Stupid!" Maria muttered; and Matilda went off to make her own fire.
+Happily that did not smoke. The parlour and hall were all in nice
+order; the books put in place, and everything ready for the comfort of
+people when they should come to enjoy it; and Matilda went to join her
+sister in the kitchen. The fire was going there too, and the kitchen
+warm, and Maria stood with her hands folded, in front of the stove.
+
+"I don't know what to get for breakfast," she said.
+
+"Is the other room ready?"
+
+"I set the table," said Maria; "but what is to go on it, I don't know."
+
+Matilda went in to look at the state of things; presently called her
+sister.
+
+"Maria, you didn't sweep the carpet."
+
+"No. Of course I didn't. Rooms don't want to be swept every day."
+
+"This one does. Look at the muss under the table."
+
+"Only some crumbs," said Maria.
+
+"And a bone. Letty was in a hurry yesterday, I guess. Aunt Candy won't
+like it, Maria; it won't do."
+
+"I don't care whether she likes it."
+
+"But don't you care whether she scolds? because I do. And the room is
+not nice, Maria. Mother wouldn't have it so."
+
+"Well, you may sweep it if you like."
+
+"I cannot. I am tired. You must make it nice, Maria, won't you? and
+I'll see about the breakfast."
+
+"The table's all set!" Maria remonstrated.
+
+"It won't take long to do it over, Maria. But what have we got for
+breakfast?"
+
+"Nothing--that I know."
+
+"Did you look in the cellar?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why, where _did_ you look?" said Matilda, laughing. "Come; let us go
+down and see what is there."
+
+In the large, clean, light cellar there were hanging shelves which
+served the purposes of a larder. The girls peered into the various
+stores collected on them.
+
+"Here's a dish of cold potatoes," said Maria.
+
+"That will do for one thing," said Matilda.
+
+"Cold?"
+
+"Why, no! fried, Maria."
+
+"I can't fry potatoes."
+
+"Why, yes, you can, Maria; you have seen mamma do it hundreds of times."
+
+"Here's the cold beefsteak that was left yesterday."
+
+"Cold beefsteak isn't good," said Matilda.
+
+"Can't we warm it?"
+
+"How?"
+
+"I don't know; might put it in the oven; it would get hot there.
+There's a good oven."
+
+"I don't think mamma ever warms cold beefsteak," said Matilda, looking
+puzzled.
+
+"What does she do with it? she don't throw it away. How do you know she
+doesn't warm it? you wouldn't know, when you saw it on the table,
+whether it was just fresh cooked, or only warmed up. How could you
+tell?"
+
+"Well," said Matilda, dubiously, "you can try. I wish I could ask
+somebody."
+
+"I shall not ask anybody up-stairs," said Maria. "Come--you take the
+potatoes and I will carry the beefsteak. Then we will make 'the coffee
+and have breakfast. I'm as hungry as I can be."
+
+"So am I," said Matilda. And she sighed a little, for she was tired as
+well as hungry. Maria set the dish of beefsteak in the oven to get hot,
+and Matilda made the coffee. She knew quite well how to do that. Then
+she came to the table where Maria was preparing the potatoes to fry.
+Maria's knife was going chop, chop, very fast.
+
+"O Maria! you should have peeled them," Matilda exclaimed, in dismay.
+
+"Peeled!" said Maria, stopping short.
+
+"Certainly. Why, you knew that, Maria. Potatoe parings are not good to
+eat."
+
+"It takes ages to peel such little potatoes," said Maria.
+
+"But you cannot eat them without being peeled," said Matilda.
+
+"Yes, you can; it won't make any difference. I will fry them so brown,
+nobody will know whether they have skins on or not."
+
+Matilda doubted very much the feasibility of this plan; but she left
+Maria and went off to make sure that the fires in the other rooms were
+burning right and everything in proper trim. Then she sat down in a
+rocking-chair in the eating-room to rest; wishing very earnestly that
+there was somebody to help who knew more about business than either she
+or Maria. How were they to get along? And she had promised her mother.
+And yet more, Matilda felt sure that just this work had been given to
+her and Maria to do by the Lord himself. Therefore they could do it for
+Him. Therefore, all the more, Matilda wanted to do it in the very
+nicest and best way possible. She wished she had attended when she had
+seen her mother cooking different things; now she might have known
+exactly how to manage. And that reminded her, Maria's beef and potatoes
+must be done. She ran into the kitchen.
+
+"There!" said Maria. "Can you see the skins now?"
+
+"They are brown enough," said Matilda. "But, Maria, they'll be very
+hard!"
+
+"Never you mind!" said Maria, complacently.
+
+"Have you looked at your beefsteak?"
+
+"No; but it must be hot before now."
+
+Maria opened the oven door; and then, with an exclamation, seized a
+cloth and drew out the dish of meat. The dish took their attention
+first. It was as brown as Maria's potatoes. It had gone into the oven
+white.
+
+"It is spoiled," said Matilda.
+
+"Who would have thought the oven was so hot!" said Maria. "Won't it
+come all right with washing?"
+
+"You might as well wash your beefsteak," said Matilda, turning away.
+
+If the dish had gone in white, the meat had also gone in juicy; and if
+the one was brown the other was a chip.
+
+"This will not do for breakfast," said Maria, lugubriously.
+
+"It is like your potatoes," said Matilda, with the ineffable little
+turn of her head.
+
+"Don't, Matilda! What shall we do? the coffee is ready."
+
+"We shall have a brown breakfast," said Matilda. "The coffee will be
+the lightest coloured thing on the table." And the two girls relieved
+themselves with laughing.
+
+"But, Matilda! what shall we _do?_ We must have something to eat."
+
+"We can boil some eggs," said Matilda. "Aunt Erminia likes eggs; and
+the coffee will be good, and the bread. And the potatoes will do to
+look at."
+
+So it was arranged; and the bell was rung for breakfast only five
+minutes after the time. And all was in order.
+
+Even Mrs. Candy's good eyes found no fault. And breakfast went forward
+better than Matilda had dared to hope.
+
+"You have done your potatoes too much, Maria," Mrs. Candy remarked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," Maria said, meekly.
+
+"They want no more but a light colouring. And they should be cut
+thinner. These are so hard you can't eat them. And, Maria, in future I
+will tell you what to get for breakfast. I did not know when you went
+to bed last night, or I should have told you then. You are not old
+enough to arrange things. Now there was some beef left from dinner
+yesterday, that would have made a nice hash."
+
+Maria ate bread and butter, and spoke not.
+
+"It will keep very well, and you can make it into hash for to-morrow
+morning. Chop it as fine as you can, and twice as much potato; and warm
+it with a little butter and milk and pepper and salt, till it is nice
+and hot; and poach a few eggs, to lay round it. Can you poach eggs,
+Maria?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. But there is no beef, Aunt Erminia."
+
+"No beef? You are mistaken. There was a large piece that we did not eat
+yesterday."
+
+"There is none now," said Maria.
+
+"It must be down-stairs in the cellar."
+
+"I am sure it is not, aunt Erminia. I have been poking into every
+corner there; and there is no beef, I know."
+
+"Maria, that is a very inelegant way of speaking. Where did you get it?"
+
+"I don't know, ma'am, I'm sure. Out of the truth, I suppose. That's
+what I _did_."
+
+"It is a very inelegant way of doing, as well as of speaking. _Poking_
+into every thing! What did you poke? your finger? or your hand?"
+
+"My nose, I suppose," said Maria, hardily.
+
+"I think I need not tell you that _that_ is a very vulgar expression,"
+said Mrs. Candy, with a lofty air; while Clarissa's shoulders gave a
+little shrug, as much as to say her mother was wasting time. "Don't you
+know any better, Maria?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then I hope you will speak properly next time."
+
+"One gets so tired of speaking properly!" said Maria.
+
+"_You?_" said Clarissa, with a gentle intonation.
+
+"I don't care!" said Maria, desperately. "People are as they are
+brought up. My mother don't care for such fidgety notions. I speak to
+please her, and that is enough."
+
+"No, Maria, it is not enough," resumed  Mrs. Candy. "Your mother loves
+you, and so she is willing to overlook little things in you that she
+_can_ overlook because you are her child; but when you are grown up,
+you would wish to be liked by other nice people, wouldn't you? people
+of education, and taste, and elegant habits; and they do not like to
+have anything to do with people who 'poke their noses' into things, or
+who say that they do."
+
+"I'll keep in the kitchen then," said Maria, hastily.
+
+The breakfast may be said to have ended here; for though a few more
+mouthfuls were eaten, no more words were said. Mrs. Candy and her
+daughter left the room and went up-stairs. Maria and Matilda began the
+work of clearing the table.
+
+"Ain't she too much!" Maria exclaimed.
+
+"But, Maria," said her little sister, "I wish you _wouldn't_ say such
+things."
+
+"If I am going to be a kitchen maid," said Maria, "I may as well talk
+kitchen maid."
+
+"Oh, I don't think so, Maria!"
+
+"I don't care!" said Maria. "I would rather vex aunt Candy than not;
+and she _was_ vexed this morning. She kept it in pretty well; but she
+was vexed."
+
+"But, Maria, that isn't right, is it?"
+
+"Nothing is right," said Maria; "and nothing is going to be, I guess,
+while they are here."
+
+"Then think, what would mamma do if they went away?"
+
+"I wish I could go away, then!" said Maria, beginning to cry. "I can't
+bear to live so! 'Why do you do so,' and 'why do you do _so;_' and
+Clarissa sitting by with that little smile on her mouth, and lifting up
+her eyes to look at you--it just makes me _mad_. There! It is a pity
+Aunt Candy wasn't here to be shocked at American children."
+
+"But, Maria," said Matilda with her eyes swimming too, "you know the
+Lord Jesus has given us this work."
+
+"No, I don't!" said Maria; "and what if He did?"
+
+"Why, then, it would please Him--you know, Maria, it would please
+Him--to have us do it just nicely and beautifully, and not like kitchen
+maids, but like His children. You know we said we were ready to do any
+work that he would give us."
+
+"I didn't," said Maria, half crying, half pouting. "I didn't promise to
+do _this_ sort of thing."
+
+"But we mustn't choose," said Matilda.
+
+"But we _did_ choose," said Maria. "I said what I would do, and other
+people said what they would do; and nobody said anything about washing
+dishes and peeling potatoes. We were not talking of _that_."
+
+"The covenant says, 'we stand ready to do His will.' Don't you know?"
+
+"I believe you know that covenant by heart," said Maria. "I don't. And
+I don't care. Matilda, I wish you would run down cellar with the
+butter, and the cream, and the bread--will you?"
+
+Matilda did not run, but she made journey after journey down the cellar
+stairs, with feet that grew weary; and then she dried the china while
+her sister washed it. Then they brushed up the kitchen and made up the
+fires. Then Maria seated herself on the kitchen table and looked at
+Matilda.
+
+"I'm tired now, Tilly."
+
+"So am I."
+
+"Is there anything else to be done?"
+
+"Why, there is the dinner, Maria."
+
+"It isn't near dinner time. It is only ten o'clock."
+
+"How long will it take the potatoes to boil?"
+
+"Oh, not long. It is not time to put them on for a great while."
+
+"But they are not ready, are they?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And what else, Maria?"
+
+Here came a call from the stair head. Maria went to the foot of the
+stairs to hear what the business was, and came back with her mood
+nowise sweetened; to judge by the way she went about; filled an iron
+pot with water and set it on the stove, and dashed things round
+generally. Matilda looked on without saying a word.
+
+"I've got my day's work cut out for me now," said Maria at last.
+"There's that leg of mutton to boil, and turnips to be mashed; besides
+the potatoes. And the turnips have got to be peeled. Come and help me,
+Tilly, or I shall never get through. Won't you?"
+
+
+
+Now Matilda had her own notions about things she liked and things she
+did not like to do; and one of the things she did not like to do was to
+roughen or soil her hands. To put her little hands into the pan of
+water, and handle and pare the coarse roots with the soil hanging to
+them, was very distasteful to her nicety. She looked a little dismayed.
+But there were the roots all to be pared and washed, and Maria would
+have her hands full; and was not this also work given to Matilda to do?
+At any rate, she felt that she could not refuse without losing
+influence over Maria, and that she could not afford. So Matilda's hands
+and her knife went into the pan. She thought it was very disagreeable,
+but she did it. After the potatoes and turnips were ready for the pot,
+Maria demanded her help about other things; she must clean the knives,
+and set the table, and prepare the celery and rub the apples; while
+Maria kept up the fire, and attended to the cookery. Matilda did one
+thing after another; her weary little feet travelled out and in, from
+one room to the other room, and got things in order for dinner in both
+places.
+
+It was a pretty satisfactory dinner, on the whole. The mutton was well
+cooked and the vegetables were not bad, Mrs. Candy said; but Matilda
+thought with dismay of the after dinner dishes. However, dinner gives
+courage sometimes; and both she and Maria were stronger-hearted when
+they rose from table than when they had sat down. Dishes, and pots, and
+kettles, and knives, and endless details beside, were in course of time
+got rid of; and then Matilda put on her hat and cloak, and set forth on
+an errand she had been meditating.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+It was a soft pleasant day late in March. The snow had all gone for the
+present. Doubtless it might come back again; no one could tell; in
+Shadywalk snow was not an unknown visitor even in April; but for the
+present no such reminder of winter was anywhere to be seen. The air was
+still and gentle; even the brown tree stems looked softer and less bare
+than a few weeks ago, though no bursting buds yet were there to make
+any real change. The note of a bird might be heard now and then;
+Matilda had twice seen the glorious colour of a blue bird's wings as
+they spread themselves in the light. It was quite refreshing to get out
+of the house and the kitchen work, and smell the fresh, pure air, and
+see the sky, and feel that all the world was not between four walls
+anywhere. Matilda went softly along, enjoying. At the corner she
+turned, and walked up Butternut street--so called, probably, in honour
+of some former tree of that family, for not a shoot of one was known in
+the street now. On and on she went till her church was passed, and then
+turned down the little lane which led to the parsonage. The snow all
+gone, it was looking pretty here. On one side the old church, the new
+lecture-room on the other, and between them the avenue of elms, arching
+their branches over the way and making a vista, at the end of which was
+the brown door of the parsonage. Always that was a pleasant view to
+Matilda, for she associated the brown door with a great many things;
+however, this day she did not seek the old knocker which hung
+temptingly overhead, but sheered off and went round to the back of the
+house; and there entered at once, and without knocking, upon Miss
+Redwood's premises. They were in order; nobody ever saw the parsonage
+kitchen otherwise; and Miss Redwood was sitting in front of the stove,
+knitting.
+
+"Well, if there ain't Tilly Englefield!" was her salutation.
+
+"May I come in, Miss Redwood?--if you are not busy."
+
+"Suppos'n I _was_ busy, I guess you wouldn't do me no harm, child. Come
+right in and sit down, and tell me how's all goin' on at your house.
+How's your mother, fust thing?"
+
+"Aunt Candy says she's not any better."
+
+"What does your mother say herself?"
+
+"I have not seen her to-day. Aunt Candy says she is nervous; and she
+wants me not to go into her room."
+
+"Who wants you not to go in? Not your mother?"
+
+"No; Aunt Candy."
+
+"I thought so. Well; how do you get along without your sisters, eh?
+Have you got a girl, or are you goin' to do without?"
+
+"We are going to do without."
+
+"I don't see how you kin, with your mother sick and wantin' somebody to
+tend her."
+
+"Maria and I do what's to be done. Mamma doesn't want us to get a girl."
+
+"Maria and you!" said Miss Redwood, straightening up. "I want to know!
+You and Maria. Why, I didn't reckon Maria was a hand at them kind o'
+things. What can she do, eh? I want to know! Things is curious in this
+world."
+
+"Maria can do a good deal," said Matilda.
+
+"And you can, too, can't ye?" said Miss Redwood, with a benevolent
+smile at her little visitor, which meant all love and no criticism.
+
+"I wish I knew how to do more," said Matilda. "I _could_, if I knew
+how. That's what I came to ask you, Miss Redwood; won't you tell me?"
+
+"Tell you anything on arth," said the housekeeper. "What do you want to
+know, child?"
+
+"I don't know," said Matilda, knitting her brow. "I want to know how to
+_manage_."
+
+Miss Redwood's lips twitched, and her knitting needles flew.
+
+"So there ain't no one but you to manage?" she said, at length.
+
+"Aunt Candy tells what is to be for breakfast and dinner. But I want to
+know how to _do_ things. What can one do with cold beefsteak, Miss
+Redwood?"
+
+"'Tain't good for much," said the housekeeper. "Have you got some on
+hand?"
+
+"No. We had, though."
+
+"And what _did_ you do with it?"
+
+"Maria and I put it in the oven to warm; and it spoiled the dish, and
+the meat was all dried up; and then I thought I would come and ask you.
+And we tried to fry some potatoes this morning, and we didn't know how,
+I think. They were not good."
+
+"And so your breakfast all fell through; and there was a muss, I
+expect?"
+
+"No; we had eggs; nobody knew anything about the beefsteak and the
+dish. But I want to know how to do."
+
+"What ailed your potatoes?"
+
+"They were too hard and too brown."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder! I declare, I 'most think I've got into the middle
+of a fairy story somewhere. Did you ever hear about Cinderella, Tilly,
+and her little glass slipper?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+"Some people's chariots and horses will find themselves turned into
+pun'kins some day; that is what _I_ believe."
+
+"But about the potatoes?" said Matilda, who could not catch the
+connection of this speech.
+
+"Well; she let 'em be in too long. That was the trouble. If you want to
+have things right, you must take 'em out when they are done, honey."
+
+"But how can we tell when they are done?"
+
+"Why, you know by just lookin at 'em. There ain't no great trouble
+about it; anyhow, there ain't about potatoes. You just put some fat in
+a pan, and chop up your potatoes, and when the fat is hot clap 'em in,
+and let 'em frizzle round a spell; and then when they're done you take
+'em up. Did you sprinkle salt in?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You must mind and sprinkle salt in, while they're in the pan; without
+that they'll taste kind o' flat."
+
+"Aunt Erminia don't like them chopped up. She wants them cut in thin
+slices and browned on both sides."
+
+"Laws a massy! why don't she do 'em so, then? what hinders her?" said
+the housekeeper, looking at Matilda. "I thought she was one o' them
+kind o' folks as don't know nothing handy. Why don't she do her own
+potatoes, and as brown as she likes, Tilly?"
+
+"Mamma wants us to take care of things, Miss Redwood."
+
+"Won't let your aunt learn you, nother?" said Miss Redwood, sticking
+one end of her knitting-needle behind her ear, and slowly scratching
+with it, while she looked at Matilda.
+
+"Aunt Candy does not like to do anything in the kitchen; and I would
+rather you would teach me, Miss Redwood--if you would."
+
+"And can you learn Maria?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+"Well, come along; what do you want to know next?"
+
+"I wish you'd teach me some time how to make gingerbread. And pies."
+
+The housekeeper glanced at the clock, and then bade Matilda take oft'
+her things.
+
+"Now?" said Matilda, hesitating.
+
+"You can't do nothing any time but now," said Miss Redwood, as she put
+away her work in its basket. "You can _think_ of doing it; but if you
+ever come to doing it, you will find it is _now_."
+
+"But is it convenient?"
+
+"La, child, I don't know what people mean by convenient. You look at it
+one way, and there is nothing convenient; and you look at it another
+way, and there is nothing but what is. Hang your things over that
+chair; and I'll put an apron on you."
+
+"But which way does it look this afternoon, Miss Redwood?"
+
+The housekeeper laughed, and kissed Tilly, whom she was arraying in a
+great check apron, big enough to cover her.
+
+"It is just how you choose to take it," she said. "I declare I'm sorry
+for the folks as is tied to convenience; they don't get the right good
+of their life. Why, honey, what isn't my convenience is somebody else's
+convenience, maybe. I want it to be sunshine very often, so as I kin
+dry my clothes, when the farmers want it to be rain to make their corn
+and cabbages grow. It is sure to be convenient for somebody."
+
+"But I want it to be convenient for you, this afternoon," said Matilda,
+wistfully.
+
+"Well, 'tis," said the housekeeper. "There--wash your hands in that
+bowl, dear; and here's a clean towel for you. A body as wants to have
+things convenient, had better not be a minister's housekeeper. No, the
+place is nice enough," she went on, as she saw Matilda's eye glance
+around the kitchen; "'tain't that; but I always think convenient means
+having your own way; and _that_ nobody need expect to do at the
+parsonage. Just so sure as I make pot pie, Mr. Richmond'll hev to go to
+a funeral, and it's spiled or lost, for he's no time to eat it; and I
+never cleaned up that hall and steps yet, but an army of boots and
+shoes came tramping over it out of the dirt; when if it _wants_
+cleaning, it'll get leave to be without a foot crossing it all the
+afternoon. And if it's bakin' day, I have visitors, and have to run
+between them and the oven, till I don't know which end is the parlour;
+and that's the way, Tilly; and I don't know no better way but to
+conclude that somebody else's convenience is yourn--and then you'll
+live in clover. The minister had to preach to me a good while before I
+could see it, though. Now, honey, sift your flour;--here it is. Kin you
+do it?"
+
+Matilda essayed to do it, and the housekeeper looked on.
+
+"The damper is turned," she said; "we'll have the oven hot by the time
+the cake is ready. Now, dear, what's going into it?"
+
+"Will that be enough?" said Matilda, lifting her floury hand out of the
+pan.
+
+"_I_ want a piece," said the housekeeper; "so there had better go
+another bowlful. And the minister--_he_ likes a bite of hot
+gingerbread, when he can get it. So shake it in, dear. That will do.
+Now, what are you going to put in it, Tilly, besides flour?"
+
+"Why, _I_ don't know," said Matilda.
+
+"Well, guess. What do you think goes into gingerbread?"
+
+"Molasses?"
+
+"Yes; but that goes one of the last things. Ain't you going to put no
+shortening in?"
+
+"Shortening? what is that?" said Matilda.
+
+"Well, it's whatever you've got. Butter'll do, if it's nice and
+sweet--like this is--or sweet drippings'll do, or a little sweet lard,
+maybe. We'll take the butter to-day, for this is going to do you and me
+credit. Now think--what else? Put the butter right there, in the
+middle, and rub it into the flour with the flat of your hand, so. Rub
+hard, dear; get the butter all in the flour, so you can't see it. What
+is to go in next?"
+
+"Spice? I think mamma puts spice."
+
+"If you like it. What spice will you choose?"
+
+"I don't know, Miss Redwood."
+
+"Well, it'd be queer gingerbread without ginger, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Oh yes. I forgot the ginger, to be sure. How much?"
+
+"That's 'cordin' as you like it. _That_ won't hardly taste, dear;
+'tain't just like red pepper; take a good cupful. Now just a little bit
+of cloves!"
+
+"And cinnamon?"
+
+"It'll be spice gingerbread, sure enough," said the housekeeper. "And
+salt, Tilly."
+
+"Salt? Must salt go in?" said Matilda, who had got very eager now in
+her work.
+
+"Salt's univarsal," said Miss Redwood. "'Cept sweetmeats, it goes into
+everything. That's what makes all the rest good. I never could see what
+was the use o' salt, till one day the minister, he preached a sermon on
+'Ye are the salt of the earth,' and ever since that it seems to kind o'
+put me in mind. And then I asked Mr. Richmond if _everything_ meant
+something."
+
+"But what does that mean, that you said?" said Matilda. "Good people
+don't make the rest of the world good."
+
+"They give all the taste there is to it, though," said the housekeeper.
+"And I asked that very question myself of the minister; and what do you
+think he told me."
+
+"What?"
+
+"He said it was because the salt warn't of as good quality as it had
+ought to be. And _that_ makes me think, too. But la! look at your
+gingerbread standing still. Now see, dear here's a bowl o' buttermilk
+for you; it's as rich as cream, a'most; and I take and put in a
+spoonful of--you know what this is?"
+
+"Salaeratus?"
+
+"That's it."
+
+"We use soda at our house."
+
+"Salaeratus is good enough for me," said Miss Redwood; "and I know what
+it'll do; so I'm never put out in my calculations. Now when it foams
+up--see,--now mix your cake, dear, as quick as you like.
+Stop--wait--let's get the molasses in. Now, go on. I declare, having
+two pair o' hands kind o' puts one out. Stir it up; don't be afraid."
+
+Matilda was not afraid, and was very much in earnest. The gingerbread
+was quickly mixed, and for a few minutes there was busy work, buttering
+the pans and putting the mixture in them, and setting the pans in the
+oven. Then Matilda washed her hands; the housekeeper put the flour and
+spices away; and the two sat down to watch the baking.
+
+"It'll be good," said the housekeeper.
+
+"I hope it will," said Matilda.
+
+"I know 'twill," said Miss Redwood. "You do your part right; and these
+sort o' things--flour, and butter, and meat, and potatoes, and
+that--don't never disapint you. That's one thing that is satisfactory
+in this world."
+
+"But mamma has her cake spoiled in the oven sometimes."
+
+"'Twarn't the oven's fault," said Miss Redwood. "Did ye think it was?
+Ovens don't do that for me, never."
+
+"But sometimes the oven was too hot," said Matilda; "and other times
+she said it was not hot enough."
+
+"Of course!" said the housekeeper; "and then again other times she
+forgot to look at it, maybe, and left her cake in too long. The cake
+couldn't knock at the door of the oven to be let out; that'd be too
+much to ask. Now look at yourn, dear."
+
+Matilda opened the oven door and shut it again.
+
+"What's the appearance of it?"
+
+"It is coming up beautifully. But it isn't up in the middle yet."
+
+"The fire's just right," said the housekeeper.
+
+"But how can you _tell_, Miss Redwood?" said Matilda, standing by the
+stove with a most careful set of wrinkles on her little brow.
+
+"Tell?" said the housekeeper; "just as you tell anything else; after
+you've seen it fifty times, you know."
+
+Matilda began a painful calculation of how often she could make
+something to bake, and how long it would be till fifty times had made
+her wise in the matter; when an inner door opened, and the minister
+himself came upon the scene. Matilda coloured, and looked a little
+abashed; the housekeeper smiled.
+
+"I am very glad to see you here, Tilly," Mr. Richmond said, heartily.
+"What are you and Miss Redwood doing here?"
+
+"We are getting ready for the business of life," said the housekeeper.
+"The minister knows there are different ways of doin' that."
+
+"Just what way are you taking now?" said Mr. Richmond, laughing. "It
+seems to me, you think the business of life is eating--if I may judge
+by the smell of the preparation."
+
+"It is time you looked at your cake, Tilly," said Miss Redwood; and she
+did not offer to help her; so, blushing more and more, Matilda was
+obliged to open the oven door again, and show that she was acting
+baker. The eyes of the two older persons met in a way that was pleasant
+to see.
+
+"What's here, Tilly?" said the minister, coming nearer and stooping to
+look in himself.
+
+"Miss Redwood has been teaching me how to make gingerbread. O Miss
+Redwood, it is beginning to get brown at the end."
+
+"Turn the pans round then. It ain't done yet."
+
+"No, it isn't done, for it is not quite up in the middle. There is a
+sort of hollow place."
+
+"Shut up your oven, child, and it will be all right in a few minutes."
+
+"Then I think this is the night when you are going to stay and take tea
+with me," said Mr. Richmond. "I promised you a roast apple, I remember.
+Are there any more apples that will do for roasting, Miss Redwood?"
+
+"O Mr. Richmond, I do not care for the apple!" Matilda cried.
+
+"But if I don't have it, you will stay and take tea with me?"
+
+Matilda looked wistful, and hesitated. Her mother would not miss her;
+but could Maria get the tea without her?--
+
+"And I dare say you want to talk to me about something; isn't it so?"
+the minister continued.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond; I do."
+
+"That settles it. She will stay, Miss Redwood. I shall have some
+gingerbread, I hope. And when you are ready, Tilly, you can come to me
+in my room."
+
+The minister quitted the kitchen in good time, for now the cakes were
+almost done and needed care. A little watchful waiting, and then the
+plumped up, brown, glossy loaves of gingerbread said to even an
+inexperienced eye that it was time for them to come out of the oven.
+Miss Redwood showed Matilda how to arrange them on a sieve, where they
+would not get steamy and moist; and Matilda's eye surveyed them there
+with very great satisfaction.
+
+"That's as nice as if I had made it myself," said the housekeeper. "Now
+don't you want to get the minister's tea?"
+
+"What shall I do, Miss Redwood?"
+
+"I thought maybe you'd like to learn how to manage something else. He's
+had no dinner to-day--to speak of; and if eatin' ain't the business of
+life--which it ain't, I guess, with him--yet stoppin' eatin' would stop
+business, he'd find; and I'm goin' to frizzle some beef for his supper,
+and put an egg in. Now I'll cut the beef, and you can stir it, if you
+like."
+
+Matilda liked very much. She watched the careful shaving of the beef in
+paper-like fragments; then at the housekeeper's direction she put some
+butter in a pan on the fire, and when it was hot threw the beef in and
+stirred it back and forward with a knife, so as not to let it burn, and
+so as to bring all the shavings of beef in contact with the hot pan
+bottom, and into the influence of the boiling butter. At the moment of
+its being done, the housekeeper broke an egg or two into the pan; and
+then in another moment bade Matilda take it from the fire and turn it
+out. Meanwhile Miss Redwood had cut bread and made the tea.
+
+"Now you can go and call the minister," she said.
+
+Matilda thought she was having the rarest of pleasant times, as she
+crossed the little dining-room and the square yard of hall that came
+next, and went into the study. Fire Was burning in the wide chimney
+there as usual; the room was very sweet and still; Mr Richmond sat
+before the fire with a book.
+
+"I thought you were coming to talk to me, Tilly?" he said, stretching
+out his hand to draw her up to him.
+
+"Miss Redwood was showing me how to do things, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Then you _do_ want to talk to me?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir. But, Mr. Richmond, tea is ready."
+
+"We'll eat first then, and talk afterward. What is the talk to be
+about, Tilly? just to give me an idea."
+
+"It is about--I do not know what is right about something, Mr.
+Richmond. I do not know what I ought to do."
+
+"Have you looked in the Bible to find out?"
+
+"No, sir. I didn't know where to look, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Have you prayed about it?"
+
+Matilda hesitated, but finally said again, "No."
+
+"That is another thing you can always do. The Lord understands your
+difficulties better than any one else can, and knows just what answer
+to give you."
+
+"But--an answer? will He give it always?"
+
+"Always provided you are perfectly willing to take it, whatever it may
+be; and provided you do your part."
+
+"What is my part?"
+
+"If I sent you to find your way along a road you did not know, where
+there were guide posts set up; what would be your part to do?"
+
+"To mind the guide posts?"
+
+"Yes, and go on as they bade you. That is not to prevent your asking
+somebody you meet on the road, if you are going right? Now Miss Redwood
+has rung her bell, and you and I must obey it."
+
+"But, what are the guide posts, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"We will see about that after tea. Come."
+
+Matilda gave one wondering thought to the question how Maria and tea
+would get along without her at home; and then she let all that go, and
+resolved to enjoy the present while she had it. Certainly it was very
+pleasant to take tea with Mr. Richmond. He was so very kind, and
+attentive to her wants; and so amusing in his talk; and the new
+gingerbread looked so very handsome, piled up in the cake basket; and
+Miss Redwood was such a variety after Mrs. Candy. Matilda let care go.
+And when it came to eating the gingerbread, it was found to be
+excellent. Mr. Richmond said he wished she would come often and make
+some for him.
+
+"Do you know there is a meeting of the Band this evening?"
+
+"I had forgotten about it, Mr. Richmond; I have been so busy."
+
+"It is lucky you came to take tea with me, then," said he. "Perhaps you
+would have forgotten it altogether. What is Maria doing?"
+
+"She is busy at home, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"I am sorry for that. To-night is the night for questions; I am
+prepared to receive questions from everybody. Have you got yours ready?"
+
+"About Band work, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Yes, about Band work. Though you know that is only another name for
+the Lord's work, whatever it may be that He gives us to do. Now we will
+go to my study and attend to the business we were talking about."
+
+So they left Miss Redwood to her tea-table; and the minister and his
+little guest found themselves alone again.
+
+"Now, Tilly, what is it?" he said, as he shut the door.
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Matilda, anxiously, "I want to know if I must mind
+what Aunt Erminia says?"
+
+"Mrs. Candy?" said Mr. Richmond, looking surprised.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"The question is, whether you must obey her?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I should say, if you doubt about any of her commands, you had better
+ask your mother, Tilly."
+
+"But I cannot see my mother, Mr. Richmond; that is one of the things.
+Mamma is sick, and aunt Candy has forbidden me to go into her room.
+Must I stay out?"
+
+"Is your mother so ill?"
+
+"No, sir, I do not think she is; I don't know; but Aunt Candy says she
+is nervous; and I must not go in there without leave." And Matilda
+raised appealing eyes to the minister.
+
+"That is hard, Tilly. I am very sorry to hear it. But I am of opinion
+that the authority of nurses must not be disputed. I think if Mrs.
+Candy says stay out, you had better stay out."
+
+"And everything else?" said Matilda. "Must I mind what she says in
+everything else?"
+
+"Are you under her orders, Matilda?"
+
+"That is what I want to know, Mr. Richmond. She says so. She told me
+not to go out to church last Sunday night; and all the others were
+going, and I went too; and she scolded about it and said I must mind
+her. Must I? in everything? I can't ask mamma."
+
+Mr. Richmond turned a paper-weight over and over two or three times
+without speaking.
+
+"You know what the fifth commandment is, Tilly."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond. But she is not my mother."
+
+"Don't you think she is in your mother's place just now? Would not your
+mother wish that your obedience should be given to your aunt for the
+present?"
+
+Matilda looked grave, not to say gloomy.
+
+"I can tell you what will make it easy," said Mr. Richmond. "Do it for
+the sake of the Lord Jesus. He set us an example of obedience to all
+lawful authorities; He has commanded us to live in peace with everybody
+as far as we possibly can; and to submit ourselves to one another in
+the fear of God. Besides that, I must think, Tilly, the command to obey
+our parents means also that we should obey whoever happens to stand in
+our parents' place to us. Will it not make it easy to obey your aunt,
+if you think that you are doing it to please God?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, thoughtfully.
+
+"I always feel that God's command sweetens anything," the minister went
+on. "Do you feel so?"
+
+"I think I do," the little girl answered.
+
+"So if you stay at home for Mrs. Candy's command, you may reflect that
+it is for Jesus' sake; and that will please Him a great deal better
+than your going to church to please yourself."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, cheerfully.
+
+"Was that all you had to talk to me about?"
+
+"Yes, sir; all except about Band work."
+
+"We will talk about that in the meeting. If you have a question to ask,
+write it here; and I will take it in and answer it."
+
+He gave Matilda paper and pen, and himself put on his overcoat. Then
+taking her little slip of a question, the two went together into the
+lecture-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Three was a good little gathering of the workers, many of whom were
+quite young persons. Among them Matilda was not a little surprised to
+see Maria. But she warily sheered off from comments and questions, and
+took a seat in another part of the room.
+
+"We are here for a good talk to-night," said the minister, after they
+had sung and prayed. "I stand ready to meet difficulties and answer
+questions. All who have any more little notes to lay on the desk,
+please bring or send them up, or ask their questions by word of mouth.
+I will take the first of these that comes to hand."
+
+Mr. Richmond unfolded a paper and read it over to himself, in the midst
+of a hush of expectation. Then he read it aloud.
+
+"If a member of the Relief Committee visits a sick person in want of
+help, and finds another member of some other committee giving the help
+and doing the work of the Relief Committee, which of them should take
+care of the case?"
+
+"It is almost as puzzling," said Mr. Richmond, "as that other question,
+what husband the woman should have in the other world who had had seven
+in this. But as we are not just like the angels in heaven yet, I should
+say in this and similar cases, that the one who first found and
+undertook the case should continue her care--or his care--if he or she
+be so minded. The old rule of 'first come, first served,' is a good
+one, I think. The Relief Committee has no monopoly of the joy of
+helping others. Let us see what comes next.
+
+"'There are four people, I know, who go to read the Bible to one blind
+person--and I know of at least two who are sick and unable to read,
+that nobody goes to.'
+
+"Want of system," said Mr. Richmond, looking up. "The head of the
+Bible-reading Committee should be told of these facts."
+
+"She has been told," said a lady in the company.
+
+"Then doubtless the irregularity will be set to rights."
+
+"No, it is not so certain; for the blind person lives where it is easy
+to attend her; and the sick people are in Lilac Lane--out of the way,
+and in a disagreeable place."
+
+"Does the head of the Bible-reading Committee decline these cases,
+having nobody that she can send to them?"
+
+"She says she does not know whom to send."
+
+"I will thank you for the names of those two cases by and by, Mrs.
+Norris; I think I can get them supplied. The question of theory I will
+handle presently, before we separate."
+
+"Here is another request," said Mr. Richmond, who knew Matilda's
+handwriting,--"from a dear child, who asks to know 'what we shall do,
+when people will not hear the message we carry?' Why, try again. Go and
+tell them again; and never mind rebuffs if you get them. People did not
+listen to our Master; it is no matter of wonder if they refuse to hear
+us. But He did not stop His labours for that; neither must we. 'Let us
+not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we
+faint not.' I give her that for her watchword;--' _If we faint not_,
+remember.
+
+"The next question in my hand is, 'what we are to do about welcoming
+strangers?' The writer states, that six new scholars have lately come
+to the school, and, to her certain knowledge, only two of them have
+received any welcome.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Richmond, thoughtfully, "I must come to the words I
+had chosen to talk to you about. They answer a great many things. You
+all remember a verse in the Epistle to the Ephesians which speaks of
+'redeeming the time, because the days are evil.'
+
+"I dare say it has puzzled some of you, as it used once to puzzle me.
+How are we to 'redeem the time'? Another translation of the passage
+will perhaps be clearer and help us to understand. '_Buying' up
+opportunities_.' The words are so rendered by a late great authority. I
+don't know but you will at first think it just as hard to comprehend.
+How are we to 'buy up opportunities'?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know," said Mrs. Swan, Ailie's mother. "I always
+thought opportunities were given."
+
+"So they are. But the privilege of using them, we often must buy."
+
+"I don't see how."
+
+"Let us come to facts, Mrs. Swan. Here are four opportunities in the
+school, in the shape of new members added to it. How comes it these
+opportunities have not been used? There are two other grand
+opportunities in Lilac Lane."
+
+"Are we to buy them?" said Mrs. Trembleton.
+
+"I do not see how else the difficulty can be met. They are worth
+buying. But the next question is, What will you pay?"
+
+There was a long silence, which nobody seemed inclined to break.
+
+"I think you see, my dear friends, what I mean. For welcoming those
+four strangers, somebody must give up his ease for a moment--must make
+a little sacrifice of comfort. It will be very little indeed, for these
+things pay as we go; we get our return promptly. The opportunities in
+Lilac Lane must be bought, perhaps, with some giving up of time; of
+pleasure, perhaps; perhaps we must pay some annoyance. It is so with
+most of our opportunities, dear friends. He who serves God with what
+costs him nothing, will do very little service, you may depend on it.
+Christ did not so; who, 'though He was rich, yet for our sakes He
+became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.' He 'pleased
+not Himself.' And we, if we are His servants, must be ready to give
+_everything_, if need be, even our lives also, to the work He calls us
+to do. We must buy up opportunities with all our might, paying not only
+time and money, but love, and patience, and self-denial, and
+self-abasement, and labour, and pains-taking. We cannot be right
+servants of God or happy servants, and keep back anything. 'Let a man
+so account of us, as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries
+of God;' and let us see that all the grace He gives us we use to the
+very uttermost for His glory, in 'works, and love, and service, and
+faith, and patience, and works.' My dear friends, if we have only
+_love_ in our hearts, love will buy up opportunities as fast as they
+come; and always have the right money."
+
+Mr. Richmond said no more, but after another hymn and a prayer
+dismissed the assembly. Maria and Matilda presently found themselves
+side by side in the street.
+
+"Maria," said the younger one, "don't you think you and I will go and
+read to those two poor people in the lane?"
+
+"I guess I will!" said Maria, "when I get done being chief cook and
+bottle-washer to Mrs. Minny Candy."
+
+"But before that, Maria?"
+
+"When shall I go?" said Maria, sharply. "When it is time to get
+breakfast? or when the potatoes are on for dinner? or when I am taking
+the orders for tea? Don't be a goose, Matilda, if you can help it."
+
+"We haven't much time," said Matilda, sighing.
+
+"And I am not going to Lilac Lane, if I had it. There are enough other
+people to do that."
+
+"O Maria!"
+
+"Well, 'O Maria,'--there are."
+
+"But they do not go."
+
+"That's their look out."
+
+"And, Maria, you see what Mr. Richmond thinks about the Dows."
+
+"I don't see any such thing."
+
+"You heard him to-night."
+
+"He didn't say a word about the Dows."
+
+"But about trying again, he did. O Maria, I've thought a great many
+times of that Dows' house."
+
+"So have I," said Maria; "what fools we were."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, because it was no use."
+
+"Mr. Richmond doesn't think so."
+
+"He's welcome to go and try for himself. _I_ am not going again."
+
+"What is the matter, Maria?"
+
+"Nothing is the matter."
+
+"But, Maria, ever since you joined the Band, I cannot remember once
+seeing you 'buy up opportunities.' If you loved Jesus, I think you
+would."
+
+"I wouldn't preach," said Maria. "That is one thing I wouldn't do. If I
+was better than my neighbours, I'd let them be the ones to find it out."
+
+Matilda was silent till they reached home.
+
+"Where have you been, Matilda?" said her aunt, opening the parlour door.
+
+"To see Miss Redwood, aunt Candy."
+
+"Ask me, next time, before going anywhere. Here has Maria had
+everything to do since five hours ago,--all alone."
+
+Matilda shut her lips firmly,--if her head took a more upright set on
+her shoulders she did not know it,--and went up-stairs after her sister.
+
+"How is mamma, Maria?" she asked, when she got there.
+
+"I don't know. Just the same."
+
+The little girl sighed.
+
+"What is to be for breakfast?"
+
+"Fish balls."
+
+"You do not know how to make them."
+
+"Aunt Erminia told me. But I shall want your help, Tilly, for the fish
+has to be carefully picked all to pieces; and if we leave a bit as big
+as a sixpence, there'll be a row."
+
+"But the fish isn't soaked, Maria."
+
+"It is in hot water on the stove now. It will be done by morning."
+
+Matilda sighed again deeply, and knelt down before the table where her
+Bible was open. "Buying up opportunities" floated through her head;
+with "works, and love, and service, and faith, and patience, and
+works"* [*Alford's translation.]--"Christ pleased not Himself"--and the
+little girl's head went down upon the open page. How much love she must
+have, to meet all the needs for it! to do all the works, have all the
+patience, buy up all the opportunities! Tilly's one prayer was that she
+might be full of love, first to God and then to everybody.
+
+Such prayers are apt to be answered; and the next morning saw her go
+through all the details of its affairs with a quiet patience and
+readiness which must have had a deep spring somewhere. She helped Maria
+in the tedious picking out of the fish; she roasted her cheeks in
+frying the balls, while her sister was making porridge; she attended to
+the coffee; and she met her aunt and cousin at breakfast with an
+unruffled quiet sweetness of temper. It was just the drop of oil needed
+to keep things going smoothly; for Maria was tired and out of humour,
+and Mrs. Candy disposed to be ill-pleased with both the girls for their
+being out at the Band meeting. She did not approve of the whole thing,
+she said. However, the sunshine scattered the clouds away. And when,
+after a busy morning and a pretty well got-up dinner, Matilda asked
+leave to go out and take a walk, she had her reward. Mrs. Candy gave
+permission.
+
+"Won't you come too, Maria?" she asked, when they went to their own
+room.
+
+"There's no fun in walking," Maria answered, disconsolately.
+
+"I am going to Lilac Lane."
+
+"I hope you don't think there is any fun in _that_."
+
+"But, Maria!----"
+
+"Well, what?"
+
+"I think there is something a great deal better than fun."
+
+"You may have it all then, for me."
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, gently, "I wish you wouldn't mind.
+Mamma will get well by and by, and this will be all over; and we are
+getting along so nicely. Aunt Candy was quite pleased with the dinner."
+
+"There's another dinner to get to-morrow," said Maria; "and I don't
+know what you mean by this being 'all over' when mamma gets well. What
+difference will her getting well make? She will help, to be sure; but
+we should have the same things to do--just the same."
+
+Matilda had not reckoned on that, for she looked sober a minute or two.
+
+"Well, Maria," she said then, clearing up, "I don't care. If Jesus has
+given us this to do, you know, I _like_ to do it; because He has given
+it to us to do."
+
+Maria turned away impatiently.
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, drawing nearer and speaking solemnly,
+"do you intend to ask Mr. Richmond to baptize you the next time he has
+the baptismal service?"
+
+"If I do," said Maria, "_you_ need not trouble yourself about it."
+
+And Matilda thought she had better let the subject and her sister both
+alone for the present. She had got herself ready, and now taking her
+Bible she went out. It was but a little way to the corner. There she
+turned in the opposite direction from the one which would have taken
+her to church, and crossed the main street. In that direction, farther
+on, lay the way to Lilac Lane; but at the other corner of the street
+Matilda found an interruption. Somebody stopped her, whom she knew the
+next instant to be Norton Laval.
+
+"Why, it is Matilda Englefield!" he said. "You are just the one I want
+to see."
+
+"Am I?" said Matilda.
+
+"I should think so. Come along; our house lies that way; don't you
+recollect?"
+
+"Oh, but I am not going that way now," said Matilda.
+
+"Oh yes, but you are! Mamma says contradicting is very rude, but I
+can't help it sometimes. Can you help it, Matilda?"
+
+"People ought to be contradicted sometimes," Matilda said, with an arch
+bridling of her head, which, to be sure, the child was quite
+unconscious of.
+
+"Not I," said Norton. "Come!"
+
+"Oh, but I cannot, Norton. I wish I could. Not this time."
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Up that way."
+
+"Nobody lives up that way."
+
+"Nobody? Just look at the houses."
+
+"Nobody lives in those houses," said Norton.
+
+"Oh, very well; then I am going to see nobody."
+
+"No, Matilda; you are coming to see mamma. And I have something to show
+you; a new beautiful game, which mamma has got for me; we are going to
+play it on the lawn, when the grass is in order, by and by; and I want
+you to come and see it now, and learn how to play. Come, Matilda, I
+want to show it to you."
+
+Matilda hesitated. It did not seem very easy to get rid of Norton; but
+what would become of the poor people in Lilac Lane? Would another time
+do for them? Here was Norton waiting for her; and a little play would
+be so pleasant. As she stood irresolute, Norton, putting his arm round
+her affectionately, and applying a little good-humoured force, gave her
+shoulders without much difficulty the turn he wished them to take. The
+two began to move down the street towards Norton's home. But as soon as
+this was done, Matilda began to have qualms about her dress. Norton was
+in a brown suit that fitted him, fresh and handsome; his cap sat
+jauntily on his thick, wavy hair; he was nice from head to foot. And
+Matilda had come out in the home dress she had worn while she and Maria
+had been washing up the dinner dittoes. Looking down she could see a
+little wet spot on the skirt now. That would dry. But then her boots
+were her everyday boots, and they were a little rusty; and she had on
+her common school hat. The only thing new and bright about her was her
+Bible under her arm. As her eye fell upon it, so did her companion's
+eye.
+
+"What book have you got there?" he asked, and then put out his hand to
+take it. "A Bible! Where were you going with this, Matilda?"
+
+"It is my Bible," said the little girl.
+
+"Yes; but you do not take your Bible out to walk with you, do you, as
+babies do their dolls?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Then what for, Matilda?"
+
+"Business."
+
+"What sort of business?"
+
+"Why do you want to know, Norton? It was private business."
+
+"I like that," said Norton. "Why do I want to know? Because you are
+Matilda Englefield, and I like to know all about you."
+
+"You do not know much yet," said Matilda, looking with a pleased look,
+however, up into her companion's face. It was smiling at her, with a
+complacent look to match.
+
+"I shan't know _much_ when I know all," he said. "How old are you? You
+can't make much history in ten years."
+
+"No, not much," said Matilda. "But still--it may not be history to
+other people, but I think it is to one's self."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Oh, one's life, you know."
+
+"But ten years is not a life," said Norton.
+
+"It is, if one hasn't lived any longer."
+
+"I would like my life to be history to other people," said Norton.
+"Something worth while."
+
+"I wouldn't like other people to know my life, though," said Matilda.
+
+"Then could not help it, if it was something worth while," said Norton.
+
+"Why, yes, Norton; one's life is what one thinks and feels; what nobody
+knows. Not the things that everybody knows."
+
+"It is what one _does_," said Norton; "and if you do anything worth
+while, people will know it. I wonder what there will be to tell of you
+and me fifty years from now?"
+
+"Fifty years! Why, then I should be sixty-one," said Matilda; "and you
+would be a good deal more than that. But perhaps we shall not live to
+be so old."
+
+"Yes, we shall," said Norton. "_I_ shall; and you must, too."
+
+"Why, Norton, we can't _make_ ourselves live," said Matilda, in great
+astonishment at this language.
+
+"We shall live to be old, though," said Norton. "I know it. And I wish
+there may be something to be said of _me_. I don't think women ought to
+be talked of."
+
+"I do not see what good it would do anybody to be talked of, after he
+has gone away out of the world," said Matilda. "Except to be talked of
+in heaven. That would be good."
+
+"In heaven!" said Norton. "Talked of in heaven! Where did you get that?"
+
+"I don't mean that exactly," said Matilda. "But some people will."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Why, a great many people, Norton. Abraham and Noah, and David, and
+Daniel, and the woman that put all she had into the Lord's treasury,
+and the woman that anointed the head of Jesus--the woman who, He said,
+had done what she could. I would like to have _that_ said of me, if it
+was Jesus that said it."
+
+Norton took hold of Matilda and gave her a little good-humoured shake.
+"Stop that!" he said; "and tell me, is that why you are carrying a
+Bible out here in the streets?"
+
+"Oh, I haven't any use for it here, Norton."
+
+"Then what have you got it here for?"
+
+"Norton, there are some people in the village who are sick, or cannot
+read; and I was going to read to them."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"In Lilac Lane."
+
+"Where is that?"
+
+"You go up past the corner a good way, and just by Mr. Barth's foundry
+you turn down a few steps, and turn again at the baker's. Then, a
+little way further on, you strike into the lane."
+
+"That's it, is it? I know. But do you know what sort of people live up
+that way?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, there's another thing you _don't_ know, and that's the mud.
+You'd never have got out again, if you had gone to Lilac Lane to-day.
+It is three feet deep; and it weighs twenty pounds a foot. After you
+set your shoe in it, you want a windlass to get it out again."
+
+"What is a windlass?" Matilda asked.
+
+"Don't you know? Well, you _are_ a girl; but you are a brick. I'll
+teach you about a windlass, and lots of things."
+
+"I shouldn't think you would want to teach me, _because_ I am a girl,"
+said Matilda.
+
+They had reached the iron gate of Mrs. Laval's domain, walking fast as
+they had talked; and in answer to Matilda's last remark, Norton opened
+the gate for her, and took off his cap with an air as he held it for
+her to pass in. Matilda looked, smiled, and stepped past him.
+
+"You are not like any boy I ever saw," she remarked, when he had
+recovered his cap and his place beside her.
+
+"I hope you like me better than any one you ever saw?"
+
+"Yes," said Matilda, "I do."
+
+The boy's answer was to do what most boys are too shy or too proud for.
+He put his arms round Matilda and gave her a hearty kiss. Matilda was
+greatly surprised, and bridled a little, as if she thought Norton had
+taken a liberty; but on the whole seemed to recognise the fact that
+they were very good friends, and took this as a seal of it. Norton led
+her into the house, got his croquet box, and brought her and it out
+again to the little lawn before the door. Nobody else was visible. The
+day was still, dry, and sunny, and though the grass was hardly green
+yet and not shaven nor rolled nor anything that a croquet lawn ought to
+be, still it would do, as Norton said, to look at. Matilda stood by and
+listened intently, while he planted his hoops and showed his mallets,
+and explained to her the initial mysteries of the game. They even tried
+how it would go; and there was no doubt of one thing, the time went
+almost as fast as the croquet balls.
+
+"I must run home, Norton," Matilda said at last.
+
+"Why? I don't think so."
+
+"I know I must."
+
+"Well, do you like it?" He meant the game.
+
+"Oh, it's delightful!" was Matilda's honest exclamation. Norton pushed
+back his cap and looked at her, pleased on his part. It came into
+Matilda's head that she ought to tell him something. Their two faces
+had grown to be so friendly to each other.
+
+"Norton," she said, gravely, "I want you to know something about me."
+
+"Yes," said Norton. "I want to know it."
+
+"You don't know what it is."
+
+"That's the very thing. I _want_ to know it."
+
+"Norton, did you ever see anybody baptized?"
+
+"Babies," said Norton, after a moment's recollection.
+
+"Well, if you would like to see me baptized, come to our church Sunday
+after next."
+
+"You?" said Norton. "Haven't you been baptized?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"I thought everybody was. Then if you have not been yet, why do you?
+Whose notion is that?"
+
+"It is mine."
+
+"_Your_ notion?" said Norton, examining her. "What do you mean by that,
+Matilda?"
+
+"I mean, I want to be baptized; and Mr. Richmond is going to do it for
+me."
+
+"What's it for? what's the use? I wouldn't if I were you."
+
+"It is joining the church. Don't you understand, Norton?"
+
+"Not a bit. That is something I never did understand. Do you understand
+it?"
+
+"Why, yes, certainly."
+
+"Let's hear, then," said Norton, putting up his croquet balls.
+
+"Mr. Richmond has explained it so much, you know, I couldn't help but
+understand."
+
+"Oh, it's Mr. Richmond, is it?"
+
+"No; it's the Bible."
+
+"Let's hear, then," said Norton. "Go on."
+
+Matilda hesitated. She found a difficulty in saying all her mind to
+him; she did not know whether it was best; and with that she had a
+suspicion that perhaps she ought to do it. She glanced at him, and
+looked away, and glanced again; and tried to make up her mind. Norton
+was busy putting up his croquet hoops and mallets; but his face looked
+so energetic and wide awake, and his eye was so quick and strong, that
+she was half afraid to say something that might bring an expression of
+doubt or ridicule upon it. Then Norton looked up at her again, a keen
+look enough, but so full of pleasure in her that Matilda's doubts were
+resolved. He would not be unkind; she would venture it.
+
+"I want you to know about me, Norton," she began again.
+
+"Well," said Norton, "so do I; but it seems difficult, somehow."
+
+"You do not think that, for you are laughing."
+
+Norton gave her another look, laughing rather more; and then he came
+and stood close beside her.
+
+"What is it, Matilda?" he asked.
+
+"I don't want you to think that I am good," she said, looking up
+earnestly and timidly, "for I am not; but I want to be; and being
+baptized is a sign of belonging to the Lord Jesus, so I want to be
+baptized."
+
+"It isn't a sign of anything good," said Norton. "Lots of people are
+baptized, that aren't anything else, I know. Lots of them, Matilda.
+That don't change them."
+
+"No, that don't change them, Norton; but when they _are_ changed, then
+the Bible says they must be baptized."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"It is just telling everybody what they believe, and what they are.
+It's a _sign_."
+
+"Then when you are baptized, as you mean to be, that will be telling
+everybody what _you_ believe and what you are?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It would not tell me," said Norton, "be-cause I should not understand
+the sign. I wish you would tell me now in words, Matilda."
+
+"I don't know if I can, but I'll try. You know water makes things
+clean, Norton?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"Well, if it is used it does," said Matilda. "The water is a sign that
+I believe the Lord Jesus will take away my sins, and make me clean and
+good, if I trust Him; that He will wash my heart, and that He has begun
+to do it. And it will be a sign that I am His servant, because that is
+what He has commanded His servants."
+
+"What?"
+
+"That; to be baptized, and join the church."
+
+"Matilda, a great many people are baptized, and keep all their sins
+just the same."
+
+"Oh, but those are make-believe people."
+
+"No, they are not; they are real people."
+
+"I mean, they are make-believe Christians."
+
+"How do you know but you are?"
+
+"I _think_ I know," said Matilda, looking down.
+
+"But other people won't know. Your being baptized will not mean
+anything to them, only that somebody has coaxed you into it."
+
+"It will mean all that, Norton; and if I am true they will _see_ it
+means all that."
+
+"They might see it all the same without your being baptized. What
+difference would that make?"
+
+"It is _obedience_," said Matilda, firmly. "And not to do it would be
+disobedience. And it is profession of faith; and not to do it, would be
+to say that I don't believe."
+
+Norton looked amused, and pleased, and a little puzzled.
+
+"You have not told me anything about you, after all," he said; "for I
+knew it all before."
+
+"How did you know it?"
+
+"Not this about your being baptized, you know, but about _you_."
+
+"What about me?"
+
+"I say, Matilda, when will you come and play croquet again?"
+
+"I don't know. But, O Norton, I must go now. I forgot all about it. And
+there was something else I wanted to say. I wish you would be a servant
+of Jesus too?"
+
+Matilda gave this utterance a little timidly. But Norton only looked at
+her and smiled, and finally closed the question by taking her in his
+arms and giving her two kisses this time. It was done without a bit of
+shamefacedness on his part, and with the energy and the tenderness too
+of affection. Matilda was extremely astonished and somewhat
+discomposed; but the evident kindness excused the freedom, and on the
+whole she found nothing to object. Norton opened the iron gate for her,
+and she hurried off homewards without another word.
+
+In a dream of pleasure she hurried along, feeling that Norton Laval was
+a great gain to her, and that croquet was the most delightful of
+amusements, and that all the weariness of the day's work was taken out
+of her heart. She only regretted, as she went, that those poor people
+in Lilac Lane had heard no reading; but she resolved she would go to
+them to-morrow.
+
+There is one time, however, for doing everything that ought to be done;
+and if that time is lost, no human calculation can make sure a second
+opportunity. Matilda was to find this in the case of Lilac Lane. The
+next day weather kept her at home. The second day she was too busy to
+go on such an expedition. The third was Sunday. And when Monday came,
+all thoughts of what she had intended to do were put out of her head by
+her mother's condition. Mrs. Englefield was declared to be seriously
+ill.
+
+The doctor was summoned. Her fever had taken a bad turn, he said. It
+was a very bad turn; for after a few days it was found to be carrying
+her swiftly to death's door. She was unable to see her children, or at
+least unable to recognise and speak to them, until the very last day;
+and then too feeble. And the Sunday when Matilda had expected to be
+baptized, saw her mother's funeral instead.
+
+Anne and Letitia came up from New York, but were obliged to return
+thither immediately after the funeral; and the two younger girls were
+left to their grief. It was well for them now that they, had plenty of
+business, plenty of active work on hand. It was a help to Maria; after
+a little it diverted her thoughts and took her out of the strain of
+sorrow. And it was a help to Matilda, but in a more negative way. It
+kept the child from grieving herself ill, or doing herself a mischief
+with violent sorrow; it was no relief. In every unoccupied moment,
+whenever the demands of household business left her free to do what she
+would, the little girl bent beneath her burden of sorrow. Kneeling
+before her open Bible, her tears flowed incessantly every moment when
+the luxury of indulgence could be allowed them. Mrs. Candy did not see
+the whole of this; she was rarely in the girls' room; yet she saw
+enough to become uneasy, and tried all that she knew to remedy it.
+Clarissa was kind, to her utmost power of kindness. Even Maria was
+stirred to try some soothing for her little sister. But Matilda could
+not be soothed. Maria's instances and persuasions did, however, at last
+urge her to the point of showing a part of her thoughts and disclosing
+the thorn that pressed sharpest on her mind. It was, that she had not
+pleased her mother by doing her best in the studies she had pursued at
+school. Matilda had always been a little self-indulgent; did not
+trouble herself with study; made no effort to reach or keep a good
+place in her classes. Mrs. Englefield had urged and commanded her in
+vain. Not obstinately, but with a sort of gay carelessness, Matilda had
+let these exhortations slip; had studied when she was interested, and
+lagged behind her companions in the pursuits she found dry. And now,
+she could not forgive herself nor cease her sorrowing on account of
+this failure.
+
+Maria in despair at last took Mrs. Candy into her confidence, and
+besought her to comfort Matilda, which Mrs. Candy tried her best to do.
+She represented that Matilda had always been a good child; had loved
+and honoured her mother, and constantly enjoyed her favour. Matilda
+heard, but answered with sobs.
+
+"I am sure, my dear," her aunt said, "you have nothing to reproach
+yourself with. We are none of us perfect."
+
+"I didn't do what I could, aunt Candy!" was Matilda's answer.
+
+"My dear, hardly anybody--the best of us--does all he might do."
+
+"I will," said Matilda.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+This could not last always, and the days as they passed, after a while,
+brought their usual soothing.
+
+The quiet routine of the early spring began to come in again. Mrs.
+Candy was looking for a girl, she said, but had not found one yet;
+Maria and Matilda were not ready to go to school; they were better
+getting the breakfast and washing up the dishes than doing nothing. No
+doubt that was true.
+
+"Tilly," said Maria, one of these days, when the coffee cups were
+getting put in order, going out of Maria's tub of hot water into
+Matilda's hands and napkin,--"Tilly! you know next Sunday there is to
+be a baptism in the church?"
+
+"Yes," said Matilda.
+
+It was weeks after that other Sunday, when the rite had not been
+administered. Spring had come forward rapidly since then. Trees were in
+full leaf; dandelions in the grass; flowers were in the woods, though
+the two sisters had not gone to see them this year; the apple orchards
+around Shadywalk were in a cloud of pink blossoms; and the sun was warm
+upon flower and leaf everywhere.
+
+"Who is going to be baptized?" Maria went on.
+
+"I don't know. At least, I don't know all."
+
+"Ailie Swan is," remarked Maria.
+
+"Yes, I know Ailie Swan is."
+
+"And Frances Barth."
+
+Matilda was silent.
+
+"And Esther Trembleton, and George Rice, and Mary and Willie Edwards."
+
+"I suppose so," said Matilda.
+
+"You are not, are you?"
+
+"You know I _was_ going to be," said Matilda. "I am now."
+
+"Tilly, it would be no harm if you waited till another time."
+
+"Why should I wait?"
+
+"_I_ am going to wait," said Maria.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, because I don't feel like it. Not now."
+
+"I do not want to wait," said Matilda. And probably she was going to
+say more, but her lip trembled and she stopped.
+
+"It would be no harm, Tilly, if you waited. Nobody would expect it of
+us now. _Nobody_ would expect it, Tilly."
+
+"I think One would," said Matilda.
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Jesus."
+
+"But, Tilly," said Maria, uneasily, "I don't think so. It could not be
+pleasant for you and me, you know, to go forward and be baptized _now_.
+We might wait till another time; and then it would be more easy,
+wouldn't it?"
+
+"It is not hard now," said Matilda. "It is pleasant now. I do not wish
+to put it off."
+
+"Pleasant?" repeated Maria.
+
+"Yes," said her little sister, quietly, lifting her eyes to Maria's
+face so steadily and gravely that the other changed her ground.
+
+"But at least it is not duty, Matilda."
+
+Matilda had dried all the cups, and she threw her napkin down and
+covered her face.
+
+"Oh yes!" she said; "it is duty and pleasure too. I'll do what I can."
+
+"But what does it signify, your doing it?" said Maria. "It isn't
+anything. And it will look so odd if you do and I don't."
+
+Matilda took up her napkin again, and went to work at the plates.
+
+"Matilda, I wish you would wait. I am not ready to go now."
+
+"But I am ready, Maria."
+
+"If I was to tell Aunt Candy, I believe she would put a stop to it,"
+said Maria, sulkily. "I know she does not think much of such young
+people doing such things."
+
+"But Jesus said, Let them come."
+
+Maria tossed her head. However she did not speak to Mrs. Candy.
+
+So it was with no notion of Matilda's intention that her aunt that
+Sunday took her seat in Mr. Richmond's church. She had heard that a
+number of people, most of them young people, were to be baptized in the
+evening; she had been to her own church duly in the morning, and
+thought she might gratify her curiosity now in seeing how these things
+are managed in a different communion. She and Clarissa went alone, not
+supposing that the younger ones of the family were at that same moment
+getting ready to follow.
+
+"How are you going to dress yourself, Matilda?" her sister inquired.
+
+"To dress myself!" said Matilda, turning her eyes upon her sister in
+astonished fashion.
+
+"Why, yes, child! you will go out there in sight of everybody, you
+know. Aren't you going to put on a white frock? Clarissa says they
+always do in 'her church.'"
+
+Matilda looked down at her own black dress and burst into tears; only
+by a vigorous effort she kept the tears from falling, after the first
+one or two, and hurriedly and silently began to get herself ready.
+
+"But, Matilda! why don't you speak?" said her sister. "Are you going
+just so? and why don't you speak to me? There is no harm in a white
+frock."
+
+"I don't want a white frock," said Matilda. "Do _you_ mean to stay at
+home?"
+
+"I suppose I am going," said Maria, beginning slowly her own
+preparations. "People would think odd if I didn't go. Where are you
+going to sit?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, you are very stupid. I mean, where are you going to sit?"
+
+"Where we always do, I suppose."
+
+"But then you would have so far to walk."
+
+"To walk?" Matilda repeated, bewildered.
+
+"Why, yes, child! When you are called to go up with the rest, you know;
+you would have so far to go."
+
+"Oh!" said Matilda. "What of it?"
+
+"Don't you care?"
+
+"Why, no. It don't make any difference."
+
+"Well, I'd have a white frock if I were you," said Maria. "Being in
+black is no objection to that; for people do just the same, Matilda,
+for a baptism."
+
+"You will be late, Maria," was all the answer her little sister made.
+
+And they were late. Matilda was ready and waiting, before Maria's slow
+preparations were made. They walked quick; but service had begun in the
+church before they got there. They paused in the vestibule till a
+prayer should be ended. And here Matilda was seized upon.
+
+"I thought you were not coming," said an earnest whisper. "What made
+you come so late?" It was Norton Laval.
+
+"I couldn't help it," said Matilda.
+
+"And when you came, I all but missed you. They said all of you--you
+know--would be in white dresses; and I was looking out for white.
+Aren't you going to be baptized, after all?"
+
+"Oh yes, Norton."
+
+"Well, here's some flowers for you," said the boy, putting a bunch of
+white heath and lilies into Matilda's hand. "Mamma is here; up in the
+Dawsons' pew; it was sold with the place, so we've got it. Come there,
+Matilda, it will be a good place for you; yours is farther back, you
+know. Mamma told me to bring you."
+
+Maria had gone in, after an impatient whisper to her sister. And
+Matilda yielded to a secret inclination, and followed Norton.
+
+The service of baptism was not entered into until the close of the
+evening. During one of the intervals of the usual service, which
+preceded the other, Matilda questioned with herself if she really would
+have done better to put on a white dress? Everybody seemed to expect
+it. She could not, from the Daweon pew, which was a corner front one,
+see how her companions were dressed. But she presently recollected that
+the "fine linen," which Mr. Richmond had talked to them about, "is the
+righteousness of saints;" and she quieted herself with the assurance
+that the real attire of fitness is inward and not outward. And when the
+candidates for baptism were called to come forward, she quietly left
+her bunch of lilies with her hat on the cushion of the pew.
+
+"Is that Matilda!" whispered Clarissa to her mother.
+
+"I never heard a word of it!" said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"You cannot stop her now."
+
+"No; if I could I would," answered Mrs. Candy. "This ought not to be.
+Such a child!--does not know what she is doing. What a way!"
+
+But Matilda knew what she was doing; and when the candidates were asked
+respecting their faith and profession, there was no voice among them
+all that answered more clear and free; none that promised with more
+calm distinctness to "keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk
+in the same all the days of her life." And it was a meek little face,
+without a cloud or a doubt upon it, that was raised towards Mr.
+Richmond when her turn came.
+
+There was a long line of candidates for baptism, reaching nearly from
+one end to the other of the communion rails. Mr. Richmond stood near
+one end, by the font, and did not change his place; so each one, as he
+or she received the rite, passed to one side, while the place was
+filled by another. Without breaking the rank this was done; one set
+slowly edging along from left to right, while from right to left, one
+by one, the others came to take their turn. It was a pretty sight. So
+some thought; but there were varieties of opinion.
+
+One variety Matilda had to encounter that night before she slept. Going
+back to Mrs. Laval's pew to get her hat and flowers, naturally she
+walked home with her and Norton, and had no annoyance until she got
+there. As she went through the hall the parlour door opened and she was
+called in.
+
+"I want to speak to you, Matilda," said Mrs. Candy; "and I think it is
+proper to do it at once. I want to know about this. How long have you
+been preparing for this step you have taken to-night?"
+
+"Ma'am?" said Matilda.
+
+"How long have you been thinking of doing this?"
+
+"Oh, a long while, Aunt Candy."
+
+"Why did you not consult me?"
+
+Her mother would have been the one to speak to about it, and her mother
+had been too ill. Remembering this, Matilda stood silent and her eyes
+filled.
+
+"You have been intending it for these two months past?"
+
+"Yes, Aunt Candy; and before."
+
+"Well, then, why did you not speak to me?"
+
+"I spoke to Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Mr. Richmond might have had the courtesy, himself." (Which Mr.
+Richmond had meant to do, but various pressing matters had prevented.)
+"But _you_ ought to have spoken to me, Matilda. You are too young a
+child to take such responsibility."
+
+Matilda did not think of anything to say to this.
+
+"I do not think you understand what you have been doing."
+
+"I think I do, Aunt Candy."
+
+"What did you want to be baptized for?"
+
+"Because Jesus says we must."
+
+"Yes, properly; but not improperly, without knowing what you do. What
+do you think it means, Matilda?"
+
+"To be baptized, Aunt Erminia?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It means," said the child steadily, and with the clear utterance of
+pleasure, "that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+"There!" said Clarissa, appealing to her mother.
+
+"I thought so," said Mrs. Candy. "That is not what it means, Matilda."
+
+"It is what I mean, Aunt Candy."
+
+"It means a great deal more, my dear, which you cannot understand. And
+you ought to have had a white dress on."
+
+"I don't think God cares," said Matilda.
+
+"Did you ever hear such dreadful teaching as these people have?" said
+the mother, appealing to the daughter. "My dear, there is a propriety
+in things. And not one of the candidates this evening was dressed in
+white."
+
+"But the water means a clean heart," said Matilda; "and if we have
+that, God will think we are dressed in white."
+
+"So you think you have a clean heart?"
+
+"I think Jesus has begun to make it clean."
+
+"And what does it mean to renounce the devil and all his works?"
+
+"It means," said Matilda, sighing, "to have nothing to do with anything
+that is wrong."
+
+"How is such a child as you to know what is wrong?"
+
+"Why, the Bible, Aunt Candy."
+
+"What is the vain pomp and glory of the world?"
+
+"I don't know," said Matilda. "_All_ the glory, I suppose, except what
+God gives."
+
+"What does _He_ give, child?" said Mrs. Candy, with an odd expression
+on her face.
+
+"Why, you know, Aunt Erminia," said Matilda, a little wearily.
+
+"I should like to hear you tell."
+
+"I can't tell," said Matilda. "I think it was glory, when He said of
+that poor woman, 'She hath done what she could.'"
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Candy, after a pause, "I am very sorry you have
+taken this step without consulting me. Your answers show that you have
+not the discrimination necessary for making such vows. However, it is
+too late now. You may go to bed."
+
+Which Matilda did, and speedily forgot all that had troubled her in her
+aunt's words. For she went to sleep making a pillow to her head of
+those other words--
+
+"And white robes were given to every one of them."
+
+
+
+
+
+Typographical errors silently corrected:
+
+Chapter 3: =been doing to day= replaced by =been doing to-day=
+
+Chapter 3: =than other folks= replaced by =than other folks'=
+
+Chapter 5: =Richmond?'"= replaced by =Richmond'?"=
+
+Chapter 6: =But?--what 'but?'"= replaced by =But?--what 'but'?"=
+
+Chapter 7: =one to 'carry the message?'"= replaced by =one to 'carry
+the message'?"=
+
+Chapter 8: =spend it somehow= replaced by =spend it, somehow=
+
+Chapter 8: =Only one day= replaced by =Only, one day=
+
+Chapter 8: =Well what?= replaced by =Well, what?=
+
+Chapter 9: =band of workers= replaced by =Band of workers=
+
+Chapter 9: =to do His will?= replaced by =to do His will.=
+
+Chapter 9: =give thanks?"= replaced by give thanks"?=
+
+Chapter 11: =redeem the time?'= replaced by =redeem the time'?=
+
+Chapter 11: =up opportunities?'"= replaced by =up opportunities'?"=
+
+Chapter 11: =no fun in walking.= replaced by =no fun in walking."=
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of What She Could, by Susan Warner
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<HTML>
+<HEAD>
+
+<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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+<TITLE>
+The Project Gutenberg E-text of What She Could, by Susan Warner
+</TITLE>
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+BODY { color: Black;
+       background: White;
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+       font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;
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+P.noindent {text-indent: 0% }
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+        margin-left: 10%;
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of What She Could, 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: What She Could
+
+Author: Susan Warner
+
+Release Date: October 1, 2009 [EBook #30146]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT SHE COULD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Daniel Fromont.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="transnote">
+[Transcriber's note: This is the first of a series of four novels by
+Susan Warner, all of which are in the Project Gutenberg collection:
+<BR><BR>
+  1. What She Could<BR>
+  2. Opportunities<BR>
+  3. The House in Town<BR>
+  4. Trading]<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+WHAT SHE COULD.
+</H1>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+BY THE AUTHOR OF
+<BR>
+"THE WIDE WIDE WORLD," &amp;c.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H5 ALIGN="center">
+LONDON:
+<BR>
+JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
+<BR>
+MDCCCLXXI.
+</H5>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%">
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="17%">
+<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="17%">
+<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="17%">
+<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="17%">
+<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="17%">
+<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="17%">
+<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A>
+</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">
+<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A>
+</TD>
+</TR>
+
+</TABLE>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+"WHAT SHE COULD."
+</H2>
+
+<BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap01"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER I.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+"Girls, there's a Band!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A Band&mdash;in the Sunday-School."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sure there is a careless girl in the house," put in another
+speaker. "Go and wipe your feet, Maria; look at the snow you have
+brought in."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, mamma&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Go and get rid of that snow before you say another word. And you too,
+Matilda; see, child, what lumps of snow are sticking to your shoes. Was
+there no mat at the door?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There was a cold wind there," muttered Maria, as she went to obey
+orders. "What harm does a little snow do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But while she went to the door again, her sister, a pretty, delicate
+child of fewer years, stood still, and adroitly slipped her feet out of
+the snowy shoes she had brought in, which she put in the corner of the
+fireplace to thaw and dry off; the little stocking feet standing
+comfortably on the rug before the blaze. It was so neatly done, the
+mother and elder sisters looked on and could not chide. Neatness suited
+the place. The room was full of warm comfort; the furniture in nice
+order; the work, several kinds of which were in as many hands, though
+lying about also on chairs and tables, had yet the look of order and
+method. You would have said at once that there was something good in
+the family. The child in front of the fire told more for it. Her
+delicate features, the refined look and manner with which she stood
+there in her uncovered feet, even a little sort of fastidious grace
+which one or two movements testified, drew the eyes of mother and
+sisters, and manifestly stopped their tongues; even called forth a
+smile or two.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is all this Maria is talking about, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, we have been to the Sunday-School meeting, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know that; and it was not a night fit for you to go. What ever
+possessed you and Maria?" remarked one of the sisters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, Mr. Richmond wanted to see all the Sunday-School," said Matilda,
+thoughtfully. "He wanted you too, I suppose; and you were not there."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is no use in having a meeting such a night. Of course, a great
+many people could not be there. It ought to have been put off."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it was not put off," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did he want? What was Maria talking about?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She is the best one to ask," said the child.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At the same moment Maria came in from getting rid of the snow, and
+enquired if Tilly had told them everything? Finding all was right, she
+sat down contentedly before the fire and stretched out her feet towards
+it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We've had a splendid time, I can tell you," she began.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What was done in particular?" asked one of the older girls, who was
+making a bonnet. "More than usual?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A great many things in particular, and one in general. We've made a
+Band."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have made several since you have been away," the other sister
+remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know we cannot understand that unless you explain," said the
+bonnet-maker.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must let Maria take her own manner," said their mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, now, I'll tell you all about it," said Maria. "There weren't a
+great many people there, to begin with."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course not! such a night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So there were plenty of empty benches, and it didn't look like a
+meeting at all, at first; and I wondered if it would come to anything;
+but then Mr. Richmond came in, and I saw <I>he</I> meant something."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond always does mean something," interrupted Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You hush, Tilly! Well, there were prayers first, of course; and then
+Mr. Richmond stood up in the aisle, and said he wanted to know how many
+of us all there were willing to be really good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The servants of Christ, he said," Matilda explained.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, the servants of Christ, of course; and he said he didn't know any
+better way to get at it than that we should all stand up."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A burst of laughter from all Maria's audience a little confused her.
+Only Matilda looked gravely at her sister, as if she were making bad
+work of it. Maria coloured, stammered, and began again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You all know what I mean! You know what I mean, mamma? Mr. Richmond
+did not say that we should <I>all</I> stand up."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then why did you say it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you would understand. He said that all those should stand
+up, so that he might see who they were, who were willing to be real
+workers for Christ; those who were willing to give themselves to the
+Lord, and to do everything or anything he gave them to do for Him. So
+we stood up, and Mr. Richmond went round and took our names down."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everybody who was there?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, no!&mdash;those who were willing to do as Mr. Richmond said."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did <I>you</I> stand up?" asked one of her sisters.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; I did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who else?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a pause&mdash;&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, a great many people! All the members of the church, of course; and
+then a good many more that aren't. Esther Trembleton rose, and Ailie
+Swan, and Mattie Van Dyke, and Frances Barth, and Mrs. Rice. And little
+Mary Edwards, she was there, and she rose, and Willie Edwards; and Mr.
+Bates got up and said he was happy to see this day. I think he was
+ready to cry, he was so glad."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And is this the 'Band' you spoke of?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This is the Sunday-School Working Band; that is what Mr. Richmond
+called it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What work are you going to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know! Mr. Richmond said he could not tell just yet; but we are
+to have meetings and all sorts of things. And then Mr. Richmond talked."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What about?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I can't tell. You know how he talks."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He said what the Band were to do," remarked Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I told what that was."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You did not tell what he said."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, I did; he said they were to do all the work for Christ that
+they could; and they were to pray a great deal, and pray for each other
+a great deal; and they were to live right."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Uncompromising Christian lives, he said. Mamma, what does
+'uncompromising' mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you know!" put in her sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell, then, Maria," said the mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda must know, mamma; for Mr. Richmond explained it enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then certainly you must."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't talk like Mr. Richmond, though," said Maria. "Letty, you'll
+spoil that bonnet if you put red flowers in."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's as <I>you</I> think," said Letty. "Blue would be very dull."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, what is uncompromising?" pursued Matilda, a pair of large,
+serious brown eyes fastening on her mother's face to await the answer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did not Mr. Richmond tell you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If he did, I did not understand, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then he ought to use words you <I>can</I> understand; that is all I have to
+say. I cannot undertake to be Mr. Richmond's dictionary. Uncompromising
+means different things at different times. It isn't a word for you,
+Tilly," the mother added, with a smile at the child.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is only one thing Tilly will ever be uncompromising about," her
+oldest sister remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is that?" the little one asked quick.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Girls, stop talking and go to bed," said their mother. "Letitia and
+Anne, put up work; I am tired. Maria, you and Tilly go at once and be
+out of the way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't see how I am in the way," remarked Maria. "Letty has not done
+her bonnet yet, and she will not go till she has."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Letty, I am not going to wait for that bonnet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, ma'am; there is no need."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not going to leave you up, either. I know how that works. The
+bonnet can be finished to-morrow. And, Anne, roll up your ruffles.
+Come, girls!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What a lovely mantilla that is going to be; isn't it, mamma?" said
+Maria. "Won't Anne look nice when she gets it on? I wish you'd let me
+have one just like it, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not care about your having one just like it," said Anne. "What
+would be the use of that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The same use, I suppose&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, go to bed!" said her mother "And Matilda. Look what o'clock it
+is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't go, mamma, unless somebody will bring me some shoes. Mine are
+wet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, fetch Tilly a pair of shoes. And go, children."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The children went; but Maria grumbled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why couldn't you come up-stairs in your stocking feet? <I>I</I> should."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It isn't nice," said the little one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nice! you're so terribly nice you can't do anything other people do.
+There is no use in our coming to bed now; Anne and Letty will sit up
+till eleven o'clock, I shouldn't wonder; and we might just as well as
+not. Mamma can't get them to bed. Letty and Anne ought to have been at
+the meeting to-night. I wonder if they would have risen? Why did not
+you rise, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had not thought about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can't you do anything without thinking about it first?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not understand it yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Understand! why, nothing is easier than to understand. Of course, we
+are all to be as good as we can be, that's all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You don't think that is much," said the little one, as she began
+slowly to undress herself. The work of undressing and dressing was
+always slow with Tilly. Every article of clothing taken off was to be
+delicately folded and nicely laid away at night; and taken out and put
+on with equal care and punctiliousness in the morning. Maria's
+stockings went one way and her shoes another; while Tilly's were put
+exactly ready for use under her chair. And Maria's clothes presently
+lay in a heap on the floor. But not till some time after Matilda's neat
+arrangements had been made and she herself was safe in bed. Maria had
+dallied while the other was undressing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you are very curious, Matilda!" she exclaimed, as she followed
+her sister into bed. "I shouldn't think it required much <I>thinking</I>, to
+know that one ought to be good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You haven't put out the candle, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria bounced from her bed, and bounced in again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Maria!" said Matilda in a moment or two, plaintively; "you've
+<I>blown</I> it out! and the room is all filled with smoke."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It doesn't make any difference," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is very disagreeable."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will be gone in a minute."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, it won't, for I can see the red spark on the end of the candle
+now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are so particular, Tilly!" said her sister. "If <I>you</I> ever take a
+notion to be good, you'll have to leave off some of your ways, I can
+tell you. You needn't mind a little smell of candle-smoke. Go to sleep,
+and forget it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't good people mind disagreeable things?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, of course, they don't. How could they get along, you know? Don't
+you remember what Mr. Richmond said?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't remember that he said <I>that</I>. But then, Maria, would you mind
+getting up to snuff out that candle? It's dreadful!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nonsense! I shan't do it. I've just got warm."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another minute or two gave tokens that Maria was past minding
+discomfort of any sort. She was fast asleep. Tilly waited, panted,
+looked at the glimmering red end of the candle snuff; finally got out
+of bed and crept to the dressing-table where it stood, and with some
+trouble managed to put a stop to smoke for that night.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap02"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER II.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The house in which these things happened was a brown house, standing on
+the great high-road of travel which ran through the country, and just
+where a considerable village had clustered round it. From the upper
+windows you caught a glimpse of a fine range of blue mountains, lying
+miles away, and with indeed a broad river flowing between; but the
+river was too far off to be seen, and hidden behind intervening ground.
+From the lower windows you looked out into the village street; clean
+and wide, with comfortable houses standing along the way, not crowded
+together; and with gardens between and behind them, and many trees
+shielding and overhanging. The trees were bare now; the gardens a
+spread of snow; the street a white way for sleigh-runners;
+nevertheless, the aspect of the whole was hopeful, comfortable,
+thriving, even a little ambitious. Within this particular house, if you
+went in, you would see comfort, but little pretension; a neat look of
+things, but such things as had been mended and saved, and would not be
+rashly replaced. It was very respectable, therefore, and had no look of
+poverty. So of the family gathered around the breakfast-table on the
+morning after the Sunday-School meeting. It was a fair group, healthy
+and bright; the four girls and their mother. They were nicely dressed;
+and good appetites spoke of good spirits; and the provision on the
+table was abundant though plain.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria asked if Letty had finished her bonnet last night. Letty said she
+had.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And did you put those red flowers in?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That will be gay."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not too gay. Just enough. The bonnet would be nothing if it had not
+flowers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria's spoon paused half way to mouth. "I wonder," she said, gravely,
+"if Mr. Richmond likes red flowers?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He has nothing to do with <I>my</I> bonnet," said Letitia. "And no more
+have you. You need not raise the question. I shall wear what becomes
+me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the difference whether one wears red or blue, Maria?" said her
+mother. "Do you think one colour is more religious than another?&mdash;or
+more wicked? What do you mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing, ma'am," Maria answered, a little abashed. "I was only
+thinking."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think Mr. Richmond likes flowers everywhere," said Matilda; "and all
+colours."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People that are very religious do not wear flowers in their bonnets
+though, do they?" said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond did not say any such thing!" said Matilda, indignantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did he say? What was all this last night's talk about?" said
+Anne. "I did not understand half of it. Was it against red flowers, or
+red anything?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not understand any of it," said Mrs. Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, mamma, I told you all, as plain as could be," said Maria. "I told
+you he made a Band&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He didn't," interrupted Matilda; "the Band made themselves."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But at this, the shout that went round the breakfast-table threatened
+to endanger the dishes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's no use trying to talk," said Maria, sullenly, "if you laugh so. I
+told you there was a Band; ever so many of us rose up and agreed that
+we would belong to it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda, are you in it too?" the mother asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not? How comes that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She wasn't ready," her sister said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, I want to understand," said the child.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Quite right; so do I."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wouldn't you do what Mr. Richmond says, whether you understand or
+not?" inquired Maria, severely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would rather know what it is, first," said Matilda, in her way,
+which was a compound of cool and demure, but quite natural.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And when is the next meeting?" said Letitia. "I guess I'll go."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It won't be for a week," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And will you join the Band, Letty?" Maria asked somewhat eagerly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How, join it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, rise up, when you are asked."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does 'rising up' mean, Maria? What do you rise for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, it means just that you promise to be good, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I have heard you promise that a number of times, it seems to me;
+without 'rising up,' as you call it. Will the promise not better, if
+you make it on your feet instead of sitting?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, mamma," said Maria, flushing, "isn't that just wicked in Letitia?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My dear, I do not understand one word at present of what this is all
+about," her mother answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Perhaps Matilda was in the same mood, for she was a thoughtful little
+child all the way to school that morning. And at the close of the
+school day, when the children were going home, she went slowly and
+demurely along the icy street, while her sister and companions made a
+merry time. There had been a little thaw in the middle of the day, and
+now it had turned cold again, and the sidewalks were a glare of ice.
+Matilda was afraid, and went cautiously; Maria and the others took the
+opportunity for a grand slide, and ran and slipped and slid and sailed
+away homewards, like mad things. One after another, they passed her and
+rushed along, till Matilda was left the last, slowly shuffling her
+little feet over the track the feet of the others had made doubly
+slippery; when quick steps came up behind her, and a pleasant voice
+spoke&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you afraid you are going to tumble down?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda started, but lifted her eyes very contentedly then to the face
+of the speaker. They had a good way to go, for he was a tall young man.
+But he was looking down towards her with a bright face, and two good,
+clear blue eyes, and a smile; and his hand presently clasped hers.
+Matilda had no objection.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is everybody else? how come you to be all alone?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They have gone ahead, sliding on the ice."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you do not practise sliding?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am always afraid I shall fall down."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The best way is not to be afraid; and then you don't fall down. See;
+no! hold fast. I shall not let you slip!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And the gentleman and Matilda slid along the street for half a block.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you like that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well, Mr. Richmond, with you holding me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It doesn't give you courage, eh? Well, we will walk on soberly
+together. I didn't see you stand when Maria did last night?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond, I did not know just what it all meant; and so I sat
+still."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You did not know just what it all meant?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you were perfectly right to sit still. But that means that I did
+not speak so that you could understand me? Was it so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not understand&mdash;&mdash;" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It comes to that, I suppose. It is my fault. Well, I shall remember
+and be very careful what I say the next time. I will speak so that you
+will understand. But in that case, I want you to do one thing for me,
+Tilly; will you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I can, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think I would ask something you could not do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked up to the blue eyes again; they were fastened upon her
+gravely, and she hesitated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond&mdash;I don't know. You might."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope not," he said, smiling. "I will try not. You won't promise me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I can I will, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am only going to ask you, when you hear what I have to say next
+time, if you understand it, will you do what you think you ought to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There fell a silence upon that. Mr. Richmond's firm step on the icy
+ground and Matilda's light footfall passed by house after house, and
+still the little one's tongue seemed to be tied. They turned the
+corner, and went their way along Matilda's own street, where the light
+of afternoon was now fading, and the western sky was throwing a
+reflection of its own. Past the butcher's shop, and the post-office,
+and house after house; and still Matilda was silent, and her conductor
+did not speak, until they stopped before the little gate leading to the
+house, which was placed somewhat back from the road. At the gate Mr.
+Richmond stood still.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What about my question, Matilda?" he said, without loosing his hold of
+the little hand which had rested so willingly in his all the way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aren't you coming in, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not to-night. What about my question?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said the child, slowly,&mdash;"I do not always do the things
+I ought to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; I know you do not. But will you do <I>that</I> thing, which you will
+think you ought to do, when you have heard me, and understood what I
+say, the next time the Band has a meeting?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda stood silent, her hand still in Mr. Richmond's.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's the matter?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Perhaps I shall not want to do it," she said, looking up frankly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I ask you to do it all the same."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda did not move, and now her face showed great perplexity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling at last.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Perhaps I <I>cannot</I> do it, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then, if you think you cannot do it, will you come and tell me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda hesitated and pondered and hesitated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you wish it very much, Mr. Richmond?" she said, looking up
+appealingly into his face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do wish it very much."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I will!" said Matilda, with a sigh.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He nodded, shook her hand, and turned away with quick steps. Matilda
+went in and climbed the stairs to the room she and Maria shared
+together.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What were you talking to Mr. Richmond so long about?" said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wasn't talking to Mr. Richmond. He was talking to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's the difference? But I wish he would talk to Ailie Swan; she
+wants it, I know. That girl is too much!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What has she done?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, <I>you</I> don't know; she isn't in your set. <I>I</I> know. She's just
+disagreeable. I think people ought to be civil, if they are ever so
+good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought good people were civil always."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shows you don't know much."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Isn't Ailie Swan civil?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not call it civility. What do you think, Tilly? I asked her if my
+South America wasn't good? and she said she thought it was not. Isn't
+that civility?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you ask her for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because! I knew my South America was good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let me see it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nonsense! You do not know the first thing about it." But she gave her
+little sister the sheet on which the map was drawn. Matilda took it to
+a table under the window, where the dying light from the western sky
+fell brightest; and putting both elbows on the table and her head in
+her hands, studied the map.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is the atlas?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you want of the atlas?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want to see if it is like."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is like, of course, child."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't tell without seeing," Matilda persisted. And Maria grumblingly
+brought the atlas, open at the map in question. Matilda took it and
+studied anew.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is getting dark," said she at length. "But your South America is
+crooked, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It isn't!" said Maria, vehemently. "How should it be crooked, when we
+angle it on, just according to the rules?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Angle it on?" repeated Matilda, looking at her sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes. Oh, you don't understand, child; how should you? I told you you
+didn't know anything about it. Of course, we have rules and things to
+go by; and my South America was put on just right."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not straight, though," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, no, it isn't straight; it is not meant to be straight; it is all
+crookly crawly, going in and out, all round."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But it don't stand straight," said Matilda; "and it looks <I>thin</I>, too,
+Maria; it don't puff out as much as the real South America does."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Puff out!" Maria repeated. "It's as good as Ailie's, anyhow; and a
+great deal better than Frances Barth's. Frances got a great blot on
+hers; she's so careless. George Van Dyke is making a nice one; and Ben
+Barth is doing a splendid map; but then Ben does everything&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Here there was a great call to tea from below, and the girls went down.
+Down-stairs there was excitement. A letter had come from Mrs. Candy,
+Mrs. Englefield's sister, saying that she herself with her daughter
+Clarissa would be with them the beginning of the week. .
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To stay, mamma? O mamma, is Aunt Candy coming to stay? Do tell me. Is
+she coming to stay?" Maria exclaimed and questioned.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She will stay a night with us, Maria. Don't be so eager."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only a night, mamma? Won't she be here longer?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She is coming to stay till summer, Maria," said her eldest sister. "Do
+be reasonable."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think it is reasonable to want to know," said Maria. "<I>You</I> knew; so
+you didn't care about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I care a great deal; what do you mean?" said Anne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean you didn't care about knowing. O mamma, can't I have my dress
+finished before they come?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What dress, Maria?" her sister went on; for Mrs. Englefield was busy
+with the letter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My new merino. It is almost done; it only wants finishing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's all the braid to put on, isn't there?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, that isn't much. Mamma, cannot I have my red merino finished
+before they come? I have got nothing to wear."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What can you mean, Maria? You have everything you want. That is only
+for your best dress."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, mamma, it is just when I should want it, when they come; you'll
+be having everybody to tea. Won't you have it done for me? please,
+mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you can do it for yourself, Maria. I have no objection to your
+finishing it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I cannot put on that braid&mdash;in that quirlicue pattern, mamma; I never
+did such work as that; and I haven't time, besides."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nor inclination," said Letitia, laughing. "Come, Maria, it is time you
+learned to do something for yourself. Matilda, now, might plead
+inexperience, and have some reason; but you are quite old enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The dispute would have gone on, but Mrs. Englefield desired silence,
+and the family drew round the tea-table. Other plans for the following
+weeks filled every tongue. Mrs. Candy was well off; a widow with one
+child, her daughter Clarissa; she had been in Europe for several years;
+coming back now to her own country, she was bending her steps first of
+all to her sister's house and family.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We shall have the new fashions, straight from Paris," Anne remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Has Aunt Candy been in Paris? I thought she was in Scotland, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People may go to Paris, if they have been in Scotland, Maria. It is
+not so far as around the world."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But has she been in Paris?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Lately."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, what is Aunt Candy going to do with herself when summer comes?
+She says, 'till summer.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When she tells us, I shall know, Letty. At present I am as ignorant as
+you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think she will buy a house here, and make her home here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That depends on how well she likes Shadywalk, I imagine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope she will!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would like to see, first, what she is," said Maria. "We shall have
+time enough for that, if they stay with us till summer. How old, mamma,
+is Clarissa Candy?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Over your age, Maria, by a year or so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will she go to school with us, do you suppose, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I really cannot tell, Maria. I think it very likely."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is Aunt Candy very rich?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You talk like a foolish girl. Why do you want to know?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I was thinking whether Clarissa would be dressed a great deal better
+than we are."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what if she is?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing. I was thinking. That's all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think it signifies," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh! Matilda has found her tongue! I was waiting to see when she would
+speak," cried Anne. "What don't signify, little one?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It don't signify, I think, whether any one is dressed better than
+another; anybody&mdash;Clarissa or anybody else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you are mistaken then," said Anne; "for it does signify. All the
+world knows it; and what is more, all the world feels it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think I do," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your time has not come."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>Your</I> time had come, though, before you were as old as she," said her
+mother; "and Maria's and Letty's."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know Matilda is a wonderful child," said Anne, "but her time will
+come too, mamma; and <I>she</I> will find it makes a difference whether she
+is dressed one way or another."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think <I>that</I> now," observed Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Anybody that has to fasten Tilly's dresses knows that," laughed Maria.
+"I don't make half so much fuss."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish you did," said her mother. "You are not near careful enough in
+putting on your things. Now putting on is half the battle."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The argument lasted till Tilly and Maria went back to the consideration
+of South America, which was brought down-stairs to the lamp.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You haven't got the Amazon right," said Matilda; "and Rio Janeiro is
+too far down; and it's all crooked&mdash;don't you see?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No!" said Maria; "and if it is, Ailie Swan needn't have said hers was
+better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You asked her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, if I did?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What could she say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care; it was awfully rude; and people ought to be polite, if
+they're ever so good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is all that?" said Mrs. Englefield. "That is not Tilly's map?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no, mamma; she can't draw maps; she is only setting up for a judge."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She would do it as well as that, if she would try," said her mother.
+"I wish you would love your studies, Matilda. You could do so well if
+you pleased."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Clarissa Candy will make you both ashamed," said Anne. "She has
+learned everything, and is terribly smart; 'going on to learn
+everything else,' her mother says."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma," said Maria, "I have only my green silk and my blue delaine for
+nice dresses; and the silk is old-fashioned, you know, and the delaine
+is too short; and I want my merino finished."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Finish it, then."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria pouted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I cannot afford every indulgence to you, as your aunt can to Clarissa;
+you must make it up by your own industry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But can I, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can you what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I am very smart, can you give me things, if I make them up, that I
+can be as well dressed as Clarissa Candy?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us see the merino made first," said her mother.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap03"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER III.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+There was great interest now at Shadywalk, at least in one house, to
+know when the Liverpool steamer, <I>City of Pride</I>, would be in.
+Conjectures proving unsatisfactory and uncertain, the whole family took
+to studying the marine lists in the daily papers; and when everybody
+else had looked them over, the last one of the family did it again with
+extra care; lest by some singular coincidence the letters forming the
+<I>City of Pride</I> might have escaped the eyes so keen set to find them.
+The paper grew better than a novel. It furnished a great deal of matter
+for conversation, besides; for all the steamers which had got in were
+talked over, with their dates of sailing, and number of days on the
+passage; with each of which the times, certain and probable, of the
+<I>City of Pride</I> were compared. Then there was the question, whether
+Aunt Candy might have changed her mind at the last minute, and waited
+for another steamer; and the reports of the weather lately experienced
+at sea were anxiously read and put alongside of the weather lately
+experienced at Shadywalk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Preparations in the house went on diligently; whatever might help it to
+make a better impression, or afford greater comfort to the expected
+guests, was carefully done. Mrs. Englefield even talked of getting a
+new stair-carpet, but contented herself with having the old one taken
+up and put down again, the stairs washed, and the stair-rods
+brightened; the spare room, the large corner chamber looking to the
+north and west, was scrupulously swept and dusted; furniture rubbed;
+little white knitted mats laid on the dressing-table; the chintz
+curtains taken down and put up again; a new nice chamber set of white
+china was bought, for the pitcher of the old set had an ugly nick in it
+and looked shabby; the towel rack was filled with white napery; the
+handsomest Marseilles quilt was spread on the bed; the stove was
+blackened and polished. It looked "very respectable," Anne said, when
+all was done.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What private preparations went on, besides, on the part of the girls,
+it would be hard to say. Maria worked hard at her braiding&mdash;that was
+open to anybody's observation; but there were less obvious flutings and
+ironings down in the kitchen, and adjusting of ribbons and flowers in
+secret consultations up-stairs. And one piece of care was made public
+by Maria, who announced that Letty had trimmed her old bonnet three
+times over before she would be suited.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well," said Letty, contentedly. "I should like to know who would
+wear an old thing when he could have a new; and mine is like new now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Things can't be new always," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What then?" her sisters asked, laughing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then it must be respectable for them to be old, sometimes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Respectable! Not very pleasant, when they are to be set alongside of
+things as new and nice as they can be. I like to be as good as anybody,
+for my part."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma," said Matilda, "do you know there is a great hole in the door
+mat?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is worn out a great deal too soon," said Mrs. Englefield; "I shall
+tell Mr. Hard that his goods do not last; to be sure, you children do
+kick it to pieces with the snow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, mamma, I should think you might get another, and let that one go
+to the kitchen."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And then, wouldn't you like me to buy a new hall cloth? there is very
+nearly a hole in that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, mamma!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I cannot do it, children. I am not as rich as your Aunt Candy. You
+must be contented to let things be as they are."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The girls seemed to take it as a grave fact, to judge by their faces.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I think all this is very foolish talking and feeling. People are
+not any better for being rich."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they are a great deal happier," said Letitia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, I am sure. I never was tried. I think you had better put
+the thought out of your heads. I should be sorry if you were not as
+happy as your cousin, and with as much reason."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma's being sorry doesn't help the matter," said Letitia, softly. "I
+know I should be happier if I had what I want. It is just nonsense to
+say I should not. And mamma would herself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That evening, the end of the week it was, the newspaper rewarded the
+first eyes that looked at its columns, with the intelligence that the
+<I>City of Pride</I> had been telegraphed. She would be in that night. And
+the list of passengers duly showed the names of Mrs. Candy and
+daughter. The family could hardly wait over Sunday now. Monday
+morning's train, they settled it, would bring the travellers. Sunday
+was spent in a flutter. But, however, that Monday, as well as that
+Sunday, was a lost day. The washing was put off, and a special dinner
+cooked, in vain. The children stayed at home and did not go to school,
+and did nothing. Nobody did anything to speak of. To be sure, there was
+a great deal of running up and down stairs; setting and clearing
+tables; going to and from the post-office; but when night came, the
+house and everything in it was just where the morning had found them;
+only, all the humanity in it was tired with looking out of windows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's the worst of expecting people!" Mrs. Englefield observed, as
+she wearily put herself in an arm-chair, and Letitia drew the window
+curtains. "You never know what to do, and the thing you do is sure to
+be the wrong thing. Here Judith might as well have done her washing as
+not; and now it's to do to-morrow, when we don't want it in the way,
+and it will be in the way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you think they will come to-night, mamma?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, I am sure. I know no more than you do. How can I tell?
+Only don't ask me any more questions."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would you have tea yet, mamma?" said Letitia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's a question, now! I tell you, don't ask me. Just when you like."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's no train due for a good while, mamma; they <I>couldn't</I> come for
+two or three hours. I think we had better have tea."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So she went off to prepare it, just as Matilda who had put her face
+outside of the window curtain, proclaimed that somebody was coming to
+the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only one person though, mamma. Mamma! it's Miss Redwood&mdash;Mr.
+Richmond's Miss Redwood."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It wanted but that!" Mrs. Englefield exclaimed, with a sort of
+resigned despair. "Let her in, Matilda. I locked the door."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The person who followed Matilda to the sitting-room was a slim woman,
+in black costume, neither new nor fashionable. Indeed, it had no such
+pretensions; for the fashion at that time was for small bonnets, but
+Miss Redwood's shadowed her face with a reminiscence of the
+coal-scuttle shapes, once worn many years before. The face under the
+bonnet was thin and sharp-featured; yet a certain delicate softness of
+skin saved it from being harsh; there was even a little peachy bloom on
+the cheeks. The eyes were soft and keen at once; at least there was no
+want of benevolence in them, while their glance was swift and shrewd
+enough, and full of business activity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Miss Redwood, how do you do? I am glad to see you. Do sit down," was
+Mrs. Englefield's salutation, made without rising.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you do, Mis' Englefield? Why&mdash;seems as if you was expectin'
+folks here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just what we are doing; and it is some of the hardest work one can do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Depends on who you expect, seems to me. And I guess 'tain't harder
+work than what I've been doing to-day. I've been makin' soap. Got it
+done, too. And 'tain't to do agin till this time next year comes round."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can you make enough at once for the whole year? I cannot."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Spects you use a passel, don't ye?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course&mdash;in so large a family. But you're a great hand for soap,
+Miss Redwood, if folks say true?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cellar ain't never out of it," said Miss Redwood, shaking her head.
+"It's strong, mine is; that's where it is. You see I've my own leach
+sot up, and there's lots o' ashes; the minister, he likes to burn wood,
+and I like it, for it gives me my ley; and I don't have no trouble with
+it; the minister, he saws it and splits it and chops it, and then when
+all's done he brings it in, and he puts it on. All I have to do is to
+get my ashes. I did think, when I first come, and the minister he told
+me he calculated to burn wood in his room, I did think I should give
+up. 'Why sir,' says I, 'it'll take a load o' wood a day, to fill that
+ere chimney; and I hate to see a chimney standin' empty with two or
+three sticks a makin' believe have a fire in the bottom of it.
+Besides,' says I, 'stoves is a sight cleaner and nicer, Mr. Richmond,
+and they don't smoke nor nothin', and they're always ready.' 'I'll take
+care of the fire,' says he, 'if you'll take care of the ashes.' Well,
+it had to be; but I declare I thought I should have enough to do to
+take care of the ashes; a-flyin' over everything in the world as they
+would, and nobody but my two hands to dust with; but I do believe the
+minister's wood burns quieter than other folks', and somehow it don't
+fly nor smoke nor nothin', and the room keeps decent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your whole house is as neat as a pin. But you have no children there
+to put it out of order, Miss Redwood."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Guess we do," said the minister's housekeeper quietly; "there ain't
+any sort o' thing in the village but the minister has it in there by
+turns. There ain't any sort o' shoes as walks, not to speak of boots,
+that don't go over my carpets and floors; little and big, and brushed
+and unbrushed. I tell you, Mis' Englefield, they're goin' in between
+them two doors all the week long."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know how you manage them, I'm sure."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, <I>I</I> don't," said the housekeeper. "The back is fitted to the
+burden, they say; and I always <I>did</I> pray that if I had work to do, I
+might be able to do it; and I always was, somehow. And it's a
+first-rate place to go and warm your feet, when the minister is out,"
+she added after a pause.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?" said Mrs. Englefield, laughing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The minister's fire, to be sure, that I was talkin' about. Of course,
+I have to go in to see it's safe, when he ain't there; and sometimes I
+think it's cheaper to sit down and watch it than to be always runnin'."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond was a lucky man when he got you for a housekeeper," said
+Mrs. Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I don't know," said Miss Redwood, contemplatively, with rather a
+sweet look on her old face. "I 'spose I might as well say I was a lucky
+woman when I got his house to keep. It come all by chance, too, you may
+say&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, tea is ready," Maria here interrupted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Miss Redwood, will you come down and have tea with us?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; but what I come to ask was somethin' different. I was so taken up
+with my soap-kettle all day, I just forgot somethin' more important,
+and didn't make no new risin'; and I hain't got none to-night for the
+minister's bread. I know you're one of the folks that likes sweet
+bread, Mis' Englefield, and has it; and I've come to beg a cup o' your
+risin'."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of the girls was sent for the article, and Mrs. Englefield went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The minister's an easy man to live with, I suppose; isn't he?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What sort do you mean by that, Mrs. Englefield?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why! I mean he is easily suited, and don't give more trouble than can
+be helped, and don't take it hard when things go wrong.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Things don't go wrong, fur's I know," said Miss Redwood. "Not with
+him, nor with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Easily pleased, isn't he?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When folks do just what they'd ought to do, he <I>is</I>," said the
+housekeeper with some energy. "I have no sort of patience, for my part,
+with the folks that are pleased when they hadn't ought to be pleased."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But isn't that what Mr. Richmond preaches to us all the time? that we
+ought to be pleased with everybody?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, no, mamma!" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought he did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I take it t'other way," Miss Redwood observed. "It comes close, it
+does, some of the minister's talk; but I always think, if I had a right
+to be better pleased with myself, maybe other folks' onesidedness
+wouldn't worry me. I'll do as much for you, next time, Miss Letty," she
+said, rising to take what that young lady had brought her. And
+therewith away she went.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, we have got off with our lives this time," said Mrs. Englefield.
+"Now, girls, let us have tea."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, I believe here they are this minute," said Matilda. "The
+omnibus is stopping."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was declared to be impossible; but nevertheless found true. The
+omnibus was certainly at the door, backing down upon the side walk; and
+two figures did get out of it and came through the little courtyard to
+the house. And then all doubts were resolved; Mrs. Candy was in the
+arms of her sister, and the cousins were looking at each other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That is, as soon as people could get their wrappings off. Letty and
+Maria were assiduous in their endeavours to relieve Miss Clarissa of
+her hood and furs and the cloakings and mufflings which a night ride
+had rendered necessary; while Anne waited upon her aunt; and
+impressions were forming and opinions taking ground, under all the
+confused chatter about the journey, the train, the omnibus, and the
+<I>City of Pride;</I> opinions and impressions which were likely enough to
+get turned topsy-turvy in another day or two; but for the present
+nobody knew that.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And here is somebody who says nothing!" Mrs. Candy remarked, stooping
+down to touch Matilda's hair with a light finger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly does the thinking for the family," said Mrs. Englefield. "Now do
+come down and have some tea."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Down? Where are we going?" said Mrs. Candy. "Your house stands on the
+ground level, I noticed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, we have a very nice basement; and just for eating, you know, it
+does not make much difference where you are&mdash;and it is so much more
+convenient, being near the kitchen."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In Germany we used to take our meals in the open air a great deal,"
+Mrs. Candy went on, as the party filed down the narrow stairs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In the open air! Not at this season?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, not with the thermometer at zero," said Mrs. Candy, laughing a
+little. "Nor at quite so high a temperature as you have here!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The room down-stairs was bright enough, and looked cheerful, with its
+well-spread table and tea-urn; but it was low, and full of close stove
+heat. The travellers got as far from the source of this as the limits
+of the table would let them, and presently begged for an open door. But
+Mrs. Englefield's tea was good; and very soon the family talk began to
+move naturally. Mrs. Candy pleased her nieces. A fine-looking and also
+a kind-looking woman, with a good figure, well clothed in a handsome
+travelling dress; a gold watch and chain; and an easy, good-humoured,
+and at the same time, sensible air and way of talking. It was not
+difficult to get acquainted with her; she met all advances more than
+half way; and her talk even that first evening was full of amusement
+and novelty for the young people. It was less easy to know what to
+think of Clarissa. Her cousins held a consultation about her that night
+before going to sleep.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She looks as old as Letty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But she isn't. Oh, she don't, either."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She's well looking; don't you think so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll tell you what I think," said Matilda. "She's beau-ti-ful."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think <I>so</I>," said Letty; "but she's an uncommon looking girl."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How old <I>is</I> she?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She is sixteen."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well! Maria's only half a year younger than that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She hasn't said three words yet; so I cannot tell what she is," Anne
+remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She didn't like going down into the basement," said Letty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you know?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know she didn't!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like to know where she would go; there is no other place,"
+said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose that is just what she didn't like," said Letitia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There might be, though," Matilda began again. "If mamma would open the
+back room behind the parlour, and move the table and things up
+there,&mdash;I think it would be a great deal pleasanter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's like Matilda!" the other girls exclaimed in chorus.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I <I>don't</I> think that basement room is pleasant," said the girl.
+"I never did. I am always glad to get out of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And now, I suppose, you will be taking all Clarissa's dainty ways, in
+addition to your own!" said Letitia. "I wonder what will become of the
+rest of us."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What dainty ways has Clarissa?" Matilda inquired.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can see for yourself. She doesn't like the heat of a stove; and
+she must look at her watch to see what time it is, though the clock was
+right opposite to her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sure I would look at a watch, if I had it," Matilda added.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And did you see what travelling gloves she wore?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not, of course! you will have no eyes for any one shortly but
+Clarissa Candy; I can see it. But she is a member of the Church, isn't
+she?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What if she is?" said Matilda. "Mamma read that in one of Aunt Candy's
+letters, I remember."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We'll see what Mr. Richmond will say to her. Maria reports that he
+does not like red flowers; I wonder what he will think of some other
+things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is only Maria's nonsense," Matilda insisted. "I know Mr. Richmond
+likes red flowers; he has got a red lily in his room."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In his room&mdash;oh yes! but not in people's bonnets, you know; nor in
+their heads; if they are Christians."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't imagine what people's being Christians has to do with red
+flowers," said Matilda. "Besides, Clarissa hadn't any flowers about her
+at all. I don't know what you are talking of."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Didn't you see her gold chain, though, that hung round her neck?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Her watch was on that. Mayn't Christians wear gold chains? What
+nonsense you do talk, Letitia!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shouldn't want to be a Christian if I thought I couldn't wear
+anything," Maria remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nor would I," said Letitia. "So I advise you, my dears, to be a little
+careful how you join Bands and such things. You may find that Mr.
+Richmond is not just the sort of Christian you want to be."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The conclave broke up, having reached a termination of general
+dissatisfaction common to such conclaves. Maria went to bed grumbling.
+Matilda was as usual silent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The next day, however, found all the family as bright as itself. It was
+a cold day in January; snow on the ground; a clear, sharp sunshine
+glittering from white roofs and fence tops and the banks of snow heaped
+against the fences, and shining on twigs and branches of the bare
+trees; coming into houses with its cheery and keen look at everything
+it found, as if bidding the dark sides of things, and the dusty
+corners, to change their characters and be light and fair. In the
+basement the family gathered for breakfast in happy mood, ready to be
+pleased with each other; so pleasure was the order of the day. Pleasure
+had a good deal to feed on, too; for after the long breakfast was over
+and the conversation had adjourned to the parlour, there came the
+bestowing of presents which Clarissa had brought for her friends. And
+they were so many and so satisfactory, that the criticisms of the past
+night were certainly for the present forgotten; Letitia forgave her
+cousin her daintiness, and Maria overlooked the gold watch. Matilda as
+usual said little, beyond the civil, needful words, which that little
+girl always spoke gracefully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are a character, my dear, I see," her aunt observed, drawing
+Matilda to her side caressingly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is that, Aunt Candy?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I don't know, my dear," her aunt answered, laughing; "you put me
+to define and prove my words, and you bring me into difficulty. I
+think, however, I shall be safe in saying, that a 'character' is a
+person who has his own thoughts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But doesn't everybody?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have his own thoughts? No, my dear; the majority have the thoughts of
+other people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How can they, Aunt Candy?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just by not thinking for themselves. It saves a great deal of trouble."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But we all think for ourselves," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do we? Reflect a little. Don't <I>some</I> of you think like other people?
+about ways of doing, and acting, and dressing, for instance?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes. But, Aunt Candy, if people think for themselves, <I>must</I> they
+do unlike other people?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If they follow out their thoughts, they must, child."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That suits Matilda then," said her sister Anne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it is very nice for a family to have one character in it," said
+Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Aunt Candy, isn't Clarissa a character too?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, Tilly; I really have not found it out, if she is. Up to
+this time she always thinks as I think. Now she has given you the
+tokens of remembrance she has brought home for you; what do you think
+<I>I</I> have got?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O aunt, nothing more!" exclaimed Anne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Clarissa and I are two people, if neither of us is a character,
+however," said Mrs. Candy. "Her gifts are not my gifts. But mine shall
+be different from hers. And if there is more than one character among
+us, I should like to find it out; and this will do it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So saying, she fetched out her purse and presented to each of her
+sister's children a bank-note for twenty-five dollars.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mrs. Englefield exclaimed and protested. But Mrs. Candy laid her hand
+on her sister's mouth, and declared she must please herself in her own
+way.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you want us to do with this, Aunt Candy?" Matilda inquired in
+a sort of contemplative wonder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just whatever will please you, will please each of you, best. Only
+that. That is my condition, girls, if I may call it so. You are not to
+spend that money for any claims of duty or conscience; but simply in
+that way which will afford you the highest pleasure."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Thanks were warm and gratification very high; and in the best mood in
+the world the new relations sat down to talk to each other and study
+each other for the remainder of the day. Clarissa pleased her cousins.
+She was undoubtedly extremely pretty, with big, brown, honest eyes,
+that gave a good full look into the face she was speaking to; beautiful
+hair a little lighter in colour, and great sweetness of outline and
+feature. Yet she was reserved; very quiet; very self-possessed&mdash;to a
+degree that almost carried an air of superiority in the minds of her
+cousins. Those large brown eyes of hers would be lifted swiftly to the
+face of some one speaking, and then go down again, with no sign of
+agreeing or disagreeing&mdash;indeed, with no sign of her thought at all;
+but she <I>had</I> thoughts of course; why should she not show them, as her
+cousins did? It was almost supercilious, to the fancy of Anne and
+Letitia; Matilda and Maria were fascinated. Then her hands were more
+delicate than those of Mrs. Englefield's children; and there were one
+or two costly rings on them. Anne and Letty did not understand their
+value, but nevertheless even they could guess that they belonged to a
+superior description of jewellery from that which was displayed beneath
+the glass cases of Mr. Kurtz the watchmaker of Shadywalk. Then
+Clarissa's dress was of fine quality, and made beautifully, and her
+little gold watch with its chain "put a finish upon it," Anne said. A
+little hair necklace with a gold clasp was round her neck besides; and
+her comb was real tortoise-shell. Clarissa was dainty, there was no
+doubt; but her sweet mouth was grave and modest; her words were few;
+her manners were very kindly and proper; and her cousins on the whole
+were obliged to approve her.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap04"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IV.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+"What is all this hurry about?" Clarissa inquired one evening, as they
+were going down-stairs in answer to the tea-bell; "why are we earlier
+than usual? Anne says we are."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, because it is prayer-meeting night&mdash;no, not prayer meeting, it
+isn't either, but our Band-meeting; and we have to be early for that,
+you know. Oh, you don't know anything about our Band; but you will,
+to-night. You'll join it, won't you, Clarissa?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know something about Bands," said Clarissa; "but I never belonged to
+one. Is it the custom here for ladies to do such things?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What things? And do you know about bands? like ours?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I daresay I shall find I have something to learn," said Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is a great deal to learn from Mr. Richmond, I can tell you,"
+said Maria. "Oh, you don't know Mr. Richmond, you haven't seen him,
+because Sunday was so stormy. Well, you'll see him to-night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Englefield," said Clarissa, when they were seated at the
+tea-table,&mdash;"is your Mr. Richmond Band-master as well as clergyman?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bands are a mystery to me, Clarissa," said Mrs. Englefield; "I do not
+understand Maria when she gets upon that subject. I hope you will be
+able to enlighten me some time. Are you going to-night?&mdash;well, then, I
+shall hope to be wiser when you return."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tea was hurried through, cloaks and furs and hoods and all sorts of
+wrappings were put on; and the party set forth, Anne and Letitia this
+time going along. It was pleasanter out than in. White streets and
+clear starlight, and still, cold, fine air. About the corner a few men
+and boys were congregated as usual; after passing them and turning into
+the other street, few passengers were to be seen. Here and there one,
+or a group, making for the lecture-room; here and there somebody
+seeking a friend's house for pleasure; nobody was out on business at
+Shadywalk in the evening, and no waggons or sleighs got belated in the
+darkness. It would have been very dark, but for the snow and the stars.
+There were no shop-windows illuminated, and no lamps along the street
+and no gas anywhere. Past the shut-up houses and stores, in the dim,
+snowy street, the little cluster of girls went swiftly on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are in a great hurry," said Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, we want to get there before anything begins," Maria said. "And
+it's cold, besides!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What church is this we are passing?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, this is our church. You haven't seen it. It is real nice inside."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not outside?" said Clarissa. "Well, I cannot see it in this light. And
+is that next place the one we are going to?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, that's our lecture-room. That's <I>very</I> nice."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So it was. Pleasant light from withinside streamed warm through the
+hanging window-blinds of the long windows, and promised welcome before
+they got in. At the door, under the projecting hood, a lamp shone
+bright upon the entrance steps. People were flocking in. The opening
+door let them into a cheerful room, not large, with long rows of seats
+on either hand of a wide, matted aisle; the view closed by a little
+desk at the farther end on a raised platform. Right and left of the
+desk, two small transepts did somewhat to enlarge the accommodations of
+the place, which had a cosy, home look, comfortable and bright.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where do those doors lead to?" Clarissa whispered;&mdash;"behind the desk?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, those open to the infant class room. Isn't it nice?" Maria
+answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is small," said Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is large enough, though. <I>We</I> shall not fill it to-night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And they did not. There was only a little company gathered, of various
+ages. Some quite grown people; many who were younger. They had drawn
+towards the upper end of the room, and clustered near the platform.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is Mr. Richmond," Maria whispered presently; "do you see him? he
+is up there near the desk talking to Mr. Barker,&mdash;Mr. Barker is one of
+our teachers, but he has got nothing to do with the Band. That is Mrs.
+Trembleton, isn't she pretty?&mdash;sitting down there in front; she always
+sits just there, if she can, and I have seen her ever so put out if she
+couldn't when somebody else had got it, you know. And there"&mdash;&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria," whispered Clarissa, gravely, "do you think it is quite
+proper to whisper so in church?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This isn't church!" Maria replied, with great readiness.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, it is only our Sunday-Schoolroom; and this is a Band meeting."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It looks very like church to me," said Clarissa. "Hush! don't whisper
+any more."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+For the minister now took his stand at the little desk before
+mentioned; and even Maria was quiet enough during the prayer with which
+he began the proceedings. But then Mr. Richmond came in front of the
+desk, and began to speak seriously indeed, but with an easy simplicity
+which Clarissa thought was "not like church."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It may not be known to everybody present," Mr. Richmond began,
+"exactly what was done at our last meeting here Thursday night. I wish
+it to be very well understood, that every one may join with us in the
+action we took, intelligently;&mdash;or keep away from it, intelligently. I
+wish it to be thoroughly understood. We simply pledged ourselves, some
+of us who were here Thursday night, to live and work for Christ to the
+best and the utmost of our ability, as He would give us grace to do. We
+pledged ourselves to each other and to our Master; to the end that we
+might the better help each other, being so pledged; and that we might
+enter into some system and plan of work by which we might accomplish
+much more than we could hope to do without plan or system. I have a
+list in my hand of various kinds of work which it may be well for us to
+attempt; some kinds will suit some people, and other kinds will suit
+other people; but before we go into a consideration of these, I will
+read something else to you. We must do this thing&mdash;we must enter into
+this pledge to God and each other, those of us who enter into
+it,&mdash;knowing exactly what we do, and if possible, why we do it. I have
+drawn up in a few words what we mean, or what we ought to mean, in
+giving this pledge; and now I am going to read it to you; and after I
+have read it I shall ask all of you who have heard it and agreed to it,
+to rise up, without any regard to the question whether you were among
+those who rose last Thursday or not. I wish no one to stand who does
+not fully and intelligently agree to every word of this covenant;&mdash;but
+I hope that will be the case with every one of you all. The children
+can understand it as well as the grown people. This is the covenant:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'We are the servants of Christ.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'And as He died for all, that they which live should not live unto
+themselves but unto Him; so we do not count ourselves to belong to
+ourselves. We are the Lord's.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'We want to do all we can do, that would please Him and honour Him,
+whether it be in our own hearts or in the world.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'So we stand ready to do His will; in telling the good news to others;
+in showing how precious we hold it; in carrying help of every sort to
+our neighbour, upon every opportunity; walking as children of the
+Light; if by any means we may advance our Lord's kingdom and glory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'And all this we will try to do, by His help,&mdash;trusting in His grace
+and resting in His promises, whose word cannot fail.'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now," said Mr. Richmond, when he had read this, which he read very
+slowly and deliberately, as if he wished that every one should weigh
+every word, "I am going to ask you to rise and so declare your
+agreement with this covenant&mdash;all of you who have heard and understood
+it, and who are ready to pledge yourselves to its responsibilities.
+Every one whose own mind and wish this covenant expresses will please
+rise."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The little stir which this request occasioned through the room, left
+few of the assembly in their seats. Maria, as soon as she was upon her
+feet, looked to see how it was with her companions. To her great
+satisfaction, Clarissa was standing beside her; but Anne and Letitia
+were sitting in their places, and so was Matilda in hers beyond them.
+Maria frowned and nodded at her, but Mr. Richmond had desired the
+people to sit down again before these signs could take any effect.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is as I hoped," Mr. Richmond said in a satisfied voice. "I have no
+alteration to make in my lists, beyond the addition of one or two new
+names; and that sort of alteration I shall be glad to make whenever
+people will let me. I will receive new names at any time, of those who
+wish to join our Band&mdash;our Working Band. I do not know what we shall
+call ourselves; but one thing is certain, we mean to be a working
+people. Now, suppose we see what kinds of work we are prepared to
+undertake&mdash;each one of us in particular. Of course, we are <I>all</I> to do
+<I>all</I> we can, and of <I>all</I> kinds; but there are some kinds of work that
+each one can do better than he can do others; and to those particular
+lines of effort each one will pledge himself to give special attention.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The first thing on my list is&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'<I>Bringing new scholars to the school</I>. Who will take this as his
+special work? Observe, it is not meant that you should ask any children
+to come to our school who are already members of some other school. We
+do not wish that. But who will undertake to look out and bring in some
+of the children that go nowhere? All who want to do this, raise your
+hands."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a show of hands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We must have a secretary," said Mr. Richmond. "Mr. Van Dyke, here is
+paper and ink; will you kindly come and write for us? We want to put
+down all the names that enlist in this department of work. This is
+Number One. Put down, opposite to Number One, Mattie Van Dyke, Willie
+Edwards, Mary Edwards, Maria Englefield."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mr. Richmond went on giving the names until some eight or ten were
+registered. The children looked delighted. It was great doings.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The next thing on Mr. Richmond's list was the "<I>School-singing</I>." He
+explained that he wished the special attention of those who could give
+it to this matter; that they should always stand ready to help the
+singing in the Sunday-School, and make it just as good as it could be,
+and keep it good; that they should not wait for others, if there was no
+one to lead, but start the hymn themselves and carry it through with
+spirit.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There were not so many that pledged themselves to this work; but, as
+before, Maria was one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The third thing, was "<I>Welcoming strangers and new scholars</I>" in the
+church and in the school. Here a breeze sprung up. Mr. Richmond had
+remarked upon the great importance of this duty and the common neglect
+of it; nevertheless there seemed to be some prospect that the neglect
+would continue. Mrs. Trembleton asked, "How were such strangers to be
+welcomed?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What would you like yourself, Mrs. Trembleton? Suppose you were to go
+to a strange church, where you knew nobody. Would it be pleasant to
+have some one come up and take your hand and say you were welcome? and
+give you a greeting when you met in the street?&mdash;perhaps come to see
+you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think," said Mrs. Trembleton, after a pause, "it would depend a good
+deal on who it was did it!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Whether it would be pleasant?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling. "But you do
+not doubt that it would be pleasant to any stranger to have <I>you</I> come
+up and speak and shake hands, and do such offices of kindness?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It might be pleasant to them," said Mrs. Trembleton. "I don't think I
+should like to do it to everybody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you say, Miss Benyon?" Mr. Richmond asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I couldn't, Mr. Richmond!" the young lady answered, shrinking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll do it," spoke out one of the boys.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"George Lockwood will welcome strangers, Mr. Van Dyke," said the
+minister. "And Willie Edwards holds up his hand,&mdash;and Ben Barth. But
+shall we have none but the boys to do the welcoming? The new scholars
+will not be all boys. Ah! there is Miss Peach; Ellen Peach, Mr. Van
+Dyke;&mdash;and Maria Englefield,&mdash;and Sarah Bent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Won't it make confusion in the school?" Mr. Van Dyke suggested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will not what make confusion?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, if half-a-dozen scholars are jumping up and leaving their
+classes, to receive somebody who is coming in?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not say that they should choose lesson time&mdash;or school time at
+all&mdash;for their kind civilities. After school is over&mdash;or when meeting
+in the street&mdash;or going into church. Opportunities will present
+themselves. It is rather the will that seems to be wanting than the
+way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It seems to me," spoke out another lady, "this welcoming of strangers
+is everybody's business."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Proverbially nobody's business, Miss Fitch," Mr. Richmond answered
+with a smile. "You will leave it for me to do; and I shall conclude
+that Mrs. Trembleton will attend to it; Mrs. Trembleton does not like
+the charge;&mdash;and there we are. Esther, what do you say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I should not like to do it, Mr. Richmond!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nobody seemed to like to do it. Some were shy; some were humble, or
+thought they were; some fancied themselves of too little consequence;
+some of too much! Mr. Richmond went on to the next thing, which was
+"<I>Temperance Work</I>." Here there was no want of volunteers. Boys and
+girls and young ladies, and even men, were ready to pledge themselves
+to this cause. The names were many. It took some time to get them all
+down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then came what Mr. Richmond's list called "<I>Aid and Comfort;</I>" and
+which he explained to mean, the giving of all sorts of material and
+social aid that the cases of sick and poor and distressed might call
+for. Anybody who would visit such cases, and provide or procure what
+they needed, or anybody unable to visit who would furnish the necessary
+supplies if called upon, might be enrolled on this committee. Plenty of
+people were ready for this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>Visiting absent scholars</I>" found quite a number willing to engage in
+it. The cause of "<I>Missionary Collections</I>" and "<I>Sunday-School
+prayer-meetings</I>" found but few; evidently those were not popular
+objects. "<I>Promoting attendance upon church</I>" did not meet with much
+favour. The tenth department of work was "<I>Carrying the Message</I>". This
+Mr. Richmond explained to mean, the telling the good news of Christ to
+all who have not heard or who do not accept it; to everybody we can
+reach, at home and abroad, wherever we may. There were not a few who
+were ready to pledge themselves to this; as also to "<I>Bible Reading</I>"
+in houses where sickness or poverty or ignorance made such work
+desirable. But "<I>Tract Distributing</I>," which one would have thought a
+very kindred effort with the two last, was much more cautiously
+undertaken. Some boys were ready for it; a few girls; very few grown up
+people of either sex.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The young people of Mrs. Englefield's family walked home more silently
+than they had come. To be sure, there was a little throng of persons
+going their way; they could not speak in private. So under the still,
+bright stars, they went home without telling any of their thoughts to
+each other. But perhaps the air was chilly after coming out of the
+heated lecture-room; for they all poured into the parlour to get warm,
+before going up-stairs to take off their things.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you are late," Mrs. Englefield said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; but we had, oh, such a nice meeting!" Maria answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What was it all about? Now, I hope, we shall get at some light on the
+subject."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the light was not in a hurry to come. Anne and Letitia loosened
+their bonnet strings, and sat down; Maria and Matilda threw off their
+cloaks and hoods and sought the fire; nobody volunteered to be
+spokesman for the party.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What was done, Clarissa?" her mother asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can hardly tell, mamma. A sort of association formed, for doing
+parish work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not think much of associations," Mrs. Candy said. "People can
+work just as well in private, if they would only be content. Did <I>you</I>
+join this association?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is <I>parish work</I>, Clarissa?" Matilda asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, work in the parish, of course," Mrs. Englefield answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know what the parish is, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you? Well,&mdash;all the people that Mr. Richmond has the care of, I
+suppose; isn't it, sister?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But who has he the care of?" Matilda persisted, looking up at her
+mother earnestly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, child," said Mrs. Englefield, half laughing, "in a sort, he has
+the care of all the people he preaches to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Does he?" said Matilda. But at that the laugh became general.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not, Tilly?" said Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who gave him the care of us?" said Matilda, thoughtfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A minister always has the care of a church when he has a church," said
+Mrs. Candy. "Is this Tilly's way of going into things in general,
+Marianne?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>But</I>," said Matilda,&mdash;"can anybody take a church and take care of
+people, if he has a mind?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; only a man who has been properly educated and appointed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then how comes he to have the <I>care</I> of us?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Come here, Tilly," said Clarissa. And she began a whispered
+explanation, to which the little girl listened intently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not hear yet what was the business done to-night?" Mrs.
+Englefield went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, there were committees formed," said Letitia, "for doing every
+sort of business under heaven."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Committees!" said the two ladies who had stayed at home.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria can tell you," said Anne. "Maria, on how many committees are
+you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria hugged the fire and did not answer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"On how many, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know. I didn't count."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I lost count, too," her sister said. "Let me see. Mamma, Maria has
+undertaken to find and bring in new scholars for the school."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope she will be punctual in going herself, then," said Mrs.
+Englefield. "She <I>hasn't</I> been, this six months past, to my knowledge."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, but I am now, mamma," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She has undertaken to practise for the school singing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't," said Maria. "I only said I would help in it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your help will not be worth much without practising. She has promised
+to undertake temperance work, too. <I>How</I> she will manage it, I do not
+know; unless she is going to begin upon us here at home. We are all
+such hard drinkers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Almost all the Sunday-School are engaged to help in temperance work,"
+said Maria, standing on her defence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How are <I>you</I> going to do anything?" her mother asked. "You have
+neither brothers, nor father, nor cousins, in danger, that you can go
+to work upon them. What are you going to do, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is but the beginning, mamma," Anne went on. "Maria is also
+engaged to visit the sick and afflicted, and make soup and give
+medicine for them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, I did not, Anne!" Maria exclaimed again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you mean, then, by joining the 'Aid and Comfort' committee?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not say I would make soup, or give medicine. Everybody does not
+make soup."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; and so I thought that is just what the 'Aid and Comfort' committee
+agreed to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And the doctors give the medicine," said Matilda. "Clarissa is on that
+committee too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We can go together," said Maria; "and we can find something to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Something for somebody else to do," said Anne. "You can find who would
+like some soup, can't you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are next to no poor people in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield.
+"I don't believe there is anybody in the village who would like some
+soup better than I should."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are several doctors," said Anne; "so I am afraid there are sick
+people occasionally. Else the doctors will soon be in want of soup.
+But, mamma, <I>that</I> is not the whole of Maria's engagements. She has
+pledged herself to 'carry the message,' read the Bible, and distribute
+tracts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you read the Bible now, Maria?" her mother asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, mamma," said Matilda. "This means reading the Bible to
+somebody who is blind, you know, or sick and can't read, or who doesn't
+know how."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are no such people in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield, promptly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shadywalk is a happy village then," said her sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When do you expect to find time for all these things, Maria?" her
+mother continued. "Do you know what a state your bureau drawers are in,
+at this minute? You told me you had been too busy to attend to them.
+And the frock that you spilt ink on, the week before last, at school,
+you have not mended; and you need it&mdash;and you said you could not get a
+minute."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have been busy about something else, mamma," Maria said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That braiding. Yes. But there is always 'something else.' There are
+other things that ought to begin at home besides charity. Do <I>you</I>
+belong to this association, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, mamma," came in a low voice from the child.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The answer was not ready.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you joined it, Clarissa?" her mother asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what have you pledged yourself to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think nothing, mamma, that I was not properly pledged to before."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Such as what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I gave my name for the visiting and helping sick and poor people; for
+the singing in the school;&mdash;I believe that is all, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall not let you go where there is sickness," said Mrs Candy. "When
+did you pledge yourself to that ever?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When I took the vows of the Church, mamma," Clarissa said, with a
+little hesitation, "I suppose I engaged to do some of these things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Some of them; I have no objection to your singing as much as you like;
+but as to your going where there are fevers and bad air, and all that
+sort of thing, I should not be willing at all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There will not be much occasion for it in Shadywalk," said Mrs.
+Englefield. "We have few poor people; there are not many who have not
+friends of their own to take care of them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Anne and Letitia, you have nothing to do with all this?" their aunt
+asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have enough to do as it is, Aunt Candy," said Anne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I don't like the new sorts of work, Aunt Erminia," said Letitia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know you wanted to stand up with us this evening, though," said
+Maria. "You felt bad because you didn't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This remark threatened to disturb the harmony of the party; so Mrs.
+Englefield broke it up, and sent everybody to bed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you like our Mr. Richmond, Clarissa?" she asked, as they were
+separating.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, Aunt Marianne; it struck me he was something of an
+enthusiast."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is just what I think," said Mrs. Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Those people are dangerous, Marianne," said Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap05"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER V.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The next day but one, in the afternoon, a little figure set out from
+Mrs. Englefield's gate on a solitary expedition. She had left her
+sisters and cousin in high debate, over the various probabilities of
+pleasure attainable through the means of twenty-five dollars. Matilda
+listened gravely for a while; then left them, put on her hood and
+cloak, and went out alone. It was rather late in the short winter
+afternoon; the slanting sunbeams made a gleam of cheer, though it was
+cold cheer too, upon the snowy streets. They stretched away, the white
+streets, heaped with banks of snow where the gutters should be,
+overhung with brown branches of trees, where in summer the leafy canopy
+made a pleasant shade all along the way. No shade was wanted now; the
+air was growing more keen already since the sun had got so far down in
+the west. Tilly turned the corner, where by Mr. Forshew's hardware shop
+there was often a country waggon standing, and always a knot of
+loitering men and boys gathering or retailing the news, if there was
+any; when there was none, seeking a poorer amusement still in stories
+and jests, mingled with profanity and tobacco. Tilly was always glad to
+have passed the corner; not that there was the least danger of
+incivility from any one lingering there, but she did not like the
+neighbourhood of such people. She turned up towards the church, which
+stood in one of the principal streets of the village. Matilda herself
+lived in the other principal street. The two were at right angles to
+each other, each extending perhaps half a mile, with comfortable houses
+standing along the way; about the "corner" they stood close together,
+for that was the business quarter, and there were the stores. Passing
+the stores and shops, there came next a succession of dwelling-houses,
+some of more and some of less pretension; in general it was <I>less</I>. The
+new houses of the successful tradesmen were for the most part in the
+street where Matilda's mother lived. These were many of them old and
+low; some were poor. Here there was a doctor's shop; there a heap of
+dingy sheep skins and brown calf hides cast down at a door, told of the
+leather store; here and there hung out a milliner's sign. A few steps
+further on the other side of the way, a great brick factory stood;
+Matilda had no very distinct notion of what wares it turned out, but
+the children believed they were iron works of some sort. A cross street
+here led to side ways which extended parallel with the main
+thoroughfare, one on the north and one on the south of it, and which,
+though more scatteringly built up, were yet a considerable enlargement
+of the village. A little further on, and Matilda had reached the
+church; in her language <I>the</I> church, though only one of several in
+which the villagers delighted. A great creamy-brown edifice, of no
+particular style of architecture, with a broad porch upheld by a row of
+big pillars, and a little square tower where hung a bell, declared to
+be the sweetest and clearest of all in the neighbourhood. So, many
+thought, were the utterances inside the church. Just beyond, Matilda
+could see the lecture-room, with its transepts, and its pretty hood
+over the door, for all which and sundry other particulars concerning it
+she had a private favour; but Matilda did not go so far this afternoon.
+Short of the lecture-room, a gate in the fence of the church grounds
+stood open; a large gate, through which waggons and carriages sometimes
+passed; Matilda turned in there, and picked her way over the ridgy snow
+down the lane that led to the parsonage.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The parsonage sat thus quietly back from the sights and noises of the
+street; a little brown house, it looked, half hidden in summer by the
+sweeping foliage of the elms that overarched the little lane; half
+sheltered now in winter by a goodly pine-tree that stood in the centre
+of the little plot of grass round which swept the road to the
+front-door. Wheels or runners had been there, for the road was tracked
+with them; but not many, for the villagers needed no such help to get
+to the minister, and there were few of the church people who lived at a
+distance and could leave their work and take their teams on a week-day
+to come a-pleasuring; and still fewer who were rich enough to do as
+they liked at all times. There were some; but Matilda ran little risk
+of meeting them; and so mounted the parsonage steps and lifted the
+knocker with no more than her own private reasons for hesitation,
+whatever those might be. She knocked, however, and steps carne within,
+and Miss Redwood opened the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well!" she said, "here's the first one this blessed afternoon. I
+thought I was going to get along for once without any one; but such
+luck don't come to me. Wipe the snow off, dear, will you, clean? for my
+hall's as nice as&mdash;well, I don't know what; as nice as it had ought to
+be. That will do. Now, come in, for the air's growin' right sharp. What
+is it, my dear?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is Mr. Richmond at home?" Matilda asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I s'pose he is. I hain't hearn him nor seen him go out since
+noon. Do ye want to see him, or is it a message?&mdash;ye want to see him,
+eh. Well, I s'pose he'll see you&mdash;if he ain't too busy&mdash;and I don't
+know when he gets time for all he has to do, but he gets it; so I
+s'pose I had ought to be satisfied. <I>I</I> don't, I know; but I s'pose men
+and women is different. Some folks would say that's a reason why men
+was created the first and the best; but I don't think so myself. And
+here I am an old goose, a-talkin' to little Tilly Englefield about
+philosophy, instead o' lettin' her into the minister's room. Well, come
+in, dear; round this way; the minister has taken a notion to keep that
+door shut up because of the cold."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Miss Redwood had not been idle during the utterance of this speech.
+First she had been shaking the snow from the door mat on which
+Matilda's feet had left it; then she seized a broom and brushed the
+white masses from the hall carpet out to the piazza, and even off the
+painted boards of that. Finally came in, shut the door, and led Matilda
+to the back of the hall, where it turned, and two doors, indeed three,
+confronted each other across a yard of intervening space. The
+housekeeper knocked at the one which led into the front room; then set
+it open for Matilda to go in, and closed it after her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A pleasant room that was, though nothing in the world could be more
+unadorned. Deal shelves all around were filled with books; a table or
+two were piled with them; one, before the fire, was filled as well with
+papers and writing materials. This fronted, however, a real blazing
+fire, the very thing Miss Redwood had once been so uneasy about; in a
+wide open chimney-place, where two great old-fashioned brass andirons
+with round heads held a generous load of oak and hickory sticks, softly
+snapping and blazing. The sweet smell of the place struck Matilda's
+sense, almost before she saw the minister. It was a pure, quiet,
+scented atmosphere that the room held; where comfort and study seemed
+to lurk in the very folds of the chintz window-curtains, and to shine
+in the firelight, and certainly seemed to fill Mr. Richmond's arm-chair
+even when he was not in it. He rose out of it now to meet his little
+visitor, and laid study on the table. Of one sort.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All's well at home, Tilly?" he asked, as he put her into his own chair.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you do not come to me with any message but to see me yourself?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's nice. Now while you are talking to me, I will roast you an
+apple."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked on with great curiosity and as great a sense of relief,
+while Mr. Richmond took out of a cupboard a plate of apples, chose a
+fine one with a good bit of stem, tied a long pack-thread to this, and
+then hung the apple by a loop at the other end of the string, to a hook
+in the woodwork over the fireplace. The apple, suspended in front of
+the blazing fire, began a succession of swift revolutions; first in one
+direction and then in the other, as the string twisted or untwisted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you ever roast an apple so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is the best way in the world&mdash;when you haven't got any other."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We haven't got that way at our house," said Matilda; "for we have no
+fires; nothing but stoves."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You speak as if you thought fires were the best plan of the two."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I do, Mr. Richmond! I do <I>not</I> like stoves at all. They're so
+close."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I always thought stoves were rather close," said Mr. Richmond. "Now
+what did you come to see me roast apples for this afternoon? Did you
+come to keep your promise?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir," Matilda answered, rather faintly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you sorry you made the promise?" Mr. Richmond inquired, looking at
+her. But the look was so pleasant, that Matilda's could not keep its
+solemnity. She had come in with a good deal.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know but I <I>was</I> sorry," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you are not sorry now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is all the better. Now what did you want to say to me, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know you made me say I would come, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did I? I think not. I do not think I <I>made</I> you say anything&mdash;do you
+think I did?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you <I>asked</I> me, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just what did I ask you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You asked me, if I would come and tell you&mdash;you said you <I>wished</I> I
+would come and tell you&mdash;if&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And Matilda made a great pause. The eyes of her friend seemed only to
+be watching the apple, yet perhaps they knew that her little lips were
+unsteady and were trying to get steady. He left his seat to attend to
+the roast; got a plate and put on the hearth under it; arranged the
+fire; then came and with his own hands removed Matilda's hood and
+loosened and threw back her cloak; and while he did this he repeated
+his question, in tones that were encouragement itself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wished you would come and tell me if&mdash;if what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond&mdash;if I thought I could not do something that I
+thought&mdash;I ought."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I believe that was it, Tilly. Now, to begin with one thing at a
+time, what do you think you 'ought' to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Last night, I mean, Mr. Richmond; I mean, the night before last, at
+the meeting."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know. Well, what did you think then you ought to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond, I think, I thought that I ought to rise up when Maria
+and the others did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I knew you thought so. Why did you not, then, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I couldn't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know why you could not?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Again there was difficulty of speech on the child's part. Mr.
+Richmond's saying that "he knew" she had had such feelings, was an
+endorsement to her conscience; and Matilda could not immediately get
+over a certain swelling in her throat, which threatened to put a stop
+to the conversation. The minister waited, and she struggled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why could <I>you</I> not do what the others did, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond&mdash;I didn't want to do the things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What things? Bringing new scholars to the Sunday-School, for instance?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no, sir, I wouldn't mind doing <I>that</I>, or some other things either.
+But&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You mean, you do not want to pledge yourself to be a servant of the
+Lord Jesus Christ?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir," after a pause, and low.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, Tilly," said the minister, "I can only be very sorry for you.
+You keep yourself out of a great joy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Mr. Richmond," said Matilda, down whose cheeks quiet tears were
+now running, one after another; "don't you think I am very young yet to
+be a member of the Church?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think Jesus died for you, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you believe He loves you now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You understand all about that. Does <I>He</I> want you to be His obedient
+child and dear servant?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know all about that, too. Can you think of any reason why you
+should for another year refuse to love Him, refuse to mind Him, and do
+all that your example and influence can do to keep others from loving
+and minding Him? When He so loves and has loved you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tilly's little hands went up to her face now, and the room was very
+still; only the flames softly flickering in the fireplace, and the
+apple sputtering before the fire. Mr. Richmond did not say a word for
+several minutes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said Matilda at last, "do you think anybody cares what
+I do?&mdash;when I am so little?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think the Lord Jesus cares. He said nobody was to hinder the little
+children from coming to Him. And I would rather be in His arms and have
+Him bless me, if I were you, than be anywhere else, or have anything
+else. And so would you, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Mr. Richmond&mdash;it is because I am not good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I know it. But that is a reason for giving yourself to the Lord
+Jesus. He will make you good; and there is no other way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Tilly's trouble at this got beyond management. She left her seat
+and came to Mr. Richmond, letting his arm draw her up to him, and
+dropping her head on his shoulder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Mr. Richmond," she said, "I don't know how!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't know how to give yourself to Jesus? Do it in your heart, Tilly.
+He is there. Tell Him He may have you for His own child. He is at the
+door of your heart knocking; open the door and bid Him come in. He will
+make it a glad place if you do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said the child, with great difficulty between her
+sobs&mdash;"won't you tell Him that I will?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They kneeled down and the minister made a short prayer. But then he
+said&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, Tilly, I want you to tell the Lord yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you can. And I want you to try."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They waited and waited. Tilly sobbed softly, but the minister waited
+still. At last Tilly's tears ceased; then with her little hands spread
+before her face, she said very slowly&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Lord, I am a naughty child. I want to be good. I will do everything
+that you tell me. Please take my heart and make it all new, and help me
+to be strong and do right. Amen."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They rose up, but Mr. Richmond kept the child within his arm, where she
+had been standing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, Tilly, how do we know that our prayers are heard?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"God has promised, hasn't He, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where? in what words?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Tilly hesitated, and then repeated part of the verse, "Ask, and it
+shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And look here," said Mr. Richmond, half turning, so as to bring her
+and himself within reach of the Bible that lay at his elbow on the
+table&mdash;"see here, Matilda. Read these words."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And here,"&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Whatsover ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Does Jesus ever break His promises?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, Mr. Richmond; He can't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then remember that, whenever you think of to-day, and whenever you
+feel troubled or weak. <I>You</I> are weak, but He is strong; and He cannot
+break His promises. So you and I are safe, as long as we hold to Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was silence a little while, and Mr. Richmond set the apple to
+twirling again. It had untwisted its string and was hanging still.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am to put your name now, I suppose, Tilly, among the names of our
+Band; am I?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What work would you like specially to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not know, Mr. Richmond; I will think."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well; that is right. And there is another place where your name
+ought to go&mdash;is there not?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; among those who desire to be members of the Church; to tell the
+world they are Christ's people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why 'oh no, Mr. Richmond'?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not good enough. I want to be better first."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you expect to get better?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Silence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose your thought is, that Jesus will make your heart new, as you
+asked Him just now, and help you to be strong. Is that it?&mdash;Yes. And
+you do not expect to accomplish the change or grow strong by your own
+power?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you think Jesus loves you now as well as He will by and by, and
+is as ready to help you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then, Tilly, I call it just distrust of Him, to hold off from what He
+commands you to do, for fear He will not help you to do it. I would be
+ashamed to offer such an excuse to Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But&mdash;has He commanded <I>that</I>, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He has commanded us to confess openly that we are His servants, hasn't
+He? and to be baptized in token of the change He has wrought in us, and
+as a sign that we belong to Him? How can we do either the one or the
+other without joining the Church?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought"&mdash;Matilda began, but seemingly did not like to tell what she
+had thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us have it, Tilly," said her friend, drawing her closer to him.
+"You and I are talking confidentially, and it is best in those cases to
+talk all out. So what did you think?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought there were people who were the servants of Christ, and yet
+did not join any church," Matilda said softly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"By not doing it, they as good as say to the world that they are not
+His servants. And the world judges accordingly. I have known people
+under such a delusion; but when they were honest, I have always known
+them to come out of it. If you give all you have to the Lord Jesus, you
+must certainly give your influence."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, I thought I might wait," Tilly said again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Till when?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know," she whispered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Wait for what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Till I was more like what&mdash;I ought to be, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Till you were more like the Lord Jesus?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you not think the quickest way to grow like Him would be to do and
+obey every word He says?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda bowed her head a little.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will be more likely to grow good and strong that way than any
+other; and I am sure the Lord will be more likely to help you if you
+trust Him, than if you do not trust Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think so too," Matilda assented.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then we will do everything, shall we, that we think our Lord would
+like to have us do? and we will trust Him to help us through with it?"
+Mr. Richmond said, with an affectionate look at the child beside him;
+and Matilda met the look and answered it with another.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Mr. Richmond&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is one question I should like to ask."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ask it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why ought people to be baptized?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because our Lord commands it. Isn't that a good reason?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir; but&mdash;what does it mean, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a way of saying to the world, that we have left it, and belong
+to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a way of saying to the world, that His
+blood has washed away our sins and His Spirit has made our hearts
+clean; or that we trust Him to do both things for us. And it is the
+appointed way of saying all this to the world; <I>His</I> appointed way. Do
+you understand?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, do you not think that those who love the Lord Jesus, ought to be
+glad to follow His will in this matter?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir," Matilda said again, raising her eyes frankly to Mr.
+Richmond's face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would you be willing to be left out, when next I baptize some of those
+who wish to make it publicly known that they are Christ's?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir." And presently she added. "When will that be, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not know," he answered, thoughtfully. "Not immediately. You and I
+must have some more talks before that time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are very good to me, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, gratefully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have we said all we ought to say this time? Are there any more
+questions to bring up?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>I</I> haven't any to bring up," Matilda said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is all clear that we have been talking about?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, will you be good to me, and stay and take supper with me? That
+knock at the door means that Miss Redwood would like to have me know
+that supper is ready. And you shall have this apple we have been
+roasting."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond, I think mamma would be frightened if I did not go home."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She does not know where you are?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody knows," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then it won't do to let you stay. You shall come another time, and we
+will roast another apple, won't you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like to come," said Matilda. "Mr. Richmond, didn't you say
+you were going to talk to the Band and explain things, when we have our
+meetings?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did say so. What do you want explained?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Some time,&mdash;I would like to know just all it means, to be a servant of
+Christ."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"All it means," said Mr. Richmond. "Well, it means a good deal, Tilly.
+I think we had better begin there with our explanations. I shall not
+make it a lecture; it will be more like a class; so you may ask as many
+questions as you please."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap06"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VI.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The light of day was darkening fast, as Matilda ran home. Even the
+western sky gave no glow, when she reached her own gate and went in.
+After all, she had run but a very little way, in her first hurry; the
+rest of the walk was taken with sober steps.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+When she came down-stairs, she found the lamp lit and all the young
+heads of the family clustering together to look at something. It was
+Anne's purchase, she found; Anne had spent her aunt's gift in the
+purchase of a new silk dress; and she was displaying it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a lovely colour," said Maria. "I think that shade of&mdash;what do
+you call it? is just the prettiest in the world. What <I>do</I> you call it,
+Clarissa? and where did you get it, Anne?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is pearl gray," said Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would have got blue, while I was about it," said Letitia; "there is
+nothing like blue; and it becomes you, Anne. You ought to have got
+blue. I would have had one dress that suited me, if I was you, if I
+never had another."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This will suit me, I think," said Anne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aren't you going to trim it with anything? Dresses are so much trimmed
+now-a-days; and this colour will not be anything unless you trim it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Anne replied by producing the trimming. The exclamations of delight and
+approval lasted for several minutes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are you going to get, Letitia?" Maria asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not decided."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, but I will have a watch," said Maria. "You can get a
+very good silver watch, a really good one, you know for twenty-five
+dollars."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But a silver watch!" said Anne. "I would not wear anything but a gold
+watch."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How am I going to get a gold watch, I should like to know?" said
+Maria. "I think it would be splendid."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But what do you want of a watch, Maria?" her little sister asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, here is Matilda coming out! Just like her! Not a word about Anne's
+dress; and now she says, what do I want with a watch. Why, what other
+people want with one; I want to see the time of day."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think you do," said Matilda. "When do you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, I should like to know in school, when it is recess time; and at
+home, when it is time to go to school."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the bell rings," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I don't always hear the bell, child."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But when you don't hear it, I tell you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, and it's very tiresome to have you telling me, too. I'd rather
+have my own watch. But I don't know what I will have; sometimes I think
+I'll just buy summer dresses, and then for once I'd have a plenty; I do
+like to have plenty of anything. And there's a necklace and earrings at
+Mr. Kurtz's that I want. Such lovely earrings!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, Matilda, what are you thinking of?" Letitia burst forth. "Such a
+face! One would think it was wicked to wear earrings. What is it, you
+queer child?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Matilda did not say what she was thinking of. The elder ladies came
+in, and the party adjourned to the tea-table.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A few hours later, when the girls had gone to their room, Matilda
+asked&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When are you going to look for new scholars, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>What?</I>" was Maria's energetic and not very graceful response.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When are you going to look for some new scholars to bring to the
+school?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Sunday-School!" said Maria. "I thought you meant the school where
+we go every day. I don't know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You promised you would try."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, so I will, when I see any I <I>can</I> bring."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But don't you think you ought to go and look for them?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How can I, Tilly? I don't know where to go; and I haven't got time,
+besides."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I know where we could go," said Matilda, "and maybe we could
+get one, at any rate. Don't you know the Dows' house? on the turnpike
+road?&mdash;beyond the bridge ever so far?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Dows'!" said Maria. "Yes, I know the Dows' house; but who's there?
+Nothing but old folks."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, there are two children; I have seen them; two or three; but they
+don't come to school."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I don't believe they want to," said Maria; "they could come if
+they wanted to, I am sure."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you think we might go and ask them? Perhaps they would come if
+anybody asked them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, we might," said Maria; "but you see, Tilly, I haven't any time.
+It'll take me every bit of time I can get between now and Sunday to
+finish putting the braid on that frock; you have no idea how much time
+it takes. It curls round this way, and then twists over that way, and
+then gives two curls, so and so; and it takes a great while to do it. I
+almost wish I had chosen an easier pattern; only this is so pretty."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you promised, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't promise to go and look up people, child. I only promised to
+do what I could. Besides, what have <I>you</I> got to do with it? You did
+not promise at all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will go with you, if you will go up to the Dows'," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, well!&mdash;don't worry, and I'll see about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But will you go? Come, Maria, let us go."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Any afternoon. To-morrow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What makes you want to go?" said Maria, looking at her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you <I>ought</I> to go," Matilda answered, demurely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I say, what have you got to do with it? I don't see what
+particular concern of mine the Dows are, anyhow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda sat a long while thinking after this speech. She was on the
+floor, pulling off her stockings and unlacing her boots; and while her
+fingers moved slowly, drawing out the laces, her cogitations were very
+busy. What concern <I>were</I> the Dows of hers or Maria's? They were not
+pleasant people to go near, she judged, from the look of their house
+and dooryard as she had seen it in passing; and the uncombed, fly-away
+head of the little girl gave her a shudder as she remembered it. They
+were not people that were often seen in church; they could not be good;
+maybe they used bad language; certainly they could not be expected to
+know how to "behave." Slowly the laces were pulled out of Matilda's
+boots, and her face grew into portentous gravity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aren't you coming to bed?" said Maria. "What can you be thinking of?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am thinking of the Dows?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What about them? I never thought about them three times in my life."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But oughtn't we to think about people, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nice people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean, people that are not nice."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will be new times when you do," said Maria. "Come! let the Dows
+alone and come to bed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said her little sister as she obeyed this request, "I was
+thinking that Jesus thought about people that were not nice."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well?" said Maria. "Do lie down! what is the use of getting into bed,
+if you are going to sit bolt upright like that and talk lectures? I
+don't see what has got into you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, it seems to me, now I think of it, that those were the
+particular people He did care about."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you think He cared about good people?" said Maria, indignantly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they were not good at first. Nobody was good at first&mdash;till He
+made them good. He <I>said</I> He didn't come to the good people; don't you
+remember?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what do you mean by all that? Are we not to care for anybody but
+the people that are not good? A nice life we should have of it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said her little sister, very thoughtfully, "I wonder what sort
+of a life He had?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly!" said Maria, rising up in her turn, "what has come to you? What
+book have you been reading? I shall tell mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not been reading any book," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then lie down and quit talking. How do you expect I am going to sleep?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us go and see what we can do at the Dows, Maria, to-morrow, won't
+you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Maria either did not or would not hear; so the matter passed for
+that night. But the next day Matilda brought it up again. Maria found
+excuses to put her off. Matilda, however, was not to be put off
+permanently; she never forgot; and day after day the subject came up
+for discussion, until Maria at last consented.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going because you tease me so, Tilly," she said, as they set
+forth from the gate. "Just for that and nothing else. I don't like it a
+bit."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you promised."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To bring in new scholars?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not promise I would bring the Dow children; and I don't believe
+they'll come."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The walk before the children was not long, and yet it almost took them
+out of the village. They passed the corner this time without turning,
+keeping the road, which was indeed part of the great high road which
+took Shadywalk in its way, as it took many another village. The houses
+in this direction soon began to scatter further apart from each other.
+They were houses of more pretension, too, with grounds and gardens and
+fruit trees about them; and built in styles that were notable, if not
+according to any particular rule. Soon the ground began to descend
+sharply towards the bed of a brook, which brawled along with impetuous
+waters towards a mill somewhere out of sight. It was a full, fine
+stream, mimicking the rapids and eddies of larger streams, with all
+their life and fury given to its smaller current. The waters looked
+black and wintry in contrast with the white snow of the shores. A
+foot-bridge spanned the brook, alongside of another bridge for
+carriages; and just beyond, the black walls of a ruin showed where
+another fine mill had once stood. That mill had been burnt. It was an
+old story; the girls did not so much as think about it now. Matilda's
+glance had gone the other way, where the stream rushed along from under
+the bridge and hurried down a winding glen, bordered by a road that
+seemed well traversed. A house could be seen down the glen, just where
+the road turned in company with the brook and was lost to view.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wonder who lives down there?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know. Yes, I do, too; but I have forgotten."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wonder if they come to church."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know <I>that;</I> and I shall not go to ask them. Why, Matilda, you
+never cared before whether people went to church."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you care now?" was Matilda's rejoinder.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No! I don't care. I don't know those people. They may go to fifty
+churches, for aught I can tell."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria,"&mdash;said her little sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not understand you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very likely. <I>That</I> isn't strange."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria,&mdash;you promised the other night&mdash;O Maria, what things you
+promised!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What then?" said Maria. "What do you mean? What did I promise?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You promised you would be a servant of Christ," Matilda said,
+anxiously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what if I did?" said Maria. "Of course I did; what then. Am I to
+find out whether everybody in Shadywalk goes to church, because I
+promised that? It is not my business."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Whose business is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is Mr. Richmond's business and Mr. Everett's business; and Mr.
+Schönflocker's business. I don't see what makes it mine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you ought not to have said that you would bring new scholars to
+the school, I think, if you did not mean to do it; and whom do you mean
+to carry the message to, Maria? You said you would carry the message."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know what carrying the message means," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda let the question drop, and they went on their way in silence;
+rising now by another steep ascent on the other side of the brook,
+having crossed the bridge. The hill was steep enough to give their
+lungs play without talking. At the top of the hill the road forked; one
+branch turned off southwards; the high road turned east; the sisters
+followed this. A little way further, and both slackened their steps
+involuntarily as the house they were going to came full in view.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was like a great many others; brown with the weather, and having a
+certain forlorn look that a house gets when there are no loving eyes
+within it to care how it looks. The doors did not hang straight; the
+windows had broken panes; a tub here and a broken pitcher there stood
+in sight of every passer-by. A thin wreath of smoke curled up from the
+chimney, so it was certain that people lived there; but nothing else
+looked like it. The girls went in through the rickety gate. Over the
+house the bare branches of a cherry tree gave no promise of summery
+bloom; and some tufts of brown stems standing up from the snow hardly
+suggested the gay hollyhocks of the last season. The two girls
+slackened their steps yet more, and seemed not to know very well how to
+go on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't like it, Tilly," Maria said. "I have a mind to give it up."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I wouldn't, Maria," the little one replied; but she looked puzzled
+and doubtful.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, suppose they don't want to see us in here? it don't look as if
+they did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We can try, Maria; it will do no harm to try."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know that," said Maria. "I'll never come such an errand again,
+Matilda; never! I give you notice of that. What shall I do? Knock?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria knocked. The next minute the upper half of the door was opened,
+and an oldish woman looked out. A dirty woman, with her hair all in
+fly-away order, and her dress very slatternly as well as soiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you want?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are there some children here?" Maria began.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Children? yes, there's children here. There's my children."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do they go to school?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Has somebody been stealin' something, and you want to know if it's my
+children have done it?" said the woman. "'Cos they don't go to no
+school that <I>you</I> ever see."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not mean any such thing," said Maria, quite taken aback.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what <I>did</I> you mean?" the woman asked sharply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We want to see the children," Matilda put in. "May we come in and get
+warm, if you please?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The woman still held the door in her hand, and looked at the last
+speaker from head to foot; then half reluctantly opened the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know as it'll hurt you to come in," she said; "but it won't do
+you much good; the place is all in a clutter, and it always is. Come
+along in, if you want to! and shut the door; 'tain't so warm here
+you'll need the wind in to help you. Want the children, did you say?
+what do you want of 'em?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda thought privately that the wind would have been a good
+companion after all; no sooner was the door shut, than all remembrance
+of fresh air faded away. An inexpressible atmosphere filled the house,
+in which frying fat, smoke, soapsuds, and the odour of old garments,
+mingled and combined in proportions known to none but such
+dwelling-places. Yet it was not as bad as it might have been, by many
+degrees; the house was a little frame house, open at the joints; and it
+stood in the midst of heaven's free air; all the winds that came from
+the mountains and the river swept over and around it, came down the
+chimney sometimes, and breathed blessed breaths through every opening
+door and shackling window-frame. But to Matilda it seemed as bad as
+could be. So it seemed to her eyes too. Nothing clean; nothing
+comfortable; nothing in order; scraps of dinner on the floor; scraps of
+work under the table; a dirty cat in the corner by the stove; a wash
+tub occupying the other corner. The woman had her sleeves rolled up,
+and now plunged her arms into the tub again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can put in a stick of wood, if you want to," she said; "I guess
+the fire's got down. What did you come here for, hey? I hain't heard
+that yet, and I'm in a takin' to find out."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We thought maybe your children might like to go to Sunday-School,"
+said Maria, with a great deal of trepidation; "and we just came to ask
+them. That's all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How did ye know but they went already?" the woman asked, looking at
+Maria from the corner of her eye.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't know. I just came to ask them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I just advise you not to mix yourself with people's affairs till
+you <I>do</I> know a little about 'em. What business is it o' yourn, eh,
+whether my children goes to Sunday-School? Sunday-School! what a poke
+it is!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They did not come to <I>our</I> Sunday-School," said Matilda, for her
+sister was nonplussed; "and we would like to have them come; unless
+they were going somewhere else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They may speak for themselves," said Mrs. Dow; and she opened an inner
+door, and called in a shrill
+voice&mdash;"Araminty!&mdash;Jemimy!&mdash;Alexander!&mdash;come right along down, and if
+ye don't I'll whip ye."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She went back to her washing-tub, and Maria and Matilda looked to see
+three depressed specimens of young human life appear at that inner
+door; but first tumbled down and burst in a sturdy, rugged young rascal
+of some eight or nine years; and after him a girl a little older, with
+the blackest of black eyes and hair, the latter hanging straight over
+her face and ears. The eyes of both fastened upon their strange
+visitors, and seemed as if they would move no more.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Them girls is come to get you to their Sunday-School," said the
+mother. "Don't you want for to go?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+No answer, and no move of the black eyes. Matilda certainly thought
+they looked as if they feared the lifting of no mortal hand, their
+mother's or any other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would you like to go to Sunday-School?" inquired Maria politely,
+driven to speak by the necessities of the silence. But she might as
+well have asked Mrs. Dow's wash-tub. The mother laughed a little to
+herself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Guess you might as well go along back the road ye come!" she said.
+"You won't get my Araminty Jemimy into no Sunday-School o' yourn this
+time. Maybe when she's growed older and wiser-like, she'll come and see
+you. She don' know what a Sunday-School's like. She thinks it's some
+sort of a trap."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I ain't afraid!" spoke out black eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't say you was," said her mother. "I might ha' said you was
+cunnin' enough to keep your foot out of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not a trap," said Matilda, boldly. "It is a pleasant place,
+where we sing, and learn nice things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My children don't want to learn none o' your nice things," said the
+woman. "I can teach 'em to home."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you don't!" said black eyes. "You don't <I>never</I> learn us
+<I>nothing!</I>"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was not the slightest sweet desire of learning evidenced in this
+speech. It breathed nothing but defiance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Alexander, won't <I>you</I> come?" said Matilda, timidly, as her sister
+moved to the door. For Maria's courage gave out. But at that question
+the young urchin addressed set up a roar of hoarse laughter, throwing
+himself down and rolling over on the floor. His mother shoved him out
+of her way with a push that was very like a kick, and his sister,
+seizing a wringing wet piece of clothes from the wash-tub, dropped it
+spitefully on his head. There was promise of a fight; and Matilda and
+Maria hurried out. They hastened their steps through the garden, and
+even out in the high road they ran a little to get away from Mrs. Dow's
+neighbourhood.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well!" said Maria, "what do you think now, Tilly? I hope you have got
+enough for once of this kind of thing. I promise you I have."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hush!" said Matilda. "Some one is calling."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They stopped and turned. A shout was certainly sent after them from the
+gate they had quitted&mdash;"Girls, hollo!&mdash;Sunday-School girls, hollo!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you hear?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sunday-School girls!&mdash;come back!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What can they want?" said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We must go see," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So they went towards the gate again. By the gate they could soon see
+the shock head of Alexander; he had got rid of the wash-tub and his
+mother and his sister&mdash;all three; and he was waiting there to speak to
+them. The girls hurried up again till they confronted his grinning face
+on the other side of the gate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you want?" said Maria. "What do you call us back for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't call you," said the boy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, you did; you called us back; and we have come back all this way.
+What do you want to say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Alexander's face was dull, even in his triumph. No sparkle or gleam of
+mischief prepared the girls for his next speech.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I say&mdash;ain't you green!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But another shout of rude laughter followed it; and another roll and
+tumble, though these last were on the snow. Maria and her sister turned
+and walked away till out of hearing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I never heard of such horrible people!" said Maria; "never! And this
+is what you get, Matilda, by your dreadful going after Sunday-scholars
+and such things. I do hope you have got enough of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Matilda only drew deep sighs, one after another, at intervals, and
+made no reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you see what a goose you are?" persisted Maria. "Don't you see?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No," said Matilda. "I don't see that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you might. Just look at what a time we have had, only because
+you fancied there were two children at that house."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, there <I>are</I> two children."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Such children!" said Maria,
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish Mr. Richmond would go to see them," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would be no use for Mr. Richmond or anybody to go and see them,"
+said Maria. "They are too wicked."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you cannot tell beforehand," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And so I say, Tilly, the only way is to keep out of such places. I
+hope you'll be content now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda was hardly content; for the sighs kept coming every now and
+then. So they went down the hill again, and over the bridge, past the
+glen and the burnt mill, and began to go up on the other side. Now
+across the way, at the top of the bank that overhung the dell, there
+stood a house of more than common size and elegance, in the midst of
+grounds that seemed to be carefully planted. A fine brick wall enclosed
+these grounds on the roadside, and at the top of the hill an iron gate
+gave entrance to them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Tilly," exclaimed Maria, "the Lardners' gate is open. Look! Suppose
+we go in."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should not like to go in," said the little one.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not? There's nobody at home; they haven't come yet; and it's such
+a good chance. You know, Clarissa says that people have leave to go
+into people's great places and see them, in England, where she has
+been."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But this is not a great place, and we have not leave," urged Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh well, I'm going in. Come! we'll just go in for a minute. It's no
+harm. Come just for a minute."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda, however, stopped at the gate, and stood there waiting for her
+sister; while Maria stepped in cautiously and made her way as far as
+the front of the house. Here she turned and beckoned to Matilda to join
+her; but the little one stood fast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does she want of you?" a voice asked at her elbow. Matilda
+started. Two ladies were there.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She beckoned for me to go in where she is," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, why don't you go in?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The voice was kindly; the face of the lady was bending towards her
+graciously; but who it was Matilda did not know.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We have no leave to go in," she said. "I do not like to be there."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I dare say the people would let you come in, if they knew you wished
+it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They do not know," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What a charming child!" said the lady apart to her companion. "My
+dear," she went on to Matilda, "will you come in on my invitation? This
+is my house, and you are welcome. I shall be as glad to see you as you
+to see the place. Come!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And she took Matilda's hand and led her in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Just at the crown of the bank the house stood, and from here the view
+was very lovely, even now in winter. Over the wide river, which lay
+full in view with its ice covering, to the opposite shores and the
+magnificent range of mountains, which, from Matilda's window at home,
+she could just see in a little bit. The full range lay here before the
+eye, white with snow, coloured and brightened by the sinking sun, which
+threw wonderful lights across them, and revealed beautiful depths and
+shadows. Still, cold, high, far-off; their calm majesty held Matilda's
+eye.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you looking at the mountains?" said the lady. "Yes, now come in
+and you shall look at my flowers. Your sister may come too," she added,
+nodding kindly to Maria; but she kept Matilda's hand, and so led her
+first upon the piazza, which was a single step above the ground, then
+into the hall. An octagon hall, paved with marble, and with large white
+statues holding post around its walls, and a vase of flowers on the
+balustrade at the foot of the staircase. But those were not the flowers
+the lady had meant; she passed on to one of the inner rooms, and from
+that to another, and finally into a pretty greenhouse, with glass
+windows looking out to the mountains and the river, filled on this side
+of the windows with tropical bloom. While the girls gazed in wonder,
+the lady stepped back into the room they had left, and threw off her
+wrappings. When she came again to the girls in the greenhouse, they
+hardly knew which to look at, her or the flowers; her dress and whole
+appearance were so unlike anything they had ever seen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Which do you like best?" she said. "The roses, you know, of course;
+these are camellias,&mdash;and these&mdash;and these red ones too; all camellias.
+These are myrtle; these are heath; these are geraniums&mdash;all those are
+geraniums. This is Eupatorium&mdash;those, yes, those are azaleas, and
+those,&mdash;and all those. Yes, all azaleas. You like them? This is
+bigonia. What do you like best?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a long while before Matilda could divide and define her
+admiration enough to tell what she liked best. Carnations and heath
+were found at last to have her best favour. The lady cut a bouquet for
+her with plenty of carnations and heath, but a variety of other beauty
+too; then led the girls into the other room and offered them some rich
+cake and a glass of what Matilda supposed to be wine. She took the cake
+and refused the cordial.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is very sweet," said the lady. "You will not dislike it; and it
+will warm you, this cold afternoon."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I may not drink wine, ma'am, thank you," Matilda answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not wine. Does it make you sick, my dear? Are you afraid to try
+it? Your sister is not afraid. I think it will do you good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Being thus reassured, Matilda put the glass to her lips, but
+immediately set it down again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You do not like it?" said the lady.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I like it; but&mdash;it is strong?" said Matilda, inquiringly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, it would not be good for anything if it were not strong.
+Never mind that&mdash;if you like it. The glass does not hold but a
+thimbleful, and a thimbleful will not hurt you. Why, why not, my dear?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked up, and coloured and hesitated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have promised not," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So solemnly?" said the lady, laughing. "Is it your mother you have
+promised?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, ma'am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not your mother? You have a mother?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, ma'am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Would she have any objection?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, ma'am&mdash;I believe not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then whom have you made your promise to? Is it a religious scruple
+that some one has taught you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have promised to do all I could for helping temperance work,"
+Matilda said at last.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was answered with a little ringing laugh, not unkindly but amused;
+and then her friend said gravely&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your taking a glass of cordial in this house would not affect anything
+or anybody, little one. It would do <I>me</I> no harm. I drink a glass of
+wine every day with my dinner. I shall go on doing it just the same. It
+will not make a bit of difference to me, whether you take your cordial
+or not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Matilda looked at the lady, and did not look at her glass.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you think it will?" said the lady, laughing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, ma'am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then your promise to help temperance work does not touch the cordial."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No ma'am, but&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But?&mdash;what 'but'?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It touches me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Does it?" said the lady. "That is odd. You think a promise is a
+promise. Here is your sister taking her cordial; she has not made the
+same promise, I suppose?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria and Matilda glanced at each other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She has?" cried the lady. "Yet you see she does not think as you do
+about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The sisters did not look into each other's eyes again. Their friend
+watched them both.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like to know whom you have made such a promise to," she said
+coaxingly to Matilda. "Somebody that you love well enough to make you
+keep it. Won't you tell me? It is not your mother, you said. To whom
+did you make that promise, dear?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda hesitated and looked up into the lady's face again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I promised&mdash;the Lord Jesus," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good patience! she's religious!" the lady exclaimed, with a change
+coming over her face; Matilda could not tell what it was, only it did
+not look like displeasure. But she was graver than before, and she
+pressed the cordial no more; and at parting she told Matilda she must
+certainly come and see her again, and she should always have a bunch of
+flowers to pay her. So the girls went home, saying nothing at all to
+each other by the way.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap07"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It was tea-time at home by the time they got there. All during the
+meal, Maria held forth upon the adventures of the afternoon, especially
+the last.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, those people are somebody," she concluded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope I am somebody," said Mrs. Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh but you know what I mean, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not clear that I do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I, Maria,&mdash;am I not somebody?" her aunt asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, we're all <I>somebody</I>, of course, in one sense. Of course we're
+not <I>nobody</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am not so sure what you think about it," said Mrs. Candy. "I think
+that in your language, who isn't somebody is nobody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, well, we're <I>somebody</I>," said Maria. "But if you could see the
+splendid bunch of jewels that hung at Mrs. Laval's breast, you would
+know I say the truth."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now we are getting at Maria's meaning," observed Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have no bunch of jewels hanging at my breast," said Mrs. Englefield;
+"if <I>that</I> is what she means by 'somebody.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How large a bunch was it, Maria?" her aunt asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And is it certain that Maria's eyes could tell the true from the
+false, in such a matter as a bunch of jewellery?" suggested Clarissa.
+"They have not had a great deal of experience."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria fired up. "I just wish you could see them for yourself!" she
+said. "False jewels, indeed! They sparkle like flashes of lightning.
+All glittering and flashing, red and white. I never saw anything so
+beautiful in all my life. And if you saw the rest of the dress, you
+would know that they couldn't be false jewels."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What sort of a face had she?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know,&mdash;handsome."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The bunch of jewels dazzled Maria's eyes," said Clarissa, sipping her
+tea.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, not handsome, Maria," Matilda said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, not handsome exactly, but pleasant. She had curls, and lightish
+hair; but her dress was so handsome, it made her look handsome. She
+took a <I>terrible</I> fancy to Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda is the youngest," said her mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It was thanks to Matilda we got into the house at all; and Matilda had
+the flowers. Nobody spoke of giving me any flowers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you know you do not care for them," interposed Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, those people are somebody&mdash;I can tell you!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You speak as if there were nobody else in Shadywalk, Maria, that is
+anybody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, Aunt Candy, I don't know any people like these."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, you talk nonsense," said her mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, it is just what Aunt Erminia would say herself, if she knew the
+people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What makes anybody 'somebody,' I should like to know? and what do you
+mean by it? Am I nobody, because I cannot wear red and white jewels at
+my throat?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It wasn't at her throat at all, mamma; it was just here&mdash;on her waist."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A <I>bouquet de corsage</I>," said Clarissa. "The <I>waist</I>, as you call it,
+is at the belt."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I am not a mantua-maker," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No more than we are somebody," said Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you know what I mean," said Maria; "and you all think exactly
+the same. There is nobody else in Shadywalk that dresses so, or that
+has such flowers, or that has such a house."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who are they, these people that she talks of?" Mrs. Candy asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They have lately bought the place. I know nothing about them. They
+were here for a little while in the summer; but only to turn everything
+upside down in the house and grounds, and make changes. I cannot
+imagine what has brought them here, to the country, in the depth of
+winter. They had nothing to do with anybody in Shadywalk, that I know
+of. Perhaps they will, now they have got in order. I believe they have
+lived out of America a good deal."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is that what you mean by 'somebody,' Maria?" her aunt asked. "Perhaps
+I am 'somebody,' according to that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria's thoughts would not bear to be spoken, it seemed, for she did
+not speak them; and it must be a strong reason that kept Maria's
+opinions to herself. However, the family found something else to talk
+about, and Mrs. Laval was not mentioned again till Maria and Matilda
+went up to bed. Then Matilda had something to say.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," she began with judicial gravity, "what was that Mrs. Laval
+gave us to drink?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know," said Maria; "but it was the best thing I ever tasted in
+all my life. It was some sort of wine, I guess; it was strong enough.
+But it was sweet; oh, it was nice!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you drank it!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess I did! I only wished there was more of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria!&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what, 'Maria'?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You promised, Maria, that you would do all you could for temperance
+work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What then? I could not do anything for temperance there, child. As
+Mrs. Laval said."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You needn't have drunk the wine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why shouldn't I? Mrs. Laval gave it to me; I couldn't be rude."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But that is not keeping your promise."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I made no promise about it. I could do nothing in the world for
+temperance <I>there</I>, Tilly. What would Mrs. Laval care for anything <I>I</I>
+should say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria!" said her little sister, looking puzzled and troubled at
+once&mdash;"you cannot drink wine in one place, and try to hinder people
+from drinking it in another place."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why can't I? It all depends on the place, Tilly, and the people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And the wine, I suppose," said Matilda, severely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes!" said Maria, boldly, "I dare say, if all wine was like that, Mr.
+Richmond would have no objection to it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see, Maria," said her sister, "what you made those promises
+for the other night. I think you ought not to have got up at all; it
+was the same as speaking; and if you do not mean to keep promises, you
+should not make them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what have you got to do with it?" said Maria in her turn. "You did
+not stand up with the rest of us; you have no business to lecture other
+people that are better than yourself. I am going to keep all the
+promises I ever made; but I did not engage to go poking into Mrs. Dow's
+wash kitchen, nor to be rude to Mrs. Laval; and I don't mean to do the
+one or the other, I give you notice."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda drew another of the long breaths that had come so many times
+that afternoon, and presently remarked that she was glad the next
+meeting of the Band would come in a few days.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria sharply inquired, "Why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because," said Matilda, "I hope Mr. Richmond will talk to us. I don't
+understand about things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course you don't!" said Maria; "and if I were you I would not be so
+wise, till I did 'understand.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda got into bed, and Maria sat down to finish putting the braid on
+her dress.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly, what are you going to get with your twenty-five dollars?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know whether I shall get a watch, or a dress, like Anne; or
+something else. What would you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What <I>are</I> you going to get with your money, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't tell, Maria. I know what I am going to do with part; but I
+don't know what I am going to do with the other part."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria could get no more from her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nothing new happened in the family before the evening came for what
+Maria called the "Band meeting." Matilda went about between home and
+the school extremely quiet and demure, and reserved rather more than
+ordinary; but reserve was Matilda's way. Only Maria knew, and it
+irritated her, that her little sister was careful to lock herself up
+alone with her Bible, or rather with somebody else's Bible, for Matilda
+had none of her own, for a good long time every morning and evening.
+Maria thought sometimes she knew of her doing the same thing at the
+noon recess. She said nothing, but she watched. And her watching made
+her certain of it. Matilda unlocked her door and came out always with a
+face of quiet seriousness and a spirit in armour. Maria could not
+provoke her (and she tried); nor could any other temptations or
+difficulties, that she could see, shake a certain steady gentleness
+with which Matilda went through them. Matilda was never a passionate
+child, but she had been pleasure-loving and wayward. That was changing
+now; and Matilda was giving earnest care to her school-work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The desired evening for the "Band meeting" came, and the young people
+all went duly to the lecture-room; though Maria reminded her sisters
+that they did not belong there. Letitia and Anne chose to go in spite
+of that fact. The room, though not full, was filled towards the upper
+end; so the party were divided, and it happened that Matilda placed
+herself apart from her sisters, in the front, at the end of a seat near
+to Mr. Richmond. He was there already, standing by the little desk.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After the prayer and singing, Mr. Richmond declared that they were come
+together for a talk; and he meant to make it a talk. He should ask
+questions when he chose, and everybody else might exercise the same
+liberty.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are going to try to understand things," he said; "and by that
+somewhat vague expression I mean things connected with our covenant
+that we have made, and the work we have undertaken. Our covenant begins
+with the words, 'We are the servants of Christ.' Let us know exactly
+what we mean. What is it to be a servant of Christ? What is a servant,
+in the first place?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was hesitation; then an answer from somewhere,&mdash;"He is somebody
+who does what he is told."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That would be a good servant," said Mr. Richmond, smiling; "but it
+will do. He is one who acts under the will of another, doing the work
+of another. A servant of Christ&mdash;what does he do?&mdash;and how does he do
+it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was no answer this time.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us look," said Mr. Richmond. "In the first verse of the first
+chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, Paul calls himself a servant of
+Jesus Christ; and in the ninth verse he says that he serves 'with his
+spirit.' Here is a mark. The service of Christ, you see, is in the
+first instance, not outward but inward. Not hand work, nor lip work,
+nor money giving; but service <I>in the spirit</I>. What is that?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is having your will the same with God's will.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So now look and see. We all pledged ourselves the other night to do a
+great many sorts of outward service; good in themselves, and right and
+needful to do. But the first question is, Are we ourselves the servants
+of Christ? Do we in heart love and obey and agree to His will? If we
+are not doing that, or trying to do it, our other service is no service
+at all. It is a lie, and no service at all. Or it is service of
+ourselves."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mr. Richmond paused a little.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have no reason to think that any of you did not mean true service,
+when the pledge was given the other night. So now let us see how this
+true service shows itself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Jesus said, you remember, 'If any man serve me, let him follow me.'
+All we have to ask is, How did the Lord himself walk, that we should
+follow Him? I recommend you to study the story of His life very
+carefully and very constantly, and be continually getting new lessons
+from it. But now let us look just at one or two points.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Jesus said, 'As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the
+world.' Has he commanded us to be anything like that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One of the boys answered, "Let your light so shine before men, that
+they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
+heaven."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How can our light shine?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Doing good," another boy answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Being good," said one of the girls.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well; but what is there in doing and being good which has any
+resemblance to light? What does light do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It shows things," a boy said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's no darkness where the light comes," said a little girl.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Quite true; but how does our doing good and being good, 'show things'?
+What does it show?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After a little hesitation a voice replied, "It shows what is right."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It shows what people ought to do," a boy said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It shows what is the will of God about us," said Mr. Richmond; "and
+the more exactly we are obedient to that will and conformed to it, the
+more brightly do we give light. And do you see? our light-giving
+depends on what we <I>are</I>. We give no light, except just so far as we
+are ourselves what God wills us to be. And then it shines out in all
+sorts of ways. I knew a little girl whose eyes were like two pure
+lamps, always; they were so loving and clear and true. I have known
+several people whose voices gave light as much as harmony; they were so
+sweet with the tones of a glad heart and a conscience at peace. I have
+seen faces that shone, almost like angel faces, with the love of God
+and the joy of heaven and the love of their fellow-men. Now this is the
+first thing the Lord calls us to be in His service&mdash;His light-bearers.
+The light comes from Him; we must get it from Him; and then we must
+shine! And of course our actions give light too, if they are obedient
+to the will of God. A boy who keeps the Sabbath holy is almost as good
+as a sermon to a boy who doesn't. One who refuses to touch the offered
+glass of wine, shows the light to another who drinks it. A loving
+answer shames a harsh spirit; and a child faithful to her duties at
+school is a beacon of truth to her fellows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is one thing more; and then I will talk to you no longer this
+evening. Jesus said, 'The Son of man is come to seek and to save that
+which is lost.' His servants must follow Him. Now, how much are you
+willing to do,&mdash;how far are you willing to go,&mdash;to accomplish what He
+came, and lived, and died for? and how will you set about it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a long silence here; until Mr. Richmond urged that an answer
+should be given. Then at last somebody suggested&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Bringing new scholars to school?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is one thing to be done, certainly; and a very good thing. What
+else can we attempt? Remember,&mdash;it is to seek and to save the <I>lost!</I>"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We might carry tracts," another suggested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You might; and if they are good tracts, and given with a kind word,
+and followed with a loving prayer, they will not be carried in vain.
+But to whom will you take them, Frank?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Might take them to the boys in the school," Frank thought.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where else?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Might drop 'era around the corner," Mrs. Rice said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't <I>drop</I> them anywhere, where it is possible to give them," Mr.
+Richmond replied. "Do not ever be, or seem, ashamed of your wares. Give
+lovingly to almost anybody, and the gift will not be refused, if you
+choose the time and place wisely. Take people when they are alone, as
+much as you can. But the <I>lost</I>, remember. Who are the lost?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Silence; then a voice spoke&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People who don't come to church."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a bad sign when people do not come to church," said Mr.
+Richmond. "Still we may not make that an absolute test. Some people are
+sick and unable to come; some are deaf and unable to hear if they did
+come; some are so poor they have not decent clothes. Some live where
+there are no churches. Who are the <I>lost?</I>"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People who are not going to heaven," one little girl answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People who are not good," another said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People who swear," said a boy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Those people who do not love Jesus Christ," was the answer of the
+fourth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That sums it all up," said Mr. Richmond. "Those who do not know the
+Lord Jesus. They are out of the way to heaven; they have never trusted
+in His blood for forgiveness; they are not good, for they have not got
+His help to make them good; and if they do not swear and do other
+dreadful things, it is only because the temptation is wanting. They are
+the lost. Now, does not every one of you know some friend or
+acquaintance who is a lost one? some brother or sister perhaps; or
+mother or father, or cousin or neighbour, who does not love Jesus the
+Lord? Those are the very first people for us to seek. Then, outside of
+those nearest ones, there is a whole world lost. Let us go after all,
+but especially those who have few to look after them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is harder to speak to those you know, than to those you don't
+know," Mrs. Trembleton said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No matter. Jesus said, 'He that taketh not his cross and followeth
+after me, cannot be my disciple.' Let us go to the hardest cases."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are not tracts best to use with them?" Mrs. Swan asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Use tracts or not, according to circumstances. Your own voice is often
+better than a tract, if it has the right ring to it. When
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="poem">
+  ''Tis joy, not duty,<BR>
+  To speak His beauty.'<BR>
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Speak <I>that</I> as often and wherever you can. And 'whatsoever thy hand
+findeth to do, do it with thy might.' Now I have done asking questions,
+and you may ask me whatever you like. It is your turn."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mr. Richmond sat down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the silence was unbroken.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am here to answer questions, remember. Has no one anything to ask?
+Has no one found any difficulty to be met, and he does not know just
+how to meet it? Has no one found something to be done, and he does not
+know just who is to do it? Speak, and tell everything. Now is the time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Silence again, and then a little boy said&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have found a feller that would like, I guess, to come to
+Sunday-School; but his toes is out o' his shoes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cannot he get another pair?" Mr. Richmond asked gravely.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess not, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then it is a case for the 'Aid and Comfort' committee," said Mr.
+Richmond. "Who is the head of your department? Who is chief of those
+who are looking up new scholars?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"John Depeyster."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Very well. Tell John Depeyster all about your little boy and his toes,
+and John will go to the head of the relief committee&mdash;that is, Miss
+Forshew&mdash;and she will see about it. Very well, Everett; you have made a
+good beginning. Who is next?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would like to know," said Miss Forshew, in a small voice, "where the
+relief committee are to get supplies from? If new shoes are to be
+bought, there must be funds."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is the very thing the relief committee undertook, I thought,"
+said Mr. Richmond. "Must there be some scheme to relieve <I>them</I> first?
+Your business abilities can manage that, Miss Forshew, or I am mistaken
+in them. But, dear friends, we are not going to serve Christ with that
+which costs us nothing&mdash;are we?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said Ailie Swan, "may temperance people drink cider?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The laughter was universal now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because," said Ailie, unabashed, "I was talking to a boy about
+drinking it; and he said cider was nothing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have seen <I>some</I> cider which was more than negative in its effects,"
+said Mr. Richmond. "I think you were right Ailie. Cider is only the
+juice of apples, to be sure; but it gets so unlike itself once in a
+while, that it is quite safe to have nothing to do with it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said another girl, "what are you to do if people are
+rude?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Bible says, 'A soft answer turneth away wrath,' Mary."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But suppose they will not listen to you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Be patient. People did not always listen to the Master, you remember."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But would you try again?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I had the least chance. We must not be afraid of 'taking the wind
+on our face,' as an old writer says. I would try again; and I would
+pray more for them. Did you try that, Mary?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't ever hope to do anything without prayer. Indeed, we must look to
+God to do all. <I>We</I> are nothing. If anything is to be accomplished for
+the service of Christ by our hands, it must be by God's grace working
+through us and with us; no other way. The power is His, always. So
+whatever you do, pray, and hope in God, not in yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said Frances Barth, "I do not understand about
+'carrying the message.' What does it mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know what the message is? We are commanded to preach the gospel to
+every creature."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But how can we do it?&mdash;people who are not ministers?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not necessary to get up into a pulpit to preach the gospel."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir; but&mdash;any way, how is one to 'carry the message'?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"First, I would say, be sure that you have a message to carry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you just said, Mr. Richmond, that the gospel is the
+message?" said Mrs. Trembleton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is the material of the message; but you know it must be very
+differently presented to different people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know; but how can you tell?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As I said, be sure that you have a message to carry. Let your heart be
+full of some thought, or some truth, which you long to tell to another
+person, or long that another person should know. Then ask the Lord to
+give you the right word for that person; and ask Him to let His power
+go along with it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then one's own heart must be full first," said another lady, Mrs.
+Barth, thoughtfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It should be. And it may be."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One has so little time to give to these things," said Mrs. Trembleton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shall we serve the Lord with that which costs us nothing?" again said
+Mr. Richmond. But he did not prolong the conversation after that. He
+gave out a hymn and dismissed the assembly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda being quite in the front, was some distance behind her sisters
+in coming out. As she passed slowly down the aisle, she came near two
+of her little acquaintances in one of the seats, who were busily
+talking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would be so nice!" she heard the one say to the other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where shall we do it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's no place at our house."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No more there isn't at mine. There are so many people about all over.
+Where can we go?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll tell you. Mr. Ulshoeffer has this place nice and warm long before
+Sunday-School time, on Sundays; let us come here. We could come awhile
+before the time, you know; and it would be so nice. Nobody would
+interrupt us. Oh, there's Matilda Englefield&mdash;Matilda, won't you come
+too? Oh, I forgot; you are not one of the Band."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I am," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you didn't rise the other night when we all rose. I looked over
+at you to see."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I gave Mr. Richmond my name afterwards."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, did you! oh, that's good. Now, Matilda, wouldn't you like to come
+with Mary and me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are you going to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, Mary said she would like to begin and read the Life of Jesus, you
+know, to see how He did live; if we are to follow Him, you know; and I
+said I would like it too; and we're going to do it together. And we're
+coming here Sundays, before time for Sunday-School, to have a good
+quiet place where nobody can trouble us. Don't you want to come too,
+Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes. But other people will find it out and come too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We'll lock the door; till it is time for the people to come to
+Sunday-School, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I don't believe <I>we</I> can get in, Ailie," said Mary Edwards. "I
+guess Mr. Ulshoeffer keeps the door locked himself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know he does; but I know Regina Ulshoeffer, and she'll get leave for
+us and get the key. I know she will. Then we'll come, won't we?
+Good-night! Bring your Testament, Tilly!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The little group scattered at the lecture-room door, and Matilda ran
+after her party. They were far ahead; and when she caught up with them
+they were deep in eager talk, which was almost altercation. Matilda
+fell behind and kept out of it and out of hearing of it, till they got
+home.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well!" said Mrs. Candy, as they entered the parlour, "what now? You do
+not look harmonious, considering. What have you had to-night?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"An impossible sort of enthusiasm, mamma," said Clarissa, as she drew
+off her handsome furs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Impossible enthusiasm!" repeated Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What has Mr. Richmond been talking about?" asked Mrs. Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, mamma," said Letitia, "we are all to spend our lives in feeding
+sick people, and clothing lazy people, and running after the society of
+wicked people, as far as I can make out; and our money of course goes
+on the same plan. I advise you to look after Maria and Matilda, for
+they are just wise enough to think it's all right; and they will be
+carrying it into practice before you know where you are."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not so at all!" began Maria, indignantly. "It is nothing like
+that, mamma. You know Mr. Richmond better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I know you better, too. Look where your study books were
+thrown down to-day when you came from school. Take them away, before
+you do anything else or say anything more."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria obeyed with a gloomy face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you approve of Mr. Richmond, Aunt Marianne?" Clarissa asked. "If
+so, I will say no more; but I was astonished to-night. I thought he was
+a man of sense."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He <I>is</I> a man of sense," said Mrs. Englefield; "but I always thought
+he carried his notions rather far."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, aunt, he would make missionaries and colporteurs and sisters of
+charity of us all. Sisters of charity are a magnificent institution, of
+course; but what would become of the world if we were <I>all</I> sisters of
+charity? And the idea! that everybody is to spend his whole time and
+all his means in looking up vagrants and nursing fever cases! I never
+heard anything like it in my life. That, and doing the work of
+travelling Methodists!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wonder what the ministry is good for," said Mrs. Candy, "if
+everybody is to do the same work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not understand it," said Mrs. Englefield. "I was not brought up
+to these extreme theories myself; and I do not intend that my children
+shall be."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, mamma," said Maria, re-entering, "Mr. Richmond does not go into
+extreme theories."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you eat an apple after dinner?" said her mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, ma'am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You ate it up here, instead of in the dining-room?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, mamma, you know we often&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Answer me. You ate it up here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you do with the core and the peel?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma, I&mdash;you know I had no knife&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you do with it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+No answer, except that Maria's cheeks grew bright.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know what you did with it, I suppose. Now bring it to me, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Colouring angrily as well as confusedly, Maria went to the mantelpiece
+where stood two little china vases, and took down one of them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Carry it to your Aunt Candy," said her mother. "Look at it, Erminia.
+Now bring it here. Take this vase away, and empty it, and wash it, and
+put it in its place again; and never use it to put apple peels in, as
+long as you live."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria burst into tears and went away with the vase.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just a little careless," said her aunt.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Heedless&mdash;always was," said her mother. "Now Matilda is not so; and
+Anne and Letitia were neither of them so. It is a mystery to me, what
+makes one child so different from another child?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda is a little piece of thoughtfulness," said her aunt, drawing
+the child to her side and kissing her. "Don't you think a little too
+much, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda wondered whether her aunt thought quite enough.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, Maria," Mrs. Englefield went on as her other daughter came in,
+"are you purposing to enter into all Mr. Richmond's plans that Clarissa
+has been talking about?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, ma'am, of course," Maria said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I want you to take notice, that I expect in the first place that
+all your home and school duties shall be perfectly performed. Religion,
+if it is good for anything, makes people do their duties. Your lessons
+must be perfect; your drawers kept in order; your clothes mended; you
+must be punctual at school and orderly at home; do you hear? And if all
+this is not done, I shall take all your pretended religion for nothing
+but a sham, and shall pay no respect to it at all. Now go to bed and
+act religion for a month before I hear you talk another word about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria went silently up-stairs, accompanied by her little sister; but
+once in their room, she broke out&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma is real cross to-night! It is just Clarissa's doing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll tell you what it is, Maria," her sister said; "she is not cross;
+she is worried. I know she is worried."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"About Mr. Richmond?" said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know about what. No, I guess she was worried before we came
+back."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She was cross anyhow!" said Maria. "How can one do everything
+<I>perfectly?</I>"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But that is just what Mr. Richmond said," Matilda urged gently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That we should be light-bearers, you know. That is the way to be a
+light-bearer; to do everything perfectly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you may, if you can," said Maria. "I can't."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap08"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER VIII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly, that money burns my pocket," Maria said the next morning.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you had better put it somewhere else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose you think that is smart," said Maria, "but it isn't; for
+that is just what I mean to do. I mean to spend it, somehow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's just what I don't know. There are so many things I want; and I
+do not know what I want most. I have a good mind to buy a writing-desk,
+for one thing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you have got one already."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean a handsome one&mdash;a real beauty, large, you know, and with
+everything in it. That lock of mine isn't good. Anybody could open it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But there is nobody to do that," said Matilda. "Nobody comes here but
+you and me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That don't make any difference!" said Maria, impatiently. "Don't be so
+stupid. I would like to have a nice thing, anyhow. Then sometimes I
+think I would rather have a gold chain&mdash;like Clarissa's."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You could not get that for twenty-five dollars," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you know?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Hers cost three or four times as much as that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did it?&mdash;Well, then I guess I will have the desk, or a whole lot of
+handsome summer dresses. I guess I will have that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said her little sister, facing round upon her, "how much are
+you going to give to the Missionary Fund?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The Missionary Fund?" said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes. You promised to help that, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not with my twenty-five dollars!" said Maria, energetically. "I think
+you are crazy, Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because! To ask me such a question as that. Aunt Candy's present!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Didn't you promise?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not promise to give my money any more than I usually give. I put
+a penny in every Sunday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I don't see how you are going to help the Fund," said Matilda. "I
+don't see why you promised, either."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I promised, because I wanted to join the Band; and I am going to do
+everything I ought to do. I think I am just as good as you, Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda let the matter drop.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It did not appear what <I>she</I> was going to do with her money. She always
+said she had not decided. Only, one day soon after the last meeting
+recorded, Matilda was seen in one of the small bookstores of Shadywalk.
+There was not reading enough in the village to support a bookstore
+proper; so the books crept into one corner of the apothecaries' shops,
+with supplies of stationery to form a connecting link between them and
+the toilet articles on the opposite counter. To one of these modest
+retreats of literature, Matilda came this day and requested to look at
+Bibles. She chose one and paid for it; but she took a long time to make
+her choice; was excessively particular about the goodness of the
+binding and the clearness of the type; detecting an incipient loose
+leaf in one that was given her to examine; and finally going away
+perfectly satisfied. She said nothing about it at home; but of course
+Maria saw the new purchase immediately.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So you have been to get a Bible!" she said. "Did you get it with part
+of your twenty-five dollars?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes. I had no other money, Maria, to get it with."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you are very foolish. What do you want a Bible for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had none."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You could always read mine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not always. And Maria, you know, if we are to follow Jesus, we want to
+know very well, indeed, how He went and what He did and what He wants
+us to do; and we cannot know all that without a <I>great deal</I> of study."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have studying enough to do already, for my part," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you must study this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I haven't a minute of time, Matilda&mdash;not a minute."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then how will you know what to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just as well as you will, perhaps. I've got my map of South America to
+do all over, from the beginning."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And all the rest of the class?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you are no worse off than the others. And Ailie Swan reads her
+Bible, I know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I am just as good as Ailie Swan," said Maria, with a toss of
+her head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria," said Maria's little sister, leaning her elbows on the
+table and looking earnestly up at her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is that the right way to talk?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see what Ailie has to do with your being good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nor I, I am sure," said Maria. "It was you brought her up."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because, if she has time, I thought you might have time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I haven't time," said Maria. "It is as much as I can do, to
+study my lesson for Sunday-School."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then, Maria, how <I>can</I> you know how to be good?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is no part of goodness to go preaching to other people, I would
+have you know," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda turned over the leaves of her new Bible lovingly, and said no
+more. But her sister failing her, she was all the more driven to seek
+the little meetings in the corner of the Sunday-School-room; and they
+grew to be more and more pleasant. At home nothing seemed to be right.
+Mrs. Englefield was not like herself. Anne and Letitia were gloomy and
+silent. The air was heavy. Even Clarissa's beautiful eyes, when they
+were slowly lifted up to look at somebody, according to her custom,
+seemed cold and distant as they were not at first. Clarissa visited
+several sick people and carried them nourishing things; but she looked
+calm disapproval when Maria proclaimed that Tilly had been all up Lilac
+Lane to look for a stray Sunday-School scholar. Mrs. Englefield laughed
+and did not interfere.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would never let a child of mine go there alone," said Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is no danger in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will be sorry for it, sister."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well; I am sorry for most things, sooner or later," said Mrs.
+Englefield.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So weeks went by; until it came to be the end of winter, and something
+of spring was already stealing into the sunlight and softening the air;
+that wonderful nameless "something," which is nothing but a far-off
+kiss from Spring's fingers. One Sunday Mrs. Englefield had gone to bed
+with a headache; and hastening away from the dinner-table, Matilda went
+off to her appointment. Mr. Ulshoeffer had been propitious; he let the
+little girls have the key on the inside of the schoolroom door; and an
+hour before it was time for the classes of the school to be gathering,
+the three friends met at the gate and went in. They always sat in a
+far-off corner of one of the transepts, to be as cozy as possible. They
+were all punctual to-day, Ailie having the key of the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Girls, don't you get confused sometimes, with the things you hear
+people say?" she asked, as she unlocked the door. "I do; and then
+sometimes I get real worried."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So do I get worried!" Mary Edwards assented. "And I don't know what to
+say&mdash;that's the worst of it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now only to-day," Ailie went on, as they walked up the matted aisle
+with a delicious sense of being free and alone and confidential, "I
+heard some one say it was no use for children to be Christians; he said
+they didn't know their own minds, and don't know what they want, and by
+and by it will all be smoke. And when I hear such things, it affects me
+differently. Sometimes I get mad; and then sometimes it takes the
+strength all out of me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But if we have the right sort of strength," said Matilda, "people
+can't take it from us, Ailie."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, mine seems to go," said Ailie. "And then I feel bad."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We know what we want," said Mary, "if we are children."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We know our own minds," said Matilda. "We <I>know</I> we do. It is no
+matter what people say."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish they wouldn't say it," said Ailie. "Or I wish I needn't hear
+it. But it is good to come here and read, isn't it? And I think our
+talk helps us; don't you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It helps me," said Mary Edwards. "I've got nobody at home to talk to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us begin, girls, or we shall not have time," said Matilda. "It's
+the fourteenth chapter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of Luke?" said Ailie. "Here it is. But I don't like Luke so well as
+Matthew; do you? Well, begin."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They began and read on, verse by verse, until fourteen verses were
+read. There they paused.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does this mean?" said Matilda, knitting her small brows.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Isn't it right to ask our friends to tea or anything? Why, Jesus went
+to dine with this Pharisee," said Mary, looking up.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; but that is another thing," said Matilda. "You see, we must ask
+the people who have no friends."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But why not our friends too?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Perhaps it would cost too much to ask <I>everybody</I>," said Ailie. "One
+would be giving parties all the time; and they cost, I can tell you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But some people are rich enough," said Mary.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Those people don't make parties for the poor, though," said Ailie.
+"Catch them!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But then, <I>can</I> it mean that it is wrong to have our friends come and
+see us?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It cannot be wrong. Don't you remember, Martha and Mary used to have
+Jesus come to their house? and they used to make suppers for Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But <I>He</I> was poor," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is different, too, from having a party, and making a great fuss,"
+said Ailie.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And <I>that</I> is done just to pay one's debts," said Matilda, "for I have
+heard mother say so. People ask her, and so she must ask people. And
+that is what it means, girls, I guess. See, 'lest they also bid thee
+again, and a recompense be made thee.' That isn't making a feast for
+people that you love."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then it is wicked to ask people just that they may ask you," said Mary
+Edwards.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Instead of that, we must ask people who <I>cannot</I> ask us," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But how queer we should be!" said Ailie Swan. "Just think; we should
+not be like anybody else. And what should we do if people asked us?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care," said Matilda. "See, girls;&mdash;'thou shalt be recompensed
+at the resurrection of the just.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And is that what it means in the next verse?" said Mary Edwards. "But
+I don't understand that. 'Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
+kingdom of God.' Do they eat bread there? I thought they didn't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is like what we read a little way back," said Matilda, flirting
+over one or two leaves, "yes, here in the 12th chapter&mdash;'Blessed are
+those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily
+I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down
+to meat, and will come forth and serve them.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That means Jesus," said Mary Edwards. "He will make them to sit down
+to meat!&mdash;and will serve them. What does it mean, I wonder?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It means, that Jesus will give them good things," said Ailie.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess they will be blessed, then, that eat when He feeds them," said
+the other little girl. "I would like to be there."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is a verse or two that my Bible turns to," said Matilda. "In the
+Revelation. 'And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are
+called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Oh, don't you like to
+read in the Revelation? But we are all called; aren't we?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And here, in our chapter," said Mary, "it goes on to tell of the
+people who were called and wouldn't come. So I suppose everybody is
+called; and some won't come."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Some don't get the invitation," said Matilda, looking up.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A good many don't, I guess," said Ailie. "Who do you think gets it in
+Lilac Lane?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody, hardly, I guess," said Mary Edwards; "there don't many people
+come to church out of Lilac Lane."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But then, girls," said Matilda, "don't you think we ought to take it
+there? the invitation, I mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How can we? Why, there are lots of people in Lilac Lane that I would
+be afraid to speak to."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wouldn't be afraid," said Matilda. "They wouldn't do us any harm."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But what would you say to them, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would just ask them to come, Ailie. I would take the message to
+them. Just think, Ailie, of that time, of that supper&mdash;when Jesus will
+give good things with His own hand;&mdash;and how many people would come if
+they knew. I would tell everybody. Don't you think we ought to?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't like to speak to people much," said Ailie. "They would think I
+was setting myself up."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is only carrying the message," said Matilda. "And that is what
+Jesus was doing <I>all the time</I>, you know; and He has told us to follow
+Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then must we be telling it all the time too?" asked Ailie. "We should
+do nothing else."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, we should. That would not hinder," said Matilda. "It doesn't
+take so very long to say a word. Here is another verse, girls; this is
+in the Revelation too; listen. This must be what those other verses
+mean: '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>
+As if a thrill from some chord of an angel's harp had reached them, the
+children were still for a moment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't believe the people are happy in Lilac Lane," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maybe they are," said Ailie. "But I guess they can't be. People that
+are not good can't be happy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And Jesus has given us the message to take to everybody," said
+Matilda; "and when we come up there to that supper, and He asks us if
+we took the message to the people in the lane, what shall we say? I
+know what I would like to say."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But there are other people, besides in the lane," said Ailie.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We must take it to them too," said Mary Edwards.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We <I>can't</I> take it to everybody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; only to <I>everybody that we can</I>," said Matilda. "Just think how
+glad some of those people will be, when they hear it. What should we do
+if Mr. Richmond had never told it to us?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Ailie bit her lip. Whether by design or not, Mary Edwards turned to her
+Testament and read the next words that followed in course.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto
+them, If any man come unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
+wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
+also, he cannot be my disciple."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And seeing Mr. Ulshoeffer coming to open the door, the little conclave
+broke up. The children and teachers came pouring in for the
+Sunday-School.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Going out after it was over, Matilda noticed a face she had not seen; a
+boy older than herself, but not very old, standing near the door,
+looking at the small crowd that trooped along the aisle. The thought
+came to Matilda that he was a new scholar, and if so, somebody ought to
+welcome him; but nobody did, that she could see. He stood alone,
+looking at the people as if they were strange to him; with a good,
+bright, wide-awake face, handsome and bold. Matilda did not want to
+take the welcoming upon herself, but she thought somebody should do it;
+and the next minute she had paused in front of the stranger.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is this the first time you have been here?" she asked, with a kind of
+shy grace. The boy's bright eyes came down to her with a look of
+surprise as he assented.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am very glad to see you in our Sunday-School," she went on. "I hope
+it was pleasant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It was pleasant enough," said the stranger. "There is a jolly fellow
+over there asked me to come&mdash;Ben Barth; are you his sister?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no," said Matilda. "Ben has his own sisters. I am not one of them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought maybe he told you to speak to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody told me," said Matilda. By this time they had followed the
+crowd out at the door, and were taking their way down the street.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you speak to me then, for?" said the boy, with a roguish look
+at her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you were a stranger."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what if I was?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think, if you are a stranger anywhere, it is pleasant to have
+somebody speak to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're a brick!" was the stranger's conclusion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Am I?" said Matilda. "Why am I?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You're a girl, I suppose, and don't understand things," said her
+companion. "Boys know what a brick is&mdash;when they see it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, so do I," said Matilda, "don't I?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But the boy only laughed; and then asked Matilda where she lived, and
+if she had any brothers, and where she went to school.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I go to the other school, you see," said he; "that's how I've never
+seen you before. I wish you went to my school; and I'd give you a ride
+on my sled."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you'll come to our Sunday-School, won't you?" Matilda asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To be sure I will; but you see, I can't take you on my sled on Sunday.
+They'd have all the ministers out after me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no!" said Matilda. "I was not thinking of the sled; but you are
+very kind."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like it," said the boy. "Yes, I am coming to the school;
+though I guess I've got an old fogy of a teacher. But the minister's a
+brick; isn't he?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He isn't much like <I>me</I>," said Matilda, laughing. "And the sort of
+bricks that I know, one is very much like another."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The boy laughed too, and asked if she didn't want to know his name?
+Matilda glanced again at the frank face and nice dress, and said yes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My name's Norton Laval. What's yours?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda Englefield. I am going this way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, you go that way and I go this way, but we shall see each other
+again. Good-bye."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So at the corner they parted; and Matilda went home, thinking that in
+this instance at least the welcoming of strangers had paid well. For
+this was a pleasant new acquaintance, she was sure. She mounted the
+stairs with happy feet to her room; and there found Maria in a flood of
+tears. Maria had stayed at home from Sunday-School to-day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the matter, Maria?" her little sister inquired. "How's mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know! Oh, nothing will ever be well again. O Tilly, what will
+become of us!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And here a storm of sobs and tears came on, in the midst of which
+Matilda's questions could get no attention. Matilda knew her sister,
+however, and waited.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Tilly!&mdash;it's so dreadful!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?" said Matilda calmly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We haven't got anything to live upon. Anne and Letty have been telling
+me. We haven't. We are going to be as poor as&mdash;as poor as anybody. We
+have got nothing to buy anything with&mdash;nothing at all! Anne says so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did mamma say so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mother's sick. No, Aunt Candy told the girls. It's true. Somebody or
+something that had mamma's money&mdash;to take care of&mdash;has gone off, or
+been ruined, or something; and we are ruined! There is nothing left at
+all for us to live upon. And that is what has been troubling mamma all
+these weeks; and now it is certain, and she knows all about it; and I
+guess it is that has made her sick. Oh, what shall we do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The turn of Matilda's head was inimitable and indescribable. It was not
+arrogance or affectation; it was perfectly natural to the child; but to
+a bystander it would have signified that she was aware Maria's views
+and statements were not to be relied upon and could not be made the
+basis of either opinion or action. She took off her things, and without
+another word made her way to the room of her elder sisters. They were
+both sitting there gloomily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know. I haven't seen her since dinner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was with a little of the same half-graceful, half-competent gesture
+of the head that Matilda applied herself to Letitia.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is all this story, Letty, that Maria has been telling me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How should I know? Maria tells a great many stories."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean, about what has been troubling mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria had no business to tell you, and so trouble you with it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But is it true, Letty? Anne, is it true?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose it is true&mdash;if you mean what she heard from me a little
+while ago. That is true."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And mamma has lost all her money?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Every cent."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When did you know it, Anne and Letty?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We have known it a day or two. It is true. It is all true, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is mamma going to do, then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Get well, I hope. That is the first thing. Aunt Candy says she will
+pay for her board and Clarissa's, and mamma and you can live on that.
+Letty and I must go get our living&mdash;somehow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And here Anne broke down. Matilda wanted to ask about Maria's fate in
+the general falling to pieces of the family; but her throat felt so
+full, she was afraid she could not. So she did not try; she turned and
+went down-stairs to her mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mrs. Englefield was dozing, flushed and uneasy; she hardly noticed who
+was with her; but asked for water, and then for Cologne water. Matilda
+brought the one and the other, and sat by the bedside wiping her
+mother's brow and cheeks with the Cologne. Nobody came to interrupt or
+relieve her for some time. The light of the afternoon began to fade,
+and the sunbeams came aslant from the western sky; and still the child
+sat there passing the handkerchief gently over her mother's face. And
+while she sat so, Matilda was thinking what possible ways there might
+be by which she could make money.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly, is that you?" said Mrs. Englefield, faintly, as the sunbeams
+were just quitting the room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, mamma. Are you better?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is there no one else here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, mamma. Aunt Candy is out; and I suppose the girls thought you were
+sleeping. Are you better, mamma? You have had a nice long nap."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It's been horrid!" said Mrs. Englefield. "I have dreamed of every
+possible dreadful thing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you feel better now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My head aches&mdash;no&mdash;oh, my head! Tilly&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going to be sick. I shan't be about again for a while, I know. I
+want you to do just what I tell you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, mamma. What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Anne and Letty are going away."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, mamma. I know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know why, dear?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The tone of tender, sorrowful sympathy in which this was said, overcame
+the child. As her mother's eyes with the question languidly sought her
+face, Matilda burst into tears and threw herself upon her neck.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, don't," said Mrs. Englefield, faintly,&mdash;"I can't bear it. Don't,
+Matilda! Rise up and listen to me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda did as she was told. She forced back her tears; stopped her
+sobs; dashed away the drops from the corners of her eyes; and sat up
+again to hear what her mother had to say to her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Give me some more water first. Anne and Letty are going away, Tilly;
+and I cannot be up and see to anything; and I can't hire a woman to do
+what's to be done. You tell Maria, from me, she must stay home from
+school and take care of the house. You will do what you can, Tilly&mdash;oh,
+my head!&mdash;you can put rooms in order and such things; and Maria must go
+down into the kitchen and get the breakfast&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Must Maria get the dinner too, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, the dinner&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But <I>can</I> she, mamma?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She <I>must;</I> or else your aunt Candy will hire somebody to do it; and
+that will come out of what she pays me, and we shall not have enough
+left. She <I>must</I>, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But aunt Candy wouldn't mind, just while you are sick, mamma, would
+she?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes! I know. Just you do as I tell you; promise me that you will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will, mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Promise me that Maria will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess she will, mamma. I'll try and make her. Shall I bring her
+here, and you tell her yourself?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, indeed. Don't bring Maria here. She would make such a row she
+would kill me. Anne and Letty will see to things, till they go&mdash;oh, I
+can't talk any longer. Give me some more water."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+She was presently dozing again; and Matilda, clasping her small hands,
+sat and thought over what was before her. It began to feel like a
+weight on her somewhere&mdash;on her shoulders, she thought, and lying on
+her heart too; and the longer she thought about it, the heavier and
+harder it pressed. The family to be broken up; her mother to be
+straitened for money&mdash;Matilda did not know very well what that meant,
+but it sounded disagreeable; her aunt suddenly presented in new and not
+pleasant colours; a general threatening cloud overshadowing all the
+future. Matilda began to get, what her strong little heart was not
+accustomed to, a feeling of real discouragement. What could she do? And
+then a word of the afternoon's lesson in the Sunday-School came freshly
+to mind. It had been quite new to Matilda, and had seemed to her very
+beautiful; but it took on quite another sort of beauty now,&mdash;"Cast thy
+burden upon the Lord; He shall sustain thee."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will He?" thought Matilda. "Can He? May I tell Him about all this? and
+will He help me to bear it, and help me to do all that work, and to
+make Maria do hers? But He will, <I>for He has said so</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was getting dusk in the room. Matilda knelt down by her chair, and
+poured out all her troubles into the Ear that would heed and could help
+her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who's here?" said the voice of Mrs. Candy, coming in. "Who is that?
+Matilda? How did you come here, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have been taking care of my mother."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you? How is she? Well, you run down-stairs; I'll take care of her
+now. It is better for you not to be here. Don't come in again, unless I
+give you leave. Now you may go."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wonder, must I mind her?" said Matilda to herself. "I do not see
+why. She is not mother; and if mother is sick, that does not give
+everybody else a right to say what I shall do. I think it is very queer
+of Aunt Candy to take that way with me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And I am afraid Matilda's head was carried a little with the air which
+was, to be sure, natural to her, and not unpretty, and yet which spoke
+of a good deal of conscious competency. It is no more than justice to
+Matilda to say that she did not ever put the feeling into any
+ill-mannerly form. It hardly appeared at all, except in this turn of
+her head, which all her own family knew, laughed at, admired, and even
+loved. So she went down-stairs to the parlour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is Aunt Marianne?" was the question from Clarissa. "Letty told me
+where you were. But, little one, it is not good for you to go into your
+mother's sick-room; you can do nothing, and you are better out. So
+mamma wishes you not to go in there till Aunt Marianne is better&mdash;you
+understand?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Clarissa too!" thought Matilda to herself. But she made no answer. She
+came by the fire to warm herself; for her mother's room had been cold.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You shouldn't go so near the fire; you'll burn your dress," Clarissa
+remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No," said Matilda; and she said but that one word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will take the colour out, if you do not set it on fire; and that
+is what I meant. That is your best dress, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was true; and, sorely against her will, Matilda stepped a little
+back.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You were a great while at Sunday-School to-day," Clarissa went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No," said Matilda; "not longer than usual."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you learn there?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, cousin Issa, what do you teach at <I>your</I> Sunday-School?" said
+Matilda. For Clarissa had sheered off from Mr. Richmond's church, and
+gone into a neighbouring one which belonged to the denomination in
+which she had been brought up.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is not good manners to answer one question with another, little
+one."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought one answer might serve for both," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am afraid it would not. For in my Sunday-School I teach the
+Catechism."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't the Catechism tell about Jesus?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Some things,&mdash;of course."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Our lessons tell all things about Him," said Matilda; "and that is
+what I learn."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you learn about yourself?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What about myself?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How you ought to behave, and how you ought not to behave."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, I think learning about Jesus teaches one <I>that</I>," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think there is nothing so good as coming home to learn about home,"
+said Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The talk did not run in a way to please Matilda, and she was silent.
+Presently they were called down to tea. Everybody suffering from a fit
+of taciturnity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, sit up straight," said Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I always sit so," was the answer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>So</I>, is not very graceful. Matilda does not sit so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda was always straight; it's her way," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, make it your way too. Come! straighten up. What shoulders! One
+would think you were a boy playing at leap-frog."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know what 'leap-frog' is," said Maria, colouring; "and I don't
+think anybody would think I was anything but a girl anyhow. I get tired
+sitting up straight."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When?" asked Clarissa.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda's head was quite indescribable in the turn it gave at this
+moment. Her supper was done; she was leaving the table.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not going into your mother's room?" said her aunt, catching
+her hand as she passed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You said you wished I would not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, my dear, I am going up there immediately. Don't go out either,
+Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going to church, Aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think not. Not to-night. I do not approve of so much church-going
+for little girls. You can study your lesson, you know, for next Sunday.
+I do not want to have anybody else sick on my hands till your mother is
+well."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda's face expressed none of her disappointment; her head was even
+carried a little higher than usual as she left the room. But outside
+the door her steps flagged; and she went slowly up the stairs, asking
+herself if she was bound to mind what her aunt said. She was not clear
+about it. In the abstract, Matilda was well enough disposed to obey all
+lawful authority; just now a spirit of opposition had risen. Was this
+lawful authority? Mrs. Englefield was sick, to be sure; but did that
+give Mrs. Candy any right to interfere with what was known to be Mrs.
+Englefield's will when she was not sick? Matilda thought not. Then, on
+the other hand, she did not wish to do anything to displease her aunt,
+who had always been kind to her; she did not wish to change the
+relations between them. Slowly Matilda mounted stair after stair till
+she got to her room. There she stood by the window a moment, thinking
+and sorrowing; for if she did not wish to anger her aunt, neither did
+she wish to lose her evening in church, her sight of Mr. Richmond, and
+his sermon. And just then, the clear, sweet sound of the church bell
+came, with its first note, to tell that the service would begin in a
+quarter of an hour. It sounded like a friend's voice calling her. Her
+Aunt Candy's church bell joined in, and Mr. Everett's church, and Mr.
+Schönflocker's church; but that one which Mr. Ulshoeffer rang was the
+loudest of all to Matilda's ear. She could hardly stand it. Then Maria
+burst in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What are you going to do?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do? Why, I am going to church, of course; and in a hurry."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And Anne and Letty?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly; and Issa too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda said no more, but hastily made herself ready, and went down
+with the rest.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap09"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER IX.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Anne and Letitia were to leave home in the afternoon of Monday; and
+Maria and Matilda went to school that morning as usual. But when the
+noon hour came, Matilda called her sister into a corner of the emptied
+schoolroom, and sat down with a face of business.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the matter?" said Maria. "We must go home to dinner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like to speak to you here first."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"About what? Say it and be quick; for I am ever so hungry. Aunt Candy
+cut my breakfast short this morning."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wanted to say to you that we had better take home our books."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What for?" said Maria, with opening eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because, Maria, mamma was talking to me last night about it. You know
+there will be no one at home now, after to-day, but you and me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Erminia and Clarissa?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody to do anything, I mean."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can't they do anything? I don't know what you are talking of, Matilda;
+but I know I want my dinner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who do you think will get dinner to-morrow?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well&mdash;mother's sick of course; and Anne and Letty are going. I should
+think Aunt Candy might."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, she won't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you know?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because mother said so. She won't do anything."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then she'll have to get a girl to do things, I suppose."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But Maria, that is just what mother wants she shouldn't do; because
+she'd have to pay for it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who would have to pay for it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why would she?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She said so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see why she would, I am sure. If Aunt Erminia hires a girl,
+<I>she'll</I> pay for her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But that will come out of what Aunt Erminia pays to mamma; and what
+Aunt Erminia pays to mamma is what we have got to live upon."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who said so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma said so." Matilda answered with her lip trembling; for the
+bringing facts all down to hard detail was difficult to bear.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I <I>do</I> think," exclaimed Maria, "if I had a sister sick and not
+able to help herself, I would not be so mean!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda sat still and cried and said nothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who <I>is</I> going to do all the work then, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There would have been something comical, if it had not been sad, in the
+way the little girl looked up and said, "You and I."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess we will!" said Maria, with opening eyes. "You and I! Take care
+of the house, and wash the dishes, and cook the dinner, and everything!
+You know we couldn't, Matilda; and what's more, <I>I</I> know we won't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, mamma wishes it. We must; and so we can, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>I</I> can't," said Maria, taking down her school cloak.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria! we must. Mamma will be more sick if we do not; you heard
+what Aunt Candy said at breakfast, that she is fearfully nervous; and
+if she hears that there is a hired girl in the house, it will worry her
+dreadfully."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will be Aunt Candy's fault then," said Maria, fastening her cloak.
+"I never heard of anybody so mean in all my life!&mdash;never."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But that don't help anything, Maria. And you and I <I>must</I> do what
+mamma said. You know we shall have little enough to live on, as it is,
+and if you take the pay of a hired girl out of it, there will be so
+little left."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've got my twenty-five dollars, that I can get summer dresses with; I
+am glad I haven't spent it," said Maria. "Come, Tilly; I'm going home."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria, you have not said what you ought to say yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What ought I to say?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will help and do my part. We can manage it. Come, Maria, say that
+you will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Your part," said Maria. "What do you suppose your part would come to?
+What can such a child as you do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, now is the time to show whether you are really one of the Band
+of workers."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am, of course. I joined it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That would not make you one of them, if you don't do what they
+promised to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When did I ever promise to be Aunt Candy's servant girl?" said Maria,
+fiercely. "I should like to know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But 'we are the servants of Christ,'" said Matilda, softly, her eyes
+glistening through.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What then?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We promised to try to do whatever would honour Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know what all this affair has to do with it," said Maria. "You
+say <I>we</I> promised;&mdash;you didn't?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You didn't join the Band?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"A few days after you did."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why didn't you tell me? Did you tell Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think it is mean, that you did not tell me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am telling you now. But now, Maria, you know what you promised."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I did not promise this sort of thing at all, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, don't you know? 'we stand ready to do His will.' That's in the
+covenant."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But <I>this</I> is not His will," insisted Maria. "This is Aunt Erminia's
+meanness."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But it certainly is His will that we should do what mamma says, and
+please her; and this is the work He has given us to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria's answer this time was to sit down and cry for her part. Matilda
+did not join her, but stood by, patiently waiting. Maria cried and
+sobbed for several minutes; then she started up and set off homewards
+at a furious rate. Matilda gathered together her books and followed her
+sister; trying to comfort herself with the thought that this <I>was</I>
+certainly the work given them to do, and that she would try and make
+the best of it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The dinner was sorrowful enough. Maria, indeed, ate it as if
+remembering it was the last dinner for some time to come that she would
+find ready prepared for her. But Anne and Letty were broken down with
+grief; and Mrs. Candy's endeavours to comfort them were either not the
+right sort, or fell upon unready ears. Clarissa was composed as usual.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You were late from school, Maria and Matilda," their aunt remarked,
+finding Anne and Letty unmanageable. "What was the reason?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly was talking to me," Maria said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You could talk on the way home, I should think. I dislike to have
+dinner eaten by stages; first one set coming, and then another. I am
+going to ask you to be punctual for the future. Do not be in a hurry,
+Maria; there is time enough, now you are here, to eat moderately."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am hungry. I don't want to eat moderately, Aunt Erminia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"As much as you wish; but you can be moderate in manner, cannot you,
+even if not in quantity?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody ever told me I eat too much, before," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There are a great many things that you have never been told, I
+suppose?" said Clarissa, lifting her handsome eyes quietly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care about your telling me either," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My dear, that is not polite," interposed her aunt. "I am sorry to hear
+you speak so. Would you not like to have Issa, or any one, tell you
+things that you would be the better for. You would not wish to remain
+just as you are, to the end of your days?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It don't hurt anybody but me," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I beg your pardon. Everything that is not graceful and well-mannered,
+on the part of people in whose company we are, hurts me and Clarissa.
+It hurts me to have you bolt down your food as you were doing just
+now&mdash;if I am sitting at the same table with you. And it hurts me to
+have you speak rudely. I hope you will mend in all these things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will not hurt you to have us say good-bye," said Anne, rising. "I
+will do that now, if you please. Letty, I will leave you to take care
+of these things, and I will finish the packing. We must be quick, too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The farewell greetings with her aunt and cousin were soon spoken; and
+Maria and Matilda tore up-stairs after their sister, to pour out tears
+and complaints together during the remaining moments of her being at
+home. Matilda's tears, however, were quiet and her words very few.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ain't she too bad!" exclaimed Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must try and hold your own the best you can," said Anne, "until
+mamma gets up again. Poor children! I am afraid she will be too much
+for you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Anne, did you think Aunt Candy was like that?" said Maria. "She
+wasn't like that at first."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess she was. All she wanted was a chance. Now she's got it. Try
+and bear it the best you can till mamma is well. She cannot be worried
+now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is mamma very sick, Anne?" Matilda ventured.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"N-o," said Anne, "but she might be, Tilly, if she was worried. The
+doctor says she is very nervous, and must be kept quiet. She has been
+worrying so long, you see. So you must try and not do anything to fret
+her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The prospect was sad. When the omnibus came to take Anne and Letty to
+the station, and when the last kisses and hugs were over, and the
+omnibus bounced away, carrying with it all they had at the moment, the
+two girls left at home felt forlorn enough. The only thing to be done
+was to rush up-stairs to their room and cry their hearts out. And that
+was done thoroughly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But by and by, Matilda's thoughts, in their very extreme need of
+comfort, began to take up the words again which she had once found so
+good: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord; He shall sustain thee." She left
+her sobbing, dried her eyes, sat down by the window, and found the
+place in her Bible, that her eyes might have the comfort of seeing and
+reading the words there. The Lord's words: Tilly knew they were true.
+But Maria sobbed on. At last her little sister called her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it?" said she.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Come here,&mdash;and I will show you something good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Good?&mdash;what?" said Maria, approaching the window. "Oh, words in the
+Bible!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Read, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have read them before," said the other, sullenly, after she had
+glanced at the place.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they are true, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well; they don't help me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they help <I>me</I>," said Matilda. "It's Jesus' promise to help."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't believe it is for such things as this."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?" said Matilda, a sudden chill coming over her heart. "It says
+just, 'Cast thy burden'&mdash;it might be any burden; it does not signify
+what it is, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, it does; it is not for such little things," said Maria. "It is
+for great religious people and their affairs. Oh dear! oh dear!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Sorely troubled now at having her supports knocked away from under her,
+Matilda eagerly sought further, if perchance she might find something
+that Maria could not question. Her Bible had a few references in the
+margin; consulting these, she presently found what she had need of; but
+a feeling of want of sympathy between them forbade her to show the new
+words to her sister. Matilda pored over them with great rest of heart;
+gave thanks for them; and might have used with truth David's
+language&mdash;"Thy words were found, and I did eat them." The words were
+these:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication
+with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the
+peace of God that passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and
+minds through Christ Jesus."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda's eyes were dry and her voice was clear, when she reminded her
+sister that it was time to get tea. Maria was accustomed to do this
+frequently, and made no objection now. So the two went down together.
+Passing the parlour door, however, it opened, and Mrs. Candy called
+Matilda in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want to speak a word to you, Tilly," she said. "Did you go out last
+evening?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; I did, aunt Erminia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You went to church?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda assented; but though she had bowed her head, it seemed to be
+more erect than before.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I had told you not to go, had I not? You understood that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A silent assent was again all that the child gave.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am accustomed to be obeyed," said Mrs. Candy. "That is my way. It
+may not be your mother's way; but all the same, I am mistress here
+while she is sick; mistress over you as well as the rest. You must obey
+me like all the rest. Will you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+What was meant by "all the rest" Matilda marvelled, seeing that nobody
+else but Maria and her own daughter were left in the house. This time
+she gave no sign of answering; she only stood and listened.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will you obey me, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda was not sure whether she would. In her mind it depended on
+circumstances. She would obey, conditionally. But she would not
+compromise her dignity by words about it. She was silent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I must be obeyed," Mrs. Candy went on, with mild tones, although a
+displeased face. "If not willingly, then unwillingly. I shall punish
+you, Matilda, if you disobey me; and so severely that you will find it
+best not to do it again. But I should be very sorry to have you drive
+me to such disagreeable doings. We should both be sorry together. It is
+much best not to let things come to such extremity."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda coloured high, but except that and the slight gesture of her
+head, she yet gave no reply.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is enough upon that subject," the lady went on. "Only, I should
+be glad to have you tell me that you will try to please me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish to please everybody&mdash;as far as I can," Matilda said at last.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you will please me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She hopes so, Issa," said Mrs. Candy, turning her head round towards
+where her daughter sat.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"American children, mamma," was Clarissa's comment.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is another thing, Matilda," Mrs. Candy resumed after a slight
+pause. "Your mother has told me that Maria is competent to do the work
+of the house until she gets well. Is she? and will Maria, do you think,
+try to please me as much as you do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, ma'am. I think she can&mdash;she and I. We will do it," Matilda
+answered more readily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She and you! What can you do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can help a little."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well then, that is settled; and I need not look out for a girl?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh no, aunt Candy. She and I can do it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But mind, I must have things in order, and well done. It is my
+sister's choice, that Maria should do it. But it is not mine unless I
+can have everything in good order. You may tell Maria so, and let her
+understand what it is she is undertaking. I am to have no dusty stairs,
+and no half-set tables. If she wants instruction in anything, I am
+willing to give it; but I cannot have disorder. Now you may go and tell
+her; and tell her to have tea ready in half an hour."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did she want of you?" Maria asked, when Matilda rejoined her
+down-stairs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She wanted to talk to me about my going out last evening."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh! was she in a great fuss about it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And Maria, she wants tea to be ready in half an hour."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll have it ready sooner than that," said Maria, bustling about.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you must not. She wants it in half an hour; you must not have it
+ready before."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why not?" said Maria, stopping short.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, she wants it <I>then</I>. She has a right to have tea when she likes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Matilda sighed as she spoke, for her aunt's likings were becoming a
+heavy burden to her, in the present and in the future. The two girls
+went gently round, setting the table, cutting the bread, putting out
+the sweetmeat, getting the teapot ready for the tea; then they stood
+together over the stove, waiting for the time to make it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's one comfort," Matilda said with another sigh;&mdash;"we can do it
+all for Christ."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?" said Maria, starting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is work He has given us to do, you know, Maria; and we have
+promised to do everything we can to please Him. So we can do this to
+please Him."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see how," said Maria. "<I>This</I> isn't Band work;&mdash;do you think
+it is?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It isn't Sunday-School work; but, Maria, you know, 'we are the
+servants of Christ.' Now He has given us this work to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's just talking nonsense," said Maria. "There is no religion in
+pots and kettles."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda had to think her way out of that statement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, in the covenant, you know, we say 'we stand ready to do His
+will;' and you <I>know</I> it is His will that we should have these things
+to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't!" said Maria; "that's a fact."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then how comes it that we have them?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just because mamma is sick, and Aunt Erminia is too mean to live!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You should not speak so," said Matilda. "How comes mamma to be sick?
+and how comes it that we have got no money to hire a girl?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because that man in New York was wicked, and ran away with mamma's
+money."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said Matilda, solemnly, "I don't see what you meant by joining
+the Band."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I meant more than you did!" said Maria, flaming out. "Such children as
+you are too young to join it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are not too young to be Christians."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are too young to join the Church and be baptized."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, you are too young to <I>understand</I>. Anybody that knows will tell
+you so. And if you are not fit to be baptized and join the Church, you
+are not fit to join the Band. Now I can make the tea."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked hard at the teapot, as it stood on the stove while the
+tea was brewing; but she let her sister alone after that. When the meal
+was over, and the dishes washed and everything done, she and Maria went
+up to their own room, and Maria at once went to bed. Her little sister
+opened her Bible, and read, over and over, the words that had comforted
+her. They were words from God; promises and commands straight from
+heaven. Matilda took them so, and studied earnestly how she might do
+what they bade her. "Cast her burden on the Lord"&mdash;how was she to do
+that? Clearly, she was not to keep it on her own heart, she thought;
+she must trust that the Lord would take care of anything put into His
+hands. The words were very good. And the other words? "Be careful for
+nothing"&mdash;that was the same thing differently expressed; and Matilda
+felt very glad it had been written for her in both places and in both
+ways; and that she was ordered "in everything" to "make her requests
+known to God." She might not have dared, perhaps, in some little
+troubles that only concerned a child and were not important to anybody
+else; but now there could be no doubt&mdash;she might, and she must. She was
+very glad. But, "with thanksgiving?"&mdash;how could that be always? Now,
+for instance? Things were more disagreeable and sorrowful than in all
+her life she had ever known them; "give thanks"? must she? <I>now?</I> And
+how could she? Matilda studied over it a good while. Finally took to
+praying over it. Asked to be taught how she could give thanks when she
+was sorry. And getting quite tired, at last went to bed, where Maria
+was already fast asleep.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is no denying that Matilda was sorry to wake up the next morning.
+But awake she found herself, and broad awake too; and the light outside
+the window admonished her she had no time then to lie and think. She
+roused Maria immediately, and herself began dressing without a moment's
+delay.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, what's the hurry!" said Maria, yawning and stretching herself.
+"I'm sleepy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But it isn't early, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well; I don't want it to be early."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, you do, Maria; you forget. We have a great deal on our hands.
+Make haste, please, and get up. Do, Maria!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What have we got to do so much?" said Maria, with yawn the second.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Everything. You are so sleepy, you have forgotten."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes. I have forgotten," said Maria, closing her eyes.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Maria, please do get up! I'm almost dressed; and I can't do the
+whole, you know. Won't you get up?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's the matter, Tilly?" said her sister, rolling over, and opening
+her eyes quietly at Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going down, Maria, in two minutes; and I cannot do everything,
+you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Clarissa'll help."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you expect that, Maria, you will be disappointed. I wish you would
+come right down and make the fire."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria lay still. Matilda finished her dressing, and then knelt down by
+the window.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The burden upon her seemed rather heavy, and she went to her only
+source of help. Maria lay and looked at the little kneeling figure, so
+still there by the window; glanced at the growing light outside the
+window, then at her scattered articles of clothing, lying where she had
+thrown them or dropped them last night; and at last rolled herself out
+of bed and was dressing in earnest when Matilda rose up to go
+down-stairs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh now, you'll soon be ready!" she exclaimed. "Make haste, Maria; and
+come down to the kitchen. The fire is the first thing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Then the little feet went with a light tread down the stairs, that she
+might disturb nobody, and paused in the hall. The light struggling in
+through the fanlights over the door; the air close; a smell of kerosene
+in the parlour; chairs and table in a state of disarrangement; the
+litter of Clarissa's work on the carpet; the parlour stove cold. Little
+Matilda wished to herself that some other hands were there, not hers,
+to do all that must be done. But clearly Maria would never get through
+with it. She stood looking a minute; then plunged into the work. She
+opened the shutters and the curtains, and threw up the windows. Then
+picked up the litter. Then she saw that the services of a broom were
+needed; and Matilda fetched the broom, and brushed out the parlour and
+the hall. It tired her arms; she was not used to it. Dusting the
+furniture was more in her line; and then Matilda came to the conclusion
+that if a fire was to be kindled in time this morning, it must be done
+by herself; Maria would be fully occupied in the kitchen. So
+down-stairs she went for billets of wood for kindling. There was Maria,
+in trouble.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This stove won't draw, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the matter?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why <I>that</I>. It won't draw. It just smokes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It always does draw, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it won't to-day."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you put kindling enough in?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's nothing but kindling!&mdash;and smoke."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you've got the damper turned," said Matilda, coming up to look;
+"see, that's the matter. It won't light with the damper turned."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Stupid!" Maria muttered; and Matilda went off to make her own fire.
+Happily that did not smoke. The parlour and hall were all in nice
+order; the books put in place, and everything ready for the comfort of
+people when they should come to enjoy it; and Matilda went to join her
+sister in the kitchen. The fire was going there too, and the kitchen
+warm, and Maria stood with her hands folded, in front of the stove.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know what to get for breakfast," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is the other room ready?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I set the table," said Maria; "but what is to go on it, I don't know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda went in to look at the state of things; presently called her
+sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, you didn't sweep the carpet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No. Of course I didn't. Rooms don't want to be swept every day."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This one does. Look at the muss under the table."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Only some crumbs," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And a bone. Letty was in a hurry yesterday, I guess. Aunt Candy won't
+like it, Maria; it won't do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care whether she likes it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But don't you care whether she scolds? because I do. And the room is
+not nice, Maria. Mother wouldn't have it so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, you may sweep it if you like."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I cannot. I am tired. You must make it nice, Maria, won't you? and
+I'll see about the breakfast."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The table's all set!" Maria remonstrated.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It won't take long to do it over, Maria. But what have we got for
+breakfast?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing&mdash;that I know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you look in the cellar?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, where <I>did</I> you look?" said Matilda, laughing. "Come; let us go
+down and see what is there."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the large, clean, light cellar there were hanging shelves which
+served the purposes of a larder. The girls peered into the various
+stores collected on them.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here's a dish of cold potatoes," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That will do for one thing," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cold?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, no! fried, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't fry potatoes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, you can, Maria; you have seen mamma do it hundreds of times."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here's the cold beefsteak that was left yesterday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Cold beefsteak isn't good," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Can't we warm it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know; might put it in the oven; it would get hot there.
+There's a good oven."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think mamma ever warms cold beefsteak," said Matilda, looking
+puzzled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does she do with it? she don't throw it away. How do you know she
+doesn't warm it? you wouldn't know, when you saw it on the table,
+whether it was just fresh cooked, or only warmed up. How could you
+tell?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," said Matilda, dubiously, "you can try. I wish I could ask
+somebody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shall not ask anybody up-stairs," said Maria. "Come&mdash;you take the
+potatoes and I will carry the beefsteak. Then we will make 'the coffee
+and have breakfast. I'm as hungry as I can be."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So am I," said Matilda. And she sighed a little, for she was tired as
+well as hungry. Maria set the dish of beefsteak in the oven to get hot,
+and Matilda made the coffee. She knew quite well how to do that. Then
+she came to the table where Maria was preparing the potatoes to fry.
+Maria's knife was going chop, chop, very fast.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Maria! you should have peeled them," Matilda exclaimed, in dismay.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Peeled!" said Maria, stopping short.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Certainly. Why, you knew that, Maria. Potatoe parings are not good to
+eat."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It takes ages to peel such little potatoes," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But you cannot eat them without being peeled," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, you can; it won't make any difference. I will fry them so brown,
+nobody will know whether they have skins on or not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda doubted very much the feasibility of this plan; but she left
+Maria and went off to make sure that the fires in the other rooms were
+burning right and everything in proper trim. Then she sat down in a
+rocking-chair in the eating-room to rest; wishing very earnestly that
+there was somebody to help who knew more about business than either she
+or Maria. How were they to get along? And she had promised her mother.
+And yet more, Matilda felt sure that just this work had been given to
+her and Maria to do by the Lord himself. Therefore they could do it for
+Him. Therefore, all the more, Matilda wanted to do it in the very
+nicest and best way possible. She wished she had attended when she had
+seen her mother cooking different things; now she might have known
+exactly how to manage. And that reminded her, Maria's beef and potatoes
+must be done. She ran into the kitchen.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There!" said Maria. "Can you see the skins now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They are brown enough," said Matilda. "But, Maria, they'll be very
+hard!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Never you mind!" said Maria, complacently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you looked at your beefsteak?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; but it must be hot before now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria opened the oven door; and then, with an exclamation, seized a
+cloth and drew out the dish of meat. The dish took their attention
+first. It was as brown as Maria's potatoes. It had gone into the oven
+white.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is spoiled," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who would have thought the oven was so hot!" said Maria. "Won't it
+come all right with washing?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You might as well wash your beefsteak," said Matilda, turning away.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If the dish had gone in white, the meat had also gone in juicy; and if
+the one was brown the other was a chip.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"This will not do for breakfast," said Maria, lugubriously.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is like your potatoes," said Matilda, with the ineffable little
+turn of her head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't, Matilda! What shall we do? the coffee is ready."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We shall have a brown breakfast," said Matilda. "The coffee will be
+the lightest coloured thing on the table." And the two girls relieved
+themselves with laughing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Matilda! what shall we <I>do?</I> We must have something to eat."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We can boil some eggs," said Matilda. "Aunt Erminia likes eggs; and
+the coffee will be good, and the bread. And the potatoes will do to
+look at."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So it was arranged; and the bell was rung for breakfast only five
+minutes after the time. And all was in order.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Even Mrs. Candy's good eyes found no fault. And breakfast went forward
+better than Matilda had dared to hope.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have done your potatoes too much, Maria," Mrs. Candy remarked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, ma'am," Maria said, meekly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They want no more but a light colouring. And they should be cut
+thinner. These are so hard you can't eat them. And, Maria, in future I
+will tell you what to get for breakfast. I did not know when you went
+to bed last night, or I should have told you then. You are not old
+enough to arrange things. Now there was some beef left from dinner
+yesterday, that would have made a nice hash."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria ate bread and butter, and spoke not.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will keep very well, and you can make it into hash for to-morrow
+morning. Chop it as fine as you can, and twice as much potato; and warm
+it with a little butter and milk and pepper and salt, till it is nice
+and hot; and poach a few eggs, to lay round it. Can you poach eggs,
+Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, ma'am. But there is no beef, Aunt Erminia."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No beef? You are mistaken. There was a large piece that we did not eat
+yesterday."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There is none now," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It must be down-stairs in the cellar."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sure it is not, aunt Erminia. I have been poking into every
+corner there; and there is no beef, I know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria, that is a very inelegant way of speaking. Where did you get it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, ma'am, I'm sure. Out of the truth, I suppose. That's
+what I <I>did</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is a very inelegant way of doing, as well as of speaking. <I>Poking</I>
+into every thing! What did you poke? your finger? or your hand?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My nose, I suppose," said Maria, hardily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I need not tell you that <I>that</I> is a very vulgar expression,"
+said Mrs. Candy, with a lofty air; while Clarissa's shoulders gave a
+little shrug, as much as to say her mother was wasting time. "Don't you
+know any better, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, ma'am."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I hope you will speak properly next time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"One gets so tired of speaking properly!" said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>You?</I>" said Clarissa, with a gentle intonation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care!" said Maria, desperately. "People are as they are
+brought up. My mother don't care for such fidgety notions. I speak to
+please her, and that is enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, Maria, it is not enough," resumed  Mrs. Candy. "Your mother loves
+you, and so she is willing to overlook little things in you that she
+<I>can</I> overlook because you are her child; but when you are grown up,
+you would wish to be liked by other nice people, wouldn't you? people
+of education, and taste, and elegant habits; and they do not like to
+have anything to do with people who 'poke their noses' into things, or
+who say that they do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'll keep in the kitchen then," said Maria, hastily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The breakfast may be said to have ended here; for though a few more
+mouthfuls were eaten, no more words were said. Mrs. Candy and her
+daughter left the room and went up-stairs. Maria and Matilda began the
+work of clearing the table.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ain't she too much!" Maria exclaimed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria," said her little sister, "I wish you <I>wouldn't</I> say such
+things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I am going to be a kitchen maid," said Maria, "I may as well talk
+kitchen maid."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I don't think so, Maria!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't care!" said Maria. "I would rather vex aunt Candy than not;
+and she <I>was</I> vexed this morning. She kept it in pretty well; but she
+was vexed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria, that isn't right, is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing is right," said Maria; "and nothing is going to be, I guess,
+while they are here."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then think, what would mamma do if they went away?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish I could go away, then!" said Maria, beginning to cry. "I can't
+bear to live so! 'Why do you do so,' and 'why do you do <I>so;</I>' and
+Clarissa sitting by with that little smile on her mouth, and lifting up
+her eyes to look at you&mdash;it just makes me <I>mad</I>. There! It is a pity
+Aunt Candy wasn't here to be shocked at American children."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria," said Matilda with her eyes swimming too, "you know the
+Lord Jesus has given us this work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, I don't!" said Maria; "and what if He did?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, then, it would please Him&mdash;you know, Maria, it would please
+Him&mdash;to have us do it just nicely and beautifully, and not like kitchen
+maids, but like His children. You know we said we were ready to do any
+work that he would give us."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't," said Maria, half crying, half pouting. "I didn't promise to
+do <I>this</I> sort of thing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But we mustn't choose," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But we <I>did</I> choose," said Maria. "I said what I would do, and other
+people said what they would do; and nobody said anything about washing
+dishes and peeling potatoes. We were not talking of <I>that</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The covenant says, 'we stand ready to do His will.' Don't you know?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I believe you know that covenant by heart," said Maria. "I don't. And
+I don't care. Matilda, I wish you would run down cellar with the
+butter, and the cream, and the bread&mdash;will you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda did not run, but she made journey after journey down the cellar
+stairs, with feet that grew weary; and then she dried the china while
+her sister washed it. Then they brushed up the kitchen and made up the
+fires. Then Maria seated herself on the kitchen table and looked at
+Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I'm tired now, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So am I."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is there anything else to be done?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, there is the dinner, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It isn't near dinner time. It is only ten o'clock."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How long will it take the potatoes to boil?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, not long. It is not time to put them on for a great while."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they are not ready, are they?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what else, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Here came a call from the stair head. Maria went to the foot of the
+stairs to hear what the business was, and came back with her mood
+nowise sweetened; to judge by the way she went about; filled an iron
+pot with water and set it on the stove, and dashed things round
+generally. Matilda looked on without saying a word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I've got my day's work cut out for me now," said Maria at last.
+"There's that leg of mutton to boil, and turnips to be mashed; besides
+the potatoes. And the turnips have got to be peeled. Come and help me,
+Tilly, or I shall never get through. Won't you?"
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P>
+Now Matilda had her own notions about things she liked and things she
+did not like to do; and one of the things she did not like to do was to
+roughen or soil her hands. To put her little hands into the pan of
+water, and handle and pare the coarse roots with the soil hanging to
+them, was very distasteful to her nicety. She looked a little dismayed.
+But there were the roots all to be pared and washed, and Maria would
+have her hands full; and was not this also work given to Matilda to do?
+At any rate, she felt that she could not refuse without losing
+influence over Maria, and that she could not afford. So Matilda's hands
+and her knife went into the pan. She thought it was very disagreeable,
+but she did it. After the potatoes and turnips were ready for the pot,
+Maria demanded her help about other things; she must clean the knives,
+and set the table, and prepare the celery and rub the apples; while
+Maria kept up the fire, and attended to the cookery. Matilda did one
+thing after another; her weary little feet travelled out and in, from
+one room to the other room, and got things in order for dinner in both
+places.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was a pretty satisfactory dinner, on the whole. The mutton was well
+cooked and the vegetables were not bad, Mrs. Candy said; but Matilda
+thought with dismay of the after dinner dishes. However, dinner gives
+courage sometimes; and both she and Maria were stronger-hearted when
+they rose from table than when they had sat down. Dishes, and pots, and
+kettles, and knives, and endless details beside, were in course of time
+got rid of; and then Matilda put on her hat and cloak, and set forth on
+an errand she had been meditating.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap10"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER X.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+It was a soft pleasant day late in March. The snow had all gone for the
+present. Doubtless it might come back again; no one could tell; in
+Shadywalk snow was not an unknown visitor even in April; but for the
+present no such reminder of winter was anywhere to be seen. The air was
+still and gentle; even the brown tree stems looked softer and less bare
+than a few weeks ago, though no bursting buds yet were there to make
+any real change. The note of a bird might be heard now and then;
+Matilda had twice seen the glorious colour of a blue bird's wings as
+they spread themselves in the light. It was quite refreshing to get out
+of the house and the kitchen work, and smell the fresh, pure air, and
+see the sky, and feel that all the world was not between four walls
+anywhere. Matilda went softly along, enjoying. At the corner she
+turned, and walked up Butternut street&mdash;so called, probably, in honour
+of some former tree of that family, for not a shoot of one was known in
+the street now. On and on she went till her church was passed, and then
+turned down the little lane which led to the parsonage. The snow all
+gone, it was looking pretty here. On one side the old church, the new
+lecture-room on the other, and between them the avenue of elms, arching
+their branches over the way and making a vista, at the end of which was
+the brown door of the parsonage. Always that was a pleasant view to
+Matilda, for she associated the brown door with a great many things;
+however, this day she did not seek the old knocker which hung
+temptingly overhead, but sheered off and went round to the back of the
+house; and there entered at once, and without knocking, upon Miss
+Redwood's premises. They were in order; nobody ever saw the parsonage
+kitchen otherwise; and Miss Redwood was sitting in front of the stove,
+knitting.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, if there ain't Tilly Englefield!" was her salutation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"May I come in, Miss Redwood?&mdash;if you are not busy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Suppos'n I <I>was</I> busy, I guess you wouldn't do me no harm, child. Come
+right in and sit down, and tell me how's all goin' on at your house.
+How's your mother, fust thing?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Candy says she's not any better."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does your mother say herself?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I have not seen her to-day. Aunt Candy says she is nervous; and she
+wants me not to go into her room."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who wants you not to go in? Not your mother?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; Aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought so. Well; how do you get along without your sisters, eh?
+Have you got a girl, or are you goin' to do without?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are going to do without."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see how you kin, with your mother sick and wantin' somebody to
+tend her."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria and I do what's to be done. Mamma doesn't want us to get a girl."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria and you!" said Miss Redwood, straightening up. "I want to know!
+You and Maria. Why, I didn't reckon Maria was a hand at them kind o'
+things. What can she do, eh? I want to know! Things is curious in this
+world."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria can do a good deal," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And you can, too, can't ye?" said Miss Redwood, with a benevolent
+smile at her little visitor, which meant all love and no criticism.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish I knew how to do more," said Matilda. "I <I>could</I>, if I knew
+how. That's what I came to ask you, Miss Redwood; won't you tell me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell you anything on arth," said the housekeeper. "What do you want to
+know, child?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know," said Matilda, knitting her brow. "I want to know how to
+<I>manage</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Miss Redwood's lips twitched, and her knitting needles flew.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So there ain't no one but you to manage?" she said, at length.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Candy tells what is to be for breakfast and dinner. But I want to
+know how to <I>do</I> things. What can one do with cold beefsteak, Miss
+Redwood?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Tain't good for much," said the housekeeper. "Have you got some on
+hand?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No. We had, though."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what <I>did</I> you do with it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria and I put it in the oven to warm; and it spoiled the dish, and
+the meat was all dried up; and then I thought I would come and ask you.
+And we tried to fry some potatoes this morning, and we didn't know how,
+I think. They were not good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And so your breakfast all fell through; and there was a muss, I
+expect?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; we had eggs; nobody knew anything about the beefsteak and the
+dish. But I want to know how to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What ailed your potatoes?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They were too hard and too brown."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shouldn't wonder! I declare, I 'most think I've got into the middle
+of a fairy story somewhere. Did you ever hear about Cinderella, Tilly,
+and her little glass slipper?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Some people's chariots and horses will find themselves turned into
+pun'kins some day; that is what <I>I</I> believe."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But about the potatoes?" said Matilda, who could not catch the
+connection of this speech.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well; she let 'em be in too long. That was the trouble. If you want to
+have things right, you must take 'em out when they are done, honey."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But how can we tell when they are done?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you know by just lookin at 'em. There ain't no great trouble
+about it; anyhow, there ain't about potatoes. You just put some fat in
+a pan, and chop up your potatoes, and when the fat is hot clap 'em in,
+and let 'em frizzle round a spell; and then when they're done you take
+'em up. Did you sprinkle salt in?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You must mind and sprinkle salt in, while they're in the pan; without
+that they'll taste kind o' flat."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Erminia don't like them chopped up. She wants them cut in thin
+slices and browned on both sides."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Laws a massy! why don't she do 'em so, then? what hinders her?" said
+the housekeeper, looking at Matilda. "I thought she was one o' them
+kind o' folks as don't know nothing handy. Why don't she do her own
+potatoes, and as brown as she likes, Tilly?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mamma wants us to take care of things, Miss Redwood."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Won't let your aunt learn you, nother?" said Miss Redwood, sticking
+one end of her knitting-needle behind her ear, and slowly scratching
+with it, while she looked at Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Candy does not like to do anything in the kitchen; and I would
+rather you would teach me, Miss Redwood&mdash;if you would."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And can you learn Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, come along; what do you want to know next?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wish you'd teach me some time how to make gingerbread. And pies."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The housekeeper glanced at the clock, and then bade Matilda take oft'
+her things.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now?" said Matilda, hesitating.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You can't do nothing any time but now," said Miss Redwood, as she put
+away her work in its basket. "You can <I>think</I> of doing it; but if you
+ever come to doing it, you will find it is <I>now</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But is it convenient?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"La, child, I don't know what people mean by convenient. You look at it
+one way, and there is nothing convenient; and you look at it another
+way, and there is nothing but what is. Hang your things over that
+chair; and I'll put an apron on you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But which way does it look this afternoon, Miss Redwood?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The housekeeper laughed, and kissed Tilly, whom she was arraying in a
+great check apron, big enough to cover her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is just how you choose to take it," she said. "I declare I'm sorry
+for the folks as is tied to convenience; they don't get the right good
+of their life. Why, honey, what isn't my convenience is somebody else's
+convenience, maybe. I want it to be sunshine very often, so as I kin
+dry my clothes, when the farmers want it to be rain to make their corn
+and cabbages grow. It is sure to be convenient for somebody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I want it to be convenient for you, this afternoon," said Matilda,
+wistfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, 'tis," said the housekeeper. "There&mdash;wash your hands in that
+bowl, dear; and here's a clean towel for you. A body as wants to have
+things convenient, had better not be a minister's housekeeper. No, the
+place is nice enough," she went on, as she saw Matilda's eye glance
+around the kitchen; "'tain't that; but I always think convenient means
+having your own way; and <I>that</I> nobody need expect to do at the
+parsonage. Just so sure as I make pot pie, Mr. Richmond'll hev to go to
+a funeral, and it's spiled or lost, for he's no time to eat it; and I
+never cleaned up that hall and steps yet, but an army of boots and
+shoes came tramping over it out of the dirt; when if it <I>wants</I>
+cleaning, it'll get leave to be without a foot crossing it all the
+afternoon. And if it's bakin' day, I have visitors, and have to run
+between them and the oven, till I don't know which end is the parlour;
+and that's the way, Tilly; and I don't know no better way but to
+conclude that somebody else's convenience is yourn&mdash;and then you'll
+live in clover. The minister had to preach to me a good while before I
+could see it, though. Now, honey, sift your flour;&mdash;here it is. Kin you
+do it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda essayed to do it, and the housekeeper looked on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The damper is turned," she said; "we'll have the oven hot by the time
+the cake is ready. Now, dear, what's going into it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Will that be enough?" said Matilda, lifting her floury hand out of the
+pan.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>I</I> want a piece," said the housekeeper; "so there had better go
+another bowlful. And the minister&mdash;<I>he</I> likes a bite of hot
+gingerbread, when he can get it. So shake it in, dear. That will do.
+Now, what are you going to put in it, Tilly, besides flour?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, <I>I</I> don't know," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, guess. What do you think goes into gingerbread?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Molasses?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; but that goes one of the last things. Ain't you going to put no
+shortening in?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shortening? what is that?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it's whatever you've got. Butter'll do, if it's nice and
+sweet&mdash;like this is&mdash;or sweet drippings'll do, or a little sweet lard,
+maybe. We'll take the butter to-day, for this is going to do you and me
+credit. Now think&mdash;what else? Put the butter right there, in the
+middle, and rub it into the flour with the flat of your hand, so. Rub
+hard, dear; get the butter all in the flour, so you can't see it. What
+is to go in next?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Spice? I think mamma puts spice."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If you like it. What spice will you choose?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know, Miss Redwood."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, it'd be queer gingerbread without ginger, wouldn't it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes. I forgot the ginger, to be sure. How much?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's 'cordin' as you like it. <I>That</I> won't hardly taste, dear;
+'tain't just like red pepper; take a good cupful. Now just a little bit
+of cloves!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And cinnamon?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It'll be spice gingerbread, sure enough," said the housekeeper. "And
+salt, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Salt? Must salt go in?" said Matilda, who had got very eager now in
+her work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Salt's univarsal," said Miss Redwood. "'Cept sweetmeats, it goes into
+everything. That's what makes all the rest good. I never could see what
+was the use o' salt, till one day the minister, he preached a sermon on
+'Ye are the salt of the earth,' and ever since that it seems to kind o'
+put me in mind. And then I asked Mr. Richmond if <I>everything</I> meant
+something."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But what does that mean, that you said?" said Matilda. "Good people
+don't make the rest of the world good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They give all the taste there is to it, though," said the housekeeper.
+"And I asked that very question myself of the minister; and what do you
+think he told me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He said it was because the salt warn't of as good quality as it had
+ought to be. And <I>that</I> makes me think, too. But la! look at your
+gingerbread standing still. Now see, dear here's a bowl o' buttermilk
+for you; it's as rich as cream, a'most; and I take and put in a
+spoonful of&mdash;you know what this is?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Salaeratus?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We use soda at our house."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Salaeratus is good enough for me," said Miss Redwood; "and I know what
+it'll do; so I'm never put out in my calculations. Now when it foams
+up&mdash;see,&mdash;now mix your cake, dear, as quick as you like.
+Stop&mdash;wait&mdash;let's get the molasses in. Now, go on. I declare, having
+two pair o' hands kind o' puts one out. Stir it up; don't be afraid."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda was not afraid, and was very much in earnest. The gingerbread
+was quickly mixed, and for a few minutes there was busy work, buttering
+the pans and putting the mixture in them, and setting the pans in the
+oven. Then Matilda washed her hands; the housekeeper put the flour and
+spices away; and the two sat down to watch the baking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It'll be good," said the housekeeper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope it will," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know 'twill," said Miss Redwood. "You do your part right; and these
+sort o' things&mdash;flour, and butter, and meat, and potatoes, and
+that&mdash;don't never disapint you. That's one thing that is satisfactory
+in this world."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But mamma has her cake spoiled in the oven sometimes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'Twarn't the oven's fault," said Miss Redwood. "Did ye think it was?
+Ovens don't do that for me, never."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But sometimes the oven was too hot," said Matilda; "and other times
+she said it was not hot enough."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course!" said the housekeeper; "and then again other times she
+forgot to look at it, maybe, and left her cake in too long. The cake
+couldn't knock at the door of the oven to be let out; that'd be too
+much to ask. Now look at yourn, dear."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda opened the oven door and shut it again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's the appearance of it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is coming up beautifully. But it isn't up in the middle yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The fire's just right," said the housekeeper.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But how can you <I>tell</I>, Miss Redwood?" said Matilda, standing by the
+stove with a most careful set of wrinkles on her little brow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tell?" said the housekeeper; "just as you tell anything else; after
+you've seen it fifty times, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda began a painful calculation of how often she could make
+something to bake, and how long it would be till fifty times had made
+her wise in the matter; when an inner door opened, and the minister
+himself came upon the scene. Matilda coloured, and looked a little
+abashed; the housekeeper smiled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am very glad to see you here, Tilly," Mr. Richmond said, heartily.
+"What are you and Miss Redwood doing here?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are getting ready for the business of life," said the housekeeper.
+"The minister knows there are different ways of doin' that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Just what way are you taking now?" said Mr. Richmond, laughing. "It
+seems to me, you think the business of life is eating&mdash;if I may judge
+by the smell of the preparation."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is time you looked at your cake, Tilly," said Miss Redwood; and she
+did not offer to help her; so, blushing more and more, Matilda was
+obliged to open the oven door again, and show that she was acting
+baker. The eyes of the two older persons met in a way that was pleasant
+to see.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's here, Tilly?" said the minister, coming nearer and stooping to
+look in himself.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Miss Redwood has been teaching me how to make gingerbread. O Miss
+Redwood, it is beginning to get brown at the end."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Turn the pans round then. It ain't done yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, it isn't done, for it is not quite up in the middle. There is a
+sort of hollow place."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Shut up your oven, child, and it will be all right in a few minutes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then I think this is the night when you are going to stay and take tea
+with me," said Mr. Richmond. "I promised you a roast apple, I remember.
+Are there any more apples that will do for roasting, Miss Redwood?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Mr. Richmond, I do not care for the apple!" Matilda cried.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But if I don't have it, you will stay and take tea with me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked wistful, and hesitated. Her mother would not miss her;
+but could Maria get the tea without her?&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I dare say you want to talk to me about something; isn't it so?"
+the minister continued.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond; I do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That settles it. She will stay, Miss Redwood. I shall have some
+gingerbread, I hope. And when you are ready, Tilly, you can come to me
+in my room."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The minister quitted the kitchen in good time, for now the cakes were
+almost done and needed care. A little watchful waiting, and then the
+plumped up, brown, glossy loaves of gingerbread said to even an
+inexperienced eye that it was time for them to come out of the oven.
+Miss Redwood showed Matilda how to arrange them on a sieve, where they
+would not get steamy and moist; and Matilda's eye surveyed them there
+with very great satisfaction.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's as nice as if I had made it myself," said the housekeeper. "Now
+don't you want to get the minister's tea?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What shall I do, Miss Redwood?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought maybe you'd like to learn how to manage something else. He's
+had no dinner to-day&mdash;to speak of; and if eatin' ain't the business of
+life&mdash;which it ain't, I guess, with him&mdash;yet stoppin' eatin' would stop
+business, he'd find; and I'm goin' to frizzle some beef for his supper,
+and put an egg in. Now I'll cut the beef, and you can stir it, if you
+like."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda liked very much. She watched the careful shaving of the beef in
+paper-like fragments; then at the housekeeper's direction she put some
+butter in a pan on the fire, and when it was hot threw the beef in and
+stirred it back and forward with a knife, so as not to let it burn, and
+so as to bring all the shavings of beef in contact with the hot pan
+bottom, and into the influence of the boiling butter. At the moment of
+its being done, the housekeeper broke an egg or two into the pan; and
+then in another moment bade Matilda take it from the fire and turn it
+out. Meanwhile Miss Redwood had cut bread and made the tea.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now you can go and call the minister," she said.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda thought she was having the rarest of pleasant times, as she
+crossed the little dining-room and the square yard of hall that came
+next, and went into the study. Fire Was burning in the wide chimney
+there as usual; the room was very sweet and still; Mr Richmond sat
+before the fire with a book.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you were coming to talk to me, Tilly?" he said, stretching
+out his hand to draw her up to him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Miss Redwood was showing me how to do things, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then you <I>do</I> want to talk to me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, sir. But, Mr. Richmond, tea is ready."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We'll eat first then, and talk afterward. What is the talk to be
+about, Tilly? just to give me an idea."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is about&mdash;I do not know what is right about something, Mr.
+Richmond. I do not know what I ought to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you looked in the Bible to find out?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir. I didn't know where to look, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Have you prayed about it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda hesitated, but finally said again, "No."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is another thing you can always do. The Lord understands your
+difficulties better than any one else can, and knows just what answer
+to give you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But&mdash;an answer? will He give it always?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Always provided you are perfectly willing to take it, whatever it may
+be; and provided you do your part."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is my part?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I sent you to find your way along a road you did not know, where
+there were guide posts set up; what would be your part to do?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To mind the guide posts?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, and go on as they bade you. That is not to prevent your asking
+somebody you meet on the road, if you are going right? Now Miss Redwood
+has rung her bell, and you and I must obey it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, what are the guide posts, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We will see about that after tea. Come."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda gave one wondering thought to the question how Maria and tea
+would get along without her at home; and then she let all that go, and
+resolved to enjoy the present while she had it. Certainly it was very
+pleasant to take tea with Mr. Richmond. He was so very kind, and
+attentive to her wants; and so amusing in his talk; and the new
+gingerbread looked so very handsome, piled up in the cake basket; and
+Miss Redwood was such a variety after Mrs. Candy. Matilda let care go.
+And when it came to eating the gingerbread, it was found to be
+excellent. Mr. Richmond said he wished she would come often and make
+some for him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Do you know there is a meeting of the Band this evening?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I had forgotten about it, Mr. Richmond; I have been so busy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is lucky you came to take tea with me, then," said he. "Perhaps you
+would have forgotten it altogether. What is Maria doing?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She is busy at home, Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sorry for that. To-night is the night for questions; I am
+prepared to receive questions from everybody. Have you got yours ready?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"About Band work, Mr. Richmond?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, about Band work. Though you know that is only another name for
+the Lord's work, whatever it may be that He gives us to do. Now we will
+go to my study and attend to the business we were talking about."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So they left Miss Redwood to her tea-table; and the minister and his
+little guest found themselves alone again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Now, Tilly, what is it?" he said, as he shut the door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond," said Matilda, anxiously, "I want to know if I must mind
+what Aunt Erminia says?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mrs. Candy?" said Mr. Richmond, looking surprised.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The question is, whether you must obey her?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should say, if you doubt about any of her commands, you had better
+ask your mother, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I cannot see my mother, Mr. Richmond; that is one of the things.
+Mamma is sick, and aunt Candy has forbidden me to go into her room.
+Must I stay out?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is your mother so ill?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, sir, I do not think she is; I don't know; but Aunt Candy says she
+is nervous; and I must not go in there without leave." And Matilda
+raised appealing eyes to the minister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is hard, Tilly. I am very sorry to hear it. But I am of opinion
+that the authority of nurses must not be disputed. I think if Mrs.
+Candy says stay out, you had better stay out."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And everything else?" said Matilda. "Must I mind what she says in
+everything else?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are you under her orders, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That is what I want to know, Mr. Richmond. She says so. She told me
+not to go out to church last Sunday night; and all the others were
+going, and I went too; and she scolded about it and said I must mind
+her. Must I? in everything? I can't ask mamma."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mr. Richmond turned a paper-weight over and over two or three times
+without speaking.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know what the fifth commandment is, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond. But she is not my mother."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you think she is in your mother's place just now? Would not your
+mother wish that your obedience should be given to your aunt for the
+present?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked grave, not to say gloomy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can tell you what will make it easy," said Mr. Richmond. "Do it for
+the sake of the Lord Jesus. He set us an example of obedience to all
+lawful authorities; He has commanded us to live in peace with everybody
+as far as we possibly can; and to submit ourselves to one another in
+the fear of God. Besides that, I must think, Tilly, the command to obey
+our parents means also that we should obey whoever happens to stand in
+our parents' place to us. Will it not make it easy to obey your aunt,
+if you think that you are doing it to please God?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, thoughtfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I always feel that God's command sweetens anything," the minister went
+on. "Do you feel so?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I do," the little girl answered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So if you stay at home for Mrs. Candy's command, you may reflect that
+it is for Jesus' sake; and that will please Him a great deal better
+than your going to church to please yourself."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, cheerfully.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Was that all you had to talk to me about?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, sir; all except about Band work."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We will talk about that in the meeting. If you have a question to ask,
+write it here; and I will take it in and answer it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+He gave Matilda paper and pen, and himself put on his overcoat. Then
+taking her little slip of a question, the two went together into the
+lecture-room.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap11"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XI.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Three was a good little gathering of the workers, many of whom were
+quite young persons. Among them Matilda was not a little surprised to
+see Maria. But she warily sheered off from comments and questions, and
+took a seat in another part of the room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We are here for a good talk to-night," said the minister, after they
+had sung and prayed. "I stand ready to meet difficulties and answer
+questions. All who have any more little notes to lay on the desk,
+please bring or send them up, or ask their questions by word of mouth.
+I will take the first of these that comes to hand."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mr. Richmond unfolded a paper and read it over to himself, in the midst
+of a hush of expectation. Then he read it aloud.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If a member of the Relief Committee visits a sick person in want of
+help, and finds another member of some other committee giving the help
+and doing the work of the Relief Committee, which of them should take
+care of the case?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is almost as puzzling," said Mr. Richmond, "as that other question,
+what husband the woman should have in the other world who had had seven
+in this. But as we are not just like the angels in heaven yet, I should
+say in this and similar cases, that the one who first found and
+undertook the case should continue her care&mdash;or his care&mdash;if he or she
+be so minded. The old rule of 'first come, first served,' is a good
+one, I think. The Relief Committee has no monopoly of the joy of
+helping others. Let us see what comes next.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"'There are four people, I know, who go to read the Bible to one blind
+person&mdash;and I know of at least two who are sick and unable to read,
+that nobody goes to.'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Want of system," said Mr. Richmond, looking up. "The head of the
+Bible-reading Committee should be told of these facts."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She has been told," said a lady in the company.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then doubtless the irregularity will be set to rights."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, it is not so certain; for the blind person lives where it is easy
+to attend her; and the sick people are in Lilac Lane&mdash;out of the way,
+and in a disagreeable place."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Does the head of the Bible-reading Committee decline these cases,
+having nobody that she can send to them?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"She says she does not know whom to send."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will thank you for the names of those two cases by and by, Mrs.
+Norris; I think I can get them supplied. The question of theory I will
+handle presently, before we separate."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Here is another request," said Mr. Richmond, who knew Matilda's
+handwriting,&mdash;"from a dear child, who asks to know 'what we shall do,
+when people will not hear the message we carry?' Why, try again. Go and
+tell them again; and never mind rebuffs if you get them. People did not
+listen to our Master; it is no matter of wonder if they refuse to hear
+us. But He did not stop His labours for that; neither must we. 'Let us
+not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we
+faint not.' I give her that for her watchword;&mdash;' <I>If we faint not</I>,
+remember.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"The next question in my hand is, 'what we are to do about welcoming
+strangers?' The writer states, that six new scholars have lately come
+to the school, and, to her certain knowledge, only two of them have
+received any welcome.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," said Mr. Richmond, thoughtfully, "I must come to the words I
+had chosen to talk to you about. They answer a great many things. You
+all remember a verse in the Epistle to the Ephesians which speaks of
+'redeeming the time, because the days are evil.'
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I dare say it has puzzled some of you, as it used once to puzzle me.
+How are we to 'redeem the time'? Another translation of the passage
+will perhaps be clearer and help us to understand. '<I>Buying' up
+opportunities</I>.' The words are so rendered by a late great authority. I
+don't know but you will at first think it just as hard to comprehend.
+How are we to 'buy up opportunities'?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sure I don't know," said Mrs. Swan, Ailie's mother. "I always
+thought opportunities were given."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So they are. But the privilege of using them, we often must buy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see how."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let us come to facts, Mrs. Swan. Here are four opportunities in the
+school, in the shape of new members added to it. How comes it these
+opportunities have not been used? There are two other grand
+opportunities in Lilac Lane."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Are we to buy them?" said Mrs. Trembleton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not see how else the difficulty can be met. They are worth
+buying. But the next question is, What will you pay?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a long silence, which nobody seemed inclined to break.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think you see, my dear friends, what I mean. For welcoming those
+four strangers, somebody must give up his ease for a moment&mdash;must make
+a little sacrifice of comfort. It will be very little indeed, for these
+things pay as we go; we get our return promptly. The opportunities in
+Lilac Lane must be bought, perhaps, with some giving up of time; of
+pleasure, perhaps; perhaps we must pay some annoyance. It is so with
+most of our opportunities, dear friends. He who serves God with what
+costs him nothing, will do very little service, you may depend on it.
+Christ did not so; who, 'though He was rich, yet for our sakes He
+became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.' He 'pleased
+not Himself.' And we, if we are His servants, must be ready to give
+<I>everything</I>, if need be, even our lives also, to the work He calls us
+to do. We must buy up opportunities with all our might, paying not only
+time and money, but love, and patience, and self-denial, and
+self-abasement, and labour, and pains-taking. We cannot be right
+servants of God or happy servants, and keep back anything. 'Let a man
+so account of us, as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries
+of God;' and let us see that all the grace He gives us we use to the
+very uttermost for His glory, in 'works, and love, and service, and
+faith, and patience, and works.' My dear friends, if we have only
+<I>love</I> in our hearts, love will buy up opportunities as fast as they
+come; and always have the right money."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Mr. Richmond said no more, but after another hymn and a prayer
+dismissed the assembly. Maria and Matilda presently found themselves
+side by side in the street.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said the younger one, "don't you think you and I will go and
+read to those two poor people in the lane?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I guess I will!" said Maria, "when I get done being chief cook and
+bottle-washer to Mrs. Minny Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But before that, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"When shall I go?" said Maria, sharply. "When it is time to get
+breakfast? or when the potatoes are on for dinner? or when I am taking
+the orders for tea? Don't be a goose, Matilda, if you can help it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We haven't much time," said Matilda, sighing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And I am not going to Lilac Lane, if I had it. There are enough other
+people to do that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"O Maria!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, 'O Maria,'&mdash;there are."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But they do not go."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's their look out."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And, Maria, you see what Mr. Richmond thinks about the Dows."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't see any such thing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You heard him to-night."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He didn't say a word about the Dows."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But about trying again, he did. O Maria, I've thought a great many
+times of that Dows' house."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So have I," said Maria; "what fools we were."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, because it was no use."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond doesn't think so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"He's welcome to go and try for himself. <I>I</I> am not going again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the matter, Maria?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nothing is the matter."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria, ever since you joined the Band, I cannot remember once
+seeing you 'buy up opportunities.' If you loved Jesus, I think you
+would."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wouldn't preach," said Maria. "That is one thing I wouldn't do. If I
+was better than my neighbours, I'd let them be the ones to find it out."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda was silent till they reached home.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where have you been, Matilda?" said her aunt, opening the parlour door.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To see Miss Redwood, aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ask me, next time, before going anywhere. Here has Maria had
+everything to do since five hours ago,&mdash;all alone."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda shut her lips firmly,&mdash;if her head took a more upright set on
+her shoulders she did not know it,&mdash;and went up-stairs after her sister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is mamma, Maria?" she asked, when she got there.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know. Just the same."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The little girl sighed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is to be for breakfast?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Fish balls."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You do not know how to make them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Aunt Erminia told me. But I shall want your help, Tilly, for the fish
+has to be carefully picked all to pieces; and if we leave a bit as big
+as a sixpence, there'll be a row."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the fish isn't soaked, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is in hot water on the stove now. It will be done by morning."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda sighed again deeply, and knelt down before the table where her
+Bible was open. "Buying up opportunities" floated through her head;
+with "works, and love, and service, and faith, and patience, and
+works"* [*Alford's translation.]&mdash;"Christ pleased not Himself"&mdash;and the
+little girl's head went down upon the open page. How much love she must
+have, to meet all the needs for it! to do all the works, have all the
+patience, buy up all the opportunities! Tilly's one prayer was that she
+might be full of love, first to God and then to everybody.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Such prayers are apt to be answered; and the next morning saw her go
+through all the details of its affairs with a quiet patience and
+readiness which must have had a deep spring somewhere. She helped Maria
+in the tedious picking out of the fish; she roasted her cheeks in
+frying the balls, while her sister was making porridge; she attended to
+the coffee; and she met her aunt and cousin at breakfast with an
+unruffled quiet sweetness of temper. It was just the drop of oil needed
+to keep things going smoothly; for Maria was tired and out of humour,
+and Mrs. Candy disposed to be ill-pleased with both the girls for their
+being out at the Band meeting. She did not approve of the whole thing,
+she said. However, the sunshine scattered the clouds away. And when,
+after a busy morning and a pretty well got-up dinner, Matilda asked
+leave to go out and take a walk, she had her reward. Mrs. Candy gave
+permission.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Won't you come too, Maria?" she asked, when they went to their own
+room.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's no fun in walking," Maria answered, disconsolately.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am going to Lilac Lane."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope you don't think there is any fun in <I>that</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Maria!&mdash;&mdash;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, what?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think there is something a great deal better than fun."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You may have it all then, for me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said her little sister, gently, "I wish you wouldn't mind.
+Mamma will get well by and by, and this will be all over; and we are
+getting along so nicely. Aunt Candy was quite pleased with the dinner."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There's another dinner to get to-morrow," said Maria; "and I don't
+know what you mean by this being 'all over' when mamma gets well. What
+difference will her getting well make? She will help, to be sure; but
+we should have the same things to do&mdash;just the same."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda had not reckoned on that, for she looked sober a minute or two.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, Maria," she said then, clearing up, "I don't care. If Jesus has
+given us this to do, you know, I <I>like</I> to do it; because He has given
+it to us to do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria turned away impatiently.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Maria," said her little sister, drawing nearer and speaking solemnly,
+"do you intend to ask Mr. Richmond to baptize you the next time he has
+the baptismal service?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I do," said Maria, "<I>you</I> need not trouble yourself about it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And Matilda thought she had better let the subject and her sister both
+alone for the present. She had got herself ready, and now taking her
+Bible she went out. It was but a little way to the corner. There she
+turned in the opposite direction from the one which would have taken
+her to church, and crossed the main street. In that direction, farther
+on, lay the way to Lilac Lane; but at the other corner of the street
+Matilda found an interruption. Somebody stopped her, whom she knew the
+next instant to be Norton Laval.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, it is Matilda Englefield!" he said. "You are just the one I want
+to see."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Am I?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should think so. Come along; our house lies that way; don't you
+recollect?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, but I am not going that way now," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, but you are! Mamma says contradicting is very rude, but I
+can't help it sometimes. Can you help it, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"People ought to be contradicted sometimes," Matilda said, with an arch
+bridling of her head, which, to be sure, the child was quite
+unconscious of.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not I," said Norton. "Come!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, but I cannot, Norton. I wish I could. Not this time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where are you going?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Up that way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody lives up that way."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody? Just look at the houses."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Nobody lives in those houses," said Norton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, very well; then I am going to see nobody."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, Matilda; you are coming to see mamma. And I have something to show
+you; a new beautiful game, which mamma has got for me; we are going to
+play it on the lawn, when the grass is in order, by and by; and I want
+you to come and see it now, and learn how to play. Come, Matilda, I
+want to show it to you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda hesitated. It did not seem very easy to get rid of Norton; but
+what would become of the poor people in Lilac Lane? Would another time
+do for them? Here was Norton waiting for her; and a little play would
+be so pleasant. As she stood irresolute, Norton, putting his arm round
+her affectionately, and applying a little good-humoured force, gave her
+shoulders without much difficulty the turn he wished them to take. The
+two began to move down the street towards Norton's home. But as soon as
+this was done, Matilda began to have qualms about her dress. Norton was
+in a brown suit that fitted him, fresh and handsome; his cap sat
+jauntily on his thick, wavy hair; he was nice from head to foot. And
+Matilda had come out in the home dress she had worn while she and Maria
+had been washing up the dinner dittoes. Looking down she could see a
+little wet spot on the skirt now. That would dry. But then her boots
+were her everyday boots, and they were a little rusty; and she had on
+her common school hat. The only thing new and bright about her was her
+Bible under her arm. As her eye fell upon it, so did her companion's
+eye.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What book have you got there?" he asked, and then put out his hand to
+take it. "A Bible! Where were you going with this, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is my Bible," said the little girl.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes; but you do not take your Bible out to walk with you, do you, as
+babies do their dolls?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Of course not."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then what for, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Business."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What sort of business?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why do you want to know, Norton? It was private business."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I like that," said Norton. "Why do I want to know? Because you are
+Matilda Englefield, and I like to know all about you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You do not know much yet," said Matilda, looking with a pleased look,
+however, up into her companion's face. It was smiling at her, with a
+complacent look to match.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shan't know <I>much</I> when I know all," he said. "How old are you? You
+can't make much history in ten years."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, not much," said Matilda. "But still&mdash;it may not be history to
+other people, but I think it is to one's self."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, one's life, you know."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But ten years is not a life," said Norton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is, if one hasn't lived any longer."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I would like my life to be history to other people," said Norton.
+"Something worth while."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I wouldn't like other people to know my life, though," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then could not help it, if it was something worth while," said Norton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, Norton; one's life is what one thinks and feels; what nobody
+knows. Not the things that everybody knows."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is what one <I>does</I>," said Norton; "and if you do anything worth
+while, people will know it. I wonder what there will be to tell of you
+and me fifty years from now?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Fifty years! Why, then I should be sixty-one," said Matilda; "and you
+would be a good deal more than that. But perhaps we shall not live to
+be so old."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, we shall," said Norton. "<I>I</I> shall; and you must, too."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, Norton, we can't <I>make</I> ourselves live," said Matilda, in great
+astonishment at this language.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"We shall live to be old, though," said Norton. "I know it. And I wish
+there may be something to be said of <I>me</I>. I don't think women ought to
+be talked of."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not see what good it would do anybody to be talked of, after he
+has gone away out of the world," said Matilda. "Except to be talked of
+in heaven. That would be good."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In heaven!" said Norton. "Talked of in heaven! Where did you get that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't mean that exactly," said Matilda. "But some people will."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, a great many people, Norton. Abraham and Noah, and David, and
+Daniel, and the woman that put all she had into the Lord's treasury,
+and the woman that anointed the head of Jesus&mdash;the woman who, He said,
+had done what she could. I would like to have <I>that</I> said of me, if it
+was Jesus that said it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Norton took hold of Matilda and gave her a little good-humoured shake.
+"Stop that!" he said; "and tell me, is that why you are carrying a
+Bible out here in the streets?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, I haven't any use for it here, Norton."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then what have you got it here for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Norton, there are some people in the village who are sick, or cannot
+read; and I was going to read to them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where are they?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"In Lilac Lane."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where is that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You go up past the corner a good way, and just by Mr. Barth's foundry
+you turn down a few steps, and turn again at the baker's. Then, a
+little way further on, you strike into the lane."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's it, is it? I know. But do you know what sort of people live up
+that way?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, there's another thing you <I>don't</I> know, and that's the mud.
+You'd never have got out again, if you had gone to Lilac Lane to-day.
+It is three feet deep; and it weighs twenty pounds a foot. After you
+set your shoe in it, you want a windlass to get it out again."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is a windlass?" Matilda asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you know? Well, you <I>are</I> a girl; but you are a brick. I'll
+teach you about a windlass, and lots of things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I shouldn't think you would want to teach me, <I>because</I> I am a girl,"
+said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+They had reached the iron gate of Mrs. Laval's domain, walking fast as
+they had talked; and in answer to Matilda's last remark, Norton opened
+the gate for her, and took off his cap with an air as he held it for
+her to pass in. Matilda looked, smiled, and stepped past him.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not like any boy I ever saw," she remarked, when he had
+recovered his cap and his place beside her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I hope you like me better than any one you ever saw?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes," said Matilda, "I do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The boy's answer was to do what most boys are too shy or too proud for.
+He put his arms round Matilda and gave her a hearty kiss. Matilda was
+greatly surprised, and bridled a little, as if she thought Norton had
+taken a liberty; but on the whole seemed to recognise the fact that
+they were very good friends, and took this as a seal of it. Norton led
+her into the house, got his croquet box, and brought her and it out
+again to the little lawn before the door. Nobody else was visible. The
+day was still, dry, and sunny, and though the grass was hardly green
+yet and not shaven nor rolled nor anything that a croquet lawn ought to
+be, still it would do, as Norton said, to look at. Matilda stood by and
+listened intently, while he planted his hoops and showed his mallets,
+and explained to her the initial mysteries of the game. They even tried
+how it would go; and there was no doubt of one thing, the time went
+almost as fast as the croquet balls.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I must run home, Norton," Matilda said at last.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why? I don't think so."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I know I must."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, do you like it?" He meant the game.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, it's delightful!" was Matilda's honest exclamation. Norton pushed
+back his cap and looked at her, pleased on his part. It came into
+Matilda's head that she ought to tell him something. Their two faces
+had grown to be so friendly to each other.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Norton," she said, gravely, "I want you to know something about me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes," said Norton. "I want to know it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You don't know what it is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That's the very thing. I <I>want</I> to know it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Norton, did you ever see anybody baptized?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Babies," said Norton, after a moment's recollection.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, if you would like to see me baptized, come to our church Sunday
+after next."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You?" said Norton. "Haven't you been baptized?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not yet."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought everybody was. Then if you have not been yet, why do you?
+Whose notion is that?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is mine."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>Your</I> notion?" said Norton, examining her. "What do you mean by that,
+Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean, I want to be baptized; and Mr. Richmond is going to do it for
+me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What's it for? what's the use? I wouldn't if I were you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is joining the church. Don't you understand, Norton?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not a bit. That is something I never did understand. Do you understand
+it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, certainly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let's hear, then," said Norton, putting up his croquet balls.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond has explained it so much, you know, I couldn't help but
+understand."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, it's Mr. Richmond, is it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; it's the Bible."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Let's hear, then," said Norton. "Go on."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda hesitated. She found a difficulty in saying all her mind to
+him; she did not know whether it was best; and with that she had a
+suspicion that perhaps she ought to do it. She glanced at him, and
+looked away, and glanced again; and tried to make up her mind. Norton
+was busy putting up his croquet hoops and mallets; but his face looked
+so energetic and wide awake, and his eye was so quick and strong, that
+she was half afraid to say something that might bring an expression of
+doubt or ridicule upon it. Then Norton looked up at her again, a keen
+look enough, but so full of pleasure in her that Matilda's doubts were
+resolved. He would not be unkind; she would venture it.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want you to know about me, Norton," she began again.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well," said Norton, "so do I; but it seems difficult, somehow."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You do not think that, for you are laughing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Norton gave her another look, laughing rather more; and then he came
+and stood close beside her.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is it, Matilda?" he asked.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't want you to think that I am good," she said, looking up
+earnestly and timidly, "for I am not; but I want to be; and being
+baptized is a sign of belonging to the Lord Jesus, so I want to be
+baptized."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It isn't a sign of anything good," said Norton. "Lots of people are
+baptized, that aren't anything else, I know. Lots of them, Matilda.
+That don't change them."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, that don't change them, Norton; but when they <I>are</I> changed, then
+the Bible says they must be baptized."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is just telling everybody what they believe, and what they are.
+It's a <I>sign</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Then when you are baptized, as you mean to be, that will be telling
+everybody what <I>you</I> believe and what you are?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would not tell me," said Norton, "be-cause I should not understand
+the sign. I wish you would tell me now in words, Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know if I can, but I'll try. You know water makes things
+clean, Norton?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Sometimes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, if it is used it does," said Matilda. "The water is a sign that
+I believe the Lord Jesus will take away my sins, and make me clean and
+good, if I trust Him; that He will wash my heart, and that He has begun
+to do it. And it will be a sign that I am His servant, because that is
+what He has commanded His servants."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"That; to be baptized, and join the church."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda, a great many people are baptized, and keep all their sins
+just the same."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, but those are make-believe people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No, they are not; they are real people."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I mean, they are make-believe Christians."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How do you know but you are?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I <I>think</I> I know," said Matilda, looking down.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But other people won't know. Your being baptized will not mean
+anything to them, only that somebody has coaxed you into it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It will mean all that, Norton; and if I am true they will <I>see</I> it
+means all that."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"They might see it all the same without your being baptized. What
+difference would that make?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is <I>obedience</I>," said Matilda, firmly. "And not to do it would be
+disobedience. And it is profession of faith; and not to do it, would be
+to say that I don't believe."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Norton looked amused, and pleased, and a little puzzled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have not told me anything about you, after all," he said; "for I
+knew it all before."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How did you know it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Not this about your being baptized, you know, but about <I>you</I>."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What about me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I say, Matilda, when will you come and play croquet again?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know. But, O Norton, I must go now. I forgot all about it. And
+there was something else I wanted to say. I wish you would be a servant
+of Jesus too?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda gave this utterance a little timidly. But Norton only looked at
+her and smiled, and finally closed the question by taking her in his
+arms and giving her two kisses this time. It was done without a bit of
+shamefacedness on his part, and with the energy and the tenderness too
+of affection. Matilda was extremely astonished and somewhat
+discomposed; but the evident kindness excused the freedom, and on the
+whole she found nothing to object. Norton opened the iron gate for her,
+and she hurried off homewards without another word.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In a dream of pleasure she hurried along, feeling that Norton Laval was
+a great gain to her, and that croquet was the most delightful of
+amusements, and that all the weariness of the day's work was taken out
+of her heart. She only regretted, as she went, that those poor people
+in Lilac Lane had heard no reading; but she resolved she would go to
+them to-morrow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is one time, however, for doing everything that ought to be done;
+and if that time is lost, no human calculation can make sure a second
+opportunity. Matilda was to find this in the case of Lilac Lane. The
+next day weather kept her at home. The second day she was too busy to
+go on such an expedition. The third was Sunday. And when Monday came,
+all thoughts of what she had intended to do were put out of her head by
+her mother's condition. Mrs. Englefield was declared to be seriously
+ill.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The doctor was summoned. Her fever had taken a bad turn, he said. It
+was a very bad turn; for after a few days it was found to be carrying
+her swiftly to death's door. She was unable to see her children, or at
+least unable to recognise and speak to them, until the very last day;
+and then too feeble. And the Sunday when Matilda had expected to be
+baptized, saw her mother's funeral instead.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Anne and Letitia came up from New York, but were obliged to return
+thither immediately after the funeral; and the two younger girls were
+left to their grief. It was well for them now that they, had plenty of
+business, plenty of active work on hand. It was a help to Maria; after
+a little it diverted her thoughts and took her out of the strain of
+sorrow. And it was a help to Matilda, but in a more negative way. It
+kept the child from grieving herself ill, or doing herself a mischief
+with violent sorrow; it was no relief. In every unoccupied moment,
+whenever the demands of household business left her free to do what she
+would, the little girl bent beneath her burden of sorrow. Kneeling
+before her open Bible, her tears flowed incessantly every moment when
+the luxury of indulgence could be allowed them. Mrs. Candy did not see
+the whole of this; she was rarely in the girls' room; yet she saw
+enough to become uneasy, and tried all that she knew to remedy it.
+Clarissa was kind, to her utmost power of kindness. Even Maria was
+stirred to try some soothing for her little sister. But Matilda could
+not be soothed. Maria's instances and persuasions did, however, at last
+urge her to the point of showing a part of her thoughts and disclosing
+the thorn that pressed sharpest on her mind. It was, that she had not
+pleased her mother by doing her best in the studies she had pursued at
+school. Matilda had always been a little self-indulgent; did not
+trouble herself with study; made no effort to reach or keep a good
+place in her classes. Mrs. Englefield had urged and commanded her in
+vain. Not obstinately, but with a sort of gay carelessness, Matilda had
+let these exhortations slip; had studied when she was interested, and
+lagged behind her companions in the pursuits she found dry. And now,
+she could not forgive herself nor cease her sorrowing on account of
+this failure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria in despair at last took Mrs. Candy into her confidence, and
+besought her to comfort Matilda, which Mrs. Candy tried her best to do.
+She represented that Matilda had always been a good child; had loved
+and honoured her mother, and constantly enjoyed her favour. Matilda
+heard, but answered with sobs.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I am sure, my dear," her aunt said, "you have nothing to reproach
+yourself with. We are none of us perfect."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I didn't do what I could, aunt Candy!" was Matilda's answer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My dear, hardly anybody&mdash;the best of us&mdash;does all he might do."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I will," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap12"></A>
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+CHAPTER XII.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+This could not last always, and the days as they passed, after a while,
+brought their usual soothing.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The quiet routine of the early spring began to come in again. Mrs.
+Candy was looking for a girl, she said, but had not found one yet;
+Maria and Matilda were not ready to go to school; they were better
+getting the breakfast and washing up the dishes than doing nothing. No
+doubt that was true.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly," said Maria, one of these days, when the coffee cups were
+getting put in order, going out of Maria's tub of hot water into
+Matilda's hands and napkin,&mdash;"Tilly! you know next Sunday there is to
+be a baptism in the church?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It was weeks after that other Sunday, when the rite had not been
+administered. Spring had come forward rapidly since then. Trees were in
+full leaf; dandelions in the grass; flowers were in the woods, though
+the two sisters had not gone to see them this year; the apple orchards
+around Shadywalk were in a cloud of pink blossoms; and the sun was warm
+upon flower and leaf everywhere.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who is going to be baptized?" Maria went on.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know. At least, I don't know all."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ailie Swan is," remarked Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, I know Ailie Swan is."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And Frances Barth."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda was silent.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And Esther Trembleton, and George Rice, and Mary and Willie Edwards."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose so," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You are not, are you?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You know I <I>was</I> going to be," said Matilda. "I am now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Tilly, it would be no harm if you waited till another time."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why should I wait?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"<I>I</I> am going to wait," said Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, because I don't feel like it. Not now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not want to wait," said Matilda. And probably she was going to
+say more, but her lip trembled and she stopped.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It would be no harm, Tilly, if you waited. Nobody would expect it of
+us now. <I>Nobody</I> would expect it, Tilly."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think One would," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Who?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Jesus."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Tilly," said Maria, uneasily, "I don't think so. It could not be
+pleasant for you and me, you know, to go forward and be baptized <I>now</I>.
+We might wait till another time; and then it would be more easy,
+wouldn't it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is not hard now," said Matilda. "It is pleasant now. I do not wish
+to put it off."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Pleasant?" repeated Maria.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes," said her little sister, quietly, lifting her eyes to Maria's
+face so steadily and gravely that the other changed her ground.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But at least it is not duty, Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda had dried all the cups, and she threw her napkin down and
+covered her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes!" she said; "it is duty and pleasure too. I'll do what I can."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But what does it signify, your doing it?" said Maria. "It isn't
+anything. And it will look so odd if you do and I don't."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda took up her napkin again, and went to work at the plates.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Matilda, I wish you would wait. I am not ready to go now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But I am ready, Maria."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"If I was to tell Aunt Candy, I believe she would put a stop to it,"
+said Maria, sulkily. "I know she does not think much of such young
+people doing such things."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But Jesus said, Let them come."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria tossed her head. However she did not speak to Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+So it was with no notion of Matilda's intention that her aunt that
+Sunday took her seat in Mr. Richmond's church. She had heard that a
+number of people, most of them young people, were to be baptized in the
+evening; she had been to her own church duly in the morning, and
+thought she might gratify her curiosity now in seeing how these things
+are managed in a different communion. She and Clarissa went alone, not
+supposing that the younger ones of the family were at that same moment
+getting ready to follow.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How are you going to dress yourself, Matilda?" her sister inquired.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To dress myself!" said Matilda, turning her eyes upon her sister in
+astonished fashion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, child! you will go out there in sight of everybody, you
+know. Aren't you going to put on a white frock? Clarissa says they
+always do in 'her church.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda looked down at her own black dress and burst into tears; only
+by a vigorous effort she kept the tears from falling, after the first
+one or two, and hurriedly and silently began to get herself ready.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But, Matilda! why don't you speak?" said her sister. "Are you going
+just so? and why don't you speak to me? There is no harm in a white
+frock."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't want a white frock," said Matilda. "Do <I>you</I> mean to stay at
+home?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I suppose I am going," said Maria, beginning slowly her own
+preparations. "People would think odd if I didn't go. Where are you
+going to sit?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What do you mean?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you are very stupid. I mean, where are you going to sit?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Where we always do, I suppose."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But then you would have so far to walk."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To walk?" Matilda repeated, bewildered.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, yes, child! When you are called to go up with the rest, you know;
+you would have so far to go."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh!" said Matilda. "What of it?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Don't you care?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, no. It don't make any difference."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, I'd have a white frock if I were you," said Maria. "Being in
+black is no objection to that; for people do just the same, Matilda,
+for a baptism."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You will be late, Maria," was all the answer her little sister made.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And they were late. Matilda was ready and waiting, before Maria's slow
+preparations were made. They walked quick; but service had begun in the
+church before they got there. They paused in the vestibule till a
+prayer should be ended. And here Matilda was seized upon.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought you were not coming," said an earnest whisper. "What made
+you come so late?" It was Norton Laval.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I couldn't help it," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And when you came, I all but missed you. They said all of you&mdash;you
+know&mdash;would be in white dresses; and I was looking out for white.
+Aren't you going to be baptized, after all?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh yes, Norton."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, here's some flowers for you," said the boy, putting a bunch of
+white heath and lilies into Matilda's hand. "Mamma is here; up in the
+Dawsons' pew; it was sold with the place, so we've got it. Come there,
+Matilda, it will be a good place for you; yours is farther back, you
+know. Mamma told me to bring you."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Maria had gone in, after an impatient whisper to her sister. And
+Matilda yielded to a secret inclination, and followed Norton.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The service of baptism was not entered into until the close of the
+evening. During one of the intervals of the usual service, which
+preceded the other, Matilda questioned with herself if she really would
+have done better to put on a white dress? Everybody seemed to expect
+it. She could not, from the Daweon pew, which was a corner front one,
+see how her companions were dressed. But she presently recollected that
+the "fine linen," which Mr. Richmond had talked to them about, "is the
+righteousness of saints;" and she quieted herself with the assurance
+that the real attire of fitness is inward and not outward. And when the
+candidates for baptism were called to come forward, she quietly left
+her bunch of lilies with her hat on the cushion of the pew.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Is that Matilda!" whispered Clarissa to her mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I never heard a word of it!" said Mrs. Candy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You cannot stop her now."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"No; if I could I would," answered Mrs. Candy. "This ought not to be.
+Such a child!&mdash;does not know what she is doing. What a way!"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But Matilda knew what she was doing; and when the candidates were asked
+respecting their faith and profession, there was no voice among them
+all that answered more clear and free; none that promised with more
+calm distinctness to "keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk
+in the same all the days of her life." And it was a meek little face,
+without a cloud or a doubt upon it, that was raised towards Mr.
+Richmond when her turn came.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There was a long line of candidates for baptism, reaching nearly from
+one end to the other of the communion rails. Mr. Richmond stood near
+one end, by the font, and did not change his place; so each one, as he
+or she received the rite, passed to one side, while the place was
+filled by another. Without breaking the rank this was done; one set
+slowly edging along from left to right, while from right to left, one
+by one, the others came to take their turn. It was a pretty sight. So
+some thought; but there were varieties of opinion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One variety Matilda had to encounter that night before she slept. Going
+back to Mrs. Laval's pew to get her hat and flowers, naturally she
+walked home with her and Norton, and had no annoyance until she got
+there. As she went through the hall the parlour door opened and she was
+called in.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I want to speak to you, Matilda," said Mrs. Candy; "and I think it is
+proper to do it at once. I want to know about this. How long have you
+been preparing for this step you have taken to-night?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Ma'am?" said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How long have you been thinking of doing this?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Oh, a long while, Aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why did you not consult me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Her mother would have been the one to speak to about it, and her mother
+had been too ill. Remembering this, Matilda stood silent and her eyes
+filled.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"You have been intending it for these two months past?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, Aunt Candy; and before."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Well, then, why did you not speak to me?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I spoke to Mr. Richmond."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Mr. Richmond might have had the courtesy, himself." (Which Mr.
+Richmond had meant to do, but various pressing matters had prevented.)
+"But <I>you</I> ought to have spoken to me, Matilda. You are too young a
+child to take such responsibility."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Matilda did not think of anything to say to this.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I do not think you understand what you have been doing."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think I do, Aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What did you want to be baptized for?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Because Jesus says we must."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes, properly; but not improperly, without knowing what you do. What
+do you think it means, Matilda?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"To be baptized, Aunt Erminia?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Yes."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It means," said the child steadily, and with the clear utterance of
+pleasure, "that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"There!" said Clarissa, appealing to her mother.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I thought so," said Mrs. Candy. "That is not what it means, Matilda."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It is what I mean, Aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It means a great deal more, my dear, which you cannot understand. And
+you ought to have had a white dress on."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't think God cares," said Matilda.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Did you ever hear such dreadful teaching as these people have?" said
+the mother, appealing to the daughter. "My dear, there is a propriety
+in things. And not one of the candidates this evening was dressed in
+white."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"But the water means a clean heart," said Matilda; "and if we have
+that, God will think we are dressed in white."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"So you think you have a clean heart?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I think Jesus has begun to make it clean."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And what does it mean to renounce the devil and all his works?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"It means," said Matilda, sighing, "to have nothing to do with anything
+that is wrong."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"How is such a child as you to know what is wrong?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, the Bible, Aunt Candy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What is the vain pomp and glory of the world?"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I don't know," said Matilda. "<I>All</I> the glory, I suppose, except what
+God gives."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"What does <I>He</I> give, child?" said Mrs. Candy, with an odd expression
+on her face.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"Why, you know, Aunt Erminia," said Matilda, a little wearily.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I should like to hear you tell."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"I can't tell," said Matilda. "I think it was glory, when He said of
+that poor woman, 'She hath done what she could.'"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"My dear," said Mrs. Candy, after a pause, "I am very sorry you have
+taken this step without consulting me. Your answers show that you have
+not the discrimination necessary for making such vows. However, it is
+too late now. You may go to bed."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Which Matilda did, and speedily forgot all that had troubled her in her
+aunt's words. For she went to sleep making a pillow to her head of
+those other words&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And white robes were given to every one of them."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<HR>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Typographical errors silently corrected:
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 3: =been doing to day= replaced by =been doing to-day=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 3: =than other folks= replaced by =than other folks'=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 5: =Richmond?'"= replaced by =Richmond'?"=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 6: =But?&mdash;what 'but?'"= replaced by =But?&mdash;what 'but'?"=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 7: =one to 'carry the message?'"= replaced by =one to 'carry
+the message'?"=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 8: =spend it somehow= replaced by =spend it, somehow=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 8: =Only one day= replaced by =Only, one day=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 8: =Well what?= replaced by =Well, what?=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 9: =band of workers= replaced by =Band of workers=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 9: =to do His will?= replaced by =to do His will.=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 9: =give thanks?"= replaced by give thanks"?=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 11: =redeem the time?'= replaced by =redeem the time'?=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 11: =up opportunities?'"= replaced by =up opportunities'?"=
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+Chapter 11: =no fun in walking.= replaced by =no fun in walking."=
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of What She Could, by Susan Warner
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+</pre>
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+</BODY>
+
+</HTML>
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+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of What She Could, 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: What She Could
+
+Author: Susan Warner
+
+Release Date: October 1, 2009 [EBook #30146]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT SHE COULD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Daniel Fromont.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: This is the first of a series of four novels by
+Susan Warner, all of which are in the Project Gutenberg collection:
+
+  1. What She Could
+  2. Opportunities
+  3. The House in Town
+  4. Trading]
+
+
+
+
+
+WHAT SHE COULD.
+
+
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF
+
+"THE WIDE WIDE WORLD," &c.
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+
+JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
+
+MDCCCLXXI.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+"WHAT SHE COULD."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+"Girls, there's a Band!"
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A Band--in the Sunday-School."
+
+"I am sure there is a careless girl in the house," put in another
+speaker. "Go and wipe your feet, Maria; look at the snow you have
+brought in."
+
+"But, mamma----"
+
+"Go and get rid of that snow before you say another word. And you too,
+Matilda; see, child, what lumps of snow are sticking to your shoes. Was
+there no mat at the door?"
+
+"There was a cold wind there," muttered Maria, as she went to obey
+orders. "What harm does a little snow do?"
+
+But while she went to the door again, her sister, a pretty, delicate
+child of fewer years, stood still, and adroitly slipped her feet out of
+the snowy shoes she had brought in, which she put in the corner of the
+fireplace to thaw and dry off; the little stocking feet standing
+comfortably on the rug before the blaze. It was so neatly done, the
+mother and elder sisters looked on and could not chide. Neatness suited
+the place. The room was full of warm comfort; the furniture in nice
+order; the work, several kinds of which were in as many hands, though
+lying about also on chairs and tables, had yet the look of order and
+method. You would have said at once that there was something good in
+the family. The child in front of the fire told more for it. Her
+delicate features, the refined look and manner with which she stood
+there in her uncovered feet, even a little sort of fastidious grace
+which one or two movements testified, drew the eyes of mother and
+sisters, and manifestly stopped their tongues; even called forth a
+smile or two.
+
+"What is all this Maria is talking about, Matilda?"
+
+"Why, we have been to the Sunday-School meeting, mamma."
+
+"I know that; and it was not a night fit for you to go. What ever
+possessed you and Maria?" remarked one of the sisters.
+
+"Why, Mr. Richmond wanted to see all the Sunday-School," said Matilda,
+thoughtfully. "He wanted you too, I suppose; and you were not there."
+
+"There is no use in having a meeting such a night. Of course, a great
+many people could not be there. It ought to have been put off."
+
+"Well, it was not put off," said Matilda.
+
+"What did he want? What was Maria talking about?"
+
+"She is the best one to ask," said the child.
+
+At the same moment Maria came in from getting rid of the snow, and
+enquired if Tilly had told them everything? Finding all was right, she
+sat down contentedly before the fire and stretched out her feet towards
+it.
+
+"We've had a splendid time, I can tell you," she began.
+
+"What was done in particular?" asked one of the older girls, who was
+making a bonnet. "More than usual?"
+
+"A great many things in particular, and one in general. We've made a
+Band."
+
+"I have made several since you have been away," the other sister
+remarked.
+
+"You know we cannot understand that unless you explain," said the
+bonnet-maker.
+
+"You must let Maria take her own manner," said their mother.
+
+"Well, now, I'll tell you all about it," said Maria. "There weren't a
+great many people there, to begin with."
+
+"Of course not! such a night."
+
+"So there were plenty of empty benches, and it didn't look like a
+meeting at all, at first; and I wondered if it would come to anything;
+but then Mr. Richmond came in, and I saw _he_ meant something."
+
+"Mr. Richmond always does mean something," interrupted Matilda.
+
+"You hush, Tilly! Well, there were prayers first, of course; and then
+Mr. Richmond stood up in the aisle, and said he wanted to know how many
+of us all there were willing to be really good."
+
+"The servants of Christ, he said," Matilda explained.
+
+"Yes, the servants of Christ, of course; and he said he didn't know any
+better way to get at it than that we should all stand up."
+
+A burst of laughter from all Maria's audience a little confused her.
+Only Matilda looked gravely at her sister, as if she were making bad
+work of it. Maria coloured, stammered, and began again.
+
+"You all know what I mean! You know what I mean, mamma? Mr. Richmond
+did not say that we should _all_ stand up."
+
+"Then why did you say it?"
+
+"I thought you would understand. He said that all those should stand
+up, so that he might see who they were, who were willing to be real
+workers for Christ; those who were willing to give themselves to the
+Lord, and to do everything or anything he gave them to do for Him. So
+we stood up, and Mr. Richmond went round and took our names down."
+
+"Everybody who was there?"
+
+"Why, no!--those who were willing to do as Mr. Richmond said."
+
+"Did _you_ stand up?" asked one of her sisters.
+
+"Yes; I did."
+
+"Who else?"
+
+After a pause----
+
+"Oh, a great many people! All the members of the church, of course; and
+then a good many more that aren't. Esther Trembleton rose, and Ailie
+Swan, and Mattie Van Dyke, and Frances Barth, and Mrs. Rice. And little
+Mary Edwards, she was there, and she rose, and Willie Edwards; and Mr.
+Bates got up and said he was happy to see this day. I think he was
+ready to cry, he was so glad."
+
+"And is this the 'Band' you spoke of?"
+
+"This is the Sunday-School Working Band; that is what Mr. Richmond
+called it."
+
+"What work are you going to do?"
+
+"I don't know! Mr. Richmond said he could not tell just yet; but we are
+to have meetings and all sorts of things. And then Mr. Richmond talked."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"Oh, I can't tell. You know how he talks."
+
+"He said what the Band were to do," remarked Matilda.
+
+"I told what that was."
+
+"You did not tell what he said."
+
+"Why, yes, I did; he said they were to do all the work for Christ that
+they could; and they were to pray a great deal, and pray for each other
+a great deal; and they were to live right."
+
+"Uncompromising Christian lives, he said. Mamma, what does
+'uncompromising' mean?"
+
+"Why, you know!" put in her sister.
+
+"Tell, then, Maria," said the mother.
+
+"Matilda must know, mamma; for Mr. Richmond explained it enough."
+
+"Then certainly you must."
+
+"I can't talk like Mr. Richmond, though," said Maria. "Letty, you'll
+spoil that bonnet if you put red flowers in."
+
+"That's as _you_ think," said Letty. "Blue would be very dull."
+
+"Mamma, what is uncompromising?" pursued Matilda, a pair of large,
+serious brown eyes fastening on her mother's face to await the answer.
+
+"Did not Mr. Richmond tell you?"
+
+"If he did, I did not understand, mamma."
+
+"Then he ought to use words you _can_ understand; that is all I have to
+say. I cannot undertake to be Mr. Richmond's dictionary. Uncompromising
+means different things at different times. It isn't a word for you,
+Tilly," the mother added, with a smile at the child.
+
+"There is only one thing Tilly will ever be uncompromising about," her
+oldest sister remarked.
+
+"What is that?" the little one asked quick.
+
+"Girls, stop talking and go to bed," said their mother. "Letitia and
+Anne, put up work; I am tired. Maria, you and Tilly go at once and be
+out of the way."
+
+"I can't see how I am in the way," remarked Maria. "Letty has not done
+her bonnet yet, and she will not go till she has."
+
+"Letty, I am not going to wait for that bonnet."
+
+"No, ma'am; there is no need."
+
+"I am not going to leave you up, either. I know how that works. The
+bonnet can be finished to-morrow. And, Anne, roll up your ruffles.
+Come, girls!"
+
+"What a lovely mantilla that is going to be; isn't it, mamma?" said
+Maria. "Won't Anne look nice when she gets it on? I wish you'd let me
+have one just like it, mamma."
+
+"I do not care about your having one just like it," said Anne. "What
+would be the use of that?"
+
+"The same use, I suppose----"
+
+"Maria, go to bed!" said her mother "And Matilda. Look what o'clock it
+is."
+
+"I can't go, mamma, unless somebody will bring me some shoes. Mine are
+wet."
+
+"Maria, fetch Tilly a pair of shoes. And go, children."
+
+The children went; but Maria grumbled.
+
+"Why couldn't you come up-stairs in your stocking feet? _I_ should."
+
+"It isn't nice," said the little one.
+
+"Nice! you're so terribly nice you can't do anything other people do.
+There is no use in our coming to bed now; Anne and Letty will sit up
+till eleven o'clock, I shouldn't wonder; and we might just as well as
+not. Mamma can't get them to bed. Letty and Anne ought to have been at
+the meeting to-night. I wonder if they would have risen? Why did not
+you rise, Matilda?"
+
+"I had not thought about it."
+
+"Can't you do anything without thinking about it first?"
+
+"I do not understand it yet."
+
+"Understand! why, nothing is easier than to understand. Of course, we
+are all to be as good as we can be, that's all."
+
+"You don't think that is much," said the little one, as she began
+slowly to undress herself. The work of undressing and dressing was
+always slow with Tilly. Every article of clothing taken off was to be
+delicately folded and nicely laid away at night; and taken out and put
+on with equal care and punctiliousness in the morning. Maria's
+stockings went one way and her shoes another; while Tilly's were put
+exactly ready for use under her chair. And Maria's clothes presently
+lay in a heap on the floor. But not till some time after Matilda's neat
+arrangements had been made and she herself was safe in bed. Maria had
+dallied while the other was undressing.
+
+"I think you are very curious, Matilda!" she exclaimed, as she followed
+her sister into bed. "I shouldn't think it required much _thinking_, to
+know that one ought to be good."
+
+"You haven't put out the candle, Maria."
+
+Maria bounced from her bed, and bounced in again.
+
+"O Maria!" said Matilda in a moment or two, plaintively; "you've
+_blown_ it out! and the room is all filled with smoke."
+
+"It doesn't make any difference," said Maria.
+
+"It is very disagreeable."
+
+"It will be gone in a minute."
+
+"No, it won't, for I can see the red spark on the end of the candle
+now."
+
+"You are so particular, Tilly!" said her sister. "If _you_ ever take a
+notion to be good, you'll have to leave off some of your ways, I can
+tell you. You needn't mind a little smell of candle-smoke. Go to sleep,
+and forget it."
+
+"Don't good people mind disagreeable things?" said Matilda.
+
+"No, of course, they don't. How could they get along, you know? Don't
+you remember what Mr. Richmond said?"
+
+"I don't remember that he said _that_. But then, Maria, would you mind
+getting up to snuff out that candle? It's dreadful!"
+
+"Nonsense! I shan't do it. I've just got warm."
+
+Another minute or two gave tokens that Maria was past minding
+discomfort of any sort. She was fast asleep. Tilly waited, panted,
+looked at the glimmering red end of the candle snuff; finally got out
+of bed and crept to the dressing-table where it stood, and with some
+trouble managed to put a stop to smoke for that night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The house in which these things happened was a brown house, standing on
+the great high-road of travel which ran through the country, and just
+where a considerable village had clustered round it. From the upper
+windows you caught a glimpse of a fine range of blue mountains, lying
+miles away, and with indeed a broad river flowing between; but the
+river was too far off to be seen, and hidden behind intervening ground.
+From the lower windows you looked out into the village street; clean
+and wide, with comfortable houses standing along the way, not crowded
+together; and with gardens between and behind them, and many trees
+shielding and overhanging. The trees were bare now; the gardens a
+spread of snow; the street a white way for sleigh-runners;
+nevertheless, the aspect of the whole was hopeful, comfortable,
+thriving, even a little ambitious. Within this particular house, if you
+went in, you would see comfort, but little pretension; a neat look of
+things, but such things as had been mended and saved, and would not be
+rashly replaced. It was very respectable, therefore, and had no look of
+poverty. So of the family gathered around the breakfast-table on the
+morning after the Sunday-School meeting. It was a fair group, healthy
+and bright; the four girls and their mother. They were nicely dressed;
+and good appetites spoke of good spirits; and the provision on the
+table was abundant though plain.
+
+Maria asked if Letty had finished her bonnet last night. Letty said she
+had.
+
+"And did you put those red flowers in?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"That will be gay."
+
+"Not too gay. Just enough. The bonnet would be nothing if it had not
+flowers."
+
+Maria's spoon paused half way to mouth. "I wonder," she said, gravely,
+"if Mr. Richmond likes red flowers?"
+
+"He has nothing to do with _my_ bonnet," said Letitia. "And no more
+have you. You need not raise the question. I shall wear what becomes
+me."
+
+"What is the difference whether one wears red or blue, Maria?" said her
+mother. "Do you think one colour is more religious than another?--or
+more wicked? What do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing, ma'am," Maria answered, a little abashed. "I was only
+thinking."
+
+"I think Mr. Richmond likes flowers everywhere," said Matilda; "and all
+colours."
+
+"People that are very religious do not wear flowers in their bonnets
+though, do they?" said Maria.
+
+"Mr. Richmond did not say any such thing!" said Matilda, indignantly.
+
+"What did he say? What was all this last night's talk about?" said
+Anne. "I did not understand half of it. Was it against red flowers, or
+red anything?"
+
+"I did not understand any of it," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Why, mamma, I told you all, as plain as could be," said Maria. "I told
+you he made a Band----"
+
+"He didn't," interrupted Matilda; "the Band made themselves."
+
+But at this, the shout that went round the breakfast-table threatened
+to endanger the dishes.
+
+"It's no use trying to talk," said Maria, sullenly, "if you laugh so. I
+told you there was a Band; ever so many of us rose up and agreed that
+we would belong to it."
+
+"Matilda, are you in it too?" the mother asked.
+
+"No, mamma."
+
+"Why not? How comes that?"
+
+"She wasn't ready," her sister said.
+
+"Why not, Tilly?"
+
+"Mamma, I want to understand," said the child.
+
+"Quite right; so do I."
+
+"Wouldn't you do what Mr. Richmond says, whether you understand or
+not?" inquired Maria, severely.
+
+"I would rather know what it is, first," said Matilda, in her way,
+which was a compound of cool and demure, but quite natural.
+
+"And when is the next meeting?" said Letitia. "I guess I'll go."
+
+"It won't be for a week," said Matilda.
+
+"And will you join the Band, Letty?" Maria asked somewhat eagerly.
+
+"How, join it?"
+
+"Why, rise up, when you are asked."
+
+"What does 'rising up' mean, Maria? What do you rise for?"
+
+"Why, it means just that you promise to be good, you know."
+
+"But I have heard you promise that a number of times, it seems to me;
+without 'rising up,' as you call it. Will the promise not better, if
+you make it on your feet instead of sitting?"
+
+"Now, mamma," said Maria, flushing, "isn't that just wicked in Letitia?"
+
+"My dear, I do not understand one word at present of what this is all
+about," her mother answered.
+
+Perhaps Matilda was in the same mood, for she was a thoughtful little
+child all the way to school that morning. And at the close of the
+school day, when the children were going home, she went slowly and
+demurely along the icy street, while her sister and companions made a
+merry time. There had been a little thaw in the middle of the day, and
+now it had turned cold again, and the sidewalks were a glare of ice.
+Matilda was afraid, and went cautiously; Maria and the others took the
+opportunity for a grand slide, and ran and slipped and slid and sailed
+away homewards, like mad things. One after another, they passed her and
+rushed along, till Matilda was left the last, slowly shuffling her
+little feet over the track the feet of the others had made doubly
+slippery; when quick steps came up behind her, and a pleasant voice
+spoke--
+
+"Are you afraid you are going to tumble down?"
+
+Matilda started, but lifted her eyes very contentedly then to the face
+of the speaker. They had a good way to go, for he was a tall young man.
+But he was looking down towards her with a bright face, and two good,
+clear blue eyes, and a smile; and his hand presently clasped hers.
+Matilda had no objection.
+
+"Where is everybody else? how come you to be all alone?"
+
+"They have gone ahead, sliding on the ice."
+
+"And you do not practise sliding?"
+
+"I am always afraid I shall fall down."
+
+"The best way is not to be afraid; and then you don't fall down. See;
+no! hold fast. I shall not let you slip!"
+
+And the gentleman and Matilda slid along the street for half a block.
+
+"How do you like that?"
+
+"Very well, Mr. Richmond, with you holding me."
+
+"It doesn't give you courage, eh? Well, we will walk on soberly
+together. I didn't see you stand when Maria did last night?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond, I did not know just what it all meant; and so I sat
+still."
+
+"You did not know just what it all meant?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then you were perfectly right to sit still. But that means that I did
+not speak so that you could understand me? Was it so?"
+
+"I did not understand----" said Matilda.
+
+"It comes to that, I suppose. It is my fault. Well, I shall remember
+and be very careful what I say the next time. I will speak so that you
+will understand. But in that case, I want you to do one thing for me,
+Tilly; will you?"
+
+"If I can, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Do you think I would ask something you could not do?"
+
+Matilda looked up to the blue eyes again; they were fastened upon her
+gravely, and she hesitated.
+
+"Mr. Richmond--I don't know. You might."
+
+"I hope not," he said, smiling. "I will try not. You won't promise me?"
+
+"If I can I will, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"I am only going to ask you, when you hear what I have to say next
+time, if you understand it, will you do what you think you ought to do?"
+
+There fell a silence upon that. Mr. Richmond's firm step on the icy
+ground and Matilda's light footfall passed by house after house, and
+still the little one's tongue seemed to be tied. They turned the
+corner, and went their way along Matilda's own street, where the light
+of afternoon was now fading, and the western sky was throwing a
+reflection of its own. Past the butcher's shop, and the post-office,
+and house after house; and still Matilda was silent, and her conductor
+did not speak, until they stopped before the little gate leading to the
+house, which was placed somewhat back from the road. At the gate Mr.
+Richmond stood still.
+
+"What about my question, Matilda?" he said, without loosing his hold of
+the little hand which had rested so willingly in his all the way.
+
+"Aren't you coming in, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Not to-night. What about my question?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said the child, slowly,--"I do not always do the things
+I ought to do."
+
+"No; I know you do not. But will you do _that_ thing, which you will
+think you ought to do, when you have heard me, and understood what I
+say, the next time the Band has a meeting?"
+
+Matilda stood silent, her hand still in Mr. Richmond's.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Perhaps I shall not want to do it," she said, looking up frankly.
+
+"I ask you to do it all the same."
+
+Matilda did not move, and now her face showed great perplexity.
+
+"Well?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling at last.
+
+"Perhaps I _cannot_ do it, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Then, if you think you cannot do it, will you come and tell me?"
+
+Matilda hesitated and pondered and hesitated.
+
+"Do you wish it very much, Mr. Richmond?" she said, looking up
+appealingly into his face.
+
+"I do wish it very much."
+
+"Then I will!" said Matilda, with a sigh.
+
+He nodded, shook her hand, and turned away with quick steps. Matilda
+went in and climbed the stairs to the room she and Maria shared
+together.
+
+"What were you talking to Mr. Richmond so long about?" said Maria.
+
+"I wasn't talking to Mr. Richmond. He was talking to me."
+
+"What's the difference? But I wish he would talk to Ailie Swan; she
+wants it, I know. That girl is too much!"
+
+"What has she done?"
+
+"Oh, _you_ don't know; she isn't in your set. _I_ know. She's just
+disagreeable. I think people ought to be civil, if they are ever so
+good."
+
+"I thought good people were civil always."
+
+"Shows you don't know much."
+
+"Isn't Ailie Swan civil?"
+
+"I do not call it civility. What do you think, Tilly? I asked her if my
+South America wasn't good? and she said she thought it was not. Isn't
+that civility?"
+
+"What did you ask her for?"
+
+"Because! I knew my South America was good."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+"Nonsense! You do not know the first thing about it." But she gave her
+little sister the sheet on which the map was drawn. Matilda took it to
+a table under the window, where the dying light from the western sky
+fell brightest; and putting both elbows on the table and her head in
+her hands, studied the map.
+
+"Where is the atlas?"
+
+"What do you want of the atlas?"
+
+"I want to see if it is like."
+
+"It is like, of course, child."
+
+"I can't tell without seeing," Matilda persisted. And Maria grumblingly
+brought the atlas, open at the map in question. Matilda took it and
+studied anew.
+
+"It is getting dark," said she at length. "But your South America is
+crooked, Maria."
+
+"It isn't!" said Maria, vehemently. "How should it be crooked, when we
+angle it on, just according to the rules?"
+
+"Angle it on?" repeated Matilda, looking at her sister.
+
+"Yes. Oh, you don't understand, child; how should you? I told you you
+didn't know anything about it. Of course, we have rules and things to
+go by; and my South America was put on just right."
+
+"It is not straight, though," said Matilda.
+
+"Why, no, it isn't straight; it is not meant to be straight; it is all
+crookly crawly, going in and out, all round."
+
+"But it don't stand straight," said Matilda; "and it looks _thin_, too,
+Maria; it don't puff out as much as the real South America does."
+
+"Puff out!" Maria repeated. "It's as good as Ailie's, anyhow; and a
+great deal better than Frances Barth's. Frances got a great blot on
+hers; she's so careless. George Van Dyke is making a nice one; and Ben
+Barth is doing a splendid map; but then Ben does everything----"
+
+Here there was a great call to tea from below, and the girls went down.
+Down-stairs there was excitement. A letter had come from Mrs. Candy,
+Mrs. Englefield's sister, saying that she herself with her daughter
+Clarissa would be with them the beginning of the week. .
+
+"To stay, mamma? O mamma, is Aunt Candy coming to stay? Do tell me. Is
+she coming to stay?" Maria exclaimed and questioned.
+
+"She will stay a night with us, Maria. Don't be so eager."
+
+"Only a night, mamma? Won't she be here longer?"
+
+"She is coming to stay till summer, Maria," said her eldest sister. "Do
+be reasonable."
+
+"I think it is reasonable to want to know," said Maria. "_You_ knew; so
+you didn't care about it."
+
+"I care a great deal; what do you mean?" said Anne.
+
+"I mean you didn't care about knowing. O mamma, can't I have my dress
+finished before they come?"
+
+"What dress, Maria?" her sister went on; for Mrs. Englefield was busy
+with the letter.
+
+"My new merino. It is almost done; it only wants finishing."
+
+"There's all the braid to put on, isn't there?"
+
+"Well, that isn't much. Mamma, cannot I have my red merino finished
+before they come? I have got nothing to wear."
+
+"What can you mean, Maria? You have everything you want. That is only
+for your best dress."
+
+"But, mamma, it is just when I should want it, when they come; you'll
+be having everybody to tea. Won't you have it done for me? please,
+mamma?"
+
+"I think you can do it for yourself, Maria. I have no objection to your
+finishing it."
+
+"I cannot put on that braid--in that quirlicue pattern, mamma; I never
+did such work as that; and I haven't time, besides."
+
+"Nor inclination," said Letitia, laughing. "Come, Maria, it is time you
+learned to do something for yourself. Matilda, now, might plead
+inexperience, and have some reason; but you are quite old enough."
+
+The dispute would have gone on, but Mrs. Englefield desired silence,
+and the family drew round the tea-table. Other plans for the following
+weeks filled every tongue. Mrs. Candy was well off; a widow with one
+child, her daughter Clarissa; she had been in Europe for several years;
+coming back now to her own country, she was bending her steps first of
+all to her sister's house and family.
+
+"We shall have the new fashions, straight from Paris," Anne remarked.
+
+"Has Aunt Candy been in Paris? I thought she was in Scotland, mamma?"
+
+"People may go to Paris, if they have been in Scotland, Maria. It is
+not so far as around the world."
+
+"But has she been in Paris?"
+
+"Lately."
+
+"Mamma, what is Aunt Candy going to do with herself when summer comes?
+She says, 'till summer.'"
+
+"When she tells us, I shall know, Letty. At present I am as ignorant as
+you."
+
+"Do you think she will buy a house here, and make her home here?"
+
+"That depends on how well she likes Shadywalk, I imagine."
+
+"I hope she will!"
+
+"I would like to see, first, what she is," said Maria. "We shall have
+time enough for that, if they stay with us till summer. How old, mamma,
+is Clarissa Candy?"
+
+"Over your age, Maria, by a year or so."
+
+"Will she go to school with us, do you suppose, mamma?"
+
+"I really cannot tell, Maria. I think it very likely."
+
+"Is Aunt Candy very rich?"
+
+"You talk like a foolish girl. Why do you want to know?"
+
+"I was thinking whether Clarissa would be dressed a great deal better
+than we are."
+
+"And what if she is?"
+
+"Nothing. I was thinking. That's all."
+
+"I don't think it signifies," said Matilda.
+
+"Oh! Matilda has found her tongue! I was waiting to see when she would
+speak," cried Anne. "What don't signify, little one?"
+
+"It don't signify, I think, whether any one is dressed better than
+another; anybody--Clarissa or anybody else."
+
+"Well, you are mistaken then," said Anne; "for it does signify. All the
+world knows it; and what is more, all the world feels it."
+
+"I don't think I do," said Matilda.
+
+"Your time has not come."
+
+"_Your_ time had come, though, before you were as old as she," said her
+mother; "and Maria's and Letty's."
+
+"I know Matilda is a wonderful child," said Anne, "but her time will
+come too, mamma; and _she_ will find it makes a difference whether she
+is dressed one way or another."
+
+"I think _that_ now," observed Matilda.
+
+"Anybody that has to fasten Tilly's dresses knows that," laughed Maria.
+"I don't make half so much fuss."
+
+"I wish you did," said her mother. "You are not near careful enough in
+putting on your things. Now putting on is half the battle."
+
+The argument lasted till Tilly and Maria went back to the consideration
+of South America, which was brought down-stairs to the lamp.
+
+"You haven't got the Amazon right," said Matilda; "and Rio Janeiro is
+too far down; and it's all crooked--don't you see?"
+
+"No!" said Maria; "and if it is, Ailie Swan needn't have said hers was
+better."
+
+"You asked her."
+
+"Well, if I did?"
+
+"What could she say?"
+
+"I don't care; it was awfully rude; and people ought to be polite, if
+they're ever so good."
+
+"What is all that?" said Mrs. Englefield. "That is not Tilly's map?"
+
+"Oh no, mamma; she can't draw maps; she is only setting up for a judge."
+
+"She would do it as well as that, if she would try," said her mother.
+"I wish you would love your studies, Matilda. You could do so well if
+you pleased."
+
+"Clarissa Candy will make you both ashamed," said Anne. "She has
+learned everything, and is terribly smart; 'going on to learn
+everything else,' her mother says."
+
+"Mamma," said Maria, "I have only my green silk and my blue delaine for
+nice dresses; and the silk is old-fashioned, you know, and the delaine
+is too short; and I want my merino finished."
+
+"Finish it, then."
+
+Maria pouted.
+
+"I cannot afford every indulgence to you, as your aunt can to Clarissa;
+you must make it up by your own industry."
+
+"But can I, mamma?"
+
+"Can you what?"
+
+"If I am very smart, can you give me things, if I make them up, that I
+can be as well dressed as Clarissa Candy?"
+
+"Let us see the merino made first," said her mother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+There was great interest now at Shadywalk, at least in one house, to
+know when the Liverpool steamer, _City of Pride_, would be in.
+Conjectures proving unsatisfactory and uncertain, the whole family took
+to studying the marine lists in the daily papers; and when everybody
+else had looked them over, the last one of the family did it again with
+extra care; lest by some singular coincidence the letters forming the
+_City of Pride_ might have escaped the eyes so keen set to find them.
+The paper grew better than a novel. It furnished a great deal of matter
+for conversation, besides; for all the steamers which had got in were
+talked over, with their dates of sailing, and number of days on the
+passage; with each of which the times, certain and probable, of the
+_City of Pride_ were compared. Then there was the question, whether
+Aunt Candy might have changed her mind at the last minute, and waited
+for another steamer; and the reports of the weather lately experienced
+at sea were anxiously read and put alongside of the weather lately
+experienced at Shadywalk.
+
+Preparations in the house went on diligently; whatever might help it to
+make a better impression, or afford greater comfort to the expected
+guests, was carefully done. Mrs. Englefield even talked of getting a
+new stair-carpet, but contented herself with having the old one taken
+up and put down again, the stairs washed, and the stair-rods
+brightened; the spare room, the large corner chamber looking to the
+north and west, was scrupulously swept and dusted; furniture rubbed;
+little white knitted mats laid on the dressing-table; the chintz
+curtains taken down and put up again; a new nice chamber set of white
+china was bought, for the pitcher of the old set had an ugly nick in it
+and looked shabby; the towel rack was filled with white napery; the
+handsomest Marseilles quilt was spread on the bed; the stove was
+blackened and polished. It looked "very respectable," Anne said, when
+all was done.
+
+What private preparations went on, besides, on the part of the girls,
+it would be hard to say. Maria worked hard at her braiding--that was
+open to anybody's observation; but there were less obvious flutings and
+ironings down in the kitchen, and adjusting of ribbons and flowers in
+secret consultations up-stairs. And one piece of care was made public
+by Maria, who announced that Letty had trimmed her old bonnet three
+times over before she would be suited.
+
+"Very well," said Letty, contentedly. "I should like to know who would
+wear an old thing when he could have a new; and mine is like new now."
+
+"Things can't be new always," said Matilda.
+
+"What then?" her sisters asked, laughing.
+
+"Then it must be respectable for them to be old, sometimes."
+
+"Respectable! Not very pleasant, when they are to be set alongside of
+things as new and nice as they can be. I like to be as good as anybody,
+for my part."
+
+"Mamma," said Matilda, "do you know there is a great hole in the door
+mat?"
+
+"It is worn out a great deal too soon," said Mrs. Englefield; "I shall
+tell Mr. Hard that his goods do not last; to be sure, you children do
+kick it to pieces with the snow."
+
+"But, mamma, I should think you might get another, and let that one go
+to the kitchen."
+
+"And then, wouldn't you like me to buy a new hall cloth? there is very
+nearly a hole in that."
+
+"Oh yes, mamma!"
+
+"I cannot do it, children. I am not as rich as your Aunt Candy. You
+must be contented to let things be as they are."
+
+The girls seemed to take it as a grave fact, to judge by their faces.
+
+"And I think all this is very foolish talking and feeling. People are
+not any better for being rich."
+
+"But they are a great deal happier," said Letitia.
+
+"I don't know, I am sure. I never was tried. I think you had better put
+the thought out of your heads. I should be sorry if you were not as
+happy as your cousin, and with as much reason."
+
+"Mamma's being sorry doesn't help the matter," said Letitia, softly. "I
+know I should be happier if I had what I want. It is just nonsense to
+say I should not. And mamma would herself."
+
+That evening, the end of the week it was, the newspaper rewarded the
+first eyes that looked at its columns, with the intelligence that the
+_City of Pride_ had been telegraphed. She would be in that night. And
+the list of passengers duly showed the names of Mrs. Candy and
+daughter. The family could hardly wait over Sunday now. Monday
+morning's train, they settled it, would bring the travellers. Sunday
+was spent in a flutter. But, however, that Monday, as well as that
+Sunday, was a lost day. The washing was put off, and a special dinner
+cooked, in vain. The children stayed at home and did not go to school,
+and did nothing. Nobody did anything to speak of. To be sure, there was
+a great deal of running up and down stairs; setting and clearing
+tables; going to and from the post-office; but when night came, the
+house and everything in it was just where the morning had found them;
+only, all the humanity in it was tired with looking out of windows.
+
+"That's the worst of expecting people!" Mrs. Englefield observed, as
+she wearily put herself in an arm-chair, and Letitia drew the window
+curtains. "You never know what to do, and the thing you do is sure to
+be the wrong thing. Here Judith might as well have done her washing as
+not; and now it's to do to-morrow, when we don't want it in the way,
+and it will be in the way."
+
+"Don't you think they will come to-night, mamma?" said Matilda.
+
+"I don't know, I am sure. I know no more than you do. How can I tell?
+Only don't ask me any more questions."
+
+"Would you have tea yet, mamma?" said Letitia.
+
+"There's a question, now! I tell you, don't ask me. Just when you like."
+
+"There's no train due for a good while, mamma; they _couldn't_ come for
+two or three hours. I think we had better have tea."
+
+So she went off to prepare it, just as Matilda who had put her face
+outside of the window curtain, proclaimed that somebody was coming to
+the door.
+
+"Only one person though, mamma. Mamma! it's Miss Redwood--Mr.
+Richmond's Miss Redwood."
+
+"It wanted but that!" Mrs. Englefield exclaimed, with a sort of
+resigned despair. "Let her in, Matilda. I locked the door."
+
+The person who followed Matilda to the sitting-room was a slim woman,
+in black costume, neither new nor fashionable. Indeed, it had no such
+pretensions; for the fashion at that time was for small bonnets, but
+Miss Redwood's shadowed her face with a reminiscence of the
+coal-scuttle shapes, once worn many years before. The face under the
+bonnet was thin and sharp-featured; yet a certain delicate softness of
+skin saved it from being harsh; there was even a little peachy bloom on
+the cheeks. The eyes were soft and keen at once; at least there was no
+want of benevolence in them, while their glance was swift and shrewd
+enough, and full of business activity.
+
+"Miss Redwood, how do you do? I am glad to see you. Do sit down," was
+Mrs. Englefield's salutation, made without rising.
+
+"How do you do, Mis' Englefield? Why--seems as if you was expectin'
+folks here?"
+
+"Just what we are doing; and it is some of the hardest work one can do."
+
+"Depends on who you expect, seems to me. And I guess 'tain't harder
+work than what I've been doing to-day. I've been makin' soap. Got it
+done, too. And 'tain't to do agin till this time next year comes round."
+
+"Can you make enough at once for the whole year? I cannot."
+
+"'Spects you use a passel, don't ye?"
+
+"Of course--in so large a family. But you're a great hand for soap,
+Miss Redwood, if folks say true?"
+
+"Cellar ain't never out of it," said Miss Redwood, shaking her head.
+"It's strong, mine is; that's where it is. You see I've my own leach
+sot up, and there's lots o' ashes; the minister, he likes to burn wood,
+and I like it, for it gives me my ley; and I don't have no trouble with
+it; the minister, he saws it and splits it and chops it, and then when
+all's done he brings it in, and he puts it on. All I have to do is to
+get my ashes. I did think, when I first come, and the minister he told
+me he calculated to burn wood in his room, I did think I should give
+up. 'Why sir,' says I, 'it'll take a load o' wood a day, to fill that
+ere chimney; and I hate to see a chimney standin' empty with two or
+three sticks a makin' believe have a fire in the bottom of it.
+Besides,' says I, 'stoves is a sight cleaner and nicer, Mr. Richmond,
+and they don't smoke nor nothin', and they're always ready.' 'I'll take
+care of the fire,' says he, 'if you'll take care of the ashes.' Well,
+it had to be; but I declare I thought I should have enough to do to
+take care of the ashes; a-flyin' over everything in the world as they
+would, and nobody but my two hands to dust with; but I do believe the
+minister's wood burns quieter than other folks', and somehow it don't
+fly nor smoke nor nothin', and the room keeps decent."
+
+"Your whole house is as neat as a pin. But you have no children there
+to put it out of order, Miss Redwood."
+
+"Guess we do," said the minister's housekeeper quietly; "there ain't
+any sort o' thing in the village but the minister has it in there by
+turns. There ain't any sort o' shoes as walks, not to speak of boots,
+that don't go over my carpets and floors; little and big, and brushed
+and unbrushed. I tell you, Mis' Englefield, they're goin' in between
+them two doors all the week long."
+
+"I don't know how you manage them, I'm sure."
+
+"Well, _I_ don't," said the housekeeper. "The back is fitted to the
+burden, they say; and I always _did_ pray that if I had work to do, I
+might be able to do it; and I always was, somehow. And it's a
+first-rate place to go and warm your feet, when the minister is out,"
+she added after a pause.
+
+"What?" said Mrs. Englefield, laughing.
+
+"The minister's fire, to be sure, that I was talkin' about. Of course,
+I have to go in to see it's safe, when he ain't there; and sometimes I
+think it's cheaper to sit down and watch it than to be always runnin'."
+
+"Mr. Richmond was a lucky man when he got you for a housekeeper," said
+Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Miss Redwood, contemplatively, with rather a
+sweet look on her old face. "I 'spose I might as well say I was a lucky
+woman when I got his house to keep. It come all by chance, too, you may
+say----"
+
+"Mamma, tea is ready," Maria here interrupted.
+
+"Miss Redwood, will you come down and have tea with us?"
+
+"No; but what I come to ask was somethin' different. I was so taken up
+with my soap-kettle all day, I just forgot somethin' more important,
+and didn't make no new risin'; and I hain't got none to-night for the
+minister's bread. I know you're one of the folks that likes sweet
+bread, Mis' Englefield, and has it; and I've come to beg a cup o' your
+risin'."
+
+One of the girls was sent for the article, and Mrs. Englefield went on.
+
+"The minister's an easy man to live with, I suppose; isn't he?"
+
+"What sort do you mean by that, Mrs. Englefield?"
+
+"Why! I mean he is easily suited, and don't give more trouble than can
+be helped, and don't take it hard when things go wrong.
+
+"Things don't go wrong, fur's I know," said Miss Redwood. "Not with
+him, nor with me."
+
+"Easily pleased, isn't he?"
+
+"When folks do just what they'd ought to do, he _is_," said the
+housekeeper with some energy. "I have no sort of patience, for my part,
+with the folks that are pleased when they hadn't ought to be pleased."
+
+"But isn't that what Mr. Richmond preaches to us all the time? that we
+ought to be pleased with everybody?"
+
+"Why, no, mamma!" said Matilda.
+
+"I thought he did."
+
+"I take it t'other way," Miss Redwood observed. "It comes close, it
+does, some of the minister's talk; but I always think, if I had a right
+to be better pleased with myself, maybe other folks' onesidedness
+wouldn't worry me. I'll do as much for you, next time, Miss Letty," she
+said, rising to take what that young lady had brought her. And
+therewith away she went.
+
+"Well, we have got off with our lives this time," said Mrs. Englefield.
+"Now, girls, let us have tea."
+
+"Mamma, I believe here they are this minute," said Matilda. "The
+omnibus is stopping."
+
+It was declared to be impossible; but nevertheless found true. The
+omnibus was certainly at the door, backing down upon the side walk; and
+two figures did get out of it and came through the little courtyard to
+the house. And then all doubts were resolved; Mrs. Candy was in the
+arms of her sister, and the cousins were looking at each other.
+
+That is, as soon as people could get their wrappings off. Letty and
+Maria were assiduous in their endeavours to relieve Miss Clarissa of
+her hood and furs and the cloakings and mufflings which a night ride
+had rendered necessary; while Anne waited upon her aunt; and
+impressions were forming and opinions taking ground, under all the
+confused chatter about the journey, the train, the omnibus, and the
+_City of Pride;_ opinions and impressions which were likely enough to
+get turned topsy-turvy in another day or two; but for the present
+nobody knew that.
+
+"And here is somebody who says nothing!" Mrs. Candy remarked, stooping
+down to touch Matilda's hair with a light finger.
+
+"Tilly does the thinking for the family," said Mrs. Englefield. "Now do
+come down and have some tea."
+
+"Down? Where are we going?" said Mrs. Candy. "Your house stands on the
+ground level, I noticed."
+
+"Oh, we have a very nice basement; and just for eating, you know, it
+does not make much difference where you are--and it is so much more
+convenient, being near the kitchen."
+
+"In Germany we used to take our meals in the open air a great deal,"
+Mrs. Candy went on, as the party filed down the narrow stairs.
+
+"In the open air! Not at this season?"
+
+"Well, not with the thermometer at zero," said Mrs. Candy, laughing a
+little. "Nor at quite so high a temperature as you have here!"
+
+The room down-stairs was bright enough, and looked cheerful, with its
+well-spread table and tea-urn; but it was low, and full of close stove
+heat. The travellers got as far from the source of this as the limits
+of the table would let them, and presently begged for an open door. But
+Mrs. Englefield's tea was good; and very soon the family talk began to
+move naturally. Mrs. Candy pleased her nieces. A fine-looking and also
+a kind-looking woman, with a good figure, well clothed in a handsome
+travelling dress; a gold watch and chain; and an easy, good-humoured,
+and at the same time, sensible air and way of talking. It was not
+difficult to get acquainted with her; she met all advances more than
+half way; and her talk even that first evening was full of amusement
+and novelty for the young people. It was less easy to know what to
+think of Clarissa. Her cousins held a consultation about her that night
+before going to sleep.
+
+"She looks as old as Letty."
+
+"But she isn't. Oh, she don't, either."
+
+"She's well looking; don't you think so?"
+
+"I'll tell you what I think," said Matilda. "She's beau-ti-ful."
+
+"I don't think _so_," said Letty; "but she's an uncommon looking girl."
+
+"How old _is_ she?"
+
+"She is sixteen."
+
+"Well! Maria's only half a year younger than that."
+
+"She hasn't said three words yet; so I cannot tell what she is," Anne
+remarked.
+
+"She didn't like going down into the basement," said Letty.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I know she didn't!"
+
+"I should like to know where she would go; there is no other place,"
+said Maria.
+
+"I suppose that is just what she didn't like," said Letitia.
+
+"There might be, though," Matilda began again. "If mamma would open the
+back room behind the parlour, and move the table and things up
+there,--I think it would be a great deal pleasanter."
+
+"That's like Matilda!" the other girls exclaimed in chorus.
+
+"Well, I _don't_ think that basement room is pleasant," said the girl.
+"I never did. I am always glad to get out of it."
+
+"And now, I suppose, you will be taking all Clarissa's dainty ways, in
+addition to your own!" said Letitia. "I wonder what will become of the
+rest of us."
+
+"What dainty ways has Clarissa?" Matilda inquired.
+
+"You can see for yourself. She doesn't like the heat of a stove; and
+she must look at her watch to see what time it is, though the clock was
+right opposite to her."
+
+"I am sure I would look at a watch, if I had it," Matilda added.
+
+"And did you see what travelling gloves she wore?"
+
+"Why not?" said Matilda.
+
+"Why not, of course! you will have no eyes for any one shortly but
+Clarissa Candy; I can see it. But she is a member of the Church, isn't
+she?"
+
+"What if she is?" said Matilda. "Mamma read that in one of Aunt Candy's
+letters, I remember."
+
+"We'll see what Mr. Richmond will say to her. Maria reports that he
+does not like red flowers; I wonder what he will think of some other
+things."
+
+"That is only Maria's nonsense," Matilda insisted. "I know Mr. Richmond
+likes red flowers; he has got a red lily in his room."
+
+"In his room--oh yes! but not in people's bonnets, you know; nor in
+their heads; if they are Christians."
+
+"I can't imagine what people's being Christians has to do with red
+flowers," said Matilda. "Besides, Clarissa hadn't any flowers about her
+at all. I don't know what you are talking of."
+
+"Didn't you see her gold chain, though, that hung round her neck?"
+
+"Her watch was on that. Mayn't Christians wear gold chains? What
+nonsense you do talk, Letitia!"
+
+"I shouldn't want to be a Christian if I thought I couldn't wear
+anything," Maria remarked.
+
+"Nor would I," said Letitia. "So I advise you, my dears, to be a little
+careful how you join Bands and such things. You may find that Mr.
+Richmond is not just the sort of Christian you want to be."
+
+The conclave broke up, having reached a termination of general
+dissatisfaction common to such conclaves. Maria went to bed grumbling.
+Matilda was as usual silent.
+
+The next day, however, found all the family as bright as itself. It was
+a cold day in January; snow on the ground; a clear, sharp sunshine
+glittering from white roofs and fence tops and the banks of snow heaped
+against the fences, and shining on twigs and branches of the bare
+trees; coming into houses with its cheery and keen look at everything
+it found, as if bidding the dark sides of things, and the dusty
+corners, to change their characters and be light and fair. In the
+basement the family gathered for breakfast in happy mood, ready to be
+pleased with each other; so pleasure was the order of the day. Pleasure
+had a good deal to feed on, too; for after the long breakfast was over
+and the conversation had adjourned to the parlour, there came the
+bestowing of presents which Clarissa had brought for her friends. And
+they were so many and so satisfactory, that the criticisms of the past
+night were certainly for the present forgotten; Letitia forgave her
+cousin her daintiness, and Maria overlooked the gold watch. Matilda as
+usual said little, beyond the civil, needful words, which that little
+girl always spoke gracefully.
+
+"You are a character, my dear, I see," her aunt observed, drawing
+Matilda to her side caressingly.
+
+"What is that, Aunt Candy?"
+
+"Well, I don't know, my dear," her aunt answered, laughing; "you put me
+to define and prove my words, and you bring me into difficulty. I
+think, however, I shall be safe in saying, that a 'character' is a
+person who has his own thoughts."
+
+"But doesn't everybody?"
+
+"Have his own thoughts? No, my dear; the majority have the thoughts of
+other people."
+
+"How can they, Aunt Candy?"
+
+"Just by not thinking for themselves. It saves a great deal of trouble."
+
+"But we all think for ourselves," said Matilda.
+
+"Do we? Reflect a little. Don't _some_ of you think like other people?
+about ways of doing, and acting, and dressing, for instance?"
+
+"Oh yes. But, Aunt Candy, if people think for themselves, _must_ they
+do unlike other people?"
+
+"If they follow out their thoughts, they must, child."
+
+"That suits Matilda then," said her sister Anne.
+
+"Well, it is very nice for a family to have one character in it," said
+Mrs. Candy.
+
+"But, Aunt Candy, isn't Clarissa a character too?"
+
+"I don't know, Tilly; I really have not found it out, if she is. Up to
+this time she always thinks as I think. Now she has given you the
+tokens of remembrance she has brought home for you; what do you think
+_I_ have got?"
+
+"O aunt, nothing more!" exclaimed Anne.
+
+"Clarissa and I are two people, if neither of us is a character,
+however," said Mrs. Candy. "Her gifts are not my gifts. But mine shall
+be different from hers. And if there is more than one character among
+us, I should like to find it out; and this will do it."
+
+So saying, she fetched out her purse and presented to each of her
+sister's children a bank-note for twenty-five dollars.
+
+Mrs. Englefield exclaimed and protested. But Mrs. Candy laid her hand
+on her sister's mouth, and declared she must please herself in her own
+way.
+
+"What do you want us to do with this, Aunt Candy?" Matilda inquired in
+a sort of contemplative wonder.
+
+"Just whatever will please you, will please each of you, best. Only
+that. That is my condition, girls, if I may call it so. You are not to
+spend that money for any claims of duty or conscience; but simply in
+that way which will afford you the highest pleasure."
+
+Thanks were warm and gratification very high; and in the best mood in
+the world the new relations sat down to talk to each other and study
+each other for the remainder of the day. Clarissa pleased her cousins.
+She was undoubtedly extremely pretty, with big, brown, honest eyes,
+that gave a good full look into the face she was speaking to; beautiful
+hair a little lighter in colour, and great sweetness of outline and
+feature. Yet she was reserved; very quiet; very self-possessed--to a
+degree that almost carried an air of superiority in the minds of her
+cousins. Those large brown eyes of hers would be lifted swiftly to the
+face of some one speaking, and then go down again, with no sign of
+agreeing or disagreeing--indeed, with no sign of her thought at all;
+but she _had_ thoughts of course; why should she not show them, as her
+cousins did? It was almost supercilious, to the fancy of Anne and
+Letitia; Matilda and Maria were fascinated. Then her hands were more
+delicate than those of Mrs. Englefield's children; and there were one
+or two costly rings on them. Anne and Letty did not understand their
+value, but nevertheless even they could guess that they belonged to a
+superior description of jewellery from that which was displayed beneath
+the glass cases of Mr. Kurtz the watchmaker of Shadywalk. Then
+Clarissa's dress was of fine quality, and made beautifully, and her
+little gold watch with its chain "put a finish upon it," Anne said. A
+little hair necklace with a gold clasp was round her neck besides; and
+her comb was real tortoise-shell. Clarissa was dainty, there was no
+doubt; but her sweet mouth was grave and modest; her words were few;
+her manners were very kindly and proper; and her cousins on the whole
+were obliged to approve her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+"What is all this hurry about?" Clarissa inquired one evening, as they
+were going down-stairs in answer to the tea-bell; "why are we earlier
+than usual? Anne says we are."
+
+"Oh, because it is prayer-meeting night--no, not prayer meeting, it
+isn't either, but our Band-meeting; and we have to be early for that,
+you know. Oh, you don't know anything about our Band; but you will,
+to-night. You'll join it, won't you, Clarissa?"
+
+"I know something about Bands," said Clarissa; "but I never belonged to
+one. Is it the custom here for ladies to do such things?"
+
+"What things? And do you know about bands? like ours?"
+
+"I daresay I shall find I have something to learn," said Clarissa.
+
+"There is a great deal to learn from Mr. Richmond, I can tell you,"
+said Maria. "Oh, you don't know Mr. Richmond, you haven't seen him,
+because Sunday was so stormy. Well, you'll see him to-night."
+
+"Aunt Englefield," said Clarissa, when they were seated at the
+tea-table,--"is your Mr. Richmond Band-master as well as clergyman?"
+
+"Bands are a mystery to me, Clarissa," said Mrs. Englefield; "I do not
+understand Maria when she gets upon that subject. I hope you will be
+able to enlighten me some time. Are you going to-night?--well, then, I
+shall hope to be wiser when you return."
+
+Tea was hurried through, cloaks and furs and hoods and all sorts of
+wrappings were put on; and the party set forth, Anne and Letitia this
+time going along. It was pleasanter out than in. White streets and
+clear starlight, and still, cold, fine air. About the corner a few men
+and boys were congregated as usual; after passing them and turning into
+the other street, few passengers were to be seen. Here and there one,
+or a group, making for the lecture-room; here and there somebody
+seeking a friend's house for pleasure; nobody was out on business at
+Shadywalk in the evening, and no waggons or sleighs got belated in the
+darkness. It would have been very dark, but for the snow and the stars.
+There were no shop-windows illuminated, and no lamps along the street
+and no gas anywhere. Past the shut-up houses and stores, in the dim,
+snowy street, the little cluster of girls went swiftly on.
+
+"You are in a great hurry," said Clarissa.
+
+"Oh, we want to get there before anything begins," Maria said. "And
+it's cold, besides!"
+
+"What church is this we are passing?"
+
+"Oh, this is our church. You haven't seen it. It is real nice inside."
+
+"Not outside?" said Clarissa. "Well, I cannot see it in this light. And
+is that next place the one we are going to?"
+
+"Yes, that's our lecture-room. That's _very_ nice."
+
+So it was. Pleasant light from withinside streamed warm through the
+hanging window-blinds of the long windows, and promised welcome before
+they got in. At the door, under the projecting hood, a lamp shone
+bright upon the entrance steps. People were flocking in. The opening
+door let them into a cheerful room, not large, with long rows of seats
+on either hand of a wide, matted aisle; the view closed by a little
+desk at the farther end on a raised platform. Right and left of the
+desk, two small transepts did somewhat to enlarge the accommodations of
+the place, which had a cosy, home look, comfortable and bright.
+
+"Where do those doors lead to?" Clarissa whispered;--"behind the desk?"
+
+"Oh, those open to the infant class room. Isn't it nice?" Maria
+answered.
+
+"It is small," said Clarissa.
+
+"It is large enough, though. _We_ shall not fill it to-night."
+
+And they did not. There was only a little company gathered, of various
+ages. Some quite grown people; many who were younger. They had drawn
+towards the upper end of the room, and clustered near the platform.
+
+"There is Mr. Richmond," Maria whispered presently; "do you see him? he
+is up there near the desk talking to Mr. Barker,--Mr. Barker is one of
+our teachers, but he has got nothing to do with the Band. That is Mrs.
+Trembleton, isn't she pretty?--sitting down there in front; she always
+sits just there, if she can, and I have seen her ever so put out if she
+couldn't when somebody else had got it, you know. And there"----
+
+"But, Maria," whispered Clarissa, gravely, "do you think it is quite
+proper to whisper so in church?"
+
+"This isn't church!" Maria replied, with great readiness.
+
+"What then?"
+
+"Why, it is only our Sunday-Schoolroom; and this is a Band meeting."
+
+"It looks very like church to me," said Clarissa. "Hush! don't whisper
+any more."
+
+For the minister now took his stand at the little desk before
+mentioned; and even Maria was quiet enough during the prayer with which
+he began the proceedings. But then Mr. Richmond came in front of the
+desk, and began to speak seriously indeed, but with an easy simplicity
+which Clarissa thought was "not like church."
+
+"It may not be known to everybody present," Mr. Richmond began,
+"exactly what was done at our last meeting here Thursday night. I wish
+it to be very well understood, that every one may join with us in the
+action we took, intelligently;--or keep away from it, intelligently. I
+wish it to be thoroughly understood. We simply pledged ourselves, some
+of us who were here Thursday night, to live and work for Christ to the
+best and the utmost of our ability, as He would give us grace to do. We
+pledged ourselves to each other and to our Master; to the end that we
+might the better help each other, being so pledged; and that we might
+enter into some system and plan of work by which we might accomplish
+much more than we could hope to do without plan or system. I have a
+list in my hand of various kinds of work which it may be well for us to
+attempt; some kinds will suit some people, and other kinds will suit
+other people; but before we go into a consideration of these, I will
+read something else to you. We must do this thing--we must enter into
+this pledge to God and each other, those of us who enter into
+it,--knowing exactly what we do, and if possible, why we do it. I have
+drawn up in a few words what we mean, or what we ought to mean, in
+giving this pledge; and now I am going to read it to you; and after I
+have read it I shall ask all of you who have heard it and agreed to it,
+to rise up, without any regard to the question whether you were among
+those who rose last Thursday or not. I wish no one to stand who does
+not fully and intelligently agree to every word of this covenant;--but
+I hope that will be the case with every one of you all. The children
+can understand it as well as the grown people. This is the covenant:--
+
+"'We are the servants of Christ.
+
+"'And as He died for all, that they which live should not live unto
+themselves but unto Him; so we do not count ourselves to belong to
+ourselves. We are the Lord's.
+
+"'We want to do all we can do, that would please Him and honour Him,
+whether it be in our own hearts or in the world.
+
+"'So we stand ready to do His will; in telling the good news to others;
+in showing how precious we hold it; in carrying help of every sort to
+our neighbour, upon every opportunity; walking as children of the
+Light; if by any means we may advance our Lord's kingdom and glory.
+
+"'And all this we will try to do, by His help,--trusting in His grace
+and resting in His promises, whose word cannot fail.'
+
+"Now," said Mr. Richmond, when he had read this, which he read very
+slowly and deliberately, as if he wished that every one should weigh
+every word, "I am going to ask you to rise and so declare your
+agreement with this covenant--all of you who have heard and understood
+it, and who are ready to pledge yourselves to its responsibilities.
+Every one whose own mind and wish this covenant expresses will please
+rise."
+
+The little stir which this request occasioned through the room, left
+few of the assembly in their seats. Maria, as soon as she was upon her
+feet, looked to see how it was with her companions. To her great
+satisfaction, Clarissa was standing beside her; but Anne and Letitia
+were sitting in their places, and so was Matilda in hers beyond them.
+Maria frowned and nodded at her, but Mr. Richmond had desired the
+people to sit down again before these signs could take any effect.
+
+"It is as I hoped," Mr. Richmond said in a satisfied voice. "I have no
+alteration to make in my lists, beyond the addition of one or two new
+names; and that sort of alteration I shall be glad to make whenever
+people will let me. I will receive new names at any time, of those who
+wish to join our Band--our Working Band. I do not know what we shall
+call ourselves; but one thing is certain, we mean to be a working
+people. Now, suppose we see what kinds of work we are prepared to
+undertake--each one of us in particular. Of course, we are _all_ to do
+_all_ we can, and of _all_ kinds; but there are some kinds of work that
+each one can do better than he can do others; and to those particular
+lines of effort each one will pledge himself to give special attention.
+
+"The first thing on my list is--
+
+"'_Bringing new scholars to the school_. Who will take this as his
+special work? Observe, it is not meant that you should ask any children
+to come to our school who are already members of some other school. We
+do not wish that. But who will undertake to look out and bring in some
+of the children that go nowhere? All who want to do this, raise your
+hands."
+
+There was a show of hands.
+
+"We must have a secretary," said Mr. Richmond. "Mr. Van Dyke, here is
+paper and ink; will you kindly come and write for us? We want to put
+down all the names that enlist in this department of work. This is
+Number One. Put down, opposite to Number One, Mattie Van Dyke, Willie
+Edwards, Mary Edwards, Maria Englefield."
+
+Mr. Richmond went on giving the names until some eight or ten were
+registered. The children looked delighted. It was great doings.
+
+The next thing on Mr. Richmond's list was the "_School-singing_." He
+explained that he wished the special attention of those who could give
+it to this matter; that they should always stand ready to help the
+singing in the Sunday-School, and make it just as good as it could be,
+and keep it good; that they should not wait for others, if there was no
+one to lead, but start the hymn themselves and carry it through with
+spirit.
+
+There were not so many that pledged themselves to this work; but, as
+before, Maria was one.
+
+The third thing, was "_Welcoming strangers and new scholars_" in the
+church and in the school. Here a breeze sprung up. Mr. Richmond had
+remarked upon the great importance of this duty and the common neglect
+of it; nevertheless there seemed to be some prospect that the neglect
+would continue. Mrs. Trembleton asked, "How were such strangers to be
+welcomed?"
+
+"What would you like yourself, Mrs. Trembleton? Suppose you were to go
+to a strange church, where you knew nobody. Would it be pleasant to
+have some one come up and take your hand and say you were welcome? and
+give you a greeting when you met in the street?--perhaps come to see
+you?"
+
+"I think," said Mrs. Trembleton, after a pause, "it would depend a good
+deal on who it was did it!"
+
+"Whether it would be pleasant?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling. "But you do
+not doubt that it would be pleasant to any stranger to have _you_ come
+up and speak and shake hands, and do such offices of kindness?"
+
+"It might be pleasant to them," said Mrs. Trembleton. "I don't think I
+should like to do it to everybody."
+
+"What do you say, Miss Benyon?" Mr. Richmond asked.
+
+"Oh, I couldn't, Mr. Richmond!" the young lady answered, shrinking.
+
+"I'll do it," spoke out one of the boys.
+
+"George Lockwood will welcome strangers, Mr. Van Dyke," said the
+minister. "And Willie Edwards holds up his hand,--and Ben Barth. But
+shall we have none but the boys to do the welcoming? The new scholars
+will not be all boys. Ah! there is Miss Peach; Ellen Peach, Mr. Van
+Dyke;--and Maria Englefield,--and Sarah Bent."
+
+"Won't it make confusion in the school?" Mr. Van Dyke suggested.
+
+"Will not what make confusion?"
+
+"Why, if half-a-dozen scholars are jumping up and leaving their
+classes, to receive somebody who is coming in?"
+
+"I did not say that they should choose lesson time--or school time at
+all--for their kind civilities. After school is over--or when meeting
+in the street--or going into church. Opportunities will present
+themselves. It is rather the will that seems to be wanting than the
+way."
+
+"It seems to me," spoke out another lady, "this welcoming of strangers
+is everybody's business."
+
+"Proverbially nobody's business, Miss Fitch," Mr. Richmond answered
+with a smile. "You will leave it for me to do; and I shall conclude
+that Mrs. Trembleton will attend to it; Mrs. Trembleton does not like
+the charge;--and there we are. Esther, what do you say?"
+
+"Oh, I should not like to do it, Mr. Richmond!"
+
+Nobody seemed to like to do it. Some were shy; some were humble, or
+thought they were; some fancied themselves of too little consequence;
+some of too much! Mr. Richmond went on to the next thing, which was
+"_Temperance Work_." Here there was no want of volunteers. Boys and
+girls and young ladies, and even men, were ready to pledge themselves
+to this cause. The names were many. It took some time to get them all
+down.
+
+Then came what Mr. Richmond's list called "_Aid and Comfort;_" and
+which he explained to mean, the giving of all sorts of material and
+social aid that the cases of sick and poor and distressed might call
+for. Anybody who would visit such cases, and provide or procure what
+they needed, or anybody unable to visit who would furnish the necessary
+supplies if called upon, might be enrolled on this committee. Plenty of
+people were ready for this.
+
+"_Visiting absent scholars_" found quite a number willing to engage in
+it. The cause of "_Missionary Collections_" and "_Sunday-School
+prayer-meetings_" found but few; evidently those were not popular
+objects. "_Promoting attendance upon church_" did not meet with much
+favour. The tenth department of work was "_Carrying the Message_". This
+Mr. Richmond explained to mean, the telling the good news of Christ to
+all who have not heard or who do not accept it; to everybody we can
+reach, at home and abroad, wherever we may. There were not a few who
+were ready to pledge themselves to this; as also to "_Bible Reading_"
+in houses where sickness or poverty or ignorance made such work
+desirable. But "_Tract Distributing_," which one would have thought a
+very kindred effort with the two last, was much more cautiously
+undertaken. Some boys were ready for it; a few girls; very few grown up
+people of either sex.
+
+The young people of Mrs. Englefield's family walked home more silently
+than they had come. To be sure, there was a little throng of persons
+going their way; they could not speak in private. So under the still,
+bright stars, they went home without telling any of their thoughts to
+each other. But perhaps the air was chilly after coming out of the
+heated lecture-room; for they all poured into the parlour to get warm,
+before going up-stairs to take off their things.
+
+"Well, you are late," Mrs. Englefield said.
+
+"Yes; but we had, oh, such a nice meeting!" Maria answered.
+
+"What was it all about? Now, I hope, we shall get at some light on the
+subject."
+
+But the light was not in a hurry to come. Anne and Letitia loosened
+their bonnet strings, and sat down; Maria and Matilda threw off their
+cloaks and hoods and sought the fire; nobody volunteered to be
+spokesman for the party.
+
+"What was done, Clarissa?" her mother asked.
+
+"I can hardly tell, mamma. A sort of association formed, for doing
+parish work."
+
+"I do not think much of associations," Mrs. Candy said. "People can
+work just as well in private, if they would only be content. Did _you_
+join this association?"
+
+"What is _parish work_, Clarissa?" Matilda asked.
+
+"Why, work in the parish, of course," Mrs. Englefield answered.
+
+"I don't know what the parish is, mamma?"
+
+"Don't you? Well,--all the people that Mr. Richmond has the care of, I
+suppose; isn't it, sister?"
+
+"But who has he the care of?" Matilda persisted, looking up at her
+mother earnestly.
+
+"Well, child," said Mrs. Englefield, half laughing, "in a sort, he has
+the care of all the people he preaches to."
+
+"Does he?" said Matilda. But at that the laugh became general.
+
+"Why not, Tilly?" said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"Who gave him the care of us?" said Matilda, thoughtfully.
+
+"A minister always has the care of a church when he has a church," said
+Mrs. Candy. "Is this Tilly's way of going into things in general,
+Marianne?"
+
+"_But_," said Matilda,--"can anybody take a church and take care of
+people, if he has a mind?"
+
+"No; only a man who has been properly educated and appointed."
+
+"Then how comes he to have the _care_ of us?"
+
+"Come here, Tilly," said Clarissa. And she began a whispered
+explanation, to which the little girl listened intently.
+
+"I do not hear yet what was the business done to-night?" Mrs.
+Englefield went on.
+
+"Why, there were committees formed," said Letitia, "for doing every
+sort of business under heaven."
+
+"Committees!" said the two ladies who had stayed at home.
+
+"Maria can tell you," said Anne. "Maria, on how many committees are
+you?"
+
+Maria hugged the fire and did not answer.
+
+"On how many, Maria?"
+
+"I don't know. I didn't count."
+
+"I lost count, too," her sister said. "Let me see. Mamma, Maria has
+undertaken to find and bring in new scholars for the school."
+
+"I hope she will be punctual in going herself, then," said Mrs.
+Englefield. "She _hasn't_ been, this six months past, to my knowledge."
+
+"Oh, but I am now, mamma," said Maria.
+
+"She has undertaken to practise for the school singing."
+
+"I didn't," said Maria. "I only said I would help in it."
+
+"Your help will not be worth much without practising. She has promised
+to undertake temperance work, too. _How_ she will manage it, I do not
+know; unless she is going to begin upon us here at home. We are all
+such hard drinkers."
+
+"Almost all the Sunday-School are engaged to help in temperance work,"
+said Maria, standing on her defence.
+
+"How are _you_ going to do anything?" her mother asked. "You have
+neither brothers, nor father, nor cousins, in danger, that you can go
+to work upon them. What are you going to do, Maria?"
+
+"That is but the beginning, mamma," Anne went on. "Maria is also
+engaged to visit the sick and afflicted, and make soup and give
+medicine for them."
+
+"Why, I did not, Anne!" Maria exclaimed again.
+
+"What did you mean, then, by joining the 'Aid and Comfort' committee?"
+
+"I did not say I would make soup, or give medicine. Everybody does not
+make soup."
+
+"No; and so I thought that is just what the 'Aid and Comfort' committee
+agreed to do."
+
+"And the doctors give the medicine," said Matilda. "Clarissa is on that
+committee too."
+
+"We can go together," said Maria; "and we can find something to do."
+
+"Something for somebody else to do," said Anne. "You can find who would
+like some soup, can't you?"
+
+"There are next to no poor people in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield.
+"I don't believe there is anybody in the village who would like some
+soup better than I should."
+
+"There are several doctors," said Anne; "so I am afraid there are sick
+people occasionally. Else the doctors will soon be in want of soup.
+But, mamma, _that_ is not the whole of Maria's engagements. She has
+pledged herself to 'carry the message,' read the Bible, and distribute
+tracts."
+
+"Don't you read the Bible now, Maria?" her mother asked.
+
+"Oh yes, mamma," said Matilda. "This means reading the Bible to
+somebody who is blind, you know, or sick and can't read, or who doesn't
+know how."
+
+"There are no such people in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield, promptly.
+
+"Shadywalk is a happy village then," said her sister.
+
+"When do you expect to find time for all these things, Maria?" her
+mother continued. "Do you know what a state your bureau drawers are in,
+at this minute? You told me you had been too busy to attend to them.
+And the frock that you spilt ink on, the week before last, at school,
+you have not mended; and you need it--and you said you could not get a
+minute."
+
+"I have been busy about something else, mamma," Maria said.
+
+"That braiding. Yes. But there is always 'something else.' There are
+other things that ought to begin at home besides charity. Do _you_
+belong to this association, Matilda?"
+
+"No, mamma," came in a low voice from the child.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+The answer was not ready.
+
+"Have you joined it, Clarissa?" her mother asked.
+
+"Yes, mamma."
+
+"And what have you pledged yourself to do?"
+
+"I think nothing, mamma, that I was not properly pledged to before."
+
+"Such as what?"
+
+"I gave my name for the visiting and helping sick and poor people; for
+the singing in the school;--I believe that is all, mamma."
+
+"I shall not let you go where there is sickness," said Mrs Candy. "When
+did you pledge yourself to that ever?"
+
+"When I took the vows of the Church, mamma," Clarissa said, with a
+little hesitation, "I suppose I engaged to do some of these things."
+
+"Some of them; I have no objection to your singing as much as you like;
+but as to your going where there are fevers and bad air, and all that
+sort of thing, I should not be willing at all."
+
+"There will not be much occasion for it in Shadywalk," said Mrs.
+Englefield. "We have few poor people; there are not many who have not
+friends of their own to take care of them."
+
+"Anne and Letitia, you have nothing to do with all this?" their aunt
+asked.
+
+"I have enough to do as it is, Aunt Candy," said Anne.
+
+"And I don't like the new sorts of work, Aunt Erminia," said Letitia.
+
+"I know you wanted to stand up with us this evening, though," said
+Maria. "You felt bad because you didn't."
+
+This remark threatened to disturb the harmony of the party; so Mrs.
+Englefield broke it up, and sent everybody to bed.
+
+"How do you like our Mr. Richmond, Clarissa?" she asked, as they were
+separating.
+
+"I don't know, Aunt Marianne; it struck me he was something of an
+enthusiast."
+
+"That is just what I think," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Those people are dangerous, Marianne," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The next day but one, in the afternoon, a little figure set out from
+Mrs. Englefield's gate on a solitary expedition. She had left her
+sisters and cousin in high debate, over the various probabilities of
+pleasure attainable through the means of twenty-five dollars. Matilda
+listened gravely for a while; then left them, put on her hood and
+cloak, and went out alone. It was rather late in the short winter
+afternoon; the slanting sunbeams made a gleam of cheer, though it was
+cold cheer too, upon the snowy streets. They stretched away, the white
+streets, heaped with banks of snow where the gutters should be,
+overhung with brown branches of trees, where in summer the leafy canopy
+made a pleasant shade all along the way. No shade was wanted now; the
+air was growing more keen already since the sun had got so far down in
+the west. Tilly turned the corner, where by Mr. Forshew's hardware shop
+there was often a country waggon standing, and always a knot of
+loitering men and boys gathering or retailing the news, if there was
+any; when there was none, seeking a poorer amusement still in stories
+and jests, mingled with profanity and tobacco. Tilly was always glad to
+have passed the corner; not that there was the least danger of
+incivility from any one lingering there, but she did not like the
+neighbourhood of such people. She turned up towards the church, which
+stood in one of the principal streets of the village. Matilda herself
+lived in the other principal street. The two were at right angles to
+each other, each extending perhaps half a mile, with comfortable houses
+standing along the way; about the "corner" they stood close together,
+for that was the business quarter, and there were the stores. Passing
+the stores and shops, there came next a succession of dwelling-houses,
+some of more and some of less pretension; in general it was _less_. The
+new houses of the successful tradesmen were for the most part in the
+street where Matilda's mother lived. These were many of them old and
+low; some were poor. Here there was a doctor's shop; there a heap of
+dingy sheep skins and brown calf hides cast down at a door, told of the
+leather store; here and there hung out a milliner's sign. A few steps
+further on the other side of the way, a great brick factory stood;
+Matilda had no very distinct notion of what wares it turned out, but
+the children believed they were iron works of some sort. A cross street
+here led to side ways which extended parallel with the main
+thoroughfare, one on the north and one on the south of it, and which,
+though more scatteringly built up, were yet a considerable enlargement
+of the village. A little further on, and Matilda had reached the
+church; in her language _the_ church, though only one of several in
+which the villagers delighted. A great creamy-brown edifice, of no
+particular style of architecture, with a broad porch upheld by a row of
+big pillars, and a little square tower where hung a bell, declared to
+be the sweetest and clearest of all in the neighbourhood. So, many
+thought, were the utterances inside the church. Just beyond, Matilda
+could see the lecture-room, with its transepts, and its pretty hood
+over the door, for all which and sundry other particulars concerning it
+she had a private favour; but Matilda did not go so far this afternoon.
+Short of the lecture-room, a gate in the fence of the church grounds
+stood open; a large gate, through which waggons and carriages sometimes
+passed; Matilda turned in there, and picked her way over the ridgy snow
+down the lane that led to the parsonage.
+
+The parsonage sat thus quietly back from the sights and noises of the
+street; a little brown house, it looked, half hidden in summer by the
+sweeping foliage of the elms that overarched the little lane; half
+sheltered now in winter by a goodly pine-tree that stood in the centre
+of the little plot of grass round which swept the road to the
+front-door. Wheels or runners had been there, for the road was tracked
+with them; but not many, for the villagers needed no such help to get
+to the minister, and there were few of the church people who lived at a
+distance and could leave their work and take their teams on a week-day
+to come a-pleasuring; and still fewer who were rich enough to do as
+they liked at all times. There were some; but Matilda ran little risk
+of meeting them; and so mounted the parsonage steps and lifted the
+knocker with no more than her own private reasons for hesitation,
+whatever those might be. She knocked, however, and steps carne within,
+and Miss Redwood opened the door.
+
+"Well!" she said, "here's the first one this blessed afternoon. I
+thought I was going to get along for once without any one; but such
+luck don't come to me. Wipe the snow off, dear, will you, clean? for my
+hall's as nice as--well, I don't know what; as nice as it had ought to
+be. That will do. Now, come in, for the air's growin' right sharp. What
+is it, my dear?"
+
+"Is Mr. Richmond at home?" Matilda asked.
+
+"Well, I s'pose he is. I hain't hearn him nor seen him go out since
+noon. Do ye want to see him, or is it a message?--ye want to see him,
+eh. Well, I s'pose he'll see you--if he ain't too busy--and I don't
+know when he gets time for all he has to do, but he gets it; so I
+s'pose I had ought to be satisfied. _I_ don't, I know; but I s'pose men
+and women is different. Some folks would say that's a reason why men
+was created the first and the best; but I don't think so myself. And
+here I am an old goose, a-talkin' to little Tilly Englefield about
+philosophy, instead o' lettin' her into the minister's room. Well, come
+in, dear; round this way; the minister has taken a notion to keep that
+door shut up because of the cold."
+
+Miss Redwood had not been idle during the utterance of this speech.
+First she had been shaking the snow from the door mat on which
+Matilda's feet had left it; then she seized a broom and brushed the
+white masses from the hall carpet out to the piazza, and even off the
+painted boards of that. Finally came in, shut the door, and led Matilda
+to the back of the hall, where it turned, and two doors, indeed three,
+confronted each other across a yard of intervening space. The
+housekeeper knocked at the one which led into the front room; then set
+it open for Matilda to go in, and closed it after her.
+
+A pleasant room that was, though nothing in the world could be more
+unadorned. Deal shelves all around were filled with books; a table or
+two were piled with them; one, before the fire, was filled as well with
+papers and writing materials. This fronted, however, a real blazing
+fire, the very thing Miss Redwood had once been so uneasy about; in a
+wide open chimney-place, where two great old-fashioned brass andirons
+with round heads held a generous load of oak and hickory sticks, softly
+snapping and blazing. The sweet smell of the place struck Matilda's
+sense, almost before she saw the minister. It was a pure, quiet,
+scented atmosphere that the room held; where comfort and study seemed
+to lurk in the very folds of the chintz window-curtains, and to shine
+in the firelight, and certainly seemed to fill Mr. Richmond's arm-chair
+even when he was not in it. He rose out of it now to meet his little
+visitor, and laid study on the table. Of one sort.
+
+"All's well at home, Tilly?" he asked, as he put her into his own chair.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you do not come to me with any message but to see me yourself?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That's nice. Now while you are talking to me, I will roast you an
+apple."
+
+Matilda looked on with great curiosity and as great a sense of relief,
+while Mr. Richmond took out of a cupboard a plate of apples, chose a
+fine one with a good bit of stem, tied a long pack-thread to this, and
+then hung the apple by a loop at the other end of the string, to a hook
+in the woodwork over the fireplace. The apple, suspended in front of
+the blazing fire, began a succession of swift revolutions; first in one
+direction and then in the other, as the string twisted or untwisted.
+
+"Did you ever roast an apple so?"
+
+"No, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"It is the best way in the world--when you haven't got any other."
+
+"We haven't got that way at our house," said Matilda; "for we have no
+fires; nothing but stoves."
+
+"You speak as if you thought fires were the best plan of the two."
+
+"Oh, I do, Mr. Richmond! I do _not_ like stoves at all. They're so
+close."
+
+"I always thought stoves were rather close," said Mr. Richmond. "Now
+what did you come to see me roast apples for this afternoon? Did you
+come to keep your promise?"
+
+"Yes, sir," Matilda answered, rather faintly.
+
+"Are you sorry you made the promise?" Mr. Richmond inquired, looking at
+her. But the look was so pleasant, that Matilda's could not keep its
+solemnity. She had come in with a good deal.
+
+"I don't know but I _was_ sorry," she said.
+
+"And you are not sorry now?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"That is all the better. Now what did you want to say to me, Matilda?"
+
+"You know you made me say I would come, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Did I? I think not. I do not think I _made_ you say anything--do you
+think I did?"
+
+"Well, you _asked_ me, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Just what did I ask you?"
+
+"You asked me, if I would come and tell you--you said you _wished_ I
+would come and tell you--if----"
+
+And Matilda made a great pause. The eyes of her friend seemed only to
+be watching the apple, yet perhaps they knew that her little lips were
+unsteady and were trying to get steady. He left his seat to attend to
+the roast; got a plate and put on the hearth under it; arranged the
+fire; then came and with his own hands removed Matilda's hood and
+loosened and threw back her cloak; and while he did this he repeated
+his question, in tones that were encouragement itself.
+
+"I wished you would come and tell me if--if what?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond--if I thought I could not do something that I
+thought--I ought."
+
+"Yes, I believe that was it, Tilly. Now, to begin with one thing at a
+time, what do you think you 'ought' to do?"
+
+"Last night, I mean, Mr. Richmond; I mean, the night before last, at
+the meeting."
+
+"I know. Well, what did you think then you ought to do?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond, I think, I thought that I ought to rise up when Maria
+and the others did."
+
+"I knew you thought so. Why did you not, then, Matilda?"
+
+"I couldn't."
+
+"Do you know why you could not?"
+
+Again there was difficulty of speech on the child's part. Mr.
+Richmond's saying that "he knew" she had had such feelings, was an
+endorsement to her conscience; and Matilda could not immediately get
+over a certain swelling in her throat, which threatened to put a stop
+to the conversation. The minister waited, and she struggled.
+
+"Why could _you_ not do what the others did, Matilda?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond--I didn't want to do the things."
+
+"What things? Bringing new scholars to the Sunday-School, for instance?"
+
+"Oh no, sir, I wouldn't mind doing _that_, or some other things either.
+But----"
+
+"You mean, you do not want to pledge yourself to be a servant of the
+Lord Jesus Christ?"
+
+"No, sir," after a pause, and low.
+
+"Well, Tilly," said the minister, "I can only be very sorry for you.
+You keep yourself out of a great joy."
+
+"But, Mr. Richmond," said Matilda, down whose cheeks quiet tears were
+now running, one after another; "don't you think I am very young yet to
+be a member of the Church?"
+
+"Do you think Jesus died for you, Tilly?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Do you believe He loves you now?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You understand all about that. Does _He_ want you to be His obedient
+child and dear servant?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"You know all about that, too. Can you think of any reason why you
+should for another year refuse to love Him, refuse to mind Him, and do
+all that your example and influence can do to keep others from loving
+and minding Him? When He so loves and has loved you?"
+
+Tilly's little hands went up to her face now, and the room was very
+still; only the flames softly flickering in the fireplace, and the
+apple sputtering before the fire. Mr. Richmond did not say a word for
+several minutes.
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Matilda at last, "do you think anybody cares what
+I do?--when I am so little?"
+
+"I think the Lord Jesus cares. He said nobody was to hinder the little
+children from coming to Him. And I would rather be in His arms and have
+Him bless me, if I were you, than be anywhere else, or have anything
+else. And so would you, Tilly."
+
+"But, Mr. Richmond--it is because I am not good."
+
+"Yes, I know it. But that is a reason for giving yourself to the Lord
+Jesus. He will make you good; and there is no other way."
+
+But Tilly's trouble at this got beyond management. She left her seat
+and came to Mr. Richmond, letting his arm draw her up to him, and
+dropping her head on his shoulder.
+
+"O Mr. Richmond," she said, "I don't know how!"
+
+"Don't know how to give yourself to Jesus? Do it in your heart, Tilly.
+He is there. Tell Him He may have you for His own child. He is at the
+door of your heart knocking; open the door and bid Him come in. He will
+make it a glad place if you do."
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said the child, with great difficulty between her
+sobs--"won't you tell Him that I will?"
+
+They kneeled down and the minister made a short prayer. But then he
+said--
+
+"Now, Tilly, I want you to tell the Lord yourself."
+
+"I can't, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"I think you can. And I want you to try."
+
+They waited and waited. Tilly sobbed softly, but the minister waited
+still. At last Tilly's tears ceased; then with her little hands spread
+before her face, she said very slowly--
+
+"O Lord, I am a naughty child. I want to be good. I will do everything
+that you tell me. Please take my heart and make it all new, and help me
+to be strong and do right. Amen."
+
+They rose up, but Mr. Richmond kept the child within his arm, where she
+had been standing.
+
+"Now, Tilly, how do we know that our prayers are heard?"
+
+"God has promised, hasn't He, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Where? in what words?"
+
+Tilly hesitated, and then repeated part of the verse, "Ask, and it
+shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find."
+
+"And look here," said Mr. Richmond, half turning, so as to bring her
+and himself within reach of the Bible that lay at his elbow on the
+table--"see here, Matilda. Read these words."
+
+"'If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.'"
+
+"And here,"--
+
+"'Whatsover ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.'"
+
+"Does Jesus ever break His promises?"
+
+"No, Mr. Richmond; He can't."
+
+"Then remember that, whenever you think of to-day, and whenever you
+feel troubled or weak. _You_ are weak, but He is strong; and He cannot
+break His promises. So you and I are safe, as long as we hold to Him."
+
+There was silence a little while, and Mr. Richmond set the apple to
+twirling again. It had untwisted its string and was hanging still.
+
+"I am to put your name now, I suppose, Tilly, among the names of our
+Band; am I?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"What work would you like specially to do?"
+
+"I do not know, Mr. Richmond; I will think."
+
+"Very well; that is right. And there is another place where your name
+ought to go--is there not?"
+
+"I don't know, sir."
+
+"Yes; among those who desire to be members of the Church; to tell the
+world they are Christ's people."
+
+"Oh no, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Why 'oh no, Mr. Richmond'?"
+
+"I am not good enough. I want to be better first."
+
+"How do you expect to get better?"
+
+Silence.
+
+"I suppose your thought is, that Jesus will make your heart new, as you
+asked Him just now, and help you to be strong. Is that it?--Yes. And
+you do not expect to accomplish the change or grow strong by your own
+power?"
+
+"Oh no, sir."
+
+"Don't you think Jesus loves you now as well as He will by and by, and
+is as ready to help you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Then, Tilly, I call it just distrust of Him, to hold off from what He
+commands you to do, for fear He will not help you to do it. I would be
+ashamed to offer such an excuse to Him."
+
+"But--has He commanded _that_, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"He has commanded us to confess openly that we are His servants, hasn't
+He? and to be baptized in token of the change He has wrought in us, and
+as a sign that we belong to Him? How can we do either the one or the
+other without joining the Church?"
+
+"I thought"--Matilda began, but seemingly did not like to tell what she
+had thought.
+
+"Let us have it, Tilly," said her friend, drawing her closer to him.
+"You and I are talking confidentially, and it is best in those cases to
+talk all out. So what did you think?"
+
+"I thought there were people who were the servants of Christ, and yet
+did not join any church," Matilda said softly.
+
+"By not doing it, they as good as say to the world that they are not
+His servants. And the world judges accordingly. I have known people
+under such a delusion; but when they were honest, I have always known
+them to come out of it. If you give all you have to the Lord Jesus, you
+must certainly give your influence."
+
+"But, I thought I might wait," Tilly said again.
+
+"Till when?"
+
+"I don't know," she whispered.
+
+"Wait for what?"
+
+"Till I was more like what--I ought to be, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Till you were more like the Lord Jesus?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Do you not think the quickest way to grow like Him would be to do and
+obey every word He says?"
+
+Matilda bowed her head a little.
+
+"You will be more likely to grow good and strong that way than any
+other; and I am sure the Lord will be more likely to help you if you
+trust Him, than if you do not trust Him."
+
+"I think so too," Matilda assented.
+
+"Then we will do everything, shall we, that we think our Lord would
+like to have us do? and we will trust Him to help us through with it?"
+Mr. Richmond said, with an affectionate look at the child beside him;
+and Matilda met the look and answered it with another.
+
+"But, Mr. Richmond----"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"There is one question I should like to ask."
+
+"Ask it."
+
+"Why ought people to be baptized?"
+
+"Because our Lord commands it. Isn't that a good reason?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but--what does it mean, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"It is a way of saying to the world, that we have left it, and belong
+to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a way of saying to the world, that His
+blood has washed away our sins and His Spirit has made our hearts
+clean; or that we trust Him to do both things for us. And it is the
+appointed way of saying all this to the world; _His_ appointed way. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Now, do you not think that those who love the Lord Jesus, ought to be
+glad to follow His will in this matter?"
+
+"Yes, sir," Matilda said again, raising her eyes frankly to Mr.
+Richmond's face.
+
+"Would you be willing to be left out, when next I baptize some of those
+who wish to make it publicly known that they are Christ's?"
+
+"No, sir." And presently she added. "When will that be, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"I do not know," he answered, thoughtfully. "Not immediately. You and I
+must have some more talks before that time."
+
+"You are very good to me, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, gratefully.
+
+"Have we said all we ought to say this time? Are there any more
+questions to bring up?"
+
+"_I_ haven't any to bring up," Matilda said.
+
+"Is all clear that we have been talking about?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Now, will you be good to me, and stay and take supper with me? That
+knock at the door means that Miss Redwood would like to have me know
+that supper is ready. And you shall have this apple we have been
+roasting."
+
+"Mr. Richmond, I think mamma would be frightened if I did not go home."
+
+"She does not know where you are?"
+
+"Nobody knows," said Matilda.
+
+"Then it won't do to let you stay. You shall come another time, and we
+will roast another apple, won't you?"
+
+"I should like to come," said Matilda. "Mr. Richmond, didn't you say
+you were going to talk to the Band and explain things, when we have our
+meetings?"
+
+"I did say so. What do you want explained?"
+
+"Some time,--I would like to know just all it means, to be a servant of
+Christ."
+
+"All it means," said Mr. Richmond. "Well, it means a good deal, Tilly.
+I think we had better begin there with our explanations. I shall not
+make it a lecture; it will be more like a class; so you may ask as many
+questions as you please."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+The light of day was darkening fast, as Matilda ran home. Even the
+western sky gave no glow, when she reached her own gate and went in.
+After all, she had run but a very little way, in her first hurry; the
+rest of the walk was taken with sober steps.
+
+When she came down-stairs, she found the lamp lit and all the young
+heads of the family clustering together to look at something. It was
+Anne's purchase, she found; Anne had spent her aunt's gift in the
+purchase of a new silk dress; and she was displaying it.
+
+"It is a lovely colour," said Maria. "I think that shade of--what do
+you call it? is just the prettiest in the world. What _do_ you call it,
+Clarissa? and where did you get it, Anne?"
+
+"It is pearl gray," said Clarissa.
+
+"I would have got blue, while I was about it," said Letitia; "there is
+nothing like blue; and it becomes you, Anne. You ought to have got
+blue. I would have had one dress that suited me, if I was you, if I
+never had another."
+
+"This will suit me, I think," said Anne.
+
+"Aren't you going to trim it with anything? Dresses are so much trimmed
+now-a-days; and this colour will not be anything unless you trim it."
+
+Anne replied by producing the trimming. The exclamations of delight and
+approval lasted for several minutes.
+
+"What are you going to get, Letitia?" Maria asked.
+
+"I have not decided."
+
+"I don't know, but I will have a watch," said Maria. "You can get a
+very good silver watch, a really good one, you know for twenty-five
+dollars."
+
+"But a silver watch!" said Anne. "I would not wear anything but a gold
+watch."
+
+"How am I going to get a gold watch, I should like to know?" said
+Maria. "I think it would be splendid."
+
+"But what do you want of a watch, Maria?" her little sister asked.
+
+"Oh, here is Matilda coming out! Just like her! Not a word about Anne's
+dress; and now she says, what do I want with a watch. Why, what other
+people want with one; I want to see the time of day."
+
+"I don't think you do," said Matilda. "When do you?"
+
+"Why, I should like to know in school, when it is recess time; and at
+home, when it is time to go to school."
+
+"But the bell rings," said Matilda.
+
+"Well, I don't always hear the bell, child."
+
+"But when you don't hear it, I tell you."
+
+"Yes, and it's very tiresome to have you telling me, too. I'd rather
+have my own watch. But I don't know what I will have; sometimes I think
+I'll just buy summer dresses, and then for once I'd have a plenty; I do
+like to have plenty of anything. And there's a necklace and earrings at
+Mr. Kurtz's that I want. Such lovely earrings!"
+
+"Well, Matilda, what are you thinking of?" Letitia burst forth. "Such a
+face! One would think it was wicked to wear earrings. What is it, you
+queer child?"
+
+But Matilda did not say what she was thinking of. The elder ladies came
+in, and the party adjourned to the tea-table.
+
+A few hours later, when the girls had gone to their room, Matilda
+asked--
+
+"When are you going to look for new scholars, Maria?"
+
+"_What?_" was Maria's energetic and not very graceful response.
+
+"When are you going to look for some new scholars to bring to the
+school?"
+
+"The Sunday-School!" said Maria. "I thought you meant the school where
+we go every day. I don't know."
+
+"You promised you would try."
+
+"Well, so I will, when I see any I _can_ bring."
+
+"But don't you think you ought to go and look for them?"
+
+"How can I, Tilly? I don't know where to go; and I haven't got time,
+besides."
+
+"I think I know where we could go," said Matilda, "and maybe we could
+get one, at any rate. Don't you know the Dows' house? on the turnpike
+road?--beyond the bridge ever so far?"
+
+"The Dows'!" said Maria. "Yes, I know the Dows' house; but who's there?
+Nothing but old folks."
+
+"Yes, there are two children; I have seen them; two or three; but they
+don't come to school."
+
+"Then I don't believe they want to," said Maria; "they could come if
+they wanted to, I am sure."
+
+"Don't you think we might go and ask them? Perhaps they would come if
+anybody asked them."
+
+"Yes, we might," said Maria; "but you see, Tilly, I haven't any time.
+It'll take me every bit of time I can get between now and Sunday to
+finish putting the braid on that frock; you have no idea how much time
+it takes. It curls round this way, and then twists over that way, and
+then gives two curls, so and so; and it takes a great while to do it. I
+almost wish I had chosen an easier pattern; only this is so pretty."
+
+"But you promised, Maria."
+
+"I didn't promise to go and look up people, child. I only promised to
+do what I could. Besides, what have _you_ got to do with it? You did
+not promise at all."
+
+"I will go with you, if you will go up to the Dows'," said Matilda.
+
+"Oh, well!--don't worry, and I'll see about it."
+
+"But will you go? Come, Maria, let us go."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Any afternoon. To-morrow."
+
+"What makes you want to go?" said Maria, looking at her.
+
+"I think you _ought_ to go," Matilda answered, demurely.
+
+"And I say, what have you got to do with it? I don't see what
+particular concern of mine the Dows are, anyhow."
+
+Matilda sat a long while thinking after this speech. She was on the
+floor, pulling off her stockings and unlacing her boots; and while her
+fingers moved slowly, drawing out the laces, her cogitations were very
+busy. What concern _were_ the Dows of hers or Maria's? They were not
+pleasant people to go near, she judged, from the look of their house
+and dooryard as she had seen it in passing; and the uncombed, fly-away
+head of the little girl gave her a shudder as she remembered it. They
+were not people that were often seen in church; they could not be good;
+maybe they used bad language; certainly they could not be expected to
+know how to "behave." Slowly the laces were pulled out of Matilda's
+boots, and her face grew into portentous gravity.
+
+"Aren't you coming to bed?" said Maria. "What can you be thinking of?"
+
+"I am thinking of the Dows?"
+
+"What about them? I never thought about them three times in my life."
+
+"But oughtn't we to think about people, Maria?"
+
+"Nice people."
+
+"I mean, people that are not nice."
+
+"It will be new times when you do," said Maria. "Come! let the Dows
+alone and come to bed."
+
+"Maria," said her little sister as she obeyed this request, "I was
+thinking that Jesus thought about people that were not nice."
+
+"Well?" said Maria. "Do lie down! what is the use of getting into bed,
+if you are going to sit bolt upright like that and talk lectures? I
+don't see what has got into you."
+
+"Maria, it seems to me, now I think of it, that those were the
+particular people He did care about."
+
+"Don't you think He cared about good people?" said Maria, indignantly.
+
+"But they were not good at first. Nobody was good at first--till He
+made them good. He _said_ He didn't come to the good people; don't you
+remember?"
+
+"Well, what do you mean by all that? Are we not to care for anybody but
+the people that are not good? A nice life we should have of it?"
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, very thoughtfully, "I wonder what sort
+of a life He had?"
+
+"Tilly!" said Maria, rising up in her turn, "what has come to you? What
+book have you been reading? I shall tell mamma."
+
+"I have not been reading any book," said Matilda.
+
+"Then lie down and quit talking. How do you expect I am going to sleep?"
+
+"Let us go and see what we can do at the Dows, Maria, to-morrow, won't
+you?"
+
+But Maria either did not or would not hear; so the matter passed for
+that night. But the next day Matilda brought it up again. Maria found
+excuses to put her off. Matilda, however, was not to be put off
+permanently; she never forgot; and day after day the subject came up
+for discussion, until Maria at last consented.
+
+"I am going because you tease me so, Tilly," she said, as they set
+forth from the gate. "Just for that and nothing else. I don't like it a
+bit."
+
+"But you promised."
+
+"I didn't."
+
+"To bring in new scholars?"
+
+"I did not promise I would bring the Dow children; and I don't believe
+they'll come."
+
+The walk before the children was not long, and yet it almost took them
+out of the village. They passed the corner this time without turning,
+keeping the road, which was indeed part of the great high road which
+took Shadywalk in its way, as it took many another village. The houses
+in this direction soon began to scatter further apart from each other.
+They were houses of more pretension, too, with grounds and gardens and
+fruit trees about them; and built in styles that were notable, if not
+according to any particular rule. Soon the ground began to descend
+sharply towards the bed of a brook, which brawled along with impetuous
+waters towards a mill somewhere out of sight. It was a full, fine
+stream, mimicking the rapids and eddies of larger streams, with all
+their life and fury given to its smaller current. The waters looked
+black and wintry in contrast with the white snow of the shores. A
+foot-bridge spanned the brook, alongside of another bridge for
+carriages; and just beyond, the black walls of a ruin showed where
+another fine mill had once stood. That mill had been burnt. It was an
+old story; the girls did not so much as think about it now. Matilda's
+glance had gone the other way, where the stream rushed along from under
+the bridge and hurried down a winding glen, bordered by a road that
+seemed well traversed. A house could be seen down the glen, just where
+the road turned in company with the brook and was lost to view.
+
+"I wonder who lives down there?" said Matilda.
+
+"I don't know. Yes, I do, too; but I have forgotten."
+
+"I wonder if they come to church."
+
+"I don't know _that;_ and I shall not go to ask them. Why, Matilda, you
+never cared before whether people went to church."
+
+"Don't you care now?" was Matilda's rejoinder.
+
+"No! I don't care. I don't know those people. They may go to fifty
+churches, for aught I can tell."
+
+"But, Maria,"--said her little sister.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I do not understand you."
+
+"Very likely. _That_ isn't strange."
+
+"But, Maria,--you promised the other night--O Maria, what things you
+promised!"
+
+"What then?" said Maria. "What do you mean? What did I promise?"
+
+"You promised you would be a servant of Christ," Matilda said,
+anxiously.
+
+"Well, what if I did?" said Maria. "Of course I did; what then. Am I to
+find out whether everybody in Shadywalk goes to church, because I
+promised that? It is not my business."
+
+"Whose business is it?"
+
+"It is Mr. Richmond's business and Mr. Everett's business; and Mr.
+Schoenflocker's business. I don't see what makes it mine."
+
+"Then you ought not to have said that you would bring new scholars to
+the school, I think, if you did not mean to do it; and whom do you mean
+to carry the message to, Maria? You said you would carry the message."
+
+"I don't know what carrying the message means," said Maria.
+
+Matilda let the question drop, and they went on their way in silence;
+rising now by another steep ascent on the other side of the brook,
+having crossed the bridge. The hill was steep enough to give their
+lungs play without talking. At the top of the hill the road forked; one
+branch turned off southwards; the high road turned east; the sisters
+followed this. A little way further, and both slackened their steps
+involuntarily as the house they were going to came full in view.
+
+It was like a great many others; brown with the weather, and having a
+certain forlorn look that a house gets when there are no loving eyes
+within it to care how it looks. The doors did not hang straight; the
+windows had broken panes; a tub here and a broken pitcher there stood
+in sight of every passer-by. A thin wreath of smoke curled up from the
+chimney, so it was certain that people lived there; but nothing else
+looked like it. The girls went in through the rickety gate. Over the
+house the bare branches of a cherry tree gave no promise of summery
+bloom; and some tufts of brown stems standing up from the snow hardly
+suggested the gay hollyhocks of the last season. The two girls
+slackened their steps yet more, and seemed not to know very well how to
+go on.
+
+"I don't like it, Tilly," Maria said. "I have a mind to give it up."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't, Maria," the little one replied; but she looked puzzled
+and doubtful.
+
+"Well, suppose they don't want to see us in here? it don't look as if
+they did."
+
+"We can try, Maria; it will do no harm to try."
+
+"I don't know that," said Maria. "I'll never come such an errand again,
+Matilda; never! I give you notice of that. What shall I do? Knock?"
+
+"I suppose so."
+
+Maria knocked. The next minute the upper half of the door was opened,
+and an oldish woman looked out. A dirty woman, with her hair all in
+fly-away order, and her dress very slatternly as well as soiled.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Are there some children here?" Maria began.
+
+"Children? yes, there's children here. There's my children."
+
+"Do they go to school?"
+
+"Has somebody been stealin' something, and you want to know if it's my
+children have done it?" said the woman. "'Cos they don't go to no
+school that _you_ ever see."
+
+"I did not mean any such thing," said Maria, quite taken aback.
+
+"Well, what _did_ you mean?" the woman asked sharply.
+
+"We want to see the children," Matilda put in. "May we come in and get
+warm, if you please?"
+
+The woman still held the door in her hand, and looked at the last
+speaker from head to foot; then half reluctantly opened the door.
+
+"I don't know as it'll hurt you to come in," she said; "but it won't do
+you much good; the place is all in a clutter, and it always is. Come
+along in, if you want to! and shut the door; 'tain't so warm here
+you'll need the wind in to help you. Want the children, did you say?
+what do you want of 'em?"
+
+Matilda thought privately that the wind would have been a good
+companion after all; no sooner was the door shut, than all remembrance
+of fresh air faded away. An inexpressible atmosphere filled the house,
+in which frying fat, smoke, soapsuds, and the odour of old garments,
+mingled and combined in proportions known to none but such
+dwelling-places. Yet it was not as bad as it might have been, by many
+degrees; the house was a little frame house, open at the joints; and it
+stood in the midst of heaven's free air; all the winds that came from
+the mountains and the river swept over and around it, came down the
+chimney sometimes, and breathed blessed breaths through every opening
+door and shackling window-frame. But to Matilda it seemed as bad as
+could be. So it seemed to her eyes too. Nothing clean; nothing
+comfortable; nothing in order; scraps of dinner on the floor; scraps of
+work under the table; a dirty cat in the corner by the stove; a wash
+tub occupying the other corner. The woman had her sleeves rolled up,
+and now plunged her arms into the tub again.
+
+"You can put in a stick of wood, if you want to," she said; "I guess
+the fire's got down. What did you come here for, hey? I hain't heard
+that yet, and I'm in a takin' to find out."
+
+"We thought maybe your children might like to go to Sunday-School,"
+said Maria, with a great deal of trepidation; "and we just came to ask
+them. That's all."
+
+"How did ye know but they went already?" the woman asked, looking at
+Maria from the corner of her eye.
+
+"I didn't know. I just came to ask them."
+
+"Well, I just advise you not to mix yourself with people's affairs till
+you _do_ know a little about 'em. What business is it o' yourn, eh,
+whether my children goes to Sunday-School? Sunday-School! what a poke
+it is!"
+
+"They did not come to _our_ Sunday-School," said Matilda, for her
+sister was nonplussed; "and we would like to have them come; unless
+they were going somewhere else."
+
+"They may speak for themselves," said Mrs. Dow; and she opened an inner
+door, and called in a shrill
+voice--"Araminty!--Jemimy!--Alexander!--come right along down, and if
+ye don't I'll whip ye."
+
+She went back to her washing-tub, and Maria and Matilda looked to see
+three depressed specimens of young human life appear at that inner
+door; but first tumbled down and burst in a sturdy, rugged young rascal
+of some eight or nine years; and after him a girl a little older, with
+the blackest of black eyes and hair, the latter hanging straight over
+her face and ears. The eyes of both fastened upon their strange
+visitors, and seemed as if they would move no more.
+
+"Them girls is come to get you to their Sunday-School," said the
+mother. "Don't you want for to go?"
+
+No answer, and no move of the black eyes. Matilda certainly thought
+they looked as if they feared the lifting of no mortal hand, their
+mother's or any other.
+
+"Would you like to go to Sunday-School?" inquired Maria politely,
+driven to speak by the necessities of the silence. But she might as
+well have asked Mrs. Dow's wash-tub. The mother laughed a little to
+herself.
+
+"Guess you might as well go along back the road ye come!" she said.
+"You won't get my Araminty Jemimy into no Sunday-School o' yourn this
+time. Maybe when she's growed older and wiser-like, she'll come and see
+you. She don' know what a Sunday-School's like. She thinks it's some
+sort of a trap."
+
+"I ain't afraid!" spoke out black eyes.
+
+"I didn't say you was," said her mother. "I might ha' said you was
+cunnin' enough to keep your foot out of it."
+
+"It is not a trap," said Matilda, boldly. "It is a pleasant place,
+where we sing, and learn nice things."
+
+"My children don't want to learn none o' your nice things," said the
+woman. "I can teach 'em to home."
+
+"But you don't!" said black eyes. "You don't _never_ learn us
+_nothing!_"
+
+There was not the slightest sweet desire of learning evidenced in this
+speech. It breathed nothing but defiance.
+
+"Alexander, won't _you_ come?" said Matilda, timidly, as her sister
+moved to the door. For Maria's courage gave out. But at that question
+the young urchin addressed set up a roar of hoarse laughter, throwing
+himself down and rolling over on the floor. His mother shoved him out
+of her way with a push that was very like a kick, and his sister,
+seizing a wringing wet piece of clothes from the wash-tub, dropped it
+spitefully on his head. There was promise of a fight; and Matilda and
+Maria hurried out. They hastened their steps through the garden, and
+even out in the high road they ran a little to get away from Mrs. Dow's
+neighbourhood.
+
+"Well!" said Maria, "what do you think now, Tilly? I hope you have got
+enough for once of this kind of thing. I promise you I have."
+
+"Hush!" said Matilda. "Some one is calling."
+
+They stopped and turned. A shout was certainly sent after them from the
+gate they had quitted--"Girls, hollo!--Sunday-School girls, hollo!"
+
+"Do you hear?" said Matilda.
+
+"Sunday-School girls!--come back!"
+
+"What can they want?" said Maria.
+
+"We must go see," said Matilda.
+
+So they went towards the gate again. By the gate they could soon see
+the shock head of Alexander; he had got rid of the wash-tub and his
+mother and his sister--all three; and he was waiting there to speak to
+them. The girls hurried up again till they confronted his grinning face
+on the other side of the gate.
+
+"What do you want?" said Maria. "What do you call us back for?"
+
+"I didn't call you," said the boy.
+
+"Yes, you did; you called us back; and we have come back all this way.
+What do you want to say?"
+
+Alexander's face was dull, even in his triumph. No sparkle or gleam of
+mischief prepared the girls for his next speech.
+
+"I say--ain't you green!"
+
+But another shout of rude laughter followed it; and another roll and
+tumble, though these last were on the snow. Maria and her sister turned
+and walked away till out of hearing.
+
+"I never heard of such horrible people!" said Maria; "never! And this
+is what you get, Matilda, by your dreadful going after Sunday-scholars
+and such things. I do hope you have got enough of it."
+
+But Matilda only drew deep sighs, one after another, at intervals, and
+made no reply.
+
+"Don't you see what a goose you are?" persisted Maria. "Don't you see?"
+
+"No," said Matilda. "I don't see that."
+
+"Well, you might. Just look at what a time we have had, only because
+you fancied there were two children at that house."
+
+"Well, there _are_ two children."
+
+"Such children!" said Maria,
+
+"I wish Mr. Richmond would go to see them," said Matilda.
+
+"It would be no use for Mr. Richmond or anybody to go and see them,"
+said Maria. "They are too wicked."
+
+"But you cannot tell beforehand," said Matilda.
+
+"And so I say, Tilly, the only way is to keep out of such places. I
+hope you'll be content now."
+
+Matilda was hardly content; for the sighs kept coming every now and
+then. So they went down the hill again, and over the bridge, past the
+glen and the burnt mill, and began to go up on the other side. Now
+across the way, at the top of the bank that overhung the dell, there
+stood a house of more than common size and elegance, in the midst of
+grounds that seemed to be carefully planted. A fine brick wall enclosed
+these grounds on the roadside, and at the top of the hill an iron gate
+gave entrance to them.
+
+"O Tilly," exclaimed Maria, "the Lardners' gate is open. Look! Suppose
+we go in."
+
+"I should not like to go in," said the little one.
+
+"Why not? There's nobody at home; they haven't come yet; and it's such
+a good chance. You know, Clarissa says that people have leave to go
+into people's great places and see them, in England, where she has
+been."
+
+"But this is not a great place, and we have not leave," urged Matilda.
+
+"Oh well, I'm going in. Come! we'll just go in for a minute. It's no
+harm. Come just for a minute."
+
+Matilda, however, stopped at the gate, and stood there waiting for her
+sister; while Maria stepped in cautiously and made her way as far as
+the front of the house. Here she turned and beckoned to Matilda to join
+her; but the little one stood fast.
+
+"What does she want of you?" a voice asked at her elbow. Matilda
+started. Two ladies were there.
+
+"She beckoned for me to go in where she is," said Matilda.
+
+"Well, why don't you go in?"
+
+The voice was kindly; the face of the lady was bending towards her
+graciously; but who it was Matilda did not know.
+
+"We have no leave to go in," she said. "I do not like to be there."
+
+"I dare say the people would let you come in, if they knew you wished
+it."
+
+"They do not know," said Matilda.
+
+"What a charming child!" said the lady apart to her companion. "My
+dear," she went on to Matilda, "will you come in on my invitation? This
+is my house, and you are welcome. I shall be as glad to see you as you
+to see the place. Come!"
+
+And she took Matilda's hand and led her in.
+
+Just at the crown of the bank the house stood, and from here the view
+was very lovely, even now in winter. Over the wide river, which lay
+full in view with its ice covering, to the opposite shores and the
+magnificent range of mountains, which, from Matilda's window at home,
+she could just see in a little bit. The full range lay here before the
+eye, white with snow, coloured and brightened by the sinking sun, which
+threw wonderful lights across them, and revealed beautiful depths and
+shadows. Still, cold, high, far-off; their calm majesty held Matilda's
+eye.
+
+"Are you looking at the mountains?" said the lady. "Yes, now come in
+and you shall look at my flowers. Your sister may come too," she added,
+nodding kindly to Maria; but she kept Matilda's hand, and so led her
+first upon the piazza, which was a single step above the ground, then
+into the hall. An octagon hall, paved with marble, and with large white
+statues holding post around its walls, and a vase of flowers on the
+balustrade at the foot of the staircase. But those were not the flowers
+the lady had meant; she passed on to one of the inner rooms, and from
+that to another, and finally into a pretty greenhouse, with glass
+windows looking out to the mountains and the river, filled on this side
+of the windows with tropical bloom. While the girls gazed in wonder,
+the lady stepped back into the room they had left, and threw off her
+wrappings. When she came again to the girls in the greenhouse, they
+hardly knew which to look at, her or the flowers; her dress and whole
+appearance were so unlike anything they had ever seen.
+
+"Which do you like best?" she said. "The roses, you know, of course;
+these are camellias,--and these--and these red ones too; all camellias.
+These are myrtle; these are heath; these are geraniums--all those are
+geraniums. This is Eupatorium--those, yes, those are azaleas, and
+those,--and all those. Yes, all azaleas. You like them? This is
+bigonia. What do you like best?"
+
+It was a long while before Matilda could divide and define her
+admiration enough to tell what she liked best. Carnations and heath
+were found at last to have her best favour. The lady cut a bouquet for
+her with plenty of carnations and heath, but a variety of other beauty
+too; then led the girls into the other room and offered them some rich
+cake and a glass of what Matilda supposed to be wine. She took the cake
+and refused the cordial.
+
+"It is very sweet," said the lady. "You will not dislike it; and it
+will warm you, this cold afternoon."
+
+"I may not drink wine, ma'am, thank you," Matilda answered.
+
+"It is not wine. Does it make you sick, my dear? Are you afraid to try
+it? Your sister is not afraid. I think it will do you good."
+
+Being thus reassured, Matilda put the glass to her lips, but
+immediately set it down again.
+
+"You do not like it?" said the lady.
+
+"I like it; but--it is strong?" said Matilda, inquiringly.
+
+"Why, yes, it would not be good for anything if it were not strong.
+Never mind that--if you like it. The glass does not hold but a
+thimbleful, and a thimbleful will not hurt you. Why, why not, my dear?"
+
+Matilda looked up, and coloured and hesitated.
+
+"I have promised not," she said.
+
+"So solemnly?" said the lady, laughing. "Is it your mother you have
+promised?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Not your mother? You have a mother?"
+
+"Oh yes, ma'am."
+
+"Would she have any objection?"
+
+"No, ma'am--I believe not."
+
+"Then whom have you made your promise to? Is it a religious scruple
+that some one has taught you?"
+
+"I have promised to do all I could for helping temperance work,"
+Matilda said at last.
+
+She was answered with a little ringing laugh, not unkindly but amused;
+and then her friend said gravely--
+
+"Your taking a glass of cordial in this house would not affect anything
+or anybody, little one. It would do _me_ no harm. I drink a glass of
+wine every day with my dinner. I shall go on doing it just the same. It
+will not make a bit of difference to me, whether you take your cordial
+or not."
+
+But Matilda looked at the lady, and did not look at her glass.
+
+"Do you think it will?" said the lady, laughing.
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Then your promise to help temperance work does not touch the cordial."
+
+"No ma'am, but----"
+
+"But?--what 'but'?"
+
+"It touches me."
+
+"Does it?" said the lady. "That is odd. You think a promise is a
+promise. Here is your sister taking her cordial; she has not made the
+same promise, I suppose?"
+
+Maria and Matilda glanced at each other.
+
+"She has?" cried the lady. "Yet you see she does not think as you do
+about it."
+
+The sisters did not look into each other's eyes again. Their friend
+watched them both.
+
+"I should like to know whom you have made such a promise to," she said
+coaxingly to Matilda. "Somebody that you love well enough to make you
+keep it. Won't you tell me? It is not your mother, you said. To whom
+did you make that promise, dear?"
+
+Matilda hesitated and looked up into the lady's face again.
+
+"I promised--the Lord Jesus," she said.
+
+"Good patience! she's religious!" the lady exclaimed, with a change
+coming over her face; Matilda could not tell what it was, only it did
+not look like displeasure. But she was graver than before, and she
+pressed the cordial no more; and at parting she told Matilda she must
+certainly come and see her again, and she should always have a bunch of
+flowers to pay her. So the girls went home, saying nothing at all to
+each other by the way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+It was tea-time at home by the time they got there. All during the
+meal, Maria held forth upon the adventures of the afternoon, especially
+the last.
+
+"Mamma, those people are somebody," she concluded.
+
+"I hope I am somebody," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Oh but you know what I mean, mamma."
+
+"I am not clear that I do."
+
+"And I, Maria,--am I not somebody?" her aunt asked.
+
+"Well, we're all _somebody_, of course, in one sense. Of course we're
+not _nobody_."
+
+"I am not so sure what you think about it," said Mrs. Candy. "I think
+that in your language, who isn't somebody is nobody."
+
+"Oh, well, we're _somebody_," said Maria. "But if you could see the
+splendid bunch of jewels that hung at Mrs. Laval's breast, you would
+know I say the truth."
+
+"Now we are getting at Maria's meaning," observed Clarissa.
+
+"I have no bunch of jewels hanging at my breast," said Mrs. Englefield;
+"if _that_ is what she means by 'somebody.'"
+
+"How large a bunch was it, Maria?" her aunt asked.
+
+"And is it certain that Maria's eyes could tell the true from the
+false, in such a matter as a bunch of jewellery?" suggested Clarissa.
+"They have not had a great deal of experience."
+
+Maria fired up. "I just wish you could see them for yourself!" she
+said. "False jewels, indeed! They sparkle like flashes of lightning.
+All glittering and flashing, red and white. I never saw anything so
+beautiful in all my life. And if you saw the rest of the dress, you
+would know that they couldn't be false jewels."
+
+"What sort of a face had she?"
+
+"I don't know,--handsome."
+
+"The bunch of jewels dazzled Maria's eyes," said Clarissa, sipping her
+tea.
+
+"No, not handsome, Maria," Matilda said.
+
+"Well, not handsome exactly, but pleasant. She had curls, and lightish
+hair; but her dress was so handsome, it made her look handsome. She
+took a _terrible_ fancy to Matilda."
+
+"Matilda is the youngest," said her mother.
+
+"It was thanks to Matilda we got into the house at all; and Matilda had
+the flowers. Nobody spoke of giving me any flowers."
+
+"Well, you know you do not care for them," interposed Matilda.
+
+"Mamma, those people are somebody--I can tell you!"
+
+"You speak as if there were nobody else in Shadywalk, Maria, that is
+anybody."
+
+"Well, Aunt Candy, I don't know any people like these."
+
+"Maria, you talk nonsense," said her mother.
+
+"Mamma, it is just what Aunt Erminia would say herself, if she knew the
+people."
+
+"What makes anybody 'somebody,' I should like to know? and what do you
+mean by it? Am I nobody, because I cannot wear red and white jewels at
+my throat?"
+
+"It wasn't at her throat at all, mamma; it was just here--on her waist."
+
+"A _bouquet de corsage_," said Clarissa. "The _waist_, as you call it,
+is at the belt."
+
+"Well, I am not a mantua-maker," said Maria.
+
+"No more than we are somebody," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"Well, you know what I mean," said Maria; "and you all think exactly
+the same. There is nobody else in Shadywalk that dresses so, or that
+has such flowers, or that has such a house."
+
+"Who are they, these people that she talks of?" Mrs. Candy asked.
+
+"They have lately bought the place. I know nothing about them. They
+were here for a little while in the summer; but only to turn everything
+upside down in the house and grounds, and make changes. I cannot
+imagine what has brought them here, to the country, in the depth of
+winter. They had nothing to do with anybody in Shadywalk, that I know
+of. Perhaps they will, now they have got in order. I believe they have
+lived out of America a good deal."
+
+"Is that what you mean by 'somebody,' Maria?" her aunt asked. "Perhaps
+I am 'somebody,' according to that."
+
+Maria's thoughts would not bear to be spoken, it seemed, for she did
+not speak them; and it must be a strong reason that kept Maria's
+opinions to herself. However, the family found something else to talk
+about, and Mrs. Laval was not mentioned again till Maria and Matilda
+went up to bed. Then Matilda had something to say.
+
+"Maria," she began with judicial gravity, "what was that Mrs. Laval
+gave us to drink?"
+
+"I don't know," said Maria; "but it was the best thing I ever tasted in
+all my life. It was some sort of wine, I guess; it was strong enough.
+But it was sweet; oh, it was nice!"
+
+"And you drank it!"
+
+"I guess I did! I only wished there was more of it."
+
+"But, Maria!----"
+
+"Well, what, 'Maria'?"
+
+"You promised, Maria, that you would do all you could for temperance
+work."
+
+"What then? I could not do anything for temperance there, child. As
+Mrs. Laval said."
+
+"You needn't have drunk the wine."
+
+"Why shouldn't I? Mrs. Laval gave it to me; I couldn't be rude."
+
+"But that is not keeping your promise."
+
+"I made no promise about it. I could do nothing in the world for
+temperance _there_, Tilly. What would Mrs. Laval care for anything _I_
+should say?"
+
+"But, Maria!" said her little sister, looking puzzled and troubled at
+once--"you cannot drink wine in one place, and try to hinder people
+from drinking it in another place."
+
+"Why can't I? It all depends on the place, Tilly, and the people."
+
+"And the wine, I suppose," said Matilda, severely.
+
+"Yes!" said Maria, boldly, "I dare say, if all wine was like that, Mr.
+Richmond would have no objection to it."
+
+"I don't see, Maria," said her sister, "what you made those promises
+for the other night. I think you ought not to have got up at all; it
+was the same as speaking; and if you do not mean to keep promises, you
+should not make them."
+
+"And what have you got to do with it?" said Maria in her turn. "You did
+not stand up with the rest of us; you have no business to lecture other
+people that are better than yourself. I am going to keep all the
+promises I ever made; but I did not engage to go poking into Mrs. Dow's
+wash kitchen, nor to be rude to Mrs. Laval; and I don't mean to do the
+one or the other, I give you notice."
+
+Matilda drew another of the long breaths that had come so many times
+that afternoon, and presently remarked that she was glad the next
+meeting of the Band would come in a few days.
+
+Maria sharply inquired, "Why?"
+
+"Because," said Matilda, "I hope Mr. Richmond will talk to us. I don't
+understand about things."
+
+"Of course you don't!" said Maria; "and if I were you I would not be so
+wise, till I did 'understand.'"
+
+Matilda got into bed, and Maria sat down to finish putting the braid on
+her dress.
+
+"Tilly, what are you going to get with your twenty-five dollars?"
+
+"I don't know yet."
+
+"I don't know whether I shall get a watch, or a dress, like Anne; or
+something else. What would you?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"What _are_ you going to get with your money, Matilda?"
+
+"I can't tell, Maria. I know what I am going to do with part; but I
+don't know what I am going to do with the other part."
+
+Maria could get no more from her.
+
+Nothing new happened in the family before the evening came for what
+Maria called the "Band meeting." Matilda went about between home and
+the school extremely quiet and demure, and reserved rather more than
+ordinary; but reserve was Matilda's way. Only Maria knew, and it
+irritated her, that her little sister was careful to lock herself up
+alone with her Bible, or rather with somebody else's Bible, for Matilda
+had none of her own, for a good long time every morning and evening.
+Maria thought sometimes she knew of her doing the same thing at the
+noon recess. She said nothing, but she watched. And her watching made
+her certain of it. Matilda unlocked her door and came out always with a
+face of quiet seriousness and a spirit in armour. Maria could not
+provoke her (and she tried); nor could any other temptations or
+difficulties, that she could see, shake a certain steady gentleness
+with which Matilda went through them. Matilda was never a passionate
+child, but she had been pleasure-loving and wayward. That was changing
+now; and Matilda was giving earnest care to her school-work.
+
+The desired evening for the "Band meeting" came, and the young people
+all went duly to the lecture-room; though Maria reminded her sisters
+that they did not belong there. Letitia and Anne chose to go in spite
+of that fact. The room, though not full, was filled towards the upper
+end; so the party were divided, and it happened that Matilda placed
+herself apart from her sisters, in the front, at the end of a seat near
+to Mr. Richmond. He was there already, standing by the little desk.
+
+After the prayer and singing, Mr. Richmond declared that they were come
+together for a talk; and he meant to make it a talk. He should ask
+questions when he chose, and everybody else might exercise the same
+liberty.
+
+"We are going to try to understand things," he said; "and by that
+somewhat vague expression I mean things connected with our covenant
+that we have made, and the work we have undertaken. Our covenant begins
+with the words, 'We are the servants of Christ.' Let us know exactly
+what we mean. What is it to be a servant of Christ? What is a servant,
+in the first place?"
+
+There was hesitation; then an answer from somewhere,--"He is somebody
+who does what he is told."
+
+"That would be a good servant," said Mr. Richmond, smiling; "but it
+will do. He is one who acts under the will of another, doing the work
+of another. A servant of Christ--what does he do?--and how does he do
+it?"
+
+There was no answer this time.
+
+"Let us look," said Mr. Richmond. "In the first verse of the first
+chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, Paul calls himself a servant of
+Jesus Christ; and in the ninth verse he says that he serves 'with his
+spirit.' Here is a mark. The service of Christ, you see, is in the
+first instance, not outward but inward. Not hand work, nor lip work,
+nor money giving; but service _in the spirit_. What is that?
+
+"It is having your will the same with God's will.
+
+"So now look and see. We all pledged ourselves the other night to do a
+great many sorts of outward service; good in themselves, and right and
+needful to do. But the first question is, Are we ourselves the servants
+of Christ? Do we in heart love and obey and agree to His will? If we
+are not doing that, or trying to do it, our other service is no service
+at all. It is a lie, and no service at all. Or it is service of
+ourselves."
+
+Mr. Richmond paused a little.
+
+"I have no reason to think that any of you did not mean true service,
+when the pledge was given the other night. So now let us see how this
+true service shows itself.
+
+"Jesus said, you remember, 'If any man serve me, let him follow me.'
+All we have to ask is, How did the Lord himself walk, that we should
+follow Him? I recommend you to study the story of His life very
+carefully and very constantly, and be continually getting new lessons
+from it. But now let us look just at one or two points.
+
+"Jesus said, 'As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the
+world.' Has he commanded us to be anything like that?"
+
+One of the boys answered, "Let your light so shine before men, that
+they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
+heaven."
+
+"How can our light shine?"
+
+"Doing good," another boy answered.
+
+"Being good," said one of the girls.
+
+"Very well; but what is there in doing and being good which has any
+resemblance to light? What does light do?"
+
+"It shows things," a boy said.
+
+"There's no darkness where the light comes," said a little girl.
+
+"Quite true; but how does our doing good and being good, 'show things'?
+What does it show?"
+
+After a little hesitation a voice replied, "It shows what is right."
+
+"It shows what people ought to do," a boy said.
+
+"It shows what is the will of God about us," said Mr. Richmond; "and
+the more exactly we are obedient to that will and conformed to it, the
+more brightly do we give light. And do you see? our light-giving
+depends on what we _are_. We give no light, except just so far as we
+are ourselves what God wills us to be. And then it shines out in all
+sorts of ways. I knew a little girl whose eyes were like two pure
+lamps, always; they were so loving and clear and true. I have known
+several people whose voices gave light as much as harmony; they were so
+sweet with the tones of a glad heart and a conscience at peace. I have
+seen faces that shone, almost like angel faces, with the love of God
+and the joy of heaven and the love of their fellow-men. Now this is the
+first thing the Lord calls us to be in His service--His light-bearers.
+The light comes from Him; we must get it from Him; and then we must
+shine! And of course our actions give light too, if they are obedient
+to the will of God. A boy who keeps the Sabbath holy is almost as good
+as a sermon to a boy who doesn't. One who refuses to touch the offered
+glass of wine, shows the light to another who drinks it. A loving
+answer shames a harsh spirit; and a child faithful to her duties at
+school is a beacon of truth to her fellows.
+
+"There is one thing more; and then I will talk to you no longer this
+evening. Jesus said, 'The Son of man is come to seek and to save that
+which is lost.' His servants must follow Him. Now, how much are you
+willing to do,--how far are you willing to go,--to accomplish what He
+came, and lived, and died for? and how will you set about it?"
+
+There was a long silence here; until Mr. Richmond urged that an answer
+should be given. Then at last somebody suggested--
+
+"Bringing new scholars to school?"
+
+"That is one thing to be done, certainly; and a very good thing. What
+else can we attempt? Remember,--it is to seek and to save the _lost!_"
+
+"We might carry tracts," another suggested.
+
+"You might; and if they are good tracts, and given with a kind word,
+and followed with a loving prayer, they will not be carried in vain.
+But to whom will you take them, Frank?"
+
+"Might take them to the boys in the school," Frank thought.
+
+"Where else?"
+
+"Might drop 'era around the corner," Mrs. Rice said.
+
+"Don't _drop_ them anywhere, where it is possible to give them," Mr.
+Richmond replied. "Do not ever be, or seem, ashamed of your wares. Give
+lovingly to almost anybody, and the gift will not be refused, if you
+choose the time and place wisely. Take people when they are alone, as
+much as you can. But the _lost_, remember. Who are the lost?"
+
+Silence; then a voice spoke--
+
+"People who don't come to church."
+
+"It is a bad sign when people do not come to church," said Mr.
+Richmond. "Still we may not make that an absolute test. Some people are
+sick and unable to come; some are deaf and unable to hear if they did
+come; some are so poor they have not decent clothes. Some live where
+there are no churches. Who are the _lost?_"
+
+"People who are not going to heaven," one little girl answered.
+
+"People who are not good," another said.
+
+"People who swear," said a boy.
+
+"Those people who do not love Jesus Christ," was the answer of the
+fourth.
+
+"That sums it all up," said Mr. Richmond. "Those who do not know the
+Lord Jesus. They are out of the way to heaven; they have never trusted
+in His blood for forgiveness; they are not good, for they have not got
+His help to make them good; and if they do not swear and do other
+dreadful things, it is only because the temptation is wanting. They are
+the lost. Now, does not every one of you know some friend or
+acquaintance who is a lost one? some brother or sister perhaps; or
+mother or father, or cousin or neighbour, who does not love Jesus the
+Lord? Those are the very first people for us to seek. Then, outside of
+those nearest ones, there is a whole world lost. Let us go after all,
+but especially those who have few to look after them."
+
+"It is harder to speak to those you know, than to those you don't
+know," Mrs. Trembleton said.
+
+"No matter. Jesus said, 'He that taketh not his cross and followeth
+after me, cannot be my disciple.' Let us go to the hardest cases."
+
+"Are not tracts best to use with them?" Mrs. Swan asked.
+
+"Use tracts or not, according to circumstances. Your own voice is often
+better than a tract, if it has the right ring to it. When
+
+  ''Tis joy, not duty,
+  To speak His beauty.'
+
+Speak _that_ as often and wherever you can. And 'whatsoever thy hand
+findeth to do, do it with thy might.' Now I have done asking questions,
+and you may ask me whatever you like. It is your turn."
+
+Mr. Richmond sat down.
+
+But the silence was unbroken.
+
+"I am here to answer questions, remember. Has no one anything to ask?
+Has no one found any difficulty to be met, and he does not know just
+how to meet it? Has no one found something to be done, and he does not
+know just who is to do it? Speak, and tell everything. Now is the time."
+
+Silence again, and then a little boy said--
+
+"I have found a feller that would like, I guess, to come to
+Sunday-School; but his toes is out o' his shoes."
+
+"Cannot he get another pair?" Mr. Richmond asked gravely.
+
+"I guess not, sir."
+
+"Then it is a case for the 'Aid and Comfort' committee," said Mr.
+Richmond. "Who is the head of your department? Who is chief of those
+who are looking up new scholars?"
+
+"John Depeyster."
+
+"Very well. Tell John Depeyster all about your little boy and his toes,
+and John will go to the head of the relief committee--that is, Miss
+Forshew--and she will see about it. Very well, Everett; you have made a
+good beginning. Who is next?"
+
+"I would like to know," said Miss Forshew, in a small voice, "where the
+relief committee are to get supplies from? If new shoes are to be
+bought, there must be funds."
+
+"That is the very thing the relief committee undertook, I thought,"
+said Mr. Richmond. "Must there be some scheme to relieve _them_ first?
+Your business abilities can manage that, Miss Forshew, or I am mistaken
+in them. But, dear friends, we are not going to serve Christ with that
+which costs us nothing--are we?"
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Ailie Swan, "may temperance people drink cider?"
+
+The laughter was universal now.
+
+"Because," said Ailie, unabashed, "I was talking to a boy about
+drinking it; and he said cider was nothing."
+
+"I have seen _some_ cider which was more than negative in its effects,"
+said Mr. Richmond. "I think you were right Ailie. Cider is only the
+juice of apples, to be sure; but it gets so unlike itself once in a
+while, that it is quite safe to have nothing to do with it."
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said another girl, "what are you to do if people are
+rude?"
+
+"The Bible says, 'A soft answer turneth away wrath,' Mary."
+
+"But suppose they will not listen to you?"
+
+"Be patient. People did not always listen to the Master, you remember."
+
+"But would you try again?"
+
+"If I had the least chance. We must not be afraid of 'taking the wind
+on our face,' as an old writer says. I would try again; and I would
+pray more for them. Did you try that, Mary?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Don't ever hope to do anything without prayer. Indeed, we must look to
+God to do all. _We_ are nothing. If anything is to be accomplished for
+the service of Christ by our hands, it must be by God's grace working
+through us and with us; no other way. The power is His, always. So
+whatever you do, pray, and hope in God, not in yourself."
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Frances Barth, "I do not understand about
+'carrying the message.' What does it mean?"
+
+"You know what the message is? We are commanded to preach the gospel to
+every creature."
+
+"But how can we do it?--people who are not ministers?"
+
+"It is not necessary to get up into a pulpit to preach the gospel."
+
+"No, sir; but--any way, how is one to 'carry the message'?"
+
+"First, I would say, be sure that you have a message to carry."
+
+"I thought you just said, Mr. Richmond, that the gospel is the
+message?" said Mrs. Trembleton.
+
+"It is the material of the message; but you know it must be very
+differently presented to different people."
+
+"I know; but how can you tell?"
+
+"As I said, be sure that you have a message to carry. Let your heart be
+full of some thought, or some truth, which you long to tell to another
+person, or long that another person should know. Then ask the Lord to
+give you the right word for that person; and ask Him to let His power
+go along with it."
+
+"Then one's own heart must be full first," said another lady, Mrs.
+Barth, thoughtfully.
+
+"It should be. And it may be."
+
+"One has so little time to give to these things," said Mrs. Trembleton.
+
+"Shall we serve the Lord with that which costs us nothing?" again said
+Mr. Richmond. But he did not prolong the conversation after that. He
+gave out a hymn and dismissed the assembly.
+
+Matilda being quite in the front, was some distance behind her sisters
+in coming out. As she passed slowly down the aisle, she came near two
+of her little acquaintances in one of the seats, who were busily
+talking.
+
+"It would be so nice!" she heard the one say to the other.
+
+"Where shall we do it?"
+
+"There's no place at our house."
+
+"No more there isn't at mine. There are so many people about all over.
+Where can we go?"
+
+"I'll tell you. Mr. Ulshoeffer has this place nice and warm long before
+Sunday-School time, on Sundays; let us come here. We could come awhile
+before the time, you know; and it would be so nice. Nobody would
+interrupt us. Oh, there's Matilda Englefield--Matilda, won't you come
+too? Oh, I forgot; you are not one of the Band."
+
+"Yes, I am," said Matilda.
+
+"Why, you didn't rise the other night when we all rose. I looked over
+at you to see."
+
+"I gave Mr. Richmond my name afterwards."
+
+"Oh, did you! oh, that's good. Now, Matilda, wouldn't you like to come
+with Mary and me?"
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Why, Mary said she would like to begin and read the Life of Jesus, you
+know, to see how He did live; if we are to follow Him, you know; and I
+said I would like it too; and we're going to do it together. And we're
+coming here Sundays, before time for Sunday-School, to have a good
+quiet place where nobody can trouble us. Don't you want to come too,
+Matilda?"
+
+"Yes. But other people will find it out and come too."
+
+"We'll lock the door; till it is time for the people to come to
+Sunday-School, you know."
+
+"But I don't believe _we_ can get in, Ailie," said Mary Edwards. "I
+guess Mr. Ulshoeffer keeps the door locked himself."
+
+"I know he does; but I know Regina Ulshoeffer, and she'll get leave for
+us and get the key. I know she will. Then we'll come, won't we?
+Good-night! Bring your Testament, Tilly!"
+
+The little group scattered at the lecture-room door, and Matilda ran
+after her party. They were far ahead; and when she caught up with them
+they were deep in eager talk, which was almost altercation. Matilda
+fell behind and kept out of it and out of hearing of it, till they got
+home.
+
+"Well!" said Mrs. Candy, as they entered the parlour, "what now? You do
+not look harmonious, considering. What have you had to-night?"
+
+"An impossible sort of enthusiasm, mamma," said Clarissa, as she drew
+off her handsome furs.
+
+"Impossible enthusiasm!" repeated Mrs. Candy.
+
+"What has Mr. Richmond been talking about?" asked Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"Why, mamma," said Letitia, "we are all to spend our lives in feeding
+sick people, and clothing lazy people, and running after the society of
+wicked people, as far as I can make out; and our money of course goes
+on the same plan. I advise you to look after Maria and Matilda, for
+they are just wise enough to think it's all right; and they will be
+carrying it into practice before you know where you are."
+
+"It is not so at all!" began Maria, indignantly. "It is nothing like
+that, mamma. You know Mr. Richmond better."
+
+"I think I know you better, too. Look where your study books were
+thrown down to-day when you came from school. Take them away, before
+you do anything else or say anything more."
+
+Maria obeyed with a gloomy face.
+
+"Do you approve of Mr. Richmond, Aunt Marianne?" Clarissa asked. "If
+so, I will say no more; but I was astonished to-night. I thought he was
+a man of sense."
+
+"He _is_ a man of sense," said Mrs. Englefield; "but I always thought
+he carried his notions rather far."
+
+"Why, aunt, he would make missionaries and colporteurs and sisters of
+charity of us all. Sisters of charity are a magnificent institution, of
+course; but what would become of the world if we were _all_ sisters of
+charity? And the idea! that everybody is to spend his whole time and
+all his means in looking up vagrants and nursing fever cases! I never
+heard anything like it in my life. That, and doing the work of
+travelling Methodists!"
+
+"I wonder what the ministry is good for," said Mrs. Candy, "if
+everybody is to do the same work."
+
+"I do not understand it," said Mrs. Englefield. "I was not brought up
+to these extreme theories myself; and I do not intend that my children
+shall be."
+
+"But, mamma," said Maria, re-entering, "Mr. Richmond does not go into
+extreme theories."
+
+"Did you eat an apple after dinner?" said her mother.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"You ate it up here, instead of in the dining-room?"
+
+"Why, mamma, you know we often----"
+
+"Answer me. You ate it up here?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What did you do with the core and the peel?"
+
+"Mamma, I--you know I had no knife----"
+
+"What did you do with it?"
+
+No answer, except that Maria's cheeks grew bright.
+
+"You know what you did with it, I suppose. Now bring it to me, Maria."
+
+Colouring angrily as well as confusedly, Maria went to the mantelpiece
+where stood two little china vases, and took down one of them.
+
+"Carry it to your Aunt Candy," said her mother. "Look at it, Erminia.
+Now bring it here. Take this vase away, and empty it, and wash it, and
+put it in its place again; and never use it to put apple peels in, as
+long as you live."
+
+Maria burst into tears and went away with the vase.
+
+"Just a little careless," said her aunt.
+
+"Heedless--always was," said her mother. "Now Matilda is not so; and
+Anne and Letitia were neither of them so. It is a mystery to me, what
+makes one child so different from another child?"
+
+"Matilda is a little piece of thoughtfulness," said her aunt, drawing
+the child to her side and kissing her. "Don't you think a little too
+much, Tilly?"
+
+Matilda wondered whether her aunt thought quite enough.
+
+"Now, Maria," Mrs. Englefield went on as her other daughter came in,
+"are you purposing to enter into all Mr. Richmond's plans that Clarissa
+has been talking about?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, of course," Maria said.
+
+"Well, I want you to take notice, that I expect in the first place that
+all your home and school duties shall be perfectly performed. Religion,
+if it is good for anything, makes people do their duties. Your lessons
+must be perfect; your drawers kept in order; your clothes mended; you
+must be punctual at school and orderly at home; do you hear? And if all
+this is not done, I shall take all your pretended religion for nothing
+but a sham, and shall pay no respect to it at all. Now go to bed and
+act religion for a month before I hear you talk another word about it."
+
+Maria went silently up-stairs, accompanied by her little sister; but
+once in their room, she broke out--
+
+"Mamma is real cross to-night! It is just Clarissa's doing."
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Maria," her sister said; "she is not cross;
+she is worried. I know she is worried."
+
+"About Mr. Richmond?" said Maria.
+
+"I don't know about what. No, I guess she was worried before we came
+back."
+
+"She was cross anyhow!" said Maria. "How can one do everything
+_perfectly?_"
+
+"But that is just what Mr. Richmond said," Matilda urged gently.
+
+"What?"
+
+"That we should be light-bearers, you know. That is the way to be a
+light-bearer; to do everything perfectly."
+
+"Well, you may, if you can," said Maria. "I can't."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+"Tilly, that money burns my pocket," Maria said the next morning.
+
+"Then you had better put it somewhere else."
+
+"I suppose you think that is smart," said Maria, "but it isn't; for
+that is just what I mean to do. I mean to spend it, somehow."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"That's just what I don't know. There are so many things I want; and I
+do not know what I want most. I have a good mind to buy a writing-desk,
+for one thing."
+
+"Why, you have got one already."
+
+"I mean a handsome one--a real beauty, large, you know, and with
+everything in it. That lock of mine isn't good. Anybody could open it."
+
+"But there is nobody to do that," said Matilda. "Nobody comes here but
+you and me."
+
+"That don't make any difference!" said Maria, impatiently. "Don't be so
+stupid. I would like to have a nice thing, anyhow. Then sometimes I
+think I would rather have a gold chain--like Clarissa's."
+
+"You could not get that for twenty-five dollars," said Matilda.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Hers cost three or four times as much as that."
+
+"Did it?--Well, then I guess I will have the desk, or a whole lot of
+handsome summer dresses. I guess I will have that."
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, facing round upon her, "how much are
+you going to give to the Missionary Fund?"
+
+"The Missionary Fund?" said Maria.
+
+"Yes. You promised to help that, you know."
+
+"Not with my twenty-five dollars!" said Maria, energetically. "I think
+you are crazy, Matilda."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because! To ask me such a question as that. Aunt Candy's present!"
+
+"Didn't you promise?"
+
+"I did not promise to give my money any more than I usually give. I put
+a penny in every Sunday."
+
+"Then I don't see how you are going to help the Fund," said Matilda. "I
+don't see why you promised, either."
+
+"I promised, because I wanted to join the Band; and I am going to do
+everything I ought to do. I think I am just as good as you, Matilda."
+
+Matilda let the matter drop.
+
+It did not appear what _she_ was going to do with her money. She always
+said she had not decided. Only, one day soon after the last meeting
+recorded, Matilda was seen in one of the small bookstores of Shadywalk.
+There was not reading enough in the village to support a bookstore
+proper; so the books crept into one corner of the apothecaries' shops,
+with supplies of stationery to form a connecting link between them and
+the toilet articles on the opposite counter. To one of these modest
+retreats of literature, Matilda came this day and requested to look at
+Bibles. She chose one and paid for it; but she took a long time to make
+her choice; was excessively particular about the goodness of the
+binding and the clearness of the type; detecting an incipient loose
+leaf in one that was given her to examine; and finally going away
+perfectly satisfied. She said nothing about it at home; but of course
+Maria saw the new purchase immediately.
+
+"So you have been to get a Bible!" she said. "Did you get it with part
+of your twenty-five dollars?"
+
+"Yes. I had no other money, Maria, to get it with."
+
+"I think you are very foolish. What do you want a Bible for?"
+
+"I had none."
+
+"You could always read mine."
+
+"Not always. And Maria, you know, if we are to follow Jesus, we want to
+know very well, indeed, how He went and what He did and what He wants
+us to do; and we cannot know all that without a _great deal_ of study."
+
+"I have studying enough to do already, for my part," said Maria.
+
+"But you must study this."
+
+"I haven't a minute of time, Matilda--not a minute."
+
+"Then how will you know what to do?"
+
+"Just as well as you will, perhaps. I've got my map of South America to
+do all over, from the beginning."
+
+"And all the rest of the class?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then you are no worse off than the others. And Ailie Swan reads her
+Bible, I know."
+
+"I think I am just as good as Ailie Swan," said Maria, with a toss of
+her head.
+
+"But, Maria," said Maria's little sister, leaning her elbows on the
+table and looking earnestly up at her.
+
+"Well, what?"
+
+"Is that the right way to talk?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I don't see what Ailie has to do with your being good."
+
+"Nor I, I am sure," said Maria. "It was you brought her up."
+
+"Because, if she has time, I thought you might have time."
+
+"Well, I haven't time," said Maria. "It is as much as I can do, to
+study my lesson for Sunday-School."
+
+"Then, Maria, how _can_ you know how to be good?"
+
+"It is no part of goodness to go preaching to other people, I would
+have you know," said Maria.
+
+Matilda turned over the leaves of her new Bible lovingly, and said no
+more. But her sister failing her, she was all the more driven to seek
+the little meetings in the corner of the Sunday-School-room; and they
+grew to be more and more pleasant. At home nothing seemed to be right.
+Mrs. Englefield was not like herself. Anne and Letitia were gloomy and
+silent. The air was heavy. Even Clarissa's beautiful eyes, when they
+were slowly lifted up to look at somebody, according to her custom,
+seemed cold and distant as they were not at first. Clarissa visited
+several sick people and carried them nourishing things; but she looked
+calm disapproval when Maria proclaimed that Tilly had been all up Lilac
+Lane to look for a stray Sunday-School scholar. Mrs. Englefield laughed
+and did not interfere.
+
+"I would never let a child of mine go there alone," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"There is no danger in Shadywalk," said Mrs. Englefield.
+
+"You will be sorry for it, sister."
+
+"Well; I am sorry for most things, sooner or later," said Mrs.
+Englefield.
+
+So weeks went by; until it came to be the end of winter, and something
+of spring was already stealing into the sunlight and softening the air;
+that wonderful nameless "something," which is nothing but a far-off
+kiss from Spring's fingers. One Sunday Mrs. Englefield had gone to bed
+with a headache; and hastening away from the dinner-table, Matilda went
+off to her appointment. Mr. Ulshoeffer had been propitious; he let the
+little girls have the key on the inside of the schoolroom door; and an
+hour before it was time for the classes of the school to be gathering,
+the three friends met at the gate and went in. They always sat in a
+far-off corner of one of the transepts, to be as cozy as possible. They
+were all punctual to-day, Ailie having the key of the door.
+
+"Girls, don't you get confused sometimes, with the things you hear
+people say?" she asked, as she unlocked the door. "I do; and then
+sometimes I get real worried."
+
+"So do I get worried!" Mary Edwards assented. "And I don't know what to
+say--that's the worst of it."
+
+"Now only to-day," Ailie went on, as they walked up the matted aisle
+with a delicious sense of being free and alone and confidential, "I
+heard some one say it was no use for children to be Christians; he said
+they didn't know their own minds, and don't know what they want, and by
+and by it will all be smoke. And when I hear such things, it affects me
+differently. Sometimes I get mad; and then sometimes it takes the
+strength all out of me."
+
+"But if we have the right sort of strength," said Matilda, "people
+can't take it from us, Ailie."
+
+"Well, mine seems to go," said Ailie. "And then I feel bad."
+
+"We know what we want," said Mary, "if we are children."
+
+"We know our own minds," said Matilda. "We _know_ we do. It is no
+matter what people say."
+
+"I wish they wouldn't say it," said Ailie. "Or I wish I needn't hear
+it. But it is good to come here and read, isn't it? And I think our
+talk helps us; don't you?"
+
+"It helps me," said Mary Edwards. "I've got nobody at home to talk to."
+
+"Let us begin, girls, or we shall not have time," said Matilda. "It's
+the fourteenth chapter."
+
+"Of Luke?" said Ailie. "Here it is. But I don't like Luke so well as
+Matthew; do you? Well, begin."
+
+They began and read on, verse by verse, until fourteen verses were
+read. There they paused.
+
+"What does this mean?" said Matilda, knitting her small brows.
+
+"Isn't it right to ask our friends to tea or anything? Why, Jesus went
+to dine with this Pharisee," said Mary, looking up.
+
+"Yes; but that is another thing," said Matilda. "You see, we must ask
+the people who have no friends."
+
+"But why not our friends too?"
+
+"Perhaps it would cost too much to ask _everybody_," said Ailie. "One
+would be giving parties all the time; and they cost, I can tell you."
+
+"But some people are rich enough," said Mary.
+
+"Those people don't make parties for the poor, though," said Ailie.
+"Catch them!"
+
+"But then, _can_ it mean that it is wrong to have our friends come and
+see us?" said Matilda.
+
+"It cannot be wrong. Don't you remember, Martha and Mary used to have
+Jesus come to their house? and they used to make suppers for Him."
+
+"But _He_ was poor," said Matilda.
+
+"That is different, too, from having a party, and making a great fuss,"
+said Ailie.
+
+"And _that_ is done just to pay one's debts," said Matilda, "for I have
+heard mother say so. People ask her, and so she must ask people. And
+that is what it means, girls, I guess. See, 'lest they also bid thee
+again, and a recompense be made thee.' That isn't making a feast for
+people that you love."
+
+"Then it is wicked to ask people just that they may ask you," said Mary
+Edwards.
+
+"Instead of that, we must ask people who _cannot_ ask us," said Matilda.
+
+"But how queer we should be!" said Ailie Swan. "Just think; we should
+not be like anybody else. And what should we do if people asked us?"
+
+"I don't care," said Matilda. "See, girls;--'thou shalt be recompensed
+at the resurrection of the just.'"
+
+"And is that what it means in the next verse?" said Mary Edwards. "But
+I don't understand that. 'Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
+kingdom of God.' Do they eat bread there? I thought they didn't."
+
+"It is like what we read a little way back," said Matilda, flirting
+over one or two leaves, "yes, here in the 12th chapter--'Blessed are
+those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily
+I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down
+to meat, and will come forth and serve them.'"
+
+"That means Jesus," said Mary Edwards. "He will make them to sit down
+to meat!--and will serve them. What does it mean, I wonder?"
+
+"It means, that Jesus will give them good things," said Ailie.
+
+"I guess they will be blessed, then, that eat when He feeds them," said
+the other little girl. "I would like to be there."
+
+"There is a verse or two that my Bible turns to," said Matilda. "In the
+Revelation. 'And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are
+called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Oh, don't you like to
+read in the Revelation? But we are all called; aren't we?"
+
+"And here, in our chapter," said Mary, "it goes on to tell of the
+people who were called and wouldn't come. So I suppose everybody is
+called; and some won't come."
+
+"Some don't get the invitation," said Matilda, looking up.
+
+"A good many don't, I guess," said Ailie. "Who do you think gets it in
+Lilac Lane?"
+
+"Nobody, hardly, I guess," said Mary Edwards; "there don't many people
+come to church out of Lilac Lane."
+
+"But then, girls," said Matilda, "don't you think we ought to take it
+there? the invitation, I mean?"
+
+"How can we? Why, there are lots of people in Lilac Lane that I would
+be afraid to speak to."
+
+"I wouldn't be afraid," said Matilda. "They wouldn't do us any harm."
+
+"But what would you say to them, Tilly?"
+
+"I would just ask them to come, Ailie. I would take the message to
+them. Just think, Ailie, of that time, of that supper--when Jesus will
+give good things with His own hand;--and how many people would come if
+they knew. I would tell everybody. Don't you think we ought to?"
+
+"I don't like to speak to people much," said Ailie. "They would think I
+was setting myself up."
+
+"It is only carrying the message," said Matilda. "And that is what
+Jesus was doing _all the time_, you know; and He has told us to follow
+Him."
+
+"Then must we be telling it all the time too?" asked Ailie. "We should
+do nothing else."
+
+"Oh yes, we should. That would not hinder," said Matilda. "It doesn't
+take so very long to say a word. Here is another verse, girls; this is
+in the Revelation too; listen. This must be what those other verses
+mean: '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.'"
+
+As if a thrill from some chord of an angel's harp had reached them, the
+children were still for a moment.
+
+"I don't believe the people are happy in Lilac Lane," said Matilda.
+
+"Maybe they are," said Ailie. "But I guess they can't be. People that
+are not good can't be happy."
+
+"And Jesus has given us the message to take to everybody," said
+Matilda; "and when we come up there to that supper, and He asks us if
+we took the message to the people in the lane, what shall we say? I
+know what I would like to say."
+
+"But there are other people, besides in the lane," said Ailie.
+
+"We must take it to them too," said Mary Edwards.
+
+"We _can't_ take it to everybody."
+
+"No; only to _everybody that we can_," said Matilda. "Just think how
+glad some of those people will be, when they hear it. What should we do
+if Mr. Richmond had never told it to us?"
+
+Ailie bit her lip. Whether by design or not, Mary Edwards turned to her
+Testament and read the next words that followed in course.
+
+"And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto
+them, If any man come unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
+wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
+also, he cannot be my disciple."
+
+And seeing Mr. Ulshoeffer coming to open the door, the little conclave
+broke up. The children and teachers came pouring in for the
+Sunday-School.
+
+Going out after it was over, Matilda noticed a face she had not seen; a
+boy older than herself, but not very old, standing near the door,
+looking at the small crowd that trooped along the aisle. The thought
+came to Matilda that he was a new scholar, and if so, somebody ought to
+welcome him; but nobody did, that she could see. He stood alone,
+looking at the people as if they were strange to him; with a good,
+bright, wide-awake face, handsome and bold. Matilda did not want to
+take the welcoming upon herself, but she thought somebody should do it;
+and the next minute she had paused in front of the stranger.
+
+"Is this the first time you have been here?" she asked, with a kind of
+shy grace. The boy's bright eyes came down to her with a look of
+surprise as he assented.
+
+"I am very glad to see you in our Sunday-School," she went on. "I hope
+it was pleasant."
+
+"It was pleasant enough," said the stranger. "There is a jolly fellow
+over there asked me to come--Ben Barth; are you his sister?"
+
+"Oh no," said Matilda. "Ben has his own sisters. I am not one of them."
+
+"I thought maybe he told you to speak to me."
+
+"Nobody told me," said Matilda. By this time they had followed the
+crowd out at the door, and were taking their way down the street.
+
+"What did you speak to me then, for?" said the boy, with a roguish look
+at her.
+
+"I thought you were a stranger."
+
+"And what if I was?"
+
+"I think, if you are a stranger anywhere, it is pleasant to have
+somebody speak to you."
+
+"You're a brick!" was the stranger's conclusion.
+
+"Am I?" said Matilda. "Why am I?"
+
+"You're a girl, I suppose, and don't understand things," said her
+companion. "Boys know what a brick is--when they see it."
+
+"Why, so do I," said Matilda, "don't I?"
+
+But the boy only laughed; and then asked Matilda where she lived, and
+if she had any brothers, and where she went to school.
+
+"I go to the other school, you see," said he; "that's how I've never
+seen you before. I wish you went to my school; and I'd give you a ride
+on my sled."
+
+"But you'll come to our Sunday-School, won't you?" Matilda asked.
+
+"To be sure I will; but you see, I can't take you on my sled on Sunday.
+They'd have all the ministers out after me."
+
+"Oh no!" said Matilda. "I was not thinking of the sled; but you are
+very kind."
+
+"I should like it," said the boy. "Yes, I am coming to the school;
+though I guess I've got an old fogy of a teacher. But the minister's a
+brick; isn't he?"
+
+"He isn't much like _me_," said Matilda, laughing. "And the sort of
+bricks that I know, one is very much like another."
+
+The boy laughed too, and asked if she didn't want to know his name?
+Matilda glanced again at the frank face and nice dress, and said yes.
+
+"My name's Norton Laval. What's yours?"
+
+"Matilda Englefield. I am going this way."
+
+"Yes, you go that way and I go this way, but we shall see each other
+again. Good-bye."
+
+So at the corner they parted; and Matilda went home, thinking that in
+this instance at least the welcoming of strangers had paid well. For
+this was a pleasant new acquaintance, she was sure. She mounted the
+stairs with happy feet to her room; and there found Maria in a flood of
+tears. Maria had stayed at home from Sunday-School to-day.
+
+"What is the matter, Maria?" her little sister inquired. "How's mamma?"
+
+"I don't know! Oh, nothing will ever be well again. O Tilly, what will
+become of us!"
+
+And here a storm of sobs and tears came on, in the midst of which
+Matilda's questions could get no attention. Matilda knew her sister,
+however, and waited.
+
+"O Tilly!--it's so dreadful!"
+
+"What?" said Matilda calmly.
+
+"We haven't got anything to live upon. Anne and Letty have been telling
+me. We haven't. We are going to be as poor as--as poor as anybody. We
+have got nothing to buy anything with--nothing at all! Anne says so."
+
+"Did mamma say so?"
+
+"Mother's sick. No, Aunt Candy told the girls. It's true. Somebody or
+something that had mamma's money--to take care of--has gone off, or
+been ruined, or something; and we are ruined! There is nothing left at
+all for us to live upon. And that is what has been troubling mamma all
+these weeks; and now it is certain, and she knows all about it; and I
+guess it is that has made her sick. Oh, what shall we do?"
+
+The turn of Matilda's head was inimitable and indescribable. It was not
+arrogance or affectation; it was perfectly natural to the child; but to
+a bystander it would have signified that she was aware Maria's views
+and statements were not to be relied upon and could not be made the
+basis of either opinion or action. She took off her things, and without
+another word made her way to the room of her elder sisters. They were
+both sitting there gloomily.
+
+"How is mamma?"
+
+"I don't know. I haven't seen her since dinner."
+
+It was with a little of the same half-graceful, half-competent gesture
+of the head that Matilda applied herself to Letitia.
+
+"What is all this story, Letty, that Maria has been telling me?"
+
+"How should I know? Maria tells a great many stories."
+
+"I mean, about what has been troubling mamma."
+
+"Maria had no business to tell you, and so trouble you with it."
+
+"But is it true, Letty? Anne, is it true?"
+
+"I suppose it is true--if you mean what she heard from me a little
+while ago. That is true."
+
+"And mamma has lost all her money?"
+
+"Every cent."
+
+"When did you know it, Anne and Letty?"
+
+"We have known it a day or two. It is true. It is all true, Tilly."
+
+"What is mamma going to do, then?"
+
+"Get well, I hope. That is the first thing. Aunt Candy says she will
+pay for her board and Clarissa's, and mamma and you can live on that.
+Letty and I must go get our living--somehow."
+
+And here Anne broke down. Matilda wanted to ask about Maria's fate in
+the general falling to pieces of the family; but her throat felt so
+full, she was afraid she could not. So she did not try; she turned and
+went down-stairs to her mother.
+
+Mrs. Englefield was dozing, flushed and uneasy; she hardly noticed who
+was with her; but asked for water, and then for Cologne water. Matilda
+brought the one and the other, and sat by the bedside wiping her
+mother's brow and cheeks with the Cologne. Nobody came to interrupt or
+relieve her for some time. The light of the afternoon began to fade,
+and the sunbeams came aslant from the western sky; and still the child
+sat there passing the handkerchief gently over her mother's face. And
+while she sat so, Matilda was thinking what possible ways there might
+be by which she could make money.
+
+"Tilly, is that you?" said Mrs. Englefield, faintly, as the sunbeams
+were just quitting the room.
+
+"Yes, mamma. Are you better?"
+
+"Is there no one else here?"
+
+"No, mamma. Aunt Candy is out; and I suppose the girls thought you were
+sleeping. Are you better, mamma? You have had a nice long nap."
+
+"It's been horrid!" said Mrs. Englefield. "I have dreamed of every
+possible dreadful thing."
+
+"But you feel better now?"
+
+"My head aches--no--oh, my head! Tilly----"
+
+"What, mamma?"
+
+"I am going to be sick. I shan't be about again for a while, I know. I
+want you to do just what I tell you."
+
+"Yes, mamma. What?"
+
+"Anne and Letty are going away."
+
+"Yes, mamma. I know."
+
+"Do you know why, dear?"
+
+The tone of tender, sorrowful sympathy in which this was said, overcame
+the child. As her mother's eyes with the question languidly sought her
+face, Matilda burst into tears and threw herself upon her neck.
+
+"No, don't," said Mrs. Englefield, faintly,--"I can't bear it. Don't,
+Matilda! Rise up and listen to me."
+
+Matilda did as she was told. She forced back her tears; stopped her
+sobs; dashed away the drops from the corners of her eyes; and sat up
+again to hear what her mother had to say to her.
+
+"Give me some more water first. Anne and Letty are going away, Tilly;
+and I cannot be up and see to anything; and I can't hire a woman to do
+what's to be done. You tell Maria, from me, she must stay home from
+school and take care of the house. You will do what you can, Tilly--oh,
+my head!--you can put rooms in order and such things; and Maria must go
+down into the kitchen and get the breakfast----"
+
+"Must Maria get the dinner too, mamma?"
+
+"Yes, the dinner----"
+
+"But _can_ she, mamma?"
+
+"She _must;_ or else your aunt Candy will hire somebody to do it; and
+that will come out of what she pays me, and we shall not have enough
+left. She _must_, Tilly."
+
+"But aunt Candy wouldn't mind, just while you are sick, mamma, would
+she?"
+
+"Yes! I know. Just you do as I tell you; promise me that you will."
+
+"I will, mamma."
+
+"Promise me that Maria will."
+
+"I guess she will, mamma. I'll try and make her. Shall I bring her
+here, and you tell her yourself?"
+
+"No, indeed. Don't bring Maria here. She would make such a row she
+would kill me. Anne and Letty will see to things, till they go--oh, I
+can't talk any longer. Give me some more water."
+
+She was presently dozing again; and Matilda, clasping her small hands,
+sat and thought over what was before her. It began to feel like a
+weight on her somewhere--on her shoulders, she thought, and lying on
+her heart too; and the longer she thought about it, the heavier and
+harder it pressed. The family to be broken up; her mother to be
+straitened for money--Matilda did not know very well what that meant,
+but it sounded disagreeable; her aunt suddenly presented in new and not
+pleasant colours; a general threatening cloud overshadowing all the
+future. Matilda began to get, what her strong little heart was not
+accustomed to, a feeling of real discouragement. What could she do? And
+then a word of the afternoon's lesson in the Sunday-School came freshly
+to mind. It had been quite new to Matilda, and had seemed to her very
+beautiful; but it took on quite another sort of beauty now,--"Cast thy
+burden upon the Lord; He shall sustain thee."
+
+"Will He?" thought Matilda. "Can He? May I tell Him about all this? and
+will He help me to bear it, and help me to do all that work, and to
+make Maria do hers? But He will, _for He has said so_."
+
+It was getting dusk in the room. Matilda knelt down by her chair, and
+poured out all her troubles into the Ear that would heed and could help
+her.
+
+"Who's here?" said the voice of Mrs. Candy, coming in. "Who is that?
+Matilda? How did you come here, Tilly?"
+
+"I have been taking care of my mother."
+
+"Have you? How is she? Well, you run down-stairs; I'll take care of her
+now. It is better for you not to be here. Don't come in again, unless I
+give you leave. Now you may go."
+
+"I wonder, must I mind her?" said Matilda to herself. "I do not see
+why. She is not mother; and if mother is sick, that does not give
+everybody else a right to say what I shall do. I think it is very queer
+of Aunt Candy to take that way with me."
+
+And I am afraid Matilda's head was carried a little with the air which
+was, to be sure, natural to her, and not unpretty, and yet which spoke
+of a good deal of conscious competency. It is no more than justice to
+Matilda to say that she did not ever put the feeling into any
+ill-mannerly form. It hardly appeared at all, except in this turn of
+her head, which all her own family knew, laughed at, admired, and even
+loved. So she went down-stairs to the parlour.
+
+"How is Aunt Marianne?" was the question from Clarissa. "Letty told me
+where you were. But, little one, it is not good for you to go into your
+mother's sick-room; you can do nothing, and you are better out. So
+mamma wishes you not to go in there till Aunt Marianne is better--you
+understand?"
+
+"Clarissa too!" thought Matilda to herself. But she made no answer. She
+came by the fire to warm herself; for her mother's room had been cold.
+
+"You shouldn't go so near the fire; you'll burn your dress," Clarissa
+remarked.
+
+"No," said Matilda; and she said but that one word.
+
+"You will take the colour out, if you do not set it on fire; and that
+is what I meant. That is your best dress, Tilly."
+
+It was true; and, sorely against her will, Matilda stepped a little
+back.
+
+"You were a great while at Sunday-School to-day," Clarissa went on.
+
+"No," said Matilda; "not longer than usual."
+
+"What do you learn there?"
+
+"Why, cousin Issa, what do you teach at _your_ Sunday-School?" said
+Matilda. For Clarissa had sheered off from Mr. Richmond's church, and
+gone into a neighbouring one which belonged to the denomination in
+which she had been brought up.
+
+"That is not good manners to answer one question with another, little
+one."
+
+"I thought one answer might serve for both," said Matilda.
+
+"I am afraid it would not. For in my Sunday-School I teach the
+Catechism."
+
+"Don't the Catechism tell about Jesus?"
+
+"Some things,--of course."
+
+"Our lessons tell all things about Him," said Matilda; "and that is
+what I learn."
+
+"Do you learn about yourself?"
+
+"What about myself?"
+
+"How you ought to behave, and how you ought not to behave."
+
+"Why, I think learning about Jesus teaches one _that_," said Matilda.
+
+"I think there is nothing so good as coming home to learn about home,"
+said Clarissa.
+
+The talk did not run in a way to please Matilda, and she was silent.
+Presently they were called down to tea. Everybody suffering from a fit
+of taciturnity.
+
+"Maria, sit up straight," said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"I always sit so," was the answer.
+
+"_So_, is not very graceful. Matilda does not sit so."
+
+"Matilda was always straight; it's her way," said Maria.
+
+"Well, make it your way too. Come! straighten up. What shoulders! One
+would think you were a boy playing at leap-frog."
+
+"I don't know what 'leap-frog' is," said Maria, colouring; "and I don't
+think anybody would think I was anything but a girl anyhow. I get tired
+sitting up straight."
+
+"When?" asked Clarissa.
+
+Matilda's head was quite indescribable in the turn it gave at this
+moment. Her supper was done; she was leaving the table.
+
+"You are not going into your mother's room?" said her aunt, catching
+her hand as she passed.
+
+"You said you wished I would not."
+
+"Yes, my dear, I am going up there immediately. Don't go out either,
+Matilda."
+
+"I am going to church, Aunt Candy."
+
+"I think not. Not to-night. I do not approve of so much church-going
+for little girls. You can study your lesson, you know, for next Sunday.
+I do not want to have anybody else sick on my hands till your mother is
+well."
+
+Matilda's face expressed none of her disappointment; her head was even
+carried a little higher than usual as she left the room. But outside
+the door her steps flagged; and she went slowly up the stairs, asking
+herself if she was bound to mind what her aunt said. She was not clear
+about it. In the abstract, Matilda was well enough disposed to obey all
+lawful authority; just now a spirit of opposition had risen. Was this
+lawful authority? Mrs. Englefield was sick, to be sure; but did that
+give Mrs. Candy any right to interfere with what was known to be Mrs.
+Englefield's will when she was not sick? Matilda thought not. Then, on
+the other hand, she did not wish to do anything to displease her aunt,
+who had always been kind to her; she did not wish to change the
+relations between them. Slowly Matilda mounted stair after stair till
+she got to her room. There she stood by the window a moment, thinking
+and sorrowing; for if she did not wish to anger her aunt, neither did
+she wish to lose her evening in church, her sight of Mr. Richmond, and
+his sermon. And just then, the clear, sweet sound of the church bell
+came, with its first note, to tell that the service would begin in a
+quarter of an hour. It sounded like a friend's voice calling her. Her
+Aunt Candy's church bell joined in, and Mr. Everett's church, and Mr.
+Schoenflocker's church; but that one which Mr. Ulshoeffer rang was the
+loudest of all to Matilda's ear. She could hardly stand it. Then Maria
+burst in.
+
+"What are you going to do?" said Matilda.
+
+"Do? Why, I am going to church, of course; and in a hurry."
+
+"And Anne and Letty?"
+
+"Certainly; and Issa too."
+
+Matilda said no more, but hastily made herself ready, and went down
+with the rest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Anne and Letitia were to leave home in the afternoon of Monday; and
+Maria and Matilda went to school that morning as usual. But when the
+noon hour came, Matilda called her sister into a corner of the emptied
+schoolroom, and sat down with a face of business.
+
+"What is the matter?" said Maria. "We must go home to dinner."
+
+"I should like to speak to you here first."
+
+"About what? Say it and be quick; for I am ever so hungry. Aunt Candy
+cut my breakfast short this morning."
+
+"I wanted to say to you that we had better take home our books."
+
+"What for?" said Maria, with opening eyes.
+
+"Because, Maria, mamma was talking to me last night about it. You know
+there will be no one at home now, after to-day, but you and me."
+
+"Aunt Erminia and Clarissa?"
+
+"Nobody to do anything, I mean."
+
+"Can't they do anything? I don't know what you are talking of, Matilda;
+but I know I want my dinner."
+
+"Who do you think will get dinner to-morrow?"
+
+"Well--mother's sick of course; and Anne and Letty are going. I should
+think Aunt Candy might."
+
+"No, she won't."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because mother said so. She won't do anything."
+
+"Then she'll have to get a girl to do things, I suppose."
+
+"But Maria, that is just what mother wants she shouldn't do; because
+she'd have to pay for it."
+
+"Who would have to pay for it?"
+
+"Mamma."
+
+"Why would she?"
+
+"She said so."
+
+"I don't see why she would, I am sure. If Aunt Erminia hires a girl,
+_she'll_ pay for her."
+
+"But that will come out of what Aunt Erminia pays to mamma; and what
+Aunt Erminia pays to mamma is what we have got to live upon."
+
+"Who said so?"
+
+"Mamma said so." Matilda answered with her lip trembling; for the
+bringing facts all down to hard detail was difficult to bear.
+
+"Well, I _do_ think," exclaimed Maria, "if I had a sister sick and not
+able to help herself, I would not be so mean!"
+
+Matilda sat still and cried and said nothing.
+
+"Who _is_ going to do all the work then, Tilly?"
+
+There would have been something comical, if it had not been sad, in the
+way the little girl looked up and said, "You and I."
+
+"I guess we will!" said Maria, with opening eyes. "You and I! Take care
+of the house, and wash the dishes, and cook the dinner, and everything!
+You know we couldn't, Matilda; and what's more, _I_ know we won't."
+
+"Yes, mamma wishes it. We must; and so we can, Maria."
+
+"_I_ can't," said Maria, taking down her school cloak.
+
+"But, Maria! we must. Mamma will be more sick if we do not; you heard
+what Aunt Candy said at breakfast, that she is fearfully nervous; and
+if she hears that there is a hired girl in the house, it will worry her
+dreadfully."
+
+"It will be Aunt Candy's fault then," said Maria, fastening her cloak.
+"I never heard of anybody so mean in all my life!--never."
+
+"But that don't help anything, Maria. And you and I _must_ do what
+mamma said. You know we shall have little enough to live on, as it is,
+and if you take the pay of a hired girl out of it, there will be so
+little left."
+
+"I've got my twenty-five dollars, that I can get summer dresses with; I
+am glad I haven't spent it," said Maria. "Come, Tilly; I'm going home."
+
+"But, Maria, you have not said what you ought to say yet."
+
+"What ought I to say?"
+
+"I will help and do my part. We can manage it. Come, Maria, say that
+you will."
+
+"Your part," said Maria. "What do you suppose your part would come to?
+What can such a child as you do?"
+
+"Maria, now is the time to show whether you are really one of the Band
+of workers."
+
+"I am, of course. I joined it."
+
+"That would not make you one of them, if you don't do what they
+promised to do."
+
+"When did I ever promise to be Aunt Candy's servant girl?" said Maria,
+fiercely. "I should like to know."
+
+"But 'we are the servants of Christ,'" said Matilda, softly, her eyes
+glistening through.
+
+"What then?"
+
+"We promised to try to do whatever would honour Him."
+
+"I don't know what all this affair has to do with it," said Maria. "You
+say _we_ promised;--you didn't?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"You didn't join the Band?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"When?"
+
+"A few days after you did."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me? Did you tell Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I think it is mean, that you did not tell me."
+
+"I am telling you now. But now, Maria, you know what you promised."
+
+"I did not promise this sort of thing at all, Tilly."
+
+"Yes, don't you know? 'we stand ready to do His will.' That's in the
+covenant."
+
+"But _this_ is not His will," insisted Maria. "This is Aunt Erminia's
+meanness."
+
+"But it certainly is His will that we should do what mamma says, and
+please her; and this is the work He has given us to do."
+
+Maria's answer this time was to sit down and cry for her part. Matilda
+did not join her, but stood by, patiently waiting. Maria cried and
+sobbed for several minutes; then she started up and set off homewards
+at a furious rate. Matilda gathered together her books and followed her
+sister; trying to comfort herself with the thought that this _was_
+certainly the work given them to do, and that she would try and make
+the best of it.
+
+The dinner was sorrowful enough. Maria, indeed, ate it as if
+remembering it was the last dinner for some time to come that she would
+find ready prepared for her. But Anne and Letty were broken down with
+grief; and Mrs. Candy's endeavours to comfort them were either not the
+right sort, or fell upon unready ears. Clarissa was composed as usual.
+
+"You were late from school, Maria and Matilda," their aunt remarked,
+finding Anne and Letty unmanageable. "What was the reason?"
+
+"Tilly was talking to me," Maria said.
+
+"You could talk on the way home, I should think. I dislike to have
+dinner eaten by stages; first one set coming, and then another. I am
+going to ask you to be punctual for the future. Do not be in a hurry,
+Maria; there is time enough, now you are here, to eat moderately."
+
+"I am hungry. I don't want to eat moderately, Aunt Erminia."
+
+"As much as you wish; but you can be moderate in manner, cannot you,
+even if not in quantity?"
+
+"Nobody ever told me I eat too much, before," said Maria.
+
+"There are a great many things that you have never been told, I
+suppose?" said Clarissa, lifting her handsome eyes quietly.
+
+"I don't care about your telling me either," said Maria.
+
+"My dear, that is not polite," interposed her aunt. "I am sorry to hear
+you speak so. Would you not like to have Issa, or any one, tell you
+things that you would be the better for. You would not wish to remain
+just as you are, to the end of your days?"
+
+"It don't hurt anybody but me," said Maria.
+
+"I beg your pardon. Everything that is not graceful and well-mannered,
+on the part of people in whose company we are, hurts me and Clarissa.
+It hurts me to have you bolt down your food as you were doing just
+now--if I am sitting at the same table with you. And it hurts me to
+have you speak rudely. I hope you will mend in all these things."
+
+"It will not hurt you to have us say good-bye," said Anne, rising. "I
+will do that now, if you please. Letty, I will leave you to take care
+of these things, and I will finish the packing. We must be quick, too."
+
+The farewell greetings with her aunt and cousin were soon spoken; and
+Maria and Matilda tore up-stairs after their sister, to pour out tears
+and complaints together during the remaining moments of her being at
+home. Matilda's tears, however, were quiet and her words very few.
+
+"Ain't she too bad!" exclaimed Maria.
+
+"You must try and hold your own the best you can," said Anne, "until
+mamma gets up again. Poor children! I am afraid she will be too much
+for you."
+
+"But, Anne, did you think Aunt Candy was like that?" said Maria. "She
+wasn't like that at first."
+
+"I guess she was. All she wanted was a chance. Now she's got it. Try
+and bear it the best you can till mamma is well. She cannot be worried
+now."
+
+"Is mamma very sick, Anne?" Matilda ventured.
+
+"N-o," said Anne, "but she might be, Tilly, if she was worried. The
+doctor says she is very nervous, and must be kept quiet. She has been
+worrying so long, you see. So you must try and not do anything to fret
+her."
+
+The prospect was sad. When the omnibus came to take Anne and Letty to
+the station, and when the last kisses and hugs were over, and the
+omnibus bounced away, carrying with it all they had at the moment, the
+two girls left at home felt forlorn enough. The only thing to be done
+was to rush up-stairs to their room and cry their hearts out. And that
+was done thoroughly.
+
+But by and by, Matilda's thoughts, in their very extreme need of
+comfort, began to take up the words again which she had once found so
+good: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord; He shall sustain thee." She left
+her sobbing, dried her eyes, sat down by the window, and found the
+place in her Bible, that her eyes might have the comfort of seeing and
+reading the words there. The Lord's words: Tilly knew they were true.
+But Maria sobbed on. At last her little sister called her.
+
+"What is it?" said she.
+
+"Come here,--and I will show you something good."
+
+"Good?--what?" said Maria, approaching the window. "Oh, words in the
+Bible!"
+
+"Read, Maria."
+
+"I have read them before," said the other, sullenly, after she had
+glanced at the place.
+
+"But they are true, Maria."
+
+"Well; they don't help me."
+
+"But they help _me_," said Matilda. "It's Jesus' promise to help."
+
+"I don't believe it is for such things as this."
+
+"Why not?" said Matilda, a sudden chill coming over her heart. "It says
+just, 'Cast thy burden'--it might be any burden; it does not signify
+what it is, Maria."
+
+"Yes, it does; it is not for such little things," said Maria. "It is
+for great religious people and their affairs. Oh dear! oh dear!"
+
+Sorely troubled now at having her supports knocked away from under her,
+Matilda eagerly sought further, if perchance she might find something
+that Maria could not question. Her Bible had a few references in the
+margin; consulting these, she presently found what she had need of; but
+a feeling of want of sympathy between them forbade her to show the new
+words to her sister. Matilda pored over them with great rest of heart;
+gave thanks for them; and might have used with truth David's
+language--"Thy words were found, and I did eat them." The words were
+these:--
+
+"Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication
+with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the
+peace of God that passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and
+minds through Christ Jesus."
+
+Matilda's eyes were dry and her voice was clear, when she reminded her
+sister that it was time to get tea. Maria was accustomed to do this
+frequently, and made no objection now. So the two went down together.
+Passing the parlour door, however, it opened, and Mrs. Candy called
+Matilda in.
+
+"I want to speak a word to you, Tilly," she said. "Did you go out last
+evening?"
+
+"Yes; I did, aunt Erminia."
+
+"You went to church?"
+
+Matilda assented; but though she had bowed her head, it seemed to be
+more erect than before.
+
+"And I had told you not to go, had I not? You understood that?"
+
+A silent assent was again all that the child gave.
+
+"I am accustomed to be obeyed," said Mrs. Candy. "That is my way. It
+may not be your mother's way; but all the same, I am mistress here
+while she is sick; mistress over you as well as the rest. You must obey
+me like all the rest. Will you?"
+
+What was meant by "all the rest" Matilda marvelled, seeing that nobody
+else but Maria and her own daughter were left in the house. This time
+she gave no sign of answering; she only stood and listened.
+
+"Will you obey me, Tilly?"
+
+Matilda was not sure whether she would. In her mind it depended on
+circumstances. She would obey, conditionally. But she would not
+compromise her dignity by words about it. She was silent.
+
+"I must be obeyed," Mrs. Candy went on, with mild tones, although a
+displeased face. "If not willingly, then unwillingly. I shall punish
+you, Matilda, if you disobey me; and so severely that you will find it
+best not to do it again. But I should be very sorry to have you drive
+me to such disagreeable doings. We should both be sorry together. It is
+much best not to let things come to such extremity."
+
+Matilda coloured high, but except that and the slight gesture of her
+head, she yet gave no reply.
+
+"That is enough upon that subject," the lady went on. "Only, I should
+be glad to have you tell me that you will try to please me."
+
+"I wish to please everybody--as far as I can," Matilda said at last.
+
+"Then you will please me?"
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"She hopes so, Issa," said Mrs. Candy, turning her head round towards
+where her daughter sat.
+
+"American children, mamma," was Clarissa's comment.
+
+"There is another thing, Matilda," Mrs. Candy resumed after a slight
+pause. "Your mother has told me that Maria is competent to do the work
+of the house until she gets well. Is she? and will Maria, do you think,
+try to please me as much as you do?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. I think she can--she and I. We will do it," Matilda
+answered more readily.
+
+"She and you! What can you do?"
+
+"I can help a little."
+
+"Well then, that is settled; and I need not look out for a girl?"
+
+"Oh no, aunt Candy. She and I can do it."
+
+"But mind, I must have things in order, and well done. It is my
+sister's choice, that Maria should do it. But it is not mine unless I
+can have everything in good order. You may tell Maria so, and let her
+understand what it is she is undertaking. I am to have no dusty stairs,
+and no half-set tables. If she wants instruction in anything, I am
+willing to give it; but I cannot have disorder. Now you may go and tell
+her; and tell her to have tea ready in half an hour."
+
+"What did she want of you?" Maria asked, when Matilda rejoined her
+down-stairs.
+
+"She wanted to talk to me about my going out last evening."
+
+"Oh! was she in a great fuss about it?"
+
+"And Maria, she wants tea to be ready in half an hour."
+
+"I'll have it ready sooner than that," said Maria, bustling about.
+
+"But you must not. She wants it in half an hour; you must not have it
+ready before."
+
+"Why not?" said Maria, stopping short.
+
+"Why, she wants it _then_. She has a right to have tea when she likes."
+
+But Matilda sighed as she spoke, for her aunt's likings were becoming a
+heavy burden to her, in the present and in the future. The two girls
+went gently round, setting the table, cutting the bread, putting out
+the sweetmeat, getting the teapot ready for the tea; then they stood
+together over the stove, waiting for the time to make it.
+
+"There's one comfort," Matilda said with another sigh;--"we can do it
+all for Christ."
+
+"What?" said Maria, starting.
+
+"It is work He has given us to do, you know, Maria; and we have
+promised to do everything we can to please Him. So we can do this to
+please Him."
+
+"I don't see how," said Maria. "_This_ isn't Band work;--do you think
+it is?"
+
+"It isn't Sunday-School work; but, Maria, you know, 'we are the
+servants of Christ.' Now He has given us this work to do."
+
+"That's just talking nonsense," said Maria. "There is no religion in
+pots and kettles."
+
+Matilda had to think her way out of that statement.
+
+"Maria, in the covenant, you know, we say 'we stand ready to do His
+will;' and you _know_ it is His will that we should have these things
+to do."
+
+"I don't!" said Maria; "that's a fact."
+
+"Then how comes it that we have them?"
+
+"Just because mamma is sick, and Aunt Erminia is too mean to live!"
+
+"You should not speak so," said Matilda. "How comes mamma to be sick?
+and how comes it that we have got no money to hire a girl?"
+
+"Because that man in New York was wicked, and ran away with mamma's
+money."
+
+"Maria," said Matilda, solemnly, "I don't see what you meant by joining
+the Band."
+
+"I meant more than you did!" said Maria, flaming out. "Such children as
+you are too young to join it."
+
+"We are not too young to be Christians."
+
+"You are too young to join the Church and be baptized."
+
+"Why?" said Matilda.
+
+"Oh, you are too young to _understand_. Anybody that knows will tell
+you so. And if you are not fit to be baptized and join the Church, you
+are not fit to join the Band. Now I can make the tea."
+
+Matilda looked hard at the teapot, as it stood on the stove while the
+tea was brewing; but she let her sister alone after that. When the meal
+was over, and the dishes washed and everything done, she and Maria went
+up to their own room, and Maria at once went to bed. Her little sister
+opened her Bible, and read, over and over, the words that had comforted
+her. They were words from God; promises and commands straight from
+heaven. Matilda took them so, and studied earnestly how she might do
+what they bade her. "Cast her burden on the Lord"--how was she to do
+that? Clearly, she was not to keep it on her own heart, she thought;
+she must trust that the Lord would take care of anything put into His
+hands. The words were very good. And the other words? "Be careful for
+nothing"--that was the same thing differently expressed; and Matilda
+felt very glad it had been written for her in both places and in both
+ways; and that she was ordered "in everything" to "make her requests
+known to God." She might not have dared, perhaps, in some little
+troubles that only concerned a child and were not important to anybody
+else; but now there could be no doubt--she might, and she must. She was
+very glad. But, "with thanksgiving?"--how could that be always? Now,
+for instance? Things were more disagreeable and sorrowful than in all
+her life she had ever known them; "give thanks"? must she? _now?_ And
+how could she? Matilda studied over it a good while. Finally took to
+praying over it. Asked to be taught how she could give thanks when she
+was sorry. And getting quite tired, at last went to bed, where Maria
+was already fast asleep.
+
+There is no denying that Matilda was sorry to wake up the next morning.
+But awake she found herself, and broad awake too; and the light outside
+the window admonished her she had no time then to lie and think. She
+roused Maria immediately, and herself began dressing without a moment's
+delay.
+
+"Oh, what's the hurry!" said Maria, yawning and stretching herself.
+"I'm sleepy."
+
+"But it isn't early, Maria."
+
+"Well; I don't want it to be early."
+
+"Yes, you do, Maria; you forget. We have a great deal on our hands.
+Make haste, please, and get up. Do, Maria!"
+
+"What have we got to do so much?" said Maria, with yawn the second.
+
+"Everything. You are so sleepy, you have forgotten."
+
+"Yes. I have forgotten," said Maria, closing her eyes.
+
+"O Maria, please do get up! I'm almost dressed; and I can't do the
+whole, you know. Won't you get up?"
+
+"What's the matter, Tilly?" said her sister, rolling over, and opening
+her eyes quietly at Matilda.
+
+"I am going down, Maria, in two minutes; and I cannot do everything,
+you know."
+
+"Clarissa'll help."
+
+"If you expect that, Maria, you will be disappointed. I wish you would
+come right down and make the fire."
+
+Maria lay still. Matilda finished her dressing, and then knelt down by
+the window.
+
+The burden upon her seemed rather heavy, and she went to her only
+source of help. Maria lay and looked at the little kneeling figure, so
+still there by the window; glanced at the growing light outside the
+window, then at her scattered articles of clothing, lying where she had
+thrown them or dropped them last night; and at last rolled herself out
+of bed and was dressing in earnest when Matilda rose up to go
+down-stairs.
+
+"Oh now, you'll soon be ready!" she exclaimed. "Make haste, Maria; and
+come down to the kitchen. The fire is the first thing."
+
+Then the little feet went with a light tread down the stairs, that she
+might disturb nobody, and paused in the hall. The light struggling in
+through the fanlights over the door; the air close; a smell of kerosene
+in the parlour; chairs and table in a state of disarrangement; the
+litter of Clarissa's work on the carpet; the parlour stove cold. Little
+Matilda wished to herself that some other hands were there, not hers,
+to do all that must be done. But clearly Maria would never get through
+with it. She stood looking a minute; then plunged into the work. She
+opened the shutters and the curtains, and threw up the windows. Then
+picked up the litter. Then she saw that the services of a broom were
+needed; and Matilda fetched the broom, and brushed out the parlour and
+the hall. It tired her arms; she was not used to it. Dusting the
+furniture was more in her line; and then Matilda came to the conclusion
+that if a fire was to be kindled in time this morning, it must be done
+by herself; Maria would be fully occupied in the kitchen. So
+down-stairs she went for billets of wood for kindling. There was Maria,
+in trouble.
+
+"This stove won't draw, Tilly."
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"Why _that_. It won't draw. It just smokes."
+
+"It always does draw, Maria."
+
+"Well, it won't to-day."
+
+"Did you put kindling enough in?"
+
+"There's nothing but kindling!--and smoke."
+
+"Why, you've got the damper turned," said Matilda, coming up to look;
+"see, that's the matter. It won't light with the damper turned."
+
+"Stupid!" Maria muttered; and Matilda went off to make her own fire.
+Happily that did not smoke. The parlour and hall were all in nice
+order; the books put in place, and everything ready for the comfort of
+people when they should come to enjoy it; and Matilda went to join her
+sister in the kitchen. The fire was going there too, and the kitchen
+warm, and Maria stood with her hands folded, in front of the stove.
+
+"I don't know what to get for breakfast," she said.
+
+"Is the other room ready?"
+
+"I set the table," said Maria; "but what is to go on it, I don't know."
+
+Matilda went in to look at the state of things; presently called her
+sister.
+
+"Maria, you didn't sweep the carpet."
+
+"No. Of course I didn't. Rooms don't want to be swept every day."
+
+"This one does. Look at the muss under the table."
+
+"Only some crumbs," said Maria.
+
+"And a bone. Letty was in a hurry yesterday, I guess. Aunt Candy won't
+like it, Maria; it won't do."
+
+"I don't care whether she likes it."
+
+"But don't you care whether she scolds? because I do. And the room is
+not nice, Maria. Mother wouldn't have it so."
+
+"Well, you may sweep it if you like."
+
+"I cannot. I am tired. You must make it nice, Maria, won't you? and
+I'll see about the breakfast."
+
+"The table's all set!" Maria remonstrated.
+
+"It won't take long to do it over, Maria. But what have we got for
+breakfast?"
+
+"Nothing--that I know."
+
+"Did you look in the cellar?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why, where _did_ you look?" said Matilda, laughing. "Come; let us go
+down and see what is there."
+
+In the large, clean, light cellar there were hanging shelves which
+served the purposes of a larder. The girls peered into the various
+stores collected on them.
+
+"Here's a dish of cold potatoes," said Maria.
+
+"That will do for one thing," said Matilda.
+
+"Cold?"
+
+"Why, no! fried, Maria."
+
+"I can't fry potatoes."
+
+"Why, yes, you can, Maria; you have seen mamma do it hundreds of times."
+
+"Here's the cold beefsteak that was left yesterday."
+
+"Cold beefsteak isn't good," said Matilda.
+
+"Can't we warm it?"
+
+"How?"
+
+"I don't know; might put it in the oven; it would get hot there.
+There's a good oven."
+
+"I don't think mamma ever warms cold beefsteak," said Matilda, looking
+puzzled.
+
+"What does she do with it? she don't throw it away. How do you know she
+doesn't warm it? you wouldn't know, when you saw it on the table,
+whether it was just fresh cooked, or only warmed up. How could you
+tell?"
+
+"Well," said Matilda, dubiously, "you can try. I wish I could ask
+somebody."
+
+"I shall not ask anybody up-stairs," said Maria. "Come--you take the
+potatoes and I will carry the beefsteak. Then we will make 'the coffee
+and have breakfast. I'm as hungry as I can be."
+
+"So am I," said Matilda. And she sighed a little, for she was tired as
+well as hungry. Maria set the dish of beefsteak in the oven to get hot,
+and Matilda made the coffee. She knew quite well how to do that. Then
+she came to the table where Maria was preparing the potatoes to fry.
+Maria's knife was going chop, chop, very fast.
+
+"O Maria! you should have peeled them," Matilda exclaimed, in dismay.
+
+"Peeled!" said Maria, stopping short.
+
+"Certainly. Why, you knew that, Maria. Potatoe parings are not good to
+eat."
+
+"It takes ages to peel such little potatoes," said Maria.
+
+"But you cannot eat them without being peeled," said Matilda.
+
+"Yes, you can; it won't make any difference. I will fry them so brown,
+nobody will know whether they have skins on or not."
+
+Matilda doubted very much the feasibility of this plan; but she left
+Maria and went off to make sure that the fires in the other rooms were
+burning right and everything in proper trim. Then she sat down in a
+rocking-chair in the eating-room to rest; wishing very earnestly that
+there was somebody to help who knew more about business than either she
+or Maria. How were they to get along? And she had promised her mother.
+And yet more, Matilda felt sure that just this work had been given to
+her and Maria to do by the Lord himself. Therefore they could do it for
+Him. Therefore, all the more, Matilda wanted to do it in the very
+nicest and best way possible. She wished she had attended when she had
+seen her mother cooking different things; now she might have known
+exactly how to manage. And that reminded her, Maria's beef and potatoes
+must be done. She ran into the kitchen.
+
+"There!" said Maria. "Can you see the skins now?"
+
+"They are brown enough," said Matilda. "But, Maria, they'll be very
+hard!"
+
+"Never you mind!" said Maria, complacently.
+
+"Have you looked at your beefsteak?"
+
+"No; but it must be hot before now."
+
+Maria opened the oven door; and then, with an exclamation, seized a
+cloth and drew out the dish of meat. The dish took their attention
+first. It was as brown as Maria's potatoes. It had gone into the oven
+white.
+
+"It is spoiled," said Matilda.
+
+"Who would have thought the oven was so hot!" said Maria. "Won't it
+come all right with washing?"
+
+"You might as well wash your beefsteak," said Matilda, turning away.
+
+If the dish had gone in white, the meat had also gone in juicy; and if
+the one was brown the other was a chip.
+
+"This will not do for breakfast," said Maria, lugubriously.
+
+"It is like your potatoes," said Matilda, with the ineffable little
+turn of her head.
+
+"Don't, Matilda! What shall we do? the coffee is ready."
+
+"We shall have a brown breakfast," said Matilda. "The coffee will be
+the lightest coloured thing on the table." And the two girls relieved
+themselves with laughing.
+
+"But, Matilda! what shall we _do?_ We must have something to eat."
+
+"We can boil some eggs," said Matilda. "Aunt Erminia likes eggs; and
+the coffee will be good, and the bread. And the potatoes will do to
+look at."
+
+So it was arranged; and the bell was rung for breakfast only five
+minutes after the time. And all was in order.
+
+Even Mrs. Candy's good eyes found no fault. And breakfast went forward
+better than Matilda had dared to hope.
+
+"You have done your potatoes too much, Maria," Mrs. Candy remarked.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," Maria said, meekly.
+
+"They want no more but a light colouring. And they should be cut
+thinner. These are so hard you can't eat them. And, Maria, in future I
+will tell you what to get for breakfast. I did not know when you went
+to bed last night, or I should have told you then. You are not old
+enough to arrange things. Now there was some beef left from dinner
+yesterday, that would have made a nice hash."
+
+Maria ate bread and butter, and spoke not.
+
+"It will keep very well, and you can make it into hash for to-morrow
+morning. Chop it as fine as you can, and twice as much potato; and warm
+it with a little butter and milk and pepper and salt, till it is nice
+and hot; and poach a few eggs, to lay round it. Can you poach eggs,
+Maria?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. But there is no beef, Aunt Erminia."
+
+"No beef? You are mistaken. There was a large piece that we did not eat
+yesterday."
+
+"There is none now," said Maria.
+
+"It must be down-stairs in the cellar."
+
+"I am sure it is not, aunt Erminia. I have been poking into every
+corner there; and there is no beef, I know."
+
+"Maria, that is a very inelegant way of speaking. Where did you get it?"
+
+"I don't know, ma'am, I'm sure. Out of the truth, I suppose. That's
+what I _did_."
+
+"It is a very inelegant way of doing, as well as of speaking. _Poking_
+into every thing! What did you poke? your finger? or your hand?"
+
+"My nose, I suppose," said Maria, hardily.
+
+"I think I need not tell you that _that_ is a very vulgar expression,"
+said Mrs. Candy, with a lofty air; while Clarissa's shoulders gave a
+little shrug, as much as to say her mother was wasting time. "Don't you
+know any better, Maria?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then I hope you will speak properly next time."
+
+"One gets so tired of speaking properly!" said Maria.
+
+"_You?_" said Clarissa, with a gentle intonation.
+
+"I don't care!" said Maria, desperately. "People are as they are
+brought up. My mother don't care for such fidgety notions. I speak to
+please her, and that is enough."
+
+"No, Maria, it is not enough," resumed  Mrs. Candy. "Your mother loves
+you, and so she is willing to overlook little things in you that she
+_can_ overlook because you are her child; but when you are grown up,
+you would wish to be liked by other nice people, wouldn't you? people
+of education, and taste, and elegant habits; and they do not like to
+have anything to do with people who 'poke their noses' into things, or
+who say that they do."
+
+"I'll keep in the kitchen then," said Maria, hastily.
+
+The breakfast may be said to have ended here; for though a few more
+mouthfuls were eaten, no more words were said. Mrs. Candy and her
+daughter left the room and went up-stairs. Maria and Matilda began the
+work of clearing the table.
+
+"Ain't she too much!" Maria exclaimed.
+
+"But, Maria," said her little sister, "I wish you _wouldn't_ say such
+things."
+
+"If I am going to be a kitchen maid," said Maria, "I may as well talk
+kitchen maid."
+
+"Oh, I don't think so, Maria!"
+
+"I don't care!" said Maria. "I would rather vex aunt Candy than not;
+and she _was_ vexed this morning. She kept it in pretty well; but she
+was vexed."
+
+"But, Maria, that isn't right, is it?"
+
+"Nothing is right," said Maria; "and nothing is going to be, I guess,
+while they are here."
+
+"Then think, what would mamma do if they went away?"
+
+"I wish I could go away, then!" said Maria, beginning to cry. "I can't
+bear to live so! 'Why do you do so,' and 'why do you do _so;_' and
+Clarissa sitting by with that little smile on her mouth, and lifting up
+her eyes to look at you--it just makes me _mad_. There! It is a pity
+Aunt Candy wasn't here to be shocked at American children."
+
+"But, Maria," said Matilda with her eyes swimming too, "you know the
+Lord Jesus has given us this work."
+
+"No, I don't!" said Maria; "and what if He did?"
+
+"Why, then, it would please Him--you know, Maria, it would please
+Him--to have us do it just nicely and beautifully, and not like kitchen
+maids, but like His children. You know we said we were ready to do any
+work that he would give us."
+
+"I didn't," said Maria, half crying, half pouting. "I didn't promise to
+do _this_ sort of thing."
+
+"But we mustn't choose," said Matilda.
+
+"But we _did_ choose," said Maria. "I said what I would do, and other
+people said what they would do; and nobody said anything about washing
+dishes and peeling potatoes. We were not talking of _that_."
+
+"The covenant says, 'we stand ready to do His will.' Don't you know?"
+
+"I believe you know that covenant by heart," said Maria. "I don't. And
+I don't care. Matilda, I wish you would run down cellar with the
+butter, and the cream, and the bread--will you?"
+
+Matilda did not run, but she made journey after journey down the cellar
+stairs, with feet that grew weary; and then she dried the china while
+her sister washed it. Then they brushed up the kitchen and made up the
+fires. Then Maria seated herself on the kitchen table and looked at
+Matilda.
+
+"I'm tired now, Tilly."
+
+"So am I."
+
+"Is there anything else to be done?"
+
+"Why, there is the dinner, Maria."
+
+"It isn't near dinner time. It is only ten o'clock."
+
+"How long will it take the potatoes to boil?"
+
+"Oh, not long. It is not time to put them on for a great while."
+
+"But they are not ready, are they?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And what else, Maria?"
+
+Here came a call from the stair head. Maria went to the foot of the
+stairs to hear what the business was, and came back with her mood
+nowise sweetened; to judge by the way she went about; filled an iron
+pot with water and set it on the stove, and dashed things round
+generally. Matilda looked on without saying a word.
+
+"I've got my day's work cut out for me now," said Maria at last.
+"There's that leg of mutton to boil, and turnips to be mashed; besides
+the potatoes. And the turnips have got to be peeled. Come and help me,
+Tilly, or I shall never get through. Won't you?"
+
+
+
+Now Matilda had her own notions about things she liked and things she
+did not like to do; and one of the things she did not like to do was to
+roughen or soil her hands. To put her little hands into the pan of
+water, and handle and pare the coarse roots with the soil hanging to
+them, was very distasteful to her nicety. She looked a little dismayed.
+But there were the roots all to be pared and washed, and Maria would
+have her hands full; and was not this also work given to Matilda to do?
+At any rate, she felt that she could not refuse without losing
+influence over Maria, and that she could not afford. So Matilda's hands
+and her knife went into the pan. She thought it was very disagreeable,
+but she did it. After the potatoes and turnips were ready for the pot,
+Maria demanded her help about other things; she must clean the knives,
+and set the table, and prepare the celery and rub the apples; while
+Maria kept up the fire, and attended to the cookery. Matilda did one
+thing after another; her weary little feet travelled out and in, from
+one room to the other room, and got things in order for dinner in both
+places.
+
+It was a pretty satisfactory dinner, on the whole. The mutton was well
+cooked and the vegetables were not bad, Mrs. Candy said; but Matilda
+thought with dismay of the after dinner dishes. However, dinner gives
+courage sometimes; and both she and Maria were stronger-hearted when
+they rose from table than when they had sat down. Dishes, and pots, and
+kettles, and knives, and endless details beside, were in course of time
+got rid of; and then Matilda put on her hat and cloak, and set forth on
+an errand she had been meditating.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+It was a soft pleasant day late in March. The snow had all gone for the
+present. Doubtless it might come back again; no one could tell; in
+Shadywalk snow was not an unknown visitor even in April; but for the
+present no such reminder of winter was anywhere to be seen. The air was
+still and gentle; even the brown tree stems looked softer and less bare
+than a few weeks ago, though no bursting buds yet were there to make
+any real change. The note of a bird might be heard now and then;
+Matilda had twice seen the glorious colour of a blue bird's wings as
+they spread themselves in the light. It was quite refreshing to get out
+of the house and the kitchen work, and smell the fresh, pure air, and
+see the sky, and feel that all the world was not between four walls
+anywhere. Matilda went softly along, enjoying. At the corner she
+turned, and walked up Butternut street--so called, probably, in honour
+of some former tree of that family, for not a shoot of one was known in
+the street now. On and on she went till her church was passed, and then
+turned down the little lane which led to the parsonage. The snow all
+gone, it was looking pretty here. On one side the old church, the new
+lecture-room on the other, and between them the avenue of elms, arching
+their branches over the way and making a vista, at the end of which was
+the brown door of the parsonage. Always that was a pleasant view to
+Matilda, for she associated the brown door with a great many things;
+however, this day she did not seek the old knocker which hung
+temptingly overhead, but sheered off and went round to the back of the
+house; and there entered at once, and without knocking, upon Miss
+Redwood's premises. They were in order; nobody ever saw the parsonage
+kitchen otherwise; and Miss Redwood was sitting in front of the stove,
+knitting.
+
+"Well, if there ain't Tilly Englefield!" was her salutation.
+
+"May I come in, Miss Redwood?--if you are not busy."
+
+"Suppos'n I _was_ busy, I guess you wouldn't do me no harm, child. Come
+right in and sit down, and tell me how's all goin' on at your house.
+How's your mother, fust thing?"
+
+"Aunt Candy says she's not any better."
+
+"What does your mother say herself?"
+
+"I have not seen her to-day. Aunt Candy says she is nervous; and she
+wants me not to go into her room."
+
+"Who wants you not to go in? Not your mother?"
+
+"No; Aunt Candy."
+
+"I thought so. Well; how do you get along without your sisters, eh?
+Have you got a girl, or are you goin' to do without?"
+
+"We are going to do without."
+
+"I don't see how you kin, with your mother sick and wantin' somebody to
+tend her."
+
+"Maria and I do what's to be done. Mamma doesn't want us to get a girl."
+
+"Maria and you!" said Miss Redwood, straightening up. "I want to know!
+You and Maria. Why, I didn't reckon Maria was a hand at them kind o'
+things. What can she do, eh? I want to know! Things is curious in this
+world."
+
+"Maria can do a good deal," said Matilda.
+
+"And you can, too, can't ye?" said Miss Redwood, with a benevolent
+smile at her little visitor, which meant all love and no criticism.
+
+"I wish I knew how to do more," said Matilda. "I _could_, if I knew
+how. That's what I came to ask you, Miss Redwood; won't you tell me?"
+
+"Tell you anything on arth," said the housekeeper. "What do you want to
+know, child?"
+
+"I don't know," said Matilda, knitting her brow. "I want to know how to
+_manage_."
+
+Miss Redwood's lips twitched, and her knitting needles flew.
+
+"So there ain't no one but you to manage?" she said, at length.
+
+"Aunt Candy tells what is to be for breakfast and dinner. But I want to
+know how to _do_ things. What can one do with cold beefsteak, Miss
+Redwood?"
+
+"'Tain't good for much," said the housekeeper. "Have you got some on
+hand?"
+
+"No. We had, though."
+
+"And what _did_ you do with it?"
+
+"Maria and I put it in the oven to warm; and it spoiled the dish, and
+the meat was all dried up; and then I thought I would come and ask you.
+And we tried to fry some potatoes this morning, and we didn't know how,
+I think. They were not good."
+
+"And so your breakfast all fell through; and there was a muss, I
+expect?"
+
+"No; we had eggs; nobody knew anything about the beefsteak and the
+dish. But I want to know how to do."
+
+"What ailed your potatoes?"
+
+"They were too hard and too brown."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder! I declare, I 'most think I've got into the middle
+of a fairy story somewhere. Did you ever hear about Cinderella, Tilly,
+and her little glass slipper?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+"Some people's chariots and horses will find themselves turned into
+pun'kins some day; that is what _I_ believe."
+
+"But about the potatoes?" said Matilda, who could not catch the
+connection of this speech.
+
+"Well; she let 'em be in too long. That was the trouble. If you want to
+have things right, you must take 'em out when they are done, honey."
+
+"But how can we tell when they are done?"
+
+"Why, you know by just lookin at 'em. There ain't no great trouble
+about it; anyhow, there ain't about potatoes. You just put some fat in
+a pan, and chop up your potatoes, and when the fat is hot clap 'em in,
+and let 'em frizzle round a spell; and then when they're done you take
+'em up. Did you sprinkle salt in?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You must mind and sprinkle salt in, while they're in the pan; without
+that they'll taste kind o' flat."
+
+"Aunt Erminia don't like them chopped up. She wants them cut in thin
+slices and browned on both sides."
+
+"Laws a massy! why don't she do 'em so, then? what hinders her?" said
+the housekeeper, looking at Matilda. "I thought she was one o' them
+kind o' folks as don't know nothing handy. Why don't she do her own
+potatoes, and as brown as she likes, Tilly?"
+
+"Mamma wants us to take care of things, Miss Redwood."
+
+"Won't let your aunt learn you, nother?" said Miss Redwood, sticking
+one end of her knitting-needle behind her ear, and slowly scratching
+with it, while she looked at Matilda.
+
+"Aunt Candy does not like to do anything in the kitchen; and I would
+rather you would teach me, Miss Redwood--if you would."
+
+"And can you learn Maria?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+"Well, come along; what do you want to know next?"
+
+"I wish you'd teach me some time how to make gingerbread. And pies."
+
+The housekeeper glanced at the clock, and then bade Matilda take oft'
+her things.
+
+"Now?" said Matilda, hesitating.
+
+"You can't do nothing any time but now," said Miss Redwood, as she put
+away her work in its basket. "You can _think_ of doing it; but if you
+ever come to doing it, you will find it is _now_."
+
+"But is it convenient?"
+
+"La, child, I don't know what people mean by convenient. You look at it
+one way, and there is nothing convenient; and you look at it another
+way, and there is nothing but what is. Hang your things over that
+chair; and I'll put an apron on you."
+
+"But which way does it look this afternoon, Miss Redwood?"
+
+The housekeeper laughed, and kissed Tilly, whom she was arraying in a
+great check apron, big enough to cover her.
+
+"It is just how you choose to take it," she said. "I declare I'm sorry
+for the folks as is tied to convenience; they don't get the right good
+of their life. Why, honey, what isn't my convenience is somebody else's
+convenience, maybe. I want it to be sunshine very often, so as I kin
+dry my clothes, when the farmers want it to be rain to make their corn
+and cabbages grow. It is sure to be convenient for somebody."
+
+"But I want it to be convenient for you, this afternoon," said Matilda,
+wistfully.
+
+"Well, 'tis," said the housekeeper. "There--wash your hands in that
+bowl, dear; and here's a clean towel for you. A body as wants to have
+things convenient, had better not be a minister's housekeeper. No, the
+place is nice enough," she went on, as she saw Matilda's eye glance
+around the kitchen; "'tain't that; but I always think convenient means
+having your own way; and _that_ nobody need expect to do at the
+parsonage. Just so sure as I make pot pie, Mr. Richmond'll hev to go to
+a funeral, and it's spiled or lost, for he's no time to eat it; and I
+never cleaned up that hall and steps yet, but an army of boots and
+shoes came tramping over it out of the dirt; when if it _wants_
+cleaning, it'll get leave to be without a foot crossing it all the
+afternoon. And if it's bakin' day, I have visitors, and have to run
+between them and the oven, till I don't know which end is the parlour;
+and that's the way, Tilly; and I don't know no better way but to
+conclude that somebody else's convenience is yourn--and then you'll
+live in clover. The minister had to preach to me a good while before I
+could see it, though. Now, honey, sift your flour;--here it is. Kin you
+do it?"
+
+Matilda essayed to do it, and the housekeeper looked on.
+
+"The damper is turned," she said; "we'll have the oven hot by the time
+the cake is ready. Now, dear, what's going into it?"
+
+"Will that be enough?" said Matilda, lifting her floury hand out of the
+pan.
+
+"_I_ want a piece," said the housekeeper; "so there had better go
+another bowlful. And the minister--_he_ likes a bite of hot
+gingerbread, when he can get it. So shake it in, dear. That will do.
+Now, what are you going to put in it, Tilly, besides flour?"
+
+"Why, _I_ don't know," said Matilda.
+
+"Well, guess. What do you think goes into gingerbread?"
+
+"Molasses?"
+
+"Yes; but that goes one of the last things. Ain't you going to put no
+shortening in?"
+
+"Shortening? what is that?" said Matilda.
+
+"Well, it's whatever you've got. Butter'll do, if it's nice and
+sweet--like this is--or sweet drippings'll do, or a little sweet lard,
+maybe. We'll take the butter to-day, for this is going to do you and me
+credit. Now think--what else? Put the butter right there, in the
+middle, and rub it into the flour with the flat of your hand, so. Rub
+hard, dear; get the butter all in the flour, so you can't see it. What
+is to go in next?"
+
+"Spice? I think mamma puts spice."
+
+"If you like it. What spice will you choose?"
+
+"I don't know, Miss Redwood."
+
+"Well, it'd be queer gingerbread without ginger, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Oh yes. I forgot the ginger, to be sure. How much?"
+
+"That's 'cordin' as you like it. _That_ won't hardly taste, dear;
+'tain't just like red pepper; take a good cupful. Now just a little bit
+of cloves!"
+
+"And cinnamon?"
+
+"It'll be spice gingerbread, sure enough," said the housekeeper. "And
+salt, Tilly."
+
+"Salt? Must salt go in?" said Matilda, who had got very eager now in
+her work.
+
+"Salt's univarsal," said Miss Redwood. "'Cept sweetmeats, it goes into
+everything. That's what makes all the rest good. I never could see what
+was the use o' salt, till one day the minister, he preached a sermon on
+'Ye are the salt of the earth,' and ever since that it seems to kind o'
+put me in mind. And then I asked Mr. Richmond if _everything_ meant
+something."
+
+"But what does that mean, that you said?" said Matilda. "Good people
+don't make the rest of the world good."
+
+"They give all the taste there is to it, though," said the housekeeper.
+"And I asked that very question myself of the minister; and what do you
+think he told me."
+
+"What?"
+
+"He said it was because the salt warn't of as good quality as it had
+ought to be. And _that_ makes me think, too. But la! look at your
+gingerbread standing still. Now see, dear here's a bowl o' buttermilk
+for you; it's as rich as cream, a'most; and I take and put in a
+spoonful of--you know what this is?"
+
+"Salaeratus?"
+
+"That's it."
+
+"We use soda at our house."
+
+"Salaeratus is good enough for me," said Miss Redwood; "and I know what
+it'll do; so I'm never put out in my calculations. Now when it foams
+up--see,--now mix your cake, dear, as quick as you like.
+Stop--wait--let's get the molasses in. Now, go on. I declare, having
+two pair o' hands kind o' puts one out. Stir it up; don't be afraid."
+
+Matilda was not afraid, and was very much in earnest. The gingerbread
+was quickly mixed, and for a few minutes there was busy work, buttering
+the pans and putting the mixture in them, and setting the pans in the
+oven. Then Matilda washed her hands; the housekeeper put the flour and
+spices away; and the two sat down to watch the baking.
+
+"It'll be good," said the housekeeper.
+
+"I hope it will," said Matilda.
+
+"I know 'twill," said Miss Redwood. "You do your part right; and these
+sort o' things--flour, and butter, and meat, and potatoes, and
+that--don't never disapint you. That's one thing that is satisfactory
+in this world."
+
+"But mamma has her cake spoiled in the oven sometimes."
+
+"'Twarn't the oven's fault," said Miss Redwood. "Did ye think it was?
+Ovens don't do that for me, never."
+
+"But sometimes the oven was too hot," said Matilda; "and other times
+she said it was not hot enough."
+
+"Of course!" said the housekeeper; "and then again other times she
+forgot to look at it, maybe, and left her cake in too long. The cake
+couldn't knock at the door of the oven to be let out; that'd be too
+much to ask. Now look at yourn, dear."
+
+Matilda opened the oven door and shut it again.
+
+"What's the appearance of it?"
+
+"It is coming up beautifully. But it isn't up in the middle yet."
+
+"The fire's just right," said the housekeeper.
+
+"But how can you _tell_, Miss Redwood?" said Matilda, standing by the
+stove with a most careful set of wrinkles on her little brow.
+
+"Tell?" said the housekeeper; "just as you tell anything else; after
+you've seen it fifty times, you know."
+
+Matilda began a painful calculation of how often she could make
+something to bake, and how long it would be till fifty times had made
+her wise in the matter; when an inner door opened, and the minister
+himself came upon the scene. Matilda coloured, and looked a little
+abashed; the housekeeper smiled.
+
+"I am very glad to see you here, Tilly," Mr. Richmond said, heartily.
+"What are you and Miss Redwood doing here?"
+
+"We are getting ready for the business of life," said the housekeeper.
+"The minister knows there are different ways of doin' that."
+
+"Just what way are you taking now?" said Mr. Richmond, laughing. "It
+seems to me, you think the business of life is eating--if I may judge
+by the smell of the preparation."
+
+"It is time you looked at your cake, Tilly," said Miss Redwood; and she
+did not offer to help her; so, blushing more and more, Matilda was
+obliged to open the oven door again, and show that she was acting
+baker. The eyes of the two older persons met in a way that was pleasant
+to see.
+
+"What's here, Tilly?" said the minister, coming nearer and stooping to
+look in himself.
+
+"Miss Redwood has been teaching me how to make gingerbread. O Miss
+Redwood, it is beginning to get brown at the end."
+
+"Turn the pans round then. It ain't done yet."
+
+"No, it isn't done, for it is not quite up in the middle. There is a
+sort of hollow place."
+
+"Shut up your oven, child, and it will be all right in a few minutes."
+
+"Then I think this is the night when you are going to stay and take tea
+with me," said Mr. Richmond. "I promised you a roast apple, I remember.
+Are there any more apples that will do for roasting, Miss Redwood?"
+
+"O Mr. Richmond, I do not care for the apple!" Matilda cried.
+
+"But if I don't have it, you will stay and take tea with me?"
+
+Matilda looked wistful, and hesitated. Her mother would not miss her;
+but could Maria get the tea without her?--
+
+"And I dare say you want to talk to me about something; isn't it so?"
+the minister continued.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond; I do."
+
+"That settles it. She will stay, Miss Redwood. I shall have some
+gingerbread, I hope. And when you are ready, Tilly, you can come to me
+in my room."
+
+The minister quitted the kitchen in good time, for now the cakes were
+almost done and needed care. A little watchful waiting, and then the
+plumped up, brown, glossy loaves of gingerbread said to even an
+inexperienced eye that it was time for them to come out of the oven.
+Miss Redwood showed Matilda how to arrange them on a sieve, where they
+would not get steamy and moist; and Matilda's eye surveyed them there
+with very great satisfaction.
+
+"That's as nice as if I had made it myself," said the housekeeper. "Now
+don't you want to get the minister's tea?"
+
+"What shall I do, Miss Redwood?"
+
+"I thought maybe you'd like to learn how to manage something else. He's
+had no dinner to-day--to speak of; and if eatin' ain't the business of
+life--which it ain't, I guess, with him--yet stoppin' eatin' would stop
+business, he'd find; and I'm goin' to frizzle some beef for his supper,
+and put an egg in. Now I'll cut the beef, and you can stir it, if you
+like."
+
+Matilda liked very much. She watched the careful shaving of the beef in
+paper-like fragments; then at the housekeeper's direction she put some
+butter in a pan on the fire, and when it was hot threw the beef in and
+stirred it back and forward with a knife, so as not to let it burn, and
+so as to bring all the shavings of beef in contact with the hot pan
+bottom, and into the influence of the boiling butter. At the moment of
+its being done, the housekeeper broke an egg or two into the pan; and
+then in another moment bade Matilda take it from the fire and turn it
+out. Meanwhile Miss Redwood had cut bread and made the tea.
+
+"Now you can go and call the minister," she said.
+
+Matilda thought she was having the rarest of pleasant times, as she
+crossed the little dining-room and the square yard of hall that came
+next, and went into the study. Fire Was burning in the wide chimney
+there as usual; the room was very sweet and still; Mr Richmond sat
+before the fire with a book.
+
+"I thought you were coming to talk to me, Tilly?" he said, stretching
+out his hand to draw her up to him.
+
+"Miss Redwood was showing me how to do things, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Then you _do_ want to talk to me?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir. But, Mr. Richmond, tea is ready."
+
+"We'll eat first then, and talk afterward. What is the talk to be
+about, Tilly? just to give me an idea."
+
+"It is about--I do not know what is right about something, Mr.
+Richmond. I do not know what I ought to do."
+
+"Have you looked in the Bible to find out?"
+
+"No, sir. I didn't know where to look, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Have you prayed about it?"
+
+Matilda hesitated, but finally said again, "No."
+
+"That is another thing you can always do. The Lord understands your
+difficulties better than any one else can, and knows just what answer
+to give you."
+
+"But--an answer? will He give it always?"
+
+"Always provided you are perfectly willing to take it, whatever it may
+be; and provided you do your part."
+
+"What is my part?"
+
+"If I sent you to find your way along a road you did not know, where
+there were guide posts set up; what would be your part to do?"
+
+"To mind the guide posts?"
+
+"Yes, and go on as they bade you. That is not to prevent your asking
+somebody you meet on the road, if you are going right? Now Miss Redwood
+has rung her bell, and you and I must obey it."
+
+"But, what are the guide posts, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"We will see about that after tea. Come."
+
+Matilda gave one wondering thought to the question how Maria and tea
+would get along without her at home; and then she let all that go, and
+resolved to enjoy the present while she had it. Certainly it was very
+pleasant to take tea with Mr. Richmond. He was so very kind, and
+attentive to her wants; and so amusing in his talk; and the new
+gingerbread looked so very handsome, piled up in the cake basket; and
+Miss Redwood was such a variety after Mrs. Candy. Matilda let care go.
+And when it came to eating the gingerbread, it was found to be
+excellent. Mr. Richmond said he wished she would come often and make
+some for him.
+
+"Do you know there is a meeting of the Band this evening?"
+
+"I had forgotten about it, Mr. Richmond; I have been so busy."
+
+"It is lucky you came to take tea with me, then," said he. "Perhaps you
+would have forgotten it altogether. What is Maria doing?"
+
+"She is busy at home, Mr. Richmond."
+
+"I am sorry for that. To-night is the night for questions; I am
+prepared to receive questions from everybody. Have you got yours ready?"
+
+"About Band work, Mr. Richmond?"
+
+"Yes, about Band work. Though you know that is only another name for
+the Lord's work, whatever it may be that He gives us to do. Now we will
+go to my study and attend to the business we were talking about."
+
+So they left Miss Redwood to her tea-table; and the minister and his
+little guest found themselves alone again.
+
+"Now, Tilly, what is it?" he said, as he shut the door.
+
+"Mr. Richmond," said Matilda, anxiously, "I want to know if I must mind
+what Aunt Erminia says?"
+
+"Mrs. Candy?" said Mr. Richmond, looking surprised.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"The question is, whether you must obey her?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I should say, if you doubt about any of her commands, you had better
+ask your mother, Tilly."
+
+"But I cannot see my mother, Mr. Richmond; that is one of the things.
+Mamma is sick, and aunt Candy has forbidden me to go into her room.
+Must I stay out?"
+
+"Is your mother so ill?"
+
+"No, sir, I do not think she is; I don't know; but Aunt Candy says she
+is nervous; and I must not go in there without leave." And Matilda
+raised appealing eyes to the minister.
+
+"That is hard, Tilly. I am very sorry to hear it. But I am of opinion
+that the authority of nurses must not be disputed. I think if Mrs.
+Candy says stay out, you had better stay out."
+
+"And everything else?" said Matilda. "Must I mind what she says in
+everything else?"
+
+"Are you under her orders, Matilda?"
+
+"That is what I want to know, Mr. Richmond. She says so. She told me
+not to go out to church last Sunday night; and all the others were
+going, and I went too; and she scolded about it and said I must mind
+her. Must I? in everything? I can't ask mamma."
+
+Mr. Richmond turned a paper-weight over and over two or three times
+without speaking.
+
+"You know what the fifth commandment is, Tilly."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond. But she is not my mother."
+
+"Don't you think she is in your mother's place just now? Would not your
+mother wish that your obedience should be given to your aunt for the
+present?"
+
+Matilda looked grave, not to say gloomy.
+
+"I can tell you what will make it easy," said Mr. Richmond. "Do it for
+the sake of the Lord Jesus. He set us an example of obedience to all
+lawful authorities; He has commanded us to live in peace with everybody
+as far as we possibly can; and to submit ourselves to one another in
+the fear of God. Besides that, I must think, Tilly, the command to obey
+our parents means also that we should obey whoever happens to stand in
+our parents' place to us. Will it not make it easy to obey your aunt,
+if you think that you are doing it to please God?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, thoughtfully.
+
+"I always feel that God's command sweetens anything," the minister went
+on. "Do you feel so?"
+
+"I think I do," the little girl answered.
+
+"So if you stay at home for Mrs. Candy's command, you may reflect that
+it is for Jesus' sake; and that will please Him a great deal better
+than your going to church to please yourself."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Richmond," Matilda said, cheerfully.
+
+"Was that all you had to talk to me about?"
+
+"Yes, sir; all except about Band work."
+
+"We will talk about that in the meeting. If you have a question to ask,
+write it here; and I will take it in and answer it."
+
+He gave Matilda paper and pen, and himself put on his overcoat. Then
+taking her little slip of a question, the two went together into the
+lecture-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Three was a good little gathering of the workers, many of whom were
+quite young persons. Among them Matilda was not a little surprised to
+see Maria. But she warily sheered off from comments and questions, and
+took a seat in another part of the room.
+
+"We are here for a good talk to-night," said the minister, after they
+had sung and prayed. "I stand ready to meet difficulties and answer
+questions. All who have any more little notes to lay on the desk,
+please bring or send them up, or ask their questions by word of mouth.
+I will take the first of these that comes to hand."
+
+Mr. Richmond unfolded a paper and read it over to himself, in the midst
+of a hush of expectation. Then he read it aloud.
+
+"If a member of the Relief Committee visits a sick person in want of
+help, and finds another member of some other committee giving the help
+and doing the work of the Relief Committee, which of them should take
+care of the case?"
+
+"It is almost as puzzling," said Mr. Richmond, "as that other question,
+what husband the woman should have in the other world who had had seven
+in this. But as we are not just like the angels in heaven yet, I should
+say in this and similar cases, that the one who first found and
+undertook the case should continue her care--or his care--if he or she
+be so minded. The old rule of 'first come, first served,' is a good
+one, I think. The Relief Committee has no monopoly of the joy of
+helping others. Let us see what comes next.
+
+"'There are four people, I know, who go to read the Bible to one blind
+person--and I know of at least two who are sick and unable to read,
+that nobody goes to.'
+
+"Want of system," said Mr. Richmond, looking up. "The head of the
+Bible-reading Committee should be told of these facts."
+
+"She has been told," said a lady in the company.
+
+"Then doubtless the irregularity will be set to rights."
+
+"No, it is not so certain; for the blind person lives where it is easy
+to attend her; and the sick people are in Lilac Lane--out of the way,
+and in a disagreeable place."
+
+"Does the head of the Bible-reading Committee decline these cases,
+having nobody that she can send to them?"
+
+"She says she does not know whom to send."
+
+"I will thank you for the names of those two cases by and by, Mrs.
+Norris; I think I can get them supplied. The question of theory I will
+handle presently, before we separate."
+
+"Here is another request," said Mr. Richmond, who knew Matilda's
+handwriting,--"from a dear child, who asks to know 'what we shall do,
+when people will not hear the message we carry?' Why, try again. Go and
+tell them again; and never mind rebuffs if you get them. People did not
+listen to our Master; it is no matter of wonder if they refuse to hear
+us. But He did not stop His labours for that; neither must we. 'Let us
+not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we
+faint not.' I give her that for her watchword;--' _If we faint not_,
+remember.
+
+"The next question in my hand is, 'what we are to do about welcoming
+strangers?' The writer states, that six new scholars have lately come
+to the school, and, to her certain knowledge, only two of them have
+received any welcome.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Richmond, thoughtfully, "I must come to the words I
+had chosen to talk to you about. They answer a great many things. You
+all remember a verse in the Epistle to the Ephesians which speaks of
+'redeeming the time, because the days are evil.'
+
+"I dare say it has puzzled some of you, as it used once to puzzle me.
+How are we to 'redeem the time'? Another translation of the passage
+will perhaps be clearer and help us to understand. '_Buying' up
+opportunities_.' The words are so rendered by a late great authority. I
+don't know but you will at first think it just as hard to comprehend.
+How are we to 'buy up opportunities'?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know," said Mrs. Swan, Ailie's mother. "I always
+thought opportunities were given."
+
+"So they are. But the privilege of using them, we often must buy."
+
+"I don't see how."
+
+"Let us come to facts, Mrs. Swan. Here are four opportunities in the
+school, in the shape of new members added to it. How comes it these
+opportunities have not been used? There are two other grand
+opportunities in Lilac Lane."
+
+"Are we to buy them?" said Mrs. Trembleton.
+
+"I do not see how else the difficulty can be met. They are worth
+buying. But the next question is, What will you pay?"
+
+There was a long silence, which nobody seemed inclined to break.
+
+"I think you see, my dear friends, what I mean. For welcoming those
+four strangers, somebody must give up his ease for a moment--must make
+a little sacrifice of comfort. It will be very little indeed, for these
+things pay as we go; we get our return promptly. The opportunities in
+Lilac Lane must be bought, perhaps, with some giving up of time; of
+pleasure, perhaps; perhaps we must pay some annoyance. It is so with
+most of our opportunities, dear friends. He who serves God with what
+costs him nothing, will do very little service, you may depend on it.
+Christ did not so; who, 'though He was rich, yet for our sakes He
+became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.' He 'pleased
+not Himself.' And we, if we are His servants, must be ready to give
+_everything_, if need be, even our lives also, to the work He calls us
+to do. We must buy up opportunities with all our might, paying not only
+time and money, but love, and patience, and self-denial, and
+self-abasement, and labour, and pains-taking. We cannot be right
+servants of God or happy servants, and keep back anything. 'Let a man
+so account of us, as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries
+of God;' and let us see that all the grace He gives us we use to the
+very uttermost for His glory, in 'works, and love, and service, and
+faith, and patience, and works.' My dear friends, if we have only
+_love_ in our hearts, love will buy up opportunities as fast as they
+come; and always have the right money."
+
+Mr. Richmond said no more, but after another hymn and a prayer
+dismissed the assembly. Maria and Matilda presently found themselves
+side by side in the street.
+
+"Maria," said the younger one, "don't you think you and I will go and
+read to those two poor people in the lane?"
+
+"I guess I will!" said Maria, "when I get done being chief cook and
+bottle-washer to Mrs. Minny Candy."
+
+"But before that, Maria?"
+
+"When shall I go?" said Maria, sharply. "When it is time to get
+breakfast? or when the potatoes are on for dinner? or when I am taking
+the orders for tea? Don't be a goose, Matilda, if you can help it."
+
+"We haven't much time," said Matilda, sighing.
+
+"And I am not going to Lilac Lane, if I had it. There are enough other
+people to do that."
+
+"O Maria!"
+
+"Well, 'O Maria,'--there are."
+
+"But they do not go."
+
+"That's their look out."
+
+"And, Maria, you see what Mr. Richmond thinks about the Dows."
+
+"I don't see any such thing."
+
+"You heard him to-night."
+
+"He didn't say a word about the Dows."
+
+"But about trying again, he did. O Maria, I've thought a great many
+times of that Dows' house."
+
+"So have I," said Maria; "what fools we were."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, because it was no use."
+
+"Mr. Richmond doesn't think so."
+
+"He's welcome to go and try for himself. _I_ am not going again."
+
+"What is the matter, Maria?"
+
+"Nothing is the matter."
+
+"But, Maria, ever since you joined the Band, I cannot remember once
+seeing you 'buy up opportunities.' If you loved Jesus, I think you
+would."
+
+"I wouldn't preach," said Maria. "That is one thing I wouldn't do. If I
+was better than my neighbours, I'd let them be the ones to find it out."
+
+Matilda was silent till they reached home.
+
+"Where have you been, Matilda?" said her aunt, opening the parlour door.
+
+"To see Miss Redwood, aunt Candy."
+
+"Ask me, next time, before going anywhere. Here has Maria had
+everything to do since five hours ago,--all alone."
+
+Matilda shut her lips firmly,--if her head took a more upright set on
+her shoulders she did not know it,--and went up-stairs after her sister.
+
+"How is mamma, Maria?" she asked, when she got there.
+
+"I don't know. Just the same."
+
+The little girl sighed.
+
+"What is to be for breakfast?"
+
+"Fish balls."
+
+"You do not know how to make them."
+
+"Aunt Erminia told me. But I shall want your help, Tilly, for the fish
+has to be carefully picked all to pieces; and if we leave a bit as big
+as a sixpence, there'll be a row."
+
+"But the fish isn't soaked, Maria."
+
+"It is in hot water on the stove now. It will be done by morning."
+
+Matilda sighed again deeply, and knelt down before the table where her
+Bible was open. "Buying up opportunities" floated through her head;
+with "works, and love, and service, and faith, and patience, and
+works"* [*Alford's translation.]--"Christ pleased not Himself"--and the
+little girl's head went down upon the open page. How much love she must
+have, to meet all the needs for it! to do all the works, have all the
+patience, buy up all the opportunities! Tilly's one prayer was that she
+might be full of love, first to God and then to everybody.
+
+Such prayers are apt to be answered; and the next morning saw her go
+through all the details of its affairs with a quiet patience and
+readiness which must have had a deep spring somewhere. She helped Maria
+in the tedious picking out of the fish; she roasted her cheeks in
+frying the balls, while her sister was making porridge; she attended to
+the coffee; and she met her aunt and cousin at breakfast with an
+unruffled quiet sweetness of temper. It was just the drop of oil needed
+to keep things going smoothly; for Maria was tired and out of humour,
+and Mrs. Candy disposed to be ill-pleased with both the girls for their
+being out at the Band meeting. She did not approve of the whole thing,
+she said. However, the sunshine scattered the clouds away. And when,
+after a busy morning and a pretty well got-up dinner, Matilda asked
+leave to go out and take a walk, she had her reward. Mrs. Candy gave
+permission.
+
+"Won't you come too, Maria?" she asked, when they went to their own
+room.
+
+"There's no fun in walking," Maria answered, disconsolately.
+
+"I am going to Lilac Lane."
+
+"I hope you don't think there is any fun in _that_."
+
+"But, Maria!----"
+
+"Well, what?"
+
+"I think there is something a great deal better than fun."
+
+"You may have it all then, for me."
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, gently, "I wish you wouldn't mind.
+Mamma will get well by and by, and this will be all over; and we are
+getting along so nicely. Aunt Candy was quite pleased with the dinner."
+
+"There's another dinner to get to-morrow," said Maria; "and I don't
+know what you mean by this being 'all over' when mamma gets well. What
+difference will her getting well make? She will help, to be sure; but
+we should have the same things to do--just the same."
+
+Matilda had not reckoned on that, for she looked sober a minute or two.
+
+"Well, Maria," she said then, clearing up, "I don't care. If Jesus has
+given us this to do, you know, I _like_ to do it; because He has given
+it to us to do."
+
+Maria turned away impatiently.
+
+"Maria," said her little sister, drawing nearer and speaking solemnly,
+"do you intend to ask Mr. Richmond to baptize you the next time he has
+the baptismal service?"
+
+"If I do," said Maria, "_you_ need not trouble yourself about it."
+
+And Matilda thought she had better let the subject and her sister both
+alone for the present. She had got herself ready, and now taking her
+Bible she went out. It was but a little way to the corner. There she
+turned in the opposite direction from the one which would have taken
+her to church, and crossed the main street. In that direction, farther
+on, lay the way to Lilac Lane; but at the other corner of the street
+Matilda found an interruption. Somebody stopped her, whom she knew the
+next instant to be Norton Laval.
+
+"Why, it is Matilda Englefield!" he said. "You are just the one I want
+to see."
+
+"Am I?" said Matilda.
+
+"I should think so. Come along; our house lies that way; don't you
+recollect?"
+
+"Oh, but I am not going that way now," said Matilda.
+
+"Oh yes, but you are! Mamma says contradicting is very rude, but I
+can't help it sometimes. Can you help it, Matilda?"
+
+"People ought to be contradicted sometimes," Matilda said, with an arch
+bridling of her head, which, to be sure, the child was quite
+unconscious of.
+
+"Not I," said Norton. "Come!"
+
+"Oh, but I cannot, Norton. I wish I could. Not this time."
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Up that way."
+
+"Nobody lives up that way."
+
+"Nobody? Just look at the houses."
+
+"Nobody lives in those houses," said Norton.
+
+"Oh, very well; then I am going to see nobody."
+
+"No, Matilda; you are coming to see mamma. And I have something to show
+you; a new beautiful game, which mamma has got for me; we are going to
+play it on the lawn, when the grass is in order, by and by; and I want
+you to come and see it now, and learn how to play. Come, Matilda, I
+want to show it to you."
+
+Matilda hesitated. It did not seem very easy to get rid of Norton; but
+what would become of the poor people in Lilac Lane? Would another time
+do for them? Here was Norton waiting for her; and a little play would
+be so pleasant. As she stood irresolute, Norton, putting his arm round
+her affectionately, and applying a little good-humoured force, gave her
+shoulders without much difficulty the turn he wished them to take. The
+two began to move down the street towards Norton's home. But as soon as
+this was done, Matilda began to have qualms about her dress. Norton was
+in a brown suit that fitted him, fresh and handsome; his cap sat
+jauntily on his thick, wavy hair; he was nice from head to foot. And
+Matilda had come out in the home dress she had worn while she and Maria
+had been washing up the dinner dittoes. Looking down she could see a
+little wet spot on the skirt now. That would dry. But then her boots
+were her everyday boots, and they were a little rusty; and she had on
+her common school hat. The only thing new and bright about her was her
+Bible under her arm. As her eye fell upon it, so did her companion's
+eye.
+
+"What book have you got there?" he asked, and then put out his hand to
+take it. "A Bible! Where were you going with this, Matilda?"
+
+"It is my Bible," said the little girl.
+
+"Yes; but you do not take your Bible out to walk with you, do you, as
+babies do their dolls?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Then what for, Matilda?"
+
+"Business."
+
+"What sort of business?"
+
+"Why do you want to know, Norton? It was private business."
+
+"I like that," said Norton. "Why do I want to know? Because you are
+Matilda Englefield, and I like to know all about you."
+
+"You do not know much yet," said Matilda, looking with a pleased look,
+however, up into her companion's face. It was smiling at her, with a
+complacent look to match.
+
+"I shan't know _much_ when I know all," he said. "How old are you? You
+can't make much history in ten years."
+
+"No, not much," said Matilda. "But still--it may not be history to
+other people, but I think it is to one's self."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Oh, one's life, you know."
+
+"But ten years is not a life," said Norton.
+
+"It is, if one hasn't lived any longer."
+
+"I would like my life to be history to other people," said Norton.
+"Something worth while."
+
+"I wouldn't like other people to know my life, though," said Matilda.
+
+"Then could not help it, if it was something worth while," said Norton.
+
+"Why, yes, Norton; one's life is what one thinks and feels; what nobody
+knows. Not the things that everybody knows."
+
+"It is what one _does_," said Norton; "and if you do anything worth
+while, people will know it. I wonder what there will be to tell of you
+and me fifty years from now?"
+
+"Fifty years! Why, then I should be sixty-one," said Matilda; "and you
+would be a good deal more than that. But perhaps we shall not live to
+be so old."
+
+"Yes, we shall," said Norton. "_I_ shall; and you must, too."
+
+"Why, Norton, we can't _make_ ourselves live," said Matilda, in great
+astonishment at this language.
+
+"We shall live to be old, though," said Norton. "I know it. And I wish
+there may be something to be said of _me_. I don't think women ought to
+be talked of."
+
+"I do not see what good it would do anybody to be talked of, after he
+has gone away out of the world," said Matilda. "Except to be talked of
+in heaven. That would be good."
+
+"In heaven!" said Norton. "Talked of in heaven! Where did you get that?"
+
+"I don't mean that exactly," said Matilda. "But some people will."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Why, a great many people, Norton. Abraham and Noah, and David, and
+Daniel, and the woman that put all she had into the Lord's treasury,
+and the woman that anointed the head of Jesus--the woman who, He said,
+had done what she could. I would like to have _that_ said of me, if it
+was Jesus that said it."
+
+Norton took hold of Matilda and gave her a little good-humoured shake.
+"Stop that!" he said; "and tell me, is that why you are carrying a
+Bible out here in the streets?"
+
+"Oh, I haven't any use for it here, Norton."
+
+"Then what have you got it here for?"
+
+"Norton, there are some people in the village who are sick, or cannot
+read; and I was going to read to them."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"In Lilac Lane."
+
+"Where is that?"
+
+"You go up past the corner a good way, and just by Mr. Barth's foundry
+you turn down a few steps, and turn again at the baker's. Then, a
+little way further on, you strike into the lane."
+
+"That's it, is it? I know. But do you know what sort of people live up
+that way?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, there's another thing you _don't_ know, and that's the mud.
+You'd never have got out again, if you had gone to Lilac Lane to-day.
+It is three feet deep; and it weighs twenty pounds a foot. After you
+set your shoe in it, you want a windlass to get it out again."
+
+"What is a windlass?" Matilda asked.
+
+"Don't you know? Well, you _are_ a girl; but you are a brick. I'll
+teach you about a windlass, and lots of things."
+
+"I shouldn't think you would want to teach me, _because_ I am a girl,"
+said Matilda.
+
+They had reached the iron gate of Mrs. Laval's domain, walking fast as
+they had talked; and in answer to Matilda's last remark, Norton opened
+the gate for her, and took off his cap with an air as he held it for
+her to pass in. Matilda looked, smiled, and stepped past him.
+
+"You are not like any boy I ever saw," she remarked, when he had
+recovered his cap and his place beside her.
+
+"I hope you like me better than any one you ever saw?"
+
+"Yes," said Matilda, "I do."
+
+The boy's answer was to do what most boys are too shy or too proud for.
+He put his arms round Matilda and gave her a hearty kiss. Matilda was
+greatly surprised, and bridled a little, as if she thought Norton had
+taken a liberty; but on the whole seemed to recognise the fact that
+they were very good friends, and took this as a seal of it. Norton led
+her into the house, got his croquet box, and brought her and it out
+again to the little lawn before the door. Nobody else was visible. The
+day was still, dry, and sunny, and though the grass was hardly green
+yet and not shaven nor rolled nor anything that a croquet lawn ought to
+be, still it would do, as Norton said, to look at. Matilda stood by and
+listened intently, while he planted his hoops and showed his mallets,
+and explained to her the initial mysteries of the game. They even tried
+how it would go; and there was no doubt of one thing, the time went
+almost as fast as the croquet balls.
+
+"I must run home, Norton," Matilda said at last.
+
+"Why? I don't think so."
+
+"I know I must."
+
+"Well, do you like it?" He meant the game.
+
+"Oh, it's delightful!" was Matilda's honest exclamation. Norton pushed
+back his cap and looked at her, pleased on his part. It came into
+Matilda's head that she ought to tell him something. Their two faces
+had grown to be so friendly to each other.
+
+"Norton," she said, gravely, "I want you to know something about me."
+
+"Yes," said Norton. "I want to know it."
+
+"You don't know what it is."
+
+"That's the very thing. I _want_ to know it."
+
+"Norton, did you ever see anybody baptized?"
+
+"Babies," said Norton, after a moment's recollection.
+
+"Well, if you would like to see me baptized, come to our church Sunday
+after next."
+
+"You?" said Norton. "Haven't you been baptized?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"I thought everybody was. Then if you have not been yet, why do you?
+Whose notion is that?"
+
+"It is mine."
+
+"_Your_ notion?" said Norton, examining her. "What do you mean by that,
+Matilda?"
+
+"I mean, I want to be baptized; and Mr. Richmond is going to do it for
+me."
+
+"What's it for? what's the use? I wouldn't if I were you."
+
+"It is joining the church. Don't you understand, Norton?"
+
+"Not a bit. That is something I never did understand. Do you understand
+it?"
+
+"Why, yes, certainly."
+
+"Let's hear, then," said Norton, putting up his croquet balls.
+
+"Mr. Richmond has explained it so much, you know, I couldn't help but
+understand."
+
+"Oh, it's Mr. Richmond, is it?"
+
+"No; it's the Bible."
+
+"Let's hear, then," said Norton. "Go on."
+
+Matilda hesitated. She found a difficulty in saying all her mind to
+him; she did not know whether it was best; and with that she had a
+suspicion that perhaps she ought to do it. She glanced at him, and
+looked away, and glanced again; and tried to make up her mind. Norton
+was busy putting up his croquet hoops and mallets; but his face looked
+so energetic and wide awake, and his eye was so quick and strong, that
+she was half afraid to say something that might bring an expression of
+doubt or ridicule upon it. Then Norton looked up at her again, a keen
+look enough, but so full of pleasure in her that Matilda's doubts were
+resolved. He would not be unkind; she would venture it.
+
+"I want you to know about me, Norton," she began again.
+
+"Well," said Norton, "so do I; but it seems difficult, somehow."
+
+"You do not think that, for you are laughing."
+
+Norton gave her another look, laughing rather more; and then he came
+and stood close beside her.
+
+"What is it, Matilda?" he asked.
+
+"I don't want you to think that I am good," she said, looking up
+earnestly and timidly, "for I am not; but I want to be; and being
+baptized is a sign of belonging to the Lord Jesus, so I want to be
+baptized."
+
+"It isn't a sign of anything good," said Norton. "Lots of people are
+baptized, that aren't anything else, I know. Lots of them, Matilda.
+That don't change them."
+
+"No, that don't change them, Norton; but when they _are_ changed, then
+the Bible says they must be baptized."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"It is just telling everybody what they believe, and what they are.
+It's a _sign_."
+
+"Then when you are baptized, as you mean to be, that will be telling
+everybody what _you_ believe and what you are?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It would not tell me," said Norton, "be-cause I should not understand
+the sign. I wish you would tell me now in words, Matilda."
+
+"I don't know if I can, but I'll try. You know water makes things
+clean, Norton?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"Well, if it is used it does," said Matilda. "The water is a sign that
+I believe the Lord Jesus will take away my sins, and make me clean and
+good, if I trust Him; that He will wash my heart, and that He has begun
+to do it. And it will be a sign that I am His servant, because that is
+what He has commanded His servants."
+
+"What?"
+
+"That; to be baptized, and join the church."
+
+"Matilda, a great many people are baptized, and keep all their sins
+just the same."
+
+"Oh, but those are make-believe people."
+
+"No, they are not; they are real people."
+
+"I mean, they are make-believe Christians."
+
+"How do you know but you are?"
+
+"I _think_ I know," said Matilda, looking down.
+
+"But other people won't know. Your being baptized will not mean
+anything to them, only that somebody has coaxed you into it."
+
+"It will mean all that, Norton; and if I am true they will _see_ it
+means all that."
+
+"They might see it all the same without your being baptized. What
+difference would that make?"
+
+"It is _obedience_," said Matilda, firmly. "And not to do it would be
+disobedience. And it is profession of faith; and not to do it, would be
+to say that I don't believe."
+
+Norton looked amused, and pleased, and a little puzzled.
+
+"You have not told me anything about you, after all," he said; "for I
+knew it all before."
+
+"How did you know it?"
+
+"Not this about your being baptized, you know, but about _you_."
+
+"What about me?"
+
+"I say, Matilda, when will you come and play croquet again?"
+
+"I don't know. But, O Norton, I must go now. I forgot all about it. And
+there was something else I wanted to say. I wish you would be a servant
+of Jesus too?"
+
+Matilda gave this utterance a little timidly. But Norton only looked at
+her and smiled, and finally closed the question by taking her in his
+arms and giving her two kisses this time. It was done without a bit of
+shamefacedness on his part, and with the energy and the tenderness too
+of affection. Matilda was extremely astonished and somewhat
+discomposed; but the evident kindness excused the freedom, and on the
+whole she found nothing to object. Norton opened the iron gate for her,
+and she hurried off homewards without another word.
+
+In a dream of pleasure she hurried along, feeling that Norton Laval was
+a great gain to her, and that croquet was the most delightful of
+amusements, and that all the weariness of the day's work was taken out
+of her heart. She only regretted, as she went, that those poor people
+in Lilac Lane had heard no reading; but she resolved she would go to
+them to-morrow.
+
+There is one time, however, for doing everything that ought to be done;
+and if that time is lost, no human calculation can make sure a second
+opportunity. Matilda was to find this in the case of Lilac Lane. The
+next day weather kept her at home. The second day she was too busy to
+go on such an expedition. The third was Sunday. And when Monday came,
+all thoughts of what she had intended to do were put out of her head by
+her mother's condition. Mrs. Englefield was declared to be seriously
+ill.
+
+The doctor was summoned. Her fever had taken a bad turn, he said. It
+was a very bad turn; for after a few days it was found to be carrying
+her swiftly to death's door. She was unable to see her children, or at
+least unable to recognise and speak to them, until the very last day;
+and then too feeble. And the Sunday when Matilda had expected to be
+baptized, saw her mother's funeral instead.
+
+Anne and Letitia came up from New York, but were obliged to return
+thither immediately after the funeral; and the two younger girls were
+left to their grief. It was well for them now that they, had plenty of
+business, plenty of active work on hand. It was a help to Maria; after
+a little it diverted her thoughts and took her out of the strain of
+sorrow. And it was a help to Matilda, but in a more negative way. It
+kept the child from grieving herself ill, or doing herself a mischief
+with violent sorrow; it was no relief. In every unoccupied moment,
+whenever the demands of household business left her free to do what she
+would, the little girl bent beneath her burden of sorrow. Kneeling
+before her open Bible, her tears flowed incessantly every moment when
+the luxury of indulgence could be allowed them. Mrs. Candy did not see
+the whole of this; she was rarely in the girls' room; yet she saw
+enough to become uneasy, and tried all that she knew to remedy it.
+Clarissa was kind, to her utmost power of kindness. Even Maria was
+stirred to try some soothing for her little sister. But Matilda could
+not be soothed. Maria's instances and persuasions did, however, at last
+urge her to the point of showing a part of her thoughts and disclosing
+the thorn that pressed sharpest on her mind. It was, that she had not
+pleased her mother by doing her best in the studies she had pursued at
+school. Matilda had always been a little self-indulgent; did not
+trouble herself with study; made no effort to reach or keep a good
+place in her classes. Mrs. Englefield had urged and commanded her in
+vain. Not obstinately, but with a sort of gay carelessness, Matilda had
+let these exhortations slip; had studied when she was interested, and
+lagged behind her companions in the pursuits she found dry. And now,
+she could not forgive herself nor cease her sorrowing on account of
+this failure.
+
+Maria in despair at last took Mrs. Candy into her confidence, and
+besought her to comfort Matilda, which Mrs. Candy tried her best to do.
+She represented that Matilda had always been a good child; had loved
+and honoured her mother, and constantly enjoyed her favour. Matilda
+heard, but answered with sobs.
+
+"I am sure, my dear," her aunt said, "you have nothing to reproach
+yourself with. We are none of us perfect."
+
+"I didn't do what I could, aunt Candy!" was Matilda's answer.
+
+"My dear, hardly anybody--the best of us--does all he might do."
+
+"I will," said Matilda.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+This could not last always, and the days as they passed, after a while,
+brought their usual soothing.
+
+The quiet routine of the early spring began to come in again. Mrs.
+Candy was looking for a girl, she said, but had not found one yet;
+Maria and Matilda were not ready to go to school; they were better
+getting the breakfast and washing up the dishes than doing nothing. No
+doubt that was true.
+
+"Tilly," said Maria, one of these days, when the coffee cups were
+getting put in order, going out of Maria's tub of hot water into
+Matilda's hands and napkin,--"Tilly! you know next Sunday there is to
+be a baptism in the church?"
+
+"Yes," said Matilda.
+
+It was weeks after that other Sunday, when the rite had not been
+administered. Spring had come forward rapidly since then. Trees were in
+full leaf; dandelions in the grass; flowers were in the woods, though
+the two sisters had not gone to see them this year; the apple orchards
+around Shadywalk were in a cloud of pink blossoms; and the sun was warm
+upon flower and leaf everywhere.
+
+"Who is going to be baptized?" Maria went on.
+
+"I don't know. At least, I don't know all."
+
+"Ailie Swan is," remarked Maria.
+
+"Yes, I know Ailie Swan is."
+
+"And Frances Barth."
+
+Matilda was silent.
+
+"And Esther Trembleton, and George Rice, and Mary and Willie Edwards."
+
+"I suppose so," said Matilda.
+
+"You are not, are you?"
+
+"You know I _was_ going to be," said Matilda. "I am now."
+
+"Tilly, it would be no harm if you waited till another time."
+
+"Why should I wait?"
+
+"_I_ am going to wait," said Maria.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, because I don't feel like it. Not now."
+
+"I do not want to wait," said Matilda. And probably she was going to
+say more, but her lip trembled and she stopped.
+
+"It would be no harm, Tilly, if you waited. Nobody would expect it of
+us now. _Nobody_ would expect it, Tilly."
+
+"I think One would," said Matilda.
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Jesus."
+
+"But, Tilly," said Maria, uneasily, "I don't think so. It could not be
+pleasant for you and me, you know, to go forward and be baptized _now_.
+We might wait till another time; and then it would be more easy,
+wouldn't it?"
+
+"It is not hard now," said Matilda. "It is pleasant now. I do not wish
+to put it off."
+
+"Pleasant?" repeated Maria.
+
+"Yes," said her little sister, quietly, lifting her eyes to Maria's
+face so steadily and gravely that the other changed her ground.
+
+"But at least it is not duty, Matilda."
+
+Matilda had dried all the cups, and she threw her napkin down and
+covered her face.
+
+"Oh yes!" she said; "it is duty and pleasure too. I'll do what I can."
+
+"But what does it signify, your doing it?" said Maria. "It isn't
+anything. And it will look so odd if you do and I don't."
+
+Matilda took up her napkin again, and went to work at the plates.
+
+"Matilda, I wish you would wait. I am not ready to go now."
+
+"But I am ready, Maria."
+
+"If I was to tell Aunt Candy, I believe she would put a stop to it,"
+said Maria, sulkily. "I know she does not think much of such young
+people doing such things."
+
+"But Jesus said, Let them come."
+
+Maria tossed her head. However she did not speak to Mrs. Candy.
+
+So it was with no notion of Matilda's intention that her aunt that
+Sunday took her seat in Mr. Richmond's church. She had heard that a
+number of people, most of them young people, were to be baptized in the
+evening; she had been to her own church duly in the morning, and
+thought she might gratify her curiosity now in seeing how these things
+are managed in a different communion. She and Clarissa went alone, not
+supposing that the younger ones of the family were at that same moment
+getting ready to follow.
+
+"How are you going to dress yourself, Matilda?" her sister inquired.
+
+"To dress myself!" said Matilda, turning her eyes upon her sister in
+astonished fashion.
+
+"Why, yes, child! you will go out there in sight of everybody, you
+know. Aren't you going to put on a white frock? Clarissa says they
+always do in 'her church.'"
+
+Matilda looked down at her own black dress and burst into tears; only
+by a vigorous effort she kept the tears from falling, after the first
+one or two, and hurriedly and silently began to get herself ready.
+
+"But, Matilda! why don't you speak?" said her sister. "Are you going
+just so? and why don't you speak to me? There is no harm in a white
+frock."
+
+"I don't want a white frock," said Matilda. "Do _you_ mean to stay at
+home?"
+
+"I suppose I am going," said Maria, beginning slowly her own
+preparations. "People would think odd if I didn't go. Where are you
+going to sit?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, you are very stupid. I mean, where are you going to sit?"
+
+"Where we always do, I suppose."
+
+"But then you would have so far to walk."
+
+"To walk?" Matilda repeated, bewildered.
+
+"Why, yes, child! When you are called to go up with the rest, you know;
+you would have so far to go."
+
+"Oh!" said Matilda. "What of it?"
+
+"Don't you care?"
+
+"Why, no. It don't make any difference."
+
+"Well, I'd have a white frock if I were you," said Maria. "Being in
+black is no objection to that; for people do just the same, Matilda,
+for a baptism."
+
+"You will be late, Maria," was all the answer her little sister made.
+
+And they were late. Matilda was ready and waiting, before Maria's slow
+preparations were made. They walked quick; but service had begun in the
+church before they got there. They paused in the vestibule till a
+prayer should be ended. And here Matilda was seized upon.
+
+"I thought you were not coming," said an earnest whisper. "What made
+you come so late?" It was Norton Laval.
+
+"I couldn't help it," said Matilda.
+
+"And when you came, I all but missed you. They said all of you--you
+know--would be in white dresses; and I was looking out for white.
+Aren't you going to be baptized, after all?"
+
+"Oh yes, Norton."
+
+"Well, here's some flowers for you," said the boy, putting a bunch of
+white heath and lilies into Matilda's hand. "Mamma is here; up in the
+Dawsons' pew; it was sold with the place, so we've got it. Come there,
+Matilda, it will be a good place for you; yours is farther back, you
+know. Mamma told me to bring you."
+
+Maria had gone in, after an impatient whisper to her sister. And
+Matilda yielded to a secret inclination, and followed Norton.
+
+The service of baptism was not entered into until the close of the
+evening. During one of the intervals of the usual service, which
+preceded the other, Matilda questioned with herself if she really would
+have done better to put on a white dress? Everybody seemed to expect
+it. She could not, from the Daweon pew, which was a corner front one,
+see how her companions were dressed. But she presently recollected that
+the "fine linen," which Mr. Richmond had talked to them about, "is the
+righteousness of saints;" and she quieted herself with the assurance
+that the real attire of fitness is inward and not outward. And when the
+candidates for baptism were called to come forward, she quietly left
+her bunch of lilies with her hat on the cushion of the pew.
+
+"Is that Matilda!" whispered Clarissa to her mother.
+
+"I never heard a word of it!" said Mrs. Candy.
+
+"You cannot stop her now."
+
+"No; if I could I would," answered Mrs. Candy. "This ought not to be.
+Such a child!--does not know what she is doing. What a way!"
+
+But Matilda knew what she was doing; and when the candidates were asked
+respecting their faith and profession, there was no voice among them
+all that answered more clear and free; none that promised with more
+calm distinctness to "keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk
+in the same all the days of her life." And it was a meek little face,
+without a cloud or a doubt upon it, that was raised towards Mr.
+Richmond when her turn came.
+
+There was a long line of candidates for baptism, reaching nearly from
+one end to the other of the communion rails. Mr. Richmond stood near
+one end, by the font, and did not change his place; so each one, as he
+or she received the rite, passed to one side, while the place was
+filled by another. Without breaking the rank this was done; one set
+slowly edging along from left to right, while from right to left, one
+by one, the others came to take their turn. It was a pretty sight. So
+some thought; but there were varieties of opinion.
+
+One variety Matilda had to encounter that night before she slept. Going
+back to Mrs. Laval's pew to get her hat and flowers, naturally she
+walked home with her and Norton, and had no annoyance until she got
+there. As she went through the hall the parlour door opened and she was
+called in.
+
+"I want to speak to you, Matilda," said Mrs. Candy; "and I think it is
+proper to do it at once. I want to know about this. How long have you
+been preparing for this step you have taken to-night?"
+
+"Ma'am?" said Matilda.
+
+"How long have you been thinking of doing this?"
+
+"Oh, a long while, Aunt Candy."
+
+"Why did you not consult me?"
+
+Her mother would have been the one to speak to about it, and her mother
+had been too ill. Remembering this, Matilda stood silent and her eyes
+filled.
+
+"You have been intending it for these two months past?"
+
+"Yes, Aunt Candy; and before."
+
+"Well, then, why did you not speak to me?"
+
+"I spoke to Mr. Richmond."
+
+"Mr. Richmond might have had the courtesy, himself." (Which Mr.
+Richmond had meant to do, but various pressing matters had prevented.)
+"But _you_ ought to have spoken to me, Matilda. You are too young a
+child to take such responsibility."
+
+Matilda did not think of anything to say to this.
+
+"I do not think you understand what you have been doing."
+
+"I think I do, Aunt Candy."
+
+"What did you want to be baptized for?"
+
+"Because Jesus says we must."
+
+"Yes, properly; but not improperly, without knowing what you do. What
+do you think it means, Matilda?"
+
+"To be baptized, Aunt Erminia?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It means," said the child steadily, and with the clear utterance of
+pleasure, "that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+"There!" said Clarissa, appealing to her mother.
+
+"I thought so," said Mrs. Candy. "That is not what it means, Matilda."
+
+"It is what I mean, Aunt Candy."
+
+"It means a great deal more, my dear, which you cannot understand. And
+you ought to have had a white dress on."
+
+"I don't think God cares," said Matilda.
+
+"Did you ever hear such dreadful teaching as these people have?" said
+the mother, appealing to the daughter. "My dear, there is a propriety
+in things. And not one of the candidates this evening was dressed in
+white."
+
+"But the water means a clean heart," said Matilda; "and if we have
+that, God will think we are dressed in white."
+
+"So you think you have a clean heart?"
+
+"I think Jesus has begun to make it clean."
+
+"And what does it mean to renounce the devil and all his works?"
+
+"It means," said Matilda, sighing, "to have nothing to do with anything
+that is wrong."
+
+"How is such a child as you to know what is wrong?"
+
+"Why, the Bible, Aunt Candy."
+
+"What is the vain pomp and glory of the world?"
+
+"I don't know," said Matilda. "_All_ the glory, I suppose, except what
+God gives."
+
+"What does _He_ give, child?" said Mrs. Candy, with an odd expression
+on her face.
+
+"Why, you know, Aunt Erminia," said Matilda, a little wearily.
+
+"I should like to hear you tell."
+
+"I can't tell," said Matilda. "I think it was glory, when He said of
+that poor woman, 'She hath done what she could.'"
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Candy, after a pause, "I am very sorry you have
+taken this step without consulting me. Your answers show that you have
+not the discrimination necessary for making such vows. However, it is
+too late now. You may go to bed."
+
+Which Matilda did, and speedily forgot all that had troubled her in her
+aunt's words. For she went to sleep making a pillow to her head of
+those other words--
+
+"And white robes were given to every one of them."
+
+
+
+
+
+Typographical errors silently corrected:
+
+Chapter 3: =been doing to day= replaced by =been doing to-day=
+
+Chapter 3: =than other folks= replaced by =than other folks'=
+
+Chapter 5: =Richmond?'"= replaced by =Richmond'?"=
+
+Chapter 6: =But?--what 'but?'"= replaced by =But?--what 'but'?"=
+
+Chapter 7: =one to 'carry the message?'"= replaced by =one to 'carry
+the message'?"=
+
+Chapter 8: =spend it somehow= replaced by =spend it, somehow=
+
+Chapter 8: =Only one day= replaced by =Only, one day=
+
+Chapter 8: =Well what?= replaced by =Well, what?=
+
+Chapter 9: =band of workers= replaced by =Band of workers=
+
+Chapter 9: =to do His will?= replaced by =to do His will.=
+
+Chapter 9: =give thanks?"= replaced by give thanks"?=
+
+Chapter 11: =redeem the time?'= replaced by =redeem the time'?=
+
+Chapter 11: =up opportunities?'"= replaced by =up opportunities'?"=
+
+Chapter 11: =no fun in walking.= replaced by =no fun in walking."=
+
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+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of What She Could, by Susan Warner
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