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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30149-8.txt b/30149-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8f4baa --- /dev/null +++ b/30149-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9692 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Trading, 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: Trading + +Author: Susan Warner + +Release Date: October 1, 2009 [EBook #30149] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADING *** + + + + +Produced by Daniel Fromont. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: This is the fourth 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] + + + + +TRADING: + + + +FINISHING THE + +STORY OF "THE HOUSE IN TOWN," &c. + + + + + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"WIDE WIDE WORLD," "THE OLD HELMET," + +"WALKS FROM EDEN," &c., &c. + + + + + +"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, +who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods." + + + + + +NEW YORK: + +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + +530 BROADWAY. + +1873. + + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by + +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS + +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + + + +CAMBRIDGE: + +PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. + + + + + +TRADING. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Christmas day was grey with clouds; on the roofs of the city and in the +streets the sun never shone all day. People called it cold. Sarah +Staples found it so on her crossing. Inside Mrs. Lloyd's front-door, +however, it seemed to Matilda to be nothing but sunshine. She had not +leisure to look at the grey sky, and to be sure the temperature was +that of summer. Matilda had a great deal to do. Her various parcels +were to be neatly tied up in white paper, with the names of the persons +they were for nicely written thereon, and then committed to Mrs. +Bartholomew for arranging on the Christmas tree. Then the presents for +Anne and Letitia were to be directed and sent; Maria's basket packed +and put in charge of the express-man; and several little letters +written, one to Mr. Richmond. Till all these things were done, Matilda +had no time to think of the weather; then she found that the snow was +beginning to fall and coming thick. + +"Yes," said Norton, to whom she announced her discovery; "and it's +stinging! and coming on to blow. It will be a night! I like it. That +feels like Christmas." + +"Then there'll be no party?" said Matilda, rather more disappointed +than she wanted to shew. + +"Party?" said Norton, "what about the party? It won't snow in _here_. +Pink. What are you thinking of? The party'll be all the merrier. I tell +you, it feels like Christmas." + +"But will they come, through all the storm?" + +"They'd come, if the hailstones were as big as eggs," said Norton. "You +never saw one of grandmother's Christmas trees, Pink; and they never +did anywhere else. No fear but they'll come, every one of them. You go +along and get dressed." + +Matilda ran upstairs, glancing out of the hall window as she passed +with a thrill of delight and mystery. The air was darkening already +with the falling snow, and the wind swept it past the house in a white +mass; by contrast the evening splendours seemed greater than ever. She +dressed in a trembling excitement of pleasure, as far as her own part +of the preparation went; then Mrs. Laval's maid came in to finish her +toilette, and Mrs. Laval came to superintend it. Matilda had only to +stand still and be curled and robed and sashed and slippered; till the +work was done, the maid went, and Mrs. Laval took the child in her arms +and asked if she was happy? + +"_Very_ happy," Matilda said. + +"It does not take much to make you happy, love." + +"Why, mamma!" said Matilda looking down at her white ruffles and then +at her adopted mother, "I have so much that I don't know what to do!" + +Mrs. Laval smiled and sighed, and kissed her again. + +"And yet Christmas night is only beginning," she said. But the wind and +the hail dashed at the windows as if answering her that it had indeed +begun outside. Mrs. Laval went away to her own dressing, and Matilda +stood a moment at the window listening. It was long after dark now; but +she could hear the whistle of the sleet as the wind bore it past, and +the rush of ice and snow against the window-panes, and even through the +close-fining sash she could feel a little gush of keen air. And for one +moment Matilda's thoughts darted to Sarah, at her crossing and in her +cellar home all that day and night. The contrast was as sharp as that +little gush of icy air. Was it right? Matilda thought. Was it right, +that her dainty white dress should be so pretty on her and the +Christmas party so fine, when Sarah and others like her were in cold +and wet and rags? It was too disagreeable to think about, as Matilda +could not help it; and she went downstairs. + +How the house was lighted up! it was a second daylight, only more +splendid. What delicious warm air filled every room, and every +staircase, and every lobby! How handsome looked the marble floor of the +hall, with its luxurious mats at every door! But as her foot touched +the marble Matilda found something else to think of. Norton came out. +He looked her up and down. + +"What's the matter, Norton?" said Matilda, a little wanting to know his +opinion. + +"Nothing," said he nodding. "You'll do." + +"This will be a very funny dress for me to play proverbs in,--don't you +think so? I don't look much like Judy's Satinalia." + +"Not much," said Norton. "You don't look much like Judy's anything. O +Pink! do you know we are going to have a witch here to-night?" + +"A witch?" said Matilda. + +"A capital witch. It's a capital idea too, for it's a new thing; and +it's so hard to get hold of something new. I expect this'll be the +party of the season." + +"What do you mean?" said Matilda. + +"You'll see," said Norton. "Only don't be frightened. The witch won't +hurt you." + +And here came Judy, and took a good silent stare at Matilda. The two +girls were dressed alike. Norton watched them with a sly glance. +Without any remark or salutation Judy passed them with a toss of her +head, and went into one of the drawing-rooms. + +"She'll do," said Norton, with a competent nod of his head in Judy's +direction. "That is, she'll do the insolent, whenever she has a mind +to. She is a case, is Judy Bartholomew. Well, come, we must get out of +the way, Pink. Somebody'll be here soon." + +So they strolled into the lighted drawing-rooms, where Judy and David +were; and strolled about, consulting arrangements for the play, till +the doors opened and other white dresses, and coloured sashes, and +gallant white-trowsered young gentlemen began to pour in and claimed +their attention. And ladies accompanied them, not a great many, but a +few favoured mothers and aunts and elder sisters; and soon the +drawing-rooms were all alive with motion and colour, and noisy with the +hum of many voices. + +It was a wonderful scene to Matilda. She forgot that she had so little +to do with it, and was so left out of it by the gay little throng. She +did not at first think of that. To be sure she was a stranger; it was +quite natural, as it seemed to her, that she should be left out. The +pleasure was great enough, merely to look on. Everybody else was very +busy talking and laughing and moving about the rooms,--all except +herself. Matilda had never seen such a display of very young ladies and +gentlemen; the variety of styles, the variety of dresses, the diversity +of face and manner, were an extremely rich entertainment. She noticed +airs and graces in some, which she thought sat very ill on +them;--affectations of grown-up manner, tossings of curls, and +flaunting of white gloves, and waving of fans, at which Matilda's +simplicity was greatly astonished. Little gentlemen stood before little +ladies, with hands behind their backs, and entertained them in +conversation which appeared to be of the politest sort. And Judy's blue +scarf flitted from end to end of the rooms, dipped to the floor as she +courtesied to new comers, and fluttered with delight as she darted to +speak to some favourite or other. The rooms grew very lively. The gas +lights shone upon all the colours of the rainbow, moving and changing +as if Mrs. Lloyd's house had been a kaleidoscope. David and Norton were +not in the company. Suddenly Norton stood at Matilda's side. + +"What are you doing here, Pink?" + +"Nothing." Matilda looked and smiled at him. "Only looking at +everything." + +"But you ought to be _in it_, Pink." + +"In what?" + +"Why! in the work; in the talk. What are you sitting in a corner here +for?" + +"You know, Norton, I do not know anybody." + +"Hasn't Judy introduced you? Not to any one?" said Norton. "Left you +here? Judy Bartholomew! if it wasn't Christmas night and an +inconvenient time to make a row"-- + +"Hush, hush, Norton. I am having a very good time," said Matilda, +looking as she felt, like a very happy little girl. + +"Well," said Norton, "there are two odd people here to-night. One of +'em's Judy Bartholomew, and the other is--somebody you don't know. +Come! come here. Esther Francis!--this is my sister, my new sister +Matilda. Hasn't Judy introduced you?" + +Norton had caught by the arm, as she was passing, a girl of about +Judy's age, whom he thus brought face to face with Matilda. She was +sweet-faced and very handsomely dressed, and she had no sort of shyness +about her. She took Matilda's hand and looked at her with a steady look. + +"Take care of her, will you?" Norton went on. "I have got to go and +arrange things with Davie; and Judy has her head full. Tell Matilda +who's who; she does not know the people yet." + +The two girls stood a minute or two silently together; Esther giving +however a side glance now and then at her companion. + +"You have not been long in town?" she said then, by way of beginning. + +"Only three weeks." + +"Of course then you are quite a stranger. It is very disagreeable, +isn't it, to be among a whole set of people that you don't know?" +Esther said it with a little turn of her pretty head, that was--Matilda +could not tell just what it was. It shewed the young lady very much at +her ease in society, and it was not quite natural; that was all she +could make out. Matilda answered, that she did not find anything +disagreeable. Esther opened her eyes a little wider. + +"Do you know all about the arrangements to-night?" she whispered. + +"I suppose I do." + +"Will there be dancing?" + +"I have heard nothing about dancing," said Matilda. "I don't think +there'll be much time for it. I don't see how there can be." + +"Are you very fond of dancing?" Esther asked, with her eyes at the +further end of the next room. + +Matilda was conscious of feeling ashamed of her answer. Nevertheless +she answered. "I do not know how to dance." + +"Not dance!" said Esther, with a new glance at her. "Did you never +dance? O there's nothing I care for at parties but to dance. And there +are just enough here to night; not a crowd. Aunt Zara will send you to +dancing-school, I suppose. But it isn't so pleasant to begin to learn +when you are so old." + +"_Aunt_ Zara!" said Matilda. "Norton did not say you were his cousin." + +"Norton's head was too full," said Esther with another movement of her +head that struck Matilda very much; it was quite like a grown-up young +lady; and gave Matilda the notion that she thought a good deal of +Norton. "Yes; we are cousins; that is why he told me to take care of +you." + +Matilda was tempted to say that Norton would save her that trouble as +soon as he was at leisure to take it upon himself; but she did not. +Instead, she asked Esther how old _she_ had been when she began to take +dancing lessons? + +"I don't know; three and a half, I believe." + +The deficiency of Matilda's own education pressed upon her heavily. She +was a little afraid to go on, for fear of laying bare some other want. + +"Yes," said Esther after another interval of being absorbed in what was +going on in the next room;--"yes; of course, you know I began to learn +to dance as soon as I began to wear--stays," she uttered in a whisper, +and went on aloud. "The two things together. O yes; I was almost four +years old." + +Here she broke off to speak to some one passing, and Matilda was lost +in wonderment again. A little uneasy too; for though the young lady +kept her post at the side of the charge Norton had given her, and +evidently meant to keep it, Matilda thought she had an air of finding +her office rather a bore. A young lady who had danced and worn stays +from the time she was four years old, must necessarily know so much of +life and the world that a little ignoramus of a country girl _would_ be +a bore. + +"What are they going to do then to-night, if we are not to dance?" +resumed Esther when her friend had passed on. "Just have the Christmas +tree and nothing else?" + +Nothing else _but_ a Christmas tree! Here was an experience! + +"Norton and David are going to make a play," said Matilda; "acting a +proverb." + +"Oh!" said Esther. "A proverb! David is a good player, and Norton too; +excellent; that will be very good. I thought I heard something about a +_witch;_ what is that?" + +"What is what?" said Judy, who found herself near. + +"About the witch?" said Esther. + +"It'--mystery." + +"Then _is_ there to be a witch?" + +"Certainly." + +"Who will it be?" + +"Part of the mystery," said Judy. "Upon my word I don't know. I +couldn't find out. And I tried, too." + +"What is she going to do?" + +"That's the rest of the mystery. Without being a witch myself, how am I +going to tell?" + +"I have heard sometimes that you were," said Esther. + +"Ah! But there are witches and witches," said Judy; "black and white, +you know, and good and bad. I'm a black witch, when I'm any. It's not +my business to get people out of trouble." + +"I shall never ask you," said Esther shaking her head. "But where is +the witch to be? and when will she appear?" + +"She won't appear. She will be in her den. All who want to see her will +go to her den. So much I can tell you." And Judy ran off before another +question could be asked. + +The elder ladies came in now, and there was a fresh stir. Mrs. Laval +introduced Matilda to several boys and girls in the company before many +minutes had gone; but there was time for little else beside an +introduction, for the boys were ready to play; and all the guests were +assembled in one room to leave the other free for their operations and +give a good view of them. In that room the lights were lowered too, to +make the scene of the play more brilliant by comparison. + +The play was a great success. Matilda laughed for very delight, as well +as at the fun of the thing. David, who personated the poor man who had +come to sell a piece of ground, talked so admirably like a countryman, +and was so oddly crochety and cross and gruff and impossible to make +terms with; and then Norton, who was the rich man he had come to see +and who wanted the land, coaxed him so skilfully, and ordered all sorts +of good things to be brought to him, when he found he had come a good +way and was hungry; and the imaginary banquet was very funny, David +making inquiries and comments over the dishes he did not know and +Norton supplying him with others, till he was satisfied. Then, in +soothed good humour, David was easy to deal with, and let his land go a +bargain. The acting was really extremely good; both the boys being +clever and without any sort of embarrassment or any even shy +affectation. The proverb which Matilda and Judy were to have played was +given up for want of time. The boys' proverb was guessed by one of the +elder ladies--"It is ill talking between a full man and a fasting." +Matilda was very glad, for her part, that she and Judy were let off. + +A hush of expectancy fell now upon the little company. It was time for +the tree to be displayed. Even talking hushed, while all eyes were upon +the folding doors leading to the last drawing-room to be thrown open. +Matilda was at the back of the crowd, but even there she could see the +blaze of light beyond as soon as this was done; and the whole company +pressed forward and peeped in. Such a beautiful sight then, her eyes +had never beheld. The tree was a generous, large, tall young fir, set +in a huge green tub; but whereas in the wood where it grew it had green +branches, with fringy, stiff, prickly leaves, now its branches were of +every colour and as it were fringed with light. From the lowest bough +to the topmost shoot it was a cone of brilliancy and a pyramid of +riches. Lights glittered from every twig, and among the lights, below +them and above them, near the stem and out at the tips of the bending +boughs and covering the moss which covered the tub, were trinkets or +toys or articles of wear or packages done up in white or coloured paper +and made gay with coloured ribbands. So bountiful a tree, so elegant a +tree, one so rich in its resources of pleasure, perhaps no eyes there +had ever seen; for when Mrs. Lloyd did anything she was accustomed to +do it thoroughly; and she had on this occasion two backers. One burst +of admiration from the whole little crowd was followed by accents of +delight and murmurs of expectation. + +The tree stood in the middle of the large drawing-room, and the bright +crowd which formed round it was surely a pretty sight. A sight for the +elders alone; no child had eyes for anything but the tree. Eager eyes; +glad eyes; sparkling and glowing with delight and expectation; a +little, soft, rustling, hustling crowd, swaying gently, agitated, moved +here and there, to and fro, but all fastened to that brilliant centre +of a Christmas tree, as much as ever the planets to their centre. At +the very back of the crowd, as she was, Matilda stepped on an ottoman +to see better; and for her even expectation was almost lost in +bewildered fascination. In truth the Christmas tree was a beautiful +spectacle. The fairy-like beauty was what Matilda thought of at first; +then she began gradually to notice how its branches were laden with +other things besides lights, and how the little company was all on +tiptoe with eagerness. With a certain faint flutter at her own heart, +Matilda stood on her perch and watched. + +Presently a tall young fellow, one of the oldest among the boys, took +his stand by the tree with a long gilt rod in his hand. The crowd fell +back a bit, and hushed its murmur and rustle. No danger of anybody +seeing Matilda; not an eye turned her way. The lad with the gilt rod, +who also was decorated with a favour of red and white ribbands, now +lifted down from the tree one of its many packages, looked close at it, +and called aloud the name written thereon. A name Matilda did not know. +The crowd stirred in out place and a little figure came forward and +took the package. Matilda wanted to know what it was, very much; but +the little girl herself made no haste to discover. A slight private +examination she gave, and with a smile and a blush clasped her little +hand upon the package and looked to see what would be next. The play +went on after this fashion; the presiding gilt rod was quick in its +operations, as indeed it had need to be; names were called out in rapid +succession; and presently the whole circle was astir, with coming and +going, explanations and questions and whispers of delight, now and then +a spring or a dance of exultation; and still the gilt rod went on +hooking down things from the tree and signalling the owners to come and +take possession. + +"Mrs. Laval!--from Matilda. I suppose Mrs. Laval knows who Matilda +is?"--said the master of ceremonies. A new thrill went all through the +distant possessor of that name. "That's my obelisk!" she thought. "I +wonder if she will like it? Yes, she knows Matilda, a little." + +"Norton Laval!--from his sister. I didn't know that Norton had a +sister." + +"The things you don't know are always more than the things you do know, +Edward Foster," said Norton coming forward to receive his watch-guard. + +"'You' meaning--whom?" said gilt rod, hooking down another +ribband-looped parcel. "By virtue of my office I know so many things +just now, that I grow conceited, and am surprised to find myself +ignorant any where. Matilda Laval!--from her mother." + +With a great leap of her heart, Matilda jumped down from her ottoman +and made her way as she could through the throng. The tall boy with the +gilt rod presented to her a small square packet, sealed and tied. +Matilda's fingers clasped upon it as she stepped back; and then for the +first time that evening she found Judy at her side. Perhaps Judy would +have spoken, if the next call had not been, + +"Matilda Laval!--from Mrs. Bartholomew." + +Flushing and trembling, Matilda stepped forward again and received a +second little packet, much like the former. Then Judy herself was +called; everybody by this time was getting his hands full; and still +the Christmas tree blazed on as brightly as ever. + +Presently Matilda got a third present; this was from David; much +larger. She was very much astonished; for without opening she could +guess that it was something valuable; it was hard and square and heavy. +Of all there, not a child was in such private ecstasies as she. Her +flushed cheeks told it; otherwise she was quite undemonstrative. Though +I say wrong; for eyes and lips were abundantly expressive of tremulous +joy. + +"Is that my present?" said Judy, by her side again. "No, it is David's. +Do you know what it is?" + +"No," Matilda whispered. + +"I don't either. Why don't you look?" + +"I will look by and by." + +"Nonsense!" said Judy; but Matilda was called off again to take what +Judy had prepared for her. + +"That isn't much," said that young lady, when Matilda fell back to her +former place; "it's only bonbons. What has aunt Zara given you?" + +"I don't know yet, Judy." + +"O look. And mamma. Mamma wouldn't tell me. Those are their gifts in +your hand there, aren't they? Look, and see. I can guess," said Judy +peering round Matilda to see the packets. + +"No, you can't," said Norton at the other side. He was fastening his +guard-chain in its place. "_You_ don't know, and she don't know. I like +people who can keep cool, and not dash their heads under water the +first thing." + +"Stuff!" said Judy. "I want her to get her head above water; she don't +see anything now, nor know anything." + +"Her head's all right," said Norton composedly. "Knowledge'll come in +time. I guess there's a good deal of it to come, too." + +"What has David got, Norton?" + +"Loads of books," said Norton. "And a rifle." + +"A rifle!" screamed Judy. + +"And a dressing-case. And a dressing-gown. And a riding-whip. And a +watch-chain." + +"And what have _you_ got, Norton?" Matilda asked. + +"Just what I wanted," said Norton, with a smile of confidence and +secret good fellowship which was most pleasant to Matilda; it made her +feel not quite so much alone in that crowd. "You shall see," he went +on. "Hallo! you're called. Give me some of your traps to hold for you, +Pink; you have not got a hand to take anything more." + +So Matilda gave him her bonbons and box, if it were a box, to hold, +while she went for ward again. This present was from Norton, and of +itself filled her arms. Wrapped up in papers as it was, she could not +know more of it than that. She came back to Norton with high-coloured +cheeks and eyes very bright indeed. + +"What's that?" said Judy. "What has Norton given you? it's big enough. +Pshaw! I know; it's a desk." + +"A desk!" exclaimed Matilda in tones of delight. + +"Keep your own counsel, Judy," said Norton coolly. "You have no idea of +keeping other people's." + +"Norton," said Esther coming up to them, "who is the witch?" + +"Can't tell, even if I know," said Norton. "I keep other people's +counsel." + +"But where are we to see her?" + +"In her den, of course." + +"Where's that?" + +"You will know when the time comes." + +"Then she won't come in here among us all?" + +"I reckon not," said Norton. "She'll see only one at a time, I hear." + +"What for?" said Esther. + +"Ah, what for!" echoed Norton. "_I_ don't know, I can tell you. And +what's more, I don't know yet whose notion it is. Now, Pink, I propose +we go upstairs and put these things away. Supper will be in a few +minutes, and then what will you do with your hands full? Come!" + +And away he and Matilda went, slipping out of the room as quietly as +they could, and then running upstairs, till they found a quiet corner +and breathing place in Matilda's room. + +"Now, Pink, don't you want to look?" said Norton turning up the gas. He +had his own curiosity too, it seems. But he did not interfere with her; +he looked on, smiling and superior, while Matilda's trembling fingers +pulled off the papers, from his package-first. Judy had spoken truly; +it was an elegant little desk, all fitted and filled. Matilda's heart, +Norton could see, was quite full with that. + +"Come!" said he gayly, "let us see David's choice. I don't know what it +is, David don't tell all his mind." + +And he stopped, for Matilda uttered a little scream of pleasure. +David's choice had been a work-box. It was of pretty fancy wood, +charmingly lined and fitted up. + +"Pretty well for David!" said Norton "He thinks you know what to do +with a work box, and reason too. Good for him. But now, Pink, guess +what this is!" + +And Norton possessed himself of the little parcel which bore his +mother's handwriting and held it up before Matilda. + +"I can't guess." + +"Try. What would you _like_, Pink? What would you like better than +anything else? Think." + +"Oh Norton!" said Matilda with changing colour, "I don't know; I am +afraid to guess. It's something small; could it be a locket with her +hair?" + +Norton with a delighted face put his hand with the parcel close to +Matilda's ear, with the other hand forbidding her to touch it. +"Listen!" he said. Matilda listened, and absolutely grew pale with +intensity of excitement. + +"I hear something, Norton!" she said seizing the package. + +"Ah, you do!" said Norton. "_Now_ you know? Yes, just look at it. Isn't +it a beauty? I was with mamma when she got it. There's no mistake in +that, Pink; it's a splendid watch, Bars and Bullion said;--I mean, the +man at Bars and Bullion's, and I believe it was Bullion himself. Do you +like it? Now Pink, we must not stay a minute longer; supper will be on +hand, and you want some, don't you. Come! Put these away, and come." + +Matilda could do it, even without looking at her bonbons or Mrs. +Bartholomew's present, and with only a glance at her watch. She locked +up her treasures and went down with Norton; a happy child, if there was +one in the city that night. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Supper was just served when they got downstairs. It was another variety +of this wonderful evening. The dining-room long table was so beautiful +with lights, fruits, greens, and confections, with setting of plate and +glass, that to Matilda it was almost as much of a sight as the +Christmas tree had been. But the others were accustomed to this sort of +thing, and fell to tasting, with very little rapture about the seeing. +What a buzz the room was in, to be sure! Tongues were fairly unloosed +over oysters and sandwiches; and all the glory of the Christmas tree +was to talk about, with comparisons of presents, plans, and prospects. +Matilda looked on, half bewildered, but so very happy that it hardly +occurred to her to remember that she might like something to eat too. +Everybody was attending upon the wants of the guests, though certainly +Matilda did notice that Judy had a plateful of something, and was +eating as busily as she was talking. Doing neither, for she knew nobody +to talk to, Matilda waited, and thought of her watch, in a trance of +rapture. + +"Why, my dear, is nobody attending to you?" she heard the voice of Mrs. +Lloyd say at last. "Have you had nothing all this while?" + +"No, ma'am--they are all so busy." + +But David came up at the minute, and Matilda had no longer anything to +complain of. He served her very kindly, and Matilda found that she was +very hungry. She got a chance, however, to thank David for her work-box. + +"I am sure you deserve it," he said. "What did Judy give you?" + +He looked very little pleased, Matilda thought, when she told him. But +he only helped her carefully to everything she would have, and said no +more about it. + +A third wonder to Matilda that evening was the style and amount of +eating that went on. The ices were in beautiful fruit forms; and she +thought when she had demolished one of them she had done enough, +especially as caramel, and candied fruits, and other confections were +awaiting her attention. But the circulation of these little ices went +on at a rate that proved Matilda's moderation to be shared by few, and +she heard one little lady say to another, herself with a plateful, "Is +that your _third_ or your _fourth?_" Slowly munching candied grapes, +Matilda looked on and marvelled. Presently Norton came to see if she +wanted anything, and then Esther joined them, and the talk was of the +witch again. + +"We are going to see her now," said Norton. "Just as soon as we have +done with the table." + +"What's it all for?" inquired Esther. + +"I don't know," said Norton, shaking his head. "Some crotchet of +somebody's. I don't know anything about it. Only everybody is invited +to go and see the witch; and the witch's den is in the little reception +room on the other side of the hall; and we must go in one by one; and +we must answer every question we are asked, or we shall get no good of +our interview. So much I am informed of." + +"What good shall we get if we do answer all the questions?" Esther +asked. + +"If I was a wizard, maybe I could tell you, Esther. You should ask +David. There used to be witches and wizards, too, among his people." + +"They were forbidden," said David gravely. + +"But they were there, all the same," said Norton. + +"Not all the same," said David; "for it was death by the law; and no +good ever came of them, and nobody good ever went to them." + +"O David," said Matilda timidly, but the occasion was too tempting to +be lost,--"do you know what they did? Did they only play tricks? or was +there anything real about it?" + +Perhaps David took a different view of the occasion; for after one +earnest look into Matilda's face, as if he would answer her, he turned +it off with lightly saying that the witches were real, for Saul had +them all put to death that he could find; and then saying that he would +go and look after this particular witch. And presently he came back and +proclaimed that she was ready to receive visitors. + +"Who are to go, Davie? Who are to go to see her?" were the inquiries +huddled one upon another. + +"Everybody," said David. "One at a time." + +"What are we to do? What are we to say?" + +"Answer questions." + +"The witch's questions?" + +"Certainly." + +"Why must we answer her questions? and what will she ask us about?" + +"Really you must judge for yourselves, about the one thing; and find +out for yourselves, about the other. I cannot tell you." + +"Will you answer her questions?" + +"Perhaps." + +"O come along!" was the cry then; "you can't get anything out of him. +Who will go first?" + +Caramel and ices had done their utmost, and now the witch became the +absorbing interest. And as those who came back from the witch s den, it +was found, would tell nothing of what had transpired there, the +interest was kept up at white heat. First one went, and then another. +Of course the young people of the household were the last. + +The witch's den, when Norton entered it, was a place he did not +recognize; though in reality it was manufactured out of the little +corner reception room. Dark drapery enclosed and mystified the space +into which he was admitted; the light came from he could not see where, +and was dim enough too; and the witch was not to be seen. Nor, +distinctly, anything else. Norton took his stand as he had been +directed in front of a dark curtain and waited. The first question +demanded his name, and when that had been answered the voice went on,-- + +"What do you want of the witch?" + +"That depends on what she can do," said Norton. + +"Power unlimited." + +"Then I wish she would cast a spell upon Mrs. Lloyd." + +"To what effect?" + +"That she would let me have the little corner attic room for a +greenhouse." + +"How would you warm it?" + +"It wouldn't want much more warming than it has now. A gas stove would +do, I think." + +"You may go. You shall hear from me in the course of the week." + +Norton went out in high glee. "She's a brick, that witch!" he +exclaimed. "Go along, Judy--and make haste; people are taking leave +now. I don't know whose the voice is, though," he went on; "I couldn't +make it out. I guess"--But Norton stopped; and Judy went in. + +"Are you in want of anything, Judy Bartholomew?" the unseen witch asked. + +"I haven't got all I want," said Judy; "if you mean that." + +"State what is needed." + +"There are a great many things," said Judy unblushingly; "but the two +things I wish for most particularly are--to give a ball, for one; and +to have a diamond ring, for the other." + +"Short of these two things, all your wishes are satisfied then?" + +"No," said Judy hesitatingly,--"I didn't say that. I want lots of +things besides; but those two most." + +"You may go. The witch always wants time. Have you any debts to pay? of +money? of any other sort?" + +"No indeed," said Judy decidedly. + +"Is there anybody to whom you would like to do a kindness?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"You may go. Your wants shall be considered." + +Judy came out triumphant. She would have had her brother go next, but +he insisted that Matilda should precede him. So Matilda went into the +darkened, mysterious boudoir of the receptions. + +"Who is this?" said the voice. + +And a gentle answer came; not like Judy's proclaiming of herself, yet +clear and frank too. + +"Matilda Laval, what would you like of all things, if you could have +it?" + +Matilda hesitated. "There are so many things"--she began,--"it isn't +very easy"-- + +"So many things you would like?" + +"Yes, ma'am. Not for _myself_," she added, in a kind of horror at being +supposed to entertain such wishes under the flood of good things that +had come upon her that evening. + +"Well, go on. It is for yourself in one way. Say what, of all you can +think of, would give you most pleasure." + +Matilda's hands came together with a certain pang of hope, as she +answered. + +"If I could make somebody comfortable that I know of;--a poor, _good_ +girl, who is not comfortable at all." + +"One of your sisters?" + +"O no, ma'am; no relation." + +"What is the matter with her, and how could you make her comfortable?" + +"She is a very poor girl," said Matilda, so eager that she did not know +what to bring out first;--"she lives in a cellar room with a wet mud +floor, and no bed to sleep on that is like a bed; of course she cannot +be very clean, nor have any comfort at all; and I should like to make +them comfortable." + +"Who is she?" + +"A very poor girl, that goes to Sunday school. But she is very good." + +"Does she live there alone?" + +"O there are three of them; her mother and little brother." + +"Then why does not the mother earn money and live better?" + +"She works for it; she sews; but the people give her almost nothing for +her work; and Sarah sweeps a crossing." + +"How did you come to know all this?" + +"I saw Sarah in Sunday school; and I heard about her from my teacher, +and he shewed me the place where she lives. He knows she is good." + +"And what do you want to do for her?" + +"I want to get her out of that place, and into a decent room, and give +her a comfortable bed." + +"What is her name?" + +"Sarah Staples." + +"How long would she keep decent, do you think?" + +"Always," said Matilda confidently. "I am sure she would be just as +nice as she possibly could. Where she is, she has no chance." + +"Well, go; the witch will look into it." + +Matilda went out, hardly knowing what to think, or whether she might +hope anything from this very doubtful interview. Just as she reached +the door, she was called back. + +"Have you no wishes for yourself, little girl?" + +"No, ma'am; thank you." + +"Is there nothing in the world you would like?" + +"I suppose, a great many things," said Matilda; "but I have got so many +now, I am afraid to wish." + +"Why?" + +"I don't think I _ought_ to wish for anything more, for myself." + +"You are the first person I ever saw, young or old, who put an 'ought' +before his wishes. Most people put it after them. Well, as a reward, +tell the one more thing, for yourself, that you would wish for if you +could have it." + +Matilda thought, and hesitated. She did not at all like to tell her +thought. At last the witch urged her to speak out and be quick. + +"If I were to choose--and wish for anything more," Matilda said +slowly,--"which I don't; but if I _did_ wish for anything more, it +would be for a beautiful picture I have seen." + +"Aha!" said the witch. "Where did you see it?" + +"At Goupil's." + +"And what picture was it?" + +"It was the picture of the woman searching for the lost piece of money." + +"Well. You are an odd child. You may go; and if there is anybody else +to come, let them make haste. I am as tired as if I were not a witch." + +A minute after David entered the den. + +"I know who you are," said the witch. "Speak your heart's desire; and +in one word, if you can." + +"In one word, Hebrew." + +"What of Hebrew?" + +"To learn it." + +"Learning is a thing I cannot do for you." + +"No, but the means." + +"What means?" + +"Permission, time, books, and a teacher." + +"You are another odd one. Is that your dearest heart's wish, David +Bartholomew?" + +"I think it is the greatest I have, at present." + +"Well. Leave it with me and go." + +"Hallo, David!" exclaimed Norton as he came out into the hall; "the +people are all gone; the last one just had the door shut behind him." + +"It's time," said David. + +"Takes more than a party to shake you out of your gravity," said +Norton. "Time? why yes, it's past twelve." + +"Sunday!" exclaimed Matilda. + +The other three, they were together in the hall, all burst out laughing. + +"It's Sunday; and Christmas is over, and the Christmas tree," said +Norton. "But the fruits keep. Extraordinary tree! Well, Pink; we have +got to go and sleep now. Do you want to take another look at the tree?" + +They all went into the drawing-room which had been the scene of so much +festivity. The tree stood there yet in its tub, with ribbands and gilt +work hanging to it; but the lights were burnt out, and the splendour +was gone, and its riches were scattered. It was a thing of the past +already. + +"The fruits will keep," Norton repeated. "Did you find out who the +witch was, David?" + +"I thought I knew." + +"I _knew_ I knew," said Norton; "but she had somebody else to speak for +her. What a jolly witch! We shall hear from her some of these days. +Well, good night." + +Kisses and thanks and good nights had to be exchanged with the older +members of the family; and Sunday was well begun when at last Matilda +shut her door behind her. She had to take one look at her watch; it was +no doubt a little beauty; and to Matilda's vision it was a very fruit +and embodiment of fairyland. Beyond even her wildest dreams of what was +possible from a Christmas tree. Her own watch! She could scarcely +believe it, even with the watch lying securely in her hand. And with +the delicate minute hand pointing but fifteen minutes off from one o' +clock, she still stood gazing and rapt. Then as the hand went on to +fourteen minutes, and thirteen, Matilda started and laid it down. To +have her own watch telling her it was time to go to bed! But she must +just look at Mrs. Bartholomew's present. + +Hurriedly she untied the box and pulled off the silver paper. And +within the silver paper inside the box lay a dainty gold bracelet. + +It was extremely pretty, and had cost a great deal, no doubt. It was +very kind of Judy's mother to give it. Nevertheless round the bracelet +crept a sort of cobweb of thoughts and feelings which were not all of +pleasure. It was too late to examine into them now. Matilda wrapped up +the trinket again and put it away, and went to bed; as happy as it +seemed possible for her to be. + +Sunday morning was high and bright, it must be confessed, when she +awoke. Bells were ringing, the eight o' clock bells she thought they +must be; but indeed they were the bells for Sunday school. Matilda did +not guess that, and so was not in an immediate hurry to get out of bed +and end the luxurious rest which the excitements and late hours of the +day before had made so welcome and so long. She lay still, shut her +eyes, and opened them upon the morning brightness, with a thrilling and +bounding rapture of recollection that there was a little gold watch in +her drawer which owned her for its mistress and would be her +inseparable friend and servant--and adornment--thenceforward. Matilda +lay still for very happiness. Turning her head a little towards the +window the next time she opened her eyes, it seemed to her that she saw +a picture standing there against the wall. Matilda shut her eyes and +told herself that she was not dreaming and had no business to see +visions in broad daylight. "I have been thinking so much about that +picture I suppose, and talking about it to the witch, that is the +reason I thought I saw it. But what _did_ I see, that looked like a +picture?" She opened her eyes now and raised herself on her elbow to +look, for this was curious. More curious still! there, against the +wall, in plain view, in the broad light, stood the beautiful engraving +that had so captivated her. + +"It's there!" was Matilda's thought. "The very thing! But what is it +there for?" + +A half-formed suspicion made her jump out of bed very spryly and run to +the picture. There was a little ticket stuck in between the glass and +the frame. + +"_For Matilda Laval_--with Mrs. Lloyd's thanks and _approbation_." + +Matilda looked, rushed back into bed, and arranged herself so that she +could comfortably see the picture, while she thought about it. + +"Mrs. Lloyd's thanks"--thanks for what? She must know, she _must_ know, +about the shawl. Yes, she must; I guess mamma told her. And it is mine! +it is mine! There she is, that beautiful thing, the woman hunting for +her lost money; the odd little lamp, and all. It is mine to keep. +Certainly I ought not to wish for another thing for a whole year to +come; I have got so much. This and my watch. O delightful!--I ought to +be good! How lovely the light from that little old lamp is. And that is +the way Jesus looks for us--for people who are lost; lost in the dark. +So he looked for _me_, and found me. And there are such a great many +more lost, that are not found yet. Lost in the dark!--And if He cares +for them so, he must wish his servants to care too, and to look for +them, and save all they can. Then that woman with her pretty lamp just +shews me what I ought to do and how I ought to feel.-- + +Musing on in this way, very happy, leaning on her elbow to look at the +picture, too warm in the soft air of her room to be disturbed by the +necessity of getting dressed, Matilda noticed at last that the bells +had stopped ringing. It was eight o' clock past, she thought, and time +to get up; but she would look at her watch to see how eight o' clock +looked on its pretty white face. Lo, it was nine! Sunday schools +already beginning their services, while she stood there in her +night-gown; dressing and breakfast yet to be gone through. But the +afternoon was the time for school in the place where Matilda went; so +all was not lost. + +And so ended the doings of that Christmas night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The experience of the morning certainly was rather scattering in its +tendency, as far as any sober thought or work was concerned. The young +people were brimful of life and fun and excitement; and it was not +possible for Matilda to escape the infection. Nevertheless after lunch +she had firmness enough left to put on her coat and hat and trudge off +to Sunday school by herself. Norton said he had not "slept out," and +would not go. Matilda went, with her little watch safe in her breast. + +Getting out into the cold air and setting her feet upon the snowy +streets, had somewhat the effect of breaking a spell. For a while, that +seemed now a very long while, Matilda had been in a whirl of +expectation and pleasure and in a kind of dream of enchantment; nothing +but soft luxury and visions of delight and one thing after another to +make the child think she had got into very fairyland. But the streets +outside were not fairyland; and the sharp air pinched her cheek with a +grip which was not tender or flattering at all. The sense began to come +back to Matilda that everybody was not having such rose-coloured dreams +as she, nor living in summer-heated rooms. Nay, she saw children that +were ill dressed, on their way like her; some who were insufficiently +dressed; a multitude who were not nicely dressed; the contrast was very +unpleasant, and a certain feeling of uneasiness and of responsibility +and of desire to make other people comfortable crept over her anew. +Then she remembered that she could not reach many, she could not do +much; and she came into school and took her seat at last with a +concentrated desire to do at least something effectual towards rescuing +Sarah Staples from her miserable circumstances. After the lesson was +done and the scholars were dismissed, Matilda asked Mr. Wharncliffe if +she could speak to him? + +"Is it a minute's work? or several minutes?" he inquired. + +"I don't know, sir; I think, several minutes." + +"Then wait a minute, and we will walk home together." + +Matilda liked that, and presently in the clear late light of the waning +winter afternoon, she and her teacher sallied forth into the street +hand in hand. + +"Now what is it?" he asked. + +"About Sarah, Mr. Wharncliffe." + +"Well? What about her?" + +"I have been thinking a great deal, Mr. Wharncliffe, how to manage it; +because I had not a great deal of money myself, and I did not know +whether I could get help or no; but now I think I _shall_ have some +help; and I wanted to consult you to know what I had best do." + +"What do you want to do?" + +"First, I want to get her out of that dreadful place into a comfortable +room somewhere." + +"Suppose you do it, how is she going to stay in it?" + +"What do you mean, sir?" + +"The rent of such a room as you speak of would be, say seventy-five +cents or a dollar a week. How are Sarah and her mother to pay that?" + +"O I should have to pay it for them. I could do that, I think." + +"For how long?" + +Matilda looked at her teacher and did not immediately answer. She had +not looked ahead so far as that. + +"It is necessary to take all things into consideration," he said, +answering her look. "You would not wish to put Sarah and her mother +into a place of comfort for a little while, merely to let them fall out +of it again?" + +"O no, sir!" + +"How are they to be maintained in it?" + +Matilda pondered. + +"I could take care of the rent, I think, I mean _we_ could, for a +while; for a year, perhaps; by that time couldn't they pay it, don't +you think?" + +"How?" + +"By their work; by their earnings." + +"But now, and for a long time past, their work has not enabled them to +pay for anything better than they have got." + +"Couldn't they do something better, Mr. Wharncliffe? something else? +that would give them more money?" + +"What work could you help them to, that would pay better?" + +"I don't know, sir," said Matilda, looking up wistfully in her +teacher's face. "I don't know anything about such things. Can _you_ +tell me? What work is there that they could get. What the other poor +people do?" + +"There are other things," said Mr. Wharncliffe thoughtfully. "There are +better and better paying sorts of sewing; what Mrs. Staples does is +very coarse, and she gets very little for it. But machine work +now-a-days puts hand work at a disadvantage." + +"What is machine work, sir?" + +"Work done on a sewing machine. With a machine a woman can do I +suppose, ten times as much in a day, and with more ease to herself." + +"Well, wouldn't Mrs. Staples work on a machine?" + +"I do not know. I think she used to take in washing once. She could do +that again, if she had a better room and conveniences." + +"And does that pay better?" + +"I believe so. Indeed I am sure." + +"Then she might do washing," said Matilda; "and Sarah might sew on a +machine, Mr. Wharncliffe." + +"She has not got one, you know." + +"If we could get her one? Wouldn't that be nice, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"My dear child, a good sewing machine costs a good deal of money." + +"But _if_ we could, Mr. Wharncliffe? I said _if_." + +"Nothing could be better. Perhaps, by and by, it might be managed. In +the mean time, Sarah might learn, and possibly get work; or get a +machine and pay for it gradually by doing work for the makers. Such +arrangements are made." + +"How much does a sewing machine cost?" + +"From forty five to sixty dollars." + +"Forty five," repeated Matilda gravely. "But, Mr. Wharncliffe, in the +first place the thing to do is to get them out of that place into a new +room. Might we not do that? and don't you think the rest can be +managed, somehow?" + +"If we do that, the rest _must_ be managed, if possible. It is always +greater kindness and a far greater benefit, Matilda, to help poor +people to take care of themselves, than to save them that care." + +"Why, sir?" + +"People are better and happier and stronger, working for their living +and earning it, and keeping the sense of independence, than they are +when living on the money of other people and losing their own +self-respect. That is very ruinous to character. Avoid it always, in +all your efforts to help people." + +"Yes, I see," said Matilda thoughtfully. "But, Mr. Wharncliffe, Sarah +and her mother cannot do anything to get in a better way while they +live in that cellar. They want some help just at first. Don't they?" + +"Certainly; and I think we have struck the right line of action to +pursue for them. Help to put them in the way of being comfortably +independent, is just what they want." + +"Then the first thing is a lodging," said Matilda, with a relieved and +brightening face. "How can we find one, Mr. Wharncliffe? I don't want +them to know about it till we get it all settled and ready for them to +move into." + +"Ready for them?" said Mr. Wharncliffe inquiringly. + +"Yes, sir; you know they have nothing to put into a nice room now, if +they had one." + +"Aren't you laying plans beyond your means?" + +"Beyond _mine;_ but I shall have some help. I don't know exactly how +much, but some." + +"Well, you will let me help too if necessary," said the gentleman. "And +I will look out for a lodging." + +"O thank you! Will you, sir?" + +"To be sure. That is one way I am going to help." + +"And when you have found one, you will let me know?" + +"Whom else? Certainly, I will. I shall take no step without your +direction." + +"O thank you, sir!" said Matilda again. + +They had been walking up the Avenue during this talk, to have +uninterrupted time for it; now they had turned about to come home. +Clear and bright and cold the sun was leaving the streets and lingering +about the house roofs and chimneys; and the steeples of churches were +shining marks of light on one side, on the other dark spires against +the western sky. Mr. Wharncliffe and Matilda quickened their steps, +which the frosty air made it pleasant to do. She supposed that the +subject of their conversation was ended for the present, and so was +somewhat surprised to hear the next question from her companion. It +came out after some little pause. + +"Matilda what has put this in your head?" + +"This we have been talking of? Why I wanted to make Sarah comfortable. +I could not bear to have her in that dreadful place. Mr. Wharncliffe, +don't you think it is dreadful?" + +"I do think it is dreadful; and your feeling very natural. Then you +want to go to this expense and trouble for the comfort of knowing that +she is comfortable?" + +"I think so," said Matilda, somewhat puzzled. "I could not bear to +think of her there." + +"All perfectly right, Matilda," said her friend smiling. "I only want, +while you are taking care of Sarah, to take care of you." + +"How, sir?" + +"There are so many ways in which good things may be done; and I wish +you to take the best." + +"What ways do you mean, sir? I do not understand." + +"There is one way of doing kind things, merely or chiefly to save one's +self from the uncomfortable feeling that the sight of misery gives. +Kind people of that sort are benevolent in spots, just when they see or +hear of something that touches them, and never at any other time. +Others do kind things because they like to have a name for generosity, +and giving money costs them nothing." + +Matilda looked inquiringly up in Mr. Wharncliffe's face. "It made me +very uncomfortable to see Sarah in that place," she said; "and to think +of her in it." + +"A third sort of kindness," Mr. Wharncliffe went on smiling, "is done +because people love the Lord Jesus, and so love all whom he loves, and +like to do the work he wants done." + +"But it makes them feel badly to see people suffering?" said Matilda. + +"Undoubtedly. They are the tenderest of all. But they will do as much +for people they never saw, as for those at hand; and their spring of +kindness never dries up. It is a perpetual flow. When they do not see +objects on which to spend it, they seek them out." + +Matilda pondered matters a little. Then she lifted a very honest face +towards her companion. + +"Which reason did you think made me want to do this for Sarah, sir?" + +"I wanted _you_ to think about it." + +"Don't you think, Mr. Wharncliffe, it is very difficult to find out +really why one does things?" + +"Very difficult," said Mr. Wharncliffe with a comical drawing of his +lips; "but very useful." + +"I do not _think_," began Matilda again, very gravely, "I do not +_think_ my wanting to do this for Sarah was just to make myself feel +comfortable." + +"I do not think it, my child; but it is no harm to have your attention +directed to the question. In all such matters, keep your action pure; +let every thing be done for Christ, and then it will be all right. For +instance, Matilda, when the real motive is self, or when there is no +higher at work, one is easily tempted to do too much in a given case; +to indulge one's self with great effects and astonishing liberality; +when, if it were simply for Christ, one would be moderate and simple +and prudent, and keep a due proportion in things." + +"Yes," said Matilda looking puzzled,--"I understand. You will help me +keep a 'proper proportion' in what I do for Sarah Staples, Mr. +Wharncliffe?" + +"How much are you thinking of doing?" + +"I want to get her into a comfortable room," said Matilda. "That is +first. Then--they have no furniture, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"You want to get them some?" + +"Would that be too much? a little? common things, of course, but what +they cannot be comfortable without." + +"How much money do you propose to spend on Sarah at this time?" + +"I do not know. I know about how much I have, but I can't tell yet how +much help I shall get. I want to do what _ought_ to be done." + +The last words were said with such an accent of earnest determination, +that Mr. Wharncliffe again had almost smiled at his scholar; but he did +not. He went on quite gravely:-- + +"A room and some necessary furniture, I should think, could be managed." + +"Then we want to get them into a way of earning more." + +"Yes. I will see about that. And about the room. And I can get what you +want in furniture, at a second hand place, where the articles will cost +very little." + +"That's good," said Matilda. "Well, Mr. Wharncliffe, all _that_ will +not be too much?" + +"I think not." + +Matilda hesitated, and then added doubtfully, "Don't you think they +want clean dresses?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe smiled now. + +"Where shall we stop?" said he. + +"But they are very--uncomfortable," said Matilda, after waiting to +choose a word. Her teacher thought for a minute of Sarah's well-worn, +faded, lank, best dress, and how little evidently there was under it to +keep the child warm, and his brow grew very sober indeed, and his blue +eye misty. + +"I'll not check you, Matilda," he said, "unless I see you going to some +great extravagance. Go on, and I'll help, and we'll try to make one bad +spot at least a little better. Good-bye!" + +With a smile and a nod he parted from her at her own door, and Matilda +ran up the steps and ran in with a whole little gale of pleasure +freshening through her heart. + +There was a gale of another sort blowing through the house that +evening, and making the household lively. Pleasure was not wanting to +it, though it was pleasure of another sort and largely mixed with +excitement. The three other young ones were full of plans for the +holiday week, reminiscences of the last evening, comparison and +discussion of presents, and of people. Matilda in the midst of them +listened and was amused, and thought of her gold watch and of Sarah +with great secret throbs of delight in her heart. + +"So you were the witch, grandmother," said Norton. "I knew it. I was +sure of it. What did you do it for?" + +"Do what, boy?" + +"Take up a witch's trade?" + +"I have not laid it down yet." + +"No, ma'am; but what put it in your head?" + +"I wanted my share of the fun," said the old lady. + +"Did you get it, grandmamma?" asked David. + +"Yes. A very good share." + +"Did you ask everybody such questions as you asked us?" Norton inquired. + +"I did not want to know the same thing about all of you." + +"No, ma'am. Did you find out a good deal, grandmother?" + +But Mrs. Lloyd laughed and declined to answer. + +"There is something more I want to find out," she said. "I want to know +what makes this little girl look so happy. She doesn't say a word, but +her smiles speak for her!" + +"Who, Matilda?" said Norton. + +"It's easy enough to be smiling," said Judy with slight scorn. + +"You might practise it then a little, and do no hurt," remarked Norton. + +"Nobody ought to be always smiling," returned Judy. "It's vulgar. And +it doesn't mean anything, either." + +"Hush, Judy," said her mother. + +"What were you smiling about, Matilda?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. + +"A great many things I was thinking of, ma'am." + +But the little girl's face was so gleeful as she answered, and the +smile and the sparkle were so pleasant, that the old lady's curiosity +was raised. + +"A great many things?" she repeated, "A _great many_ things to be glad +of? I should like to know what they are. Come, I will make a bargain +with you. I will give you a silver penny for your thoughts; and my +silver penny shall be a golden half-eagle." + +"For my _thoughts_, ma'am?" said Matilda, half bewildered; while the +other young ones burst out like a pack of hounds after their leader. + +"A half-eagle," Mrs. Lloyd repeated, "for _all_ your thoughts; if you +will give me them all. I want to know all the things you are feeling so +glad about." + +"Grandmamma, you'll do as much for me?" cried Judy. "Only, mine will +take an eagle to bring them down. They fly high. You might have bought +hers, I am confident, for a duck or a pigeon." + +"I should like to make a bargain too, grandmother," said Norton; "if +you are in that mood." + +"Do you think your thoughts are worth anything?" said his +grandmother;--"to anybody but yourself?" + +"Whose are?" said David. + +"Mine are not," said Matilda. She had flushed high, for she saw that +the old lady was in earnest; and five dollars was a good deal to her +just now. + +"Everything is worth what it will fetch, though," said David. "I advise +you to close with the offer, Matilda. Five dollars is five dollars, you +know." + +Matilda's eyes went doubtfully to Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Yes," said the old lady smiling. "I will stand to my part of the +bargain, if you will stand to yours. But mind, I want _all_." + +"There were so many things," Matilda began; "it would take me a good +while to tell them." + +"Never mind; we have nothing better to do," said Mrs. Lloyd. "We are at +leisure." + +"Time's nothing," said Norton, in great amusement. + +"At ten dollars or so an hour," added David. + +Poor Matilda was in some difficulty. She was furnishing the +entertainment of the whole circle; for even Mrs. Bartholomew put down +her paper, and Mrs. Laval was smiling, and Mrs. Lloyd was waiting, and +the children were all open-eyed. But she had nothing to be ashamed of; +and five dollars!-- + +"I was feeling glad about my watch," she began, "and about my +picture--O so very glad! I think they have hardly been out of my mind +all day." + +"Picture? what picture?" said Judy. + +"Hush!" said her grandmother. + +"She didn't have any picture!" Judy went on. Matilda looked at her and +said nothing. + +"Did you?" said Judy. "What was it? Is it in a locket?" + +"You can attend to her afterwards, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd. "At +present you are engaged with me. There is nobody here but you and me." + +Matilda sincerely wished it had been so; but she had several curious +pairs of ears listening to her. + +"Then I was glad, I believe, about all the pleasure of last night, and +the Christmas tree, and my other presents; but that wasn't all. To-day +has been so very pleasant, and this afternoon particularly." + +"This afternoon!" cried Judy. "Why she was away at that horrid Sunday +school." + +"She don't think it is horrid," said Norton, displeased. + +"You don't mean she shall get through what she has to say," remarked +David. + +"If you would all hold your tongues, there would be some chance," said +Mrs. Lloyd. "Try again, Matilda. Was there more? What made the +afternoon so pleasant?" + +"It always is at that school," said Matilda. "But besides that, this +afternoon I believe I got some help for something I want to do; and +thinking about that, and about what I want to do, was part of I what +was feeling so glad about." + +"Well if that isn't a confused statement of facts!" said Judy. "Feeling +so glad about,--when?" + +"When Mrs. Lloyd asked me what I was smiling at." + +"But I am to have your thoughts, you know," said Mrs. Lloyd, with a +rather pleasant smile. "You have not told me yet _what_ it is you want +to do, the thought of which is so agreeable." + +"I did tell it, to the witch last night," said Matilda. "Do you want me +to tell it again, now, ma'am?" + +"Certainly. You don't think I am a witch, do you?" + +On that point Matilda did not give her thoughts; but as desired, she +told the story, briefly, of Sarah and her home, and of the reforms +proposed in the latter. The attention of her hearers was marked, +although most of them indeed had known the matter before. + +"What was there in all this to make you so very glad?" inquired Judy. + +Matilda hesitated, and could not find what to say. + +"Pink has her own ways of being happy you see," Norton remarked. + +"She is not the only one, I hope," said David. + +"The only one, what?" said Judy sharply. "You are as bad as she is, +David, to-night, for talking thick." + +"Have we got through, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Lloyd kindly. + +"Through all the things that were making me feel glad?" said Matilda. +"No, ma'am--not quite." And she stopped and flushed. + +"Let us have it," said Mrs. Lloyd. "A bargain is a bargain." + +"Yes, ma'am," said Matilda. "I am afraid--I was afraid--perhaps you +wouldn't understand me. I was glad of all these things;--and then, I +thought, I was so glad that I knew about Jesus; and that I am his +child; and that he has given me all these other things to be glad +about, and this work to do for Sarah!" + +There was a profound silence for a minute or two. Judy was astonished +out of speech. David, perhaps, disgusted. Norton was a little proud +that Matilda had independence enough to dare to speak out, even if he +chafed a little under the subject of her plain speaking. The elder +ladies looked at one another with an odd expression in their eyes. When +Mrs. Lloyd spoke she went back to the practical question. + +"How much money do you expect it will take, to do what you want for +these poor people, Matilda?" + +"I don't know, ma'am, yet. My teacher will find out and tell me." + +"Is it your teacher who has suggested the plan?" + +"The plan?--O no, ma'am," said Matilda. "It is my plan. I have been +talking him into it." + +"Who is he?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. + +"Mr. Wharncliffe." + +"What Wharncliffe? Is he any connection of General Wharncliffe?" + +"His brother," said Norton. + +This seemed, Matilda did not know why, to give satisfaction to her +elders. Mrs. Lloyd went on with an unbent face. + +"How much money have you got, Matilda, to work with?" + +"Not a great deal, ma'am; I have saved a little. It won't take such a +_very_ great deal to get all I want. It is only common things." + +"Saved!" Judy burst out. "_Saved!_ Now we have got at it. This is the +secret. _This_ is why we are such good temperance people and think it's +wicked to buy liqueur glasses. O yes! we save our money that way, no +doubt." + +"Judy," said her brother, "I'm ashamed of you." + +"No need," said Judy coolly. "Keep it for yourself, next occasion." + +"What is all this?" said Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Nothing that had better go any further," said Mrs. Laval. "Nothing of +any consequence, mother." + +"It is of no consequence," said Judy, "because David and Norton made it +up." + +"And Judy didn't," said Norton. + +"Not I; it was your affair," said the young lady. "My connections are +not given to saving." + +"That is very true indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew, bursting out +into a laugh; "and you, Judy, least of all your 'connections.'" + +"But what is all this?" repeated Mrs. Lloyd, seeing that the faces +around her were moved by very various sorts of expression. It had to +come out. Judy and Norton told the story between them, with some +difficulty. Matilda felt very sorry, and very doubtful of the effect. +David looked exceedingly dissatisfied. Mrs. Lloyd listened with +unchanged gravity. + +"There! you may call it what you like," Judy said in conclusion. "But I +like to have things go by their right names." + +"It wouldn't be always best for you," said her brother. + +"Do you think it is wrong, my dear, to drink wine?" Mrs. Lloyd asked, +addressing Matilda. + +Matilda did not well know what to answer. She, a child, what business +had she to 'think' anything about the right or the wrong of things done +by people so much older and wiser than herself? And yet, that did not +change the truth, and the truth was what she must answer. + +"I have promised not to do it," she said, almost shrinkingly. + +"That affects your own drinking or not drinking. Do you think it is +wrong for other people?" + +Again Matilda hesitated. She would have welcomed almost any +interruption of Judy's; but this time Judy kept as still as a mouse. +And so did everybody else. Matilda's colour came and went. + +"If you please, ma'am," she said at last, "I don't want to say what you +will think rude." + +"I will not think it rude," said Mrs. Lloyd with a little laugh. "I +want to know what notion such a child as you has got in her head. _Do_ +you think it is wrong?" + +"Yes, ma'am," Matilda-answered softly. + +"Hear her!" cried Judy. "She has got an idea that wine is money in +another form, and heavy to drink." + +Matilda thought that Judy had unwittingly put her very meaning into the +words; but she did not say so. + +"My dear," said Mrs. Lloyd, "I have drunk wine all my life. It has +never hurt me." + +Matilda was silent. + +"Is that your notion, that it is unwholesome?" + +"No, ma'am." + +"What then?" + +"People take too much of it," said Matilda; "and it ruins them; and if +all good people would let it alone, wouldn't it help to make the rest +let it alone?" + +"Insufferable piggishness!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. "You must excuse me, +Zara. I hope you will teach your adopted child better manners, arid get +rid of a little of this superb folly." + +"I am not so sure about the folly," said Mrs. Laval. + +"I am sure about the manners," said Mrs. Lloyd. "She has said nothing +but what I have made her say. Now, my dear, you have fulfilled your +part of the bargain between us, and I will do my part." + +The old lady produced a gold five dollar piece from her purse and put +it in Matilda's hand. Then drawing the child kindly towards her, she +added, + +"And from this time you must call me grandmamma, will you? as the +others do; and I will call you my grandchild." + +She kissed the astonished Matilda, and the subject was dismissed. At +least by the elders; the young people did not so easily let it drop. No +sooner were they by themselves than Judy held forth in a long tirade, +about "presumption" and "artfulness" and "underhand ways;" waxing warm +as she went on; till Norton was provoked to answer, and the debate +between them grew hot. Matilda said never a word, nor did David; she +kept outwardly very quiet; but an hour after, if anybody could have +seen her he would have seen a little figure cuddled down in a corner of +her own room and weeping abundant tears. So ended the Christmas Sunday +and the Christmas festival. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +There were too many pleasant things on hand for Judy's behaviour to +have any very lasting effect on Matilda's spirits, besides that a good +share of independence was one of her valuable characteristics. With the +new light of Monday morning, her heart leapt up anew at thought of all +the comfort preparing for Sarah and at her growing stock of means for +the same. She got out her purse and counted her money. With the new +gold piece there was a nice little sum; not enough indeed, but Matilda +had hopes of David, and hopes floating and various, that somehow what +was needful would be forthcoming when the time came. + +The week was about half gone, when one afternoon David came to +Matilda's door and knocked. Matilda had shut herself up to write a +letter to Maria, and opened the door to David with a good deal of +surprise and pleasure. The second time, this was. He came in and sat +down. + +"Where do you think I have been?" said he. + +"To see Sarah?" said Matilda eagerly. + +"You are quick," said David smiling. "No, I have not been to see Sarah +exactly; but I have been to see where she lives and all about her." + +"Did you see where she lives?" + +"Yes." + +"David, isn't it horrid?" + +"It's disgusting!" said David. + +"But she can't help it," said Matilda, again eagerly. + +"No, she can't, but somebody ought to help it. There ought not to be +any such horror possible in such a city as this." + +"So I think. But _who_ ought to help it, David? How could anybody help +it?" + +"There used to be a way among my people," said the boy proudly. "The +corners of the cornfields, and the last of the grapes on the vines, and +the dropped ears of corn, and the last beatings of the olives, were +commanded to be left for the poor." + +"But there are no vines nor cornfields nor olives _here_," said Matilda. + +"Nothing so good," replied David. "I believe people grow wicked in +cities." + +"Then do you think it is wicked to build cities?" + +"I don't know about that," said David; "that's another matter. Without +cities a great many good things would be impossible." + +"Would they? what?" said Matilda. + +"Well, commerce, you know; without great centres of commerce, there +could not be great commerce; and there would not be great fortunes +then; and without great for tunes there could not be the grand things +in music and painting and sculpture and architecture and books, that +there are now." + +What "great centres of commerce" might be, Matilda could not tell; and +she did not like to ask David too many questions. She suddenly came out +with an objection. + +"But Abraham did not live in a city." + +David started, looked at her, and then laughed a little. + +"Abraham! no, he did not; and he was a rich man; but _one_ rich man +here and there could not do those things I spoke of." + +"Then, wouldn't it be better there should be no cities?" said Matilda. + +"Better than what? Better than have cities with such dreadful poor +people? Can't have the good without the bad, I suppose." + +"You said, people grow wicked in cities." + +"Well, they do." + +"Then ought people to build cities?" + +"I don't know how the world would get on, at that rate," said David +smiling. "Anyhow the cities are built; and we are living in one; and +one corner house in it gives you and me as much as we can do." + +"A single room in it, David." + +"Yes. Well, you know you consulted a witch the other night." + +"Did I?" said Matilda. + +"The witch gave me orders to search into your matter. I have done it, +and told her what I had found; and she has commissioned me to deliver +to you--this." + +So saying, David produced a little gold piece, the very mate to the one +Matilda had earned by telling her thoughts. + +"O David!" Matilda exclaimed,--"O David!" + +"Well?" said David smiling. "What?" + +"I am getting so much!" + +"You will want it." + +"But I don't see how it should take such a _very_ great deal of money +just to do this little thing," said Matilda; and she went on to explain +Mr. Wharncliffe's propositions and helping agency. Before she had well +got through, Norton dashed in. + +"Hallo! David here? All the better. Isn't she a jewel of a witch, +David?" + +David looked up with a responsive twinkle in his eye; and Matilda asked +what he meant. + +"Mean?" said Norton, "I mean the witch. You went to see the witch, +Pink; haven't you heard from her?" + +"Yes! just this minute; but Norton, I don't know what you expected to +hear. What have you heard?" + +"Glorious!" cried Norton, swinging his cap joyously. "We've got that +little room, Pink, for a greenhouse; and a stove in it for cold nights; +and shelves and benches and frames and all those things I'll put up my +self; and _then_ we'll have a show of flowers. Your hyacinths will do a +great deal better up there." + +"Will they?" said Matilda. "They are doing very nicely here; and they +look nicely." + +"Now we can do all we've a mind to, Pink. I'll have some amaryllis +roots right off; and japonicas, _japonicas_, Pink; and everything you +like. Geraniums, and Bovardias, and Azaleas, and Cacti; and Cyclamens; +and Cassia and Arbutillon. Fuchsias too, and what you like!" + +"Why that little room will not hold everything," said Matilda. "Can't +you have some roses?" + +"Roses? O yes, and carnations; everything you like. Yes, it will hold +everything. Lots of tulips, too." + +"How about the money?" David asked. + +"It don't take a fortune to stock a little greenhouse." + +"You haven't got a fortune." + +"I have got enough." + +"Have anything left for other objects?" + +"What objects?" said Norton. "I haven't but one object at present. +One's enough." + +"But Matilda has an object too," David said smiling enough to show his +white teeth; "and her object will want some help, I'm thinking." + +"What object?" said Norton. + +"Don't you remember? I told you, Norton, about Sarah"-- + +"O _that!_" said Norton with a perceptible fall of his mental +thermometer. "That's all your visions, Pink; impracticable; fancy. The +idea of you, with your little purse, going into the mud of New York, +and thinking to dean the streets." + +"Certainly," said David, "and so she wauls a little help from our +purses, don't you see?" + +"David Bartholomew!" Norton burst out, "you know as well as I do, that +it is no sort of use to try that game. Just go look at the mud; it will +take all we could throw into it, and never shew." + +"No," said David; "we could clear up a little corner, I think, if we +tried." + +"_You!_" cried Norton. "Are _you_ at that game? _You_ turned soft +suddenly?" + +"Do no harm, that I see," replied David composedly. + +"These people aren't your people," said Norton. + +"They are your people," said David. + +"They are not! I have nothing to do with them, and it is no use--Davie +Bartholomew, you _know_ it's no use--to try to help them. Pink is so +tender-hearted, she wants to help the whole world; and it's all very +well for her to want it; but she can't; and I can't; and you can't." + +"But we can help Sarah Staples," Matilda ventured. + +"And then you may go on to help somebody else, and then somebody else; +and there's no end to it; only there's this end, that you'll always be +poor yourself and never be able to do anything you want to do." + +Norton was unusually heated, and both his hearers were for a moment +silenced. + +"You know that's the truth of it, Davie," he went on; "and it's no use +to encourage Pink to fancy she can comfort everybody that's in trouble, +and warm everybody that is cold, and feed everybody that is hungry, +because she just can't do it. You can tell her there is _no end_ to +that sort of thing if she once tries it on. Suppose we all went to work +at it. Just see where we would be. Where would be Pink's gold watch, +and her picture? and where would be her gold bracelet? and where would +my greenhouse be? And where would this house be, for that matter? and +the furniture in it? and how should we all dress? Your mother wouldn't +wear velvet dresses, that you like so much; and mine wouldn't wear that +flimsy muslin stuff that she likes so much; and grandmamma's lace shawl +would never have been mended, for it never would have been here to get +burnt. It's all a lot of nonsense, that's what it is." + +"There is law about it, though," David began again gravely. + +"Law?" Norton echoed. + +"The law of my people." + +"O what is it, David?" cried Matilda; while Norton was grumly silent. +He did not want to debate David's Jewish law with him. David gave the +words very readily. + +"'When there is with thee any needy one of one of thy brethren, in one +of thy cities, in thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, +thou dost not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy +brother; for thou dost certainly open thy hand to him, and dost +certainly lend him sufficient for his lack which he lacketh.'" + +"That says what the people would do--not what they _ought_ to do," said +Norton. + +"I beg your pardon; it is a strong way of saying, in the Hebrew, what +they _must_ do. Listen. 'Thou dost certainly give to him, and thy heart +is not sad in thy giving to him, for because of this thing doth Jehovah +thy God bless thee in all thy works, and in every putting forth of +thine hand; because the needy one doth not cease out of the land, +therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Thou dost certainly open thy +hand to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy one, in thy land.'" + +Matilda was thinking of other words, which she dared not bring forward; +being in a part of her Bible which David did not like. Neither was it +necessary. Norton had got quite enough, she could see. He was in a +state of fume, privately. + +"I am going to give one side of the green house to you," he said, +turning to Matilda. "Now you have got to think and find out what you +will put in it. I shall have the shelves and all ready by the end of +the week; and next week, Pink,--next week!--we must put the plants in; +because the winter is going on, you know." + +The conclave broke up, to go upstairs and look at the new greenhouse. +Norton explained his arrangements; the oil-cloth he was going to put on +the floor, the rising banks of green shelves, the watering and +syringing and warming of the little place; till Matilda almost smelt +the geranium leaves before they were there. + +"Now, Pink, what will you have on your side?" + +"I can't give more than a dollar to it, Norton," said Matilda very +regretfully. + +"A dollar! A _dollar_, Pink? A dollar will get you two or three little +geraniums. What's to become of the rest of your shelves?" + +"I shall have to give them back to you, I'm afraid." + +"You've got money, plenty." + +"But I can't spend it for plants." + +"Because you are going to throw it into the mud, Pink? O no, you'll not +do that. I'll give you a catalogue of plants, and you shall look it +over; and you will find a dollar won't do much, I can tell you. And +then you will see what you want." + +He was as good as his word; and Matilda sipped her glass of water and +eat her sponge cake at tea time between the pages of a fascinating +pamphlet, which with the delights it offered almost took away her +breath, and quite took away the taste of the sponge cake. Norton looked +over her shoulder now and then, well pleased to see his charm working. + +"_Yellow_ carnations?" cried Matilda. + +"I don't like them best, though," said Norton. "There, _that_--La +purité--that's fine; and the striped ones, Pink; those double heads, +just as full as they can be, and just as sweet as they can be, and +brilliant carmine and white--those are what I like." + +Matilda drew a long breath and turned a leaf. + +"Violets!" she exclaimed. + +"Do you like them?" + +"Violets? Why, Norton, I don't like any thing better! I don't think I +do. Dear little sweet things! _they_ do not cost much?" + +"No," said Norton, "they do not cost much; and they don't make much +show, neither." + +"But they don't take much room." + +"No; and you want things that _do_ take room, to fill your shelves. The +greenhouse ought to be all one mass of green and bloom all round." + +Matilda heaved another sigh and turned another leaf. + +"I don't know anything about tuberoses," she said. "Primroses? what are +they like? 'A thousand flowers often from one plant!' what are they +like, Norton?" + +"Like?" said Norton. "I don't know what they are like." + +"I'll tell you," said Judy, who as usual was pleasing herself with a +cup of strong coffee; "they are like buttercups come to town and grown +polished." + +"They are not in the least like buttercups!" said Norton. + +"That's what I said," replied Judy coolly; "they have left off their +country ways, and don't wear yellow dresses." + +Matilda thought it was best to take no notice, so with another crumb of +sponge cake she turned over to the next flower in the catalogue. + +"What are Bouvardias? I don't know anything about them." + +"Of course," said Judy. "Not to be expected." + +"Do you want to take care of your own flowers yourself, Pink?" inquired +Norton; "or do you mean to have me do it?" + +"Why, I will do it, I suppose." + +"Then you had better leave the Bouvardias to me. They are a little +particular about some things." + +"Are they handsome?" + +"Wait till you see. Splendid! You'll see, when I get them a going. +We'll have just a blaze of them." + +"A blaze?" said Matilda. "What colour?" + +"Flame colour, and scarlet, and white, and splendid crimson." + +"Heliotrope. O I like heliotrope," Matilda went on. + +"You can have those," said Norton. "They're sweet and easy. And we +must have them, of course, on one side or the other. Begonias--those +you might have, too." + +"Hyacinths I have got," said Matilda. + +"Yes, but you will want more, now that you have room for them." + +"Azaleas--O azaleas are lovely," said Matilda. "They are showy too; and +you want a show, Norton." + +"So do you, Pink." + +"Well, I like azaleas," said Matilda. "Do they cost much?" + +"Not so very. I guess you can have some." + +"O what a geranium!" Matilda exclaimed. "'Lady James +Vick'--'seventy-five cents each'--but what a lovely colour, Norton! O I +like geraniums next best to roses, I believe." + +"You must go to another catalogue for your roses," said Norton. + +"That is beautiful! I never saw such a colour. These roses are better +yet." + +"You can't have roses enough in bloom at once. We want other things to +help make up the blaze of colour there ought to be. But that's easy." + +Matilda turned the catalogue over and over with a disturbed mind. It +seemed to her that to have such a little greenhouse as Norton proposed, +full of beauties, would be one of the most enjoyable things that could +be. Every new page of the catalogue, every new detail of Norton's plan, +tugged at her heart-strings. She wanted to get those plants and +flowers. A few delicate tea roses, some crimson blush roses, some pots +of delicious purple heliotropes with spicy breath; two or three--or +four--great double carnations; bunches of violets, sweetest of all; she +wanted these! Then some azaleas, larger of course, to fill up the +shelves and make a beautiful show of colour, as Norton desired. Her +imagination went over and over the catalogue, always picking these out +for her choice; and then imagination took them to the little room +upstairs, which was going to be such a lovely little greenhouse, and +saw them there and almost smelt their fragrance. It would be so +pleasant to take care of them; she fancied herself watering them and +dressing them, picking off the dead leaves and tying up the long +wreaths of vines, and putting flowers into Mrs. Laval's stem glass for +her dressing table. But what use? she had not the money to buy the +plants, if she went on with her plans for Sarah's behoof; no counting +nor calculating could come to any other conclusion. She thought of it +by day and she thought of it by night; and the more she thought, the +more her desires grew. Then too, the wish to please Norton was a very +serious element in her cogitations. To disappoint him by utterly +failing to do all he wished and counted upon from her, was very hard to +do and very disagreeable to face. But Sarah? Matilda could not change +her line of action, nor divert more than one dollar from the fund saved +for her benefit. One dollar, Matilda thought, might be given for +flowers; but what would one dollar be worth, with all one side of the +little greenhouse to be filled. + +It is not easy to tell, how much trouble all this question gave +Matilda. She thought it was quite strange and notable, that just when +she was trying to accomplish so right a thing as the helping of that +poor family in the cellar, this temptation of flowers should come up to +make it hard. In one of her windows stood three little pots, in which +three hyacinths were already bursting through the brown earth and +showing little stout green points of leaf buds which promised nicely +for other buds by and by. They had been a delight to Matilda's heart +only a week ago; now, it seemed as if that vision of heliotropes and +roses and geraniums had somehow swallowed them up. + +When she went next to Sunday school, however, and saw Sarah's meek, +patient face, Matilda was very much astonished at herself, and not a +little ashamed. She sat next Sarah in the class, and could see without +seeming to see, how thin her dress was and how limp it was, as if she +had not enough petticoats under it to keep her warm. There was a patch +too in one place. And Sarah's shawl was a very poor wrap alongside of +the well covered shoulders under Matilda's thick coat. "No gloves!" +said Matilda to herself, as her eye glanced from her own very handsome +and warm ones; "how can she bear it? I wonder how it makes her feel, to +see mine? Another time I'll wear an older pair." But the contrast went +home to Matilda's heart. Why should she have so many good things, and +Sarah so few? and the words David had quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures +came back to her. + +With an odd feeling as if there were wrong done for which she was +somehow chargeable, after the lesson was done and school dismissed she +asked Sarah "how she was?" The girl's meek eye brightened a little as +she answered that she was well. + +"But you are hoarse," said Matilda. "You have got cold." + +"O I often do, in the winter time," said Sarah. "I don't think anything +of it." + +And that slight shawl and thin dress! Matilda's heart gave some painful +blows to her conscience. + +"I didn't see you at your place the other day," she went on. + +"That was Thursday," said Sarah. "No; I was too bad Thursday. I didn't +go out." + +So she staid at home to nurse her cold, in that cellar room with the +mud floor. What sort of comfort could be had there? or what good of +nursing? Matilda did not wonder that the street corner was quite as +pleasant and nearly as profitable. And the thought of Sarah's gentle +pale face as she said those words so went home to her heart, that she +was crying half the way home; tears of sorrow and sympathy running down +her face, as fast as she wiped them away. + +That same evening, at tea-time, Norton asked if she had made up her +list of plants for the greenhouse? Matilda said no. + +"We shall want them, now, Pink. By Wednesday I shall have the staging +ready; and the sooner we get it filled the better." + +"O but, dear Norton," said Matilda, "I am very sorry to disappoint you; +but I cannot take the money." + +"Can't take what money?" + +"The money to buy those plants. I would like them; but I cannot." + +"But you were making your list," said Norton. + +"No, I wasn't. I was only thinking what I would _like_ to have." + +"And you are not going to come into the greenhouse at all?" + +That was more than Matilda had counted upon; the tears started to her +eyes; but she only said,-- + +"I cannot get the plants, Norton;" and she said it steadily. + +"You are going into that ridiculous charitable concern?" + +Matilda was beyond answering just then; she kept silence. + +"Let _me_ into your greenhouse, Norton," said Judy. + +"Yes; fine work you would make there," Norton replied. + +"Indeed I would. I'll fill my shelves with just the finest things we +can get; camellias, if you like; and the newest geraniums, and +everything." + +"You wouldn't take care of them if you had them." + +"Well, you would," said Judy; "and it comes to the same thing." + +"Pink," said Norton, "I must have my shelves full; and I can't do it +all. If you won't come into the greenhouse, I shall let Judy come." + +"Well, Norton," said Matilda steadily. "If you knew what I know, and if +you had seen what I have seen, you wouldn't wonder at me; and I almost +think you would help me." + +"You'll grow wiser," said Norton, "when you have had your fingers +burned a few times." + +The tone of cool indifference to her subjects of interest, of slight +displeasure at her preferring them to his, went to Matilda's heart. So +also it tried her greatly, to see for the rest of the evening Norton +and Judy in high confabulation over the catalogues and the greenhouse. +She felt shut out from it, and a little from Norton himself. It was +hard to bear; and once and again she could not help the tears rising to +her eyes. She got rid of them, she thought, cleverly, without any one +being the wiser; but David Bartholomew had marked it all. He had not +said a word, however; and Matilda went early up to bed; marvelling anew +that it should be so difficult to do right. Why must this greenhouse +business come up just at this moment? + +She had a week to think about it and grieve over it. The boys were +going to school again now, and she saw but little of them. Judy had +masters and mistresses, and was herself much out of sight. Matilda was +to be under Norton's tutelage, it had been agreed; and accordingly he +had put certain books in her hands and pointed out certain tasks; and +Matilda laid hold of them with great zeal. With so much, indeed, that +difficulties, if there were any, disappeared; and Norton had little to +do beyond finding out that she was, as he expressed it, "all right," +and giving her new work for the next day. So went the work; very busy, +and very happy too; only for Matilda's being shut out from greenhouse +pleasures and Judy taken into Norton's partnership. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +But the next Sunday had a new joy for her. Mr. Wharncliffe informed her +after school-time, that he had found a lodging which he thought would +do nicely for her poor friends. All Matilda's troubles fled away like +mist before the sun, and her face lighted up as if the very sun itself +had been shining into it. Mr. Wharncliffe went on to tell her about the +lodging. It was near, but not in, that miserable quarter of the city +where Sarah and her mother now lived. It was not in a tenement house +either; but in a little dwelling owned by an Irishman and his wife who +seemed decent people. He was a mechanic, and one room of their small +house they were accustomed to let, to help pay their rent. + +"Is it furnished, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"No; entirely bare." + +"How large is it?" + +"Small. Not so large by one-third as the room where they are living +now." + +"Can't go and see it?" + +"Yes, there is no difficulty about that. I will go with you to-morrow, +if you like." + +"And how much is the rent, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"One dollar a week. The woman was willing to let the room to Mrs. +Staples, because I was making the bargain and understood to be security +for her; only so." + +"Then we will go to-morrow, sir, shall we, and see the room and see +what it wants? and perhaps you will shew me that place where you said I +could get furniture cheap?" + +This was agreed upon. To Matilda's very great surprise, David, when he +heard her news, said he would go too. She half expected he would get +over the notion by the time he got home from school on Monday; but no; +he said he wanted a walk and he would see the place with her. + +The place was humble enough. A poor little house, that looked as if its +more aspiring neighbours would certainly swallow it up and deny its +right to be at all; so low and decrepit it was, among better built if +not handsome edifices. Street and surroundings were dingy and mean; +however, when they went in they found a decent little room under the +sloping roof and with a bit of blue sky visible from its dormer window. +It was empty and bare. + +"Thin, we always has rispictable lodgers," said the good woman, who had +taken her arms out of a tub of soapsuds to accompany the party +upstairs; "and the room is a very dacent apartment entirely; and warrm +it is, and _quite_. An' we had a company o' childhren in one o' the +houses adjinin', that bothered the life out o' me wid their hollerin' +as soon as ever we histed the winders in the summer time; but the +father he died, and the mother, she was a poor kind of a body that +couldn't seem to get along any way at all at all; and I believe she +thried, an she didn't succade, the poor craythur! An' she just faded +away, like, and whin she couldn't stan' no longer, she was tuk away to +the 'ospital; and the chillen was put in the poor-us, or I don't just +know what it is they calls the place; and it was weary for them, but it +was a good day for meself at the same time. An' the place is iligant +and _quite_ now, sir. An' whin will the lady move in, that you're +wantin' the room for?" + +"As soon as it can be ready for her, Mrs. Leary." + +"Thin it's ready! What would it be wantin'?" + +"We shall need to move in some furniture, I suppose, and a little coal. +Where will that go?" + +"Coal, is it? Sure there's the cellar. An' an iligant cellar it is, and +dhry, and places enough for to put her coal in. It'll hould all she'll +want, Til engage." + +"It holds yours too, I suppose?" + +"Why wouldn't it? But we'll never interfare for that; small wisdom!" + +Mr. Wharncliffe chose to go down and see the cellar. David and Matilda +spent the time in consultation. Mr. Wharncliffe came back alone. + +"Well," he said, "how do you like it?" + +"Very much; but Mr. Wharncliffe, it is not very clean." + +"Sarah will soon change that." + +"Sarah? Won't her mother help?" + +"Mrs. Staples is unable for hard work. She has had illness which has +disabled her; and I fancy the damp cellar she has been living in has +made matters worse. But Sarah likes to be as clean as she can." + +"Well, she can now," said Matilda gleefully. "Mr. Wharncliffe, don't +you think they want a little bit of a carpet?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe shook his head. "They are not accustomed to it; they do +not need it, Matilda. You will have enough to do with your money." + +"At any rate, they must have a bureau, mustn't they?" + +"There is a wall cupboard," said Mr. Wharncliffe. "That will be wanted, +I suppose, for crockery and stores. What would a bureau be useful for?" + +"Clothes." + +"They have not a drawer full, between them." + +"But they will have? They _must_, Mr. Wharncliffe. I am going to get +them some, mayn't I?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe looked round the little room, and smiled as he looked +at Matilda again. "There is a great deal to do with your money, I told +you," he said. "Let us reckon up the indispensable things first." He +took out his note book. + +"Coals are one thing," said Matilda. "They must have some coals to +begin with." + +"Coals"--repeated Mr. Wharncliffe, noting it down. + +"Have they a stove that will do?" + +"I am afraid not. I will try and find a second-hand one." + +"A table, and two or three chairs." + +Those went down in the list. + +"And, O, Mr. Wharncliffe, a tea-kettle! And something to cook meat in, +and boil potatoes." + +"What do you know about cooking meat and boiling potatoes?" Mr. +Wharncliffe asked, looking amused. "Those things will perhaps come with +the stove; and at any rate do not cost much." + +"And then, some decent plates and cups and saucers, and common knives, +you know, and a few such things." + +"They have some things which they use now. You must not try to do too +much. Remember, there are other people who want bread." + +"Well--not those things then, if you think not," said Matilda. "But a +bedstead, and a comfortable bed, Mr. Wharncliffe; _that_ they must +have." + +"How about the two boys?" + +"They must have another." + +"Blankets and sheets and pillows?" + +"Yes, sir; and pillow cases. I can make those. Do they cost a great +deal?" + +"I think not--if you will let me buy them." + +"O thank you, sir! I have got money enough, I guess." + +"Mrs. Staples will make them. But, my dear, coals, and a stove, and +table and chairs and bedstead and bedding, will make a hole in your +little stock. Let us see. I will undertake the stove and the coals, and +get your beds for you. Chairs and table and bedding, I leave to you." + +"Then put down some cups and plates, please, sir; or I will make the +list when I go home." + +"We can manage it, I think," said David. "You know, I am bound to come +in for my share. Where can we get this second-hand furniture?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe led the way to the place. What a disagreeable place, +Matilda thought. Dirty, dusty, confused, dilapidated, worn; at least +such was the look of a majority of the articles gathered there. +However, therein lay their advantage; and presently in the eagerness of +hunting out the things that she wanted, Matilda half lost sight of the +uncomfortable character of her surroundings. A table, strong yet, +though its paint was all gone, and chairs of similar qualifications, +were soon secured. A bedstead too, which was quite respectable; and Mr. +Wharncliffe explained that some bed-tickings could be filled with +straw, for beds and pillows. A little chest of drawers with some +difficulty was found, to be had for a few shillings; and a stove. Now +this last gave Matilda unlimited satisfaction; for it was a tidy little +stove, had two or three cooking utensils belonging to it, and an oven +which the shopman assured them would bake "first-rate." In that stove +and hardware Matilda's fancy seemed to see whole loads of comfort for +Sarah and her mother. A happy child was she when they left the shop. + +"I believe that is all we can do this afternoon, Tilly," said her +friend. + +"Yes, sir. I think we have done a great deal. I thank you, sir." + +He smiled and turned off to go his way alone; while David, who had been +much struck with the sweet gracefulness of Matilda's manner, walked +beside her; thinking, perhaps, that Mrs. Laval's adopted child was a +different person from what he had fancied. + + + +"What shall _I_ do, now, Matilda?" he asked presently. + +"I don't know. O David, I am very much obliged to you for coming with +me." + +"That won't help your poor people though," said he smiling. "What more +do you want to do, or to get, for them?" + +"Something to make a decent dress or two," Matilda said confidentially; +"but I can do that myself. I don't know, David! things puzzle me. Mr. +Wharncliffe says I must not try to do too much, because there are other +poor people that suffer, and want the money." + +"There are so many, that all your money is but a very little drop on a +great desert, Matilda." + +"But that one drop will make one spot of the desert better, David." + +"Yes." + +"Just a little--twenty or thirty dollars--will do a great deal for +these poor people. And then, if Sarah learns to work on a machine, you +know, and she and her mother get better pay and better work, they will +be able to take care of themselves for ever after." + +"That's good sense," said David. "But just think of all that row of +tenement houses." + +"David," said Matilda solemnly, "don't you think it is wrong?" + +"What?" + +"That people should be so poor, and live in such places?" + +"I suppose it is people's own fault, a good deal." + +"But no, very often it isn't. Now Mrs. Staples used to be a great deal +better oil; but her husband died, and she got sick, and so she came +down to this." + +"But where is the wrong, then?" said David. + +"Why, just think how much money there is, and what it might do if +people tried. Suppose everybody did _all he could_, David? Suppose +every one did all he could?" + +"As you are doing. But then where should we stop?" + +"I wouldn't stop, till everybody that wasn't wicked was comfortable." + +"No, no. I mean, where would you stop in your own giving or spending?" + +"I don't know," said Matilda, looking down on the ground and thinking +very hard as she walked. "I'll tell you, David. I think the money ought +to go to whoever wants it most!" + +"Who is to settle that?" said David laughing. + +They had got into deep waters of Christian ethics; and it was no wonder +if even the theory of navigation was difficult. It served them for +matter of busy discussion till they arrived at home. Norton and Judy +were just consulting over some greenhouse plants in the hall. It gave +Matilda no pang. She passed them, with her own little heart so full of +pleasure that seemed far richer and sweeter, that she thought there was +no comparison. + +The pleasure lasted; for in a day or two there came a great package for +Matilda which turned out to be the sheeting and muslin Mr. Wharncliffe +had promised to get for her. Matilda had to explain what all this +coarse stuff meant, coming to Mrs. Lloyd's elegant mansion; and Mrs. +Laval then, amused enough, let her maid cut out the sheets and +pillowcases which Matilda desired to make; and for days thereafter +Matilda's room looked like a workshop. She was delightfully busy. Her +lessons took a good deal of time and were eagerly attended to; and +then, at any hour of the day when she was free, Matilda might have been +found sitting on a low seat and stitching away at one end of a mass of +coarse unbleached cloth which lay on the floor. Mrs. Laval looked in at +her and laughed at her; sometimes came and sat there with her. Matilda +was in great state; with her workbox by her side, and her watch in her +bosom warning her when it was time to leave off work and get ready to +go downstairs. + +She was busy as usual one afternoon, when she was summoned down to see +company; and found with a strange delight that it was her two sisters. +Mrs. Laval had received them very kindly and now gave Matilda +permission to take them up to her room, where, as she said, they could +have a good talk and no interruption. So upstairs they all three went; +Matilda had hardly spoken to them till they were in her room and the +door shut. Then at first they sat down and used their eyes. + +"What in the world are you doing?" said Anne. "Do they make you the +seamstress of the family?" + +"Seamstress? O Anne, I am doing this for myself." + +"Do you sleep on sheets like that?" said Letitia inquisitively. "_They_ +don't, I'll be bound." + +"Sheets? what do you mean? O Letty, I am not doing these for _myself_." + +"You said you were." + +"For myself--yes, in a way. I mean, I am doing this work for my own +pleasure; not for my own bed. It is for some poor people." + +"For some poor people," Letty repeated. "I think Mrs. Laval might have +let one of her servants do it, if she wanted to be charitable, or hire +it done, even; and not save a penny by setting you at it." + +"She did not set me at it," said Matilda in despair. "O you don't +understand. She has nothing to do with it at all." + +"Are these yours, then?" + +"Yes." + +"_You_ bought them and paid for them?" + +"Yes. At least, a friend bought them for me, but I am going to pay him +the money back." + +"Is it your own money?" + +"Why yes, Anne; whose should it be?" + +"So you have more than you want, and can actually throw it away?" + +"Not throw it away, Anne; for these people, that these sheets are for, +are miserably off. You would think so, if you saw them." + +"I don't want to see anybody worse off than myself," said Letitia. +"Why, what is that the child has got in her bosom, hanging to that +ribband. What is it?--a watch, I declare! Gold? is it a gold watch +really? Think of it, Anne!" + +"It was one of my Christmas presents," said poor Matilda, hardly +knowing what to say. + +"How many other presents did you have?" + +Matilda had to tell, though she had a feeling it would not be to the +gratification of her sisters. They listened and looked, said little, +but by degrees drew out from her all the history of the evening's +entertainment. + +"That's the way _she_ lives," said Letitia to Anne. "That's the way she +is going on; while you and I are making people's dresses." + +"But aren't you getting on well?" asked their little sister, sorely +bestead to make the conversation pleasant to them. + +"We get work, and we do it," said Letitia. "And so make out to have +some bread and butter with our tea." + +"But you have dinner, don't you?" + +"I don't know what you'd call it," said Letitia. "What do you have for +dinner?" + +"O the boys and Judy Bartholomew and I, we have our dinner at one o' +clock." + +"Well, what do you _have?_" said Letitia sharply. "What did you have +to-day?" + +"We had beefsteak." + +"Not all alone, I suppose. What did you have with it?" + +"We had oysters," said Matilda unwillingly, "and baked potatoes, and +rice, and bananas and oranges." + +"There!" exclaimed Letitia. "That's what I call a dinner. What do you +suppose Anne and I had?" + +"Hush, Letty," said Anne. "Whatever we had, it was our own. We were +beholden to nobody for it." + +"Have you seen Maria since I have?" Matilda asked, trying to make a +diversion. + +"No. How should we see Maria? We cannot go jaunting about. We have our +work to do." + +"But it is nice work. I should think you would be very glad to have +it," Matilda ventured. + +"Yes, we are, of course," said Anne expressively. "People must live. +How much did your watch cost?" + +Very unwillingly Matilda named the sum, which Norton had told her. The +two sisters looked at each other and rose to depart. + +"But you are not going?" cried Matilda. "You haven't said anything to +me yet. And I have not seen you for ever so long." + +"We could not say anything that would be interesting to you," Anne +answered. "And we have to keep at our work, you know. We are busy." + +"So am I busy," said Matilda; "very; with my lessons and my other +things I have to do." + +"And parties," added Letitia, "and poor people. How were you dressed at +the party, Matilda?" + +"Yes, let us see your dress," said Anne sitting down again. + +They scanned and measured and examined the dress, stuff and work, with +business as well as with curious eyes; Matilda saw they were taking +hints from it. That led to the display of her whole wardrobe. It was +not agreeable to Matilda; she had a certain feeling that it was not +improving her sisters' peculiar mood of feeling towards her; however, +it seemed to be the one way in which she could afford them any the +least pleasure. So silks and poplins and muslins, all her things, were +brought out and turned over; the fashion and the work minutely examined +and commented on; the price detailed where Matilda happened to know it. + +"Well, I have got something from that," said Anne, when at last the +show was done. + +"Yes," echoed Letitia; "I never could make out before, just how that +sort of trimming was managed. Now I have got it." + +They pulled up their cloaks again and tied their scarfs. Matilda looked +on sorrowfully. + +"I suppose it's no use to ask you to come and see us," said Letty. + +"I can't come often," Matilda answered, "because, you know, I cannot +walk there; and I cannot have the carriage except now and then." + +"How do you suppose we get along without a carriage?" said Letty. + +"You are older. Oh Anne and Letty!" cried their little sister, "I don't +know why I have so much and you have so little; but it isn't my fault." + +Tears were in her eyes; but her sisters shewed no melting on their +part. They answered, that nobody supposed it was her fault. The energy +of Matilda's hugs and kisses seemed to impress them, at last. + +"Tell me!" said Anne, holding her off to look at her,--"are you happy +here? Do they treat you really as their own child? Would you like to +come back to us? Because if you would--" + +"O no, no, Anne! yes, they do. Yes, I am very happy. I don't want +anything but what I have got." + +"Well, then you are to be envied," said Anne, relapsing into her former +tone; and the two went away. Matilda saw them out of the front door, +and then went back to her room and stood at the window a long time, +looking down the street by which they had gone. Why did they treat her +so? Why was she such a trouble to them? They were much older than she, +and her home sympathies had always been more particularly with Maria +and her mother in the old days; yet the family had been affectionate +and harmonious. The strange barrier which her prosperity had built up +between her and them was quite inexplicable to Matilda. At the same +time she was filled with sorrow for the contrast which she knew they +felt between her circumstances and their own. She mused, how she could +give them comfort or do them good in any way; but could not find it. +She was a weak little child. And the help she was giving to the poor +street sweeper and her mother was more needed and better bestowed there +than in any other direction. What would her small means avail towards +the wants of Anne and Letitia? But Matilda cried about it some sore +tears, as she stood by her window in the growing dusk. Then she went +back to the joy of what was coming to Sarah and her mother through her +instrumentality. + +That joy grew sweeter and sweeter every day. The sheets and pillowcases +were finished. The furniture and the stove were moved in. The straw +beds Mr. Wharncliffe's care had provided were in readiness. David and +Matilda went again to look at the room; and cold and dull though it was +with no fire in the stove, there was great promise of comfort. + +"Now, David," said Matilda, after she had turned round and round, +surveying every side and corner of the room again and again,--"_don't_ +you think we might put a little comfort inside that cupboard?" + +"Of what sort?" said David smiling. + +"It's bare," said Matilda. + +"Of everything." + +"Yes. Well, of course it wouldn't do to put any eatable things here, +till just the day they are coming. David!--a thought has just struck +me." + +"Go on," said David, smiling again. "The thoughts that strike you are +generally very good thoughts." + +"Perhaps you will laugh at me. But I will tell you what I was thinking. +Mr. Wharncliffe says we must not do too much at once; but I _should_ +like, David, to have a nice little supper ready for them the day they +move in. I don't suppose they have had one nice supper this winter." + +"Broiled oysters and salad?" said David. + +"No indeed; you know what sort of a supper I mean." + +"What would you get? for instance?" + +"Let me see," said Matilda, speaking slowly and considering the matter +intently. "Some tea there should be, of course; and sugar. And milk. +Then, some bread and butter--and herring--and perhaps, a loaf of +gingerbread." + +"What made you think of herring?" said David, looking very much amused +and curious. + +"O, I know such people like them very much, and they cost almost +nothing." + +"If we are giving them a supper, I should say, give them something that +costs a little more--something they could not get for themselves." + +"O these people don't get even herring, David." + +"What do you suppose they live upon?" + +"Bread,--and--I really don't know, David! In the country, they would +have cheese, and sometimes fish, I suppose; but these people are too +poor even for that." + +"That's being poorer than anybody ought to be," said David. "I go in +for the supper. It's fun. I tell you what, Tilly,--I'll stand a +beefsteak." + +"O thank you, David! But--there are so many more that want it," said +Matilda, looking sober and prudent in odd contrast with her years. + +"We can't help them too," said David. + +"Better keep the beefsteak, I guess," said Matilda. "O David, I know! +Potatoes!" + +"What of potatoes?" + +"Just what they want. _Sure_ to want them, you know; and exactly the +thing. Let us have a good sack of potatoes." + +David seemed to be so much amused that he could hardly keep to the +practical soberness of the thing. However he agreed to the potatoes. +And he and Matilda, moved by one impulse, set off for a hardware store +down in one of the avenues, not far to seek; and there spent a most +delicious half hour. They chose some common cups and saucers and +plates; a yellow pitcher, a sugar bowl and one or two dishes; half a +dozen knives and forks and spoons. It was difficult to stop in their +purchases, for the poor friends they were thinking of had nothing. So a +tin tea-pot was added to the list. + +"O David!" Matilda exclaimed again--"we ought to have some soap." + +"I dare say," said David dryly. "But we do not get that here." + +"No; but seeing that toilet soap put me in mind of it. We get that at +the grocer's." + +"It won't do for us to send in our grocer's stores just yet. When do +your people come to take possession?" + +"Next week, I think. O no; not till the very day, David. Now is there +anything else we ought to get here?" + +"I don't know!" said David. "I could think of a great many things; but +as you say, we must not do too much." + +"What did you think of?" + +"Nearly everything you see here," said David. "It seems to me they must +want everything. A coffee pot, for instance; and lamps, and cooking +utensils, and brooms and brushes and tubs and coal scuttles." + +"O David, stop! They can make coffee in the tea-pot." + +"Bad for the coffee I should say!" David responded, shrugging his +shoulders. + +"And lamps? They cannot buy oil. I guess they go to bed when it grows +dark." + +"Do they! Great loss of time, for people who live by their labour." + +"And a tea-kettle, and a frying pan, and a water pot, came with the +stove, you know." + +"What can they cook in a frying pan--besides fish?" + +"O a great many things. But they can't _get_ the things, David; they +don't want ways to cook them." + +"Must be a bad thing to be so poor," said David. + +"Mustn't it! And there are so many. It is dreadful." + +"Don't seem to me it ought to be," said David. + +"That is what I think," said Matilda. "And O David,--don't laugh at me +as Norton does,--it seems to me it needn't be. If other people would do +without having everything, these people need not want everything." + +David did smile, though, at Matilda's summary way of equalizing things. + +"What would you be willing to go without?" he asked. "Come, Tilly; what +of all we have had to-day?" + +"A great deal," said the little political economist steadily. + +"Meringues and bananas? for instance." + +"Why yes, David, and so would you, if it was to give somebody else a +dinner." + +But here they remembered that the shop man was still waiting their +orders, and they left talking to attend to business. David began +apparently to amuse himself. He bought a salt cellar, and a broom; and +to Matilda's mingled doubt and delight, a rocking-chair. And then they +ordered the things home and went home themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The arrangements were all made; the room was ready; the cupboard was +stocked with its hardware; even a carpet lay on the floor, for Mrs. +Lloyd having heard from David a laughing declaration of Matilda's +present longing for an old carpet, had immediately given permission to +the children to rummage in the lumber room and take anything they found +that was not too good. Matilda was very much afraid there would be +nothing that did not come under that description; however, a little old +piece of carpet was found that somehow had escaped being thrown away, +and that would be, she judged, a perfect treasure to Mrs. Staples; it +was sent by the hands of a very much astonished footman to Mrs. Leary's +house, and by Mrs. Leary herself put down on the floor; Matilda having +bargained for the cleaning of the floor as a preliminary. + +Her imagination dwelt upon that carpet, and the furnished, comfortable +look it gave the room, with as much recurring delight as other people +often find in the thought of their new dresses and jewels. With more, +perhaps. Everything was ready now. Mr. Wharncliffe was engaged to tell +the good news to Sarah and her mother, and the moving was to take place +on Thursday of the next week. All was arranged; and on Monday Matilda +sickened. + +What could be the matter? Nobody knew at first; only it was certain +that the little girl was ill. Dull and feverish and miserable, unable +to hold herself up, or to think much about anything when she was laid +in bed. It was needful to send for the doctor; and Mrs. Laval took her +station by Matilda's pillow. + +How time went, for some days thereafter, Matilda but dimly knew. She +was conscious now and then of being very sick, heavy and oppressed and +hot; but much of the time was spent in a sort of stupor. Occasionally +she would wake up to see that Mrs. Laval was bending tenderly over her, +offering a spoonful of medicine or a glass of apple water; it was +sometimes night, with the gas burning low, sometimes the dusk of +evening; sometimes the cool grey of the morning seemed to be breaking. +But of the hours between such points Matilda knew nothing; she kept no +count of days; a general feeling of long weariness and dull headaches +filled up all her consciousness; she reasoned about nothing. + +So that it was quite a new experience, at waking one morning, to feel +Mrs. Laval's lips pressed to hers for a kiss, and to hear a cheerful +voice say,-- + +"My darling is better!" + +Matilda looked up. + +"I believe I have been sick," she said, in a weak little voice. + +"Indeed you have, darling--very sick. But you are better now. How do +you feel?" + +"Better," Matilda answered in that same faint, _thin_ little +voice;--"weak." + +"Of course you are weak! Here is something to make you stronger." + +Mrs. Laval brought a tea-cup presently, and fed Matilda with soda +biscuit dipped in tea; very nice it seemed; and then she went off again +into a sweet deep sleep. + +When she awaked from this, it was high day, and the light was let into +the room as it had not been for a good while. It all looked natural, +and yet new; and Matilda's eyes went from one object to another with a +sort of recognizing pleasure; feeling languid too, as if her eyelids +could just keep open and that was all. But the light seemed sweet. And +her gaze lingered long on the figure of Mrs. Laval, who was standing by +the mantle-piece; going over with quiet pleasure every graceful outline +and pretty detail; the flow of her soft drapery; the set of the dainty +little French muslin cap which set lightly on her hair. Till Mrs. Laval +turned, and smiled to see her eyes open. + +"Ready for breakfast?" she said gayly. + +"I don't believe I could get up, mamma," said the weak little voice. + +"Get up! I don't believe you could! But what do you think of having +breakfast in bed? Wait; you shall have your face washed first." + +She brought a basin and bathed Matilda's face and hands, first with +water and then with cologne. It was pleasant to be tended so, and the +fine, soft, sweet damask was pleasant, with which the drying was done. +Then Mrs. Laval rang the bell, and presently came up a tray which she +took from the servant's hands and brought to the bedside herself. Then +Matilda was raised up and propped up with pillows, till she could see +what was on the plate. + +"How nice that cologne is! I haven't had breakfast in a good while +before, have I?" + +"No, my darling." And Mrs. Laval stooped to press her lips fondly. +"What do you say to a little bit of roast bird?" + +Matilda was very glad of it; and she enjoyed the delicate thin slice of +toast, and the fragrant tea out of a sort of eggshell cup; the china +was so thin it was semi-transparent. She made a bird's breakfast, but +it was very good, and did her good. + +"Mamma," she said, as she drank the last drops from that delicate +cup,--"it must be a dreadful thing to be poor! When one is sick, I +mean." + +"_You_ never will be, darling," said Mrs. Laval. + +She was slowly but surely mending all that day. The next morning she +had another roast bird for breakfast, and could eat more of it. + +"Norton wants to see you dreadfully," Mrs. Laval said as she was +feeding her. "And so does David, I believe. How have you and David got +to be such good friends?" + +"I don't know, mamma. I like David very much." + +"Do you?" said Mrs. Laval laughing; "perhaps that is the reason. Like +makes like, they say. You are one of the few people that like David +Bartholomew!" + +"Am I? Why, mamma? Don't you like him?" + +"Certainly; he is my nephew. I ought to like him." + +"But that don't make us like people," said Matilda meditatively. + +"What? that little word ought? No, I think it works the other way." + +"But I think I like everybody," Matilda went on. "Everybody _some_. I +don't like all people one as much as another." + +"No," said Mrs. Laval. "That would be too indiscriminate. Well, David +likes you. _That_ is not strange. And he wants to see you." + +"Yes, and Norton. Mamma, I think I would like better to be up, before I +see the boys." + +"I shall not let them come in before that." + +So one or two days still passed, in sleeping and resting and waking to +feel stronger every time; and then one afternoon Matilda was taken up +and dressed in a warm wrapper, and placed in a delightful easy chair +which Mrs. Laval had had brought up for her. She felt very weak, but +exceedingly comfortable. Then she saw the door of her room slowly +pushed inwards, and the bright head of Norton softly advancing beyond +it. So soon as he caught sight of Matilda in her easy chair, he came in +with two bounds, knelt down before her, and taking her in his arms +kissed her over and over. + +"There is one person glad to see you," remarked Mrs. Laval. + +Matilda's eyes were glittering with tears; she said not a word. + +"Glad?" echoed Norton. "Pink, the house has been too stupid for +anything without you. It's astonishing, what a difference one girl +makes." + +"_One_ girl--" said Mrs Laval. + +"Ah!" said Norton. "I didn't say anything about the other. It wouldn't +distress me at all to have Judy shut up in her room a few days." + +"But not by sickness!" said his mother. + +"Not particular how, mamma; do Judy no harm either. She wants taking +down somehow." + +"Why, Norton," said Matilda, "I thought you were so busy with your +greenhouse, you wouldn't miss me much. And Judy and you were getting on +nicely with the flowers, I thought." + +"Nicely!" repeated Norton. "She doesn't care any more for the flowers +than if they were grown to make door mats of. Greenhouse! why, it's as +much as I can do to prevent her pulling all the buds off; and when +she's got them, as I said, she don't care the least for them. No; the +one thing Judy Bartholomew cares for is mischief; and the second is her +own way." + +"Gently, Norton!" said his mother. "I know somebody else that likes his +own way." + +"Yes, ma'am, and can't get it--worse luck!" + +"O Norton!" said Matilda. + +"Well I'd just like to have you tell me then, how I'm to get Judy +Bartholomew out of my greenhouse!" + +"How did you get her in?" asked his mother. + +"I went into partnership with her." + +"And I ask, why?" + +"Because she had money, mamma; and I wanted the greenhouse in order; +and Pink wouldn't." + +"Couldn't"--said Matilda. She did not feel like using many words just +then. + +"Pink, mamma, is the very worst person in the world about having her +own way." + +"And the very best person in the world about being sick." + +"How, mamma?" said Matilda. "I haven't done anything at all but lie +still and be taken care of." + +"Mamma, she looks pale; and her voice sounds thin; aren't you going to +give her something to strengthen her up?" + +"She is going to have her supper in a few minutes." + +"What are you going to give her?" + +"Roast oysters and bread and butter." + +"That sounds jolly. I'd stay and have some too; only I have got to see +a fellow round the corner. Good-bye, Pink. I'm off. Eat as many oysters +as you can!" + +And off he ran. Matilda was disappointed; she was very fond of him, and +she thought he might have liked better to stay with her this first +evening. A little creeping feeling of homesickness came over her; not +for any place that was once called home, but for the clinging affection +of more hands and voices than one. + +"He's a boy, dear," said Mrs. Laval, noticing her look. "Boys cannot +bear to be shut up, even with what they love the best. And you are a +girl--just full of womanly tenderness. I see it well enough. You will +have something to bear in this world, my child. Boys will be boys, and +men will be men; but Norton loves you dearly, for all that." + +"I know he does, mamma," said Matilda. + +But when a few minutes later, Mrs. Laval was called downstairs to see +somebody, the feeling she had kept back rushed upon her again. She +wanted something she had not got. And she began to think of her best +Friend. Matilda had not forgotten him; yet through these days of +sickness and weakness, and the constant presence of somebody in her +room, she had missed for a long time her Bible readings and all but +very short and scattering prayer. She recollected this now; and longing +after the comfort of a nearer thought of God and closer feeling of his +presence, she got up out of her chair and tottered across the room, +holding by everything in her way, to the place where she kept her +Bible. Once back in her easy chair, she had to rest a bit before she +could read; then she found a place of sweet words that she knew, and +rested herself in a more thorough fashion over them. + +She was bending down with her volume in her hand to catch the fading +light from the window, when another visiter came in. It was David +Bartholomew, who having knocked and fancied that he heard the word of +permission, walked in and was at her side before she knew it. Matilda +started, and then looked very much pleased. + +"You are not strong enough to be studying," David said kindly. + +"O I am not studying." + +"What have you got there that interests you so much, then? to be +bending over it like that." + +Now Matilda was afraid to say she was reading the Bible, knowing in +what abhorrence David held part of her Bible; so she answered with a +quick sort of instinct, "It was only a chapter in Isaiah, David." + +"Isaiah!" he repeated; "our Isaiah? Let me see, please." + +He took the book and looked keenly at the page. + +"What interested you so here, Matilda?" + +"I was reading that little twelfth chapter. I was thinking of those +'wells of salvation.'" + +She was trembling with the fear of saying something or other to +displease him, afraid to answer at all; but the simplest answer seemed +the best; and she prayed for wisdom and boldness. David was looking +hard at the page, and alternately at her. + +"It is our Isaiah," he said, turning the leaves back and forward; "it +is our Scriptures; but not the Hebrew. I shall learn to read the +Hebrew. What were you thinking about the 'wells of salvation,' Matilda?" + +Matilda was getting very nervous; but as before, she answered simply +the truth. + +"I was thinking how sweet the water is." + +"You?" said David, with a depth of astonishment which might have made +her laugh if she had not been so frightened. "You? what do you know of +them, or think you know? These words belong to the time of Messiah ben +David." + +"Yes," said Matilda. + +"What do you think you know about them?" + +Matilda thought within herself that here was the end of David's +friendship for her. Her heart sank, yet she spoke as before. + +"I have drawn water out of them, David; and I know that the water is +sweet." + +He stood and looked at her, as if he were full of something to say; but +perhaps he guessed at her reference, or perhaps he saw her too feeble +to be attacked with exciting topics. He shut his mouth and said +nothing; and just then the servant entered bearing the tray with +Matilda's supper. That made a nice diversion. I think David was glad of +it. At any rate he made himself useful; brought up the little table to +Matilda's side; set the tea-pot out of her way and spread her napkin on +her lap. Then, hearing that Mrs. Laval was detained downstairs, he took +the management of things upon himself. He made Matilda's cup of tea; he +spread bread and butter; he opened oysters. Nobody could have done it +better; but it was always acknowledged that David Bartholomew was born +a gentleman. Matilda enjoyed it hugely. She was ready for her oysters, +as a little convalescent child should be; and bread and butter was +good; but to have David helping her and ministering to her gave to both +an exquisite flavour. He was so nice about it, and it was so kind of +him. + +"That other supper has been sadly put off, hasn't it?" he said as he +opened Matilda's last oyster. + +"What supper?" said Matilda. + +"The supper we had arranged so finely, a long while ago. The +celebration of your good woman's moving in." + +"My good woman?--O, you mean Mrs. Staples. She hasn't moved in yet?" + +"No! we waited for you to get well." + +"Waited all this while!" said Matilda. "David, I wonder when I shall be +able to go out?" + +"Not in a good while, Tilly, to any such entertainment as that. I dare +say you can go driving in the Park in two or three weeks." + +"But she cannot wait all that while!" said Matilda; and then she +stopped. If not, then the moving of Mrs. Staples, and all the delight +of the supper to be prepared for her, and the pleasure of seeing her +pleasure, must be for others; not for the little planner and contriver +of the whole. For a minute Matilda felt as if she could not give it up; +this rare and exquisite joy; such a chance might not come again in a +very long while. She wanted to see how the stove would work; she wanted +to hear the kettle sing, and to set the table with the new cups and +saucers, and to make the tea that first time, and give the in comers a +welcome. _Could_ all that be lost? It seemed very hard. Matilda's eyes +filled with tears. + +"What is the matter?" said David kindly. + +Matilda struggled to speak. She knew what she must say; but at first +she could hardly get the words out. She hesitated, and David repeated +his question. + +"It won't do for them to wait so long," she said, lifting her eyes to +his face. + +"Who? your poor people there? Well, it does seem a pity, looking at the +place where they are now." + +"It won't do," Matilda repeated. "It is best for them to go right in, +David. But I can't manage it. I can't do anything." + +"Will you trust me?" + +"O yes! if you'll do it. But won't it be a great trouble to you, David?" + +"On the contrary, I shall like it capitally. You tell me exactly what +you want done, and I'll attend to it." + +"O thank you! Then you'll have to get the supper things, David." + +"Yes, I know all about that." + +"And get Mr. Wharncliffe to tell Mrs. Staples." + +"Yes." + +"And--can you buy some calico for me?" + +"Certainly. But I'd put something warmer on them than calico, Tilly." + +"What?" + +"I don't know," said David laughingly; "I don't know what women wear. +But I suppose I can find out. Something _warm_, Tilly; the air is +snapping and biting out of doors, I can tell you." + +"O well, do see about it as soon as you can, David, and let them move +in by Saturday; can't you?" + +David promised. And when he was gone, and Matilda was alone in bed +again at night, she fought out her whole fight with disappointment. +Rather a hard fight it was. Matilda did not see why, when she was about +a very good thing, so much of the pleasure of it should have been taken +away from her. Why could not her sickness have been delayed for one +week? and now the very flower and charm of her scheme must fall into +the hands of others. She dwelt upon the details, from which she had +looked for so much pleasure, and poured out hearty tears over them. She +was as much in the dark nearly as Job had been; as much at a loss to +know why all this should have befallen her. All the comfort she could +get at was in imagining the scenes she could not now see, and fancying +all over and over to herself how Sarah and her mother would look and +feel. + +After that day Matilda's improvement was steady. Soon she had Norton +and Judy and even David running in and out at all hours, to see her or +to tell her something. + +"Great news," said Norton bursting in as usual one evening. "What do +you think, Pink? David and Judy have been to be catechized." + +"Catechized?" Matilda repeated. "Do they learn the catechism?" + +"Not yours, I promise you," said Norton. "No, not exactly. But they +have been to a Jewish catechizing; to be examined in the Jews' +Scriptures, you know, and all that. They ought to have been catechized, +it seems, when they were younger; but David and Judy have been +travelling about and there has been no chance. Now they've got it! And +O how Davy has been studying his Bible." + +"His Bible is just like ours, isn't it?--all but the New Testament?" + +"_He_ thinks that's a pretty large 'all but.'" + +"But the rest is just the same as ours?" + +"I suppose so; yes, I believe so. And they have had a great time, and +Davy has come off with a blue ribband or something, and been greatly +distinguished." + +"Well?" said Matilda eagerly. + +"Well. They all went to it, grandma and aunt Judy, and they don't know +whether they are most pleased or most vexed." + +"Vexed?" repeated Matilda. + +"Yes. You see, their Jew friends and relations are getting great hold +of Davy; and now I suppose he will be more of a Jew than ever." + +"How will that make him different?" said Matilda, puzzled. + +"Different?" said Norton. "Why, you don't think Jews are like all the +rest of the world, do you?" + +"I don't know," Matilda answered. "I think--if I was a Jew--I would +like it." + +To which Norton answered at first with a questioning frown; then +cleared his brow and laughed. + +"You'd like anything that made you different from the rest of the +world," he said. "But you're a Pink! and that makes it of course." + +"You used to say I was a brick," said Matilda. + +"So you are. I'll fight any boy that says you aren't." + +But that made Matilda laugh so much that Mrs. Laval, coming in, was +afraid she would fatigue herself; and she sent Norton away. Matilda +after this was very curious and a little anxious to see David, and find +out what change his being "more of a Jew than ever" would have made in +him. When he came, she could not find any change. It was Saturday +evening, after tea; so rather late. He came to bring her the news she +wanted. + +"Well, it's done, Matilda," he said as he entered. + +"And all right, David?" + +"Right as can be. Don't you get excited, and I will tell you all about +it." + +"You are very kind, David," said Matilda, trying to be quiet; but there +were two pink spots on her pale cheeks. + +"The carpet was down, and made the place look like another thing. Then +Mrs. Leary had brightened up the bureau and the chairs and table, and +blacked the stove and made a fire. It seemed quite like a home waiting +for somebody. Mrs. Leary folded her arms, and made me take notice what +she had done, and 'expicted I would consider it,' she said." + +"Expected you would consider it?" said Matilda. + +"Yes. Don't you know what that means? Expected I would pay her for her +trouble." + +"Ah!" said Matilda. "Did you?" + +"Yes, of course. But I made her make up the bed and fill the kettle +before she had done. 'An' sure it was iligant, and fit for society,' +she said; whatever that meant." + +"Fit for company, I suppose, David. But who made the coffee?" + +"Wait a bit: I'm coming to that. I was in a puzzle about it; for I +wasn't sure of Mrs. Leary, and Norton and I didn't know enough." + +"Norton? was Norton there?" + +"To be sure; at first. He and I got everything else together. Mrs. +Leary had washed the china and the tin ware; and we bought cheese, and +tea and coffee, and herring, and buns, and gingerbread." + +"And bread?" said Matilda, looking in tensely interested. + +"No; buns. And soap we ordered in too, Tilly; Norton is great on soap. +I should never have thought of it. And when we had done all we could +think of, we sat down to watch the fire and guard the things till some +body came. And we got talking about something else and forgot where we +were; when all of a sudden the door pushed softly open and a girl came +in--" + +"Sarah!" cried Matilda. + +"Wait. There came in this girl, and stood there, looking. And we +looked. 'Is this Mrs. Leary's?' she asked. 'No,' said I; 'the rest of +the house is. Mrs. Leary's, I believe; but this room belongs to Mrs. +Staples.' 'And you're Sarah, aren't you?' Norton cried out. I wish you +had seen the girl, Tilly! She came a little way further in, and stopped +and looked round, and had all the work in the world to keep herself +from breaking down and crying. Her face flushed all over. She wanted to +know if we were sure if there was no mistake? So I told her about you, +and how you were sick, and how you had commissioned us to get ready all +these things; and Norton shewed her where to hang her bonnet and shawl; +for she was in a bewildered state. And then I bethought me and told her +we wanted somebody to make the coffee. I think, Tilly, she was as near +the condition of Aladdin, when he got into the magician s cave, as ever +a mortal could be in this actual world. But she went to work, and that +helped her to feel she was not dreaming, I suppose. She made the +coffee,--and all the while I could see her fingers trembling;--and she +cooked the herring; and I stood it, herring smoke and all; it was the +best fun I've seen this winter--" + +"Since Christmas," Matilda put in, but her own eyes were very bright +and glittering. + +"Christmas was nothing to it!" + +"I wish I had been there." + +"I wish you had. There was nothing else wanting. And I wish you could +have seen Sarah's eyes; I think she was afraid to look around her. She +would give a glance at something, the chest of drawers, or the bed, and +then the tears would spring and she would have just as much as she +could do to mind her cooking and not break down. I didn't know coffee +smelt so good, Tilly." + +"Doesn't it!" + +"You know about that, eh? Well, we were all ready, and Sarah set the +table, but Norton and I had to bring out the buns and gingerbread and +the cheese; for I don't think she would have dared. And then the door +opened once more, and in came Mr. Wharncliffe, and Sarah's mother and +those two poor little imps of boys." + +"I don't know much about them," said Matilda. + +"I know they are very ragged. Of course, how could they help it? The +mother looked as if she would easily fall to pieces too. But I saw the +smell of the coffee brightened her up." + +"And then you came away, I suppose?" + +"Yes, of course. Mr. Wharncliffe just saw that everything was right and +looked after the coal and things; and then we left them to take their +supper in peace." + +"I'm so glad!" said Matilda, heaving a deep sigh. "And I am very much +obliged to you, David." + +"For nothing," said David. "I had a good time, I can tell you. I should +just like to do the whole thing over again. Why, it didn't cost much." + +"Only Mr. Wharncliffe says we have to be very careful to know about +people first, before we give them things; there are so many deceivers." + +"Yes, I know that," said David. He stood looking into the light and +thinking. Matilda wondered what he was thinking about; she could not +ask him as she would Norton. + +"It isn't right!" he broke out. + +"What, David?" + +"It isn't right that there should be such a difference in people; we +here, and they there." + +"Mr. Wharncliffe says there must be a difference. Some people are +clever and industrious, and others are idle and lazy; and that makes +differences." + +"That ought," said David; "but then the people that are not idle or +lazy, but sick or unfortunate, like these people; they ought not to be +left in hunger and cold and rags." + +"So I think," said Matilda eagerly; and then she stopped; for she was +not so free with David as to tell him all her thoughts; at least not +unless he asked for them. + +"It puzzles me," David went on. "I can't see my way out of the puzzle; +only I am sure there is wrong somewhere." + +"And it must be right for each of us to do all he can to help," said +Matilda. + +David shook his head. "_One_ goes very little way." + +"But that is all we _can_ do. And if every one would--" + +"Every one will not, Tilly; there it is." + +"No. I know it; but still, David, people have to do so." + +"So how?" + +"Why, each one by himself, I mean." + +"Well," said David, smiling, "that's safe for you. I mean to study the +subject." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Matilda was slow in getting over her sickness. It would not do to think +of lessons or let her do anything that would weary her. Instead of +that, she was taken to drive, and supplied with materials and patterns +for worsted work, and had books at command. Whatever would please her, +in short; at least whatever Mrs. Laval could think of; for Matilda made +no demands on anybody. She was very happy; feeling well but weak, just +so as to draw out everybody's kindness; and obliged to be quiet enough +to thoroughly enjoy her happiness. She made great progress in the +affections of the family during this rime; they found a sweetness and +grace and modesty in her that presently seemed like to make her the +house darling. "She is not selfish," said Mrs. Lloyd. "She is really a +very graceful little thing," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "She is honest," +said David. "She is the gentlest, most dutiful child in the world," +said Mrs. Laval; but Mrs. Laval did not say much about it. She was +growing excessively fond of Matilda. Norton declared she was a brick. +Judy said nothing. Then they would begin again. "She is a thoroughly +courteous child," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I do think she is a good little +thing," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "She has her own opinions," said Norton, +who liked her the better for it. "They are not bad opinions either," +remarked David. + +"Aren't they!" put in Judy. "Wise and _extremely_ courteous she was +about the liqueur glasses, don't you think so?" + +"What about the liqueur glasses?" Mrs. Lloyd demanded; and though +Norton and David both tried to stop the recital, out it would come, for +the second time. Judy would not be stopped. Mrs. Lloyd seemed rather +serious but by no means as much disgusted as Judy would have liked. + +"She had her own opinions, as Norton says," David remarked; "but she +behaved perfectly well about the whole affair; perfectly _courteous_, +Judy." + +"Very ridiculous, though, for such a child," his mother added. + +"How should she be courteous?" said Judy, scornfully. "She has had no +sort of bringing up." + +"I should be glad to see you as courteous, and as graceful about it," +said Mrs. Bartholomew. Whereat Judy tossed her head spitefully and +meditated mischief. + +They did not know how it was. All was true they had said respecting +Matilda's manners; and this was the secret of them; she was most simply +trying to live up to her motto. For this Matilda studied her Bible, +watched, and prayed. It was not herself she was thinking of, or trying +to please; her obedience and her pleasantness and her smallest actions +were full of the very spirit of reverence and good-will; no wonder it +was all done gracefully. The days and weeks of sickness and feebleness +had been a good time for the little girl, and the kindness she received +made her heart very tender. She sought ways to please; above all, ways +to please God. It was in doing "all in the name of the Lord Jesus" that +her manners became so lovely and her presence so welcome to almost all +the family; and her happy little face was an attraction for even old +Mrs. Lloyd, who did not confess to finding many things in the whole +world attractive now. But Judy vowed in secret she would disturb this +opinion of Matilda, if she could manage it. + +So she chose her time. Mrs. Lloyd, and indeed all the elders of the +family, were extremely particular and punctilious about table manners; +exacting the utmost care and elegance in everything that was done. One +Sunday there was company at dinner; only one or two gentlemen who were +familiar friends, however, so that the young people were not debarred +their weekly pleasure and privilege of dining with their grandmother. +Judy managed to place herself next to Matilda, and held her position, +though Norton as openly as he dared reminded her she had no right to be +there. It was impossible to make a disturbance and he was obliged to +give up the point. Matilda wondered at what she supposed an uncommon +mark of favour in Judy; and resolved to be as nice a neighbour as she +could. There was not much chance, for of course talking, except a low +word now and then, was out of the question. It happened that one of the +servants was for some reason out of the way, and there was not the +usual abundant service of the table. Just when everybody was helped, +Judy somewhat officiously handed somebody's plate to Matilda to be +passed for some oysters. The plate came back to her full; it had meat +and gravy and oysters and maccaroni on it, and was heavy as well as +full. Carefully giving it, as she thought, into Judy's hand, Matilda +was dismayed to find it seemingly slip from her own; and down it went, +taking impartially Judy's dress and her own in its way. Turkey gravy +and oysters lodged on Judy's blue silk; while the maccaroni, rich with +butter and cheese, made an impression never to be effaced on Matilda's +crimson. The little girl absolutely grew pale as she looked down at the +disastrous state of things, and then up at Judy. Judy's eyes were +snapping. + +"Did I do that?" said Matilda, in a bewildered consciousness that she +had _not_ done it. + +"O, I guess not," replied Judy; in a tone which civilly said, "Of +course you did!" Matilda dared not look at anybody else. + +"You had better go up and change your dress, Matilda," said Mrs. Laval +gravely. And Matilda went, greatly disconcerted. She was a very dainty +child herself; rudeness and awkwardness were almost as abhorrent to her +as they were even to Mrs. Lloyd; and now she felt that she had +disgraced herself, mortified Mrs. Laval, and displeased the old lady; +besides drawing down the censure and slighting remark of Mrs. +Bartholomew. But _had_ she done the thing? She was supposed to have +done it, that was clear, from the tone of Mrs. Lloyd's voice and from +Mrs. Laval's command, as well as from Judy's words; that young lady +herself had kept her place in the dining room, for all that appeared. +And Matilda's beautiful crimson dress was spoiled. No doubt about it; +when she had got it off and looked at it she saw that the butter and +cheese had done their work too thoroughly to leave any hope that it +might be undone. No acid or French chalk would be of any avail there. +Poor Matilda! she was very much dismayed. She had a particular fancy +for the colour of that dress; it was a beautiful shade; and Mrs. Laval +liked it; and Matilda wondered if she was displeased; and wondered with +still increasing persuasion that the fault had not lain with her. But +who could prove that? And as it was, the charge of gross carelessness +and inelegance lay at her door; a charge above others that she was +unwilling to bear. + +She would not venture down to the dining-room again, not knowing +whether she would be welcome; she sat in the dark thinking, and crying +a little. But when there came a knock at her door, she got rid of all +traces of tears. There was Norton, who had brought her some Chantilly +cake which she was very fond of; and close behind him stood David, +smiling, and bearing on a plate a great slice of ice cream. Matilda's +hands were both filled. + +"Oh thank you!" she said from the bottom of her heart; "O how kind you +are!" Then as she glanced again at David's benign face, she half +exclaimed, "Did I do that?" + +"No," said David, the smile vanishing. + +"She didn't?" cried Norton. "Who did?" + +"Judy." + +"Judy!" echoed Norton. + +"I _thought_ I didn't do it," said Matilda, forgetting her ice cream; +"but I was so bewildered, and Judy seemed to think it was I--" + +"I saw the whole thing," said David. "It was not you. You were not to +blame at all. Your fingers had unclosed from the plate before hers did." + +"Did she do it on purpose?" said Norton wrathfully, "and let Pink bear +the blame? She shan't bear it two minutes longer!" + +He was rushing away, but Matilda made one spring and planted herself +right in his way. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Set this thing to rights." + +"How?" + +"How? Why by telling the truth." + +"Stop, Norton; there is company." + +"All the more reason. Should you be disgraced before company?" + +"Hush, Norton, stop," said Matilda eagerly, and getting both her plates +in one hand that she might lay hold of him with the other. "You +mustn't, Norton. Don't stir, or you'll make me throw down my ice cream, +and then I _shall_ be disgraced." + +To prevent the possibility of such a catastrophe, David took the plates +from her, and Matilda grasped Norton with both her little hands. + +"I'm going!" he said. + +"No, you aren't." + +"I am, I tell you, Pink. I'll not stand by and allow it. I'll expose +Judy and clear you, before everybody, this minute." + +"Stop, Norton. You can't do it. Listen to me. You mustn't." + +"Now is the very time." + +"You mustn't do it at all. I'll tell mamma. I may do that; but you must +not say one word about Judy to anybody. I shall get mamma to keep quiet +too. You must, Norton." + +"She's right, old fellow, that this isn't the time," said David. +"Grandmamma would stop your argument very short." + +"And you must not say a word, Norton. For my sake! You couldn't prove +anything, Norton, and it would only make mischief and do harm. Let it +alone, and then it is nothing." + +"Nothing!" cried Norton in great dudgeon. + +"Nothing but a little inconvenience to me, and that will be all over by +to-morrow. Promise me, Norton; and then I can eat my ice cream in +peace." + +"You must promise quickly then," said David, "for it is beginning to +melt." + +Norton scolded and grumbled yet, however Matilda saw that she might +take her cake and cream; and she eat it looking at him, and enjoying it +very much. + +"What's the use of being right then," said Norton, "if nobody is to +know it? And you are provoking, Pink! you look just as if nothing was +the matter." + +"Nothing is the matter, thank you," said the little girl. + +"You don't look angry." + +"I don't think I am angry." + +"You ought to be." + +"I think I'm too happy to be angry," said Matilda, finishing her ice. +And she looked so cool that Norton could not keep hot. He and David +took her empty plates away for her; and so ended that day's trouble. +Nevertheless, fruits of it appeared afterwards. + +A little while after this Sunday, Norton sickened with the same fever +Matilda had had. There followed a long, very quiet time, during which +she was much left to herself. Mrs. Laval was in the sick room; for if +she was not a skilled nurse, she was a most affectionate mother; and in +the cases of both her children, she either did herself or watched over +everything that was done. Matilda was not allowed to be with Norton and +help, which she would have liked; it was thought that her strength was +not sufficiently recovered. So the little girl lived in her room; crept +down and up for her meals; was as quiet as a mouse; and endured not a +little mischief from Judy's hands. Judy revelled. She was as full of +life as of mischief, and she made Matilda her butt. The children +generally dining together alone, she had a fair field; for David could +not interpose to prevent Judy's sly provocations. They were too sly, +and too quick and shifting, and too various and unlooked for. Sometimes +she patronized Matilda, as a little country girl; sometimes she +admonished her, very unnecessarily, in the same character; sometimes +Judy took a tone more offensive still and accused her of artful +practices to gain Mrs. Laval's favour. David and others were present; +but they did not always see what was going on; or if they attempted to +put Judy in order, the attempt was too apt to provoke more trouble than +it stopped. Matilda bore a good deal of trial, those weeks; for she was +naturally a spirited child, ready to resent injuries; and besides that, +she was a clever child, quite able to return Judy's sharp speeches. She +said very little to them, however, except what was good-humoured. Her +cheek flushed now and then; sometimes her little head took its old set +on her shoulders, extremely expressive, and equally graceful and +unconscious; the boys would laugh, and Judy toss her own head in a +different fashion. These things gave Matilda a good deal of work in her +own room. She used to hunt out passages that spoke of forgiveness and +kindness and the management of the tongue and the bridling of anger; +and then she used to pray over them, and not once or twice. So Judy +never could prevail much with her. However, Matilda wished for many +reasons that Norton would get strong and well again and Mrs. Laval be +in her old place. As he grew better, she began to be very much in his +room; taking care of him, reading or talking to him, and having very +nice times planning garden for Briery Bank when they should go home. +That would not be early this year, Norton said he was afraid, because +of his school; but at any rate they would run up at the Easter holidays +and set things in train. + +One day Matilda was coming upstairs, after an uncomfortable lunch with +Judy alone. She came slowly, for she was weak yet, thinking that Judy +was a very difficult person to get along with. David had not appeared +at the meal. Just as Matilda reached the head of the stairs at her own +door, he came out of his room. + +"Tilly," said he in a choked kind of voice, "come here! I want you." + +A very odd way for David to speak, she thought; and looking at him she +perceived that he had not his usual calmness and gravity, in face any +more than in voice. He was flushed and agitated, and troubled, it +seemed to her. Matilda obeyed his call instantly and he led the way +into his room and shut the door. Then she waited for him to speak and +tell what he wanted of her; but that seemed to be somehow difficult. +David hesitated, struggling with himself, she could see; yet no words +came. Matilda was too much in awe of him to speak first. David had been +very kind to her lately; but he was older, older even than Norton, and +much graver; and she did not know him so well. She waited. + +As for David, he could hardly speak, or he had great difficulty in the +choice of words. He fidgeted a little, taking one or two turns across +the room, flushed and paled again, then faced Matilda and spoke with +desperate resolution. + +"Tilly, what do you know about--that person--I mean the One you think +so much of, and call your Messiah?" + +Matilda was extremely astonished. "Do you mean--Jesus?" she asked +doubtfully and not a little afraid. + +"Yes--yes. What do you know about him?" + +Matilda hesitated. + +"I know he loves me," she said softly. + +"_Loves_ you! How do you know that? how can you know that?" + +"Because I love him, David; and I know he loves me. He has said so." + +"Said so! I beg your pardon. How has be said so?" + +"In a great many places. And in a great many ways, David. He died for +me." + +"Died!" repeated David again; then controlling his excitement, which +was very great, he again asked Matilda's pardon. "What do you mean by +saying he died for you? for _you_, or anybody? He was put to death by +the Romans, because he set himself up for a king." + +"He didn't," said Matilda eagerly; "not in the way the people said. He +told Pilate himself that his kingdom was not of this world; and he told +the Jews to pay tribute to Caesar. They accused him for envy." + +"Anyhow, he was put to death like any other criminal. Why should you +say he died _for you?_ Have you any reason?" + +"Have you got a Bible here, David?" + +"Not your Bible. I have the Scriptures of Moses and the prophets." + +"Those are what Jesus said told about him. But just let me run and get +my Bible, David; I want to shew you something. I'll be back in one +minute." + +He made no objection; and Matilda rushed out to her own room, threw off +her cloak and hat, dropped down on her knees for one instant to pray +that the Lord would teach her what to say to David; then seized her +Bible and ran back to him. She was almost as excited now, outwardly, as +he seemed; her little fingers trembled as she turned the leaves over. + +"See here, David," she said. "That night, the night of the passover, +you know; the night before he died; he was at supper with the twelve +disciples--" + +"What twelve disciples?" + +"Those who were always with him; they were the apostles afterwards. +Look here. He broke bread and told them to eat it, and said it was his +body broken for them; and then a cup of wine; and this is what he said +about that. See." + +"Read it," said David. + +"'This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the +remission of sins.' Testament is the same word as covenant, Mr. +Wharncliffe says." + +"Covenant!" cried David. + +"Yes. In this other place he says, 'This cup is the new testament or +covenant, in my blood, which is shed for you.' That is the new covenant +that Jeremiah promised." + +"Jeremiah!" cried David again; "what do you know of Jeremiah? Is _that_ +in your Bible?" + +"Certainly it is. Isaiah and Jeremiah, and all of them." + +"But what do you mean about that new covenant? you don't know what you +are talking of, Tilly." + +"O yes, I do, David. Look here; here is the place in Jeremiah; we had +all about this in our lesson last Sunday. Look here, David. 'Behold, +the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the +house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the +covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by +the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they +brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. + +"'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of +Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their +inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and +they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his +neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they +shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, +saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember +their sin no more.'" + +Matilda stopped and looked up at David. + +"I know all that very well," he replied; "that will be in the days of +Messiah." + +"Jesus said it was then. He said, 'This cup is the new covenant _in my +blood_.'" + +"How could that be? what meaning is there in that?" + +"Why, David,--don't you see? His blood did it." + +"Did what?" + +"Why! bought forgiveness for us, so that God could give us the new +covenant. It is a covenant to forgive us and make us holy for Jesus' +sake. Mr. Wharncliffe was explaining it only last Sunday." + +"I don't want to hear what Mr. Wharncliffe said. Tell me only what you +know." + +"Well, David, I know it's all true." + +"Tilly, how can you?" + +"Why, David,--I know Jesus has taken away my sins; and I think he is +writing his laws on my heart." + +"But Tilly!" David exclaimed with a sort of anxious impatience, "you +don't know what you are talking about. You mean that this--Jesus--was +our Messiah." + +"Yes," said Matilda. "He said he was." + +"_He_ said he was?" exclaimed David. + +"Yes, to be sure he did." + +"But you don't know. The Scriptures of the prophets declare that +Messiah will be a great king." + +"Yes," Matilda answered slowly, looking at him. "Jesus is a great King." + +"No!" said David quickly. "He was crucified." + +"But he rose again, and went back to heaven." + +"They stole his body away," said David, "and made believe he was risen." + +"O no, that was what the priests told the soldiers to say; but we +_know_ he rose again, David, for they saw him--the apostles and Mary +Magdalene, and all of them; over and over again." + +"But the Scriptures say he shall, I mean Messiah, he shall conquer the +enemies of Israel and deliver us." + +"I think that means the _true_ Israel," said Matilda. + +"The true Israel!" said David. "Who are the true Israel? I am one of +them. Abraham's children." + +The boy spoke proudly, defiantly, as if he felt the noble blood of +kings and prophets in his veins, and the inheritance his own. Matilda +found it very difficult to go on. So far she had been able to answer +him, having given attention to her Sunday school teaching and that +teaching having lately run in a course fitted to instruct her on some +of the points that David started. But she did not know what to say now. +She was silent. + +"Look here," said David in the same tone. He seized his Bible which lay +at hand, and turning over the leaves stopped at the prophecy of Daniel, +and read, not after the common English version-- + +"'I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, with the clouds of +the heavens as a son of man was one coming, and unto the Ancient of +Days he hath come, and before him they have brought him near. And to +him is given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, +nations and languages do serve him; his dominion is a dominion +age-during, that passeth not away, and his kingdom that which is not +destroyed.'" David read, and paused, and looked up at Matilda. + +"Yes," said Matilda nodding; "that is just what the angel said about +Jesus." + +"What angel?" + +"The angel that came to tell that he was coming. See, David, +wait,--I'll find it; here it is! 'He shall be great; and shall be +called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the +throne of his father David; _and he shall reign over the house of Jacob +for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end_.'" And in her turn +Matilda looked up at David. + +"But what kingdom has _he?_" David asked, between anxiously and +scornfully. + +"Why, I remember he said, 'All power is given unto me, in heaven and in +earth.'" + +"It don't shew," said David. "Christians are a small part of the world, +and not the strongest part by any means." + +"No, I didn't say they were. I only said Jesus is the King." + +"And I say again, Tilly; you have nothing but words to shew for it. How +is he king?" + +"O but, David, wait; look here,--I'll find the place in a minute or +two--" + +She sought it eagerly, but it took a little while to find any of the +words she wanted. David waited patiently, having evidently much on his +mind. At last Matilda's face lighted up. + +"Here, David; this is what I mean; I was afraid to put it in my own +words. 'And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of +God should come,'--you see they thought as you do;--'he answered them +and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall +they say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is +within you.' That's it, David, don't you see? He is king in people's +hearts." + +"The Messiah is to reign in another fashion than that," David returned. +"The Targum says, 'a King shall arise from Jacob, and Messiah be +exalted from Israel; then he shall kill the great ones of Moab, and he +shall rule over all the children of men;' and 'to him are all the +kingdoms of earth to be subjected.' The Lord will destroy his enemies +who rise to put his people to shame; he will thunder upon them with a +loud voice from the heavens; the Lord shall exact vengeance from Magog, +and from the army of the thundering nations who come with him from the +ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his King, and magnify +the kingdom of his Messiah.'" + +"That isn't out of the Bible, is it?" said Matilda, bewildered. + +"No; it's the Targums." + +"I don't know what the Targum is." + +"It is a book, or books rather, of the words of our wise Rabbis; +explaining the Scripture." + +"I don't know anything but the Bible," said Matilda meekly; "and I +don't know but a little of that." + +"Well, you see, Tilly, that _our_ Messiah is to be King in a grand +fashion, and rule over all kingdoms; and make his people rule with him." + +"O _that's_ like the New Testament!" Matilda cried. + +"What part of it?" + +"I don't know exactly where it is; I'll look; but David, Jesus is going +to reign so by and by, I know." + +"You know!" said David. + +"Yes; for he said so." + +"Who said so?" + +"Why, Jesus. Here--stop!--no, here it is, one place. Listen, David, +just to this. 'And as they heard these things, he added and spake a +parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought +that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.'--That's what you +thought, David." + +"Well, but,--" David began. + +"Just listen. 'He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far +country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.'" + +"What's that?" said David. + +"Why, don't you understand?" + +"No. Not what it has to do with what I was talking about." + +"Why, David, the far country is heaven; and Jesus is gone there until +the kingdom is ready, or till he is ready to take it." + +"You have nothing but words to shew for it." + +"No, of course; but they are God's words, David; so they are true." + +"Take care!" said he, and his dark eye fired and glowed; "you mustn't +talk so. You know I don't believe that." + +"Believe what? + +"That _his_ words are God's words." + +"But don't you remember," said Matilda, to whom the words seemed to +come in her puzzle, to help her out,--"don't you remember in the +Psalms--" + +"The Psalms of David?" + +"Yes, to be sure, the Psalms of David; don't you remember how it +says--Oh, I wish I could find it!--something about 'sitting at my right +hand' till his enemies shall be,--I forget what." + +"I know!" said David with a curious change of countenance; and in his +own book he immediately turned to the place. + +"'The affirmation of Jehovah to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, till I +make thine enemies thy footstool.'" + +"That's it!" cried Matilda. "Jesus is there now, and by and by he is +coming to take the kingdom." + +It did not seem as if David heard her; so deep was his pondering over +the passage he had just read. Little Matilda watched him curiously; his +brow was dark, with what sort of thoughts she could not guess; his eye +sometimes flashed and at other times grew intense with looking into +what he was studying. But what struck Matilda most was the look of +trouble; the expression of grave care upon his lip. He lifted up his +head at last, and his eye met her eye, and he was going to speak; when +the clang of the dinner bell pealed through the house. That day, for +some reason, the children were to dine with their elders. Mrs. Lloyd +was particular about attendance at the minute; David and Matilda parted +with one consent and without another word, to make themselves ready to +go down. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Before Matilda had any chance for more talk in private with David, the +week came to an end; and Sunday afternoon found her in Sunday school as +usual. But not as usual, she had hardly a word or a minute to spare for +Sarah, who was telling of her progress in learning to use a sewing +machine and of her own and her mother's bettered health. Delightful as +it was, and as Sarah's face was, all luminous with grateful and glad +feeling, Matilda through the whole of it was intent upon Mr. +Wharncliffe and his motions; and the instant Sarah had left her she +sprang to his side. + +"Are you busy, sir? can I talk to you?" + +"Talk?" said Mr. Wharncliffe; "then we want some time for it, do we?" + +"If you please, sir; a little." + +"Then we'll talk as we walk. Now, what is it?" + +But Matilda waited, until they were out of hearing of all that they +knew; then in the solitude of the wide avenue she began. + +"Mr. Wharncliffe, I want some advice. I don't just know how to manage +something." + +"Very likely. Let us hear." + +"I want to know how to speak to somebody who does not know about Jesus, +and who wants to know." + +"That often calls for wisdom," said Mr. Wharncliffe; "but I should +think it would not be difficult in your case. You can tell what you +know; what Jesus has done and is doing for you, and what he has +promised to do for everybody." + +"Yes, sir, but it is not _that_. It is somebody who wants to know +whether Jesus is the Messiah?" And Matilda looked up very eagerly in +her teacher's face. + +"Well. When 'somebody' has found out that Jesus is the Saviour, he will +have no doubt that he is the One 'anointed to save.' You know, Messiah, +and Christ, mean simply 'anointed.'" + +"Yes, sir, I know. But--this person--" + +"What of him?" said Mr. Wharncliffe smiling. "Is he a very difficult +person?" + +"Rather," said Matilda slowly; "because--he has never known that Jesus +_is_ the Messiah." + +"My dear child, to know that truly, in the full meaning and scope of +the words, is what no one ever does except by the teaching of the +Spirit of God." + +"_That_ isn't it," said Matilda. "This person--does not know whether to +believe the New Testament." + +"I would not advise you, Matilda, to hold arguments with an infidel, +young or old." + +"O he is not an infidel, sir! He is a Jew." + +"A Jew!" exclaimed Mr. Wharncliffe. + +"Yes. And now, he wants to know whether Jesus is the Messiah." + +"Is he in earnest, or talking for talk's sake?" + +"Oh, in earnest, sir! very much in earnest." + +There came a sudden veil over the clear blue eyes that looked down at +Matilda; then their owner said, + +"I must take you home with me." + +It was not far, down a cross street. Mr. Wharncliffe left Matilda in +the parlour a few moments, and returned with a book in his hand. + +"This is the best I can do for you," he said. "Unless you could bring +your friend to see me?" + +"Oh no, sir! he would not. I don't think he has spoken to anybody but +me." + +"Nobody but you? Has he no one to speak to?" + +"No, sir. Not about this." + +"Well, my child, as I said, this is the best thing I can do for you." + +"What is it, sir?" + +"A first-rate reference Bible." + +"I have got a Bible." + +"I know that. But this has references, which you will find will explain +a vast many things to you. I advise you not to talk much, because you +might not always know just what to say. Do this. Let your friend bring +any word or promise about the Messiah that he knows of in the Old +Testament Scriptures; you find the place in this little Bible, and see +what passages of the _New_ Testament it refers to; see, here are the +words of the Bible on one page and the references to each verse on the +page opposite. You know what these abbreviations mean?" + +"O yes, sir. O thank you, sir!" said Matilda, whose hands had now +received the volume and whose eyes were eagerly scanning it. "I will +take great care of it, sir." + +"I hope you will; but not for my sake. I wish you to keep it, Matilda. +It will be useful to you very often. And I shall want to hear how you +get on." + +He took back the book to put her name in it, while Matilda coloured +high, and could hardly find words to speak her thanks. Her teacher +smiled at her, escorted her to her own door again, and Matilda went in +a happy child. + +She was eager now for another chance to talk with David, and she +fancied he wished for it too; but demands of school on the one hand, +and Norton and Mrs. Laval on the other, for days made it impossible. +For Matilda well understood that the matter was not to be openly spoken +of, and the opportunity must be private when it came. She studied her +new little Bible meanwhile with great assiduity, hoping to prepare +herself for David's questions; however, she soon found she could not do +that. She could only get familiar with the arrangements of her book; +what David might ask or might say, it was impossible to guess. + +Meantime Judy's disagreeable attentions continued. + +"Why do you not eat your soup, Matilda?" Mrs. Lloyd asked one day. It +was Sunday of course; the day when the young folks dined with the old +ones. + +"It is very hot, grandmamma." + +"Hot? mine isn't hot. It is not hot at all; not _too_ hot." + +"It is hot with pepper, I think." + +"Pepper? There is not pepper enough in it." + +Matilda thought that Mrs. Lloyd's palate and her own perhaps perceived +pepper differently. But when the first course was served and Matilda +had taken curry, of which she was very fond, this was again hot; so +sharp, in fact, that she could not eat it. + +"What's the matter?" said Mrs. Lloyd,--"pepper there too?" + +"It is very hot, ma'am," said Matilda, while Judy burst out laughing. + +"Curry always is hot, child," said the old lady. "Why do you take it, +if you do not like it?" + +"I like it very much, grandmamma; only to-day--" + +"It is not any hotter than usual, to-day. You should know what you want +before you take it. You can make your dinner of rice, then." + +The rice was as hot as the rest of it, Matilda thought. She could not +eat; and she was hungry, for she had had a good walk and a brisk lesson +in Sunday school; but the fiery portion on her plate quite baffled her +hunger. She was never helped to pudding or pie more than once; she went +hungry to bed. + +That did her no harm; but it happened again and again that, if not +starved, she was at least disappointed of eating something she liked, +or had something she did eat, spoiled by its seasoning. Very indulgent +as Mrs. Lloyd was about things in general, respecting table manners and +all the etiquette of graceful behaviour at meal times she was +exceedingly particular. She did not allow the young people to make any +ado about what they eat. She gave them liberty enough of choice, but +once the choice made, it was made; and mistakes were at the person's +own risk. So when Matilda's salad was very spicy with cinnamon, or her +ice cream excessively and unaccountably salt, or her oysters seemed to +have been under a heavy shower of red pepper, there was no resource but +to be quiet; unless she would have made a scene; as it was, she got +credit for being fanciful and very dainty. + +Weeks passed before she and David could be alone together; eager and +curious and sympathetic as she was. David did not change; the gloom of +his troublesome thoughts hung over him, she could see, all the while; +though nobody else seemed to notice it. At last, one evening in March, +it fell out that all the family were going to the theatre. Even Mrs. +Lloyd; for some particular attraction was just then drawing crowds to +the nightly spectacle; and Norton and Judy had put in their claim to be +allowed to go, and it had been granted. David was invited, but he +refused without ceremony. Mrs. Laval turned to Matilda; and Mrs. Lloyd +asked graciously if she would like to go? Now Matilda would have liked +very much to go, on one side of the question; yet her answer was a +grateful negative. + +"What's the reason?" said the old lady. "It is no use asking for Davy's +reasons, for they are sure to be immovable; but you, Tilly, what's the +matter with you? Were you ever there?" + +"No, ma'am, never." + +"It'll amuse you, child; come! Judy's going." + +It was difficult to answer; but Matilda remembered words she had heard +from Mr. Richmond, which shewed that he did not think the theatre a +place for a Christian to be amused in; and without in the least +understanding his reasons, Matilda did not dare go. She said, and +truly, that she would rather stay at home; and so it fell out that she +and David were left for a whole evening alone. + +The carriage had driven off; the two came back into the little +reception room where the family usually had tea and spent the evening; +Matilda having slipped upstairs and brought down her two Bibles. David +turned up the gas and looked at her. + +"What have you got there, Tilly?" + +"A book that will help us, I hope." + +"I wish it would help me!" said David, as he sat down and buried his +face in his hands. + +"We've got all the evening to ourselves, if we want it," said Matilda a +little timidly. + +"Yes. They will not be home before twelve o' clock." + +But David did not seem in a hurry to avail himself of his opportunity. +He sat with his head in his hands, and then got up and walked about, +looking dark enough. Matilda waited and watched him, wondering and +anxious. + +"What do you think of Judy?" he said suddenly, coming to a stand +opposite Matilda. + +"I think she likes to amuse herself," Matilda answered, very much +surprised. + +"How do you like her amusing herself at your expense?" + +"I don't like it, David." + +"Why don't you get angry?" + +"I do." + +"So do I, sometimes; but it is your affair. Why don't you speak out?" + +"She wouldn't care, David; it wouldn't make any difference." + +"Judy? No, not with her; but why don't you speak out to grandmamma, or +aunt Zara? They would care." + +Matilda's cheeks flushed, and her eyes even looked a little watery; she +did not answer at once. + +"I don't want to do that, David." + +"Why not?" + +"It wouldn't be returning good for evil, you know." + +"Good for evil! no," said David; "but it would be right." + +"I don't think it would be right," Matilda said gently. + +"Why wouldn't it? Good for evil? that is not the law; and it is not +justice. The law is, 'Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for +tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.'" + +"I don't want to do justice," said Matilda smiling. + +"Why not?" He was observing the little girl closely. + +"I don't know, David; it would be no pleasure. Besides--" + +"Besides what?" + +"Jesus says we mustn't." + +"Mustn't what? Do justice?" + +"Yes. No--not to ourselves sometimes. You asked me what I knew about +him; this is one thing. He says we must not return evil for evil; nor +be angry." + +"You were angry at Judy, though?" + +"Well, for a little while, sometimes. I couldn't always help it; or I +_could_, I suppose, but I didn't." + +"How could you?" said David. "I cannot. When I am angry, I am angry; +and there is nothing to do but wait till I get over it." + +"That's another thing I know about Jesus," said Matilda gravely. "He +takes the anger away." She wished that David would begin upon his +former line of inquiry, now that she had her little book to consult; +but she could not hurry him. David looked hard at her, and then his +gloom seemed to come over him. He sunk his head again; and Matilda +waited. + +"What can you tell me?" he said at last. + +"I don't know. Perhaps, if you would try it, my book would tell you +something." + +"What could it tell me?" + +"Answer some of your questions, perhaps." + +David at last roused to action. He went off upstairs and brought down +_his_ Bible--half a Bible, it looked to Matilda's eyes; and under the +bright gas lights the two sat down to compare notes. + +"I don't know but a part of the things that are said about the +Messiah," said David, turning over the leaves; "but what I do know, +seem to me impossible to be fulfilled in him you Gentiles think the +Messiah. And yet--they said--" + +David stopped, in great perplexity. + +"What are some of those things?" + +"Well, this is one. He is to be of the seed of David; for so Isaiah +prophesied." + +"'And a rod hath come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch from +his roots is fruitful. Rested on him hath the Spirit of Jehovah, the +spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, +the spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah.'" + +"Well, David, Jesus was that. See,--here is the whole list of the names +of the people." And she put in the boy's hands the first chapter of +Matthew. + +"'The son of David, the son of Abraham'!" cried he; but then +immediately became so absorbed in the chapter and in that list of names +which Matilda had always thought very uninteresting, that she could +only watch him and doubt if he would come back to talk with her any +more that evening. + +"But," said David at last, handing back her book, "that is only one +thing. Listen to this. The promise was to David--' I have raised up thy +seed after thee, who is of thy sons, and I have established his +kingdom; he doth build for me a house, and I have established his +throne unto the age.' Where is the throne of--of your Messiah, as you +call him? And see here again, in the Psalms of David-- + + "'I have made a covenant for my chosen, + 'I have sworn to David my servant, + 'Even to the age do I establish thy seed, + 'And have built from generation to generation thy throne.'" + +"What is 'to the age'?" Matilda asked. + +"For ever! Where is the throne of your Jesus?" + +"It is in heaven," said Matilda promptly. + +"But Messiah is to reign on earth." + +"Now listen, David; this is what the angel said of Jesus, when he came +to tell Mary that he should be her son. 'He shall be great, and shall +be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him +the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of +Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.'" + +"Well," said David, "but when? and where?" + +"Here is another place that my book turns to, David; now listen. 'David +himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit +thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.'" + +"Yes, I know, it says so." + +"Well, David, then don't you see he will be up in heaven until the time +comes? Here is another passage--it begins about something else, and +then goes on; 'Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the +dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far +above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every +name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is +to come; and hath put all things under his feet.' And here again--'But +this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat +down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his +enemies be made his footstool.'" + +"When will that be?" said David. + +"I don't know. I don't think it tells." + +"But Messiah is to be a Conqueror," David went on, passing from one +thing to another. It is written,-- + + "'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty, + 'Thy glory and thy majesty! + 'As to thy majesty--prosper!--ride! + 'Because of truth and meekness--righteousness. + + 'And thy right hand sheweth thee fearful things. + 'Thine arrows are sharp, + 'Peoples fall under thee-- + 'In the heart of the enemies of the king.'" + +"Where is that?" Matilda asked, and David told her. She eagerly +consulted her little book, and then cried out, + +"Why it is the very same thing! Look here, David; or just listen, and I +will read. + +"'And I saw heaven opened'--" + +"Stop. _Who_ saw heaven opened? Who said that?" + +Matilda paused. "It is in the Revelation," she said. + +"Yes, but what is that?" + +"I don't know exactly; but I know it is the things that were shown to +John, the apostle, about what is going to be by and by." + +"Who was that John?" + +"Why, one of the apostles, David; one of the twelve apostles, that were +always with Jesus, and went everywhere with him and saw all that he +did. Then after he was gone, they preached to the people, and told what +they had seen and heard." + +"After he was gone where?" + +"Back to heaven." + +"Well--read," said David, with a troubled sigh. + +"'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on +him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge +and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were +many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he +himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his +name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven +followed him upon white horses, clothed in white linen, white and +clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should +smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he +treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And +he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS +AND LORD OF LORDS.'" + +"But he was to be a Prophet, like Moses," said David; "and he was to be +born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah." + +"Well, he was," said Matilda. + +"Then how should he be all _that?_" And the boy's frame shook, as if a +nervous shudder had taken him. + +"Don't you remember the 110th Psalm?" said Matilda after a little more +study. "'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I +make thine enemies thy footstool.' Look at it." + +David did so, in his own Scriptures, and pondered the words a second +time. + +"And this is what the Lord Jesus said about those very words, David. +'While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, +What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of +David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, +saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I +make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is +he his son?'" + +"What did they say?" asked David eagerly. + +"Who?" + +"Those Pharisees. What did they answer?" + +"It says 'no man was able to answer him a word.'" + +Poor David was in the same condition. "Well, go on," he said, between +puzzle and despondency. + +Matilda consulted her references to see with what she should go on; and +then read the three first verses of the epistle to the Hebrews. + +"'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past +unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto +us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also +he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the +express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of +his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the +right hand of the Majesty on high.'" + +"But--but,--" said David looking up, "Messiah was to be born in +Bethlehem of Judah, for so said the prophet Micah." + +"Jesus was born in Bethlehem," Matilda replied. + +"But--he was called the Nazarene," said David with a kind of shiver. +The boy was terribly excited, though he controlled the outward +expression of his excitement as much as possible. + +"He lived in Nazareth," said Matilda eagerly; "that was his home." + +"Then how could he be born in Bethlehem? it's near a hundred miles off, +I think." + +"But don't you know?" said Matilda. "Caesar Augustus ordered everybody +to be--what is it you call it? I forget;--to have their names put down, +in a list of all the families and tribes, so that they might be taxed--" + +"Taking the census?" + +"I don't know; maybe it's that. And so, Joseph and Mary had to go to +Bethlehem to have their names put down there, because it was David's +city, you know, and they were of the house of David. And while they +were there, Jesus was born. But after a while they went back and lived +in Nazareth." + +David looked dark, and eager; he made no answer. + +"And it says in the first chapter of Matthew, David, that the prophet +said, 'they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, +God with us.'" + +"It is true," said David. "So spoke the prophet Isaiah. But how then +did he speak also of Messiah's sufferings? how could that be?" + +"Where, David? and how?" + +The boy turned over gloomily the leaves of the book which he held, and +began to read at the fifty-third chapter. + +"'Who hath given credence to that which we heard? and the arm of +Jehovah, on whom hath it been revealed?'" + +"What chapter is that?" Matilda asked; and he told her. She turned to +the place. + +"'_Who hath believed our report?_' that is it exactly, David. Don't you +see? You do not believe it, and all the Jews do not believe it, when it +is told to them." + +"What?" said David. + +"Why, that Jesus is the Messiah; and all about him. 'He is despised and +rejected of men'--see how it goes on." + +"What does this mean, I wonder," said David as he looked over the +chapter--"'He is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our +iniquities, The chastisement of our peace is on him, And by his bruise +there is healing to us'?" + +"This is what it means, David; 'the Son of man came not to be +ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for +many.' That is in Matthew. And here in Romans--'God commendeth his love +toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much +more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from +wrath through him.' And in Corinthians--'He hath made him to be sin for +us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in +him.' Don't you see?" + +"O hush! stop!" said David; "you bewilder me. Here Isaiah goes on + + "'Each to his own way we have turned, + 'And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him + 'The punishment of us all. + + 'It hath been exacted, and he hath answered. + 'And he openeth not his mouth, + 'As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought--'" + +David stopped again, and Matilda searched for words to answer him, and +presently read, + +"'So Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many; and unto them +that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto +salvation.'" + +"The second time?" said David. + +"Yes; when he comes to take the kingdom, you know." + +David sighed deeply. + +"David," said Matilda hesitatingly, she had been watching for a chance +to say it, "don't you know what Zechariah says about him?" + +"Zechariah?" + +"Yes; the prophet Zechariah. Mr. Wharncliffe says that is a time coming +to your people;--in the twelfth chapter. You can read it best for +yourself in your own book. It begins at the ninth verse--what I mean." + +"This?" said David. + + "'And I have poured on the house of David, + 'And on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, + 'A spirit of grace and supplications, + 'And they have looked unto me whom they pierced, + 'And they have mourned over it, + 'Like a mourning over the only one, + 'And they have been in bitterness for it, + 'Like a bitterness over the first-born. + + 'In that day great is the mourning in Jerusalem, + 'As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon; + 'And mourned hath the land--every family apart; + 'The family of the house of David apart, + 'And their women apart; + 'The family of the house of Nathan apart, + 'And their women apart; + 'The family of the house of Levi apart, + 'And their women apart; + 'The family of Shimei apart, + 'And their women apart, + 'All the families that are left, + 'Every family apart, and their women apart!'" + + +The boy's face grew darker and darker as he read, and he remained +gloomily looking at the page after he had finished. "It looks like it!" +he said at last. + +"Looks like what, David?" Matilda asked timidly. His face was very +cloudy as he lifted it to speak to her, and he spoke with difficulty. + +"They are saying, Matilda,--my uncle, I mean, and the wise ones;--they +are saying, I heard them saying it a few weeks ago, softly, to each +other, that the time must be up; and that if Messiah does not come very +soon--" + +"What then?" Matilda asked, for he had stopped suddenly. + +"Then--they say--it must be, or may be, that he _has_ come!" + +She was astonished at the changes in David's face. It flushed and +paled, his lips quivered, his brows were knit; the dark eyes were like +clouds and fire at once. Evidently there was a struggle going on which +she had no means of gauging. + +"What if he has?" she asked gently. "Would you care so very much?" + +"Care!" exclaimed David, and his expression startled her. +"Care!--whether our Messiah has come, and we have not known him, and +have injured him and rejected him?" + +"But that is just what Isaiah said would be." + +"Don't!" said David. "I can't bear it! If that is true, there will be +such a cry as Zechariah said, and I will begin it. But I don't believe +it, Matilda; it cannot be. I will not believe it." + +He threw down his book and walked up and down the room with folded arms +and a brow black as night. Hardly a boy's action, but neither was it a +boy's feeling which possessed him just then. Matilda looked on, very +sorry, very much awed, and entirely at a loss to know what to say. She +consulted her Bible again and found a passage which she wished to shew +him; but she had to wait for the chance. David walked up and down, up +and down, restlessly. + +"I can't make it out!" he exclaimed. "It confuses me. If _that_ were +true, then all our whole nation have been wrong, all these years; and +we have lost everything; the promise made to Abraham and all." + +"But Jesus will fulfil all the promises," said Matilda gently. + +"To those who disowned him?" David asked almost fiercely. + +"I think he will," said Matilda. "Why the first Christians were some of +those very Jews." + +"How can that be?" said David standing still and looking at her. + +Matilda found the second chapter of Acts and handed it to him. She +thought her own words were best to be few. David looked unwillingly at +her book, but however took it, sat down, and under the light of the gas +burner began to read. Matilda could not help furtively watching him, +and it almost frightened her; the changes in the boy's face were so +quick and strong. He read like one reading for his life; he never knew +that Matilda was watching him; his eyes seemed to pierce the book like +steel lances; and through his parted lips the breath came and went +hurriedly. Matilda thought he never would get through the chapter, he +was so long over it. + +"May I keep this a day or two?" he said at last. Matilda joyfully +assented. + +"I wish I had some one to talk with about this," he said; "somebody who +could answer me, or who could _not_ answer me." + +"Your uncles?" Matilda suggested. + +"They would only silence me." + +"I wish you could see Mr. Richmond." + +"Who's he?" + +"He's a friend of mine, and O, the pleasantest and the nicest man! and +he can answer anybody." + +"Can he?" said David half smiling. "Where does he live?" + +"Up in Shadywalk. I _wish_ you could see him. He could tell you just +everything, and I cannot." + +"You have told me so much, though, that I must know more. What is this +Mr. Richmond?" + +"He is a minister, David. O you would like him." + +"He would be the first, then," said David. + +"He is not the least like Dr. Blandford not the _least_." + +"Maybe there's some chance then. Matilda, don't tell anybody of all +this; it is between you and me." + +"No, David, of course I shall not. Are you going to bed?" + +"I am going up." + +"They won't be home yet for an hour." + +"I don't want to see them when they do come." + +"Nor have any supper?" + +"I don't care about supper. Good night." + +He went off, and Matilda's heart was very tender for him. What could +she do? He had carried away with him the little reference Bible; she +could not look out passages for his help any more. Had they been for +his help? The whole talk looked very confused to Matilda as she +remembered it; and David evidently was in much more trouble than he +shewed. Matilda prayed for better help than she could give, prayed with +all her heart; then found herself very sleepy and went to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +It was a few nights after this, that the children were amusing +themselves in the same little reception room. Esther Francis was with +them, and the elders were with company in the drawing-room. The young +ones had it all their own way; they had taken tea together in what +Norton declared to be a very jolly style; and now in a circle of +sociable dimensions, that is, very much drawn together, they were +talking over a great variety of things. All except David; he hardly +said anything; he looked dark and jaded; nevertheless he listened to +what was going on. + +"I know one thing," said Norton; "I must be off to the country pretty +soon." + +"School term of no consequence"--said David. + +"None at all. You see, bulbs keep no account with schoolmasters; the +only account they keep is with the sun; and how they do that when the +sun don't shew himself, passes me. It's one of the queer things." + +"Find a good many of them, Norton?" asked Esther smiling. + +"Queer things? Lots! Don't you?" + +"Well, I don't know. There are some queer people." + +"_Some_. Just a few, I should think there were," said Norton. "Enough +to keep one from going to sleep with sameness." + +"Well, but I don't find so many," said Esther. "Am I queer?" + +"Not a bit of it?" + +"You speak as if it was an honour to be queer," said the young lady, +bridling her pretty head. + +"An honour? I don't know about that," said Norton. "It certainly may be +said to be a--distinction." + +"Who is queer?" said Esther. "You?" + +"Not he," said David. + +"You know best," said Norton, shaking his curly head. + +"He thinks he has so much else to distinguish him," said Judy, "he can +do without that." + +"Not _your_ case," said Norton, politely nodding at her. + +"Don't depend upon your word," said Judy scornfully. + +"Not at all," rejoined Norton; "it is open to the most hasty observer." + +"Is Matilda queer?" Esther asked laughing. + +"She'd never let the world go to sleep," said Norton contentedly; "at +least, not till all could sleep comfortably." + +They laughed at that, and Matilda as much as anybody. + +"But what did you mean, Norton," she said, "about the bulbs and the +country?" + +"Just what I said. It's the most mysterious thing, the way the roots +down in the earth know when it is time for them to send up their green +shoots. They will do it, too, and when things aren't ready for them by +any means above ground. Spring may be ever so late, and the earth hard +packed with frost, and snow and clouds making you believe it is winter +yet; and there will come the little green shoots pushing up their heads +and telling you _they_ know what time of year it is, better than you +do. How they get up through the frozen earth is more than I know. I +tell you, _they_ are queer." + +"Then you mean something good by being queer, Norton," Matilda said. + +"Don't know about that; they are ahead of the year, you see, and that +don't always do. They have a hard time of it, sometimes." + +"But are you going up to see them?" + +"Yes; pretty soon. The coverings must be taken off the beds, you see; +and I must look after it." + +"I am so glad spring is come again!" said Esther. + +"What for, you?" said Norton. "You don't make garden." + +"No; but I can eat strawberries." + +"Strawberries! O ho, that's it. That's what you want spring for." + +"I am sure strawberries are good, Norton," said Matilda. "Do you +remember how you and I eat strawberries on the bank last summer?--and +made lists?" + +Norton gave her a very intelligent glance of acknowledgment. + +"Lists of what?" Judy asked. + +"Things we were going to have for tea," Norton answered coolly. + +"O no, Norton--they were not," said Matilda. + +"Well, it was something in the housekeeping department." + +"Housekeeping!" cried Esther. + +"What is strange in that?" inquired Norton coolly. + +"Why you are rather young, you and Matilda, to set up housekeeping." + +"Rather," said Norton; "so it was somebody else, you see." + +"O it was for somebody else?" said Esther. + +"When are you going, Norton?" Matilda asked eagerly. + +"Pretty soon; in a week or two more; just as soon as we have a few more +spring days." + +"O how nice the spring days are!" said Matilda. "I am so glad they are +come again." + +"For the strawberries?" Esther asked archly. + +"O no, not the strawberries; but it is so pleasant to see the green +grass again, and the dandelions." + +"Dandelions!" exclaimed Judy. + +"Yes indeed; and the locust blossoms; and the cows going to pasture; +and yellow butterflies skimming about; and the nice warm days; and +pinks and roses." + +"And croquet--" said Norton. + +"O croquet is delicious!" said Esther. + +"_I_ am glad, because I like the driving," said Norton. "It is better +than all the Central Parks in the world. And the fishing is jolly, too; +when you have good sport. It's jolly altogether, at Shadywalk." + +"But Norton, the house is shut up," said Matilda. + +"What about it?" + +"What will you do? you can't manage all alone." + +"Go to Kepple's. That's easy." + +"How long will you stay?" + +"Two or three days. I guess I'll take the Easter holidays--that's just +the thing." + +What was said next for a few minutes, Matilda did not hear; she was +musing so intently; then she broke out,-- + +"O Norton! I wonder if I might go with you?" + +"You? That _would_ be jolly," said Norton. + +"I could go to Mr. Richmond's, you know; and then we could see all +about our tulip and hyacinth beds; and it would be _so_ pleasant!" + +"Well; suppose you do. I'm agreed." + +"Do you think mamma would like it?" + +"We'll coax her into thinking it's a splendid plan," said Norton; "and +that's what it is." + +Matilda's eye went furtively over to David; he met it, but she could +not tell what he thought. Hope and pleasure made her cheeks flush high. +Judy tossed her head. + +"Why don't you ask me?" she said. + +"I haven't asked anybody yet," said Norton. + +"I should like to go too. Will you take me?" + +"Would you like to say what you would do if you got there?" + +"I don't know!" laughed Judy. + +"I do. All the mischief you could manage. No, thank you. I should have +to sit next you at the hotel table." + +"What harm would that do?" said Esther, laughing. + +"I should find mustard in my coffee and pepper in my pudding sauce," +said Norton. "No harm, only rather spoils the coffee and rather hurts +the pudding sauce." + +Matilda looked suddenly at Norton, and so did Judy, but they saw he was +only speaking at random and did not know how close he was coming to the +truth. Then the two pairs of eyes met involuntarily. Judy laughed +carelessly. + +"I'll go, if you go," she said to Norton. "At least, if Matilda goes, +I'll go." + +This time Matilda's and David's eyes met. He smiled, and she took +comfort. + +As soon as a good opportunity could be found, the plan was broached to +Mrs. Laval, and urged by both her children. She demurred a little; but +finally consented, on the strength of Norton's plea that it would do +Matilda good. From this time the days were full of delightful hope and +preparation. Only David lay on Matilda's thoughts with a weight of care +and longing. Once she caught an opportunity, when they were alone, to +seize his hand and whisper, "Oh David, can't you come too, and see Mr. +Richmond?" And he had answered very gravely that he did not know; he +would see. + +Easter fell this year rather late in April; late, that is, for Easter. +Schools were dismissed on Thursday; and Thursday afternoon Matilda and +Norton were to take the cars for Shadywalk. She could not say another +word to David, or about him; she made her happy preparations with a +secret unsatisfied longing running through them all. Judy had made an +earnest endeavour to be one of the party; and Matilda did not know how, +but the endeavour had failed. And now the early dinner was eaten, her +little travelling bag was packed, the carriage was at the door, good +byes were said, and Matilda got into the carriage. At that exact minute +David came out of the house with _his_ travelling bag in hand, and in a +minute more the house door was shut, so was the carriage door, and they +were all three rolling off towards the Station. + +"O David, I'm so glad!" burst from Matilda. "How did you manage it?" + +"Like himself," said Norton; "kept his own counsel and had his own way. +It's a good thing to be Davy Bartholomew." + +"I don't know about that," said David. + +"Don't you? Never heard a doubt on that subject expressed before. But +anyhow, it's jolly to have you along, Davy. Why you've never seen +Shadywalk, nor Briery Bank." + +Matilda smiled a very bright and expressive smile at David which said, +"nor Mr. Richmond either." The smile was so genial and glad and winsome +that it cheated David out of some part of his gloom; or perhaps he +thought it unworthy to shew it before his kind little companion. He +brightened up, and talked about the things that were interesting her +and Norton; and at the station behaved like the manly boy he was; +getting tickets and taking care of Matilda and finding a good place in +the cars where they could all sit together. The moment was so full of +joy to Matilda that it made her sober. Going to see her old haunts and +old friends was a great deal of itself; going on an expedition with +Norton was delightsome; but that David should really be going too, to +see Mr. Richmond, almost took away her breath with gladness. The slow +movement of the cars, beginning to roll away from the station, was +accompanied by a perfect leap and bound of her little heart making an +aerial flight on the instant to the end of the journey. + +The end of the journey, however, had to be reached by the usual +patient, or impatient, stages. Patient in this case, to Matilda. She +was so happy that she enjoyed every foot of the way. The spring +sunlight on the river it was quite delightful to see again; the +different stations on the road were passed with curious recollections +of the last time, and comparisons of herself now and herself then. The +evening fell by the time they reached Poughkeepsie; and shadowy visions +of Maria seemed to occupy all the place while the train stopped there. +Poor Maria! Matilda was glad to have the cars move on, since she could +get no nearer than visions. Then it grew dark; and she sat musing and +dreaming pleasant dreams, till the station of Shadywalk was whistled +for. + +The old omnibus was in waiting, as usual, and it happened that no other +passenger occupied it to-night except their three selves and one cosy +old lady, who "didn't count," Norton said. It was dark; they could not +see the landscape. + +"Briery Bank ought to be worth a good deal," said David, "when it takes +so long to reach it." + +"So it is," said Norton. + +"O it's lovely, David!" cried Matilda. "Not so much now, though, when +the leaves are not out." + +"Are you going to the minister's to-night?" + +"To be sure I am. Mr. Richmond would be very much surprised if I went +anywhere else." + +"Well, when I get the beds uncovered, Pink, I'll come for you; and we +can see what we will do." + +"You'll come with me to-night, Norton?" + +"I'll let Davy see you there, while I make arrangements." + +"What arrangements? O come now, Norton. Mr. Richmond will like to see +you." + +"He can wait till to-morrow, I dare say," replied Norton. "Anyhow, I +can. You will be enough for to-night." + +"What sort of a man is the one you are talking of?" David asked Norton. + +"He's a brick," said Norton, and began to whistle; then interrupted +himself. "But he is Pink's friend, you understand, much more than mine." + +"Some old tutor of yours?" said David smiling. + +"Old! not exactly. Nor a tutor neither, that ever I heard; though he +does teach folks, or tries to. No, you're out, Davy. I tell you, he's a +brick." + +"O we're going over the bridge now, Norton!" Matilda exclaimed. "We're +almost there. Look! I can see lights, can't I?" + +There was no question about it in a few minutes more. Norton got out at +the Shadywalk hotel; and the omnibus lumbered on through Butternut +Street to the parsonage gate and drew up at last before the old brown +door. But it was too dark to see colours. Indeed David had some +difficulty in finding the knocker; and meanwhile the omnibus lumbered +off, while they were not attending. David knocked and knocked again. +Matilda was trembling with delight. + +"There's nobody at home," said David. "It is all dark." + +But at that instant a step was heard in the hall, and the door was +opened. A little light that came from within a door somewhere beyond +revealed nothing except the outline of a figure. + +"Who is it?" said a voice. "My lamp's gone out; I guess it wants a new +wick. Who's here?" + +"Don't you know me, Miss Redwood?" said Matilda's voice, quivering with +pleasure. + +"Don't know anybody without I see 'em. I ain't called to guess who you +be, as I know. Come in, if you want to, and tell your errand. Is it me +or the minister you're after?" + +"Miss Redwood, it's Matilda Laval. And I'm so glad to see you!" said +Matilda, waiving further recognition and throwing her arms round the +housekeeper's neck. "O I'm so glad to see you! Is Mr. Richmond at home?" + +"Tilly Englefield!" exclaimed the housekeeper in her turn. "Wherever +did the child come from? Mr. Richmond?--no, he ain't to home yet, but +he will be directly. Come in, child, and take off your things. Who's +this other one?" + +"My cousin David Bartholomew, Miss Redwood. O David, come in! Don't go, +till Mr. Richmond comes." + +"Yes, come right in," said Miss Redwood heartily. "You're just in time +for tea; for the minister's been out as usual all the afternoon; he had +to ride to Suffield, and he ain't home yet. Come right in here." + +She drew Matilda, and David followed, into the little dining room, +where the lamp shone and the tea table stood looking very hospitable. +David made some proposition of going back to the hotel and Norton; but +Matilda was very urgent that he should not, and Miss Redwood very +positive on the same subject; and to Matilda's surprise David made no +great opposition. He sat down quietly enough. Meanwhile the housekeeper +took off Matilda's wrappings and examined her with her eyes. + +"La! it _does_ look natural to see you!" she broke out. "But you ain't +so little as you was; and, my!--but I suppose it's New York." + +"What's New York?" inquired Matilda laughing. + +"Well, 'taint so easy to tell. I don't know myself. But it's all over +you, from the hair of your head down to the soles of your boots. You +ain't the same you was." + +"Yes, I am, Miss Redwood; just the same!" + +"La, child, you don't _feel_ that you've growed, do you? Folks grow +in'ardly and out'ardly; and they change, too, in'ardly and out'ardly; +and it's other folks that see it, not them." + +"But how do you think I'm changed, Miss Redwood? I am sure you're +mistaken." + +The housekeeper gave another benevolent, keen look at her, smiling a +little, and then went off into her pantry without answering. + +"It's all right I made gingerbread to-day," she said, coming out with a +beautiful loaf of that article. "Have you had any dinner? I'll be bound +you'd like some beef and eggs. Wait a bit, and you shall have it. Mr. +Richmond will be all ready for it too, after his ride. I reckon you +hain't much to do with handling of spiders now?" This with a sidelong +glance at Matilda. + +"No, Miss Redwood; I haven't time for such things." + +"How do ye expect to keep house one o' these days, if you don't know +how?" + +"That's a great way off," said Matilda smiling. + +"Just as it happens," said the housekeeper. "You're eleven or twelve +this summer; which is it? and you won't be any wiser in the kitchen +just by growing older in the parlour." + +"I know some things now, Miss Redwood." + +"La, child, knowledge ain't all; it's practice; and you ain't in the +way to practise much, I can see. That's the fashion now-a-days; young +heads filled full and clever, maybe; and hands as empty and useless as +ever hands kin be. Now I don't believe, for my part, that our hands was +given us to do nothin'." + +"O no, nor I," said Matilda. + +"Well, then, what be your hands learning? See if I'm wrong." + +Matilda cast about how to answer, for in truth her hands had got no new +skill in the past months, although the old skill had come in play very +conveniently. While she hesitated, came the welcome sound of the +opening and closing front door. Mr. Richmond was returned. His steps +went however first upstairs, and then came down and went into the +study. Miss Redwood had disappeared and was getting her beef ready in +the kitchen. Matilda could wait no longer. Taking David's hand and +gently persuading him to allow of her leading, she went to the study +door and knocked. + +Mr. Richmond had just made the fire blaze up; so they had light to see +each other by. David stood by and watched the greeting; it was very +glad and affectionate, he saw, on both sides, with a certain tender +confidence that impressed him. He was surprised also to see that Mr. +Richmond was so young a man and so handsome a man; and when the +brilliant eyes were turned on himself he was quite susceptible to their +fascination. Matilda lost no time. + +"David Bartholomew, Mr. Richmond; one of my new cousins, you know. And +Mr. Richmond,--David knows about the Messiah in the Old Testament, and +he wants to know if the Messiah is Jesus; and so I wanted him to see +you, because you could tell him; and so I got him to come with me." + +If David's shyness was at all disturbed by this speech, it was entirely +soothed again by Mr. Richmond's reception of it, and of him. The +genial, frank clasp of his hand, the kindly, free glance of the blue +eyes, quite won David, as it was apt to win everybody; and in a minute +more he found himself sitting at his ease in this strange house, +perfectly contented to be then, and interested to watch Matilda's +intercourse with her old friend and her pleasure in it. There was time +for but little, however, before Miss Redwood's activity had got the +"beef and eggs" and all the rest of the tea-table in a state of +readiness, and her call summoned them into the other room. David made a +little demur about staying, instantly overruled both by Mr. Richmond +and Matilda, and he sat down with the rest. And if he said little, the +other three tongues were busy enough. + +"And how do you like New York?" inquired the housekeeper. Matilda's +answer was very unqualified. + +"'Tain't no better a place than this, is it?" the lady asked rather +defiantly. + +"It is a larger place, Miss Redwood," said the minister. + +"Ain't Shadywalk big enough for a little mite of a thing like her?" + +"I don't know," said the minister. "'Big enough' depends upon what she +wants, or what anybody wants. I knew a man once who said he had seen +everything in the world there was to be seen, and he was quite at a +loss what to do with himself. You perceive the world was not 'big +enough' for him. And another man once wrote, 'My _mind_ to me a kingdom +is.' Difference of taste, you see." + +"That first fellow thought his head was only made to set his eyes in, I +s'pose," said the housekeeper dryly. + +"Seemed to be all the use he had for it," said the minister. + +"But that other man," said Matilda,--"was he contented with himself all +alone, and wanted nothing else?" + +"I hope not," said Mr. Richmond smiling. "That's a new view of the +case. Your king David hit the truth more surely," he went on addressing +David, "when he said, 'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.'" + +David's eye brightened; but then he said, + +"I have read the words, but I never understood exactly what he meant." + +"Your people, you remember, on taking possession of the promised land, +had it divided to them by lot; each tribe and family took its share as +it was portioned out to them by Joshua." + +"Yes, I know," David answered. + +"So from that time each family had its own inalienable lands, which +were the inheritance of that family; its portion and riches; for the +Hebrews were not in those days a commercial people." + +David assented, looking a little surprised. + +"What should a man mean, who declared, disregarding all this, that his +portion and inheritance was the Lord himself?" + +The boy's keen, intelligent eyes looked deep into the intent blue ones +regarding him. + +"Sir, I do not know," he said at length. "Was it, that he expected the +Highest would give him greater possessions?" + +"Notice, he says not his inheritance is _from_ the Lord, but is the +Lord himself." + +"I don't understand it," said David. + +"In another place, when he was nearly done with earthly possessions, he +says again, 'My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of +my heart and my portion for ever.' It is an inheritance that exists +beyond time, you see." + +"I don't understand it, sir," David repeated. + +"And in that sixteenth psalm he goes on to declare his content in his +portion, in that it is not of earth. 'The lines are fallen unto me in +pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' There is a word in the +New Testament that explains it," Mr. Richmond went on, looking keenly +at David; "a word of one who was in the same case; and he says of the +children of God, 'And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint +heirs with Messiah.'" + +David started and shivered, as if a nerve had suddenly been touched; +but Mr. Richmond went on to something else, as if he had not observed +it. All through supper time he was so gentle, pleasant, and spirited +too in his talk, that the boy who was unaccustomed to such society felt +the charm holding him; and Matilda who had not known it for long, felt +like a flower opening to the sunshine. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +After tea Mr. Richmond led the way back to his study. The first thing +he did there was to make the fire blaze up merrily; and then, just as +David was thinking how to take leave, the blue eyes came full round +upon him, with a look as bright as the fire shine. + +"And so," he said, "you are seeking after your Messiah?" + +David seemed tongue-tied; he said nothing; he bowed slightly. + +"How far have you got?" + +"Far enough to be confused, sir." + +"Ay? How is that?" + +"I feel myself too ignorant yet to be able to judge. Our wise men are +saying--I heard them saying--that if Messiah come not soon, he must +_have_ come." David's colour changed even as he spoke. + +"Do you know anything of the New Testament, the record of the life and +teaching, and death and resurrection, of Jesus?" + +"Very little," David answered. "Matilda has shewn me passages in those +writings--which have struck me very much," he added, as if with +difficulty. + +"I should think they would. Well, when a thing is to be done, the best +way is to do it. Suppose you take the book in your hands now, and let +me direct your attention to one or two things more." + +David was very ready. He took the book Mr. Richmond placed in his hands +and drew near to the table, while Matilda on her part seized another +Bible and did likewise. Mr. Richmond had been lighting the lamp. Before +he had finished his preparations, David began. + +"But that story of the resurrection is a very unlikely one." + +"Do you think so? The same might be said of the crossing of the Red Sea +by your fathers." + +"That is well enough attested by witnesses," said David, proudly +raising his head. + +"So is this. If a thing can be made sure by the testimony of credible +witnesses, this has been; witnesses who were ready to go to the death +in support of their words, and who did so die, many of them." + +"But," said David, "our Messiah was to be the King of our people; and +your Christ belongs to the Gentiles." + +"Thank God he does!" said Mr. Richmond smiling. "But now let us see if +you are correct in that first statement." + +"He was to be a King on David's throne," interrupted the boy. + +"He is. Wait. Do you remember, in the promise to Abraham it was said +that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him?" + +"Yes." + +"And Isaiah declares, 'In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, +which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it _shall the +Gentiles seek_.'" + +"Yes, but they will come to Messiah; not the Messiah go to them," said +David, lifting his head with the same air again. + +Mr. Richmond answered in words of Isaiah. "'Behold my servant, whom I +uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit +upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' And again in +the forty-ninth chapter--and Master Bartholomew, you know that these +words were spoken of Messiah--'And now, saith the Lord that formed me +from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though +Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the +Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing +that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and +to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light +to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the +earth.'" + +Matilda looked eagerly at David as these words were finished; the boy's +face was troubled and dark. He made no answer. + +"Now let us see how those words were to be fulfilled," Mr. Richmond +went on. "It is a hard reading for you; but we are seeking the truth, +and you are seeking it. The apostle John, one of the servants and +witnesses of Christ, says, 'He came unto his own, and his own received +him not.'" + +David looked up with a white face. "If that is true"--he said. "I just +want to know whether that is true!" + +"You know Isaiah said it would be true. 'Who has believed our report?' +'He is despised and rejected of men;... we hid as it were our faces +from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.'" + +"Some of the rabbis held that there were two Messiahs," David said. + +"Because they knew not how to understand of one the various seemingly +contradictory things, which were and are all fulfilled in Jesus." + +"Of _Nazareth_," said David. + +"Yes, he lived there; but he was born in the city of David. Come, you +do not know him, and it is needful you should. Let us read this first +chapter of John all through." + +They read slowly, with many interruptions. David had explanations to +ask, and then there were prophecies to consult. The boy's eagerness and +excitement infected his companions; the reading began to take on a sort +of life and death interest, though Mr. Richmond kept it calm, with some +difficulty. + +His next proposition was, that they should go through the life of +Christ regularly; and they began with the first chapters of Luke. +Nothing that Matilda had ever known in her life was like the interest +of that reading. David was startled, curious, excited, as if he were +beginning to find the clue to a mystery; though he did not admit that. +On the contrary, he studied every step, would understand every +allusion, and verify every reference to the Old Testament scriptures. +The boy's cheeks were flushed now, like one in a fever. The hours flew. + +"My boy," said Mr. Richmond, laying his hand on David's open book, "we +cannot finish what we want to do this evening." + +David looked up, pushed his hair off his face, and recollected himself. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said. "I have taken up a great deal of +your time." + +"You shall have a great deal more," said Mr. Richmond smiling; "but we +had better sleep upon it first. And pray," he added soberly. "Pray, +that if this Jesus is indeed He whom you seek, you may know him." + +David bowed silently, feeling too much apparently to say anything. +When, however, he would have taken leave, Mr. Richmond detained him and +would not hear of it. Norton, he said, would not miss him; he would be +gone to bed by this time, tired of waiting; and they would send and +invite him to breakfast. To Matilda's surprise, and as well to her huge +delight, she saw that David was won by the influence that had long been +so potent with her, and made no very great opposition. Miss Redwood was +called in to prayers, and after that the little family separated for +the night. + +Matilda thought she surely would not go to sleep soon; but she did, +nearly as her face touched the pillow. So it was not till she awoke in +the morning that she could think over her happiness. It was early yet; +the sunbeams striking the old cream coloured tower of the church and +glittering on the pine leaves here and there. How delicious it was! The +spring light on the old things that she loved, and the peaceful +Shadywalk stillness after New York's bustle and roar. And David +Bartholomew in Mr. Richmond's house! and Norton coming to breakfast! +With that, Matilda jumped up. Perhaps she might help Miss Redwood; at +any rate she could see her. + +Miss Redwood was in full blast of business by the time Matilda's little +figure appeared at the kitchen door. + +"Don't say you're up, and down!" said the housekeeper. + +"Yes, Miss Redwood; I thought perhaps I could help you." + +"Do you wear dresses like that into the kitchen?" the housekeeper +asked, with a sidelong glance at the beautiful merino Matilda had on. + +"I don't go into the kitchen now-a-days." + +"Thought not. Nor you don't never put on a frock fit to make +gingerbread in, now do you?" + +"I don't think I do." + +"Well, what are your gowns good for, then?" + +"Good for?" said Matilda; "why, they are good for other things, Miss +Redwood." + +"I don't think a gown is worth much that is too good to work in; it is +just a bag to pack so many hours of your life in, and lose 'em." + +"Lose them how?" + +"By not doin' anythin', child! What's life if it ain't busy?" + +"But don't you have company dresses, Miss Redwood?" + +"I don't let company hinder _my_ work much," said Miss Redwood, as she +shoved a pan of biscuits into the oven of the stove. "What do you think +'ud become of the minister?" + +"O yes!" said Matilda laughing; "but then, you see, I haven't got any +minister to take care of." + +"Maybe you will, some day," said Miss Redwood with a kind of grim +smile; "and if you don't know how, what'll become of you? or of him +either?" + +It seemed a very funny and very unlikely supposition to Matilda. "I +don't think I shall ever have anybody to take care of but mamma and +Norton," she said smiling. + +"I s'pose they've money enough to make it easy," said Miss Redwood. +"But somehow--that don't seem to me livin'." + +"What, Miss Redwood?" + +"That sort o' way o' goin' on;--havin' money do all for you and you do +nothin'. Havin' it do all for your friends too. _I_ don't think life's +life, without you have somebody to work for; somebody that wants you +and that can't get along without you." + +"O _they_ want me," said Matilda. + +"Maybe; but that ain't what I mean. 'Tain't dependin' on you for their +breakfast in the morning and their tea at night, and their comfort all +day. You have folks to do that. Now I wouldn't give much for life, if I +couldn't make nice light biscuits for somebody and see that their +coffee was right and the beefsteak just as it had oughter be, and all +that. I used to have some one to do it for," said Miss Redwood, with +something of pathetic intonation in her voice;--"and now," she added +cheerily, "it's a blessin' to do it for the minister." + +"I should think it was," said Matilda. + +"There is another friend one may always work for,"--said the voice of +the person they were speaking of. Both his hearers started. The door of +the dining-room was a little ajar and he had quietly pushed it open and +come in. "Miss Redwood, how about breakfast? I have a sudden summons to +go to Suffield." + +"Again!" said the housekeeper. "Well, Mr. Richmond--in two minutes. La, +it's never safe to speak of you; you're sure to know it." + +"I didn't hear anything very bad," said the minister smiling. + +Norton had come to breakfast. David made his appearance looking pale +and heavy-eyed, as if he had sat up half the night. Mr. Richmond looked +at him attentively but made no remark; only to both the boys he was +exceedingly kind and gracious; engaging them in talk that could not +fail to interest them; so that it was a gay breakfast. David was not +gay, indeed; that was rarely a characteristic of his; but he was +gentle, and gentlemanly, and very attentive to his host. After prayers +Mr. Richmond went out into the hall and came back in his overcoat. + +"My boy," he said, laying his hand affectionately on David's shoulder, +"I should like to sit down with you and go on with our reading; I meant +to give the first of the morning to it; but I have a call of duty that +takes me away. I shall see you at dinner or this evening; meanwhile, +this is your home. Take care of him, Matilda." + +So Mr. Richmond went away. Norton had received, and refused, a similar +invitation. David did not refuse it. + +"No," said Norton, "I must be nearer those flower-beds. Come along, +Pink; we'll go and make our calculations. Davy, you'll come and see +Briery Bank? it's jolly, this morning; and this afternoon we'll go take +a drive." + +"I should like to do a great many things," said Matilda; "only there'll +never be time for them all. However, we'll go first and see about the +tulips and hyacinths." + +David went with them so far and looked at the place; but after that he +disappeared. Matilda and Norton had a delightful day, overseeing the +garden work and arranging for more garden work to be done; then +lunching together at the hotel, for so he persuaded her, and going on +with their operations afterwards. At tea time Matilda went back to the +parsonage alone; Norton said he was tired and sleepy and did not want +to hear reading, but he would come to breakfast again. + +David was not pale but flushed now, with excited eyes. All Mr. +Richmond's talk and manner at table were kindly and soothing as +possible; and Matilda could see that he liked David and that David +liked him; but the look of the latter puzzled her. It came from +disturbance so much deeper than her little head had ever known. +Immediately after tea the study lamp was lit and the books were opened. + +"What have you read to-day, Master Bartholomew?" Mr. Richmond asked. + +"Just those two chapters," said the boy. + +"Of Luke?" + +"Yes, sir. Mr. Richmond, those people, Zechariah and Simeon and the +rest, they were Jews?" + +"Yes." + +"And they kept the law of Moses?" + +"Faithfully." + +"And--they thought that Jesus was the Promised One?" + +"They did not _think_--they knew, by the teaching of the Spirit of God." + +"But," said David, "the writer of this did not wish to discredit the +law of Moses?" + +"Not at all. Let us go on with our his story." + +The reading began again and went on steadily for some hours. As before, +David wanted to verify everything by references to the prophets. His +voice trembled sometimes; but he kept as close to business as possible. +The first chapters of Matthew excited him very much, with their +declarations of things done "that the scriptures might be fulfilled;" +and the sermon on the mount seemed to stagger the boy. He was silent a +while when it had come to his turn to read; and at last looking up, he +said, + +"If people took _this_ for a rule of life, everything in the world +would have to be turned round?" + +"Precisely," said Mr. Richmond. "And so the word says--'If any man be +in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, +all things are become new.'" + +"Do you think anybody really lives like this?" + +"O yes," said Mr. Richmond. + +"I never saw anybody who did," said David; "nor anything like +it;--unless," he added looking up, "it is Matilda there." + +Matilda started and flushed. Mr. Richmond's eyes fell on her with a +very moved pleasure in them. Neither spoke, and David went on with the +reading. He was greatly struck again, in another way, with the +quotation from Isaiah in the thirteenth chapter, and its application; +indeed with the whole chapter. But when they came to the talk with the +woman of Samaria, David stopped short. + +"'I that speak unto thee _am he_.' Then he said himself that he was +Messiah?" + +"To this woman, to his twelve disciples, and to two or three more." + +"Why not to the whole people?" + +"Is it likely they would have believed him?" + +David pondered. + +"They asked him once the direct question--'How long dost thou make us +to doubt? If thou be Messiah, tell us plainly.'" + +"What did he say?" + +"He said, 'I told you, and ye believed not; the works that I do in my +Father's name, they bear witness of me.'" + +"Then _they_ thought perhaps he was Messiah." + +"The people on one or two occasions were so persuaded of it that they +wanted to take him by force and make him king." + +"And he refused?" + +"He refused. You know, he came 'to give his life a ransom for many;' +not to enjoy worldly honour." + +"But how then should he save Israel from all their enemies?" + +"Who are Israel's enemies? 'He shall redeem Israel from all his +_iniquities;_' and when once they turn to the Lord, there will be no +other enemies that can work them harm. You know it was always so." + +David sighed and the reading went on. But again he started at the +fourth chapter of Luke and the words read by the Lord from Isaiah and +his appropriation of them. David stopped. + +"Here it is again," he said. "'This day is this scripture fulfilled--' +That is plain." + +"Nothing could be plainer. But they would not see it." + +David paused still, and then said with some difficulty, "I want to know +the truth. Because--if he _is_ Messiah,--he is my King!" And a dark +gleam, partly of pain, partly of incipient loyalty, crossed his face. +Mr. Richmond's eyes flashed. + +"Come on," he said; "let us see whether he is Messiah." + +The parables indicating the taking away of their privileges from the +Jews and giving them to the Gentiles, were hard reading. David stopped +to understand them, and looked very black. When they came to the +discourses of Christ with the Jews, David's excitement grew very great, +though he controlled himself. And just there came a summons to Mr. +Richmond which it was impossible to pass by. He was forced to go, and +left the two younger ones at the table. For a few minutes they were +silent; and then David rose up, pale with intense feeling, and took his +book. Matilda looked at him inquiringly. + +"I must find it out by myself," he said; and walked to the door. + +"David!" cried Matilda, "shall I call you when dinner is ready?" + +"No, don't. I don't want dinner. And I can't go with you to look up +Norton. Can you do without me?" + +Matilda assured him of that, feeling quite at home in Shadywalk. And as +it was about eleven o' clock, she thought to look up Norton would be +the best thing she could do. + +So she went down the old village street, where every step was full of +memories, feeling very glad to see it again. She would have liked to +stop and visit several people; but she knew Norton would be impatient +for her; and so he was. He was overseeing the uncovering of his bulbs +to-day. + +"Twelve o' clock, Pink; twelve o' clock! and this is the first I have +seen of you since breakfast. What have you been doing?" + +"We've been busy, Norton." + +"Where's Davy?" + +"At the parsonage. He's busy." + +"Look at those hyacinths,--up already, all of an inch above ground. +It's well I came to see after them." + +"What makes them so yellow, Norton, instead of green?" + +"Why because they've been covered up and shaded from the sun. A little +longer, and they would have been spoiled." + +"How beautiful it would be, Norton, if we had our two new beds planted! +all full of roses and hyacinths." + +"Ah, wouldn't it!" repeated Norton. "You see, we were a bit too late +about it last fall; or, I'll tell you! it was that sickness kept us +away. We'll have 'em next year. What _have_ you and David been doing +yonder?" + +"Reading"--said Matilda doubtfully. + +"Reading what?" + +"Mr. Richmond and David were reading together." + +"That's jolly!" said Norton. "David and the parson! What's come over +Bartholomew? Where's he going to get dinner?" + +"He didn't come with me, and I don't think he was coming." + +"Let him stay and read, then," said Norton. "If he can afford it, we +can. Pink, we'll go and get something presently--as soon as I see all +this mulching off." + +They managed to employ themselves all the rest of the day; dining at +the hotel, overseeing work in the grounds of Briery Bank, roaming about +the place and enjoying its spring sweetness; talking over what they +thought ought to be done; and making a very nice holiday of it +generally. Towards evening Norton was persuaded to return with Matilda +to the parsonage; perhaps urged by a little curiosity of his own. David +had not been seen, Miss Redwood reported. + +Neither did he come when tea-time came; and when sought in his room it +was discovered that he was not there. Matilda was very much exercised +on this subject; but Mr. Richmond took it quietly. Norton declared it +was just like David Bartholomew. + +"I don't think it it, Norton," said Matilda; "for he is always polite." + +"Except this time," said Norton. + +"We'll not except this time, if you please," said Mr. Richmond +pleasantly. "Things are different from their seeming, oftentimes." + +It was Saturday evening, and the minister was busy in his study. The +two children kept Miss Redwood company in the dining room. It was a +great falling off from last evening, Matilda thought; nevertheless she +had a very entertaining talk with Miss Redwood about people and things +in Shadywalk; and Norton listened, half amused and half sleepy. Mrs. +Candy had been absent from Shadywalk near all winter; in New York. + +"In New York!" exclaimed Matilda. "And I never saw her or Clarissa!" + +"She didn't come to see you then," said Miss Redwood. "I guess she was +skeered o' something. But la! New York must be a queer place." + +"Why now?" Norton asked. + +"Seems as if folks couldn't be runnin' round in it all winter long and +manage to keep out o' sight." + +"That's its peculiarity," said Norton. + +"I s'pect a great deal could happen there, and the world not know," the +housekeeper went on. + +"Much more than what it does know," said Norton. + +"I allays think sich must be poor kind o' places. Corners that the +world can't see into ain't healthy. Now I like a place like Shadywalk, +that you know all through; and if there's something wrong, why it has a +chance to get mended. There's wrong enough here, no doubt; but most of +it'll bear the light of day. And most of us are pretty good sort o' +folks." + +"Now that Mrs. Candy is out of town," Norton remarked. + +Matilda had a great deal to hear about Sunday school people, and her +friends in Lilac Lane. For Lilac Lane was there yet, Miss Redwood +observed. Through it all, Matilda watched for David's coming in. But +the evening ended and he came not. + +It hurt a little the joy of her Sunday waking up, which else would have +been most joyous. Norton was in the house this time; he had consented +to be at the parsonage for the Sunday. Monday morning they were all to +go home by the earliest train. So there was no drawback to Matilda's +joy except this one. It was delightful to hear the old bell once more; +delightful to see the spring light streaming between the pines and +lighting the ugly old church tower; pleasanter than any other beautiful +one to Matilda's eyes. With all the coming delights of the day crowding +upon her mind, she rose and dressed, hoping that David would come to +breakfast. + +But he did not. + +The sweet Sabbath day moved on slowly, with its services in the old +church and its pleasant talk and society in the house; the Sunday +school hours; the meeting old friends and acquaintances; but dinner and +Sunday school were over, and nothing was heard of David Bartholomew. + +"What has become of him?" said Mr. Richmond, as he and Matilda came in +after Sunday school. + +"What _can_ have become of him, Mr. Richmond?" said Matilda. + +"Nothing very bad," said Mr. Richmond, smiling at her distressed face. +"Suppose we go and look him up?" + +"Where would you go, Mr. Richmond? he has not been _here_ since +yesterday morning." + +"I think I should try the hotel." + +"Do you think he is there!--Shall we go?" + +"I think we will," said Mr. Richmond; and hand in hand he and Matilda +went down the street, to the corner. Just opposite, a little below, was +the Shadywalk house of public entertainment. + +Nobody knew David Bartholomew there by name. But in answer to Mr. +Richmond's enquiries and description of him, the barkeeper stated that +such a young gentleman had certainly come there the day before and was +in Room No. 45. He had scarcely been seen since he entered the house, +the man said; had refused almost everything that was offered him; but +anyhow, he was there. + +Where was Room No. 45? A man was sent to direct them to it; and Mr. +Richmond and Matilda went up the stairs and along a gallery. No. 45 was +at the end of the gallery. + +"I will wait here for you, Matilda," Mr. Richmond said. "I think you +had better go alone to see him--at first." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Matilda went to the door and knocked. She heard nothing, and was +obliged to knock again. Then the door opened, and David stood before +her. What to say to him Matilda had not just determined, and while she +hesitated he stepped back, mutely inviting her to enter. Matilda went +in and he closed the door. She was afraid to speak when she saw his +face, it was so pale and disturbed. But he prevented her. + +"I have found it out, Matilda," he said. "It's all true." + +Matilda started and looked up at him to see what he meant. + +"I know it now," he said. "He _is_ the Messiah! he is my Messiah; he is +my King But--my people, my people!--" + +Breaking off abruptly with this cry, David sat down at a little table +where he had been sitting,--for his Bible was open upon it,--and put +his head down in his hands and burst into tears. And Matilda had never +seen anybody weep as she saw him then; nor in her childishness had +supposed that a boy could; the little deal table shook under the +strength of his sobs. Matilda was bewildered and half frightened; she +stepped back into the gallery, meaning to summon Mr. Richmond; but Mr. +Richmond was not there; and she went back again, and stood, much +distressed, waiting until this paroxysm of pain should have passed by. +It lasted some time. Probably David had not shed a tear until then, and +speaking to her had broken down the barrier. Matilda did not know what +to do. At last she put her hand timidly among the thick dark curls +which lay lower than she had ever seen them before, and spoke. + +"Dear David! don't,--please don't do so!" + +He heard and heeded the anxious little voice, for the sobs lessened, +and presently he raised himself up and as it were shook them off. But +Matilda thought he looked very sad yet. She waited silently. + +"You see, Matilda," he said, "I understand it all now. And _they_ +don't!" + +"Who don't, David?" + +"My people," he said sadly. "I see it all now. They did not know +him--they did not know him! And so they lost him. You know what he +said,--the kingdom is 'taken from them, and given to another nation, +bringing forth the fruits thereof.' So they are scattered abroad on the +face of the whole earth. And still they don't know him!" + +"But you do, David?" said Matilda earnestly. + +"Tilly, I wish my life was longer, to use it for him. I wish my hands +were stronger, to do his service! But all I am is his, every bit of it, +and all I have; from this day for ever." + +The boy stood, with a kind of sad joyfulness, very quiet, with folded +hands, speaking hardly as it seemed to Matilda, but perhaps to angels +and the Lord himself. + +"Won't you come and tell Mr. Richmond?" + +"Certainly!" he said, starting from his attitude. + +"When we heard nothing of you for ever so long, I grew troubled; I +didn't know what had become of you; and then Mr. Richmond proposed that +we should come here and look after you. You'll come to the parsonage +to-night, David? you know we are all going away to-morrow morning." + +"I'll be ready in two minutes." + +Matilda waited while he washed his face and brushed his hair; then they +went downstairs and found Mr. Richmond. He stretched out his hand to +David, which the boy took with a flitting change of colour that told of +some difficulty of self-command. However in a moment his words were +firm. + +"I have found my Messiah, sir, where you bade me look for him. He is +_my_ Messiah, and my King, and I am his servant. I wish I could be his +servant twenty times over!" + +"Why?" + +"One life is too little to give." + +"You may serve him to the ages of the ages. Service shall not end with +_this_ life, do you think so?" + +Then David lifted up his dark eyes and smiled. Matilda had always known +him a very grave boy; perhaps partly for that reason this smile seemed +to her like a rift of light between clouds, so sweet and bright. It +filled Matilda with so much awe that she did not open her lips all the +way to the parsonage. Nor did Mr. Richmond say much. + +They were in danger of being a silent party at tea, too; only I think +the minister exerted himself to prevent it. Matilda had no words for +anything, and indeed could hardly eat her supper; as often as she +dared, she stole a look at David. For he did not look at all like +himself. He was grave; to be sure that was like him; only now it was a +new sort of high, sweet gravity, even gentle and humble in its seeming; +and if he was silent, it was not that he was not ready and willing to +speak when there was occasion. But Matilda guessed he had too much to +think of to want to talk much. Norton was perhaps a little curious as +to what there was between his three companions; and Miss Redwood was +seldom free with her tongue in the minister's presence. Mr. Richmond, +as I said, had to exert himself, or the silence of the tea-table would +have been too marked. + +They all went to church together. Matilda caught a look of extreme +surprise on Norton's face when he saw that David was one of the party; +but there was no time for explanations then. Little Matilda thought she +had hardly ever been so happy in her life. In the old place, Mr. +Richmond preaching, and David and Norton beside her, one of them there +in heart as well as in person. The singing was sweet, and the prayers +were happy. + +Coming back from church, Matilda and Norton fell a little behind the +others. + +"What's come over David Bartholomew?" Norton whispered. "Politeness?" + +"O no, Norton; not politeness. He will tell you himself." + +"Davy's strong on politeness," said Norton. "I didn't know but it was +that. Politeness took _me;_ but of course, to take Davy, it would have +to be a most extraordinary and uncommon sort of politeness. I can +hardly believe my eyes yet." + +"You always said Mr. Richmond was a brick, Norton," said Matilda. + +"Yes, but you never heard me say David Bartholomew was another, did +you?" + +"Well, but he _is_, Norton." + +"He _is!_ Phew! that's news." + +They came to the parsonage door and Matilda could not reply. Going in, +Mr. Richmond said to them that he had something to talk with David +about, and that they must not sit up if they were tired. So he and +David turned into the study, and Norton and Matilda went on into the +dining-room, where Miss Redwood was sitting with her Bible. Then +David's head was put into the room after them. "Tell Norton for me, +please, Matilda," he said; and went back. + +"Tell me what?" said Norton. + +Matilda did not know how to begin. + +"Well, you've got home," remarked the housekeeper closing her book. +"Was there many out?" + +"Would have been more if you hadn't staid at home, Miss Redwood," +Norton replied. + +"When you're as old as I am, my young gentleman, you'll know that folks +don't do things without reasons." + +"Ah!" said Norton. "But are they always good reasons?" + +"That's their own look out," said the housekeeper. "What did you go to +church for this evening, for instance?" + +"I've just been telling my sister," said Norton. "But what, in the name +of Rabbi Solomon, and all the Rabbis, ever took David Bartholomew +there?" + +"Ain't he a Jew?" said the housekeeper. + +"Of course he is. And he don't love Christians, I can tell you, except +one here and there." + +"He does now," said Matilda in a low voice. + +"What?" said Norton. + +"He loves Christians now, Norton. And he loves Jesus. He is a Christian +himself." + +"David Bartholomew a Christian!" exclaimed Norton. + +Matilda nodded. Her eyes were full and her lips were trembling. + +"I _thought_ there was something to pay," said the good housekeeper, +whose eyes watered for company. But Norton was transfixed with +astonishment. + +"Pink, what do you mean?" + +"It's true, Norton," said Matilda nodding again. + +"What's made him?" + +"He has been studying the Bible and the New Testament this long while. +Now, he says, he knows." + +"And he means it!" said the housekeeper. "I can tell by the look of +him." + +"Means what?" + +"He means what he says--whatever that is." + +"But you said, you were thinking, something in particular, Miss +Redwood." + +"Yes; just what he was thinking," said the housekeeper. "He'll never be +one o' those Christians that stand on one leg at a time; that's what I +mean. Whoever wants to walk alongside of him, 'll have to step up to +the mark." + +Norton looked at her, in somewhat disdainful want of comprehension, and +then turned to Matilda again. + +"Pink, I don't believe a word of it!" + +"Why, Norton, I heard him myself, all that he said." + +"Mind, he may have found out that his famous old uncles of rabbis don't +know anything; _that's_ very likely; but I don't believe David +Bartholomew has given up being a Jew." + +"Why he can't do that, Norton; he's born so; but he is a Christian too." + +"A man can't be a Christian and a Jew too," said Norton. + +"Miss Redwood, can't he?" + +"I reckon it's difficult," said the good housekeeper; "and you may +depend he's found that out; but he's found it's possible too. Why what +'ud become of all the Jewish nation if it warn't possible?" + +"What should become of them?" Norton asked scornfully. + +"Well, there's wonderful things about the Jews in the Bible," said the +housekeeper rising; "if the minister was here he'd tell you. And there +was an old promise to Abraham, that if I was you I wouldn't run +against." + +"Run against a promise to Abraham!" said Norton. + +"Well, yes," said the housekeeper, setting her chair back at the wall +in its place. "I wouldn't like to run against none o' the Lord's words, +and this is one of 'em. 'I will bless them that bless thee, and curse +him that curseth thee.'" + +The housekeeper went off and left Matilda and Norton looking at each +other. Norton wore a vexed face. + +"This is all trumpery," he said. "It will blow away like smoke." + +"No it won't, Norton," said Matilda. "I hope not." + +"And how long have you and David been holding secret meetings together +to talk about this?" + +"I don't know, Norton. But we had better go to bed, I suppose; for Miss +Redwood will call us very early to have breakfast before the omnibus +comes for us." + +"Nonsense to have breakfast!" said Norton. "We shall be home time +enough." + +"But then you and Davy will have to rush right off to school. Good +night." + +"Good night"--said Norton, in an uncomfortable tone. And they went up +to their rooms, leaving David and Mr. Richmond still shut up in the +study. + +It was early, dawn just breaking, when the summons came for them to get +up; the dawn of a fair spring morning. What a visit it had been! +Matilda thought to herself, as she dressed and put up her things in her +little hand bag. And as the first sunbeams were glinting on the top of +the old tower, she ran down to breakfast. Mr. Richmond gave her a very +warm greeting, in his quiet way. So did David. He looked bright and +well, Matilda saw at a glance. Norton had not by any means got over his +discomfiture. He seemed embarrassed as well as uneasy; watched David +with furtive glances, and eat his breakfast in silence. Mr. Richmond +and Matilda were the talkers. + +"Have you had any more difficulties about boots?" he asked in the +course of the conversation. Matilda looked at him in bewilderment. + +"You wrote me some time ago, on the subject of a deep question that had +to do with boots." + +Matilda coloured and laughed, while Norton remarked that boots were a +queer subject for deep questions to have to do with. + +"Deep questions can spring out of anything--out of your bread and +butter," said Mr. Richmond. "How is it, Tilly, about the matter of +boots?" + +"I have hardly thought about it, Mr. Richmond, this long while." + +"How is that?" + +"I have had so much else to think of, I believe." + +"Studies?" + +"No, sir; my studies have been a good deal broken off by my being sick." + +"What then? Can you tell me?" + +Matilda gave briefly the history of her connexion with Sarah Staples. +She meant to give it briefly; but the story was too sweet in the +telling; it rather grew long. Yet she did by no means put herself or +her own doings in the foreground; that place was given as much as +possible to Mr. Wharncliffe and David and the poor family themselves. +The minister and the housekeeper were both very much interested. + +"Yes," said the former, in conclusion, "I understand, and am satisfied. +I see that now boots are boots; and nothing more." + +Matilda laughed, for the boys looked mystified. + +"Will you tell me, sir," inquired Norton, "how deep questions could +spring out of my bread and butter?" + +The minister could have smiled at the boy's air, which had much the +effect of seeming to put a "poser" to him; but he controlled himself +and answered quite gravely. + +"Shall we consider them together? or apart?" + +"Apart, if you please." + +"Well--Bread, you know, daily bread, stands for the matters which +support life, in all variety. This question arises.--Who gives this +daily bread to you, and gives you power to eat it? And what use does He +wish to make of you, that he should give you both?" + +Norton was silent. + +"You are not prepared with an answer?" said the minister. + +"I never thought of the questions before, sir. The second one sounds to +me very strange." + +"Does it? Do you think the Lord had no purpose to serve, in putting you +here and nourishing you up to strength and power?" + +"That's for the bread," said Norton after a pause, but not rudely; +lifting his eyes to the minister as he spoke. "You were going to +consider the bread _and butter_." + +"I think you do not seem disposed to 'consider' anything," said Mr. +Richmond smiling; "but, however, I will hope the time of consideration +may come. Now for deep question Number three, or Number four,--You have +butter to your bread, and plenty of it; what is your duty towards +others who have no butter, and others still who have no bread?" + +"There's the omnibus, Mr. Richmond," said the housekeeper. And there +was no more talk. Only a hurried putting on of hats and seizing of hand +bags; eager, warm, hearty grasping of hands in good bye; and then the +three travellers were in the omnibus and rolling along the parsonage +lane and out at the gate. + +What a visit it had been! Matilda was so full of content that she was +still. Not a very noisy child at any time, she was now as quiet as a +mouse, just with content. Three days of sweet pleasure, three days of +country skies and greening grass and free sunshine; three nights and +mornings of parsonage delights. And more than that; more than all she +had hoped for; David going home with _his_ deep questions solved and +his calls of duty and privilege met. What would they think at home? and +how would they find out about it? "He was one of those lost pieces of +silver," thought Matilda, smiling to herself; "and Jesus has found him!" + +"What's so amusing?" inquired Norton. He was rather in a disordered +state of mind, and certainly seemed to see nothing amusing himself. + +Matilda looked up, still smiling, though her eyes were dewy, and from +him glanced at David. Their eyes met. His smile answered hers, quite +recognizing its meaning. Norton whistled. There was no other passenger +in the omnibus; and he whistled half way to the station. + +In the cars the same content possessed Matilda. It was still early +morning; she thought the river had never looked so pretty as in the +crisp light of that hour; nor the opposite hills so lovely as under +those wreaths of bright vapour which lay along the hillsides; nor ever +was there a blue sky more smiling. She glanced at her two companions. +Norton was not smiling by any means; his discomposure had not gone off, +whatever it might mean; and he eyed David now and then with a jealous, +doubtful expression. David was grave enough, but not as usual. Matilda +looked again and again, to see how different the thoughtful bright calm +of his face was from the old dark gloom that used to be there; and then +her eyes turned to the sunny river and sky and hills, with a glad +feeling of the harmony between things outward and inward. Before long, +David had taken out a little book and was deep in the study of it; +which he never interrupted till they reached Poughkeepsie. There Norton +rushed out, to get something to eat, he said; though Matilda guessed it +was rather to get rid of himself for a minute. Many other people left +the car on the same errand; and David looked up from his book and came +over to Matilda. + +"Well," said he, "how are you getting along?" + +"Nicely. I am so happy, David!" + +"So am I," said he gravely. "All the world is new, and it seems to me I +see the sun shine for the first time." + +"See the sun shine?" repeated Matilda doubtfully. + +"Yes," said he smiling. + +"But you don't look at it, David. You are reading all the while." + +"I see it, though. Now I know what the prophet Malachi meant by the sun +of righteousness. Do you remember, Matilda? I guess you don't; but I +know the words. + + 'And risen to you, ye who fear my name, + Hath the sun of righteousness and healing in its wings.' + +I feel that now. I never could understand it before." + +"There are a great many things that we cannot understand till we feel +them,--are there not, David?" + +"I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. + +Their talk stopped there; and presently the people who had gone out +came pouring back. Norton brought a great piece of sponge-cake to +Matilda. + +"Thank you, Norton, but I'm not hungry, I've just had breakfast a few +minutes ago." + +"You hadn't time to eat." + +"Yes, I had. You spent your time talking, I suppose; you and Mr. +Richmond; that's the reason you are hungry." + +Norton sat down and eat his sponge-cake; and spoke no more till the +train got in. The carriage was in waiting; took the two boys +immediately to school, and carried Matilda and the bags home. + +She wondered all day how and when David's disclosure would be made, and +how it would be taken at home. She had a good many questions to answer +herself, even Judy seeming curious to know what they had been doing and +how they had spent the time, and why they had not come home Saturday; +especially what David had done with himself and why he had taken it +into his head to go at all. Matilda declined to enter into any +discussion of David's affairs, and left him to speak for himself. But +much she wondered how he would, and whether he would, and when he would. + +It happened that evening that there was no company, and the family were +all gathered together in the little reception room; talking over the +children's reports and discussing plans for the coming summer. +Matilda's heart began to beat; for she saw that David was thoughtfully +still, and that Norton, in a corner, only talked by jerks, as it were, +and sat turning over and over one of his school-books, with an odd air +of expectancy. Yes, certainly he knew that David was going to speak, +and was waiting for it. Matilda could think of nothing else; her talk +all came to an end. + +"Norton hasn't much to say to-night," Mrs. Bartholomew remarked. "No +more than if he were my boy." + +"I haven't anything to talk about," said Norton, looking at nothing but +his book. + +"Matilda has lost her tongue too," said Judy. + +"She never had such a one as yours," replied her grandmother; "you must +remember that. It isn't such a loss in the house." + +Judy seemed inclined to pout at this; but then her attention was turned +to her brother, who began rather suddenly. + +"May I speak, grandmamma?" + +"I shall be very happy to hear," said Mrs. Lloyd smiling. + +"I am not so sure of that," said David; "at least, not of you all; +though I really have something to say." + +All eyes turned to David. Norton looked up at him from under his brows, +with a strange expression of curiosity and displeasure. Matilda only +looked away. David hesitated, then went on very calmly and gently. + +"You know, mother and grandmother, that I have been very strong in my +love for my own people, and very strong in my sympathies with them." + +"Is it in the past tense?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. + +"And very fixed in my prejudices against what was not Jewish; against +what in your beliefs was contrary to mine." + +"We all know that," said his mother a little bitterly. + +"Is _that_ in the past tense?" demanded Judy. + +"I joined with my people in expecting the Messiah and hoping for him." + +"Did you?" said his mother. + +"I have changed," said David slowly. "I have been studying these things +for some time past; I have studied and studied; and now I know. Our +Messiah _has_ come; our people did not know him, and--they lost him. I +know now that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah." + +A scream of startled rage from Judy broke in upon the closing +utterances of this speech. She prevented everybody else. + +"You do not mean to say that, David Bartholomew!" she exclaimed, +jumping out of her chair and standing before him. "You don't mean it." + +"Do I ever say what I do not mean, Judy?" he answered gravely. + +"Say it again. Say you have left us and gone over to the Christians." + +"Judy! are you not ashamed!" cried Mrs. Bartholomew. "What do you think +of your mother?" + +"Nothing," said Judy. "I'm not talking of you, mamma. You are neither +one thing nor the other. You are nothing. _Have_ you gone over, David?" + +"You know what I said," her brother answered. "I believe that Jesus of +Nazareth is the Messiah." + +"The Christians' Messiah," said Judy scornfully. + +"Theirs and ours," said David sorrowfully. "Messiah ben David, the King +of Israel." + +"Take that!" said Judy, administering a slap on the cheek which was +heartily delivered. "You are a mean good-for-nothing, David +Bartholomew! and I wish your name was something else." + +All the voices in the room cried out upon Judy except her brother's. +His colour changed, back and forth, but he was silent She stood in the +centre of the room like a little fury. + +"Judy, Judy! Sit down!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. But it was doubtful if +Judy heard. + +"What do you think your uncle Solomon and Rabbi Nathan will say to you, +you mean boy!" she cried. "I am going straight to tell them." + +"I will tell them myself, Judy," said David. + +"And what do you think they will say to you, hey? You deserve all +you'll get. Ugh! What is a Jew who isn't a Jew any longer?" + +"I was going to tell you what I am," said David. "Grandmamma, I had not +finished what I had to say to you." + +"Let him speak, Judy," said Mrs. Lloyd. + +"If the rest is like the beginning, I don't want to hear it," said Judy. + +"You need not hear it," said her mother. "Leave the room, then." + +"I won't!" said Judy. "There is nobody here but me to make him ashamed." + +"I wish something would make you ashamed," said her mother. "Judy +Bartholomew, hold your tongue. Go on, David." + +"Mamma, you don't like all this stuff any better than I do." + +"I choose to hear it out, though," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "Sit down and +be silent." + +"I will--till I get something else to talk about," said Judy, sitting +down as requested. And all eyes turned once more upon David. He was +very quiet, outwardly: he had been quietly waiting. + +"Grandmamma," he said with a slight smile, "I am as good a Jew as ever +I was"--("It's a lie," put in Judy;--"unless the rest was!")--"I am as +good a Jew as ever I was, and _better_. I had studied about the +Messiah, and knew about him, and knew that he was promised--the hope of +Israel, and the King of Israel. Now I know that he has come, and I know +him; and he isn't the Messiah that I am hoping for, but"--he hesitated +and smiled again,--"the Christ I am glad for; the Hope of Israel and +the King, and so my King and my Hope. I have given myself to him to be +his servant. I believe in him--I love him--and all that I am is his." + +Possibly Judy was bewildered by this speech; perhaps she was astonished +into silence; at any rate she sat still and was quiet. Norton tossed +his book over and over. Matilda was in such a tumult of delight that +she could hardly contain herself, but she made a great effort and kept +it from observation. The ladies seemed somewhat in Judy's condition. At +last Mrs. Bartholomew spoke. + +"By your last words, what do you mean, David?" + +"Mamma," he said, "I meant to make them quite plain. I thought it was +right to tell you all. I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." + +"Well, so are we all," said his mother. "What do you mean to do, that +you proclaim it so publicly?" + +"Nothing, mamma; only to follow my Master." + +"Follow him how?" + +"In his own way--obeying his words." + +"But people that talk in that way often go into extremes, and do +ridiculous things--unlike all the world. I hope that is not what you +mean, David?" + +"I don't know, mamma," said the boy gravely. "I will do ridiculous +things if He command me"--and again a flicker of a smile that came like +a flicker of light passed over his face. "The first thing I thought I +had to do was to tell you all; he says his servants must confess him; +and to-morrow I will go to my uncles." The smile had faded and he was +very grave then. + +"And do you know what they will say to you?" + +"I suppose I know," he answered slowly. + +"Is this a very new thing, David Bartholomew?" + +"No, mamma. The _finishing_ of it is new; it has been growing and +preparing for a long while." + +"Like you!" said his mother discontentedly. "Think and think and say +nothing,--and then come out with your mind, when nobody can change it!" + +"And it's all because of her!" Judy exclaimed, starting from her +silence and her seat together, and pointing to Matilda. "_She_ has made +the mischief. David would never have thought of these low ways, if +there had not been somebody to put it into his head. That's what you +get, aunt Zara, by your works." + +"Hush!" said Mrs. Bartholomew sharply. "Matilda has nothing to do with +it." + +"Hasn't she though?" Judy retorted. "Just ask her. Or ask this boy. +Mean little spy! coming into such a house as this to upset it!" + +"Hold on, Judy," cried Norton; "you are going too fast." + +"Keep yourself out of the mess!" retorted Judy with great sharpness; +"there's enough without you. I say, she is at the bottom of it all; and +I wish it was the bottom of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's chariots!" + +"Judy, Judy!" said Mrs. Bartholomew, angry and half laughing--"hold +your tongue and don't be a fool." + +"You've only one of that name among your children, mamma," said the +young lady. "Half's enough." + +"What has Matilda done?" Mrs. Laval asked calmly. + +"She has been doing ever since she came here," Judy answered. + +"What _has_ bewitched you, David, though?" his mother inquired. "There +was nothing of all this when you went to the catechizing?" + +"No, mamma. But the study about that time put me on thinking and asking +questions; nobody could answer my questions; not even our wise men; +until at last I began to ask--where I found the answer." + +"Matilda?" said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"Matilda helped me a great deal." + +"Didn't I say so?" exclaimed Judy. + +"But it was her Bible that answered me--hers and my own." + +"When did she help you?" Norton broke out from his corner where he had +been tossing his book. "You and she are not such particular friends, +that ever I knew." + +"O but I think we are now, Norton," said Matilda. + +"Yes," said David, with a smile. "And she has been _my_ friend for a +good while." + +"Very well," said Norton, returning to his book, which he tossed over +and over with greater exactness than ever. + +"I wash my hands of you, both of you," cried Judy. "You'll be a +religious poke--O mamma! to think that we should have anything +religious in _our_ family. And Matilda always was a poke. Whatever will +become of us, with two of them!" + +"You have more to do with it than you think, Judy," said her brother. +"The way Matilda bore your persecutions was the first thing that made +me want to know about her religion." + +"What persecutions?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked; but nobody seemed ready to +answer her, and she went on--"Judy, you are a fool. David might change +his opinions, surely, without being a poke. My son, you do not mean to +be different from what you have always been,--do you?" + +David hesitated, and said, "I hope so, mother." + +"Different--how?" she asked quickly. + +"I am the King's servant, mamma," he answered with a certain +steadfastness which had much dignity about it. + +"Well, what then? what does that mean?" + +"Then of course I must do the King's commands, mamma." + +"Didn't you always?" + +David's answer was prevented by a fresh outburst of Judy's reproaches +and charges, which lasted till her brother took himself out of hearing; +then silence fell. Norton stopped the book exercise and looked about +him. Matilda's face he had seen by glimpses; he knew it was flushed and +anxious and glad at once. Mrs. Laval and her sister were grave, with +different styles of gravity; one thoughtful, the other vexed. Old Mrs. +Lloyd was in tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The atmosphere of the house was very quiet during several successive +days, as far as Matilda could observe it. The boys were extremely busy +at school; and at home there was no public recurrence of Monday night's +discussion. In private Mrs. Laval questioned Matilda very closely as to +all the particulars of their Shadywalk expedition and all that she had +known for weeks past of David's state of mind. She made no comment on +the answers; and Matilda heard no more about the matter, until Saturday +morning came. Then when they were at breakfast, Mrs. Bartholomew said +in a conciliating tone, + +"David, my son, I don't see any necessity for that communication you +are proposing to make to your uncles." + +"I must go to see them, mamma." + +"Certainly; that is all just and proper; but there is no occasion to +talk to them about your change of views." + +"Then they would believe me what I am not." + +"Well--" said Mrs. Bartholomew; "they would a great deal rather believe +so than know the truth." + +"Would you have liked me to hide it from you, mamma?" + +"I don't know; yes,--I think I should." + +"What would have been your opinion of me by and by, when you came to +find it out?" + +"Just the truth," said Judy languidly. "Nothing can make you more of a +sneak than you are already." + +"One thing," said David firmly. "To get, or try to get, my uncles' +money under false pretences. You know they would never give it to a +Christian." + +"Judy," said Mrs. Lloyd, "another ill-bred word like that, and I send +you from the table." + +"But my dear boy," Mrs. Bartholomew went on, "you said Monday night +that you were as much of a Jew as ever." + +"The poor fellow was afraid of falling between two stools," said Judy; +"so he clutched at 'em both, without thinking." + +"And you are very young; and you do not know what your opinions may be +in a few years more. And in the mean while, I am very unwilling that +you should offend your uncles. _They_ would never get over it." + +"I guess they wouldn't," said Judy. "What a time David will have with +'em!" + +"Don't you see, my dear," pursued Mrs. Bartholomew, "it is unnecessary, +and may be premature, and so unwise?" + +"Mother," said David, evidently struggling with his feelings, "Messiah +has said that he will not own those who do not own him." + +"You'll get nothing out of him, mamma," said Judy. "He is one of +Matilda's crazy kind. He is going to get rid of his money as fast as he +can; and then he will turn chaplain of some jail, I should think; or +else he will get a place as a Methodist parson and go poking into all +the poor places of the earth; and then we shall see his name up in +bills--'Preaching at the cross corners to-night--Rev. David Bartholomew +will speak to the people from a candle box.'" + +David changed colour once or twice, but he said nothing. + +"Matilda Laval," said Judy sharply, "eat your breakfast! He won't want +_you_ to help him preach." + +Matilda wondered privately that the elders were so patient of Judy's +tongue and so very silent themselves. They seemed to have thoughts not +ready for utterance. At any rate the breakfast party broke up with Judy +having the last word, and scattered their several ways; and Matilda +heard no more on David's subject for some time. How the Saturday's work +issued she did not know; nothing was said about it in her hearing; and +David looked as happy and as calm as he had done before Saturday. She +watched him, and she was sure of that. + +One afternoon, it was a Sunday, and the ladies of the family were shut +up in their rooms, resting or dressing, Matilda and David were alone in +the little reception room. It was the hour before dinner; Matilda had +come in from Sunday school and was sitting there with a new book, when +David joined her. He sat down beside her, Matilda knew immediately, for +a talk; and she shut up her book. + +"Matilda, I have been reading about the men with the talents; the five +talents, and the ten talents, you know?" + +"Yes, I know." + +"I am afraid I don't know all my talents." + +"What do you mean, David?" + +"The talents are whatever is given to us to use for God--and that is, +whatever is given to us; for we may use it all for him." + +"Yes, David." + +"Well--that means a great deal, Tilly." + +"Yes, I know it does." + +"And one might easily have talents that one didn't think of; lying by +so, and not used at all." + +"I dare say they often do," Matilda said thoughtfully. + +"I want you to help me, if you can." + +"_I_ help _you?_" said Matilda very humbly. + +"You have been longer in the way than I. You ought to know more about +it." + +"I am afraid I don't, though, David. But I guess Jesus will teach us, +if we ask him." + +"I am sure of that; but I think he means that we should help one +another. What can I do, that I am not doing?" + +Matilda thought a little, and then went upstairs and fetched the card +of covenant and work of the old Band at Shadywalk. She put it in +David's hands, and he studied it with great interest. + +"There is help in this," he said. "There are things here I never +thought of. 'Carrying the message'--of course I needn't wait till I +have finished my studies and am grown up, to do that; it is easy to +begin now." + +"Are you going to do _that_, when you are grown up?" said Matilda a +little timidly. + +"As a profession, you mean. I don't know, Tilly; if the Lord pleases. I +am all his anyway; I don't care how he uses me. What I want to know is +my duty now. Then, Tilly, I have plenty of money." + +"That's a very good thing," said Matilda smiling. + +"What shall I do with it? Do your poor people want anything?" + +"Sarah Staples? O no! they are getting on nicely. Sarah has learned how +to sew on a machine, or partly learned; and she gets work to do now; +and Mrs. Staples is stronger, and is able to take in washing. O no; +they are getting along very well." + +"There must be others," said David thoughtfully. + +"Yes, plenty I suppose; only we don't know them, David! perhaps Sarah +knows or her mother." + +"What if we were to go and ask them?" + +Matilda decided that it was a capital plan; and they arranged to go the +next Saturday afternoon, when David would be at leisure. And the week +seemed long till the Saturday came. + +"Pink," said Norton at their dinner, "I will take you into the Park +this afternoon." + +"O thank you, Norton! But--I can't go. I have an engagement to go to +see Sarah Staples." + +"Sarah Staples! Sarah Staples can wait, and I can't. I have only one +Saturday afternoon a week. It'll be splendid this afternoon, Pink. The +Park is all green and flowery, and it's sure to be full. I'm going just +at the fullest time." + +"I should like to go with you; but I have business, and I can't put it +off." + +"I'll wait, Tilly, if you wish," David said. + +"I don't wish it at all, David. I would rather not wait." + +"O it's _your_ business too, is it!" said Norton. "And Pink would +rather not wait. Very good." + +"It is important business, really, Norton," Matilda pleaded; "it is not +for myself." + +"That's just what proves it of no importance," said Norton. "What is +it?" + +"David and I want to see Mrs. Staples to find out something we want to +know." + +"Might as well ask the Sphinx," said Norton discontentedly. + +"I would just as lief tell you what, Norton; only it is something you +don't care about, and it would give you no pleasure." + +"May as well let 'em go, Norton," remarked Judy, eating strawberries at +a tremendous rate; it was not strawberry time by any means, but these +came from the South. "May as well let 'em go; there's a pair of 'em; +and they'll run, I guess, till they run their heads against something +or other and pull up so; or till they get swamped. _I_ hope they'll get +swamped." + +"What do you mean?" said Norton, gruffly enough. + +Judy nodded her head at him in a very lively way over her strawberries. + +"They are latter-day saints, don't you know? They are going to feed +everybody on custards--not us, you know; we've got strawberries; but +the people that haven't. Matilda's going to make them, and Davy's going +to carry them round; and they're going out to buy eggs this afternoon. +They expect you and me to give 'em the sugar they want." + +"Not so sanguine as that, Judy," said her brother good-humouredly. + +Norton looked very much discomposed; but David and Matilda had no time +to spend in further talking. + +They found Mrs. Staples at home, and Sarah too, as it was Saturday +afternoon. The little room looked cosy and comfortable; for it was very +tidy and very clean, and the mother and daughter were peacefully at +work. The pleasure manifested at sight of David and Matilda was very +lively. Sarah set chairs, and her mother looked to the fire in the +stove. + +"How does the oven work, Mrs. Staples?" Matilda asked. + +"Couldn't be no better, and couldn't do no better. I declare! it's +beautiful. Why after I got my hand in, I baked a pan o' biscuits the +other day; and they riz up and browned, you never see! and the boys was +too happy for anything. I wisht you'd seen 'em, just. They thought +nothin' ever was so good, afore or since. Yes 'm, it's a first-rate +oven; bakes apples too, in the most likely manner." + +"How is the neighbourhood, Mrs. Staples?" David asked. + +"Well, sir, there's nothin' agin' the neighbourhood. They be's a little +noisy, by times; you can't expect they wouldn't; now the sun's warm in +the streets and the children gets out o' their holes and corners. I +sometimes think, what a mercy it is the sun shines! and specially to +them as hain't no fire or next to none. I often think the Lord's more +merciful than what men is." + +"Do you think it is men's fault then, other men's, that such poor +people haven't fire to keep them warm?" + +"Well whose should it be, sir, if it wouldn't?" + +"Might it not be the people's own fault?" + +"Sartain!" cried Mrs. Staples, "when the money goes for drink. But why +does it go for drink? I tell you, sir, folks loses heart when they +knows there ain't enough to make a fire and buy somethin' to cook on +the fire; and they goes off for what'll be meat and fire and +forgetfulness too, for a time. And that's because of the great rents, +that people that has no mercy lays on; and the mean little prices for +work that is all one can get often, and be thankful for that. It's just +runnin' a race with your strength givin' out every foot o' the way. And +it's allays the rich folks does it," added Mrs. Staples, not very +coherently. + +"Rich people that give the low wages and put on the high rents, do you +mean?" + +"That's what I just do mean; and I ought to know. If a body once gets +down, there's no chance to get up again, and then the drink comes easy." + +"Do you know of anybody in distress near here, Mrs. Staples?" Matilda +asked. + +"Half of 'em is, I guess," was the answer. + +"But is there anybody you know?" + +"Mrs. Binn's little boy is sick," remarked Sarah, as her mother was +pondering. + +"What's the matter with him?" + +"It's a kind o' waste, they say." + +"Not a fever, or anything of that kind?" inquired David. + +"O no, sir; he's been wasting, now, these three or four months." + +"And they are not comfortable, Sarah?" Matilda asked. + +"There's few is, livin' where those lives," said Mrs. Staples; "and of +course, sickness makes things wuss. No, they're fur from comfortable, I +should say." + +"They haven't anything to give him," said Sarah low to Matilda. + +"Any medicine, you mean?" + +"No, Miss Matilda; nothing to eat, that he can eat." + +"O David!" exclaimed Matilda, "let us go there. Where is it?" + +David inquired again carefully about the sickness, to be sure that he +might take Matilda there; and then they went. Sarah volunteered to +guide them. But how shall I tell what they found. It was not far off, a +few blocks only; in one of a tall row of tenement houses, grim and +dismal, confronted by a like row on the other side of the street. Every +one like every other. But inside, Matilda only remembered how unlike it +was to all she had ever seen in her life before. Even Lilac lane was +pleasantness and comfort comparatively. The house was sound indeed; +there was no tumble-down condition of staircase or walls; the steps +were safe, as they mounted flight after flight. But the entries were +narrow and dirty; the stairways had _never_ seen water; the walls were +begrimed with the countless touches of countless dirty hands and with +the sweeping by of foul draperies. Instinctively Matilda drew her own +close round her. And as they went up and up, further from the street +door, the air grew more close and unbearable; heavy with vapours and +odours that had no chance at any time to feel the purification of a +draught of free air. Poor cookery, soapsuds, unclean humanity and +dirty still life, mingled their various smell in one heavy +undistinguishable oppression. + +"Oh, why do people build houses so high!" said little Matilda, as she +toiled with her tired feet up the fourth staircase. + +"For more rents, Miss Matilda," said Sarah who preceded them. + +"For money!" said Matilda. "How tired the people must be that live +here." + +"They don't go down often," Sarah remarked. + +At the very top of the house they were at last. There, in the end of +the narrow entry-way, on the floor, was--what? A tumbled heap of dirty +clothes, Matilda thought at first, and was about to pass it to go to +the door which she supposed Sarah was making for; when Sarah stopped +and drew aside a piece of netting that was stretched there. And then +they saw, on the rags which served for his bed covers, the child they +had come to see. A little, withered, shrunken piece of humanity, so +nearly the colour of the rags he lay upon that his dark shock of matted +curly hair made a startling spot in the picture. + +"What's the matter, Sarah?" said Matilda in a distressed whisper. + +"This is Mrs. Binn's boy, Miss Matilda, that you came to see." + +"_That?_ Why does he--why do they put him there?" + +"Mrs. Binn's room is so small and so hot. It's there, Miss Matilda; +you'll see it. When she's doing her washing and ironing, the place is +so full of steam and so hot; and there ain't no room for the bed +neither; and so she put Josh here." + +Sarah led the way to Mrs. Binn's room, and Matilda followed her in a +bewildered state of mind. She saw as soon as the door was opened the +truth of Sarah's statements. The attic room was so small that Mrs. +Binn's operations must have been carried on with the greatest +difficulty; impossible Matilda would have thought them, but there were +the facts. One dormer window in the roof was effectually shut up and +hindered from its office of admitting air, by the pipe of the stove +which passed out through the sash. As it was the end of the week, no +washing encumbered the six feet clear of space; but the stove was fired +up and Mrs. Binn was ironing and some clothes were hung up to air. It +was neither desirable nor very practicable to go in; only Matilda edged +a little way within the door, and David and Sarah stood at the opening. + +"What's all to do?" said Mrs. Binn at this unlooked-for interruption, +stopping iron in hand and peering at them between shirts and overalls +hanging on the cords stretched across the room. She was a red-faced +woman; no wonder! a small, incapable-looking, worn-out-seeming woman +besides. + +"This lady has come to see Josh, Mrs. Binn." + +"What does she want of him?" + +"Nothing," said Matilda gently; "Sarah told us how he had been sick a +long while; and we came to see how he was and what he wanted." + +"He won't want anything soon, but a coffin and a grave," said his +mother. Matilda wondered how she could speak so; she did not know yet +how long misery makes people seem hard. "How he'll get them, I don't +know," Mrs. Binn went on; "but I s'pose--" + +Her voice choked; she stopped there. + +"Have you no place to put him but where he is lying?" Matilda asked, by +way of leading on to something else. + +"No, miss; no place," said the woman, feeling of her iron and taking up +another one from the stove. "He'd perish in here, if he wouldn't be +under my feet. An' I must stand, to live." + +"Where do you dry the clothes you wash?" + +"Here. I haven't an inch besides." + +"I don't see how you can." + +"Rich folks don't see a sight o' things," said poor Mrs. Binn; "don't +like to, I guess." + +"Is there not another room in the house that you could have for the +sick boy, or that you could do your washing in and give him this?" + +"Room in this house?" repeated the woman. "I'll tell you. There's nigh +upon three hundred people living in it; do you think there'd be a room +to spare?" + +"Three hundred people in _this_ house?" repeated Matilda. + +"Nigh upon that. O it's close livin', and all sorts, and all ways o' +livin', too. I like my room, cause it's so high and atop o' everything; +but I hear thunder below me sometimes. I wouldn't care, only for the +child," she said in a tone a little subdued. + +"David, what can we do?" said Matilda, in a half despairing whisper. +David edged himself a little forward and put his question. + +"What does the doctor say about him?" + +"Doctor!" echoed Mrs. Binn. "Did you say doctor? There's no doctor has +seen him. Is it likely one would walk up to this chimbley top to see a +poor boy like that? No, no; doctors has to be paid, and I can't do +that." + +"What do you give him to eat? what does he like?" + +"What does he like!" the woman repeated. "He don't like nothin' he has, +and he don't eat nothin'. 'Tain't 'what we like,' young sir, that lives +in these places. Some days he can't swaller dry bread, and he don't +care for mush; he'll take a sup o' milk now and then, when I can get +it; but it's poor thin stuff; somethin' you call milk, and that's all." + +"Good bye," said David. "I'll bring him something he will like, +perhaps. I hope we haven't hindered you." + +"I don't have so many visits I need quarrel with this one," said the +woman, coming to her door to shew them so much civility; "Sarah +wouldn't bring anybody to make a spectacle of me." + +They cast looks on the poor little brown heap in the corner of the +entry, and groped their way down stairs again. But when they got out +into the street and drew breaths of fresh air, David and Matilda stood +still and looked at each other. + +"I never knew what good air meant before," said the latter. + +"And even this is not _good_," replied David. + +"How does he live, that poor little creature, with not one breath of +it?" + +"He doesn't live; he is dying slowly," said David. + +"Oh David, what can we do?" + +"We'll think, Tilly. I'll carry him some grapes presently. I fancy he +wants nothing but food and air. We will contrive something." + +"I wonder if there are any other sick children in that house, Sarah?" +Matilda asked. + +"I can't say, Miss Matilda; I don't know nobody there but Mrs. Binn; +and we used to know her before she moved there. Do you want to know of +anybody else in trouble?" + +"Do you think of somebody else?" + +"Not a child," said Sarah; "she's an old woman, or kind of old." + +"Well; who is she?" + +"She's Mrs. Kitteredge; her husband's a brick mason. Mother used to +know her long ago, and she was a smart woman; but she's had a deal o' +pulling down." + +"What does she want now, Sarah?" + +"It's too bad to tell you, Miss Matilda; you've done so much for us +already." + +"Never mind," said David; "go on; let us hear." + +"Well"--Sarah hesitated. + +"Is she sick too?" + +"No, she ain't sick; she has been." + +"What then?" + +"I don't feel as if I had no right to tell you, sir; you and Miss +Matilda. I spoke before I thought enough about it. She ain't noways +sick; but she has had some sort o' sickness that has made her fingers +all crumple up, like; they have bent in _so_, and she can't straighten +'em out, not a bit; and if you take hold of 'em you can only pull 'em +open a little bit. And it hurts her so to do her work, poor thing!" + +"Do what work?" + +"All her work, Miss Matilda--same as if her hands was good. She washes +and irons her clothes and his, and cooks for him, and makes her room +clean; but it takes her all day 'most; and sometimes, she says, she +gets out o' heart and feels like sittin' down and givin' up; but she +never does, leastways when I see her. I go in and make her bed when I +can; that's what she hardly can do for herself." + +"I should think not!" said Matilda. + +"She can't lift her hands to her head to put up her hair; and she +suffers a deal." + +"Is she so very poor too, Sarah?" + +"No, Miss Matilda, it ain't that. He gets good wages and brings 'em +home; but he's a pertiklar man and he expects she'll have everything +just as smart as if she had her fingers." + +"Then what can we do for her, Sarah?" + +"I don't know, ma'am;--I was thinkin', if she could have one o' them +rollers that wrings clothes--it tries her awful to wring 'em with her +hands." + +"A clothes-wringer! O yes," cried Matilda. + +"What is that?" said David. + +"I will shew you. Thank you, Sarah; it was quite right to tell us. +We'll see what we can do." + +But after they had parted from Sarah the little girl walked quite +silently and soberly homeward. David stopped at a grocer's to get some +white grapes, and turned back to carry them to the sick child; and +Matilda went the rest of her way alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +David was busy with his books all the evening, and Matilda, however +much she wished for it, could get no talk with him. The opportunity did +not come before Sunday evening, when they were all at tea in the little +reception room. Then David took his cup and his piece of cake and came +to Matilda's side and sat down. + +"Dr. Berger has been to see that little boy," he said. + +"Has he! And what does he say?" + +"Says nothing ails him but want." + +"Want?" Matilda repeated. + +"Want, of everything. Specially, want of food--food good for anything; +and of air." + +"Want of air!" cried Matilda. "I don't wonder at it. I felt as if I +should be unable to breathe if we staid there much longer. And I was +strong and well. Just think, to anybody sick!--" + +"He says, if he could be taken into the country he would begin to get +well immediately; and he asked Mrs. Binn if she had friends anywhere +out of the city." + +"What did she say?" + +"Said her father and mother and her aunt were all dead long ago; and +that he hadn't a friend in the city or out of it. And she gave up work +then for a minute or two, and sat down with her apron over her head; +the only time I have seen her stop work at all. I think it was her +apron, but I don't know; she hid her face in something. But she didn't +cry, Matilda; not a drop." + +"What can we do, David?" + +"I took him some grapes, you know." + +"Yes. Could he eat them?" + +"Had no sort of difficulty about that." + +"What can we do, David?" Matilda repeated anxiously. + +"I have thought of this. We might pay the woman for a week or two as +much as she gets by her washing and let her take him into her room and +put down her fire and make him comfortable. She cannot open her window; +but we can send them a decent bed and some clean coverings and some +good things to feed the fellow with. I spoke to Mrs. Binn about giving +up her washing; she said she couldn't afford to lose her customers. She +might manage it for a week or so, though." + +"And then? A week or two would not cure him, David?" + +"I doubt if any time would, in that air. Perhaps we can get him out +into the country by the end of the week or two." + +"Oh, David!"--Matilda exclaimed after a few minutes of perplexed +thinking. What more she would have said was cut short. They had been +speaking very low, but those last two words had come out with a little +energy, and Judy caught them up. + +"O David, what? You have been plotting mischief long enough, you two; +what are you up to? Grandmamma, make them tell. Matilda is making a +fool of David. I wish you'd stop it." + +David looked up and over towards Mrs. Lloyd with a frank smile. + +"He don't look much like it," said the old lady composedly. "What are +you afraid of, Judy?" + +"Grandmamma, the whole house is getting on end," said the young lady, +who was not always choice in the use of her words. "David and Matilda +are busy contriving how to make a big hole in the bottom of their two +purses that will let out the money easy; and Norton's hair is bristling +already with fear." + +"Fear of what, you goose?" said Norton in towering displeasure. "What's +their money to me?" + +"I thought you wanted it," said Judy coolly. + +"Come here, Norton," said David; "come over here and let her alone. +What _are_ you afraid of, old fellow? Come! smooth out your wrinkles +and let us know." + +"I don't know anything about it," said Norton distantly. "You and +Matilda went on an errand yesterday that lets anybody guess what you +are up to to-day." + +"Guess," said David. "Come, sit down here and guess." + +"You are doing what Judy says." + +"Holes in purses?" said David. "Go on; what do you think we are making +the holes with?" + +"Ridiculous stories about poor folks." + +"I'll let you judge how ridiculous they are," said David; and he told +about the sick boy and Mrs. Binn's six foot apartment. Norton's face +would not unbend. + +"Is that the only sick child in New York?" he asked. + +"I am afraid not." + +"Then what are you going to do about the others?" + +"Help as many of them as ever I can," David answered gravely. + +"Go on, and your money will go too. That's what I said," Norton +responded. "Matilda will be only too glad to help you and throw in all +her pennies." + +"How would you like to be sick, old fellow, with no lemons at hand, and +no grapes?" + +"And no wine, Norton, and no sago, and no clean sheets? I know who +likes to have his bed changed often. And no cups of tea, and soda +biscuit, and blancmange, and jelly, and nice slices of toast." + +"What _do_ they have?" Norton asked with some curiosity. + +"Some coarse mush; now and then a piece of dry bread; and water. Not +ice water, Norton; no ice gets up there." + +"Bread and water," said Norton, summing up. + +"And to lie in a corner of the entry, Norton, under the roof, because +there is no room for you in the only room they have; and no open window +ever; and oh, such want of it!" + +"Look here!" exclaimed Norton, seizing upon a diversion, "how came you, +Davy, to take Pink to such a place? I just want to know." + +"Not a place for a Pink, I acknowledge," said David. "I didn't know +myself, Norton, till I got there, what sort of a place it was; or she +would not have gone." + +"Upon my word!" said Norton. "This is what your goodness is up to. +Mamma--" + +"Hush," said David good-humouredly; "she is not going there again, I +tell you. Come here and sit down, and tell us what you think ought to +be done about such a case." + +"The city ought to manage it," said Norton grumly, sitting down however. + +"How shall we get the city to manage it?" + +"I don't know. Davy Bartholomew! you'll never make me understand that +it is our business to look up all the people that want something or +other and give them all they want until our own hands are empty." + +"You are dealing in generals," said David smiling. "Come back to the +particular case. What ought we to do about this?" + +"How came you to know of it?" + +"We were told." + +"Well--there must be poor people in the world," said Norton; "there +always were and there always will be." + +"I suppose so. And the question is, what ought we to do for them?" + +"You can't do much," said Norton. "You can make yourself poor, easy +enough. Then you'll expect Judy and me to take care of _you_." + +"Are you afraid of that, Norton?" said Matilda laughingly. + +"No, Pink, I am not," said Norton; "but you and Davy are just in the +way to get into trouble. There's no bottom to New York mud." + +"Norton," said David, "will you grant that we ought to do in this +matter as the word of God says?" + +"It don't say we are to make fools of ourselves," Norton responded. + +"Yes it does," said Matilda quickly. Both her hearers looked at her. + +"I don't believe it," said Norton. + +"Where?" asked David. + +"I can't tell,--but I know it's there. If I had that little reference +Bible, Davy;--it's up in your room--" + +"Yes, I can get it," said David; "but wouldn't a Concordance be better +for you? I'll fetch one." + +"What are you talking about, children?" said Mrs. Bartholomew, as David +went out of the room. + +"We have got into a knot, aunt Judith," said Norton. "Don't _you_ get +in, or we shall never get out." + +"_Do_ get in, mamma," urged Judy, "or David will be tied up. Matilda +holding one end of the string, and Norton the other, between them +they'll fix him." + +"David is able to cut his own knots, or other people's," said Mrs. +Bartholomew coolly. "What is all this about, David?" + +David had come back in a minute with the Concordance, which he handed +to Matilda. "It's a question of Scripture, mamma," he answered. Mrs. +Bartholomew said "Oh!"--and turned away. But Mrs. Lloyd watched the +group. Matilda was earnestly searching in the pages of the Concordance; +David sat waiting, with a little curiosity; Norton with impatient +defiance. Matilda was busy for some minutes with one page and another; +then, "Here it is!" she said; and looked up. She saw that Mrs. Lloyd's +attention was fixed, and that Mrs. Laval also was listening. She +glanced at Norton, then met David's eyes; and then bent her head over +her book and read. + +"'Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise +in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the +wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.' And then again in the +next chapter--'We are fools for Christ's sake.'" + +How would her various hearers take the words? She would not look up to +see. + +"I am content," said David. + +"With what, Davy my dear?" asked his aunt. + +"Content to be a fool for Christ's sake, aunt Zara." + +"Is there any necessity?" she asked gently. + +"Seems so," said David smiling. "At least, it seems that one must be +judged so, aunt Zara." + +"Can't it be avoided by judicious action, Davy?" + +"Come and see, aunt Zara. Draw up here and join our consultation," said +the boy, with a certain sweet gracefulness which won her to do just +what he asked. She took a chair nearer the group. + +"The question is, aunt Zara, what we ought to do for certain poor +creatures that we know of." + +"Not for _them_," burst in Norton, interrupting, "but for all the rest. +There is no end to the poor creatures! _I_ say, begin as you are to go +on." + +"We must take things as we find them," said David. "There is no end to +the poor creatures; so the question is a big one." + +"What _is_ the question?" said Mrs. Laval. + +In answer to which, David told the story of Mrs. Binn and Josh. + +"There are hundreds of such people!" said Norton. + +"Aunt Zara," said David, "I wanted Norton to agree to submit the +question to the Bible. Isn't that fair?" + +"Ye-s," said Mrs. Laval cautiously; "I suppose it is. But, my dear +Davy, we shouldn't do anything extravagant; the Bible does not require +that." + +"Shall we see what it does require?" + +"Yes; go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "Let us hear what you children can find +about it." + +"Among my people it was the law,"--David began, but his utterance of +the words "my people" was no longer lofty; rather tender and +subdued;--"it was the law, 'When thou dost complete to tithe all the +tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then +thou hast given it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, +and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates and been +satisfied;' and in the feast of booths, the feast of ingathering, the +sojourner, the fatherless and the widow were to share in the rejoicing." + +"The tithe is the tenth," remarked Mrs. Laval. + +"We always give to all the charitable societies," said Mrs. +Bartholomew; "always." + +"Read, Matilda," said David. "I see you are ready." And Matilda read. + +"'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, +do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.'" + +"But, my dear boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"What, mamma?" + +"You don't mean, you cannot mean, that you want to act that out to the +letter?" + +"What does it mean, mamma?" + +"I always thought it meant that we should be considerate of other +people's feelings," said Mrs. Laval; "kind and thoughtful." + +"But the words are very plain," said David. + +"And you think really that we ought to give to everybody else the +things we want for ourselves?" + +"Not that exactly, aunt Zara; only to give them what we would like to +have given if we were in their place; I mean, what we would _have a +right_ to like to have given, if we were in their place." + +"According to that, you would carry to that sick child everything that +Norton and Matilda had when they were sick." + +"Such as?"--inquired David. + +"Fruit, and oysters, and flowers, and tea at three dollars a pound." + +"Tea at three dollars a pound would be lost upon him, for he would not +know the difference between that--and I suppose--lower priced tea. What +_can_ you get good tea for, aunt Zara?" + +"Tea good for him,--for a dollar, and twelve shillings." + +"Tea good for anybody," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I have had it good enough for +anybody, for a dollar fifty?" + +"The other things," said David, returning to his aunt, "why shouldn't +he have them, as well as we, aunt Zara?" + +Mrs. Laval was dumb, I suppose with astonishment as well as the +inconvenience of finding an answer; and before anybody else began +again, Matilda's soft voice gave forth another verse. + +"'Blessed is he that considereh the poor; the Lord will deliver him in +time of trouble.'" + +"Of course," said Mrs. Laval; "we _do_ consider the poor." + +"Let the child go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I want to hear all she has to +bring." + +Matilda went on with Job's declaration. + +"'If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the +eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and +the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was +brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my +mother's womb;) if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any +poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were +not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand +against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine +arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.'" + +"Who said that?" demanded Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"Job." + +"I don't see what he has to do with us," said the lady, moving her +rosetted slipper impatiently, and so making a soft little rustle with +the lilac ruffles of her silk skirt. + +"The old fellow had no business to swear, anyhow," said Norton. + +"Swear!" said Judy. + +"Something very like it," said Norton. + +"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd,--"if you have anything more." + +"Yes, grandmamma." + +"What is David trying to prove?" asked Mrs. Laval. + +"We are only trying to find out what the word of the Lord would make us +do, aunt Zara." + +The two younger ladies looked annoyed; however silence was restored, +and Matilda began again. + +"'He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath mercy on +the poor, happy is he.'" + +"Do we despise anybody?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked. No one answered at +first. + +"_I_ do," said Judy. "Just two or three." + +"'He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which +he hath given will he pay him again.'" + +"You see," said David, "the Lord reckons it his own affair. These are +Messiah's poor people; we are his stewards." + +"How much are you going to give them, on that principle?" his mother +inquired. + +"I don't know, mamma." + +"But speak!" she said impatiently. "You _do_ know what you mean to do; +you have it all mapped out already in your head, I know." + +"I don't know how much I shall give, mamma. Whatever I think they want +more than I do." + +"You might wear homespun, and eat bread and water, at that rate." + +"Mamma," said Judy, "we are very wicked to wear silk dresses. And just +think of your lace shawl, mamma! And grandma's." + +Matilda waited, and when nobody carried on the talk and the silence +waited for her, she went on with Isaiah's beautiful words. + +"'Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of +wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go +free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the +hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? +when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not +thyself from thine own flesh?'" + +"What is 'loosing the bands of wickedness'?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Now-a-days, grandmamma, I should say it was breaking up the killing +rents and starving wages, and the whole system of tenement houses; for +one thing." + +"Why what do you know about it, Davy, boy?" + +"Not very much, ma'am; but I have seen a little, and the doctor I went +for told me a good deal." + +"Davy's growing elegant in his speech, as well as modest," said his +sister. "He has 'heard a good deal,' but he 'don't know much.' O Davy, +why don't you make better use of your opportunities!" + +"Very unprofitable opportunities, I must say," remarked his mother. "I +have no idea that such a boy has any business with them, or anything to +do in such places. And what does he know about wages and systems of +business?" + +"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I am afraid, my dear, David is +right. I have heard the same things from others. Go on, Matilda." + +"'Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or +a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, +nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a +recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, +the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they +cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the +resurrection of the just.'" + +Matilda read these words, with a quick remembrance of the time when she +had read them in the company of her two little schoolmates, and the +discussion that had ensued thereupon; curious what their reception +would be now. It was stormy. + +"The idea!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"That would make a finish of society at once," said Mrs. Laval. + +"But what do the words mean?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. "There they are. They +must mean something." + +"Something!" echoed Mrs. Bartholomew. "Just imagine, that we are to +gather in a company of cripples round our dinner table! Send out and +ask all the forlorn creatures we can find, and feed them on game and +sweetbreads. It looks like it!" + +"And give up entertaining our friends," added Mrs. Laval. + +"What friends do we entertain, aunt Zara?" David asked. "You do not +care much for most of them." + +"You are a ridiculous, absurd, fanatical boy!" said Judy. "What +nonsense you do talk!" + +"Nonsense that would make an end of all civilization," said Mrs. Laval; +not quite logically. + +"But do you care much for these people you invite?" David persisted. + +"Not singly," Mrs. Laval admitted; "but taken together, I care a great +deal. At least they are people of our own rank and standing in society, +and we can understand what they talk about." + +"But what do the words mean?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. + +"Why mother," said Mrs. Bartholomew, "you have read them a thousand +times. They mean what they always did." + +"I don't think I ever raised the question till this minute," said Mrs. +Lloyd. "In fact, I don't think I knew the words were there. And I +should like to know now what they mean." + +"Grandmother," said David, "isn't it safe to conclude they mean just +what they say?" + +"Then we should never ask anybody to dinner!" cried his mother. + +"And we should never have a party again," said Judy. + +"Society would be at an end," said Mrs. Laval. + +"And we should fill our house with horrid wretches," cried Judy, "and +have to take up our carpets and clean house every time." + +David was silent while these various charges were eagerly poured out. +Norton looked at him a little scornfully; Matilda anxiously; but he was +only sorrowfully quiet, till his grandmother turned to him with her +question. + +"What _would_ you do, Davy?" + +"He'd do anything absurd and ridiculous," said Judy; "the more the +better. He is just fit for it. What's the use of asking him, grandma?" + +"I would like to hear, my dear, if you will let him speak. I would like +to know what the words say to you, Davy." + +"Grandmother," said David thoughtfully, "it seems to me the words +forbid that we should ask people just that they may ask us;--or do +anything of that sort." + +"But society would fall to pieces," said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"I never heard of the strictest Christians refusing to do polite things +in that way, when they can," added Mrs. Laval. + +"But what do the words say?" David answered. "And then, I think, the +Lord meant to forbid our making expensive entertainments for anybody, +_except_ those who can't give us the same again." + +"Then we may ask our friends," said Judy, "only we mustn't give them +anything to eat. And of course no wine to drink. I wonder if we might +light the gas? It is expensive, when you burn enough of it. Such +meanness!" exclaimed Judy with concentrated scorn. + +"You would put an end to society," repeated Mrs. Laval. + +"What would be the use of having a fine house and large rooms and +beautiful things," asked her sister, "if nobody was to see them?" + +David cast his eyes round the room where they were, and smiled a little. + +"What _do_ you mean?" asked his mother sharply. + +"I was thinking, mamma," said David; "I couldn't help thinking." + +"Go on, David," Mrs. Lloyd said. + +"Well, grandmamma, if one took the money to give poor people a good +time, it would not be necessary at all, as Judy supposed, to have them +brought into our dining room." + +"But don't you think people are meant to be sociable, and see their +friends? We are not intended to live alone." + +"Surely not," said Mrs. Laval. + +"Grandmamma, and aunt Zara," said the boy, "I believe I would like to +look after Messiah's friends first; and then do what I pleased with my +own." + +"Do you mean that all those low, miserable people are His friends?" +cried Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"He is their friend, mamma; it comes to the same thing; and some of +them are his very own; and he has given us the charge to take care of +them. And his words seem to me very plain." + +"He's a ruined boy, mamma!" said Judy. + +"I _hope_ he'll grow out of it," said his mother. + +"May I read one place more, grandmamma?" Matilda asked. + +"I hope it's the last," said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"I like to hear them," said Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Read, Matilda." + +Matilda read, her voice trembling a little. + +"'Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed +of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation +of the world; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, +and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and +ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye +came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when +saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? +When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed +thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? + +"'And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, +Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, +ye have done it unto me.'" + +There was no remark made by anybody following upon this reading. The +circle broke up. With dissatisfied faces the ladies and Judy and Norton +withdrew their several ways. David presently went off too, but Matilda +had noticed that _his_ face was as serene as summer moonlight. She was +gathering up her books to go too like all the rest, when to her great +surprise Mrs. Lloyd came beside her and drawing her into her arms +bestowed an earnest kiss upon her uplifted wondering face. Then they +both went silently upstairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The peace of the house was gone. Not, indeed, that quarrelling took its +place; there was no quarrelling; only an uncomfortable feeling in the +air, and looks that were no longer pleased and pleasant. Mrs. +Bartholomew wore a discontented face, and behaved so. Judy was +snappish; not a new thing exactly, but it was invariable now. David was +very quiet and very sober; however in his case the quiet _was_ quiet, +and the soberness was very serene; all the old gloom seemed to be gone. +Norton, Matilda thought, was cross; and she failed to see the occasion. +Even Mrs. Laval looked uncomfortable sometimes, and once remarked to +Matilda that it would be pleasant to get back to Shadywalk. And Matilda +loved Shadywalk and Briery Bank, but she was not ready with a response. +She tried to be very busy with her studies, and hoped that things would +work clear by and by. Once she had the curiosity to ask Norton how +David was getting on at school? + +"Well enough," Norton answered shortly. + +"Do the boys like him better?" + +"Better than what?" + +"Why, better than they used to?" + +"I don't know. _I_ don't." + +"Why not, Norton? O why don't you?" + +"No accounting for tastes," Norton replied, rather grumly. + +"Does David study well?" + +"Yes. He always did." + +Norton might have said that David was walking into everything and +through everything; but he did not say anything of the kind. And sundry +other questions that trembled on the tip of Matilda's tongue, only +trembled there, and never got any further. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Binn was not forgotten. + +"It's worth anything," David said to Matilda one day that week, "to see +the fellow eat strawberries." + +"Strawberries! O did you take strawberries to him!" cried Matilda. "And +he liked them?" + +"You could almost see the red of the strawberries getting up into his +cheeks. He's not quite so far as that, though. Like them! He raised +himself half up and lay on his elbow to eat them. Think of that! You +should have seen the fellow. Spoons were no go. He just forked them in +with his fingers." + +"Does he lie in the entry yet, David?" + +"No. His mother has got him into her bit of a room, and the wash tub is +where he was. I do think we might get him into the country next week, +if there was any place he could go to. He's like another boy, with a +bed under him and clean things and food that he can eat. I do believe +he was starving to death. Sick folks can't get along on dry crusts, or +even mush--plain, without butter or molasses," said David smiling. + +"David, I have thought of something." + +"What is it? Something to help us out of the difficulty?" + +"I don't know. See what you think. You heard Miss Redwood and me +talking of Lilac lane, and people that live in it?" + +"I heard nothing of Lilac lane; never did, till this minute." + +"O you were in the study with Mr. Richmond. It is a place in Shadywalk +where some very poor people live." + +"Well?" said David. + +"But it is a delightful place compared to Mrs. Binn's tenement house. I +know some of the people there, and Miss Redwood knows more; and I was +thinking, perhaps she could find a house where they would take Josh in +and take care of him till he gets well. Miss Redwood could see to him a +little, you know." + +"Why it's a capital idea, Tilly!" cried David. "Did you write and ask +her?" + +"No, but I will." + +"Do, to-day. That's just what he wants. Write, Tilly. I must be off to +my work." + +Nothing stopped David's work, in these days; indeed he never had been +given to playing truant. Matilda pondered the matter a little, and then +wrote a letter to Miss Redwood; upon which letter, when it reached +Shadywalk, the housekeeper and the minister held consultation. The end +was, that after a week Matilda got an answer which said that the poor +family opposite Matilda's old Sally in Lilac lane, the same from whom +she had borrowed the teakettle once upon a time, had room to spare and +would gladly take the sick child in and take care of him, for the +compensation which would be offered. Miss Redwood also engaged herself +to see that proper care was had and proper food given; and in short the +way was clear. + +"That will do," said David when he had read the letter. "Now, the thing +is to get him up there." + +"Is Mrs. Binn willing?" + +"She is one of the willingest persons you ever saw in your life." + +"Well, how will you manage, David?" + +"I don't see any way but to go myself." + +"Go up to Shadywalk, you mean, to take the child there?" + +"Yes." + +"O, David, would you! And could you?" + +"I don't see any other way." + +"But school? will you miss a day?" + +"Can't do that; and can't even give Saturday, so near the end of term. +I'll manage it." + +"How, David?" + +"Go up after school some day, and take a night train down." + +"Is Josh--I mean, has he any clothes fit to travel in?" + +"He has not any fit to sit up in at home. Never mind, I'll manage that, +Tilly." + +"David, you tell me some of the things he wants, and I'll get Sarah +Staples and her mother to make them." + +"Well.--But I'll pay charges, Tilly; I don't believe you've got much in +that little pocket of yours." + +This consultation was private; and in private the new clothes for +Joshua Binn were procured and got ready; very plain and coarse clothes, +for David and Matilda were learning how much there was to do with their +money. All this caused no remark, not being open to it. But when David +took little Josh, wrapped up in an old cloak of his, and drove with him +in a carriage to the station, and took the cars with him to Shadywalk, +there was a general outcry and burst of astonishment and indignation. +David was at breakfast the next morning as usual; and the storm fell +upon him. + +"I wonder how you feel this morning," said his grandmother, half in +displeasure and half in sympathy; for David was a favourite. + +"After travelling all night," added Mrs. Laval. + +"Up to study, Davy?" asked Norton. + +"I am so astonished at you, David, that I do not know how to speak," +began his mother. "_You_--always until now a refined, gentlemanly +boy,--_you_ to turn yourself into a head hospital nurse, and Poor +Society agent! travelling in company with the lowest riff-raff! I don't +know what to make of you. Really, I am in despair." + +"He always was a poke," said Judy; "and now he's a poor poke." + +"It is too bad!" echoed Mrs. Laval; "though _that_ isn't true, Judy." + +"He's a spoiled boy," said Judy. "I wash my hands of him. I hope he'll +wash _his_ hands." + +"The idea!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. "As if there was nobody else in the +world to look after sick children, but Davy must leave his own business +and go nursing them in the cars! I wouldn't have had anybody see him +for a thousand dollars." + +"What harm, mamma?" asked David coolly. + +"Harm?" repeated Mrs. Bartholomew. "Is it _your_ business to take all +sick New York and all poor New York on your hands, and send them to +watering places?" + +"One poor little child?" said David. + +"No matter; what's the use of sending one, if you don't send the other +hundred thousand? Is it your business, David Bartholomew?" + +"Hardly, mamma. But I thought the one was my business." + +"There you were mistaken. There are two or three poor societies; it is +for them to look after these cases. What is the use of having poor +societies, if we are to do the work ourselves? So low! so undignified! +so degrading! just ask any minister,--ask Dr. Blandford,--what he +thinks." + +"David don't care, mamma," said Judy. "David never cares what anybody +thinks." + +"Very wrong, then," said Mrs. Bartholomew; "every right-feeling person +cares what other people think. How is the world to get along? David, I +don't know you any more, you are so changed." + +"Yes, mamma," said David; "perhaps I am." + +"Perhaps you are? Why my patience!"-- + +"Your patience seems to have given out, daughter," said Mrs. Lloyd. +"Come, let Davy eat his breakfast." + +"He's eating it," said Judy. "Nothing will hurt David's appetite." + +"I should think nursing poor folks out of tenement houses might," +observed Mrs. Bartholomew. "It would once." + +"I can't imagine, mamma," said Judy, "how we are going to live together +in future. David isn't our sort any more. Life looks dark to me." + +"If it was anybody but David," said Mrs. Bartholomew, "I should say he +would grow out of it. Any other young fool would." + +"Grow out of what, mamma?" David asked. + +"Grow out of the notion of being an agent of the poor societies. It's +too disgusting!" + +"Mamma," he said, and he said it with such an unruffled face that +Matilda was comforted, "the poor society would not have done what I did +last night. And I am not doing it for the poor societies, but for the +King Messiah. I am His agent; that's all." + +"Where did you get your commission?" Norton asked. + +David hesitated, and then said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do +to you--" + +"But that's absolute nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"What, mamma?" said David, lifting his eyes to her face. + +"I mean, of course, the words are not nonsense, but putting such a +meaning to them." + +"What meaning do you think belongs to them, then, mamma?" + +"Why," said Mrs. Bartholomew in high dudgeon, "if you are to take them +_so_, then we ought to send our carriage to take poor people to drive, +and we ought to give our grapes and our wine to sick people, instead of +eating them ourselves; and I ought to sell my diamonds and change them +into bread and coffee and feather beds, I suppose; and our silks and +laces ought to go for rents and firing for those who are in want." + +"Well, mother?" said David. + +"Well; is _that_ what you mean?" + +"That's what the words mean, if they mean anything, mamma. I think the +King wants all we have got, to be used in his work; and all mine he +shall have." + +There was no braggadocio, but a sweet steadfastness in the words and +manner which impressed all his hearers; though it impressed them +differently. + +"Mother, what do you think of him?" Mrs. Bartholomew said, apparently +in despair. + +"I don't know what to think, child," said the old lady. "I am puzzled." + +"About me, grandmamma?" asked David. + +"No, boy; I never was puzzled about you, and I am not now." + +"We'll have grandma going over next!" exclaimed Judy, "and +then--What'll be then, mamma? Will this be a hospital, grandmamma? I +shouldn't like to live here in that case, because of the fevers. I +declare, I'm very sorry! Will David be the doctor or the minister, +grandmamma?" + +"Hush, Judy!" said her mother. "Things are bad enough without you." + +"There's one thing, you vexatious boy," said Judy; "your uncles will +give you up." + +"They have done that already," said David quietly. + +"Have they? O have they really, mamma? Then they won't give him their +money when they die! nor me neither. You hateful fellow! to go and make +me poor as well as yourself." And Judy began to cry. "I thought we'd be +so rich, mamma!" + +"Do hold your tongue, Judy," said her mother. "You've got enough, and +David much more than enough." + +But with this the uncomfortable breakfast party broke up. + +"Matilda," said Mrs. Laval when they had gone upstairs,--"I don't know +whether you have done good or harm." + +"She's done no good, mamma," said Norton. "Just look at Davy. And I can +tell you, grandmamma is beginning to read the Bible to herself; I've +seen her at it." + +"But I haven't done anything, mamma," said Matilda. + +"Well, my dear, I don't know who has, then," Mrs. Laval replied. + +And the subject was dropped. But certainly Mrs. Lloyd did begin after +that to ask Matilda now and then, when they were alone, to read to her; +and Matilda found that David did it constantly, by his grandmother's +desire, in her own room. + +The weeks were few now to the time when the household would break up; +Mrs. Laval and her children to return to Briery Bank, Mrs. Bartholomew +and hers for a cottage at Newport. Mrs. Lloyd was accustomed to abide +generally with the latter. All the members of the family were busied +with their various preparations; and the unsettled feeling of coming +change was upon the whole household. Little else was thought of. So +when an invitation came from the mother of Esther Francis, that all the +young ones should join a party of pleasure that were going to spend the +day in Westchester, it was a very unlooked for variety in the general +course of things. Of course they would go. The young people were to eat +strawberries and do everything else that was pleasant, at General +Francis's place. Mrs. Francis was not yet ready to leave town; there +was nobody in possession but the servants; the widest liberty would be +the rule of the day. + +"How nice that the boys are out of school!" said Matilda. "Term just +ended." + +"Of course. Couldn't have the party without the people," said Judy. + +"Will there be a great many, Norton?" Matilda asked. + +"Don't know anything about it. You must ask somebody else. Esther +Francis isn't our cousin." + +"How dry you are," said David. "I know no more about it, Matilda, than +he does." + +"Esther said there would be twenty or thirty," said Judy. "How are we +going? that's what I want to know." + +"Take the Harlem railroad to the station," said Norton, "and drive the +rest. That's the way you always go to General Francis's. Mamma! I'd +like to drive Pink out. It's only thirteen miles." + +"I'm afraid, Norton. I think you had better all go together." + +Norton grumbled a little; however, it was good enough even so. + +The day was the first of June; fresh and sweet as the first of June +should be. The four were in the cars early; and as soon as the train +had got quit of the city, the sights and smells of the country roused +Matilda to the highest pitch of delight. Such green fields! such blue +sky! such delicious air! and such varieties of pleasant objects that +she had not seen for some time! The rush to the station was one whirl +of pleasure; then the pleasure grew greater, for they got into a +carriage to drive across the country. Every foot of the way, though it +was not through a very enchanting landscape, was joyous to Matilda's +vision; and when the grounds were reached of General Francis's villa, +there was nothing more left in this world to desire. For there were +plantations of trees, extending far and wide, with roads and paths cut +through them; over which the young fresh foliage cast the sweetest of +shadow. There were meadows, broad and fair, green and smooth, with a +little river winding along in them, and scattered trees here and there +for shade, and fringes of willows and alders to the sides of the +stream. And at a little distance stood the large old house, with groves +of trees encircling it and lawns before and on one side of it; and on +the side lawn, in the edge of the grove, long tables set and spread +with damask. + +"Dinner already?" queried Norton. "I am hungry enough." + +"Dinner at ten o' clock!" cried Judy. "Breakfast, you mean." + +"Esther, is it breakfast?" asked Norton, as their little hostess came +to them. + +"It is what you like, Mr. Laval," said the little lady; whose pink bows +were not more in style than her manners. + +"Norton is hungry, Esther," David remarked. + +"I hope you are, too." + +"What are you going to give us, Esther?" said Judy eagerly. "We are all +like bears. Strawberries?" + +"We must wait for another carriage. The Grandsons are coming." + +"I wouldn't wait," said Judy. "What's the use? Ten o' clock is late +enough for breakfast." + +"But we shall not have the collation till three." + +"What have you got for breakfast?" + +"Coffee." + +"And strawberries?" + +"Haven't you had any strawberries this year?" + +"Lots; but not in the country, you know, where they grow." + +"And not with such yellow cream as we have got from our dairy." + +"Will you have cream enough for all, Esther?" David asked, as coming +round the house they saw a small crowd of young people collected near +the tables. Esther smiled and bridled, and then there was no more +private talk, but a whole chorus of greetings and questions and +answers. And then another carriage drew up, with the missing Grandsons; +and the party went to breakfast. + +It seemed to Matilda that to eat under the shadow of trees, and on the +carpet of the grass, and with the music of leaves and insects and +breezes, was the very most delightful thing that could be invented. She +was very hungry, no doubt; and Mrs. Francis's excellent cook had made +capital provision for her young mistress; but besides all that, how +pretty it was! The light flickered through the oak leaves upon the +white tablecloths, and gleamed from china and glass and silver in the +most cheery way; it gleamed upon the little river too and upon the +blades of grass on the lawn. Out there the sunshine was full; the eye +went across to the scattered trees and to the further woods on the +other side; a great promising playground it looked. And then the air +was so sweet and fresh. Matilda was not seated very well for her +pleasure; nobody near that she knew very well; nevertheless she eat her +strawberries and cream and devoured rolls and butter with a contented +appreciation of what she had, and an amused observation of what was +around her. + +How were they to spend the day? + +This question received earnest attention as soon as the business of +breakfast was off their hands. + +"Day is pretty well gone already," said Norton consulting his watch. +"It is twelve o' clock. There is not time for anything else but to have +dinner and go home." + +"We do not dine till four o' clock," Esther announced. + +"Four hours," said somebody. "Time enough to get hungry again. I'll +take anybody that wants to go a row on the river; if somebody'll help +me row." + +"Everybody do what everybody likes until three o' clock," said Esther. +"Suppose then, at three o' clock, we all gather in the pavilion and +have games?" + +Unanimous acceptance of this proposal. Then a flutter and division and +scattering of the little crowd. + +Matilda wondered what _she_ would do, or be asked to do. She would have +liked the sail on the Bronx; but so would a good many more. The little +boat was very soon filled with the eager applicants, and David +volunteered to help row it. One of Matilda's friends was thus removed +from her. She turned to look for Norton. He was not to be seen. A +general stampede of the boys to the stables made it supposable that he +was in the midst of the gay little group rushing that way. Matilda +looked around her. The tables were deserted; the little boat had +disappeared up the stream; all the boys were gone; and one or two +groups of girls, unknown to her, were loitering over the grass towards +the house. A flush of vexation and embarrassment came over Matilda. Was +this civility? and what was she to do with herself for three hours to +come? And how disagreeable, to be regarded as of no consequence and no +concern to anybody. Tears swelled in their fountains, but Matilda was +not going to cry. She would not linger alone by the table; she did not +know her way in the house, and besides would not seek those who should +properly seek her; she turned her steps to the little river. The +flowing water had a great charm for her; the bank was smooth and green; +she wandered along till she came to what she called a nice place, where +a young willow hung over and dipped its long branches in, and the bank +offered a soft shady seat. Matilda sat down, and felt very lonely. But +glimpses taken through the trees and shrubbery shewed her nobody near +or far, except the servants; and Matilda resolved to be quiet and wait +for better things by and by. She looked at her watch; it was half past +twelve. I am bound to confess it was a good half hour more before +Matilda could get the better of a desperate fit of disappointment and +vexation. She had not counted upon spending her holiday in this manner; +and slights and unkindness are pleasant to nobody. There is something +in use, however, and more in a quiet mind. The little girl's roiled +feelings at last ran clear again; and she began to enjoy things after +her own fashion. + +The ripple and flow of that water was certainly delicious; it made one +cool only to hear it. She could get down to the brink too and +cautiously dip her hand in. There were little fishes in a shallow +there; their play and movement were very amusing, and Matilda went into +deep speculation about how much they knew, and what they felt, and what +their manner of life amounted to, and how they probably regarded the +strange creature looking down at them. Very much she wondered what they +could eat to live upon. The water plants that grew along the stream had +Matilda's attention too, and the mosses that covered the stones. And +one or two grasshoppers finally proved a great source of entertainment. +She quite forgot to feel lonely, and was taking her enjoyment in a very +harmonious way; when she heard a different swash of the water and the +dip of oars, and the boat shot round a curve and came down the stream. +She watched it, wondering whether its crew would see her. Just opposite +her willow the oars stopped. + +"Is that you, Tilly?" David cried. + +A small "yes" came from the bank. + +"What are you doing there?" + +"O, amusing myself." + +"Where is everybody else?" + +"I don't know." + +"Where's Norton?" + +"I don't know. I think he went to see the horses." + +"Come down to the landing," said David after a moment's pause. + +Matilda nodded, and the boat shot forward again. It had turns to take +following the course of the stream; while she on the land could cut +across points, and she reached the landing place the first. + +The little party landed with cries of pleasure, and the next thing, set +off on a run for the house. David purposely hung back, so that he and +Matilda in a few minutes were behind all the others. + +"Where is everybody?" inquired David. + +"I don't know." + +"What have you been doing all this while?" + +"It was very pretty down by the water, David. I didn't mind;--at least, +not after the first. It was very pleasant there." + +"All alone?" + +"Yes; except the fishes and the grasshoppers." + +"Well--I shall cut out the fishes now." + +David kept his word. A deputation of the boys met them and begged him +to go where the others were riding. David went, but kept hold of +Matilda's hand, though warned that "the girls" were finding other +amusements in the house. Matilda was taken into the meadow where the +boys and the horses were congregated; a safe seat was found for her on +the wall, from whence she could survey the whole field; and though +David took his share in the amusements that followed, riding and racing +with the other boys, he never let her feel herself forgotten or alone; +stopping his horse every now and then in front of her to say something +and find out if she was happy. Matilda was very happy, greatly amused, +and intensely pleased that David had constituted himself her protector. +The hours sped along; the soft June sun was never too hot; the little +white clouds that crossed the sky cast shadows not needed for the busy +pleasure seekers, nor even for the quiet spectator. At last Matilda +heard a shout behind her. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"What _are_ you doing, you boyish girl?" It was Judy, at the head of +the whole bevy of young ones from the house. + +"I didn't know what had become of you, Matilda," said Esther. + +"Come down!" said Judy. "What business have you there? Who asked you to +watch the boys? Why don't you come down? On the wall, too! Esther +didn't invite you there." + +"Esther didn't invite me anywhere," said Matilda, with the old +inevitable set of her head, which said much more than the little girl +knew. Esther felt it, and Judy was incensed. + +"I _would_ be ashamed, if I were you," she said. "Tell the boys, will +you, that we are ready for the games. Call somebody. Shout! now you are +up there, make yourself useful." + +Matilda preferred not to shout. Instead of that, she waved her +handkerchief. David rode up, the message was given. Then Norton came to +help Matilda down from the wall; and soon the whole party gathered in +the pavilion. This was rather more than a summer house; a large saloon, +with windows and glass doors on all sides, furnished with lounges and +easy chairs and tables, with a carpet on the floor, and kept with all +the nicety of the house itself. Warm and tired and happy, the little +company was ready for quiet amusements; and they played games of +various kinds until the gong called them to dinner. That was to have +been the end of the day's entertainment; but a storm had come up while +they were at the table, and the rain fell too abundantly to let anybody +leave the house except those who could go in close carriages. A few +were thus drafted off, belonging to neighbouring families; a goodly +little company still remained who were forced to accept the +housekeeper's hospitalities for the night. That was additional fun +rather than inconvenience, so voted and so accepted. However, as the +day began to close in and a lull fell upon all their pleasure-seeking, +it began to appear that the little people were tired. Naturally; they +had worked hard all day. Voices changed their tone. + +"Oh dear! I wish it wouldn't rain!" cried one young lady, pressing her +face against the window, down the outside of which the streams of rain +drops were running fast. + +"Might as well wish something else, Carrie, while you are about it," +Norton said. + +"I can't!" + +"I wish I was home," said another. + +"Wait till to-morrow, and you will have your wish." + +"But I don't want to wait." + +"Don't you know some new games, Esther?" + +This sort of thing went on for some time till tea and cake made a +diversion, and lights were brought. Then the cry was, "What shall we do +all the rest of the evening?" + +"I have a game for you," said David at last. + +"What is it? what is it?" + +"A new game." + +"What _is_ it?" + +"It is called, 'Capital and Interest.'" + +"I don't understand that," pouted one of the young ladies. + +"You will understand it fast enough, when we come to play it." + +"How do you play it?" + +"You must choose a Judge and a Recorder." + +"What's a Recorder?" + +"Some one to put down what we say. We all tell our business; the +Recorder sets it down, and the Judge says whose business is worth the +most." + +"How can he tell?" + +"He can hear what we say, and he can use his judgment, as we all can." + +"Must we tell the truth? or say what we have a mind?" + +"Either you like." + +"That's jolly!" said one of the boys. "I go in for saying what we have +a mind." + +"Just imagine the nicest things you can," David went on. + +"To eat?" said Esther. + +"No, no; you've done enough of that to-day," said Norton. "Imagine what +you have a mind to,--every sort of thing that's pleasant." + +"Well you begin, Norton, because you understand it. We'll hear you +play, and so learn." + +"We have got to choose the Judge first. And the Recorder." + +"What's the Judge to do?" + +"Say who has made the best business." + +"I don't understand a bit of it," said Esther. + +"No, but you will presently. You'll see. Wait till we begin. Who will +you have for Judge?" + +There was a general cry of "David Bartholomew!" + +"No," said David, "I won't be Judge. I'll be Recorder, if you like. For +Judge, I propose Norton Laval." + +Norton was agreed upon unanimously. + +"Now we are ready. Esther, we will begin at you. Tell what you have, or +what you would like to have; and then, what you would do with it, or +use it for." + +"I don't know what you mean," said Esther. + +"You are not tied to facts. Tell what you like. What would you most +like?" + +"Most like?" repeated Esther. "Let me see. It's very hard to begin with +me, when I don't know the game. Let us see. I think I should like to +have the most beautiful diamonds in New York." + +"Very good," said Norton. "Now tell what you would do with them." + +"Do with them? Why, wear them, of course." + +"Of course," said Norton. "But the diamonds are your capital, you +understand; what interest will you get for your capital? What _good_ +will they do you, Esther? that's it." + +"What good?" said Esther. "Why, if I had the finest jewels of anybody, +don't you see I should outshine everybody?" + +"I don't see it," said Norton; "but then I'm not in that line. It's +_your_ business we are talking of. Put it down properly, Recorder. Now +Bob Francis--what's your idea of a jolly life, eh?" + +"_I_ don't know!" said Bob. He was a year older than his sister; not a +year brighter. + +"O yes, you do. Fancy--but I don't believe you _can_ fancy. What would +you like best, Bob?--come!" + +"I'd like as well as anything to be a cavalry officer, and have nothing +to do but ride." + +"A cavalry officer has a great deal to do, I can tell you, my fine +fellow, besides riding," said David. + +"O well; _I_ don't want to have anything else to do," said Bob. "I'd +cut school; it's a bore." + +"But you can't ride always. What will be the good of your riding when +you are sick, or get old?" + +"O then I'll die," said Bob contentedly. + +"Let it stand, Davy," said Norton. "Write him down, with a horse and a +saddle for his capital and riding his business. Who's next? Hatty +Delaplaine! What will _you_ have?" + +Hatty, a pale, freckled girl, with twinkling gray eyes, was ready with +her answer. + +"I'd like to have Stewart's store, all to myself, and a dressmaker." + +"The dressmaker all to yourself too, I suppose. Girls are the queerest +things!" said Norton. + +"Not a bit queerer than boys," spoke up Judy. + +"Well,--see if the present game does not prove them so," said Norton. +"What'll you do with Stewart's and a dressmaker, Hatty Delaplaine?" + +"Don't you see? I'd never wear the same dress twice, and I wouldn't +have the same for breakfast or luncheon or dinner; and I would have the +most beautiful dresses that ever were seen." + +"What would you do with them, after once wearing?" David asked. + +"O I should never know and never care. My maid would dispose of them, I +suppose. I should have enough to do to think of the new ones. But I +_do_ love costumes!" the girl added, clasping her hands. + +"Is that a 'costume' you have got on?" Norton asked. + +"Nonsense! it isn't anything. I haven't got Stewart's and my dressmaker +yet. When I have, you'll know it." + +"Juliet Bracebridge!--speak if you please. I'm finished," said Norton. +"This is the richest game I've seen yet. Juliet?--" + +"I think I should like a perfect little carriage, and a perfect pair of +horses, and to go driving over the world." + +"Where?" said Norton. "You mean, over the Central Park and the +Boulevards." + +"No, I don't. I mean what I say." + +"Bad roads in some places," said Norton. "Up Vesuvius, for instance; or +over Mont Blanc in winter. Greece is dangerous, and--" + +"Don't talk nonsense, Norton Laval. Of course I should drive where I +could drive, and would like to drive. Over Mont Blanc in winter, +indeed!" + +"Well, come to business. A perfect pair of horses and perfect +carriage,--that's your capital; and you'll go driving all over. What +will be the interest on your capital, do you think? in other words, +what will you take by it?" + +"I should always have a variety, don't you see, and not have time to +get tired of anything." + +"Are there roads enough in the world to last you?" said Norton. "I +declare! these girls--Joe Benton, give us your mind." + +"I'll make a fortune, Norton." + +"All right. What'll you do with it?" + +"I'll have the best house, and the handsomest wife, and the largest +estate in the country." + +"You'll buy your wife with your money?" asked Judy. + +"Easy,"--said Joe, grinning. + +"I don't care--'twont be _me_," said Judy. "I pity the woman." + +"Why?" said Joe. "She'll have everything she wants, too." + +"Excepting the right person," said Judy. + +"Well I don't care; it _won't_ be you," said Joe; "so you may say what +you like." + +"I would if it was," said Judy. + +But a chorus of laughter broke them off. + +"Judy's next," said Norton. "I should like to hear what you will say, +Judy." + +"I should like to be a queen," said Judy. + +"That's it! Go to the top at once. Well, you've got to show why. What +would you do if you were a queen?" + +"I'd put down all preaching and praying, and people's making fools of +themselves with giving away their money to poor folks, and nursing sick +folks, and all the rest of it." + +"Why Judy!" exclaimed one or two. "You'd stop preaching?" + +"Wouldn't you be sorry!" said Judy. + +"No, but really. Wouldn't you let people be ministers?" + +"Ministers like Dr. Blandford. He don't give away his money, I'll be +bound; and he likes his glass of wine and smokes his pipe like other +folks." + +"He don't smoke a _pipe_, Judy." + +"You know what I mean. If I had said he likes his _grog_, you wouldn't +have thought it was made of gin, would you?" + +"So you'd be a queen, to stop religious toleration?" said Norton. + +"I'd stop _any_," said Judy. "I don't care whether it's religious or +not." + +"But what's given you such a spite at religious people?" asked Esther. + +"Mean!" said Judy. "Artful. Conceited to death. Stupid. And insane." + +There was again a chorus of "Oh Judy!"'s. + +"Never mind," said Norton. "When she's queen, I'll sell out and buy an +estate in some other country. Who's next?" + +"I knew you'd be sneaking along presently, at the tail of some black +coat or other," Judy responded. "It's in you. The disease'll break out." + +"I don't know what's in me," said Norton. "Something that makes me hot. +I'm afraid it isn't religious. Roswell Holt, what's your idea of +capital and business? Do leave Judy to her own fancies. This game's +getting to be warm work. Roswell!--it's your turn." + +"I believe," Roswell began sedately; he was an older boy than most of +them and very quiet; "I believe, what I should like would be, to know +all the languages there are in the world; and then to have a library so +large that all the books in the world should be in it." + +"Capital!" said Norton. "What good would that do you?" + +"Why, I could read everything," said Roswell. + +"And what good would _that_ do you?" + +"I should like it," said Roswell. "I should have what I like." + +"Solomon tried that once," said David, who was taking diligently his +reporter's notes. "It didn't seem to answer then." + +"Ah, but there were not so many books in his day," said Roswell. + +"The worse for you, I should say. Besides, there are not so many now as +there will be a thousand years hence. How about that, old fellow?" + +"I can't read what there'll be a thousand years hence," said Roswell. + +"You couldn't read what there are now, if you had them. You could not +live long enough." + +"What a musty old fogy he would be, by the time he had gone half +through!" said Judy. "He would have used up his eyes; his spectacles +would have made a ridge on his nose; he would live in an old coat that +was never brushed; and his books would be all coffee stains, because he +would take his breakfast over them. Poor old creature!" + +"You'll be old then yourself, Judy," said some one. + +"I won t," said the young lady promptly. "I mean to keep young." + +"Ben Johnson--go ahead," said Norton. "It's your turn." + +"I'd like to go supercargo in the China trade," said Ben; a +lively-looking fellow enough. + +"Good," said Norton. "Say why. Love of the sea wouldn't take you to +China, I suppose." + +"Not exactly," said Ben, with a confidential gleam in his eyes. "I +should have nothing to do--and smoke seventy cigars a day." + +"Seventy cigars!" cried out two or three of the girls. "Horrid!" + +"You couldn't do it, old fellow." + +"Easy," said Ben. "My cousins, Will Larkins and Dan Boston, did it +every day." + +"They must be of a practical turn of mind, I should think," said +Norton. "They meant their voyage should pay--somebody--and so concluded +it should be the tobacconist. Lucy Ellis--?" + +"I should like to be very beautiful," said the girl, who had some +pretensions that way already, or she wouldn't have said it in +public,--"and have everybody love me." + +"Everybody!" cried Judy. "All the boys, you mean." + +"No indeed," said the beauty with a toss of her head. "I mean all the +_men_." + +"But people don't love people because they are handsome," said Norton. + +"Don't they, though!" said Ben Johnson, who was a beauty in his way; as +indeed so also was Norton. But here arose a furious debate of the +question, in which almost everybody took part excepting David and +Matilda. Laughing and shouting and discussing, the original game was +almost lost sight of; and David sat with his pen in his hand, and +Matilda listened in wondering amusement, while the negative and the +affirmative of the proposition were urged and argued and fought for. At +last Norton appealed. + +"What do you think, David?" + +"What do you think of our game?" + +"I had forgot it, that's a fact," said Norton. "Who's next? O come +along, we'll never settle that question. Who's next? Pink, I believe it +is you. Matilda Laval! what's your capital and business?" + +"Now you'll get a queer one," said Judy. + +"It won't be the first, by some," said Norton; "that's one thing." + +"This'll be a good one. Oh, ever so good!" said Judy. + +"It won't be anything, if you can't hush," said Norton impatiently. +"Come, Pink, whatever it is, let us have it. What's your fancy?" + +"I should like to have a medicine that would be sure to cure," said +Matilda. + +"A medicine!" cried Norton. + +"She'd be a doctor," exclaimed Judy with a burst of laughter. + +"What for, Pink?" + +"I would go round, making sick people well." + +"Beautiful, ain't it?" said Judy. "O we have such lots of goodness in +our house, you wouldn't know it; and I don't know it my self. Fact is, +it confuses me." + +"Bill Langridge?" + +"Governor of the State,"--called out Bill in reply. + +"Why don't you say 'Sultan of Muscat,' at once?" + +"Don't know Muscat--and don't care about governing where I'm a +stranger. Might make mistakes, you see." + +"Well--what's the good in being Governor of the State?--to you?" + +"Having things my own way, don't you see? and at top of everything." + +"There's the President, and all his secretaries," said Norton. + +"They're not in my way. In the State, you know, nobody is over the +Governor." + +"That's what you call a moderate ambition," said David. + +"Aims pretty high," said Bill. + +"Not high enough," said another boy. "I'd choose to be commander in +chief of the army." + +"How's that any higher, Watson?" said Bill. + +"Military rule," said Watson. "Your Governor has to consult this one +and 'tother one, and go by the Legislature too, when all's done; the +commander in chief asks leave of nobody." + +"Well, Elisha Peters, what's _your_ ambition?" called out Norton. + +"I'd like a little money,--enough, you know, not too much; and to go +travelling all over the world on foot." + +"On foot!" said Norton. "What would you get out of that?" + +"I should see everything. Not part, you know, as everybody does; I +should see everything." + +"What would you do, Elisha, when you had got to the end of +everything?--seen it all?" + +"Don't believe I could. The world's big enough to last one man." + +"Don't know but what it is," said Norton. "Will you write a book?" + +"Guess not. Take too much time." + +"Then the travelling would do nobody good but you?" said David. + +"Who else should it?" replied Elisha. + +"The _book_ would do nobody any good, if he were to write it," +suggested Judy. + +"Polite"--said Elisha. + +"Selfish"--retorted Judy. + +"Everybody is selfish," returned the young cynic. + +"'Tain't true," said Norton; "but I haven't time to argue just now. +I've got work enough to do as a judge. Are we most through? I declare, +here's half a dozen more to speak. Speak quick, please; and don't say +so many odd things. The judge's work isn't going to be a trifle, in +this court. Dick Morton, go ahead." + +"I'd like to be able to do just what I have a mind to," said Dick. + +"Bravo! only that's what we're all after. Come a little nearer the +point, Dick; what'll you do with your time?" + +"I'd be a hunter. I'd have first-rate rifles, you know, and pistols, +and all that; and people to help; and I'd just go hunting. I'd kill +buffaloes in the West till I had enough of that, and take a turn at a +bear or so; then I'd go to Africa and have a royal time with the +rhinoceros and lions, and maybe crocodiles. I'd spend a good while in +Africa. Elephants, too. Then I'd cross over to India and hunt tigers. +I'd chase ostriches too." + +"Not in India," said David. + +"I didn't say, in India; but where they are. Deer of course, +everywhere; and chamois, and all that." + +"Birds?" suggested Norton. + +"O yes, by the way, you know. I'd live upon ducks and snipe and wild +turkey." + +"When you weren't eating venison and buffalo hump," said David. + +"Well--I'd have variety enough," said Dick. "I tell you! a hunter's +supper is jolly." + +"All alone?" said Esther. + +"Another specimen of selfishness," said Judy. "They're all alike as two +pears--only some of 'em are green, and the others a different colour." + +"That's _your_ business," said Norton summing up; "now what's the good +of it, Dick?" + +"Fun. What's the good of anything?" + +"To be sure," said the Judge. "Julie Simpson?" + +But Julie wriggled and simpered, and could not be got to express +herself otherwise. The sayings of several next corning were only echoes +of some one or other of those who had spoken. Norton grew impatient. + +"That'll do," he said; "now for the Recorder. It's time the Judge +finished up. The best part of the play comes after." + +"What's that?" said somebody; "what comes after? I thought this was the +whole." + +"You wouldn't catch me playing 'Capital and Interest' very often, if it +was," said Norton. "No; the best business man, or the one who has the +best business, is to appoint forfeits to all the rest; and if he knows +how to do it, I tell you! that's fun." + +"But how are we to decide who has the best business?" + +"Can't! The Judge does that. Go ahead, David. What's _your_ business?" + +"I wish it was peddling old shoes!" said Judy. + +"Why?" several asked. + +"It won't be anything as respectable. We've taken to turning old coats +at our house." + +"Go ahead, Davy!" cried Norton. + +But David was deliberate about it. He finished his writing, and looked +up. + +"I think my capital is _myself_," he said with a smile. "I mean to make +the most of _myself_, in every way I can think of; as well as of my +money, and whatever else I have got." + +"Don't sound so bad," said Elisha looking at Judy. + +"Well Davy," said Norton; "what are you going to do with yourself, +after you have made the most you can of it?" + +"I am the servant of the King Messiah," said David with a smile again; +"myself and all I have belong to him, and I want to make the most of +them for Jesus and his work and his Kingdom. They are the talents He +has given me to work with. And when the King comes to take account of +me, I want to be able to say, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five +pounds.'" + +The little people were silent. David spoke so simply and in so +business-like fashion, there was no game to be made of his words; and +nothing was said, till Norton remarked he did not know what he was +going to do; he could not remember one half that had been said for him +to pass judgment upon. + +"I've got it all here," said David. "Take your seat, and begin; I'll +read you two, and you choose the best in your judgment of those; then +take another and compare with that, and so on." + +"Well," said Norton. "Get along, David. It s a pesky business, this +being judge, I can tell you." + +"Silence in the court!" said David. "Esther Francis; capital, the most +beautiful diamonds in New York; interest, she outshines everybody." + +"Next"--said Norton. + +"I didn't say that, did I?" asked Esther. + +"Of course you said that; he's got it down. Next, David?" + +"Bob Francis. Capital, a cavalry officer's commission and a horse. +Interest, he'll ride." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed a round chorus of the children. + +"Silence in the court!" repeated David. "We wait for the Judge's +decision." + +"Hm!--I wish you had it to do!" growled Norton, rubbing his head. +"Which is the best business of those two? Well, between diamonds and +horses, if you're shut up to them, I think a horse is the best stock in +trade." + +"But the _business_--the interest," said Bob. "Ain't riding like a man +better than sitting or dressing to be stared at like a woman?" + +"I think it's the most manly," Norton repeated. + +"But not the most womanly?" said Esther. + +"No, not the most womanly." + +"Well, which is _best?_" somebody cried. + +"Riding is the best for me," said Norton. "I should feel like a fool in +diamonds." + +"A Hindoo rajah, or a Persian shah, or an Arab emir wouldn't feel so," +suggested David. + +"I am not a Hindoo nor an Arab, though," said Norton. "If I am to give +judgment I'll give it like a good American. And I say, that a saddle is +better than a jewel-box any day; and it's better in my judgment to ride +for one's life, than to make people's eyes wink with looking at you. Go +on, Recorder!" + +"Hatty Delaplaine. Capital, a dressmaker and dry-goods unlimited. +Interest, nothing but new dresses." + +"Riding is better than dressing," said the Judge. "Bob Francis has it +yet." + +"But why is it better?" asked Miss Hatty. The Judge was a little at a +loss. + +"I tell you what," said he, "my business is hard enough as it is; I +can't stand any aggravations. I'll take the sense of the assembly. All +who say as I do, hold up their hands." + +But it was found that the judgments were essentially masculine and +feminine; the girls sided with Hatty, the boys with Bob. + +"There's most good to be done by riding," said Norton. + +"There ain't!" said Judy. "Dressing encourages the working people." + +"And there's no good in riding at the head of soldiers," said Hatty. + +"Well, it is a more noble occupation," said Norton. + +"I don't see the nobility!" said Roswell Holt. + +"Well, I don't care!" said Norton. "Let them both stand together then. +I hope there'll be something more remarkable than either of 'em." + +"Juliet Bracebridge. A carriage and horses. Will drive all over the +world. Thinks she'll never know ennui." + +"Juliet has it," said the Judge. "That's better than just riding or +dressing for its own sake. I'd like driving over the world myself. What +next?" + +"Joe Benton. Will have a fortune. Interest, wife, house, and estate +better than anybody else." + +"I don't believe the best wife _can_ be bought," said Roswell. + +"And the best house for you mightn't be the best house for me," said +Judy. + +"He didn't mean it for you, Judy," said her cousin Bob. + +"Judge'll never get through, if you don't stop these civilities," said +Norton. "I decide for Joe. No, I don't! I decide for Juliet. Nicer to +go contentedly travelling all over, than to take all one's comfort in +one's pride. Juliet has it yet." + +"Judy Bartholomew. Will have a queen's power, and the use of it is to +put down religious freedom in her dominions." + +"Juliet has it!" shouted Norton. "Better amuse yourself _not_ at other +people's expense, I think, if you can manage it." + +"Roswell Holt; all books in all languages, and power to understand +them. Finds the good of his life in reading." + +"That sounds sensible," said Norton. "I give it for Roswell over +Juliet." + +"But why?" urged Juliet. + +"There's something in books, you see." + +"I am sure there is a good deal in countries and cities and people." + +"True," said Norton. + +"How's his business better than mine?" + +"I don't know. Seems as if it ought to be." + +"He pleases himself one way, and I another." + +"And I another," said Esther. + +"True. But books are books, as I said before. Now there's nothing in +diamonds." + +"There is in travelling," said Juliet again. + +"Yes, there is. But the books shew a higher aspiration, Miss +Bracebridge." + +"I don't see it," said the young lady pouting. + +"Well, when you are Judge, you'll know how easy it is," said Norton. +"After all, it's only a game. Go ahead, David." + +"Ben Johnson. Goes supercargo to China. Object, to do nothing and smoke +seventy cigars a day." + +"Roswell has it yet," said Norton. "Go ahead." + +"Lucy Ellis. Great beauty. Loves to have all men look at her." + +"Roswell has it!" cried Norton. "No stop. Go on." + +"Matilda Laval. Has a medicine for all ills; and she lives to cure +people." + +"Matilda has it," said Norton, in a somewhat lowered tone. + +"Bill Langridge. Governor of the State. Object, to have things his own +way." + +"Matilda has it!" said the judge judicially. + +"Egbert Watson--prefers military to civil rule; therefore chooses to be +head of the army instead of the State. Object, same as Bill +Langridge's." + +"Matilda Laval has it," said the Judge. He began somehow to look gloomy. + +"Elisha Peters--has freedom to go through the world on foot. Object, is +to see everything." + +"Matilda Laval has it!" growled the Judge. + +"Dick Morton. His capital is rifles, with powder and ball; object in +life, to kill or to hunt and eat wild beasts." + +"Don't come near Matilda Lavals," said the Judge. + +"Julia Simpson has no object." + +"Easy disposed of," said Norton. + +"Ned Forsyth agrees with Watson; Mary Fortescue sides with Lucy Ellis; +and half a dozen more with Lucy, Roswell Holt, Bill, and Miss +Bracebridge." + +"Then there's only you," said Norton gloomily. + +"David Bartholomew. Capital, himself and all he has, to be made the +most of. Business, to use it all for the King whose servant I am." + +"What's the interest?" growled Norton, after a moment's pause. "But +stop! how are you going to use it? you don't tell your business after +all. What are you going to do?" + +"I don't know," said David. "The King's will, whatever that is. +Whatever he gives me to do." + +"The interest?" + +"That comes all along the way," said David. "But at the end--I shall +inherit all things!" + +"Is that a proper way of speaking, David?" said Esther gravely. + +"That's the promise," said David. + +"He's an old prig, that's what he is!" said one of the boys. + +"No," said David, "stop! hear me; you don't understand. In that day the +King will take account of his servants. And to those who can say to +him, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds'--or 'five pounds'--he +will say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been +faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; +enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' I want that." + +Something about the manner of David's speech stilled the impatient +little company. David was always much looked up to and somewhat feared; +and now he had spoken with a clear and sweet business tone which left +no hold for ridicule. Nobody attempted it; and Judy saw her time was +not then and kept silence. So did the Judge; too long, some of them +thought. + +"I suppose Matilda and you are in the same box," he began, "and what I +give to one of you I must give to the other." + +"No, no, you mustn't!" was cried in a stream of little voices. "They +didn't say the same thing at all; you must judge by what they said." + +"They both meant the same thing, I know," said Norton; "but if I must +go by what they said, then David spoke more clearly than Matilda. +Bartholomew has it." + +"Reasons! reasons!" cried Judy and one or two more; for it was usual +for the Judge to fortify himself thus in the opinions of his little +assembly. + +"Well," said Norton, without his usual readiness, "the reasons are +plain enough. The best business is what yields the best interest; and +you may judge yourselves, if working for other people isn't nobler than +working for oneself. And as to the interest,--well, you know,--if you +come to look at it," Norton went on not very lucidly--"_that's_ better +than _this_." + +"What's better than which?" said Judy. + +"Come, Judy," said her brother; "what will last, is better than what +won't last; and all your diamonds cannot compare with 'shining as the +stars for ever and ever;' and the King's court will be better than any +little king's or queen's rule in this world." + +There was a general cry now for the forfeits. It fell to David by right +to dispense them. I have not time to tell how witty and how pleasant +they were; but only that they brought every one into good humour long +before the game was out. + +The little party slept at the house, and returned to town by an early +train next morning. + +"David," said Matilda, catching him a moment by himself after they got +home,--"don't you think Norton is coming round?" She spoke eagerly, +anxiously, almost exultingly. + +"Give him time, Tilly," said David smiling. "He rather committed +himself last night, I think he will." + + + + + + + +Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son. + + + + + + + +Typographical errors silently corrected: + +Chapter 1: =take dancing lessons?"= replaced by =take dancing lessons?= + +Chapter 2: =to feel."= replaced by =to feel.= + +Chapter 4: =bloom all round.= replaced by =bloom all round."= + +Chapter 4: =coffee; they are= replaced by =coffee; "they are= + +Chapter 8: ='The Lord said unto= replaced by ="'he lord said unto= + +Chapter 11: =a Jew as ever I was--= replaced by =a Jew as ever I was"-- + +Chapter 12: =nothin' agin the neighbourhood= replaced by =nothin' +agin' the neighbourhood= + +Chapter 15: =nearer the p'int= replaced by =nearer the point= + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trading, by Susan Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADING *** + +***** This file should be named 30149-8.txt or 30149-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/1/4/30149/ + +Produced by Daniel Fromont. 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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: Trading + +Author: Susan Warner + +Release Date: October 1, 2009 [EBook #30149] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADING *** + + + + +Produced by Daniel Fromont. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="transnote"> +[Transcriber's note: This is the fourth 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"> +TRADING: +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FINISHING THE +<BR> +STORY OF "THE HOUSE IN TOWN," &c. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY THE AUTHOR OF +<BR> +"WIDE WIDE WORLD," "THE OLD HELMET," +<BR> +"WALKS FROM EDEN," &c., &c. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, +who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK: +<BR> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, +<BR> +530 BROADWAY. +<BR> +1873. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by +<BR> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS +<BR> +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +CAMBRIDGE: +<BR> +PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</TD> +<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> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TRADING. +</H2> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<P> +Christmas day was grey with clouds; on the roofs of the city and in the +streets the sun never shone all day. People called it cold. Sarah +Staples found it so on her crossing. Inside Mrs. Lloyd's front-door, +however, it seemed to Matilda to be nothing but sunshine. She had not +leisure to look at the grey sky, and to be sure the temperature was +that of summer. Matilda had a great deal to do. Her various parcels +were to be neatly tied up in white paper, with the names of the persons +they were for nicely written thereon, and then committed to Mrs. +Bartholomew for arranging on the Christmas tree. Then the presents for +Anne and Letitia were to be directed and sent; Maria's basket packed +and put in charge of the express-man; and several little letters +written, one to Mr. Richmond. Till all these things were done, Matilda +had no time to think of the weather; then she found that the snow was +beginning to fall and coming thick. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Norton, to whom she announced her discovery; "and it's +stinging! and coming on to blow. It will be a night! I like it. That +feels like Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there'll be no party?" said Matilda, rather more disappointed +than she wanted to shew. +</P> + +<P> +"Party?" said Norton, "what about the party? It won't snow in <I>here</I>. +Pink. What are you thinking of? The party'll be all the merrier. I tell +you, it feels like Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +"But will they come, through all the storm?" +</P> + +<P> +"They'd come, if the hailstones were as big as eggs," said Norton. "You +never saw one of grandmother's Christmas trees, Pink; and they never +did anywhere else. No fear but they'll come, every one of them. You go +along and get dressed." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda ran upstairs, glancing out of the hall window as she passed +with a thrill of delight and mystery. The air was darkening already +with the falling snow, and the wind swept it past the house in a white +mass; by contrast the evening splendours seemed greater than ever. She +dressed in a trembling excitement of pleasure, as far as her own part +of the preparation went; then Mrs. Laval's maid came in to finish her +toilette, and Mrs. Laval came to superintend it. Matilda had only to +stand still and be curled and robed and sashed and slippered; till the +work was done, the maid went, and Mrs. Laval took the child in her arms +and asked if she was happy? +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Very</I> happy," Matilda said. +</P> + +<P> +"It does not take much to make you happy, love." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, mamma!" said Matilda looking down at her white ruffles and then +at her adopted mother, "I have so much that I don't know what to do!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Laval smiled and sighed, and kissed her again. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet Christmas night is only beginning," she said. But the wind and +the hail dashed at the windows as if answering her that it had indeed +begun outside. Mrs. Laval went away to her own dressing, and Matilda +stood a moment at the window listening. It was long after dark now; but +she could hear the whistle of the sleet as the wind bore it past, and +the rush of ice and snow against the window-panes, and even through the +close-fining sash she could feel a little gush of keen air. And for one +moment Matilda's thoughts darted to Sarah, at her crossing and in her +cellar home all that day and night. The contrast was as sharp as that +little gush of icy air. Was it right? Matilda thought. Was it right, +that her dainty white dress should be so pretty on her and the +Christmas party so fine, when Sarah and others like her were in cold +and wet and rags? It was too disagreeable to think about, as Matilda +could not help it; and she went downstairs. +</P> + +<P> +How the house was lighted up! it was a second daylight, only more +splendid. What delicious warm air filled every room, and every +staircase, and every lobby! How handsome looked the marble floor of the +hall, with its luxurious mats at every door! But as her foot touched +the marble Matilda found something else to think of. Norton came out. +He looked her up and down. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Norton?" said Matilda, a little wanting to know his +opinion. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," said he nodding. "You'll do." +</P> + +<P> +"This will be a very funny dress for me to play proverbs in,—don't you +think so? I don't look much like Judy's Satinalia." +</P> + +<P> +"Not much," said Norton. "You don't look much like Judy's anything. O +Pink! do you know we are going to have a witch here to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"A witch?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"A capital witch. It's a capital idea too, for it's a new thing; and +it's so hard to get hold of something new. I expect this'll be the +party of the season." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll see," said Norton. "Only don't be frightened. The witch won't +hurt you." +</P> + +<P> +And here came Judy, and took a good silent stare at Matilda. The two +girls were dressed alike. Norton watched them with a sly glance. +Without any remark or salutation Judy passed them with a toss of her +head, and went into one of the drawing-rooms. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll do," said Norton, with a competent nod of his head in Judy's +direction. "That is, she'll do the insolent, whenever she has a mind +to. She is a case, is Judy Bartholomew. Well, come, we must get out of +the way, Pink. Somebody'll be here soon." +</P> + +<P> +So they strolled into the lighted drawing-rooms, where Judy and David +were; and strolled about, consulting arrangements for the play, till +the doors opened and other white dresses, and coloured sashes, and +gallant white-trowsered young gentlemen began to pour in and claimed +their attention. And ladies accompanied them, not a great many, but a +few favoured mothers and aunts and elder sisters; and soon the +drawing-rooms were all alive with motion and colour, and noisy with the +hum of many voices. +</P> + +<P> +It was a wonderful scene to Matilda. She forgot that she had so little +to do with it, and was so left out of it by the gay little throng. She +did not at first think of that. To be sure she was a stranger; it was +quite natural, as it seemed to her, that she should be left out. The +pleasure was great enough, merely to look on. Everybody else was very +busy talking and laughing and moving about the rooms,—all except +herself. Matilda had never seen such a display of very young ladies and +gentlemen; the variety of styles, the variety of dresses, the diversity +of face and manner, were an extremely rich entertainment. She noticed +airs and graces in some, which she thought sat very ill on +them;—affectations of grown-up manner, tossings of curls, and +flaunting of white gloves, and waving of fans, at which Matilda's +simplicity was greatly astonished. Little gentlemen stood before little +ladies, with hands behind their backs, and entertained them in +conversation which appeared to be of the politest sort. And Judy's blue +scarf flitted from end to end of the rooms, dipped to the floor as she +courtesied to new comers, and fluttered with delight as she darted to +speak to some favourite or other. The rooms grew very lively. The gas +lights shone upon all the colours of the rainbow, moving and changing +as if Mrs. Lloyd's house had been a kaleidoscope. David and Norton were +not in the company. Suddenly Norton stood at Matilda's side. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing here, Pink?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing." Matilda looked and smiled at him. "Only looking at +everything." +</P> + +<P> +"But you ought to be <I>in it</I>, Pink." +</P> + +<P> +"In what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why! in the work; in the talk. What are you sitting in a corner here +for?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know, Norton, I do not know anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Hasn't Judy introduced you? Not to any one?" said Norton. "Left you +here? Judy Bartholomew! if it wasn't Christmas night and an +inconvenient time to make a row"— +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, hush, Norton. I am having a very good time," said Matilda, +looking as she felt, like a very happy little girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Norton, "there are two odd people here to-night. One of +'em's Judy Bartholomew, and the other is—somebody you don't know. +Come! come here. Esther Francis!—this is my sister, my new sister +Matilda. Hasn't Judy introduced you?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton had caught by the arm, as she was passing, a girl of about +Judy's age, whom he thus brought face to face with Matilda. She was +sweet-faced and very handsomely dressed, and she had no sort of shyness +about her. She took Matilda's hand and looked at her with a steady look. +</P> + +<P> +"Take care of her, will you?" Norton went on. "I have got to go and +arrange things with Davie; and Judy has her head full. Tell Matilda +who's who; she does not know the people yet." +</P> + +<P> +The two girls stood a minute or two silently together; Esther giving +however a side glance now and then at her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"You have not been long in town?" she said then, by way of beginning. +</P> + +<P> +"Only three weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course then you are quite a stranger. It is very disagreeable, +isn't it, to be among a whole set of people that you don't know?" +Esther said it with a little turn of her pretty head, that was—Matilda +could not tell just what it was. It shewed the young lady very much at +her ease in society, and it was not quite natural; that was all she +could make out. Matilda answered, that she did not find anything +disagreeable. Esther opened her eyes a little wider. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know all about the arrangements to-night?" she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Will there be dancing?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard nothing about dancing," said Matilda. "I don't think +there'll be much time for it. I don't see how there can be." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you very fond of dancing?" Esther asked, with her eyes at the +further end of the next room. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was conscious of feeling ashamed of her answer. Nevertheless +she answered. "I do not know how to dance." +</P> + +<P> +"Not dance!" said Esther, with a new glance at her. "Did you never +dance? O there's nothing I care for at parties but to dance. And there +are just enough here to night; not a crowd. Aunt Zara will send you to +dancing-school, I suppose. But it isn't so pleasant to begin to learn +when you are so old." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Aunt</I> Zara!" said Matilda. "Norton did not say you were his cousin." +</P> + +<P> +"Norton's head was too full," said Esther with another movement of her +head that struck Matilda very much; it was quite like a grown-up young +lady; and gave Matilda the notion that she thought a good deal of +Norton. "Yes; we are cousins; that is why he told me to take care of +you." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was tempted to say that Norton would save her that trouble as +soon as he was at leisure to take it upon himself; but she did not. +Instead, she asked Esther how old <I>she</I> had been when she began to take +dancing lessons? +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know; three and a half, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +The deficiency of Matilda's own education pressed upon her heavily. She +was a little afraid to go on, for fear of laying bare some other want. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Esther after another interval of being absorbed in what was +going on in the next room;—"yes; of course, you know I began to learn +to dance as soon as I began to wear—stays," she uttered in a whisper, +and went on aloud. "The two things together. O yes; I was almost four +years old." +</P> + +<P> +Here she broke off to speak to some one passing, and Matilda was lost +in wonderment again. A little uneasy too; for though the young lady +kept her post at the side of the charge Norton had given her, and +evidently meant to keep it, Matilda thought she had an air of finding +her office rather a bore. A young lady who had danced and worn stays +from the time she was four years old, must necessarily know so much of +life and the world that a little ignoramus of a country girl <I>would</I> be +a bore. +</P> + +<P> +"What are they going to do then to-night, if we are not to dance?" +resumed Esther when her friend had passed on. "Just have the Christmas +tree and nothing else?" +</P> + +<P> +Nothing else <I>but</I> a Christmas tree! Here was an experience! +</P> + +<P> +"Norton and David are going to make a play," said Matilda; "acting a +proverb." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Esther. "A proverb! David is a good player, and Norton too; +excellent; that will be very good. I thought I heard something about a +<I>witch;</I> what is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"What is what?" said Judy, who found herself near. +</P> + +<P> +"About the witch?" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"It'—mystery." +</P> + +<P> +"Then <I>is</I> there to be a witch?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"Who will it be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Part of the mystery," said Judy. "Upon my word I don't know. I +couldn't find out. And I tried, too." +</P> + +<P> +"What is she going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the rest of the mystery. Without being a witch myself, how am I +going to tell?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard sometimes that you were," said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! But there are witches and witches," said Judy; "black and white, +you know, and good and bad. I'm a black witch, when I'm any. It's not +my business to get people out of trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never ask you," said Esther shaking her head. "But where is +the witch to be? and when will she appear?" +</P> + +<P> +"She won't appear. She will be in her den. All who want to see her will +go to her den. So much I can tell you." And Judy ran off before another +question could be asked. +</P> + +<P> +The elder ladies came in now, and there was a fresh stir. Mrs. Laval +introduced Matilda to several boys and girls in the company before many +minutes had gone; but there was time for little else beside an +introduction, for the boys were ready to play; and all the guests were +assembled in one room to leave the other free for their operations and +give a good view of them. In that room the lights were lowered too, to +make the scene of the play more brilliant by comparison. +</P> + +<P> +The play was a great success. Matilda laughed for very delight, as well +as at the fun of the thing. David, who personated the poor man who had +come to sell a piece of ground, talked so admirably like a countryman, +and was so oddly crochety and cross and gruff and impossible to make +terms with; and then Norton, who was the rich man he had come to see +and who wanted the land, coaxed him so skilfully, and ordered all sorts +of good things to be brought to him, when he found he had come a good +way and was hungry; and the imaginary banquet was very funny, David +making inquiries and comments over the dishes he did not know and +Norton supplying him with others, till he was satisfied. Then, in +soothed good humour, David was easy to deal with, and let his land go a +bargain. The acting was really extremely good; both the boys being +clever and without any sort of embarrassment or any even shy +affectation. The proverb which Matilda and Judy were to have played was +given up for want of time. The boys' proverb was guessed by one of the +elder ladies—"It is ill talking between a full man and a fasting." +Matilda was very glad, for her part, that she and Judy were let off. +</P> + +<P> +A hush of expectancy fell now upon the little company. It was time for +the tree to be displayed. Even talking hushed, while all eyes were upon +the folding doors leading to the last drawing-room to be thrown open. +Matilda was at the back of the crowd, but even there she could see the +blaze of light beyond as soon as this was done; and the whole company +pressed forward and peeped in. Such a beautiful sight then, her eyes +had never beheld. The tree was a generous, large, tall young fir, set +in a huge green tub; but whereas in the wood where it grew it had green +branches, with fringy, stiff, prickly leaves, now its branches were of +every colour and as it were fringed with light. From the lowest bough +to the topmost shoot it was a cone of brilliancy and a pyramid of +riches. Lights glittered from every twig, and among the lights, below +them and above them, near the stem and out at the tips of the bending +boughs and covering the moss which covered the tub, were trinkets or +toys or articles of wear or packages done up in white or coloured paper +and made gay with coloured ribbands. So bountiful a tree, so elegant a +tree, one so rich in its resources of pleasure, perhaps no eyes there +had ever seen; for when Mrs. Lloyd did anything she was accustomed to +do it thoroughly; and she had on this occasion two backers. One burst +of admiration from the whole little crowd was followed by accents of +delight and murmurs of expectation. +</P> + +<P> +The tree stood in the middle of the large drawing-room, and the bright +crowd which formed round it was surely a pretty sight. A sight for the +elders alone; no child had eyes for anything but the tree. Eager eyes; +glad eyes; sparkling and glowing with delight and expectation; a +little, soft, rustling, hustling crowd, swaying gently, agitated, moved +here and there, to and fro, but all fastened to that brilliant centre +of a Christmas tree, as much as ever the planets to their centre. At +the very back of the crowd, as she was, Matilda stepped on an ottoman +to see better; and for her even expectation was almost lost in +bewildered fascination. In truth the Christmas tree was a beautiful +spectacle. The fairy-like beauty was what Matilda thought of at first; +then she began gradually to notice how its branches were laden with +other things besides lights, and how the little company was all on +tiptoe with eagerness. With a certain faint flutter at her own heart, +Matilda stood on her perch and watched. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a tall young fellow, one of the oldest among the boys, took +his stand by the tree with a long gilt rod in his hand. The crowd fell +back a bit, and hushed its murmur and rustle. No danger of anybody +seeing Matilda; not an eye turned her way. The lad with the gilt rod, +who also was decorated with a favour of red and white ribbands, now +lifted down from the tree one of its many packages, looked close at it, +and called aloud the name written thereon. A name Matilda did not know. +The crowd stirred in out place and a little figure came forward and +took the package. Matilda wanted to know what it was, very much; but +the little girl herself made no haste to discover. A slight private +examination she gave, and with a smile and a blush clasped her little +hand upon the package and looked to see what would be next. The play +went on after this fashion; the presiding gilt rod was quick in its +operations, as indeed it had need to be; names were called out in rapid +succession; and presently the whole circle was astir, with coming and +going, explanations and questions and whispers of delight, now and then +a spring or a dance of exultation; and still the gilt rod went on +hooking down things from the tree and signalling the owners to come and +take possession. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Laval!—from Matilda. I suppose Mrs. Laval knows who Matilda +is?"—said the master of ceremonies. A new thrill went all through the +distant possessor of that name. "That's my obelisk!" she thought. "I +wonder if she will like it? Yes, she knows Matilda, a little." +</P> + +<P> +"Norton Laval!—from his sister. I didn't know that Norton had a +sister." +</P> + +<P> +"The things you don't know are always more than the things you do know, +Edward Foster," said Norton coming forward to receive his watch-guard. +</P> + +<P> +"'You' meaning—whom?" said gilt rod, hooking down another +ribband-looped parcel. "By virtue of my office I know so many things +just now, that I grow conceited, and am surprised to find myself +ignorant any where. Matilda Laval!—from her mother." +</P> + +<P> +With a great leap of her heart, Matilda jumped down from her ottoman +and made her way as she could through the throng. The tall boy with the +gilt rod presented to her a small square packet, sealed and tied. +Matilda's fingers clasped upon it as she stepped back; and then for the +first time that evening she found Judy at her side. Perhaps Judy would +have spoken, if the next call had not been, +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda Laval!—from Mrs. Bartholomew." +</P> + +<P> +Flushing and trembling, Matilda stepped forward again and received a +second little packet, much like the former. Then Judy herself was +called; everybody by this time was getting his hands full; and still +the Christmas tree blazed on as brightly as ever. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Matilda got a third present; this was from David; much +larger. She was very much astonished; for without opening she could +guess that it was something valuable; it was hard and square and heavy. +Of all there, not a child was in such private ecstasies as she. Her +flushed cheeks told it; otherwise she was quite undemonstrative. Though +I say wrong; for eyes and lips were abundantly expressive of tremulous +joy. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that my present?" said Judy, by her side again. "No, it is David's. +Do you know what it is?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Matilda whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't either. Why don't you look?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will look by and by." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" said Judy; but Matilda was called off again to take what +Judy had prepared for her. +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't much," said that young lady, when Matilda fell back to her +former place; "it's only bonbons. What has aunt Zara given you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know yet, Judy." +</P> + +<P> +"O look. And mamma. Mamma wouldn't tell me. Those are their gifts in +your hand there, aren't they? Look, and see. I can guess," said Judy +peering round Matilda to see the packets. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you can't," said Norton at the other side. He was fastening his +guard-chain in its place. "<I>You</I> don't know, and she don't know. I like +people who can keep cool, and not dash their heads under water the +first thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff!" said Judy. "I want her to get her head above water; she don't +see anything now, nor know anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Her head's all right," said Norton composedly. "Knowledge'll come in +time. I guess there's a good deal of it to come, too." +</P> + +<P> +"What has David got, Norton?" +</P> + +<P> +"Loads of books," said Norton. "And a rifle." +</P> + +<P> +"A rifle!" screamed Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"And a dressing-case. And a dressing-gown. And a riding-whip. And a +watch-chain." +</P> + +<P> +"And what have <I>you</I> got, Norton?" Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I wanted," said Norton, with a smile of confidence and +secret good fellowship which was most pleasant to Matilda; it made her +feel not quite so much alone in that crowd. "You shall see," he went +on. "Hallo! you're called. Give me some of your traps to hold for you, +Pink; you have not got a hand to take anything more." +</P> + +<P> +So Matilda gave him her bonbons and box, if it were a box, to hold, +while she went for ward again. This present was from Norton, and of +itself filled her arms. Wrapped up in papers as it was, she could not +know more of it than that. She came back to Norton with high-coloured +cheeks and eyes very bright indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" said Judy. "What has Norton given you? it's big enough. +Pshaw! I know; it's a desk." +</P> + +<P> +"A desk!" exclaimed Matilda in tones of delight. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep your own counsel, Judy," said Norton coolly. "You have no idea of +keeping other people's." +</P> + +<P> +"Norton," said Esther coming up to them, "who is the witch?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't tell, even if I know," said Norton. "I keep other people's +counsel." +</P> + +<P> +"But where are we to see her?" +</P> + +<P> +"In her den, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"You will know when the time comes." +</P> + +<P> +"Then she won't come in here among us all?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon not," said Norton. "She'll see only one at a time, I hear." +</P> + +<P> +"What for?" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, what for!" echoed Norton. "<I>I</I> don't know, I can tell you. And +what's more, I don't know yet whose notion it is. Now, Pink, I propose +we go upstairs and put these things away. Supper will be in a few +minutes, and then what will you do with your hands full? Come!" +</P> + +<P> +And away he and Matilda went, slipping out of the room as quietly as +they could, and then running upstairs, till they found a quiet corner +and breathing place in Matilda's room. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Pink, don't you want to look?" said Norton turning up the gas. He +had his own curiosity too, it seems. But he did not interfere with her; +he looked on, smiling and superior, while Matilda's trembling fingers +pulled off the papers, from his package-first. Judy had spoken truly; +it was an elegant little desk, all fitted and filled. Matilda's heart, +Norton could see, was quite full with that. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" said he gayly, "let us see David's choice. I don't know what it +is, David don't tell all his mind." +</P> + +<P> +And he stopped, for Matilda uttered a little scream of pleasure. +David's choice had been a work-box. It was of pretty fancy wood, +charmingly lined and fitted up. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty well for David!" said Norton "He thinks you know what to do +with a work box, and reason too. Good for him. But now, Pink, guess +what this is!" +</P> + +<P> +And Norton possessed himself of the little parcel which bore his +mother's handwriting and held it up before Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't guess." +</P> + +<P> +"Try. What would you <I>like</I>, Pink? What would you like better than +anything else? Think." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh Norton!" said Matilda with changing colour, "I don't know; I am +afraid to guess. It's something small; could it be a locket with her +hair?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton with a delighted face put his hand with the parcel close to +Matilda's ear, with the other hand forbidding her to touch it. +"Listen!" he said. Matilda listened, and absolutely grew pale with +intensity of excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"I hear something, Norton!" she said seizing the package. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you do!" said Norton. "<I>Now</I> you know? Yes, just look at it. Isn't +it a beauty? I was with mamma when she got it. There's no mistake in +that, Pink; it's a splendid watch, Bars and Bullion said;—I mean, the +man at Bars and Bullion's, and I believe it was Bullion himself. Do you +like it? Now Pink, we must not stay a minute longer; supper will be on +hand, and you want some, don't you. Come! Put these away, and come." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda could do it, even without looking at her bonbons or Mrs. +Bartholomew's present, and with only a glance at her watch. She locked +up her treasures and went down with Norton; a happy child, if there was +one in the city that night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<P> +Supper was just served when they got downstairs. It was another variety +of this wonderful evening. The dining-room long table was so beautiful +with lights, fruits, greens, and confections, with setting of plate and +glass, that to Matilda it was almost as much of a sight as the +Christmas tree had been. But the others were accustomed to this sort of +thing, and fell to tasting, with very little rapture about the seeing. +What a buzz the room was in, to be sure! Tongues were fairly unloosed +over oysters and sandwiches; and all the glory of the Christmas tree +was to talk about, with comparisons of presents, plans, and prospects. +Matilda looked on, half bewildered, but so very happy that it hardly +occurred to her to remember that she might like something to eat too. +Everybody was attending upon the wants of the guests, though certainly +Matilda did notice that Judy had a plateful of something, and was +eating as busily as she was talking. Doing neither, for she knew nobody +to talk to, Matilda waited, and thought of her watch, in a trance of +rapture. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, my dear, is nobody attending to you?" she heard the voice of Mrs. +Lloyd say at last. "Have you had nothing all this while?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am—they are all so busy." +</P> + +<P> +But David came up at the minute, and Matilda had no longer anything to +complain of. He served her very kindly, and Matilda found that she was +very hungry. She got a chance, however, to thank David for her work-box. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure you deserve it," he said. "What did Judy give you?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked very little pleased, Matilda thought, when she told him. But +he only helped her carefully to everything she would have, and said no +more about it. +</P> + +<P> +A third wonder to Matilda that evening was the style and amount of +eating that went on. The ices were in beautiful fruit forms; and she +thought when she had demolished one of them she had done enough, +especially as caramel, and candied fruits, and other confections were +awaiting her attention. But the circulation of these little ices went +on at a rate that proved Matilda's moderation to be shared by few, and +she heard one little lady say to another, herself with a plateful, "Is +that your <I>third</I> or your <I>fourth?</I>" Slowly munching candied grapes, +Matilda looked on and marvelled. Presently Norton came to see if she +wanted anything, and then Esther joined them, and the talk was of the +witch again. +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to see her now," said Norton. "Just as soon as we have +done with the table." +</P> + +<P> +"What's it all for?" inquired Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Norton, shaking his head. "Some crotchet of +somebody's. I don't know anything about it. Only everybody is invited +to go and see the witch; and the witch's den is in the little reception +room on the other side of the hall; and we must go in one by one; and +we must answer every question we are asked, or we shall get no good of +our interview. So much I am informed of." +</P> + +<P> +"What good shall we get if we do answer all the questions?" Esther +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"If I was a wizard, maybe I could tell you, Esther. You should ask +David. There used to be witches and wizards, too, among his people." +</P> + +<P> +"They were forbidden," said David gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"But they were there, all the same," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Not all the same," said David; "for it was death by the law; and no +good ever came of them, and nobody good ever went to them." +</P> + +<P> +"O David," said Matilda timidly, but the occasion was too tempting to +be lost,—"do you know what they did? Did they only play tricks? or was +there anything real about it?" +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps David took a different view of the occasion; for after one +earnest look into Matilda's face, as if he would answer her, he turned +it off with lightly saying that the witches were real, for Saul had +them all put to death that he could find; and then saying that he would +go and look after this particular witch. And presently he came back and +proclaimed that she was ready to receive visitors. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are to go, Davie? Who are to go to see her?" were the inquiries +huddled one upon another. +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody," said David. "One at a time." +</P> + +<P> +"What are we to do? What are we to say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Answer questions." +</P> + +<P> +"The witch's questions?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"Why must we answer her questions? and what will she ask us about?" +</P> + +<P> +"Really you must judge for yourselves, about the one thing; and find +out for yourselves, about the other. I cannot tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you answer her questions?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +"O come along!" was the cry then; "you can't get anything out of him. +Who will go first?" +</P> + +<P> +Caramel and ices had done their utmost, and now the witch became the +absorbing interest. And as those who came back from the witch s den, it +was found, would tell nothing of what had transpired there, the +interest was kept up at white heat. First one went, and then another. +Of course the young people of the household were the last. +</P> + +<P> +The witch's den, when Norton entered it, was a place he did not +recognize; though in reality it was manufactured out of the little +corner reception room. Dark drapery enclosed and mystified the space +into which he was admitted; the light came from he could not see where, +and was dim enough too; and the witch was not to be seen. Nor, +distinctly, anything else. Norton took his stand as he had been +directed in front of a dark curtain and waited. The first question +demanded his name, and when that had been answered the voice went on,— +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want of the witch?" +</P> + +<P> +"That depends on what she can do," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Power unlimited." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I wish she would cast a spell upon Mrs. Lloyd." +</P> + +<P> +"To what effect?" +</P> + +<P> +"That she would let me have the little corner attic room for a +greenhouse." +</P> + +<P> +"How would you warm it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't want much more warming than it has now. A gas stove would +do, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"You may go. You shall hear from me in the course of the week." +</P> + +<P> +Norton went out in high glee. "She's a brick, that witch!" he +exclaimed. "Go along, Judy—and make haste; people are taking leave +now. I don't know whose the voice is, though," he went on; "I couldn't +make it out. I guess"—But Norton stopped; and Judy went in. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you in want of anything, Judy Bartholomew?" the unseen witch asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't got all I want," said Judy; "if you mean that." +</P> + +<P> +"State what is needed." +</P> + +<P> +"There are a great many things," said Judy unblushingly; "but the two +things I wish for most particularly are—to give a ball, for one; and +to have a diamond ring, for the other." +</P> + +<P> +"Short of these two things, all your wishes are satisfied then?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Judy hesitatingly,—"I didn't say that. I want lots of +things besides; but those two most." +</P> + +<P> +"You may go. The witch always wants time. Have you any debts to pay? of +money? of any other sort?" +</P> + +<P> +"No indeed," said Judy decidedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there anybody to whom you would like to do a kindness?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that I know of." +</P> + +<P> +"You may go. Your wants shall be considered." +</P> + +<P> +Judy came out triumphant. She would have had her brother go next, but +he insisted that Matilda should precede him. So Matilda went into the +darkened, mysterious boudoir of the receptions. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is this?" said the voice. +</P> + +<P> +And a gentle answer came; not like Judy's proclaiming of herself, yet +clear and frank too. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda Laval, what would you like of all things, if you could have +it?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda hesitated. "There are so many things"—she began,—"it isn't +very easy"— +</P> + +<P> +"So many things you would like?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am. Not for <I>myself</I>," she added, in a kind of horror at being +supposed to entertain such wishes under the flood of good things that +had come upon her that evening. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, go on. It is for yourself in one way. Say what, of all you can +think of, would give you most pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda's hands came together with a certain pang of hope, as she +answered. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could make somebody comfortable that I know of;—a poor, <I>good</I> +girl, who is not comfortable at all." +</P> + +<P> +"One of your sisters?" +</P> + +<P> +"O no, ma'am; no relation." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter with her, and how could you make her comfortable?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is a very poor girl," said Matilda, so eager that she did not know +what to bring out first;—"she lives in a cellar room with a wet mud +floor, and no bed to sleep on that is like a bed; of course she cannot +be very clean, nor have any comfort at all; and I should like to make +them comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"A very poor girl, that goes to Sunday school. But she is very good." +</P> + +<P> +"Does she live there alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"O there are three of them; her mother and little brother." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why does not the mother earn money and live better?" +</P> + +<P> +"She works for it; she sews; but the people give her almost nothing for +her work; and Sarah sweeps a crossing." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you come to know all this?" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw Sarah in Sunday school; and I heard about her from my teacher, +and he shewed me the place where she lives. He knows she is good." +</P> + +<P> +"And what do you want to do for her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to get her out of that place, and into a decent room, and give +her a comfortable bed." +</P> + +<P> +"What is her name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah Staples." +</P> + +<P> +"How long would she keep decent, do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Always," said Matilda confidently. "I am sure she would be just as +nice as she possibly could. Where she is, she has no chance." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, go; the witch will look into it." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda went out, hardly knowing what to think, or whether she might +hope anything from this very doubtful interview. Just as she reached +the door, she was called back. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you no wishes for yourself, little girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am; thank you." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there nothing in the world you would like?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose, a great many things," said Matilda; "but I have got so many +now, I am afraid to wish." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I <I>ought</I> to wish for anything more, for myself." +</P> + +<P> +"You are the first person I ever saw, young or old, who put an 'ought' +before his wishes. Most people put it after them. Well, as a reward, +tell the one more thing, for yourself, that you would wish for if you +could have it." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought, and hesitated. She did not at all like to tell her +thought. At last the witch urged her to speak out and be quick. +</P> + +<P> +"If I were to choose—and wish for anything more," Matilda said +slowly,—"which I don't; but if I <I>did</I> wish for anything more, it +would be for a beautiful picture I have seen." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha!" said the witch. "Where did you see it?" +</P> + +<P> +"At Goupil's." +</P> + +<P> +"And what picture was it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was the picture of the woman searching for the lost piece of money." +</P> + +<P> +"Well. You are an odd child. You may go; and if there is anybody else +to come, let them make haste. I am as tired as if I were not a witch." +</P> + +<P> +A minute after David entered the den. +</P> + +<P> +"I know who you are," said the witch. "Speak your heart's desire; and +in one word, if you can." +</P> + +<P> +"In one word, Hebrew." +</P> + +<P> +"What of Hebrew?" +</P> + +<P> +"To learn it." +</P> + +<P> +"Learning is a thing I cannot do for you." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but the means." +</P> + +<P> +"What means?" +</P> + +<P> +"Permission, time, books, and a teacher." +</P> + +<P> +"You are another odd one. Is that your dearest heart's wish, David +Bartholomew?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it is the greatest I have, at present." +</P> + +<P> +"Well. Leave it with me and go." +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, David!" exclaimed Norton as he came out into the hall; "the +people are all gone; the last one just had the door shut behind him." +</P> + +<P> +"It's time," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Takes more than a party to shake you out of your gravity," said +Norton. "Time? why yes, it's past twelve." +</P> + +<P> +"Sunday!" exclaimed Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +The other three, they were together in the hall, all burst out laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Sunday; and Christmas is over, and the Christmas tree," said +Norton. "But the fruits keep. Extraordinary tree! Well, Pink; we have +got to go and sleep now. Do you want to take another look at the tree?" +</P> + +<P> +They all went into the drawing-room which had been the scene of so much +festivity. The tree stood there yet in its tub, with ribbands and gilt +work hanging to it; but the lights were burnt out, and the splendour +was gone, and its riches were scattered. It was a thing of the past +already. +</P> + +<P> +"The fruits will keep," Norton repeated. "Did you find out who the +witch was, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I knew." +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>knew</I> I knew," said Norton; "but she had somebody else to speak for +her. What a jolly witch! We shall hear from her some of these days. +Well, good night." +</P> + +<P> +Kisses and thanks and good nights had to be exchanged with the older +members of the family; and Sunday was well begun when at last Matilda +shut her door behind her. She had to take one look at her watch; it was +no doubt a little beauty; and to Matilda's vision it was a very fruit +and embodiment of fairyland. Beyond even her wildest dreams of what was +possible from a Christmas tree. Her own watch! She could scarcely +believe it, even with the watch lying securely in her hand. And with +the delicate minute hand pointing but fifteen minutes off from one o' +clock, she still stood gazing and rapt. Then as the hand went on to +fourteen minutes, and thirteen, Matilda started and laid it down. To +have her own watch telling her it was time to go to bed! But she must +just look at Mrs. Bartholomew's present. +</P> + +<P> +Hurriedly she untied the box and pulled off the silver paper. And +within the silver paper inside the box lay a dainty gold bracelet. +</P> + +<P> +It was extremely pretty, and had cost a great deal, no doubt. It was +very kind of Judy's mother to give it. Nevertheless round the bracelet +crept a sort of cobweb of thoughts and feelings which were not all of +pleasure. It was too late to examine into them now. Matilda wrapped up +the trinket again and put it away, and went to bed; as happy as it +seemed possible for her to be. +</P> + +<P> +Sunday morning was high and bright, it must be confessed, when she +awoke. Bells were ringing, the eight o' clock bells she thought they +must be; but indeed they were the bells for Sunday school. Matilda did +not guess that, and so was not in an immediate hurry to get out of bed +and end the luxurious rest which the excitements and late hours of the +day before had made so welcome and so long. She lay still, shut her +eyes, and opened them upon the morning brightness, with a thrilling and +bounding rapture of recollection that there was a little gold watch in +her drawer which owned her for its mistress and would be her +inseparable friend and servant—and adornment—thenceforward. Matilda +lay still for very happiness. Turning her head a little towards the +window the next time she opened her eyes, it seemed to her that she saw +a picture standing there against the wall. Matilda shut her eyes and +told herself that she was not dreaming and had no business to see +visions in broad daylight. "I have been thinking so much about that +picture I suppose, and talking about it to the witch, that is the +reason I thought I saw it. But what <I>did</I> I see, that looked like a +picture?" She opened her eyes now and raised herself on her elbow to +look, for this was curious. More curious still! there, against the +wall, in plain view, in the broad light, stood the beautiful engraving +that had so captivated her. +</P> + +<P> +"It's there!" was Matilda's thought. "The very thing! But what is it +there for?" +</P> + +<P> +A half-formed suspicion made her jump out of bed very spryly and run to +the picture. There was a little ticket stuck in between the glass and +the frame. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>For Matilda Laval</I>—with Mrs. Lloyd's thanks and <I>approbation</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked, rushed back into bed, and arranged herself so that she +could comfortably see the picture, while she thought about it. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Lloyd's thanks"—thanks for what? She must know, she <I>must</I> know, +about the shawl. Yes, she must; I guess mamma told her. And it is mine! +it is mine! There she is, that beautiful thing, the woman hunting for +her lost money; the odd little lamp, and all. It is mine to keep. +Certainly I ought not to wish for another thing for a whole year to +come; I have got so much. This and my watch. O delightful!—I ought to +be good! How lovely the light from that little old lamp is. And that is +the way Jesus looks for us—for people who are lost; lost in the dark. +So he looked for <I>me</I>, and found me. And there are such a great many +more lost, that are not found yet. Lost in the dark!—And if He cares +for them so, he must wish his servants to care too, and to look for +them, and save all they can. Then that woman with her pretty lamp just +shews me what I ought to do and how I ought to feel.— +</P> + +<P> +Musing on in this way, very happy, leaning on her elbow to look at the +picture, too warm in the soft air of her room to be disturbed by the +necessity of getting dressed, Matilda noticed at last that the bells +had stopped ringing. It was eight o' clock past, she thought, and time +to get up; but she would look at her watch to see how eight o' clock +looked on its pretty white face. Lo, it was nine! Sunday schools +already beginning their services, while she stood there in her +night-gown; dressing and breakfast yet to be gone through. But the +afternoon was the time for school in the place where Matilda went; so +all was not lost. +</P> + +<P> +And so ended the doings of that Christmas night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<P> +The experience of the morning certainly was rather scattering in its +tendency, as far as any sober thought or work was concerned. The young +people were brimful of life and fun and excitement; and it was not +possible for Matilda to escape the infection. Nevertheless after lunch +she had firmness enough left to put on her coat and hat and trudge off +to Sunday school by herself. Norton said he had not "slept out," and +would not go. Matilda went, with her little watch safe in her breast. +</P> + +<P> +Getting out into the cold air and setting her feet upon the snowy +streets, had somewhat the effect of breaking a spell. For a while, that +seemed now a very long while, Matilda had been in a whirl of +expectation and pleasure and in a kind of dream of enchantment; nothing +but soft luxury and visions of delight and one thing after another to +make the child think she had got into very fairyland. But the streets +outside were not fairyland; and the sharp air pinched her cheek with a +grip which was not tender or flattering at all. The sense began to come +back to Matilda that everybody was not having such rose-coloured dreams +as she, nor living in summer-heated rooms. Nay, she saw children that +were ill dressed, on their way like her; some who were insufficiently +dressed; a multitude who were not nicely dressed; the contrast was very +unpleasant, and a certain feeling of uneasiness and of responsibility +and of desire to make other people comfortable crept over her anew. +Then she remembered that she could not reach many, she could not do +much; and she came into school and took her seat at last with a +concentrated desire to do at least something effectual towards rescuing +Sarah Staples from her miserable circumstances. After the lesson was +done and the scholars were dismissed, Matilda asked Mr. Wharncliffe if +she could speak to him? +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a minute's work? or several minutes?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, sir; I think, several minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"Then wait a minute, and we will walk home together." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda liked that, and presently in the clear late light of the waning +winter afternoon, she and her teacher sallied forth into the street +hand in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Now what is it?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"About Sarah, Mr. Wharncliffe." +</P> + +<P> +"Well? What about her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have been thinking a great deal, Mr. Wharncliffe, how to manage it; +because I had not a great deal of money myself, and I did not know +whether I could get help or no; but now I think I <I>shall</I> have some +help; and I wanted to consult you to know what I had best do." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"First, I want to get her out of that dreadful place into a comfortable +room somewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you do it, how is she going to stay in it?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"The rent of such a room as you speak of would be, say seventy-five +cents or a dollar a week. How are Sarah and her mother to pay that?" +</P> + +<P> +"O I should have to pay it for them. I could do that, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"For how long?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked at her teacher and did not immediately answer. She had +not looked ahead so far as that. +</P> + +<P> +"It is necessary to take all things into consideration," he said, +answering her look. "You would not wish to put Sarah and her mother +into a place of comfort for a little while, merely to let them fall out +of it again?" +</P> + +<P> +"O no, sir!" +</P> + +<P> +"How are they to be maintained in it?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda pondered. +</P> + +<P> +"I could take care of the rent, I think, I mean <I>we</I> could, for a +while; for a year, perhaps; by that time couldn't they pay it, don't +you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"How?" +</P> + +<P> +"By their work; by their earnings." +</P> + +<P> +"But now, and for a long time past, their work has not enabled them to +pay for anything better than they have got." +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't they do something better, Mr. Wharncliffe? something else? +that would give them more money?" +</P> + +<P> +"What work could you help them to, that would pay better?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, sir," said Matilda, looking up wistfully in her +teacher's face. "I don't know anything about such things. Can <I>you</I> +tell me? What work is there that they could get. What the other poor +people do?" +</P> + +<P> +"There are other things," said Mr. Wharncliffe thoughtfully. "There are +better and better paying sorts of sewing; what Mrs. Staples does is +very coarse, and she gets very little for it. But machine work +now-a-days puts hand work at a disadvantage." +</P> + +<P> +"What is machine work, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Work done on a sewing machine. With a machine a woman can do I +suppose, ten times as much in a day, and with more ease to herself." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, wouldn't Mrs. Staples work on a machine?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know. I think she used to take in washing once. She could do +that again, if she had a better room and conveniences." +</P> + +<P> +"And does that pay better?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe so. Indeed I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Then she might do washing," said Matilda; "and Sarah might sew on a +machine, Mr. Wharncliffe." +</P> + +<P> +"She has not got one, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"If we could get her one? Wouldn't that be nice, Mr. Wharncliffe?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear child, a good sewing machine costs a good deal of money." +</P> + +<P> +"But <I>if</I> we could, Mr. Wharncliffe? I said <I>if</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing could be better. Perhaps, by and by, it might be managed. In +the mean time, Sarah might learn, and possibly get work; or get a +machine and pay for it gradually by doing work for the makers. Such +arrangements are made." +</P> + +<P> +"How much does a sewing machine cost?" +</P> + +<P> +"From forty five to sixty dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Forty five," repeated Matilda gravely. "But, Mr. Wharncliffe, in the +first place the thing to do is to get them out of that place into a new +room. Might we not do that? and don't you think the rest can be +managed, somehow?" +</P> + +<P> +"If we do that, the rest <I>must</I> be managed, if possible. It is always +greater kindness and a far greater benefit, Matilda, to help poor +people to take care of themselves, than to save them that care." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"People are better and happier and stronger, working for their living +and earning it, and keeping the sense of independence, than they are +when living on the money of other people and losing their own +self-respect. That is very ruinous to character. Avoid it always, in +all your efforts to help people." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I see," said Matilda thoughtfully. "But, Mr. Wharncliffe, Sarah +and her mother cannot do anything to get in a better way while they +live in that cellar. They want some help just at first. Don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; and I think we have struck the right line of action to +pursue for them. Help to put them in the way of being comfortably +independent, is just what they want." +</P> + +<P> +"Then the first thing is a lodging," said Matilda, with a relieved and +brightening face. "How can we find one, Mr. Wharncliffe? I don't want +them to know about it till we get it all settled and ready for them to +move into." +</P> + +<P> +"Ready for them?" said Mr. Wharncliffe inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; you know they have nothing to put into a nice room now, if +they had one." +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you laying plans beyond your means?" +</P> + +<P> +"Beyond <I>mine;</I> but I shall have some help. I don't know exactly how +much, but some." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you will let me help too if necessary," said the gentleman. "And +I will look out for a lodging." +</P> + +<P> +"O thank you! Will you, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure. That is one way I am going to help." +</P> + +<P> +"And when you have found one, you will let me know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whom else? Certainly, I will. I shall take no step without your +direction." +</P> + +<P> +"O thank you, sir!" said Matilda again. +</P> + +<P> +They had been walking up the Avenue during this talk, to have +uninterrupted time for it; now they had turned about to come home. +Clear and bright and cold the sun was leaving the streets and lingering +about the house roofs and chimneys; and the steeples of churches were +shining marks of light on one side, on the other dark spires against +the western sky. Mr. Wharncliffe and Matilda quickened their steps, +which the frosty air made it pleasant to do. She supposed that the +subject of their conversation was ended for the present, and so was +somewhat surprised to hear the next question from her companion. It +came out after some little pause. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda what has put this in your head?" +</P> + +<P> +"This we have been talking of? Why I wanted to make Sarah comfortable. +I could not bear to have her in that dreadful place. Mr. Wharncliffe, +don't you think it is dreadful?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do think it is dreadful; and your feeling very natural. Then you +want to go to this expense and trouble for the comfort of knowing that +she is comfortable?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think so," said Matilda, somewhat puzzled. "I could not bear to +think of her there." +</P> + +<P> +"All perfectly right, Matilda," said her friend smiling. "I only want, +while you are taking care of Sarah, to take care of you." +</P> + +<P> +"How, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"There are so many ways in which good things may be done; and I wish +you to take the best." +</P> + +<P> +"What ways do you mean, sir? I do not understand." +</P> + +<P> +"There is one way of doing kind things, merely or chiefly to save one's +self from the uncomfortable feeling that the sight of misery gives. +Kind people of that sort are benevolent in spots, just when they see or +hear of something that touches them, and never at any other time. +Others do kind things because they like to have a name for generosity, +and giving money costs them nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked inquiringly up in Mr. Wharncliffe's face. "It made me +very uncomfortable to see Sarah in that place," she said; "and to think +of her in it." +</P> + +<P> +"A third sort of kindness," Mr. Wharncliffe went on smiling, "is done +because people love the Lord Jesus, and so love all whom he loves, and +like to do the work he wants done." +</P> + +<P> +"But it makes them feel badly to see people suffering?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly. They are the tenderest of all. But they will do as much +for people they never saw, as for those at hand; and their spring of +kindness never dries up. It is a perpetual flow. When they do not see +objects on which to spend it, they seek them out." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda pondered matters a little. Then she lifted a very honest face +towards her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Which reason did you think made me want to do this for Sarah, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted <I>you</I> to think about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think, Mr. Wharncliffe, it is very difficult to find out +really why one does things?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very difficult," said Mr. Wharncliffe with a comical drawing of his +lips; "but very useful." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not <I>think</I>," began Matilda again, very gravely, "I do not +<I>think</I> my wanting to do this for Sarah was just to make myself feel +comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think it, my child; but it is no harm to have your attention +directed to the question. In all such matters, keep your action pure; +let every thing be done for Christ, and then it will be all right. For +instance, Matilda, when the real motive is self, or when there is no +higher at work, one is easily tempted to do too much in a given case; +to indulge one's self with great effects and astonishing liberality; +when, if it were simply for Christ, one would be moderate and simple +and prudent, and keep a due proportion in things." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Matilda looking puzzled,—"I understand. You will help me +keep a 'proper proportion' in what I do for Sarah Staples, Mr. +Wharncliffe?" +</P> + +<P> +"How much are you thinking of doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to get her into a comfortable room," said Matilda. "That is +first. Then—they have no furniture, Mr. Wharncliffe?" +</P> + +<P> +"You want to get them some?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would that be too much? a little? common things, of course, but what +they cannot be comfortable without." +</P> + +<P> +"How much money do you propose to spend on Sarah at this time?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know. I know about how much I have, but I can't tell yet how +much help I shall get. I want to do what <I>ought</I> to be done." +</P> + +<P> +The last words were said with such an accent of earnest determination, +that Mr. Wharncliffe again had almost smiled at his scholar; but he did +not. He went on quite gravely:— +</P> + +<P> +"A room and some necessary furniture, I should think, could be managed." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we want to get them into a way of earning more." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I will see about that. And about the room. And I can get what you +want in furniture, at a second hand place, where the articles will cost +very little." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good," said Matilda. "Well, Mr. Wharncliffe, all <I>that</I> will +not be too much?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think not." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda hesitated, and then added doubtfully, "Don't you think they +want clean dresses?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wharncliffe smiled now. +</P> + +<P> +"Where shall we stop?" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"But they are very—uncomfortable," said Matilda, after waiting to +choose a word. Her teacher thought for a minute of Sarah's well-worn, +faded, lank, best dress, and how little evidently there was under it to +keep the child warm, and his brow grew very sober indeed, and his blue +eye misty. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll not check you, Matilda," he said, "unless I see you going to some +great extravagance. Go on, and I'll help, and we'll try to make one bad +spot at least a little better. Good-bye!" +</P> + +<P> +With a smile and a nod he parted from her at her own door, and Matilda +ran up the steps and ran in with a whole little gale of pleasure +freshening through her heart. +</P> + +<P> +There was a gale of another sort blowing through the house that +evening, and making the household lively. Pleasure was not wanting to +it, though it was pleasure of another sort and largely mixed with +excitement. The three other young ones were full of plans for the +holiday week, reminiscences of the last evening, comparison and +discussion of presents, and of people. Matilda in the midst of them +listened and was amused, and thought of her gold watch and of Sarah +with great secret throbs of delight in her heart. +</P> + +<P> +"So you were the witch, grandmother," said Norton. "I knew it. I was +sure of it. What did you do it for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do what, boy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Take up a witch's trade?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have not laid it down yet." +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am; but what put it in your head?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted my share of the fun," said the old lady. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you get it, grandmamma?" asked David. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. A very good share." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ask everybody such questions as you asked us?" Norton inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not want to know the same thing about all of you." +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am. Did you find out a good deal, grandmother?" +</P> + +<P> +But Mrs. Lloyd laughed and declined to answer. +</P> + +<P> +"There is something more I want to find out," she said. "I want to know +what makes this little girl look so happy. She doesn't say a word, but +her smiles speak for her!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who, Matilda?" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy enough to be smiling," said Judy with slight scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"You might practise it then a little, and do no hurt," remarked Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody ought to be always smiling," returned Judy. "It's vulgar. And +it doesn't mean anything, either." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, Judy," said her mother. +</P> + +<P> +"What were you smiling about, Matilda?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. +</P> + +<P> +"A great many things I was thinking of, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +But the little girl's face was so gleeful as she answered, and the +smile and the sparkle were so pleasant, that the old lady's curiosity +was raised. +</P> + +<P> +"A great many things?" she repeated, "A <I>great many</I> things to be glad +of? I should like to know what they are. Come, I will make a bargain +with you. I will give you a silver penny for your thoughts; and my +silver penny shall be a golden half-eagle." +</P> + +<P> +"For my <I>thoughts</I>, ma'am?" said Matilda, half bewildered; while the +other young ones burst out like a pack of hounds after their leader. +</P> + +<P> +"A half-eagle," Mrs. Lloyd repeated, "for <I>all</I> your thoughts; if you +will give me them all. I want to know all the things you are feeling so +glad about." +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmamma, you'll do as much for me?" cried Judy. "Only, mine will +take an eagle to bring them down. They fly high. You might have bought +hers, I am confident, for a duck or a pigeon." +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to make a bargain too, grandmother," said Norton; "if +you are in that mood." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think your thoughts are worth anything?" said his +grandmother;—"to anybody but yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whose are?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Mine are not," said Matilda. She had flushed high, for she saw that +the old lady was in earnest; and five dollars was a good deal to her +just now. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything is worth what it will fetch, though," said David. "I advise +you to close with the offer, Matilda. Five dollars is five dollars, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda's eyes went doubtfully to Mrs. Lloyd. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the old lady smiling. "I will stand to my part of the +bargain, if you will stand to yours. But mind, I want <I>all</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"There were so many things," Matilda began; "it would take me a good +while to tell them." +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind; we have nothing better to do," said Mrs. Lloyd. "We are at +leisure." +</P> + +<P> +"Time's nothing," said Norton, in great amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"At ten dollars or so an hour," added David. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Matilda was in some difficulty. She was furnishing the +entertainment of the whole circle; for even Mrs. Bartholomew put down +her paper, and Mrs. Laval was smiling, and Mrs. Lloyd was waiting, and +the children were all open-eyed. But she had nothing to be ashamed of; +and five dollars!— +</P> + +<P> +"I was feeling glad about my watch," she began, "and about my +picture—O so very glad! I think they have hardly been out of my mind +all day." +</P> + +<P> +"Picture? what picture?" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" said her grandmother. +</P> + +<P> +"She didn't have any picture!" Judy went on. Matilda looked at her and +said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you?" said Judy. "What was it? Is it in a locket?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can attend to her afterwards, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd. "At +present you are engaged with me. There is nobody here but you and me." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda sincerely wished it had been so; but she had several curious +pairs of ears listening to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I was glad, I believe, about all the pleasure of last night, and +the Christmas tree, and my other presents; but that wasn't all. To-day +has been so very pleasant, and this afternoon particularly." +</P> + +<P> +"This afternoon!" cried Judy. "Why she was away at that horrid Sunday +school." +</P> + +<P> +"She don't think it is horrid," said Norton, displeased. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean she shall get through what she has to say," remarked +David. +</P> + +<P> +"If you would all hold your tongues, there would be some chance," said +Mrs. Lloyd. "Try again, Matilda. Was there more? What made the +afternoon so pleasant?" +</P> + +<P> +"It always is at that school," said Matilda. "But besides that, this +afternoon I believe I got some help for something I want to do; and +thinking about that, and about what I want to do, was part of I what +was feeling so glad about." +</P> + +<P> +"Well if that isn't a confused statement of facts!" said Judy. "Feeling +so glad about,—when?" +</P> + +<P> +"When Mrs. Lloyd asked me what I was smiling at." +</P> + +<P> +"But I am to have your thoughts, you know," said Mrs. Lloyd, with a +rather pleasant smile. "You have not told me yet <I>what</I> it is you want +to do, the thought of which is so agreeable." +</P> + +<P> +"I did tell it, to the witch last night," said Matilda. "Do you want me +to tell it again, now, ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. You don't think I am a witch, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +On that point Matilda did not give her thoughts; but as desired, she +told the story, briefly, of Sarah and her home, and of the reforms +proposed in the latter. The attention of her hearers was marked, +although most of them indeed had known the matter before. +</P> + +<P> +"What was there in all this to make you so very glad?" inquired Judy. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda hesitated, and could not find what to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Pink has her own ways of being happy you see," Norton remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"She is not the only one, I hope," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"The only one, what?" said Judy sharply. "You are as bad as she is, +David, to-night, for talking thick." +</P> + +<P> +"Have we got through, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Lloyd kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"Through all the things that were making me feel glad?" said Matilda. +"No, ma'am—not quite." And she stopped and flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us have it," said Mrs. Lloyd. "A bargain is a bargain." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am," said Matilda. "I am afraid—I was afraid—perhaps you +wouldn't understand me. I was glad of all these things;—and then, I +thought, I was so glad that I knew about Jesus; and that I am his +child; and that he has given me all these other things to be glad +about, and this work to do for Sarah!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a profound silence for a minute or two. Judy was astonished +out of speech. David, perhaps, disgusted. Norton was a little proud +that Matilda had independence enough to dare to speak out, even if he +chafed a little under the subject of her plain speaking. The elder +ladies looked at one another with an odd expression in their eyes. When +Mrs. Lloyd spoke she went back to the practical question. +</P> + +<P> +"How much money do you expect it will take, to do what you want for +these poor people, Matilda?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, ma'am, yet. My teacher will find out and tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it your teacher who has suggested the plan?" +</P> + +<P> +"The plan?—O no, ma'am," said Matilda. "It is my plan. I have been +talking him into it." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is he?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wharncliffe." +</P> + +<P> +"What Wharncliffe? Is he any connection of General Wharncliffe?" +</P> + +<P> +"His brother," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +This seemed, Matilda did not know why, to give satisfaction to her +elders. Mrs. Lloyd went on with an unbent face. +</P> + +<P> +"How much money have you got, Matilda, to work with?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a great deal, ma'am; I have saved a little. It won't take such a +<I>very</I> great deal to get all I want. It is only common things." +</P> + +<P> +"Saved!" Judy burst out. "<I>Saved!</I> Now we have got at it. This is the +secret. <I>This</I> is why we are such good temperance people and think it's +wicked to buy liqueur glasses. O yes! we save our money that way, no +doubt." +</P> + +<P> +"Judy," said her brother, "I'm ashamed of you." +</P> + +<P> +"No need," said Judy coolly. "Keep it for yourself, next occasion." +</P> + +<P> +"What is all this?" said Mrs. Lloyd. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing that had better go any further," said Mrs. Laval. "Nothing of +any consequence, mother." +</P> + +<P> +"It is of no consequence," said Judy, "because David and Norton made it +up." +</P> + +<P> +"And Judy didn't," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Not I; it was your affair," said the young lady. "My connections are +not given to saving." +</P> + +<P> +"That is very true indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew, bursting out +into a laugh; "and you, Judy, least of all your 'connections.'" +</P> + +<P> +"But what is all this?" repeated Mrs. Lloyd, seeing that the faces +around her were moved by very various sorts of expression. It had to +come out. Judy and Norton told the story between them, with some +difficulty. Matilda felt very sorry, and very doubtful of the effect. +David looked exceedingly dissatisfied. Mrs. Lloyd listened with +unchanged gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"There! you may call it what you like," Judy said in conclusion. "But I +like to have things go by their right names." +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't be always best for you," said her brother. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it is wrong, my dear, to drink wine?" Mrs. Lloyd asked, +addressing Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda did not well know what to answer. She, a child, what business +had she to 'think' anything about the right or the wrong of things done +by people so much older and wiser than herself? And yet, that did not +change the truth, and the truth was what she must answer. +</P> + +<P> +"I have promised not to do it," she said, almost shrinkingly. +</P> + +<P> +"That affects your own drinking or not drinking. Do you think it is +wrong for other people?" +</P> + +<P> +Again Matilda hesitated. She would have welcomed almost any +interruption of Judy's; but this time Judy kept as still as a mouse. +And so did everybody else. Matilda's colour came and went. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, ma'am," she said at last, "I don't want to say what you +will think rude." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not think it rude," said Mrs. Lloyd with a little laugh. "I +want to know what notion such a child as you has got in her head. <I>Do</I> +you think it is wrong?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am," Matilda-answered softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear her!" cried Judy. "She has got an idea that wine is money in +another form, and heavy to drink." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought that Judy had unwittingly put her very meaning into the +words; but she did not say so. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear," said Mrs. Lloyd, "I have drunk wine all my life. It has +never hurt me." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was silent. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that your notion, that it is unwholesome?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"What then?" +</P> + +<P> +"People take too much of it," said Matilda; "and it ruins them; and if +all good people would let it alone, wouldn't it help to make the rest +let it alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Insufferable piggishness!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. "You must excuse me, +Zara. I hope you will teach your adopted child better manners, arid get +rid of a little of this superb folly." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so sure about the folly," said Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure about the manners," said Mrs. Lloyd. "She has said nothing +but what I have made her say. Now, my dear, you have fulfilled your +part of the bargain between us, and I will do my part." +</P> + +<P> +The old lady produced a gold five dollar piece from her purse and put +it in Matilda's hand. Then drawing the child kindly towards her, she +added, +</P> + +<P> +"And from this time you must call me grandmamma, will you? as the +others do; and I will call you my grandchild." +</P> + +<P> +She kissed the astonished Matilda, and the subject was dismissed. At +least by the elders; the young people did not so easily let it drop. No +sooner were they by themselves than Judy held forth in a long tirade, +about "presumption" and "artfulness" and "underhand ways;" waxing warm +as she went on; till Norton was provoked to answer, and the debate +between them grew hot. Matilda said never a word, nor did David; she +kept outwardly very quiet; but an hour after, if anybody could have +seen her he would have seen a little figure cuddled down in a corner of +her own room and weeping abundant tears. So ended the Christmas Sunday +and the Christmas festival. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<P> +There were too many pleasant things on hand for Judy's behaviour to +have any very lasting effect on Matilda's spirits, besides that a good +share of independence was one of her valuable characteristics. With the +new light of Monday morning, her heart leapt up anew at thought of all +the comfort preparing for Sarah and at her growing stock of means for +the same. She got out her purse and counted her money. With the new +gold piece there was a nice little sum; not enough indeed, but Matilda +had hopes of David, and hopes floating and various, that somehow what +was needful would be forthcoming when the time came. +</P> + +<P> +The week was about half gone, when one afternoon David came to +Matilda's door and knocked. Matilda had shut herself up to write a +letter to Maria, and opened the door to David with a good deal of +surprise and pleasure. The second time, this was. He came in and sat +down. +</P> + +<P> +"Where do you think I have been?" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"To see Sarah?" said Matilda eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are quick," said David smiling. "No, I have not been to see Sarah +exactly; but I have been to see where she lives and all about her." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see where she lives?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"David, isn't it horrid?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's disgusting!" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"But she can't help it," said Matilda, again eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, she can't, but somebody ought to help it. There ought not to be +any such horror possible in such a city as this." +</P> + +<P> +"So I think. But <I>who</I> ought to help it, David? How could anybody help +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"There used to be a way among my people," said the boy proudly. "The +corners of the cornfields, and the last of the grapes on the vines, and +the dropped ears of corn, and the last beatings of the olives, were +commanded to be left for the poor." +</P> + +<P> +"But there are no vines nor cornfields nor olives <I>here</I>," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing so good," replied David. "I believe people grow wicked in +cities." +</P> + +<P> +"Then do you think it is wicked to build cities?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about that," said David; "that's another matter. Without +cities a great many good things would be impossible." +</P> + +<P> +"Would they? what?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, commerce, you know; without great centres of commerce, there +could not be great commerce; and there would not be great fortunes +then; and without great for tunes there could not be the grand things +in music and painting and sculpture and architecture and books, that +there are now." +</P> + +<P> +What "great centres of commerce" might be, Matilda could not tell; and +she did not like to ask David too many questions. She suddenly came out +with an objection. +</P> + +<P> +"But Abraham did not live in a city." +</P> + +<P> +David started, looked at her, and then laughed a little. +</P> + +<P> +"Abraham! no, he did not; and he was a rich man; but <I>one</I> rich man +here and there could not do those things I spoke of." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, wouldn't it be better there should be no cities?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Better than what? Better than have cities with such dreadful poor +people? Can't have the good without the bad, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"You said, people grow wicked in cities." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they do." +</P> + +<P> +"Then ought people to build cities?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know how the world would get on, at that rate," said David +smiling. "Anyhow the cities are built; and we are living in one; and +one corner house in it gives you and me as much as we can do." +</P> + +<P> +"A single room in it, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Well, you know you consulted a witch the other night." +</P> + +<P> +"Did I?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"The witch gave me orders to search into your matter. I have done it, +and told her what I had found; and she has commissioned me to deliver +to you—this." +</P> + +<P> +So saying, David produced a little gold piece, the very mate to the one +Matilda had earned by telling her thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"O David!" Matilda exclaimed,—"O David!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said David smiling. "What?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am getting so much!" +</P> + +<P> +"You will want it." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't see how it should take such a <I>very</I> great deal of money +just to do this little thing," said Matilda; and she went on to explain +Mr. Wharncliffe's propositions and helping agency. Before she had well +got through, Norton dashed in. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo! David here? All the better. Isn't she a jewel of a witch, +David?" +</P> + +<P> +David looked up with a responsive twinkle in his eye; and Matilda asked +what he meant. +</P> + +<P> +"Mean?" said Norton, "I mean the witch. You went to see the witch, +Pink; haven't you heard from her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes! just this minute; but Norton, I don't know what you expected to +hear. What have you heard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Glorious!" cried Norton, swinging his cap joyously. "We've got that +little room, Pink, for a greenhouse; and a stove in it for cold nights; +and shelves and benches and frames and all those things I'll put up my +self; and <I>then</I> we'll have a show of flowers. Your hyacinths will do a +great deal better up there." +</P> + +<P> +"Will they?" said Matilda. "They are doing very nicely here; and they +look nicely." +</P> + +<P> +"Now we can do all we've a mind to, Pink. I'll have some amaryllis +roots right off; and japonicas, <I>japonicas</I>, Pink; and everything you +like. Geraniums, and Bovardias, and Azaleas, and Cacti; and Cyclamens; +and Cassia and Arbutillon. Fuchsias too, and what you like!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why that little room will not hold everything," said Matilda. "Can't +you have some roses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Roses? O yes, and carnations; everything you like. Yes, it will hold +everything. Lots of tulips, too." +</P> + +<P> +"How about the money?" David asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It don't take a fortune to stock a little greenhouse." +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't got a fortune." +</P> + +<P> +"I have got enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Have anything left for other objects?" +</P> + +<P> +"What objects?" said Norton. "I haven't but one object at present. +One's enough." +</P> + +<P> +"But Matilda has an object too," David said smiling enough to show his +white teeth; "and her object will want some help, I'm thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"What object?" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you remember? I told you, Norton, about Sarah"— +</P> + +<P> +"O <I>that!</I>" said Norton with a perceptible fall of his mental +thermometer. "That's all your visions, Pink; impracticable; fancy. The +idea of you, with your little purse, going into the mud of New York, +and thinking to dean the streets." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," said David, "and so she wauls a little help from our +purses, don't you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"David Bartholomew!" Norton burst out, "you know as well as I do, that +it is no sort of use to try that game. Just go look at the mud; it will +take all we could throw into it, and never shew." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said David; "we could clear up a little corner, I think, if we +tried." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>You!</I>" cried Norton. "Are <I>you</I> at that game? <I>You</I> turned soft +suddenly?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do no harm, that I see," replied David composedly. +</P> + +<P> +"These people aren't your people," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"They are your people," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"They are not! I have nothing to do with them, and it is no use—Davie +Bartholomew, you <I>know</I> it's no use—to try to help them. Pink is so +tender-hearted, she wants to help the whole world; and it's all very +well for her to want it; but she can't; and I can't; and you can't." +</P> + +<P> +"But we can help Sarah Staples," Matilda ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"And then you may go on to help somebody else, and then somebody else; +and there's no end to it; only there's this end, that you'll always be +poor yourself and never be able to do anything you want to do." +</P> + +<P> +Norton was unusually heated, and both his hearers were for a moment +silenced. +</P> + +<P> +"You know that's the truth of it, Davie," he went on; "and it's no use +to encourage Pink to fancy she can comfort everybody that's in trouble, +and warm everybody that is cold, and feed everybody that is hungry, +because she just can't do it. You can tell her there is <I>no end</I> to +that sort of thing if she once tries it on. Suppose we all went to work +at it. Just see where we would be. Where would be Pink's gold watch, +and her picture? and where would be her gold bracelet? and where would +my greenhouse be? And where would this house be, for that matter? and +the furniture in it? and how should we all dress? Your mother wouldn't +wear velvet dresses, that you like so much; and mine wouldn't wear that +flimsy muslin stuff that she likes so much; and grandmamma's lace shawl +would never have been mended, for it never would have been here to get +burnt. It's all a lot of nonsense, that's what it is." +</P> + +<P> +"There is law about it, though," David began again gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Law?" Norton echoed. +</P> + +<P> +"The law of my people." +</P> + +<P> +"O what is it, David?" cried Matilda; while Norton was grumly silent. +He did not want to debate David's Jewish law with him. David gave the +words very readily. +</P> + +<P> +"'When there is with thee any needy one of one of thy brethren, in one +of thy cities, in thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, +thou dost not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy +brother; for thou dost certainly open thy hand to him, and dost +certainly lend him sufficient for his lack which he lacketh.'" +</P> + +<P> +"That says what the people would do—not what they <I>ought</I> to do," said +Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon; it is a strong way of saying, in the Hebrew, what +they <I>must</I> do. Listen. 'Thou dost certainly give to him, and thy heart +is not sad in thy giving to him, for because of this thing doth Jehovah +thy God bless thee in all thy works, and in every putting forth of +thine hand; because the needy one doth not cease out of the land, +therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Thou dost certainly open thy +hand to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy one, in thy land.'" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was thinking of other words, which she dared not bring forward; +being in a part of her Bible which David did not like. Neither was it +necessary. Norton had got quite enough, she could see. He was in a +state of fume, privately. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to give one side of the green house to you," he said, +turning to Matilda. "Now you have got to think and find out what you +will put in it. I shall have the shelves and all ready by the end of +the week; and next week, Pink,—next week!—we must put the plants in; +because the winter is going on, you know." +</P> + +<P> +The conclave broke up, to go upstairs and look at the new greenhouse. +Norton explained his arrangements; the oil-cloth he was going to put on +the floor, the rising banks of green shelves, the watering and +syringing and warming of the little place; till Matilda almost smelt +the geranium leaves before they were there. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Pink, what will you have on your side?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't give more than a dollar to it, Norton," said Matilda very +regretfully. +</P> + +<P> +"A dollar! A <I>dollar</I>, Pink? A dollar will get you two or three little +geraniums. What's to become of the rest of your shelves?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall have to give them back to you, I'm afraid." +</P> + +<P> +"You've got money, plenty." +</P> + +<P> +"But I can't spend it for plants." +</P> + +<P> +"Because you are going to throw it into the mud, Pink? O no, you'll not +do that. I'll give you a catalogue of plants, and you shall look it +over; and you will find a dollar won't do much, I can tell you. And +then you will see what you want." +</P> + +<P> +He was as good as his word; and Matilda sipped her glass of water and +eat her sponge cake at tea time between the pages of a fascinating +pamphlet, which with the delights it offered almost took away her +breath, and quite took away the taste of the sponge cake. Norton looked +over her shoulder now and then, well pleased to see his charm working. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Yellow</I> carnations?" cried Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like them best, though," said Norton. "There, <I>that</I>—La +purité—that's fine; and the striped ones, Pink; those double heads, +just as full as they can be, and just as sweet as they can be, and +brilliant carmine and white—those are what I like." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda drew a long breath and turned a leaf. +</P> + +<P> +"Violets!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Violets? Why, Norton, I don't like any thing better! I don't think I +do. Dear little sweet things! <I>they</I> do not cost much?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Norton, "they do not cost much; and they don't make much +show, neither." +</P> + +<P> +"But they don't take much room." +</P> + +<P> +"No; and you want things that <I>do</I> take room, to fill your shelves. The +greenhouse ought to be all one mass of green and bloom all round." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda heaved another sigh and turned another leaf. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know anything about tuberoses," she said. "Primroses? what are +they like? 'A thousand flowers often from one plant!' what are they +like, Norton?" +</P> + +<P> +"Like?" said Norton. "I don't know what they are like." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you," said Judy, who as usual was pleasing herself with a +cup of strong coffee; "they are like buttercups come to town and grown +polished." +</P> + +<P> +"They are not in the least like buttercups!" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I said," replied Judy coolly; "they have left off their +country ways, and don't wear yellow dresses." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought it was best to take no notice, so with another crumb of +sponge cake she turned over to the next flower in the catalogue. +</P> + +<P> +"What are Bouvardias? I don't know anything about them." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Judy. "Not to be expected." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want to take care of your own flowers yourself, Pink?" inquired +Norton; "or do you mean to have me do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I will do it, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you had better leave the Bouvardias to me. They are a little +particular about some things." +</P> + +<P> +"Are they handsome?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till you see. Splendid! You'll see, when I get them a going. +We'll have just a blaze of them." +</P> + +<P> +"A blaze?" said Matilda. "What colour?" +</P> + +<P> +"Flame colour, and scarlet, and white, and splendid crimson." +</P> + +<P> +"Heliotrope. O I like heliotrope," Matilda went on. +</P> + +<P> +"You can have those," said Norton. "They're sweet and easy. And we +must have them, of course, on one side or the other. Begonias—those +you might have, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Hyacinths I have got," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but you will want more, now that you have room for them." +</P> + +<P> +"Azaleas—O azaleas are lovely," said Matilda. "They are showy too; and +you want a show, Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"So do you, Pink." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I like azaleas," said Matilda. "Do they cost much?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not so very. I guess you can have some." +</P> + +<P> +"O what a geranium!" Matilda exclaimed. "'Lady James +Vick'—'seventy-five cents each'—but what a lovely colour, Norton! O I +like geraniums next best to roses, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"You must go to another catalogue for your roses," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"That is beautiful! I never saw such a colour. These roses are better +yet." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't have roses enough in bloom at once. We want other things to +help make up the blaze of colour there ought to be. But that's easy." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda turned the catalogue over and over with a disturbed mind. It +seemed to her that to have such a little greenhouse as Norton proposed, +full of beauties, would be one of the most enjoyable things that could +be. Every new page of the catalogue, every new detail of Norton's plan, +tugged at her heart-strings. She wanted to get those plants and +flowers. A few delicate tea roses, some crimson blush roses, some pots +of delicious purple heliotropes with spicy breath; two or three—or +four—great double carnations; bunches of violets, sweetest of all; she +wanted these! Then some azaleas, larger of course, to fill up the +shelves and make a beautiful show of colour, as Norton desired. Her +imagination went over and over the catalogue, always picking these out +for her choice; and then imagination took them to the little room +upstairs, which was going to be such a lovely little greenhouse, and +saw them there and almost smelt their fragrance. It would be so +pleasant to take care of them; she fancied herself watering them and +dressing them, picking off the dead leaves and tying up the long +wreaths of vines, and putting flowers into Mrs. Laval's stem glass for +her dressing table. But what use? she had not the money to buy the +plants, if she went on with her plans for Sarah's behoof; no counting +nor calculating could come to any other conclusion. She thought of it +by day and she thought of it by night; and the more she thought, the +more her desires grew. Then too, the wish to please Norton was a very +serious element in her cogitations. To disappoint him by utterly +failing to do all he wished and counted upon from her, was very hard to +do and very disagreeable to face. But Sarah? Matilda could not change +her line of action, nor divert more than one dollar from the fund saved +for her benefit. One dollar, Matilda thought, might be given for +flowers; but what would one dollar be worth, with all one side of the +little greenhouse to be filled. +</P> + +<P> +It is not easy to tell, how much trouble all this question gave +Matilda. She thought it was quite strange and notable, that just when +she was trying to accomplish so right a thing as the helping of that +poor family in the cellar, this temptation of flowers should come up to +make it hard. In one of her windows stood three little pots, in which +three hyacinths were already bursting through the brown earth and +showing little stout green points of leaf buds which promised nicely +for other buds by and by. They had been a delight to Matilda's heart +only a week ago; now, it seemed as if that vision of heliotropes and +roses and geraniums had somehow swallowed them up. +</P> + +<P> +When she went next to Sunday school, however, and saw Sarah's meek, +patient face, Matilda was very much astonished at herself, and not a +little ashamed. She sat next Sarah in the class, and could see without +seeming to see, how thin her dress was and how limp it was, as if she +had not enough petticoats under it to keep her warm. There was a patch +too in one place. And Sarah's shawl was a very poor wrap alongside of +the well covered shoulders under Matilda's thick coat. "No gloves!" +said Matilda to herself, as her eye glanced from her own very handsome +and warm ones; "how can she bear it? I wonder how it makes her feel, to +see mine? Another time I'll wear an older pair." But the contrast went +home to Matilda's heart. Why should she have so many good things, and +Sarah so few? and the words David had quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures +came back to her. +</P> + +<P> +With an odd feeling as if there were wrong done for which she was +somehow chargeable, after the lesson was done and school dismissed she +asked Sarah "how she was?" The girl's meek eye brightened a little as +she answered that she was well. +</P> + +<P> +"But you are hoarse," said Matilda. "You have got cold." +</P> + +<P> +"O I often do, in the winter time," said Sarah. "I don't think anything +of it." +</P> + +<P> +And that slight shawl and thin dress! Matilda's heart gave some painful +blows to her conscience. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't see you at your place the other day," she went on. +</P> + +<P> +"That was Thursday," said Sarah. "No; I was too bad Thursday. I didn't +go out." +</P> + +<P> +So she staid at home to nurse her cold, in that cellar room with the +mud floor. What sort of comfort could be had there? or what good of +nursing? Matilda did not wonder that the street corner was quite as +pleasant and nearly as profitable. And the thought of Sarah's gentle +pale face as she said those words so went home to her heart, that she +was crying half the way home; tears of sorrow and sympathy running down +her face, as fast as she wiped them away. +</P> + +<P> +That same evening, at tea-time, Norton asked if she had made up her +list of plants for the greenhouse? Matilda said no. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall want them, now, Pink. By Wednesday I shall have the staging +ready; and the sooner we get it filled the better." +</P> + +<P> +"O but, dear Norton," said Matilda, "I am very sorry to disappoint you; +but I cannot take the money." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't take what money?" +</P> + +<P> +"The money to buy those plants. I would like them; but I cannot." +</P> + +<P> +"But you were making your list," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I wasn't. I was only thinking what I would <I>like</I> to have." +</P> + +<P> +"And you are not going to come into the greenhouse at all?" +</P> + +<P> +That was more than Matilda had counted upon; the tears started to her +eyes; but she only said,— +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot get the plants, Norton;" and she said it steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"You are going into that ridiculous charitable concern?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was beyond answering just then; she kept silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Let <I>me</I> into your greenhouse, Norton," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; fine work you would make there," Norton replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I would. I'll fill my shelves with just the finest things we +can get; camellias, if you like; and the newest geraniums, and +everything." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't take care of them if you had them." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you would," said Judy; "and it comes to the same thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Pink," said Norton, "I must have my shelves full; and I can't do it +all. If you won't come into the greenhouse, I shall let Judy come." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Norton," said Matilda steadily. "If you knew what I know, and if +you had seen what I have seen, you wouldn't wonder at me; and I almost +think you would help me." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll grow wiser," said Norton, "when you have had your fingers +burned a few times." +</P> + +<P> +The tone of cool indifference to her subjects of interest, of slight +displeasure at her preferring them to his, went to Matilda's heart. So +also it tried her greatly, to see for the rest of the evening Norton +and Judy in high confabulation over the catalogues and the greenhouse. +She felt shut out from it, and a little from Norton himself. It was +hard to bear; and once and again she could not help the tears rising to +her eyes. She got rid of them, she thought, cleverly, without any one +being the wiser; but David Bartholomew had marked it all. He had not +said a word, however; and Matilda went early up to bed; marvelling anew +that it should be so difficult to do right. Why must this greenhouse +business come up just at this moment? +</P> + +<P> +She had a week to think about it and grieve over it. The boys were +going to school again now, and she saw but little of them. Judy had +masters and mistresses, and was herself much out of sight. Matilda was +to be under Norton's tutelage, it had been agreed; and accordingly he +had put certain books in her hands and pointed out certain tasks; and +Matilda laid hold of them with great zeal. With so much, indeed, that +difficulties, if there were any, disappeared; and Norton had little to +do beyond finding out that she was, as he expressed it, "all right," +and giving her new work for the next day. So went the work; very busy, +and very happy too; only for Matilda's being shut out from greenhouse +pleasures and Judy taken into Norton's partnership. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<P> +But the next Sunday had a new joy for her. Mr. Wharncliffe informed her +after school-time, that he had found a lodging which he thought would +do nicely for her poor friends. All Matilda's troubles fled away like +mist before the sun, and her face lighted up as if the very sun itself +had been shining into it. Mr. Wharncliffe went on to tell her about the +lodging. It was near, but not in, that miserable quarter of the city +where Sarah and her mother now lived. It was not in a tenement house +either; but in a little dwelling owned by an Irishman and his wife who +seemed decent people. He was a mechanic, and one room of their small +house they were accustomed to let, to help pay their rent. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it furnished, Mr. Wharncliffe?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; entirely bare." +</P> + +<P> +"How large is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Small. Not so large by one-third as the room where they are living +now." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't go and see it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there is no difficulty about that. I will go with you to-morrow, +if you like." +</P> + +<P> +"And how much is the rent, Mr. Wharncliffe?" +</P> + +<P> +"One dollar a week. The woman was willing to let the room to Mrs. +Staples, because I was making the bargain and understood to be security +for her; only so." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we will go to-morrow, sir, shall we, and see the room and see +what it wants? and perhaps you will shew me that place where you said I +could get furniture cheap?" +</P> + +<P> +This was agreed upon. To Matilda's very great surprise, David, when he +heard her news, said he would go too. She half expected he would get +over the notion by the time he got home from school on Monday; but no; +he said he wanted a walk and he would see the place with her. +</P> + +<P> +The place was humble enough. A poor little house, that looked as if its +more aspiring neighbours would certainly swallow it up and deny its +right to be at all; so low and decrepit it was, among better built if +not handsome edifices. Street and surroundings were dingy and mean; +however, when they went in they found a decent little room under the +sloping roof and with a bit of blue sky visible from its dormer window. +It was empty and bare. +</P> + +<P> +"Thin, we always has rispictable lodgers," said the good woman, who had +taken her arms out of a tub of soapsuds to accompany the party +upstairs; "and the room is a very dacent apartment entirely; and warrm +it is, and <I>quite</I>. An' we had a company o' childhren in one o' the +houses adjinin', that bothered the life out o' me wid their hollerin' +as soon as ever we histed the winders in the summer time; but the +father he died, and the mother, she was a poor kind of a body that +couldn't seem to get along any way at all at all; and I believe she +thried, an she didn't succade, the poor craythur! An' she just faded +away, like, and whin she couldn't stan' no longer, she was tuk away to +the 'ospital; and the chillen was put in the poor-us, or I don't just +know what it is they calls the place; and it was weary for them, but it +was a good day for meself at the same time. An' the place is iligant +and <I>quite</I> now, sir. An' whin will the lady move in, that you're +wantin' the room for?" +</P> + +<P> +"As soon as it can be ready for her, Mrs. Leary." +</P> + +<P> +"Thin it's ready! What would it be wantin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"We shall need to move in some furniture, I suppose, and a little coal. +Where will that go?" +</P> + +<P> +"Coal, is it? Sure there's the cellar. An' an iligant cellar it is, and +dhry, and places enough for to put her coal in. It'll hould all she'll +want, Til engage." +</P> + +<P> +"It holds yours too, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why wouldn't it? But we'll never interfare for that; small wisdom!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wharncliffe chose to go down and see the cellar. David and Matilda +spent the time in consultation. Mr. Wharncliffe came back alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "how do you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very much; but Mr. Wharncliffe, it is not very clean." +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah will soon change that." +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah? Won't her mother help?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Staples is unable for hard work. She has had illness which has +disabled her; and I fancy the damp cellar she has been living in has +made matters worse. But Sarah likes to be as clean as she can." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she can now," said Matilda gleefully. "Mr. Wharncliffe, don't +you think they want a little bit of a carpet?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wharncliffe shook his head. "They are not accustomed to it; they do +not need it, Matilda. You will have enough to do with your money." +</P> + +<P> +"At any rate, they must have a bureau, mustn't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is a wall cupboard," said Mr. Wharncliffe. "That will be wanted, +I suppose, for crockery and stores. What would a bureau be useful for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Clothes." +</P> + +<P> +"They have not a drawer full, between them." +</P> + +<P> +"But they will have? They <I>must</I>, Mr. Wharncliffe. I am going to get +them some, mayn't I?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wharncliffe looked round the little room, and smiled as he looked +at Matilda again. "There is a great deal to do with your money, I told +you," he said. "Let us reckon up the indispensable things first." He +took out his note book. +</P> + +<P> +"Coals are one thing," said Matilda. "They must have some coals to +begin with." +</P> + +<P> +"Coals"—repeated Mr. Wharncliffe, noting it down. +</P> + +<P> +"Have they a stove that will do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid not. I will try and find a second-hand one." +</P> + +<P> +"A table, and two or three chairs." +</P> + +<P> +Those went down in the list. +</P> + +<P> +"And, O, Mr. Wharncliffe, a tea-kettle! And something to cook meat in, +and boil potatoes." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you know about cooking meat and boiling potatoes?" Mr. +Wharncliffe asked, looking amused. "Those things will perhaps come with +the stove; and at any rate do not cost much." +</P> + +<P> +"And then, some decent plates and cups and saucers, and common knives, +you know, and a few such things." +</P> + +<P> +"They have some things which they use now. You must not try to do too +much. Remember, there are other people who want bread." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—not those things then, if you think not," said Matilda. "But a +bedstead, and a comfortable bed, Mr. Wharncliffe; <I>that</I> they must +have." +</P> + +<P> +"How about the two boys?" +</P> + +<P> +"They must have another." +</P> + +<P> +"Blankets and sheets and pillows?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; and pillow cases. I can make those. Do they cost a great +deal?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think not—if you will let me buy them." +</P> + +<P> +"O thank you, sir! I have got money enough, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Staples will make them. But, my dear, coals, and a stove, and +table and chairs and bedstead and bedding, will make a hole in your +little stock. Let us see. I will undertake the stove and the coals, and +get your beds for you. Chairs and table and bedding, I leave to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Then put down some cups and plates, please, sir; or I will make the +list when I go home." +</P> + +<P> +"We can manage it, I think," said David. "You know, I am bound to come +in for my share. Where can we get this second-hand furniture?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wharncliffe led the way to the place. What a disagreeable place, +Matilda thought. Dirty, dusty, confused, dilapidated, worn; at least +such was the look of a majority of the articles gathered there. +However, therein lay their advantage; and presently in the eagerness of +hunting out the things that she wanted, Matilda half lost sight of the +uncomfortable character of her surroundings. A table, strong yet, +though its paint was all gone, and chairs of similar qualifications, +were soon secured. A bedstead too, which was quite respectable; and Mr. +Wharncliffe explained that some bed-tickings could be filled with +straw, for beds and pillows. A little chest of drawers with some +difficulty was found, to be had for a few shillings; and a stove. Now +this last gave Matilda unlimited satisfaction; for it was a tidy little +stove, had two or three cooking utensils belonging to it, and an oven +which the shopman assured them would bake "first-rate." In that stove +and hardware Matilda's fancy seemed to see whole loads of comfort for +Sarah and her mother. A happy child was she when they left the shop. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe that is all we can do this afternoon, Tilly," said her +friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. I think we have done a great deal. I thank you, sir." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled and turned off to go his way alone; while David, who had been +much struck with the sweet gracefulness of Matilda's manner, walked +beside her; thinking, perhaps, that Mrs. Laval's adopted child was a +different person from what he had fancied. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"What shall <I>I</I> do, now, Matilda?" he asked presently. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. O David, I am very much obliged to you for coming with +me." +</P> + +<P> +"That won't help your poor people though," said he smiling. "What more +do you want to do, or to get, for them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Something to make a decent dress or two," Matilda said confidentially; +"but I can do that myself. I don't know, David! things puzzle me. Mr. +Wharncliffe says I must not try to do too much, because there are other +poor people that suffer, and want the money." +</P> + +<P> +"There are so many, that all your money is but a very little drop on a +great desert, Matilda." +</P> + +<P> +"But that one drop will make one spot of the desert better, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Just a little—twenty or thirty dollars—will do a great deal for +these poor people. And then, if Sarah learns to work on a machine, you +know, and she and her mother get better pay and better work, they will +be able to take care of themselves for ever after." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good sense," said David. "But just think of all that row of +tenement houses." +</P> + +<P> +"David," said Matilda solemnly, "don't you think it is wrong?" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"That people should be so poor, and live in such places?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose it is people's own fault, a good deal." +</P> + +<P> +"But no, very often it isn't. Now Mrs. Staples used to be a great deal +better oil; but her husband died, and she got sick, and so she came +down to this." +</P> + +<P> +"But where is the wrong, then?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, just think how much money there is, and what it might do if +people tried. Suppose everybody did <I>all he could</I>, David? Suppose +every one did all he could?" +</P> + +<P> +"As you are doing. But then where should we stop?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't stop, till everybody that wasn't wicked was comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no. I mean, where would you stop in your own giving or spending?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Matilda, looking down on the ground and thinking +very hard as she walked. "I'll tell you, David. I think the money ought +to go to whoever wants it most!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who is to settle that?" said David laughing. +</P> + +<P> +They had got into deep waters of Christian ethics; and it was no wonder +if even the theory of navigation was difficult. It served them for +matter of busy discussion till they arrived at home. Norton and Judy +were just consulting over some greenhouse plants in the hall. It gave +Matilda no pang. She passed them, with her own little heart so full of +pleasure that seemed far richer and sweeter, that she thought there was +no comparison. +</P> + +<P> +The pleasure lasted; for in a day or two there came a great package for +Matilda which turned out to be the sheeting and muslin Mr. Wharncliffe +had promised to get for her. Matilda had to explain what all this +coarse stuff meant, coming to Mrs. Lloyd's elegant mansion; and Mrs. +Laval then, amused enough, let her maid cut out the sheets and +pillowcases which Matilda desired to make; and for days thereafter +Matilda's room looked like a workshop. She was delightfully busy. Her +lessons took a good deal of time and were eagerly attended to; and +then, at any hour of the day when she was free, Matilda might have been +found sitting on a low seat and stitching away at one end of a mass of +coarse unbleached cloth which lay on the floor. Mrs. Laval looked in at +her and laughed at her; sometimes came and sat there with her. Matilda +was in great state; with her workbox by her side, and her watch in her +bosom warning her when it was time to leave off work and get ready to +go downstairs. +</P> + +<P> +She was busy as usual one afternoon, when she was summoned down to see +company; and found with a strange delight that it was her two sisters. +Mrs. Laval had received them very kindly and now gave Matilda +permission to take them up to her room, where, as she said, they could +have a good talk and no interruption. So upstairs they all three went; +Matilda had hardly spoken to them till they were in her room and the +door shut. Then at first they sat down and used their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world are you doing?" said Anne. "Do they make you the +seamstress of the family?" +</P> + +<P> +"Seamstress? O Anne, I am doing this for myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you sleep on sheets like that?" said Letitia inquisitively. "<I>They</I> +don't, I'll be bound." +</P> + +<P> +"Sheets? what do you mean? O Letty, I am not doing these for <I>myself</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"You said you were." +</P> + +<P> +"For myself—yes, in a way. I mean, I am doing this work for my own +pleasure; not for my own bed. It is for some poor people." +</P> + +<P> +"For some poor people," Letty repeated. "I think Mrs. Laval might have +let one of her servants do it, if she wanted to be charitable, or hire +it done, even; and not save a penny by setting you at it." +</P> + +<P> +"She did not set me at it," said Matilda in despair. "O you don't +understand. She has nothing to do with it at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Are these yours, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>You</I> bought them and paid for them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. At least, a friend bought them for me, but I am going to pay him +the money back." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it your own money?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why yes, Anne; whose should it be?" +</P> + +<P> +"So you have more than you want, and can actually throw it away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not throw it away, Anne; for these people, that these sheets are for, +are miserably off. You would think so, if you saw them." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to see anybody worse off than myself," said Letitia. +"Why, what is that the child has got in her bosom, hanging to that +ribband. What is it?—a watch, I declare! Gold? is it a gold watch +really? Think of it, Anne!" +</P> + +<P> +"It was one of my Christmas presents," said poor Matilda, hardly +knowing what to say. +</P> + +<P> +"How many other presents did you have?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda had to tell, though she had a feeling it would not be to the +gratification of her sisters. They listened and looked, said little, +but by degrees drew out from her all the history of the evening's +entertainment. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the way <I>she</I> lives," said Letitia to Anne. "That's the way she +is going on; while you and I are making people's dresses." +</P> + +<P> +"But aren't you getting on well?" asked their little sister, sorely +bestead to make the conversation pleasant to them. +</P> + +<P> +"We get work, and we do it," said Letitia. "And so make out to have +some bread and butter with our tea." +</P> + +<P> +"But you have dinner, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what you'd call it," said Letitia. "What do you have for +dinner?" +</P> + +<P> +"O the boys and Judy Bartholomew and I, we have our dinner at one o' +clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you <I>have?</I>" said Letitia sharply. "What did you have +to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"We had beefsteak." +</P> + +<P> +"Not all alone, I suppose. What did you have with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"We had oysters," said Matilda unwillingly, "and baked potatoes, and +rice, and bananas and oranges." +</P> + +<P> +"There!" exclaimed Letitia. "That's what I call a dinner. What do you +suppose Anne and I had?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, Letty," said Anne. "Whatever we had, it was our own. We were +beholden to nobody for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you seen Maria since I have?" Matilda asked, trying to make a +diversion. +</P> + +<P> +"No. How should we see Maria? We cannot go jaunting about. We have our +work to do." +</P> + +<P> +"But it is nice work. I should think you would be very glad to have +it," Matilda ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, we are, of course," said Anne expressively. "People must live. +How much did your watch cost?" +</P> + +<P> +Very unwillingly Matilda named the sum, which Norton had told her. The +two sisters looked at each other and rose to depart. +</P> + +<P> +"But you are not going?" cried Matilda. "You haven't said anything to +me yet. And I have not seen you for ever so long." +</P> + +<P> +"We could not say anything that would be interesting to you," Anne +answered. "And we have to keep at our work, you know. We are busy." +</P> + +<P> +"So am I busy," said Matilda; "very; with my lessons and my other +things I have to do." +</P> + +<P> +"And parties," added Letitia, "and poor people. How were you dressed at +the party, Matilda?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, let us see your dress," said Anne sitting down again. +</P> + +<P> +They scanned and measured and examined the dress, stuff and work, with +business as well as with curious eyes; Matilda saw they were taking +hints from it. That led to the display of her whole wardrobe. It was +not agreeable to Matilda; she had a certain feeling that it was not +improving her sisters' peculiar mood of feeling towards her; however, +it seemed to be the one way in which she could afford them any the +least pleasure. So silks and poplins and muslins, all her things, were +brought out and turned over; the fashion and the work minutely examined +and commented on; the price detailed where Matilda happened to know it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I have got something from that," said Anne, when at last the +show was done. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," echoed Letitia; "I never could make out before, just how that +sort of trimming was managed. Now I have got it." +</P> + +<P> +They pulled up their cloaks again and tied their scarfs. Matilda looked +on sorrowfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose it's no use to ask you to come and see us," said Letty. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't come often," Matilda answered, "because, you know, I cannot +walk there; and I cannot have the carriage except now and then." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you suppose we get along without a carriage?" said Letty. +</P> + +<P> +"You are older. Oh Anne and Letty!" cried their little sister, "I don't +know why I have so much and you have so little; but it isn't my fault." +</P> + +<P> +Tears were in her eyes; but her sisters shewed no melting on their +part. They answered, that nobody supposed it was her fault. The energy +of Matilda's hugs and kisses seemed to impress them, at last. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me!" said Anne, holding her off to look at her,—"are you happy +here? Do they treat you really as their own child? Would you like to +come back to us? Because if you would—" +</P> + +<P> +"O no, no, Anne! yes, they do. Yes, I am very happy. I don't want +anything but what I have got." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then you are to be envied," said Anne, relapsing into her former +tone; and the two went away. Matilda saw them out of the front door, +and then went back to her room and stood at the window a long time, +looking down the street by which they had gone. Why did they treat her +so? Why was she such a trouble to them? They were much older than she, +and her home sympathies had always been more particularly with Maria +and her mother in the old days; yet the family had been affectionate +and harmonious. The strange barrier which her prosperity had built up +between her and them was quite inexplicable to Matilda. At the same +time she was filled with sorrow for the contrast which she knew they +felt between her circumstances and their own. She mused, how she could +give them comfort or do them good in any way; but could not find it. +She was a weak little child. And the help she was giving to the poor +street sweeper and her mother was more needed and better bestowed there +than in any other direction. What would her small means avail towards +the wants of Anne and Letitia? But Matilda cried about it some sore +tears, as she stood by her window in the growing dusk. Then she went +back to the joy of what was coming to Sarah and her mother through her +instrumentality. +</P> + +<P> +That joy grew sweeter and sweeter every day. The sheets and pillowcases +were finished. The furniture and the stove were moved in. The straw +beds Mr. Wharncliffe's care had provided were in readiness. David and +Matilda went again to look at the room; and cold and dull though it was +with no fire in the stove, there was great promise of comfort. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, David," said Matilda, after she had turned round and round, +surveying every side and corner of the room again and again,—"<I>don't</I> +you think we might put a little comfort inside that cupboard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of what sort?" said David smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"It's bare," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Of everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Well, of course it wouldn't do to put any eatable things here, +till just the day they are coming. David!—a thought has just struck +me." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," said David, smiling again. "The thoughts that strike you are +generally very good thoughts." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you will laugh at me. But I will tell you what I was thinking. +Mr. Wharncliffe says we must not do too much at once; but I <I>should</I> +like, David, to have a nice little supper ready for them the day they +move in. I don't suppose they have had one nice supper this winter." +</P> + +<P> +"Broiled oysters and salad?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"No indeed; you know what sort of a supper I mean." +</P> + +<P> +"What would you get? for instance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see," said Matilda, speaking slowly and considering the matter +intently. "Some tea there should be, of course; and sugar. And milk. +Then, some bread and butter—and herring—and perhaps, a loaf of +gingerbread." +</P> + +<P> +"What made you think of herring?" said David, looking very much amused +and curious. +</P> + +<P> +"O, I know such people like them very much, and they cost almost +nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"If we are giving them a supper, I should say, give them something that +costs a little more—something they could not get for themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"O these people don't get even herring, David." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you suppose they live upon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bread,—and—I really don't know, David! In the country, they would +have cheese, and sometimes fish, I suppose; but these people are too +poor even for that." +</P> + +<P> +"That's being poorer than anybody ought to be," said David. "I go in +for the supper. It's fun. I tell you what, Tilly,—I'll stand a +beefsteak." +</P> + +<P> +"O thank you, David! But—there are so many more that want it," said +Matilda, looking sober and prudent in odd contrast with her years. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't help them too," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Better keep the beefsteak, I guess," said Matilda. "O David, I know! +Potatoes!" +</P> + +<P> +"What of potatoes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just what they want. <I>Sure</I> to want them, you know; and exactly the +thing. Let us have a good sack of potatoes." +</P> + +<P> +David seemed to be so much amused that he could hardly keep to the +practical soberness of the thing. However he agreed to the potatoes. +And he and Matilda, moved by one impulse, set off for a hardware store +down in one of the avenues, not far to seek; and there spent a most +delicious half hour. They chose some common cups and saucers and +plates; a yellow pitcher, a sugar bowl and one or two dishes; half a +dozen knives and forks and spoons. It was difficult to stop in their +purchases, for the poor friends they were thinking of had nothing. So a +tin tea-pot was added to the list. +</P> + +<P> +"O David!" Matilda exclaimed again—"we ought to have some soap." +</P> + +<P> +"I dare say," said David dryly. "But we do not get that here." +</P> + +<P> +"No; but seeing that toilet soap put me in mind of it. We get that at +the grocer's." +</P> + +<P> +"It won't do for us to send in our grocer's stores just yet. When do +your people come to take possession?" +</P> + +<P> +"Next week, I think. O no; not till the very day, David. Now is there +anything else we ought to get here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know!" said David. "I could think of a great many things; but +as you say, we must not do too much." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you think of?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly everything you see here," said David. "It seems to me they must +want everything. A coffee pot, for instance; and lamps, and cooking +utensils, and brooms and brushes and tubs and coal scuttles." +</P> + +<P> +"O David, stop! They can make coffee in the tea-pot." +</P> + +<P> +"Bad for the coffee I should say!" David responded, shrugging his +shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"And lamps? They cannot buy oil. I guess they go to bed when it grows +dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Do they! Great loss of time, for people who live by their labour." +</P> + +<P> +"And a tea-kettle, and a frying pan, and a water pot, came with the +stove, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"What can they cook in a frying pan—besides fish?" +</P> + +<P> +"O a great many things. But they can't <I>get</I> the things, David; they +don't want ways to cook them." +</P> + +<P> +"Must be a bad thing to be so poor," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Mustn't it! And there are so many. It is dreadful." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't seem to me it ought to be," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"That is what I think," said Matilda. "And O David,—don't laugh at me +as Norton does,—it seems to me it needn't be. If other people would do +without having everything, these people need not want everything." +</P> + +<P> +David did smile, though, at Matilda's summary way of equalizing things. +</P> + +<P> +"What would you be willing to go without?" he asked. "Come, Tilly; what +of all we have had to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"A great deal," said the little political economist steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"Meringues and bananas? for instance." +</P> + +<P> +"Why yes, David, and so would you, if it was to give somebody else a +dinner." +</P> + +<P> +But here they remembered that the shop man was still waiting their +orders, and they left talking to attend to business. David began +apparently to amuse himself. He bought a salt cellar, and a broom; and +to Matilda's mingled doubt and delight, a rocking-chair. And then they +ordered the things home and went home themselves. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<P> +The arrangements were all made; the room was ready; the cupboard was +stocked with its hardware; even a carpet lay on the floor, for Mrs. +Lloyd having heard from David a laughing declaration of Matilda's +present longing for an old carpet, had immediately given permission to +the children to rummage in the lumber room and take anything they found +that was not too good. Matilda was very much afraid there would be +nothing that did not come under that description; however, a little old +piece of carpet was found that somehow had escaped being thrown away, +and that would be, she judged, a perfect treasure to Mrs. Staples; it +was sent by the hands of a very much astonished footman to Mrs. Leary's +house, and by Mrs. Leary herself put down on the floor; Matilda having +bargained for the cleaning of the floor as a preliminary. +</P> + +<P> +Her imagination dwelt upon that carpet, and the furnished, comfortable +look it gave the room, with as much recurring delight as other people +often find in the thought of their new dresses and jewels. With more, +perhaps. Everything was ready now. Mr. Wharncliffe was engaged to tell +the good news to Sarah and her mother, and the moving was to take place +on Thursday of the next week. All was arranged; and on Monday Matilda +sickened. +</P> + +<P> +What could be the matter? Nobody knew at first; only it was certain +that the little girl was ill. Dull and feverish and miserable, unable +to hold herself up, or to think much about anything when she was laid +in bed. It was needful to send for the doctor; and Mrs. Laval took her +station by Matilda's pillow. +</P> + +<P> +How time went, for some days thereafter, Matilda but dimly knew. She +was conscious now and then of being very sick, heavy and oppressed and +hot; but much of the time was spent in a sort of stupor. Occasionally +she would wake up to see that Mrs. Laval was bending tenderly over her, +offering a spoonful of medicine or a glass of apple water; it was +sometimes night, with the gas burning low, sometimes the dusk of +evening; sometimes the cool grey of the morning seemed to be breaking. +But of the hours between such points Matilda knew nothing; she kept no +count of days; a general feeling of long weariness and dull headaches +filled up all her consciousness; she reasoned about nothing. +</P> + +<P> +So that it was quite a new experience, at waking one morning, to feel +Mrs. Laval's lips pressed to hers for a kiss, and to hear a cheerful +voice say,— +</P> + +<P> +"My darling is better!" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe I have been sick," she said, in a weak little voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed you have, darling—very sick. But you are better now. How do +you feel?" +</P> + +<P> +"Better," Matilda answered in that same faint, <I>thin</I> little +voice;—"weak." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you are weak! Here is something to make you stronger." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Laval brought a tea-cup presently, and fed Matilda with soda +biscuit dipped in tea; very nice it seemed; and then she went off again +into a sweet deep sleep. +</P> + +<P> +When she awaked from this, it was high day, and the light was let into +the room as it had not been for a good while. It all looked natural, +and yet new; and Matilda's eyes went from one object to another with a +sort of recognizing pleasure; feeling languid too, as if her eyelids +could just keep open and that was all. But the light seemed sweet. And +her gaze lingered long on the figure of Mrs. Laval, who was standing by +the mantle-piece; going over with quiet pleasure every graceful outline +and pretty detail; the flow of her soft drapery; the set of the dainty +little French muslin cap which set lightly on her hair. Till Mrs. Laval +turned, and smiled to see her eyes open. +</P> + +<P> +"Ready for breakfast?" she said gayly. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe I could get up, mamma," said the weak little voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up! I don't believe you could! But what do you think of having +breakfast in bed? Wait; you shall have your face washed first." +</P> + +<P> +She brought a basin and bathed Matilda's face and hands, first with +water and then with cologne. It was pleasant to be tended so, and the +fine, soft, sweet damask was pleasant, with which the drying was done. +Then Mrs. Laval rang the bell, and presently came up a tray which she +took from the servant's hands and brought to the bedside herself. Then +Matilda was raised up and propped up with pillows, till she could see +what was on the plate. +</P> + +<P> +"How nice that cologne is! I haven't had breakfast in a good while +before, have I?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, my darling." And Mrs. Laval stooped to press her lips fondly. +"What do you say to a little bit of roast bird?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was very glad of it; and she enjoyed the delicate thin slice of +toast, and the fragrant tea out of a sort of eggshell cup; the china +was so thin it was semi-transparent. She made a bird's breakfast, but +it was very good, and did her good. +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma," she said, as she drank the last drops from that delicate +cup,—"it must be a dreadful thing to be poor! When one is sick, I +mean." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>You</I> never will be, darling," said Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +She was slowly but surely mending all that day. The next morning she +had another roast bird for breakfast, and could eat more of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Norton wants to see you dreadfully," Mrs. Laval said as she was +feeding her. "And so does David, I believe. How have you and David got +to be such good friends?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, mamma. I like David very much." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you?" said Mrs. Laval laughing; "perhaps that is the reason. Like +makes like, they say. You are one of the few people that like David +Bartholomew!" +</P> + +<P> +"Am I? Why, mamma? Don't you like him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; he is my nephew. I ought to like him." +</P> + +<P> +"But that don't make us like people," said Matilda meditatively. +</P> + +<P> +"What? that little word ought? No, I think it works the other way." +</P> + +<P> +"But I think I like everybody," Matilda went on. "Everybody <I>some</I>. I +don't like all people one as much as another." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Mrs. Laval. "That would be too indiscriminate. Well, David +likes you. <I>That</I> is not strange. And he wants to see you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and Norton. Mamma, I think I would like better to be up, before I +see the boys." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not let them come in before that." +</P> + +<P> +So one or two days still passed, in sleeping and resting and waking to +feel stronger every time; and then one afternoon Matilda was taken up +and dressed in a warm wrapper, and placed in a delightful easy chair +which Mrs. Laval had had brought up for her. She felt very weak, but +exceedingly comfortable. Then she saw the door of her room slowly +pushed inwards, and the bright head of Norton softly advancing beyond +it. So soon as he caught sight of Matilda in her easy chair, he came in +with two bounds, knelt down before her, and taking her in his arms +kissed her over and over. +</P> + +<P> +"There is one person glad to see you," remarked Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda's eyes were glittering with tears; she said not a word. +</P> + +<P> +"Glad?" echoed Norton. "Pink, the house has been too stupid for +anything without you. It's astonishing, what a difference one girl +makes." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>One</I> girl—" said Mrs Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Norton. "I didn't say anything about the other. It wouldn't +distress me at all to have Judy shut up in her room a few days." +</P> + +<P> +"But not by sickness!" said his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Not particular how, mamma; do Judy no harm either. She wants taking +down somehow." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Norton," said Matilda, "I thought you were so busy with your +greenhouse, you wouldn't miss me much. And Judy and you were getting on +nicely with the flowers, I thought." +</P> + +<P> +"Nicely!" repeated Norton. "She doesn't care any more for the flowers +than if they were grown to make door mats of. Greenhouse! why, it's as +much as I can do to prevent her pulling all the buds off; and when +she's got them, as I said, she don't care the least for them. No; the +one thing Judy Bartholomew cares for is mischief; and the second is her +own way." +</P> + +<P> +"Gently, Norton!" said his mother. "I know somebody else that likes his +own way." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am, and can't get it—worse luck!" +</P> + +<P> +"O Norton!" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Well I'd just like to have you tell me then, how I'm to get Judy +Bartholomew out of my greenhouse!" +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get her in?" asked his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"I went into partnership with her." +</P> + +<P> +"And I ask, why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because she had money, mamma; and I wanted the greenhouse in order; +and Pink wouldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't"—said Matilda. She did not feel like using many words just +then. +</P> + +<P> +"Pink, mamma, is the very worst person in the world about having her +own way." +</P> + +<P> +"And the very best person in the world about being sick." +</P> + +<P> +"How, mamma?" said Matilda. "I haven't done anything at all but lie +still and be taken care of." +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma, she looks pale; and her voice sounds thin; aren't you going to +give her something to strengthen her up?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is going to have her supper in a few minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to give her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Roast oysters and bread and butter." +</P> + +<P> +"That sounds jolly. I'd stay and have some too; only I have got to see +a fellow round the corner. Good-bye, Pink. I'm off. Eat as many oysters +as you can!" +</P> + +<P> +And off he ran. Matilda was disappointed; she was very fond of him, and +she thought he might have liked better to stay with her this first +evening. A little creeping feeling of homesickness came over her; not +for any place that was once called home, but for the clinging affection +of more hands and voices than one. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a boy, dear," said Mrs. Laval, noticing her look. "Boys cannot +bear to be shut up, even with what they love the best. And you are a +girl—just full of womanly tenderness. I see it well enough. You will +have something to bear in this world, my child. Boys will be boys, and +men will be men; but Norton loves you dearly, for all that." +</P> + +<P> +"I know he does, mamma," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +But when a few minutes later, Mrs. Laval was called downstairs to see +somebody, the feeling she had kept back rushed upon her again. She +wanted something she had not got. And she began to think of her best +Friend. Matilda had not forgotten him; yet through these days of +sickness and weakness, and the constant presence of somebody in her +room, she had missed for a long time her Bible readings and all but +very short and scattering prayer. She recollected this now; and longing +after the comfort of a nearer thought of God and closer feeling of his +presence, she got up out of her chair and tottered across the room, +holding by everything in her way, to the place where she kept her +Bible. Once back in her easy chair, she had to rest a bit before she +could read; then she found a place of sweet words that she knew, and +rested herself in a more thorough fashion over them. +</P> + +<P> +She was bending down with her volume in her hand to catch the fading +light from the window, when another visiter came in. It was David +Bartholomew, who having knocked and fancied that he heard the word of +permission, walked in and was at her side before she knew it. Matilda +started, and then looked very much pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not strong enough to be studying," David said kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"O I am not studying." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you got there that interests you so much, then? to be +bending over it like that." +</P> + +<P> +Now Matilda was afraid to say she was reading the Bible, knowing in +what abhorrence David held part of her Bible; so she answered with a +quick sort of instinct, "It was only a chapter in Isaiah, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Isaiah!" he repeated; "our Isaiah? Let me see, please." +</P> + +<P> +He took the book and looked keenly at the page. +</P> + +<P> +"What interested you so here, Matilda?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was reading that little twelfth chapter. I was thinking of those +'wells of salvation.'" +</P> + +<P> +She was trembling with the fear of saying something or other to +displease him, afraid to answer at all; but the simplest answer seemed +the best; and she prayed for wisdom and boldness. David was looking +hard at the page, and alternately at her. +</P> + +<P> +"It is our Isaiah," he said, turning the leaves back and forward; "it +is our Scriptures; but not the Hebrew. I shall learn to read the +Hebrew. What were you thinking about the 'wells of salvation,' Matilda?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was getting very nervous; but as before, she answered simply +the truth. +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking how sweet the water is." +</P> + +<P> +"You?" said David, with a depth of astonishment which might have made +her laugh if she had not been so frightened. "You? what do you know of +them, or think you know? These words belong to the time of Messiah ben +David." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think you know about them?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought within herself that here was the end of David's +friendship for her. Her heart sank, yet she spoke as before. +</P> + +<P> +"I have drawn water out of them, David; and I know that the water is +sweet." +</P> + +<P> +He stood and looked at her, as if he were full of something to say; but +perhaps he guessed at her reference, or perhaps he saw her too feeble +to be attacked with exciting topics. He shut his mouth and said +nothing; and just then the servant entered bearing the tray with +Matilda's supper. That made a nice diversion. I think David was glad of +it. At any rate he made himself useful; brought up the little table to +Matilda's side; set the tea-pot out of her way and spread her napkin on +her lap. Then, hearing that Mrs. Laval was detained downstairs, he took +the management of things upon himself. He made Matilda's cup of tea; he +spread bread and butter; he opened oysters. Nobody could have done it +better; but it was always acknowledged that David Bartholomew was born +a gentleman. Matilda enjoyed it hugely. She was ready for her oysters, +as a little convalescent child should be; and bread and butter was +good; but to have David helping her and ministering to her gave to both +an exquisite flavour. He was so nice about it, and it was so kind of +him. +</P> + +<P> +"That other supper has been sadly put off, hasn't it?" he said as he +opened Matilda's last oyster. +</P> + +<P> +"What supper?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"The supper we had arranged so finely, a long while ago. The +celebration of your good woman's moving in." +</P> + +<P> +"My good woman?—O, you mean Mrs. Staples. She hasn't moved in yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"No! we waited for you to get well." +</P> + +<P> +"Waited all this while!" said Matilda. "David, I wonder when I shall be +able to go out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in a good while, Tilly, to any such entertainment as that. I dare +say you can go driving in the Park in two or three weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"But she cannot wait all that while!" said Matilda; and then she +stopped. If not, then the moving of Mrs. Staples, and all the delight +of the supper to be prepared for her, and the pleasure of seeing her +pleasure, must be for others; not for the little planner and contriver +of the whole. For a minute Matilda felt as if she could not give it up; +this rare and exquisite joy; such a chance might not come again in a +very long while. She wanted to see how the stove would work; she wanted +to hear the kettle sing, and to set the table with the new cups and +saucers, and to make the tea that first time, and give the in comers a +welcome. <I>Could</I> all that be lost? It seemed very hard. Matilda's eyes +filled with tears. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter?" said David kindly. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda struggled to speak. She knew what she must say; but at first +she could hardly get the words out. She hesitated, and David repeated +his question. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't do for them to wait so long," she said, lifting her eyes to +his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Who? your poor people there? Well, it does seem a pity, looking at the +place where they are now." +</P> + +<P> +"It won't do," Matilda repeated. "It is best for them to go right in, +David. But I can't manage it. I can't do anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you trust me?" +</P> + +<P> +"O yes! if you'll do it. But won't it be a great trouble to you, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, I shall like it capitally. You tell me exactly what +you want done, and I'll attend to it." +</P> + +<P> +"O thank you! Then you'll have to get the supper things, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know all about that." +</P> + +<P> +"And get Mr. Wharncliffe to tell Mrs. Staples." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"And—can you buy some calico for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. But I'd put something warmer on them than calico, Tilly." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said David laughingly; "I don't know what women wear. +But I suppose I can find out. Something <I>warm</I>, Tilly; the air is +snapping and biting out of doors, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"O well, do see about it as soon as you can, David, and let them move +in by Saturday; can't you?" +</P> + +<P> +David promised. And when he was gone, and Matilda was alone in bed +again at night, she fought out her whole fight with disappointment. +Rather a hard fight it was. Matilda did not see why, when she was about +a very good thing, so much of the pleasure of it should have been taken +away from her. Why could not her sickness have been delayed for one +week? and now the very flower and charm of her scheme must fall into +the hands of others. She dwelt upon the details, from which she had +looked for so much pleasure, and poured out hearty tears over them. She +was as much in the dark nearly as Job had been; as much at a loss to +know why all this should have befallen her. All the comfort she could +get at was in imagining the scenes she could not now see, and fancying +all over and over to herself how Sarah and her mother would look and +feel. +</P> + +<P> +After that day Matilda's improvement was steady. Soon she had Norton +and Judy and even David running in and out at all hours, to see her or +to tell her something. +</P> + +<P> +"Great news," said Norton bursting in as usual one evening. "What do +you think, Pink? David and Judy have been to be catechized." +</P> + +<P> +"Catechized?" Matilda repeated. "Do they learn the catechism?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not yours, I promise you," said Norton. "No, not exactly. But they +have been to a Jewish catechizing; to be examined in the Jews' +Scriptures, you know, and all that. They ought to have been catechized, +it seems, when they were younger; but David and Judy have been +travelling about and there has been no chance. Now they've got it! And +O how Davy has been studying his Bible." +</P> + +<P> +"His Bible is just like ours, isn't it?—all but the New Testament?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>He</I> thinks that's a pretty large 'all but.'" +</P> + +<P> +"But the rest is just the same as ours?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so; yes, I believe so. And they have had a great time, and +Davy has come off with a blue ribband or something, and been greatly +distinguished." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said Matilda eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well. They all went to it, grandma and aunt Judy, and they don't know +whether they are most pleased or most vexed." +</P> + +<P> +"Vexed?" repeated Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. You see, their Jew friends and relations are getting great hold +of Davy; and now I suppose he will be more of a Jew than ever." +</P> + +<P> +"How will that make him different?" said Matilda, puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Different?" said Norton. "Why, you don't think Jews are like all the +rest of the world, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," Matilda answered. "I think—if I was a Jew—I would +like it." +</P> + +<P> +To which Norton answered at first with a questioning frown; then +cleared his brow and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd like anything that made you different from the rest of the +world," he said. "But you're a Pink! and that makes it of course." +</P> + +<P> +"You used to say I was a brick," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"So you are. I'll fight any boy that says you aren't." +</P> + +<P> +But that made Matilda laugh so much that Mrs. Laval, coming in, was +afraid she would fatigue herself; and she sent Norton away. Matilda +after this was very curious and a little anxious to see David, and find +out what change his being "more of a Jew than ever" would have made in +him. When he came, she could not find any change. It was Saturday +evening, after tea; so rather late. He came to bring her the news she +wanted. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's done, Matilda," he said as he entered. +</P> + +<P> +"And all right, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right as can be. Don't you get excited, and I will tell you all about +it." +</P> + +<P> +"You are very kind, David," said Matilda, trying to be quiet; but there +were two pink spots on her pale cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"The carpet was down, and made the place look like another thing. Then +Mrs. Leary had brightened up the bureau and the chairs and table, and +blacked the stove and made a fire. It seemed quite like a home waiting +for somebody. Mrs. Leary folded her arms, and made me take notice what +she had done, and 'expicted I would consider it,' she said." +</P> + +<P> +"Expected you would consider it?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Don't you know what that means? Expected I would pay her for her +trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Matilda. "Did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course. But I made her make up the bed and fill the kettle +before she had done. 'An' sure it was iligant, and fit for society,' +she said; whatever that meant." +</P> + +<P> +"Fit for company, I suppose, David. But who made the coffee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a bit: I'm coming to that. I was in a puzzle about it; for I +wasn't sure of Mrs. Leary, and Norton and I didn't know enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Norton? was Norton there?" +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure; at first. He and I got everything else together. Mrs. +Leary had washed the china and the tin ware; and we bought cheese, and +tea and coffee, and herring, and buns, and gingerbread." +</P> + +<P> +"And bread?" said Matilda, looking in tensely interested. +</P> + +<P> +"No; buns. And soap we ordered in too, Tilly; Norton is great on soap. +I should never have thought of it. And when we had done all we could +think of, we sat down to watch the fire and guard the things till some +body came. And we got talking about something else and forgot where we +were; when all of a sudden the door pushed softly open and a girl came +in—" +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah!" cried Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait. There came in this girl, and stood there, looking. And we +looked. 'Is this Mrs. Leary's?' she asked. 'No,' said I; 'the rest of +the house is. Mrs. Leary's, I believe; but this room belongs to Mrs. +Staples.' 'And you're Sarah, aren't you?' Norton cried out. I wish you +had seen the girl, Tilly! She came a little way further in, and stopped +and looked round, and had all the work in the world to keep herself +from breaking down and crying. Her face flushed all over. She wanted to +know if we were sure if there was no mistake? So I told her about you, +and how you were sick, and how you had commissioned us to get ready all +these things; and Norton shewed her where to hang her bonnet and shawl; +for she was in a bewildered state. And then I bethought me and told her +we wanted somebody to make the coffee. I think, Tilly, she was as near +the condition of Aladdin, when he got into the magician s cave, as ever +a mortal could be in this actual world. But she went to work, and that +helped her to feel she was not dreaming, I suppose. She made the +coffee,—and all the while I could see her fingers trembling;—and she +cooked the herring; and I stood it, herring smoke and all; it was the +best fun I've seen this winter—" +</P> + +<P> +"Since Christmas," Matilda put in, but her own eyes were very bright +and glittering. +</P> + +<P> +"Christmas was nothing to it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had been there." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you had. There was nothing else wanting. And I wish you could +have seen Sarah's eyes; I think she was afraid to look around her. She +would give a glance at something, the chest of drawers, or the bed, and +then the tears would spring and she would have just as much as she +could do to mind her cooking and not break down. I didn't know coffee +smelt so good, Tilly." +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't it!" +</P> + +<P> +"You know about that, eh? Well, we were all ready, and Sarah set the +table, but Norton and I had to bring out the buns and gingerbread and +the cheese; for I don't think she would have dared. And then the door +opened once more, and in came Mr. Wharncliffe, and Sarah's mother and +those two poor little imps of boys." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know much about them," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"I know they are very ragged. Of course, how could they help it? The +mother looked as if she would easily fall to pieces too. But I saw the +smell of the coffee brightened her up." +</P> + +<P> +"And then you came away, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course. Mr. Wharncliffe just saw that everything was right and +looked after the coal and things; and then we left them to take their +supper in peace." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad!" said Matilda, heaving a deep sigh. "And I am very much +obliged to you, David." +</P> + +<P> +"For nothing," said David. "I had a good time, I can tell you. I should +just like to do the whole thing over again. Why, it didn't cost much." +</P> + +<P> +"Only Mr. Wharncliffe says we have to be very careful to know about +people first, before we give them things; there are so many deceivers." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know that," said David. He stood looking into the light and +thinking. Matilda wondered what he was thinking about; she could not +ask him as she would Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't right!" he broke out. +</P> + +<P> +"What, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't right that there should be such a difference in people; we +here, and they there." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wharncliffe says there must be a difference. Some people are +clever and industrious, and others are idle and lazy; and that makes +differences." +</P> + +<P> +"That ought," said David; "but then the people that are not idle or +lazy, but sick or unfortunate, like these people; they ought not to be +left in hunger and cold and rags." +</P> + +<P> +"So I think," said Matilda eagerly; and then she stopped; for she was +not so free with David as to tell him all her thoughts; at least not +unless he asked for them. +</P> + +<P> +"It puzzles me," David went on. "I can't see my way out of the puzzle; +only I am sure there is wrong somewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"And it must be right for each of us to do all he can to help," said +Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +David shook his head. "<I>One</I> goes very little way." +</P> + +<P> +"But that is all we <I>can</I> do. And if every one would—" +</P> + +<P> +"Every one will not, Tilly; there it is." +</P> + +<P> +"No. I know it; but still, David, people have to do so." +</P> + +<P> +"So how?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, each one by himself, I mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said David, smiling, "that's safe for you. I mean to study the +subject." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<P> +Matilda was slow in getting over her sickness. It would not do to think +of lessons or let her do anything that would weary her. Instead of +that, she was taken to drive, and supplied with materials and patterns +for worsted work, and had books at command. Whatever would please her, +in short; at least whatever Mrs. Laval could think of; for Matilda made +no demands on anybody. She was very happy; feeling well but weak, just +so as to draw out everybody's kindness; and obliged to be quiet enough +to thoroughly enjoy her happiness. She made great progress in the +affections of the family during this rime; they found a sweetness and +grace and modesty in her that presently seemed like to make her the +house darling. "She is not selfish," said Mrs. Lloyd. "She is really a +very graceful little thing," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "She is honest," +said David. "She is the gentlest, most dutiful child in the world," +said Mrs. Laval; but Mrs. Laval did not say much about it. She was +growing excessively fond of Matilda. Norton declared she was a brick. +Judy said nothing. Then they would begin again. "She is a thoroughly +courteous child," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I do think she is a good little +thing," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "She has her own opinions," said Norton, +who liked her the better for it. "They are not bad opinions either," +remarked David. +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't they!" put in Judy. "Wise and <I>extremely</I> courteous she was +about the liqueur glasses, don't you think so?" +</P> + +<P> +"What about the liqueur glasses?" Mrs. Lloyd demanded; and though +Norton and David both tried to stop the recital, out it would come, for +the second time. Judy would not be stopped. Mrs. Lloyd seemed rather +serious but by no means as much disgusted as Judy would have liked. +</P> + +<P> +"She had her own opinions, as Norton says," David remarked; "but she +behaved perfectly well about the whole affair; perfectly <I>courteous</I>, +Judy." +</P> + +<P> +"Very ridiculous, though, for such a child," his mother added. +</P> + +<P> +"How should she be courteous?" said Judy, scornfully. "She has had no +sort of bringing up." +</P> + +<P> +"I should be glad to see you as courteous, and as graceful about it," +said Mrs. Bartholomew. Whereat Judy tossed her head spitefully and +meditated mischief. +</P> + +<P> +They did not know how it was. All was true they had said respecting +Matilda's manners; and this was the secret of them; she was most simply +trying to live up to her motto. For this Matilda studied her Bible, +watched, and prayed. It was not herself she was thinking of, or trying +to please; her obedience and her pleasantness and her smallest actions +were full of the very spirit of reverence and good-will; no wonder it +was all done gracefully. The days and weeks of sickness and feebleness +had been a good time for the little girl, and the kindness she received +made her heart very tender. She sought ways to please; above all, ways +to please God. It was in doing "all in the name of the Lord Jesus" that +her manners became so lovely and her presence so welcome to almost all +the family; and her happy little face was an attraction for even old +Mrs. Lloyd, who did not confess to finding many things in the whole +world attractive now. But Judy vowed in secret she would disturb this +opinion of Matilda, if she could manage it. +</P> + +<P> +So she chose her time. Mrs. Lloyd, and indeed all the elders of the +family, were extremely particular and punctilious about table manners; +exacting the utmost care and elegance in everything that was done. One +Sunday there was company at dinner; only one or two gentlemen who were +familiar friends, however, so that the young people were not debarred +their weekly pleasure and privilege of dining with their grandmother. +Judy managed to place herself next to Matilda, and held her position, +though Norton as openly as he dared reminded her she had no right to be +there. It was impossible to make a disturbance and he was obliged to +give up the point. Matilda wondered at what she supposed an uncommon +mark of favour in Judy; and resolved to be as nice a neighbour as she +could. There was not much chance, for of course talking, except a low +word now and then, was out of the question. It happened that one of the +servants was for some reason out of the way, and there was not the +usual abundant service of the table. Just when everybody was helped, +Judy somewhat officiously handed somebody's plate to Matilda to be +passed for some oysters. The plate came back to her full; it had meat +and gravy and oysters and maccaroni on it, and was heavy as well as +full. Carefully giving it, as she thought, into Judy's hand, Matilda +was dismayed to find it seemingly slip from her own; and down it went, +taking impartially Judy's dress and her own in its way. Turkey gravy +and oysters lodged on Judy's blue silk; while the maccaroni, rich with +butter and cheese, made an impression never to be effaced on Matilda's +crimson. The little girl absolutely grew pale as she looked down at the +disastrous state of things, and then up at Judy. Judy's eyes were +snapping. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I do that?" said Matilda, in a bewildered consciousness that she +had <I>not</I> done it. +</P> + +<P> +"O, I guess not," replied Judy; in a tone which civilly said, "Of +course you did!" Matilda dared not look at anybody else. +</P> + +<P> +"You had better go up and change your dress, Matilda," said Mrs. Laval +gravely. And Matilda went, greatly disconcerted. She was a very dainty +child herself; rudeness and awkwardness were almost as abhorrent to her +as they were even to Mrs. Lloyd; and now she felt that she had +disgraced herself, mortified Mrs. Laval, and displeased the old lady; +besides drawing down the censure and slighting remark of Mrs. +Bartholomew. But <I>had</I> she done the thing? She was supposed to have +done it, that was clear, from the tone of Mrs. Lloyd's voice and from +Mrs. Laval's command, as well as from Judy's words; that young lady +herself had kept her place in the dining room, for all that appeared. +And Matilda's beautiful crimson dress was spoiled. No doubt about it; +when she had got it off and looked at it she saw that the butter and +cheese had done their work too thoroughly to leave any hope that it +might be undone. No acid or French chalk would be of any avail there. +Poor Matilda! she was very much dismayed. She had a particular fancy +for the colour of that dress; it was a beautiful shade; and Mrs. Laval +liked it; and Matilda wondered if she was displeased; and wondered with +still increasing persuasion that the fault had not lain with her. But +who could prove that? And as it was, the charge of gross carelessness +and inelegance lay at her door; a charge above others that she was +unwilling to bear. +</P> + +<P> +She would not venture down to the dining-room again, not knowing +whether she would be welcome; she sat in the dark thinking, and crying +a little. But when there came a knock at her door, she got rid of all +traces of tears. There was Norton, who had brought her some Chantilly +cake which she was very fond of; and close behind him stood David, +smiling, and bearing on a plate a great slice of ice cream. Matilda's +hands were both filled. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh thank you!" she said from the bottom of her heart; "O how kind you +are!" Then as she glanced again at David's benign face, she half +exclaimed, "Did I do that?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said David, the smile vanishing. +</P> + +<P> +"She didn't?" cried Norton. "Who did?" +</P> + +<P> +"Judy." +</P> + +<P> +"Judy!" echoed Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>thought</I> I didn't do it," said Matilda, forgetting her ice cream; +"but I was so bewildered, and Judy seemed to think it was I—" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw the whole thing," said David. "It was not you. You were not to +blame at all. Your fingers had unclosed from the plate before hers did." +</P> + +<P> +"Did she do it on purpose?" said Norton wrathfully, "and let Pink bear +the blame? She shan't bear it two minutes longer!" +</P> + +<P> +He was rushing away, but Matilda made one spring and planted herself +right in his way. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Set this thing to rights." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" +</P> + +<P> +"How? Why by telling the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop, Norton; there is company." +</P> + +<P> +"All the more reason. Should you be disgraced before company?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, Norton, stop," said Matilda eagerly, and getting both her plates +in one hand that she might lay hold of him with the other. "You +mustn't, Norton. Don't stir, or you'll make me throw down my ice cream, +and then I <I>shall</I> be disgraced." +</P> + +<P> +To prevent the possibility of such a catastrophe, David took the plates +from her, and Matilda grasped Norton with both her little hands. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you aren't." +</P> + +<P> +"I am, I tell you, Pink. I'll not stand by and allow it. I'll expose +Judy and clear you, before everybody, this minute." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop, Norton. You can't do it. Listen to me. You mustn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Now is the very time." +</P> + +<P> +"You mustn't do it at all. I'll tell mamma. I may do that; but you must +not say one word about Judy to anybody. I shall get mamma to keep quiet +too. You must, Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"She's right, old fellow, that this isn't the time," said David. +"Grandmamma would stop your argument very short." +</P> + +<P> +"And you must not say a word, Norton. For my sake! You couldn't prove +anything, Norton, and it would only make mischief and do harm. Let it +alone, and then it is nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing!" cried Norton in great dudgeon. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing but a little inconvenience to me, and that will be all over by +to-morrow. Promise me, Norton; and then I can eat my ice cream in +peace." +</P> + +<P> +"You must promise quickly then," said David, "for it is beginning to +melt." +</P> + +<P> +Norton scolded and grumbled yet, however Matilda saw that she might +take her cake and cream; and she eat it looking at him, and enjoying it +very much. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the use of being right then," said Norton, "if nobody is to +know it? And you are provoking, Pink! you look just as if nothing was +the matter." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing is the matter, thank you," said the little girl. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't look angry." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I am angry." +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'm too happy to be angry," said Matilda, finishing her ice. +And she looked so cool that Norton could not keep hot. He and David +took her empty plates away for her; and so ended that day's trouble. +Nevertheless, fruits of it appeared afterwards. +</P> + +<P> +A little while after this Sunday, Norton sickened with the same fever +Matilda had had. There followed a long, very quiet time, during which +she was much left to herself. Mrs. Laval was in the sick room; for if +she was not a skilled nurse, she was a most affectionate mother; and in +the cases of both her children, she either did herself or watched over +everything that was done. Matilda was not allowed to be with Norton and +help, which she would have liked; it was thought that her strength was +not sufficiently recovered. So the little girl lived in her room; crept +down and up for her meals; was as quiet as a mouse; and endured not a +little mischief from Judy's hands. Judy revelled. She was as full of +life as of mischief, and she made Matilda her butt. The children +generally dining together alone, she had a fair field; for David could +not interpose to prevent Judy's sly provocations. They were too sly, +and too quick and shifting, and too various and unlooked for. Sometimes +she patronized Matilda, as a little country girl; sometimes she +admonished her, very unnecessarily, in the same character; sometimes +Judy took a tone more offensive still and accused her of artful +practices to gain Mrs. Laval's favour. David and others were present; +but they did not always see what was going on; or if they attempted to +put Judy in order, the attempt was too apt to provoke more trouble than +it stopped. Matilda bore a good deal of trial, those weeks; for she was +naturally a spirited child, ready to resent injuries; and besides that, +she was a clever child, quite able to return Judy's sharp speeches. She +said very little to them, however, except what was good-humoured. Her +cheek flushed now and then; sometimes her little head took its old set +on her shoulders, extremely expressive, and equally graceful and +unconscious; the boys would laugh, and Judy toss her own head in a +different fashion. These things gave Matilda a good deal of work in her +own room. She used to hunt out passages that spoke of forgiveness and +kindness and the management of the tongue and the bridling of anger; +and then she used to pray over them, and not once or twice. So Judy +never could prevail much with her. However, Matilda wished for many +reasons that Norton would get strong and well again and Mrs. Laval be +in her old place. As he grew better, she began to be very much in his +room; taking care of him, reading or talking to him, and having very +nice times planning garden for Briery Bank when they should go home. +That would not be early this year, Norton said he was afraid, because +of his school; but at any rate they would run up at the Easter holidays +and set things in train. +</P> + +<P> +One day Matilda was coming upstairs, after an uncomfortable lunch with +Judy alone. She came slowly, for she was weak yet, thinking that Judy +was a very difficult person to get along with. David had not appeared +at the meal. Just as Matilda reached the head of the stairs at her own +door, he came out of his room. +</P> + +<P> +"Tilly," said he in a choked kind of voice, "come here! I want you." +</P> + +<P> +A very odd way for David to speak, she thought; and looking at him she +perceived that he had not his usual calmness and gravity, in face any +more than in voice. He was flushed and agitated, and troubled, it +seemed to her. Matilda obeyed his call instantly and he led the way +into his room and shut the door. Then she waited for him to speak and +tell what he wanted of her; but that seemed to be somehow difficult. +David hesitated, struggling with himself, she could see; yet no words +came. Matilda was too much in awe of him to speak first. David had been +very kind to her lately; but he was older, older even than Norton, and +much graver; and she did not know him so well. She waited. +</P> + +<P> +As for David, he could hardly speak, or he had great difficulty in the +choice of words. He fidgeted a little, taking one or two turns across +the room, flushed and paled again, then faced Matilda and spoke with +desperate resolution. +</P> + +<P> +"Tilly, what do you know about—that person—I mean the One you think +so much of, and call your Messiah?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda was extremely astonished. "Do you mean—Jesus?" she asked +doubtfully and not a little afraid. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—yes. What do you know about him?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I know he loves me," she said softly. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Loves</I> you! How do you know that? how can you know that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I love him, David; and I know he loves me. He has said so." +</P> + +<P> +"Said so! I beg your pardon. How has be said so?" +</P> + +<P> +"In a great many places. And in a great many ways, David. He died for +me." +</P> + +<P> +"Died!" repeated David again; then controlling his excitement, which +was very great, he again asked Matilda's pardon. "What do you mean by +saying he died for you? for <I>you</I>, or anybody? He was put to death by +the Romans, because he set himself up for a king." +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't," said Matilda eagerly; "not in the way the people said. He +told Pilate himself that his kingdom was not of this world; and he told +the Jews to pay tribute to Caesar. They accused him for envy." +</P> + +<P> +"Anyhow, he was put to death like any other criminal. Why should you +say he died <I>for you?</I> Have you any reason?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got a Bible here, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not your Bible. I have the Scriptures of Moses and the prophets." +</P> + +<P> +"Those are what Jesus said told about him. But just let me run and get +my Bible, David; I want to shew you something. I'll be back in one +minute." +</P> + +<P> +He made no objection; and Matilda rushed out to her own room, threw off +her cloak and hat, dropped down on her knees for one instant to pray +that the Lord would teach her what to say to David; then seized her +Bible and ran back to him. She was almost as excited now, outwardly, as +he seemed; her little fingers trembled as she turned the leaves over. +</P> + +<P> +"See here, David," she said. "That night, the night of the passover, +you know; the night before he died; he was at supper with the twelve +disciples—" +</P> + +<P> +"What twelve disciples?" +</P> + +<P> +"Those who were always with him; they were the apostles afterwards. +Look here. He broke bread and told them to eat it, and said it was his +body broken for them; and then a cup of wine; and this is what he said +about that. See." +</P> + +<P> +"Read it," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"'This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the +remission of sins.' Testament is the same word as covenant, Mr. +Wharncliffe says." +</P> + +<P> +"Covenant!" cried David. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. In this other place he says, 'This cup is the new testament or +covenant, in my blood, which is shed for you.' That is the new covenant +that Jeremiah promised." +</P> + +<P> +"Jeremiah!" cried David again; "what do you know of Jeremiah? Is <I>that</I> +in your Bible?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly it is. Isaiah and Jeremiah, and all of them." +</P> + +<P> +"But what do you mean about that new covenant? you don't know what you +are talking of, Tilly." +</P> + +<P> +"O yes, I do, David. Look here; here is the place in Jeremiah; we had +all about this in our lesson last Sunday. Look here, David. 'Behold, +the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the +house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the +covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by +the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they +brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. +</P> + +<P> +"'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of +Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their +inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and +they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his +neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they +shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, +saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember +their sin no more.'" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda stopped and looked up at David. +</P> + +<P> +"I know all that very well," he replied; "that will be in the days of +Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +"Jesus said it was then. He said, 'This cup is the new covenant <I>in my +blood</I>.'" +</P> + +<P> +"How could that be? what meaning is there in that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, David,—don't you see? His blood did it." +</P> + +<P> +"Did what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why! bought forgiveness for us, so that God could give us the new +covenant. It is a covenant to forgive us and make us holy for Jesus' +sake. Mr. Wharncliffe was explaining it only last Sunday." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to hear what Mr. Wharncliffe said. Tell me only what you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, David, I know it's all true." +</P> + +<P> +"Tilly, how can you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, David,—I know Jesus has taken away my sins; and I think he is +writing his laws on my heart." +</P> + +<P> +"But Tilly!" David exclaimed with a sort of anxious impatience, "you +don't know what you are talking about. You mean that this—Jesus—was +our Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Matilda. "He said he was." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>He</I> said he was?" exclaimed David. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, to be sure he did." +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't know. The Scriptures of the prophets declare that +Messiah will be a great king." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Matilda answered slowly, looking at him. "Jesus is a great King." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" said David quickly. "He was crucified." +</P> + +<P> +"But he rose again, and went back to heaven." +</P> + +<P> +"They stole his body away," said David, "and made believe he was risen." +</P> + +<P> +"O no, that was what the priests told the soldiers to say; but we +<I>know</I> he rose again, David, for they saw him—the apostles and Mary +Magdalene, and all of them; over and over again." +</P> + +<P> +"But the Scriptures say he shall, I mean Messiah, he shall conquer the +enemies of Israel and deliver us." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that means the <I>true</I> Israel," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"The true Israel!" said David. "Who are the true Israel? I am one of +them. Abraham's children." +</P> + +<P> +The boy spoke proudly, defiantly, as if he felt the noble blood of +kings and prophets in his veins, and the inheritance his own. Matilda +found it very difficult to go on. So far she had been able to answer +him, having given attention to her Sunday school teaching and that +teaching having lately run in a course fitted to instruct her on some +of the points that David started. But she did not know what to say now. +She was silent. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here," said David in the same tone. He seized his Bible which lay +at hand, and turning over the leaves stopped at the prophecy of Daniel, +and read, not after the common English version— +</P> + +<P> +"'I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, with the clouds of +the heavens as a son of man was one coming, and unto the Ancient of +Days he hath come, and before him they have brought him near. And to +him is given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, +nations and languages do serve him; his dominion is a dominion +age-during, that passeth not away, and his kingdom that which is not +destroyed.'" David read, and paused, and looked up at Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Matilda nodding; "that is just what the angel said about +Jesus." +</P> + +<P> +"What angel?" +</P> + +<P> +"The angel that came to tell that he was coming. See, David, +wait,—I'll find it; here it is! 'He shall be great; and shall be +called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the +throne of his father David; <I>and he shall reign over the house of Jacob +for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end</I>.'" And in her turn +Matilda looked up at David. +</P> + +<P> +"But what kingdom has <I>he?</I>" David asked, between anxiously and +scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I remember he said, 'All power is given unto me, in heaven and in +earth.'" +</P> + +<P> +"It don't shew," said David. "Christians are a small part of the world, +and not the strongest part by any means." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't say they were. I only said Jesus is the King." +</P> + +<P> +"And I say again, Tilly; you have nothing but words to shew for it. How +is he king?" +</P> + +<P> +"O but, David, wait; look here,—I'll find the place in a minute or +two—" +</P> + +<P> +She sought it eagerly, but it took a little while to find any of the +words she wanted. David waited patiently, having evidently much on his +mind. At last Matilda's face lighted up. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, David; this is what I mean; I was afraid to put it in my own +words. 'And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of +God should come,'—you see they thought as you do;—'he answered them +and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall +they say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is +within you.' That's it, David, don't you see? He is king in people's +hearts." +</P> + +<P> +"The Messiah is to reign in another fashion than that," David returned. +"The Targum says, 'a King shall arise from Jacob, and Messiah be +exalted from Israel; then he shall kill the great ones of Moab, and he +shall rule over all the children of men;' and 'to him are all the +kingdoms of earth to be subjected.' The Lord will destroy his enemies +who rise to put his people to shame; he will thunder upon them with a +loud voice from the heavens; the Lord shall exact vengeance from Magog, +and from the army of the thundering nations who come with him from the +ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his King, and magnify +the kingdom of his Messiah.'" +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't out of the Bible, is it?" said Matilda, bewildered. +</P> + +<P> +"No; it's the Targums." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what the Targum is." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a book, or books rather, of the words of our wise Rabbis; +explaining the Scripture." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know anything but the Bible," said Matilda meekly; "and I +don't know but a little of that." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you see, Tilly, that <I>our</I> Messiah is to be King in a grand +fashion, and rule over all kingdoms; and make his people rule with him." +</P> + +<P> +"O <I>that's</I> like the New Testament!" Matilda cried. +</P> + +<P> +"What part of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know exactly where it is; I'll look; but David, Jesus is going +to reign so by and by, I know." +</P> + +<P> +"You know!" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; for he said so." +</P> + +<P> +"Who said so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Jesus. Here—stop!—no, here it is, one place. Listen, David, +just to this. 'And as they heard these things, he added and spake a +parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought +that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.'—That's what you +thought, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but,—" David began. +</P> + +<P> +"Just listen. 'He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far +country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.'" +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, don't you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Not what it has to do with what I was talking about." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, David, the far country is heaven; and Jesus is gone there until +the kingdom is ready, or till he is ready to take it." +</P> + +<P> +"You have nothing but words to shew for it." +</P> + +<P> +"No, of course; but they are God's words, David; so they are true." +</P> + +<P> +"Take care!" said he, and his dark eye fired and glowed; "you mustn't +talk so. You know I don't believe that." +</P> + +<P> +"Believe what? +</P> + +<P> +"That <I>his</I> words are God's words." +</P> + +<P> +"But don't you remember," said Matilda, to whom the words seemed to +come in her puzzle, to help her out,—"don't you remember in the +Psalms—" +</P> + +<P> +"The Psalms of David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, to be sure, the Psalms of David; don't you remember how it +says—Oh, I wish I could find it!—something about 'sitting at my right +hand' till his enemies shall be,—I forget what." +</P> + +<P> +"I know!" said David with a curious change of countenance; and in his +own book he immediately turned to the place. +</P> + +<P> +"'The affirmation of Jehovah to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, till I +make thine enemies thy footstool.'" +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" cried Matilda. "Jesus is there now, and by and by he is +coming to take the kingdom." +</P> + +<P> +It did not seem as if David heard her; so deep was his pondering over +the passage he had just read. Little Matilda watched him curiously; his +brow was dark, with what sort of thoughts she could not guess; his eye +sometimes flashed and at other times grew intense with looking into +what he was studying. But what struck Matilda most was the look of +trouble; the expression of grave care upon his lip. He lifted up his +head at last, and his eye met her eye, and he was going to speak; when +the clang of the dinner bell pealed through the house. That day, for +some reason, the children were to dine with their elders. Mrs. Lloyd +was particular about attendance at the minute; David and Matilda parted +with one consent and without another word, to make themselves ready to +go down. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<P> +Before Matilda had any chance for more talk in private with David, the +week came to an end; and Sunday afternoon found her in Sunday school as +usual. But not as usual, she had hardly a word or a minute to spare for +Sarah, who was telling of her progress in learning to use a sewing +machine and of her own and her mother's bettered health. Delightful as +it was, and as Sarah's face was, all luminous with grateful and glad +feeling, Matilda through the whole of it was intent upon Mr. +Wharncliffe and his motions; and the instant Sarah had left her she +sprang to his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you busy, sir? can I talk to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Talk?" said Mr. Wharncliffe; "then we want some time for it, do we?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you please, sir; a little." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll talk as we walk. Now, what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +But Matilda waited, until they were out of hearing of all that they +knew; then in the solitude of the wide avenue she began. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wharncliffe, I want some advice. I don't just know how to manage +something." +</P> + +<P> +"Very likely. Let us hear." +</P> + +<P> +"I want to know how to speak to somebody who does not know about Jesus, +and who wants to know." +</P> + +<P> +"That often calls for wisdom," said Mr. Wharncliffe; "but I should +think it would not be difficult in your case. You can tell what you +know; what Jesus has done and is doing for you, and what he has +promised to do for everybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, but it is not <I>that</I>. It is somebody who wants to know +whether Jesus is the Messiah?" And Matilda looked up very eagerly in +her teacher's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well. When 'somebody' has found out that Jesus is the Saviour, he will +have no doubt that he is the One 'anointed to save.' You know, Messiah, +and Christ, mean simply 'anointed.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, I know. But—this person—" +</P> + +<P> +"What of him?" said Mr. Wharncliffe smiling. "Is he a very difficult +person?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather," said Matilda slowly; "because—he has never known that Jesus +<I>is</I> the Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear child, to know that truly, in the full meaning and scope of +the words, is what no one ever does except by the teaching of the +Spirit of God." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>That</I> isn't it," said Matilda. "This person—does not know whether to +believe the New Testament." +</P> + +<P> +"I would not advise you, Matilda, to hold arguments with an infidel, +young or old." +</P> + +<P> +"O he is not an infidel, sir! He is a Jew." +</P> + +<P> +"A Jew!" exclaimed Mr. Wharncliffe. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. And now, he wants to know whether Jesus is the Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he in earnest, or talking for talk's sake?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, in earnest, sir! very much in earnest." +</P> + +<P> +There came a sudden veil over the clear blue eyes that looked down at +Matilda; then their owner said, +</P> + +<P> +"I must take you home with me." +</P> + +<P> +It was not far, down a cross street. Mr. Wharncliffe left Matilda in +the parlour a few moments, and returned with a book in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the best I can do for you," he said. "Unless you could bring +your friend to see me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh no, sir! he would not. I don't think he has spoken to anybody but +me." +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody but you? Has he no one to speak to?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir. Not about this." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my child, as I said, this is the best thing I can do for you." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"A first-rate reference Bible." +</P> + +<P> +"I have got a Bible." +</P> + +<P> +"I know that. But this has references, which you will find will explain +a vast many things to you. I advise you not to talk much, because you +might not always know just what to say. Do this. Let your friend bring +any word or promise about the Messiah that he knows of in the Old +Testament Scriptures; you find the place in this little Bible, and see +what passages of the <I>New</I> Testament it refers to; see, here are the +words of the Bible on one page and the references to each verse on the +page opposite. You know what these abbreviations mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"O yes, sir. O thank you, sir!" said Matilda, whose hands had now +received the volume and whose eyes were eagerly scanning it. "I will +take great care of it, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you will; but not for my sake. I wish you to keep it, Matilda. +It will be useful to you very often. And I shall want to hear how you +get on." +</P> + +<P> +He took back the book to put her name in it, while Matilda coloured +high, and could hardly find words to speak her thanks. Her teacher +smiled at her, escorted her to her own door again, and Matilda went in +a happy child. +</P> + +<P> +She was eager now for another chance to talk with David, and she +fancied he wished for it too; but demands of school on the one hand, +and Norton and Mrs. Laval on the other, for days made it impossible. +For Matilda well understood that the matter was not to be openly spoken +of, and the opportunity must be private when it came. She studied her +new little Bible meanwhile with great assiduity, hoping to prepare +herself for David's questions; however, she soon found she could not do +that. She could only get familiar with the arrangements of her book; +what David might ask or might say, it was impossible to guess. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Judy's disagreeable attentions continued. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you not eat your soup, Matilda?" Mrs. Lloyd asked one day. It +was Sunday of course; the day when the young folks dined with the old +ones. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very hot, grandmamma." +</P> + +<P> +"Hot? mine isn't hot. It is not hot at all; not <I>too</I> hot." +</P> + +<P> +"It is hot with pepper, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"Pepper? There is not pepper enough in it." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought that Mrs. Lloyd's palate and her own perhaps perceived +pepper differently. But when the first course was served and Matilda +had taken curry, of which she was very fond, this was again hot; so +sharp, in fact, that she could not eat it. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" said Mrs. Lloyd,—"pepper there too?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is very hot, ma'am," said Matilda, while Judy burst out laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Curry always is hot, child," said the old lady. "Why do you take it, +if you do not like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I like it very much, grandmamma; only to-day—" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not any hotter than usual, to-day. You should know what you want +before you take it. You can make your dinner of rice, then." +</P> + +<P> +The rice was as hot as the rest of it, Matilda thought. She could not +eat; and she was hungry, for she had had a good walk and a brisk lesson +in Sunday school; but the fiery portion on her plate quite baffled her +hunger. She was never helped to pudding or pie more than once; she went +hungry to bed. +</P> + +<P> +That did her no harm; but it happened again and again that, if not +starved, she was at least disappointed of eating something she liked, +or had something she did eat, spoiled by its seasoning. Very indulgent +as Mrs. Lloyd was about things in general, respecting table manners and +all the etiquette of graceful behaviour at meal times she was +exceedingly particular. She did not allow the young people to make any +ado about what they eat. She gave them liberty enough of choice, but +once the choice made, it was made; and mistakes were at the person's +own risk. So when Matilda's salad was very spicy with cinnamon, or her +ice cream excessively and unaccountably salt, or her oysters seemed to +have been under a heavy shower of red pepper, there was no resource but +to be quiet; unless she would have made a scene; as it was, she got +credit for being fanciful and very dainty. +</P> + +<P> +Weeks passed before she and David could be alone together; eager and +curious and sympathetic as she was. David did not change; the gloom of +his troublesome thoughts hung over him, she could see, all the while; +though nobody else seemed to notice it. At last, one evening in March, +it fell out that all the family were going to the theatre. Even Mrs. +Lloyd; for some particular attraction was just then drawing crowds to +the nightly spectacle; and Norton and Judy had put in their claim to be +allowed to go, and it had been granted. David was invited, but he +refused without ceremony. Mrs. Laval turned to Matilda; and Mrs. Lloyd +asked graciously if she would like to go? Now Matilda would have liked +very much to go, on one side of the question; yet her answer was a +grateful negative. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the reason?" said the old lady. "It is no use asking for Davy's +reasons, for they are sure to be immovable; but you, Tilly, what's the +matter with you? Were you ever there?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am, never." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll amuse you, child; come! Judy's going." +</P> + +<P> +It was difficult to answer; but Matilda remembered words she had heard +from Mr. Richmond, which shewed that he did not think the theatre a +place for a Christian to be amused in; and without in the least +understanding his reasons, Matilda did not dare go. She said, and +truly, that she would rather stay at home; and so it fell out that she +and David were left for a whole evening alone. +</P> + +<P> +The carriage had driven off; the two came back into the little +reception room where the family usually had tea and spent the evening; +Matilda having slipped upstairs and brought down her two Bibles. David +turned up the gas and looked at her. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you got there, Tilly?" +</P> + +<P> +"A book that will help us, I hope." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish it would help me!" said David, as he sat down and buried his +face in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got all the evening to ourselves, if we want it," said Matilda a +little timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. They will not be home before twelve o' clock." +</P> + +<P> +But David did not seem in a hurry to avail himself of his opportunity. +He sat with his head in his hands, and then got up and walked about, +looking dark enough. Matilda waited and watched him, wondering and +anxious. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of Judy?" he said suddenly, coming to a stand +opposite Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"I think she likes to amuse herself," Matilda answered, very much +surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like her amusing herself at your expense?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like it, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you get angry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do." +</P> + +<P> +"So do I, sometimes; but it is your affair. Why don't you speak out?" +</P> + +<P> +"She wouldn't care, David; it wouldn't make any difference." +</P> + +<P> +"Judy? No, not with her; but why don't you speak out to grandmamma, or +aunt Zara? They would care." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda's cheeks flushed, and her eyes even looked a little watery; she +did not answer at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to do that, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't be returning good for evil, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Good for evil! no," said David; "but it would be right." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think it would be right," Matilda said gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Why wouldn't it? Good for evil? that is not the law; and it is not +justice. The law is, 'Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for +tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to do justice," said Matilda smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" He was observing the little girl closely. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, David; it would be no pleasure. Besides—" +</P> + +<P> +"Besides what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jesus says we mustn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Mustn't what? Do justice?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. No—not to ourselves sometimes. You asked me what I knew about +him; this is one thing. He says we must not return evil for evil; nor +be angry." +</P> + +<P> +"You were angry at Judy, though?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, for a little while, sometimes. I couldn't always help it; or I +<I>could</I>, I suppose, but I didn't." +</P> + +<P> +"How could you?" said David. "I cannot. When I am angry, I am angry; +and there is nothing to do but wait till I get over it." +</P> + +<P> +"That's another thing I know about Jesus," said Matilda gravely. "He +takes the anger away." She wished that David would begin upon his +former line of inquiry, now that she had her little book to consult; +but she could not hurry him. David looked hard at her, and then his +gloom seemed to come over him. He sunk his head again; and Matilda +waited. +</P> + +<P> +"What can you tell me?" he said at last. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. Perhaps, if you would try it, my book would tell you +something." +</P> + +<P> +"What could it tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Answer some of your questions, perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +David at last roused to action. He went off upstairs and brought down +<I>his</I> Bible—half a Bible, it looked to Matilda's eyes; and under the +bright gas lights the two sat down to compare notes. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know but a part of the things that are said about the +Messiah," said David, turning over the leaves; "but what I do know, +seem to me impossible to be fulfilled in him you Gentiles think the +Messiah. And yet—they said—" +</P> + +<P> +David stopped, in great perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"What are some of those things?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, this is one. He is to be of the seed of David; for so Isaiah +prophesied." +</P> + +<P> +"'And a rod hath come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch from +his roots is fruitful. Rested on him hath the Spirit of Jehovah, the +spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, +the spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, David, Jesus was that. See,—here is the whole list of the names +of the people." And she put in the boy's hands the first chapter of +Matthew. +</P> + +<P> +"'The son of David, the son of Abraham'!" cried he; but then +immediately became so absorbed in the chapter and in that list of names +which Matilda had always thought very uninteresting, that she could +only watch him and doubt if he would come back to talk with her any +more that evening. +</P> + +<P> +"But," said David at last, handing back her book, "that is only one +thing. Listen to this. The promise was to David—' I have raised up thy +seed after thee, who is of thy sons, and I have established his +kingdom; he doth build for me a house, and I have established his +throne unto the age.' Where is the throne of—of your Messiah, as you +call him? And see here again, in the Psalms of David— +</P> + +<P> + "'I have made a covenant for my chosen,<BR> + 'I have sworn to David my servant,<BR> + 'Even to the age do I establish thy seed,<BR> + 'And have built from generation to generation thy throne.'"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"What is 'to the age'?" Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"For ever! Where is the throne of your Jesus?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is in heaven," said Matilda promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"But Messiah is to reign on earth." +</P> + +<P> +"Now listen, David; this is what the angel said of Jesus, when he came +to tell Mary that he should be her son. 'He shall be great, and shall +be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him +the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of +Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said David, "but when? and where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here is another place that my book turns to, David; now listen. 'David +himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit +thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know, it says so." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, David, then don't you see he will be up in heaven until the time +comes? Here is another passage—it begins about something else, and +then goes on; 'Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the +dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far +above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every +name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is +to come; and hath put all things under his feet.' And here again—'But +this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat +down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his +enemies be made his footstool.'" +</P> + +<P> +"When will that be?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I don't think it tells." +</P> + +<P> +"But Messiah is to be a Conqueror," David went on, passing from one +thing to another. It is written,— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty,<BR> + 'Thy glory and thy majesty!<BR> + 'As to thy majesty—prosper!—ride!<BR> + 'Because of truth and meekness—righteousness.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + 'And thy right hand sheweth thee fearful things.<BR> + 'Thine arrows are sharp,<BR> + 'Peoples fall under thee—<BR> + 'In the heart of the enemies of the king.'"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Where is that?" Matilda asked, and David told her. She eagerly +consulted her little book, and then cried out, +</P> + +<P> +"Why it is the very same thing! Look here, David; or just listen, and I +will read. +</P> + +<P> +"'And I saw heaven opened'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop. <I>Who</I> saw heaven opened? Who said that?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda paused. "It is in the Revelation," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know exactly; but I know it is the things that were shown to +John, the apostle, about what is going to be by and by." +</P> + +<P> +"Who was that John?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, one of the apostles, David; one of the twelve apostles, that were +always with Jesus, and went everywhere with him and saw all that he +did. Then after he was gone, they preached to the people, and told what +they had seen and heard." +</P> + +<P> +"After he was gone where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Back to heaven." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—read," said David, with a troubled sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on +him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge +and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were +many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he +himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his +name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven +followed him upon white horses, clothed in white linen, white and +clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should +smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he +treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And +he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS +AND LORD OF LORDS.'" +</P> + +<P> +"But he was to be a Prophet, like Moses," said David; "and he was to be +born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he was," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Then how should he be all <I>that?</I>" And the boy's frame shook, as if a +nervous shudder had taken him. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you remember the 110th Psalm?" said Matilda after a little more +study. "'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I +make thine enemies thy footstool.' Look at it." +</P> + +<P> +David did so, in his own Scriptures, and pondered the words a second +time. +</P> + +<P> +"And this is what the Lord Jesus said about those very words, David. +'While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, +What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of +David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, +saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I +make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is +he his son?'" +</P> + +<P> +"What did they say?" asked David eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" +</P> + +<P> +"Those Pharisees. What did they answer?" +</P> + +<P> +"It says 'no man was able to answer him a word.'" +</P> + +<P> +Poor David was in the same condition. "Well, go on," he said, between +puzzle and despondency. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda consulted her references to see with what she should go on; and +then read the three first verses of the epistle to the Hebrews. +</P> + +<P> +"'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past +unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto +us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also +he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the +express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of +his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the +right hand of the Majesty on high.'" +</P> + +<P> +"But—but,—" said David looking up, "Messiah was to be born in +Bethlehem of Judah, for so said the prophet Micah." +</P> + +<P> +"Jesus was born in Bethlehem," Matilda replied. +</P> + +<P> +"But—he was called the Nazarene," said David with a kind of shiver. +The boy was terribly excited, though he controlled the outward +expression of his excitement as much as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"He lived in Nazareth," said Matilda eagerly; "that was his home." +</P> + +<P> +"Then how could he be born in Bethlehem? it's near a hundred miles off, +I think." +</P> + +<P> +"But don't you know?" said Matilda. "Caesar Augustus ordered everybody +to be—what is it you call it? I forget;—to have their names put down, +in a list of all the families and tribes, so that they might be taxed—" +</P> + +<P> +"Taking the census?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know; maybe it's that. And so, Joseph and Mary had to go to +Bethlehem to have their names put down there, because it was David's +city, you know, and they were of the house of David. And while they +were there, Jesus was born. But after a while they went back and lived +in Nazareth." +</P> + +<P> +David looked dark, and eager; he made no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"And it says in the first chapter of Matthew, David, that the prophet +said, 'they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, +God with us.'" +</P> + +<P> +"It is true," said David. "So spoke the prophet Isaiah. But how then +did he speak also of Messiah's sufferings? how could that be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where, David? and how?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy turned over gloomily the leaves of the book which he held, and +began to read at the fifty-third chapter. +</P> + +<P> +"'Who hath given credence to that which we heard? and the arm of +Jehovah, on whom hath it been revealed?'" +</P> + +<P> +"What chapter is that?" Matilda asked; and he told her. She turned to +the place. +</P> + +<P> +"'<I>Who hath believed our report?</I>' that is it exactly, David. Don't you +see? You do not believe it, and all the Jews do not believe it, when it +is told to them." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that Jesus is the Messiah; and all about him. 'He is despised and +rejected of men'—see how it goes on." +</P> + +<P> +"What does this mean, I wonder," said David as he looked over the +chapter—"'He is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our +iniquities, The chastisement of our peace is on him, And by his bruise +there is healing to us'?" +</P> + +<P> +"This is what it means, David; 'the Son of man came not to be +ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for +many.' That is in Matthew. And here in Romans—'God commendeth his love +toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much +more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from +wrath through him.' And in Corinthians—'He hath made him to be sin for +us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in +him.' Don't you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"O hush! stop!" said David; "you bewilder me. Here Isaiah goes on +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Each to his own way we have turned,<BR> + 'And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him<BR> + 'The punishment of us all.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + 'It hath been exacted, and he hath answered.<BR> + 'And he openeth not his mouth,<BR> + 'As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought—'"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +David stopped again, and Matilda searched for words to answer him, and +presently read, +</P> + +<P> +"'So Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many; and unto them +that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto +salvation.'" +</P> + +<P> +"The second time?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; when he comes to take the kingdom, you know." +</P> + +<P> +David sighed deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"David," said Matilda hesitatingly, she had been watching for a chance +to say it, "don't you know what Zechariah says about him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Zechariah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; the prophet Zechariah. Mr. Wharncliffe says that is a time coming +to your people;—in the twelfth chapter. You can read it best for +yourself in your own book. It begins at the ninth verse—what I mean." +</P> + +<P> +"This?" said David. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'And I have poured on the house of David,<BR> + 'And on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,<BR> + 'A spirit of grace and supplications,<BR> + 'And they have looked unto me whom they pierced,<BR> + 'And they have mourned over it,<BR> + 'Like a mourning over the only one,<BR> + 'And they have been in bitterness for it,<BR> + 'Like a bitterness over the first-born.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + 'In that day great is the mourning in Jerusalem,<BR> + 'As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon;<BR> + 'And mourned hath the land—every family apart;<BR> + 'The family of the house of David apart,<BR> + 'And their women apart;<BR> + 'The family of the house of Nathan apart,<BR> + 'And their women apart;<BR> + 'The family of the house of Levi apart,<BR> + 'And their women apart;<BR> + 'The family of Shimei apart,<BR> + 'And their women apart,<BR> + 'All the families that are left,<BR> + 'Every family apart, and their women apart!'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The boy's face grew darker and darker as he read, and he remained +gloomily looking at the page after he had finished. "It looks like it!" +he said at last. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like what, David?" Matilda asked timidly. His face was very +cloudy as he lifted it to speak to her, and he spoke with difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +"They are saying, Matilda,—my uncle, I mean, and the wise ones;—they +are saying, I heard them saying it a few weeks ago, softly, to each +other, that the time must be up; and that if Messiah does not come very +soon—" +</P> + +<P> +"What then?" Matilda asked, for he had stopped suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then—they say—it must be, or may be, that he <I>has</I> come!" +</P> + +<P> +She was astonished at the changes in David's face. It flushed and +paled, his lips quivered, his brows were knit; the dark eyes were like +clouds and fire at once. Evidently there was a struggle going on which +she had no means of gauging. +</P> + +<P> +"What if he has?" she asked gently. "Would you care so very much?" +</P> + +<P> +"Care!" exclaimed David, and his expression startled her. +"Care!—whether our Messiah has come, and we have not known him, and +have injured him and rejected him?" +</P> + +<P> +"But that is just what Isaiah said would be." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't!" said David. "I can't bear it! If that is true, there will be +such a cry as Zechariah said, and I will begin it. But I don't believe +it, Matilda; it cannot be. I will not believe it." +</P> + +<P> +He threw down his book and walked up and down the room with folded arms +and a brow black as night. Hardly a boy's action, but neither was it a +boy's feeling which possessed him just then. Matilda looked on, very +sorry, very much awed, and entirely at a loss to know what to say. She +consulted her Bible again and found a passage which she wished to shew +him; but she had to wait for the chance. David walked up and down, up +and down, restlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't make it out!" he exclaimed. "It confuses me. If <I>that</I> were +true, then all our whole nation have been wrong, all these years; and +we have lost everything; the promise made to Abraham and all." +</P> + +<P> +"But Jesus will fulfil all the promises," said Matilda gently. +</P> + +<P> +"To those who disowned him?" David asked almost fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"I think he will," said Matilda. "Why the first Christians were some of +those very Jews." +</P> + +<P> +"How can that be?" said David standing still and looking at her. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda found the second chapter of Acts and handed it to him. She +thought her own words were best to be few. David looked unwillingly at +her book, but however took it, sat down, and under the light of the gas +burner began to read. Matilda could not help furtively watching him, +and it almost frightened her; the changes in the boy's face were so +quick and strong. He read like one reading for his life; he never knew +that Matilda was watching him; his eyes seemed to pierce the book like +steel lances; and through his parted lips the breath came and went +hurriedly. Matilda thought he never would get through the chapter, he +was so long over it. +</P> + +<P> +"May I keep this a day or two?" he said at last. Matilda joyfully +assented. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had some one to talk with about this," he said; "somebody who +could answer me, or who could <I>not</I> answer me." +</P> + +<P> +"Your uncles?" Matilda suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"They would only silence me." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you could see Mr. Richmond." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's he?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's a friend of mine, and O, the pleasantest and the nicest man! and +he can answer anybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Can he?" said David half smiling. "Where does he live?" +</P> + +<P> +"Up in Shadywalk. I <I>wish</I> you could see him. He could tell you just +everything, and I cannot." +</P> + +<P> +"You have told me so much, though, that I must know more. What is this +Mr. Richmond?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is a minister, David. O you would like him." +</P> + +<P> +"He would be the first, then," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"He is not the least like Dr. Blandford not the <I>least</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe there's some chance then. Matilda, don't tell anybody of all +this; it is between you and me." +</P> + +<P> +"No, David, of course I shall not. Are you going to bed?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am going up." +</P> + +<P> +"They won't be home yet for an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to see them when they do come." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor have any supper?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care about supper. Good night." +</P> + +<P> +He went off, and Matilda's heart was very tender for him. What could +she do? He had carried away with him the little reference Bible; she +could not look out passages for his help any more. Had they been for +his help? The whole talk looked very confused to Matilda as she +remembered it; and David evidently was in much more trouble than he +shewed. Matilda prayed for better help than she could give, prayed with +all her heart; then found herself very sleepy and went to bed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<P> +It was a few nights after this, that the children were amusing +themselves in the same little reception room. Esther Francis was with +them, and the elders were with company in the drawing-room. The young +ones had it all their own way; they had taken tea together in what +Norton declared to be a very jolly style; and now in a circle of +sociable dimensions, that is, very much drawn together, they were +talking over a great variety of things. All except David; he hardly +said anything; he looked dark and jaded; nevertheless he listened to +what was going on. +</P> + +<P> +"I know one thing," said Norton; "I must be off to the country pretty +soon." +</P> + +<P> +"School term of no consequence"—said David. +</P> + +<P> +"None at all. You see, bulbs keep no account with schoolmasters; the +only account they keep is with the sun; and how they do that when the +sun don't shew himself, passes me. It's one of the queer things." +</P> + +<P> +"Find a good many of them, Norton?" asked Esther smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer things? Lots! Don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't know. There are some queer people." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Some</I>. Just a few, I should think there were," said Norton. "Enough +to keep one from going to sleep with sameness." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but I don't find so many," said Esther. "Am I queer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"You speak as if it was an honour to be queer," said the young lady, +bridling her pretty head. +</P> + +<P> +"An honour? I don't know about that," said Norton. "It certainly may be +said to be a—distinction." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is queer?" said Esther. "You?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not he," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"You know best," said Norton, shaking his curly head. +</P> + +<P> +"He thinks he has so much else to distinguish him," said Judy, "he can +do without that." +</P> + +<P> +"Not <I>your</I> case," said Norton, politely nodding at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't depend upon your word," said Judy scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all," rejoined Norton; "it is open to the most hasty observer." +</P> + +<P> +"Is Matilda queer?" Esther asked laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"She'd never let the world go to sleep," said Norton contentedly; "at +least, not till all could sleep comfortably." +</P> + +<P> +They laughed at that, and Matilda as much as anybody. +</P> + +<P> +"But what did you mean, Norton," she said, "about the bulbs and the +country?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I said. It's the most mysterious thing, the way the roots +down in the earth know when it is time for them to send up their green +shoots. They will do it, too, and when things aren't ready for them by +any means above ground. Spring may be ever so late, and the earth hard +packed with frost, and snow and clouds making you believe it is winter +yet; and there will come the little green shoots pushing up their heads +and telling you <I>they</I> know what time of year it is, better than you +do. How they get up through the frozen earth is more than I know. I +tell you, <I>they</I> are queer." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you mean something good by being queer, Norton," Matilda said. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know about that; they are ahead of the year, you see, and that +don't always do. They have a hard time of it, sometimes." +</P> + +<P> +"But are you going up to see them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; pretty soon. The coverings must be taken off the beds, you see; +and I must look after it." +</P> + +<P> +"I am so glad spring is come again!" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"What for, you?" said Norton. "You don't make garden." +</P> + +<P> +"No; but I can eat strawberries." +</P> + +<P> +"Strawberries! O ho, that's it. That's what you want spring for." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure strawberries are good, Norton," said Matilda. "Do you +remember how you and I eat strawberries on the bank last summer?—and +made lists?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton gave her a very intelligent glance of acknowledgment. +</P> + +<P> +"Lists of what?" Judy asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Things we were going to have for tea," Norton answered coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"O no, Norton—they were not," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it was something in the housekeeping department." +</P> + +<P> +"Housekeeping!" cried Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"What is strange in that?" inquired Norton coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why you are rather young, you and Matilda, to set up housekeeping." +</P> + +<P> +"Rather," said Norton; "so it was somebody else, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"O it was for somebody else?" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"When are you going, Norton?" Matilda asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty soon; in a week or two more; just as soon as we have a few more +spring days." +</P> + +<P> +"O how nice the spring days are!" said Matilda. "I am so glad they are +come again." +</P> + +<P> +"For the strawberries?" Esther asked archly. +</P> + +<P> +"O no, not the strawberries; but it is so pleasant to see the green +grass again, and the dandelions." +</P> + +<P> +"Dandelions!" exclaimed Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes indeed; and the locust blossoms; and the cows going to pasture; +and yellow butterflies skimming about; and the nice warm days; and +pinks and roses." +</P> + +<P> +"And croquet—" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"O croquet is delicious!" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> am glad, because I like the driving," said Norton. "It is better +than all the Central Parks in the world. And the fishing is jolly, too; +when you have good sport. It's jolly altogether, at Shadywalk." +</P> + +<P> +"But Norton, the house is shut up," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"What about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"What will you do? you can't manage all alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Go to Kepple's. That's easy." +</P> + +<P> +"How long will you stay?" +</P> + +<P> +"Two or three days. I guess I'll take the Easter holidays—that's just +the thing." +</P> + +<P> +What was said next for a few minutes, Matilda did not hear; she was +musing so intently; then she broke out,— +</P> + +<P> +"O Norton! I wonder if I might go with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"You? That <I>would</I> be jolly," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I could go to Mr. Richmond's, you know; and then we could see all +about our tulip and hyacinth beds; and it would be <I>so</I> pleasant!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well; suppose you do. I'm agreed." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think mamma would like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll coax her into thinking it's a splendid plan," said Norton; "and +that's what it is." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda's eye went furtively over to David; he met it, but she could +not tell what he thought. Hope and pleasure made her cheeks flush high. +Judy tossed her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you ask me?" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't asked anybody yet," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to go too. Will you take me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would you like to say what you would do if you got there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know!" laughed Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"I do. All the mischief you could manage. No, thank you. I should have +to sit next you at the hotel table." +</P> + +<P> +"What harm would that do?" said Esther, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"I should find mustard in my coffee and pepper in my pudding sauce," +said Norton. "No harm, only rather spoils the coffee and rather hurts +the pudding sauce." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked suddenly at Norton, and so did Judy, but they saw he was +only speaking at random and did not know how close he was coming to the +truth. Then the two pairs of eyes met involuntarily. Judy laughed +carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go, if you go," she said to Norton. "At least, if Matilda goes, +I'll go." +</P> + +<P> +This time Matilda's and David's eyes met. He smiled, and she took +comfort. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as a good opportunity could be found, the plan was broached to +Mrs. Laval, and urged by both her children. She demurred a little; but +finally consented, on the strength of Norton's plea that it would do +Matilda good. From this time the days were full of delightful hope and +preparation. Only David lay on Matilda's thoughts with a weight of care +and longing. Once she caught an opportunity, when they were alone, to +seize his hand and whisper, "Oh David, can't you come too, and see Mr. +Richmond?" And he had answered very gravely that he did not know; he +would see. +</P> + +<P> +Easter fell this year rather late in April; late, that is, for Easter. +Schools were dismissed on Thursday; and Thursday afternoon Matilda and +Norton were to take the cars for Shadywalk. She could not say another +word to David, or about him; she made her happy preparations with a +secret unsatisfied longing running through them all. Judy had made an +earnest endeavour to be one of the party; and Matilda did not know how, +but the endeavour had failed. And now the early dinner was eaten, her +little travelling bag was packed, the carriage was at the door, good +byes were said, and Matilda got into the carriage. At that exact minute +David came out of the house with <I>his</I> travelling bag in hand, and in a +minute more the house door was shut, so was the carriage door, and they +were all three rolling off towards the Station. +</P> + +<P> +"O David, I'm so glad!" burst from Matilda. "How did you manage it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Like himself," said Norton; "kept his own counsel and had his own way. +It's a good thing to be Davy Bartholomew." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about that," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you? Never heard a doubt on that subject expressed before. But +anyhow, it's jolly to have you along, Davy. Why you've never seen +Shadywalk, nor Briery Bank." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda smiled a very bright and expressive smile at David which said, +"nor Mr. Richmond either." The smile was so genial and glad and winsome +that it cheated David out of some part of his gloom; or perhaps he +thought it unworthy to shew it before his kind little companion. He +brightened up, and talked about the things that were interesting her +and Norton; and at the station behaved like the manly boy he was; +getting tickets and taking care of Matilda and finding a good place in +the cars where they could all sit together. The moment was so full of +joy to Matilda that it made her sober. Going to see her old haunts and +old friends was a great deal of itself; going on an expedition with +Norton was delightsome; but that David should really be going too, to +see Mr. Richmond, almost took away her breath with gladness. The slow +movement of the cars, beginning to roll away from the station, was +accompanied by a perfect leap and bound of her little heart making an +aerial flight on the instant to the end of the journey. +</P> + +<P> +The end of the journey, however, had to be reached by the usual +patient, or impatient, stages. Patient in this case, to Matilda. She +was so happy that she enjoyed every foot of the way. The spring +sunlight on the river it was quite delightful to see again; the +different stations on the road were passed with curious recollections +of the last time, and comparisons of herself now and herself then. The +evening fell by the time they reached Poughkeepsie; and shadowy visions +of Maria seemed to occupy all the place while the train stopped there. +Poor Maria! Matilda was glad to have the cars move on, since she could +get no nearer than visions. Then it grew dark; and she sat musing and +dreaming pleasant dreams, till the station of Shadywalk was whistled +for. +</P> + +<P> +The old omnibus was in waiting, as usual, and it happened that no other +passenger occupied it to-night except their three selves and one cosy +old lady, who "didn't count," Norton said. It was dark; they could not +see the landscape. +</P> + +<P> +"Briery Bank ought to be worth a good deal," said David, "when it takes +so long to reach it." +</P> + +<P> +"So it is," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"O it's lovely, David!" cried Matilda. "Not so much now, though, when +the leaves are not out." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to the minister's to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure I am. Mr. Richmond would be very much surprised if I went +anywhere else." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, when I get the beds uncovered, Pink, I'll come for you; and we +can see what we will do." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll come with me to-night, Norton?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let Davy see you there, while I make arrangements." +</P> + +<P> +"What arrangements? O come now, Norton. Mr. Richmond will like to see +you." +</P> + +<P> +"He can wait till to-morrow, I dare say," replied Norton. "Anyhow, I +can. You will be enough for to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"What sort of a man is the one you are talking of?" David asked Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a brick," said Norton, and began to whistle; then interrupted +himself. "But he is Pink's friend, you understand, much more than mine." +</P> + +<P> +"Some old tutor of yours?" said David smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Old! not exactly. Nor a tutor neither, that ever I heard; though he +does teach folks, or tries to. No, you're out, Davy. I tell you, he's a +brick." +</P> + +<P> +"O we're going over the bridge now, Norton!" Matilda exclaimed. "We're +almost there. Look! I can see lights, can't I?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no question about it in a few minutes more. Norton got out at +the Shadywalk hotel; and the omnibus lumbered on through Butternut +Street to the parsonage gate and drew up at last before the old brown +door. But it was too dark to see colours. Indeed David had some +difficulty in finding the knocker; and meanwhile the omnibus lumbered +off, while they were not attending. David knocked and knocked again. +Matilda was trembling with delight. +</P> + +<P> +"There's nobody at home," said David. "It is all dark." +</P> + +<P> +But at that instant a step was heard in the hall, and the door was +opened. A little light that came from within a door somewhere beyond +revealed nothing except the outline of a figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" said a voice. "My lamp's gone out; I guess it wants a new +wick. Who's here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know me, Miss Redwood?" said Matilda's voice, quivering with +pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know anybody without I see 'em. I ain't called to guess who you +be, as I know. Come in, if you want to, and tell your errand. Is it me +or the minister you're after?" +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Redwood, it's Matilda Laval. And I'm so glad to see you!" said +Matilda, waiving further recognition and throwing her arms round the +housekeeper's neck. "O I'm so glad to see you! Is Mr. Richmond at home?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tilly Englefield!" exclaimed the housekeeper in her turn. "Wherever +did the child come from? Mr. Richmond?—no, he ain't to home yet, but +he will be directly. Come in, child, and take off your things. Who's +this other one?" +</P> + +<P> +"My cousin David Bartholomew, Miss Redwood. O David, come in! Don't go, +till Mr. Richmond comes." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, come right in," said Miss Redwood heartily. "You're just in time +for tea; for the minister's been out as usual all the afternoon; he had +to ride to Suffield, and he ain't home yet. Come right in here." +</P> + +<P> +She drew Matilda, and David followed, into the little dining room, +where the lamp shone and the tea table stood looking very hospitable. +David made some proposition of going back to the hotel and Norton; but +Matilda was very urgent that he should not, and Miss Redwood very +positive on the same subject; and to Matilda's surprise David made no +great opposition. He sat down quietly enough. Meanwhile the housekeeper +took off Matilda's wrappings and examined her with her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"La! it <I>does</I> look natural to see you!" she broke out. "But you ain't +so little as you was; and, my!—but I suppose it's New York." +</P> + +<P> +"What's New York?" inquired Matilda laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, 'taint so easy to tell. I don't know myself. But it's all over +you, from the hair of your head down to the soles of your boots. You +ain't the same you was." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am, Miss Redwood; just the same!" +</P> + +<P> +"La, child, you don't <I>feel</I> that you've growed, do you? Folks grow +in'ardly and out'ardly; and they change, too, in'ardly and out'ardly; +and it's other folks that see it, not them." +</P> + +<P> +"But how do you think I'm changed, Miss Redwood? I am sure you're +mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +The housekeeper gave another benevolent, keen look at her, smiling a +little, and then went off into her pantry without answering. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right I made gingerbread to-day," she said, coming out with a +beautiful loaf of that article. "Have you had any dinner? I'll be bound +you'd like some beef and eggs. Wait a bit, and you shall have it. Mr. +Richmond will be all ready for it too, after his ride. I reckon you +hain't much to do with handling of spiders now?" This with a sidelong +glance at Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Miss Redwood; I haven't time for such things." +</P> + +<P> +"How do ye expect to keep house one o' these days, if you don't know +how?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's a great way off," said Matilda smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Just as it happens," said the housekeeper. "You're eleven or twelve +this summer; which is it? and you won't be any wiser in the kitchen +just by growing older in the parlour." +</P> + +<P> +"I know some things now, Miss Redwood." +</P> + +<P> +"La, child, knowledge ain't all; it's practice; and you ain't in the +way to practise much, I can see. That's the fashion now-a-days; young +heads filled full and clever, maybe; and hands as empty and useless as +ever hands kin be. Now I don't believe, for my part, that our hands was +given us to do nothin'." +</P> + +<P> +"O no, nor I," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, what be your hands learning? See if I'm wrong." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda cast about how to answer, for in truth her hands had got no new +skill in the past months, although the old skill had come in play very +conveniently. While she hesitated, came the welcome sound of the +opening and closing front door. Mr. Richmond was returned. His steps +went however first upstairs, and then came down and went into the +study. Miss Redwood had disappeared and was getting her beef ready in +the kitchen. Matilda could wait no longer. Taking David's hand and +gently persuading him to allow of her leading, she went to the study +door and knocked. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Richmond had just made the fire blaze up; so they had light to see +each other by. David stood by and watched the greeting; it was very +glad and affectionate, he saw, on both sides, with a certain tender +confidence that impressed him. He was surprised also to see that Mr. +Richmond was so young a man and so handsome a man; and when the +brilliant eyes were turned on himself he was quite susceptible to their +fascination. Matilda lost no time. +</P> + +<P> +"David Bartholomew, Mr. Richmond; one of my new cousins, you know. And +Mr. Richmond,—David knows about the Messiah in the Old Testament, and +he wants to know if the Messiah is Jesus; and so I wanted him to see +you, because you could tell him; and so I got him to come with me." +</P> + +<P> +If David's shyness was at all disturbed by this speech, it was entirely +soothed again by Mr. Richmond's reception of it, and of him. The +genial, frank clasp of his hand, the kindly, free glance of the blue +eyes, quite won David, as it was apt to win everybody; and in a minute +more he found himself sitting at his ease in this strange house, +perfectly contented to be then, and interested to watch Matilda's +intercourse with her old friend and her pleasure in it. There was time +for but little, however, before Miss Redwood's activity had got the +"beef and eggs" and all the rest of the tea-table in a state of +readiness, and her call summoned them into the other room. David made a +little demur about staying, instantly overruled both by Mr. Richmond +and Matilda, and he sat down with the rest. And if he said little, the +other three tongues were busy enough. +</P> + +<P> +"And how do you like New York?" inquired the housekeeper. Matilda's +answer was very unqualified. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't no better a place than this, is it?" the lady asked rather +defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a larger place, Miss Redwood," said the minister. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't Shadywalk big enough for a little mite of a thing like her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said the minister. "'Big enough' depends upon what she +wants, or what anybody wants. I knew a man once who said he had seen +everything in the world there was to be seen, and he was quite at a +loss what to do with himself. You perceive the world was not 'big +enough' for him. And another man once wrote, 'My <I>mind</I> to me a kingdom +is.' Difference of taste, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"That first fellow thought his head was only made to set his eyes in, I +s'pose," said the housekeeper dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"Seemed to be all the use he had for it," said the minister. +</P> + +<P> +"But that other man," said Matilda,—"was he contented with himself all +alone, and wanted nothing else?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not," said Mr. Richmond smiling. "That's a new view of the +case. Your king David hit the truth more surely," he went on addressing +David, "when he said, 'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.'" +</P> + +<P> +David's eye brightened; but then he said, +</P> + +<P> +"I have read the words, but I never understood exactly what he meant." +</P> + +<P> +"Your people, you remember, on taking possession of the promised land, +had it divided to them by lot; each tribe and family took its share as +it was portioned out to them by Joshua." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know," David answered. +</P> + +<P> +"So from that time each family had its own inalienable lands, which +were the inheritance of that family; its portion and riches; for the +Hebrews were not in those days a commercial people." +</P> + +<P> +David assented, looking a little surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"What should a man mean, who declared, disregarding all this, that his +portion and inheritance was the Lord himself?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy's keen, intelligent eyes looked deep into the intent blue ones +regarding him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sir, I do not know," he said at length. "Was it, that he expected the +Highest would give him greater possessions?" +</P> + +<P> +"Notice, he says not his inheritance is <I>from</I> the Lord, but is the +Lord himself." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand it," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"In another place, when he was nearly done with earthly possessions, he +says again, 'My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of +my heart and my portion for ever.' It is an inheritance that exists +beyond time, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand it, sir," David repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"And in that sixteenth psalm he goes on to declare his content in his +portion, in that it is not of earth. 'The lines are fallen unto me in +pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' There is a word in the +New Testament that explains it," Mr. Richmond went on, looking keenly +at David; "a word of one who was in the same case; and he says of the +children of God, 'And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint +heirs with Messiah.'" +</P> + +<P> +David started and shivered, as if a nerve had suddenly been touched; +but Mr. Richmond went on to something else, as if he had not observed +it. All through supper time he was so gentle, pleasant, and spirited +too in his talk, that the boy who was unaccustomed to such society felt +the charm holding him; and Matilda who had not known it for long, felt +like a flower opening to the sunshine. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<P> +After tea Mr. Richmond led the way back to his study. The first thing +he did there was to make the fire blaze up merrily; and then, just as +David was thinking how to take leave, the blue eyes came full round +upon him, with a look as bright as the fire shine. +</P> + +<P> +"And so," he said, "you are seeking after your Messiah?" +</P> + +<P> +David seemed tongue-tied; he said nothing; he bowed slightly. +</P> + +<P> +"How far have you got?" +</P> + +<P> +"Far enough to be confused, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay? How is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I feel myself too ignorant yet to be able to judge. Our wise men are +saying—I heard them saying—that if Messiah come not soon, he must +<I>have</I> come." David's colour changed even as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know anything of the New Testament, the record of the life and +teaching, and death and resurrection, of Jesus?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very little," David answered. "Matilda has shewn me passages in those +writings—which have struck me very much," he added, as if with +difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think they would. Well, when a thing is to be done, the best +way is to do it. Suppose you take the book in your hands now, and let +me direct your attention to one or two things more." +</P> + +<P> +David was very ready. He took the book Mr. Richmond placed in his hands +and drew near to the table, while Matilda on her part seized another +Bible and did likewise. Mr. Richmond had been lighting the lamp. Before +he had finished his preparations, David began. +</P> + +<P> +"But that story of the resurrection is a very unlikely one." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so? The same might be said of the crossing of the Red Sea +by your fathers." +</P> + +<P> +"That is well enough attested by witnesses," said David, proudly +raising his head. +</P> + +<P> +"So is this. If a thing can be made sure by the testimony of credible +witnesses, this has been; witnesses who were ready to go to the death +in support of their words, and who did so die, many of them." +</P> + +<P> +"But," said David, "our Messiah was to be the King of our people; and +your Christ belongs to the Gentiles." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God he does!" said Mr. Richmond smiling. "But now let us see if +you are correct in that first statement." +</P> + +<P> +"He was to be a King on David's throne," interrupted the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"He is. Wait. Do you remember, in the promise to Abraham it was said +that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"And Isaiah declares, 'In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, +which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it <I>shall the +Gentiles seek</I>.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but they will come to Messiah; not the Messiah go to them," said +David, lifting his head with the same air again. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Richmond answered in words of Isaiah. "'Behold my servant, whom I +uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit +upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' And again in +the forty-ninth chapter—and Master Bartholomew, you know that these +words were spoken of Messiah—'And now, saith the Lord that formed me +from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though +Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the +Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing +that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and +to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light +to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the +earth.'" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked eagerly at David as these words were finished; the boy's +face was troubled and dark. He made no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let us see how those words were to be fulfilled," Mr. Richmond +went on. "It is a hard reading for you; but we are seeking the truth, +and you are seeking it. The apostle John, one of the servants and +witnesses of Christ, says, 'He came unto his own, and his own received +him not.'" +</P> + +<P> +David looked up with a white face. "If that is true"—he said. "I just +want to know whether that is true!" +</P> + +<P> +"You know Isaiah said it would be true. 'Who has believed our report?' +'He is despised and rejected of men;... we hid as it were our faces +from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Some of the rabbis held that there were two Messiahs," David said. +</P> + +<P> +"Because they knew not how to understand of one the various seemingly +contradictory things, which were and are all fulfilled in Jesus." +</P> + +<P> +"Of <I>Nazareth</I>," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he lived there; but he was born in the city of David. Come, you +do not know him, and it is needful you should. Let us read this first +chapter of John all through." +</P> + +<P> +They read slowly, with many interruptions. David had explanations to +ask, and then there were prophecies to consult. The boy's eagerness and +excitement infected his companions; the reading began to take on a sort +of life and death interest, though Mr. Richmond kept it calm, with some +difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +His next proposition was, that they should go through the life of +Christ regularly; and they began with the first chapters of Luke. +Nothing that Matilda had ever known in her life was like the interest +of that reading. David was startled, curious, excited, as if he were +beginning to find the clue to a mystery; though he did not admit that. +On the contrary, he studied every step, would understand every +allusion, and verify every reference to the Old Testament scriptures. +The boy's cheeks were flushed now, like one in a fever. The hours flew. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," said Mr. Richmond, laying his hand on David's open book, "we +cannot finish what we want to do this evening." +</P> + +<P> +David looked up, pushed his hair off his face, and recollected himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said. "I have taken up a great deal of +your time." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have a great deal more," said Mr. Richmond smiling; "but we +had better sleep upon it first. And pray," he added soberly. "Pray, +that if this Jesus is indeed He whom you seek, you may know him." +</P> + +<P> +David bowed silently, feeling too much apparently to say anything. +When, however, he would have taken leave, Mr. Richmond detained him and +would not hear of it. Norton, he said, would not miss him; he would be +gone to bed by this time, tired of waiting; and they would send and +invite him to breakfast. To Matilda's surprise, and as well to her huge +delight, she saw that David was won by the influence that had long been +so potent with her, and made no very great opposition. Miss Redwood was +called in to prayers, and after that the little family separated for +the night. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought she surely would not go to sleep soon; but she did, +nearly as her face touched the pillow. So it was not till she awoke in +the morning that she could think over her happiness. It was early yet; +the sunbeams striking the old cream coloured tower of the church and +glittering on the pine leaves here and there. How delicious it was! The +spring light on the old things that she loved, and the peaceful +Shadywalk stillness after New York's bustle and roar. And David +Bartholomew in Mr. Richmond's house! and Norton coming to breakfast! +With that, Matilda jumped up. Perhaps she might help Miss Redwood; at +any rate she could see her. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Redwood was in full blast of business by the time Matilda's little +figure appeared at the kitchen door. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say you're up, and down!" said the housekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Miss Redwood; I thought perhaps I could help you." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you wear dresses like that into the kitchen?" the housekeeper +asked, with a sidelong glance at the beautiful merino Matilda had on. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't go into the kitchen now-a-days." +</P> + +<P> +"Thought not. Nor you don't never put on a frock fit to make +gingerbread in, now do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what are your gowns good for, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good for?" said Matilda; "why, they are good for other things, Miss +Redwood." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think a gown is worth much that is too good to work in; it is +just a bag to pack so many hours of your life in, and lose 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Lose them how?" +</P> + +<P> +"By not doin' anythin', child! What's life if it ain't busy?" +</P> + +<P> +"But don't you have company dresses, Miss Redwood?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't let company hinder <I>my</I> work much," said Miss Redwood, as she +shoved a pan of biscuits into the oven of the stove. "What do you think +'ud become of the minister?" +</P> + +<P> +"O yes!" said Matilda laughing; "but then, you see, I haven't got any +minister to take care of." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you will, some day," said Miss Redwood with a kind of grim +smile; "and if you don't know how, what'll become of you? or of him +either?" +</P> + +<P> +It seemed a very funny and very unlikely supposition to Matilda. "I +don't think I shall ever have anybody to take care of but mamma and +Norton," she said smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose they've money enough to make it easy," said Miss Redwood. +"But somehow—that don't seem to me livin'." +</P> + +<P> +"What, Miss Redwood?" +</P> + +<P> +"That sort o' way o' goin' on;—havin' money do all for you and you do +nothin'. Havin' it do all for your friends too. <I>I</I> don't think life's +life, without you have somebody to work for; somebody that wants you +and that can't get along without you." +</P> + +<P> +"O <I>they</I> want me," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe; but that ain't what I mean. 'Tain't dependin' on you for their +breakfast in the morning and their tea at night, and their comfort all +day. You have folks to do that. Now I wouldn't give much for life, if I +couldn't make nice light biscuits for somebody and see that their +coffee was right and the beefsteak just as it had oughter be, and all +that. I used to have some one to do it for," said Miss Redwood, with +something of pathetic intonation in her voice;—"and now," she added +cheerily, "it's a blessin' to do it for the minister." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think it was," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"There is another friend one may always work for,"—said the voice of +the person they were speaking of. Both his hearers started. The door of +the dining-room was a little ajar and he had quietly pushed it open and +come in. "Miss Redwood, how about breakfast? I have a sudden summons to +go to Suffield." +</P> + +<P> +"Again!" said the housekeeper. "Well, Mr. Richmond—in two minutes. La, +it's never safe to speak of you; you're sure to know it." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't hear anything very bad," said the minister smiling. +</P> + +<P> +Norton had come to breakfast. David made his appearance looking pale +and heavy-eyed, as if he had sat up half the night. Mr. Richmond looked +at him attentively but made no remark; only to both the boys he was +exceedingly kind and gracious; engaging them in talk that could not +fail to interest them; so that it was a gay breakfast. David was not +gay, indeed; that was rarely a characteristic of his; but he was +gentle, and gentlemanly, and very attentive to his host. After prayers +Mr. Richmond went out into the hall and came back in his overcoat. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," he said, laying his hand affectionately on David's shoulder, +"I should like to sit down with you and go on with our reading; I meant +to give the first of the morning to it; but I have a call of duty that +takes me away. I shall see you at dinner or this evening; meanwhile, +this is your home. Take care of him, Matilda." +</P> + +<P> +So Mr. Richmond went away. Norton had received, and refused, a similar +invitation. David did not refuse it. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Norton, "I must be nearer those flower-beds. Come along, +Pink; we'll go and make our calculations. Davy, you'll come and see +Briery Bank? it's jolly, this morning; and this afternoon we'll go take +a drive." +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to do a great many things," said Matilda; "only there'll +never be time for them all. However, we'll go first and see about the +tulips and hyacinths." +</P> + +<P> +David went with them so far and looked at the place; but after that he +disappeared. Matilda and Norton had a delightful day, overseeing the +garden work and arranging for more garden work to be done; then +lunching together at the hotel, for so he persuaded her, and going on +with their operations afterwards. At tea time Matilda went back to the +parsonage alone; Norton said he was tired and sleepy and did not want +to hear reading, but he would come to breakfast again. +</P> + +<P> +David was not pale but flushed now, with excited eyes. All Mr. +Richmond's talk and manner at table were kindly and soothing as +possible; and Matilda could see that he liked David and that David +liked him; but the look of the latter puzzled her. It came from +disturbance so much deeper than her little head had ever known. +Immediately after tea the study lamp was lit and the books were opened. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you read to-day, Master Bartholomew?" Mr. Richmond asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Just those two chapters," said the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Of Luke?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. Mr. Richmond, those people, Zechariah and Simeon and the +rest, they were Jews?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"And they kept the law of Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Faithfully." +</P> + +<P> +"And—they thought that Jesus was the Promised One?" +</P> + +<P> +"They did not <I>think</I>—they knew, by the teaching of the Spirit of God." +</P> + +<P> +"But," said David, "the writer of this did not wish to discredit the +law of Moses?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. Let us go on with our his story." +</P> + +<P> +The reading began again and went on steadily for some hours. As before, +David wanted to verify everything by references to the prophets. His +voice trembled sometimes; but he kept as close to business as possible. +The first chapters of Matthew excited him very much, with their +declarations of things done "that the scriptures might be fulfilled;" +and the sermon on the mount seemed to stagger the boy. He was silent a +while when it had come to his turn to read; and at last looking up, he +said, +</P> + +<P> +"If people took <I>this</I> for a rule of life, everything in the world +would have to be turned round?" +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely," said Mr. Richmond. "And so the word says—'If any man be +in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, +all things are become new.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think anybody really lives like this?" +</P> + +<P> +"O yes," said Mr. Richmond. +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw anybody who did," said David; "nor anything like +it;—unless," he added looking up, "it is Matilda there." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda started and flushed. Mr. Richmond's eyes fell on her with a +very moved pleasure in them. Neither spoke, and David went on with the +reading. He was greatly struck again, in another way, with the +quotation from Isaiah in the thirteenth chapter, and its application; +indeed with the whole chapter. But when they came to the talk with the +woman of Samaria, David stopped short. +</P> + +<P> +"'I that speak unto thee <I>am he</I>.' Then he said himself that he was +Messiah?" +</P> + +<P> +"To this woman, to his twelve disciples, and to two or three more." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not to the whole people?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it likely they would have believed him?" +</P> + +<P> +David pondered. +</P> + +<P> +"They asked him once the direct question—'How long dost thou make us +to doubt? If thou be Messiah, tell us plainly.'" +</P> + +<P> +"What did he say?" +</P> + +<P> +"He said, 'I told you, and ye believed not; the works that I do in my +Father's name, they bear witness of me.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Then <I>they</I> thought perhaps he was Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +"The people on one or two occasions were so persuaded of it that they +wanted to take him by force and make him king." +</P> + +<P> +"And he refused?" +</P> + +<P> +"He refused. You know, he came 'to give his life a ransom for many;' +not to enjoy worldly honour." +</P> + +<P> +"But how then should he save Israel from all their enemies?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who are Israel's enemies? 'He shall redeem Israel from all his +<I>iniquities;</I>' and when once they turn to the Lord, there will be no +other enemies that can work them harm. You know it was always so." +</P> + +<P> +David sighed and the reading went on. But again he started at the +fourth chapter of Luke and the words read by the Lord from Isaiah and +his appropriation of them. David stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"Here it is again," he said. "'This day is this scripture fulfilled—' +That is plain." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing could be plainer. But they would not see it." +</P> + +<P> +David paused still, and then said with some difficulty, "I want to know +the truth. Because—if he <I>is</I> Messiah,—he is my King!" And a dark +gleam, partly of pain, partly of incipient loyalty, crossed his face. +Mr. Richmond's eyes flashed. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," he said; "let us see whether he is Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +The parables indicating the taking away of their privileges from the +Jews and giving them to the Gentiles, were hard reading. David stopped +to understand them, and looked very black. When they came to the +discourses of Christ with the Jews, David's excitement grew very great, +though he controlled himself. And just there came a summons to Mr. +Richmond which it was impossible to pass by. He was forced to go, and +left the two younger ones at the table. For a few minutes they were +silent; and then David rose up, pale with intense feeling, and took his +book. Matilda looked at him inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"I must find it out by myself," he said; and walked to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"David!" cried Matilda, "shall I call you when dinner is ready?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, don't. I don't want dinner. And I can't go with you to look up +Norton. Can you do without me?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda assured him of that, feeling quite at home in Shadywalk. And as +it was about eleven o' clock, she thought to look up Norton would be +the best thing she could do. +</P> + +<P> +So she went down the old village street, where every step was full of +memories, feeling very glad to see it again. She would have liked to +stop and visit several people; but she knew Norton would be impatient +for her; and so he was. He was overseeing the uncovering of his bulbs +to-day. +</P> + +<P> +"Twelve o' clock, Pink; twelve o' clock! and this is the first I have +seen of you since breakfast. What have you been doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"We've been busy, Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Davy?" +</P> + +<P> +"At the parsonage. He's busy." +</P> + +<P> +"Look at those hyacinths,—up already, all of an inch above ground. +It's well I came to see after them." +</P> + +<P> +"What makes them so yellow, Norton, instead of green?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why because they've been covered up and shaded from the sun. A little +longer, and they would have been spoiled." +</P> + +<P> +"How beautiful it would be, Norton, if we had our two new beds planted! +all full of roses and hyacinths." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, wouldn't it!" repeated Norton. "You see, we were a bit too late +about it last fall; or, I'll tell you! it was that sickness kept us +away. We'll have 'em next year. What <I>have</I> you and David been doing +yonder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Reading"—said Matilda doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Reading what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Richmond and David were reading together." +</P> + +<P> +"That's jolly!" said Norton. "David and the parson! What's come over +Bartholomew? Where's he going to get dinner?" +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't come with me, and I don't think he was coming." +</P> + +<P> +"Let him stay and read, then," said Norton. "If he can afford it, we +can. Pink, we'll go and get something presently—as soon as I see all +this mulching off." +</P> + +<P> +They managed to employ themselves all the rest of the day; dining at +the hotel, overseeing work in the grounds of Briery Bank, roaming about +the place and enjoying its spring sweetness; talking over what they +thought ought to be done; and making a very nice holiday of it +generally. Towards evening Norton was persuaded to return with Matilda +to the parsonage; perhaps urged by a little curiosity of his own. David +had not been seen, Miss Redwood reported. +</P> + +<P> +Neither did he come when tea-time came; and when sought in his room it +was discovered that he was not there. Matilda was very much exercised +on this subject; but Mr. Richmond took it quietly. Norton declared it +was just like David Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think it it, Norton," said Matilda; "for he is always polite." +</P> + +<P> +"Except this time," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll not except this time, if you please," said Mr. Richmond +pleasantly. "Things are different from their seeming, oftentimes." +</P> + +<P> +It was Saturday evening, and the minister was busy in his study. The +two children kept Miss Redwood company in the dining room. It was a +great falling off from last evening, Matilda thought; nevertheless she +had a very entertaining talk with Miss Redwood about people and things +in Shadywalk; and Norton listened, half amused and half sleepy. Mrs. +Candy had been absent from Shadywalk near all winter; in New York. +</P> + +<P> +"In New York!" exclaimed Matilda. "And I never saw her or Clarissa!" +</P> + +<P> +"She didn't come to see you then," said Miss Redwood. "I guess she was +skeered o' something. But la! New York must be a queer place." +</P> + +<P> +"Why now?" Norton asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems as if folks couldn't be runnin' round in it all winter long and +manage to keep out o' sight." +</P> + +<P> +"That's its peculiarity," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pect a great deal could happen there, and the world not know," the +housekeeper went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Much more than what it does know," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I allays think sich must be poor kind o' places. Corners that the +world can't see into ain't healthy. Now I like a place like Shadywalk, +that you know all through; and if there's something wrong, why it has a +chance to get mended. There's wrong enough here, no doubt; but most of +it'll bear the light of day. And most of us are pretty good sort o' +folks." +</P> + +<P> +"Now that Mrs. Candy is out of town," Norton remarked. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda had a great deal to hear about Sunday school people, and her +friends in Lilac Lane. For Lilac Lane was there yet, Miss Redwood +observed. Through it all, Matilda watched for David's coming in. But +the evening ended and he came not. +</P> + +<P> +It hurt a little the joy of her Sunday waking up, which else would have +been most joyous. Norton was in the house this time; he had consented +to be at the parsonage for the Sunday. Monday morning they were all to +go home by the earliest train. So there was no drawback to Matilda's +joy except this one. It was delightful to hear the old bell once more; +delightful to see the spring light streaming between the pines and +lighting the ugly old church tower; pleasanter than any other beautiful +one to Matilda's eyes. With all the coming delights of the day crowding +upon her mind, she rose and dressed, hoping that David would come to +breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not. +</P> + +<P> +The sweet Sabbath day moved on slowly, with its services in the old +church and its pleasant talk and society in the house; the Sunday +school hours; the meeting old friends and acquaintances; but dinner and +Sunday school were over, and nothing was heard of David Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"What has become of him?" said Mr. Richmond, as he and Matilda came in +after Sunday school. +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>can</I> have become of him, Mr. Richmond?" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing very bad," said Mr. Richmond, smiling at her distressed face. +"Suppose we go and look him up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where would you go, Mr. Richmond? he has not been <I>here</I> since +yesterday morning." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I should try the hotel." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think he is there!—Shall we go?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think we will," said Mr. Richmond; and hand in hand he and Matilda +went down the street, to the corner. Just opposite, a little below, was +the Shadywalk house of public entertainment. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody knew David Bartholomew there by name. But in answer to Mr. +Richmond's enquiries and description of him, the barkeeper stated that +such a young gentleman had certainly come there the day before and was +in Room No. 45. He had scarcely been seen since he entered the house, +the man said; had refused almost everything that was offered him; but +anyhow, he was there. +</P> + +<P> +Where was Room No. 45? A man was sent to direct them to it; and Mr. +Richmond and Matilda went up the stairs and along a gallery. No. 45 was +at the end of the gallery. +</P> + +<P> +"I will wait here for you, Matilda," Mr. Richmond said. "I think you +had better go alone to see him—at first." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<P> +Matilda went to the door and knocked. She heard nothing, and was +obliged to knock again. Then the door opened, and David stood before +her. What to say to him Matilda had not just determined, and while she +hesitated he stepped back, mutely inviting her to enter. Matilda went +in and he closed the door. She was afraid to speak when she saw his +face, it was so pale and disturbed. But he prevented her. +</P> + +<P> +"I have found it out, Matilda," he said. "It's all true." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda started and looked up at him to see what he meant. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it now," he said. "He <I>is</I> the Messiah! he is my Messiah; he is +my King But—my people, my people!—" +</P> + +<P> +Breaking off abruptly with this cry, David sat down at a little table +where he had been sitting,—for his Bible was open upon it,—and put +his head down in his hands and burst into tears. And Matilda had never +seen anybody weep as she saw him then; nor in her childishness had +supposed that a boy could; the little deal table shook under the +strength of his sobs. Matilda was bewildered and half frightened; she +stepped back into the gallery, meaning to summon Mr. Richmond; but Mr. +Richmond was not there; and she went back again, and stood, much +distressed, waiting until this paroxysm of pain should have passed by. +It lasted some time. Probably David had not shed a tear until then, and +speaking to her had broken down the barrier. Matilda did not know what +to do. At last she put her hand timidly among the thick dark curls +which lay lower than she had ever seen them before, and spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear David! don't,—please don't do so!" +</P> + +<P> +He heard and heeded the anxious little voice, for the sobs lessened, +and presently he raised himself up and as it were shook them off. But +Matilda thought he looked very sad yet. She waited silently. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, Matilda," he said, "I understand it all now. And <I>they</I> +don't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Who don't, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"My people," he said sadly. "I see it all now. They did not know +him—they did not know him! And so they lost him. You know what he +said,—the kingdom is 'taken from them, and given to another nation, +bringing forth the fruits thereof.' So they are scattered abroad on the +face of the whole earth. And still they don't know him!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you do, David?" said Matilda earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Tilly, I wish my life was longer, to use it for him. I wish my hands +were stronger, to do his service! But all I am is his, every bit of it, +and all I have; from this day for ever." +</P> + +<P> +The boy stood, with a kind of sad joyfulness, very quiet, with folded +hands, speaking hardly as it seemed to Matilda, but perhaps to angels +and the Lord himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you come and tell Mr. Richmond?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly!" he said, starting from his attitude. +</P> + +<P> +"When we heard nothing of you for ever so long, I grew troubled; I +didn't know what had become of you; and then Mr. Richmond proposed that +we should come here and look after you. You'll come to the parsonage +to-night, David? you know we are all going away to-morrow morning." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be ready in two minutes." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda waited while he washed his face and brushed his hair; then they +went downstairs and found Mr. Richmond. He stretched out his hand to +David, which the boy took with a flitting change of colour that told of +some difficulty of self-command. However in a moment his words were +firm. +</P> + +<P> +"I have found my Messiah, sir, where you bade me look for him. He is +<I>my</I> Messiah, and my King, and I am his servant. I wish I could be his +servant twenty times over!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"One life is too little to give." +</P> + +<P> +"You may serve him to the ages of the ages. Service shall not end with +<I>this</I> life, do you think so?" +</P> + +<P> +Then David lifted up his dark eyes and smiled. Matilda had always known +him a very grave boy; perhaps partly for that reason this smile seemed +to her like a rift of light between clouds, so sweet and bright. It +filled Matilda with so much awe that she did not open her lips all the +way to the parsonage. Nor did Mr. Richmond say much. +</P> + +<P> +They were in danger of being a silent party at tea, too; only I think +the minister exerted himself to prevent it. Matilda had no words for +anything, and indeed could hardly eat her supper; as often as she +dared, she stole a look at David. For he did not look at all like +himself. He was grave; to be sure that was like him; only now it was a +new sort of high, sweet gravity, even gentle and humble in its seeming; +and if he was silent, it was not that he was not ready and willing to +speak when there was occasion. But Matilda guessed he had too much to +think of to want to talk much. Norton was perhaps a little curious as +to what there was between his three companions; and Miss Redwood was +seldom free with her tongue in the minister's presence. Mr. Richmond, +as I said, had to exert himself, or the silence of the tea-table would +have been too marked. +</P> + +<P> +They all went to church together. Matilda caught a look of extreme +surprise on Norton's face when he saw that David was one of the party; +but there was no time for explanations then. Little Matilda thought she +had hardly ever been so happy in her life. In the old place, Mr. +Richmond preaching, and David and Norton beside her, one of them there +in heart as well as in person. The singing was sweet, and the prayers +were happy. +</P> + +<P> +Coming back from church, Matilda and Norton fell a little behind the +others. +</P> + +<P> +"What's come over David Bartholomew?" Norton whispered. "Politeness?" +</P> + +<P> +"O no, Norton; not politeness. He will tell you himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Davy's strong on politeness," said Norton. "I didn't know but it was +that. Politeness took <I>me;</I> but of course, to take Davy, it would have +to be a most extraordinary and uncommon sort of politeness. I can +hardly believe my eyes yet." +</P> + +<P> +"You always said Mr. Richmond was a brick, Norton," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but you never heard me say David Bartholomew was another, did +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, but he <I>is</I>, Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"He <I>is!</I> Phew! that's news." +</P> + +<P> +They came to the parsonage door and Matilda could not reply. Going in, +Mr. Richmond said to them that he had something to talk with David +about, and that they must not sit up if they were tired. So he and +David turned into the study, and Norton and Matilda went on into the +dining-room, where Miss Redwood was sitting with her Bible. Then +David's head was put into the room after them. "Tell Norton for me, +please, Matilda," he said; and went back. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what?" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda did not know how to begin. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you've got home," remarked the housekeeper closing her book. +"Was there many out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would have been more if you hadn't staid at home, Miss Redwood," +Norton replied. +</P> + +<P> +"When you're as old as I am, my young gentleman, you'll know that folks +don't do things without reasons." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Norton. "But are they always good reasons?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's their own look out," said the housekeeper. "What did you go to +church for this evening, for instance?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've just been telling my sister," said Norton. "But what, in the name +of Rabbi Solomon, and all the Rabbis, ever took David Bartholomew +there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't he a Jew?" said the housekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he is. And he don't love Christians, I can tell you, except +one here and there." +</P> + +<P> +"He does now," said Matilda in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"He loves Christians now, Norton. And he loves Jesus. He is a Christian +himself." +</P> + +<P> +"David Bartholomew a Christian!" exclaimed Norton. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda nodded. Her eyes were full and her lips were trembling. +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>thought</I> there was something to pay," said the good housekeeper, +whose eyes watered for company. But Norton was transfixed with +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Pink, what do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's true, Norton," said Matilda nodding again. +</P> + +<P> +"What's made him?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has been studying the Bible and the New Testament this long while. +Now, he says, he knows." +</P> + +<P> +"And he means it!" said the housekeeper. "I can tell by the look of +him." +</P> + +<P> +"Means what?" +</P> + +<P> +"He means what he says—whatever that is." +</P> + +<P> +"But you said, you were thinking, something in particular, Miss +Redwood." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; just what he was thinking," said the housekeeper. "He'll never be +one o' those Christians that stand on one leg at a time; that's what I +mean. Whoever wants to walk alongside of him, 'll have to step up to +the mark." +</P> + +<P> +Norton looked at her, in somewhat disdainful want of comprehension, and +then turned to Matilda again. +</P> + +<P> +"Pink, I don't believe a word of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Norton, I heard him myself, all that he said." +</P> + +<P> +"Mind, he may have found out that his famous old uncles of rabbis don't +know anything; <I>that's</I> very likely; but I don't believe David +Bartholomew has given up being a Jew." +</P> + +<P> +"Why he can't do that, Norton; he's born so; but he is a Christian too." +</P> + +<P> +"A man can't be a Christian and a Jew too," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Redwood, can't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon it's difficult," said the good housekeeper; "and you may +depend he's found that out; but he's found it's possible too. Why what +'ud become of all the Jewish nation if it warn't possible?" +</P> + +<P> +"What should become of them?" Norton asked scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's wonderful things about the Jews in the Bible," said the +housekeeper rising; "if the minister was here he'd tell you. And there +was an old promise to Abraham, that if I was you I wouldn't run +against." +</P> + +<P> +"Run against a promise to Abraham!" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes," said the housekeeper, setting her chair back at the wall +in its place. "I wouldn't like to run against none o' the Lord's words, +and this is one of 'em. 'I will bless them that bless thee, and curse +him that curseth thee.'" +</P> + +<P> +The housekeeper went off and left Matilda and Norton looking at each +other. Norton wore a vexed face. +</P> + +<P> +"This is all trumpery," he said. "It will blow away like smoke." +</P> + +<P> +"No it won't, Norton," said Matilda. "I hope not." +</P> + +<P> +"And how long have you and David been holding secret meetings together +to talk about this?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, Norton. But we had better go to bed, I suppose; for Miss +Redwood will call us very early to have breakfast before the omnibus +comes for us." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense to have breakfast!" said Norton. "We shall be home time +enough." +</P> + +<P> +"But then you and Davy will have to rush right off to school. Good +night." +</P> + +<P> +"Good night"—said Norton, in an uncomfortable tone. And they went up +to their rooms, leaving David and Mr. Richmond still shut up in the +study. +</P> + +<P> +It was early, dawn just breaking, when the summons came for them to get +up; the dawn of a fair spring morning. What a visit it had been! +Matilda thought to herself, as she dressed and put up her things in her +little hand bag. And as the first sunbeams were glinting on the top of +the old tower, she ran down to breakfast. Mr. Richmond gave her a very +warm greeting, in his quiet way. So did David. He looked bright and +well, Matilda saw at a glance. Norton had not by any means got over his +discomfiture. He seemed embarrassed as well as uneasy; watched David +with furtive glances, and eat his breakfast in silence. Mr. Richmond +and Matilda were the talkers. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you had any more difficulties about boots?" he asked in the +course of the conversation. Matilda looked at him in bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"You wrote me some time ago, on the subject of a deep question that had +to do with boots." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda coloured and laughed, while Norton remarked that boots were a +queer subject for deep questions to have to do with. +</P> + +<P> +"Deep questions can spring out of anything—out of your bread and +butter," said Mr. Richmond. "How is it, Tilly, about the matter of +boots?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have hardly thought about it, Mr. Richmond, this long while." +</P> + +<P> +"How is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have had so much else to think of, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"Studies?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; my studies have been a good deal broken off by my being sick." +</P> + +<P> +"What then? Can you tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda gave briefly the history of her connexion with Sarah Staples. +She meant to give it briefly; but the story was too sweet in the +telling; it rather grew long. Yet she did by no means put herself or +her own doings in the foreground; that place was given as much as +possible to Mr. Wharncliffe and David and the poor family themselves. +The minister and the housekeeper were both very much interested. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the former, in conclusion, "I understand, and am satisfied. +I see that now boots are boots; and nothing more." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda laughed, for the boys looked mystified. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you tell me, sir," inquired Norton, "how deep questions could +spring out of my bread and butter?" +</P> + +<P> +The minister could have smiled at the boy's air, which had much the +effect of seeming to put a "poser" to him; but he controlled himself +and answered quite gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we consider them together? or apart?" +</P> + +<P> +"Apart, if you please." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—Bread, you know, daily bread, stands for the matters which +support life, in all variety. This question arises.—Who gives this +daily bread to you, and gives you power to eat it? And what use does He +wish to make of you, that he should give you both?" +</P> + +<P> +Norton was silent. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not prepared with an answer?" said the minister. +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought of the questions before, sir. The second one sounds to +me very strange." +</P> + +<P> +"Does it? Do you think the Lord had no purpose to serve, in putting you +here and nourishing you up to strength and power?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's for the bread," said Norton after a pause, but not rudely; +lifting his eyes to the minister as he spoke. "You were going to +consider the bread <I>and butter</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you do not seem disposed to 'consider' anything," said Mr. +Richmond smiling; "but, however, I will hope the time of consideration +may come. Now for deep question Number three, or Number four,—You have +butter to your bread, and plenty of it; what is your duty towards +others who have no butter, and others still who have no bread?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's the omnibus, Mr. Richmond," said the housekeeper. And there +was no more talk. Only a hurried putting on of hats and seizing of hand +bags; eager, warm, hearty grasping of hands in good bye; and then the +three travellers were in the omnibus and rolling along the parsonage +lane and out at the gate. +</P> + +<P> +What a visit it had been! Matilda was so full of content that she was +still. Not a very noisy child at any time, she was now as quiet as a +mouse, just with content. Three days of sweet pleasure, three days of +country skies and greening grass and free sunshine; three nights and +mornings of parsonage delights. And more than that; more than all she +had hoped for; David going home with <I>his</I> deep questions solved and +his calls of duty and privilege met. What would they think at home? and +how would they find out about it? "He was one of those lost pieces of +silver," thought Matilda, smiling to herself; "and Jesus has found him!" +</P> + +<P> +"What's so amusing?" inquired Norton. He was rather in a disordered +state of mind, and certainly seemed to see nothing amusing himself. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda looked up, still smiling, though her eyes were dewy, and from +him glanced at David. Their eyes met. His smile answered hers, quite +recognizing its meaning. Norton whistled. There was no other passenger +in the omnibus; and he whistled half way to the station. +</P> + +<P> +In the cars the same content possessed Matilda. It was still early +morning; she thought the river had never looked so pretty as in the +crisp light of that hour; nor the opposite hills so lovely as under +those wreaths of bright vapour which lay along the hillsides; nor ever +was there a blue sky more smiling. She glanced at her two companions. +Norton was not smiling by any means; his discomposure had not gone off, +whatever it might mean; and he eyed David now and then with a jealous, +doubtful expression. David was grave enough, but not as usual. Matilda +looked again and again, to see how different the thoughtful bright calm +of his face was from the old dark gloom that used to be there; and then +her eyes turned to the sunny river and sky and hills, with a glad +feeling of the harmony between things outward and inward. Before long, +David had taken out a little book and was deep in the study of it; +which he never interrupted till they reached Poughkeepsie. There Norton +rushed out, to get something to eat, he said; though Matilda guessed it +was rather to get rid of himself for a minute. Many other people left +the car on the same errand; and David looked up from his book and came +over to Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said he, "how are you getting along?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nicely. I am so happy, David!" +</P> + +<P> +"So am I," said he gravely. "All the world is new, and it seems to me I +see the sun shine for the first time." +</P> + +<P> +"See the sun shine?" repeated Matilda doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said he smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't look at it, David. You are reading all the while." +</P> + +<P> +"I see it, though. Now I know what the prophet Malachi meant by the sun +of righteousness. Do you remember, Matilda? I guess you don't; but I +know the words. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + 'And risen to you, ye who fear my name,<BR> + Hath the sun of righteousness and healing in its wings.'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +I feel that now. I never could understand it before." +</P> + +<P> +"There are a great many things that we cannot understand till we feel +them,—are there not, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +Their talk stopped there; and presently the people who had gone out +came pouring back. Norton brought a great piece of sponge-cake to +Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Norton, but I'm not hungry, I've just had breakfast a few +minutes ago." +</P> + +<P> +"You hadn't time to eat." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I had. You spent your time talking, I suppose; you and Mr. +Richmond; that's the reason you are hungry." +</P> + +<P> +Norton sat down and eat his sponge-cake; and spoke no more till the +train got in. The carriage was in waiting; took the two boys +immediately to school, and carried Matilda and the bags home. +</P> + +<P> +She wondered all day how and when David's disclosure would be made, and +how it would be taken at home. She had a good many questions to answer +herself, even Judy seeming curious to know what they had been doing and +how they had spent the time, and why they had not come home Saturday; +especially what David had done with himself and why he had taken it +into his head to go at all. Matilda declined to enter into any +discussion of David's affairs, and left him to speak for himself. But +much she wondered how he would, and whether he would, and when he would. +</P> + +<P> +It happened that evening that there was no company, and the family were +all gathered together in the little reception room; talking over the +children's reports and discussing plans for the coming summer. +Matilda's heart began to beat; for she saw that David was thoughtfully +still, and that Norton, in a corner, only talked by jerks, as it were, +and sat turning over and over one of his school-books, with an odd air +of expectancy. Yes, certainly he knew that David was going to speak, +and was waiting for it. Matilda could think of nothing else; her talk +all came to an end. +</P> + +<P> +"Norton hasn't much to say to-night," Mrs. Bartholomew remarked. "No +more than if he were my boy." +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't anything to talk about," said Norton, looking at nothing but +his book. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda has lost her tongue too," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"She never had such a one as yours," replied her grandmother; "you must +remember that. It isn't such a loss in the house." +</P> + +<P> +Judy seemed inclined to pout at this; but then her attention was turned +to her brother, who began rather suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"May I speak, grandmamma?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be very happy to hear," said Mrs. Lloyd smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so sure of that," said David; "at least, not of you all; +though I really have something to say." +</P> + +<P> +All eyes turned to David. Norton looked up at him from under his brows, +with a strange expression of curiosity and displeasure. Matilda only +looked away. David hesitated, then went on very calmly and gently. +</P> + +<P> +"You know, mother and grandmother, that I have been very strong in my +love for my own people, and very strong in my sympathies with them." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it in the past tense?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. +</P> + +<P> +"And very fixed in my prejudices against what was not Jewish; against +what in your beliefs was contrary to mine." +</P> + +<P> +"We all know that," said his mother a little bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"Is <I>that</I> in the past tense?" demanded Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"I joined with my people in expecting the Messiah and hoping for him." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you?" said his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"I have changed," said David slowly. "I have been studying these things +for some time past; I have studied and studied; and now I know. Our +Messiah <I>has</I> come; our people did not know him, and—they lost him. I +know now that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +A scream of startled rage from Judy broke in upon the closing +utterances of this speech. She prevented everybody else. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not mean to say that, David Bartholomew!" she exclaimed, +jumping out of her chair and standing before him. "You don't mean it." +</P> + +<P> +"Do I ever say what I do not mean, Judy?" he answered gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Say it again. Say you have left us and gone over to the Christians." +</P> + +<P> +"Judy! are you not ashamed!" cried Mrs. Bartholomew. "What do you think +of your mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," said Judy. "I'm not talking of you, mamma. You are neither +one thing nor the other. You are nothing. <I>Have</I> you gone over, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know what I said," her brother answered. "I believe that Jesus of +Nazareth is the Messiah." +</P> + +<P> +"The Christians' Messiah," said Judy scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Theirs and ours," said David sorrowfully. "Messiah ben David, the King +of Israel." +</P> + +<P> +"Take that!" said Judy, administering a slap on the cheek which was +heartily delivered. "You are a mean good-for-nothing, David +Bartholomew! and I wish your name was something else." +</P> + +<P> +All the voices in the room cried out upon Judy except her brother's. +His colour changed, back and forth, but he was silent She stood in the +centre of the room like a little fury. +</P> + +<P> +"Judy, Judy! Sit down!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. But it was doubtful if +Judy heard. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think your uncle Solomon and Rabbi Nathan will say to you, +you mean boy!" she cried. "I am going straight to tell them." +</P> + +<P> +"I will tell them myself, Judy," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"And what do you think they will say to you, hey? You deserve all +you'll get. Ugh! What is a Jew who isn't a Jew any longer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to tell you what I am," said David. "Grandmamma, I had not +finished what I had to say to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Let him speak, Judy," said Mrs. Lloyd. +</P> + +<P> +"If the rest is like the beginning, I don't want to hear it," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"You need not hear it," said her mother. "Leave the room, then." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't!" said Judy. "There is nobody here but me to make him ashamed." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish something would make you ashamed," said her mother. "Judy +Bartholomew, hold your tongue. Go on, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma, you don't like all this stuff any better than I do." +</P> + +<P> +"I choose to hear it out, though," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "Sit down and +be silent." +</P> + +<P> +"I will—till I get something else to talk about," said Judy, sitting +down as requested. And all eyes turned once more upon David. He was +very quiet, outwardly: he had been quietly waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmamma," he said with a slight smile, "I am as good a Jew as ever +I was"—("It's a lie," put in Judy;—"unless the rest was!")—"I am as +good a Jew as ever I was, and <I>better</I>. I had studied about the +Messiah, and knew about him, and knew that he was promised—the hope of +Israel, and the King of Israel. Now I know that he has come, and I know +him; and he isn't the Messiah that I am hoping for, but"—he hesitated +and smiled again,—"the Christ I am glad for; the Hope of Israel and +the King, and so my King and my Hope. I have given myself to him to be +his servant. I believe in him—I love him—and all that I am is his." +</P> + +<P> +Possibly Judy was bewildered by this speech; perhaps she was astonished +into silence; at any rate she sat still and was quiet. Norton tossed +his book over and over. Matilda was in such a tumult of delight that +she could hardly contain herself, but she made a great effort and kept +it from observation. The ladies seemed somewhat in Judy's condition. At +last Mrs. Bartholomew spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"By your last words, what do you mean, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma," he said, "I meant to make them quite plain. I thought it was +right to tell you all. I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, so are we all," said his mother. "What do you mean to do, that +you proclaim it so publicly?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, mamma; only to follow my Master." +</P> + +<P> +"Follow him how?" +</P> + +<P> +"In his own way—obeying his words." +</P> + +<P> +"But people that talk in that way often go into extremes, and do +ridiculous things—unlike all the world. I hope that is not what you +mean, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, mamma," said the boy gravely. "I will do ridiculous +things if He command me"—and again a flicker of a smile that came like +a flicker of light passed over his face. "The first thing I thought I +had to do was to tell you all; he says his servants must confess him; +and to-morrow I will go to my uncles." The smile had faded and he was +very grave then. +</P> + +<P> +"And do you know what they will say to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I know," he answered slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this a very new thing, David Bartholomew?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, mamma. The <I>finishing</I> of it is new; it has been growing and +preparing for a long while." +</P> + +<P> +"Like you!" said his mother discontentedly. "Think and think and say +nothing,—and then come out with your mind, when nobody can change it!" +</P> + +<P> +"And it's all because of her!" Judy exclaimed, starting from her +silence and her seat together, and pointing to Matilda. "<I>She</I> has made +the mischief. David would never have thought of these low ways, if +there had not been somebody to put it into his head. That's what you +get, aunt Zara, by your works." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" said Mrs. Bartholomew sharply. "Matilda has nothing to do with +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Hasn't she though?" Judy retorted. "Just ask her. Or ask this boy. +Mean little spy! coming into such a house as this to upset it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, Judy," cried Norton; "you are going too fast." +</P> + +<P> +"Keep yourself out of the mess!" retorted Judy with great sharpness; +"there's enough without you. I say, she is at the bottom of it all; and +I wish it was the bottom of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's chariots!" +</P> + +<P> +"Judy, Judy!" said Mrs. Bartholomew, angry and half laughing—"hold +your tongue and don't be a fool." +</P> + +<P> +"You've only one of that name among your children, mamma," said the +young lady. "Half's enough." +</P> + +<P> +"What has Matilda done?" Mrs. Laval asked calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"She has been doing ever since she came here," Judy answered. +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>has</I> bewitched you, David, though?" his mother inquired. "There +was nothing of all this when you went to the catechizing?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, mamma. But the study about that time put me on thinking and asking +questions; nobody could answer my questions; not even our wise men; +until at last I began to ask—where I found the answer." +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda?" said Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda helped me a great deal." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I say so?" exclaimed Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"But it was her Bible that answered me—hers and my own." +</P> + +<P> +"When did she help you?" Norton broke out from his corner where he had +been tossing his book. "You and she are not such particular friends, +that ever I knew." +</P> + +<P> +"O but I think we are now, Norton," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said David, with a smile. "And she has been <I>my</I> friend for a +good while." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said Norton, returning to his book, which he tossed over +and over with greater exactness than ever. +</P> + +<P> +"I wash my hands of you, both of you," cried Judy. "You'll be a +religious poke—O mamma! to think that we should have anything +religious in <I>our</I> family. And Matilda always was a poke. Whatever will +become of us, with two of them!" +</P> + +<P> +"You have more to do with it than you think, Judy," said her brother. +"The way Matilda bore your persecutions was the first thing that made +me want to know about her religion." +</P> + +<P> +"What persecutions?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked; but nobody seemed ready to +answer her, and she went on—"Judy, you are a fool. David might change +his opinions, surely, without being a poke. My son, you do not mean to +be different from what you have always been,—do you?" +</P> + +<P> +David hesitated, and said, "I hope so, mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Different—how?" she asked quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am the King's servant, mamma," he answered with a certain +steadfastness which had much dignity about it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what then? what does that mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then of course I must do the King's commands, mamma." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you always?" +</P> + +<P> +David's answer was prevented by a fresh outburst of Judy's reproaches +and charges, which lasted till her brother took himself out of hearing; +then silence fell. Norton stopped the book exercise and looked about +him. Matilda's face he had seen by glimpses; he knew it was flushed and +anxious and glad at once. Mrs. Laval and her sister were grave, with +different styles of gravity; one thoughtful, the other vexed. Old Mrs. +Lloyd was in tears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<P> +The atmosphere of the house was very quiet during several successive +days, as far as Matilda could observe it. The boys were extremely busy +at school; and at home there was no public recurrence of Monday night's +discussion. In private Mrs. Laval questioned Matilda very closely as to +all the particulars of their Shadywalk expedition and all that she had +known for weeks past of David's state of mind. She made no comment on +the answers; and Matilda heard no more about the matter, until Saturday +morning came. Then when they were at breakfast, Mrs. Bartholomew said +in a conciliating tone, +</P> + +<P> +"David, my son, I don't see any necessity for that communication you +are proposing to make to your uncles." +</P> + +<P> +"I must go to see them, mamma." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; that is all just and proper; but there is no occasion to +talk to them about your change of views." +</P> + +<P> +"Then they would believe me what I am not." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—" said Mrs. Bartholomew; "they would a great deal rather believe +so than know the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you have liked me to hide it from you, mamma?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know; yes,—I think I should." +</P> + +<P> +"What would have been your opinion of me by and by, when you came to +find it out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just the truth," said Judy languidly. "Nothing can make you more of a +sneak than you are already." +</P> + +<P> +"One thing," said David firmly. "To get, or try to get, my uncles' +money under false pretences. You know they would never give it to a +Christian." +</P> + +<P> +"Judy," said Mrs. Lloyd, "another ill-bred word like that, and I send +you from the table." +</P> + +<P> +"But my dear boy," Mrs. Bartholomew went on, "you said Monday night +that you were as much of a Jew as ever." +</P> + +<P> +"The poor fellow was afraid of falling between two stools," said Judy; +"so he clutched at 'em both, without thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"And you are very young; and you do not know what your opinions may be +in a few years more. And in the mean while, I am very unwilling that +you should offend your uncles. <I>They</I> would never get over it." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess they wouldn't," said Judy. "What a time David will have with +'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see, my dear," pursued Mrs. Bartholomew, "it is unnecessary, +and may be premature, and so unwise?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," said David, evidently struggling with his feelings, "Messiah +has said that he will not own those who do not own him." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll get nothing out of him, mamma," said Judy. "He is one of +Matilda's crazy kind. He is going to get rid of his money as fast as he +can; and then he will turn chaplain of some jail, I should think; or +else he will get a place as a Methodist parson and go poking into all +the poor places of the earth; and then we shall see his name up in +bills—'Preaching at the cross corners to-night—Rev. David Bartholomew +will speak to the people from a candle box.'" +</P> + +<P> +David changed colour once or twice, but he said nothing. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda Laval," said Judy sharply, "eat your breakfast! He won't want +<I>you</I> to help him preach." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda wondered privately that the elders were so patient of Judy's +tongue and so very silent themselves. They seemed to have thoughts not +ready for utterance. At any rate the breakfast party broke up with Judy +having the last word, and scattered their several ways; and Matilda +heard no more on David's subject for some time. How the Saturday's work +issued she did not know; nothing was said about it in her hearing; and +David looked as happy and as calm as he had done before Saturday. She +watched him, and she was sure of that. +</P> + +<P> +One afternoon, it was a Sunday, and the ladies of the family were shut +up in their rooms, resting or dressing, Matilda and David were alone in +the little reception room. It was the hour before dinner; Matilda had +come in from Sunday school and was sitting there with a new book, when +David joined her. He sat down beside her, Matilda knew immediately, for +a talk; and she shut up her book. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda, I have been reading about the men with the talents; the five +talents, and the ten talents, you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I don't know all my talents." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"The talents are whatever is given to us to use for God—and that is, +whatever is given to us; for we may use it all for him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—that means a great deal, Tilly." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know it does." +</P> + +<P> +"And one might easily have talents that one didn't think of; lying by +so, and not used at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I dare say they often do," Matilda said thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to help me, if you can." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> help <I>you?</I>" said Matilda very humbly. +</P> + +<P> +"You have been longer in the way than I. You ought to know more about +it." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I don't, though, David. But I guess Jesus will teach us, +if we ask him." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure of that; but I think he means that we should help one +another. What can I do, that I am not doing?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda thought a little, and then went upstairs and fetched the card +of covenant and work of the old Band at Shadywalk. She put it in +David's hands, and he studied it with great interest. +</P> + +<P> +"There is help in this," he said. "There are things here I never +thought of. 'Carrying the message'—of course I needn't wait till I +have finished my studies and am grown up, to do that; it is easy to +begin now." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to do <I>that</I>, when you are grown up?" said Matilda a +little timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"As a profession, you mean. I don't know, Tilly; if the Lord pleases. I +am all his anyway; I don't care how he uses me. What I want to know is +my duty now. Then, Tilly, I have plenty of money." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a very good thing," said Matilda smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall I do with it? Do your poor people want anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah Staples? O no! they are getting on nicely. Sarah has learned how +to sew on a machine, or partly learned; and she gets work to do now; +and Mrs. Staples is stronger, and is able to take in washing. O no; +they are getting along very well." +</P> + +<P> +"There must be others," said David thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, plenty I suppose; only we don't know them, David! perhaps Sarah +knows or her mother." +</P> + +<P> +"What if we were to go and ask them?" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda decided that it was a capital plan; and they arranged to go the +next Saturday afternoon, when David would be at leisure. And the week +seemed long till the Saturday came. +</P> + +<P> +"Pink," said Norton at their dinner, "I will take you into the Park +this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"O thank you, Norton! But—I can't go. I have an engagement to go to +see Sarah Staples." +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah Staples! Sarah Staples can wait, and I can't. I have only one +Saturday afternoon a week. It'll be splendid this afternoon, Pink. The +Park is all green and flowery, and it's sure to be full. I'm going just +at the fullest time." +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to go with you; but I have business, and I can't put it +off." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll wait, Tilly, if you wish," David said. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't wish it at all, David. I would rather not wait." +</P> + +<P> +"O it's <I>your</I> business too, is it!" said Norton. "And Pink would +rather not wait. Very good." +</P> + +<P> +"It is important business, really, Norton," Matilda pleaded; "it is not +for myself." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what proves it of no importance," said Norton. "What is +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"David and I want to see Mrs. Staples to find out something we want to +know." +</P> + +<P> +"Might as well ask the Sphinx," said Norton discontentedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I would just as lief tell you what, Norton; only it is something you +don't care about, and it would give you no pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +"May as well let 'em go, Norton," remarked Judy, eating strawberries at +a tremendous rate; it was not strawberry time by any means, but these +came from the South. "May as well let 'em go; there's a pair of 'em; +and they'll run, I guess, till they run their heads against something +or other and pull up so; or till they get swamped. <I>I</I> hope they'll get +swamped." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" said Norton, gruffly enough. +</P> + +<P> +Judy nodded her head at him in a very lively way over her strawberries. +</P> + +<P> +"They are latter-day saints, don't you know? They are going to feed +everybody on custards—not us, you know; we've got strawberries; but +the people that haven't. Matilda's going to make them, and Davy's going +to carry them round; and they're going out to buy eggs this afternoon. +They expect you and me to give 'em the sugar they want." +</P> + +<P> +"Not so sanguine as that, Judy," said her brother good-humouredly. +</P> + +<P> +Norton looked very much discomposed; but David and Matilda had no time +to spend in further talking. +</P> + +<P> +They found Mrs. Staples at home, and Sarah too, as it was Saturday +afternoon. The little room looked cosy and comfortable; for it was very +tidy and very clean, and the mother and daughter were peacefully at +work. The pleasure manifested at sight of David and Matilda was very +lively. Sarah set chairs, and her mother looked to the fire in the +stove. +</P> + +<P> +"How does the oven work, Mrs. Staples?" Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't be no better, and couldn't do no better. I declare! it's +beautiful. Why after I got my hand in, I baked a pan o' biscuits the +other day; and they riz up and browned, you never see! and the boys was +too happy for anything. I wisht you'd seen 'em, just. They thought +nothin' ever was so good, afore or since. Yes 'm, it's a first-rate +oven; bakes apples too, in the most likely manner." +</P> + +<P> +"How is the neighbourhood, Mrs. Staples?" David asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, there's nothin' agin' the neighbourhood. They be's a little +noisy, by times; you can't expect they wouldn't; now the sun's warm in +the streets and the children gets out o' their holes and corners. I +sometimes think, what a mercy it is the sun shines! and specially to +them as hain't no fire or next to none. I often think the Lord's more +merciful than what men is." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it is men's fault then, other men's, that such poor +people haven't fire to keep them warm?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well whose should it be, sir, if it wouldn't?" +</P> + +<P> +"Might it not be the people's own fault?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sartain!" cried Mrs. Staples, "when the money goes for drink. But why +does it go for drink? I tell you, sir, folks loses heart when they +knows there ain't enough to make a fire and buy somethin' to cook on +the fire; and they goes off for what'll be meat and fire and +forgetfulness too, for a time. And that's because of the great rents, +that people that has no mercy lays on; and the mean little prices for +work that is all one can get often, and be thankful for that. It's just +runnin' a race with your strength givin' out every foot o' the way. And +it's allays the rich folks does it," added Mrs. Staples, not very +coherently. +</P> + +<P> +"Rich people that give the low wages and put on the high rents, do you +mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I just do mean; and I ought to know. If a body once gets +down, there's no chance to get up again, and then the drink comes easy." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know of anybody in distress near here, Mrs. Staples?" Matilda +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Half of 'em is, I guess," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"But is there anybody you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Binn's little boy is sick," remarked Sarah, as her mother was +pondering. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a kind o' waste, they say." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a fever, or anything of that kind?" inquired David. +</P> + +<P> +"O no, sir; he's been wasting, now, these three or four months." +</P> + +<P> +"And they are not comfortable, Sarah?" Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's few is, livin' where those lives," said Mrs. Staples; "and of +course, sickness makes things wuss. No, they're fur from comfortable, I +should say." +</P> + +<P> +"They haven't anything to give him," said Sarah low to Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Any medicine, you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Miss Matilda; nothing to eat, that he can eat." +</P> + +<P> +"O David!" exclaimed Matilda, "let us go there. Where is it?" +</P> + +<P> +David inquired again carefully about the sickness, to be sure that he +might take Matilda there; and then they went. Sarah volunteered to +guide them. But how shall I tell what they found. It was not far off, a +few blocks only; in one of a tall row of tenement houses, grim and +dismal, confronted by a like row on the other side of the street. Every +one like every other. But inside, Matilda only remembered how unlike it +was to all she had ever seen in her life before. Even Lilac lane was +pleasantness and comfort comparatively. The house was sound indeed; +there was no tumble-down condition of staircase or walls; the steps +were safe, as they mounted flight after flight. But the entries were +narrow and dirty; the stairways had <I>never</I> seen water; the walls were +begrimed with the countless touches of countless dirty hands and with +the sweeping by of foul draperies. Instinctively Matilda drew her own +close round her. And as they went up and up, further from the street +door, the air grew more close and unbearable; heavy with vapours and +odours that had no chance at any time to feel the purification of a +draught of free air. Poor cookery, soapsuds, unclean humanity and +dirty still life, mingled their various smell in one heavy +undistinguishable oppression. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, why do people build houses so high!" said little Matilda, as she +toiled with her tired feet up the fourth staircase. +</P> + +<P> +"For more rents, Miss Matilda," said Sarah who preceded them. +</P> + +<P> +"For money!" said Matilda. "How tired the people must be that live +here." +</P> + +<P> +"They don't go down often," Sarah remarked. +</P> + +<P> +At the very top of the house they were at last. There, in the end of +the narrow entry-way, on the floor, was—what? A tumbled heap of dirty +clothes, Matilda thought at first, and was about to pass it to go to +the door which she supposed Sarah was making for; when Sarah stopped +and drew aside a piece of netting that was stretched there. And then +they saw, on the rags which served for his bed covers, the child they +had come to see. A little, withered, shrunken piece of humanity, so +nearly the colour of the rags he lay upon that his dark shock of matted +curly hair made a startling spot in the picture. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Sarah?" said Matilda in a distressed whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Mrs. Binn's boy, Miss Matilda, that you came to see." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>That?</I> Why does he—why do they put him there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Binn's room is so small and so hot. It's there, Miss Matilda; +you'll see it. When she's doing her washing and ironing, the place is +so full of steam and so hot; and there ain't no room for the bed +neither; and so she put Josh here." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah led the way to Mrs. Binn's room, and Matilda followed her in a +bewildered state of mind. She saw as soon as the door was opened the +truth of Sarah's statements. The attic room was so small that Mrs. +Binn's operations must have been carried on with the greatest +difficulty; impossible Matilda would have thought them, but there were +the facts. One dormer window in the roof was effectually shut up and +hindered from its office of admitting air, by the pipe of the stove +which passed out through the sash. As it was the end of the week, no +washing encumbered the six feet clear of space; but the stove was fired +up and Mrs. Binn was ironing and some clothes were hung up to air. It +was neither desirable nor very practicable to go in; only Matilda edged +a little way within the door, and David and Sarah stood at the opening. +</P> + +<P> +"What's all to do?" said Mrs. Binn at this unlooked-for interruption, +stopping iron in hand and peering at them between shirts and overalls +hanging on the cords stretched across the room. She was a red-faced +woman; no wonder! a small, incapable-looking, worn-out-seeming woman +besides. +</P> + +<P> +"This lady has come to see Josh, Mrs. Binn." +</P> + +<P> +"What does she want of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," said Matilda gently; "Sarah told us how he had been sick a +long while; and we came to see how he was and what he wanted." +</P> + +<P> +"He won't want anything soon, but a coffin and a grave," said his +mother. Matilda wondered how she could speak so; she did not know yet +how long misery makes people seem hard. "How he'll get them, I don't +know," Mrs. Binn went on; "but I s'pose—" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice choked; she stopped there. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you no place to put him but where he is lying?" Matilda asked, by +way of leading on to something else. +</P> + +<P> +"No, miss; no place," said the woman, feeling of her iron and taking up +another one from the stove. "He'd perish in here, if he wouldn't be +under my feet. An' I must stand, to live." +</P> + +<P> +"Where do you dry the clothes you wash?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here. I haven't an inch besides." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how you can." +</P> + +<P> +"Rich folks don't see a sight o' things," said poor Mrs. Binn; "don't +like to, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there not another room in the house that you could have for the +sick boy, or that you could do your washing in and give him this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Room in this house?" repeated the woman. "I'll tell you. There's nigh +upon three hundred people living in it; do you think there'd be a room +to spare?" +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred people in <I>this</I> house?" repeated Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Nigh upon that. O it's close livin', and all sorts, and all ways o' +livin', too. I like my room, cause it's so high and atop o' everything; +but I hear thunder below me sometimes. I wouldn't care, only for the +child," she said in a tone a little subdued. +</P> + +<P> +"David, what can we do?" said Matilda, in a half despairing whisper. +David edged himself a little forward and put his question. +</P> + +<P> +"What does the doctor say about him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Doctor!" echoed Mrs. Binn. "Did you say doctor? There's no doctor has +seen him. Is it likely one would walk up to this chimbley top to see a +poor boy like that? No, no; doctors has to be paid, and I can't do +that." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you give him to eat? what does he like?" +</P> + +<P> +"What does he like!" the woman repeated. "He don't like nothin' he has, +and he don't eat nothin'. 'Tain't 'what we like,' young sir, that lives +in these places. Some days he can't swaller dry bread, and he don't +care for mush; he'll take a sup o' milk now and then, when I can get +it; but it's poor thin stuff; somethin' you call milk, and that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Good bye," said David. "I'll bring him something he will like, +perhaps. I hope we haven't hindered you." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't have so many visits I need quarrel with this one," said the +woman, coming to her door to shew them so much civility; "Sarah +wouldn't bring anybody to make a spectacle of me." +</P> + +<P> +They cast looks on the poor little brown heap in the corner of the +entry, and groped their way down stairs again. But when they got out +into the street and drew breaths of fresh air, David and Matilda stood +still and looked at each other. +</P> + +<P> +"I never knew what good air meant before," said the latter. +</P> + +<P> +"And even this is not <I>good</I>," replied David. +</P> + +<P> +"How does he live, that poor little creature, with not one breath of +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"He doesn't live; he is dying slowly," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh David, what can we do?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll think, Tilly. I'll carry him some grapes presently. I fancy he +wants nothing but food and air. We will contrive something." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if there are any other sick children in that house, Sarah?" +Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't say, Miss Matilda; I don't know nobody there but Mrs. Binn; +and we used to know her before she moved there. Do you want to know of +anybody else in trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think of somebody else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a child," said Sarah; "she's an old woman, or kind of old." +</P> + +<P> +"Well; who is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's Mrs. Kitteredge; her husband's a brick mason. Mother used to +know her long ago, and she was a smart woman; but she's had a deal o' +pulling down." +</P> + +<P> +"What does she want now, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's too bad to tell you, Miss Matilda; you've done so much for us +already." +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," said David; "go on; let us hear." +</P> + +<P> +"Well"—Sarah hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"Is she sick too?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, she ain't sick; she has been." +</P> + +<P> +"What then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't feel as if I had no right to tell you, sir; you and Miss +Matilda. I spoke before I thought enough about it. She ain't noways +sick; but she has had some sort o' sickness that has made her fingers +all crumple up, like; they have bent in <I>so</I>, and she can't straighten +'em out, not a bit; and if you take hold of 'em you can only pull 'em +open a little bit. And it hurts her so to do her work, poor thing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do what work?" +</P> + +<P> +"All her work, Miss Matilda—same as if her hands was good. She washes +and irons her clothes and his, and cooks for him, and makes her room +clean; but it takes her all day 'most; and sometimes, she says, she +gets out o' heart and feels like sittin' down and givin' up; but she +never does, leastways when I see her. I go in and make her bed when I +can; that's what she hardly can do for herself." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think not!" said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"She can't lift her hands to her head to put up her hair; and she +suffers a deal." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she so very poor too, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Miss Matilda, it ain't that. He gets good wages and brings 'em +home; but he's a pertiklar man and he expects she'll have everything +just as smart as if she had her fingers." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what can we do for her, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, ma'am;—I was thinkin', if she could have one o' them +rollers that wrings clothes—it tries her awful to wring 'em with her +hands." +</P> + +<P> +"A clothes-wringer! O yes," cried Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"I will shew you. Thank you, Sarah; it was quite right to tell us. +We'll see what we can do." +</P> + +<P> +But after they had parted from Sarah the little girl walked quite +silently and soberly homeward. David stopped at a grocer's to get some +white grapes, and turned back to carry them to the sick child; and +Matilda went the rest of her way alone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</H3> + +<P> +David was busy with his books all the evening, and Matilda, however +much she wished for it, could get no talk with him. The opportunity did +not come before Sunday evening, when they were all at tea in the little +reception room. Then David took his cup and his piece of cake and came +to Matilda's side and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +"Dr. Berger has been to see that little boy," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Has he! And what does he say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Says nothing ails him but want." +</P> + +<P> +"Want?" Matilda repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"Want, of everything. Specially, want of food—food good for anything; +and of air." +</P> + +<P> +"Want of air!" cried Matilda. "I don't wonder at it. I felt as if I +should be unable to breathe if we staid there much longer. And I was +strong and well. Just think, to anybody sick!—" +</P> + +<P> +"He says, if he could be taken into the country he would begin to get +well immediately; and he asked Mrs. Binn if she had friends anywhere +out of the city." +</P> + +<P> +"What did she say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Said her father and mother and her aunt were all dead long ago; and +that he hadn't a friend in the city or out of it. And she gave up work +then for a minute or two, and sat down with her apron over her head; +the only time I have seen her stop work at all. I think it was her +apron, but I don't know; she hid her face in something. But she didn't +cry, Matilda; not a drop." +</P> + +<P> +"What can we do, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"I took him some grapes, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Could he eat them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Had no sort of difficulty about that." +</P> + +<P> +"What can we do, David?" Matilda repeated anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"I have thought of this. We might pay the woman for a week or two as +much as she gets by her washing and let her take him into her room and +put down her fire and make him comfortable. She cannot open her window; +but we can send them a decent bed and some clean coverings and some +good things to feed the fellow with. I spoke to Mrs. Binn about giving +up her washing; she said she couldn't afford to lose her customers. She +might manage it for a week or so, though." +</P> + +<P> +"And then? A week or two would not cure him, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt if any time would, in that air. Perhaps we can get him out +into the country by the end of the week or two." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, David!"—Matilda exclaimed after a few minutes of perplexed +thinking. What more she would have said was cut short. They had been +speaking very low, but those last two words had come out with a little +energy, and Judy caught them up. +</P> + +<P> +"O David, what? You have been plotting mischief long enough, you two; +what are you up to? Grandmamma, make them tell. Matilda is making a +fool of David. I wish you'd stop it." +</P> + +<P> +David looked up and over towards Mrs. Lloyd with a frank smile. +</P> + +<P> +"He don't look much like it," said the old lady composedly. "What are +you afraid of, Judy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmamma, the whole house is getting on end," said the young lady, +who was not always choice in the use of her words. "David and Matilda +are busy contriving how to make a big hole in the bottom of their two +purses that will let out the money easy; and Norton's hair is bristling +already with fear." +</P> + +<P> +"Fear of what, you goose?" said Norton in towering displeasure. "What's +their money to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you wanted it," said Judy coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here, Norton," said David; "come over here and let her alone. +What <I>are</I> you afraid of, old fellow? Come! smooth out your wrinkles +and let us know." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know anything about it," said Norton distantly. "You and +Matilda went on an errand yesterday that lets anybody guess what you +are up to to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess," said David. "Come, sit down here and guess." +</P> + +<P> +"You are doing what Judy says." +</P> + +<P> +"Holes in purses?" said David. "Go on; what do you think we are making +the holes with?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ridiculous stories about poor folks." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let you judge how ridiculous they are," said David; and he told +about the sick boy and Mrs. Binn's six foot apartment. Norton's face +would not unbend. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that the only sick child in New York?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid not." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what are you going to do about the others?" +</P> + +<P> +"Help as many of them as ever I can," David answered gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, and your money will go too. That's what I said," Norton +responded. "Matilda will be only too glad to help you and throw in all +her pennies." +</P> + +<P> +"How would you like to be sick, old fellow, with no lemons at hand, and +no grapes?" +</P> + +<P> +"And no wine, Norton, and no sago, and no clean sheets? I know who +likes to have his bed changed often. And no cups of tea, and soda +biscuit, and blancmange, and jelly, and nice slices of toast." +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>do</I> they have?" Norton asked with some curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"Some coarse mush; now and then a piece of dry bread; and water. Not +ice water, Norton; no ice gets up there." +</P> + +<P> +"Bread and water," said Norton, summing up. +</P> + +<P> +"And to lie in a corner of the entry, Norton, under the roof, because +there is no room for you in the only room they have; and no open window +ever; and oh, such want of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look here!" exclaimed Norton, seizing upon a diversion, "how came you, +Davy, to take Pink to such a place? I just want to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a place for a Pink, I acknowledge," said David. "I didn't know +myself, Norton, till I got there, what sort of a place it was; or she +would not have gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word!" said Norton. "This is what your goodness is up to. +Mamma—" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush," said David good-humouredly; "she is not going there again, I +tell you. Come here and sit down, and tell us what you think ought to +be done about such a case." +</P> + +<P> +"The city ought to manage it," said Norton grumly, sitting down however. +</P> + +<P> +"How shall we get the city to manage it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. Davy Bartholomew! you'll never make me understand that +it is our business to look up all the people that want something or +other and give them all they want until our own hands are empty." +</P> + +<P> +"You are dealing in generals," said David smiling. "Come back to the +particular case. What ought we to do about this?" +</P> + +<P> +"How came you to know of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"We were told." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—there must be poor people in the world," said Norton; "there +always were and there always will be." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so. And the question is, what ought we to do for them?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can't do much," said Norton. "You can make yourself poor, easy +enough. Then you'll expect Judy and me to take care of <I>you</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you afraid of that, Norton?" said Matilda laughingly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Pink, I am not," said Norton; "but you and Davy are just in the +way to get into trouble. There's no bottom to New York mud." +</P> + +<P> +"Norton," said David, "will you grant that we ought to do in this +matter as the word of God says?" +</P> + +<P> +"It don't say we are to make fools of ourselves," Norton responded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes it does," said Matilda quickly. Both her hearers looked at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe it," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" asked David. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't tell,—but I know it's there. If I had that little reference +Bible, Davy;—it's up in your room—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I can get it," said David; "but wouldn't a Concordance be better +for you? I'll fetch one." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you talking about, children?" said Mrs. Bartholomew, as David +went out of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"We have got into a knot, aunt Judith," said Norton. "Don't <I>you</I> get +in, or we shall never get out." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Do</I> get in, mamma," urged Judy, "or David will be tied up. Matilda +holding one end of the string, and Norton the other, between them +they'll fix him." +</P> + +<P> +"David is able to cut his own knots, or other people's," said Mrs. +Bartholomew coolly. "What is all this about, David?" +</P> + +<P> +David had come back in a minute with the Concordance, which he handed +to Matilda. "It's a question of Scripture, mamma," he answered. Mrs. +Bartholomew said "Oh!"—and turned away. But Mrs. Lloyd watched the +group. Matilda was earnestly searching in the pages of the Concordance; +David sat waiting, with a little curiosity; Norton with impatient +defiance. Matilda was busy for some minutes with one page and another; +then, "Here it is!" she said; and looked up. She saw that Mrs. Lloyd's +attention was fixed, and that Mrs. Laval also was listening. She +glanced at Norton, then met David's eyes; and then bent her head over +her book and read. +</P> + +<P> +"'Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise +in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the +wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.' And then again in the +next chapter—'We are fools for Christ's sake.'" +</P> + +<P> +How would her various hearers take the words? She would not look up to +see. +</P> + +<P> +"I am content," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"With what, Davy my dear?" asked his aunt. +</P> + +<P> +"Content to be a fool for Christ's sake, aunt Zara." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there any necessity?" she asked gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems so," said David smiling. "At least, it seems that one must be +judged so, aunt Zara." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't it be avoided by judicious action, Davy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come and see, aunt Zara. Draw up here and join our consultation," said +the boy, with a certain sweet gracefulness which won her to do just +what he asked. She took a chair nearer the group. +</P> + +<P> +"The question is, aunt Zara, what we ought to do for certain poor +creatures that we know of." +</P> + +<P> +"Not for <I>them</I>," burst in Norton, interrupting, "but for all the rest. +There is no end to the poor creatures! <I>I</I> say, begin as you are to go +on." +</P> + +<P> +"We must take things as we find them," said David. "There is no end to +the poor creatures; so the question is a big one." +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>is</I> the question?" said Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +In answer to which, David told the story of Mrs. Binn and Josh. +</P> + +<P> +"There are hundreds of such people!" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Zara," said David, "I wanted Norton to agree to submit the +question to the Bible. Isn't that fair?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-s," said Mrs. Laval cautiously; "I suppose it is. But, my dear +Davy, we shouldn't do anything extravagant; the Bible does not require +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we see what it does require?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "Let us hear what you children can find +about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Among my people it was the law,"—David began, but his utterance of +the words "my people" was no longer lofty; rather tender and +subdued;—"it was the law, 'When thou dost complete to tithe all the +tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then +thou hast given it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, +and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates and been +satisfied;' and in the feast of booths, the feast of ingathering, the +sojourner, the fatherless and the widow were to share in the rejoicing." +</P> + +<P> +"The tithe is the tenth," remarked Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"We always give to all the charitable societies," said Mrs. +Bartholomew; "always." +</P> + +<P> +"Read, Matilda," said David. "I see you are ready." And Matilda read. +</P> + +<P> +"'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, +do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.'" +</P> + +<P> +"But, my dear boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"What, mamma?" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean, you cannot mean, that you want to act that out to the +letter?" +</P> + +<P> +"What does it mean, mamma?" +</P> + +<P> +"I always thought it meant that we should be considerate of other +people's feelings," said Mrs. Laval; "kind and thoughtful." +</P> + +<P> +"But the words are very plain," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"And you think really that we ought to give to everybody else the +things we want for ourselves?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that exactly, aunt Zara; only to give them what we would like to +have given if we were in their place; I mean, what we would <I>have a +right</I> to like to have given, if we were in their place." +</P> + +<P> +"According to that, you would carry to that sick child everything that +Norton and Matilda had when they were sick." +</P> + +<P> +"Such as?"—inquired David. +</P> + +<P> +"Fruit, and oysters, and flowers, and tea at three dollars a pound." +</P> + +<P> +"Tea at three dollars a pound would be lost upon him, for he would not +know the difference between that—and I suppose—lower priced tea. What +<I>can</I> you get good tea for, aunt Zara?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tea good for him,—for a dollar, and twelve shillings." +</P> + +<P> +"Tea good for anybody," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I have had it good enough for +anybody, for a dollar fifty?" +</P> + +<P> +"The other things," said David, returning to his aunt, "why shouldn't +he have them, as well as we, aunt Zara?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Laval was dumb, I suppose with astonishment as well as the +inconvenience of finding an answer; and before anybody else began +again, Matilda's soft voice gave forth another verse. +</P> + +<P> +"'Blessed is he that considereh the poor; the Lord will deliver him in +time of trouble.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Mrs. Laval; "we <I>do</I> consider the poor." +</P> + +<P> +"Let the child go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I want to hear all she has to +bring." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda went on with Job's declaration. +</P> + +<P> +"'If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the +eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and +the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was +brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my +mother's womb;) if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any +poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were +not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand +against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine +arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Who said that?" demanded Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"Job." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see what he has to do with us," said the lady, moving her +rosetted slipper impatiently, and so making a soft little rustle with +the lilac ruffles of her silk skirt. +</P> + +<P> +"The old fellow had no business to swear, anyhow," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Swear!" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Something very like it," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd,—"if you have anything more." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, grandmamma." +</P> + +<P> +"What is David trying to prove?" asked Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"We are only trying to find out what the word of the Lord would make us +do, aunt Zara." +</P> + +<P> +The two younger ladies looked annoyed; however silence was restored, +and Matilda began again. +</P> + +<P> +"'He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath mercy on +the poor, happy is he.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Do we despise anybody?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked. No one answered at +first. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> do," said Judy. "Just two or three." +</P> + +<P> +"'He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which +he hath given will he pay him again.'" +</P> + +<P> +"You see," said David, "the Lord reckons it his own affair. These are +Messiah's poor people; we are his stewards." +</P> + +<P> +"How much are you going to give them, on that principle?" his mother +inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, mamma." +</P> + +<P> +"But speak!" she said impatiently. "You <I>do</I> know what you mean to do; +you have it all mapped out already in your head, I know." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know how much I shall give, mamma. Whatever I think they want +more than I do." +</P> + +<P> +"You might wear homespun, and eat bread and water, at that rate." +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma," said Judy, "we are very wicked to wear silk dresses. And just +think of your lace shawl, mamma! And grandma's." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda waited, and when nobody carried on the talk and the silence +waited for her, she went on with Isaiah's beautiful words. +</P> + +<P> +"'Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of +wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go +free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the +hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? +when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not +thyself from thine own flesh?'" +</P> + +<P> +"What is 'loosing the bands of wickedness'?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. +</P> + +<P> +"Now-a-days, grandmamma, I should say it was breaking up the killing +rents and starving wages, and the whole system of tenement houses; for +one thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Why what do you know about it, Davy, boy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not very much, ma'am; but I have seen a little, and the doctor I went +for told me a good deal." +</P> + +<P> +"Davy's growing elegant in his speech, as well as modest," said his +sister. "He has 'heard a good deal,' but he 'don't know much.' O Davy, +why don't you make better use of your opportunities!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very unprofitable opportunities, I must say," remarked his mother. "I +have no idea that such a boy has any business with them, or anything to +do in such places. And what does he know about wages and systems of +business?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I am afraid, my dear, David is +right. I have heard the same things from others. Go on, Matilda." +</P> + +<P> +"'Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or +a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, +nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a +recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, +the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they +cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the +resurrection of the just.'" +</P> + +<P> +Matilda read these words, with a quick remembrance of the time when she +had read them in the company of her two little schoolmates, and the +discussion that had ensued thereupon; curious what their reception +would be now. It was stormy. +</P> + +<P> +"The idea!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"That would make a finish of society at once," said Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"But what do the words mean?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. "There they are. They +must mean something." +</P> + +<P> +"Something!" echoed Mrs. Bartholomew. "Just imagine, that we are to +gather in a company of cripples round our dinner table! Send out and +ask all the forlorn creatures we can find, and feed them on game and +sweetbreads. It looks like it!" +</P> + +<P> +"And give up entertaining our friends," added Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"What friends do we entertain, aunt Zara?" David asked. "You do not +care much for most of them." +</P> + +<P> +"You are a ridiculous, absurd, fanatical boy!" said Judy. "What +nonsense you do talk!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense that would make an end of all civilization," said Mrs. Laval; +not quite logically. +</P> + +<P> +"But do you care much for these people you invite?" David persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Not singly," Mrs. Laval admitted; "but taken together, I care a great +deal. At least they are people of our own rank and standing in society, +and we can understand what they talk about." +</P> + +<P> +"But what do the words mean?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why mother," said Mrs. Bartholomew, "you have read them a thousand +times. They mean what they always did." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I ever raised the question till this minute," said Mrs. +Lloyd. "In fact, I don't think I knew the words were there. And I +should like to know now what they mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmother," said David, "isn't it safe to conclude they mean just +what they say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then we should never ask anybody to dinner!" cried his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"And we should never have a party again," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Society would be at an end," said Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"And we should fill our house with horrid wretches," cried Judy, "and +have to take up our carpets and clean house every time." +</P> + +<P> +David was silent while these various charges were eagerly poured out. +Norton looked at him a little scornfully; Matilda anxiously; but he was +only sorrowfully quiet, till his grandmother turned to him with her +question. +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>would</I> you do, Davy?" +</P> + +<P> +"He'd do anything absurd and ridiculous," said Judy; "the more the +better. He is just fit for it. What's the use of asking him, grandma?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would like to hear, my dear, if you will let him speak. I would like +to know what the words say to you, Davy." +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmother," said David thoughtfully, "it seems to me the words +forbid that we should ask people just that they may ask us;—or do +anything of that sort." +</P> + +<P> +"But society would fall to pieces," said Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard of the strictest Christians refusing to do polite things +in that way, when they can," added Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"But what do the words say?" David answered. "And then, I think, the +Lord meant to forbid our making expensive entertainments for anybody, +<I>except</I> those who can't give us the same again." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we may ask our friends," said Judy, "only we mustn't give them +anything to eat. And of course no wine to drink. I wonder if we might +light the gas? It is expensive, when you burn enough of it. Such +meanness!" exclaimed Judy with concentrated scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"You would put an end to society," repeated Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"What would be the use of having a fine house and large rooms and +beautiful things," asked her sister, "if nobody was to see them?" +</P> + +<P> +David cast his eyes round the room where they were, and smiled a little. +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>do</I> you mean?" asked his mother sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking, mamma," said David; "I couldn't help thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, David," Mrs. Lloyd said. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, grandmamma, if one took the money to give poor people a good +time, it would not be necessary at all, as Judy supposed, to have them +brought into our dining room." +</P> + +<P> +"But don't you think people are meant to be sociable, and see their +friends? We are not intended to live alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely not," said Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"Grandmamma, and aunt Zara," said the boy, "I believe I would like to +look after Messiah's friends first; and then do what I pleased with my +own." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that all those low, miserable people are His friends?" +cried Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"He is their friend, mamma; it comes to the same thing; and some of +them are his very own; and he has given us the charge to take care of +them. And his words seem to me very plain." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a ruined boy, mamma!" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>hope</I> he'll grow out of it," said his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"May I read one place more, grandmamma?" Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope it's the last," said Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"I like to hear them," said Mrs. Lloyd. +</P> + +<P> +"Read, Matilda." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda read, her voice trembling a little. +</P> + +<P> +"'Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed +of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation +of the world; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, +and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and +ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye +came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when +saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? +When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed +thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? +</P> + +<P> +"'And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, +Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, +ye have done it unto me.'" +</P> + +<P> +There was no remark made by anybody following upon this reading. The +circle broke up. With dissatisfied faces the ladies and Judy and Norton +withdrew their several ways. David presently went off too, but Matilda +had noticed that <I>his</I> face was as serene as summer moonlight. She was +gathering up her books to go too like all the rest, when to her great +surprise Mrs. Lloyd came beside her and drawing her into her arms +bestowed an earnest kiss upon her uplifted wondering face. Then they +both went silently upstairs. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<P> +The peace of the house was gone. Not, indeed, that quarrelling took its +place; there was no quarrelling; only an uncomfortable feeling in the +air, and looks that were no longer pleased and pleasant. Mrs. +Bartholomew wore a discontented face, and behaved so. Judy was +snappish; not a new thing exactly, but it was invariable now. David was +very quiet and very sober; however in his case the quiet <I>was</I> quiet, +and the soberness was very serene; all the old gloom seemed to be gone. +Norton, Matilda thought, was cross; and she failed to see the occasion. +Even Mrs. Laval looked uncomfortable sometimes, and once remarked to +Matilda that it would be pleasant to get back to Shadywalk. And Matilda +loved Shadywalk and Briery Bank, but she was not ready with a response. +She tried to be very busy with her studies, and hoped that things would +work clear by and by. Once she had the curiosity to ask Norton how +David was getting on at school? +</P> + +<P> +"Well enough," Norton answered shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do the boys like him better?" +</P> + +<P> +"Better than what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, better than they used to?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. <I>I</I> don't." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not, Norton? O why don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No accounting for tastes," Norton replied, rather grumly. +</P> + +<P> +"Does David study well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. He always did." +</P> + +<P> +Norton might have said that David was walking into everything and +through everything; but he did not say anything of the kind. And sundry +other questions that trembled on the tip of Matilda's tongue, only +trembled there, and never got any further. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Mrs. Binn was not forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +"It's worth anything," David said to Matilda one day that week, "to see +the fellow eat strawberries." +</P> + +<P> +"Strawberries! O did you take strawberries to him!" cried Matilda. "And +he liked them?" +</P> + +<P> +"You could almost see the red of the strawberries getting up into his +cheeks. He's not quite so far as that, though. Like them! He raised +himself half up and lay on his elbow to eat them. Think of that! You +should have seen the fellow. Spoons were no go. He just forked them in +with his fingers." +</P> + +<P> +"Does he lie in the entry yet, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. His mother has got him into her bit of a room, and the wash tub is +where he was. I do think we might get him into the country next week, +if there was any place he could go to. He's like another boy, with a +bed under him and clean things and food that he can eat. I do believe +he was starving to death. Sick folks can't get along on dry crusts, or +even mush—plain, without butter or molasses," said David smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"David, I have thought of something." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it? Something to help us out of the difficulty?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. See what you think. You heard Miss Redwood and me +talking of Lilac lane, and people that live in it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard nothing of Lilac lane; never did, till this minute." +</P> + +<P> +"O you were in the study with Mr. Richmond. It is a place in Shadywalk +where some very poor people live." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"But it is a delightful place compared to Mrs. Binn's tenement house. I +know some of the people there, and Miss Redwood knows more; and I was +thinking, perhaps she could find a house where they would take Josh in +and take care of him till he gets well. Miss Redwood could see to him a +little, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Why it's a capital idea, Tilly!" cried David. "Did you write and ask +her?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I will." +</P> + +<P> +"Do, to-day. That's just what he wants. Write, Tilly. I must be off to +my work." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing stopped David's work, in these days; indeed he never had been +given to playing truant. Matilda pondered the matter a little, and then +wrote a letter to Miss Redwood; upon which letter, when it reached +Shadywalk, the housekeeper and the minister held consultation. The end +was, that after a week Matilda got an answer which said that the poor +family opposite Matilda's old Sally in Lilac lane, the same from whom +she had borrowed the teakettle once upon a time, had room to spare and +would gladly take the sick child in and take care of him, for the +compensation which would be offered. Miss Redwood also engaged herself +to see that proper care was had and proper food given; and in short the +way was clear. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do," said David when he had read the letter. "Now, the thing +is to get him up there." +</P> + +<P> +"Is Mrs. Binn willing?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is one of the willingest persons you ever saw in your life." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how will you manage, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see any way but to go myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Go up to Shadywalk, you mean, to take the child there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"O, David, would you! And could you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see any other way." +</P> + +<P> +"But school? will you miss a day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't do that; and can't even give Saturday, so near the end of term. +I'll manage it." +</P> + +<P> +"How, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go up after school some day, and take a night train down." +</P> + +<P> +"Is Josh—I mean, has he any clothes fit to travel in?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has not any fit to sit up in at home. Never mind, I'll manage that, +Tilly." +</P> + +<P> +"David, you tell me some of the things he wants, and I'll get Sarah +Staples and her mother to make them." +</P> + +<P> +"Well.—But I'll pay charges, Tilly; I don't believe you've got much in +that little pocket of yours." +</P> + +<P> +This consultation was private; and in private the new clothes for +Joshua Binn were procured and got ready; very plain and coarse clothes, +for David and Matilda were learning how much there was to do with their +money. All this caused no remark, not being open to it. But when David +took little Josh, wrapped up in an old cloak of his, and drove with him +in a carriage to the station, and took the cars with him to Shadywalk, +there was a general outcry and burst of astonishment and indignation. +David was at breakfast the next morning as usual; and the storm fell +upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder how you feel this morning," said his grandmother, half in +displeasure and half in sympathy; for David was a favourite. +</P> + +<P> +"After travelling all night," added Mrs. Laval. +</P> + +<P> +"Up to study, Davy?" asked Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so astonished at you, David, that I do not know how to speak," +began his mother. "<I>You</I>—always until now a refined, gentlemanly +boy,—<I>you</I> to turn yourself into a head hospital nurse, and Poor +Society agent! travelling in company with the lowest riff-raff! I don't +know what to make of you. Really, I am in despair." +</P> + +<P> +"He always was a poke," said Judy; "and now he's a poor poke." +</P> + +<P> +"It is too bad!" echoed Mrs. Laval; "though <I>that</I> isn't true, Judy." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a spoiled boy," said Judy. "I wash my hands of him. I hope he'll +wash <I>his</I> hands." +</P> + +<P> +"The idea!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. "As if there was nobody else in the +world to look after sick children, but Davy must leave his own business +and go nursing them in the cars! I wouldn't have had anybody see him +for a thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"What harm, mamma?" asked David coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"Harm?" repeated Mrs. Bartholomew. "Is it <I>your</I> business to take all +sick New York and all poor New York on your hands, and send them to +watering places?" +</P> + +<P> +"One poor little child?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"No matter; what's the use of sending one, if you don't send the other +hundred thousand? Is it your business, David Bartholomew?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly, mamma. But I thought the one was my business." +</P> + +<P> +"There you were mistaken. There are two or three poor societies; it is +for them to look after these cases. What is the use of having poor +societies, if we are to do the work ourselves? So low! so undignified! +so degrading! just ask any minister,—ask Dr. Blandford,—what he +thinks." +</P> + +<P> +"David don't care, mamma," said Judy. "David never cares what anybody +thinks." +</P> + +<P> +"Very wrong, then," said Mrs. Bartholomew; "every right-feeling person +cares what other people think. How is the world to get along? David, I +don't know you any more, you are so changed." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mamma," said David; "perhaps I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you are? Why my patience!"— +</P> + +<P> +"Your patience seems to have given out, daughter," said Mrs. Lloyd. +"Come, let Davy eat his breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +"He's eating it," said Judy. "Nothing will hurt David's appetite." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think nursing poor folks out of tenement houses might," +observed Mrs. Bartholomew. "It would once." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't imagine, mamma," said Judy, "how we are going to live together +in future. David isn't our sort any more. Life looks dark to me." +</P> + +<P> +"If it was anybody but David," said Mrs. Bartholomew, "I should say he +would grow out of it. Any other young fool would." +</P> + +<P> +"Grow out of what, mamma?" David asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Grow out of the notion of being an agent of the poor societies. It's +too disgusting!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma," he said, and he said it with such an unruffled face that +Matilda was comforted, "the poor society would not have done what I did +last night. And I am not doing it for the poor societies, but for the +King Messiah. I am His agent; that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you get your commission?" Norton asked. +</P> + +<P> +David hesitated, and then said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do +to you—" +</P> + +<P> +"But that's absolute nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew. +</P> + +<P> +"What, mamma?" said David, lifting his eyes to her face. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean, of course, the words are not nonsense, but putting such a +meaning to them." +</P> + +<P> +"What meaning do you think belongs to them, then, mamma?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," said Mrs. Bartholomew in high dudgeon, "if you are to take them +<I>so</I>, then we ought to send our carriage to take poor people to drive, +and we ought to give our grapes and our wine to sick people, instead of +eating them ourselves; and I ought to sell my diamonds and change them +into bread and coffee and feather beds, I suppose; and our silks and +laces ought to go for rents and firing for those who are in want." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, mother?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Well; is <I>that</I> what you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what the words mean, if they mean anything, mamma. I think the +King wants all we have got, to be used in his work; and all mine he +shall have." +</P> + +<P> +There was no braggadocio, but a sweet steadfastness in the words and +manner which impressed all his hearers; though it impressed them +differently. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, what do you think of him?" Mrs. Bartholomew said, apparently +in despair. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what to think, child," said the old lady. "I am puzzled." +</P> + +<P> +"About me, grandmamma?" asked David. +</P> + +<P> +"No, boy; I never was puzzled about you, and I am not now." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have grandma going over next!" exclaimed Judy, "and +then—What'll be then, mamma? Will this be a hospital, grandmamma? I +shouldn't like to live here in that case, because of the fevers. I +declare, I'm very sorry! Will David be the doctor or the minister, +grandmamma?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, Judy!" said her mother. "Things are bad enough without you." +</P> + +<P> +"There's one thing, you vexatious boy," said Judy; "your uncles will +give you up." +</P> + +<P> +"They have done that already," said David quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Have they? O have they really, mamma? Then they won't give him their +money when they die! nor me neither. You hateful fellow! to go and make +me poor as well as yourself." And Judy began to cry. "I thought we'd be +so rich, mamma!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do hold your tongue, Judy," said her mother. "You've got enough, and +David much more than enough." +</P> + +<P> +But with this the uncomfortable breakfast party broke up. +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda," said Mrs. Laval when they had gone upstairs,—"I don't know +whether you have done good or harm." +</P> + +<P> +"She's done no good, mamma," said Norton. "Just look at Davy. And I can +tell you, grandmamma is beginning to read the Bible to herself; I've +seen her at it." +</P> + +<P> +"But I haven't done anything, mamma," said Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear, I don't know who has, then," Mrs. Laval replied. +</P> + +<P> +And the subject was dropped. But certainly Mrs. Lloyd did begin after +that to ask Matilda now and then, when they were alone, to read to her; +and Matilda found that David did it constantly, by his grandmother's +desire, in her own room. +</P> + +<P> +The weeks were few now to the time when the household would break up; +Mrs. Laval and her children to return to Briery Bank, Mrs. Bartholomew +and hers for a cottage at Newport. Mrs. Lloyd was accustomed to abide +generally with the latter. All the members of the family were busied +with their various preparations; and the unsettled feeling of coming +change was upon the whole household. Little else was thought of. So +when an invitation came from the mother of Esther Francis, that all the +young ones should join a party of pleasure that were going to spend the +day in Westchester, it was a very unlooked for variety in the general +course of things. Of course they would go. The young people were to eat +strawberries and do everything else that was pleasant, at General +Francis's place. Mrs. Francis was not yet ready to leave town; there +was nobody in possession but the servants; the widest liberty would be +the rule of the day. +</P> + +<P> +"How nice that the boys are out of school!" said Matilda. "Term just +ended." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course. Couldn't have the party without the people," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Will there be a great many, Norton?" Matilda asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know anything about it. You must ask somebody else. Esther +Francis isn't our cousin." +</P> + +<P> +"How dry you are," said David. "I know no more about it, Matilda, than +he does." +</P> + +<P> +"Esther said there would be twenty or thirty," said Judy. "How are we +going? that's what I want to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Take the Harlem railroad to the station," said Norton, "and drive the +rest. That's the way you always go to General Francis's. Mamma! I'd +like to drive Pink out. It's only thirteen miles." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid, Norton. I think you had better all go together." +</P> + +<P> +Norton grumbled a little; however, it was good enough even so. +</P> + +<P> +The day was the first of June; fresh and sweet as the first of June +should be. The four were in the cars early; and as soon as the train +had got quit of the city, the sights and smells of the country roused +Matilda to the highest pitch of delight. Such green fields! such blue +sky! such delicious air! and such varieties of pleasant objects that +she had not seen for some time! The rush to the station was one whirl +of pleasure; then the pleasure grew greater, for they got into a +carriage to drive across the country. Every foot of the way, though it +was not through a very enchanting landscape, was joyous to Matilda's +vision; and when the grounds were reached of General Francis's villa, +there was nothing more left in this world to desire. For there were +plantations of trees, extending far and wide, with roads and paths cut +through them; over which the young fresh foliage cast the sweetest of +shadow. There were meadows, broad and fair, green and smooth, with a +little river winding along in them, and scattered trees here and there +for shade, and fringes of willows and alders to the sides of the +stream. And at a little distance stood the large old house, with groves +of trees encircling it and lawns before and on one side of it; and on +the side lawn, in the edge of the grove, long tables set and spread +with damask. +</P> + +<P> +"Dinner already?" queried Norton. "I am hungry enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Dinner at ten o' clock!" cried Judy. "Breakfast, you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Esther, is it breakfast?" asked Norton, as their little hostess came +to them. +</P> + +<P> +"It is what you like, Mr. Laval," said the little lady; whose pink bows +were not more in style than her manners. +</P> + +<P> +"Norton is hungry, Esther," David remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you are, too." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to give us, Esther?" said Judy eagerly. "We are all +like bears. Strawberries?" +</P> + +<P> +"We must wait for another carriage. The Grandsons are coming." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't wait," said Judy. "What's the use? Ten o' clock is late +enough for breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +"But we shall not have the collation till three." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you got for breakfast?" +</P> + +<P> +"Coffee." +</P> + +<P> +"And strawberries?" +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you had any strawberries this year?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lots; but not in the country, you know, where they grow." +</P> + +<P> +"And not with such yellow cream as we have got from our dairy." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you have cream enough for all, Esther?" David asked, as coming +round the house they saw a small crowd of young people collected near +the tables. Esther smiled and bridled, and then there was no more +private talk, but a whole chorus of greetings and questions and +answers. And then another carriage drew up, with the missing Grandsons; +and the party went to breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Matilda that to eat under the shadow of trees, and on the +carpet of the grass, and with the music of leaves and insects and +breezes, was the very most delightful thing that could be invented. She +was very hungry, no doubt; and Mrs. Francis's excellent cook had made +capital provision for her young mistress; but besides all that, how +pretty it was! The light flickered through the oak leaves upon the +white tablecloths, and gleamed from china and glass and silver in the +most cheery way; it gleamed upon the little river too and upon the +blades of grass on the lawn. Out there the sunshine was full; the eye +went across to the scattered trees and to the further woods on the +other side; a great promising playground it looked. And then the air +was so sweet and fresh. Matilda was not seated very well for her +pleasure; nobody near that she knew very well; nevertheless she eat her +strawberries and cream and devoured rolls and butter with a contented +appreciation of what she had, and an amused observation of what was +around her. +</P> + +<P> +How were they to spend the day? +</P> + +<P> +This question received earnest attention as soon as the business of +breakfast was off their hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Day is pretty well gone already," said Norton consulting his watch. +"It is twelve o' clock. There is not time for anything else but to have +dinner and go home." +</P> + +<P> +"We do not dine till four o' clock," Esther announced. +</P> + +<P> +"Four hours," said somebody. "Time enough to get hungry again. I'll +take anybody that wants to go a row on the river; if somebody'll help +me row." +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody do what everybody likes until three o' clock," said Esther. +"Suppose then, at three o' clock, we all gather in the pavilion and +have games?" +</P> + +<P> +Unanimous acceptance of this proposal. Then a flutter and division and +scattering of the little crowd. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda wondered what <I>she</I> would do, or be asked to do. She would have +liked the sail on the Bronx; but so would a good many more. The little +boat was very soon filled with the eager applicants, and David +volunteered to help row it. One of Matilda's friends was thus removed +from her. She turned to look for Norton. He was not to be seen. A +general stampede of the boys to the stables made it supposable that he +was in the midst of the gay little group rushing that way. Matilda +looked around her. The tables were deserted; the little boat had +disappeared up the stream; all the boys were gone; and one or two +groups of girls, unknown to her, were loitering over the grass towards +the house. A flush of vexation and embarrassment came over Matilda. Was +this civility? and what was she to do with herself for three hours to +come? And how disagreeable, to be regarded as of no consequence and no +concern to anybody. Tears swelled in their fountains, but Matilda was +not going to cry. She would not linger alone by the table; she did not +know her way in the house, and besides would not seek those who should +properly seek her; she turned her steps to the little river. The +flowing water had a great charm for her; the bank was smooth and green; +she wandered along till she came to what she called a nice place, where +a young willow hung over and dipped its long branches in, and the bank +offered a soft shady seat. Matilda sat down, and felt very lonely. But +glimpses taken through the trees and shrubbery shewed her nobody near +or far, except the servants; and Matilda resolved to be quiet and wait +for better things by and by. She looked at her watch; it was half past +twelve. I am bound to confess it was a good half hour more before +Matilda could get the better of a desperate fit of disappointment and +vexation. She had not counted upon spending her holiday in this manner; +and slights and unkindness are pleasant to nobody. There is something +in use, however, and more in a quiet mind. The little girl's roiled +feelings at last ran clear again; and she began to enjoy things after +her own fashion. +</P> + +<P> +The ripple and flow of that water was certainly delicious; it made one +cool only to hear it. She could get down to the brink too and +cautiously dip her hand in. There were little fishes in a shallow +there; their play and movement were very amusing, and Matilda went into +deep speculation about how much they knew, and what they felt, and what +their manner of life amounted to, and how they probably regarded the +strange creature looking down at them. Very much she wondered what they +could eat to live upon. The water plants that grew along the stream had +Matilda's attention too, and the mosses that covered the stones. And +one or two grasshoppers finally proved a great source of entertainment. +She quite forgot to feel lonely, and was taking her enjoyment in a very +harmonious way; when she heard a different swash of the water and the +dip of oars, and the boat shot round a curve and came down the stream. +She watched it, wondering whether its crew would see her. Just opposite +her willow the oars stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that you, Tilly?" David cried. +</P> + +<P> +A small "yes" came from the bank. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing there?" +</P> + +<P> +"O, amusing myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is everybody else?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Norton?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I think he went to see the horses." +</P> + +<P> +"Come down to the landing," said David after a moment's pause. +</P> + +<P> +Matilda nodded, and the boat shot forward again. It had turns to take +following the course of the stream; while she on the land could cut +across points, and she reached the landing place the first. +</P> + +<P> +The little party landed with cries of pleasure, and the next thing, set +off on a run for the house. David purposely hung back, so that he and +Matilda in a few minutes were behind all the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is everybody?" inquired David. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you been doing all this while?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was very pretty down by the water, David. I didn't mind;—at least, +not after the first. It was very pleasant there." +</P> + +<P> +"All alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; except the fishes and the grasshoppers." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—I shall cut out the fishes now." +</P> + +<P> +David kept his word. A deputation of the boys met them and begged him +to go where the others were riding. David went, but kept hold of +Matilda's hand, though warned that "the girls" were finding other +amusements in the house. Matilda was taken into the meadow where the +boys and the horses were congregated; a safe seat was found for her on +the wall, from whence she could survey the whole field; and though +David took his share in the amusements that followed, riding and racing +with the other boys, he never let her feel herself forgotten or alone; +stopping his horse every now and then in front of her to say something +and find out if she was happy. Matilda was very happy, greatly amused, +and intensely pleased that David had constituted himself her protector. +The hours sped along; the soft June sun was never too hot; the little +white clouds that crossed the sky cast shadows not needed for the busy +pleasure seekers, nor even for the quiet spectator. At last Matilda +heard a shout behind her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<P> +"What <I>are</I> you doing, you boyish girl?" It was Judy, at the head of +the whole bevy of young ones from the house. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know what had become of you, Matilda," said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"Come down!" said Judy. "What business have you there? Who asked you to +watch the boys? Why don't you come down? On the wall, too! Esther +didn't invite you there." +</P> + +<P> +"Esther didn't invite me anywhere," said Matilda, with the old +inevitable set of her head, which said much more than the little girl +knew. Esther felt it, and Judy was incensed. +</P> + +<P> +"I <I>would</I> be ashamed, if I were you," she said. "Tell the boys, will +you, that we are ready for the games. Call somebody. Shout! now you are +up there, make yourself useful." +</P> + +<P> +Matilda preferred not to shout. Instead of that, she waved her +handkerchief. David rode up, the message was given. Then Norton came to +help Matilda down from the wall; and soon the whole party gathered in +the pavilion. This was rather more than a summer house; a large saloon, +with windows and glass doors on all sides, furnished with lounges and +easy chairs and tables, with a carpet on the floor, and kept with all +the nicety of the house itself. Warm and tired and happy, the little +company was ready for quiet amusements; and they played games of +various kinds until the gong called them to dinner. That was to have +been the end of the day's entertainment; but a storm had come up while +they were at the table, and the rain fell too abundantly to let anybody +leave the house except those who could go in close carriages. A few +were thus drafted off, belonging to neighbouring families; a goodly +little company still remained who were forced to accept the +housekeeper's hospitalities for the night. That was additional fun +rather than inconvenience, so voted and so accepted. However, as the +day began to close in and a lull fell upon all their pleasure-seeking, +it began to appear that the little people were tired. Naturally; they +had worked hard all day. Voices changed their tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh dear! I wish it wouldn't rain!" cried one young lady, pressing her +face against the window, down the outside of which the streams of rain +drops were running fast. +</P> + +<P> +"Might as well wish something else, Carrie, while you are about it," +Norton said. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I was home," said another. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till to-morrow, and you will have your wish." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't want to wait." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know some new games, Esther?" +</P> + +<P> +This sort of thing went on for some time till tea and cake made a +diversion, and lights were brought. Then the cry was, "What shall we do +all the rest of the evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have a game for you," said David at last. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it? what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"A new game." +</P> + +<P> +"What <I>is</I> it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is called, 'Capital and Interest.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand that," pouted one of the young ladies. +</P> + +<P> +"You will understand it fast enough, when we come to play it." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you play it?" +</P> + +<P> +"You must choose a Judge and a Recorder." +</P> + +<P> +"What's a Recorder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Some one to put down what we say. We all tell our business; the +Recorder sets it down, and the Judge says whose business is worth the +most." +</P> + +<P> +"How can he tell?" +</P> + +<P> +"He can hear what we say, and he can use his judgment, as we all can." +</P> + +<P> +"Must we tell the truth? or say what we have a mind?" +</P> + +<P> +"Either you like." +</P> + +<P> +"That's jolly!" said one of the boys. "I go in for saying what we have +a mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Just imagine the nicest things you can," David went on. +</P> + +<P> +"To eat?" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no; you've done enough of that to-day," said Norton. "Imagine what +you have a mind to,—every sort of thing that's pleasant." +</P> + +<P> +"Well you begin, Norton, because you understand it. We'll hear you +play, and so learn." +</P> + +<P> +"We have got to choose the Judge first. And the Recorder." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the Judge to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Say who has made the best business." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand a bit of it," said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but you will presently. You'll see. Wait till we begin. Who will +you have for Judge?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a general cry of "David Bartholomew!" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said David, "I won't be Judge. I'll be Recorder, if you like. For +Judge, I propose Norton Laval." +</P> + +<P> +Norton was agreed upon unanimously. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we are ready. Esther, we will begin at you. Tell what you have, or +what you would like to have; and then, what you would do with it, or +use it for." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what you mean," said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not tied to facts. Tell what you like. What would you most +like?" +</P> + +<P> +"Most like?" repeated Esther. "Let me see. It's very hard to begin with +me, when I don't know the game. Let us see. I think I should like to +have the most beautiful diamonds in New York." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good," said Norton. "Now tell what you would do with them." +</P> + +<P> +"Do with them? Why, wear them, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Norton. "But the diamonds are your capital, you +understand; what interest will you get for your capital? What <I>good</I> +will they do you, Esther? that's it." +</P> + +<P> +"What good?" said Esther. "Why, if I had the finest jewels of anybody, +don't you see I should outshine everybody?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see it," said Norton; "but then I'm not in that line. It's +<I>your</I> business we are talking of. Put it down properly, Recorder. Now +Bob Francis—what's your idea of a jolly life, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I</I> don't know!" said Bob. He was a year older than his sister; not a +year brighter. +</P> + +<P> +"O yes, you do. Fancy—but I don't believe you <I>can</I> fancy. What would +you like best, Bob?—come!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like as well as anything to be a cavalry officer, and have nothing +to do but ride." +</P> + +<P> +"A cavalry officer has a great deal to do, I can tell you, my fine +fellow, besides riding," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"O well; <I>I</I> don't want to have anything else to do," said Bob. "I'd +cut school; it's a bore." +</P> + +<P> +"But you can't ride always. What will be the good of your riding when +you are sick, or get old?" +</P> + +<P> +"O then I'll die," said Bob contentedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Let it stand, Davy," said Norton. "Write him down, with a horse and a +saddle for his capital and riding his business. Who's next? Hatty +Delaplaine! What will <I>you</I> have?" +</P> + +<P> +Hatty, a pale, freckled girl, with twinkling gray eyes, was ready with +her answer. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to have Stewart's store, all to myself, and a dressmaker." +</P> + +<P> +"The dressmaker all to yourself too, I suppose. Girls are the queerest +things!" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit queerer than boys," spoke up Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well,—see if the present game does not prove them so," said Norton. +"What'll you do with Stewart's and a dressmaker, Hatty Delaplaine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see? I'd never wear the same dress twice, and I wouldn't +have the same for breakfast or luncheon or dinner; and I would have the +most beautiful dresses that ever were seen." +</P> + +<P> +"What would you do with them, after once wearing?" David asked. +</P> + +<P> +"O I should never know and never care. My maid would dispose of them, I +suppose. I should have enough to do to think of the new ones. But I +<I>do</I> love costumes!" the girl added, clasping her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that a 'costume' you have got on?" Norton asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! it isn't anything. I haven't got Stewart's and my dressmaker +yet. When I have, you'll know it." +</P> + +<P> +"Juliet Bracebridge!—speak if you please. I'm finished," said Norton. +"This is the richest game I've seen yet. Juliet?—" +</P> + +<P> +"I think I should like a perfect little carriage, and a perfect pair of +horses, and to go driving over the world." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" said Norton. "You mean, over the Central Park and the +Boulevards." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't. I mean what I say." +</P> + +<P> +"Bad roads in some places," said Norton. "Up Vesuvius, for instance; or +over Mont Blanc in winter. Greece is dangerous, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't talk nonsense, Norton Laval. Of course I should drive where I +could drive, and would like to drive. Over Mont Blanc in winter, +indeed!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come to business. A perfect pair of horses and perfect +carriage,—that's your capital; and you'll go driving all over. What +will be the interest on your capital, do you think? in other words, +what will you take by it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should always have a variety, don't you see, and not have time to +get tired of anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Are there roads enough in the world to last you?" said Norton. "I +declare! these girls—Joe Benton, give us your mind." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll make a fortune, Norton." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. What'll you do with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have the best house, and the handsomest wife, and the largest +estate in the country." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll buy your wife with your money?" asked Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Easy,"—said Joe, grinning. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care—'twont be <I>me</I>," said Judy. "I pity the woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" said Joe. "She'll have everything she wants, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Excepting the right person," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well I don't care; it <I>won't</I> be you," said Joe; "so you may say what +you like." +</P> + +<P> +"I would if it was," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +But a chorus of laughter broke them off. +</P> + +<P> +"Judy's next," said Norton. "I should like to hear what you will say, +Judy." +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to be a queen," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it! Go to the top at once. Well, you've got to show why. What +would you do if you were a queen?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd put down all preaching and praying, and people's making fools of +themselves with giving away their money to poor folks, and nursing sick +folks, and all the rest of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Why Judy!" exclaimed one or two. "You'd stop preaching?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't you be sorry!" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but really. Wouldn't you let people be ministers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ministers like Dr. Blandford. He don't give away his money, I'll be +bound; and he likes his glass of wine and smokes his pipe like other +folks." +</P> + +<P> +"He don't smoke a <I>pipe</I>, Judy." +</P> + +<P> +"You know what I mean. If I had said he likes his <I>grog</I>, you wouldn't +have thought it was made of gin, would you?" +</P> + +<P> +"So you'd be a queen, to stop religious toleration?" said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd stop <I>any</I>," said Judy. "I don't care whether it's religious or +not." +</P> + +<P> +"But what's given you such a spite at religious people?" asked Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"Mean!" said Judy. "Artful. Conceited to death. Stupid. And insane." +</P> + +<P> +There was again a chorus of "Oh Judy!"'s. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," said Norton. "When she's queen, I'll sell out and buy an +estate in some other country. Who's next?" +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you'd be sneaking along presently, at the tail of some black +coat or other," Judy responded. "It's in you. The disease'll break out." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what's in me," said Norton. "Something that makes me hot. +I'm afraid it isn't religious. Roswell Holt, what's your idea of +capital and business? Do leave Judy to her own fancies. This game's +getting to be warm work. Roswell!—it's your turn." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe," Roswell began sedately; he was an older boy than most of +them and very quiet; "I believe, what I should like would be, to know +all the languages there are in the world; and then to have a library so +large that all the books in the world should be in it." +</P> + +<P> +"Capital!" said Norton. "What good would that do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I could read everything," said Roswell. +</P> + +<P> +"And what good would <I>that</I> do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should like it," said Roswell. "I should have what I like." +</P> + +<P> +"Solomon tried that once," said David, who was taking diligently his +reporter's notes. "It didn't seem to answer then." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, but there were not so many books in his day," said Roswell. +</P> + +<P> +"The worse for you, I should say. Besides, there are not so many now as +there will be a thousand years hence. How about that, old fellow?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't read what there'll be a thousand years hence," said Roswell. +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't read what there are now, if you had them. You could not +live long enough." +</P> + +<P> +"What a musty old fogy he would be, by the time he had gone half +through!" said Judy. "He would have used up his eyes; his spectacles +would have made a ridge on his nose; he would live in an old coat that +was never brushed; and his books would be all coffee stains, because he +would take his breakfast over them. Poor old creature!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be old then yourself, Judy," said some one. +</P> + +<P> +"I won t," said the young lady promptly. "I mean to keep young." +</P> + +<P> +"Ben Johnson—go ahead," said Norton. "It's your turn." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to go supercargo in the China trade," said Ben; a +lively-looking fellow enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," said Norton. "Say why. Love of the sea wouldn't take you to +China, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly," said Ben, with a confidential gleam in his eyes. "I +should have nothing to do—and smoke seventy cigars a day." +</P> + +<P> +"Seventy cigars!" cried out two or three of the girls. "Horrid!" +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't do it, old fellow." +</P> + +<P> +"Easy," said Ben. "My cousins, Will Larkins and Dan Boston, did it +every day." +</P> + +<P> +"They must be of a practical turn of mind, I should think," said +Norton. "They meant their voyage should pay—somebody—and so concluded +it should be the tobacconist. Lucy Ellis—?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to be very beautiful," said the girl, who had some +pretensions that way already, or she wouldn't have said it in +public,—"and have everybody love me." +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody!" cried Judy. "All the boys, you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"No indeed," said the beauty with a toss of her head. "I mean all the +<I>men</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"But people don't love people because they are handsome," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't they, though!" said Ben Johnson, who was a beauty in his way; as +indeed so also was Norton. But here arose a furious debate of the +question, in which almost everybody took part excepting David and +Matilda. Laughing and shouting and discussing, the original game was +almost lost sight of; and David sat with his pen in his hand, and +Matilda listened in wondering amusement, while the negative and the +affirmative of the proposition were urged and argued and fought for. At +last Norton appealed. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of our game?" +</P> + +<P> +"I had forgot it, that's a fact," said Norton. "Who's next? O come +along, we'll never settle that question. Who's next? Pink, I believe it +is you. Matilda Laval! what's your capital and business?" +</P> + +<P> +"Now you'll get a queer one," said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be the first, by some," said Norton; "that's one thing." +</P> + +<P> +"This'll be a good one. Oh, ever so good!" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be anything, if you can't hush," said Norton impatiently. +"Come, Pink, whatever it is, let us have it. What's your fancy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to have a medicine that would be sure to cure," said +Matilda. +</P> + +<P> +"A medicine!" cried Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"She'd be a doctor," exclaimed Judy with a burst of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"What for, Pink?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would go round, making sick people well." +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful, ain't it?" said Judy. "O we have such lots of goodness in +our house, you wouldn't know it; and I don't know it my self. Fact is, +it confuses me." +</P> + +<P> +"Bill Langridge?" +</P> + +<P> +"Governor of the State,"—called out Bill in reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you say 'Sultan of Muscat,' at once?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know Muscat—and don't care about governing where I'm a +stranger. Might make mistakes, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what's the good in being Governor of the State?—to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Having things my own way, don't you see? and at top of everything." +</P> + +<P> +"There's the President, and all his secretaries," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"They're not in my way. In the State, you know, nobody is over the +Governor." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what you call a moderate ambition," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Aims pretty high," said Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Not high enough," said another boy. "I'd choose to be commander in +chief of the army." +</P> + +<P> +"How's that any higher, Watson?" said Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Military rule," said Watson. "Your Governor has to consult this one +and 'tother one, and go by the Legislature too, when all's done; the +commander in chief asks leave of nobody." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Elisha Peters, what's <I>your</I> ambition?" called out Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like a little money,—enough, you know, not too much; and to go +travelling all over the world on foot." +</P> + +<P> +"On foot!" said Norton. "What would you get out of that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should see everything. Not part, you know, as everybody does; I +should see everything." +</P> + +<P> +"What would you do, Elisha, when you had got to the end of +everything?—seen it all?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't believe I could. The world's big enough to last one man." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know but what it is," said Norton. "Will you write a book?" +</P> + +<P> +"Guess not. Take too much time." +</P> + +<P> +"Then the travelling would do nobody good but you?" said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Who else should it?" replied Elisha. +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>book</I> would do nobody any good, if he were to write it," +suggested Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Polite"—said Elisha. +</P> + +<P> +"Selfish"—retorted Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody is selfish," returned the young cynic. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't true," said Norton; "but I haven't time to argue just now. +I've got work enough to do as a judge. Are we most through? I declare, +here's half a dozen more to speak. Speak quick, please; and don't say +so many odd things. The judge's work isn't going to be a trifle, in +this court. Dick Morton, go ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to be able to do just what I have a mind to," said Dick. +</P> + +<P> +"Bravo! only that's what we're all after. Come a little nearer the +point, Dick; what'll you do with your time?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd be a hunter. I'd have first-rate rifles, you know, and pistols, +and all that; and people to help; and I'd just go hunting. I'd kill +buffaloes in the West till I had enough of that, and take a turn at a +bear or so; then I'd go to Africa and have a royal time with the +rhinoceros and lions, and maybe crocodiles. I'd spend a good while in +Africa. Elephants, too. Then I'd cross over to India and hunt tigers. +I'd chase ostriches too." +</P> + +<P> +"Not in India," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't say, in India; but where they are. Deer of course, +everywhere; and chamois, and all that." +</P> + +<P> +"Birds?" suggested Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"O yes, by the way, you know. I'd live upon ducks and snipe and wild +turkey." +</P> + +<P> +"When you weren't eating venison and buffalo hump," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—I'd have variety enough," said Dick. "I tell you! a hunter's +supper is jolly." +</P> + +<P> +"All alone?" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"Another specimen of selfishness," said Judy. "They're all alike as two +pears—only some of 'em are green, and the others a different colour." +</P> + +<P> +"That's <I>your</I> business," said Norton summing up; "now what's the good +of it, Dick?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fun. What's the good of anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure," said the Judge. "Julie Simpson?" +</P> + +<P> +But Julie wriggled and simpered, and could not be got to express +herself otherwise. The sayings of several next corning were only echoes +of some one or other of those who had spoken. Norton grew impatient. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do," he said; "now for the Recorder. It's time the Judge +finished up. The best part of the play comes after." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" said somebody; "what comes after? I thought this was the +whole." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't catch me playing 'Capital and Interest' very often, if it +was," said Norton. "No; the best business man, or the one who has the +best business, is to appoint forfeits to all the rest; and if he knows +how to do it, I tell you! that's fun." +</P> + +<P> +"But how are we to decide who has the best business?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't! The Judge does that. Go ahead, David. What's <I>your</I> business?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish it was peddling old shoes!" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" several asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be anything as respectable. We've taken to turning old coats +at our house." +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead, Davy!" cried Norton. +</P> + +<P> +But David was deliberate about it. He finished his writing, and looked +up. +</P> + +<P> +"I think my capital is <I>myself</I>," he said with a smile. "I mean to make +the most of <I>myself</I>, in every way I can think of; as well as of my +money, and whatever else I have got." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't sound so bad," said Elisha looking at Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well Davy," said Norton; "what are you going to do with yourself, +after you have made the most you can of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am the servant of the King Messiah," said David with a smile again; +"myself and all I have belong to him, and I want to make the most of +them for Jesus and his work and his Kingdom. They are the talents He +has given me to work with. And when the King comes to take account of +me, I want to be able to say, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five +pounds.'" +</P> + +<P> +The little people were silent. David spoke so simply and in so +business-like fashion, there was no game to be made of his words; and +nothing was said, till Norton remarked he did not know what he was +going to do; he could not remember one half that had been said for him +to pass judgment upon. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it all here," said David. "Take your seat, and begin; I'll +read you two, and you choose the best in your judgment of those; then +take another and compare with that, and so on." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Norton. "Get along, David. It s a pesky business, this +being judge, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Silence in the court!" said David. "Esther Francis; capital, the most +beautiful diamonds in New York; interest, she outshines everybody." +</P> + +<P> +"Next"—said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't say that, did I?" asked Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you said that; he's got it down. Next, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bob Francis. Capital, a cavalry officer's commission and a horse. +Interest, he'll ride." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed a round chorus of the children. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence in the court!" repeated David. "We wait for the Judge's +decision." +</P> + +<P> +"Hm!—I wish you had it to do!" growled Norton, rubbing his head. +"Which is the best business of those two? Well, between diamonds and +horses, if you're shut up to them, I think a horse is the best stock in +trade." +</P> + +<P> +"But the <I>business</I>—the interest," said Bob. "Ain't riding like a man +better than sitting or dressing to be stared at like a woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's the most manly," Norton repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"But not the most womanly?" said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not the most womanly." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, which is <I>best?</I>" somebody cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Riding is the best for me," said Norton. "I should feel like a fool in +diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +"A Hindoo rajah, or a Persian shah, or an Arab emir wouldn't feel so," +suggested David. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a Hindoo nor an Arab, though," said Norton. "If I am to give +judgment I'll give it like a good American. And I say, that a saddle is +better than a jewel-box any day; and it's better in my judgment to ride +for one's life, than to make people's eyes wink with looking at you. Go +on, Recorder!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hatty Delaplaine. Capital, a dressmaker and dry-goods unlimited. +Interest, nothing but new dresses." +</P> + +<P> +"Riding is better than dressing," said the Judge. "Bob Francis has it +yet." +</P> + +<P> +"But why is it better?" asked Miss Hatty. The Judge was a little at a +loss. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what," said he, "my business is hard enough as it is; I +can't stand any aggravations. I'll take the sense of the assembly. All +who say as I do, hold up their hands." +</P> + +<P> +But it was found that the judgments were essentially masculine and +feminine; the girls sided with Hatty, the boys with Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"There's most good to be done by riding," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"There ain't!" said Judy. "Dressing encourages the working people." +</P> + +<P> +"And there's no good in riding at the head of soldiers," said Hatty. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it is a more noble occupation," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see the nobility!" said Roswell Holt. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't care!" said Norton. "Let them both stand together then. +I hope there'll be something more remarkable than either of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Juliet Bracebridge. A carriage and horses. Will drive all over the +world. Thinks she'll never know ennui." +</P> + +<P> +"Juliet has it," said the Judge. "That's better than just riding or +dressing for its own sake. I'd like driving over the world myself. What +next?" +</P> + +<P> +"Joe Benton. Will have a fortune. Interest, wife, house, and estate +better than anybody else." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe the best wife <I>can</I> be bought," said Roswell. +</P> + +<P> +"And the best house for you mightn't be the best house for me," said +Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't mean it for you, Judy," said her cousin Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"Judge'll never get through, if you don't stop these civilities," said +Norton. "I decide for Joe. No, I don't! I decide for Juliet. Nicer to +go contentedly travelling all over, than to take all one's comfort in +one's pride. Juliet has it yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Judy Bartholomew. Will have a queen's power, and the use of it is to +put down religious freedom in her dominions." +</P> + +<P> +"Juliet has it!" shouted Norton. "Better amuse yourself <I>not</I> at other +people's expense, I think, if you can manage it." +</P> + +<P> +"Roswell Holt; all books in all languages, and power to understand +them. Finds the good of his life in reading." +</P> + +<P> +"That sounds sensible," said Norton. "I give it for Roswell over +Juliet." +</P> + +<P> +"But why?" urged Juliet. +</P> + +<P> +"There's something in books, you see." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure there is a good deal in countries and cities and people." +</P> + +<P> +"True," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"How's his business better than mine?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. Seems as if it ought to be." +</P> + +<P> +"He pleases himself one way, and I another." +</P> + +<P> +"And I another," said Esther. +</P> + +<P> +"True. But books are books, as I said before. Now there's nothing in +diamonds." +</P> + +<P> +"There is in travelling," said Juliet again. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there is. But the books shew a higher aspiration, Miss +Bracebridge." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see it," said the young lady pouting. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, when you are Judge, you'll know how easy it is," said Norton. +"After all, it's only a game. Go ahead, David." +</P> + +<P> +"Ben Johnson. Goes supercargo to China. Object, to do nothing and smoke +seventy cigars a day." +</P> + +<P> +"Roswell has it yet," said Norton. "Go ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"Lucy Ellis. Great beauty. Loves to have all men look at her." +</P> + +<P> +"Roswell has it!" cried Norton. "No stop. Go on." +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda Laval. Has a medicine for all ills; and she lives to cure +people." +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda has it," said Norton, in a somewhat lowered tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Bill Langridge. Governor of the State. Object, to have things his own +way." +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda has it!" said the judge judicially. +</P> + +<P> +"Egbert Watson—prefers military to civil rule; therefore chooses to be +head of the army instead of the State. Object, same as Bill +Langridge's." +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda Laval has it," said the Judge. He began somehow to look gloomy. +</P> + +<P> +"Elisha Peters—has freedom to go through the world on foot. Object, is +to see everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Matilda Laval has it!" growled the Judge. +</P> + +<P> +"Dick Morton. His capital is rifles, with powder and ball; object in +life, to kill or to hunt and eat wild beasts." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't come near Matilda Lavals," said the Judge. +</P> + +<P> +"Julia Simpson has no object." +</P> + +<P> +"Easy disposed of," said Norton. +</P> + +<P> +"Ned Forsyth agrees with Watson; Mary Fortescue sides with Lucy Ellis; +and half a dozen more with Lucy, Roswell Holt, Bill, and Miss +Bracebridge." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there's only you," said Norton gloomily. +</P> + +<P> +"David Bartholomew. Capital, himself and all he has, to be made the +most of. Business, to use it all for the King whose servant I am." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the interest?" growled Norton, after a moment's pause. "But +stop! how are you going to use it? you don't tell your business after +all. What are you going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said David. "The King's will, whatever that is. +Whatever he gives me to do." +</P> + +<P> +"The interest?" +</P> + +<P> +"That comes all along the way," said David. "But at the end—I shall +inherit all things!" +</P> + +<P> +"Is that a proper way of speaking, David?" said Esther gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the promise," said David. +</P> + +<P> +"He's an old prig, that's what he is!" said one of the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said David, "stop! hear me; you don't understand. In that day the +King will take account of his servants. And to those who can say to +him, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds'—or 'five pounds'—he +will say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been +faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; +enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' I want that." +</P> + +<P> +Something about the manner of David's speech stilled the impatient +little company. David was always much looked up to and somewhat feared; +and now he had spoken with a clear and sweet business tone which left +no hold for ridicule. Nobody attempted it; and Judy saw her time was +not then and kept silence. So did the Judge; too long, some of them +thought. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose Matilda and you are in the same box," he began, "and what I +give to one of you I must give to the other." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, you mustn't!" was cried in a stream of little voices. "They +didn't say the same thing at all; you must judge by what they said." +</P> + +<P> +"They both meant the same thing, I know," said Norton; "but if I must +go by what they said, then David spoke more clearly than Matilda. +Bartholomew has it." +</P> + +<P> +"Reasons! reasons!" cried Judy and one or two more; for it was usual +for the Judge to fortify himself thus in the opinions of his little +assembly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Norton, without his usual readiness, "the reasons are +plain enough. The best business is what yields the best interest; and +you may judge yourselves, if working for other people isn't nobler than +working for oneself. And as to the interest,—well, you know,—if you +come to look at it," Norton went on not very lucidly—"<I>that's</I> better +than <I>this</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"What's better than which?" said Judy. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Judy," said her brother; "what will last, is better than what +won't last; and all your diamonds cannot compare with 'shining as the +stars for ever and ever;' and the King's court will be better than any +little king's or queen's rule in this world." +</P> + +<P> +There was a general cry now for the forfeits. It fell to David by right +to dispense them. I have not time to tell how witty and how pleasant +they were; but only that they brought every one into good humour long +before the game was out. +</P> + +<P> +The little party slept at the house, and returned to town by an early +train next morning. +</P> + +<P> +"David," said Matilda, catching him a moment by himself after they got +home,—"don't you think Norton is coming round?" She spoke eagerly, +anxiously, almost exultingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Give him time, Tilly," said David smiling. "He rather committed +himself last night, I think he will." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Typographical errors silently corrected: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 1: =take dancing lessons?"= replaced by =take dancing lessons?= +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 2: =to feel."= replaced by =to feel.= +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 4: =bloom all round.= replaced by =bloom all round."= +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 4: =coffee; they are= replaced by =coffee; "they are= +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 8: ='The Lord said unto= replaced by ="'he lord said unto= +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 11: =a Jew as ever I was—= replaced by =a Jew as ever I was"— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 12: =nothin' agin the neighbourhood= replaced by =nothin' +agin' the neighbourhood= +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chapter 15: =nearer the p'int= replaced by =nearer the point= +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trading, by Susan Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADING *** + +***** This file should be named 30149-h.htm or 30149-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/1/4/30149/ + +Produced by Daniel Fromont. 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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: Trading + +Author: Susan Warner + +Release Date: October 1, 2009 [EBook #30149] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADING *** + + + + +Produced by Daniel Fromont. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: This is the fourth 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] + + + + +TRADING: + + + +FINISHING THE + +STORY OF "THE HOUSE IN TOWN," &c. + + + + + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"WIDE WIDE WORLD," "THE OLD HELMET," + +"WALKS FROM EDEN," &c., &c. + + + + + +"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, +who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods." + + + + + +NEW YORK: + +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + +530 BROADWAY. + +1873. + + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by + +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS + +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + + + +CAMBRIDGE: + +PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. + + + + + +TRADING. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Christmas day was grey with clouds; on the roofs of the city and in the +streets the sun never shone all day. People called it cold. Sarah +Staples found it so on her crossing. Inside Mrs. Lloyd's front-door, +however, it seemed to Matilda to be nothing but sunshine. She had not +leisure to look at the grey sky, and to be sure the temperature was +that of summer. Matilda had a great deal to do. Her various parcels +were to be neatly tied up in white paper, with the names of the persons +they were for nicely written thereon, and then committed to Mrs. +Bartholomew for arranging on the Christmas tree. Then the presents for +Anne and Letitia were to be directed and sent; Maria's basket packed +and put in charge of the express-man; and several little letters +written, one to Mr. Richmond. Till all these things were done, Matilda +had no time to think of the weather; then she found that the snow was +beginning to fall and coming thick. + +"Yes," said Norton, to whom she announced her discovery; "and it's +stinging! and coming on to blow. It will be a night! I like it. That +feels like Christmas." + +"Then there'll be no party?" said Matilda, rather more disappointed +than she wanted to shew. + +"Party?" said Norton, "what about the party? It won't snow in _here_. +Pink. What are you thinking of? The party'll be all the merrier. I tell +you, it feels like Christmas." + +"But will they come, through all the storm?" + +"They'd come, if the hailstones were as big as eggs," said Norton. "You +never saw one of grandmother's Christmas trees, Pink; and they never +did anywhere else. No fear but they'll come, every one of them. You go +along and get dressed." + +Matilda ran upstairs, glancing out of the hall window as she passed +with a thrill of delight and mystery. The air was darkening already +with the falling snow, and the wind swept it past the house in a white +mass; by contrast the evening splendours seemed greater than ever. She +dressed in a trembling excitement of pleasure, as far as her own part +of the preparation went; then Mrs. Laval's maid came in to finish her +toilette, and Mrs. Laval came to superintend it. Matilda had only to +stand still and be curled and robed and sashed and slippered; till the +work was done, the maid went, and Mrs. Laval took the child in her arms +and asked if she was happy? + +"_Very_ happy," Matilda said. + +"It does not take much to make you happy, love." + +"Why, mamma!" said Matilda looking down at her white ruffles and then +at her adopted mother, "I have so much that I don't know what to do!" + +Mrs. Laval smiled and sighed, and kissed her again. + +"And yet Christmas night is only beginning," she said. But the wind and +the hail dashed at the windows as if answering her that it had indeed +begun outside. Mrs. Laval went away to her own dressing, and Matilda +stood a moment at the window listening. It was long after dark now; but +she could hear the whistle of the sleet as the wind bore it past, and +the rush of ice and snow against the window-panes, and even through the +close-fining sash she could feel a little gush of keen air. And for one +moment Matilda's thoughts darted to Sarah, at her crossing and in her +cellar home all that day and night. The contrast was as sharp as that +little gush of icy air. Was it right? Matilda thought. Was it right, +that her dainty white dress should be so pretty on her and the +Christmas party so fine, when Sarah and others like her were in cold +and wet and rags? It was too disagreeable to think about, as Matilda +could not help it; and she went downstairs. + +How the house was lighted up! it was a second daylight, only more +splendid. What delicious warm air filled every room, and every +staircase, and every lobby! How handsome looked the marble floor of the +hall, with its luxurious mats at every door! But as her foot touched +the marble Matilda found something else to think of. Norton came out. +He looked her up and down. + +"What's the matter, Norton?" said Matilda, a little wanting to know his +opinion. + +"Nothing," said he nodding. "You'll do." + +"This will be a very funny dress for me to play proverbs in,--don't you +think so? I don't look much like Judy's Satinalia." + +"Not much," said Norton. "You don't look much like Judy's anything. O +Pink! do you know we are going to have a witch here to-night?" + +"A witch?" said Matilda. + +"A capital witch. It's a capital idea too, for it's a new thing; and +it's so hard to get hold of something new. I expect this'll be the +party of the season." + +"What do you mean?" said Matilda. + +"You'll see," said Norton. "Only don't be frightened. The witch won't +hurt you." + +And here came Judy, and took a good silent stare at Matilda. The two +girls were dressed alike. Norton watched them with a sly glance. +Without any remark or salutation Judy passed them with a toss of her +head, and went into one of the drawing-rooms. + +"She'll do," said Norton, with a competent nod of his head in Judy's +direction. "That is, she'll do the insolent, whenever she has a mind +to. She is a case, is Judy Bartholomew. Well, come, we must get out of +the way, Pink. Somebody'll be here soon." + +So they strolled into the lighted drawing-rooms, where Judy and David +were; and strolled about, consulting arrangements for the play, till +the doors opened and other white dresses, and coloured sashes, and +gallant white-trowsered young gentlemen began to pour in and claimed +their attention. And ladies accompanied them, not a great many, but a +few favoured mothers and aunts and elder sisters; and soon the +drawing-rooms were all alive with motion and colour, and noisy with the +hum of many voices. + +It was a wonderful scene to Matilda. She forgot that she had so little +to do with it, and was so left out of it by the gay little throng. She +did not at first think of that. To be sure she was a stranger; it was +quite natural, as it seemed to her, that she should be left out. The +pleasure was great enough, merely to look on. Everybody else was very +busy talking and laughing and moving about the rooms,--all except +herself. Matilda had never seen such a display of very young ladies and +gentlemen; the variety of styles, the variety of dresses, the diversity +of face and manner, were an extremely rich entertainment. She noticed +airs and graces in some, which she thought sat very ill on +them;--affectations of grown-up manner, tossings of curls, and +flaunting of white gloves, and waving of fans, at which Matilda's +simplicity was greatly astonished. Little gentlemen stood before little +ladies, with hands behind their backs, and entertained them in +conversation which appeared to be of the politest sort. And Judy's blue +scarf flitted from end to end of the rooms, dipped to the floor as she +courtesied to new comers, and fluttered with delight as she darted to +speak to some favourite or other. The rooms grew very lively. The gas +lights shone upon all the colours of the rainbow, moving and changing +as if Mrs. Lloyd's house had been a kaleidoscope. David and Norton were +not in the company. Suddenly Norton stood at Matilda's side. + +"What are you doing here, Pink?" + +"Nothing." Matilda looked and smiled at him. "Only looking at +everything." + +"But you ought to be _in it_, Pink." + +"In what?" + +"Why! in the work; in the talk. What are you sitting in a corner here +for?" + +"You know, Norton, I do not know anybody." + +"Hasn't Judy introduced you? Not to any one?" said Norton. "Left you +here? Judy Bartholomew! if it wasn't Christmas night and an +inconvenient time to make a row"-- + +"Hush, hush, Norton. I am having a very good time," said Matilda, +looking as she felt, like a very happy little girl. + +"Well," said Norton, "there are two odd people here to-night. One of +'em's Judy Bartholomew, and the other is--somebody you don't know. +Come! come here. Esther Francis!--this is my sister, my new sister +Matilda. Hasn't Judy introduced you?" + +Norton had caught by the arm, as she was passing, a girl of about +Judy's age, whom he thus brought face to face with Matilda. She was +sweet-faced and very handsomely dressed, and she had no sort of shyness +about her. She took Matilda's hand and looked at her with a steady look. + +"Take care of her, will you?" Norton went on. "I have got to go and +arrange things with Davie; and Judy has her head full. Tell Matilda +who's who; she does not know the people yet." + +The two girls stood a minute or two silently together; Esther giving +however a side glance now and then at her companion. + +"You have not been long in town?" she said then, by way of beginning. + +"Only three weeks." + +"Of course then you are quite a stranger. It is very disagreeable, +isn't it, to be among a whole set of people that you don't know?" +Esther said it with a little turn of her pretty head, that was--Matilda +could not tell just what it was. It shewed the young lady very much at +her ease in society, and it was not quite natural; that was all she +could make out. Matilda answered, that she did not find anything +disagreeable. Esther opened her eyes a little wider. + +"Do you know all about the arrangements to-night?" she whispered. + +"I suppose I do." + +"Will there be dancing?" + +"I have heard nothing about dancing," said Matilda. "I don't think +there'll be much time for it. I don't see how there can be." + +"Are you very fond of dancing?" Esther asked, with her eyes at the +further end of the next room. + +Matilda was conscious of feeling ashamed of her answer. Nevertheless +she answered. "I do not know how to dance." + +"Not dance!" said Esther, with a new glance at her. "Did you never +dance? O there's nothing I care for at parties but to dance. And there +are just enough here to night; not a crowd. Aunt Zara will send you to +dancing-school, I suppose. But it isn't so pleasant to begin to learn +when you are so old." + +"_Aunt_ Zara!" said Matilda. "Norton did not say you were his cousin." + +"Norton's head was too full," said Esther with another movement of her +head that struck Matilda very much; it was quite like a grown-up young +lady; and gave Matilda the notion that she thought a good deal of +Norton. "Yes; we are cousins; that is why he told me to take care of +you." + +Matilda was tempted to say that Norton would save her that trouble as +soon as he was at leisure to take it upon himself; but she did not. +Instead, she asked Esther how old _she_ had been when she began to take +dancing lessons? + +"I don't know; three and a half, I believe." + +The deficiency of Matilda's own education pressed upon her heavily. She +was a little afraid to go on, for fear of laying bare some other want. + +"Yes," said Esther after another interval of being absorbed in what was +going on in the next room;--"yes; of course, you know I began to learn +to dance as soon as I began to wear--stays," she uttered in a whisper, +and went on aloud. "The two things together. O yes; I was almost four +years old." + +Here she broke off to speak to some one passing, and Matilda was lost +in wonderment again. A little uneasy too; for though the young lady +kept her post at the side of the charge Norton had given her, and +evidently meant to keep it, Matilda thought she had an air of finding +her office rather a bore. A young lady who had danced and worn stays +from the time she was four years old, must necessarily know so much of +life and the world that a little ignoramus of a country girl _would_ be +a bore. + +"What are they going to do then to-night, if we are not to dance?" +resumed Esther when her friend had passed on. "Just have the Christmas +tree and nothing else?" + +Nothing else _but_ a Christmas tree! Here was an experience! + +"Norton and David are going to make a play," said Matilda; "acting a +proverb." + +"Oh!" said Esther. "A proverb! David is a good player, and Norton too; +excellent; that will be very good. I thought I heard something about a +_witch;_ what is that?" + +"What is what?" said Judy, who found herself near. + +"About the witch?" said Esther. + +"It'--mystery." + +"Then _is_ there to be a witch?" + +"Certainly." + +"Who will it be?" + +"Part of the mystery," said Judy. "Upon my word I don't know. I +couldn't find out. And I tried, too." + +"What is she going to do?" + +"That's the rest of the mystery. Without being a witch myself, how am I +going to tell?" + +"I have heard sometimes that you were," said Esther. + +"Ah! But there are witches and witches," said Judy; "black and white, +you know, and good and bad. I'm a black witch, when I'm any. It's not +my business to get people out of trouble." + +"I shall never ask you," said Esther shaking her head. "But where is +the witch to be? and when will she appear?" + +"She won't appear. She will be in her den. All who want to see her will +go to her den. So much I can tell you." And Judy ran off before another +question could be asked. + +The elder ladies came in now, and there was a fresh stir. Mrs. Laval +introduced Matilda to several boys and girls in the company before many +minutes had gone; but there was time for little else beside an +introduction, for the boys were ready to play; and all the guests were +assembled in one room to leave the other free for their operations and +give a good view of them. In that room the lights were lowered too, to +make the scene of the play more brilliant by comparison. + +The play was a great success. Matilda laughed for very delight, as well +as at the fun of the thing. David, who personated the poor man who had +come to sell a piece of ground, talked so admirably like a countryman, +and was so oddly crochety and cross and gruff and impossible to make +terms with; and then Norton, who was the rich man he had come to see +and who wanted the land, coaxed him so skilfully, and ordered all sorts +of good things to be brought to him, when he found he had come a good +way and was hungry; and the imaginary banquet was very funny, David +making inquiries and comments over the dishes he did not know and +Norton supplying him with others, till he was satisfied. Then, in +soothed good humour, David was easy to deal with, and let his land go a +bargain. The acting was really extremely good; both the boys being +clever and without any sort of embarrassment or any even shy +affectation. The proverb which Matilda and Judy were to have played was +given up for want of time. The boys' proverb was guessed by one of the +elder ladies--"It is ill talking between a full man and a fasting." +Matilda was very glad, for her part, that she and Judy were let off. + +A hush of expectancy fell now upon the little company. It was time for +the tree to be displayed. Even talking hushed, while all eyes were upon +the folding doors leading to the last drawing-room to be thrown open. +Matilda was at the back of the crowd, but even there she could see the +blaze of light beyond as soon as this was done; and the whole company +pressed forward and peeped in. Such a beautiful sight then, her eyes +had never beheld. The tree was a generous, large, tall young fir, set +in a huge green tub; but whereas in the wood where it grew it had green +branches, with fringy, stiff, prickly leaves, now its branches were of +every colour and as it were fringed with light. From the lowest bough +to the topmost shoot it was a cone of brilliancy and a pyramid of +riches. Lights glittered from every twig, and among the lights, below +them and above them, near the stem and out at the tips of the bending +boughs and covering the moss which covered the tub, were trinkets or +toys or articles of wear or packages done up in white or coloured paper +and made gay with coloured ribbands. So bountiful a tree, so elegant a +tree, one so rich in its resources of pleasure, perhaps no eyes there +had ever seen; for when Mrs. Lloyd did anything she was accustomed to +do it thoroughly; and she had on this occasion two backers. One burst +of admiration from the whole little crowd was followed by accents of +delight and murmurs of expectation. + +The tree stood in the middle of the large drawing-room, and the bright +crowd which formed round it was surely a pretty sight. A sight for the +elders alone; no child had eyes for anything but the tree. Eager eyes; +glad eyes; sparkling and glowing with delight and expectation; a +little, soft, rustling, hustling crowd, swaying gently, agitated, moved +here and there, to and fro, but all fastened to that brilliant centre +of a Christmas tree, as much as ever the planets to their centre. At +the very back of the crowd, as she was, Matilda stepped on an ottoman +to see better; and for her even expectation was almost lost in +bewildered fascination. In truth the Christmas tree was a beautiful +spectacle. The fairy-like beauty was what Matilda thought of at first; +then she began gradually to notice how its branches were laden with +other things besides lights, and how the little company was all on +tiptoe with eagerness. With a certain faint flutter at her own heart, +Matilda stood on her perch and watched. + +Presently a tall young fellow, one of the oldest among the boys, took +his stand by the tree with a long gilt rod in his hand. The crowd fell +back a bit, and hushed its murmur and rustle. No danger of anybody +seeing Matilda; not an eye turned her way. The lad with the gilt rod, +who also was decorated with a favour of red and white ribbands, now +lifted down from the tree one of its many packages, looked close at it, +and called aloud the name written thereon. A name Matilda did not know. +The crowd stirred in out place and a little figure came forward and +took the package. Matilda wanted to know what it was, very much; but +the little girl herself made no haste to discover. A slight private +examination she gave, and with a smile and a blush clasped her little +hand upon the package and looked to see what would be next. The play +went on after this fashion; the presiding gilt rod was quick in its +operations, as indeed it had need to be; names were called out in rapid +succession; and presently the whole circle was astir, with coming and +going, explanations and questions and whispers of delight, now and then +a spring or a dance of exultation; and still the gilt rod went on +hooking down things from the tree and signalling the owners to come and +take possession. + +"Mrs. Laval!--from Matilda. I suppose Mrs. Laval knows who Matilda +is?"--said the master of ceremonies. A new thrill went all through the +distant possessor of that name. "That's my obelisk!" she thought. "I +wonder if she will like it? Yes, she knows Matilda, a little." + +"Norton Laval!--from his sister. I didn't know that Norton had a +sister." + +"The things you don't know are always more than the things you do know, +Edward Foster," said Norton coming forward to receive his watch-guard. + +"'You' meaning--whom?" said gilt rod, hooking down another +ribband-looped parcel. "By virtue of my office I know so many things +just now, that I grow conceited, and am surprised to find myself +ignorant any where. Matilda Laval!--from her mother." + +With a great leap of her heart, Matilda jumped down from her ottoman +and made her way as she could through the throng. The tall boy with the +gilt rod presented to her a small square packet, sealed and tied. +Matilda's fingers clasped upon it as she stepped back; and then for the +first time that evening she found Judy at her side. Perhaps Judy would +have spoken, if the next call had not been, + +"Matilda Laval!--from Mrs. Bartholomew." + +Flushing and trembling, Matilda stepped forward again and received a +second little packet, much like the former. Then Judy herself was +called; everybody by this time was getting his hands full; and still +the Christmas tree blazed on as brightly as ever. + +Presently Matilda got a third present; this was from David; much +larger. She was very much astonished; for without opening she could +guess that it was something valuable; it was hard and square and heavy. +Of all there, not a child was in such private ecstasies as she. Her +flushed cheeks told it; otherwise she was quite undemonstrative. Though +I say wrong; for eyes and lips were abundantly expressive of tremulous +joy. + +"Is that my present?" said Judy, by her side again. "No, it is David's. +Do you know what it is?" + +"No," Matilda whispered. + +"I don't either. Why don't you look?" + +"I will look by and by." + +"Nonsense!" said Judy; but Matilda was called off again to take what +Judy had prepared for her. + +"That isn't much," said that young lady, when Matilda fell back to her +former place; "it's only bonbons. What has aunt Zara given you?" + +"I don't know yet, Judy." + +"O look. And mamma. Mamma wouldn't tell me. Those are their gifts in +your hand there, aren't they? Look, and see. I can guess," said Judy +peering round Matilda to see the packets. + +"No, you can't," said Norton at the other side. He was fastening his +guard-chain in its place. "_You_ don't know, and she don't know. I like +people who can keep cool, and not dash their heads under water the +first thing." + +"Stuff!" said Judy. "I want her to get her head above water; she don't +see anything now, nor know anything." + +"Her head's all right," said Norton composedly. "Knowledge'll come in +time. I guess there's a good deal of it to come, too." + +"What has David got, Norton?" + +"Loads of books," said Norton. "And a rifle." + +"A rifle!" screamed Judy. + +"And a dressing-case. And a dressing-gown. And a riding-whip. And a +watch-chain." + +"And what have _you_ got, Norton?" Matilda asked. + +"Just what I wanted," said Norton, with a smile of confidence and +secret good fellowship which was most pleasant to Matilda; it made her +feel not quite so much alone in that crowd. "You shall see," he went +on. "Hallo! you're called. Give me some of your traps to hold for you, +Pink; you have not got a hand to take anything more." + +So Matilda gave him her bonbons and box, if it were a box, to hold, +while she went for ward again. This present was from Norton, and of +itself filled her arms. Wrapped up in papers as it was, she could not +know more of it than that. She came back to Norton with high-coloured +cheeks and eyes very bright indeed. + +"What's that?" said Judy. "What has Norton given you? it's big enough. +Pshaw! I know; it's a desk." + +"A desk!" exclaimed Matilda in tones of delight. + +"Keep your own counsel, Judy," said Norton coolly. "You have no idea of +keeping other people's." + +"Norton," said Esther coming up to them, "who is the witch?" + +"Can't tell, even if I know," said Norton. "I keep other people's +counsel." + +"But where are we to see her?" + +"In her den, of course." + +"Where's that?" + +"You will know when the time comes." + +"Then she won't come in here among us all?" + +"I reckon not," said Norton. "She'll see only one at a time, I hear." + +"What for?" said Esther. + +"Ah, what for!" echoed Norton. "_I_ don't know, I can tell you. And +what's more, I don't know yet whose notion it is. Now, Pink, I propose +we go upstairs and put these things away. Supper will be in a few +minutes, and then what will you do with your hands full? Come!" + +And away he and Matilda went, slipping out of the room as quietly as +they could, and then running upstairs, till they found a quiet corner +and breathing place in Matilda's room. + +"Now, Pink, don't you want to look?" said Norton turning up the gas. He +had his own curiosity too, it seems. But he did not interfere with her; +he looked on, smiling and superior, while Matilda's trembling fingers +pulled off the papers, from his package-first. Judy had spoken truly; +it was an elegant little desk, all fitted and filled. Matilda's heart, +Norton could see, was quite full with that. + +"Come!" said he gayly, "let us see David's choice. I don't know what it +is, David don't tell all his mind." + +And he stopped, for Matilda uttered a little scream of pleasure. +David's choice had been a work-box. It was of pretty fancy wood, +charmingly lined and fitted up. + +"Pretty well for David!" said Norton "He thinks you know what to do +with a work box, and reason too. Good for him. But now, Pink, guess +what this is!" + +And Norton possessed himself of the little parcel which bore his +mother's handwriting and held it up before Matilda. + +"I can't guess." + +"Try. What would you _like_, Pink? What would you like better than +anything else? Think." + +"Oh Norton!" said Matilda with changing colour, "I don't know; I am +afraid to guess. It's something small; could it be a locket with her +hair?" + +Norton with a delighted face put his hand with the parcel close to +Matilda's ear, with the other hand forbidding her to touch it. +"Listen!" he said. Matilda listened, and absolutely grew pale with +intensity of excitement. + +"I hear something, Norton!" she said seizing the package. + +"Ah, you do!" said Norton. "_Now_ you know? Yes, just look at it. Isn't +it a beauty? I was with mamma when she got it. There's no mistake in +that, Pink; it's a splendid watch, Bars and Bullion said;--I mean, the +man at Bars and Bullion's, and I believe it was Bullion himself. Do you +like it? Now Pink, we must not stay a minute longer; supper will be on +hand, and you want some, don't you. Come! Put these away, and come." + +Matilda could do it, even without looking at her bonbons or Mrs. +Bartholomew's present, and with only a glance at her watch. She locked +up her treasures and went down with Norton; a happy child, if there was +one in the city that night. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Supper was just served when they got downstairs. It was another variety +of this wonderful evening. The dining-room long table was so beautiful +with lights, fruits, greens, and confections, with setting of plate and +glass, that to Matilda it was almost as much of a sight as the +Christmas tree had been. But the others were accustomed to this sort of +thing, and fell to tasting, with very little rapture about the seeing. +What a buzz the room was in, to be sure! Tongues were fairly unloosed +over oysters and sandwiches; and all the glory of the Christmas tree +was to talk about, with comparisons of presents, plans, and prospects. +Matilda looked on, half bewildered, but so very happy that it hardly +occurred to her to remember that she might like something to eat too. +Everybody was attending upon the wants of the guests, though certainly +Matilda did notice that Judy had a plateful of something, and was +eating as busily as she was talking. Doing neither, for she knew nobody +to talk to, Matilda waited, and thought of her watch, in a trance of +rapture. + +"Why, my dear, is nobody attending to you?" she heard the voice of Mrs. +Lloyd say at last. "Have you had nothing all this while?" + +"No, ma'am--they are all so busy." + +But David came up at the minute, and Matilda had no longer anything to +complain of. He served her very kindly, and Matilda found that she was +very hungry. She got a chance, however, to thank David for her work-box. + +"I am sure you deserve it," he said. "What did Judy give you?" + +He looked very little pleased, Matilda thought, when she told him. But +he only helped her carefully to everything she would have, and said no +more about it. + +A third wonder to Matilda that evening was the style and amount of +eating that went on. The ices were in beautiful fruit forms; and she +thought when she had demolished one of them she had done enough, +especially as caramel, and candied fruits, and other confections were +awaiting her attention. But the circulation of these little ices went +on at a rate that proved Matilda's moderation to be shared by few, and +she heard one little lady say to another, herself with a plateful, "Is +that your _third_ or your _fourth?_" Slowly munching candied grapes, +Matilda looked on and marvelled. Presently Norton came to see if she +wanted anything, and then Esther joined them, and the talk was of the +witch again. + +"We are going to see her now," said Norton. "Just as soon as we have +done with the table." + +"What's it all for?" inquired Esther. + +"I don't know," said Norton, shaking his head. "Some crotchet of +somebody's. I don't know anything about it. Only everybody is invited +to go and see the witch; and the witch's den is in the little reception +room on the other side of the hall; and we must go in one by one; and +we must answer every question we are asked, or we shall get no good of +our interview. So much I am informed of." + +"What good shall we get if we do answer all the questions?" Esther +asked. + +"If I was a wizard, maybe I could tell you, Esther. You should ask +David. There used to be witches and wizards, too, among his people." + +"They were forbidden," said David gravely. + +"But they were there, all the same," said Norton. + +"Not all the same," said David; "for it was death by the law; and no +good ever came of them, and nobody good ever went to them." + +"O David," said Matilda timidly, but the occasion was too tempting to +be lost,--"do you know what they did? Did they only play tricks? or was +there anything real about it?" + +Perhaps David took a different view of the occasion; for after one +earnest look into Matilda's face, as if he would answer her, he turned +it off with lightly saying that the witches were real, for Saul had +them all put to death that he could find; and then saying that he would +go and look after this particular witch. And presently he came back and +proclaimed that she was ready to receive visitors. + +"Who are to go, Davie? Who are to go to see her?" were the inquiries +huddled one upon another. + +"Everybody," said David. "One at a time." + +"What are we to do? What are we to say?" + +"Answer questions." + +"The witch's questions?" + +"Certainly." + +"Why must we answer her questions? and what will she ask us about?" + +"Really you must judge for yourselves, about the one thing; and find +out for yourselves, about the other. I cannot tell you." + +"Will you answer her questions?" + +"Perhaps." + +"O come along!" was the cry then; "you can't get anything out of him. +Who will go first?" + +Caramel and ices had done their utmost, and now the witch became the +absorbing interest. And as those who came back from the witch s den, it +was found, would tell nothing of what had transpired there, the +interest was kept up at white heat. First one went, and then another. +Of course the young people of the household were the last. + +The witch's den, when Norton entered it, was a place he did not +recognize; though in reality it was manufactured out of the little +corner reception room. Dark drapery enclosed and mystified the space +into which he was admitted; the light came from he could not see where, +and was dim enough too; and the witch was not to be seen. Nor, +distinctly, anything else. Norton took his stand as he had been +directed in front of a dark curtain and waited. The first question +demanded his name, and when that had been answered the voice went on,-- + +"What do you want of the witch?" + +"That depends on what she can do," said Norton. + +"Power unlimited." + +"Then I wish she would cast a spell upon Mrs. Lloyd." + +"To what effect?" + +"That she would let me have the little corner attic room for a +greenhouse." + +"How would you warm it?" + +"It wouldn't want much more warming than it has now. A gas stove would +do, I think." + +"You may go. You shall hear from me in the course of the week." + +Norton went out in high glee. "She's a brick, that witch!" he +exclaimed. "Go along, Judy--and make haste; people are taking leave +now. I don't know whose the voice is, though," he went on; "I couldn't +make it out. I guess"--But Norton stopped; and Judy went in. + +"Are you in want of anything, Judy Bartholomew?" the unseen witch asked. + +"I haven't got all I want," said Judy; "if you mean that." + +"State what is needed." + +"There are a great many things," said Judy unblushingly; "but the two +things I wish for most particularly are--to give a ball, for one; and +to have a diamond ring, for the other." + +"Short of these two things, all your wishes are satisfied then?" + +"No," said Judy hesitatingly,--"I didn't say that. I want lots of +things besides; but those two most." + +"You may go. The witch always wants time. Have you any debts to pay? of +money? of any other sort?" + +"No indeed," said Judy decidedly. + +"Is there anybody to whom you would like to do a kindness?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"You may go. Your wants shall be considered." + +Judy came out triumphant. She would have had her brother go next, but +he insisted that Matilda should precede him. So Matilda went into the +darkened, mysterious boudoir of the receptions. + +"Who is this?" said the voice. + +And a gentle answer came; not like Judy's proclaiming of herself, yet +clear and frank too. + +"Matilda Laval, what would you like of all things, if you could have +it?" + +Matilda hesitated. "There are so many things"--she began,--"it isn't +very easy"-- + +"So many things you would like?" + +"Yes, ma'am. Not for _myself_," she added, in a kind of horror at being +supposed to entertain such wishes under the flood of good things that +had come upon her that evening. + +"Well, go on. It is for yourself in one way. Say what, of all you can +think of, would give you most pleasure." + +Matilda's hands came together with a certain pang of hope, as she +answered. + +"If I could make somebody comfortable that I know of;--a poor, _good_ +girl, who is not comfortable at all." + +"One of your sisters?" + +"O no, ma'am; no relation." + +"What is the matter with her, and how could you make her comfortable?" + +"She is a very poor girl," said Matilda, so eager that she did not know +what to bring out first;--"she lives in a cellar room with a wet mud +floor, and no bed to sleep on that is like a bed; of course she cannot +be very clean, nor have any comfort at all; and I should like to make +them comfortable." + +"Who is she?" + +"A very poor girl, that goes to Sunday school. But she is very good." + +"Does she live there alone?" + +"O there are three of them; her mother and little brother." + +"Then why does not the mother earn money and live better?" + +"She works for it; she sews; but the people give her almost nothing for +her work; and Sarah sweeps a crossing." + +"How did you come to know all this?" + +"I saw Sarah in Sunday school; and I heard about her from my teacher, +and he shewed me the place where she lives. He knows she is good." + +"And what do you want to do for her?" + +"I want to get her out of that place, and into a decent room, and give +her a comfortable bed." + +"What is her name?" + +"Sarah Staples." + +"How long would she keep decent, do you think?" + +"Always," said Matilda confidently. "I am sure she would be just as +nice as she possibly could. Where she is, she has no chance." + +"Well, go; the witch will look into it." + +Matilda went out, hardly knowing what to think, or whether she might +hope anything from this very doubtful interview. Just as she reached +the door, she was called back. + +"Have you no wishes for yourself, little girl?" + +"No, ma'am; thank you." + +"Is there nothing in the world you would like?" + +"I suppose, a great many things," said Matilda; "but I have got so many +now, I am afraid to wish." + +"Why?" + +"I don't think I _ought_ to wish for anything more, for myself." + +"You are the first person I ever saw, young or old, who put an 'ought' +before his wishes. Most people put it after them. Well, as a reward, +tell the one more thing, for yourself, that you would wish for if you +could have it." + +Matilda thought, and hesitated. She did not at all like to tell her +thought. At last the witch urged her to speak out and be quick. + +"If I were to choose--and wish for anything more," Matilda said +slowly,--"which I don't; but if I _did_ wish for anything more, it +would be for a beautiful picture I have seen." + +"Aha!" said the witch. "Where did you see it?" + +"At Goupil's." + +"And what picture was it?" + +"It was the picture of the woman searching for the lost piece of money." + +"Well. You are an odd child. You may go; and if there is anybody else +to come, let them make haste. I am as tired as if I were not a witch." + +A minute after David entered the den. + +"I know who you are," said the witch. "Speak your heart's desire; and +in one word, if you can." + +"In one word, Hebrew." + +"What of Hebrew?" + +"To learn it." + +"Learning is a thing I cannot do for you." + +"No, but the means." + +"What means?" + +"Permission, time, books, and a teacher." + +"You are another odd one. Is that your dearest heart's wish, David +Bartholomew?" + +"I think it is the greatest I have, at present." + +"Well. Leave it with me and go." + +"Hallo, David!" exclaimed Norton as he came out into the hall; "the +people are all gone; the last one just had the door shut behind him." + +"It's time," said David. + +"Takes more than a party to shake you out of your gravity," said +Norton. "Time? why yes, it's past twelve." + +"Sunday!" exclaimed Matilda. + +The other three, they were together in the hall, all burst out laughing. + +"It's Sunday; and Christmas is over, and the Christmas tree," said +Norton. "But the fruits keep. Extraordinary tree! Well, Pink; we have +got to go and sleep now. Do you want to take another look at the tree?" + +They all went into the drawing-room which had been the scene of so much +festivity. The tree stood there yet in its tub, with ribbands and gilt +work hanging to it; but the lights were burnt out, and the splendour +was gone, and its riches were scattered. It was a thing of the past +already. + +"The fruits will keep," Norton repeated. "Did you find out who the +witch was, David?" + +"I thought I knew." + +"I _knew_ I knew," said Norton; "but she had somebody else to speak for +her. What a jolly witch! We shall hear from her some of these days. +Well, good night." + +Kisses and thanks and good nights had to be exchanged with the older +members of the family; and Sunday was well begun when at last Matilda +shut her door behind her. She had to take one look at her watch; it was +no doubt a little beauty; and to Matilda's vision it was a very fruit +and embodiment of fairyland. Beyond even her wildest dreams of what was +possible from a Christmas tree. Her own watch! She could scarcely +believe it, even with the watch lying securely in her hand. And with +the delicate minute hand pointing but fifteen minutes off from one o' +clock, she still stood gazing and rapt. Then as the hand went on to +fourteen minutes, and thirteen, Matilda started and laid it down. To +have her own watch telling her it was time to go to bed! But she must +just look at Mrs. Bartholomew's present. + +Hurriedly she untied the box and pulled off the silver paper. And +within the silver paper inside the box lay a dainty gold bracelet. + +It was extremely pretty, and had cost a great deal, no doubt. It was +very kind of Judy's mother to give it. Nevertheless round the bracelet +crept a sort of cobweb of thoughts and feelings which were not all of +pleasure. It was too late to examine into them now. Matilda wrapped up +the trinket again and put it away, and went to bed; as happy as it +seemed possible for her to be. + +Sunday morning was high and bright, it must be confessed, when she +awoke. Bells were ringing, the eight o' clock bells she thought they +must be; but indeed they were the bells for Sunday school. Matilda did +not guess that, and so was not in an immediate hurry to get out of bed +and end the luxurious rest which the excitements and late hours of the +day before had made so welcome and so long. She lay still, shut her +eyes, and opened them upon the morning brightness, with a thrilling and +bounding rapture of recollection that there was a little gold watch in +her drawer which owned her for its mistress and would be her +inseparable friend and servant--and adornment--thenceforward. Matilda +lay still for very happiness. Turning her head a little towards the +window the next time she opened her eyes, it seemed to her that she saw +a picture standing there against the wall. Matilda shut her eyes and +told herself that she was not dreaming and had no business to see +visions in broad daylight. "I have been thinking so much about that +picture I suppose, and talking about it to the witch, that is the +reason I thought I saw it. But what _did_ I see, that looked like a +picture?" She opened her eyes now and raised herself on her elbow to +look, for this was curious. More curious still! there, against the +wall, in plain view, in the broad light, stood the beautiful engraving +that had so captivated her. + +"It's there!" was Matilda's thought. "The very thing! But what is it +there for?" + +A half-formed suspicion made her jump out of bed very spryly and run to +the picture. There was a little ticket stuck in between the glass and +the frame. + +"_For Matilda Laval_--with Mrs. Lloyd's thanks and _approbation_." + +Matilda looked, rushed back into bed, and arranged herself so that she +could comfortably see the picture, while she thought about it. + +"Mrs. Lloyd's thanks"--thanks for what? She must know, she _must_ know, +about the shawl. Yes, she must; I guess mamma told her. And it is mine! +it is mine! There she is, that beautiful thing, the woman hunting for +her lost money; the odd little lamp, and all. It is mine to keep. +Certainly I ought not to wish for another thing for a whole year to +come; I have got so much. This and my watch. O delightful!--I ought to +be good! How lovely the light from that little old lamp is. And that is +the way Jesus looks for us--for people who are lost; lost in the dark. +So he looked for _me_, and found me. And there are such a great many +more lost, that are not found yet. Lost in the dark!--And if He cares +for them so, he must wish his servants to care too, and to look for +them, and save all they can. Then that woman with her pretty lamp just +shews me what I ought to do and how I ought to feel.-- + +Musing on in this way, very happy, leaning on her elbow to look at the +picture, too warm in the soft air of her room to be disturbed by the +necessity of getting dressed, Matilda noticed at last that the bells +had stopped ringing. It was eight o' clock past, she thought, and time +to get up; but she would look at her watch to see how eight o' clock +looked on its pretty white face. Lo, it was nine! Sunday schools +already beginning their services, while she stood there in her +night-gown; dressing and breakfast yet to be gone through. But the +afternoon was the time for school in the place where Matilda went; so +all was not lost. + +And so ended the doings of that Christmas night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The experience of the morning certainly was rather scattering in its +tendency, as far as any sober thought or work was concerned. The young +people were brimful of life and fun and excitement; and it was not +possible for Matilda to escape the infection. Nevertheless after lunch +she had firmness enough left to put on her coat and hat and trudge off +to Sunday school by herself. Norton said he had not "slept out," and +would not go. Matilda went, with her little watch safe in her breast. + +Getting out into the cold air and setting her feet upon the snowy +streets, had somewhat the effect of breaking a spell. For a while, that +seemed now a very long while, Matilda had been in a whirl of +expectation and pleasure and in a kind of dream of enchantment; nothing +but soft luxury and visions of delight and one thing after another to +make the child think she had got into very fairyland. But the streets +outside were not fairyland; and the sharp air pinched her cheek with a +grip which was not tender or flattering at all. The sense began to come +back to Matilda that everybody was not having such rose-coloured dreams +as she, nor living in summer-heated rooms. Nay, she saw children that +were ill dressed, on their way like her; some who were insufficiently +dressed; a multitude who were not nicely dressed; the contrast was very +unpleasant, and a certain feeling of uneasiness and of responsibility +and of desire to make other people comfortable crept over her anew. +Then she remembered that she could not reach many, she could not do +much; and she came into school and took her seat at last with a +concentrated desire to do at least something effectual towards rescuing +Sarah Staples from her miserable circumstances. After the lesson was +done and the scholars were dismissed, Matilda asked Mr. Wharncliffe if +she could speak to him? + +"Is it a minute's work? or several minutes?" he inquired. + +"I don't know, sir; I think, several minutes." + +"Then wait a minute, and we will walk home together." + +Matilda liked that, and presently in the clear late light of the waning +winter afternoon, she and her teacher sallied forth into the street +hand in hand. + +"Now what is it?" he asked. + +"About Sarah, Mr. Wharncliffe." + +"Well? What about her?" + +"I have been thinking a great deal, Mr. Wharncliffe, how to manage it; +because I had not a great deal of money myself, and I did not know +whether I could get help or no; but now I think I _shall_ have some +help; and I wanted to consult you to know what I had best do." + +"What do you want to do?" + +"First, I want to get her out of that dreadful place into a comfortable +room somewhere." + +"Suppose you do it, how is she going to stay in it?" + +"What do you mean, sir?" + +"The rent of such a room as you speak of would be, say seventy-five +cents or a dollar a week. How are Sarah and her mother to pay that?" + +"O I should have to pay it for them. I could do that, I think." + +"For how long?" + +Matilda looked at her teacher and did not immediately answer. She had +not looked ahead so far as that. + +"It is necessary to take all things into consideration," he said, +answering her look. "You would not wish to put Sarah and her mother +into a place of comfort for a little while, merely to let them fall out +of it again?" + +"O no, sir!" + +"How are they to be maintained in it?" + +Matilda pondered. + +"I could take care of the rent, I think, I mean _we_ could, for a +while; for a year, perhaps; by that time couldn't they pay it, don't +you think?" + +"How?" + +"By their work; by their earnings." + +"But now, and for a long time past, their work has not enabled them to +pay for anything better than they have got." + +"Couldn't they do something better, Mr. Wharncliffe? something else? +that would give them more money?" + +"What work could you help them to, that would pay better?" + +"I don't know, sir," said Matilda, looking up wistfully in her +teacher's face. "I don't know anything about such things. Can _you_ +tell me? What work is there that they could get. What the other poor +people do?" + +"There are other things," said Mr. Wharncliffe thoughtfully. "There are +better and better paying sorts of sewing; what Mrs. Staples does is +very coarse, and she gets very little for it. But machine work +now-a-days puts hand work at a disadvantage." + +"What is machine work, sir?" + +"Work done on a sewing machine. With a machine a woman can do I +suppose, ten times as much in a day, and with more ease to herself." + +"Well, wouldn't Mrs. Staples work on a machine?" + +"I do not know. I think she used to take in washing once. She could do +that again, if she had a better room and conveniences." + +"And does that pay better?" + +"I believe so. Indeed I am sure." + +"Then she might do washing," said Matilda; "and Sarah might sew on a +machine, Mr. Wharncliffe." + +"She has not got one, you know." + +"If we could get her one? Wouldn't that be nice, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"My dear child, a good sewing machine costs a good deal of money." + +"But _if_ we could, Mr. Wharncliffe? I said _if_." + +"Nothing could be better. Perhaps, by and by, it might be managed. In +the mean time, Sarah might learn, and possibly get work; or get a +machine and pay for it gradually by doing work for the makers. Such +arrangements are made." + +"How much does a sewing machine cost?" + +"From forty five to sixty dollars." + +"Forty five," repeated Matilda gravely. "But, Mr. Wharncliffe, in the +first place the thing to do is to get them out of that place into a new +room. Might we not do that? and don't you think the rest can be +managed, somehow?" + +"If we do that, the rest _must_ be managed, if possible. It is always +greater kindness and a far greater benefit, Matilda, to help poor +people to take care of themselves, than to save them that care." + +"Why, sir?" + +"People are better and happier and stronger, working for their living +and earning it, and keeping the sense of independence, than they are +when living on the money of other people and losing their own +self-respect. That is very ruinous to character. Avoid it always, in +all your efforts to help people." + +"Yes, I see," said Matilda thoughtfully. "But, Mr. Wharncliffe, Sarah +and her mother cannot do anything to get in a better way while they +live in that cellar. They want some help just at first. Don't they?" + +"Certainly; and I think we have struck the right line of action to +pursue for them. Help to put them in the way of being comfortably +independent, is just what they want." + +"Then the first thing is a lodging," said Matilda, with a relieved and +brightening face. "How can we find one, Mr. Wharncliffe? I don't want +them to know about it till we get it all settled and ready for them to +move into." + +"Ready for them?" said Mr. Wharncliffe inquiringly. + +"Yes, sir; you know they have nothing to put into a nice room now, if +they had one." + +"Aren't you laying plans beyond your means?" + +"Beyond _mine;_ but I shall have some help. I don't know exactly how +much, but some." + +"Well, you will let me help too if necessary," said the gentleman. "And +I will look out for a lodging." + +"O thank you! Will you, sir?" + +"To be sure. That is one way I am going to help." + +"And when you have found one, you will let me know?" + +"Whom else? Certainly, I will. I shall take no step without your +direction." + +"O thank you, sir!" said Matilda again. + +They had been walking up the Avenue during this talk, to have +uninterrupted time for it; now they had turned about to come home. +Clear and bright and cold the sun was leaving the streets and lingering +about the house roofs and chimneys; and the steeples of churches were +shining marks of light on one side, on the other dark spires against +the western sky. Mr. Wharncliffe and Matilda quickened their steps, +which the frosty air made it pleasant to do. She supposed that the +subject of their conversation was ended for the present, and so was +somewhat surprised to hear the next question from her companion. It +came out after some little pause. + +"Matilda what has put this in your head?" + +"This we have been talking of? Why I wanted to make Sarah comfortable. +I could not bear to have her in that dreadful place. Mr. Wharncliffe, +don't you think it is dreadful?" + +"I do think it is dreadful; and your feeling very natural. Then you +want to go to this expense and trouble for the comfort of knowing that +she is comfortable?" + +"I think so," said Matilda, somewhat puzzled. "I could not bear to +think of her there." + +"All perfectly right, Matilda," said her friend smiling. "I only want, +while you are taking care of Sarah, to take care of you." + +"How, sir?" + +"There are so many ways in which good things may be done; and I wish +you to take the best." + +"What ways do you mean, sir? I do not understand." + +"There is one way of doing kind things, merely or chiefly to save one's +self from the uncomfortable feeling that the sight of misery gives. +Kind people of that sort are benevolent in spots, just when they see or +hear of something that touches them, and never at any other time. +Others do kind things because they like to have a name for generosity, +and giving money costs them nothing." + +Matilda looked inquiringly up in Mr. Wharncliffe's face. "It made me +very uncomfortable to see Sarah in that place," she said; "and to think +of her in it." + +"A third sort of kindness," Mr. Wharncliffe went on smiling, "is done +because people love the Lord Jesus, and so love all whom he loves, and +like to do the work he wants done." + +"But it makes them feel badly to see people suffering?" said Matilda. + +"Undoubtedly. They are the tenderest of all. But they will do as much +for people they never saw, as for those at hand; and their spring of +kindness never dries up. It is a perpetual flow. When they do not see +objects on which to spend it, they seek them out." + +Matilda pondered matters a little. Then she lifted a very honest face +towards her companion. + +"Which reason did you think made me want to do this for Sarah, sir?" + +"I wanted _you_ to think about it." + +"Don't you think, Mr. Wharncliffe, it is very difficult to find out +really why one does things?" + +"Very difficult," said Mr. Wharncliffe with a comical drawing of his +lips; "but very useful." + +"I do not _think_," began Matilda again, very gravely, "I do not +_think_ my wanting to do this for Sarah was just to make myself feel +comfortable." + +"I do not think it, my child; but it is no harm to have your attention +directed to the question. In all such matters, keep your action pure; +let every thing be done for Christ, and then it will be all right. For +instance, Matilda, when the real motive is self, or when there is no +higher at work, one is easily tempted to do too much in a given case; +to indulge one's self with great effects and astonishing liberality; +when, if it were simply for Christ, one would be moderate and simple +and prudent, and keep a due proportion in things." + +"Yes," said Matilda looking puzzled,--"I understand. You will help me +keep a 'proper proportion' in what I do for Sarah Staples, Mr. +Wharncliffe?" + +"How much are you thinking of doing?" + +"I want to get her into a comfortable room," said Matilda. "That is +first. Then--they have no furniture, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"You want to get them some?" + +"Would that be too much? a little? common things, of course, but what +they cannot be comfortable without." + +"How much money do you propose to spend on Sarah at this time?" + +"I do not know. I know about how much I have, but I can't tell yet how +much help I shall get. I want to do what _ought_ to be done." + +The last words were said with such an accent of earnest determination, +that Mr. Wharncliffe again had almost smiled at his scholar; but he did +not. He went on quite gravely:-- + +"A room and some necessary furniture, I should think, could be managed." + +"Then we want to get them into a way of earning more." + +"Yes. I will see about that. And about the room. And I can get what you +want in furniture, at a second hand place, where the articles will cost +very little." + +"That's good," said Matilda. "Well, Mr. Wharncliffe, all _that_ will +not be too much?" + +"I think not." + +Matilda hesitated, and then added doubtfully, "Don't you think they +want clean dresses?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe smiled now. + +"Where shall we stop?" said he. + +"But they are very--uncomfortable," said Matilda, after waiting to +choose a word. Her teacher thought for a minute of Sarah's well-worn, +faded, lank, best dress, and how little evidently there was under it to +keep the child warm, and his brow grew very sober indeed, and his blue +eye misty. + +"I'll not check you, Matilda," he said, "unless I see you going to some +great extravagance. Go on, and I'll help, and we'll try to make one bad +spot at least a little better. Good-bye!" + +With a smile and a nod he parted from her at her own door, and Matilda +ran up the steps and ran in with a whole little gale of pleasure +freshening through her heart. + +There was a gale of another sort blowing through the house that +evening, and making the household lively. Pleasure was not wanting to +it, though it was pleasure of another sort and largely mixed with +excitement. The three other young ones were full of plans for the +holiday week, reminiscences of the last evening, comparison and +discussion of presents, and of people. Matilda in the midst of them +listened and was amused, and thought of her gold watch and of Sarah +with great secret throbs of delight in her heart. + +"So you were the witch, grandmother," said Norton. "I knew it. I was +sure of it. What did you do it for?" + +"Do what, boy?" + +"Take up a witch's trade?" + +"I have not laid it down yet." + +"No, ma'am; but what put it in your head?" + +"I wanted my share of the fun," said the old lady. + +"Did you get it, grandmamma?" asked David. + +"Yes. A very good share." + +"Did you ask everybody such questions as you asked us?" Norton inquired. + +"I did not want to know the same thing about all of you." + +"No, ma'am. Did you find out a good deal, grandmother?" + +But Mrs. Lloyd laughed and declined to answer. + +"There is something more I want to find out," she said. "I want to know +what makes this little girl look so happy. She doesn't say a word, but +her smiles speak for her!" + +"Who, Matilda?" said Norton. + +"It's easy enough to be smiling," said Judy with slight scorn. + +"You might practise it then a little, and do no hurt," remarked Norton. + +"Nobody ought to be always smiling," returned Judy. "It's vulgar. And +it doesn't mean anything, either." + +"Hush, Judy," said her mother. + +"What were you smiling about, Matilda?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. + +"A great many things I was thinking of, ma'am." + +But the little girl's face was so gleeful as she answered, and the +smile and the sparkle were so pleasant, that the old lady's curiosity +was raised. + +"A great many things?" she repeated, "A _great many_ things to be glad +of? I should like to know what they are. Come, I will make a bargain +with you. I will give you a silver penny for your thoughts; and my +silver penny shall be a golden half-eagle." + +"For my _thoughts_, ma'am?" said Matilda, half bewildered; while the +other young ones burst out like a pack of hounds after their leader. + +"A half-eagle," Mrs. Lloyd repeated, "for _all_ your thoughts; if you +will give me them all. I want to know all the things you are feeling so +glad about." + +"Grandmamma, you'll do as much for me?" cried Judy. "Only, mine will +take an eagle to bring them down. They fly high. You might have bought +hers, I am confident, for a duck or a pigeon." + +"I should like to make a bargain too, grandmother," said Norton; "if +you are in that mood." + +"Do you think your thoughts are worth anything?" said his +grandmother;--"to anybody but yourself?" + +"Whose are?" said David. + +"Mine are not," said Matilda. She had flushed high, for she saw that +the old lady was in earnest; and five dollars was a good deal to her +just now. + +"Everything is worth what it will fetch, though," said David. "I advise +you to close with the offer, Matilda. Five dollars is five dollars, you +know." + +Matilda's eyes went doubtfully to Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Yes," said the old lady smiling. "I will stand to my part of the +bargain, if you will stand to yours. But mind, I want _all_." + +"There were so many things," Matilda began; "it would take me a good +while to tell them." + +"Never mind; we have nothing better to do," said Mrs. Lloyd. "We are at +leisure." + +"Time's nothing," said Norton, in great amusement. + +"At ten dollars or so an hour," added David. + +Poor Matilda was in some difficulty. She was furnishing the +entertainment of the whole circle; for even Mrs. Bartholomew put down +her paper, and Mrs. Laval was smiling, and Mrs. Lloyd was waiting, and +the children were all open-eyed. But she had nothing to be ashamed of; +and five dollars!-- + +"I was feeling glad about my watch," she began, "and about my +picture--O so very glad! I think they have hardly been out of my mind +all day." + +"Picture? what picture?" said Judy. + +"Hush!" said her grandmother. + +"She didn't have any picture!" Judy went on. Matilda looked at her and +said nothing. + +"Did you?" said Judy. "What was it? Is it in a locket?" + +"You can attend to her afterwards, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd. "At +present you are engaged with me. There is nobody here but you and me." + +Matilda sincerely wished it had been so; but she had several curious +pairs of ears listening to her. + +"Then I was glad, I believe, about all the pleasure of last night, and +the Christmas tree, and my other presents; but that wasn't all. To-day +has been so very pleasant, and this afternoon particularly." + +"This afternoon!" cried Judy. "Why she was away at that horrid Sunday +school." + +"She don't think it is horrid," said Norton, displeased. + +"You don't mean she shall get through what she has to say," remarked +David. + +"If you would all hold your tongues, there would be some chance," said +Mrs. Lloyd. "Try again, Matilda. Was there more? What made the +afternoon so pleasant?" + +"It always is at that school," said Matilda. "But besides that, this +afternoon I believe I got some help for something I want to do; and +thinking about that, and about what I want to do, was part of I what +was feeling so glad about." + +"Well if that isn't a confused statement of facts!" said Judy. "Feeling +so glad about,--when?" + +"When Mrs. Lloyd asked me what I was smiling at." + +"But I am to have your thoughts, you know," said Mrs. Lloyd, with a +rather pleasant smile. "You have not told me yet _what_ it is you want +to do, the thought of which is so agreeable." + +"I did tell it, to the witch last night," said Matilda. "Do you want me +to tell it again, now, ma'am?" + +"Certainly. You don't think I am a witch, do you?" + +On that point Matilda did not give her thoughts; but as desired, she +told the story, briefly, of Sarah and her home, and of the reforms +proposed in the latter. The attention of her hearers was marked, +although most of them indeed had known the matter before. + +"What was there in all this to make you so very glad?" inquired Judy. + +Matilda hesitated, and could not find what to say. + +"Pink has her own ways of being happy you see," Norton remarked. + +"She is not the only one, I hope," said David. + +"The only one, what?" said Judy sharply. "You are as bad as she is, +David, to-night, for talking thick." + +"Have we got through, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Lloyd kindly. + +"Through all the things that were making me feel glad?" said Matilda. +"No, ma'am--not quite." And she stopped and flushed. + +"Let us have it," said Mrs. Lloyd. "A bargain is a bargain." + +"Yes, ma'am," said Matilda. "I am afraid--I was afraid--perhaps you +wouldn't understand me. I was glad of all these things;--and then, I +thought, I was so glad that I knew about Jesus; and that I am his +child; and that he has given me all these other things to be glad +about, and this work to do for Sarah!" + +There was a profound silence for a minute or two. Judy was astonished +out of speech. David, perhaps, disgusted. Norton was a little proud +that Matilda had independence enough to dare to speak out, even if he +chafed a little under the subject of her plain speaking. The elder +ladies looked at one another with an odd expression in their eyes. When +Mrs. Lloyd spoke she went back to the practical question. + +"How much money do you expect it will take, to do what you want for +these poor people, Matilda?" + +"I don't know, ma'am, yet. My teacher will find out and tell me." + +"Is it your teacher who has suggested the plan?" + +"The plan?--O no, ma'am," said Matilda. "It is my plan. I have been +talking him into it." + +"Who is he?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. + +"Mr. Wharncliffe." + +"What Wharncliffe? Is he any connection of General Wharncliffe?" + +"His brother," said Norton. + +This seemed, Matilda did not know why, to give satisfaction to her +elders. Mrs. Lloyd went on with an unbent face. + +"How much money have you got, Matilda, to work with?" + +"Not a great deal, ma'am; I have saved a little. It won't take such a +_very_ great deal to get all I want. It is only common things." + +"Saved!" Judy burst out. "_Saved!_ Now we have got at it. This is the +secret. _This_ is why we are such good temperance people and think it's +wicked to buy liqueur glasses. O yes! we save our money that way, no +doubt." + +"Judy," said her brother, "I'm ashamed of you." + +"No need," said Judy coolly. "Keep it for yourself, next occasion." + +"What is all this?" said Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Nothing that had better go any further," said Mrs. Laval. "Nothing of +any consequence, mother." + +"It is of no consequence," said Judy, "because David and Norton made it +up." + +"And Judy didn't," said Norton. + +"Not I; it was your affair," said the young lady. "My connections are +not given to saving." + +"That is very true indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew, bursting out +into a laugh; "and you, Judy, least of all your 'connections.'" + +"But what is all this?" repeated Mrs. Lloyd, seeing that the faces +around her were moved by very various sorts of expression. It had to +come out. Judy and Norton told the story between them, with some +difficulty. Matilda felt very sorry, and very doubtful of the effect. +David looked exceedingly dissatisfied. Mrs. Lloyd listened with +unchanged gravity. + +"There! you may call it what you like," Judy said in conclusion. "But I +like to have things go by their right names." + +"It wouldn't be always best for you," said her brother. + +"Do you think it is wrong, my dear, to drink wine?" Mrs. Lloyd asked, +addressing Matilda. + +Matilda did not well know what to answer. She, a child, what business +had she to 'think' anything about the right or the wrong of things done +by people so much older and wiser than herself? And yet, that did not +change the truth, and the truth was what she must answer. + +"I have promised not to do it," she said, almost shrinkingly. + +"That affects your own drinking or not drinking. Do you think it is +wrong for other people?" + +Again Matilda hesitated. She would have welcomed almost any +interruption of Judy's; but this time Judy kept as still as a mouse. +And so did everybody else. Matilda's colour came and went. + +"If you please, ma'am," she said at last, "I don't want to say what you +will think rude." + +"I will not think it rude," said Mrs. Lloyd with a little laugh. "I +want to know what notion such a child as you has got in her head. _Do_ +you think it is wrong?" + +"Yes, ma'am," Matilda-answered softly. + +"Hear her!" cried Judy. "She has got an idea that wine is money in +another form, and heavy to drink." + +Matilda thought that Judy had unwittingly put her very meaning into the +words; but she did not say so. + +"My dear," said Mrs. Lloyd, "I have drunk wine all my life. It has +never hurt me." + +Matilda was silent. + +"Is that your notion, that it is unwholesome?" + +"No, ma'am." + +"What then?" + +"People take too much of it," said Matilda; "and it ruins them; and if +all good people would let it alone, wouldn't it help to make the rest +let it alone?" + +"Insufferable piggishness!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. "You must excuse me, +Zara. I hope you will teach your adopted child better manners, arid get +rid of a little of this superb folly." + +"I am not so sure about the folly," said Mrs. Laval. + +"I am sure about the manners," said Mrs. Lloyd. "She has said nothing +but what I have made her say. Now, my dear, you have fulfilled your +part of the bargain between us, and I will do my part." + +The old lady produced a gold five dollar piece from her purse and put +it in Matilda's hand. Then drawing the child kindly towards her, she +added, + +"And from this time you must call me grandmamma, will you? as the +others do; and I will call you my grandchild." + +She kissed the astonished Matilda, and the subject was dismissed. At +least by the elders; the young people did not so easily let it drop. No +sooner were they by themselves than Judy held forth in a long tirade, +about "presumption" and "artfulness" and "underhand ways;" waxing warm +as she went on; till Norton was provoked to answer, and the debate +between them grew hot. Matilda said never a word, nor did David; she +kept outwardly very quiet; but an hour after, if anybody could have +seen her he would have seen a little figure cuddled down in a corner of +her own room and weeping abundant tears. So ended the Christmas Sunday +and the Christmas festival. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +There were too many pleasant things on hand for Judy's behaviour to +have any very lasting effect on Matilda's spirits, besides that a good +share of independence was one of her valuable characteristics. With the +new light of Monday morning, her heart leapt up anew at thought of all +the comfort preparing for Sarah and at her growing stock of means for +the same. She got out her purse and counted her money. With the new +gold piece there was a nice little sum; not enough indeed, but Matilda +had hopes of David, and hopes floating and various, that somehow what +was needful would be forthcoming when the time came. + +The week was about half gone, when one afternoon David came to +Matilda's door and knocked. Matilda had shut herself up to write a +letter to Maria, and opened the door to David with a good deal of +surprise and pleasure. The second time, this was. He came in and sat +down. + +"Where do you think I have been?" said he. + +"To see Sarah?" said Matilda eagerly. + +"You are quick," said David smiling. "No, I have not been to see Sarah +exactly; but I have been to see where she lives and all about her." + +"Did you see where she lives?" + +"Yes." + +"David, isn't it horrid?" + +"It's disgusting!" said David. + +"But she can't help it," said Matilda, again eagerly. + +"No, she can't, but somebody ought to help it. There ought not to be +any such horror possible in such a city as this." + +"So I think. But _who_ ought to help it, David? How could anybody help +it?" + +"There used to be a way among my people," said the boy proudly. "The +corners of the cornfields, and the last of the grapes on the vines, and +the dropped ears of corn, and the last beatings of the olives, were +commanded to be left for the poor." + +"But there are no vines nor cornfields nor olives _here_," said Matilda. + +"Nothing so good," replied David. "I believe people grow wicked in +cities." + +"Then do you think it is wicked to build cities?" + +"I don't know about that," said David; "that's another matter. Without +cities a great many good things would be impossible." + +"Would they? what?" said Matilda. + +"Well, commerce, you know; without great centres of commerce, there +could not be great commerce; and there would not be great fortunes +then; and without great for tunes there could not be the grand things +in music and painting and sculpture and architecture and books, that +there are now." + +What "great centres of commerce" might be, Matilda could not tell; and +she did not like to ask David too many questions. She suddenly came out +with an objection. + +"But Abraham did not live in a city." + +David started, looked at her, and then laughed a little. + +"Abraham! no, he did not; and he was a rich man; but _one_ rich man +here and there could not do those things I spoke of." + +"Then, wouldn't it be better there should be no cities?" said Matilda. + +"Better than what? Better than have cities with such dreadful poor +people? Can't have the good without the bad, I suppose." + +"You said, people grow wicked in cities." + +"Well, they do." + +"Then ought people to build cities?" + +"I don't know how the world would get on, at that rate," said David +smiling. "Anyhow the cities are built; and we are living in one; and +one corner house in it gives you and me as much as we can do." + +"A single room in it, David." + +"Yes. Well, you know you consulted a witch the other night." + +"Did I?" said Matilda. + +"The witch gave me orders to search into your matter. I have done it, +and told her what I had found; and she has commissioned me to deliver +to you--this." + +So saying, David produced a little gold piece, the very mate to the one +Matilda had earned by telling her thoughts. + +"O David!" Matilda exclaimed,--"O David!" + +"Well?" said David smiling. "What?" + +"I am getting so much!" + +"You will want it." + +"But I don't see how it should take such a _very_ great deal of money +just to do this little thing," said Matilda; and she went on to explain +Mr. Wharncliffe's propositions and helping agency. Before she had well +got through, Norton dashed in. + +"Hallo! David here? All the better. Isn't she a jewel of a witch, +David?" + +David looked up with a responsive twinkle in his eye; and Matilda asked +what he meant. + +"Mean?" said Norton, "I mean the witch. You went to see the witch, +Pink; haven't you heard from her?" + +"Yes! just this minute; but Norton, I don't know what you expected to +hear. What have you heard?" + +"Glorious!" cried Norton, swinging his cap joyously. "We've got that +little room, Pink, for a greenhouse; and a stove in it for cold nights; +and shelves and benches and frames and all those things I'll put up my +self; and _then_ we'll have a show of flowers. Your hyacinths will do a +great deal better up there." + +"Will they?" said Matilda. "They are doing very nicely here; and they +look nicely." + +"Now we can do all we've a mind to, Pink. I'll have some amaryllis +roots right off; and japonicas, _japonicas_, Pink; and everything you +like. Geraniums, and Bovardias, and Azaleas, and Cacti; and Cyclamens; +and Cassia and Arbutillon. Fuchsias too, and what you like!" + +"Why that little room will not hold everything," said Matilda. "Can't +you have some roses?" + +"Roses? O yes, and carnations; everything you like. Yes, it will hold +everything. Lots of tulips, too." + +"How about the money?" David asked. + +"It don't take a fortune to stock a little greenhouse." + +"You haven't got a fortune." + +"I have got enough." + +"Have anything left for other objects?" + +"What objects?" said Norton. "I haven't but one object at present. +One's enough." + +"But Matilda has an object too," David said smiling enough to show his +white teeth; "and her object will want some help, I'm thinking." + +"What object?" said Norton. + +"Don't you remember? I told you, Norton, about Sarah"-- + +"O _that!_" said Norton with a perceptible fall of his mental +thermometer. "That's all your visions, Pink; impracticable; fancy. The +idea of you, with your little purse, going into the mud of New York, +and thinking to dean the streets." + +"Certainly," said David, "and so she wauls a little help from our +purses, don't you see?" + +"David Bartholomew!" Norton burst out, "you know as well as I do, that +it is no sort of use to try that game. Just go look at the mud; it will +take all we could throw into it, and never shew." + +"No," said David; "we could clear up a little corner, I think, if we +tried." + +"_You!_" cried Norton. "Are _you_ at that game? _You_ turned soft +suddenly?" + +"Do no harm, that I see," replied David composedly. + +"These people aren't your people," said Norton. + +"They are your people," said David. + +"They are not! I have nothing to do with them, and it is no use--Davie +Bartholomew, you _know_ it's no use--to try to help them. Pink is so +tender-hearted, she wants to help the whole world; and it's all very +well for her to want it; but she can't; and I can't; and you can't." + +"But we can help Sarah Staples," Matilda ventured. + +"And then you may go on to help somebody else, and then somebody else; +and there's no end to it; only there's this end, that you'll always be +poor yourself and never be able to do anything you want to do." + +Norton was unusually heated, and both his hearers were for a moment +silenced. + +"You know that's the truth of it, Davie," he went on; "and it's no use +to encourage Pink to fancy she can comfort everybody that's in trouble, +and warm everybody that is cold, and feed everybody that is hungry, +because she just can't do it. You can tell her there is _no end_ to +that sort of thing if she once tries it on. Suppose we all went to work +at it. Just see where we would be. Where would be Pink's gold watch, +and her picture? and where would be her gold bracelet? and where would +my greenhouse be? And where would this house be, for that matter? and +the furniture in it? and how should we all dress? Your mother wouldn't +wear velvet dresses, that you like so much; and mine wouldn't wear that +flimsy muslin stuff that she likes so much; and grandmamma's lace shawl +would never have been mended, for it never would have been here to get +burnt. It's all a lot of nonsense, that's what it is." + +"There is law about it, though," David began again gravely. + +"Law?" Norton echoed. + +"The law of my people." + +"O what is it, David?" cried Matilda; while Norton was grumly silent. +He did not want to debate David's Jewish law with him. David gave the +words very readily. + +"'When there is with thee any needy one of one of thy brethren, in one +of thy cities, in thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, +thou dost not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy +brother; for thou dost certainly open thy hand to him, and dost +certainly lend him sufficient for his lack which he lacketh.'" + +"That says what the people would do--not what they _ought_ to do," said +Norton. + +"I beg your pardon; it is a strong way of saying, in the Hebrew, what +they _must_ do. Listen. 'Thou dost certainly give to him, and thy heart +is not sad in thy giving to him, for because of this thing doth Jehovah +thy God bless thee in all thy works, and in every putting forth of +thine hand; because the needy one doth not cease out of the land, +therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Thou dost certainly open thy +hand to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy one, in thy land.'" + +Matilda was thinking of other words, which she dared not bring forward; +being in a part of her Bible which David did not like. Neither was it +necessary. Norton had got quite enough, she could see. He was in a +state of fume, privately. + +"I am going to give one side of the green house to you," he said, +turning to Matilda. "Now you have got to think and find out what you +will put in it. I shall have the shelves and all ready by the end of +the week; and next week, Pink,--next week!--we must put the plants in; +because the winter is going on, you know." + +The conclave broke up, to go upstairs and look at the new greenhouse. +Norton explained his arrangements; the oil-cloth he was going to put on +the floor, the rising banks of green shelves, the watering and +syringing and warming of the little place; till Matilda almost smelt +the geranium leaves before they were there. + +"Now, Pink, what will you have on your side?" + +"I can't give more than a dollar to it, Norton," said Matilda very +regretfully. + +"A dollar! A _dollar_, Pink? A dollar will get you two or three little +geraniums. What's to become of the rest of your shelves?" + +"I shall have to give them back to you, I'm afraid." + +"You've got money, plenty." + +"But I can't spend it for plants." + +"Because you are going to throw it into the mud, Pink? O no, you'll not +do that. I'll give you a catalogue of plants, and you shall look it +over; and you will find a dollar won't do much, I can tell you. And +then you will see what you want." + +He was as good as his word; and Matilda sipped her glass of water and +eat her sponge cake at tea time between the pages of a fascinating +pamphlet, which with the delights it offered almost took away her +breath, and quite took away the taste of the sponge cake. Norton looked +over her shoulder now and then, well pleased to see his charm working. + +"_Yellow_ carnations?" cried Matilda. + +"I don't like them best, though," said Norton. "There, _that_--La +purite--that's fine; and the striped ones, Pink; those double heads, +just as full as they can be, and just as sweet as they can be, and +brilliant carmine and white--those are what I like." + +Matilda drew a long breath and turned a leaf. + +"Violets!" she exclaimed. + +"Do you like them?" + +"Violets? Why, Norton, I don't like any thing better! I don't think I +do. Dear little sweet things! _they_ do not cost much?" + +"No," said Norton, "they do not cost much; and they don't make much +show, neither." + +"But they don't take much room." + +"No; and you want things that _do_ take room, to fill your shelves. The +greenhouse ought to be all one mass of green and bloom all round." + +Matilda heaved another sigh and turned another leaf. + +"I don't know anything about tuberoses," she said. "Primroses? what are +they like? 'A thousand flowers often from one plant!' what are they +like, Norton?" + +"Like?" said Norton. "I don't know what they are like." + +"I'll tell you," said Judy, who as usual was pleasing herself with a +cup of strong coffee; "they are like buttercups come to town and grown +polished." + +"They are not in the least like buttercups!" said Norton. + +"That's what I said," replied Judy coolly; "they have left off their +country ways, and don't wear yellow dresses." + +Matilda thought it was best to take no notice, so with another crumb of +sponge cake she turned over to the next flower in the catalogue. + +"What are Bouvardias? I don't know anything about them." + +"Of course," said Judy. "Not to be expected." + +"Do you want to take care of your own flowers yourself, Pink?" inquired +Norton; "or do you mean to have me do it?" + +"Why, I will do it, I suppose." + +"Then you had better leave the Bouvardias to me. They are a little +particular about some things." + +"Are they handsome?" + +"Wait till you see. Splendid! You'll see, when I get them a going. +We'll have just a blaze of them." + +"A blaze?" said Matilda. "What colour?" + +"Flame colour, and scarlet, and white, and splendid crimson." + +"Heliotrope. O I like heliotrope," Matilda went on. + +"You can have those," said Norton. "They're sweet and easy. And we +must have them, of course, on one side or the other. Begonias--those +you might have, too." + +"Hyacinths I have got," said Matilda. + +"Yes, but you will want more, now that you have room for them." + +"Azaleas--O azaleas are lovely," said Matilda. "They are showy too; and +you want a show, Norton." + +"So do you, Pink." + +"Well, I like azaleas," said Matilda. "Do they cost much?" + +"Not so very. I guess you can have some." + +"O what a geranium!" Matilda exclaimed. "'Lady James +Vick'--'seventy-five cents each'--but what a lovely colour, Norton! O I +like geraniums next best to roses, I believe." + +"You must go to another catalogue for your roses," said Norton. + +"That is beautiful! I never saw such a colour. These roses are better +yet." + +"You can't have roses enough in bloom at once. We want other things to +help make up the blaze of colour there ought to be. But that's easy." + +Matilda turned the catalogue over and over with a disturbed mind. It +seemed to her that to have such a little greenhouse as Norton proposed, +full of beauties, would be one of the most enjoyable things that could +be. Every new page of the catalogue, every new detail of Norton's plan, +tugged at her heart-strings. She wanted to get those plants and +flowers. A few delicate tea roses, some crimson blush roses, some pots +of delicious purple heliotropes with spicy breath; two or three--or +four--great double carnations; bunches of violets, sweetest of all; she +wanted these! Then some azaleas, larger of course, to fill up the +shelves and make a beautiful show of colour, as Norton desired. Her +imagination went over and over the catalogue, always picking these out +for her choice; and then imagination took them to the little room +upstairs, which was going to be such a lovely little greenhouse, and +saw them there and almost smelt their fragrance. It would be so +pleasant to take care of them; she fancied herself watering them and +dressing them, picking off the dead leaves and tying up the long +wreaths of vines, and putting flowers into Mrs. Laval's stem glass for +her dressing table. But what use? she had not the money to buy the +plants, if she went on with her plans for Sarah's behoof; no counting +nor calculating could come to any other conclusion. She thought of it +by day and she thought of it by night; and the more she thought, the +more her desires grew. Then too, the wish to please Norton was a very +serious element in her cogitations. To disappoint him by utterly +failing to do all he wished and counted upon from her, was very hard to +do and very disagreeable to face. But Sarah? Matilda could not change +her line of action, nor divert more than one dollar from the fund saved +for her benefit. One dollar, Matilda thought, might be given for +flowers; but what would one dollar be worth, with all one side of the +little greenhouse to be filled. + +It is not easy to tell, how much trouble all this question gave +Matilda. She thought it was quite strange and notable, that just when +she was trying to accomplish so right a thing as the helping of that +poor family in the cellar, this temptation of flowers should come up to +make it hard. In one of her windows stood three little pots, in which +three hyacinths were already bursting through the brown earth and +showing little stout green points of leaf buds which promised nicely +for other buds by and by. They had been a delight to Matilda's heart +only a week ago; now, it seemed as if that vision of heliotropes and +roses and geraniums had somehow swallowed them up. + +When she went next to Sunday school, however, and saw Sarah's meek, +patient face, Matilda was very much astonished at herself, and not a +little ashamed. She sat next Sarah in the class, and could see without +seeming to see, how thin her dress was and how limp it was, as if she +had not enough petticoats under it to keep her warm. There was a patch +too in one place. And Sarah's shawl was a very poor wrap alongside of +the well covered shoulders under Matilda's thick coat. "No gloves!" +said Matilda to herself, as her eye glanced from her own very handsome +and warm ones; "how can she bear it? I wonder how it makes her feel, to +see mine? Another time I'll wear an older pair." But the contrast went +home to Matilda's heart. Why should she have so many good things, and +Sarah so few? and the words David had quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures +came back to her. + +With an odd feeling as if there were wrong done for which she was +somehow chargeable, after the lesson was done and school dismissed she +asked Sarah "how she was?" The girl's meek eye brightened a little as +she answered that she was well. + +"But you are hoarse," said Matilda. "You have got cold." + +"O I often do, in the winter time," said Sarah. "I don't think anything +of it." + +And that slight shawl and thin dress! Matilda's heart gave some painful +blows to her conscience. + +"I didn't see you at your place the other day," she went on. + +"That was Thursday," said Sarah. "No; I was too bad Thursday. I didn't +go out." + +So she staid at home to nurse her cold, in that cellar room with the +mud floor. What sort of comfort could be had there? or what good of +nursing? Matilda did not wonder that the street corner was quite as +pleasant and nearly as profitable. And the thought of Sarah's gentle +pale face as she said those words so went home to her heart, that she +was crying half the way home; tears of sorrow and sympathy running down +her face, as fast as she wiped them away. + +That same evening, at tea-time, Norton asked if she had made up her +list of plants for the greenhouse? Matilda said no. + +"We shall want them, now, Pink. By Wednesday I shall have the staging +ready; and the sooner we get it filled the better." + +"O but, dear Norton," said Matilda, "I am very sorry to disappoint you; +but I cannot take the money." + +"Can't take what money?" + +"The money to buy those plants. I would like them; but I cannot." + +"But you were making your list," said Norton. + +"No, I wasn't. I was only thinking what I would _like_ to have." + +"And you are not going to come into the greenhouse at all?" + +That was more than Matilda had counted upon; the tears started to her +eyes; but she only said,-- + +"I cannot get the plants, Norton;" and she said it steadily. + +"You are going into that ridiculous charitable concern?" + +Matilda was beyond answering just then; she kept silence. + +"Let _me_ into your greenhouse, Norton," said Judy. + +"Yes; fine work you would make there," Norton replied. + +"Indeed I would. I'll fill my shelves with just the finest things we +can get; camellias, if you like; and the newest geraniums, and +everything." + +"You wouldn't take care of them if you had them." + +"Well, you would," said Judy; "and it comes to the same thing." + +"Pink," said Norton, "I must have my shelves full; and I can't do it +all. If you won't come into the greenhouse, I shall let Judy come." + +"Well, Norton," said Matilda steadily. "If you knew what I know, and if +you had seen what I have seen, you wouldn't wonder at me; and I almost +think you would help me." + +"You'll grow wiser," said Norton, "when you have had your fingers +burned a few times." + +The tone of cool indifference to her subjects of interest, of slight +displeasure at her preferring them to his, went to Matilda's heart. So +also it tried her greatly, to see for the rest of the evening Norton +and Judy in high confabulation over the catalogues and the greenhouse. +She felt shut out from it, and a little from Norton himself. It was +hard to bear; and once and again she could not help the tears rising to +her eyes. She got rid of them, she thought, cleverly, without any one +being the wiser; but David Bartholomew had marked it all. He had not +said a word, however; and Matilda went early up to bed; marvelling anew +that it should be so difficult to do right. Why must this greenhouse +business come up just at this moment? + +She had a week to think about it and grieve over it. The boys were +going to school again now, and she saw but little of them. Judy had +masters and mistresses, and was herself much out of sight. Matilda was +to be under Norton's tutelage, it had been agreed; and accordingly he +had put certain books in her hands and pointed out certain tasks; and +Matilda laid hold of them with great zeal. With so much, indeed, that +difficulties, if there were any, disappeared; and Norton had little to +do beyond finding out that she was, as he expressed it, "all right," +and giving her new work for the next day. So went the work; very busy, +and very happy too; only for Matilda's being shut out from greenhouse +pleasures and Judy taken into Norton's partnership. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +But the next Sunday had a new joy for her. Mr. Wharncliffe informed her +after school-time, that he had found a lodging which he thought would +do nicely for her poor friends. All Matilda's troubles fled away like +mist before the sun, and her face lighted up as if the very sun itself +had been shining into it. Mr. Wharncliffe went on to tell her about the +lodging. It was near, but not in, that miserable quarter of the city +where Sarah and her mother now lived. It was not in a tenement house +either; but in a little dwelling owned by an Irishman and his wife who +seemed decent people. He was a mechanic, and one room of their small +house they were accustomed to let, to help pay their rent. + +"Is it furnished, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"No; entirely bare." + +"How large is it?" + +"Small. Not so large by one-third as the room where they are living +now." + +"Can't go and see it?" + +"Yes, there is no difficulty about that. I will go with you to-morrow, +if you like." + +"And how much is the rent, Mr. Wharncliffe?" + +"One dollar a week. The woman was willing to let the room to Mrs. +Staples, because I was making the bargain and understood to be security +for her; only so." + +"Then we will go to-morrow, sir, shall we, and see the room and see +what it wants? and perhaps you will shew me that place where you said I +could get furniture cheap?" + +This was agreed upon. To Matilda's very great surprise, David, when he +heard her news, said he would go too. She half expected he would get +over the notion by the time he got home from school on Monday; but no; +he said he wanted a walk and he would see the place with her. + +The place was humble enough. A poor little house, that looked as if its +more aspiring neighbours would certainly swallow it up and deny its +right to be at all; so low and decrepit it was, among better built if +not handsome edifices. Street and surroundings were dingy and mean; +however, when they went in they found a decent little room under the +sloping roof and with a bit of blue sky visible from its dormer window. +It was empty and bare. + +"Thin, we always has rispictable lodgers," said the good woman, who had +taken her arms out of a tub of soapsuds to accompany the party +upstairs; "and the room is a very dacent apartment entirely; and warrm +it is, and _quite_. An' we had a company o' childhren in one o' the +houses adjinin', that bothered the life out o' me wid their hollerin' +as soon as ever we histed the winders in the summer time; but the +father he died, and the mother, she was a poor kind of a body that +couldn't seem to get along any way at all at all; and I believe she +thried, an she didn't succade, the poor craythur! An' she just faded +away, like, and whin she couldn't stan' no longer, she was tuk away to +the 'ospital; and the chillen was put in the poor-us, or I don't just +know what it is they calls the place; and it was weary for them, but it +was a good day for meself at the same time. An' the place is iligant +and _quite_ now, sir. An' whin will the lady move in, that you're +wantin' the room for?" + +"As soon as it can be ready for her, Mrs. Leary." + +"Thin it's ready! What would it be wantin'?" + +"We shall need to move in some furniture, I suppose, and a little coal. +Where will that go?" + +"Coal, is it? Sure there's the cellar. An' an iligant cellar it is, and +dhry, and places enough for to put her coal in. It'll hould all she'll +want, Til engage." + +"It holds yours too, I suppose?" + +"Why wouldn't it? But we'll never interfare for that; small wisdom!" + +Mr. Wharncliffe chose to go down and see the cellar. David and Matilda +spent the time in consultation. Mr. Wharncliffe came back alone. + +"Well," he said, "how do you like it?" + +"Very much; but Mr. Wharncliffe, it is not very clean." + +"Sarah will soon change that." + +"Sarah? Won't her mother help?" + +"Mrs. Staples is unable for hard work. She has had illness which has +disabled her; and I fancy the damp cellar she has been living in has +made matters worse. But Sarah likes to be as clean as she can." + +"Well, she can now," said Matilda gleefully. "Mr. Wharncliffe, don't +you think they want a little bit of a carpet?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe shook his head. "They are not accustomed to it; they do +not need it, Matilda. You will have enough to do with your money." + +"At any rate, they must have a bureau, mustn't they?" + +"There is a wall cupboard," said Mr. Wharncliffe. "That will be wanted, +I suppose, for crockery and stores. What would a bureau be useful for?" + +"Clothes." + +"They have not a drawer full, between them." + +"But they will have? They _must_, Mr. Wharncliffe. I am going to get +them some, mayn't I?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe looked round the little room, and smiled as he looked +at Matilda again. "There is a great deal to do with your money, I told +you," he said. "Let us reckon up the indispensable things first." He +took out his note book. + +"Coals are one thing," said Matilda. "They must have some coals to +begin with." + +"Coals"--repeated Mr. Wharncliffe, noting it down. + +"Have they a stove that will do?" + +"I am afraid not. I will try and find a second-hand one." + +"A table, and two or three chairs." + +Those went down in the list. + +"And, O, Mr. Wharncliffe, a tea-kettle! And something to cook meat in, +and boil potatoes." + +"What do you know about cooking meat and boiling potatoes?" Mr. +Wharncliffe asked, looking amused. "Those things will perhaps come with +the stove; and at any rate do not cost much." + +"And then, some decent plates and cups and saucers, and common knives, +you know, and a few such things." + +"They have some things which they use now. You must not try to do too +much. Remember, there are other people who want bread." + +"Well--not those things then, if you think not," said Matilda. "But a +bedstead, and a comfortable bed, Mr. Wharncliffe; _that_ they must +have." + +"How about the two boys?" + +"They must have another." + +"Blankets and sheets and pillows?" + +"Yes, sir; and pillow cases. I can make those. Do they cost a great +deal?" + +"I think not--if you will let me buy them." + +"O thank you, sir! I have got money enough, I guess." + +"Mrs. Staples will make them. But, my dear, coals, and a stove, and +table and chairs and bedstead and bedding, will make a hole in your +little stock. Let us see. I will undertake the stove and the coals, and +get your beds for you. Chairs and table and bedding, I leave to you." + +"Then put down some cups and plates, please, sir; or I will make the +list when I go home." + +"We can manage it, I think," said David. "You know, I am bound to come +in for my share. Where can we get this second-hand furniture?" + +Mr. Wharncliffe led the way to the place. What a disagreeable place, +Matilda thought. Dirty, dusty, confused, dilapidated, worn; at least +such was the look of a majority of the articles gathered there. +However, therein lay their advantage; and presently in the eagerness of +hunting out the things that she wanted, Matilda half lost sight of the +uncomfortable character of her surroundings. A table, strong yet, +though its paint was all gone, and chairs of similar qualifications, +were soon secured. A bedstead too, which was quite respectable; and Mr. +Wharncliffe explained that some bed-tickings could be filled with +straw, for beds and pillows. A little chest of drawers with some +difficulty was found, to be had for a few shillings; and a stove. Now +this last gave Matilda unlimited satisfaction; for it was a tidy little +stove, had two or three cooking utensils belonging to it, and an oven +which the shopman assured them would bake "first-rate." In that stove +and hardware Matilda's fancy seemed to see whole loads of comfort for +Sarah and her mother. A happy child was she when they left the shop. + +"I believe that is all we can do this afternoon, Tilly," said her +friend. + +"Yes, sir. I think we have done a great deal. I thank you, sir." + +He smiled and turned off to go his way alone; while David, who had been +much struck with the sweet gracefulness of Matilda's manner, walked +beside her; thinking, perhaps, that Mrs. Laval's adopted child was a +different person from what he had fancied. + + + +"What shall _I_ do, now, Matilda?" he asked presently. + +"I don't know. O David, I am very much obliged to you for coming with +me." + +"That won't help your poor people though," said he smiling. "What more +do you want to do, or to get, for them?" + +"Something to make a decent dress or two," Matilda said confidentially; +"but I can do that myself. I don't know, David! things puzzle me. Mr. +Wharncliffe says I must not try to do too much, because there are other +poor people that suffer, and want the money." + +"There are so many, that all your money is but a very little drop on a +great desert, Matilda." + +"But that one drop will make one spot of the desert better, David." + +"Yes." + +"Just a little--twenty or thirty dollars--will do a great deal for +these poor people. And then, if Sarah learns to work on a machine, you +know, and she and her mother get better pay and better work, they will +be able to take care of themselves for ever after." + +"That's good sense," said David. "But just think of all that row of +tenement houses." + +"David," said Matilda solemnly, "don't you think it is wrong?" + +"What?" + +"That people should be so poor, and live in such places?" + +"I suppose it is people's own fault, a good deal." + +"But no, very often it isn't. Now Mrs. Staples used to be a great deal +better oil; but her husband died, and she got sick, and so she came +down to this." + +"But where is the wrong, then?" said David. + +"Why, just think how much money there is, and what it might do if +people tried. Suppose everybody did _all he could_, David? Suppose +every one did all he could?" + +"As you are doing. But then where should we stop?" + +"I wouldn't stop, till everybody that wasn't wicked was comfortable." + +"No, no. I mean, where would you stop in your own giving or spending?" + +"I don't know," said Matilda, looking down on the ground and thinking +very hard as she walked. "I'll tell you, David. I think the money ought +to go to whoever wants it most!" + +"Who is to settle that?" said David laughing. + +They had got into deep waters of Christian ethics; and it was no wonder +if even the theory of navigation was difficult. It served them for +matter of busy discussion till they arrived at home. Norton and Judy +were just consulting over some greenhouse plants in the hall. It gave +Matilda no pang. She passed them, with her own little heart so full of +pleasure that seemed far richer and sweeter, that she thought there was +no comparison. + +The pleasure lasted; for in a day or two there came a great package for +Matilda which turned out to be the sheeting and muslin Mr. Wharncliffe +had promised to get for her. Matilda had to explain what all this +coarse stuff meant, coming to Mrs. Lloyd's elegant mansion; and Mrs. +Laval then, amused enough, let her maid cut out the sheets and +pillowcases which Matilda desired to make; and for days thereafter +Matilda's room looked like a workshop. She was delightfully busy. Her +lessons took a good deal of time and were eagerly attended to; and +then, at any hour of the day when she was free, Matilda might have been +found sitting on a low seat and stitching away at one end of a mass of +coarse unbleached cloth which lay on the floor. Mrs. Laval looked in at +her and laughed at her; sometimes came and sat there with her. Matilda +was in great state; with her workbox by her side, and her watch in her +bosom warning her when it was time to leave off work and get ready to +go downstairs. + +She was busy as usual one afternoon, when she was summoned down to see +company; and found with a strange delight that it was her two sisters. +Mrs. Laval had received them very kindly and now gave Matilda +permission to take them up to her room, where, as she said, they could +have a good talk and no interruption. So upstairs they all three went; +Matilda had hardly spoken to them till they were in her room and the +door shut. Then at first they sat down and used their eyes. + +"What in the world are you doing?" said Anne. "Do they make you the +seamstress of the family?" + +"Seamstress? O Anne, I am doing this for myself." + +"Do you sleep on sheets like that?" said Letitia inquisitively. "_They_ +don't, I'll be bound." + +"Sheets? what do you mean? O Letty, I am not doing these for _myself_." + +"You said you were." + +"For myself--yes, in a way. I mean, I am doing this work for my own +pleasure; not for my own bed. It is for some poor people." + +"For some poor people," Letty repeated. "I think Mrs. Laval might have +let one of her servants do it, if she wanted to be charitable, or hire +it done, even; and not save a penny by setting you at it." + +"She did not set me at it," said Matilda in despair. "O you don't +understand. She has nothing to do with it at all." + +"Are these yours, then?" + +"Yes." + +"_You_ bought them and paid for them?" + +"Yes. At least, a friend bought them for me, but I am going to pay him +the money back." + +"Is it your own money?" + +"Why yes, Anne; whose should it be?" + +"So you have more than you want, and can actually throw it away?" + +"Not throw it away, Anne; for these people, that these sheets are for, +are miserably off. You would think so, if you saw them." + +"I don't want to see anybody worse off than myself," said Letitia. +"Why, what is that the child has got in her bosom, hanging to that +ribband. What is it?--a watch, I declare! Gold? is it a gold watch +really? Think of it, Anne!" + +"It was one of my Christmas presents," said poor Matilda, hardly +knowing what to say. + +"How many other presents did you have?" + +Matilda had to tell, though she had a feeling it would not be to the +gratification of her sisters. They listened and looked, said little, +but by degrees drew out from her all the history of the evening's +entertainment. + +"That's the way _she_ lives," said Letitia to Anne. "That's the way she +is going on; while you and I are making people's dresses." + +"But aren't you getting on well?" asked their little sister, sorely +bestead to make the conversation pleasant to them. + +"We get work, and we do it," said Letitia. "And so make out to have +some bread and butter with our tea." + +"But you have dinner, don't you?" + +"I don't know what you'd call it," said Letitia. "What do you have for +dinner?" + +"O the boys and Judy Bartholomew and I, we have our dinner at one o' +clock." + +"Well, what do you _have?_" said Letitia sharply. "What did you have +to-day?" + +"We had beefsteak." + +"Not all alone, I suppose. What did you have with it?" + +"We had oysters," said Matilda unwillingly, "and baked potatoes, and +rice, and bananas and oranges." + +"There!" exclaimed Letitia. "That's what I call a dinner. What do you +suppose Anne and I had?" + +"Hush, Letty," said Anne. "Whatever we had, it was our own. We were +beholden to nobody for it." + +"Have you seen Maria since I have?" Matilda asked, trying to make a +diversion. + +"No. How should we see Maria? We cannot go jaunting about. We have our +work to do." + +"But it is nice work. I should think you would be very glad to have +it," Matilda ventured. + +"Yes, we are, of course," said Anne expressively. "People must live. +How much did your watch cost?" + +Very unwillingly Matilda named the sum, which Norton had told her. The +two sisters looked at each other and rose to depart. + +"But you are not going?" cried Matilda. "You haven't said anything to +me yet. And I have not seen you for ever so long." + +"We could not say anything that would be interesting to you," Anne +answered. "And we have to keep at our work, you know. We are busy." + +"So am I busy," said Matilda; "very; with my lessons and my other +things I have to do." + +"And parties," added Letitia, "and poor people. How were you dressed at +the party, Matilda?" + +"Yes, let us see your dress," said Anne sitting down again. + +They scanned and measured and examined the dress, stuff and work, with +business as well as with curious eyes; Matilda saw they were taking +hints from it. That led to the display of her whole wardrobe. It was +not agreeable to Matilda; she had a certain feeling that it was not +improving her sisters' peculiar mood of feeling towards her; however, +it seemed to be the one way in which she could afford them any the +least pleasure. So silks and poplins and muslins, all her things, were +brought out and turned over; the fashion and the work minutely examined +and commented on; the price detailed where Matilda happened to know it. + +"Well, I have got something from that," said Anne, when at last the +show was done. + +"Yes," echoed Letitia; "I never could make out before, just how that +sort of trimming was managed. Now I have got it." + +They pulled up their cloaks again and tied their scarfs. Matilda looked +on sorrowfully. + +"I suppose it's no use to ask you to come and see us," said Letty. + +"I can't come often," Matilda answered, "because, you know, I cannot +walk there; and I cannot have the carriage except now and then." + +"How do you suppose we get along without a carriage?" said Letty. + +"You are older. Oh Anne and Letty!" cried their little sister, "I don't +know why I have so much and you have so little; but it isn't my fault." + +Tears were in her eyes; but her sisters shewed no melting on their +part. They answered, that nobody supposed it was her fault. The energy +of Matilda's hugs and kisses seemed to impress them, at last. + +"Tell me!" said Anne, holding her off to look at her,--"are you happy +here? Do they treat you really as their own child? Would you like to +come back to us? Because if you would--" + +"O no, no, Anne! yes, they do. Yes, I am very happy. I don't want +anything but what I have got." + +"Well, then you are to be envied," said Anne, relapsing into her former +tone; and the two went away. Matilda saw them out of the front door, +and then went back to her room and stood at the window a long time, +looking down the street by which they had gone. Why did they treat her +so? Why was she such a trouble to them? They were much older than she, +and her home sympathies had always been more particularly with Maria +and her mother in the old days; yet the family had been affectionate +and harmonious. The strange barrier which her prosperity had built up +between her and them was quite inexplicable to Matilda. At the same +time she was filled with sorrow for the contrast which she knew they +felt between her circumstances and their own. She mused, how she could +give them comfort or do them good in any way; but could not find it. +She was a weak little child. And the help she was giving to the poor +street sweeper and her mother was more needed and better bestowed there +than in any other direction. What would her small means avail towards +the wants of Anne and Letitia? But Matilda cried about it some sore +tears, as she stood by her window in the growing dusk. Then she went +back to the joy of what was coming to Sarah and her mother through her +instrumentality. + +That joy grew sweeter and sweeter every day. The sheets and pillowcases +were finished. The furniture and the stove were moved in. The straw +beds Mr. Wharncliffe's care had provided were in readiness. David and +Matilda went again to look at the room; and cold and dull though it was +with no fire in the stove, there was great promise of comfort. + +"Now, David," said Matilda, after she had turned round and round, +surveying every side and corner of the room again and again,--"_don't_ +you think we might put a little comfort inside that cupboard?" + +"Of what sort?" said David smiling. + +"It's bare," said Matilda. + +"Of everything." + +"Yes. Well, of course it wouldn't do to put any eatable things here, +till just the day they are coming. David!--a thought has just struck +me." + +"Go on," said David, smiling again. "The thoughts that strike you are +generally very good thoughts." + +"Perhaps you will laugh at me. But I will tell you what I was thinking. +Mr. Wharncliffe says we must not do too much at once; but I _should_ +like, David, to have a nice little supper ready for them the day they +move in. I don't suppose they have had one nice supper this winter." + +"Broiled oysters and salad?" said David. + +"No indeed; you know what sort of a supper I mean." + +"What would you get? for instance?" + +"Let me see," said Matilda, speaking slowly and considering the matter +intently. "Some tea there should be, of course; and sugar. And milk. +Then, some bread and butter--and herring--and perhaps, a loaf of +gingerbread." + +"What made you think of herring?" said David, looking very much amused +and curious. + +"O, I know such people like them very much, and they cost almost +nothing." + +"If we are giving them a supper, I should say, give them something that +costs a little more--something they could not get for themselves." + +"O these people don't get even herring, David." + +"What do you suppose they live upon?" + +"Bread,--and--I really don't know, David! In the country, they would +have cheese, and sometimes fish, I suppose; but these people are too +poor even for that." + +"That's being poorer than anybody ought to be," said David. "I go in +for the supper. It's fun. I tell you what, Tilly,--I'll stand a +beefsteak." + +"O thank you, David! But--there are so many more that want it," said +Matilda, looking sober and prudent in odd contrast with her years. + +"We can't help them too," said David. + +"Better keep the beefsteak, I guess," said Matilda. "O David, I know! +Potatoes!" + +"What of potatoes?" + +"Just what they want. _Sure_ to want them, you know; and exactly the +thing. Let us have a good sack of potatoes." + +David seemed to be so much amused that he could hardly keep to the +practical soberness of the thing. However he agreed to the potatoes. +And he and Matilda, moved by one impulse, set off for a hardware store +down in one of the avenues, not far to seek; and there spent a most +delicious half hour. They chose some common cups and saucers and +plates; a yellow pitcher, a sugar bowl and one or two dishes; half a +dozen knives and forks and spoons. It was difficult to stop in their +purchases, for the poor friends they were thinking of had nothing. So a +tin tea-pot was added to the list. + +"O David!" Matilda exclaimed again--"we ought to have some soap." + +"I dare say," said David dryly. "But we do not get that here." + +"No; but seeing that toilet soap put me in mind of it. We get that at +the grocer's." + +"It won't do for us to send in our grocer's stores just yet. When do +your people come to take possession?" + +"Next week, I think. O no; not till the very day, David. Now is there +anything else we ought to get here?" + +"I don't know!" said David. "I could think of a great many things; but +as you say, we must not do too much." + +"What did you think of?" + +"Nearly everything you see here," said David. "It seems to me they must +want everything. A coffee pot, for instance; and lamps, and cooking +utensils, and brooms and brushes and tubs and coal scuttles." + +"O David, stop! They can make coffee in the tea-pot." + +"Bad for the coffee I should say!" David responded, shrugging his +shoulders. + +"And lamps? They cannot buy oil. I guess they go to bed when it grows +dark." + +"Do they! Great loss of time, for people who live by their labour." + +"And a tea-kettle, and a frying pan, and a water pot, came with the +stove, you know." + +"What can they cook in a frying pan--besides fish?" + +"O a great many things. But they can't _get_ the things, David; they +don't want ways to cook them." + +"Must be a bad thing to be so poor," said David. + +"Mustn't it! And there are so many. It is dreadful." + +"Don't seem to me it ought to be," said David. + +"That is what I think," said Matilda. "And O David,--don't laugh at me +as Norton does,--it seems to me it needn't be. If other people would do +without having everything, these people need not want everything." + +David did smile, though, at Matilda's summary way of equalizing things. + +"What would you be willing to go without?" he asked. "Come, Tilly; what +of all we have had to-day?" + +"A great deal," said the little political economist steadily. + +"Meringues and bananas? for instance." + +"Why yes, David, and so would you, if it was to give somebody else a +dinner." + +But here they remembered that the shop man was still waiting their +orders, and they left talking to attend to business. David began +apparently to amuse himself. He bought a salt cellar, and a broom; and +to Matilda's mingled doubt and delight, a rocking-chair. And then they +ordered the things home and went home themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The arrangements were all made; the room was ready; the cupboard was +stocked with its hardware; even a carpet lay on the floor, for Mrs. +Lloyd having heard from David a laughing declaration of Matilda's +present longing for an old carpet, had immediately given permission to +the children to rummage in the lumber room and take anything they found +that was not too good. Matilda was very much afraid there would be +nothing that did not come under that description; however, a little old +piece of carpet was found that somehow had escaped being thrown away, +and that would be, she judged, a perfect treasure to Mrs. Staples; it +was sent by the hands of a very much astonished footman to Mrs. Leary's +house, and by Mrs. Leary herself put down on the floor; Matilda having +bargained for the cleaning of the floor as a preliminary. + +Her imagination dwelt upon that carpet, and the furnished, comfortable +look it gave the room, with as much recurring delight as other people +often find in the thought of their new dresses and jewels. With more, +perhaps. Everything was ready now. Mr. Wharncliffe was engaged to tell +the good news to Sarah and her mother, and the moving was to take place +on Thursday of the next week. All was arranged; and on Monday Matilda +sickened. + +What could be the matter? Nobody knew at first; only it was certain +that the little girl was ill. Dull and feverish and miserable, unable +to hold herself up, or to think much about anything when she was laid +in bed. It was needful to send for the doctor; and Mrs. Laval took her +station by Matilda's pillow. + +How time went, for some days thereafter, Matilda but dimly knew. She +was conscious now and then of being very sick, heavy and oppressed and +hot; but much of the time was spent in a sort of stupor. Occasionally +she would wake up to see that Mrs. Laval was bending tenderly over her, +offering a spoonful of medicine or a glass of apple water; it was +sometimes night, with the gas burning low, sometimes the dusk of +evening; sometimes the cool grey of the morning seemed to be breaking. +But of the hours between such points Matilda knew nothing; she kept no +count of days; a general feeling of long weariness and dull headaches +filled up all her consciousness; she reasoned about nothing. + +So that it was quite a new experience, at waking one morning, to feel +Mrs. Laval's lips pressed to hers for a kiss, and to hear a cheerful +voice say,-- + +"My darling is better!" + +Matilda looked up. + +"I believe I have been sick," she said, in a weak little voice. + +"Indeed you have, darling--very sick. But you are better now. How do +you feel?" + +"Better," Matilda answered in that same faint, _thin_ little +voice;--"weak." + +"Of course you are weak! Here is something to make you stronger." + +Mrs. Laval brought a tea-cup presently, and fed Matilda with soda +biscuit dipped in tea; very nice it seemed; and then she went off again +into a sweet deep sleep. + +When she awaked from this, it was high day, and the light was let into +the room as it had not been for a good while. It all looked natural, +and yet new; and Matilda's eyes went from one object to another with a +sort of recognizing pleasure; feeling languid too, as if her eyelids +could just keep open and that was all. But the light seemed sweet. And +her gaze lingered long on the figure of Mrs. Laval, who was standing by +the mantle-piece; going over with quiet pleasure every graceful outline +and pretty detail; the flow of her soft drapery; the set of the dainty +little French muslin cap which set lightly on her hair. Till Mrs. Laval +turned, and smiled to see her eyes open. + +"Ready for breakfast?" she said gayly. + +"I don't believe I could get up, mamma," said the weak little voice. + +"Get up! I don't believe you could! But what do you think of having +breakfast in bed? Wait; you shall have your face washed first." + +She brought a basin and bathed Matilda's face and hands, first with +water and then with cologne. It was pleasant to be tended so, and the +fine, soft, sweet damask was pleasant, with which the drying was done. +Then Mrs. Laval rang the bell, and presently came up a tray which she +took from the servant's hands and brought to the bedside herself. Then +Matilda was raised up and propped up with pillows, till she could see +what was on the plate. + +"How nice that cologne is! I haven't had breakfast in a good while +before, have I?" + +"No, my darling." And Mrs. Laval stooped to press her lips fondly. +"What do you say to a little bit of roast bird?" + +Matilda was very glad of it; and she enjoyed the delicate thin slice of +toast, and the fragrant tea out of a sort of eggshell cup; the china +was so thin it was semi-transparent. She made a bird's breakfast, but +it was very good, and did her good. + +"Mamma," she said, as she drank the last drops from that delicate +cup,--"it must be a dreadful thing to be poor! When one is sick, I +mean." + +"_You_ never will be, darling," said Mrs. Laval. + +She was slowly but surely mending all that day. The next morning she +had another roast bird for breakfast, and could eat more of it. + +"Norton wants to see you dreadfully," Mrs. Laval said as she was +feeding her. "And so does David, I believe. How have you and David got +to be such good friends?" + +"I don't know, mamma. I like David very much." + +"Do you?" said Mrs. Laval laughing; "perhaps that is the reason. Like +makes like, they say. You are one of the few people that like David +Bartholomew!" + +"Am I? Why, mamma? Don't you like him?" + +"Certainly; he is my nephew. I ought to like him." + +"But that don't make us like people," said Matilda meditatively. + +"What? that little word ought? No, I think it works the other way." + +"But I think I like everybody," Matilda went on. "Everybody _some_. I +don't like all people one as much as another." + +"No," said Mrs. Laval. "That would be too indiscriminate. Well, David +likes you. _That_ is not strange. And he wants to see you." + +"Yes, and Norton. Mamma, I think I would like better to be up, before I +see the boys." + +"I shall not let them come in before that." + +So one or two days still passed, in sleeping and resting and waking to +feel stronger every time; and then one afternoon Matilda was taken up +and dressed in a warm wrapper, and placed in a delightful easy chair +which Mrs. Laval had had brought up for her. She felt very weak, but +exceedingly comfortable. Then she saw the door of her room slowly +pushed inwards, and the bright head of Norton softly advancing beyond +it. So soon as he caught sight of Matilda in her easy chair, he came in +with two bounds, knelt down before her, and taking her in his arms +kissed her over and over. + +"There is one person glad to see you," remarked Mrs. Laval. + +Matilda's eyes were glittering with tears; she said not a word. + +"Glad?" echoed Norton. "Pink, the house has been too stupid for +anything without you. It's astonishing, what a difference one girl +makes." + +"_One_ girl--" said Mrs Laval. + +"Ah!" said Norton. "I didn't say anything about the other. It wouldn't +distress me at all to have Judy shut up in her room a few days." + +"But not by sickness!" said his mother. + +"Not particular how, mamma; do Judy no harm either. She wants taking +down somehow." + +"Why, Norton," said Matilda, "I thought you were so busy with your +greenhouse, you wouldn't miss me much. And Judy and you were getting on +nicely with the flowers, I thought." + +"Nicely!" repeated Norton. "She doesn't care any more for the flowers +than if they were grown to make door mats of. Greenhouse! why, it's as +much as I can do to prevent her pulling all the buds off; and when +she's got them, as I said, she don't care the least for them. No; the +one thing Judy Bartholomew cares for is mischief; and the second is her +own way." + +"Gently, Norton!" said his mother. "I know somebody else that likes his +own way." + +"Yes, ma'am, and can't get it--worse luck!" + +"O Norton!" said Matilda. + +"Well I'd just like to have you tell me then, how I'm to get Judy +Bartholomew out of my greenhouse!" + +"How did you get her in?" asked his mother. + +"I went into partnership with her." + +"And I ask, why?" + +"Because she had money, mamma; and I wanted the greenhouse in order; +and Pink wouldn't." + +"Couldn't"--said Matilda. She did not feel like using many words just +then. + +"Pink, mamma, is the very worst person in the world about having her +own way." + +"And the very best person in the world about being sick." + +"How, mamma?" said Matilda. "I haven't done anything at all but lie +still and be taken care of." + +"Mamma, she looks pale; and her voice sounds thin; aren't you going to +give her something to strengthen her up?" + +"She is going to have her supper in a few minutes." + +"What are you going to give her?" + +"Roast oysters and bread and butter." + +"That sounds jolly. I'd stay and have some too; only I have got to see +a fellow round the corner. Good-bye, Pink. I'm off. Eat as many oysters +as you can!" + +And off he ran. Matilda was disappointed; she was very fond of him, and +she thought he might have liked better to stay with her this first +evening. A little creeping feeling of homesickness came over her; not +for any place that was once called home, but for the clinging affection +of more hands and voices than one. + +"He's a boy, dear," said Mrs. Laval, noticing her look. "Boys cannot +bear to be shut up, even with what they love the best. And you are a +girl--just full of womanly tenderness. I see it well enough. You will +have something to bear in this world, my child. Boys will be boys, and +men will be men; but Norton loves you dearly, for all that." + +"I know he does, mamma," said Matilda. + +But when a few minutes later, Mrs. Laval was called downstairs to see +somebody, the feeling she had kept back rushed upon her again. She +wanted something she had not got. And she began to think of her best +Friend. Matilda had not forgotten him; yet through these days of +sickness and weakness, and the constant presence of somebody in her +room, she had missed for a long time her Bible readings and all but +very short and scattering prayer. She recollected this now; and longing +after the comfort of a nearer thought of God and closer feeling of his +presence, she got up out of her chair and tottered across the room, +holding by everything in her way, to the place where she kept her +Bible. Once back in her easy chair, she had to rest a bit before she +could read; then she found a place of sweet words that she knew, and +rested herself in a more thorough fashion over them. + +She was bending down with her volume in her hand to catch the fading +light from the window, when another visiter came in. It was David +Bartholomew, who having knocked and fancied that he heard the word of +permission, walked in and was at her side before she knew it. Matilda +started, and then looked very much pleased. + +"You are not strong enough to be studying," David said kindly. + +"O I am not studying." + +"What have you got there that interests you so much, then? to be +bending over it like that." + +Now Matilda was afraid to say she was reading the Bible, knowing in +what abhorrence David held part of her Bible; so she answered with a +quick sort of instinct, "It was only a chapter in Isaiah, David." + +"Isaiah!" he repeated; "our Isaiah? Let me see, please." + +He took the book and looked keenly at the page. + +"What interested you so here, Matilda?" + +"I was reading that little twelfth chapter. I was thinking of those +'wells of salvation.'" + +She was trembling with the fear of saying something or other to +displease him, afraid to answer at all; but the simplest answer seemed +the best; and she prayed for wisdom and boldness. David was looking +hard at the page, and alternately at her. + +"It is our Isaiah," he said, turning the leaves back and forward; "it +is our Scriptures; but not the Hebrew. I shall learn to read the +Hebrew. What were you thinking about the 'wells of salvation,' Matilda?" + +Matilda was getting very nervous; but as before, she answered simply +the truth. + +"I was thinking how sweet the water is." + +"You?" said David, with a depth of astonishment which might have made +her laugh if she had not been so frightened. "You? what do you know of +them, or think you know? These words belong to the time of Messiah ben +David." + +"Yes," said Matilda. + +"What do you think you know about them?" + +Matilda thought within herself that here was the end of David's +friendship for her. Her heart sank, yet she spoke as before. + +"I have drawn water out of them, David; and I know that the water is +sweet." + +He stood and looked at her, as if he were full of something to say; but +perhaps he guessed at her reference, or perhaps he saw her too feeble +to be attacked with exciting topics. He shut his mouth and said +nothing; and just then the servant entered bearing the tray with +Matilda's supper. That made a nice diversion. I think David was glad of +it. At any rate he made himself useful; brought up the little table to +Matilda's side; set the tea-pot out of her way and spread her napkin on +her lap. Then, hearing that Mrs. Laval was detained downstairs, he took +the management of things upon himself. He made Matilda's cup of tea; he +spread bread and butter; he opened oysters. Nobody could have done it +better; but it was always acknowledged that David Bartholomew was born +a gentleman. Matilda enjoyed it hugely. She was ready for her oysters, +as a little convalescent child should be; and bread and butter was +good; but to have David helping her and ministering to her gave to both +an exquisite flavour. He was so nice about it, and it was so kind of +him. + +"That other supper has been sadly put off, hasn't it?" he said as he +opened Matilda's last oyster. + +"What supper?" said Matilda. + +"The supper we had arranged so finely, a long while ago. The +celebration of your good woman's moving in." + +"My good woman?--O, you mean Mrs. Staples. She hasn't moved in yet?" + +"No! we waited for you to get well." + +"Waited all this while!" said Matilda. "David, I wonder when I shall be +able to go out?" + +"Not in a good while, Tilly, to any such entertainment as that. I dare +say you can go driving in the Park in two or three weeks." + +"But she cannot wait all that while!" said Matilda; and then she +stopped. If not, then the moving of Mrs. Staples, and all the delight +of the supper to be prepared for her, and the pleasure of seeing her +pleasure, must be for others; not for the little planner and contriver +of the whole. For a minute Matilda felt as if she could not give it up; +this rare and exquisite joy; such a chance might not come again in a +very long while. She wanted to see how the stove would work; she wanted +to hear the kettle sing, and to set the table with the new cups and +saucers, and to make the tea that first time, and give the in comers a +welcome. _Could_ all that be lost? It seemed very hard. Matilda's eyes +filled with tears. + +"What is the matter?" said David kindly. + +Matilda struggled to speak. She knew what she must say; but at first +she could hardly get the words out. She hesitated, and David repeated +his question. + +"It won't do for them to wait so long," she said, lifting her eyes to +his face. + +"Who? your poor people there? Well, it does seem a pity, looking at the +place where they are now." + +"It won't do," Matilda repeated. "It is best for them to go right in, +David. But I can't manage it. I can't do anything." + +"Will you trust me?" + +"O yes! if you'll do it. But won't it be a great trouble to you, David?" + +"On the contrary, I shall like it capitally. You tell me exactly what +you want done, and I'll attend to it." + +"O thank you! Then you'll have to get the supper things, David." + +"Yes, I know all about that." + +"And get Mr. Wharncliffe to tell Mrs. Staples." + +"Yes." + +"And--can you buy some calico for me?" + +"Certainly. But I'd put something warmer on them than calico, Tilly." + +"What?" + +"I don't know," said David laughingly; "I don't know what women wear. +But I suppose I can find out. Something _warm_, Tilly; the air is +snapping and biting out of doors, I can tell you." + +"O well, do see about it as soon as you can, David, and let them move +in by Saturday; can't you?" + +David promised. And when he was gone, and Matilda was alone in bed +again at night, she fought out her whole fight with disappointment. +Rather a hard fight it was. Matilda did not see why, when she was about +a very good thing, so much of the pleasure of it should have been taken +away from her. Why could not her sickness have been delayed for one +week? and now the very flower and charm of her scheme must fall into +the hands of others. She dwelt upon the details, from which she had +looked for so much pleasure, and poured out hearty tears over them. She +was as much in the dark nearly as Job had been; as much at a loss to +know why all this should have befallen her. All the comfort she could +get at was in imagining the scenes she could not now see, and fancying +all over and over to herself how Sarah and her mother would look and +feel. + +After that day Matilda's improvement was steady. Soon she had Norton +and Judy and even David running in and out at all hours, to see her or +to tell her something. + +"Great news," said Norton bursting in as usual one evening. "What do +you think, Pink? David and Judy have been to be catechized." + +"Catechized?" Matilda repeated. "Do they learn the catechism?" + +"Not yours, I promise you," said Norton. "No, not exactly. But they +have been to a Jewish catechizing; to be examined in the Jews' +Scriptures, you know, and all that. They ought to have been catechized, +it seems, when they were younger; but David and Judy have been +travelling about and there has been no chance. Now they've got it! And +O how Davy has been studying his Bible." + +"His Bible is just like ours, isn't it?--all but the New Testament?" + +"_He_ thinks that's a pretty large 'all but.'" + +"But the rest is just the same as ours?" + +"I suppose so; yes, I believe so. And they have had a great time, and +Davy has come off with a blue ribband or something, and been greatly +distinguished." + +"Well?" said Matilda eagerly. + +"Well. They all went to it, grandma and aunt Judy, and they don't know +whether they are most pleased or most vexed." + +"Vexed?" repeated Matilda. + +"Yes. You see, their Jew friends and relations are getting great hold +of Davy; and now I suppose he will be more of a Jew than ever." + +"How will that make him different?" said Matilda, puzzled. + +"Different?" said Norton. "Why, you don't think Jews are like all the +rest of the world, do you?" + +"I don't know," Matilda answered. "I think--if I was a Jew--I would +like it." + +To which Norton answered at first with a questioning frown; then +cleared his brow and laughed. + +"You'd like anything that made you different from the rest of the +world," he said. "But you're a Pink! and that makes it of course." + +"You used to say I was a brick," said Matilda. + +"So you are. I'll fight any boy that says you aren't." + +But that made Matilda laugh so much that Mrs. Laval, coming in, was +afraid she would fatigue herself; and she sent Norton away. Matilda +after this was very curious and a little anxious to see David, and find +out what change his being "more of a Jew than ever" would have made in +him. When he came, she could not find any change. It was Saturday +evening, after tea; so rather late. He came to bring her the news she +wanted. + +"Well, it's done, Matilda," he said as he entered. + +"And all right, David?" + +"Right as can be. Don't you get excited, and I will tell you all about +it." + +"You are very kind, David," said Matilda, trying to be quiet; but there +were two pink spots on her pale cheeks. + +"The carpet was down, and made the place look like another thing. Then +Mrs. Leary had brightened up the bureau and the chairs and table, and +blacked the stove and made a fire. It seemed quite like a home waiting +for somebody. Mrs. Leary folded her arms, and made me take notice what +she had done, and 'expicted I would consider it,' she said." + +"Expected you would consider it?" said Matilda. + +"Yes. Don't you know what that means? Expected I would pay her for her +trouble." + +"Ah!" said Matilda. "Did you?" + +"Yes, of course. But I made her make up the bed and fill the kettle +before she had done. 'An' sure it was iligant, and fit for society,' +she said; whatever that meant." + +"Fit for company, I suppose, David. But who made the coffee?" + +"Wait a bit: I'm coming to that. I was in a puzzle about it; for I +wasn't sure of Mrs. Leary, and Norton and I didn't know enough." + +"Norton? was Norton there?" + +"To be sure; at first. He and I got everything else together. Mrs. +Leary had washed the china and the tin ware; and we bought cheese, and +tea and coffee, and herring, and buns, and gingerbread." + +"And bread?" said Matilda, looking in tensely interested. + +"No; buns. And soap we ordered in too, Tilly; Norton is great on soap. +I should never have thought of it. And when we had done all we could +think of, we sat down to watch the fire and guard the things till some +body came. And we got talking about something else and forgot where we +were; when all of a sudden the door pushed softly open and a girl came +in--" + +"Sarah!" cried Matilda. + +"Wait. There came in this girl, and stood there, looking. And we +looked. 'Is this Mrs. Leary's?' she asked. 'No,' said I; 'the rest of +the house is. Mrs. Leary's, I believe; but this room belongs to Mrs. +Staples.' 'And you're Sarah, aren't you?' Norton cried out. I wish you +had seen the girl, Tilly! She came a little way further in, and stopped +and looked round, and had all the work in the world to keep herself +from breaking down and crying. Her face flushed all over. She wanted to +know if we were sure if there was no mistake? So I told her about you, +and how you were sick, and how you had commissioned us to get ready all +these things; and Norton shewed her where to hang her bonnet and shawl; +for she was in a bewildered state. And then I bethought me and told her +we wanted somebody to make the coffee. I think, Tilly, she was as near +the condition of Aladdin, when he got into the magician s cave, as ever +a mortal could be in this actual world. But she went to work, and that +helped her to feel she was not dreaming, I suppose. She made the +coffee,--and all the while I could see her fingers trembling;--and she +cooked the herring; and I stood it, herring smoke and all; it was the +best fun I've seen this winter--" + +"Since Christmas," Matilda put in, but her own eyes were very bright +and glittering. + +"Christmas was nothing to it!" + +"I wish I had been there." + +"I wish you had. There was nothing else wanting. And I wish you could +have seen Sarah's eyes; I think she was afraid to look around her. She +would give a glance at something, the chest of drawers, or the bed, and +then the tears would spring and she would have just as much as she +could do to mind her cooking and not break down. I didn't know coffee +smelt so good, Tilly." + +"Doesn't it!" + +"You know about that, eh? Well, we were all ready, and Sarah set the +table, but Norton and I had to bring out the buns and gingerbread and +the cheese; for I don't think she would have dared. And then the door +opened once more, and in came Mr. Wharncliffe, and Sarah's mother and +those two poor little imps of boys." + +"I don't know much about them," said Matilda. + +"I know they are very ragged. Of course, how could they help it? The +mother looked as if she would easily fall to pieces too. But I saw the +smell of the coffee brightened her up." + +"And then you came away, I suppose?" + +"Yes, of course. Mr. Wharncliffe just saw that everything was right and +looked after the coal and things; and then we left them to take their +supper in peace." + +"I'm so glad!" said Matilda, heaving a deep sigh. "And I am very much +obliged to you, David." + +"For nothing," said David. "I had a good time, I can tell you. I should +just like to do the whole thing over again. Why, it didn't cost much." + +"Only Mr. Wharncliffe says we have to be very careful to know about +people first, before we give them things; there are so many deceivers." + +"Yes, I know that," said David. He stood looking into the light and +thinking. Matilda wondered what he was thinking about; she could not +ask him as she would Norton. + +"It isn't right!" he broke out. + +"What, David?" + +"It isn't right that there should be such a difference in people; we +here, and they there." + +"Mr. Wharncliffe says there must be a difference. Some people are +clever and industrious, and others are idle and lazy; and that makes +differences." + +"That ought," said David; "but then the people that are not idle or +lazy, but sick or unfortunate, like these people; they ought not to be +left in hunger and cold and rags." + +"So I think," said Matilda eagerly; and then she stopped; for she was +not so free with David as to tell him all her thoughts; at least not +unless he asked for them. + +"It puzzles me," David went on. "I can't see my way out of the puzzle; +only I am sure there is wrong somewhere." + +"And it must be right for each of us to do all he can to help," said +Matilda. + +David shook his head. "_One_ goes very little way." + +"But that is all we _can_ do. And if every one would--" + +"Every one will not, Tilly; there it is." + +"No. I know it; but still, David, people have to do so." + +"So how?" + +"Why, each one by himself, I mean." + +"Well," said David, smiling, "that's safe for you. I mean to study the +subject." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Matilda was slow in getting over her sickness. It would not do to think +of lessons or let her do anything that would weary her. Instead of +that, she was taken to drive, and supplied with materials and patterns +for worsted work, and had books at command. Whatever would please her, +in short; at least whatever Mrs. Laval could think of; for Matilda made +no demands on anybody. She was very happy; feeling well but weak, just +so as to draw out everybody's kindness; and obliged to be quiet enough +to thoroughly enjoy her happiness. She made great progress in the +affections of the family during this rime; they found a sweetness and +grace and modesty in her that presently seemed like to make her the +house darling. "She is not selfish," said Mrs. Lloyd. "She is really a +very graceful little thing," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "She is honest," +said David. "She is the gentlest, most dutiful child in the world," +said Mrs. Laval; but Mrs. Laval did not say much about it. She was +growing excessively fond of Matilda. Norton declared she was a brick. +Judy said nothing. Then they would begin again. "She is a thoroughly +courteous child," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I do think she is a good little +thing," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "She has her own opinions," said Norton, +who liked her the better for it. "They are not bad opinions either," +remarked David. + +"Aren't they!" put in Judy. "Wise and _extremely_ courteous she was +about the liqueur glasses, don't you think so?" + +"What about the liqueur glasses?" Mrs. Lloyd demanded; and though +Norton and David both tried to stop the recital, out it would come, for +the second time. Judy would not be stopped. Mrs. Lloyd seemed rather +serious but by no means as much disgusted as Judy would have liked. + +"She had her own opinions, as Norton says," David remarked; "but she +behaved perfectly well about the whole affair; perfectly _courteous_, +Judy." + +"Very ridiculous, though, for such a child," his mother added. + +"How should she be courteous?" said Judy, scornfully. "She has had no +sort of bringing up." + +"I should be glad to see you as courteous, and as graceful about it," +said Mrs. Bartholomew. Whereat Judy tossed her head spitefully and +meditated mischief. + +They did not know how it was. All was true they had said respecting +Matilda's manners; and this was the secret of them; she was most simply +trying to live up to her motto. For this Matilda studied her Bible, +watched, and prayed. It was not herself she was thinking of, or trying +to please; her obedience and her pleasantness and her smallest actions +were full of the very spirit of reverence and good-will; no wonder it +was all done gracefully. The days and weeks of sickness and feebleness +had been a good time for the little girl, and the kindness she received +made her heart very tender. She sought ways to please; above all, ways +to please God. It was in doing "all in the name of the Lord Jesus" that +her manners became so lovely and her presence so welcome to almost all +the family; and her happy little face was an attraction for even old +Mrs. Lloyd, who did not confess to finding many things in the whole +world attractive now. But Judy vowed in secret she would disturb this +opinion of Matilda, if she could manage it. + +So she chose her time. Mrs. Lloyd, and indeed all the elders of the +family, were extremely particular and punctilious about table manners; +exacting the utmost care and elegance in everything that was done. One +Sunday there was company at dinner; only one or two gentlemen who were +familiar friends, however, so that the young people were not debarred +their weekly pleasure and privilege of dining with their grandmother. +Judy managed to place herself next to Matilda, and held her position, +though Norton as openly as he dared reminded her she had no right to be +there. It was impossible to make a disturbance and he was obliged to +give up the point. Matilda wondered at what she supposed an uncommon +mark of favour in Judy; and resolved to be as nice a neighbour as she +could. There was not much chance, for of course talking, except a low +word now and then, was out of the question. It happened that one of the +servants was for some reason out of the way, and there was not the +usual abundant service of the table. Just when everybody was helped, +Judy somewhat officiously handed somebody's plate to Matilda to be +passed for some oysters. The plate came back to her full; it had meat +and gravy and oysters and maccaroni on it, and was heavy as well as +full. Carefully giving it, as she thought, into Judy's hand, Matilda +was dismayed to find it seemingly slip from her own; and down it went, +taking impartially Judy's dress and her own in its way. Turkey gravy +and oysters lodged on Judy's blue silk; while the maccaroni, rich with +butter and cheese, made an impression never to be effaced on Matilda's +crimson. The little girl absolutely grew pale as she looked down at the +disastrous state of things, and then up at Judy. Judy's eyes were +snapping. + +"Did I do that?" said Matilda, in a bewildered consciousness that she +had _not_ done it. + +"O, I guess not," replied Judy; in a tone which civilly said, "Of +course you did!" Matilda dared not look at anybody else. + +"You had better go up and change your dress, Matilda," said Mrs. Laval +gravely. And Matilda went, greatly disconcerted. She was a very dainty +child herself; rudeness and awkwardness were almost as abhorrent to her +as they were even to Mrs. Lloyd; and now she felt that she had +disgraced herself, mortified Mrs. Laval, and displeased the old lady; +besides drawing down the censure and slighting remark of Mrs. +Bartholomew. But _had_ she done the thing? She was supposed to have +done it, that was clear, from the tone of Mrs. Lloyd's voice and from +Mrs. Laval's command, as well as from Judy's words; that young lady +herself had kept her place in the dining room, for all that appeared. +And Matilda's beautiful crimson dress was spoiled. No doubt about it; +when she had got it off and looked at it she saw that the butter and +cheese had done their work too thoroughly to leave any hope that it +might be undone. No acid or French chalk would be of any avail there. +Poor Matilda! she was very much dismayed. She had a particular fancy +for the colour of that dress; it was a beautiful shade; and Mrs. Laval +liked it; and Matilda wondered if she was displeased; and wondered with +still increasing persuasion that the fault had not lain with her. But +who could prove that? And as it was, the charge of gross carelessness +and inelegance lay at her door; a charge above others that she was +unwilling to bear. + +She would not venture down to the dining-room again, not knowing +whether she would be welcome; she sat in the dark thinking, and crying +a little. But when there came a knock at her door, she got rid of all +traces of tears. There was Norton, who had brought her some Chantilly +cake which she was very fond of; and close behind him stood David, +smiling, and bearing on a plate a great slice of ice cream. Matilda's +hands were both filled. + +"Oh thank you!" she said from the bottom of her heart; "O how kind you +are!" Then as she glanced again at David's benign face, she half +exclaimed, "Did I do that?" + +"No," said David, the smile vanishing. + +"She didn't?" cried Norton. "Who did?" + +"Judy." + +"Judy!" echoed Norton. + +"I _thought_ I didn't do it," said Matilda, forgetting her ice cream; +"but I was so bewildered, and Judy seemed to think it was I--" + +"I saw the whole thing," said David. "It was not you. You were not to +blame at all. Your fingers had unclosed from the plate before hers did." + +"Did she do it on purpose?" said Norton wrathfully, "and let Pink bear +the blame? She shan't bear it two minutes longer!" + +He was rushing away, but Matilda made one spring and planted herself +right in his way. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Set this thing to rights." + +"How?" + +"How? Why by telling the truth." + +"Stop, Norton; there is company." + +"All the more reason. Should you be disgraced before company?" + +"Hush, Norton, stop," said Matilda eagerly, and getting both her plates +in one hand that she might lay hold of him with the other. "You +mustn't, Norton. Don't stir, or you'll make me throw down my ice cream, +and then I _shall_ be disgraced." + +To prevent the possibility of such a catastrophe, David took the plates +from her, and Matilda grasped Norton with both her little hands. + +"I'm going!" he said. + +"No, you aren't." + +"I am, I tell you, Pink. I'll not stand by and allow it. I'll expose +Judy and clear you, before everybody, this minute." + +"Stop, Norton. You can't do it. Listen to me. You mustn't." + +"Now is the very time." + +"You mustn't do it at all. I'll tell mamma. I may do that; but you must +not say one word about Judy to anybody. I shall get mamma to keep quiet +too. You must, Norton." + +"She's right, old fellow, that this isn't the time," said David. +"Grandmamma would stop your argument very short." + +"And you must not say a word, Norton. For my sake! You couldn't prove +anything, Norton, and it would only make mischief and do harm. Let it +alone, and then it is nothing." + +"Nothing!" cried Norton in great dudgeon. + +"Nothing but a little inconvenience to me, and that will be all over by +to-morrow. Promise me, Norton; and then I can eat my ice cream in +peace." + +"You must promise quickly then," said David, "for it is beginning to +melt." + +Norton scolded and grumbled yet, however Matilda saw that she might +take her cake and cream; and she eat it looking at him, and enjoying it +very much. + +"What's the use of being right then," said Norton, "if nobody is to +know it? And you are provoking, Pink! you look just as if nothing was +the matter." + +"Nothing is the matter, thank you," said the little girl. + +"You don't look angry." + +"I don't think I am angry." + +"You ought to be." + +"I think I'm too happy to be angry," said Matilda, finishing her ice. +And she looked so cool that Norton could not keep hot. He and David +took her empty plates away for her; and so ended that day's trouble. +Nevertheless, fruits of it appeared afterwards. + +A little while after this Sunday, Norton sickened with the same fever +Matilda had had. There followed a long, very quiet time, during which +she was much left to herself. Mrs. Laval was in the sick room; for if +she was not a skilled nurse, she was a most affectionate mother; and in +the cases of both her children, she either did herself or watched over +everything that was done. Matilda was not allowed to be with Norton and +help, which she would have liked; it was thought that her strength was +not sufficiently recovered. So the little girl lived in her room; crept +down and up for her meals; was as quiet as a mouse; and endured not a +little mischief from Judy's hands. Judy revelled. She was as full of +life as of mischief, and she made Matilda her butt. The children +generally dining together alone, she had a fair field; for David could +not interpose to prevent Judy's sly provocations. They were too sly, +and too quick and shifting, and too various and unlooked for. Sometimes +she patronized Matilda, as a little country girl; sometimes she +admonished her, very unnecessarily, in the same character; sometimes +Judy took a tone more offensive still and accused her of artful +practices to gain Mrs. Laval's favour. David and others were present; +but they did not always see what was going on; or if they attempted to +put Judy in order, the attempt was too apt to provoke more trouble than +it stopped. Matilda bore a good deal of trial, those weeks; for she was +naturally a spirited child, ready to resent injuries; and besides that, +she was a clever child, quite able to return Judy's sharp speeches. She +said very little to them, however, except what was good-humoured. Her +cheek flushed now and then; sometimes her little head took its old set +on her shoulders, extremely expressive, and equally graceful and +unconscious; the boys would laugh, and Judy toss her own head in a +different fashion. These things gave Matilda a good deal of work in her +own room. She used to hunt out passages that spoke of forgiveness and +kindness and the management of the tongue and the bridling of anger; +and then she used to pray over them, and not once or twice. So Judy +never could prevail much with her. However, Matilda wished for many +reasons that Norton would get strong and well again and Mrs. Laval be +in her old place. As he grew better, she began to be very much in his +room; taking care of him, reading or talking to him, and having very +nice times planning garden for Briery Bank when they should go home. +That would not be early this year, Norton said he was afraid, because +of his school; but at any rate they would run up at the Easter holidays +and set things in train. + +One day Matilda was coming upstairs, after an uncomfortable lunch with +Judy alone. She came slowly, for she was weak yet, thinking that Judy +was a very difficult person to get along with. David had not appeared +at the meal. Just as Matilda reached the head of the stairs at her own +door, he came out of his room. + +"Tilly," said he in a choked kind of voice, "come here! I want you." + +A very odd way for David to speak, she thought; and looking at him she +perceived that he had not his usual calmness and gravity, in face any +more than in voice. He was flushed and agitated, and troubled, it +seemed to her. Matilda obeyed his call instantly and he led the way +into his room and shut the door. Then she waited for him to speak and +tell what he wanted of her; but that seemed to be somehow difficult. +David hesitated, struggling with himself, she could see; yet no words +came. Matilda was too much in awe of him to speak first. David had been +very kind to her lately; but he was older, older even than Norton, and +much graver; and she did not know him so well. She waited. + +As for David, he could hardly speak, or he had great difficulty in the +choice of words. He fidgeted a little, taking one or two turns across +the room, flushed and paled again, then faced Matilda and spoke with +desperate resolution. + +"Tilly, what do you know about--that person--I mean the One you think +so much of, and call your Messiah?" + +Matilda was extremely astonished. "Do you mean--Jesus?" she asked +doubtfully and not a little afraid. + +"Yes--yes. What do you know about him?" + +Matilda hesitated. + +"I know he loves me," she said softly. + +"_Loves_ you! How do you know that? how can you know that?" + +"Because I love him, David; and I know he loves me. He has said so." + +"Said so! I beg your pardon. How has be said so?" + +"In a great many places. And in a great many ways, David. He died for +me." + +"Died!" repeated David again; then controlling his excitement, which +was very great, he again asked Matilda's pardon. "What do you mean by +saying he died for you? for _you_, or anybody? He was put to death by +the Romans, because he set himself up for a king." + +"He didn't," said Matilda eagerly; "not in the way the people said. He +told Pilate himself that his kingdom was not of this world; and he told +the Jews to pay tribute to Caesar. They accused him for envy." + +"Anyhow, he was put to death like any other criminal. Why should you +say he died _for you?_ Have you any reason?" + +"Have you got a Bible here, David?" + +"Not your Bible. I have the Scriptures of Moses and the prophets." + +"Those are what Jesus said told about him. But just let me run and get +my Bible, David; I want to shew you something. I'll be back in one +minute." + +He made no objection; and Matilda rushed out to her own room, threw off +her cloak and hat, dropped down on her knees for one instant to pray +that the Lord would teach her what to say to David; then seized her +Bible and ran back to him. She was almost as excited now, outwardly, as +he seemed; her little fingers trembled as she turned the leaves over. + +"See here, David," she said. "That night, the night of the passover, +you know; the night before he died; he was at supper with the twelve +disciples--" + +"What twelve disciples?" + +"Those who were always with him; they were the apostles afterwards. +Look here. He broke bread and told them to eat it, and said it was his +body broken for them; and then a cup of wine; and this is what he said +about that. See." + +"Read it," said David. + +"'This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the +remission of sins.' Testament is the same word as covenant, Mr. +Wharncliffe says." + +"Covenant!" cried David. + +"Yes. In this other place he says, 'This cup is the new testament or +covenant, in my blood, which is shed for you.' That is the new covenant +that Jeremiah promised." + +"Jeremiah!" cried David again; "what do you know of Jeremiah? Is _that_ +in your Bible?" + +"Certainly it is. Isaiah and Jeremiah, and all of them." + +"But what do you mean about that new covenant? you don't know what you +are talking of, Tilly." + +"O yes, I do, David. Look here; here is the place in Jeremiah; we had +all about this in our lesson last Sunday. Look here, David. 'Behold, +the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the +house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the +covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by +the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they +brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. + +"'But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of +Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their +inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and +they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his +neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they +shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, +saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember +their sin no more.'" + +Matilda stopped and looked up at David. + +"I know all that very well," he replied; "that will be in the days of +Messiah." + +"Jesus said it was then. He said, 'This cup is the new covenant _in my +blood_.'" + +"How could that be? what meaning is there in that?" + +"Why, David,--don't you see? His blood did it." + +"Did what?" + +"Why! bought forgiveness for us, so that God could give us the new +covenant. It is a covenant to forgive us and make us holy for Jesus' +sake. Mr. Wharncliffe was explaining it only last Sunday." + +"I don't want to hear what Mr. Wharncliffe said. Tell me only what you +know." + +"Well, David, I know it's all true." + +"Tilly, how can you?" + +"Why, David,--I know Jesus has taken away my sins; and I think he is +writing his laws on my heart." + +"But Tilly!" David exclaimed with a sort of anxious impatience, "you +don't know what you are talking about. You mean that this--Jesus--was +our Messiah." + +"Yes," said Matilda. "He said he was." + +"_He_ said he was?" exclaimed David. + +"Yes, to be sure he did." + +"But you don't know. The Scriptures of the prophets declare that +Messiah will be a great king." + +"Yes," Matilda answered slowly, looking at him. "Jesus is a great King." + +"No!" said David quickly. "He was crucified." + +"But he rose again, and went back to heaven." + +"They stole his body away," said David, "and made believe he was risen." + +"O no, that was what the priests told the soldiers to say; but we +_know_ he rose again, David, for they saw him--the apostles and Mary +Magdalene, and all of them; over and over again." + +"But the Scriptures say he shall, I mean Messiah, he shall conquer the +enemies of Israel and deliver us." + +"I think that means the _true_ Israel," said Matilda. + +"The true Israel!" said David. "Who are the true Israel? I am one of +them. Abraham's children." + +The boy spoke proudly, defiantly, as if he felt the noble blood of +kings and prophets in his veins, and the inheritance his own. Matilda +found it very difficult to go on. So far she had been able to answer +him, having given attention to her Sunday school teaching and that +teaching having lately run in a course fitted to instruct her on some +of the points that David started. But she did not know what to say now. +She was silent. + +"Look here," said David in the same tone. He seized his Bible which lay +at hand, and turning over the leaves stopped at the prophecy of Daniel, +and read, not after the common English version-- + +"'I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, with the clouds of +the heavens as a son of man was one coming, and unto the Ancient of +Days he hath come, and before him they have brought him near. And to +him is given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, +nations and languages do serve him; his dominion is a dominion +age-during, that passeth not away, and his kingdom that which is not +destroyed.'" David read, and paused, and looked up at Matilda. + +"Yes," said Matilda nodding; "that is just what the angel said about +Jesus." + +"What angel?" + +"The angel that came to tell that he was coming. See, David, +wait,--I'll find it; here it is! 'He shall be great; and shall be +called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the +throne of his father David; _and he shall reign over the house of Jacob +for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end_.'" And in her turn +Matilda looked up at David. + +"But what kingdom has _he?_" David asked, between anxiously and +scornfully. + +"Why, I remember he said, 'All power is given unto me, in heaven and in +earth.'" + +"It don't shew," said David. "Christians are a small part of the world, +and not the strongest part by any means." + +"No, I didn't say they were. I only said Jesus is the King." + +"And I say again, Tilly; you have nothing but words to shew for it. How +is he king?" + +"O but, David, wait; look here,--I'll find the place in a minute or +two--" + +She sought it eagerly, but it took a little while to find any of the +words she wanted. David waited patiently, having evidently much on his +mind. At last Matilda's face lighted up. + +"Here, David; this is what I mean; I was afraid to put it in my own +words. 'And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of +God should come,'--you see they thought as you do;--'he answered them +and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall +they say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is +within you.' That's it, David, don't you see? He is king in people's +hearts." + +"The Messiah is to reign in another fashion than that," David returned. +"The Targum says, 'a King shall arise from Jacob, and Messiah be +exalted from Israel; then he shall kill the great ones of Moab, and he +shall rule over all the children of men;' and 'to him are all the +kingdoms of earth to be subjected.' The Lord will destroy his enemies +who rise to put his people to shame; he will thunder upon them with a +loud voice from the heavens; the Lord shall exact vengeance from Magog, +and from the army of the thundering nations who come with him from the +ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his King, and magnify +the kingdom of his Messiah.'" + +"That isn't out of the Bible, is it?" said Matilda, bewildered. + +"No; it's the Targums." + +"I don't know what the Targum is." + +"It is a book, or books rather, of the words of our wise Rabbis; +explaining the Scripture." + +"I don't know anything but the Bible," said Matilda meekly; "and I +don't know but a little of that." + +"Well, you see, Tilly, that _our_ Messiah is to be King in a grand +fashion, and rule over all kingdoms; and make his people rule with him." + +"O _that's_ like the New Testament!" Matilda cried. + +"What part of it?" + +"I don't know exactly where it is; I'll look; but David, Jesus is going +to reign so by and by, I know." + +"You know!" said David. + +"Yes; for he said so." + +"Who said so?" + +"Why, Jesus. Here--stop!--no, here it is, one place. Listen, David, +just to this. 'And as they heard these things, he added and spake a +parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought +that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.'--That's what you +thought, David." + +"Well, but,--" David began. + +"Just listen. 'He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far +country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.'" + +"What's that?" said David. + +"Why, don't you understand?" + +"No. Not what it has to do with what I was talking about." + +"Why, David, the far country is heaven; and Jesus is gone there until +the kingdom is ready, or till he is ready to take it." + +"You have nothing but words to shew for it." + +"No, of course; but they are God's words, David; so they are true." + +"Take care!" said he, and his dark eye fired and glowed; "you mustn't +talk so. You know I don't believe that." + +"Believe what? + +"That _his_ words are God's words." + +"But don't you remember," said Matilda, to whom the words seemed to +come in her puzzle, to help her out,--"don't you remember in the +Psalms--" + +"The Psalms of David?" + +"Yes, to be sure, the Psalms of David; don't you remember how it +says--Oh, I wish I could find it!--something about 'sitting at my right +hand' till his enemies shall be,--I forget what." + +"I know!" said David with a curious change of countenance; and in his +own book he immediately turned to the place. + +"'The affirmation of Jehovah to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, till I +make thine enemies thy footstool.'" + +"That's it!" cried Matilda. "Jesus is there now, and by and by he is +coming to take the kingdom." + +It did not seem as if David heard her; so deep was his pondering over +the passage he had just read. Little Matilda watched him curiously; his +brow was dark, with what sort of thoughts she could not guess; his eye +sometimes flashed and at other times grew intense with looking into +what he was studying. But what struck Matilda most was the look of +trouble; the expression of grave care upon his lip. He lifted up his +head at last, and his eye met her eye, and he was going to speak; when +the clang of the dinner bell pealed through the house. That day, for +some reason, the children were to dine with their elders. Mrs. Lloyd +was particular about attendance at the minute; David and Matilda parted +with one consent and without another word, to make themselves ready to +go down. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Before Matilda had any chance for more talk in private with David, the +week came to an end; and Sunday afternoon found her in Sunday school as +usual. But not as usual, she had hardly a word or a minute to spare for +Sarah, who was telling of her progress in learning to use a sewing +machine and of her own and her mother's bettered health. Delightful as +it was, and as Sarah's face was, all luminous with grateful and glad +feeling, Matilda through the whole of it was intent upon Mr. +Wharncliffe and his motions; and the instant Sarah had left her she +sprang to his side. + +"Are you busy, sir? can I talk to you?" + +"Talk?" said Mr. Wharncliffe; "then we want some time for it, do we?" + +"If you please, sir; a little." + +"Then we'll talk as we walk. Now, what is it?" + +But Matilda waited, until they were out of hearing of all that they +knew; then in the solitude of the wide avenue she began. + +"Mr. Wharncliffe, I want some advice. I don't just know how to manage +something." + +"Very likely. Let us hear." + +"I want to know how to speak to somebody who does not know about Jesus, +and who wants to know." + +"That often calls for wisdom," said Mr. Wharncliffe; "but I should +think it would not be difficult in your case. You can tell what you +know; what Jesus has done and is doing for you, and what he has +promised to do for everybody." + +"Yes, sir, but it is not _that_. It is somebody who wants to know +whether Jesus is the Messiah?" And Matilda looked up very eagerly in +her teacher's face. + +"Well. When 'somebody' has found out that Jesus is the Saviour, he will +have no doubt that he is the One 'anointed to save.' You know, Messiah, +and Christ, mean simply 'anointed.'" + +"Yes, sir, I know. But--this person--" + +"What of him?" said Mr. Wharncliffe smiling. "Is he a very difficult +person?" + +"Rather," said Matilda slowly; "because--he has never known that Jesus +_is_ the Messiah." + +"My dear child, to know that truly, in the full meaning and scope of +the words, is what no one ever does except by the teaching of the +Spirit of God." + +"_That_ isn't it," said Matilda. "This person--does not know whether to +believe the New Testament." + +"I would not advise you, Matilda, to hold arguments with an infidel, +young or old." + +"O he is not an infidel, sir! He is a Jew." + +"A Jew!" exclaimed Mr. Wharncliffe. + +"Yes. And now, he wants to know whether Jesus is the Messiah." + +"Is he in earnest, or talking for talk's sake?" + +"Oh, in earnest, sir! very much in earnest." + +There came a sudden veil over the clear blue eyes that looked down at +Matilda; then their owner said, + +"I must take you home with me." + +It was not far, down a cross street. Mr. Wharncliffe left Matilda in +the parlour a few moments, and returned with a book in his hand. + +"This is the best I can do for you," he said. "Unless you could bring +your friend to see me?" + +"Oh no, sir! he would not. I don't think he has spoken to anybody but +me." + +"Nobody but you? Has he no one to speak to?" + +"No, sir. Not about this." + +"Well, my child, as I said, this is the best thing I can do for you." + +"What is it, sir?" + +"A first-rate reference Bible." + +"I have got a Bible." + +"I know that. But this has references, which you will find will explain +a vast many things to you. I advise you not to talk much, because you +might not always know just what to say. Do this. Let your friend bring +any word or promise about the Messiah that he knows of in the Old +Testament Scriptures; you find the place in this little Bible, and see +what passages of the _New_ Testament it refers to; see, here are the +words of the Bible on one page and the references to each verse on the +page opposite. You know what these abbreviations mean?" + +"O yes, sir. O thank you, sir!" said Matilda, whose hands had now +received the volume and whose eyes were eagerly scanning it. "I will +take great care of it, sir." + +"I hope you will; but not for my sake. I wish you to keep it, Matilda. +It will be useful to you very often. And I shall want to hear how you +get on." + +He took back the book to put her name in it, while Matilda coloured +high, and could hardly find words to speak her thanks. Her teacher +smiled at her, escorted her to her own door again, and Matilda went in +a happy child. + +She was eager now for another chance to talk with David, and she +fancied he wished for it too; but demands of school on the one hand, +and Norton and Mrs. Laval on the other, for days made it impossible. +For Matilda well understood that the matter was not to be openly spoken +of, and the opportunity must be private when it came. She studied her +new little Bible meanwhile with great assiduity, hoping to prepare +herself for David's questions; however, she soon found she could not do +that. She could only get familiar with the arrangements of her book; +what David might ask or might say, it was impossible to guess. + +Meantime Judy's disagreeable attentions continued. + +"Why do you not eat your soup, Matilda?" Mrs. Lloyd asked one day. It +was Sunday of course; the day when the young folks dined with the old +ones. + +"It is very hot, grandmamma." + +"Hot? mine isn't hot. It is not hot at all; not _too_ hot." + +"It is hot with pepper, I think." + +"Pepper? There is not pepper enough in it." + +Matilda thought that Mrs. Lloyd's palate and her own perhaps perceived +pepper differently. But when the first course was served and Matilda +had taken curry, of which she was very fond, this was again hot; so +sharp, in fact, that she could not eat it. + +"What's the matter?" said Mrs. Lloyd,--"pepper there too?" + +"It is very hot, ma'am," said Matilda, while Judy burst out laughing. + +"Curry always is hot, child," said the old lady. "Why do you take it, +if you do not like it?" + +"I like it very much, grandmamma; only to-day--" + +"It is not any hotter than usual, to-day. You should know what you want +before you take it. You can make your dinner of rice, then." + +The rice was as hot as the rest of it, Matilda thought. She could not +eat; and she was hungry, for she had had a good walk and a brisk lesson +in Sunday school; but the fiery portion on her plate quite baffled her +hunger. She was never helped to pudding or pie more than once; she went +hungry to bed. + +That did her no harm; but it happened again and again that, if not +starved, she was at least disappointed of eating something she liked, +or had something she did eat, spoiled by its seasoning. Very indulgent +as Mrs. Lloyd was about things in general, respecting table manners and +all the etiquette of graceful behaviour at meal times she was +exceedingly particular. She did not allow the young people to make any +ado about what they eat. She gave them liberty enough of choice, but +once the choice made, it was made; and mistakes were at the person's +own risk. So when Matilda's salad was very spicy with cinnamon, or her +ice cream excessively and unaccountably salt, or her oysters seemed to +have been under a heavy shower of red pepper, there was no resource but +to be quiet; unless she would have made a scene; as it was, she got +credit for being fanciful and very dainty. + +Weeks passed before she and David could be alone together; eager and +curious and sympathetic as she was. David did not change; the gloom of +his troublesome thoughts hung over him, she could see, all the while; +though nobody else seemed to notice it. At last, one evening in March, +it fell out that all the family were going to the theatre. Even Mrs. +Lloyd; for some particular attraction was just then drawing crowds to +the nightly spectacle; and Norton and Judy had put in their claim to be +allowed to go, and it had been granted. David was invited, but he +refused without ceremony. Mrs. Laval turned to Matilda; and Mrs. Lloyd +asked graciously if she would like to go? Now Matilda would have liked +very much to go, on one side of the question; yet her answer was a +grateful negative. + +"What's the reason?" said the old lady. "It is no use asking for Davy's +reasons, for they are sure to be immovable; but you, Tilly, what's the +matter with you? Were you ever there?" + +"No, ma'am, never." + +"It'll amuse you, child; come! Judy's going." + +It was difficult to answer; but Matilda remembered words she had heard +from Mr. Richmond, which shewed that he did not think the theatre a +place for a Christian to be amused in; and without in the least +understanding his reasons, Matilda did not dare go. She said, and +truly, that she would rather stay at home; and so it fell out that she +and David were left for a whole evening alone. + +The carriage had driven off; the two came back into the little +reception room where the family usually had tea and spent the evening; +Matilda having slipped upstairs and brought down her two Bibles. David +turned up the gas and looked at her. + +"What have you got there, Tilly?" + +"A book that will help us, I hope." + +"I wish it would help me!" said David, as he sat down and buried his +face in his hands. + +"We've got all the evening to ourselves, if we want it," said Matilda a +little timidly. + +"Yes. They will not be home before twelve o' clock." + +But David did not seem in a hurry to avail himself of his opportunity. +He sat with his head in his hands, and then got up and walked about, +looking dark enough. Matilda waited and watched him, wondering and +anxious. + +"What do you think of Judy?" he said suddenly, coming to a stand +opposite Matilda. + +"I think she likes to amuse herself," Matilda answered, very much +surprised. + +"How do you like her amusing herself at your expense?" + +"I don't like it, David." + +"Why don't you get angry?" + +"I do." + +"So do I, sometimes; but it is your affair. Why don't you speak out?" + +"She wouldn't care, David; it wouldn't make any difference." + +"Judy? No, not with her; but why don't you speak out to grandmamma, or +aunt Zara? They would care." + +Matilda's cheeks flushed, and her eyes even looked a little watery; she +did not answer at once. + +"I don't want to do that, David." + +"Why not?" + +"It wouldn't be returning good for evil, you know." + +"Good for evil! no," said David; "but it would be right." + +"I don't think it would be right," Matilda said gently. + +"Why wouldn't it? Good for evil? that is not the law; and it is not +justice. The law is, 'Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for +tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.'" + +"I don't want to do justice," said Matilda smiling. + +"Why not?" He was observing the little girl closely. + +"I don't know, David; it would be no pleasure. Besides--" + +"Besides what?" + +"Jesus says we mustn't." + +"Mustn't what? Do justice?" + +"Yes. No--not to ourselves sometimes. You asked me what I knew about +him; this is one thing. He says we must not return evil for evil; nor +be angry." + +"You were angry at Judy, though?" + +"Well, for a little while, sometimes. I couldn't always help it; or I +_could_, I suppose, but I didn't." + +"How could you?" said David. "I cannot. When I am angry, I am angry; +and there is nothing to do but wait till I get over it." + +"That's another thing I know about Jesus," said Matilda gravely. "He +takes the anger away." She wished that David would begin upon his +former line of inquiry, now that she had her little book to consult; +but she could not hurry him. David looked hard at her, and then his +gloom seemed to come over him. He sunk his head again; and Matilda +waited. + +"What can you tell me?" he said at last. + +"I don't know. Perhaps, if you would try it, my book would tell you +something." + +"What could it tell me?" + +"Answer some of your questions, perhaps." + +David at last roused to action. He went off upstairs and brought down +_his_ Bible--half a Bible, it looked to Matilda's eyes; and under the +bright gas lights the two sat down to compare notes. + +"I don't know but a part of the things that are said about the +Messiah," said David, turning over the leaves; "but what I do know, +seem to me impossible to be fulfilled in him you Gentiles think the +Messiah. And yet--they said--" + +David stopped, in great perplexity. + +"What are some of those things?" + +"Well, this is one. He is to be of the seed of David; for so Isaiah +prophesied." + +"'And a rod hath come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch from +his roots is fruitful. Rested on him hath the Spirit of Jehovah, the +spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, +the spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah.'" + +"Well, David, Jesus was that. See,--here is the whole list of the names +of the people." And she put in the boy's hands the first chapter of +Matthew. + +"'The son of David, the son of Abraham'!" cried he; but then +immediately became so absorbed in the chapter and in that list of names +which Matilda had always thought very uninteresting, that she could +only watch him and doubt if he would come back to talk with her any +more that evening. + +"But," said David at last, handing back her book, "that is only one +thing. Listen to this. The promise was to David--' I have raised up thy +seed after thee, who is of thy sons, and I have established his +kingdom; he doth build for me a house, and I have established his +throne unto the age.' Where is the throne of--of your Messiah, as you +call him? And see here again, in the Psalms of David-- + + "'I have made a covenant for my chosen, + 'I have sworn to David my servant, + 'Even to the age do I establish thy seed, + 'And have built from generation to generation thy throne.'" + +"What is 'to the age'?" Matilda asked. + +"For ever! Where is the throne of your Jesus?" + +"It is in heaven," said Matilda promptly. + +"But Messiah is to reign on earth." + +"Now listen, David; this is what the angel said of Jesus, when he came +to tell Mary that he should be her son. 'He shall be great, and shall +be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him +the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of +Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.'" + +"Well," said David, "but when? and where?" + +"Here is another place that my book turns to, David; now listen. 'David +himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit +thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.'" + +"Yes, I know, it says so." + +"Well, David, then don't you see he will be up in heaven until the time +comes? Here is another passage--it begins about something else, and +then goes on; 'Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the +dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far +above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every +name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is +to come; and hath put all things under his feet.' And here again--'But +this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat +down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his +enemies be made his footstool.'" + +"When will that be?" said David. + +"I don't know. I don't think it tells." + +"But Messiah is to be a Conqueror," David went on, passing from one +thing to another. It is written,-- + + "'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty, + 'Thy glory and thy majesty! + 'As to thy majesty--prosper!--ride! + 'Because of truth and meekness--righteousness. + + 'And thy right hand sheweth thee fearful things. + 'Thine arrows are sharp, + 'Peoples fall under thee-- + 'In the heart of the enemies of the king.'" + +"Where is that?" Matilda asked, and David told her. She eagerly +consulted her little book, and then cried out, + +"Why it is the very same thing! Look here, David; or just listen, and I +will read. + +"'And I saw heaven opened'--" + +"Stop. _Who_ saw heaven opened? Who said that?" + +Matilda paused. "It is in the Revelation," she said. + +"Yes, but what is that?" + +"I don't know exactly; but I know it is the things that were shown to +John, the apostle, about what is going to be by and by." + +"Who was that John?" + +"Why, one of the apostles, David; one of the twelve apostles, that were +always with Jesus, and went everywhere with him and saw all that he +did. Then after he was gone, they preached to the people, and told what +they had seen and heard." + +"After he was gone where?" + +"Back to heaven." + +"Well--read," said David, with a troubled sigh. + +"'And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on +him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge +and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were +many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew but he +himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his +name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven +followed him upon white horses, clothed in white linen, white and +clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should +smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he +treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And +he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS +AND LORD OF LORDS.'" + +"But he was to be a Prophet, like Moses," said David; "and he was to be +born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah." + +"Well, he was," said Matilda. + +"Then how should he be all _that?_" And the boy's frame shook, as if a +nervous shudder had taken him. + +"Don't you remember the 110th Psalm?" said Matilda after a little more +study. "'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I +make thine enemies thy footstool.' Look at it." + +David did so, in his own Scriptures, and pondered the words a second +time. + +"And this is what the Lord Jesus said about those very words, David. +'While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, +What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of +David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, +saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I +make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is +he his son?'" + +"What did they say?" asked David eagerly. + +"Who?" + +"Those Pharisees. What did they answer?" + +"It says 'no man was able to answer him a word.'" + +Poor David was in the same condition. "Well, go on," he said, between +puzzle and despondency. + +Matilda consulted her references to see with what she should go on; and +then read the three first verses of the epistle to the Hebrews. + +"'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past +unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto +us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also +he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the +express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of +his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the +right hand of the Majesty on high.'" + +"But--but,--" said David looking up, "Messiah was to be born in +Bethlehem of Judah, for so said the prophet Micah." + +"Jesus was born in Bethlehem," Matilda replied. + +"But--he was called the Nazarene," said David with a kind of shiver. +The boy was terribly excited, though he controlled the outward +expression of his excitement as much as possible. + +"He lived in Nazareth," said Matilda eagerly; "that was his home." + +"Then how could he be born in Bethlehem? it's near a hundred miles off, +I think." + +"But don't you know?" said Matilda. "Caesar Augustus ordered everybody +to be--what is it you call it? I forget;--to have their names put down, +in a list of all the families and tribes, so that they might be taxed--" + +"Taking the census?" + +"I don't know; maybe it's that. And so, Joseph and Mary had to go to +Bethlehem to have their names put down there, because it was David's +city, you know, and they were of the house of David. And while they +were there, Jesus was born. But after a while they went back and lived +in Nazareth." + +David looked dark, and eager; he made no answer. + +"And it says in the first chapter of Matthew, David, that the prophet +said, 'they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, +God with us.'" + +"It is true," said David. "So spoke the prophet Isaiah. But how then +did he speak also of Messiah's sufferings? how could that be?" + +"Where, David? and how?" + +The boy turned over gloomily the leaves of the book which he held, and +began to read at the fifty-third chapter. + +"'Who hath given credence to that which we heard? and the arm of +Jehovah, on whom hath it been revealed?'" + +"What chapter is that?" Matilda asked; and he told her. She turned to +the place. + +"'_Who hath believed our report?_' that is it exactly, David. Don't you +see? You do not believe it, and all the Jews do not believe it, when it +is told to them." + +"What?" said David. + +"Why, that Jesus is the Messiah; and all about him. 'He is despised and +rejected of men'--see how it goes on." + +"What does this mean, I wonder," said David as he looked over the +chapter--"'He is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our +iniquities, The chastisement of our peace is on him, And by his bruise +there is healing to us'?" + +"This is what it means, David; 'the Son of man came not to be +ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for +many.' That is in Matthew. And here in Romans--'God commendeth his love +toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much +more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from +wrath through him.' And in Corinthians--'He hath made him to be sin for +us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in +him.' Don't you see?" + +"O hush! stop!" said David; "you bewilder me. Here Isaiah goes on + + "'Each to his own way we have turned, + 'And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him + 'The punishment of us all. + + 'It hath been exacted, and he hath answered. + 'And he openeth not his mouth, + 'As a lamb to the slaughter he is brought--'" + +David stopped again, and Matilda searched for words to answer him, and +presently read, + +"'So Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many; and unto them +that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto +salvation.'" + +"The second time?" said David. + +"Yes; when he comes to take the kingdom, you know." + +David sighed deeply. + +"David," said Matilda hesitatingly, she had been watching for a chance +to say it, "don't you know what Zechariah says about him?" + +"Zechariah?" + +"Yes; the prophet Zechariah. Mr. Wharncliffe says that is a time coming +to your people;--in the twelfth chapter. You can read it best for +yourself in your own book. It begins at the ninth verse--what I mean." + +"This?" said David. + + "'And I have poured on the house of David, + 'And on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, + 'A spirit of grace and supplications, + 'And they have looked unto me whom they pierced, + 'And they have mourned over it, + 'Like a mourning over the only one, + 'And they have been in bitterness for it, + 'Like a bitterness over the first-born. + + 'In that day great is the mourning in Jerusalem, + 'As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon; + 'And mourned hath the land--every family apart; + 'The family of the house of David apart, + 'And their women apart; + 'The family of the house of Nathan apart, + 'And their women apart; + 'The family of the house of Levi apart, + 'And their women apart; + 'The family of Shimei apart, + 'And their women apart, + 'All the families that are left, + 'Every family apart, and their women apart!'" + + +The boy's face grew darker and darker as he read, and he remained +gloomily looking at the page after he had finished. "It looks like it!" +he said at last. + +"Looks like what, David?" Matilda asked timidly. His face was very +cloudy as he lifted it to speak to her, and he spoke with difficulty. + +"They are saying, Matilda,--my uncle, I mean, and the wise ones;--they +are saying, I heard them saying it a few weeks ago, softly, to each +other, that the time must be up; and that if Messiah does not come very +soon--" + +"What then?" Matilda asked, for he had stopped suddenly. + +"Then--they say--it must be, or may be, that he _has_ come!" + +She was astonished at the changes in David's face. It flushed and +paled, his lips quivered, his brows were knit; the dark eyes were like +clouds and fire at once. Evidently there was a struggle going on which +she had no means of gauging. + +"What if he has?" she asked gently. "Would you care so very much?" + +"Care!" exclaimed David, and his expression startled her. +"Care!--whether our Messiah has come, and we have not known him, and +have injured him and rejected him?" + +"But that is just what Isaiah said would be." + +"Don't!" said David. "I can't bear it! If that is true, there will be +such a cry as Zechariah said, and I will begin it. But I don't believe +it, Matilda; it cannot be. I will not believe it." + +He threw down his book and walked up and down the room with folded arms +and a brow black as night. Hardly a boy's action, but neither was it a +boy's feeling which possessed him just then. Matilda looked on, very +sorry, very much awed, and entirely at a loss to know what to say. She +consulted her Bible again and found a passage which she wished to shew +him; but she had to wait for the chance. David walked up and down, up +and down, restlessly. + +"I can't make it out!" he exclaimed. "It confuses me. If _that_ were +true, then all our whole nation have been wrong, all these years; and +we have lost everything; the promise made to Abraham and all." + +"But Jesus will fulfil all the promises," said Matilda gently. + +"To those who disowned him?" David asked almost fiercely. + +"I think he will," said Matilda. "Why the first Christians were some of +those very Jews." + +"How can that be?" said David standing still and looking at her. + +Matilda found the second chapter of Acts and handed it to him. She +thought her own words were best to be few. David looked unwillingly at +her book, but however took it, sat down, and under the light of the gas +burner began to read. Matilda could not help furtively watching him, +and it almost frightened her; the changes in the boy's face were so +quick and strong. He read like one reading for his life; he never knew +that Matilda was watching him; his eyes seemed to pierce the book like +steel lances; and through his parted lips the breath came and went +hurriedly. Matilda thought he never would get through the chapter, he +was so long over it. + +"May I keep this a day or two?" he said at last. Matilda joyfully +assented. + +"I wish I had some one to talk with about this," he said; "somebody who +could answer me, or who could _not_ answer me." + +"Your uncles?" Matilda suggested. + +"They would only silence me." + +"I wish you could see Mr. Richmond." + +"Who's he?" + +"He's a friend of mine, and O, the pleasantest and the nicest man! and +he can answer anybody." + +"Can he?" said David half smiling. "Where does he live?" + +"Up in Shadywalk. I _wish_ you could see him. He could tell you just +everything, and I cannot." + +"You have told me so much, though, that I must know more. What is this +Mr. Richmond?" + +"He is a minister, David. O you would like him." + +"He would be the first, then," said David. + +"He is not the least like Dr. Blandford not the _least_." + +"Maybe there's some chance then. Matilda, don't tell anybody of all +this; it is between you and me." + +"No, David, of course I shall not. Are you going to bed?" + +"I am going up." + +"They won't be home yet for an hour." + +"I don't want to see them when they do come." + +"Nor have any supper?" + +"I don't care about supper. Good night." + +He went off, and Matilda's heart was very tender for him. What could +she do? He had carried away with him the little reference Bible; she +could not look out passages for his help any more. Had they been for +his help? The whole talk looked very confused to Matilda as she +remembered it; and David evidently was in much more trouble than he +shewed. Matilda prayed for better help than she could give, prayed with +all her heart; then found herself very sleepy and went to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +It was a few nights after this, that the children were amusing +themselves in the same little reception room. Esther Francis was with +them, and the elders were with company in the drawing-room. The young +ones had it all their own way; they had taken tea together in what +Norton declared to be a very jolly style; and now in a circle of +sociable dimensions, that is, very much drawn together, they were +talking over a great variety of things. All except David; he hardly +said anything; he looked dark and jaded; nevertheless he listened to +what was going on. + +"I know one thing," said Norton; "I must be off to the country pretty +soon." + +"School term of no consequence"--said David. + +"None at all. You see, bulbs keep no account with schoolmasters; the +only account they keep is with the sun; and how they do that when the +sun don't shew himself, passes me. It's one of the queer things." + +"Find a good many of them, Norton?" asked Esther smiling. + +"Queer things? Lots! Don't you?" + +"Well, I don't know. There are some queer people." + +"_Some_. Just a few, I should think there were," said Norton. "Enough +to keep one from going to sleep with sameness." + +"Well, but I don't find so many," said Esther. "Am I queer?" + +"Not a bit of it?" + +"You speak as if it was an honour to be queer," said the young lady, +bridling her pretty head. + +"An honour? I don't know about that," said Norton. "It certainly may be +said to be a--distinction." + +"Who is queer?" said Esther. "You?" + +"Not he," said David. + +"You know best," said Norton, shaking his curly head. + +"He thinks he has so much else to distinguish him," said Judy, "he can +do without that." + +"Not _your_ case," said Norton, politely nodding at her. + +"Don't depend upon your word," said Judy scornfully. + +"Not at all," rejoined Norton; "it is open to the most hasty observer." + +"Is Matilda queer?" Esther asked laughing. + +"She'd never let the world go to sleep," said Norton contentedly; "at +least, not till all could sleep comfortably." + +They laughed at that, and Matilda as much as anybody. + +"But what did you mean, Norton," she said, "about the bulbs and the +country?" + +"Just what I said. It's the most mysterious thing, the way the roots +down in the earth know when it is time for them to send up their green +shoots. They will do it, too, and when things aren't ready for them by +any means above ground. Spring may be ever so late, and the earth hard +packed with frost, and snow and clouds making you believe it is winter +yet; and there will come the little green shoots pushing up their heads +and telling you _they_ know what time of year it is, better than you +do. How they get up through the frozen earth is more than I know. I +tell you, _they_ are queer." + +"Then you mean something good by being queer, Norton," Matilda said. + +"Don't know about that; they are ahead of the year, you see, and that +don't always do. They have a hard time of it, sometimes." + +"But are you going up to see them?" + +"Yes; pretty soon. The coverings must be taken off the beds, you see; +and I must look after it." + +"I am so glad spring is come again!" said Esther. + +"What for, you?" said Norton. "You don't make garden." + +"No; but I can eat strawberries." + +"Strawberries! O ho, that's it. That's what you want spring for." + +"I am sure strawberries are good, Norton," said Matilda. "Do you +remember how you and I eat strawberries on the bank last summer?--and +made lists?" + +Norton gave her a very intelligent glance of acknowledgment. + +"Lists of what?" Judy asked. + +"Things we were going to have for tea," Norton answered coolly. + +"O no, Norton--they were not," said Matilda. + +"Well, it was something in the housekeeping department." + +"Housekeeping!" cried Esther. + +"What is strange in that?" inquired Norton coolly. + +"Why you are rather young, you and Matilda, to set up housekeeping." + +"Rather," said Norton; "so it was somebody else, you see." + +"O it was for somebody else?" said Esther. + +"When are you going, Norton?" Matilda asked eagerly. + +"Pretty soon; in a week or two more; just as soon as we have a few more +spring days." + +"O how nice the spring days are!" said Matilda. "I am so glad they are +come again." + +"For the strawberries?" Esther asked archly. + +"O no, not the strawberries; but it is so pleasant to see the green +grass again, and the dandelions." + +"Dandelions!" exclaimed Judy. + +"Yes indeed; and the locust blossoms; and the cows going to pasture; +and yellow butterflies skimming about; and the nice warm days; and +pinks and roses." + +"And croquet--" said Norton. + +"O croquet is delicious!" said Esther. + +"_I_ am glad, because I like the driving," said Norton. "It is better +than all the Central Parks in the world. And the fishing is jolly, too; +when you have good sport. It's jolly altogether, at Shadywalk." + +"But Norton, the house is shut up," said Matilda. + +"What about it?" + +"What will you do? you can't manage all alone." + +"Go to Kepple's. That's easy." + +"How long will you stay?" + +"Two or three days. I guess I'll take the Easter holidays--that's just +the thing." + +What was said next for a few minutes, Matilda did not hear; she was +musing so intently; then she broke out,-- + +"O Norton! I wonder if I might go with you?" + +"You? That _would_ be jolly," said Norton. + +"I could go to Mr. Richmond's, you know; and then we could see all +about our tulip and hyacinth beds; and it would be _so_ pleasant!" + +"Well; suppose you do. I'm agreed." + +"Do you think mamma would like it?" + +"We'll coax her into thinking it's a splendid plan," said Norton; "and +that's what it is." + +Matilda's eye went furtively over to David; he met it, but she could +not tell what he thought. Hope and pleasure made her cheeks flush high. +Judy tossed her head. + +"Why don't you ask me?" she said. + +"I haven't asked anybody yet," said Norton. + +"I should like to go too. Will you take me?" + +"Would you like to say what you would do if you got there?" + +"I don't know!" laughed Judy. + +"I do. All the mischief you could manage. No, thank you. I should have +to sit next you at the hotel table." + +"What harm would that do?" said Esther, laughing. + +"I should find mustard in my coffee and pepper in my pudding sauce," +said Norton. "No harm, only rather spoils the coffee and rather hurts +the pudding sauce." + +Matilda looked suddenly at Norton, and so did Judy, but they saw he was +only speaking at random and did not know how close he was coming to the +truth. Then the two pairs of eyes met involuntarily. Judy laughed +carelessly. + +"I'll go, if you go," she said to Norton. "At least, if Matilda goes, +I'll go." + +This time Matilda's and David's eyes met. He smiled, and she took +comfort. + +As soon as a good opportunity could be found, the plan was broached to +Mrs. Laval, and urged by both her children. She demurred a little; but +finally consented, on the strength of Norton's plea that it would do +Matilda good. From this time the days were full of delightful hope and +preparation. Only David lay on Matilda's thoughts with a weight of care +and longing. Once she caught an opportunity, when they were alone, to +seize his hand and whisper, "Oh David, can't you come too, and see Mr. +Richmond?" And he had answered very gravely that he did not know; he +would see. + +Easter fell this year rather late in April; late, that is, for Easter. +Schools were dismissed on Thursday; and Thursday afternoon Matilda and +Norton were to take the cars for Shadywalk. She could not say another +word to David, or about him; she made her happy preparations with a +secret unsatisfied longing running through them all. Judy had made an +earnest endeavour to be one of the party; and Matilda did not know how, +but the endeavour had failed. And now the early dinner was eaten, her +little travelling bag was packed, the carriage was at the door, good +byes were said, and Matilda got into the carriage. At that exact minute +David came out of the house with _his_ travelling bag in hand, and in a +minute more the house door was shut, so was the carriage door, and they +were all three rolling off towards the Station. + +"O David, I'm so glad!" burst from Matilda. "How did you manage it?" + +"Like himself," said Norton; "kept his own counsel and had his own way. +It's a good thing to be Davy Bartholomew." + +"I don't know about that," said David. + +"Don't you? Never heard a doubt on that subject expressed before. But +anyhow, it's jolly to have you along, Davy. Why you've never seen +Shadywalk, nor Briery Bank." + +Matilda smiled a very bright and expressive smile at David which said, +"nor Mr. Richmond either." The smile was so genial and glad and winsome +that it cheated David out of some part of his gloom; or perhaps he +thought it unworthy to shew it before his kind little companion. He +brightened up, and talked about the things that were interesting her +and Norton; and at the station behaved like the manly boy he was; +getting tickets and taking care of Matilda and finding a good place in +the cars where they could all sit together. The moment was so full of +joy to Matilda that it made her sober. Going to see her old haunts and +old friends was a great deal of itself; going on an expedition with +Norton was delightsome; but that David should really be going too, to +see Mr. Richmond, almost took away her breath with gladness. The slow +movement of the cars, beginning to roll away from the station, was +accompanied by a perfect leap and bound of her little heart making an +aerial flight on the instant to the end of the journey. + +The end of the journey, however, had to be reached by the usual +patient, or impatient, stages. Patient in this case, to Matilda. She +was so happy that she enjoyed every foot of the way. The spring +sunlight on the river it was quite delightful to see again; the +different stations on the road were passed with curious recollections +of the last time, and comparisons of herself now and herself then. The +evening fell by the time they reached Poughkeepsie; and shadowy visions +of Maria seemed to occupy all the place while the train stopped there. +Poor Maria! Matilda was glad to have the cars move on, since she could +get no nearer than visions. Then it grew dark; and she sat musing and +dreaming pleasant dreams, till the station of Shadywalk was whistled +for. + +The old omnibus was in waiting, as usual, and it happened that no other +passenger occupied it to-night except their three selves and one cosy +old lady, who "didn't count," Norton said. It was dark; they could not +see the landscape. + +"Briery Bank ought to be worth a good deal," said David, "when it takes +so long to reach it." + +"So it is," said Norton. + +"O it's lovely, David!" cried Matilda. "Not so much now, though, when +the leaves are not out." + +"Are you going to the minister's to-night?" + +"To be sure I am. Mr. Richmond would be very much surprised if I went +anywhere else." + +"Well, when I get the beds uncovered, Pink, I'll come for you; and we +can see what we will do." + +"You'll come with me to-night, Norton?" + +"I'll let Davy see you there, while I make arrangements." + +"What arrangements? O come now, Norton. Mr. Richmond will like to see +you." + +"He can wait till to-morrow, I dare say," replied Norton. "Anyhow, I +can. You will be enough for to-night." + +"What sort of a man is the one you are talking of?" David asked Norton. + +"He's a brick," said Norton, and began to whistle; then interrupted +himself. "But he is Pink's friend, you understand, much more than mine." + +"Some old tutor of yours?" said David smiling. + +"Old! not exactly. Nor a tutor neither, that ever I heard; though he +does teach folks, or tries to. No, you're out, Davy. I tell you, he's a +brick." + +"O we're going over the bridge now, Norton!" Matilda exclaimed. "We're +almost there. Look! I can see lights, can't I?" + +There was no question about it in a few minutes more. Norton got out at +the Shadywalk hotel; and the omnibus lumbered on through Butternut +Street to the parsonage gate and drew up at last before the old brown +door. But it was too dark to see colours. Indeed David had some +difficulty in finding the knocker; and meanwhile the omnibus lumbered +off, while they were not attending. David knocked and knocked again. +Matilda was trembling with delight. + +"There's nobody at home," said David. "It is all dark." + +But at that instant a step was heard in the hall, and the door was +opened. A little light that came from within a door somewhere beyond +revealed nothing except the outline of a figure. + +"Who is it?" said a voice. "My lamp's gone out; I guess it wants a new +wick. Who's here?" + +"Don't you know me, Miss Redwood?" said Matilda's voice, quivering with +pleasure. + +"Don't know anybody without I see 'em. I ain't called to guess who you +be, as I know. Come in, if you want to, and tell your errand. Is it me +or the minister you're after?" + +"Miss Redwood, it's Matilda Laval. And I'm so glad to see you!" said +Matilda, waiving further recognition and throwing her arms round the +housekeeper's neck. "O I'm so glad to see you! Is Mr. Richmond at home?" + +"Tilly Englefield!" exclaimed the housekeeper in her turn. "Wherever +did the child come from? Mr. Richmond?--no, he ain't to home yet, but +he will be directly. Come in, child, and take off your things. Who's +this other one?" + +"My cousin David Bartholomew, Miss Redwood. O David, come in! Don't go, +till Mr. Richmond comes." + +"Yes, come right in," said Miss Redwood heartily. "You're just in time +for tea; for the minister's been out as usual all the afternoon; he had +to ride to Suffield, and he ain't home yet. Come right in here." + +She drew Matilda, and David followed, into the little dining room, +where the lamp shone and the tea table stood looking very hospitable. +David made some proposition of going back to the hotel and Norton; but +Matilda was very urgent that he should not, and Miss Redwood very +positive on the same subject; and to Matilda's surprise David made no +great opposition. He sat down quietly enough. Meanwhile the housekeeper +took off Matilda's wrappings and examined her with her eyes. + +"La! it _does_ look natural to see you!" she broke out. "But you ain't +so little as you was; and, my!--but I suppose it's New York." + +"What's New York?" inquired Matilda laughing. + +"Well, 'taint so easy to tell. I don't know myself. But it's all over +you, from the hair of your head down to the soles of your boots. You +ain't the same you was." + +"Yes, I am, Miss Redwood; just the same!" + +"La, child, you don't _feel_ that you've growed, do you? Folks grow +in'ardly and out'ardly; and they change, too, in'ardly and out'ardly; +and it's other folks that see it, not them." + +"But how do you think I'm changed, Miss Redwood? I am sure you're +mistaken." + +The housekeeper gave another benevolent, keen look at her, smiling a +little, and then went off into her pantry without answering. + +"It's all right I made gingerbread to-day," she said, coming out with a +beautiful loaf of that article. "Have you had any dinner? I'll be bound +you'd like some beef and eggs. Wait a bit, and you shall have it. Mr. +Richmond will be all ready for it too, after his ride. I reckon you +hain't much to do with handling of spiders now?" This with a sidelong +glance at Matilda. + +"No, Miss Redwood; I haven't time for such things." + +"How do ye expect to keep house one o' these days, if you don't know +how?" + +"That's a great way off," said Matilda smiling. + +"Just as it happens," said the housekeeper. "You're eleven or twelve +this summer; which is it? and you won't be any wiser in the kitchen +just by growing older in the parlour." + +"I know some things now, Miss Redwood." + +"La, child, knowledge ain't all; it's practice; and you ain't in the +way to practise much, I can see. That's the fashion now-a-days; young +heads filled full and clever, maybe; and hands as empty and useless as +ever hands kin be. Now I don't believe, for my part, that our hands was +given us to do nothin'." + +"O no, nor I," said Matilda. + +"Well, then, what be your hands learning? See if I'm wrong." + +Matilda cast about how to answer, for in truth her hands had got no new +skill in the past months, although the old skill had come in play very +conveniently. While she hesitated, came the welcome sound of the +opening and closing front door. Mr. Richmond was returned. His steps +went however first upstairs, and then came down and went into the +study. Miss Redwood had disappeared and was getting her beef ready in +the kitchen. Matilda could wait no longer. Taking David's hand and +gently persuading him to allow of her leading, she went to the study +door and knocked. + +Mr. Richmond had just made the fire blaze up; so they had light to see +each other by. David stood by and watched the greeting; it was very +glad and affectionate, he saw, on both sides, with a certain tender +confidence that impressed him. He was surprised also to see that Mr. +Richmond was so young a man and so handsome a man; and when the +brilliant eyes were turned on himself he was quite susceptible to their +fascination. Matilda lost no time. + +"David Bartholomew, Mr. Richmond; one of my new cousins, you know. And +Mr. Richmond,--David knows about the Messiah in the Old Testament, and +he wants to know if the Messiah is Jesus; and so I wanted him to see +you, because you could tell him; and so I got him to come with me." + +If David's shyness was at all disturbed by this speech, it was entirely +soothed again by Mr. Richmond's reception of it, and of him. The +genial, frank clasp of his hand, the kindly, free glance of the blue +eyes, quite won David, as it was apt to win everybody; and in a minute +more he found himself sitting at his ease in this strange house, +perfectly contented to be then, and interested to watch Matilda's +intercourse with her old friend and her pleasure in it. There was time +for but little, however, before Miss Redwood's activity had got the +"beef and eggs" and all the rest of the tea-table in a state of +readiness, and her call summoned them into the other room. David made a +little demur about staying, instantly overruled both by Mr. Richmond +and Matilda, and he sat down with the rest. And if he said little, the +other three tongues were busy enough. + +"And how do you like New York?" inquired the housekeeper. Matilda's +answer was very unqualified. + +"'Tain't no better a place than this, is it?" the lady asked rather +defiantly. + +"It is a larger place, Miss Redwood," said the minister. + +"Ain't Shadywalk big enough for a little mite of a thing like her?" + +"I don't know," said the minister. "'Big enough' depends upon what she +wants, or what anybody wants. I knew a man once who said he had seen +everything in the world there was to be seen, and he was quite at a +loss what to do with himself. You perceive the world was not 'big +enough' for him. And another man once wrote, 'My _mind_ to me a kingdom +is.' Difference of taste, you see." + +"That first fellow thought his head was only made to set his eyes in, I +s'pose," said the housekeeper dryly. + +"Seemed to be all the use he had for it," said the minister. + +"But that other man," said Matilda,--"was he contented with himself all +alone, and wanted nothing else?" + +"I hope not," said Mr. Richmond smiling. "That's a new view of the +case. Your king David hit the truth more surely," he went on addressing +David, "when he said, 'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.'" + +David's eye brightened; but then he said, + +"I have read the words, but I never understood exactly what he meant." + +"Your people, you remember, on taking possession of the promised land, +had it divided to them by lot; each tribe and family took its share as +it was portioned out to them by Joshua." + +"Yes, I know," David answered. + +"So from that time each family had its own inalienable lands, which +were the inheritance of that family; its portion and riches; for the +Hebrews were not in those days a commercial people." + +David assented, looking a little surprised. + +"What should a man mean, who declared, disregarding all this, that his +portion and inheritance was the Lord himself?" + +The boy's keen, intelligent eyes looked deep into the intent blue ones +regarding him. + +"Sir, I do not know," he said at length. "Was it, that he expected the +Highest would give him greater possessions?" + +"Notice, he says not his inheritance is _from_ the Lord, but is the +Lord himself." + +"I don't understand it," said David. + +"In another place, when he was nearly done with earthly possessions, he +says again, 'My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of +my heart and my portion for ever.' It is an inheritance that exists +beyond time, you see." + +"I don't understand it, sir," David repeated. + +"And in that sixteenth psalm he goes on to declare his content in his +portion, in that it is not of earth. 'The lines are fallen unto me in +pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' There is a word in the +New Testament that explains it," Mr. Richmond went on, looking keenly +at David; "a word of one who was in the same case; and he says of the +children of God, 'And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint +heirs with Messiah.'" + +David started and shivered, as if a nerve had suddenly been touched; +but Mr. Richmond went on to something else, as if he had not observed +it. All through supper time he was so gentle, pleasant, and spirited +too in his talk, that the boy who was unaccustomed to such society felt +the charm holding him; and Matilda who had not known it for long, felt +like a flower opening to the sunshine. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +After tea Mr. Richmond led the way back to his study. The first thing +he did there was to make the fire blaze up merrily; and then, just as +David was thinking how to take leave, the blue eyes came full round +upon him, with a look as bright as the fire shine. + +"And so," he said, "you are seeking after your Messiah?" + +David seemed tongue-tied; he said nothing; he bowed slightly. + +"How far have you got?" + +"Far enough to be confused, sir." + +"Ay? How is that?" + +"I feel myself too ignorant yet to be able to judge. Our wise men are +saying--I heard them saying--that if Messiah come not soon, he must +_have_ come." David's colour changed even as he spoke. + +"Do you know anything of the New Testament, the record of the life and +teaching, and death and resurrection, of Jesus?" + +"Very little," David answered. "Matilda has shewn me passages in those +writings--which have struck me very much," he added, as if with +difficulty. + +"I should think they would. Well, when a thing is to be done, the best +way is to do it. Suppose you take the book in your hands now, and let +me direct your attention to one or two things more." + +David was very ready. He took the book Mr. Richmond placed in his hands +and drew near to the table, while Matilda on her part seized another +Bible and did likewise. Mr. Richmond had been lighting the lamp. Before +he had finished his preparations, David began. + +"But that story of the resurrection is a very unlikely one." + +"Do you think so? The same might be said of the crossing of the Red Sea +by your fathers." + +"That is well enough attested by witnesses," said David, proudly +raising his head. + +"So is this. If a thing can be made sure by the testimony of credible +witnesses, this has been; witnesses who were ready to go to the death +in support of their words, and who did so die, many of them." + +"But," said David, "our Messiah was to be the King of our people; and +your Christ belongs to the Gentiles." + +"Thank God he does!" said Mr. Richmond smiling. "But now let us see if +you are correct in that first statement." + +"He was to be a King on David's throne," interrupted the boy. + +"He is. Wait. Do you remember, in the promise to Abraham it was said +that all the families of the earth should be blessed in him?" + +"Yes." + +"And Isaiah declares, 'In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, +which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it _shall the +Gentiles seek_.'" + +"Yes, but they will come to Messiah; not the Messiah go to them," said +David, lifting his head with the same air again. + +Mr. Richmond answered in words of Isaiah. "'Behold my servant, whom I +uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit +upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' And again in +the forty-ninth chapter--and Master Bartholomew, you know that these +words were spoken of Messiah--'And now, saith the Lord that formed me +from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though +Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the +Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing +that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and +to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light +to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the +earth.'" + +Matilda looked eagerly at David as these words were finished; the boy's +face was troubled and dark. He made no answer. + +"Now let us see how those words were to be fulfilled," Mr. Richmond +went on. "It is a hard reading for you; but we are seeking the truth, +and you are seeking it. The apostle John, one of the servants and +witnesses of Christ, says, 'He came unto his own, and his own received +him not.'" + +David looked up with a white face. "If that is true"--he said. "I just +want to know whether that is true!" + +"You know Isaiah said it would be true. 'Who has believed our report?' +'He is despised and rejected of men;... we hid as it were our faces +from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.'" + +"Some of the rabbis held that there were two Messiahs," David said. + +"Because they knew not how to understand of one the various seemingly +contradictory things, which were and are all fulfilled in Jesus." + +"Of _Nazareth_," said David. + +"Yes, he lived there; but he was born in the city of David. Come, you +do not know him, and it is needful you should. Let us read this first +chapter of John all through." + +They read slowly, with many interruptions. David had explanations to +ask, and then there were prophecies to consult. The boy's eagerness and +excitement infected his companions; the reading began to take on a sort +of life and death interest, though Mr. Richmond kept it calm, with some +difficulty. + +His next proposition was, that they should go through the life of +Christ regularly; and they began with the first chapters of Luke. +Nothing that Matilda had ever known in her life was like the interest +of that reading. David was startled, curious, excited, as if he were +beginning to find the clue to a mystery; though he did not admit that. +On the contrary, he studied every step, would understand every +allusion, and verify every reference to the Old Testament scriptures. +The boy's cheeks were flushed now, like one in a fever. The hours flew. + +"My boy," said Mr. Richmond, laying his hand on David's open book, "we +cannot finish what we want to do this evening." + +David looked up, pushed his hair off his face, and recollected himself. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said. "I have taken up a great deal of +your time." + +"You shall have a great deal more," said Mr. Richmond smiling; "but we +had better sleep upon it first. And pray," he added soberly. "Pray, +that if this Jesus is indeed He whom you seek, you may know him." + +David bowed silently, feeling too much apparently to say anything. +When, however, he would have taken leave, Mr. Richmond detained him and +would not hear of it. Norton, he said, would not miss him; he would be +gone to bed by this time, tired of waiting; and they would send and +invite him to breakfast. To Matilda's surprise, and as well to her huge +delight, she saw that David was won by the influence that had long been +so potent with her, and made no very great opposition. Miss Redwood was +called in to prayers, and after that the little family separated for +the night. + +Matilda thought she surely would not go to sleep soon; but she did, +nearly as her face touched the pillow. So it was not till she awoke in +the morning that she could think over her happiness. It was early yet; +the sunbeams striking the old cream coloured tower of the church and +glittering on the pine leaves here and there. How delicious it was! The +spring light on the old things that she loved, and the peaceful +Shadywalk stillness after New York's bustle and roar. And David +Bartholomew in Mr. Richmond's house! and Norton coming to breakfast! +With that, Matilda jumped up. Perhaps she might help Miss Redwood; at +any rate she could see her. + +Miss Redwood was in full blast of business by the time Matilda's little +figure appeared at the kitchen door. + +"Don't say you're up, and down!" said the housekeeper. + +"Yes, Miss Redwood; I thought perhaps I could help you." + +"Do you wear dresses like that into the kitchen?" the housekeeper +asked, with a sidelong glance at the beautiful merino Matilda had on. + +"I don't go into the kitchen now-a-days." + +"Thought not. Nor you don't never put on a frock fit to make +gingerbread in, now do you?" + +"I don't think I do." + +"Well, what are your gowns good for, then?" + +"Good for?" said Matilda; "why, they are good for other things, Miss +Redwood." + +"I don't think a gown is worth much that is too good to work in; it is +just a bag to pack so many hours of your life in, and lose 'em." + +"Lose them how?" + +"By not doin' anythin', child! What's life if it ain't busy?" + +"But don't you have company dresses, Miss Redwood?" + +"I don't let company hinder _my_ work much," said Miss Redwood, as she +shoved a pan of biscuits into the oven of the stove. "What do you think +'ud become of the minister?" + +"O yes!" said Matilda laughing; "but then, you see, I haven't got any +minister to take care of." + +"Maybe you will, some day," said Miss Redwood with a kind of grim +smile; "and if you don't know how, what'll become of you? or of him +either?" + +It seemed a very funny and very unlikely supposition to Matilda. "I +don't think I shall ever have anybody to take care of but mamma and +Norton," she said smiling. + +"I s'pose they've money enough to make it easy," said Miss Redwood. +"But somehow--that don't seem to me livin'." + +"What, Miss Redwood?" + +"That sort o' way o' goin' on;--havin' money do all for you and you do +nothin'. Havin' it do all for your friends too. _I_ don't think life's +life, without you have somebody to work for; somebody that wants you +and that can't get along without you." + +"O _they_ want me," said Matilda. + +"Maybe; but that ain't what I mean. 'Tain't dependin' on you for their +breakfast in the morning and their tea at night, and their comfort all +day. You have folks to do that. Now I wouldn't give much for life, if I +couldn't make nice light biscuits for somebody and see that their +coffee was right and the beefsteak just as it had oughter be, and all +that. I used to have some one to do it for," said Miss Redwood, with +something of pathetic intonation in her voice;--"and now," she added +cheerily, "it's a blessin' to do it for the minister." + +"I should think it was," said Matilda. + +"There is another friend one may always work for,"--said the voice of +the person they were speaking of. Both his hearers started. The door of +the dining-room was a little ajar and he had quietly pushed it open and +come in. "Miss Redwood, how about breakfast? I have a sudden summons to +go to Suffield." + +"Again!" said the housekeeper. "Well, Mr. Richmond--in two minutes. La, +it's never safe to speak of you; you're sure to know it." + +"I didn't hear anything very bad," said the minister smiling. + +Norton had come to breakfast. David made his appearance looking pale +and heavy-eyed, as if he had sat up half the night. Mr. Richmond looked +at him attentively but made no remark; only to both the boys he was +exceedingly kind and gracious; engaging them in talk that could not +fail to interest them; so that it was a gay breakfast. David was not +gay, indeed; that was rarely a characteristic of his; but he was +gentle, and gentlemanly, and very attentive to his host. After prayers +Mr. Richmond went out into the hall and came back in his overcoat. + +"My boy," he said, laying his hand affectionately on David's shoulder, +"I should like to sit down with you and go on with our reading; I meant +to give the first of the morning to it; but I have a call of duty that +takes me away. I shall see you at dinner or this evening; meanwhile, +this is your home. Take care of him, Matilda." + +So Mr. Richmond went away. Norton had received, and refused, a similar +invitation. David did not refuse it. + +"No," said Norton, "I must be nearer those flower-beds. Come along, +Pink; we'll go and make our calculations. Davy, you'll come and see +Briery Bank? it's jolly, this morning; and this afternoon we'll go take +a drive." + +"I should like to do a great many things," said Matilda; "only there'll +never be time for them all. However, we'll go first and see about the +tulips and hyacinths." + +David went with them so far and looked at the place; but after that he +disappeared. Matilda and Norton had a delightful day, overseeing the +garden work and arranging for more garden work to be done; then +lunching together at the hotel, for so he persuaded her, and going on +with their operations afterwards. At tea time Matilda went back to the +parsonage alone; Norton said he was tired and sleepy and did not want +to hear reading, but he would come to breakfast again. + +David was not pale but flushed now, with excited eyes. All Mr. +Richmond's talk and manner at table were kindly and soothing as +possible; and Matilda could see that he liked David and that David +liked him; but the look of the latter puzzled her. It came from +disturbance so much deeper than her little head had ever known. +Immediately after tea the study lamp was lit and the books were opened. + +"What have you read to-day, Master Bartholomew?" Mr. Richmond asked. + +"Just those two chapters," said the boy. + +"Of Luke?" + +"Yes, sir. Mr. Richmond, those people, Zechariah and Simeon and the +rest, they were Jews?" + +"Yes." + +"And they kept the law of Moses?" + +"Faithfully." + +"And--they thought that Jesus was the Promised One?" + +"They did not _think_--they knew, by the teaching of the Spirit of God." + +"But," said David, "the writer of this did not wish to discredit the +law of Moses?" + +"Not at all. Let us go on with our his story." + +The reading began again and went on steadily for some hours. As before, +David wanted to verify everything by references to the prophets. His +voice trembled sometimes; but he kept as close to business as possible. +The first chapters of Matthew excited him very much, with their +declarations of things done "that the scriptures might be fulfilled;" +and the sermon on the mount seemed to stagger the boy. He was silent a +while when it had come to his turn to read; and at last looking up, he +said, + +"If people took _this_ for a rule of life, everything in the world +would have to be turned round?" + +"Precisely," said Mr. Richmond. "And so the word says--'If any man be +in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, +all things are become new.'" + +"Do you think anybody really lives like this?" + +"O yes," said Mr. Richmond. + +"I never saw anybody who did," said David; "nor anything like +it;--unless," he added looking up, "it is Matilda there." + +Matilda started and flushed. Mr. Richmond's eyes fell on her with a +very moved pleasure in them. Neither spoke, and David went on with the +reading. He was greatly struck again, in another way, with the +quotation from Isaiah in the thirteenth chapter, and its application; +indeed with the whole chapter. But when they came to the talk with the +woman of Samaria, David stopped short. + +"'I that speak unto thee _am he_.' Then he said himself that he was +Messiah?" + +"To this woman, to his twelve disciples, and to two or three more." + +"Why not to the whole people?" + +"Is it likely they would have believed him?" + +David pondered. + +"They asked him once the direct question--'How long dost thou make us +to doubt? If thou be Messiah, tell us plainly.'" + +"What did he say?" + +"He said, 'I told you, and ye believed not; the works that I do in my +Father's name, they bear witness of me.'" + +"Then _they_ thought perhaps he was Messiah." + +"The people on one or two occasions were so persuaded of it that they +wanted to take him by force and make him king." + +"And he refused?" + +"He refused. You know, he came 'to give his life a ransom for many;' +not to enjoy worldly honour." + +"But how then should he save Israel from all their enemies?" + +"Who are Israel's enemies? 'He shall redeem Israel from all his +_iniquities;_' and when once they turn to the Lord, there will be no +other enemies that can work them harm. You know it was always so." + +David sighed and the reading went on. But again he started at the +fourth chapter of Luke and the words read by the Lord from Isaiah and +his appropriation of them. David stopped. + +"Here it is again," he said. "'This day is this scripture fulfilled--' +That is plain." + +"Nothing could be plainer. But they would not see it." + +David paused still, and then said with some difficulty, "I want to know +the truth. Because--if he _is_ Messiah,--he is my King!" And a dark +gleam, partly of pain, partly of incipient loyalty, crossed his face. +Mr. Richmond's eyes flashed. + +"Come on," he said; "let us see whether he is Messiah." + +The parables indicating the taking away of their privileges from the +Jews and giving them to the Gentiles, were hard reading. David stopped +to understand them, and looked very black. When they came to the +discourses of Christ with the Jews, David's excitement grew very great, +though he controlled himself. And just there came a summons to Mr. +Richmond which it was impossible to pass by. He was forced to go, and +left the two younger ones at the table. For a few minutes they were +silent; and then David rose up, pale with intense feeling, and took his +book. Matilda looked at him inquiringly. + +"I must find it out by myself," he said; and walked to the door. + +"David!" cried Matilda, "shall I call you when dinner is ready?" + +"No, don't. I don't want dinner. And I can't go with you to look up +Norton. Can you do without me?" + +Matilda assured him of that, feeling quite at home in Shadywalk. And as +it was about eleven o' clock, she thought to look up Norton would be +the best thing she could do. + +So she went down the old village street, where every step was full of +memories, feeling very glad to see it again. She would have liked to +stop and visit several people; but she knew Norton would be impatient +for her; and so he was. He was overseeing the uncovering of his bulbs +to-day. + +"Twelve o' clock, Pink; twelve o' clock! and this is the first I have +seen of you since breakfast. What have you been doing?" + +"We've been busy, Norton." + +"Where's Davy?" + +"At the parsonage. He's busy." + +"Look at those hyacinths,--up already, all of an inch above ground. +It's well I came to see after them." + +"What makes them so yellow, Norton, instead of green?" + +"Why because they've been covered up and shaded from the sun. A little +longer, and they would have been spoiled." + +"How beautiful it would be, Norton, if we had our two new beds planted! +all full of roses and hyacinths." + +"Ah, wouldn't it!" repeated Norton. "You see, we were a bit too late +about it last fall; or, I'll tell you! it was that sickness kept us +away. We'll have 'em next year. What _have_ you and David been doing +yonder?" + +"Reading"--said Matilda doubtfully. + +"Reading what?" + +"Mr. Richmond and David were reading together." + +"That's jolly!" said Norton. "David and the parson! What's come over +Bartholomew? Where's he going to get dinner?" + +"He didn't come with me, and I don't think he was coming." + +"Let him stay and read, then," said Norton. "If he can afford it, we +can. Pink, we'll go and get something presently--as soon as I see all +this mulching off." + +They managed to employ themselves all the rest of the day; dining at +the hotel, overseeing work in the grounds of Briery Bank, roaming about +the place and enjoying its spring sweetness; talking over what they +thought ought to be done; and making a very nice holiday of it +generally. Towards evening Norton was persuaded to return with Matilda +to the parsonage; perhaps urged by a little curiosity of his own. David +had not been seen, Miss Redwood reported. + +Neither did he come when tea-time came; and when sought in his room it +was discovered that he was not there. Matilda was very much exercised +on this subject; but Mr. Richmond took it quietly. Norton declared it +was just like David Bartholomew. + +"I don't think it it, Norton," said Matilda; "for he is always polite." + +"Except this time," said Norton. + +"We'll not except this time, if you please," said Mr. Richmond +pleasantly. "Things are different from their seeming, oftentimes." + +It was Saturday evening, and the minister was busy in his study. The +two children kept Miss Redwood company in the dining room. It was a +great falling off from last evening, Matilda thought; nevertheless she +had a very entertaining talk with Miss Redwood about people and things +in Shadywalk; and Norton listened, half amused and half sleepy. Mrs. +Candy had been absent from Shadywalk near all winter; in New York. + +"In New York!" exclaimed Matilda. "And I never saw her or Clarissa!" + +"She didn't come to see you then," said Miss Redwood. "I guess she was +skeered o' something. But la! New York must be a queer place." + +"Why now?" Norton asked. + +"Seems as if folks couldn't be runnin' round in it all winter long and +manage to keep out o' sight." + +"That's its peculiarity," said Norton. + +"I s'pect a great deal could happen there, and the world not know," the +housekeeper went on. + +"Much more than what it does know," said Norton. + +"I allays think sich must be poor kind o' places. Corners that the +world can't see into ain't healthy. Now I like a place like Shadywalk, +that you know all through; and if there's something wrong, why it has a +chance to get mended. There's wrong enough here, no doubt; but most of +it'll bear the light of day. And most of us are pretty good sort o' +folks." + +"Now that Mrs. Candy is out of town," Norton remarked. + +Matilda had a great deal to hear about Sunday school people, and her +friends in Lilac Lane. For Lilac Lane was there yet, Miss Redwood +observed. Through it all, Matilda watched for David's coming in. But +the evening ended and he came not. + +It hurt a little the joy of her Sunday waking up, which else would have +been most joyous. Norton was in the house this time; he had consented +to be at the parsonage for the Sunday. Monday morning they were all to +go home by the earliest train. So there was no drawback to Matilda's +joy except this one. It was delightful to hear the old bell once more; +delightful to see the spring light streaming between the pines and +lighting the ugly old church tower; pleasanter than any other beautiful +one to Matilda's eyes. With all the coming delights of the day crowding +upon her mind, she rose and dressed, hoping that David would come to +breakfast. + +But he did not. + +The sweet Sabbath day moved on slowly, with its services in the old +church and its pleasant talk and society in the house; the Sunday +school hours; the meeting old friends and acquaintances; but dinner and +Sunday school were over, and nothing was heard of David Bartholomew. + +"What has become of him?" said Mr. Richmond, as he and Matilda came in +after Sunday school. + +"What _can_ have become of him, Mr. Richmond?" said Matilda. + +"Nothing very bad," said Mr. Richmond, smiling at her distressed face. +"Suppose we go and look him up?" + +"Where would you go, Mr. Richmond? he has not been _here_ since +yesterday morning." + +"I think I should try the hotel." + +"Do you think he is there!--Shall we go?" + +"I think we will," said Mr. Richmond; and hand in hand he and Matilda +went down the street, to the corner. Just opposite, a little below, was +the Shadywalk house of public entertainment. + +Nobody knew David Bartholomew there by name. But in answer to Mr. +Richmond's enquiries and description of him, the barkeeper stated that +such a young gentleman had certainly come there the day before and was +in Room No. 45. He had scarcely been seen since he entered the house, +the man said; had refused almost everything that was offered him; but +anyhow, he was there. + +Where was Room No. 45? A man was sent to direct them to it; and Mr. +Richmond and Matilda went up the stairs and along a gallery. No. 45 was +at the end of the gallery. + +"I will wait here for you, Matilda," Mr. Richmond said. "I think you +had better go alone to see him--at first." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Matilda went to the door and knocked. She heard nothing, and was +obliged to knock again. Then the door opened, and David stood before +her. What to say to him Matilda had not just determined, and while she +hesitated he stepped back, mutely inviting her to enter. Matilda went +in and he closed the door. She was afraid to speak when she saw his +face, it was so pale and disturbed. But he prevented her. + +"I have found it out, Matilda," he said. "It's all true." + +Matilda started and looked up at him to see what he meant. + +"I know it now," he said. "He _is_ the Messiah! he is my Messiah; he is +my King But--my people, my people!--" + +Breaking off abruptly with this cry, David sat down at a little table +where he had been sitting,--for his Bible was open upon it,--and put +his head down in his hands and burst into tears. And Matilda had never +seen anybody weep as she saw him then; nor in her childishness had +supposed that a boy could; the little deal table shook under the +strength of his sobs. Matilda was bewildered and half frightened; she +stepped back into the gallery, meaning to summon Mr. Richmond; but Mr. +Richmond was not there; and she went back again, and stood, much +distressed, waiting until this paroxysm of pain should have passed by. +It lasted some time. Probably David had not shed a tear until then, and +speaking to her had broken down the barrier. Matilda did not know what +to do. At last she put her hand timidly among the thick dark curls +which lay lower than she had ever seen them before, and spoke. + +"Dear David! don't,--please don't do so!" + +He heard and heeded the anxious little voice, for the sobs lessened, +and presently he raised himself up and as it were shook them off. But +Matilda thought he looked very sad yet. She waited silently. + +"You see, Matilda," he said, "I understand it all now. And _they_ +don't!" + +"Who don't, David?" + +"My people," he said sadly. "I see it all now. They did not know +him--they did not know him! And so they lost him. You know what he +said,--the kingdom is 'taken from them, and given to another nation, +bringing forth the fruits thereof.' So they are scattered abroad on the +face of the whole earth. And still they don't know him!" + +"But you do, David?" said Matilda earnestly. + +"Tilly, I wish my life was longer, to use it for him. I wish my hands +were stronger, to do his service! But all I am is his, every bit of it, +and all I have; from this day for ever." + +The boy stood, with a kind of sad joyfulness, very quiet, with folded +hands, speaking hardly as it seemed to Matilda, but perhaps to angels +and the Lord himself. + +"Won't you come and tell Mr. Richmond?" + +"Certainly!" he said, starting from his attitude. + +"When we heard nothing of you for ever so long, I grew troubled; I +didn't know what had become of you; and then Mr. Richmond proposed that +we should come here and look after you. You'll come to the parsonage +to-night, David? you know we are all going away to-morrow morning." + +"I'll be ready in two minutes." + +Matilda waited while he washed his face and brushed his hair; then they +went downstairs and found Mr. Richmond. He stretched out his hand to +David, which the boy took with a flitting change of colour that told of +some difficulty of self-command. However in a moment his words were +firm. + +"I have found my Messiah, sir, where you bade me look for him. He is +_my_ Messiah, and my King, and I am his servant. I wish I could be his +servant twenty times over!" + +"Why?" + +"One life is too little to give." + +"You may serve him to the ages of the ages. Service shall not end with +_this_ life, do you think so?" + +Then David lifted up his dark eyes and smiled. Matilda had always known +him a very grave boy; perhaps partly for that reason this smile seemed +to her like a rift of light between clouds, so sweet and bright. It +filled Matilda with so much awe that she did not open her lips all the +way to the parsonage. Nor did Mr. Richmond say much. + +They were in danger of being a silent party at tea, too; only I think +the minister exerted himself to prevent it. Matilda had no words for +anything, and indeed could hardly eat her supper; as often as she +dared, she stole a look at David. For he did not look at all like +himself. He was grave; to be sure that was like him; only now it was a +new sort of high, sweet gravity, even gentle and humble in its seeming; +and if he was silent, it was not that he was not ready and willing to +speak when there was occasion. But Matilda guessed he had too much to +think of to want to talk much. Norton was perhaps a little curious as +to what there was between his three companions; and Miss Redwood was +seldom free with her tongue in the minister's presence. Mr. Richmond, +as I said, had to exert himself, or the silence of the tea-table would +have been too marked. + +They all went to church together. Matilda caught a look of extreme +surprise on Norton's face when he saw that David was one of the party; +but there was no time for explanations then. Little Matilda thought she +had hardly ever been so happy in her life. In the old place, Mr. +Richmond preaching, and David and Norton beside her, one of them there +in heart as well as in person. The singing was sweet, and the prayers +were happy. + +Coming back from church, Matilda and Norton fell a little behind the +others. + +"What's come over David Bartholomew?" Norton whispered. "Politeness?" + +"O no, Norton; not politeness. He will tell you himself." + +"Davy's strong on politeness," said Norton. "I didn't know but it was +that. Politeness took _me;_ but of course, to take Davy, it would have +to be a most extraordinary and uncommon sort of politeness. I can +hardly believe my eyes yet." + +"You always said Mr. Richmond was a brick, Norton," said Matilda. + +"Yes, but you never heard me say David Bartholomew was another, did +you?" + +"Well, but he _is_, Norton." + +"He _is!_ Phew! that's news." + +They came to the parsonage door and Matilda could not reply. Going in, +Mr. Richmond said to them that he had something to talk with David +about, and that they must not sit up if they were tired. So he and +David turned into the study, and Norton and Matilda went on into the +dining-room, where Miss Redwood was sitting with her Bible. Then +David's head was put into the room after them. "Tell Norton for me, +please, Matilda," he said; and went back. + +"Tell me what?" said Norton. + +Matilda did not know how to begin. + +"Well, you've got home," remarked the housekeeper closing her book. +"Was there many out?" + +"Would have been more if you hadn't staid at home, Miss Redwood," +Norton replied. + +"When you're as old as I am, my young gentleman, you'll know that folks +don't do things without reasons." + +"Ah!" said Norton. "But are they always good reasons?" + +"That's their own look out," said the housekeeper. "What did you go to +church for this evening, for instance?" + +"I've just been telling my sister," said Norton. "But what, in the name +of Rabbi Solomon, and all the Rabbis, ever took David Bartholomew +there?" + +"Ain't he a Jew?" said the housekeeper. + +"Of course he is. And he don't love Christians, I can tell you, except +one here and there." + +"He does now," said Matilda in a low voice. + +"What?" said Norton. + +"He loves Christians now, Norton. And he loves Jesus. He is a Christian +himself." + +"David Bartholomew a Christian!" exclaimed Norton. + +Matilda nodded. Her eyes were full and her lips were trembling. + +"I _thought_ there was something to pay," said the good housekeeper, +whose eyes watered for company. But Norton was transfixed with +astonishment. + +"Pink, what do you mean?" + +"It's true, Norton," said Matilda nodding again. + +"What's made him?" + +"He has been studying the Bible and the New Testament this long while. +Now, he says, he knows." + +"And he means it!" said the housekeeper. "I can tell by the look of +him." + +"Means what?" + +"He means what he says--whatever that is." + +"But you said, you were thinking, something in particular, Miss +Redwood." + +"Yes; just what he was thinking," said the housekeeper. "He'll never be +one o' those Christians that stand on one leg at a time; that's what I +mean. Whoever wants to walk alongside of him, 'll have to step up to +the mark." + +Norton looked at her, in somewhat disdainful want of comprehension, and +then turned to Matilda again. + +"Pink, I don't believe a word of it!" + +"Why, Norton, I heard him myself, all that he said." + +"Mind, he may have found out that his famous old uncles of rabbis don't +know anything; _that's_ very likely; but I don't believe David +Bartholomew has given up being a Jew." + +"Why he can't do that, Norton; he's born so; but he is a Christian too." + +"A man can't be a Christian and a Jew too," said Norton. + +"Miss Redwood, can't he?" + +"I reckon it's difficult," said the good housekeeper; "and you may +depend he's found that out; but he's found it's possible too. Why what +'ud become of all the Jewish nation if it warn't possible?" + +"What should become of them?" Norton asked scornfully. + +"Well, there's wonderful things about the Jews in the Bible," said the +housekeeper rising; "if the minister was here he'd tell you. And there +was an old promise to Abraham, that if I was you I wouldn't run +against." + +"Run against a promise to Abraham!" said Norton. + +"Well, yes," said the housekeeper, setting her chair back at the wall +in its place. "I wouldn't like to run against none o' the Lord's words, +and this is one of 'em. 'I will bless them that bless thee, and curse +him that curseth thee.'" + +The housekeeper went off and left Matilda and Norton looking at each +other. Norton wore a vexed face. + +"This is all trumpery," he said. "It will blow away like smoke." + +"No it won't, Norton," said Matilda. "I hope not." + +"And how long have you and David been holding secret meetings together +to talk about this?" + +"I don't know, Norton. But we had better go to bed, I suppose; for Miss +Redwood will call us very early to have breakfast before the omnibus +comes for us." + +"Nonsense to have breakfast!" said Norton. "We shall be home time +enough." + +"But then you and Davy will have to rush right off to school. Good +night." + +"Good night"--said Norton, in an uncomfortable tone. And they went up +to their rooms, leaving David and Mr. Richmond still shut up in the +study. + +It was early, dawn just breaking, when the summons came for them to get +up; the dawn of a fair spring morning. What a visit it had been! +Matilda thought to herself, as she dressed and put up her things in her +little hand bag. And as the first sunbeams were glinting on the top of +the old tower, she ran down to breakfast. Mr. Richmond gave her a very +warm greeting, in his quiet way. So did David. He looked bright and +well, Matilda saw at a glance. Norton had not by any means got over his +discomfiture. He seemed embarrassed as well as uneasy; watched David +with furtive glances, and eat his breakfast in silence. Mr. Richmond +and Matilda were the talkers. + +"Have you had any more difficulties about boots?" he asked in the +course of the conversation. Matilda looked at him in bewilderment. + +"You wrote me some time ago, on the subject of a deep question that had +to do with boots." + +Matilda coloured and laughed, while Norton remarked that boots were a +queer subject for deep questions to have to do with. + +"Deep questions can spring out of anything--out of your bread and +butter," said Mr. Richmond. "How is it, Tilly, about the matter of +boots?" + +"I have hardly thought about it, Mr. Richmond, this long while." + +"How is that?" + +"I have had so much else to think of, I believe." + +"Studies?" + +"No, sir; my studies have been a good deal broken off by my being sick." + +"What then? Can you tell me?" + +Matilda gave briefly the history of her connexion with Sarah Staples. +She meant to give it briefly; but the story was too sweet in the +telling; it rather grew long. Yet she did by no means put herself or +her own doings in the foreground; that place was given as much as +possible to Mr. Wharncliffe and David and the poor family themselves. +The minister and the housekeeper were both very much interested. + +"Yes," said the former, in conclusion, "I understand, and am satisfied. +I see that now boots are boots; and nothing more." + +Matilda laughed, for the boys looked mystified. + +"Will you tell me, sir," inquired Norton, "how deep questions could +spring out of my bread and butter?" + +The minister could have smiled at the boy's air, which had much the +effect of seeming to put a "poser" to him; but he controlled himself +and answered quite gravely. + +"Shall we consider them together? or apart?" + +"Apart, if you please." + +"Well--Bread, you know, daily bread, stands for the matters which +support life, in all variety. This question arises.--Who gives this +daily bread to you, and gives you power to eat it? And what use does He +wish to make of you, that he should give you both?" + +Norton was silent. + +"You are not prepared with an answer?" said the minister. + +"I never thought of the questions before, sir. The second one sounds to +me very strange." + +"Does it? Do you think the Lord had no purpose to serve, in putting you +here and nourishing you up to strength and power?" + +"That's for the bread," said Norton after a pause, but not rudely; +lifting his eyes to the minister as he spoke. "You were going to +consider the bread _and butter_." + +"I think you do not seem disposed to 'consider' anything," said Mr. +Richmond smiling; "but, however, I will hope the time of consideration +may come. Now for deep question Number three, or Number four,--You have +butter to your bread, and plenty of it; what is your duty towards +others who have no butter, and others still who have no bread?" + +"There's the omnibus, Mr. Richmond," said the housekeeper. And there +was no more talk. Only a hurried putting on of hats and seizing of hand +bags; eager, warm, hearty grasping of hands in good bye; and then the +three travellers were in the omnibus and rolling along the parsonage +lane and out at the gate. + +What a visit it had been! Matilda was so full of content that she was +still. Not a very noisy child at any time, she was now as quiet as a +mouse, just with content. Three days of sweet pleasure, three days of +country skies and greening grass and free sunshine; three nights and +mornings of parsonage delights. And more than that; more than all she +had hoped for; David going home with _his_ deep questions solved and +his calls of duty and privilege met. What would they think at home? and +how would they find out about it? "He was one of those lost pieces of +silver," thought Matilda, smiling to herself; "and Jesus has found him!" + +"What's so amusing?" inquired Norton. He was rather in a disordered +state of mind, and certainly seemed to see nothing amusing himself. + +Matilda looked up, still smiling, though her eyes were dewy, and from +him glanced at David. Their eyes met. His smile answered hers, quite +recognizing its meaning. Norton whistled. There was no other passenger +in the omnibus; and he whistled half way to the station. + +In the cars the same content possessed Matilda. It was still early +morning; she thought the river had never looked so pretty as in the +crisp light of that hour; nor the opposite hills so lovely as under +those wreaths of bright vapour which lay along the hillsides; nor ever +was there a blue sky more smiling. She glanced at her two companions. +Norton was not smiling by any means; his discomposure had not gone off, +whatever it might mean; and he eyed David now and then with a jealous, +doubtful expression. David was grave enough, but not as usual. Matilda +looked again and again, to see how different the thoughtful bright calm +of his face was from the old dark gloom that used to be there; and then +her eyes turned to the sunny river and sky and hills, with a glad +feeling of the harmony between things outward and inward. Before long, +David had taken out a little book and was deep in the study of it; +which he never interrupted till they reached Poughkeepsie. There Norton +rushed out, to get something to eat, he said; though Matilda guessed it +was rather to get rid of himself for a minute. Many other people left +the car on the same errand; and David looked up from his book and came +over to Matilda. + +"Well," said he, "how are you getting along?" + +"Nicely. I am so happy, David!" + +"So am I," said he gravely. "All the world is new, and it seems to me I +see the sun shine for the first time." + +"See the sun shine?" repeated Matilda doubtfully. + +"Yes," said he smiling. + +"But you don't look at it, David. You are reading all the while." + +"I see it, though. Now I know what the prophet Malachi meant by the sun +of righteousness. Do you remember, Matilda? I guess you don't; but I +know the words. + + 'And risen to you, ye who fear my name, + Hath the sun of righteousness and healing in its wings.' + +I feel that now. I never could understand it before." + +"There are a great many things that we cannot understand till we feel +them,--are there not, David?" + +"I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. + +Their talk stopped there; and presently the people who had gone out +came pouring back. Norton brought a great piece of sponge-cake to +Matilda. + +"Thank you, Norton, but I'm not hungry, I've just had breakfast a few +minutes ago." + +"You hadn't time to eat." + +"Yes, I had. You spent your time talking, I suppose; you and Mr. +Richmond; that's the reason you are hungry." + +Norton sat down and eat his sponge-cake; and spoke no more till the +train got in. The carriage was in waiting; took the two boys +immediately to school, and carried Matilda and the bags home. + +She wondered all day how and when David's disclosure would be made, and +how it would be taken at home. She had a good many questions to answer +herself, even Judy seeming curious to know what they had been doing and +how they had spent the time, and why they had not come home Saturday; +especially what David had done with himself and why he had taken it +into his head to go at all. Matilda declined to enter into any +discussion of David's affairs, and left him to speak for himself. But +much she wondered how he would, and whether he would, and when he would. + +It happened that evening that there was no company, and the family were +all gathered together in the little reception room; talking over the +children's reports and discussing plans for the coming summer. +Matilda's heart began to beat; for she saw that David was thoughtfully +still, and that Norton, in a corner, only talked by jerks, as it were, +and sat turning over and over one of his school-books, with an odd air +of expectancy. Yes, certainly he knew that David was going to speak, +and was waiting for it. Matilda could think of nothing else; her talk +all came to an end. + +"Norton hasn't much to say to-night," Mrs. Bartholomew remarked. "No +more than if he were my boy." + +"I haven't anything to talk about," said Norton, looking at nothing but +his book. + +"Matilda has lost her tongue too," said Judy. + +"She never had such a one as yours," replied her grandmother; "you must +remember that. It isn't such a loss in the house." + +Judy seemed inclined to pout at this; but then her attention was turned +to her brother, who began rather suddenly. + +"May I speak, grandmamma?" + +"I shall be very happy to hear," said Mrs. Lloyd smiling. + +"I am not so sure of that," said David; "at least, not of you all; +though I really have something to say." + +All eyes turned to David. Norton looked up at him from under his brows, +with a strange expression of curiosity and displeasure. Matilda only +looked away. David hesitated, then went on very calmly and gently. + +"You know, mother and grandmother, that I have been very strong in my +love for my own people, and very strong in my sympathies with them." + +"Is it in the past tense?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. + +"And very fixed in my prejudices against what was not Jewish; against +what in your beliefs was contrary to mine." + +"We all know that," said his mother a little bitterly. + +"Is _that_ in the past tense?" demanded Judy. + +"I joined with my people in expecting the Messiah and hoping for him." + +"Did you?" said his mother. + +"I have changed," said David slowly. "I have been studying these things +for some time past; I have studied and studied; and now I know. Our +Messiah _has_ come; our people did not know him, and--they lost him. I +know now that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah." + +A scream of startled rage from Judy broke in upon the closing +utterances of this speech. She prevented everybody else. + +"You do not mean to say that, David Bartholomew!" she exclaimed, +jumping out of her chair and standing before him. "You don't mean it." + +"Do I ever say what I do not mean, Judy?" he answered gravely. + +"Say it again. Say you have left us and gone over to the Christians." + +"Judy! are you not ashamed!" cried Mrs. Bartholomew. "What do you think +of your mother?" + +"Nothing," said Judy. "I'm not talking of you, mamma. You are neither +one thing nor the other. You are nothing. _Have_ you gone over, David?" + +"You know what I said," her brother answered. "I believe that Jesus of +Nazareth is the Messiah." + +"The Christians' Messiah," said Judy scornfully. + +"Theirs and ours," said David sorrowfully. "Messiah ben David, the King +of Israel." + +"Take that!" said Judy, administering a slap on the cheek which was +heartily delivered. "You are a mean good-for-nothing, David +Bartholomew! and I wish your name was something else." + +All the voices in the room cried out upon Judy except her brother's. +His colour changed, back and forth, but he was silent She stood in the +centre of the room like a little fury. + +"Judy, Judy! Sit down!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. But it was doubtful if +Judy heard. + +"What do you think your uncle Solomon and Rabbi Nathan will say to you, +you mean boy!" she cried. "I am going straight to tell them." + +"I will tell them myself, Judy," said David. + +"And what do you think they will say to you, hey? You deserve all +you'll get. Ugh! What is a Jew who isn't a Jew any longer?" + +"I was going to tell you what I am," said David. "Grandmamma, I had not +finished what I had to say to you." + +"Let him speak, Judy," said Mrs. Lloyd. + +"If the rest is like the beginning, I don't want to hear it," said Judy. + +"You need not hear it," said her mother. "Leave the room, then." + +"I won't!" said Judy. "There is nobody here but me to make him ashamed." + +"I wish something would make you ashamed," said her mother. "Judy +Bartholomew, hold your tongue. Go on, David." + +"Mamma, you don't like all this stuff any better than I do." + +"I choose to hear it out, though," said Mrs. Bartholomew. "Sit down and +be silent." + +"I will--till I get something else to talk about," said Judy, sitting +down as requested. And all eyes turned once more upon David. He was +very quiet, outwardly: he had been quietly waiting. + +"Grandmamma," he said with a slight smile, "I am as good a Jew as ever +I was"--("It's a lie," put in Judy;--"unless the rest was!")--"I am as +good a Jew as ever I was, and _better_. I had studied about the +Messiah, and knew about him, and knew that he was promised--the hope of +Israel, and the King of Israel. Now I know that he has come, and I know +him; and he isn't the Messiah that I am hoping for, but"--he hesitated +and smiled again,--"the Christ I am glad for; the Hope of Israel and +the King, and so my King and my Hope. I have given myself to him to be +his servant. I believe in him--I love him--and all that I am is his." + +Possibly Judy was bewildered by this speech; perhaps she was astonished +into silence; at any rate she sat still and was quiet. Norton tossed +his book over and over. Matilda was in such a tumult of delight that +she could hardly contain herself, but she made a great effort and kept +it from observation. The ladies seemed somewhat in Judy's condition. At +last Mrs. Bartholomew spoke. + +"By your last words, what do you mean, David?" + +"Mamma," he said, "I meant to make them quite plain. I thought it was +right to tell you all. I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." + +"Well, so are we all," said his mother. "What do you mean to do, that +you proclaim it so publicly?" + +"Nothing, mamma; only to follow my Master." + +"Follow him how?" + +"In his own way--obeying his words." + +"But people that talk in that way often go into extremes, and do +ridiculous things--unlike all the world. I hope that is not what you +mean, David?" + +"I don't know, mamma," said the boy gravely. "I will do ridiculous +things if He command me"--and again a flicker of a smile that came like +a flicker of light passed over his face. "The first thing I thought I +had to do was to tell you all; he says his servants must confess him; +and to-morrow I will go to my uncles." The smile had faded and he was +very grave then. + +"And do you know what they will say to you?" + +"I suppose I know," he answered slowly. + +"Is this a very new thing, David Bartholomew?" + +"No, mamma. The _finishing_ of it is new; it has been growing and +preparing for a long while." + +"Like you!" said his mother discontentedly. "Think and think and say +nothing,--and then come out with your mind, when nobody can change it!" + +"And it's all because of her!" Judy exclaimed, starting from her +silence and her seat together, and pointing to Matilda. "_She_ has made +the mischief. David would never have thought of these low ways, if +there had not been somebody to put it into his head. That's what you +get, aunt Zara, by your works." + +"Hush!" said Mrs. Bartholomew sharply. "Matilda has nothing to do with +it." + +"Hasn't she though?" Judy retorted. "Just ask her. Or ask this boy. +Mean little spy! coming into such a house as this to upset it!" + +"Hold on, Judy," cried Norton; "you are going too fast." + +"Keep yourself out of the mess!" retorted Judy with great sharpness; +"there's enough without you. I say, she is at the bottom of it all; and +I wish it was the bottom of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's chariots!" + +"Judy, Judy!" said Mrs. Bartholomew, angry and half laughing--"hold +your tongue and don't be a fool." + +"You've only one of that name among your children, mamma," said the +young lady. "Half's enough." + +"What has Matilda done?" Mrs. Laval asked calmly. + +"She has been doing ever since she came here," Judy answered. + +"What _has_ bewitched you, David, though?" his mother inquired. "There +was nothing of all this when you went to the catechizing?" + +"No, mamma. But the study about that time put me on thinking and asking +questions; nobody could answer my questions; not even our wise men; +until at last I began to ask--where I found the answer." + +"Matilda?" said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"Matilda helped me a great deal." + +"Didn't I say so?" exclaimed Judy. + +"But it was her Bible that answered me--hers and my own." + +"When did she help you?" Norton broke out from his corner where he had +been tossing his book. "You and she are not such particular friends, +that ever I knew." + +"O but I think we are now, Norton," said Matilda. + +"Yes," said David, with a smile. "And she has been _my_ friend for a +good while." + +"Very well," said Norton, returning to his book, which he tossed over +and over with greater exactness than ever. + +"I wash my hands of you, both of you," cried Judy. "You'll be a +religious poke--O mamma! to think that we should have anything +religious in _our_ family. And Matilda always was a poke. Whatever will +become of us, with two of them!" + +"You have more to do with it than you think, Judy," said her brother. +"The way Matilda bore your persecutions was the first thing that made +me want to know about her religion." + +"What persecutions?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked; but nobody seemed ready to +answer her, and she went on--"Judy, you are a fool. David might change +his opinions, surely, without being a poke. My son, you do not mean to +be different from what you have always been,--do you?" + +David hesitated, and said, "I hope so, mother." + +"Different--how?" she asked quickly. + +"I am the King's servant, mamma," he answered with a certain +steadfastness which had much dignity about it. + +"Well, what then? what does that mean?" + +"Then of course I must do the King's commands, mamma." + +"Didn't you always?" + +David's answer was prevented by a fresh outburst of Judy's reproaches +and charges, which lasted till her brother took himself out of hearing; +then silence fell. Norton stopped the book exercise and looked about +him. Matilda's face he had seen by glimpses; he knew it was flushed and +anxious and glad at once. Mrs. Laval and her sister were grave, with +different styles of gravity; one thoughtful, the other vexed. Old Mrs. +Lloyd was in tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The atmosphere of the house was very quiet during several successive +days, as far as Matilda could observe it. The boys were extremely busy +at school; and at home there was no public recurrence of Monday night's +discussion. In private Mrs. Laval questioned Matilda very closely as to +all the particulars of their Shadywalk expedition and all that she had +known for weeks past of David's state of mind. She made no comment on +the answers; and Matilda heard no more about the matter, until Saturday +morning came. Then when they were at breakfast, Mrs. Bartholomew said +in a conciliating tone, + +"David, my son, I don't see any necessity for that communication you +are proposing to make to your uncles." + +"I must go to see them, mamma." + +"Certainly; that is all just and proper; but there is no occasion to +talk to them about your change of views." + +"Then they would believe me what I am not." + +"Well--" said Mrs. Bartholomew; "they would a great deal rather believe +so than know the truth." + +"Would you have liked me to hide it from you, mamma?" + +"I don't know; yes,--I think I should." + +"What would have been your opinion of me by and by, when you came to +find it out?" + +"Just the truth," said Judy languidly. "Nothing can make you more of a +sneak than you are already." + +"One thing," said David firmly. "To get, or try to get, my uncles' +money under false pretences. You know they would never give it to a +Christian." + +"Judy," said Mrs. Lloyd, "another ill-bred word like that, and I send +you from the table." + +"But my dear boy," Mrs. Bartholomew went on, "you said Monday night +that you were as much of a Jew as ever." + +"The poor fellow was afraid of falling between two stools," said Judy; +"so he clutched at 'em both, without thinking." + +"And you are very young; and you do not know what your opinions may be +in a few years more. And in the mean while, I am very unwilling that +you should offend your uncles. _They_ would never get over it." + +"I guess they wouldn't," said Judy. "What a time David will have with +'em!" + +"Don't you see, my dear," pursued Mrs. Bartholomew, "it is unnecessary, +and may be premature, and so unwise?" + +"Mother," said David, evidently struggling with his feelings, "Messiah +has said that he will not own those who do not own him." + +"You'll get nothing out of him, mamma," said Judy. "He is one of +Matilda's crazy kind. He is going to get rid of his money as fast as he +can; and then he will turn chaplain of some jail, I should think; or +else he will get a place as a Methodist parson and go poking into all +the poor places of the earth; and then we shall see his name up in +bills--'Preaching at the cross corners to-night--Rev. David Bartholomew +will speak to the people from a candle box.'" + +David changed colour once or twice, but he said nothing. + +"Matilda Laval," said Judy sharply, "eat your breakfast! He won't want +_you_ to help him preach." + +Matilda wondered privately that the elders were so patient of Judy's +tongue and so very silent themselves. They seemed to have thoughts not +ready for utterance. At any rate the breakfast party broke up with Judy +having the last word, and scattered their several ways; and Matilda +heard no more on David's subject for some time. How the Saturday's work +issued she did not know; nothing was said about it in her hearing; and +David looked as happy and as calm as he had done before Saturday. She +watched him, and she was sure of that. + +One afternoon, it was a Sunday, and the ladies of the family were shut +up in their rooms, resting or dressing, Matilda and David were alone in +the little reception room. It was the hour before dinner; Matilda had +come in from Sunday school and was sitting there with a new book, when +David joined her. He sat down beside her, Matilda knew immediately, for +a talk; and she shut up her book. + +"Matilda, I have been reading about the men with the talents; the five +talents, and the ten talents, you know?" + +"Yes, I know." + +"I am afraid I don't know all my talents." + +"What do you mean, David?" + +"The talents are whatever is given to us to use for God--and that is, +whatever is given to us; for we may use it all for him." + +"Yes, David." + +"Well--that means a great deal, Tilly." + +"Yes, I know it does." + +"And one might easily have talents that one didn't think of; lying by +so, and not used at all." + +"I dare say they often do," Matilda said thoughtfully. + +"I want you to help me, if you can." + +"_I_ help _you?_" said Matilda very humbly. + +"You have been longer in the way than I. You ought to know more about +it." + +"I am afraid I don't, though, David. But I guess Jesus will teach us, +if we ask him." + +"I am sure of that; but I think he means that we should help one +another. What can I do, that I am not doing?" + +Matilda thought a little, and then went upstairs and fetched the card +of covenant and work of the old Band at Shadywalk. She put it in +David's hands, and he studied it with great interest. + +"There is help in this," he said. "There are things here I never +thought of. 'Carrying the message'--of course I needn't wait till I +have finished my studies and am grown up, to do that; it is easy to +begin now." + +"Are you going to do _that_, when you are grown up?" said Matilda a +little timidly. + +"As a profession, you mean. I don't know, Tilly; if the Lord pleases. I +am all his anyway; I don't care how he uses me. What I want to know is +my duty now. Then, Tilly, I have plenty of money." + +"That's a very good thing," said Matilda smiling. + +"What shall I do with it? Do your poor people want anything?" + +"Sarah Staples? O no! they are getting on nicely. Sarah has learned how +to sew on a machine, or partly learned; and she gets work to do now; +and Mrs. Staples is stronger, and is able to take in washing. O no; +they are getting along very well." + +"There must be others," said David thoughtfully. + +"Yes, plenty I suppose; only we don't know them, David! perhaps Sarah +knows or her mother." + +"What if we were to go and ask them?" + +Matilda decided that it was a capital plan; and they arranged to go the +next Saturday afternoon, when David would be at leisure. And the week +seemed long till the Saturday came. + +"Pink," said Norton at their dinner, "I will take you into the Park +this afternoon." + +"O thank you, Norton! But--I can't go. I have an engagement to go to +see Sarah Staples." + +"Sarah Staples! Sarah Staples can wait, and I can't. I have only one +Saturday afternoon a week. It'll be splendid this afternoon, Pink. The +Park is all green and flowery, and it's sure to be full. I'm going just +at the fullest time." + +"I should like to go with you; but I have business, and I can't put it +off." + +"I'll wait, Tilly, if you wish," David said. + +"I don't wish it at all, David. I would rather not wait." + +"O it's _your_ business too, is it!" said Norton. "And Pink would +rather not wait. Very good." + +"It is important business, really, Norton," Matilda pleaded; "it is not +for myself." + +"That's just what proves it of no importance," said Norton. "What is +it?" + +"David and I want to see Mrs. Staples to find out something we want to +know." + +"Might as well ask the Sphinx," said Norton discontentedly. + +"I would just as lief tell you what, Norton; only it is something you +don't care about, and it would give you no pleasure." + +"May as well let 'em go, Norton," remarked Judy, eating strawberries at +a tremendous rate; it was not strawberry time by any means, but these +came from the South. "May as well let 'em go; there's a pair of 'em; +and they'll run, I guess, till they run their heads against something +or other and pull up so; or till they get swamped. _I_ hope they'll get +swamped." + +"What do you mean?" said Norton, gruffly enough. + +Judy nodded her head at him in a very lively way over her strawberries. + +"They are latter-day saints, don't you know? They are going to feed +everybody on custards--not us, you know; we've got strawberries; but +the people that haven't. Matilda's going to make them, and Davy's going +to carry them round; and they're going out to buy eggs this afternoon. +They expect you and me to give 'em the sugar they want." + +"Not so sanguine as that, Judy," said her brother good-humouredly. + +Norton looked very much discomposed; but David and Matilda had no time +to spend in further talking. + +They found Mrs. Staples at home, and Sarah too, as it was Saturday +afternoon. The little room looked cosy and comfortable; for it was very +tidy and very clean, and the mother and daughter were peacefully at +work. The pleasure manifested at sight of David and Matilda was very +lively. Sarah set chairs, and her mother looked to the fire in the +stove. + +"How does the oven work, Mrs. Staples?" Matilda asked. + +"Couldn't be no better, and couldn't do no better. I declare! it's +beautiful. Why after I got my hand in, I baked a pan o' biscuits the +other day; and they riz up and browned, you never see! and the boys was +too happy for anything. I wisht you'd seen 'em, just. They thought +nothin' ever was so good, afore or since. Yes 'm, it's a first-rate +oven; bakes apples too, in the most likely manner." + +"How is the neighbourhood, Mrs. Staples?" David asked. + +"Well, sir, there's nothin' agin' the neighbourhood. They be's a little +noisy, by times; you can't expect they wouldn't; now the sun's warm in +the streets and the children gets out o' their holes and corners. I +sometimes think, what a mercy it is the sun shines! and specially to +them as hain't no fire or next to none. I often think the Lord's more +merciful than what men is." + +"Do you think it is men's fault then, other men's, that such poor +people haven't fire to keep them warm?" + +"Well whose should it be, sir, if it wouldn't?" + +"Might it not be the people's own fault?" + +"Sartain!" cried Mrs. Staples, "when the money goes for drink. But why +does it go for drink? I tell you, sir, folks loses heart when they +knows there ain't enough to make a fire and buy somethin' to cook on +the fire; and they goes off for what'll be meat and fire and +forgetfulness too, for a time. And that's because of the great rents, +that people that has no mercy lays on; and the mean little prices for +work that is all one can get often, and be thankful for that. It's just +runnin' a race with your strength givin' out every foot o' the way. And +it's allays the rich folks does it," added Mrs. Staples, not very +coherently. + +"Rich people that give the low wages and put on the high rents, do you +mean?" + +"That's what I just do mean; and I ought to know. If a body once gets +down, there's no chance to get up again, and then the drink comes easy." + +"Do you know of anybody in distress near here, Mrs. Staples?" Matilda +asked. + +"Half of 'em is, I guess," was the answer. + +"But is there anybody you know?" + +"Mrs. Binn's little boy is sick," remarked Sarah, as her mother was +pondering. + +"What's the matter with him?" + +"It's a kind o' waste, they say." + +"Not a fever, or anything of that kind?" inquired David. + +"O no, sir; he's been wasting, now, these three or four months." + +"And they are not comfortable, Sarah?" Matilda asked. + +"There's few is, livin' where those lives," said Mrs. Staples; "and of +course, sickness makes things wuss. No, they're fur from comfortable, I +should say." + +"They haven't anything to give him," said Sarah low to Matilda. + +"Any medicine, you mean?" + +"No, Miss Matilda; nothing to eat, that he can eat." + +"O David!" exclaimed Matilda, "let us go there. Where is it?" + +David inquired again carefully about the sickness, to be sure that he +might take Matilda there; and then they went. Sarah volunteered to +guide them. But how shall I tell what they found. It was not far off, a +few blocks only; in one of a tall row of tenement houses, grim and +dismal, confronted by a like row on the other side of the street. Every +one like every other. But inside, Matilda only remembered how unlike it +was to all she had ever seen in her life before. Even Lilac lane was +pleasantness and comfort comparatively. The house was sound indeed; +there was no tumble-down condition of staircase or walls; the steps +were safe, as they mounted flight after flight. But the entries were +narrow and dirty; the stairways had _never_ seen water; the walls were +begrimed with the countless touches of countless dirty hands and with +the sweeping by of foul draperies. Instinctively Matilda drew her own +close round her. And as they went up and up, further from the street +door, the air grew more close and unbearable; heavy with vapours and +odours that had no chance at any time to feel the purification of a +draught of free air. Poor cookery, soapsuds, unclean humanity and +dirty still life, mingled their various smell in one heavy +undistinguishable oppression. + +"Oh, why do people build houses so high!" said little Matilda, as she +toiled with her tired feet up the fourth staircase. + +"For more rents, Miss Matilda," said Sarah who preceded them. + +"For money!" said Matilda. "How tired the people must be that live +here." + +"They don't go down often," Sarah remarked. + +At the very top of the house they were at last. There, in the end of +the narrow entry-way, on the floor, was--what? A tumbled heap of dirty +clothes, Matilda thought at first, and was about to pass it to go to +the door which she supposed Sarah was making for; when Sarah stopped +and drew aside a piece of netting that was stretched there. And then +they saw, on the rags which served for his bed covers, the child they +had come to see. A little, withered, shrunken piece of humanity, so +nearly the colour of the rags he lay upon that his dark shock of matted +curly hair made a startling spot in the picture. + +"What's the matter, Sarah?" said Matilda in a distressed whisper. + +"This is Mrs. Binn's boy, Miss Matilda, that you came to see." + +"_That?_ Why does he--why do they put him there?" + +"Mrs. Binn's room is so small and so hot. It's there, Miss Matilda; +you'll see it. When she's doing her washing and ironing, the place is +so full of steam and so hot; and there ain't no room for the bed +neither; and so she put Josh here." + +Sarah led the way to Mrs. Binn's room, and Matilda followed her in a +bewildered state of mind. She saw as soon as the door was opened the +truth of Sarah's statements. The attic room was so small that Mrs. +Binn's operations must have been carried on with the greatest +difficulty; impossible Matilda would have thought them, but there were +the facts. One dormer window in the roof was effectually shut up and +hindered from its office of admitting air, by the pipe of the stove +which passed out through the sash. As it was the end of the week, no +washing encumbered the six feet clear of space; but the stove was fired +up and Mrs. Binn was ironing and some clothes were hung up to air. It +was neither desirable nor very practicable to go in; only Matilda edged +a little way within the door, and David and Sarah stood at the opening. + +"What's all to do?" said Mrs. Binn at this unlooked-for interruption, +stopping iron in hand and peering at them between shirts and overalls +hanging on the cords stretched across the room. She was a red-faced +woman; no wonder! a small, incapable-looking, worn-out-seeming woman +besides. + +"This lady has come to see Josh, Mrs. Binn." + +"What does she want of him?" + +"Nothing," said Matilda gently; "Sarah told us how he had been sick a +long while; and we came to see how he was and what he wanted." + +"He won't want anything soon, but a coffin and a grave," said his +mother. Matilda wondered how she could speak so; she did not know yet +how long misery makes people seem hard. "How he'll get them, I don't +know," Mrs. Binn went on; "but I s'pose--" + +Her voice choked; she stopped there. + +"Have you no place to put him but where he is lying?" Matilda asked, by +way of leading on to something else. + +"No, miss; no place," said the woman, feeling of her iron and taking up +another one from the stove. "He'd perish in here, if he wouldn't be +under my feet. An' I must stand, to live." + +"Where do you dry the clothes you wash?" + +"Here. I haven't an inch besides." + +"I don't see how you can." + +"Rich folks don't see a sight o' things," said poor Mrs. Binn; "don't +like to, I guess." + +"Is there not another room in the house that you could have for the +sick boy, or that you could do your washing in and give him this?" + +"Room in this house?" repeated the woman. "I'll tell you. There's nigh +upon three hundred people living in it; do you think there'd be a room +to spare?" + +"Three hundred people in _this_ house?" repeated Matilda. + +"Nigh upon that. O it's close livin', and all sorts, and all ways o' +livin', too. I like my room, cause it's so high and atop o' everything; +but I hear thunder below me sometimes. I wouldn't care, only for the +child," she said in a tone a little subdued. + +"David, what can we do?" said Matilda, in a half despairing whisper. +David edged himself a little forward and put his question. + +"What does the doctor say about him?" + +"Doctor!" echoed Mrs. Binn. "Did you say doctor? There's no doctor has +seen him. Is it likely one would walk up to this chimbley top to see a +poor boy like that? No, no; doctors has to be paid, and I can't do +that." + +"What do you give him to eat? what does he like?" + +"What does he like!" the woman repeated. "He don't like nothin' he has, +and he don't eat nothin'. 'Tain't 'what we like,' young sir, that lives +in these places. Some days he can't swaller dry bread, and he don't +care for mush; he'll take a sup o' milk now and then, when I can get +it; but it's poor thin stuff; somethin' you call milk, and that's all." + +"Good bye," said David. "I'll bring him something he will like, +perhaps. I hope we haven't hindered you." + +"I don't have so many visits I need quarrel with this one," said the +woman, coming to her door to shew them so much civility; "Sarah +wouldn't bring anybody to make a spectacle of me." + +They cast looks on the poor little brown heap in the corner of the +entry, and groped their way down stairs again. But when they got out +into the street and drew breaths of fresh air, David and Matilda stood +still and looked at each other. + +"I never knew what good air meant before," said the latter. + +"And even this is not _good_," replied David. + +"How does he live, that poor little creature, with not one breath of +it?" + +"He doesn't live; he is dying slowly," said David. + +"Oh David, what can we do?" + +"We'll think, Tilly. I'll carry him some grapes presently. I fancy he +wants nothing but food and air. We will contrive something." + +"I wonder if there are any other sick children in that house, Sarah?" +Matilda asked. + +"I can't say, Miss Matilda; I don't know nobody there but Mrs. Binn; +and we used to know her before she moved there. Do you want to know of +anybody else in trouble?" + +"Do you think of somebody else?" + +"Not a child," said Sarah; "she's an old woman, or kind of old." + +"Well; who is she?" + +"She's Mrs. Kitteredge; her husband's a brick mason. Mother used to +know her long ago, and she was a smart woman; but she's had a deal o' +pulling down." + +"What does she want now, Sarah?" + +"It's too bad to tell you, Miss Matilda; you've done so much for us +already." + +"Never mind," said David; "go on; let us hear." + +"Well"--Sarah hesitated. + +"Is she sick too?" + +"No, she ain't sick; she has been." + +"What then?" + +"I don't feel as if I had no right to tell you, sir; you and Miss +Matilda. I spoke before I thought enough about it. She ain't noways +sick; but she has had some sort o' sickness that has made her fingers +all crumple up, like; they have bent in _so_, and she can't straighten +'em out, not a bit; and if you take hold of 'em you can only pull 'em +open a little bit. And it hurts her so to do her work, poor thing!" + +"Do what work?" + +"All her work, Miss Matilda--same as if her hands was good. She washes +and irons her clothes and his, and cooks for him, and makes her room +clean; but it takes her all day 'most; and sometimes, she says, she +gets out o' heart and feels like sittin' down and givin' up; but she +never does, leastways when I see her. I go in and make her bed when I +can; that's what she hardly can do for herself." + +"I should think not!" said Matilda. + +"She can't lift her hands to her head to put up her hair; and she +suffers a deal." + +"Is she so very poor too, Sarah?" + +"No, Miss Matilda, it ain't that. He gets good wages and brings 'em +home; but he's a pertiklar man and he expects she'll have everything +just as smart as if she had her fingers." + +"Then what can we do for her, Sarah?" + +"I don't know, ma'am;--I was thinkin', if she could have one o' them +rollers that wrings clothes--it tries her awful to wring 'em with her +hands." + +"A clothes-wringer! O yes," cried Matilda. + +"What is that?" said David. + +"I will shew you. Thank you, Sarah; it was quite right to tell us. +We'll see what we can do." + +But after they had parted from Sarah the little girl walked quite +silently and soberly homeward. David stopped at a grocer's to get some +white grapes, and turned back to carry them to the sick child; and +Matilda went the rest of her way alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +David was busy with his books all the evening, and Matilda, however +much she wished for it, could get no talk with him. The opportunity did +not come before Sunday evening, when they were all at tea in the little +reception room. Then David took his cup and his piece of cake and came +to Matilda's side and sat down. + +"Dr. Berger has been to see that little boy," he said. + +"Has he! And what does he say?" + +"Says nothing ails him but want." + +"Want?" Matilda repeated. + +"Want, of everything. Specially, want of food--food good for anything; +and of air." + +"Want of air!" cried Matilda. "I don't wonder at it. I felt as if I +should be unable to breathe if we staid there much longer. And I was +strong and well. Just think, to anybody sick!--" + +"He says, if he could be taken into the country he would begin to get +well immediately; and he asked Mrs. Binn if she had friends anywhere +out of the city." + +"What did she say?" + +"Said her father and mother and her aunt were all dead long ago; and +that he hadn't a friend in the city or out of it. And she gave up work +then for a minute or two, and sat down with her apron over her head; +the only time I have seen her stop work at all. I think it was her +apron, but I don't know; she hid her face in something. But she didn't +cry, Matilda; not a drop." + +"What can we do, David?" + +"I took him some grapes, you know." + +"Yes. Could he eat them?" + +"Had no sort of difficulty about that." + +"What can we do, David?" Matilda repeated anxiously. + +"I have thought of this. We might pay the woman for a week or two as +much as she gets by her washing and let her take him into her room and +put down her fire and make him comfortable. She cannot open her window; +but we can send them a decent bed and some clean coverings and some +good things to feed the fellow with. I spoke to Mrs. Binn about giving +up her washing; she said she couldn't afford to lose her customers. She +might manage it for a week or so, though." + +"And then? A week or two would not cure him, David?" + +"I doubt if any time would, in that air. Perhaps we can get him out +into the country by the end of the week or two." + +"Oh, David!"--Matilda exclaimed after a few minutes of perplexed +thinking. What more she would have said was cut short. They had been +speaking very low, but those last two words had come out with a little +energy, and Judy caught them up. + +"O David, what? You have been plotting mischief long enough, you two; +what are you up to? Grandmamma, make them tell. Matilda is making a +fool of David. I wish you'd stop it." + +David looked up and over towards Mrs. Lloyd with a frank smile. + +"He don't look much like it," said the old lady composedly. "What are +you afraid of, Judy?" + +"Grandmamma, the whole house is getting on end," said the young lady, +who was not always choice in the use of her words. "David and Matilda +are busy contriving how to make a big hole in the bottom of their two +purses that will let out the money easy; and Norton's hair is bristling +already with fear." + +"Fear of what, you goose?" said Norton in towering displeasure. "What's +their money to me?" + +"I thought you wanted it," said Judy coolly. + +"Come here, Norton," said David; "come over here and let her alone. +What _are_ you afraid of, old fellow? Come! smooth out your wrinkles +and let us know." + +"I don't know anything about it," said Norton distantly. "You and +Matilda went on an errand yesterday that lets anybody guess what you +are up to to-day." + +"Guess," said David. "Come, sit down here and guess." + +"You are doing what Judy says." + +"Holes in purses?" said David. "Go on; what do you think we are making +the holes with?" + +"Ridiculous stories about poor folks." + +"I'll let you judge how ridiculous they are," said David; and he told +about the sick boy and Mrs. Binn's six foot apartment. Norton's face +would not unbend. + +"Is that the only sick child in New York?" he asked. + +"I am afraid not." + +"Then what are you going to do about the others?" + +"Help as many of them as ever I can," David answered gravely. + +"Go on, and your money will go too. That's what I said," Norton +responded. "Matilda will be only too glad to help you and throw in all +her pennies." + +"How would you like to be sick, old fellow, with no lemons at hand, and +no grapes?" + +"And no wine, Norton, and no sago, and no clean sheets? I know who +likes to have his bed changed often. And no cups of tea, and soda +biscuit, and blancmange, and jelly, and nice slices of toast." + +"What _do_ they have?" Norton asked with some curiosity. + +"Some coarse mush; now and then a piece of dry bread; and water. Not +ice water, Norton; no ice gets up there." + +"Bread and water," said Norton, summing up. + +"And to lie in a corner of the entry, Norton, under the roof, because +there is no room for you in the only room they have; and no open window +ever; and oh, such want of it!" + +"Look here!" exclaimed Norton, seizing upon a diversion, "how came you, +Davy, to take Pink to such a place? I just want to know." + +"Not a place for a Pink, I acknowledge," said David. "I didn't know +myself, Norton, till I got there, what sort of a place it was; or she +would not have gone." + +"Upon my word!" said Norton. "This is what your goodness is up to. +Mamma--" + +"Hush," said David good-humouredly; "she is not going there again, I +tell you. Come here and sit down, and tell us what you think ought to +be done about such a case." + +"The city ought to manage it," said Norton grumly, sitting down however. + +"How shall we get the city to manage it?" + +"I don't know. Davy Bartholomew! you'll never make me understand that +it is our business to look up all the people that want something or +other and give them all they want until our own hands are empty." + +"You are dealing in generals," said David smiling. "Come back to the +particular case. What ought we to do about this?" + +"How came you to know of it?" + +"We were told." + +"Well--there must be poor people in the world," said Norton; "there +always were and there always will be." + +"I suppose so. And the question is, what ought we to do for them?" + +"You can't do much," said Norton. "You can make yourself poor, easy +enough. Then you'll expect Judy and me to take care of _you_." + +"Are you afraid of that, Norton?" said Matilda laughingly. + +"No, Pink, I am not," said Norton; "but you and Davy are just in the +way to get into trouble. There's no bottom to New York mud." + +"Norton," said David, "will you grant that we ought to do in this +matter as the word of God says?" + +"It don't say we are to make fools of ourselves," Norton responded. + +"Yes it does," said Matilda quickly. Both her hearers looked at her. + +"I don't believe it," said Norton. + +"Where?" asked David. + +"I can't tell,--but I know it's there. If I had that little reference +Bible, Davy;--it's up in your room--" + +"Yes, I can get it," said David; "but wouldn't a Concordance be better +for you? I'll fetch one." + +"What are you talking about, children?" said Mrs. Bartholomew, as David +went out of the room. + +"We have got into a knot, aunt Judith," said Norton. "Don't _you_ get +in, or we shall never get out." + +"_Do_ get in, mamma," urged Judy, "or David will be tied up. Matilda +holding one end of the string, and Norton the other, between them +they'll fix him." + +"David is able to cut his own knots, or other people's," said Mrs. +Bartholomew coolly. "What is all this about, David?" + +David had come back in a minute with the Concordance, which he handed +to Matilda. "It's a question of Scripture, mamma," he answered. Mrs. +Bartholomew said "Oh!"--and turned away. But Mrs. Lloyd watched the +group. Matilda was earnestly searching in the pages of the Concordance; +David sat waiting, with a little curiosity; Norton with impatient +defiance. Matilda was busy for some minutes with one page and another; +then, "Here it is!" she said; and looked up. She saw that Mrs. Lloyd's +attention was fixed, and that Mrs. Laval also was listening. She +glanced at Norton, then met David's eyes; and then bent her head over +her book and read. + +"'Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise +in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the +wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.' And then again in the +next chapter--'We are fools for Christ's sake.'" + +How would her various hearers take the words? She would not look up to +see. + +"I am content," said David. + +"With what, Davy my dear?" asked his aunt. + +"Content to be a fool for Christ's sake, aunt Zara." + +"Is there any necessity?" she asked gently. + +"Seems so," said David smiling. "At least, it seems that one must be +judged so, aunt Zara." + +"Can't it be avoided by judicious action, Davy?" + +"Come and see, aunt Zara. Draw up here and join our consultation," said +the boy, with a certain sweet gracefulness which won her to do just +what he asked. She took a chair nearer the group. + +"The question is, aunt Zara, what we ought to do for certain poor +creatures that we know of." + +"Not for _them_," burst in Norton, interrupting, "but for all the rest. +There is no end to the poor creatures! _I_ say, begin as you are to go +on." + +"We must take things as we find them," said David. "There is no end to +the poor creatures; so the question is a big one." + +"What _is_ the question?" said Mrs. Laval. + +In answer to which, David told the story of Mrs. Binn and Josh. + +"There are hundreds of such people!" said Norton. + +"Aunt Zara," said David, "I wanted Norton to agree to submit the +question to the Bible. Isn't that fair?" + +"Ye-s," said Mrs. Laval cautiously; "I suppose it is. But, my dear +Davy, we shouldn't do anything extravagant; the Bible does not require +that." + +"Shall we see what it does require?" + +"Yes; go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "Let us hear what you children can find +about it." + +"Among my people it was the law,"--David began, but his utterance of +the words "my people" was no longer lofty; rather tender and +subdued;--"it was the law, 'When thou dost complete to tithe all the +tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then +thou hast given it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, +and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates and been +satisfied;' and in the feast of booths, the feast of ingathering, the +sojourner, the fatherless and the widow were to share in the rejoicing." + +"The tithe is the tenth," remarked Mrs. Laval. + +"We always give to all the charitable societies," said Mrs. +Bartholomew; "always." + +"Read, Matilda," said David. "I see you are ready." And Matilda read. + +"'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, +do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.'" + +"But, my dear boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"What, mamma?" + +"You don't mean, you cannot mean, that you want to act that out to the +letter?" + +"What does it mean, mamma?" + +"I always thought it meant that we should be considerate of other +people's feelings," said Mrs. Laval; "kind and thoughtful." + +"But the words are very plain," said David. + +"And you think really that we ought to give to everybody else the +things we want for ourselves?" + +"Not that exactly, aunt Zara; only to give them what we would like to +have given if we were in their place; I mean, what we would _have a +right_ to like to have given, if we were in their place." + +"According to that, you would carry to that sick child everything that +Norton and Matilda had when they were sick." + +"Such as?"--inquired David. + +"Fruit, and oysters, and flowers, and tea at three dollars a pound." + +"Tea at three dollars a pound would be lost upon him, for he would not +know the difference between that--and I suppose--lower priced tea. What +_can_ you get good tea for, aunt Zara?" + +"Tea good for him,--for a dollar, and twelve shillings." + +"Tea good for anybody," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I have had it good enough for +anybody, for a dollar fifty?" + +"The other things," said David, returning to his aunt, "why shouldn't +he have them, as well as we, aunt Zara?" + +Mrs. Laval was dumb, I suppose with astonishment as well as the +inconvenience of finding an answer; and before anybody else began +again, Matilda's soft voice gave forth another verse. + +"'Blessed is he that considereh the poor; the Lord will deliver him in +time of trouble.'" + +"Of course," said Mrs. Laval; "we _do_ consider the poor." + +"Let the child go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I want to hear all she has to +bring." + +Matilda went on with Job's declaration. + +"'If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the +eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and +the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was +brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my +mother's womb;) if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any +poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were +not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand +against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine +arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.'" + +"Who said that?" demanded Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"Job." + +"I don't see what he has to do with us," said the lady, moving her +rosetted slipper impatiently, and so making a soft little rustle with +the lilac ruffles of her silk skirt. + +"The old fellow had no business to swear, anyhow," said Norton. + +"Swear!" said Judy. + +"Something very like it," said Norton. + +"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd,--"if you have anything more." + +"Yes, grandmamma." + +"What is David trying to prove?" asked Mrs. Laval. + +"We are only trying to find out what the word of the Lord would make us +do, aunt Zara." + +The two younger ladies looked annoyed; however silence was restored, +and Matilda began again. + +"'He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath mercy on +the poor, happy is he.'" + +"Do we despise anybody?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked. No one answered at +first. + +"_I_ do," said Judy. "Just two or three." + +"'He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which +he hath given will he pay him again.'" + +"You see," said David, "the Lord reckons it his own affair. These are +Messiah's poor people; we are his stewards." + +"How much are you going to give them, on that principle?" his mother +inquired. + +"I don't know, mamma." + +"But speak!" she said impatiently. "You _do_ know what you mean to do; +you have it all mapped out already in your head, I know." + +"I don't know how much I shall give, mamma. Whatever I think they want +more than I do." + +"You might wear homespun, and eat bread and water, at that rate." + +"Mamma," said Judy, "we are very wicked to wear silk dresses. And just +think of your lace shawl, mamma! And grandma's." + +Matilda waited, and when nobody carried on the talk and the silence +waited for her, she went on with Isaiah's beautiful words. + +"'Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of +wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go +free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the +hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? +when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not +thyself from thine own flesh?'" + +"What is 'loosing the bands of wickedness'?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Now-a-days, grandmamma, I should say it was breaking up the killing +rents and starving wages, and the whole system of tenement houses; for +one thing." + +"Why what do you know about it, Davy, boy?" + +"Not very much, ma'am; but I have seen a little, and the doctor I went +for told me a good deal." + +"Davy's growing elegant in his speech, as well as modest," said his +sister. "He has 'heard a good deal,' but he 'don't know much.' O Davy, +why don't you make better use of your opportunities!" + +"Very unprofitable opportunities, I must say," remarked his mother. "I +have no idea that such a boy has any business with them, or anything to +do in such places. And what does he know about wages and systems of +business?" + +"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I am afraid, my dear, David is +right. I have heard the same things from others. Go on, Matilda." + +"'Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or +a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, +nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a +recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, +the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they +cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the +resurrection of the just.'" + +Matilda read these words, with a quick remembrance of the time when she +had read them in the company of her two little schoolmates, and the +discussion that had ensued thereupon; curious what their reception +would be now. It was stormy. + +"The idea!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"That would make a finish of society at once," said Mrs. Laval. + +"But what do the words mean?" asked Mrs. Lloyd. "There they are. They +must mean something." + +"Something!" echoed Mrs. Bartholomew. "Just imagine, that we are to +gather in a company of cripples round our dinner table! Send out and +ask all the forlorn creatures we can find, and feed them on game and +sweetbreads. It looks like it!" + +"And give up entertaining our friends," added Mrs. Laval. + +"What friends do we entertain, aunt Zara?" David asked. "You do not +care much for most of them." + +"You are a ridiculous, absurd, fanatical boy!" said Judy. "What +nonsense you do talk!" + +"Nonsense that would make an end of all civilization," said Mrs. Laval; +not quite logically. + +"But do you care much for these people you invite?" David persisted. + +"Not singly," Mrs. Laval admitted; "but taken together, I care a great +deal. At least they are people of our own rank and standing in society, +and we can understand what they talk about." + +"But what do the words mean?" Mrs. Lloyd asked. + +"Why mother," said Mrs. Bartholomew, "you have read them a thousand +times. They mean what they always did." + +"I don't think I ever raised the question till this minute," said Mrs. +Lloyd. "In fact, I don't think I knew the words were there. And I +should like to know now what they mean." + +"Grandmother," said David, "isn't it safe to conclude they mean just +what they say?" + +"Then we should never ask anybody to dinner!" cried his mother. + +"And we should never have a party again," said Judy. + +"Society would be at an end," said Mrs. Laval. + +"And we should fill our house with horrid wretches," cried Judy, "and +have to take up our carpets and clean house every time." + +David was silent while these various charges were eagerly poured out. +Norton looked at him a little scornfully; Matilda anxiously; but he was +only sorrowfully quiet, till his grandmother turned to him with her +question. + +"What _would_ you do, Davy?" + +"He'd do anything absurd and ridiculous," said Judy; "the more the +better. He is just fit for it. What's the use of asking him, grandma?" + +"I would like to hear, my dear, if you will let him speak. I would like +to know what the words say to you, Davy." + +"Grandmother," said David thoughtfully, "it seems to me the words +forbid that we should ask people just that they may ask us;--or do +anything of that sort." + +"But society would fall to pieces," said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"I never heard of the strictest Christians refusing to do polite things +in that way, when they can," added Mrs. Laval. + +"But what do the words say?" David answered. "And then, I think, the +Lord meant to forbid our making expensive entertainments for anybody, +_except_ those who can't give us the same again." + +"Then we may ask our friends," said Judy, "only we mustn't give them +anything to eat. And of course no wine to drink. I wonder if we might +light the gas? It is expensive, when you burn enough of it. Such +meanness!" exclaimed Judy with concentrated scorn. + +"You would put an end to society," repeated Mrs. Laval. + +"What would be the use of having a fine house and large rooms and +beautiful things," asked her sister, "if nobody was to see them?" + +David cast his eyes round the room where they were, and smiled a little. + +"What _do_ you mean?" asked his mother sharply. + +"I was thinking, mamma," said David; "I couldn't help thinking." + +"Go on, David," Mrs. Lloyd said. + +"Well, grandmamma, if one took the money to give poor people a good +time, it would not be necessary at all, as Judy supposed, to have them +brought into our dining room." + +"But don't you think people are meant to be sociable, and see their +friends? We are not intended to live alone." + +"Surely not," said Mrs. Laval. + +"Grandmamma, and aunt Zara," said the boy, "I believe I would like to +look after Messiah's friends first; and then do what I pleased with my +own." + +"Do you mean that all those low, miserable people are His friends?" +cried Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"He is their friend, mamma; it comes to the same thing; and some of +them are his very own; and he has given us the charge to take care of +them. And his words seem to me very plain." + +"He's a ruined boy, mamma!" said Judy. + +"I _hope_ he'll grow out of it," said his mother. + +"May I read one place more, grandmamma?" Matilda asked. + +"I hope it's the last," said Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"I like to hear them," said Mrs. Lloyd. + +"Read, Matilda." + +Matilda read, her voice trembling a little. + +"'Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed +of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation +of the world; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, +and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and +ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye +came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when +saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? +When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed +thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? + +"'And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, +Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, +ye have done it unto me.'" + +There was no remark made by anybody following upon this reading. The +circle broke up. With dissatisfied faces the ladies and Judy and Norton +withdrew their several ways. David presently went off too, but Matilda +had noticed that _his_ face was as serene as summer moonlight. She was +gathering up her books to go too like all the rest, when to her great +surprise Mrs. Lloyd came beside her and drawing her into her arms +bestowed an earnest kiss upon her uplifted wondering face. Then they +both went silently upstairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The peace of the house was gone. Not, indeed, that quarrelling took its +place; there was no quarrelling; only an uncomfortable feeling in the +air, and looks that were no longer pleased and pleasant. Mrs. +Bartholomew wore a discontented face, and behaved so. Judy was +snappish; not a new thing exactly, but it was invariable now. David was +very quiet and very sober; however in his case the quiet _was_ quiet, +and the soberness was very serene; all the old gloom seemed to be gone. +Norton, Matilda thought, was cross; and she failed to see the occasion. +Even Mrs. Laval looked uncomfortable sometimes, and once remarked to +Matilda that it would be pleasant to get back to Shadywalk. And Matilda +loved Shadywalk and Briery Bank, but she was not ready with a response. +She tried to be very busy with her studies, and hoped that things would +work clear by and by. Once she had the curiosity to ask Norton how +David was getting on at school? + +"Well enough," Norton answered shortly. + +"Do the boys like him better?" + +"Better than what?" + +"Why, better than they used to?" + +"I don't know. _I_ don't." + +"Why not, Norton? O why don't you?" + +"No accounting for tastes," Norton replied, rather grumly. + +"Does David study well?" + +"Yes. He always did." + +Norton might have said that David was walking into everything and +through everything; but he did not say anything of the kind. And sundry +other questions that trembled on the tip of Matilda's tongue, only +trembled there, and never got any further. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Binn was not forgotten. + +"It's worth anything," David said to Matilda one day that week, "to see +the fellow eat strawberries." + +"Strawberries! O did you take strawberries to him!" cried Matilda. "And +he liked them?" + +"You could almost see the red of the strawberries getting up into his +cheeks. He's not quite so far as that, though. Like them! He raised +himself half up and lay on his elbow to eat them. Think of that! You +should have seen the fellow. Spoons were no go. He just forked them in +with his fingers." + +"Does he lie in the entry yet, David?" + +"No. His mother has got him into her bit of a room, and the wash tub is +where he was. I do think we might get him into the country next week, +if there was any place he could go to. He's like another boy, with a +bed under him and clean things and food that he can eat. I do believe +he was starving to death. Sick folks can't get along on dry crusts, or +even mush--plain, without butter or molasses," said David smiling. + +"David, I have thought of something." + +"What is it? Something to help us out of the difficulty?" + +"I don't know. See what you think. You heard Miss Redwood and me +talking of Lilac lane, and people that live in it?" + +"I heard nothing of Lilac lane; never did, till this minute." + +"O you were in the study with Mr. Richmond. It is a place in Shadywalk +where some very poor people live." + +"Well?" said David. + +"But it is a delightful place compared to Mrs. Binn's tenement house. I +know some of the people there, and Miss Redwood knows more; and I was +thinking, perhaps she could find a house where they would take Josh in +and take care of him till he gets well. Miss Redwood could see to him a +little, you know." + +"Why it's a capital idea, Tilly!" cried David. "Did you write and ask +her?" + +"No, but I will." + +"Do, to-day. That's just what he wants. Write, Tilly. I must be off to +my work." + +Nothing stopped David's work, in these days; indeed he never had been +given to playing truant. Matilda pondered the matter a little, and then +wrote a letter to Miss Redwood; upon which letter, when it reached +Shadywalk, the housekeeper and the minister held consultation. The end +was, that after a week Matilda got an answer which said that the poor +family opposite Matilda's old Sally in Lilac lane, the same from whom +she had borrowed the teakettle once upon a time, had room to spare and +would gladly take the sick child in and take care of him, for the +compensation which would be offered. Miss Redwood also engaged herself +to see that proper care was had and proper food given; and in short the +way was clear. + +"That will do," said David when he had read the letter. "Now, the thing +is to get him up there." + +"Is Mrs. Binn willing?" + +"She is one of the willingest persons you ever saw in your life." + +"Well, how will you manage, David?" + +"I don't see any way but to go myself." + +"Go up to Shadywalk, you mean, to take the child there?" + +"Yes." + +"O, David, would you! And could you?" + +"I don't see any other way." + +"But school? will you miss a day?" + +"Can't do that; and can't even give Saturday, so near the end of term. +I'll manage it." + +"How, David?" + +"Go up after school some day, and take a night train down." + +"Is Josh--I mean, has he any clothes fit to travel in?" + +"He has not any fit to sit up in at home. Never mind, I'll manage that, +Tilly." + +"David, you tell me some of the things he wants, and I'll get Sarah +Staples and her mother to make them." + +"Well.--But I'll pay charges, Tilly; I don't believe you've got much in +that little pocket of yours." + +This consultation was private; and in private the new clothes for +Joshua Binn were procured and got ready; very plain and coarse clothes, +for David and Matilda were learning how much there was to do with their +money. All this caused no remark, not being open to it. But when David +took little Josh, wrapped up in an old cloak of his, and drove with him +in a carriage to the station, and took the cars with him to Shadywalk, +there was a general outcry and burst of astonishment and indignation. +David was at breakfast the next morning as usual; and the storm fell +upon him. + +"I wonder how you feel this morning," said his grandmother, half in +displeasure and half in sympathy; for David was a favourite. + +"After travelling all night," added Mrs. Laval. + +"Up to study, Davy?" asked Norton. + +"I am so astonished at you, David, that I do not know how to speak," +began his mother. "_You_--always until now a refined, gentlemanly +boy,--_you_ to turn yourself into a head hospital nurse, and Poor +Society agent! travelling in company with the lowest riff-raff! I don't +know what to make of you. Really, I am in despair." + +"He always was a poke," said Judy; "and now he's a poor poke." + +"It is too bad!" echoed Mrs. Laval; "though _that_ isn't true, Judy." + +"He's a spoiled boy," said Judy. "I wash my hands of him. I hope he'll +wash _his_ hands." + +"The idea!" said Mrs. Bartholomew. "As if there was nobody else in the +world to look after sick children, but Davy must leave his own business +and go nursing them in the cars! I wouldn't have had anybody see him +for a thousand dollars." + +"What harm, mamma?" asked David coolly. + +"Harm?" repeated Mrs. Bartholomew. "Is it _your_ business to take all +sick New York and all poor New York on your hands, and send them to +watering places?" + +"One poor little child?" said David. + +"No matter; what's the use of sending one, if you don't send the other +hundred thousand? Is it your business, David Bartholomew?" + +"Hardly, mamma. But I thought the one was my business." + +"There you were mistaken. There are two or three poor societies; it is +for them to look after these cases. What is the use of having poor +societies, if we are to do the work ourselves? So low! so undignified! +so degrading! just ask any minister,--ask Dr. Blandford,--what he +thinks." + +"David don't care, mamma," said Judy. "David never cares what anybody +thinks." + +"Very wrong, then," said Mrs. Bartholomew; "every right-feeling person +cares what other people think. How is the world to get along? David, I +don't know you any more, you are so changed." + +"Yes, mamma," said David; "perhaps I am." + +"Perhaps you are? Why my patience!"-- + +"Your patience seems to have given out, daughter," said Mrs. Lloyd. +"Come, let Davy eat his breakfast." + +"He's eating it," said Judy. "Nothing will hurt David's appetite." + +"I should think nursing poor folks out of tenement houses might," +observed Mrs. Bartholomew. "It would once." + +"I can't imagine, mamma," said Judy, "how we are going to live together +in future. David isn't our sort any more. Life looks dark to me." + +"If it was anybody but David," said Mrs. Bartholomew, "I should say he +would grow out of it. Any other young fool would." + +"Grow out of what, mamma?" David asked. + +"Grow out of the notion of being an agent of the poor societies. It's +too disgusting!" + +"Mamma," he said, and he said it with such an unruffled face that +Matilda was comforted, "the poor society would not have done what I did +last night. And I am not doing it for the poor societies, but for the +King Messiah. I am His agent; that's all." + +"Where did you get your commission?" Norton asked. + +David hesitated, and then said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do +to you--" + +"But that's absolute nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew. + +"What, mamma?" said David, lifting his eyes to her face. + +"I mean, of course, the words are not nonsense, but putting such a +meaning to them." + +"What meaning do you think belongs to them, then, mamma?" + +"Why," said Mrs. Bartholomew in high dudgeon, "if you are to take them +_so_, then we ought to send our carriage to take poor people to drive, +and we ought to give our grapes and our wine to sick people, instead of +eating them ourselves; and I ought to sell my diamonds and change them +into bread and coffee and feather beds, I suppose; and our silks and +laces ought to go for rents and firing for those who are in want." + +"Well, mother?" said David. + +"Well; is _that_ what you mean?" + +"That's what the words mean, if they mean anything, mamma. I think the +King wants all we have got, to be used in his work; and all mine he +shall have." + +There was no braggadocio, but a sweet steadfastness in the words and +manner which impressed all his hearers; though it impressed them +differently. + +"Mother, what do you think of him?" Mrs. Bartholomew said, apparently +in despair. + +"I don't know what to think, child," said the old lady. "I am puzzled." + +"About me, grandmamma?" asked David. + +"No, boy; I never was puzzled about you, and I am not now." + +"We'll have grandma going over next!" exclaimed Judy, "and +then--What'll be then, mamma? Will this be a hospital, grandmamma? I +shouldn't like to live here in that case, because of the fevers. I +declare, I'm very sorry! Will David be the doctor or the minister, +grandmamma?" + +"Hush, Judy!" said her mother. "Things are bad enough without you." + +"There's one thing, you vexatious boy," said Judy; "your uncles will +give you up." + +"They have done that already," said David quietly. + +"Have they? O have they really, mamma? Then they won't give him their +money when they die! nor me neither. You hateful fellow! to go and make +me poor as well as yourself." And Judy began to cry. "I thought we'd be +so rich, mamma!" + +"Do hold your tongue, Judy," said her mother. "You've got enough, and +David much more than enough." + +But with this the uncomfortable breakfast party broke up. + +"Matilda," said Mrs. Laval when they had gone upstairs,--"I don't know +whether you have done good or harm." + +"She's done no good, mamma," said Norton. "Just look at Davy. And I can +tell you, grandmamma is beginning to read the Bible to herself; I've +seen her at it." + +"But I haven't done anything, mamma," said Matilda. + +"Well, my dear, I don't know who has, then," Mrs. Laval replied. + +And the subject was dropped. But certainly Mrs. Lloyd did begin after +that to ask Matilda now and then, when they were alone, to read to her; +and Matilda found that David did it constantly, by his grandmother's +desire, in her own room. + +The weeks were few now to the time when the household would break up; +Mrs. Laval and her children to return to Briery Bank, Mrs. Bartholomew +and hers for a cottage at Newport. Mrs. Lloyd was accustomed to abide +generally with the latter. All the members of the family were busied +with their various preparations; and the unsettled feeling of coming +change was upon the whole household. Little else was thought of. So +when an invitation came from the mother of Esther Francis, that all the +young ones should join a party of pleasure that were going to spend the +day in Westchester, it was a very unlooked for variety in the general +course of things. Of course they would go. The young people were to eat +strawberries and do everything else that was pleasant, at General +Francis's place. Mrs. Francis was not yet ready to leave town; there +was nobody in possession but the servants; the widest liberty would be +the rule of the day. + +"How nice that the boys are out of school!" said Matilda. "Term just +ended." + +"Of course. Couldn't have the party without the people," said Judy. + +"Will there be a great many, Norton?" Matilda asked. + +"Don't know anything about it. You must ask somebody else. Esther +Francis isn't our cousin." + +"How dry you are," said David. "I know no more about it, Matilda, than +he does." + +"Esther said there would be twenty or thirty," said Judy. "How are we +going? that's what I want to know." + +"Take the Harlem railroad to the station," said Norton, "and drive the +rest. That's the way you always go to General Francis's. Mamma! I'd +like to drive Pink out. It's only thirteen miles." + +"I'm afraid, Norton. I think you had better all go together." + +Norton grumbled a little; however, it was good enough even so. + +The day was the first of June; fresh and sweet as the first of June +should be. The four were in the cars early; and as soon as the train +had got quit of the city, the sights and smells of the country roused +Matilda to the highest pitch of delight. Such green fields! such blue +sky! such delicious air! and such varieties of pleasant objects that +she had not seen for some time! The rush to the station was one whirl +of pleasure; then the pleasure grew greater, for they got into a +carriage to drive across the country. Every foot of the way, though it +was not through a very enchanting landscape, was joyous to Matilda's +vision; and when the grounds were reached of General Francis's villa, +there was nothing more left in this world to desire. For there were +plantations of trees, extending far and wide, with roads and paths cut +through them; over which the young fresh foliage cast the sweetest of +shadow. There were meadows, broad and fair, green and smooth, with a +little river winding along in them, and scattered trees here and there +for shade, and fringes of willows and alders to the sides of the +stream. And at a little distance stood the large old house, with groves +of trees encircling it and lawns before and on one side of it; and on +the side lawn, in the edge of the grove, long tables set and spread +with damask. + +"Dinner already?" queried Norton. "I am hungry enough." + +"Dinner at ten o' clock!" cried Judy. "Breakfast, you mean." + +"Esther, is it breakfast?" asked Norton, as their little hostess came +to them. + +"It is what you like, Mr. Laval," said the little lady; whose pink bows +were not more in style than her manners. + +"Norton is hungry, Esther," David remarked. + +"I hope you are, too." + +"What are you going to give us, Esther?" said Judy eagerly. "We are all +like bears. Strawberries?" + +"We must wait for another carriage. The Grandsons are coming." + +"I wouldn't wait," said Judy. "What's the use? Ten o' clock is late +enough for breakfast." + +"But we shall not have the collation till three." + +"What have you got for breakfast?" + +"Coffee." + +"And strawberries?" + +"Haven't you had any strawberries this year?" + +"Lots; but not in the country, you know, where they grow." + +"And not with such yellow cream as we have got from our dairy." + +"Will you have cream enough for all, Esther?" David asked, as coming +round the house they saw a small crowd of young people collected near +the tables. Esther smiled and bridled, and then there was no more +private talk, but a whole chorus of greetings and questions and +answers. And then another carriage drew up, with the missing Grandsons; +and the party went to breakfast. + +It seemed to Matilda that to eat under the shadow of trees, and on the +carpet of the grass, and with the music of leaves and insects and +breezes, was the very most delightful thing that could be invented. She +was very hungry, no doubt; and Mrs. Francis's excellent cook had made +capital provision for her young mistress; but besides all that, how +pretty it was! The light flickered through the oak leaves upon the +white tablecloths, and gleamed from china and glass and silver in the +most cheery way; it gleamed upon the little river too and upon the +blades of grass on the lawn. Out there the sunshine was full; the eye +went across to the scattered trees and to the further woods on the +other side; a great promising playground it looked. And then the air +was so sweet and fresh. Matilda was not seated very well for her +pleasure; nobody near that she knew very well; nevertheless she eat her +strawberries and cream and devoured rolls and butter with a contented +appreciation of what she had, and an amused observation of what was +around her. + +How were they to spend the day? + +This question received earnest attention as soon as the business of +breakfast was off their hands. + +"Day is pretty well gone already," said Norton consulting his watch. +"It is twelve o' clock. There is not time for anything else but to have +dinner and go home." + +"We do not dine till four o' clock," Esther announced. + +"Four hours," said somebody. "Time enough to get hungry again. I'll +take anybody that wants to go a row on the river; if somebody'll help +me row." + +"Everybody do what everybody likes until three o' clock," said Esther. +"Suppose then, at three o' clock, we all gather in the pavilion and +have games?" + +Unanimous acceptance of this proposal. Then a flutter and division and +scattering of the little crowd. + +Matilda wondered what _she_ would do, or be asked to do. She would have +liked the sail on the Bronx; but so would a good many more. The little +boat was very soon filled with the eager applicants, and David +volunteered to help row it. One of Matilda's friends was thus removed +from her. She turned to look for Norton. He was not to be seen. A +general stampede of the boys to the stables made it supposable that he +was in the midst of the gay little group rushing that way. Matilda +looked around her. The tables were deserted; the little boat had +disappeared up the stream; all the boys were gone; and one or two +groups of girls, unknown to her, were loitering over the grass towards +the house. A flush of vexation and embarrassment came over Matilda. Was +this civility? and what was she to do with herself for three hours to +come? And how disagreeable, to be regarded as of no consequence and no +concern to anybody. Tears swelled in their fountains, but Matilda was +not going to cry. She would not linger alone by the table; she did not +know her way in the house, and besides would not seek those who should +properly seek her; she turned her steps to the little river. The +flowing water had a great charm for her; the bank was smooth and green; +she wandered along till she came to what she called a nice place, where +a young willow hung over and dipped its long branches in, and the bank +offered a soft shady seat. Matilda sat down, and felt very lonely. But +glimpses taken through the trees and shrubbery shewed her nobody near +or far, except the servants; and Matilda resolved to be quiet and wait +for better things by and by. She looked at her watch; it was half past +twelve. I am bound to confess it was a good half hour more before +Matilda could get the better of a desperate fit of disappointment and +vexation. She had not counted upon spending her holiday in this manner; +and slights and unkindness are pleasant to nobody. There is something +in use, however, and more in a quiet mind. The little girl's roiled +feelings at last ran clear again; and she began to enjoy things after +her own fashion. + +The ripple and flow of that water was certainly delicious; it made one +cool only to hear it. She could get down to the brink too and +cautiously dip her hand in. There were little fishes in a shallow +there; their play and movement were very amusing, and Matilda went into +deep speculation about how much they knew, and what they felt, and what +their manner of life amounted to, and how they probably regarded the +strange creature looking down at them. Very much she wondered what they +could eat to live upon. The water plants that grew along the stream had +Matilda's attention too, and the mosses that covered the stones. And +one or two grasshoppers finally proved a great source of entertainment. +She quite forgot to feel lonely, and was taking her enjoyment in a very +harmonious way; when she heard a different swash of the water and the +dip of oars, and the boat shot round a curve and came down the stream. +She watched it, wondering whether its crew would see her. Just opposite +her willow the oars stopped. + +"Is that you, Tilly?" David cried. + +A small "yes" came from the bank. + +"What are you doing there?" + +"O, amusing myself." + +"Where is everybody else?" + +"I don't know." + +"Where's Norton?" + +"I don't know. I think he went to see the horses." + +"Come down to the landing," said David after a moment's pause. + +Matilda nodded, and the boat shot forward again. It had turns to take +following the course of the stream; while she on the land could cut +across points, and she reached the landing place the first. + +The little party landed with cries of pleasure, and the next thing, set +off on a run for the house. David purposely hung back, so that he and +Matilda in a few minutes were behind all the others. + +"Where is everybody?" inquired David. + +"I don't know." + +"What have you been doing all this while?" + +"It was very pretty down by the water, David. I didn't mind;--at least, +not after the first. It was very pleasant there." + +"All alone?" + +"Yes; except the fishes and the grasshoppers." + +"Well--I shall cut out the fishes now." + +David kept his word. A deputation of the boys met them and begged him +to go where the others were riding. David went, but kept hold of +Matilda's hand, though warned that "the girls" were finding other +amusements in the house. Matilda was taken into the meadow where the +boys and the horses were congregated; a safe seat was found for her on +the wall, from whence she could survey the whole field; and though +David took his share in the amusements that followed, riding and racing +with the other boys, he never let her feel herself forgotten or alone; +stopping his horse every now and then in front of her to say something +and find out if she was happy. Matilda was very happy, greatly amused, +and intensely pleased that David had constituted himself her protector. +The hours sped along; the soft June sun was never too hot; the little +white clouds that crossed the sky cast shadows not needed for the busy +pleasure seekers, nor even for the quiet spectator. At last Matilda +heard a shout behind her. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"What _are_ you doing, you boyish girl?" It was Judy, at the head of +the whole bevy of young ones from the house. + +"I didn't know what had become of you, Matilda," said Esther. + +"Come down!" said Judy. "What business have you there? Who asked you to +watch the boys? Why don't you come down? On the wall, too! Esther +didn't invite you there." + +"Esther didn't invite me anywhere," said Matilda, with the old +inevitable set of her head, which said much more than the little girl +knew. Esther felt it, and Judy was incensed. + +"I _would_ be ashamed, if I were you," she said. "Tell the boys, will +you, that we are ready for the games. Call somebody. Shout! now you are +up there, make yourself useful." + +Matilda preferred not to shout. Instead of that, she waved her +handkerchief. David rode up, the message was given. Then Norton came to +help Matilda down from the wall; and soon the whole party gathered in +the pavilion. This was rather more than a summer house; a large saloon, +with windows and glass doors on all sides, furnished with lounges and +easy chairs and tables, with a carpet on the floor, and kept with all +the nicety of the house itself. Warm and tired and happy, the little +company was ready for quiet amusements; and they played games of +various kinds until the gong called them to dinner. That was to have +been the end of the day's entertainment; but a storm had come up while +they were at the table, and the rain fell too abundantly to let anybody +leave the house except those who could go in close carriages. A few +were thus drafted off, belonging to neighbouring families; a goodly +little company still remained who were forced to accept the +housekeeper's hospitalities for the night. That was additional fun +rather than inconvenience, so voted and so accepted. However, as the +day began to close in and a lull fell upon all their pleasure-seeking, +it began to appear that the little people were tired. Naturally; they +had worked hard all day. Voices changed their tone. + +"Oh dear! I wish it wouldn't rain!" cried one young lady, pressing her +face against the window, down the outside of which the streams of rain +drops were running fast. + +"Might as well wish something else, Carrie, while you are about it," +Norton said. + +"I can't!" + +"I wish I was home," said another. + +"Wait till to-morrow, and you will have your wish." + +"But I don't want to wait." + +"Don't you know some new games, Esther?" + +This sort of thing went on for some time till tea and cake made a +diversion, and lights were brought. Then the cry was, "What shall we do +all the rest of the evening?" + +"I have a game for you," said David at last. + +"What is it? what is it?" + +"A new game." + +"What _is_ it?" + +"It is called, 'Capital and Interest.'" + +"I don't understand that," pouted one of the young ladies. + +"You will understand it fast enough, when we come to play it." + +"How do you play it?" + +"You must choose a Judge and a Recorder." + +"What's a Recorder?" + +"Some one to put down what we say. We all tell our business; the +Recorder sets it down, and the Judge says whose business is worth the +most." + +"How can he tell?" + +"He can hear what we say, and he can use his judgment, as we all can." + +"Must we tell the truth? or say what we have a mind?" + +"Either you like." + +"That's jolly!" said one of the boys. "I go in for saying what we have +a mind." + +"Just imagine the nicest things you can," David went on. + +"To eat?" said Esther. + +"No, no; you've done enough of that to-day," said Norton. "Imagine what +you have a mind to,--every sort of thing that's pleasant." + +"Well you begin, Norton, because you understand it. We'll hear you +play, and so learn." + +"We have got to choose the Judge first. And the Recorder." + +"What's the Judge to do?" + +"Say who has made the best business." + +"I don't understand a bit of it," said Esther. + +"No, but you will presently. You'll see. Wait till we begin. Who will +you have for Judge?" + +There was a general cry of "David Bartholomew!" + +"No," said David, "I won't be Judge. I'll be Recorder, if you like. For +Judge, I propose Norton Laval." + +Norton was agreed upon unanimously. + +"Now we are ready. Esther, we will begin at you. Tell what you have, or +what you would like to have; and then, what you would do with it, or +use it for." + +"I don't know what you mean," said Esther. + +"You are not tied to facts. Tell what you like. What would you most +like?" + +"Most like?" repeated Esther. "Let me see. It's very hard to begin with +me, when I don't know the game. Let us see. I think I should like to +have the most beautiful diamonds in New York." + +"Very good," said Norton. "Now tell what you would do with them." + +"Do with them? Why, wear them, of course." + +"Of course," said Norton. "But the diamonds are your capital, you +understand; what interest will you get for your capital? What _good_ +will they do you, Esther? that's it." + +"What good?" said Esther. "Why, if I had the finest jewels of anybody, +don't you see I should outshine everybody?" + +"I don't see it," said Norton; "but then I'm not in that line. It's +_your_ business we are talking of. Put it down properly, Recorder. Now +Bob Francis--what's your idea of a jolly life, eh?" + +"_I_ don't know!" said Bob. He was a year older than his sister; not a +year brighter. + +"O yes, you do. Fancy--but I don't believe you _can_ fancy. What would +you like best, Bob?--come!" + +"I'd like as well as anything to be a cavalry officer, and have nothing +to do but ride." + +"A cavalry officer has a great deal to do, I can tell you, my fine +fellow, besides riding," said David. + +"O well; _I_ don't want to have anything else to do," said Bob. "I'd +cut school; it's a bore." + +"But you can't ride always. What will be the good of your riding when +you are sick, or get old?" + +"O then I'll die," said Bob contentedly. + +"Let it stand, Davy," said Norton. "Write him down, with a horse and a +saddle for his capital and riding his business. Who's next? Hatty +Delaplaine! What will _you_ have?" + +Hatty, a pale, freckled girl, with twinkling gray eyes, was ready with +her answer. + +"I'd like to have Stewart's store, all to myself, and a dressmaker." + +"The dressmaker all to yourself too, I suppose. Girls are the queerest +things!" said Norton. + +"Not a bit queerer than boys," spoke up Judy. + +"Well,--see if the present game does not prove them so," said Norton. +"What'll you do with Stewart's and a dressmaker, Hatty Delaplaine?" + +"Don't you see? I'd never wear the same dress twice, and I wouldn't +have the same for breakfast or luncheon or dinner; and I would have the +most beautiful dresses that ever were seen." + +"What would you do with them, after once wearing?" David asked. + +"O I should never know and never care. My maid would dispose of them, I +suppose. I should have enough to do to think of the new ones. But I +_do_ love costumes!" the girl added, clasping her hands. + +"Is that a 'costume' you have got on?" Norton asked. + +"Nonsense! it isn't anything. I haven't got Stewart's and my dressmaker +yet. When I have, you'll know it." + +"Juliet Bracebridge!--speak if you please. I'm finished," said Norton. +"This is the richest game I've seen yet. Juliet?--" + +"I think I should like a perfect little carriage, and a perfect pair of +horses, and to go driving over the world." + +"Where?" said Norton. "You mean, over the Central Park and the +Boulevards." + +"No, I don't. I mean what I say." + +"Bad roads in some places," said Norton. "Up Vesuvius, for instance; or +over Mont Blanc in winter. Greece is dangerous, and--" + +"Don't talk nonsense, Norton Laval. Of course I should drive where I +could drive, and would like to drive. Over Mont Blanc in winter, +indeed!" + +"Well, come to business. A perfect pair of horses and perfect +carriage,--that's your capital; and you'll go driving all over. What +will be the interest on your capital, do you think? in other words, +what will you take by it?" + +"I should always have a variety, don't you see, and not have time to +get tired of anything." + +"Are there roads enough in the world to last you?" said Norton. "I +declare! these girls--Joe Benton, give us your mind." + +"I'll make a fortune, Norton." + +"All right. What'll you do with it?" + +"I'll have the best house, and the handsomest wife, and the largest +estate in the country." + +"You'll buy your wife with your money?" asked Judy. + +"Easy,"--said Joe, grinning. + +"I don't care--'twont be _me_," said Judy. "I pity the woman." + +"Why?" said Joe. "She'll have everything she wants, too." + +"Excepting the right person," said Judy. + +"Well I don't care; it _won't_ be you," said Joe; "so you may say what +you like." + +"I would if it was," said Judy. + +But a chorus of laughter broke them off. + +"Judy's next," said Norton. "I should like to hear what you will say, +Judy." + +"I should like to be a queen," said Judy. + +"That's it! Go to the top at once. Well, you've got to show why. What +would you do if you were a queen?" + +"I'd put down all preaching and praying, and people's making fools of +themselves with giving away their money to poor folks, and nursing sick +folks, and all the rest of it." + +"Why Judy!" exclaimed one or two. "You'd stop preaching?" + +"Wouldn't you be sorry!" said Judy. + +"No, but really. Wouldn't you let people be ministers?" + +"Ministers like Dr. Blandford. He don't give away his money, I'll be +bound; and he likes his glass of wine and smokes his pipe like other +folks." + +"He don't smoke a _pipe_, Judy." + +"You know what I mean. If I had said he likes his _grog_, you wouldn't +have thought it was made of gin, would you?" + +"So you'd be a queen, to stop religious toleration?" said Norton. + +"I'd stop _any_," said Judy. "I don't care whether it's religious or +not." + +"But what's given you such a spite at religious people?" asked Esther. + +"Mean!" said Judy. "Artful. Conceited to death. Stupid. And insane." + +There was again a chorus of "Oh Judy!"'s. + +"Never mind," said Norton. "When she's queen, I'll sell out and buy an +estate in some other country. Who's next?" + +"I knew you'd be sneaking along presently, at the tail of some black +coat or other," Judy responded. "It's in you. The disease'll break out." + +"I don't know what's in me," said Norton. "Something that makes me hot. +I'm afraid it isn't religious. Roswell Holt, what's your idea of +capital and business? Do leave Judy to her own fancies. This game's +getting to be warm work. Roswell!--it's your turn." + +"I believe," Roswell began sedately; he was an older boy than most of +them and very quiet; "I believe, what I should like would be, to know +all the languages there are in the world; and then to have a library so +large that all the books in the world should be in it." + +"Capital!" said Norton. "What good would that do you?" + +"Why, I could read everything," said Roswell. + +"And what good would _that_ do you?" + +"I should like it," said Roswell. "I should have what I like." + +"Solomon tried that once," said David, who was taking diligently his +reporter's notes. "It didn't seem to answer then." + +"Ah, but there were not so many books in his day," said Roswell. + +"The worse for you, I should say. Besides, there are not so many now as +there will be a thousand years hence. How about that, old fellow?" + +"I can't read what there'll be a thousand years hence," said Roswell. + +"You couldn't read what there are now, if you had them. You could not +live long enough." + +"What a musty old fogy he would be, by the time he had gone half +through!" said Judy. "He would have used up his eyes; his spectacles +would have made a ridge on his nose; he would live in an old coat that +was never brushed; and his books would be all coffee stains, because he +would take his breakfast over them. Poor old creature!" + +"You'll be old then yourself, Judy," said some one. + +"I won t," said the young lady promptly. "I mean to keep young." + +"Ben Johnson--go ahead," said Norton. "It's your turn." + +"I'd like to go supercargo in the China trade," said Ben; a +lively-looking fellow enough. + +"Good," said Norton. "Say why. Love of the sea wouldn't take you to +China, I suppose." + +"Not exactly," said Ben, with a confidential gleam in his eyes. "I +should have nothing to do--and smoke seventy cigars a day." + +"Seventy cigars!" cried out two or three of the girls. "Horrid!" + +"You couldn't do it, old fellow." + +"Easy," said Ben. "My cousins, Will Larkins and Dan Boston, did it +every day." + +"They must be of a practical turn of mind, I should think," said +Norton. "They meant their voyage should pay--somebody--and so concluded +it should be the tobacconist. Lucy Ellis--?" + +"I should like to be very beautiful," said the girl, who had some +pretensions that way already, or she wouldn't have said it in +public,--"and have everybody love me." + +"Everybody!" cried Judy. "All the boys, you mean." + +"No indeed," said the beauty with a toss of her head. "I mean all the +_men_." + +"But people don't love people because they are handsome," said Norton. + +"Don't they, though!" said Ben Johnson, who was a beauty in his way; as +indeed so also was Norton. But here arose a furious debate of the +question, in which almost everybody took part excepting David and +Matilda. Laughing and shouting and discussing, the original game was +almost lost sight of; and David sat with his pen in his hand, and +Matilda listened in wondering amusement, while the negative and the +affirmative of the proposition were urged and argued and fought for. At +last Norton appealed. + +"What do you think, David?" + +"What do you think of our game?" + +"I had forgot it, that's a fact," said Norton. "Who's next? O come +along, we'll never settle that question. Who's next? Pink, I believe it +is you. Matilda Laval! what's your capital and business?" + +"Now you'll get a queer one," said Judy. + +"It won't be the first, by some," said Norton; "that's one thing." + +"This'll be a good one. Oh, ever so good!" said Judy. + +"It won't be anything, if you can't hush," said Norton impatiently. +"Come, Pink, whatever it is, let us have it. What's your fancy?" + +"I should like to have a medicine that would be sure to cure," said +Matilda. + +"A medicine!" cried Norton. + +"She'd be a doctor," exclaimed Judy with a burst of laughter. + +"What for, Pink?" + +"I would go round, making sick people well." + +"Beautiful, ain't it?" said Judy. "O we have such lots of goodness in +our house, you wouldn't know it; and I don't know it my self. Fact is, +it confuses me." + +"Bill Langridge?" + +"Governor of the State,"--called out Bill in reply. + +"Why don't you say 'Sultan of Muscat,' at once?" + +"Don't know Muscat--and don't care about governing where I'm a +stranger. Might make mistakes, you see." + +"Well--what's the good in being Governor of the State?--to you?" + +"Having things my own way, don't you see? and at top of everything." + +"There's the President, and all his secretaries," said Norton. + +"They're not in my way. In the State, you know, nobody is over the +Governor." + +"That's what you call a moderate ambition," said David. + +"Aims pretty high," said Bill. + +"Not high enough," said another boy. "I'd choose to be commander in +chief of the army." + +"How's that any higher, Watson?" said Bill. + +"Military rule," said Watson. "Your Governor has to consult this one +and 'tother one, and go by the Legislature too, when all's done; the +commander in chief asks leave of nobody." + +"Well, Elisha Peters, what's _your_ ambition?" called out Norton. + +"I'd like a little money,--enough, you know, not too much; and to go +travelling all over the world on foot." + +"On foot!" said Norton. "What would you get out of that?" + +"I should see everything. Not part, you know, as everybody does; I +should see everything." + +"What would you do, Elisha, when you had got to the end of +everything?--seen it all?" + +"Don't believe I could. The world's big enough to last one man." + +"Don't know but what it is," said Norton. "Will you write a book?" + +"Guess not. Take too much time." + +"Then the travelling would do nobody good but you?" said David. + +"Who else should it?" replied Elisha. + +"The _book_ would do nobody any good, if he were to write it," +suggested Judy. + +"Polite"--said Elisha. + +"Selfish"--retorted Judy. + +"Everybody is selfish," returned the young cynic. + +"'Tain't true," said Norton; "but I haven't time to argue just now. +I've got work enough to do as a judge. Are we most through? I declare, +here's half a dozen more to speak. Speak quick, please; and don't say +so many odd things. The judge's work isn't going to be a trifle, in +this court. Dick Morton, go ahead." + +"I'd like to be able to do just what I have a mind to," said Dick. + +"Bravo! only that's what we're all after. Come a little nearer the +point, Dick; what'll you do with your time?" + +"I'd be a hunter. I'd have first-rate rifles, you know, and pistols, +and all that; and people to help; and I'd just go hunting. I'd kill +buffaloes in the West till I had enough of that, and take a turn at a +bear or so; then I'd go to Africa and have a royal time with the +rhinoceros and lions, and maybe crocodiles. I'd spend a good while in +Africa. Elephants, too. Then I'd cross over to India and hunt tigers. +I'd chase ostriches too." + +"Not in India," said David. + +"I didn't say, in India; but where they are. Deer of course, +everywhere; and chamois, and all that." + +"Birds?" suggested Norton. + +"O yes, by the way, you know. I'd live upon ducks and snipe and wild +turkey." + +"When you weren't eating venison and buffalo hump," said David. + +"Well--I'd have variety enough," said Dick. "I tell you! a hunter's +supper is jolly." + +"All alone?" said Esther. + +"Another specimen of selfishness," said Judy. "They're all alike as two +pears--only some of 'em are green, and the others a different colour." + +"That's _your_ business," said Norton summing up; "now what's the good +of it, Dick?" + +"Fun. What's the good of anything?" + +"To be sure," said the Judge. "Julie Simpson?" + +But Julie wriggled and simpered, and could not be got to express +herself otherwise. The sayings of several next corning were only echoes +of some one or other of those who had spoken. Norton grew impatient. + +"That'll do," he said; "now for the Recorder. It's time the Judge +finished up. The best part of the play comes after." + +"What's that?" said somebody; "what comes after? I thought this was the +whole." + +"You wouldn't catch me playing 'Capital and Interest' very often, if it +was," said Norton. "No; the best business man, or the one who has the +best business, is to appoint forfeits to all the rest; and if he knows +how to do it, I tell you! that's fun." + +"But how are we to decide who has the best business?" + +"Can't! The Judge does that. Go ahead, David. What's _your_ business?" + +"I wish it was peddling old shoes!" said Judy. + +"Why?" several asked. + +"It won't be anything as respectable. We've taken to turning old coats +at our house." + +"Go ahead, Davy!" cried Norton. + +But David was deliberate about it. He finished his writing, and looked +up. + +"I think my capital is _myself_," he said with a smile. "I mean to make +the most of _myself_, in every way I can think of; as well as of my +money, and whatever else I have got." + +"Don't sound so bad," said Elisha looking at Judy. + +"Well Davy," said Norton; "what are you going to do with yourself, +after you have made the most you can of it?" + +"I am the servant of the King Messiah," said David with a smile again; +"myself and all I have belong to him, and I want to make the most of +them for Jesus and his work and his Kingdom. They are the talents He +has given me to work with. And when the King comes to take account of +me, I want to be able to say, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five +pounds.'" + +The little people were silent. David spoke so simply and in so +business-like fashion, there was no game to be made of his words; and +nothing was said, till Norton remarked he did not know what he was +going to do; he could not remember one half that had been said for him +to pass judgment upon. + +"I've got it all here," said David. "Take your seat, and begin; I'll +read you two, and you choose the best in your judgment of those; then +take another and compare with that, and so on." + +"Well," said Norton. "Get along, David. It s a pesky business, this +being judge, I can tell you." + +"Silence in the court!" said David. "Esther Francis; capital, the most +beautiful diamonds in New York; interest, she outshines everybody." + +"Next"--said Norton. + +"I didn't say that, did I?" asked Esther. + +"Of course you said that; he's got it down. Next, David?" + +"Bob Francis. Capital, a cavalry officer's commission and a horse. +Interest, he'll ride." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed a round chorus of the children. + +"Silence in the court!" repeated David. "We wait for the Judge's +decision." + +"Hm!--I wish you had it to do!" growled Norton, rubbing his head. +"Which is the best business of those two? Well, between diamonds and +horses, if you're shut up to them, I think a horse is the best stock in +trade." + +"But the _business_--the interest," said Bob. "Ain't riding like a man +better than sitting or dressing to be stared at like a woman?" + +"I think it's the most manly," Norton repeated. + +"But not the most womanly?" said Esther. + +"No, not the most womanly." + +"Well, which is _best?_" somebody cried. + +"Riding is the best for me," said Norton. "I should feel like a fool in +diamonds." + +"A Hindoo rajah, or a Persian shah, or an Arab emir wouldn't feel so," +suggested David. + +"I am not a Hindoo nor an Arab, though," said Norton. "If I am to give +judgment I'll give it like a good American. And I say, that a saddle is +better than a jewel-box any day; and it's better in my judgment to ride +for one's life, than to make people's eyes wink with looking at you. Go +on, Recorder!" + +"Hatty Delaplaine. Capital, a dressmaker and dry-goods unlimited. +Interest, nothing but new dresses." + +"Riding is better than dressing," said the Judge. "Bob Francis has it +yet." + +"But why is it better?" asked Miss Hatty. The Judge was a little at a +loss. + +"I tell you what," said he, "my business is hard enough as it is; I +can't stand any aggravations. I'll take the sense of the assembly. All +who say as I do, hold up their hands." + +But it was found that the judgments were essentially masculine and +feminine; the girls sided with Hatty, the boys with Bob. + +"There's most good to be done by riding," said Norton. + +"There ain't!" said Judy. "Dressing encourages the working people." + +"And there's no good in riding at the head of soldiers," said Hatty. + +"Well, it is a more noble occupation," said Norton. + +"I don't see the nobility!" said Roswell Holt. + +"Well, I don't care!" said Norton. "Let them both stand together then. +I hope there'll be something more remarkable than either of 'em." + +"Juliet Bracebridge. A carriage and horses. Will drive all over the +world. Thinks she'll never know ennui." + +"Juliet has it," said the Judge. "That's better than just riding or +dressing for its own sake. I'd like driving over the world myself. What +next?" + +"Joe Benton. Will have a fortune. Interest, wife, house, and estate +better than anybody else." + +"I don't believe the best wife _can_ be bought," said Roswell. + +"And the best house for you mightn't be the best house for me," said +Judy. + +"He didn't mean it for you, Judy," said her cousin Bob. + +"Judge'll never get through, if you don't stop these civilities," said +Norton. "I decide for Joe. No, I don't! I decide for Juliet. Nicer to +go contentedly travelling all over, than to take all one's comfort in +one's pride. Juliet has it yet." + +"Judy Bartholomew. Will have a queen's power, and the use of it is to +put down religious freedom in her dominions." + +"Juliet has it!" shouted Norton. "Better amuse yourself _not_ at other +people's expense, I think, if you can manage it." + +"Roswell Holt; all books in all languages, and power to understand +them. Finds the good of his life in reading." + +"That sounds sensible," said Norton. "I give it for Roswell over +Juliet." + +"But why?" urged Juliet. + +"There's something in books, you see." + +"I am sure there is a good deal in countries and cities and people." + +"True," said Norton. + +"How's his business better than mine?" + +"I don't know. Seems as if it ought to be." + +"He pleases himself one way, and I another." + +"And I another," said Esther. + +"True. But books are books, as I said before. Now there's nothing in +diamonds." + +"There is in travelling," said Juliet again. + +"Yes, there is. But the books shew a higher aspiration, Miss +Bracebridge." + +"I don't see it," said the young lady pouting. + +"Well, when you are Judge, you'll know how easy it is," said Norton. +"After all, it's only a game. Go ahead, David." + +"Ben Johnson. Goes supercargo to China. Object, to do nothing and smoke +seventy cigars a day." + +"Roswell has it yet," said Norton. "Go ahead." + +"Lucy Ellis. Great beauty. Loves to have all men look at her." + +"Roswell has it!" cried Norton. "No stop. Go on." + +"Matilda Laval. Has a medicine for all ills; and she lives to cure +people." + +"Matilda has it," said Norton, in a somewhat lowered tone. + +"Bill Langridge. Governor of the State. Object, to have things his own +way." + +"Matilda has it!" said the judge judicially. + +"Egbert Watson--prefers military to civil rule; therefore chooses to be +head of the army instead of the State. Object, same as Bill +Langridge's." + +"Matilda Laval has it," said the Judge. He began somehow to look gloomy. + +"Elisha Peters--has freedom to go through the world on foot. Object, is +to see everything." + +"Matilda Laval has it!" growled the Judge. + +"Dick Morton. His capital is rifles, with powder and ball; object in +life, to kill or to hunt and eat wild beasts." + +"Don't come near Matilda Lavals," said the Judge. + +"Julia Simpson has no object." + +"Easy disposed of," said Norton. + +"Ned Forsyth agrees with Watson; Mary Fortescue sides with Lucy Ellis; +and half a dozen more with Lucy, Roswell Holt, Bill, and Miss +Bracebridge." + +"Then there's only you," said Norton gloomily. + +"David Bartholomew. Capital, himself and all he has, to be made the +most of. Business, to use it all for the King whose servant I am." + +"What's the interest?" growled Norton, after a moment's pause. "But +stop! how are you going to use it? you don't tell your business after +all. What are you going to do?" + +"I don't know," said David. "The King's will, whatever that is. +Whatever he gives me to do." + +"The interest?" + +"That comes all along the way," said David. "But at the end--I shall +inherit all things!" + +"Is that a proper way of speaking, David?" said Esther gravely. + +"That's the promise," said David. + +"He's an old prig, that's what he is!" said one of the boys. + +"No," said David, "stop! hear me; you don't understand. In that day the +King will take account of his servants. And to those who can say to +him, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds'--or 'five pounds'--he +will say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been +faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things; +enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' I want that." + +Something about the manner of David's speech stilled the impatient +little company. David was always much looked up to and somewhat feared; +and now he had spoken with a clear and sweet business tone which left +no hold for ridicule. Nobody attempted it; and Judy saw her time was +not then and kept silence. So did the Judge; too long, some of them +thought. + +"I suppose Matilda and you are in the same box," he began, "and what I +give to one of you I must give to the other." + +"No, no, you mustn't!" was cried in a stream of little voices. "They +didn't say the same thing at all; you must judge by what they said." + +"They both meant the same thing, I know," said Norton; "but if I must +go by what they said, then David spoke more clearly than Matilda. +Bartholomew has it." + +"Reasons! reasons!" cried Judy and one or two more; for it was usual +for the Judge to fortify himself thus in the opinions of his little +assembly. + +"Well," said Norton, without his usual readiness, "the reasons are +plain enough. The best business is what yields the best interest; and +you may judge yourselves, if working for other people isn't nobler than +working for oneself. And as to the interest,--well, you know,--if you +come to look at it," Norton went on not very lucidly--"_that's_ better +than _this_." + +"What's better than which?" said Judy. + +"Come, Judy," said her brother; "what will last, is better than what +won't last; and all your diamonds cannot compare with 'shining as the +stars for ever and ever;' and the King's court will be better than any +little king's or queen's rule in this world." + +There was a general cry now for the forfeits. It fell to David by right +to dispense them. I have not time to tell how witty and how pleasant +they were; but only that they brought every one into good humour long +before the game was out. + +The little party slept at the house, and returned to town by an early +train next morning. + +"David," said Matilda, catching him a moment by himself after they got +home,--"don't you think Norton is coming round?" She spoke eagerly, +anxiously, almost exultingly. + +"Give him time, Tilly," said David smiling. "He rather committed +himself last night, I think he will." + + + + + + + +Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son. + + + + + + + +Typographical errors silently corrected: + +Chapter 1: =take dancing lessons?"= replaced by =take dancing lessons?= + +Chapter 2: =to feel."= replaced by =to feel.= + +Chapter 4: =bloom all round.= replaced by =bloom all round."= + +Chapter 4: =coffee; they are= replaced by =coffee; "they are= + +Chapter 8: ='The Lord said unto= replaced by ="'he lord said unto= + +Chapter 11: =a Jew as ever I was--= replaced by =a Jew as ever I was"-- + +Chapter 12: =nothin' agin the neighbourhood= replaced by =nothin' +agin' the neighbourhood= + +Chapter 15: =nearer the p'int= replaced by =nearer the point= + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trading, by Susan Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADING *** + +***** This file should be named 30149.txt or 30149.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/1/4/30149/ + +Produced by Daniel Fromont. 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