Lucy Ellen Guernsey

“ Nelly stood a long time gazing at all these wonders, and then she passed through an open space into the shop behind. Here were more wonders and beauties still; but for once Nelly had no eye for them; for there, behind the counter, as if she were waiting to attend on the customers, stood the very young lady who had given Nelly the flowers! Here was a discovery! Nelly forgot all about the beads and patterns, all about the piece of cake waiting for her in Mrs. Vandake's pantry, and stood as if rooted to the spot, peeping through the vacant place in the window. ”

“ How long since you felt so?"
"I always felt so," said Nelly. "Granny always told me—"
"Oh, you are a great saint," interrupted Kitty. "Of course you never do any thing wrong. Saints never do; they are always right; and the people who have done for them and taught them all they know, and helped them on when they hadn't anybody else to care for them, are wicked sinners. That's always the way with saints. For my part, I hate hypocrites."
"So do I," said Nelly, "and I don't mean to be one, either; and so I intend to tell Mrs. Kirkland about the doll the very first minute she comes in. ”

“ We cannot always judge for other people. What is your name?"
"Nelly Ryan."
"And do you live here?" asked the young lady, glancing at the house. Nelly looked at it too, and, somehow, as she followed the direction of Miss Powell's eye, she seemed to see, as she had never done before, what a miserable place it was, how black and dirty the floor looked through the open door, and what quantities of old bones, old shoes and other rubbish were littered about the door-yard. The bitter feeling came up in her heart again, as she answered,—
"Yes; I live here with my grandmother. ”

“ Kirkland has left me in charge, and I am responsible," she added, with a touch of that stately pride which was as natural to her as if she had been indeed the high-born heiress of Kilmane Park. "I would no more do any thing wrong when she was away than when she was looking on: I would be even more careful."
"Oh, you are a great person, no doubt," said Kitty, scornfully; but as she spoke she hastily restored the doll to its place and came out from behind the counter, looking rather alarmed.
"I don't want to be a great person, but I want to do what is right," said Nelly. ”

“ As Nelly drew nearer, she was rather surprised to see the gate hanging open, and Crummie with her head almost in at the door, lowing in vain for her mid-day pail of water. Her grandmother was nowhere to be seen. Much startled, Nelly hurried forward, and entered the house. The fire was out, and granny sat on her stool by the side of the cold stove, her pipe on the floor, her head between her hands, and rocking back and forth, now and then giving vent to her feelings in a low wail,—that terrible Irish keene, more harrowing to the nerves than almost any other sound I have ever heard. ”

“ But Kitty, the Bible says, not a sparrow falls to the ground without him, and the very hairs of our heads are all numbered. That was the very first Bible lesson I learned. And, besides, Miss Powell says that God does love me—yes, even me—just as much as if there were no one else in the world; and so why shouldn't he send me things just when I want them? It seems only natural to me. If I love people, I always want to help them. ”

“ Nelly nodded. "I think it is a great deal in knowing how," said she. "Kitty Brown's mother never lets her have the least bit of a hole in her things, even if she hasn't any of the same kind to mend with; and Kitty is the same. She keeps her clothes nice,—oh, ever so long! But somehow, I can't keep my things nice. My frock gets a hole in it, and, when I ask granny to mend it, she says, 'Yes, dear, but there's time enough;' and, the first thing I know, it catches on a nail, or something else, and away it goes. I think it is the best way to mend them the first minute." ”

“ Nelly smiled proudly as she remembered the Butlers of Glengall, and thought perhaps the lady was nearer the truth than she supposed.
"But do you dare trust such a child in the midst of all these pretty things?" said the stranger, in a lower tone, but still loud enough for Nelly to hear. "I should think she would steal all she could lay her hands on."
"We cannot always tell by the outside who steals and who does not," answered Mrs. Kirkland, dryly. "We catch people stealing, sometimes, who are much better dressed than poor Nelly." ”

“ Grayson, getting out of patience, declared that he would wait upon her no longer.
"How did it happen that you did not pay the interest this year, granny?"
"Sure I had other uses for the money; and what was ten or fifteen dollars to him, that's rolling in riches?"
"But if it was his, granny, he ought to have had it. People want what is their own, if they are rich, I suppose."
"And, if he was a rale gentleman, he'd never think of disthressing a poor widow for a few dollars. But there's no such gentlemen here as there is at home in old Ireland." ”

“ Full of a new resolution, Nelly walked straight into the house. It consisted only of one room, with a sort of shed or lean-to attached, and held a bed, an old but tolerably whole cooking-stove, two or three more or less broken chairs, and a rickety table, on which stood the remains, such as they were, of the morning's meal. Her grandmother sat on a low stool by the stove, with her elbows on her knees, smoking a short black pipe. Nelly had been in better rooms a few times in her life, and she felt, as she came in, how forlorn the place looked. ”

“ You said so yourself," persisted Nelly. "And Mrs. Kirkland and Miss Powell have never been any thing but good to me. People have to be strict where there is so much going on."
"Oh, of course she is all right! Every one is all right but me. But never mind. What are you going to do for Christmas?"
"I haven't made up my mind; only I shall buy a nice shawl for granny, if I have money enough. I have been making her such a pretty worsted hood, of this new pattern,—shaped like a little bonnet, you know,—and I don't know how much I shall have left. ”

“ Perhaps Crummie's feelings were too deep for utterance. At any rate, she made no reply, good or bad, to Nelly's question; but bending down her head as soon as she was released, she began to crop the grass which grew luxuriantly by the road-side.
"Indeed and that is a very good notion of yours, my lady!" said Nelly. "The grass is far better than on the common, and I may as well watch you here as anywhere else." So saying, Nelly settled herself on the stone and again took up her shuttle, while Crummie went on feeding placidly beside her. ”

“ She had a sort of indistinct idea that when people were in trouble the Bible ought some way to do them good, and she tried to think of a text; but she could remember none which seemed suitable to Nelly's present case. She had learned a great many Bible verses in her life, but it had never before occurred to her to use any of them. The only thing she could think of to console Nelly she did. She put her arm round her neck and kissed her. The honest expression of sympathy always does good. Nelly's heart felt a little lightened of its load as she returned Kitty's embrace. ”

“ Another parcel held a pretty straw hat, trimmed with beads and blue ribbons, a nice white handkerchief, and a pair of thread gloves.
"Why, granny, all these for me!" exclaimed Nelly. "It never rains but it pours. Just think of me with three new frocks at once, and a hat, and all!"
"Mind you take care of them, for they cost a deal of money," said Mrs. Ryan. "Ay, a deal of money," she repeated, nodding her head. "But I won't have you called a ragamuffin again by these upstarts, that never saw a rale lady or lord in their lives." ”

“ Ryan, as Nelly re-entered the house, where she still sat on her low stool, just as Nelly had left her; and then, before there was time to answer, "Sure I knew there was no use in going to him,—only just throwing away your money, and leaving me without so much as a penny to buy tobacco. But you're getting so set-up with your Sunday-school and your fine ways, that you think you know more than your own granny, that brought you up, and has seen real ladies and gentlemen in Ireland, such as would never demane themselves with work, as they do here." ”

“ Nelly had no idea that these things were meant for her, till Miss Powell put them into her hand and showed her how to use them. "Now, Nelly, you will have no excuse for not keeping your work clean and your breath sweet. Remember, one of the first things necessary towards 'being somebody,' as you say, is personal neatness and cleanliness. Don't you perceive that if your hair had been smoothly brushed and your dress clean and whole, your clothes might have been ever so cheap and poor, but that lady would never have thought of calling you a ragamuffin?" ”

“ I shall be real glad," said Nelly, gratefully.
Here was another friend raised up in time of need; and Nelly, as she hastened home, was more than ever convinced that God did love and take care of her. She was grieved about Kitty's conduct; but in her new-found sense of forgiveness, she was not disposed to be hard upon her former friend.
"Everybody feels out of sorts, sometimes," she reasoned. "I dare say something has happened to vex her. But anyhow, I am glad Mrs. Caswell is going to help me; only I hope she won't be like Mrs. Vandake,—always promising." ”

“ Let me just step out and see that the cow is safe. And Nelly, you hold the light."
"Just see where the crooked path leads, Nelly dear," added granny, as she attended to Crummie's wants. "Here's poor Kitty, as smart a girl as ever lived, and with such a dale of schooling and all, afraid to face her mother on Christmas-eve, of all times in the year, losing as good a friend as ever a girl had (for Mrs. Powers has been all that to her) , and all because she took to the crooked way,—because she put her hands to what wasn't hers, and turned her tongue to what wasn't true to hide the mischief. ”

“ They were not things of any very great value,—a stick of braid of some special sort, a few odd buttons of some particular pattern, a spool or two of coloured silk out of a box which should have been full,—but Nelly was sure that they did not go properly. She could not suspect any one in the shop. There was no one employed but herself and Miss Powell down-stairs and Miss Lennox up-stairs. Mrs. Kirkland was usually at the desk, busied, when not making change or engaged with the books, in some wonderful piece of embroidery. ”

“ This was a fancy-store,—a corner shop with a very large window, in which were elegantly arranged all sorts of pretty things,—embroidery, and patterns, and head-dresses, and wonderful buttons, and other things of which Nelly could not even guess the use. To-day the bottom of the window was one mass of beads,—marvellous beads, of all sorts, shapes and sizes,—green and blue, red and yellow, black and white: some as large as birds' eggs, others no bigger than mustard-seeds ”

“ Lo and behold! the parcel contained a nice warm shawl, just the thing to match the merino frock,—a serviceable and substantial work-box, and a package of the most wonderful confectionery in the world, with a tin box of tobacco for granny. A note, attached to the shawl, said,—
"For my honest little friend, Nelly. From William Grayson."
"Well," said Nelly, "I don't know whether it is me or not; but I begin to think I must have been turned into somebody else by one of those Irish fairies granny tells about. I only wish I could ever do any thing for anybody else: that's all." ”

“ Nelly ventured to say.
Mr. Grayson smiled. "Oh, very well. You may make a payment upon the first day of May, if you have ten or twenty dollars to spare. Now, Nelly, I expect you to keep strictly to these conditions; for I intend to do so myself; and I shall not feel myself bound by my part of the bargain unless you keep to yours. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," said Nelly; "and I will do my best. But—"
"Well, but what?"
"I don't know what granny will say. She thinks there is no use in keeping things so nice; and she will not keep Crummie tied up, whatever I say." ”

“ IT is small wonder that Nelly forgot every thing,—even her new-found hope,—and sat down for a few minutes in dumb despair. But she was not one to give up long at a time, and the training of the past summer had developed her natural qualities of determination and perseverance. Presently she began to question her grandmother and to try to get at particulars. But the old woman would do nothing but cry and lament and wail, till Nelly's overstrained nerves began to give way under the excitement. ”

“ And, now, what do you think about going to Sunday-school?"
"I shouldn't like to go just now," said Nelly. "I haven't any nice frock to wear; and that lady said I was a ragamuffin. She said you were always bringing such objects into the school. What is an object?"
"It is nothing very bad, Nelly," said Miss Powell, laughing, but looking, as Nelly thought, a little vexed. "An object really means any thing that you can see, or take hold of, or think about. ”

“ Nelly came to the conclusion that the thief was one of the habitual customers of the store. She resolved to watch closely. She did so, and at last made up her mind. The thief was that very lady who had called her a ragamuffin while she was learning to make tatting on her first entrance to the store! Nelly was very slow in coming to this conclusion. She could not make up her mind to think that a lady belonging to a respectable family; who had always been well taught, always gone to church and to Sunday-school, could be guilty of stealing. ”

“ Kirkland will not want to have you come about the store or work for her unless you take pains to look nice. You can easily mend the frock you have on, and ask your grandmother to wash and iron it, and mend that rent in your hat; and then you will look quite respectable."
"I don't know very much about mending," said Nelly, doubtfully.
"But you can do your best, and you can learn to do better," said Miss Powell. "Believe me, Nelly, it is much more important to learn to put in a patch nicely than it is to make the prettiest tatting that ever was seen; and it is not half so hard. ”