Lucy Ellen Guernsey

“ Pomeroy should find you out—"
"Nothing venture, nothing have," said Delia. "Besides, I don't mean that she shall find me out. I wish I were as sure of another person as I am of her."
"Who do you mean?"
"Mr. Fletcher! I do fear that man in spite of myself. He never turns his eyes upon me, but I feel as though he could read me through and through. I wish he were a thousand miles off. Mr. Hugo fears him as much as I do, and hates him, too; I believe he would kill him, if he dared."
"Oh, Delia,—kill Mr. Fletcher!" exclaimed Emily, in horror. ”

“ Emily groaned, but Delia pitilessly pursued her course—
"Your father, as you always say, detests nothing so much as dishonesty in money matters, and from what you have told me of him, I imagine that he would visit such a sin more severely upon the head of his own daughter, than upon that of a stranger. If you were terrified at the very idea of his knowing that you had made a little bill at a store, with what sort of feeling will you tell him that you have stolen money enough to send you to the Penitentiary?" ”

“ But Emily was already out of hearing.
"How queerly she acted!" said Almira Crosby. "What possible harm could it do Delia to have her exercise looked at?"
"I don't believe that was it," said Annette. "She was in a hurry, that was all. You are always imagining things, Almira."
"I keep my eyes and ears open," said Almira, significantly; "and that is more than some folks do. There are not many things going on in this house, that I do not see into."
"Especially when they are none of your business," said Belle. "We all know what a benevolent interest you take in other people's concerns, Almira. ”

“ You ought to hate me, Emily, for I have done you nothing but harm ever since I knew you. I almost wish you did."
"I don't!" replied Emily. "I love you dearly, and as to going out, it was as much my fault as yours. I proposed it in the first place, when we were walking in the afternoon."
"It was all arranged long before that," said Delia, "and I should have gone at any rate. But come, there is the bell. Miss Thomas will be quite satisfied with our state of minds I think," she added, looking in the glass. "You know she always measures the girls penitence by the redness of their eyes and noses." ”

“ In the course of a week, Emily was completely under the influence of her room-mate, with scarcely a pretense of having a mind of her own about anything. Nor was she the only one who felt the influence of the new comer. In a family of some forty girls, it may be conceived that not all were wise or well principled, and as birds of a feather proverbially flock together, Delia soon collected around her a circle of society nearly as much to her taste as that which she had left at the Classical Gymnasium. ”

“ Two or three of the girls had remarked how much she had laughed that day.
"I don't say as much as that," said Annette, when the merriment had subsided. "I dare say I shall like it as well as ever after a while, and so will you."
"Never!" returned Emily. She spoke with an energy and bitterness which made the girls look at her with surprise.
And Bella said, "I am sure, Emily, you have no reason to be dissatisfied. You work better than any of us, and those of your presents that I have seen are almost the prettiest of all. You must have spent a good deal of money, as well as time, upon them." ”

“ I am thankful for one thing—that she does not know anything about the money I found; if she did, I should be her slave in good earnest. But, oh dear, if I only knew what to do!"
Emily burst into tears and cried a long time. That night she read her Bible carefully, and tried to pray; but as she said, her prayers had no wings, and left her feeling more wretched and heavy laden than before, while the sentence with which Mr. Fletcher had concluded their conversation seemed to ring in her ears, and to be repeated again and again, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." ”

“ She is really very kind to me, too, so that it is no great matter if she is a little fussy sometimes. But if I had begun by quarreling, or even by crying and fretting, I dare say I should have ended by disliking her as much as Delia does Mrs. Mason."
"You don't do Delia justice, Abby. It is harder for her than it would be for many people, she has such strong feelings."
"Fiddle-de-dee!" said Abby, not very elegantly. "What is the use of strong feelings, or deep feelings, if they don't make people act rightly? ”

“ Healthy, though plain food, well-warmed rooms, and plenty of playtime, conduced to the health of the inmates, and Delia could not help drawing a very favorable contrast between the troop of alert, rosy, and wide-awake girls, who came pouring into the school-room at the hour of evening study, fresh from an hour of active and merry exercise, and the pale waxen-faced, languid looking young ladies, who assembled at the same hour in the Classical Gymnasium aforesaid, nervous and spiritless, and ready to cry at the least provocation, from sheer exhaustion. ”

“ I don't object to your saying as many prayers as you like, only as I have told you before, consistency is a jewel."
Emily felt that Delia had some reason for her remarks, and checked the sharp answer which rose to her lips, but her frame of mind was any thing but amiable or Christian. As one goes to sleep at night, so one is very apt to awake in the morning, and she opened her eyes with that unpleasant feeling which every one has experienced at one time or another, that something very disagreeable had happened which she did not exactly remember. ”

“ Emily looked at her for a moment, and then as the tide of recollection rushed back upon her mind, she turned away her head, and burst into a passion of tears and hysterical sobs.
"Listen to me Emily," said Delia firmly, but not unkindly, and taking Emily's hand in hers. "This will never do. You must command yourself and be quiet, or I shall have to send for Mrs. Pomeroy, and then an exposure will be inevitable. For your own sake, make an effort and compose yourself." ”

“ It was not till she had succeeded in escaping unseen to her room, and looked in the glass, that the whole extent of her misfortune burst upon her, and she saw that the other side must needs share the fate of its fellow. She burst into tears, but there was no remedy, and reluctantly she applied the scissors once more, laying each severed curl carefully and mournfully away.
"What in the world have you been doing to yourself, Almira?" exclaimed Annette, opening her eyes in amazement, as Almira came out of her room when the tea bell rang. ”

“ Pomeroy was so kind, and so ready to believe me, that it made me feel more ashamed than ever I did before in my life, to think she should trust me, when I was deceiving her so. When a person is always watching and spying, and seems to take pleasure in finding one out in mischief, as Miss Thomas does, I don't at all mind setting my wits against her, but I must say, I could not help feeling very mean and contemptible, in my own mind, to think of the confidence I was betraying. ”

“ Emily winced almost as if some one had struck her, but she made no reply.
"Isn't it a pity that Kitty won't be able to come down?" said Annette, after a moment's silence. "She has thought so much about it, and worked so hard."
"Cannot she come down?" asked some one.
"Oh, no! I saw Mrs. Pomeroy after dinner, and she told me that Kitty could not even sit up long enough to mark her presents. Lucy is doing it for her. Well I know one thing! I should not like to be the person that got her money!"
"There it is again, Manny?" said Emily sharply. "You are always harping on that string. ”