Mrs. Molesworth

“ A sadly thin and white little creature he looked the morning that, as had been promised, the four-wheeler, with luggage on the top and his mother and himself inside, drove slowly past Mrs Greenall’s house, where Leila and Chrissie and Aunt Margaret were eagerly on the look-out. Then there were nods and smiles and kissings of hands—but when the little girls drew their heads in again and shut the window, their aunt was scarcely surprised to see that there were tears in their eyes.
“He does look so ill,” they murmured, “and poor Mummy taking him away all alone, without a nurse or a maid.” ”

“ For it was not in Chrissie’s nature to do anything with method, and Leila’s greater neatness would have been a help in the morning’s work. But even worse was to follow; for almost before Chrissie had taken in what Jasper was saying, Leila, for once, in her indignation, as hasty as her sister, dashed into the room, upsetting as she did so, one of the big cans of water brought by Harriet, and, sadder still, one of the already arranged vases, breaking it into pieces—the water streaming out to mingle with the pool already forming, the poor flowers pitched about in all directions. ”

“ But they think of nothing but their own likes and dislikes—they don’t seem to have the least idea of obedience. Why, Chrissie was almost rude to you, dear aunt, at their French lesson to-day—and Leila had evidently not pretended to learn those verses! And you are so good to them.”
“Do not distress yourself for me,” said Miss Fortescue. “We have all been to blame in the past, and we must face it and do our best. I am sure it will all come right in the end. Your children and Reginald’s, dear Edith, cannot be really selfish.” ”

“ Now we are all together,” she added with a glance round the well-filled table, “and when one can say that, one should not feel there is much to complain of—should we, dear Reginald?” and she turned to Mr Fortescue, beside whom she was sitting.
“No indeed,” he replied heartily. “You and gloomy feelings certainly couldn’t live together, Aunt Margaret—could they, eh, Jasper, my boy? what do you think about it?” for Jasper was listening with all his ears and a pleased smile on his face, while he fondled his precious stephanotis. ”

“ I suppose there is good hidden in every trouble, though it is sometimes difficult to see it,” Mrs Fortescue answered. “But, darling, don’t be too down on your sisters. If they are spoilt, and I fear they are, it is my fault more than theirs.” Roland put his arms round his mother and kissed her. “Nothing’s your fault, except that you’ve been far too kind to us all,” he said, “and—about my still going to school—to Winton, I mean. I don’t half like it. Why should I be the only one to—well, why should things be made smoother for me than for the others? The girls will be thinking it’s not fair.” ”

“ It is the sort of tremendous blow that can’t be kept secret. As soon as possible Daddy and I will look out for a small house. I feel as if every day here was wasting money.”
Leila and Chrissie had been silent for a minute or two; Leila in a mixed state of feeling, uncertain whether to think of herself as a heroine, or a martyr. Christabel, on her side, was far from pleased at the “fuss” as she called it to herself, that her mother was making about Roland.
“It isn’t fair,” she thought, “it’s much worse for us. Boys and men can work; being poor doesn’t matter for them. ”

“ Mrs Fortescue smiled a little.
“I don’t want you to ‘pretend,’ Chrissie, most certainly not. I want you to be. And the longer you put off trying, the harder you will find it. Goodness does not come all of itself like one’s hair getting grey. And though it may sometimes seem as if God left us to ourselves, it is not really so. Sorrows and trials may have to be our teachers if we allow happiness and prosperity to make us selfish and thoughtless.”
“Well,” said Leila gloomily, “perhaps they’re beginning now—it doesn’t look as if there was much to be cheerful about;” ”

“ Roland went on, looking puzzled, “there’s Fareham.”
“Yes,” exclaimed Chrissie. “Why shouldn’t we go and live there all the year round and not have to pay for a house in London.”
“Don’t be silly,” said Leila. “Hasn’t Mummy just said that Fareham’s expensive to keep up, and if we’ve no money!”
“Hush, dears,” said their mother, “don’t speak sharply to each other. Yes, there is Fareham, but that is what we have to depend on. ”

“ Hers was the face which met them as the cab at last drew up at one of a row of houses in a quiet, rather dull, but by no means “slummy” side-street.
“It isn’t so very bad,” said Chrissie, “and that new servant looks rather nice. I suppose she’ll be instead of Fanny.”
“Of course not,” said Leila, “there’ll be no Fanny and no Nurse and no anybody except a cook and housemaid. You certainly will have to put on your own shoes and stockings now!” ”

“ He was terribly sorry for his mother, and his sisters’ want of sympathy made him indignant.
“I don’t think either of them cares, as long as things don’t touch themselves,” he said to Mrs Fortescue when Leila and Chrissie had left the room.
“Things will touch themselves, and very sharply,” his mother replied with a sigh. “They don’t realise it at all, Roland; we must remember that they are very young.” ”

“ No one certainly could have called the little fellow a “prig” who had seen him then. His one idea was to “help.”
“Come along, quick,” he said. “I’ll show you the way to his house,” and he sprang forward.
“Chrissie,” whispered Leila, “we daren’t go—we mustn’t go. We promised.”
“I know,” Chrissie replied, “though I daresay Dads only said it for fear of our losing our way. As if we were so silly! But Japs didn’t promise, Lell?” Leila hesitated—the breaking a promise in the spirit, if not in the letter, does not come easy to honest consciences, such as these two little girls did really possess. ”

“ So that the dusting proved quite a success, and when Mrs Fortescue, having given her orders downstairs and seen to the last arrangements for their expected guest upstairs, glanced in, to see what they were all about, she was pleased and surprised to hear cheerful voices and to be met by bright faces.
“We’ve done it, Mummy—all, splendidly. I don’t believe you could find a speck of dust if you looked for it with a microscope,” cried Chrissie. ”

“ We should do things because we feel we ought, not just because we’re inclined. Being kind to each other, for instance, when we are feeling good-humoured and pleasant is all very well, but we need more than that. We need to be kind even when we are feeling cross or tired, or even when others are unkind to us, because it is right. Passing feelings are like plucked flowers—what are called good principles are like plants with roots.”
Jasper’s face lighted up.
“And then being good grows,” he said.
“Yes, indeed,” said Aunt Margaret, almost startled by his quickness. “Still it needs care. ”

“ It is really astonishing to find what progress may be made in the time.
“I really think, Auntie, we are beginning to learn to be neater and carefuller,” said Chrissie one Sunday morning when, passing their room on the way downstairs to go to church, she begged Miss Fortescue to “peep in.”
She glanced up brightly as she said it, and her aunt’s smile in return was bright also. But then Chrissie’s face clouded.
“There’s only one thing that keeps us miserable,” she murmured.
“Yes,” Leila agreed; “it always comes over me early in the morning, but Chrissie minds it most at night.” ”

“ While you are at your lessons, I think perhaps I will go round myself—not to go in, of course, but to speak to your mother through the window.”
“Lessons,” repeated Leila, “we can’t do lessons. We can’t be expected to.”
“My dears,” said their aunt, “you must do something. No one knows better than I do, how miserably trying such anxiety is, but it would be worse if you hung about doing nothing. One must face these things in life, and try to be patient. Sickness and sorrow come to all.”
Then for the first time Chrissie spoke. ”

“ The shame and regret, the wishing, and for a time meaning, to be, as Chrissie had called it half-jokingly to herself, “gooder,” had no root; they had made fair promise for a moment, and then they “had withered away.” For if children—and people—allow themselves just to be governed by their inclinations; to put off till “more convenient seasons” real penitence, real turning in the right direction; to fill their minds and thoughts with pleasanter subjects than their own faults and failings—why, nothing is easier than to do so! ”

“ Leila, don’t you see how pale poor Mummy is, you stupid thing?”
Their mother glanced up beseechingly. She was kissing Jasper over and over again, as he clung to her, though with tears in her eyes.
“Dears,” she said, “my head is aching terribly. No, Chrissie, I have not been actually ill, but I have not been able to sleep, and scarcely to eat, since I left you. And poor Daddy, too—when I have taken off my things and rested a little, I will send for you and tell you—” her voice broke.
“I wish you’d tell us now,” said hasty Christabel. “If it’s anything horrid, it’s worse to have to wait.” ”

“ You can come here as soon as Harriet has cleared the table,” she added to the new little governess.
Jasper kept his promise—he tried his best manfully, and, for part of the time at least, Christabel did her best. But even with real goodwill, if one has not got the habit of self-control, patience and gentleness, especially in teaching, cannot be learnt all at once.
“You are too stupid for words,” cried Chrissie, pushing away the book before them violently. “At your age I could read perfectly—as well as I do now.” ”

“ Then out she drew her own prayer-book. “Look here, Lell,” she exclaimed, restored to good-humour by her triumph. “It was in here all the time—ever since last Sunday, I daresay.”
“I daresay,” repeated Leila scornfully. “There never was any one so careless as you. You’d better run down and put Aunt Margaret’s treasure back in its place before she misses it.”
Christabel started. She got red, then white. She glanced at the bed, where her hat and gloves were lying; she felt in her frock pocket, she stared at the floor, then in terror and despair she burst out—“Lell, Lell, what shall I do? ”

“ Leila would have liked to turn upon her, but she was afraid of beginning to cry, so with some difficulty she remained silent till Chrissie had flung out of the room.
“I wish they would let me go to school,” she said to herself when she was alone. “I don’t mind lessons, I only want to be left in peace. I’m sure they might find some cheap school, and when I’m old enough I’d ask to be kept on as a governess. I will ask Mummy about it. If Roland’s the eldest boy, I’m the eldest girl, and if they pay hundreds of pounds for him to go to Winton, they might pay something for me.” ”

“ Your aunt and I are waiting for you,” she said.
To be quickly obedient, I am sorry to say, was not the motive that inspired their haste.
“Now’s our time, Lell,” said Chrissie. “There’s no one in the drawing-room. We can put it back at once on Auntie’s table. I’ll just slip it a little under some of the other things, so if she possibly has missed it, she’ll think afterwards she had made a mistake.”
“Do it yourself,” said Leila, and then it was that she added her warning as to what she would think of Chrissie if she ever “told,” to which no reply was vouchsafed. ”

“ Over and over again the young governess had tried to hit upon some way of really impressing her pupils more lastingly, of checking their increasing self-will and heedlessness. For we don’t stand still in character; if we are not improving, it is greatly to be feared we are falling off. Now and then she felt happier, but never for more than a day or two, and this morning—this cold winter morning when she herself had got up long before it was light, to do some extra bookwork, and attend to her invalid sister’s breakfast—this morning was again to bring disappointment. ”

“ A fine, mild day had been chosen for the journey, and if any of you who read this story have ever known what it was to be very ill and to get better again, you can picture to yourselves our little boy’s delight at being out once more and able to enjoy the open air and the bright spring sunshine. Even the drive in the four-wheeler was full of pleasure, and once he was comfortably settled in the railway carriage, in a corner by the window, you may be sure his face beamed with satisfaction. ”

“ Answer, can’t you?” as she dived in and out of the dining-room, without finding her sister. “Oh, there you are! You can’t be hidden for long in this cupboard of a house.”
Her good-humour seemed restored, and as Leila, unwillingly enough, glanced up in response to this summons, she saw that Christabel, if not very tidy as yet, still looked better than at the breakfast-table.
“What are you doing? Oh, reading of course. I say, it’s freezing in here. Don’t you see the window’s half open and there’s no fire. Why don’t you stay in the dining-room? There’s no one there,” Chrissie went on. ”

“ Chrissie tried to toss her head in the way she usually did when found fault with, but I scarcely think the effort was a success, and she was very glad that as her father was late that morning, having had letters to write in his study, she had finished her breakfast before he came in.
“Yes,” said her mother, in answer to her unspoken question, “yes, you can go upstairs at once and make yourself fit to be seen.”
“Leila,” said Mrs Fortescue in a moment or two, “I do think you might take a little charge of Chrissie. After all she is younger and more thoughtless by nature than you are. ”

“ It doesn’t make it any better for the poor children.”
“If your food were not nice, perhaps I would agree with you, but as things are, I cannot,” said Miss Earle.
But eat her apple pudding Chrissie would not, and as she had really not had enough dinner for a strong, healthy child as she was, her temper was by no means at its best for afternoon lessons, and Miss Earle walked home, feeling sadly discouraged.
“I must tell Mrs Fortescue that I’m making no way with them,” she thought. “Things have gone too far. I do not see how one is to get any lasting impression on them. ”

“ She was seated at her writing-table, with two or three small, somewhat old-fashioned, jewel cases before her.
“Leila dear, and Chrissie,” she said as they came in, looking rather surprised at her summons, “I am going to confide in you. We are not happy about Jasper. He is not improving, and he must have country or sea-air if he is ever to grow quite strong.”
“I know,” said Leila, growing pale. “Chris and I are very miserable about him, aren’t we, Chrissie?—for of course—” but here her voice failed her: and as for Chrissie, she was already in tears. ”

“ And Leila was as lazy and disobliging as ever, often ungenerously taunting Chrissie with ingratitude, which naturally led to very unlovely quarrels.
Neither helped the other in the last. They grew more and more unpunctual and careless and ill-tempered. They only just stopped short of actual rudeness to poor Miss Greenall, and even the pleasant French lessons with their aunt, seemed to have lost their flavour. ”