Lewie Part 14

_"This_ little black-eyed girl will show me the way, I'm sure."

There was no resisting the gentle kindness of Agnes, and the confidence of little Rosa was won immediately. Coming out from behind her mother's chair, she put her hand in that of Agnes, and led her up stairs into a large room, on the second floor, overlooking the beautiful lake.

"What a very pleasant room!" said Agnes. "Is this to be mine?"

"Yes," answered Rosa, who, having once found her tongue, showed that she could make very rapid use of it when she chose--"and that bed is yours, and that one is for me and Jessie."

'"Jessie and _me_,' you mean, Rosa, do you not?"

"I'm the _oldest_," answered Rosa.

"I know that, Rosa; but recollect, whenever you speak of any _one_, no matter who, in connection with yourself always to mention the other person first. Will you remember that?"

"Yes, I'll try," answered Rosa. She then proceeded to inform Agnes, that her mamma had wished to give her a little room on the other side of the hall, but papa said she should have this room, because it was so pleasant, and he had heard her say that she was so fond of the water.

"That was very kind of your papa," said Agnes; "and where does Tiney sleep?"

"Oh, Tiney sleeps with Susan, because she has fits, you know."

_"Who_ has?--Susan?" asked Agnes.

"No, Tiney has fits, and n.o.body likes to take care of her but papa and Susan."

Agnes was disappointed to find that she was not to have a room to herself. "I came here to instruct these children," said she to herself, "not to act in the capacity of nursery-maid. However, I will bear it patiently for the present; perhaps I shall gain an influence over them, by having them so constantly with me, that I could not acquire in any other way. There is so much to be corrected in their habits and language, besides their being so woefully ignorant!"

Agnes continued talking pleasantly to little Rosa, while she was dressing; and when they went down stairs, hand in hand, the very pleasantest relations appeared to be established between them.

"What shall we call you?" asked Rosa.

"You may call me 'cousin Agnes,' if you choose," she answered, "and if your papa and mamma are willing."

"Oh, I shall like that!" said Rosa.

Soon after Agnes and little Rosa re-entered the sitting-room, the Misses Fairland returned from their walk. They were gayly and showily attired in the very height of the fas.h.i.+on, and entered the door talking and laughing very loudly; but when introduced to Miss Elwyn, they stopped and opened their eyes in unaffected amazement. As Agnes rose with graceful ease to meet them, looking so lovely in her deep mourning dress, and with her rich waving chesnut hair, simply parted on her forehead, and gathered in a knot behind, there was a most striking contrast between her and the gaudily dressed, beflounced, and beflowered ladies, who were fas.h.i.+onably and formally curtseying, and presenting her the tips of their fingers.

Though younger by some years than the youngest of the Miss Fairlands, there was a dignified self-possession about Agnes, which was quite astonis.h.i.+ng to them. Though rather of the _hoyden-ish_ cla.s.s themselves, they could not fail at once to recognize the air of refinement which marks the true lady, and while intending by their own appearance to over-awe the new governess, they were so completely taken by surprise by her perfect ease and composure of manner, that they alone appeared stiff and awkward, and she unembarra.s.sed and easy.

And this was the prim old-maidish governess they had been expecting!

this fresh, blooming, lovely looking girl! It was by no means a pleasant surprise to the Misses Fairland. However, she was nothing but a _governess_ after all; and could easily be kept in the back ground; it was to Be hoped she would know her place and keep it.

The Misses Fairland made the mistake very common with persons of weak mind, and little cultivation at that, and instead of judging of others by their intrinsic worth, character, or intellect, formed their estimate only by the outward circ.u.mstances in which they found them. Had this same Agnes Elwyn come to make a visit to her far away cousins, in her own carriage, and surrounded by external marks of wealth, they would have been ready to fall down and wors.h.i.+p her; but coming as a _governess,_ and by the _stage,_ what notice could she expect from the Misses Fairland! These young ladies had so often been made wretched, by intentional slights from those in whose sphere they had aspired to move, that they did not doubt Agnes would be rendered equally uncomfortable by their own neglect.

The tea-bell rang, and the Misses Fairland hastened to take off their bonnets and soon re-appeared at the tea-table, where they took up the entire conversation, telling of all they had heard and seen, in their calls through the village. For like the ancient Athenians, these young ladies literally "spent their time in nothing else, but to hear or to tell of some new thing."

In the midst of the conversation there was a sudden bustle, and Tiney rose hastily from the table. Her father immediately left his chair, and went round to her place, and took her by the arm. There was a ghastly and disturbed look about poor Tiney's face, and an expression of terrible malignity about her eye, and as she pa.s.sed the chairs of her little sisters, one screamed loudly and then the other, and when she came near Agnes, it was with great difficulty that she too could resist the inclination to scream with the pain, caused by a terrible pinch from the fingers of Tiney, which left its mark upon her arm for many days.

Mr. Fairland led the child from the room, and as the door closed after them, Agnes heard a succession of the most piercing shrieks, as if all the strength of the sufferer's lungs were expended upon each one.

"Oh, dear! Susan is out, and your father will need a.s.sistance," said Mrs. Fairland; "but really, these scenes have such an effect upon my nerves, that I find it necessary to avoid them altogether."

"And so do I," said Miss Calista, "indeed I always suffer with a severe headache after them."

"And they are so utterly disagreeable to me, to to be more candid than either of you," said Miss Evelina, "that I always keep as far out of the way as possible."

"Can I be of any use?" asked Agnes, partly rising and looking towards Mrs. Fairland. She would have followed poor Tiney and her father immediately, but did not wish to appear to pry into that of which nothing had been mentioned to her, and of which they might not like to speak out of their own family.

"Oh, do go, Miss Elwyn, if you have the _nerve,"_ said Mrs. Fairland.

The reader knows enough of Agnes to feel a.s.sured that her _nerves_ were never in the way, if opportunity offered to make herself useful to the suffering; and the moment Mrs. Fairland answered her, she left the room, and, guided by those still piercing shrieks, she pa.s.sed through a long hall, and entered a small bath-room, where she found Mr. Fairland holding the struggling Tiney, who presented a shocking appearance. Her face was now quite purple, and the white froth stood about her mouth; and her father was holding both of her hands in one of his, to quiet her frantic struggles.

"Oh, bless you, Miss Agnes!" said Mr. Fairland, as soon as she opened the door; "set that water running immediately till it is quite hot, and take off this poor child's stockings and shoes. You see I can do nothing."

As quickly and as quietly as possible Agnes did as she was directed; and then also, by Mr. Fairland's direction, took down a bottle of medicine, always kept ready for this purpose in the bath-room, and dropped some of it for him. In a few moments, the shrieks subsided to moans, as Tiney lay with her head back on her father's shoulder.

"Poor child!" said Mr. Fairland, wiping her lips and forehead, "she is a dreadful sufferer."

"Has she been so long?" asked Agnes.

"Ever since her third year," answered Mr. Fairland, "though, at first, the attacks were comparatively slight; but of late years they have grown more and more severe. Her intellect, as you perhaps have already noticed, is much weakened by them, and her temper, naturally very sweet, is at times almost fiendish. It seems to be her great desire, while suffering so intensely, to injure all within her reach."

Agnes now understood the reason of the screams of the children, and also of the pinch she had received as Tiney pa.s.sed her chair. When poor Tiney's moans had become more faint, Mr. Fairland said:

"Agnes, will you sing? Music seems to soothe her more than anything else, after the extreme suffering is over."

Agnes sang, with her marvellously sweet voice, a simple air: presently poor Tiney turned her head, and fixed her half-closed eyes on Agnes'

face. Then she said, from time to time, in a dreamy way, "Pretty!--sweet! Sing more;" and then she lay perfectly quiet, and soon fell into a gentle slumber. Often and often, after that, when poor Tiney was seized with these excruciating attacks, as soon as the first intense suffering was over, she would say, "Cousin Agnes, sing!" and, from the time she heard the gentle tones of Agnes' voice, she would be quiet and gentle as a lamb. The effect could be likened to nothing but the calming of the evil spirit which possessed the monarch of Israel, by the tones of the sweet harp of David.

XIV.

THE SCHOOL IN THE WEST WING.

"Scatter diligently, in susceptible minds, The germs of the good and beautiful, They will develop there to trees, bud, bloom, And bear the golden fruit of paradise."

Agnes found it no easy task to bring into training minds so ignorant and so utterly undisciplined as those of her little pupils. Left entirely to themselves, as they had been for many months, with a mother too indolent to trouble herself about any systematic plan of government, and a father too easy and good-natured to carry out the many plans he was ever forming for their "breaking in;" scolded and fretted at by their older sisters, to whom they were perfect torments; by turns playing harmoniously, and then quarrelling most vigorously,--they roamed the house and grounds, doing mischief everywhere, and bringing wrath upon their heads at every turn.

With a perfect horror of anything like _study_, they had expected with great dread the arrival of a governess, as putting a final stop to all their fun and freedom. This dread had been in nowise diminished by the constant remarks of their older sisters upon governesses in the abstract, and their own expected governess in particular. One evening with Agnes served to dispel the horror, so far as she was concerned, though the dread of books was still as great as ever. Before the evening was over, Agnes had them all round her, as she sat on the sofa, telling them beautiful stories, and asking them questions.

"Have you any pretty flowers in the woods about here?" she asked.

"Oh, lots!" answered Rosa; "yellow flowers, and blue flowers, and white flowers."

"Then if you would like to learn something of Botany, so as to know the names of all these beautiful flowers, we will take many pleasant rambles in the woods, and gather the lovely wild flowers, and I will teach you how to press them."

"But we haven't got any _Botany books_," said little Jessie.