A New England Tale (Romance Classic). Catharine Maria Sedgwick

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СКАЧАТЬ very great, but it did not seem suitable that being my brother's daughter you should be put out at present: you must remember, child, that I am at liberty to turn you away at any time, whereas, as you will always be in debt to me, you can never be at liberty to go when you choose. It it a great trial to me to take you, but the consciousness of doing my duty and more than my duty to you, supports me under it. Now as to what I expect from you:—in the first place, my word must be your law; you must not hesitate to do any thing that I require of you; never think of asking a reason for what I command—it is very troublesome and unreasonable to do so. Visiting, you must give up entirely; I allow my children to waste none of their time in company: meetings I shall wish you to attend when you have not work to do at home; for I do not wish you to neglect the means of grace, though I am sensible that your heart must be changed before they can do you any good. You must help Martha do the ironing, and assist Elvira with the clear starching and other matters; Nancy will want your aid about the beds; Sally is but young, and requires more care than I can give her, for my time is at present chiefly spent in instructing the young converts; and therefore I shall look to you to take the charge of Sally; and I expect you to take the charge of mending and making for David when he comes home; the other boys will want now and then a stitch or two; and, in short, Miss, (and she increased the asperity of her tone, for she thought Jane's growing gravity indicated incipient rebellion,) you will be ready to do every thing that is wanted of you."

      Jane was summoning resolution to reply, when both her and her aunt's attention was called to a rustling at the window, and crazy Bet thrust her head in—

      "Go on," said she, and fill up the measure of your iniquities, load her with burthens heavy and grievous to be borne, and do not touch them with one of your fingers.—There, Jane," said she, throwing her a bunch of carnations, "I have just come from the quarterly meeting, and I stopped as I came past your house, and picked these, for I thought their bright colours would be a temptation to the Quaker. And I thought too," said she, laughing, "there should be something to send up a sweet smelling savour from the altar where there are no deeds of mercy laid."

      "Out of my yard instantly, you dirty beggar!" said Mrs. Wilson.

      Bet turned, but not quickening her step, and went away, singing, "Glory, glory, hallelujah."

      "Aunt," said Jane, "do not mind the poor creature. She does not mean to offend you. I believe she feels for me; for she has been sheltered many a time from the cold and the storms in our house."

      "Don't give yourself the least uneasiness, Miss. I am not to be disturbed by a crazy woman; but I do not see what occasion there is for her feeling for you. You have not yet answered me."

      "I have no answer to make. Ma'am," replied Jane, meekly, "but that I shall do my best to content you. I am very young, and not much used to work, and I may have been too kindly dealt with; but that is all over now."

      "Do you mean, Miss, to say, that I shan't treat you kindly?"

      "No, aunt, but I meant——excuse me, if I meant any thing wrong."

      "I did expect, Miss, to hear some thankfulness expressed."

      "I do, Ma'am, feel grateful, that I have a shelter over my head; what more I have to be grateful for, time must determine."

      There was a dignity in Jane's manner, that, with the spirit of the reply, taught Mrs. Wilson, that she had, in her niece, a very different subject to deal with from her own wilful and trickish children. Well, Miss Jane, I shall expect no haughty airs in my house, and you will please now to go and tell the girls to be ready to go with me to the afternoon conference, and prepare yourself to go also. One more thing I have to say to you, you must never look to me for any clothing; that cunning Mary has packed away enough to last you fifty years. With all her methodism, I will trust her to feather your nest, and her own too."

      Alas! thought Jane, as she went to execute her aunt's commission, what good does it do my poor aunt to go to conference? Perhaps this question would not have occurred to many girls of thirteen, but Jane had been accustomed to scan the motives of her conduct, and to watch for the fruit. The aid extended to our helpless orphan by her pharisaical aunt, reminds us of the "right of asylum" afforded, by the ancients to the offenders who were allowed to take shelter in the temples of their gods, and allowed to perish there.

      She found the girls very much indisposed to the afternoon meeting. Martha said, she "would not go to hear Deacon Barton's everlasting prayers; she had heard so many of them, she knew them all by heart."

      Elvira had just got possession, by stealth, of a new novel; that species of reading being absolutely prohibited in Mrs. Wilson's house, she had crept up to the garret, and was promising herself a long afternoon of stolen pleasure. "Oh, Jane," said she, "why can't you go down and tell Mother you can't find me. Just tell her, you guess I have gone down to Miss Bancker's, to inquire whether the tracts have come; that's a good thought; that will quiet her;" and she was resuming her book, when seeing Jane did not move, she added, "I'll do as much for you any time."

      "I shall never wish you to do as much for me, Elvira."

      "I do not think it is so very much, just to go down stairs; besides, Jane," she added, imperiously, "Mother says, you must do whatever we ask you to."

      Elvira was so habituated to deceit, that it never occurred to her, that the falsehood was the difficult part of the errand to Jane; and when Jane said, "Cousin Elvira, I will do whatever is reasonable for you, and no more; any thing that is true, I will tell your Mother for you;" she laughed in derision.

      "Pooh, Jane, you have brought your deaconish nonsense to a poor market. It was easy enough to get along with the truth with your mother, because she would let you have your own way on all occasions; but I can tell you, disguises are the only wear in our camp!"

      "I shall not use them, Elvira. I should dread their being stripped off."

      "Oh, not at all. Mother seldom takes the trouble to inquire into it; and if she does, now and then, by accident, detect it, the storm soon blows over. She has caught me in many a white lie, and black one too, and she has not been half so angry as when I have torn my frock, or lost a glove. Why, child, if you are going to fight your battles with Mother with plain truth, you will find yourself without shield or buckler."

      "Ah, Elvira!" replied Jane, smiling,

      "That's no battle, ev'ry body knows,

       Where one side only gives the blows."

      "That's true enough, Jane. Well, if you will not help me off from the conference, I must go.—Sweet Vivaldi," said she, kissing her book, and carefully hiding it in a dark corner of the garret, "must I part with thee?"

      "One would think," said Jane, "you was parting with your lover."

      "I am, my dear. I always fancy, when I read a novel, that I am the heroine, and the hero is one of my favourites; and then I realize it all, and it appears so natural."

      Elvira was not, at heart, an ill-natured girl; but having a weak understanding, and rather a fearful unresisting temper, she had been driven by her Mother's mode of treatment into the practice of deceit; and she being the weaker party, used in her warfare, as many arts as a savage practises towards a civilized enemy. A small stock of original invention may be worked up into a vast deal of cunning. Elvira had been sent one quarter to a distant boarding-school, where her name had attracted a young lady, whose head had been turned by love-stories. They had formed a league of eternal friendship, which might have a six months' duration; and Elvira had returned to her home, at the age of sixteen, with a farrago of romance superadded to her home-bred duplicity.

      Martha СКАЧАТЬ