They looked up as though it were quite a new light to them; and Susan exclaimed,
Oh, Miss Fosbrook! they dont mean it: Sam and Hal never were ill-natured in their lives.
I dont know what you call ill-natured, said Miss Fosbrook, unless it is saying the very things most likely to vex another.
I dont mean to vex anybody, said Henry, only we always go on so, and nobody is such a baby as to mind, except Bessie.
And Sam muttered, One cant be always picking ones words.
I am not going to argue about it, said Miss Fosbrook; and it is time to get ready for church. Only I thought manliness was shown in kindness to the weak, and avoiding what can pain them.
She went away; and Susan was the first to exclaim,
I didnt think shed have been so cross!
Stuff, Sue! said Sam; its not being cross. I like her for having a spirit; but one cant be finikin and mealy-mouthed to suit her London manners. I like the truth.
It would have been well if any one had been by to tell Mr. Samuel that truth of character does not consist in disagreeable and uncalled-for personalities.
Miss Fosbrook did not wonder at little Elizabeth for her discomfort under the rude homeliness of Stokesley, where the children made a bad copy of their fathers sailor bluntness, and the difficulties of money matters kept down all indulgences. She knew that Captain Merrifield was as poor a man for an esquire as her father was for a surgeon, and that if he were to give his sons an education fit for their station, he must make his household live plainly in every way; but without thinking them right feelings, she had some pity for little Bessies weariness and discontent in never seeing anything pretty. The three girls came in dressed for church, in the plainest brown hats, black capes, and drab alpaca frocks, rather long and not very full; not a coloured bow nor handkerchief, not a flounce nor fringe, to relieve them; even their books plain brown. Bessie looked wistfully at Miss Fosbrooks pretty Church-service, and said she and Susan both had beautiful Prayer-Books, but Mamma said they could not be trusted with them yetIda Greville had such a beauty.
Was it the effect of Miss Fosbrooks words, that Sam forbore to teaze Bessie about Ida Greville?whose name was a very dangerous subject in the schoolroom. Also, he let Bessie take hold of Miss Fosbrooks hand in peace, though in general the least token of affection was scouted by the whole party.
It was a pretty walk to church, over a paddock, where the cows were turned out, and then along a green lane; and the boys had been trained enough in Sunday habits to make them steady and quiet on the way, especially as Henry was romancing about the pig.
By and by Elizabeth gave Miss Fosbrooks hand a sudden pull; and she perceived, in the village street into which they were emerging, a party on the way to church. There were two ladies, one in stately handsome slight mourning, the other more quietly dressed, and two or three boys; but what Elizabeth wanted her to look at was a little girl of nine years old, who was walking beside the lady. Her hat was black chip, edged and tied with rose-coloured ribbon, and adorned with a real bird, with glass eyes, black plumage, except the red crest and wings. She wore a neatly-fitting little fringed black polka, beneath which spread out in fan-like folds her flounced pink muslin, coming a little below her knees, and showing her worked drawers, which soon gave place to her neat stockings and dainty little boots. She held a small white parasol, bordered with pink, and deeply fringed, over her head, and held a gold-clasped Prayer-Book in her hand; and Miss Fosbrook heard a little sigh, which told her that this was the being whom Elizabeth Merrifield thought the happiest in the world. She hoped it was not all for the fine clothes; and Sam muttered,
What a little figure of fun!
Martin and Osmond Greville went daily to Mr. Careys, like Sam and Hal, so the boys ran on to them; and Mrs. Greville, turning round, showed a very pleasant face as she bowed to Miss Fosbrook, and shaking hands with Susan and Elizabeth, asked with much solicitude after their mamma, and how lately they had heard of her.
Susan was too simple and straightforward to be shy, and answered readily, that they had had letters, and Mamma had been sadly tired by the journey, but was better the next day. The little girls shook hands; and Mrs. Greville made a kind of introduction by nodding towards her companion, and murmuring something about Fräulein Munsterthal; and Miss Fosbrook found herself walking beside a lady with the least of all bonnets, a profusion of fair hair, and a good-humoured, one-coloured face, no doubt Miss Idas German governess. She said something about the fine day, and received an answer, but what it was she could not guess, whether German, French, or English, and her own knowledge of the two first languages was better for reading than for speaking; so after an awkward attempt or two, she held her peace and looked at her companions.
Susan and Mrs. Greville seemed to be getting on very well together; but Elizabeths admiration of Ida seemed to be speechless, for they were walking side by side without a word, perhaps too close to their elders to talk.
Annie and David were going on steadily hand in hand a little way off; and Miss Fosbrook chiefly heard the talk of the boys, who had fallen behind; perhaps her ears were quickened by its personality, for though Sam was saying, Ill tell you what, shes a famous fellow! the rejoinder was, What! do you mean to say that you mind her?
Doesnt he? said Hals voice; why, she sent him away from tea last night, just for shying crusts.
And did he go? and there was a disagreeable sounding laugh, in which she was sorry that Hal joined.
Catch the Fräulein serving me so!
She never tries!
She knows better!
I say, Sam, I thought you had more spirit. Youll be sitting up pricking holes in a frill by the time the Captain comes back.
And Hal will be mincing along with his toes turned out like a dancing-master! continued an affected voice.
No such thing! cried Hal angrily: Im not a fellow to be ordered about!
The Grevilles laughed; and one of them said, Well, then, why dont you show it? Id soon send her to the right-about if she tried to interfere with me!
Miss Fosbrook could bear it no longer; and facing suddenly round, looked the speaker full in the face, and said, I am very much obliged to youbut you should not speak quite so loud.
The boys shrank back out of countenance; and Sam, who alone had not spoken, looked up into her face with a merry air, as if he were gratified by her spirited way of discomfiting them.
Osmond tried to recover, and muttered, What a sell! rather impudently; but they were now near the churchyard, and Mrs. Greville turning round, all was hushed.
Christabel felt much vexed that all this should have happened just before going into church; she felt a good deal ruffled herself, and feared that Bessies head was filled with nonsense, if Hals were not with something worse.
The church looked pretty outside, with the old weather-boarded wooden belfry rising above the tiled roof and western gable; and it was neatly kept but not pretty within, the walls all done over with pale buff wash, and the wood-work very clumsy. Sam and Susan behaved well and attentively; but Bessie fidgeted into her mammas place, and would stand upon a hassock. Miss Fosbrook was much afraid it was to keep in sight of the beautiful bird. Hal yawned; and Johnnie not only fidgeted unbearably himself, but made his sister Annie do the same, till Miss Fosbrook scarcely felt as if she was at church, and made up her mind to tell Johnnie that she should leave him at home with the babies unless he changed his ways. Little David went on most steadily with his Prayer-Book, and scarcely looked off it till the sermon, when he fell asleep.