第23章 Jill's Mission(4)
She also recollected that a paper flew off the table,but being in haste she had not stopped to see what it was.Now,the stamp and the letter could hardly have come together without hands,for they lay a yard apart,and here,also,on the unwritten portion of the page,was the mark of a small green thumb.Jill had been winding wool for a stripe in her new afghan,and the green ball lay on her sofa.These signs suggested and confirmed what Mrs.Minot did not want to believe;so did the voice,attitude,and air of Jill,all very unlike her usual open,alert ways.
The kind lady could easily forgive the reading of her letter since the girl had found such sad news there,but the dangers of disobedience were serious in her case,and a glance showed that she was suffering either in mind or body--perhaps both.
"I will wait for her to tell me.She is an honest child,and the truth will soon come out,"thought Mrs.Minot,as she took a clean sheet,and Jill tried to study.
"Shall I hear your lesson,dear?Jack means to recite his like a good boy,so suppose you follow his example,"she said,presently.
"I don't know as I can say it,but I'll try."Jill did try,and got on bravely till she came to the word "permanent";there she hesitated,remembering where she saw it last.
"Do you know what that means?"asked her teacher,thinking to help her on by defining the word.
"Always--for a great while--or something like that;doesn't it?"faltered Jill,with a tight feeling in her throat,and the color coming up,as she tried to speak easily,yet felt so shame-stricken she could not.
"Are you in pain,my child?Never mind the lesson;tell me,and I'll do something for you."The kind words,the soft hand on her hot cheek,and the pity in the eyes that looked at her,were too much for Jill.A sob came first,and then the truth,told with hidden face and tears that washed the blush away,and set free the honest little soul that could not hide its fault from such a friend.
"I knew it all before,and was sure you would tell me,else you would not be the child I love and like to help so well."Then,while she soothed Jill's trouble,Mrs.Minot told her story and showed the letter,wishing to lessen,if possible,some part of the pain it had given.
"Sly old stamp!To go and tell on me when I meant to own up,anti get some credit if I could,after being so mean and bad,"said Jill,smiling through her tears when she saw the tell-tale witnesses against her.
"You had better stick it in your book to remind you of the bad consequences of disobedience,then perhaps this lesson will leave a permanent impression on your mind and memory,answered Mrs.
Minot,glad to see her natural gayety coming back,and hoping that she had forgotten the contents of the unfortunate letter.But she had not;and presently,when the sad affair had been talked over and forgiven,Jill asked,slowly,as she tried to put on a brave look,"Please tell me about Lucinda Snow.If I am to be like her,I might as well know how she managed to bear it so long.""I'm sorry you ever heard of her,and yet perhaps it may help you to bear your trial,dear,which I hope will never be as heavy a one as hers,This Lucinda I knew for years,and though at first I thought her fate the saddest that could be,I came at last to see how happy she was in spite of her affliction,how good and useful and beloved.""Why,how could she be?What did she do?"cried Jill,forgetting her own troubles to look up with an open,eager face again.
"She was so patient,other people were ashamed to complain of their small worries;so cheerful,that her own great one grew lighter;so industrious,that she made both money and friends by pretty things she worked and sold to her many visitors.And,best of all,so wise and sweet that she seemed to get good out of everything,and make her poor room a sort of chapel where people went for comfort,counsel,and an example of a pious life.So,you see,Lucinda was not so very miserable after all.""Well,if I could not be as I was,I'd like to be a woman like that.
Only,I hope I shall not!"answered Jill,thoughtfully at first,then coming out so decidedly with the last words that it was evident the life of a bedridden saint was not at all to her mind.
"So do I;and I mean to believe that you will not.Meantime,we can try to make the waiting as useful and pleasant as possible.This painful little back will be a sort of conscience to remind you of what you ought to do and leave undone,and so you can be learning obedience.Then,when the body is strong,it will have formed a good habit to make duty easier;and my Lucinda can be a sweet example,even while lying here,if she chooses.""Can I?"and Jill's eyes were full of softer tears as the comfortable,cheering words sank into her heart,to blossom slowly by and by into her life,for this was to be a long lesson,hard to learn,but very useful in the years to come.
When the boys returned,after the Latin was recited and peace restored,Jack showed her a recovered stamp promptly paid by Frank,who was as just as he was severe,and Jill asked for the old red one,though she did not tell why she wanted it,nor show it put away in the spelling-book,a little seal upon a promise made to be kept.
Merry and Molly Now let us see how the other missionaries got on with their tasks.
Farmer Grant was a thrifty,well-to-do man,anxious to give his children greater advantages than he had enjoyed,and to improve the fine place of which he was justly proud.Mrs.Grant was a notable housewife,as ambitious and industrious as her husband,but too busy to spend any time on the elegancics of life,though always ready to help the poor and sick like a good neighbor and Christian woman.The three sons--Tom,Dick,and Harry--were big fellows of seventeen,nineteen,and twenty-one;the first two on the farm,and the elder in a store just setting up for himself.
Kind-hearted but rough-mannered youths,who loved Merry very much,but teased her sadly about her "fine lady airs,"as they called her dainty ways and love of beauty.