Harris kicked Susan Pope, and would not say she was sorry; Mary Hale would not know M from N, do all our Mary would; and Jane Taylor, after all the pains I have taken with her, when I asked how the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, seemed never to have heard of them.'
Margaret could have said that Ethel had come in positively crying with vexation, but with no diminution of the spirit of perseverance.
'I am so glad you are come, Richard!' she continued. 'You will put a little new life into them. They all looked so pleased when we told them Mr. Richard was coming.'
'I hope we shall get on,' said Richard.
'I want you to judge whether the Popes are civilised enough to be dressed for Sunday-school. Oh, and the money! Here is the account- book--'
'How neatly you have kept it, Ethel.'
'Ah! it was for you, you know. Receipts--see, aren't you surprised?'
'Four pounds eighteen and eightpence! That is a great deal!'
'The three guineas were Mr. Rivers's fees, you know; then, Margaret gave us half-a-sovereign, and Mary a shilling, and there was one that we picked up, tumbling about the house, and papa said we might have, and the twopence were little Blanche's savings. Oh, Ritchie!' as a bright coin appeared on the book.
'That is all I could save this term,' he said.
'Oh, it is famous! Now, I do think I may put another whole sovereign away into the purse for the church. See, here is what we have paid. Shoes--those did bring our money very low, and then I bought a piece of print which cost sixteen shillings, but it will make plenty of frocks. So, you see, the balance is actually two pounds nine! That is something. The nine shillings will go on till we get another fee; for I have two frocks ready made for the Popes, so the two pounds are a real nest-egg towards the church.'
'The church!' repeated Rlchard, half smiling.
'I looked in the paper the other day, and saw that a chapel had been built for nine hundred pounds,' said Ethel.
'And you have two!'
'Two in eight months, Ritchie, and more will come as we get older. I have a scheme in my head, but I won't tell you now.'
'Nine hundred! And a church has to be endowed as well as built, you know, Ethel.'
'Oh! never mind that now. If we can begin and build, some good person will come and help. I'll run and fetch it, Ritchie. I drew out a sketch of what I want it to be.'
'What a girl that is!' said Richard, as Ethel dashed away.
'Is not she?' said Margaret. 'And she means all so heartily. Do you know she has spent nothing on her own pleasures, not a book, not a thing has she bought this year, except a present for Blanche's birthday, and some silk to net a purse for Harry.'
'I cannot help being sometimes persuaded that she will succeed,' said Richard.
'Faith, energy, self-denial, perseverance, they go a great way,' said Margaret. 'And yet when we look at poor dear Ethel, and her queer ungainly ways, and think of her building a church!'
Neither Richard nor Margaret could help laughing, but they checked it at once, and the former said, 'That brave spirit is a reproof to us all.'
'Yes,' said Margaret; 'and so is the resolution to mend her little faults.'
Ethel came back, having, of course, mislaid her sketch, and, much vexed, wished to know if it ought to cause her first forfeit, but Margaret thought these should not begin till the date of the agreement, and the three resumed the Cocksmoor discussion.
It lasted till the return of the walking party, so late, that they had been star-gazing, and came in, in full dispute as to which was Cygnus and which Aquila, while Blanche was talking very grandly of Taurus Poniatouski, and Harry begging to be told which constellations he should still see in the southern hemisphere. Dr. May was the first to rectify the globe for the southern latitudes, and fingers were affectionately laid on Orion's studded belt, as though he were a friend who would accompany the sailor-boy. Voices grew loud and eager in enumerating the stars common to both; and so came bedtime, and the globe stood on the table in danger of being forgotten. Ethel diligently lifted it up; and while Norman exclaimed at her tidiness, Margaret told how a new leaf was to be turned, and of her voluntary forfeits.
'A very good plan,' cried the doctor. 'We can't do better than follow her example.'
'What you, papa? Oh, what fun!' exclaimed Harry.
'So you think I shall be ruined, Mr. Monkey. How do you know I shall not be the most orderly of all? A penny for everything left about, confiscated for the benefit of Cocksmoor, eh?'
'And twopence for pocket-handkerchiefs, if you please,' said Norman, with a gesture of disgust.
'Very well. From Blanche, upwards. Margaret shall have a book, and set down marks against us--hold an audit every Saturday night. What say you, Blanche?'
'Oh, I hope Flora will leave something about!' cried Blanche, dancing with glee.
CHAPTER XXV.
Oh, no, we never mention her, We never breathe her name.--SONG.
A great deal of merriment had come home with Harry, who never was grave for ten minutes without a strong reaction, and distracted the house with his noise and his antics, in proportion, as it sometimes seemed, to the spaces of serious thought and reading spent in the study, where Dr. May did his best to supply Mr. Ramsden's insufficient attention to his Confirmation candidates, by giving an hour every day to Norman, Ethel, and Harry. He could not lecture, but he read with them, and his own earnestness was very impressive.
The two eldest felt deeply, but Harry often kept it in doubt, whether he were not as yet too young and wild for permanent impressions, so rapid were his transitions, and so overpowering his high spirits. Not that these were objected to; but there was a feeling that there might as well be moderation in all things, and that it would have been satisfactory if, under present circumstances, he had been somewhat more subdued and diligent.
'There are your decimals not done yet, Harry.'
For Harry, being somewhat deficient in arithmetic, had been recommended to work in that line during his visit at home--an operation usually deferred, as at present, to the evening.
'I am going to do my sums now, Flora,' said Harry, somewhat annoyed.
He really fetched his arithmetic, and his voice was soon heard asking how he was ever to put an end to a sum that would turn to nothing but everlasting threes.
'What have you been doing, young ladies?' asked Dr. May. 'Did you call on Miss Walkingham?'
'Flora and Blanche did,' said Ethel; 'I thought you did not want me to go, and I had not time. Besides, a London grand young lady--oh!' and Ethel shook her head in disgust.
'That is not the way you treat Meta Rivers.'
'Oh, Meta is different! She has never been out!'
'I should have been glad for you to have seen Miss Walkingham,' said her father. Pretty manners are improving; besides, old Lady Walkingham begged me to send my daughters.'
'I should not have seen her,' said Ethel, 'for she was not well enough to let us in.'
'Was it not pushing?' said Flora. 'There were the Andersons leaving their card!'
'Those Andersons!' exclaimed the doctor; 'I am sick of the very sound of the name. As sure as my name is Dick May, I'll include it in Margaret's book of fines.'
Flora looked dignified.
'They are always harping on that little trumpery girl's nonsense,' said Harry. 'Aught, aught, eight, that is eight thousandths, eh, Norman! If it was about those two fellows, the boys--'
'You would harp only on what affects you?' said the doctor.
'No, I don't; men never do. That is one hundred and twenty-fifth.'
'One man does it to an hundred and twenty-five women?' said Dr. May.
'It is rather a female defect, indeed,' said Margaret.
'Defect!' said Flora.
'Yes,' said Dr. May, 'since it is not only irksome to the hearers, but leads to the breaking of the ninth
