Aunt Mary

  CHAPTER XII.

  NIGHT AND MORNING.

  And now an entirely new mode of life was presented to Mabel; and MissLivesay found, as, indeed, she had expected to find, a fruitful sourceof trouble in her newly adopted pupil. Of course, on the first day ofMabel's arrival at Oak Villa there were no lessons talked about, and theyoung ladies next door were not expected to resume their school duties,until the Monday following Miss Livesay's return home; so there was alittle time afforded for breaking _out_, and breaking _in_. We shall seehow it was employed.

  This afternoon had been a very pleasant one; the chickens had beenlooked at and greatly admired; flowers, the great favourites both ofaunt and niece, Mabel did not care for, though she liked, as we haveseen, to deck herself in gay colours. In the house they had plenty ofamusement, with books and pretty specimens of work of various kinds fromthe ready fingers and artistic taste of Aunt Mary and Clara; indeed,what had been produced by their skill, industry, and steadyperseverance, was worthy of admiration. To Mabel's astonishment, nineo'clock struck, and she had not yet finished her pleasant occupation ofexamining, when her aunt said:

  'Now, my dears, it is your bed-time.'

  Clara instantly began to put away books and work, but Mabel exclaimed:

  'Oh, aunt! must we go to bed so soon? I never go till ten, at home!'

  'Perhaps you never rise at six in the morning?' replied Miss Livesay;'we do. And I dare say you have heard the old proverb--

  '"Early to bed, and early to rise, Is the way to be healthy, wealthy, and wise."'

  'I go to bed when I like, and I get up when I like, at home,' saidMabel, without noticing the unwelcome quotation.

  '_We_ have no _likes_ and _dislikes_ here, my dear Mabel,' said heraunt. 'We do what we know to be our duty, and you will have to do thesame. Good-night!'

  An affectionate kiss accompanied the _good-night_; Mabel saw that it wasa _decided_ one; there was no room for further parley, and the shorttime spent by the proud and petulant girl at Oak Villa gave signs of anauthority, to which she must of necessity submit, as from it there couldbe no appeal.

  'Mabel dear, it is time to get up; don't you hear the bell ringing?'said Clara, as she jumped out of bed and began to dress. Thesleepy-headed girl turned lazily round, but did not seem to be at alldisposed to attend to the summons.

  'You _must_ get up; indeed you must!' urged Clara, gently shaking hercousin by the shoulder. 'I shall not have done all I have to do beforeprayers, if we don't make haste.'

  'Why, what have we to do before breakfast? And what time do you havebreakfast?' drowsily inquired Mabel, rising, however, at this secondappeal of her cousin's.

  'We have prayers at eight, then breakfast; but I have my chickens tofeed, and my lessons to prepare before that time,' said Clara.

  'Lessons before breakfast! Oh, I shall hate that!' exclaimed Mabel. 'Ihope they are not hard ones, for I shall never learn them if they are.'

  'Well, I don't know what you call hard,' replied her cousin. 'I findmine rather difficult sometimes, but Aunt Mary is so kind in explainingeverything, that it is quite a pleasure to learn with her.'

  'I'm sure I shouldn't think her kind,' said the ungrateful Mabel. 'Ican't bear people that are so prim and stiff as Aunt Mary is, alwaysseeming determined to make you do just what they like, whether you wishit or not.'

  'Oh, Mabel!' said her cousin, 'I wonder how you can speak sodisrespectfully of dear Aunt Mary; and what you are saying is quiteuntrue.'

  'And I suppose,' retorted the ill-conditioned girl, 'you will go andtell her what I have said, and we shall have a row.'

  Clara was so astonished at hearing this speech from her cousin, that shesuspended the operation of dressing for a moment.

  Then she said quickly:

  'Mabel, we don't tell tales here; and I never before heard anyone speakunkindly of our aunt, nor did I ever hear her speak unkindly to anyone.Don't let us talk any more,' she added; 'I am going to say my prayers.Come, kneel down with me, and let us thank our Father in heaven fortaking care of us through the night, and ask Him to bless us before webegin our day's work.'

  Mabel knelt down beside the bed with her cousin. She had always beenaccustomed to repeat a set form of words; whether they were theutterances of the 'soul's sincere desire,' we cannot say: but we do knowthat if we _pray_ in sincerity against sin, we shall _strive_ againstit, and Mabel was not doing this. Clara's first occupation on going downstairs was to look after her feathered family; and in this she had aready seconder in Mabel, whose delight in seeing the pretty chickens wasunbounded.

  'Oh, do let me take one out, Clara! I won't hurt it; dear, sweet littlething!' she exclaimed, as she was just putting out her hand to take oneof them up, but was held back by her cousin, and so prevented fromreceiving the meditated peck which the old hen was evidently preparingfor her.

  'Just in time,' said Clara; 'old Netty would have made you repent ofyour boldness, had you taken hold of one of her pets.'

  'Why, I shouldn't have hurt it by just holding it in my hand,' repliedMabel.

  'Netty doesn't know that; and I'm sure she would have hurt you, so it isvery well I held you back,' said Clara. 'Now we had better go in; I hearAunt Mary's voice. I must go and say good-morning to her, as usual.'

  'Good-morning, my dears,' said Miss Livesay, in her usual genial, happytone of voice, for she was always bright and cheerful, though her nieceMabel chose to take such a distorted view of her. 'I hope you have sleptwell, and are refreshed for another day's work, my children; you bothlook the picture of health, and health is one of our greatest blessings,is it not?'

  'Yes, dear aunt, indeed it is,' replied Clara. 'I think we both sleptwell; and I was so glad to see, when I woke, that the morning was fine,for I thought perhaps you would wish us to go and see how poor Mr.Simmons is, when we have done our lessons.'

  'That is just what I wish you to do,' said Aunt Mary. 'The lessons Iintend to postpone, except that you may show your cousin what you andyour school-fellows are learning. I shall be delighted to find that youcan all study together; it will save much time and trouble, and be muchmore agreeable. Now ring for Bridget; after prayers and breakfast, wemust cut out our work, dear Clara. You know we have a great deal to do,'said the lady.