jill's missionthe good times began immediately, and very little studying wasdone that week in spite of the virtuous resolutions made by certainyoung persons on christmas day. but, dear me, how was itpossible to settle down to lessons in the delightful bird room,with not only its own charms to distract one, but all the new giftsto enjoy, and a dozen calls a day to occupy one's time?
"i guess we'd better wait till the others are at school, and just go infor fun this week," said jack, who was in great spirits at theprospect of getting up, for the splints were off, and he hoped to bepromoted to crutches very soon.
"i shall keep my speller by me and take a look at it every day, forthat is what i'm most backward in. but i intend to devote myself toyou, jack, and be real kind and useful. i've made a plan to do it,and i mean to carry it out, anyway," answered jill, who had begunto be a missionary, and felt that this was a field of labor where shecould distinguish herself.
"here's a home mission all ready for you, and you can be payingyour debts beside doing yourself good," mrs. pecq said to her inprivate, having found plenty to do herself.
now jill made one great mistake at the outset--she forgot that shewas the one to be converted to good manners and gentleness, anddevoted her efforts to looking after jack, finding it much easier tocure other people's faults than her own. jack was a most engagingheathen, and needed very little instruction; therefore jill thoughther task would be an easy one. but three or four weeks of pettingand play had rather demoralized both children, so jill's speller,though tucked under the sofa pillow every day, was seldom lookedat, and jack shirked his latin shamefully. both read all thestory-books they could get, held daily levees in the bird room, andall their spare minutes were spent in teaching snowdrop, the greatangora cat, to bring the ball when they dropped it in their game.
so saturday came, and both were rather the worse for so muchidleness, since daily duties and studies are the wholesome breadwhich feeds the mind better than the dyspeptic plum-cake ofsensational reading, or the unsubstantial bon-bons of frivolousamusement.
it was a stormy day, so they had few callers, and devotedthemselves to arranging the album; for these books were all therage just then, and boys met to compare, discuss, buy, sell, and"swap" stamps with as much interest as men on 'change gamble instocks. jack had a nice little collection, and had been saving uppocket-money to buy a book in which to preserve his treasures.
now, thanks to jill's timely suggestion, frank had given him a fineone, and several friends had contributed a number of rare stampsto grace the large, inviting pages. jill wielded the gum-brush andfitted on the little flaps, as her fingers were skilful at this nicework, and jack put each stamp in its proper place with greatrustling of leaves and comparing of marks. returning, after a briefabsence, mrs. minot beheld the countenances of the workersadorned with gay stamps, giving them a very curious appearance.
"my dears! what new play have you got now? are you wildindians? or letters that have gone round the world before findingthe right address?" she asked, laughing at the ridiculous sight, forboth were as sober as judges and deeply absorbed in some doubtfulspecimen.
"oh, we just stuck them there to keep them safe; they get lost if weleave them lying round. it's very handy, for i can see in a minutewhat i want on jill's face and she on mine, and put our fingers onthe right chap at once," answered jack, adding, with an anxiousgaze at his friend's variegated countenance, "where the dickens ismy new granada? it's rare, and i wouldn't lose it for a dollar."'why, there it is on your own nose. don't you remember you put itthere because you said mine was not big enough to hold it?"laughed jill, tweaking a large orange square off the round nose ofher neighbor, causing it to wrinkle up in a droll way, as the gummade the operation slightly painful.
"so i'd id, and gave you little bolivar on yours. now i'll havealsace and lorraine, 1870. there are seven of them, so hold stilland see how you like it," returned jack, picking the large, palestamps one by one from jill's forehead, which they crossed like aband.
she bore it without flinching, saying to herself with a secret smile,as she glanced at the hot fire, which scorched her if she kept nearenough to jack to help him, "this really is being like a missionary,with a tattooed savage to look after. i have to suffer a little, as thegood folks did who got speared and roasted sometimes; but i won'tcomplain a bit, though my forehead smarts, my arms are tired, andone cheek is as red as fire.""the roman states make a handsome page, don't they?" askedjack, little dreaming of the part he was playing in jill's mind. "oh,i say, isn't corea a beauty? i'm ever so proud of that"; and he gazedfondly on a big blue stamp, the sole ornament of one page.
"i don't see why the cape of good hope has pyramids. they oughtto go in egypt. the sandwich islands are all right, withheads of the black kings and queens on them," said jill, feelingthat they were very appropriate to her private play.
"turkey has crescents, australia swans, and spain women's heads,with black bars across them. frank says it is because they keepwomen shut up so; but that was only his fun. i'd rather have agood, honest green united states, with washington on it, or a blueone-center with old franklin, than all their eagles and lions andkings and queens put together," added the democratic boy, with adisrespectful slap on a crowned head as he settled heligoland in itsplace.
"why does austria have mercury on the stamp, i wonder? do theywear helmets like that?" asked jill, with the brush-handle in hermouth as she cut a fresh batch of flaps.
"maybe he was postman to the gods, so he is put on stamps now.
the prussians wear helmets, but they have spikes like the oldroman fellows. i like prussians ever so much; they fightsplendidly, and always beat. austrians have a handsome uniform,though.""talking of romans reminds me that i have not heard your latinfor two days. come, lazybones, brace up, and let us have it now.
i've done my compo, and shall have just time before i go out for atramp with gus," said frank, putting by a neat page to dry, for hestudied every day like a conscientious lad as he was.
"don't know it. not going to try till next week. grind away overyour old greek as much as you like, but don't bother me,"answered jack, frowning at the mere thought of the detestedlesson.
but frank adored his xenophon, and would not see his old friend,caesar, neglected without an effort to defend him; so heconfiscated the gum-pot, and effectually stopped the stampbusiness by whisking away at one fell swoop all that lay on jill'stable.
"now then, young man, you will quit this sort of nonsense and doyour lesson, or you won't see these fellows again in a hurry. youasked me to hear you, and i'm going to do it; here's the book."frank's tone was the dictatorial one, which jack hated and alwaysfound hard to obey, especially when he knew he ought to do it.
usually, when his patience was tried, he strode about the room, orran off for a race round the garden, coming back breathless, butgood-tempered. now both these vents for irritation were deniedhim, and he had fallen into the way of throwing things about in apet. he longed to send caesar to perpetual banishment in the fireblazing close by, but resisted the temptation, and answeredhonestly, though gruffly: "i know i'd id, but i don't see any use inpouncing on a fellow when he isn't ready. i haven't got my lesson,and don't mean to worry about it; so you may just give me back mythings and go about your business.""i'll give you back a stamp for every perfect lesson you get, andyou won't see them on any other terms"; and, thrusting thetreasures into his pocket, frank caught up his rubber boots, andwent off swinging them like a pair of clubs, feeling that he wouldgive a trifle to be able to use them on his lazy brother.
at this high-handed proceeding, and the threat which accompaniedit, jack's patience gave out, and catching up caesar, as he thought,sent him flying after the retreating tyrant with the defiantdeclaration,"keep them, then, and your old book, too! i won't look at it till yougive all my stamps back and say you are sorry. so now!"it was all over before mamma could interfere, or jill do more thanclutch and cling to the gum-brush. frank vanished unharmed, butthe poor book dashed against the wall to fall half open on thefloor, its gay cover loosened, and its smooth leaves crushed by theblow.
"it's the album! o jack, how could you?" cried jill, dismayed atsight of the precious book so maltreated by the owner.
"thought it was the other. guess it isn't hurt much. didn't mean tohit him, anyway. he does provoke me so," muttered jack, very redand shamefaced as his mother picked up the book and laid itsilently on the table before him. he did not know what to do withhimself, and was thankful for the stamps still left him, findinggreat relief in making faces as he plucked them one by one fromhis mortified countenance. jill looked on, half glad, half sorry thather savage showed such signs of unconverted ferocity, and mrs.
minot went on writing letters, wearing the grave look her sonsfound harder to bear than another person's scolding. no one spokefor a moment, and the silence was becoming awkward when gusappeared in a rubber suit, bringing a book to jack from laura anda note to jill from lotty.
"look here, you just trundle me into my den, please, i'm going tohave a nap, it's so dull to-day i don't feel like doing much," saidjack, when gus had done his errands, trying to look as if he knewnothing about the fracas.
jack folded his arms and departed like a warrior borne from thebattle-field, to be chaffed unmercifully for a "pepper-pot," whilegus made him comfortable in his own room.
"i heard once of a boy who threw a fork at his brother and put hiseye out. but he didn't mean to, and the brother forgave him, and henever did so any more," observed jill, in a pensive tone, wishing toshow that she felt all the dangers of impatience, but was sorry forthe culprit.
"did the boy ever forgive himself?" asked mrs. minot.
"no, 'm; i suppose not. but jack didn't hit frank, and feels realsorry, i know.""he might have, and hurt him very much. our actions are in ourown hands, but the consequences of them are not. remember that,my dear, and think twice before you do anything.""yes, 'm, i will"; and jill composed herself to consider whatmissionaries usually did when the natives hurled tomahawks andboomerangs at one another, and defied the rulers of the land.
mrs. minot wrote one page of a new letter, then stopped, pushedher papers about, thought a little, and finally got up, saying, as ifshe found it impossible to resist the yearning of her heart for thenaughty boy,"i am going to see if jack is covered up, he is so helpless, andliable to take cold. don't stir till i come back.""no, 'm, i won't."away went the tender parent to find her son studying caesar fordear life, and all the more amiable for the little gust which hadblown away the temporary irritability. the brothers were oftencalled "thunder and lightning," because frank lowered andgrowled and was a good while clearing up, while jack's tempercame and went like a flash, and the air was all the clearer for theescape of dangerous electricity. of course mamma had to stop anddeliver a little lecture, illustrated by sad tales of petulant boys, andpunctuated with kisses which took off the edge of these afflictingnarratives.
jill meantime meditated morally on the superiority of her owngood temper over the hasty one of her dear playmate, and justwhen she was feeling unusually uplifted and secure, alas! like somany of us, she fell, in the most deplorable manner.
glancing about the room for something to do, she saw a sheet ofpaper lying exactly out of reach, where it had fluttered from thetable unperceived. at first her eye rested on it as carelessly as itdid on the stray stamp frank had dropped; then, as if one thingsuggested the other, she took it into her head that the paper wasfrank's composition, or, better still, a note to annette, for the twocorresponded when absence or weather prevented the dailymeeting at school.
"wouldn't it be fun to keep it till he gives back jack's stamps? itwould plague him so if it was a note, and i do believe it is, forcompo's don't begin with two words on one side. i'll get it, andjack and i will plan some way to pay him off, cross thing!"forgetting her promise not to stir, also how dishonorable it was toread other people's letters, jill caught up the long-handled hook,often in use now, and tried to pull the paper nearer. it would notcome at once, for a seam in the carpet held it, and jill feared totear or crumple it if she was not very careful. the hook was ratherheavy and long for her to manage, and jack usually did the fishing,so she was not very skilful; and just as she was giving aparticularly quick jerk, she lost her balance, fell off the sofa, anddropped the pole with a bang.
"oh, my back!" was all she could think or say as she felt the jar allthrough her little body, and a corresponding fear in her guilty littlemind that someone would come and find out the double mischiefshe had been at. for a moment she lay quite still to recover fromthe shock, then as the pain passed she began to wonder how sheshould get back, and looked about her to see if she could do italone. she thought she could, as the sofa was near and she hadimproved so much that she could sit up a little if the doctor wouldhave let her. she was gathering herself together for the effort,when, within arm's reach now, she saw the tempting paper, andseized it with glee, for in spite of her predicament she did want totease frank. a glance showed that it was not the composition nor anote, but the beginning of a letter from mrs. minot to her sister,and jill was about to lay it down when her own name caught hereye, and she could not resist reading it. hard words to write of oneso young, doubly hard to read, and impossible to forget.
"dear lizzie, jack continues to do very well, and will soon be upagain. but we begin to fear that the little girl is permanentlyinjured in the back. she is here, and we do our best for her; but inever look at her without thinking of lucinda snow, who, youremember, was bedridden for twenty years, owing to a fall atfifteen. poor little janey does not know yet, and i hope"-- there itended, and "poor little janey's" punishment for disobedience beganthat instant. she thought she was getting well because she did notsuffer all the time, and everyone spoke cheerfully about "by andby." now she knew the truth, and shut her eyes with a shiver as shesaid, low, to herself,"twenty years! i couldn't bear it; oh, i couldn't bear it!"a very miserable jill lay on the floor, and for a while did not carewho came and found her; then the last words of the letter-- "ihope"--seemed to shine across the blackness of the dreadful"twenty years" and cheer her up a bit, for despair never lives longin young hearts, and jill was a brave child.
"that is why mammy sighs so when she dresses me, and everyoneis so good to me. perhaps mrs. minot doesn't really know, after all.
she was dreadfully scared about jack, and he is getting well. i'dlike to ask doctor, but he might find out about the letter. oh, dear,why didn't i keep still and let the horrid thing alone!"as she thought that, jill pushed the paper away, pulled herself up,and with much painful effort managed to get back to her sofa,where she laid herself down with a groan, feeling as if the twentyyears had already passed over her since she tumbled off.
"i've told a lie, for i said i wouldn't stir. i've hurt my back, i've donea mean thing, and i've got paid for it. a nice missionary i am; i'dbetter begin at home, as mammy told me to"; and jill groanedagain, remembering her mother's words. "now i've got anothersecret to keep all alone, for i'd be ashamed to tell the girls. i guessi'll turn round and study my spelling; then no one will see myface."jill looked the picture of a good, industrious child as she lay withher back to the large table, her book held so that nothing was to beseen but one cheek and a pair of lips moving busily. fortunately, itis difficult for little sinners to act a part, and, even if the face ishidden, something in the body seems to betray the internal remorseand shame. usually, jill lay flat and still; now her back was bent ina peculiar way as she leaned over her book, and one foot waggednervously, while on the visible cheek was a spanish stamp with awoman's face looking through the black bars, very suggestively, ifshe had known it. how long the minutes seemed till someonecame, and what a queer little jump her heart gave when mrs.
minot's voice said, cheerfully, "jack is all right, and, i declare, sois jill. i really believe there is a telegraph still working somewherebetween you two, and each knows what the other is about withoutwords.""i didn't have any other book handy, so i thought i'd study awhile,"answered jill, feeling that she deserved no praise for her seemingindustry.
she cast a sidelong glance as she spoke, and seeing that mrs.
minot was looking for the letter, hid her face and lay so still shecould hear the rustle of the paper as it was taken from the floor. itwas well she did not also see the quick look the lady gave her asshe turned the letter and found a red stamp sticking to the underside, for this unlucky little witness told the story.
mrs. minot remembered having seen the stamp lying close to thesofa when she left the room, for she had had half a mind to takeit to jack, but did not, thinking frank's plan had some advantages.
she also recollected that a paper flew off the table, but being inhaste she had not stopped to see what it was. now, the stamp andthe letter could hardly have come together without hands, for theylay a yard apart, and here, also, on the unwritten portion of thepage, was the mark of a small green thumb. jill had been windingwool for a stripe in her new afghan, and the green ball lay on hersofa. these signs suggested and confirmed what mrs. minot didnot want to believe; so did the voice, attitude, and air of jill, allvery unlike her usual open, alert ways.
the kind lady could easily forgive the reading of her letter sincethe girl had found such sad news there, but the dangers ofdisobedience were serious in her case, and a glance showed thatshe was suffering either in mind or body--perhaps both.
"i will wait for her to tell me. she is an honest child, and the truthwill soon come out," thought mrs. minot, as she took a cleansheet, and jill tried to study.
"shall i hear your lesson, dear? jack means to recite his like agood 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 itlast.
"do you know what that means?" asked her teacher, thinking tohelp 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 comingup, as she tried to speak easily, yet felt so shame-stricken she couldnot.
"are you in pain, my child? never mind the lesson; tell me, and i'lldo something for you."the kind words, the soft hand on her hot cheek, and the pity in theeyes 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 theblush away, and set free the honest little soul that could not hideits fault from such a friend.
"i knew it all before, and was sure you would tell me, else youwould not be the child i love and like to help so well."then, while she soothed jill's trouble, mrs. minot told her storyand showed the letter, wishing to lessen, if possible, some part ofthe pain it had given.
"sly old stamp! to go and tell on me when i meant to own up, antiget some credit if i could, after being so mean and bad," said jill,smiling through her tears when she saw the tell-tale witnessesagainst her.
"you had better stick it in your book to remind you of the badconsequences of disobedience, then perhaps this lesson will leavea permanent impression on your mind and memory, answered mrs.
minot, glad to see her natural gayety coming back, and hoping thatshe had forgotten the contents of the unfortunate letter. but shehad not; and presently, when the sad affair had been talked overand 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 mightas 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 tobear your trial, dear, which i hope will never be as heavy a one ashers, this lucinda i knew for years, and though at first i thoughther fate the saddest that could be, i came at last to see how happyshe was in spite of her affliction, how good and useful andbeloved.""why, how could she be? what did she do?" cried jill, forgettingher own troubles to look up with an open, eager face again.
"she was so patient, other people were ashamed to complain oftheir small worries; so cheerful, that her own great one grewlighter; so industrious, that she made both money and friends bypretty things she worked and sold to her many visitors. and, bestof all, so wise and sweet that she seemed to get good out ofeverything, and make her poor room a sort of chapel where peoplewent for comfort, counsel, and an example of a pious life. so, yousee, 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, thencoming out so decidedly with the last words that it was evident thelife of a bedridden saint was not at all to her mind.
"so do i; and i mean to believe that you will not. meantime, wecan try to make the waiting as useful and pleasant as possible. thispainful little back will be a sort of conscience to remind you ofwhat you ought to do and leave undone, and so you can be learningobedience. then, when the body is strong, it will have formed agood habit to make duty easier; and my lucinda can be a sweetexample, 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 byinto her life, for this was to be a long lesson, hard to learn, but veryuseful in the years to come.
when the boys returned, after the latin was recited and peacerestored, jack showed her a recovered stamp promptly paid byfrank, who was as just as he was severe, and jill asked for the oldred one, though she did not tell why she wanted it, nor show it putaway in the spelling-book, a little seal upon a promise made to bekept.
