"No," said Harriet; "but if Mamma knows we went there she will scold us for going, because she will be angry about Fido; and if she once thinks that it was I who lost him--oh, Lizzie, you do not know how angry she will be!"
"But, Harriet," said Katherine, "I thought you used to say that you could do anything with your Mamma, and that she never minded where you went."
"Oh! that is when she is in good humour," said Harriet; "she is not often cross with me, but when she is, you may hear her from one end of the house to the other. Cannot you, Lucy? And now she will be dreadfully cross about Fido, and the other thing coming upon it, I do not know what she may say. O Lizzie, you will save me!"
"I will only tell of Kate and myself," said Elizabeth; "or I will ask Papa not to mention it to Mrs. Hazleby; though, Harriet, there are some people who prefer any suffering, just or unjust, to deceit."
"Then you mean to tell directly," said Katherine, in a piteous tone.
"Of course I do," said Elizabeth; "there is the dining-room door shut.
Come with me, Kate."
Katherine rather unwillingly followed her sister into the pa.s.sage; but when there, fear making her ingenious, a sudden thought struck her.
"Lizzie," whispered she, "if you tell Papa that you and I went, Mrs.
Hazleby will be sure to hear, and if she asks Harriet about it, perhaps she--you know--may tell a story about it."
"Fine confidence you shew in your chosen friend!" said Elizabeth.
"Why, one must be civil; and Harriet is a sort of cousin," said Katherine; "but I am sure she is not half so much my friend as Willie."
"Well, never mind defending your taste in friends," said Elizabeth; "for as I do think your scruple worth answering, I will tell you that I had thought of the same thing; but I do not choose to do evil that good may come, or that evil may not come. I shall tell Papa what an excellent opinion you have of Harriet, and leave him to do as he pleases."
Elizabeth"s hand was on the lock of the door of her father"s study, when Katherine exclaimed, "There is someone there--I hear voices!"
"Uncle Edward," said Elizabeth. "I do not mind his being there; we ought to beg his pardon for leading Anne astray."
"Oh! but do not you see," said Katherine, "here are a hat and a roll of papers on the table! Mr. Roberts must be come."
"Tiresome man!" cried Elizabeth; "he will be there all day, and I shall not see Papa I do not know when. It really was a very convenient thing when the architects of the old German cathedrals used to take a desperate leap from the top of the tower as soon as it was finished.
Well, I must find Mamma now."
"Cannot you wait till the evening, when you may see Papa?" said Katherine, hoping to put off the evil day.
"I cannot have this upon my mind all day unconfessed," said Elizabeth; "besides, Harriet will pester me with entreaties as long as it is untold. Come, Kitty, do not be such a coward."
"I am sure I do not want you not to tell," said Katherine, looking rather miserable; "only I am not in such a hurry about it as you are.
You do not know where Mamma is."
"No, but I will find her," said Elizabeth.
The sisters set off on the chase; they looked into the drawing-room, the dining-room, Mrs. Woodbourne"s room, without success; they ran up to the nursery, but she was not there; and they were going down again, when Katherine, seeing Elizabeth go towards the kitchen stairs, exclaimed, "Well, I will go no further; it is so ridiculous, as if it was a matter of life and death! You may call if you want me."
Katherine retreated into her own room, and Elizabeth ran down to the kitchen, where she found Mrs. Woodbourne ordering dinner.
Elizabeth stood by the fire, biting her lip and pinching her finger, and trembling all over with impatience, while Mrs. Woodbourne and the cook were busily consulting over some grouse which Rupert had brought from Scotland.
"Lizzie, my dear," said Mrs. Woodbourne presently, "would you just run to my room and fetch down the green receipt-book?"
Elizabeth obeyed: running was rather a relief to her, and she was down-stairs again in another instant.
"Why, Lizzie," said Mrs. Woodbourne, with a smile, "you must be wild to-day; you have brought me the account-book instead of--But, my dear child, what is the matter?" said she, perceiving that Elizabeth"s face was scarlet, and her eyes full of tears.
"I will tell you presently," whispered Elizabeth, breathlessly, "when you have done." She darted away again, and returned with the right book; but Mrs. Woodbourne was too much alarmed by her manner to spend another moment in giving directions to the cook, and instantly followed her to her own room. Elizabeth hastily shut the door, and sat down to recover her breath.
"My dear Lizzie, there is nothing amiss with any of the--" exclaimed Mrs. Woodbourne, almost gasping for breath.
"Oh no, Mamma," said Elizabeth, a smile pa.s.sing over her face in spite of her distress, "it is not Winifred who is mad. It is I who have been more mad and foolish and self-willed than you would ever believe.
Mamma, I have been with Mrs. Turner to the Mechanics" Inst.i.tute."
"My dear Lizzie, you do not mean it!" said Mrs. Woodbourne.
"Yes, Mamma, indeed it is so," said Elizabeth mournfully; "I did not know what had happened there certainly, but I would not listen to Helen"s good advice, and so I have made Papa seem to consent to what he abhors; I have led Kate and Anne and Harriet all wrong. Oh! Mamma, is not it terrible?"
"Indeed, I wish I had told you what your Papa said to Mr. Turner," said Mrs. Woodbourne; "I am afraid your papa will be very much annoyed; but, my dear, do not distress yourself, you could not know that it was wrong."
"Yes; but, Mamma," said Elizabeth, "I did know that it was wrong to go out without asking your leave. Simple obedience might have kept me straight. But now I will tell you all, and you shall judge what had best be done about the Hazlebys and Fido."
Rather incoherently, and with many sobs, Elizabeth told the history of the preceding evening. Mrs. Woodbourne listened to her with the utmost kindness, and said all she could to soothe and console her, a.s.suring her that Mr. Woodbourne could not be seriously displeased with her for having transgressed a command of which she was ignorant. Elizabeth was much relieved by having been able to talk over her conduct in this manner; and though she still felt that she had been very much to blame, and by no means sure that Mr. Woodbourne would pa.s.s over her fault so lightly, was greatly comforted by her mamma"s kindness. She went away to bathe her swollen eyes, before she went down to the school-room to read the Psalms and Lessons with her sisters, as was their regular custom when there was no service at the church, before they began their morning"s work; Mrs. Woodbourne undertaking to call the children down in a few minutes, and saying that she would speak to Katherine in the course of the day. She willingly promised to say nothing to Mrs.
Hazleby, and only wished she was quite sure that there were no symptoms of madness about Fido.
"What a strange girl Lizzie is!" cried Harriet, just as Elizabeth departed on her search for her father or Mrs. Woodbourne.
"But, Harriet," said Lucy, drawing her aside to the window, "what difference is her saying nothing to make? Mamma will ask how Fido was lost."
"I am sure, Lucy, that was more your fault than mine," said Harriet; "I could not be watching him all the time we were at that place."
"Then why did you take him there?" said Helen.
"Because Lucy chose to run away without ever thinking what I was to do," said Harriet.
"But when you were leading him, and it must have been you who let go his string," said Helen; "I cannot see how you can accuse Lucy of having been the means of losing him, when she was safe at home."
Harriet was saved from the necessity of finding an answer, by hearing her mother calling her in the pa.s.sage, and she hastened to obey the summons.
"Do you know where Fido is?" was Mrs. Hazleby"s question.
"No," said Harriet, finding she had only escaped one dilemma to fall into another. She avoided any further questions, however, by hastening past her mother and running up-stairs.
"Lucy, Lucy!" then called Mrs. Hazleby; and as Lucy came out of the school-room, she repeated the inquiry.
"I do not know, Mamma," answered Lucy in a low voice, but standing quite still.
"Go and ask for him in the kitchen then," said Mrs. Hazleby.
"I am afraid it would be of no use. Ma"am," said Lucy, firmly, but not daring to raise her eyes; "we missed him when we came in from walking, yesterday evening."
"Yesterday evening!" cried Mrs. Hazleby; "and did you never speak of it? I never knew anyone so careless as you are, in all my life. It is of no use to leave anything in your charge, you care for--"