"I"m very sorry," said Cecil, "I didn"t notice what a lot of long words there are. Shall I leave off?"
"_I_ understand it," said Floss.
"Then read it for Floss, please, Cis," said Carrots. "I"ll be kite still."
"You"re a good little boy," said Cecil; "I suppose I may as well finish it as I have begun. We"re coming to the fairy part now. Perhaps you"ll understand it better. Where was I? Oh yes, "imagined herself quite hidden from observation. But in this she was mistaken, as my readers will see.
"She walked slowly up and down. "Oh my tongue, my cruel tongue!" she exclaimed, "what trouble it is the cause of! How can I cure myself of my rash speech?"
""Do you in all sincerity wish to cure yourself, Elizabetha?" said a voice beside her; and turning in surprise at its sound, the young girl perceived at a few steps" distance a fair and sweet looking lady, clad in silvery-white, adorned with wreaths of the loveliest flowers.
""a.s.suredly I do, gracious lady," replied Elizabetha, mastering as well as she was able her surprise, for she felt that this beautiful lady must be a fairy of high degree.
""Then _I_ will help you," said the lady, "but on one condition, hereafter to be explained. You are content to agree to this beforehand?"
""To _anything_, kind fairy," replied the young girl, "if only my unhappy fault can be cured."
"The fairy smiled, "Hasty as ever," she murmured; "however, in _this_ instance, you shall have no reason to regret your words. Put out your tongue, Elizabetha."
"Trembling slightly, the young girl obeyed. But her fears were uncalled for--the fairy merely touched the unruly member with her wand and whispered some words, the meaning of which Elizabetha could not understand.
""Meet me here one week hence," said the fairy; "till then your tongue will obey _my_ commands. And if you then feel you have reason to feel grateful to me, I will call upon you to redeem your promise."
"And before Elizabetha could reply, the lady had disappeared.
"Full of eagerness and curiosity, Elizabetha returned to the house. It was growing dusk, and as she sped along the garden paths something ran suddenly against her, causing her to trip and fall. As she got up she perceived that it was Fido, the dog of her brother Adolphus. The creature came bounding up to her again, full of play and affection. But in her fall Elizabetha had bruised herself; she felt angry and indignant.
""Get off with you, you clumsy wretch," she exclaimed, or meant to exclaim. But to her amazement the words that issued from her mouth were quite otherwise.
""Gently, gently, my poor Fido. Thou didst not mean to knock me down, however," she said in a kind and caressing tone, which the dog at once obeyed.
"Hardly knowing whether she were awake or dreaming, Elizabetha entered the house. She was met by her sister Maria.
""Where have you been, Elizabetha?" she inquired. "Your friends the Misses Larkyn have been here, but no one could find you, so they have gone."
"Elizabetha felt extremely annoyed. She had not seen her friends for some weeks, and had much wished for a visit from them.
""I think it was most ill-natured of none of you to look for me in the garden. You might have known I was there if you had cared to oblige me," were the words she intended to say, but instead of which were heard the following:
""I thank you, my dear Maria. I am sorry to have missed my friends, but it cannot be helped."
"And when Maria, pleased by her gentleness, went on to tell her, that knowing that her disappointment would be great, and as the Misses Larkyn had been too pressed for time to linger, she had arranged to walk with Elizabetha the following day to see them, how rejoiced was Elizabetha that her intended words of unkindness had not been uttered! "Kind fairy, I thank thee!" she whispered to herself.
"The following day the same state of things continued. Many times before its close did Elizabetha"s hasty temper endeavour to express itself in rash speech, but each time the tongue remained faithful to its new mistress. Whenever Elizabetha attempted to speak hastily, the words that issued from her lips were exactly the opposite of those she had intended to utter; and as her real disposition was amiable and good, not once did she regret the metamorphosis.
"Her parents, her brothers and sisters, and even the servants of the family, were amazed and delighted at the change.
""Go on as thou hast begun, my child," said her father, on the morning of the day on which Elizabetha was again to meet the fairy, "and soon the name of Elizabetha will be a.s.sociated with gentleness and discretion in speech as in deed."
"Elizabetha blushed. She would have liked to confess that the credit of the improvement was not her own; but a moment"s reflection reminded her that she had not received permission to divulge the secret, and kissing affectionately her father"s hand, she thanked him for his encouragement.
"At the appointed hour she was on the spot, awaiting the fairy, who soon appeared. A benignant smile overspread her features.
""Well, Elizabetha," she said, "and hast thou found that I have deserved thy grat.i.tude?"
""Kind fairy," cried the young girl, "I cannot thank thee enough. Ask of me what thou wilt, I shall be only too ready to perform it."
"The fairy smiled. "My condition is a very simple one," she said. "It is only this. Whenever, Elizabetha, you feel yourself in the least degree discomposed or out of temper, utter no word till you have mentally counted the magic number seven. And if you follow this rule, it will be but seldom that your tongue, of which I now restore to you the full control" (she touched it again with her wand as she spoke) "will lead you into trouble. Your disposition, though generous, is naturally hasty and impulsive, and till by a long course of self-restraint you have acquired complete mastery over yourself, you will find that I was right in my experiment of obliging your tongue to utter the exact opposite of what you, in your first haste, would have expressed."
"And before Elizabetha could reply, she had disappeared.
"But Elizabetha kept her promise, and to thus following her fairy friend"s advice she owes it that she is now the object of universal esteem and affection, instead of being hated, despised, and feared as the owner of "a hasty tongue.""
Cecil stopped.
"Is that all?" said Carrots.
"Yes, that"s all. Did you like it?"
"I did understand better about the fairy," Carrots replied. "I think she was a werry good fairy; don"t you, Floss?"
"_Very_," said Floss. "I think," she went on, "whenever I am cross, I shall _fancy_ my tongue is bewitched, just to see if it would be best to say the opposite of what I was going to say. Wouldn"t it be fun?"
"Better than fun, perhaps, Miss Flossie," said nurse. "I think it would be a very good thing if big people, too, were sometimes to follow the fairy"s rule."
"People as big as you, nursie?" asked Carrots.
"Oh yes, my dear," said nurse. "It"s a lesson we"re all slow to learn, and many haven"t learnt it by the end of their threescore years and ten--"to be slow to anger," and to keep our tongues from evil."
"_That"s_ out of the Bible, nursie, all of it," said Floss, as if not altogether sure that she approved of the quotation.
Cecil laughed.
"What are you laughing at, Cis?" said Floss. "It _is_ out of the Bible."
"Well, no one said it wasn"t," said Cecil.
"Cis," said Carrots, "will you read us another story, another day?"
"If I can find one that you can understand," said Cecil.
"Never mind if I can"t," replied Carrots. "I like to hear you reading, even if I can"t understand. I like your voice. I _think_," he added after a pause, "I _think_, Cis, I"ll marry you too, when I"m big. You and Floss, and nurse."
So Cecil had good reason to feel that she was greatly appreciated in the nursery.
CHAPTER IX.