Mamma told them they must never be naughty with Miss Thompson because her mother was dead.
They went away and talked about her among the gooseberry bushes at the bottom of the garden.
"I don"t know how we"re going to manage," Rodney said. "There"s no sense in saying we mustn"t be naughty because her mother"s dead."
"I suppose," Mary said, "it would make her think she"s deader."
"We can"t help that. We"ve got to be naughty some time."
"We mustn"t begin," Mary said. "If we begin we shall have to finish."
They were good for four days, from ten to twelve. And at a quarter past twelve on the fifth day Mamma found Mary crying in the dining-room.
"Oh, Mary, have you been naughty?"
"No; but I shall be to-morrow. I"ve been so good that I can"t keep on any longer."
Mamma took her in her lap. She lowered her head to you, holding it straight and still, ready to pounce if you said the wrong thing.
"Being good when it pleases you isn"t being good," she said. "It"s not what Jesus means by being good. G.o.d wants us to be good all the time, like Jesus."
"But--Jesus and me is different. He wasn"t able to be naughty. And I"m not able to be good. Not _all_ the time."
"You"re not able to be good of your own will and in your own strength.
You"re not good till G.o.d makes you good."
"Did G.o.d make me naughty?"
"No. G.o.d couldn"t make anybody naughty."
"Not if he tried _hard_?"
"No. But," said Mamma, speaking very fast, "he"ll make you good if you ask him."
"Will he make me good if I don"t ask him?"
"No," said Mamma.
II.
Miss Thompson--
She was always sure you would be good. And Mamma was sure you wouldn"t be, or that if you were it would be for some bad reason like being sorry for Miss Thompson.
As long as Roddy was in the room Mary was sorry for Miss Thompson. And when she was left alone with her she was frightened. The squeezing and dragging under her waist began when Miss Thompson pushed her gentle, mournful face close up to see what she was doing.
She was afraid of Miss Thompson because her mother was dead.
She kept on thinking about Miss Thompson"s mother. Miss Thompson"s mother would be like Jenny in bed with her cap off; and she would be like the dead field mouse that Roddy found in the lane. She would lie on the bed with her back bent and her head hanging loose like the dear little field mouse; and her legs would be turned up over her stomach like his, toes and fingers clawing together. When you touched her she would be cold and stiff, like the field mouse. They had wrapped her up in a white sheet. Roddy said dead people were always wrapped up in white sheets. And Mr. Chapman had put her into a coffin like the one he was making when he gave Dank the wood for the rabbit"s house.
Every time Miss Thompson came near her she saw the white sheet and smelt the sharp, bitter smell of the coffin.
If she was naughty Miss Thompson (who seemed to have forgotten) would remember that her mother was dead. It might happen any minute.
It never did. For Miss Thompson said you were good if you knew your lessons; and at the same time you were not naughty if you didn"t know them. You might not know them to-day; but you would know them to-morrow or the next day.
By midsummer Mary could read the books that Dank read. If it had not been for Mr. Sippett and "_Mensa_: a table," she would have known as much as Roddy.
Almost before they had time to be naughty Miss Thompson had gone. Mamma said that Roddy was not getting on fast enough.
V
I.
The book that Aunt Bella had brought her was called _The Triumph Over Midian_, and Aunt Bella said that if she was a good girl it would interest her. But it did not interest her. That was how she heard Aunt Bella and Mamma talking together.
Mamma"s foot was tapping on the footstool, which showed that she was annoyed.
"They"re coming to-morrow," she said, "to look at that house at Ilford."
"To live?" Aunt Bella said.
"To live," Mamma said.
"And is Emilius going to allow it? What"s Victor thinking of, bringing her down here?"
"They want to be near Emilius. They think he"ll look after her."
"It was Victor who _would_ have her at home, and Victor might look after her himself. She was his favourite sister."
"He doesn"t want to be too responsible. They think Emilius ought to take his share."
Aunt Bella whispered something. And Mamma said, "Stuff and nonsense! No more than you or I. Only you never know what queer thing she"ll do next."
Aunt Bella said, "She was always queer as long as I remember her."
Mamma"s foot went tap, tap again.
"She"s been sending away things worse than ever. Dolls. Those naked ones."
Aunt Bella gave herself a shake and said something that sounded like "Goo-oo-sh!" And then, "Going to be married?"
Mamma said, "Going to be married."