He bowed himself out of the library, and Edna went back to her own room, thinking of the brief interview, and confessing her disappointment in the conversation of this most dreaded of critics.
"He is polished as an icicle, and quite as cold. He may be very accurate and astute and profound, but certainly he is not half so brilliant as--"
She did not complete the parallel, but compressed her lips, took up her pen, and began to write.
On the following morning Mrs. Andrews came into the schoolroom, and, after kissing her children, turned blandly to the governess.
"Miss Earl, I believe Mr. Manning called upon you last evening.
Where did you know him?"
"I never saw him until yesterday, but we have corresponded for some time."
"Indeed! you are quite honored. He is considered very fastidious."
"He is certainly hypercritical, yet I have found him kind and gentlemanly, even courteous. Our correspondence is entirely attributable to the fact that I write for his magazine."
Mrs. Andrews dropped her ivory crochet-needle and sat, for a moment, the picture of wild-eyed amazement.
"Is it possible! I had no idea you were an author. Why did you not tell me before? What have you written?"
Edna mentioned the t.i.tles of her published articles, and the lady of the house exclaimed:
"Oh! that "Vigil of Grutli" is one of the most beautiful things I ever read, and I have often teased Mr. Manning to tell me who wrote it. That apostrophe to the Thirty Confederates is so mournfully grand that it brings tears to my eyes. Why, Miss Earl, you will be famous some day! If I had your genius, I should never think of plodding through life as a governess."
"But, my dear madam, I must make my bread, and am compelled to teach while I write."
"I do not see what time you have for writing. I notice you never leave the children till they are asleep; and you must sleep enough to keep yourself alive. Are you writing anything at present?"
"I finished an article several days ago which will be published in the next number of the magazine. Of course, I have no leisure during the day, but I work till late at night."
"Miss Earl, if you have no objection to acquainting me with your history, I should like very much to know something of your early life and education."
While Edna gave a brief account of her childhood, Felix nestled his hand into hers, and laid his head on her knee, listening eagerly to every word.
When she concluded, Mrs. Andrews mused a moment, and then said:
"Henceforth, Miss Earl, you will occupy a different position in my house; and I shall take pleasure in introducing you to such of my friends as will appreciate your talent. I hope you will not confine yourself exclusively to my children, but come down sometimes in the evening and sit with me; and, moreover, I prefer that you should dine with us, instead of with these nursery folks, who are not quite capable of appreciating you--"
"How do you know that, mamma? I can tell you one thing, I appreciated her before I found out that she was likely to be "famous"! Before I knew that Mr. Manning condescended to notice her.
We "nursery folk" judge for ourselves, we don"t wait to find out what other people think, and I shan"t give up Miss Earl! She is my governess, and I wish you would just let her alone!"
There was a touch of scorn in the boy"s impatient tone, and his mother bit her lip, and laughed constrainedly:
"Really, Felix! who gave you a bill of sale to Miss Earl? She should consider herself exceedingly fortunate, as she is the first of all your teachers with whom you have not quarrelled most shamefully, even fought and scratched."
"And because she is sweet, and good and pretty, and I love her, you must interfere and take her off to entertain your company. She came here to take care of Hattie and me, and not to go down-stairs to see visitors. She can"t go, mamma! I want her myself. You have all the world to talk to, and I have only her. Don"t meddle, mamma."
"You are very selfish and ill-tempered, my poor little boy, and I am heartily ashamed of you."
"If I am, it is because--"
"Hush, Felix!"
Edna laid her hand on the pale, curling lips of the cripple, and luckily at this instant Mrs. Andrews was summoned from the room.
Scarcely waiting till the door closed after her, the boy exclaimed pa.s.sionately:
"Felix! don"t call me Felix! That means happy, lucky! and she had no right to give me such a name. I am Infelix! n.o.body loves me! n.o.body cares for me, except to pity me, and I would rather be strangled than pitied! I wish I was dead and at rest in Greenwood! I wish somebody would knock my brains out with my crutch! and save me from hobbling through life. Even my mother is ashamed of my deformity!
She ought to have treated me as the Spartans did their dwarfs! She ought to have thrown me into the East River before I was a day old!
I wish I was dead! Oh! I do! I do!"
"Felix, it is very wicked to--"
"I tell you I won"t be called Felix. Whenever I hear the name it makes me feel as I did one day when my crutches slipped on the ice, and I fell on the pavement before the door, and some newsboys stood and laughed at me. Infelix Andrews! I want that written on my tombstone when I am buried."
He trembled from head to foot, and angry tears dimmed his large, flashing eyes, while Hattie sat with her elbows resting on her knees, and her chin in her hands, looking sorrowfully at her brother.
Edna put her arm around the boy"s shoulder, and drew his head down on her lap, saying tenderly:
"Your mother did not mean that she was ashamed of her son, but only grieved and mortified by his ungovernable temper, which made him disrespectful to her. I know that she is very proud of your fine intellect, and your ambition to become a thorough scholar, and--"
"Oh! yes, and of my handsome body! and my pretty feet!"
"My dear little boy, it is sinful for you to speak in that way, and G.o.d will punish you if you do not struggle against such feelings."
"I don"t see how I can be punished any more than I have been already. To be a lame dwarf is the worst that can happen."
"Suppose you were poor and friendless--an orphan with no one to care for you? Suppose you had no dear, good little sister like Hattie to love you? Now, Felix, I know that the very fact that you are not as strong and well-grown as most boys of your age, only makes your mother and all of us love you more tenderly; and it is very ungrateful in you to talk so bitterly when we are trying to make you happy and good and useful. Look at little Lila, shut up in silence, unable to speak one word, or to hear a bird sing or a baby laugh, and yet see how merry and good-natured she is. How much more afflicted she is than you are! Suppose she was always fretting and complaining, looking miserable and sour, and out of humor, do you think you would love her half as well as you do now?"
He made no reply, but his thin hands covered his sallow face.
Hattie came close to him, sat down on the carpet, and put her head, thickly crowned with yellow curls, on his knee. Her uncle Grey had given her a pretty ring the day before, and now she silently and softly took it from her own finger, and slipped it on her brother"s.
"Felix, you and Hattie were so delighted with that little poem which I read to you from the Journal of Eugenie de Guerin, that I have tried to set it to music for you. The tune does not suit it exactly, but we can use it until I find a better one."
She went to the piano and sang that pretty nursery ballad, "JOUJOU, THE ANGEL OF THE PLAYTHINGS."
Hattie clapped her hands with delight, and Felix partly forgot his woes and grievances.
"Now, I want you both to learn to sing it, and I will teach Hattie the accompaniment. On Felix"s birthday, which is not very distant, you can surprise your father and mother by singing it for them. In grat.i.tude to the author I think every little child should sing it and call it "Eugenie"s Angel Song." Hattie, it is eleven o"clock, and time for you to practice your music-lesson."
The little girl climbed upon the piano-stool and began to count aloud, and after a while Edna bent down and put her hand on Felix"s shoulder.
"You grieved your mother this morning and spoke very disrespectfully to her. I know you regret it, and you ought to tell her so and ask her to forgive you. You would feel happier all day if you would only acknowledge your fault. I hear your mother in her own room; will you not go and kiss her?"
He averted his head and muttered:
"I don"t want to kiss her."