FALLING INTO TEMPTATION
THE children settled very happily to their daily tasks with Miss
Burton. At first, the long hours of confinement were felt to be
irksome. Beryl's pen was apt to drop from her fingers, and her mind
to wander from her work, as the sound of the sea came to her through
the open window, and the warm sunshine and fragrant breeze made her
long to fling books aside, and roam abroad at will again. But a word
or touch from Miss Burton would recall her attention, for Beryl was
really anxious to do well and please her governess. She felt ashamed
of knowing so little, and was anxious by great endeavours to make up
for lost time. Miss Burton made their steps to knowledge as smooth and
pleasant as possible for her young pupils.
On sounding the depths of their ignorance, she was appalled to discover
how profound it was; but happily, the children, though backward, were
neither slow nor dull. No one could call Beryl a stupid child. If she
knew little of books, she had picked up a good deal of information
about the common things of life in the course of her free-and-easy
childhood.
Miss Burton was surprised to find how quickly Beryl learned when once
she began to apply herself. The soil of her mind promised to yield all
the richer harvest for having lain fallow so long.
The children were fortunate in the governess chosen for them. Hettie
Burton was too young and too childlike to have acquired any formal,
pedantic mode of imparting instruction, whilst, at the same time, her
intellectual powers were such as would have qualified her to teach far
older pupils. She had a natural aptitude for teaching, and did not find
her work a drudgery. She varied the children's tasks so skilfully, that
neither mind nor body could grow weary before lessons were over. She
laid no unnecessary restrictions on their freedom.
Coral and Beryl still took their morning dip in the sea, and had a
run on the beach afterwards before they went to lessons, and, weather
permitting, there was always a long, pleasant ramble in the evening.
The children enjoyed their walks all the more when Miss Burton
accompanied them.
She was not of Miss Holly's opinion, that it was unladylike to run,
and vulgar to jump or climb. She let her pupils make free use of their
limbs, when school hours were over. Hettie was not too old to enjoy a
run herself, and the nimble way in which she scaled the rocks excited
Beryl's strong admiration.
One day, shortly after her arrival, the children took their governess
to explore the depths of the long cave, and then poured into her
astonished ears the story of their marvellous escape from drowning.
Beryl was disposed to suppress the fact of their having tried to keep
a Sunday school in the cave. She was afraid lest Miss Burton, like Mr.
Hollys, should see something ridiculous in the idea. But Coral soon let
out the fact; and though Miss Burton seemed very surprised to hear of
it, she did not appear inclined to laugh.
"What made you think of keeping a Sunday school here?" she asked.
"Beryl thought of it," said Coral. "She wanted to do something for the
kingdom."
"For the kingdom?" repeated Miss Burton, looking puzzled.
"It was Mr. Gilbank made me think of it," said Beryl, colouring as she
spoke; "he said it was such a pity there was no Sunday school for the
children at Egloshayle."
"Who is Mr. Gilbank? Your clergyman, I suppose?" said Miss Burton.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Beryl. "Mr. Trevor is our clergyman, and he is not
in the least like Mr. Gilbank. You could never guess what Mr. Gilbank
is like. He is the nicest, kindest man in the world, I think; except
papa, of course, I mean."
Then, as Miss Burton began to ask further questions, Coral and Beryl
told her all about the artist's visit to Egloshayle, and how he had
taught them the meaning of the Lord's Prayer, and made them long to
become children of the kingdom.
Miss Burton listened with surprised interest. Here was a subject on
which the children were not ignorant. Young as they were, they had
taken their place at the Master's feet, and had begun to learn of Him.
Hettie Burton stood silent and thoughtful for a few minutes, scarce
heeding what the children said.
She, too, aspired to be a worker in the kingdom. She was thinking that
perhaps the care and training of these two children did not represent
all the work she was called to do at Egloshayle. It might be that she
could work with Coral and Beryl as well as for them.
"Is there really no Sunday school here?" she asked presently.
"No, none at all," said Beryl.
"It is a pity," said Miss Burton. "I wish we could manage to have one."
"Oh, would you help us? Do you really mean it?" cried Beryl, in joyful
surprise.
"Yes, certainly. I should be only too happy to help," said Miss Burton.
"I have been used to teaching in Sunday schools all my life; at least,
I mean, ever since I arrived at years of discretion."
"Then we can begin at once!" cried Beryl eagerly. "Oh, but I forgot,"
she added, with a sudden change of tone; "I promised papa that I would
not keep Sunday school again."
"Then we must do nothing in the matter till we have obtained his
permission," said the governess decidedly.
"But he will not be home till September; it is such a long time to
wait," returned Beryl disconsolately.
"Only a few weeks," said Miss Burton, "and we shall have time to think
of some plan to which Mr. Hollys may not object. It is never well to
begin things in too great a hurry."
"I think papa will be sure to agree, if you ask him," said Beryl.
"Oh, I do not promise to take that upon me," said Miss Burton, with a
little laugh.
After this, the arrangement of a Sunday school was eagerly discussed
by the children, and many a grand idea conceived, which proved upon
examination to be impracticable.
Meanwhile, the Sunday afternoons, which the children passed with
their governess, were very pleasant. Miss Burton gave them little
formal religious instruction. She did not believe in teaching children
catechisms, or in giving them doses of theology, however infinitesimal.
She had no desire to make Coral and Beryl precociously self-conscious.
But she did try to keep them healthy, happy children, whose child-life
was all the more beautiful and joyous because they loved and trusted
the children's Friend. She taught them to sing glad hymns, such as in
all ages children have loved to sing. She tried to make the "old, old
story" real and clear to their childish minds.
She had brought many books with her to Egloshayle, such as all
children love, and she used to read them to her young charges on
Sunday afternoons, as they sat in the garden or in some safe and shady
nook on the beach. In this way, Coral and Beryl became acquainted
with "Ministering Children," "The Wide, Wide World," and the charming
stories which make up "The Golden Ladder."
Beryl enjoyed these readings intensely. She was so interested in the
lives of the various heroines that she scarcely knew how to wait from
week to week for the unfolding of their experiences, and at last her
impatience in this respect proved a means of temptation to her.
For the first few weeks things had gone very pleasantly in the
schoolroom. Beryl, influenced by the charm of her governess's winning
manner, and her own eager desire to improve, had been so industrious
and obedient, that Miss Burton began to wonder what could have made her
aunt describe her as an unruly, self-willed child.
But a change became apparent. In the hot days of August, Beryl grew
listless and careless, and seemed to lose interest in her lessons. Up
to this time, a word from her governess had been sufficient to control
her; but now Beryl's old habits were regaining power, and she showed
plainly that she had not yet learned to appreciate the virtue of
obedience. Miss Burton often had to speak twice and even three times
before she could command her pupil's attention. Beryl fancied she could
treat her governess's commands with the indifference she had always
shown to her aunt's.
But it was not Miss Burton's intention to allow such conduct to
continue. She was, as Miss Hollys had hoped, a thorough disciplinarian,
though her mode of maintaining discipline was not, perhaps, such as
that lady would have advised.
Miss Burton made every allowance for Beryl's naughtiness. She did not
resort to punishment till she had tried ineffectually the influence of
firm words and kind persuasions. But when these failed, and she saw
that Beryl was not ailing in health, and had really no excuse for her
perverseness, Miss Burton thought it was time to try the effect of
sterner measures.
One Monday morning, Coral and Beryl were together in the nursery, now
dignified by the name of schoolroom. Books, slates, and pens lay ready
on the table; but it wanted ten minutes to the hour at which they began
lessons.
Coral was busy putting her doll into the little wicker cot in which she
was to repose during schooltime. Beryl stood before the bookshelves,
looking with eager, longing gaze at a brightly-bound volume standing
high on the top shelf. The books on that shelf belonged to Miss Burton,
and the children were not allowed to take them without leave. Beryl's
eyes were upon the book, which had been begun on the previous day. She
was longing to know how the story went on.
She must just take a peep, to see what the next chapter was about.
So, regardless of the fact that this was a forbidden pleasure, Beryl
bounded on to a chair and had the book in her hand in a moment. Then,
standing there, she was soon deep in the second chapter.
Thus Miss Burton found her, when she entered the room a little later.
"Beryl!" she exclaimed, astonished at the audacity of her pupil. "What
are you doing on that chair? And what book is that in your hand? I
thought I had forbidden you to take those books without asking my
leave."
"Oh yes," said Beryl, looking a little startled, but not much abashed;
"but I did so want to know what the next chapter was about."
"That is no excuse for disobedience," said Miss Burton gravely; "you
must learn to control your wishes when it is wrong to indulge them.
This is not the first time that I have found you disobedient of late,
and I cannot let it pass unpunished. You will stay in this room for
half an hour after school, and learn a lesson that I shall give you."
Beryl looked both surprised and angry, as she jumped down from the
chair and went to take her place at the table. It was soon clear that
she did not mean to submit meekly to her punishment.