DID SHE FORGET?
"Katie Haydon is going to London, ma'am. Did she tell you on Sunday?"
The speaker was Esther Odell, who could think of nothing else but her
schoolfellow's good fortune, and, meeting her teacher later in the
week, hastened to impart the important news to her.
Miss Eldon looked surprised and a little disappointed, for she had
heard of an excellent opening for Kate, in the nursery of a lady not
far off, who needed a bright, clever girl, able to assist the nurse
sometimes with the one child, and also learn to wait upon the young
ladies who were growing up. Such a nice place as this was not often to
be met with, and Miss Eldon had waited at home all day on Monday,
expecting Mrs. Haydon to call about it. She was on her way there now,
thinking she must be ill, or something had happened; she could hardly
think Kate had forgotten her message, for she was so anxious to obtain
a situation only a short time before.
But Esther Odell's news made her think it was very possible Kate had
forgotten all about it. "Did Kate tell you about this on Sunday," she
said.
"Yes, ma'am; she ran to catch us before we got into school, on purpose
to tell us. She is going to her cousin, to serve in a shop. I wish I
had her chance!" added Esther, with a sigh.
"And you think it is all settled, Esther?" said the lady.
"Oh yes, ma'am, I know it is. I met Kate yesterday, and she had been
to post the letters to her cousin and uncle, telling them she would go."
The lady stood for a moment in silence, debating whether she should go
on and see Kate, and ascertain whether the matter was finally settled,
or call upon Mary Green, and send her to see the lady about this
situation. Looking at her watch, the time decided her, for it was a
long walk to Mrs. Haydon's, and she would not have time to call upon
Mary if she went there.
"Thank you, Esther, for telling me this. Did you say you wanted a
situation?"
"Yes, ma'am, if I could hear of one like Katie's to serve in a shop and
be a young lady. I couldn't be a common servant," she added, quickly.
"A 'common servant,' Esther, what do you mean?" said Miss Eldon, rather
severely. "Do you know that to be a household servant you must have a
character that will bear the strictest inquiry, and therefore those who
are servants are known at once as respectable, honourable people, and
those who employ them know their value, and esteem them accordingly?
Have you so soon forgotten what I told you on Sunday?"
Esther hung her head, feeling very much ashamed for a minute or two,
but at last she managed to say, "I thought servants were always looked
down upon, ma'am."
"No one, whose respect was worth having, would look down upon a servant
because she was a servant. We always looked up to our dear old nurse,
Margaret, and loved her almost as a mother," said Miss Eldon. "Now,
Esther, think over what I have said, and put these foolish notions
away. I know your mother wishes you to go to service. Come and tell
me next Sunday, that I may look out for a situation for you. I must go
and see Mary Green now," and the lady bade her scholar good-bye, and
walked on.
Esther stood a minute looking after her. "I wish I was a lady, and
could have a fine silk dress like hers," she said, half aloud. "I knew
she wanted some of us to take a place, and if it wasn't for that proud
Kate Haydon, I think I would try it, but I couldn't bear to think of
her serving in a grand shop in London, while I was mewed up in a
nursery or kitchen here. Mother must grumble a little longer; I
daresay I shall hear of a place in a shop before long, and who knows
but I may go to London, too;" and Esther went on her way, her mind full
of the unknown glories of London, and vain wishes to be in Kate's place.
Mary Green ran in to see Kate a day or two afterwards, and tell her the
news that she had got a situation at Lady Hazeldean's, as under-nurse
and to wait on the young ladies.
"My dear, I am very glad to hear it," said Mrs. Haydon. "I only wish
it had been offered to Kate, instead of her going to London."
"But--but I thought--" began Mary.
"Mary, do come now, before it gets dark; I want to show you my new
dress," interrupted Kate, hastily jumping up from her seat, and running
out of the room.
Mary followed, but more slowly, wondering not a little at what she had
heard, for she thought Kate had refused this place.
"Don't say any more about this situation at Lady Hazeldean's,"
whispered Kate, when they were safely shut in the bedroom.
"But what can it matter? You do not want it, Kate. Miss Eldon told my
mother she had spoken to you about it on Sunday, but your mother did
not think it worth while calling to see her about it."
"How could she, when we had to write those letters to London directly?
There, Mary, isn't that a pretty print? I am to wear print dresses and
holland aprons in the morning, but Marion says we may wear what we like
in the afternoon, and so I am going to have a new dress for best, and
what I have been wearing on Sunday I shall wear every day there."
"Yes," answered Mary, but it was in rather an absent-minded manner, for
she felt puzzled about Kate, and her strange anxiety lest she should
talk about this situation she had obtained.
On Sunday, when the girls met as usual on their way to school, the
prospects of their two companions were again discussed, and although a
few, like Esther, wished they could go to London as Kate was going, it
was agreed that Mary was very fortunate in getting such a good
situation, although, as it was remarked, Miss Eldon always did get her
girls excellent places.
Kate felt rather vexed at having to hear all the excellencies of this
despised situation enumerated, and was not sorry to reach school, but
her teacher's first words vexed her still more, and put her into a
fright too.
"I was coming to see your mother last Tuesday, Kate; I hope she has not
been ill."
"Oh, no, ma'am; she's quite well, thank you," answered Kate.
"Then it was not illness prevented her from coming to see me on Monday?"
Kate coloured and hung her head, as she answered, "No, ma'am."
"Did you forget to deliver my message? I think I told you I wanted to
see her about a situation for you."
"You said you wanted to see her, ma'am, but--but I forgot it," said
Kate, under her breath.
"Well, never mind, it does not matter much, Kate, for I hear you have a
situation in London now," said Miss Eldon, thinking Kate was vexed and
angry with herself for having forgotten her message. But the fact was,
Kate, who was neither an untruthful nor deceitful girl, shrank from
telling a direct lie. She had yielded to the temptation last Sunday
because, as she had persuaded herself then, she was not required to
tell an untruth, but merely to hold her tongue about the message; but
now she found that to hide that wrong-doing a direct lie must be told,
and, although it made her uncomfortable and unhappy, it was done. But
she protested again and again to her own conscience that she would
never do it again. Before she left school, however, she had another
fright.
"When do you go to London, Kate?" asked her teacher, as the girls were
leaving.
"To-morrow week, ma'am," said Kate.
"Well, I will try and see you one day in the week, for I want to hear
all about your new situation and what your mother thinks of it," said
Miss Eldon, quite unconscious of the panic her words had put Kate into.
It made her last days at home the most miserable she had ever spent,
for Miss Eldon did not come until Saturday afternoon, but Kate had been
in suspense every hour during the whole week, and yet the foolish girl
could not summon up the courage necessary to tell her mother the truth
about the matter.
The dreadful moment arrived at last, when there came a knock at the
door, and Miss Eldon entering, was soon seated in their little back
room, and Kate's mother with her.
"I was so much surprised to hear that Kate was going to London," began
the lady, removing her gloves for an easy chat.
"Yes, ma'am, it was a surprise to me, and something of a shock too, I
may say, for I had rather she had got a nice comfortable place nearer
home."
"Yes, it is a pity I did not hear of this vacancy at Lady Hazeldean's a
day or two sooner, for I can quite understand how anxious you must feel
at a young girl like Kate leaving home."
"Yes, ma'am, and if it had been anybody but my own brother that offered
it, she should not have gone, but he has been a good friend to me, and
I cannot afford to offend him. If I could only have written and told
him I had a place in view for her, it would have been different. I
suppose, ma'am, if you had heard of this nursery-maid's place a week
earlier, you would have recommended Kate for it, as she spoke to you, I
think, before Mary Green."
"Yes, she did, and I recommended her to Lady Hazeldean, when I called
there and heard of it, for I thought it would be just the place for
Kate; and I must say I felt a little vexed as well as disappointed that
you did not come to see me last Monday week about it."
The widow stared at her visitor. "I never knew that I was expected,"
she said.
"Has not Kate told you since, that she forgot to deliver my message
when she came home on Sunday? I told her to ask you to call and see me
on Monday morning, for I could not conveniently leave home on that day,
and I had promised Lady Hazeldean she should see you and Kate as soon
as possible."
"And Kate knew that and never told me!" gasped the widow.
"No, no, perhaps if I had explained it all to her she would not have
forgotten it, but I could not do that in school, and so I merely told
her I wished to see you on Monday morning," said Miss Eldon, quickly.
"Kate, how could you have forgotten such a message?" said her mother,
sharply.
But Kate stood with downcast face, and said not a word.
"You must not be angry, Mrs. Haydon; it was excusable, I am sure, if
you had just received these London letters," said the lady, gently.
"I don't see how she could have forgotten such a message," said the
widow, in the same vexed tone. "Did you know what I was wanted for,
Kate?" she demanded, turning once more to her daughter.
But Miss Eldon answered for her: "Oh, no; she could not have known it,
and so I am the only one to blame in this business," she said.
Kate felt very grateful to her teacher for thus helping her out of the
difficulty, and vowed in her own mind that she would never act so
deceitfully again. No, never again would she follow such a crooked
path, and deceive her mother, for it was deceit; now she saw it quite
plainly. But still she was afraid to confess the whole truth about the
matter.
After Miss Eldon had gone, she had an opportunity of doing this, for
her mother said: "Now, Kate, tell me the whole truth about this affair."
"The truth, mother?" repeated Kate. "Teacher told you the whole truth."
"But how could you forget such an important message as this, when you
knew it was just what I was wishing for you to get--a nice quiet place
near home?"
"But teacher did not say a word about the place that Sunday afternoon,"
said Kate, in an injured tone.
"But you might have known--might have guessed--what it was likely to be
about. It is not as though Miss Eldon was in the habit of sending for
me. She never did such a thing before."
"But still, how was I to know she had heard of a place at last? I have
been waiting months and months, and nothing has come."
"I know that; but still how you could forget that Sunday afternoon,
when you came home and found me in such trouble about your going to
London, is more than I can understand."
[Illustration: Miss Eldon's visit.]
But the foolish girl persisted in declaring that she had forgotten all
about the message, in spite of her mother's frequently expressed
doubts, soothing her conscience by assuring herself that this should be
a warning to her never to do so again. Kate felt quite sure about
this; let the temptation be what it might, she never would yield to it
again, as she had done in this instance, for it had made her miserable.
But I am not sure that Kate felt sorry enough for her fault yet to wish
it undone. When she went up to bed that night, instead of kneeling
down and confessing her sin to God, and asking His forgiveness, and His
grace to keep her in the future, she peeped into the box that stood
ready packed, and thought with a feeling of triumph that she was going
to London after all, and her mother would forget all this fuss that had
been made about her teacher's message when she heard how well she was
getting on there; and so full was Kate's heart of these thoughts that
she jumped into bed without kneeling at her bedside, but still feeling
quite confident that she would never act again as she had done, now
that she had got her own way, and was sure of going to London.