LULU'S PROTEST.
Lulu's self-upbraidings were broken in upon by a gentle tap at her door,
followed by Grace's voice saying in glad, eager tones, "Come, Lulu, mamma
is going to read us some of her letter from papa. And you shall see mine
too, if you want to."
"Yes, I'll be there in a minute," Lulu replied, jumping up, hastily
folding her letter, slipping it into its envelope, and that into her
pocket.
This done, she hurried into Violet's dressing-room and joined Max and
Grace as listeners to the reading of her father's letter to his wife.
At its conclusion Max offered the one he had received, saying, "Now
please read mine aloud, Mamma Vi; I'm sure you would all like to hear
it."
"Mine too," Grace said, laying hers in Violet's lap.
When these had been read, both Max and Grace turned expectantly to Lulu.
"Mine is just a nice little talk meant only for me," she said.
"Then, dear, we won't ask to see it," Violet answered pleasantly; and the
others seemed satisfied with the explanation.
"Of course papa hadn't heard about the school. I wonder what he would
think of our being sent to it," remarked Lulu.
"I have no doubt he would approve of anything done for you by my mother
and grandfather," Violet answered gently.
"When do we begin there?" asked Max.
"Next Monday. But you are to be taken over this afternoon for a
preliminary examination, so that you may be assigned your places and
lessons, and be all ready to set to work with the others on Monday
morning."
"Will you go with us, Mamma Vi?" asked Lulu.
"No, dear; but mamma and grandpa will."
"I must go and tell Eva, so she will be ready," exclaimed Lulu, starting
up and hurrying from the room.
Evelyn had wandered to a distant part of the grounds and seated herself
upon a little grassy mound that encircled the roots of a great oak-tree.
With the sight of Lulu's joy at receiving a letter from her absent father
a fresh sense of her own heavy bereavement had come over her, and her
heart seemed breaking with its load of bitter sorrow; its intense
longing for
"the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!"
She sat with her hands clasped in her lap, her eyes gazing far out over
the bayou, while tears coursed freely down her cheeks and her bosom
heaved with sobs.
It was her habit to go away and weep in solitude when calmness and
cheerfulness seemed no longer within her power.
Presently a light step approached, but she did not hear it, and deemed
herself still alone till some one sat down beside her and, passing an arm
round her waist, tenderly kissed her forehead.
"Dear child," said her Aunt Elsie's sweet voice, "do not grieve so; think
how blest he is--forever freed from all earth's cares and troubles, pains
and sicknesses, and forever with the Lord he loved so well."
"Yes; oh, I am glad for him!" she cried; "but how, oh, how shall I ever
learn to live without him?"
"By getting nearer to Him who has said, 'I will be a Father of the
fatherless: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'
"Dear child, Jesus loves you with a purer, deeper, stronger love than any
earthly parent can feel for his child.
"And He will never suffer any trial to visit you which shall not be for
your good; He will give you strength to bear all that He appoints, and
when the work of grace is done will take you to be forever with Himself
and the dear ones gone before."
"Yes, Aunt Elsie, thank you; it is very sweet and comforting to know and
remember all that.
"And He has given me such a good home with you and uncle; and everybody
is so kind to me, I ought to be happy; and I am most of the time, but now
and then such a longing for papa comes over me that I am compelled to go
away by myself and indulge my grief for a little. Do you think it is
wrong to do so?"
"No, dear, Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, and did not rebuke the
sisters for indulging their grief, so I cannot believe our kind heavenly
Father would forbid us the relief of tears."
The conversation gradually drifted to other themes, and when Lulu joined
them they were talking of the studies Evelyn should pursue at Oakdale.
Lulu made her communication; then she and Evelyn went into the house to
dress for dinner and the drive which was to be taken immediately after.
Each rejoiced that they were to be together in this new experience, and
they were greatly pleased when, having examined them in their studies,
Professor Manton assigned them to the same classes and to adjoining
desks.
They were pleased, too, with Oakdale. It had been a very fine place
before the war, the residence of a family of wealth and standing; and
though now in a measure fallen into decay, was still an attractive spot,
not destitute of beauty.
The rooms appointed to study and recitation were of good size, airy, and
well lighted; with a pleasant outlook--here upon lawn and lakelet, there
on garden, shrubbery, or orange orchard.
"I think it is a beautiful place for a school," Lulu remarked as they
were on their homeward way; "we shall enjoy wandering around the grounds,
or sitting under the trees on the lawn, at recess."
"Or having a game of ball," said Max.
"Do you like Professor Manton, Eva?" asked Lulu, with a look of disgust
as she mentioned his name.
"I don't know him yet," Evelyn replied, half smiling. "I intend to try to
like him."
"I don't!" cried Lulu with vehemence; "he's too pompous and too--what is
it?"
"Fawning," supplied Max. "I'm just certain he has heard that Grandpa
Dinsmore and Grandma Elsie are very rich, and I guess he thinks we are
their own grandchildren."
"Perhaps it is just as well, if it will make him treat you all the
better," remarked Rosie; "therefore I shall not enlighten him. I have
formed the same opinion of him that you and Lulu have, Max."
"But don't let us judge him too hastily," said Evelyn. "Thinking ill of
him will only make it hard to treat him with the respect we should while
we are his pupils."
"Very sage advice, Miss Leland," laughed Rosie. "But seriously, I am sure
you are quite right."
"So am I," said Max; "and I, for one, intend to try to behave and study
exactly as if he were as worthy of respect as even Grandpa Dinsmore
himself."
"I too," said Evelyn; "and as if all the teachers were."
"Very good resolutions," said Rosie; "so I adopt them for myself."
"Well," sighed Lulu, "resolutions don't seem to amount to much with me,
but I haven't the least intention of misbehaving or wasting my time and
opportunities."
She said it earnestly, really meaning every word of it.
The children would probably not have expressed themselves quite so freely
in the presence of their elders; but they were alone in the carriage, Mr.
Dinsmore and his daughter having prepared to take the trip on horseback.
Rosie, however, reported to her mother that part of the conversation
relating to their intended good conduct, and so greatly rejoiced her
heart, for she had been somewhat anxious in regard to the impression
made upon the children--especially Lulu, who was a keen observer of
character--by the professor, and its effect upon their behavior toward
him. She had feared that Lulu, who never did anything by halves, would
conceive a great contempt and dislike for the man, in which case there
would be small hope of her conducting herself at all as she should while
attending the school.
Mr. Dinsmore and Violet had shared her fears, and they had consulted
together as to the measures it might be wise to take in hope of averting
the unpleasant and trying occurrences which they dreaded.
"Do you think I should talk with her about it?" asked Violet. "Oh, if I
only knew what it would be best to say!"
"Perhaps the less the better," her grandfather said, with a smile; "I
should advise you not to prepare a set sermon, but to say nothing unless
upon the spur of the moment, when something she does or says may lead
naturally to it."
"No, do not let us disgust her with long lectures," said Elsie; "she is a
child that will not endure a great deal in the way of reproof or
admonition."
"But perhaps, papa, a few words from you, who are certainly much wiser
than either Vi or myself, might have a good effect."
"No," he said, "because she respects you quite as much as she does me,
and loves you far better. You are the one whose words will be most likely
to benefit her."
"Then I will undertake it, asking for wisdom from above that I may do her
good and not harm," Elsie replied in a low, earnest tone.
The task thus devolving upon her, she seized a favorable moment, when
alone with Lulu, to remind her that she now had an opportunity to
establish a character for diligence and good behavior, as she was taking
a new start among strangers; while home friends were quite ready to
believe that she had turned over a new leaf and would henceforth strive
to be and to do just what would please her heavenly Father and the dear
earthly one who loved her so fondly.
The words were accompanied by a tender caress; and Lulu, looking up
brightly, lovingly into the kind face bending over her, impulsively threw
her arms round Elsie's neck, saying, "Yes, indeed, dear Grandma Elsie, I
do mean to try with all my might to be a good girl, and to learn all I
possibly can.
"I am not at all sure of success, though," she added, her face clouding
and her eyes seeking the floor.
"Dear child," Elsie said, "remember that the Lord says to us, 'In Me is
thine help.' Look to Him for help and strength in every time of trial,
and you will come off at last more than conqueror."
"How kind you are, Grandma Elsie!" Lulu said gratefully. "I think you do
believe in me yet--believe that I do really want to be good; though I
have failed so often."
"My dear little girl, I have not a doubt of it," was the kind response;
and Lulu's heart grew light: the trustful words gave her renewed hope and
courage for the fight with her besetting sins.
And she, and the others also, made a very fair beginning, winning golden
opinions from their teachers.
Both Max and the girls found pleasant companions among their new
schoolmates, while the principal of the institution was less disagreeable
than they had at first esteemed him, though they all agreed among
themselves that it would be quite impossible ever to feel any affection
for him, his wife, or Miss Diana, with whom the little girls had most to
do.
They all liked Miss Emily best, but Walter was the only one of their
number belonging to her department, and she seldom came in contact with
any of the others.
They all took lessons in French; and as Signor Foresti had the reputation
of being a very fine music-teacher, it had been arranged that the three
little girls should be numbered among his pupils. But the first day,
Lulu, on coming home from school, went to Violet with a strong protest
against being taught by him.
"Mamma Vi," she said, "the girls in his class say he has a dreadful,
dreadful temper, gets angry and abusive when they make the slightest
mistake, and sometimes strikes them with a whalebone pointer he always
has in his hand; that is, he snaps it on their fingers, and it hurts
terribly. I shouldn't mind the pain so much; but it would just make me
furious to be disgraced by a blow from anybody, especially a man--unless
it were papa, who would have a right, of course," she added, with a vivid
blush. "So, Mamma Vi, please save me from having him for my teacher."
Violet looked much perplexed and disturbed. "Lulu, dear, it doesn't rest
with me to decide the matter, you know," she said, in a soothing,
sympathetic tone; "if it did, I should at once say you need not. But I
will speak to grandpa and mamma about it."
"Well, Mamma Vi, if I must try it, won't you tell him beforehand that he
is never to strike me? If he does, I'll not be able to restrain myself
and I'll strike him back; I just know I shall. And then we'll all be
sorry I was forced to take lessons of him."
"Oh, Lulu, my dear child, I hope you would never do that!" cried Violet
in distress. "How would your father feel? what would he say when he heard
of it?"
"I don't know, Mamma Vi, but I don't believe he would allow that man to
strike me; and I dare say he would think I served him right if I struck
him back. However, I don't mean to be understood as having formed the
deliberate purpose of doing so; only I feel that that's what I should do
without waiting a second to think."
Violet thought it altogether likely, and after a moment's cogitation
promised that the signor should be told that he could have Lulu for a
pupil only with the distinct understanding that he was never, on any
account, to give her a blow.
"And, Lulu, dear," she added entreatingly, "you will try not to furnish
him the slightest excuse for punishing you, will you not?"
"Yes, Mamma Vi; but I do want to escape taking lessons of him, for fear
we might fall out and have a fight," returned the little girl, laughing
to keep from showing that she was almost ready to cry with vexation at
the very idea of being compelled to become a pupil of the fiery little
Italian.
He was a diminutive man of rather forbidding aspect.
"I fear that in that case you would get the worst of it," Violet
remarked, with a faint smile.
"He is only a little man, Mamma Vi," Lulu said, shaking her head in
dissent; "the professor would make two of him, I think,"
"And you are only a little girl, and men and boys are, as a rule, far
stronger than women and girls," replied Violet. "But aside from that
consideration it would be a dreadful thing for you to come to a
collision; and I shall certainly do what I can to prevent it."
In pursuance of that end she presently went in search of her mother and
grandfather.
She found them and Mrs. Dinsmore seated together on the lawn; the ladies
busied with, their needlework, Mr. Dinsmore reading aloud.
As Violet approached, he paused, and laying the open book down on his
knee, made room for her by his side.
"Don't let me interrupt you, grandpa," she said, accepting his mute
invitation.
"Perhaps grandpa is ready to rest," remarked her mother; "he has been
reading steadily for more than an hour."
"Yes; I am ready to hear what my little cricket has to say," he said,
looking inquiringly at Violet.
"It will keep, grandpa," she answered lightly.
"No," he said, "let us have it now; I see something is causing you
anxiety and you have come to ask counsel or help in some direction."
"Ah, grandpa," she responded, with a smile, "you were always good at
reading faces;" then went on to repeat the conversation just held with
Lulu.
"What do you say, grandpa, grandma, and mamma," she wound up, "shall we
insist on her taking music-lessons of Signor Foresti?"
"Yes," said Mr. Dinsmore, with decision; "he is an uncommonly fine
teacher, and it is desirable that she should enjoy, or rather profit by,
his instructions; also it is high time she should become thoroughly
convinced of the necessity of controlling that violent temper of hers.
She needs to be taught submission to lawful authority too; and indulging
her in this whim would, in my judgment, be likely to have the very
opposite effect. What do you say, Rose and Elsie?"
"I presume you are right, Horace, as you usually are," replied his wife.
"I prefer to leave the question entirely to your decision, papa," said
Elsie. "But shall we not yield to the child's wishes so far as to warn
the man beforehand that he is never, upon any pretext, to give her a
blow? I will not have him strike Rosie," she added with heightened color;
"if he ventured such a thing I should take her immediately away."
Her father regarded her with an amused smile. "I have seldom seen you so
excited, so nearly angry, as at that thought," he remarked. "But Rosie is
not at all likely to give him any pretext for so doing; nor is Evelyn;
they are both remarkably even-tempered and painstaking with their
studies.
"However, I shall warn Signor Foresti in regard to his treatment of all
three of the little girls sent by us to the school; telling him that if
they are idle or wanting in docility and respect, he is simply to report
them for discipline at home. Will that answer, Violet?"
"Nicely, thank you, grandpa," she said, with a sigh of relief.
Lulu looked but half satisfied when her mamma reported the result of her
intercession with those higher in authority; but seeing there was nothing
more to be gained, quietly submitted to the inevitable.