Next morning, when Norman came down to breakfast, his papa, instead of
playfully addressing him, turned away his head and took no notice of his
presence. Norman ate his breakfast in silence. Fanny looked very sad,
she felt that her brother deserved punishment, and that it might teach
him the necessity of speaking the truth. Still she could not bear the
thoughts of her young brother being beaten, and from what her papa had
said she believed he intended to do so. Her grandmamma had quoted the
proverb of Solomon, "He that spareth the rod hateth his son, but he that
loveth him chasteneth him betimes."
"You are right, Mrs Leslie," her papa had remarked, "I acknowledge the
wisdom of the great king, and must follow his advice."
After breakfast Fanny's governess arrived, and Captain Vallery took his
son up into his room. What happened there Norman did not divulge, but
he looked very crestfallen during the rest of the morning. When he met
Fanny afterwards he told her that he did not intend to tell any more
lies.
"I hope you will not do so," said Fanny, "remember that God hates them
even more than papa or anybody else can do, and He knows when you tell
an untruth, although no human being may find it out."
After dinner Norman appeared to have recovered his spirits, and Fanny
took him out to play battledore and shuttlecock.
They were beginning to get tired, when Mrs Leslie and their mamma came
out.
"Come and walk with us, my dears," said Mrs Leslie, "I want to show
your mamma the pretty garden you have cultivated so nicely, Fanny."
Fanny would thankfully have prevented them from seeing her garden, for
she knew that the way Norman had treated it would be discovered. Still
she could not think how to avoid going, and she could only hope that the
gardener had put it to rights, as he had promised to do.
Mrs Leslie, wishing to gain her grandson's confidence, called to him,
and taking his hand, led him on talking to him kindly; Fanny and her
mamma followed at a little distance.
Mrs Vallery interested Fanny by giving her accounts of India, but she
was so anxious about her garden and the vexation her granny would feel
at seeing it destroyed, that she could not listen as attentively as she
otherwise would have done. She saw that Norman was walking on very
unwillingly, and from time to time making an effort to escape, but his
grandmamma had no intention of letting him go.
At length Mrs Leslie and Norman reached Fanny's garden.
"Why, my dear, what changes you have made!" she exclaimed, "and I see
you have dug up nearly half of it."
Fanny ran forward. The gardener had begun to set it to rights, but had
evidently been prevented from finishing the work. The two spades were
stuck in the ground where Fanny and Norman had left them.
Fanny said nothing, she hoped that her brother would manfully confess
what he had done, that she might then be better able to plead for him.
Instead of doing so he snatched his hand away from that of his
grandmamma and ran off along the walk. Fanny had then most reluctantly
to confess that her brother had dug up her garden.
"Do not be angry with him, granny," she said, "he is very very young,
and he thought I had ill-treated him by not making his garden as nice as
mine was. He did not understand that I fancied he would like to arrange
it himself, but John has promised to put it in order, and I hope
to-morrow that mine will be as nice as ever, and that Norman's will be
like it, so pray say no more to him about it."
"I will do as you wish, Fanny," answered Mrs Leslie, "but I cannot
allow your brother, young as he is, to behave in the same way again."
Mrs Vallery was greatly grieved at discovering what Norman had done, at
the same time she was much pleased to hear the way Fanny pleaded for her
young brother, and she could not resist stooping down and kissing her
again and again while the tears came into her eyes.
"O mother! you have indeed made her all I can wish," she said, turning
to Mrs Leslie.
"Not I, my dear Mary, I did but what God tells us to do in His Word; I
corrected her faults as I discovered them, and have ever sought guidance
from Him. But His Holy Spirit has done the work which no human person
could accomplish."
Norman, conscience-stricken, had hidden himself in the shrubbery. The
rest of the party supposing that he had run into the house, continued
their walk, and after taking a few turns in the shady avenue they went
in-doors.
Mrs Norton, Fanny's governess, having just then arrived she set to work
on her lessons, while her mamma and Mrs Leslie went to the
drawing-room.
"I am afraid, mamma, that you must think Norman a very naughty boy,"
said Mrs Vallery, "I have spoken to him very often about his conduct,
and as yet I see no improvement."
"I have hopes that he will at all events learn that he must not tell
stories," observed Mrs Leslie, "and if your husband takes the same
means that he did this morning to teach him what is wrong he will by
degrees learn what he must not do. It is far more difficult to teach a
child what it ought to do, though I trust the good example set by our
dear Fanny will have its due effect, while we must continue to pray
without ceasing that the heart of your child may be changed."
"I fear he has a very bad heart now," sighed Mrs Vallery, "I am always
in dread that he should do something wrong."
"All children have bad seeds in their hearts, and it is our duty by
constant and careful weeding to root them out, and to impress also on
the child from its earliest days the necessity of endeavouring to do so
likewise. The child is not excused as it gains strength and knowledge
if it does not perform its own part in the work," observed Mrs Leslie.
"We justly believe our Fanny to be sweet and charming, but she is well
aware of this, and is ever on the watch to overcome the evil she
discovers within herself. Depend upon it, did she not do so she would
not be the delightful creature we think her."
"Could Fanny possibly have been otherwise than delightful?" said Mrs
Vallery.
"Not only possibly, but very probably so, although we, blinded by our
love might have overlooked the faults of which she would certainly have
been guilty," answered Mrs Leslie. "One of the chief lessons we should
endeavour to impress on young people is the importance of keeping a
strict watch over their mind and temper, of putting away every bad
thought the instant it comes into the mind, and to suppress at once the
rising of bad temper, envy, hatred, and all other evil feelings, while
we teach them that Satan, like a roaring lion, is always going about
seeking whom he may devour, although the aid of the Holy Spirit will
never be sought in vain to drive him away."
While this conversation was going on between his grandmamma and mamma in
the drawing-room Norman remained in the shrubbery. He was afraid to
come out, supposing that his mamma was looking for him, and that he
would be punished for destroying his sister's garden, as he had been in
the morning for telling a falsehood. Growing weary he at length crept
out, and hearing and seeing no one, thought he might venture into the
open garden. He soon became tired of being by himself, and wished that
Fanny would come out and play with him, then he felt angry with her
because she did not, though he well knew that she was attending to her
lessons.
At last as he wandered about his eyes fell on the covering of his
football.
"That's what my fine present has come to," he muttered, "and she has got
a beautiful doll all to herself; I do not see why she should be better
off than I am. I wonder if anybody could make my ball round again."
He took it up.
"Perhaps the cook or John can."
He carried the leathern case in to the cook.
"Make your ball round again Master Norman!" she exclaimed, "it would be
a hard job to do that, with the big slit which I see in it. You must
get a fresh bladder of the proper size, and then perhaps we may be able
to mend the leather case."
"Can you get me a bladder?" asked Norman.
"A bladder costs money! You must ask your papa to get one for you,"
answered the cook, who was not particularly willing to oblige him for
the way he had treated his sister, and Susan had prevented him from
gaining the goodwill of the servants.
"But I say you must get me a bladder," exclaimed Norman, "what are you?
you are only a servant. I will make you do what I want."
"I tell you what young gentleman, I will pin a dish-cloth to your back,
and send you out of the kitchen, if you speak to me in that way. I am
busy now in preparing your grandmamma's luncheon, and I cannot attend to
you."
Norman after walking about looked very angry for some minutes. Seeing,
however, the cook take up a dirty cloth and draw a pin from her dress,
he thought it wiser to walk off, and made his way back into the garden.
"I do not see why Fanny should have a beautiful doll and I only a stupid
bit of leather," he muttered to himself. "If I can get hold of that
doll of hers, I know what I will do to it, and then she won't be a bit
better off than I am."
Instead of attempting to overcome the spirit of envy, which sprung up in
his heart, he went on muttering to himself that he would soon spoil Miss
Lucy's beauty.
He had not improved in temper, when he was summoned in to dinner.
Neither Mrs Leslie nor his mamma said anything about Fanny's garden,
and he himself was not inclined to introduce the subject. His
grandmamma did not speak to him, for she was anxious if possible to make
him ashamed of his conduct. Discerning as she was, she was little aware
of the obstinacy of his disposition, and that all he cared for, was to
avoid punishment.
Fanny had talked to him and tried to amuse him after dinner; as it was
still too hot to go out, she invited him to come into the drawing-room,
and listen to a pretty story she would read to him out of a book.
After she had read a little time, her grandmamma invited her to sit by
her side, that she might go on with some work that she was teaching her
to do.
"Come with me, Norman," said Fanny, jumping up immediately, "granny will
let you sit near me on a footstool, and if you hold the book, I can tell
you some of the stories by merely looking at the pictures."
Norman, who liked having stories told to him, made no objection, and sat
down quietly on a footstool near Fanny.
"I think Norman, you should now tell Fanny something about India," said
Mrs Leslie, after Fanny had told him several stories.
"It's a finer country than this, and people do as they are told, that's
one thing I know about it," observed Norman. "A very good thing too,"
said Mrs Leslie, "I always like little boys and girls to do as they are
told."
"But big people do as they are told, our _kitmutgars_ and _chaprassey_
ran off as quick as lightning to do anything I told them, and if not I
kicked them."
"I hope that you will not do so to any one in England, my dear," said
Mrs Leslie.
"I am sorry to say that Norman did sometimes attempt to do as he tells
you," observed Mrs Vallery. "The people he speaks of were our
servants. A _kitmutgar_ is a man who waits at table, and a _chaprassey_
is another servant, whose duty it is to run on messages, to attend on
ladies when they go out, and to perform the general duties of a footman,
though he does not wait at table. You must know, Fanny, in India each
person has especial duties, and he considers it degrading to perform any
others.
"A groom is called a _syce_, but he will not cut the grass for his own
horse, and requires another man to do so. The head servant, who
performs the duty of butler, and purchases all the food for the family,
is called a _rhansaman_.
"A great deal of water is required in the hot weather for bathing and
wetting the tatties, and one man is employed in bringing it up from the
river to the bungalow in which we lived--he is called a _chestie_. A
different man, however, called an _aubdar_, takes care that proper
drinking water is supplied--we generally used rain water, which was
collected in large sheets stretched out between four poles in the rainy
season, and drained into earthen jars, where it keeps cool and sweet.
"None of those I have mentioned would clean the rooms, and, therefore,
another man a _mehter_ or sweeper was employed. Our clothes were washed
by a man called a _dhobie_; he used to come with his donkey, and carry
them off to the river, where he beat them with a flat stick on a wooden
slab over and over again till they were clean, and then dried them in
the sun.
"When any out-door work was to be done, we hired labourers of the lowest
caste, who were called _coolies_. Then we had a tailor, who made all my
clothes as well as Norman's and his papa's, and he is called a _durize_.
We had six bearers, who were employed to carry our palanquin, when we
went out, and they also had to keep the punkahs at work, besides having
other things to do."
"What a household," exclaimed Mrs Leslie, "I am glad we have not so
many servants to attend to in England. Where did they all live?"
"Some slept rolled up in their sheets on mats in the verandah in front
of the bungalow, others in huts by themselves."
"Had you no maid-servants?" asked Fanny.
"Only one, called an _ayah_, who acted as my lady's maid, and took care
of Norman, but had nothing else to do," answered Mrs Vallery.
"Mamma, what are punkahs and tatties?" inquired Fanny, "I did not like
to interrupt you when you spoke of them."
"The punkah is something like an enormous fan suspended to the roof, and
when a breeze is required, it is drawn backwards and forwards with ropes
by the bearers. Sometimes in hot weather it is kept going day and
night, indeed without it at times we should scarcely have been able to
bear the heat, or go to sleep at night. The tatties are mats made of a
sweet-smelling grass, which are hung up on the side from which the hot
wind comes, and being kept constantly wet by the _chesties_, the air
passing through them is cooled by the evaporation which takes place."
"I suppose you must have lived in a very large house, as you had so many
servants to attend on you," observed Fanny.
"When we were at a station up the country, we resided in a bungalow,
which was a cottage, with all the rooms on the ground floor, in the
centre of an enclosure called a compound. It was covered with a sloping
thickly-thatched roof, to keep out the rays of the sun. In the centre
was a large hall which was our sitting-room, with doors opening all
round it into the bedrooms, and outside them was a broad verandah. I
spoke of doors, but I should rather have called them door-ways with
curtains to them, thus the air set moving by the punkahs could circulate
through the house, while the sun could not penetrate into the inner
room, it was therefore kept tolerably cool."
"I think we are better off in England, where even in the hottest weather
we can keep cool without so much trouble being taken," observed Fanny.
"How I pity the poor men who are obliged to work at the punkahs."
"They are accustomed to the heat, and it is their business," observed
Mrs Vallery; "they would not have thanked us had we dismissed them, and
told them that for their sakes we were ready to bear the hot stifling
atmosphere, or to refrain from going out in our palanquins."
"What are palanquins, mamma?" asked Fanny.
"A palanquin may be described as a litter or sofa without legs, and with
a roof over it, carried by means of long poles, one on each side, the
ends resting on the shoulders of the bearers. A person travelling in
one can recline at full length, and sleep comfortably during a long
journey. When travelling by post, or _dak_, as it is called, fresh
bearers are found ready at each stage, just as post-horses are in
England.
"When we went out to pay visits for a short distance only we used a
_tanjahn_, in which a person, instead of reclining, sits upright. It is
somewhat like an English sedan-chair. We, however, at most of the
stations where the roads were good, used open carriages sent out from
England.
"Your papa used occasionally, also, to go out hunting tigers on the back
of an elephant. He did not, however, bestride it as he would a horse,
but sat with one or two other persons in a sort of box, called a
_howdah_, fastened on the animal's back. The huge creature was guided
by a man called a _mahout_, seated on its neck, with a sharp-pointed
stick in his hand. To get into the _howdah_ a ladder is placed against
the animal's side, which stands perfectly quiet, till ordered by the
_mahout_ to move on.
"I have on several occasions travelled on the back of an elephant in a
much larger _howdah_ than is used for hunting, when I had a _chattah_ or
umbrella held over my head."
"But do the huge elephants gallop after the tigers?" asked Fanny.
"I should think not," observed Norman, now speaking for the first time.
"Papa used to carry a gun, and beaters and dogs went into the jungle to
drive out the tigers, and then he used to shoot them. He has often told
me about it, and promised to take me when I am big enough. I should
like to shoot a tiger."
"You would not like to see a tiger spring up at the _howdah_, and try to
drag you out of it, as happened when your papa was out shooting one day,
and the poor _mahout_ was so dreadfully torn that he died?" observed
Mrs Vallery. "Tiger shooting is a _very_ dangerous amusement, and I
was always anxious till your papa came back safe. It was no amusement
to me in the meantime."
"Women are silly things, and are always being afraid," said Norman, with
an impudent look.
"That was not a proper remark, Norman, and it was especially rude in you
to make it in our presence," observed Mrs Leslie.
"When I am big I intend to go out tiger shooting, and if other people
are afraid, I shall not be," persisted Norman.
His grandmamma made no further remark, but she cast a look of pity at
the boy.
"But are not the elephants frightened, mamma, when they see the tigers?"
asked Fanny, anxious to draw off attention from her brother.
"They are wise creatures, and seem to know that their riders have the
means of defending them, so that they very seldom run away," answered
Mrs Vallery, "occasionally they take flight. Nothing can be more
uncomfortable than having to sit on the back of an elephant under such
circumstances. The creature sticks out its trunk and screams as it
rushes onward, trampling down everything in its way. Should it pass
under trees, it happens occasionally that a branch sweeps its riders
with their _howdah_ from its back. Elephants are, however, generally so
well-trained, that I never felt any fear when seated on the back of one.
They are, indeed, wonderfully sensible creatures, and can be taught to
do anything. They sometimes convey luggage and even light guns over
rough country, which wheels cannot traverse. With their trunks they
lift up enormous logs of wood, and place them exactly as directed when
roads are being formed, and they will even build up piles of logs,
placing each with the greatest exactness. I have heard of elephants
taking up children in their trunks and playing with them, and putting
them down again, without doing them the slightest injury. They can, as
the natives say, do everything but talk, indeed they seem to understand
what is said to them, and I have seen a _mahout_ whisper in his
elephant's ear, when the creature immediately obeyed him, though he
possibly may have used some other sign which I did not observe."
"I should like to travel on the back of one of the well-trained
elephants you speak of, mamma, because I could then look about and see
the country, though I think that I should at first be somewhat afraid
until I got accustomed to it," remarked Fanny.
"You may be able to try how you like riding on the back of one of them
at the Zoological Gardens, where perhaps your papa will take you some
day," said Mrs Leslie, "it is among the places I thought you would like
to see, and I told him that I was sure you would be very much interested
in going there?"
"I will go too, and take care of you," said Norman, with a patronising
air, "I have ridden on an elephant in India, and if there are any tigers
we will shoot them."
"There are several tigers in the Zoological Gardens, but the owners
would object to your shooting them, Norman," observed Mrs Leslie.
"They are safely shut up in cages."
"I suppose the people are afraid of them," said Norman, "I am not afraid
of tigers, and when I go back to India I intend to shoot a great many."
"You should not boast so much, Norman," observed his mamma. "Do you not
remember how frightened you were at the tame leopard which our friend
Mr James kept in his bungalow, and how, when you first saw the animal,
you screamed out and came running to me for protection. I was not
surprised, for had its master not been with us I should have been
frightened too. But I do not like to hear you boast of your valour,
especially when I cannot recollect any occasion on which you have
exhibited it."
Norman held his tongue, and soon after this Captain Vallery returned
from London.
Norman ran to him eagerly, expecting that he had a fresh football, or
some other toy, but his papa had been too much ashamed of him to think
of doing so, and Norman went out of the room grumbling at the neglect
with which he was treated.
"He cares for Fanny more than me," he muttered; "I daresay he has
brought her something, but I am not going to let her boast of her
beautiful doll, while I have got nothing to play with."
Fanny did not dream that Norman would ever think of doing any harm to
her doll, although every day after she had been playing with it, as it
was too large to go into her doll's house, she either put it away
carefully in a drawer, or carried it into granny's room. Norman
therefore, though he looked about for Miss Lucy, could never find her.
Norman was much older than many boys, who can read well, and Mrs Leslie
strongly advised Captain Vallery to have him instructed.
"He will learn in good time, and I do not like to run the risk of
breaking his spirits by beginning too early," answered Captain Vallery.
"But unless he begins to learn I do not see how he will ever be able to
read, and until he does so, he cannot amuse himself, but must always be
dependent upon others," answered his grandmamma. "I will take him in
hand, and when I am unable to teach him I daresay Mrs Norton will do
so."
Captain Vallery at last consented that Norman should begin learning.
Mrs Leslie found him a very refractory pupil, for although he evidently
could learn, he would not attend to what she told him, and she was
therefore glad to give him over to Mrs Norton. That lady had no idea
of allowing a little boy to have his own way, so she kept Master Norman
every morning close by her side till he had finished the task she set
him. In a few days he knew all the letters, and could soon read short
words without difficulty. He however did not feel at all as grateful as
he ought to have done, for the instruction given him, and gladly escaped
from the schoolroom when Mrs Norton devoted her attention to Fanny.
One day his grandmamma had driven out with his papa and mamma, to call
on some friends, when Norman having finished his lessons, Mrs Norton
said to him, "You may go out and play on the lawn for an hour, till I
call you in again."
Norman ran off, well pleased to be at liberty, but not knowing exactly
what to do with himself.
"If I had my football I might kick it about, and have some fun," he
thought, "no one has taken the trouble to mend it. I should think
Fanny, who is so nimble with her fingers as granny says, might have done
so. I must have a game at battledore and shuttlecock, I can play that
alone."
He went into the drawing-room to get one of the battledores, which were
kept in an Indian cabinet. No sooner had he opened the door than his
eye fell on Miss Lucy, seated in a large arm-chair, where Fanny, who had
brought her down to try on a new frock which her mamma had made, had
incautiously left her.
"You are there, are you!" said Norman, slowly approaching, "you look as
if you were laughing at me. I should like to know what business Fanny
has with you, when I have not my football to play with."
He stopped for a minute or more, looking at the doll with his fists
clenched; and instead of trying to drive away the evil thought which had
entered his mind, took a pleasure in encouraging it. Still, he did not
touch the doll. "I will carry you out, and hide you in a bush, where
Fanny cannot find you," he muttered.
Then he thought that he must take out a battledore and shuttlecock and
play with it, or what he proposed doing would be suspected. He went to
the cabinet, and opening it, there he saw on an upper shelf the very
knife with which he had made the hole in his football.
A dreadful idea seized him, he took the knife and advanced with it
towards poor Miss Lucy. Dragging her from the chair, he threw her on
the ground and began to cut away at her wax neck with his knife. As the
chief part of the edge was blunted, he did not at first make much
impression; but, drawing it rapidly backwards till the sharp part
towards the point reached the doll's neck, in one instant off rolled the
head. Others who do wicked deeds often injure themselves, so Norman,
whose finger was under the point cut a deep gash in it. As he felt the
pain, and saw the blood spurting forth, he jumped up, crying lustily for
some one to come and help him, utterly regardless of the mischief he had
done.
He gazed at his finger, and thought that all the blood in his body would
run out.
"Oh, what shall I do? what shall I do?" he screamed out. "Is nobody
coming to help me?" Then he looked at the doll.
"It was all your fault, you nasty thing," he exclaimed kicking the
doll's body away from its head, "I wish that I had let you alone. What
business had Fanny to leave you in the chair, looking so impudently at
me, and if you had your head on, you would be laughing at me still?"
then he again looked at his finger, which smarted very much, and as he
saw the blood dropping down on the carpet, he bawled louder than ever.
Fanny, during a pause in her reading, heard him. "What can be the
matter with Norman?" she exclaimed, "may I run down and see?"
"Yes, my dear, and call me if he has really hurt himself," said Mrs
Norton, "but from the way in which he is crying, I do not think there is
anything very serious."
Fanny ran downstairs. She entered the drawing-room. For a moment, she
stood aghast, as the first object which met her sight, was her dear,
pretty Miss Lucy's head, lying some way apart from her body, with a huge
knife near it, and Norman standing not far off.
Fanny, as we have seen was a very sweet amiable girl, but, she had a
spirit and a temper, though she generally restrained the latter, when
inclined to give way to it. She saw at once that the cruel deed, had
been done by Norman, and her heart swelling with indignation, she rushed
forward, and gave him a box on the ear. She then threw herself down by
the side of her doll, and burst into tears. Then picking it up, she
endeavoured to fit on the head.
The unexpected blow, from his usually gentle sister, so astonished
Norman, that for a moment he ceased his shrieks.
"You naughty, naughty, boy," I wish papa had whipped you twice as much
as he did, and I hope, he may whip you again, she exclaimed, rising, and
about to give him another slap, but just then, her eye fell on his
bleeding hand, and he recommenced his shrieks and cries. She stopped,
looking at him with alarm.
"Oh, what is the matter? oh, what is the matter?" she cried out.
"Send for the doctor, send for the doctor," shrieked Norman.
"Come with me to Mrs Norton, she will know what to do," said Fanny,
wrapping his hand up in her handkerchief. "Mamma and granny are out, or
they would attend to you."
"No, no, no, I must have a doctor, I shall die, I know I shall," cried
Norman again and again.
Fanny cast a piteous glance at poor Miss Lucy which she had let fall,
and though feeling sure that Norman had cut off her head, she was so
much alarmed about him, that without stopping to ask him, with her young
heart full of sorrow, she led him up to Mrs Norton. She hoped he had
done it by accident, or in play, for she would not allow herself to
suppose, that he had been prompted by a spirit of envy and jealousy.
Believing too, that he was severely injured, she felt sorry she had lost
her temper, and struck him.
"Let me look at your finger, young gentleman," said Mrs Norton,
examining his hand. "Is this a cut to make so much fuss about? Go into
your room, and a little water and sticking plaster will soon set it all
to rights."
Mrs Norton having bound up Norman's finger, asked Fanny how it had
happened. Fanny, instead of replying, burst into tears.
"Oh, do not ask me, do not ask me," she said at length. "I am sure he
could not have intended to hurt Miss Lucy, but, O Mrs Norton, he has
cut off her head, and I, when I saw what he had done, boxed his ears. I
am so very sorry, but I did not see how much he had hurt himself."
Mrs Norton gave a look at Norman, which ought to have made him ashamed
of what he had done.
His answer betrayed the evil spirit which had prompted him to do the
deed.
"You should not have had a pretty doll to play with, while I have only
an empty football," he said, in the growling muttering way in which he
too often spoke.
"Sit down there, your heart must be a very bad one, to let you indulge
in such a feeling," said Mrs Norton, placing Norman in the large chair,
which stood in his room.
Taking Fanny's hand, she led her downstairs. At first, Mrs Norton said
she should leave the doll and knife on the ground to show Mrs Leslie
and her mamma how he had behaved, but Fanny entreated her not to do so,
and putting the knife back into the cabinet, she took up her doll, over
which her tears fell fast, while she tried to replace its head.
"We will try and mend the doll, Fanny," said Mrs Norton, "but I am
afraid an ugly mark must always remain, and though we may succeed in
putting on its head, nothing can excuse your brother's behaviour."
"Oh, but he is very young, pleaded Fanny," and it will make granny and
mamma, and I am afraid papa also so angry with him, but pray, do not
tell them if you can help it. And I ought to have remembered what a
little boy he is--and I should not have lost my temper and hit him--it
was very naughty in me. "Oh dear, oh dear, how sorry I am," and Fanny
again, gave way to her tears.
Mrs Norton acknowledged that Fanny should not have lost her temper, at
the same time she tried to comfort her.
Mrs Norton then told Fanny, that she would take the doll home to try
and fix on its head.
"I shall be so much obliged to you, though I do not deserve it," said
Fanny.
"I am glad that you do not feel angry with your little brother, naughty
as he has been. It is a blessed thing to forgive an injury, and we are
following our Lord and Master's precept in doing so."
"I am sure that I should be doing what is very wrong, if I did not
forgive him," answered Fanny, "because I pray to be forgiven as I
forgive others, and as he has hurt himself so much, I hope no one else
will be angry with him."
"I trust that the way he has hurt himself will be a lesson to him," said
Mrs Norton, as having wrapped up the doll in her shawl, she accompanied
her pupil back to the schoolroom. She allowed Norman to remain sitting
in the chair by himself, but before she left the house, she begged Susan
to go and attend to him.
As soon as Fanny saw her granny and mamma returning from their drive,
she ran down to meet them.
"Norman has cut his finger," she said, "but Mrs Norton does not think
it is very bad, and I want you not to ask me how he did it; pray do
this, I shall be so much happier, if you will."