MISS ANNE.
'So thee's the only master here,' said Tim when he came up the hill next
evening, according to his promise, to help Stephen in his garden.
'And I'm the missis,' chimed in Martha, 'but I can't say how long it may
be afore we have to pack off;' and she gave Tim a very long account of
the master's visit the day before, finishing her description of Stephen's
conduct in a tone of mingled reproach and admiration: 'And he never said
a single curse at them!'
'Not when they were out of hearing?' exclaimed Tim.
'I couldn't,' answered Stephen; 'I knew what I ought to do then, if I
wasn't quite sure about fighting thee, Tim. My chapter says, "Swear not
at all;" and "Let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for
whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."'
'What's the meaning of that?' asked Tim, opening his eyes widely.
'Father said it meant I was to stand to my word like a man, but not swear
about it. If I said Ay, to mean ay; and if I said No, to mean no, and
stick to it.'
'There'd be no room for telling lies, I reckon,' said Tim reflectively.
'Of course not,' replied Stephen.
'That 'ud never answer down yonder,' said Tim, nodding towards the
distant village. 'I tell thee what, lad, I'll come and quarter with thee,
and help thee to be master. It 'ud be prime. Only maybe the victuals
wouldn't suit me. Last Sunday, afore thy father's buryin', we'd a dinner
of duck and green peas, and leg of lamb, and custard pudden, and ale.
Martha doesn't get a dinner like that for thee, I reckon.'
'No,' answered Stephen shortly.
'Maybe it wouldn't suit. But what more is there in thy book?' asked
Tim, whose curiosity was aroused; and Stephen, proud of his new
accomplishment,--a rare one in those days among his own class,--would not
lose the opportunity given him by Tim's inquiry for the display of his
learning. He brought out his Bible with alacrity, and read his chapter in
a loud, clear, sing-song tone, while Tim overlooked him, with his red
face growing redder, and his eyebrows arched in amazement; and Martha,
leaning against the door-post, glanced triumphantly at his wonder.
Already, though his father had been dead only a week, Stephen began
to miscall many of the harder words; but his hearers were not critical,
and the performance gave unbounded satisfaction.
'That beats me!' cried Tim. 'What a headpiece thee must have, Stephen!
But what does it all mean, lad? Is it all English like?'
'How can I know?' answered Stephen, somewhat sadly; 'there's nobody to
learn me now; and it's very hard. There's the Pharisees, Tim, and Raca; I
don't know who they are.'
The conversation was stopped by Martha suddenly starting bolt upright,
and dropping two or three hurried curtseys. The boys looked up from their
book quickly, and saw a young lady passing through the wicket and coming
up the garden walk, with a smile upon her pleasant face as she met their
gaze.
'My boys,' she said, in a soft, kindly voice, 'I've been sitting on the
bank yonder, behind your cottage; and I heard one of you reading a
chapter in the Bible. Which of you was it?'
'It was him,' cried Tim and Martha together, pointing at Stephen.
'And you said you had no one to teach you,' continued the lady. 'Now
would you learn well, if I promised to teach you?'
Stephen looked up speechlessly into the smiling face before him. He had
never read of the angels, and scarcely knew that there were such beings;
but he felt as if this fair and sweet-looking lady, with her gentle
voice, and the kindly eyes meeting his own, was altogether of a different
order to themselves.
'I am Mr. Wyley's niece,' she added, 'and I am come to live at Botfield
for a while. Could you manage to come down to Mr. Wyley's house sometimes
for a lesson?'
'Please, ma'am,' said Martha, who was not at all afraid of speaking to
any lady, though she dare not face the master, 'he wants to turn us out
of our house; and he hates Stephen, because he won't give it up: so he
wouldn't let you teach him anything.'
'Then you are Stephen Fern?' said the lady; 'I heard my uncle talking
about you. Your father was buried at Longville church on Sunday. I saw
the funeral leave the churchyard, and I looked for some of you to come in
to the evening service. Now, Stephen, do you tell me all about your
reason for not letting my uncle buy your cottage.'
Then Stephen, with some hesitation, and a good deal of assistance from
Martha, told the whole history of his grandmother's settlement upon the
solitary hillside, only withholding the fact of his grandfather's
transportation, because Tim was listening eagerly to every word. Miss
Anne listened, too, with deep attention; and once or twice the tears rose
to her eyes as she heard of the weary labours and watchings of the
desolate woman; and when Stephen repeated his resolution to work hard
and constantly for the maintenance of his grandfather and little Nan--
'Yes, I will be your friend,' she said, reaching out her hand to him when
he had finished, 'even if my uncle is your enemy. God has not given me
much power, but what I have I will use for you; and you must go on
striving to do right, Stephen.'
'I can't read much,' replied Stephen anxiously, 'and Martha can't read at
all; but I hope we shall all get safe to heaven!'
'Knowing how to read will not take us to heaven,' said Miss Anne,
smiling, 'but doing the will of God from the heart; and the will of God
is that we should believe in the Lord Jesus, and follow in His steps.'
'Yes, ma'am,' answered Stephen; 'my chapter says, "Whosoever shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."'
'Stephen, you know your chapter well,' said Miss Anne.
'I don't know anything else,' he answered; 'so I am always studying at
that in my head, up here and down in the pit.'
'He's always mighty solid over his work, ma'am,' said Tim, pulling the
front lock of his red hair, as he spoke to the young lady.
'Stephen, do you know that you have a namesake in the Bible?' asked Miss
Anne.
'No, sure!' exclaimed Stephen eagerly.
'It was the name of a man who had many enemies, only because he loved the
Lord Jesus; and at last they hated him so much as to kill him. He was the
very first person who ever suffered death for the Lord's sake. Give me
your Bible, and I will read to you how he died.'
Miss Anne's voice was very low and soft, like sweet music, as she read
these verses: 'And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this,
he fell asleep.'
Stephen listened breathlessly, and his face glowed with intense interest;
but he was not a boy of ready speech, and, before he could utter a word,
Tim burst in before him with a question, 'Please, is there a Tim in the
Bible?' he asked.
'Yes,' answered Miss Anne, smiling again; 'he was a young man who knew
the Bible from his youth.'
'That ain't me, however,' said Tim in a despondent tone.
'There is nothing now to prevent you beginning to know it,' continued
Miss Anne. 'Listen: as Stephen cannot come to me at Botfield, you shall
meet me in the Red Gravel Pit at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning as long
as the summer lasts, and I will teach you all. Bring little Nan with you,
Stephen.'
Down the same narrow green pathway trodden by the feet of Stephen's angry
master and his brother the evening before, they now watched the little
light figure of the young lady, as she slowly vanished out of their
sight. When the gleaming of her dress was quite lost, Stephen rubbed his
eyes for a moment, and then turned to Martha and Tim.
'Is she a real woman, dost think?' he asked.
'A real woman!' repeated Martha rather scornfully; 'of course she is; and
it's a real silk gown she had on, I can tell thee. Spirits don't go about
in silk gowns and broad daylight, never as I heard tell of, lad.'