"I'm tired of every one of my books, they're so stupid," cried Tom. "I've read Blue Beard ever so often, and I don't care for any of the rest."
"I've a little book of my own, which will be quite new to you, I daresay," said Susan. "It is in my box; I will go for it directly. And I wonder," she added, playfully, "whether, when I come back, I shall find Master Tommy in bed."
As soon as the door was closed behind Susan, Tom scrambled back into his crib in just as much haste as he had left it, and pulled the bed-clothes almost over his rough little head, "to give Susan a surprise," as he said. Tom was, perhaps, a little tired and weak, for though the attack of scarlatina had been but slight, the fever had not quite left him.
Susan had a soft pleasant voice, and as she read one after another of "Anecdotes of Christian Graces," choosing such as would be most likely to interest her young charges, Jessy drew near and sat close beside her, resting her doll upon Susan's knee, while Tom lay quietly listening till his eyelids grew heavy and drooped, and long breathing soon told that the little boy had fallen asleep.
Susan was very young, and she felt that hers was an anxious and responsible charge, left as the two children were entirely under her care during the absence of their parents. The burden upon the nursery-maid was all the more heavy as the training of the young Fairleys had been in some points neglected, and in others mismanaged; they did not submit, they would not obey, nor had they learned to look up with fear and love to a Father in heaven.
Jessy, indeed, before she went to rest, knelt down before a chest of drawers, put her little hands together, and gabbled over something which was meant for a prayer, her wandering eyes and careless tone showing that she gave not a thought to the solemn act of addressing the High and Holy One whose Name she was taking in vain every time that it passed her lips.
Susan saw all this, and it grieved her, but she felt that she must have patience and ask for grace, that she might be a humble means of leading to God the precious souls of these two children. Very different from Jessy's careless "saying prayers" was the young servant girl's earnest pleading when she knelt down by her sleeping charges that night. She entreated forgiveness for all her past sins, as one who knows how hateful in the sight of God is all sin; she asked for the grace of the Holy Spirit to make her heart pure, and to guide all her thoughts, words, and actions. Susan also prayed, and prayed heartily for her young charges—asking God to enable her to do her duty towards them, both in caring for their health and comfort, and in watching over their souls.
"Bless me, and make me a blessing to others," had been Susan's earnest prayer since she had first learned to feel that she was not her own, but "bought with a price," * that she and all her powers should be devoted to her Lord. It was a great comfort to the young nursery-maid to be able to go straight to God for the guidance and help that she needed, looking unto Him in all her troubles and cares, and doing her work as unto Him.
* 1 Cor. vi. 20.
There was no human being to watch whether Susan faithfully did her duty towards her absent mistress; there was no one to find fault if—as too many girls would have done—she cared first for her own comfort and ease. But Susan had not read in vain the Word of the Lord: "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." *