Leila at Home / a continuation of Leila in England

by Ann Fraser Tytler

The young people were in such fits of laughter that they could give Peggy no assistance whatever in this mysterious calculation; and Peggy herself joined heartily in the laugh, only remarking that they might see now that sometimes she was no just sae clear as she used to be, but that ony way it was a most pleasant party, and that there was just four o’ them.

They could have remained for ever talking with her, and, as Matilda observed, had received most useful instruction in arithmetic, a far better way of adding up than she had been taught; but there were other lessons to be attended to, and most unwillingly they bid good-bye to Peggy, and proceeded on their way home. Leila, however, observed that it would be almost as near to return by the village; she wished, so much, she said, to ask Dame Burton how Lizzy was going on, and it was so pleasant to see the little things running to meet them; besides, she added, as they had a half holiday, they would still be home in time—so to the village they went. By the time they reached Dame Burton’s cottage they had quite a little troop of rosy, laughing children following them, quite eager to be talked to and noticed; but Lizzy was not among them, nor did they see her with her mother on entering the house. Leila inquired for her, and hoped she had been going on well. Dame Burton shook her head. “Oh, Miss Howard,” she said, “Lizzy gives me much vexation of spirit, and I don’t know what course to take with that child. I have a kind neighbour, who did much for me in a long illness, and it’s well my part to be kind to her now; she has an old mother, who is not able to get up very early, and at times, when this friend of mine has any work to do which takes her out of her house, I send in Lizzy to help the old woman on with her clothes, and to be company to her; I will not say that she is a very kindly old woman, she may give a sharp enough answer now and then to the children, but is that an excuse for what Lizzy did, and for the sight I saw?”

“But what did you see?” Matilda eagerly inquired. “You have not told us.”

“What did I see, miss? I saw the poor old woman sitting shaking on her chair with indignation and rage, her flannel petticoat tied round her neck, she neither able to stir hand or foot, and Lizzy off to her play!”

They all felt this act to be of a most atrocious nature, but the picture of the old woman tied up, as it were, in a flannel bag was too much, and the difficulty of restraining their laughter was very great; Leila struggled hard for composure: “It was very dreadful,” she said; “but where is Lizzy now?”

“She is not far off,” Dame Burton answered, in a loud tone, as if she wished to be overheard by some one; “not far off, young ladies, and she is experiencing (as you shall see) a little of what she made other people suffer; but she is young, I tell her, and better able to bear it.” She threw open the door of the adjoining room, and there sat little Lizzy, propped up on a high stool in the middle of the floor, her little flannel petticoat tied round her neck, and her little face no longer dimpled with its accustomed smiles, but swelled with weeping; her look of shame and helpless distress, when she saw them enter, was too much; Leila could not stand it, she covered her face with her hands.

Selina spoke aside for a few minutes to Dame Burton; “You will not forget to send her to Elmgrove,” they heard her say.

“No, Miss Stanley; and I hope you may be able to make more impression on her than I can,” was her answer. Selina, then turning round to where the little culprit sat, undid the string of the little flannel petticoat, took it off, wiped Lizzy’s eyes gently with her pocket-handkerchief, and lifting her down from the high stool, led her to her mother. The poor child was weeping bitterly. She appeared most penitent, and as it seemed better that she should at that moment be left alone with her mother, the young people quitted the cottage.

In giving her old nurse an account of her day, which was Leila’s general custom, she mentioned what had taken place with regard to Lizzy, and Amy, who was present, almost started off her chair with astonishment and indignation. “And is it possible,” she said, “that she could treat an old woman in that way? Oh, how very dreadful!”

“Yes,” Nurse answered, “you may well be surprised and shocked, Amy, for it would be long before you would act in such a manner. You have always had a becoming respect for your elders, and shown a quietness and discretion above your years. And now, Miss Leila, this should be an awful warning to you; you see to what the love of play may lead, and must understand now why I always tried to root the evil out of your heart, and to settle you down to your work with serious reflection; and you are far from what I could wish yet, you still give me many an anxious thought. There it was but the other day, when I gave you that collar to trim; any well brought up young lady would have taken an interest in having such a beautiful edging to sew on, and would have arranged it properly in quarters, and pinned it before her hand, but there were you rumpling it on as if it were a rag, putting all the fulness in the middle, not a thought of how you were to turn the corners. Did it ever strike you that that collar never could have been ironed? Oh, Miss Leila, try to think more deeply of those things, before it is too late.”