Hatty was soon in a sweet sleep; but shortly after midnight she was awakened by a feeling very much as if a broom-handle were thrust against her, while at the same time Meg exclaimed, “Do move, Hatty, you crowd so. I wish you would’nt come on my side of the bed.”
Meg was a thin bony little creature, and the children all dreaded a punch with her sharp elbows almost as much as one of her scientific pinches.
Hatty’s tender side actually ached, but she made an effort to say, gently, “Meg, you must be dreaming; wake up!”
“I am not asleep at all!” said Meg, pettishly. “I wish you would move!”
Hatty passed her hand along the seam of the sheet (Mrs. Lee used her old-fashioned sheets on the children’s beds) to assure herself that she was on her own side of the bed, and then she was going to tell Meg that it was she who was out of place; but something checked her, and she only said, pleasantly, “Never mind, Meg, where the middle of the bed is,—you shall have all the room you want;” and making way for her little friend with the sharp elbows, Hatty composed herself again to sleep, with a far happier feeling than if she had contended for her rights.
Once she was going to say, “O Meg, it hurts me still where you punched me,” but she checked the words, and thought how trifling was such a pain compared with the nails in the hands of our great example, who has bid us follow him in his patience, as well as in perfect purity.
Hatty’s long ride from her grandmother’s, a distance of sixteen miles, and the excitement of her return home, made her sleep very soundly, when not disturbed, and she would gladly have continued her nap until the rousing bell gave forth its summons.
Meg was something like the uneasy birds who twitter at midnight on their perches, and wake at dawn to sing, as if they never knew the need of rest.
By the first grey streak of morning she began to stir, and was soon wide awake and full of glee at finding herself in her new quarters.
Hatty turned her back resolutely, but in vain. Meg was not to be so easily disposed of. Hatty was going to say some hasty words to Meg, as she twitched away from her, when Meg pleaded, “Do wake up, sister Hatty. It is Sunday morning.”