"I will, Mamma, I will," replied Anna, "for they are all my old playfellows, and I used to love them very much."
Mrs. Meridith then inquired into the work Bella was doing, and Anna found she was going to clothe them also, and she heard her give directions for more things to be made, and tell the children to send another family out of the village to her.
As soon as they were gone she burst into tears, and said, "Oh, Mamma, I might have been one of these little girls, and you would have been good to me as you are to them. But how much more kind to take me as your own! And why was it me? why not one of them? they are better little girls than I have been, and would never have given you so much trouble; but my dear Bella I am ashamed of it; you shall never have to mend my frocks as you have done."
"I never complained of it, my dear," returned Bella, who did not know what had passed.
"But you will have more time to assist the poor children in the village," observed Mrs. Meridith, "who are all obliged to do something towards supporting themselves already, and therefore your working for them will be more useful than for Anna."
The little girl agreed to all her Mamma said, and she sat down to dinner with her with very different ideas than the day before.
As soon as she saw William and John coming up the lawn, whom Mrs. Meridith had asked to tea, she asked her leave to go and meet them; and as they walked slowly round the garden together, she told them all about the torn frock which she had vainly endeavoured to mend. "You told me," said she to William, "that these fine clothes did not make me happier, a little while ago, and I have found it out now; but however I will never tear another if I can help it; at least I shall know what trouble it must be to Bella to mend it."
The afternoon passed rapidly away, and when she went to bed, Anna felt more grateful for the happy home provided for her, than she had ever done before. She frequently reverted to her former state, in conversation with Mrs. Meridith, and her uncle and aunt, while the latter always endeavoured to imprint on her mind the sense of her obligation to her kind benefactress, by whose name she was now universally known, though that which really belonged to her was Eastwood, for so her parents were called.
In the course of a few years Mrs. Meridith evidently grew happier, while according to her own maxim she added to the happiness of others; she suffered no one to want work who were capable of it, and she regularly supplied those who were old or ill in the village with every comfort they needed. Blankets were sent to every house, and each year her house was open for a whole week at Christmas. A plentiful meal was provided every day, but nothing superfluous; and her barrels of home-brewed ale were tapped, that all might have their allotted portion. In short, from her extensive fortune and her earnest endeavour to make these poor people happy, there was not a family in Downash who had not at least one of their children apprenticed to some useful trade, while the others worked in the fields; nor was there a child in the village who had not learned to write and read; and while Mrs. Meridith was thus careful for Downash and its inhabitants, she was not unmindful of the poor on the estate she had left in Lincolnshire, but gave orders to her agent there that they should be provided with what was necessary for them; and often sent Syphax, her confidential servant, to see that it was done.