Eliza nodded. "I will try to think of it, daddy, and think of how you are all helping me to go away, and—"
"I don't know so much about that," interrupted her brother. "We shall miss you more than we do Fan, I know, because you are always ready to help anybody when you can; and so I'm not so glad you are going away, I can tell you. Only I want you to have everything nice and comfortable when you do go," added Jack.
They laughed at Jack; but there was no doubt he expressed the general feeling of the family in what he said, for Fanny had always considered herself first in anything she was asked to do for anybody else. If it suited her mood just at the time, she would do what was asked of her; but it she had to sacrifice any ease or pleasure, then she would refuse, though it might be plainly her duty to do what was required.
Mrs. Brown had noticed this trait in Fanny's character before she left home, but hoped that the discipline of being in service would help her to overcome it; and it was this hope, so cruelly disappointed, that had made Fanny's behaviour so deeply painful to her mother the day she came home for her holiday, and she feared that nothing less than a very severe lesson would be sufficient to teach Fanny what a mistake she was making in choosing to gratify herself rather than seeking to be helpful to others.
She made no remark about this when Jack was speaking, but she could not help thinking of it, and could not contradict the children when, one after the other, they each in their own way said that Fanny always took care of herself first.
"Wait a bit, wait a bit, Jack," said his father, at last. "I like fair play, and Fan isn't here to defend herself, and she hasn't been tried yet, and so we can't say what she may do." Brown was very fond of his elder daughter, and could not bear to hear her blamed. "What do you say, mother?" he suddenly asked, turning to his wife.
"I am too busy to talk to-night," she said. "I want to get on with Eliza's frock, for we cannot tell when she may be wanted to pack up and be off," and so Mrs. Brown evaded saying one word about Fanny either of blame or defence; but Jack held to his own opinion, and said it was a good thing for the Vicarage children that it was Eliza instead of Fanny who would look after them under Nurse's direction during their stay at the seaside.
"They'll have a jolly time with Eliza, if the Nurse will only give her a chance," said Jack. And as no one attempted to contradict this assertion, the discussion dropped, and was apparently forgotten by all but the girl's mother and father.