"I daresay Miss Ashton would be very glad to please me, Bessie; but she has to consider not so much what she would like, as what is right and best to do. However, she is coming here this afternoon for my answer about Maggie, and I will ask her if she can make any arrangement that will do for you. If she can, then we will see what papa says; but I do not wish either of you to think too much about it, lest you should be disappointed in the end."
Mamma talked to them a little longer, trying to persuade them to look on the bright side of this, to them, great trouble; till Bessie, noticing how weak her voice was, and how pale she looked, asked if she were not tired. Mamma said, "yes," and that she thought she must rest a while if she were to see Miss Ashton that afternoon.
This was enough for the tender little nurses; and grandmamma, who had left them in charge, coming in soon after, found Mrs. Bradford asleep on the sofa, with Maggie gently rubbing her feet and Bessie as softly threading her fingers through her mother's hair. But, quiet as they were, their thoughts were very busy and their hearts very full; and Maggie, contrary to her usually cheerful spirit, had been imagining all kinds of disagreeable occurrences which might happen to her at school, and looking upon herself quite as a little martyr; and now, as her grandmamma nodded and smiled at her, she was surprised, not only to see the traces of tears on her cheeks, but also that her eyes were still swimming; while Bessie's face wore the piteous look it always did when anything had distressed her. Seeing that Mrs. Bradford was fast asleep, and would not be disturbed if her children ceased their loving tending, she beckoned them into their own room, where, sitting down on a low chair she lifted Bessie on her lap, and, drawing Maggie to her, asked what had grieved them.
Their trouble was soon told; but grandmamma, having known before that the thing was to be, was not surprised, nor as shocked as Maggie had expected and hoped she would be. Now, perhaps some of you little girls, who know what a happy, pleasant place a school may be, will think our Maggie very foolish to dread it so much; but those among you who are shy and timid will have some idea of how she felt. Her fear of strangers was really a great cross to her, and she would even sometimes refuse some offered pleasure rather than be thrown with people whom she did not know. This was one reason why her mamma thought it was better for her to go to school, that being with other children might help to rub off this uncomfortable shyness, so troublesome to herself and her friends.
"Mr. Porter said once," said Maggie, when Bessie had finished her doleful story, "that God sometimes had to take away our blessings to teach us how much they were worth; and I'm afraid it's just for that He is punishing me this way, for I don't think I ever knew till now what a great blessing it was to have mamma teach me, and sometimes I even used to feel a little cross when she called us to our lessons. So I s'pose, when I was so ungrateful, He thought it was just good enough for me to go to a hateful old school, full of strange girls and a strange teacher and everything, and not Bessie to go, nor any one who loves me. Oh dear! oh dear!" and Maggie now gave way to the tears and sobs which she had checked before, for fear they should distress her sick mother.
Her grandmamma let her cry for a few moments, thinking it might make her feel better; but, when she was quieter, she said gently, "I do not think you are looking at this quite in the right way, dear Maggie."
"How, grandmamma?" asked Maggie, wiping her eyes.
"To look at it as a punishment, dear. I know this is a trial for you, indeed it seems to you now like a great hardship, though I trust you will learn to feel differently about it. But God does not always send trials as punishments."
"What then, grandmamma?"
"Well, He may send troubles to us to work out some good purpose of His own that we cannot know of, or they may even be sent as blessings, though we do not see it at the time."