"Was that confessing Christ, I wonder?" thought Anna. "I suppose it was, in one way, though I did not think of it at the time. I am glad I did read, at any rate."
Some of Anna's unpleasant feelings returned when she found herself in her own room up-stairs. It seemed so very lonely without papa and mamma in the next room and the boys overhead, and she began to wonder whether she was going to be afraid.
"But, after all, what is there to be afraid of?" she said to herself. "The bell-rope hangs close to my head and I have only to pull it to call Caroline and Albert in a minute. Besides it is God who takes care of me when my father and mother are here, and He can do it just as well when they are away!"
So Anna read her chapters and said her prayers, and learned her two verses to repeat in the morning, as was the custom of the family; and then went bravely to bed without even looking under the bed, as she did sometimes when her parents were at home. She had thought she should lie awake and listen for suspicious noises; but, as it happened, the first noise she heard was the ringing of the first bell in the morning.
"Now, what had I better do to-day?" she said to herself, as she was dressing. "I have no particular work, and there is nothing to be done about the house. O dear, I wish it was not vacation and all the girls I care about were not away. But then if it is vacation, that is no reason why I should be idle; I mean to practise two hours instead of one, and try to get those waltzes perfectly that papa likes so much."
"And what else shall I do? I believe I will try painting a picture all by myself, and see what I can make of it. Miss Jeffrey says I ought to be able to work by myself now, and I am sure she will be pleased if I have something pretty to show her when school begins again. I will copy that chromo which Aunt Anna gave mamma; and if it turns out nicely, it will be a pretty present for one of the old ladies at the Home."
Anna read prayers after breakfast, and then, after dusting the drawing-room, she sat down for two hours of vigorous practise. Then she began her picture, and by dinnertime she had her paper prepared, her outline drawn, and her first tints washed in.
"There! I have made a good beginning!" said she, looking at her work with great satisfaction. "And if nothing happens, I shall have finished it before mamma comes home, and before school begins again. I mean to work at music and painting in the morning and take a good long walk every afternoon. Then I will work at Mrs. Williams' shawl in the evening, and that will use up my time nicely."
Something was destined to happen, however, which sadly interfered with all these calculations. When Anna returned from her walk that afternoon, she saw that the blinds of the front bed-room were opened.
"I wonder if Lillie can have come, after all!" she said to herself, as she quickened her steps.