Now what a pleasing change! The two ladies sat at their work, regarding each other with the tender affection natural to the tie between them, while Eugene, sometimes boisterous indeed, was growing every day more willing to yield to authority.
One morning Marion called on her way to her pupils, who, by the way, were making their best efforts to show her they appreciated her self-denying efforts, as she had informed them she intended to resign her place in the school. She met Eugene, dressed for a walk, with a young companion from the house; and descending the stairs, found the ladies improving the time in reading an interesting book.
"I want you to tell Miss Howard about Geenie's prayer," remarked Mrs. Douglass to her daughter.
"I really hope," began Mrs. Cheriton, "that he understands what I have told him, that God sees us, though we can't see Him. Yesterday afternoon we were sitting here with the door open into the next room. I heard a noise like driving a nail, but supposed he was busy with his toys, and presently I heard his voice. We both listened and heard him say,—
"'God, don't look this way! Turn your eyes the other side. I'm very naughty, God. Don't see me! Look over there! I'm SO naughty, God, I don't want you to see.'"
"By this time I concluded it was best for me to see what the hammering meant. I went in and found him driving tacks into the trunk. He made no resistance when I took away the hammer, but looked ashamed when I said,—
"'O Geenie! How could you do so?'"
"You can imagine how he would have resisted once," added the boy's grandmother. "He would have kicked and screamed and tried to bite."
"I am thankful those days are past," murmured Marion, noticing the mother's flush of painful recollection caused by this allusion. "He will reward you for all the pains you take to control him."
"He has already," exclaimed the young mother, clasping her hands in her impulsive manner. "Geenie was never so affectionate as now. I do believe that he never loved me so well as when I had to punish him the other day. He hung around me, kissing me again and again. When he saw tears in my eyes, he took his own little handkerchief to wipe them away, saying repeatedly,—