Thus encouraged, Ethel went at once into all the particulars of her interview with Mrs. Baker, what she had engaged to do, and what she hoped to accomplish. Her uncles listened attentively, and finding they could not persuade her to a willing relinquishment of her project, finally consented to allow her to make the trial; stipulating however that if she found the exertion too great, or for any reason was unhappy or uncomfortable in her new quarters, she should at once give up the effort at self-support, and return to her present home; Uncle Albert assuring her of a warm welcome there.
CHAPTER XV.
From the library Ethel went up to the schoolroom, where Nannette and the younger cousins were engaged with their tasks for the morrow.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come at last, Ethel, dear,” said Nannette. “It always seems lonesome without you, and besides I want your help with this lesson; it’s so hard, and you always know how to explain things and make them easy.”
Ethel’s eyes filled. What would Nan, dear little Nan, do without her big sister, who had always tried to bear every burden for her? But conquering her emotion by a great and determined effort, she took a seat by her little sister’s side and gave the needed help.
The children were required to study only one hour in the evening, and soon books were laid aside and they ran off to the nursery for a game of romps before going to bed. But Ethel lingered behind, and Miss Olney, the governess, presently enquired in a kindly tone if there was anything she wanted to say to her. Then Ethel’s story came out, and with tears she confessed that the hardest part was the leaving of Nannette without her sisterly care and assistance with her tasks.
“Never mind that, dear child,” Miss Olney said, softly stroking the young girl’s hair; “I will take your place in that. And though I am sorry indeed to part with so docile and industrious a pupil as yourself, I think you are doing just right; and I believe the Lord will bless and help you. And you know you will not be far away and we may hope to see you frequently. From what you tell me of Mrs. Baker I feel assured that she will prove a kind and pleasant employer, making you feel yourself just one of the family—not a stranger about whom they care nothing. Also I think the knowledge that you can come back to your home here at any time if you will, sure of a welcome from your kind uncle—and I dare say all the family—will make it all the easier for you to be happy in your new surroundings.”
“Yes, ma’am, my uncles are very, very kind to me, to my brother and sisters too; and Harry and the girls can come to Mrs. Baker’s sometimes to see me; any of the rest of course, but I hardly suppose my aunt, uncles, or cousins will care to do that.”
“But possibly I may, one of these days,” returned Miss Olney with a smile.
“I’d be delighted to see you,” Ethel said, her eyes shining. “Oh, I don’t think I need feel unhappy or as if I were alone in the world. Would you tell Nan about it to-night, Miss Olney?”