Listen to a conversation which took place between the sisters, two or three days before Harriet’s departure, and then, perhaps, you will be able to guess some of the reasons. Mary had just returned from guiding her dear papa in a pleasant shady walk, and now, throwing off her bonnet, and putting on her apron, she prepared to lay the cloth for dinner; for as
they had only one servant, and that was a mere country girl, to do the drudgery of household work, Mary assisted by performing a thousand little offices, which Harriet was too haughty to undertake.
“Cannot you come and help me?” said Harriet, who had been sitting at home all the morning making one of her new dresses. “I shall never get this sleeve finished if you do not. I am sure Peggy, (that was the servant,) I am sure, for once, Peggy can get the dinner ready without your assistance.”
“No, Harriet, not exactly as papa likes it,” replied Mary; “and you know we are always so sorry when anything happens to remind him of his misfortunes.”
“But how should you know how to mash potatoes, or make pies, or hash meat so much better than Peggy?” asked Harriet.
“Did I never tell you that, before we left the great house, I asked old cook to teach me how to do a great many things. I cannot tell how it was, but she cried all the while she was telling me about cookery—partly, I think, at the thought of her dear master having to eat plain or ill-dressed dinners, partly, I really believe, at her sorrow for leaving us. However,
I coaxed her into teaching me how to make a great many things dear papa likes; besides, I have bought a cookery-book.”
To mark the difference of character, it is worth noticing that Harriet, before leaving the great house, had “coaxed” the lady’s maid to give her a few hints about the cutting-out of dresses—and since her preparations for her visit began, she had bought a book of the new fashions.
As it was likely the sisters would henceforth have to make their own dresses, it was a wise precaution to gain as much information as they could on the subject; but in their inquiries, the one sister thought only of her afflicted father’s comfort.
“I will help you after dinner,” resumed Mary, “that is to say, if papa does not want me to read to him.” And as, during dinner, Harriet contrived to make her wishes very evident, Mr. Mannering dispensed with the reading, and, accepting the arm of a neighbour, a new and homely acquaintance, took a second stroll in the green lanes.