"No, indeed. She honours you for preferring work to dependence, and says that if she finds you what she has been led to expect, you, in turn, shall find a real home and true friends at Springfield Park. There, my dear, I hope you will sleep the sounder for knowing this; and if it will comfort you to hear it, my heart warms to you, and you have one friend already."
To Joyce this was like having her old friend Sarah Keene by her side, and she thanked the kindly housekeeper most heartily and gratefully for her encouraging words.
But the tea was being neglected, and Mrs. Powell turned Joyce's attention in that direction; so, impelled by a healthy girlish appetite, she made a hearty meal, much to her new friend's satisfaction.
One hour after she spent with the children, of whom, however, she was not to take formal charge until the morning. Then the housekeeper, being at leisure, showed her through the house and a portion of the gardens, and finally left her to indulge in happier thoughts than she could have imagined would be possible to her under her new circumstances.
Joyce rose early and dressed the children, the little one having overcome her shyness, and being now willing to make friends. She was sitting, telling them a baby-story, when Mrs. Ross entered the nursery after breakfast, and greeted her with the utmost kindness.
At the sight of their mother, the children rushed to her side, and, clasped in her arms, forgot for the time their anxiety to know the end of Joyce's fairy story.
How the girl sped at Springfield Park may be gathered from a letter, written after three months' experience, to Sarah Keene. Many shorter letters had been exchanged between Mr. Evans, Adelaide, the old nurse, and Joyce; but she purposely refrained from saying much about her position, until a sufficient time had elapsed to allow her to form a fair judgment as to the wisdom of the step she had taken.
MRS. ROSS SENT A NOTE A LITTLE LATER.
"Springfield Park, Sept. 6th."
"After three months, dear old nurse and friend, I can say that I am glad I came here. Every one is good to me; the children are so sweet that it is delightful to work for them; and I do work, Sarah."
"I try to earn every penny, and I have proof that Mrs. Ross is satisfied. Yesterday she told me how glad she was that the children had learned to love me, and that she was much pleased with my mode of managing them. Then she gave me my quarter's wages, and I found considerable sweetness in receiving my first earnings. I was to have seventeen pounds a year and all found; but Mrs. Ross placed a five-pound note in my hand, and would not receive any change."
"You must know I cannot occupy my time in only dressing and attending to the children and their clothes; the former are so docile, the latter so handsome and abundant that they receive little damage, and when at all shabby they are given away; so I began to teach, and turned everything I knew to account in order to benefit my darling charges."
"Mrs. Ross found out what we were doing, and said, 'You are teaching my children to love information by leading them gently, and making it attractive. How have you acquired such an excellent method?'"
"'I taught in our Welton Sunday Schools,' I said. 'My little scholars were the children of the very poor; but I took more pains with them because their learning time is short and their opportunities are few. If my method has any merit, it is owing to my dear father's example, which I tried to copy.' My eyes filled. I could not keep back my tears when I thought of him, and of all I owed to his loving training."
"Mrs. Ross laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, and said, 'Do not cry, Joyce. I feel deeply for you. It must be hard to look back and think how things were whilst he lived. I have heard so much of your father's excellences, and how you were both loved by rich and poor.'"
"'I am not unhappy,' I replied. 'Service here is not servitude, and I am much better satisfied to earn my bread than to owe it to the charity of another.'"
"'You are right; but I should be wrong to accept the faithful labours of a governess in return for a nursemaid's salary. Henceforth you will receive forty pounds a year, and, Miss Mirlees, I shall look for you, with the children, in the drawing-room daily, when we have no formal company and are alone, or have only a few friends.'"
"I began to wonder if my old Welton frocks would be good enough, but that evening a parcel came to me, containing a dress-length of good mourning silk, with all requisites for making it up. Mrs. Ross sent a note a little later, to say that it was a mark of the satisfaction felt by her husband and herself at the improvement in their children."
"I can now wear my dear mother's watch and ornaments without their seeming unsuitable, and I shall once again find myself amongst people of the class I used to mix with as the parson's daughter at Welton. How can I thank God enough for all His goodness?"
"I have so long been used to my Christian name only, that it seemed quite strange when Mrs. Ross with marked emphasis, called me 'Miss Mirlees,' and I subsequently found that the servants were instructed to address me in the same way. They obeyed quite willingly, and the little maid who waits at nursery meals seemed so charmed to apply it, that she repeated the 'miss' as often as possible."
"I wonder the servants are not jealous, but I presume they catch the spirit of their employers. As to dear old Mrs. Powell, she is almost as pleased as you will be, dear Sarah, when you read my good news."
"I know that my uncle, cousins, and Mrs. Evans are away. When they return, give Adelaide this letter to read, and she will show it to her father, at any rate."
"In a day or two, this house will be full of visitors for the shooting. I have been beset by a cowardly dread that anyone who knew me at Welton should be amongst them. You see I have the old pride to conquer yet; but, as the governess, Mrs. Ross will treat me with consideration, I know, and I did not really feel ashamed of being only a servant."
"With more love than I can express,"
"Your ever affectionate foster-child,"
"JOYCE MIRLEES."