And after her mother
died, though Helen had grown strong and healthy, old Margaret still
made her the pet; and uncertain nursery treatment, without her
mother's firm kindness, was not the best cure for such a temper as
hers.'
'Yes,' said Anne, 'I remember she was always called Baby, and allowed
to have her own way, till she was six years old, when Horace was
born. How very ill-natured I must have been to her, and how cruel it
really was of me. But I wonder my uncle did not prevent Margaret
from spoiling her.'
'My dear, a man with a parish of fifteen hundred inhabitants, cannot
watch his own nursery very minutely,' said Lady Merton; 'he taught
Elizabeth admirably, and that was all that could be expected of him.
Besides, with all his perfections, managing little girls is not what
he is best fitted for.'
Anne laughed. 'No, he is too grave and cold; I am rather afraid of
him still, I do not think he has any toleration for nonsense; but of
course he must be different with his own children. And how do you
think Mrs. Woodbourne trained Helen?'
'I can hardly tell,' said Lady Merton; 'I used to admire her patience
and sweetness of temper, when Helen's fretfulness was most wearisome;
at the same time that I thought it might have been better for the
child to speak sharply to her, and punish her if she did not leave
off whining directly.
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