He made light of the annoyance to himself on purpose to
console me, and--but,' added she, smiling, while the tears came into
her eyes again, 'I must not talk of him, or I shall go off into
another cry, and not be fit for the reading those unfortunate
children have been waiting for so long. Tell me, are my eyes very
unfit to be seen?'
'Not so very bad,' said Anne.
'Well, I cannot help it if they are,' said Elizabeth; 'come down and
let us read.'
They found Helen alone in the school-room, where she had been sitting
ever since breakfast-time, thinking that the penny club was occupying
Elizabeth most unusually long this morning.
'Helen,' said Elizabeth, as she came into the room, 'Papa knows the
whole story, and I can see that he is as much pleased with your
conduct as I am sure you deserve.'
All was explained in a few words. Helen was now by no means inclined
to triumph in her better judgement, for, while she had been waiting,
alone with her drawing, she had been thinking over all that had
passed since the unfortunate Friday evening, wondering that she could
ever have believed that Elizabeth was not overflowing with affection,
and feeling very sorry for the little expression of triumph which she
had allowed to escape her in her ill-temper on Saturday.
Pages:
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346