“I shall the effect of this good lesson keep.”
—SHAKESPEARE.
“SISTER MILLY, may I come in?”
It was Annis at the door of Mildred’s boudoir, where she sat meditating with her babe in her arms.
“Yes, dear, I’m glad you came,” she answered in low, sweet tones. “I don’t see much of you now that Elsie has taken possession,” she went on, smoothing her little sister’s hair with tender, caressing hand as the child knelt at her side to pet and fondle little Percy.
“’Tisn’t because I don’t love you just as well as ever!” Annis answered with quick, impulsive warmth, holding up her face for a kiss, which was given very heartily. “I wouldn’t be here without you, Milly, for anything. And yet I’m having the very nicest kind of a time. Sometimes I think it’s just like a fairy tale with so many lovely things about, and Elsie dressed like a princess, and the ponies and phaeton, the beautiful dolls and all.”
Mildred laughed a little and stroked the soft curls again.
“And you are enjoying yourself, dear?”
“Oh, yes, yes, indeed! but—” sighing and laying her head against Mildred’s knee, “I wish I could see father and mother! It makes me the least little bit homesick once in a while to see Cousin Horace petting Elsie.”
“Yes, my little pet sister, and I should like to see them too, but we can’t have everything at once. We have these dear friends now, and hope to have the other and still dearer ones next spring.”
“Milly, you know you offered to hear my lessons while we are here, but Cousin Horace says he will teach me along with Elsie, if I like.”
“That is very kind, and I think will be much nicer for you, because he knows very much more than I do, and how to impart his knowledge, and you will enjoy having a companion in your studies, especially so sweet a one as Elsie.”
“Yes; and she says it will be pleasanter for her. Then it will save you some trouble too. We’re to begin next Monday morning. Milly, don’t you like Mr. Travilla?”
“Yes, very much; and I love his mother dearly. She wants us to spend part of our time with them at Ion. And we must visit Roselands too.”
“I’d rather stay here.”
“Of course the greater portion of the winter will be spent here. Perhaps a week at each of the other places will be enough.”
The visitors for the day had all gone from the Oaks, and when Rose went to the nursery, Mildred to her room, and Annis presently slipped away to follow her sister, while Dr. Landreth seemed buried in a book, Mr. Dinsmore said to Elsie, “Come with me, daughter,” and led the way to his private study.
“Oh, it’s nice to be here alone with you again, papa!” she exclaimed as he sat down and drew her to his knee.
“Yes, we don’t spend so much time alone together nowadays as has been our custom,” he said, drawing her closer to him. “But I hope my little girl is enjoying herself?”
“Oh, yes indeed, papa! I think Annis is the very nicest little friend I’ve ever had.”
“She ought to be, considering how thoroughly well she has been brought up. But I brought you in here to teach you a lesson.”
Elsie opened her eyes wide in surprise. “Why, papa, I thought you said I was to have a holiday all week! and this is only Friday evening!”
“That’s a fact!” he said, as if she had brought to his recollection something he had forgotten, “and as I am particular about keeping my promises, I shall not insist on teaching you the intended lesson. We will leave it until next week if you prefer that.”
She considered a moment, then said, “Papa, I will learn it now, if you please.”
“I think you will not regret your decision,” he answered, with a gratified look. Then turning to his writing-desk, which was close at hand, he took from it a thin paper-covered book, and opening it showed her that the leaves were composed of blank forms of checks.
“The lesson I want to teach you,” he said, “is how to fill these up properly. I have placed one thousand dollars in bank to your credit, and this book is for your use so that you may draw out the money as you want it.”
She looked surprised, pleased, and yet a little puzzled.
“You are very kind, papa,” she said; “but you give me so much pocket money that I never should know what use to make of it all if I couldn’t give it away.”
“But you enjoy giving, and I am very glad you do. At Christmas time you always need extra money for that purpose; and Christmas will be coming again some weeks hence. Will you not wish to give some handsome presents to these cousins here? and enjoy making up a Christmas box for those in Indiana?”
“O papa, what a nice idea!” she cried, clapping her hands. “And may I spend all that thousand dollars?”
“Perhaps; we will see about it. Now for the lesson.”
He showed her how to fill up the blank spaces with the number, date, amount, and where to sign her name, giving a simple and clear explanation of the why and wherefore of it all; then let her practise on several of the forms, till she grew quite proficient.
She was greatly pleased and interested. “It’s very nice, papa! how kind you are to teach me!”
“I want as early as possible to make you capable of managing your own business affairs,” he said, stroking her hair, “so that if I should be taken from you—”
“O papa,” she interrupted, her eyes filling with sudden tears, “don’t talk about that! how could I ever bear it!”
“My child,” he said with a tender caress, “I am in perfect health and, coming of a long-lived race, seem as likely to live to extreme old age as any one I know; but life is uncertain to us all, and it is the part of wisdom to try to be prepared for any event. You inherit large wealth from your mother, but riches, as the Bible tells us, take wings and fly away; are especially apt to do so with a woman who knows little or nothing about business. I would not have you at the mercy of sharpers and fortune-hunters, so am determined not to allow you to grow up either too lazy or too ignorant to take care of your own affairs. I shall teach you how to write an order, a receipt for money, to make out a bill, and so on. But this lesson will do for to-day.”
“Now these forms you have filled out must be destroyed,” he went on, tearing them up and throwing the fragments into the fire as he spoke. “Do you understand why?”
“No, sir.”
“Because, bearing your signature, they would be honored at the bank where you have money on deposit; that is, any one getting hold of and presenting them at the bank would be paid the sums named in them out of your money, and then you would lose just that amount. So if you want to give or pay money to anybody, your check on a bank where you have money deposited will answer the same purpose as the cash; provided it be not drawn for a larger sum than you have there. Do you understand it all now?”
“Yes, papa, I think I do. May I tell Annis about it?”
“If you wish,” he said with a smile. “Annis is worthy of all confidence. You may take the check-book and go over your lesson to her; it will help to impress it on your memory.”
“Oh, thank you, sir!” and away she ran in search of her cousin.
Annis was still in Mildred’s room, chatting with her sister and playing with the baby.
She opened the door in answer to Elsie’s gentle rap.
“Oh, I’m so glad it’s you!” she said. “Come in, won’t you?”
“Am I not intruding?” asked Elsie.
“No, no, dear child!” replied Mildred, “Annis and I were just wishing for your company.”
“Oh, I am glad you wanted me,” said the little girl, taking a low chair by Mildred’s side. “I should have come sooner, but I’ve been with papa, learning such a nice lesson!” and opening her check-book she went on to tell all about it, for she felt sure he would not object to having Mildred hear it as well as Annis.
Both seemed much interested, and said they thought it a very nice lesson indeed, Annis adding, “And very delightful to have so much money where you can get it whenever you want it.”
“Yes,” Elsie said, “but I don’t believe papa meant that I could ever take any of it out without asking his permission. And I always have to keep an account to show him what I have done with every cent he has given me to spend.”
“That must be a great deal of trouble!” Annis remarked, with a slight shrug of her shoulders.
“But an excellent lesson too,” Mildred said, smiling into Elsie’s bright, happy face.
“Yes, cousin; papa always knows and does the very best thing for me,” the little girl responded, with a look of perfect content.
At breakfast next morning the gentlemen announced that business called them to the city, and invited both the ladies and the little girls to drive in with them.
The latter joyfully accepted, but the ladies preferred a quiet day at home.
“Now, little girls,” Mr. Dinsmore said, as they rose from the table, “the carriage will be at the door in half an hour, and I should like you to be ready by that time. But, Elsie, I want you in the study for a little while the first thing.”
He walked away in that direction as he spoke, and she tripped gayly after him.
“I’m going to the bank to get a check cashed; would you like to do the same?” he asked, turning to her with a kind, fatherly smile, as he opened his writing-desk.
“Yes, papa. You will go with me and show me just what to do?”
“Of course, my pet. If I thought there was any danger of your going there without me for years to come, I should very positively forbid it.”
“Ah,” she said, with a contented little laugh, “I was pretty sure you didn’t mean to let me get out some of that money just whenever I pleased.”
“No, you are quite too young for such latitude as that. Now sit down here and let me see how well you remember yesterday’s lesson,” he said, dipping a pen into the ink and putting it into her hand, as she took the designated seat.
“How much money shall I write it for, papa?” she asked.
“Any sum you please not over fifty dollars.”
“I think twenty-five will do,” she said, and drew the check correctly for that amount.
“Very nicely done, daughter,” he commented in a pleased tone. “Now fold and put it into your purse.”
“What will you have me wear, papa?” she asked.
“The blue velvet suit; unless you prefer some other equally suitable to the occasion.”
“All I care about it is to please my papa,” she said, smiling up at him.
“That being the case it is well that papa has good taste, isn’t it?” he said sportively, stroking her hair and stooping to touch his lips to the pure white forehead. “Now run away and tell Aunt Chloe to dress you immediately.”
“Yes, sir, it won’t take long; because it is only to change my dress and put on hat, coat, and gloves.”
Annis, now quite ready excepting her gloves, was in her own room, the door of communication with Elsie’s apartments open as usual. Mildred, too, was there superintending her little sister’s toilet.
“Is Mammy here?” Elsie asked, looking in. “Oh, no, I see she is not. I’ll have to ring for her, because there is no time to wait, and I’m sorry, for I’m afraid she is eating her breakfast.”
“Let me help you instead,” said Mildred. “You see I have quite finished with Annis.”
“I don’t like to trouble you, Cousin Milly.”
“It will be no trouble, dear, but a pleasure. And I should like to make some small return to your good Mammy for the help she gives Annis with her dressing.”
So Elsie accepted with thanks, adding merrily, “Won’t Mammy be astonished! She thinks nobody can dress me but herself.”
While the dressing was going on Elsie told with glee what she had been doing in the study, and that she was to be taken to the bank there to present the check herself.
Annis was greatly interested. “I hope I can go along and see you do it,” she said. “But won’t you feel a little frightened?”
“Not with papa close beside me.”
“That makes all the difference in the world, doesn’t it, dear?” Mildred said, finishing her labors with a kiss upon the round, rosy cheek.
“Me too, Milly,” Annis said, holding up her face. “Now good-by, and take good care of my little nephew while I’m gone.”
“Yes. Run away now and don’t keep the gentlemen waiting. The carriage has just driven round to the side entrance.”
“Good girls! you should have a medal for punctuality,” Dr. Landreth remarked, meeting them on the veranda.
“And for bright, happy faces,” added Mr. Dinsmore, handing them to the carriage.
“I don’t think little girls who have everything in the world to make them happy deserve much credit for that, Cousin Horace,” said Annis.
“Well, perhaps not; but there are people who can always find something to growl or fret about.”
The little girls were very merry during the drive, and neither gentleman showed the slightest inclination to check their mirthfulness. But for that there was no occasion, since there was not the least approach to rudeness in any of its manifestations.
On reaching the city they drove directly to the bank in which Mr. Dinsmore and Elsie were depositors. They all went in together, and Annis looked on with great interest while Elsie handed in her check, received the money, and counted it under her father’s supervision.
They spent some hours in the city, sight-seeing and shopping, and returned home to a late dinner, the children rather weary, but in fine spirits and full of merry talk about all they had seen and done.
In the mean while the two ladies had found equal enjoyment at home, spending the day very quietly in Rose’s boudoir, each busy in the fashioning of a dainty garment for her baby-boy, and talking together as they worked.
Both young—though Mildred was Rose’s senior by several years—both happily married, tender mothers, highly cultivated women, earnest Christians, they soon discovered that they had very much in common.
Naturally their talk was at first of the pretty work with which their hands were busied, then of the little ones for whose adornment it was intended, then of their husbands and the days of their courtship. Each already had some slight knowledge of the other’s experience, but now became more fully acquainted with it. Mildred told something of her hard trial in the long years of doubt and uncertainty while she knew not where her beloved wanderer was, and of the support and comfort she found in the presence and love of One nearer and dearer still.
Rose had not yet known any trial more severe than the parting from parents, brothers, and sisters, and the loved home of her childhood, but she too could talk of sweet experiences of that “Love divine all love excelling.”
“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”