'Dear child,' said Albinia, 'promise me to take care of yourself, and
to let Mrs. Dusautoy judge what you can do.'
'I'm not worth taking care of,' muttered Sophy.
'We think you worth our anxiety,' said Albinia, tenderly.
'I will not make it worse for you,' meekly replied Sophy. 'I don't
think I'm cross now, I could not be--'
'No, indeed you are not, my dear. We have leant on each other, and
when we come home, you will make our welcome.'
'The children will.'
'Ah! I think Maurice will behave well. He is very much subdued. I
told him he was to do no lessons, and he fairly burst out crying.'
'Oh, mamma!' exclaimed Sophy, hurt, indignant, and nearly ready to
follow his example.
'I do not think he has mastery over himself, so as to help being
unruly and idle, when he is chained to a spelling-book. I would not
for the world set him and you to worry each other for an hour a day,
and I shall start afresh with him all the better, when he knows what
absence of lessons is, and has forgotten all the old associations.'
'How could you make him cry?' said Sophy, in reproach.
'I believe the tears only wanted an excuse. I _did_ put it on his
naughtiness, which usually would have elated him; but his heart was
so full as to make even a long holiday a punishment. That boy often
shows me what a thorough Kendal he is; things sink into him as they
never did into us at the same age, when my aunts used to think I had
no feeling.
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