Part 11 (2/2)

”Oh, I couldn't possibly do that,” said Penny decidedly, ”because, you know, I hate needlework so. I couldn't do any extra, it would take all my time.”

Nurse rolled up a tight bundle of clothes and left the room without answering, and Penny, with her frowning little face bent over her work, went on thinking about Mrs d.i.c.ks and her six children. She wondered whether they had enough to eat now; if they were to be brought up on nothing, they probably had not, she thought, and she felt anxious to finish her task that she might run and ask mother about it, and how she could best help with the money out of the charity-box. So she cobbled over the last st.i.tches rather hastily, and put the work away; but she found after all that her mother was too busy to attend to her just then.

The next step, therefore, was to ascertain the state of the charity-box, and she took it down from the mantel-piece in the play-room and gave it a little shake. It made quite a rich sound; but Penny knew by experience what a noise coppers can make, so she was not very hopeful as she unscrewed the top and looked in. And matters were even worse than she feared, for all the box contained was this: two pennies, one halfpenny, and one stupid little farthing. Penny felt quite angry with the farthing, for it was bright and new, and looked at the first glance almost like gold.

”If you were a fairy farthing,” she said, ”you'd get yourself changed into gold on purpose to help Mrs d.i.c.ks; but it's no use waiting for that.”

That afternoon Penny was to go out with her mother, instead of walking with the other school-room children and the governess. It was a great honour and delight, and she had saved up so many questions to ask about various subjects that she had scarcely time to tell her about Mrs d.i.c.ks and the state of the charity-box.

They had just begun to talk about it, when Mrs Hawthorne stopped at a house near their own home.

”Oh, mother!” cried Penny in some dismay, ”are we going to see Mrs Hathaway?”

”Yes,” answered her mother, ”she has promised to show me her embroideries, and I think you will like to see them too.”

Penny did not feel at all sure about that, she was rather afraid of Mrs Hathaway, who was a severe old lady, noted for her exquisite needlework; however, it was a treat to go anywhere with mother, even to see Mrs Hathaway.

The embroideries were, indeed, very beautiful, and exhibited with a good deal of pride, while Penny sat in modest silence listening to the conversation. She privately regarded Mrs Hathaway's handiwork with a shudder, and thought to herself, ”How very little time she must have for reading!”

Scarcely any notice had been taken of her yet; but presently, when everything had been shown and admired, Mrs Hathaway turned her keen black eyes upon her, and said:

”And this little lady, now, is she fond of her needle?”

A sympathetic glance pa.s.sed between Mrs Hawthorne and Penny, but she knew she must answer for herself, and she murmured shyly though emphatically:

”Oh, _no_.”

”No! Indeed,” said Mrs Hathaway, ”and why not?”

She was a very upright old lady, and when she said this she sat more upright than ever, and fixed her eyes on Penny's face.

Penny felt very uncomfortable under this gaze, and wriggled nervously, but she could find nothing better to say than:

”Because I _hate_ it so.”

”I am afraid,” put in Mrs Hawthorne, ”that Penny doesn't quite understand the importance of being able to sew neatly; just now she thinks of nothing but her books, but she will grow wiser in time, and become a clever needlewoman, I hope.”

Mrs Hathaway had not taken her eyes off Penny with a strong expression of disapproval; she evidently thought her a very ill brought-up little girl indeed. Now she turned to Mrs Hawthorne and said:

”I question whether all this reading and study is an advantage to the young folks of the present day. I do not observe that they are more attractive in manner than in the time I remember, when a young lady was thought sufficiently instructed if she could sew her seam and read her Bible.”

She turned to Penny again and continued: ”Now, the other day I heard of a society which I think you would do well to join. It is a working society, and the members, who are some of them as young as you are, pledge themselves to work for half an hour every day. At the end of the year their work is sent to the infant Africans, and thus they benefit both themselves and others. Would you like to join it?”

”Oh, _no_, thank you,” said Penny in a hasty but heartfelt manner.

”Why not?”

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