“Catch this, then. Hold it to your ear and see what you’ll get.”
The little drum came flying in, and, catching it, Jill, with some
hesitation, obeyed Frank’s order. Judge of her amazement when
she caught in broken whispers these touching words:
“Sorry I was cross. Forgive and forget. Start fair to-morrow. All
right. Jack.”
Jill was so delighted with this handsome apology, that she could
not reply for a moment, then steadied her voice, and answered
back in her sweetest tone,
“I’m sorry, too. Never, never, will again. Feel much better now.
Good-night, you dear old thing.”
Satisfied with the success of his telephone, Frank twitched back
the drum and vanished, leaving Jill to lay her cheek upon the hand
that wore the little ring and fall asleep, saying to herself, with a
farewell glance at the children’s saint, dimly seen in the soft
gloom, “I will not forget. I will be good!”
Chapter 7 Jill’s Mission
The good times began immediately, and very little studying was
done that week in spite of the virtuous resolutions made by certain
young persons on Christmas Day. But, dear me, how was it
possible to settle down to lessons in the delightful Bird Room,
with not only its own charms to distract one, but all the new gifts
to enjoy, and a dozen calls a day to occupy one’s time?
“I guess we’d better wait till the others are at school, and just go in
for fun this week,” said Jack, who was in great spirits at the
prospect of getting up, for the splints were off, and he hoped to be
promoted to crutches very soon.
“I shall keep my Speller by me and take a look at it every day, for
that is what I’m most backward in. But I intend to devote myself to
you, Jack, and be real kind and useful. I’ve made a plan to do it,
and I mean to carry it out, anyway,” answered Jill, who had begun
to be a missionary, and felt that this was a field of labor where she
could distinguish herself.
“Here’s a home mission all ready for you, and you can be paying
your debts beside doing yourself good,” Mrs. Pecq said to her in
private, having found plenty to do herself.
Now Jill made one great mistake at the outset–she forgot that she
was the one to be converted to good manners and gentleness, and
devoted her efforts to looking after Jack, finding it much easier to
cure other people’s faults than her own. Jack was a most engaging
heathen, and needed very little instruction; therefore Jill thought
her task would be an easy one. But three or four weeks of petting
and play had rather demoralized both children, so Jill’s Speller,
though tucked under the sofa pillow every day, was seldom looked
at, and Jack shirked his Latin shamefully. Both read all the
story-books they could get, held daily levees in the Bird Room, and
all their spare minutes were spent in teaching Snowdrop, the great
Angora cat, to bring the ball when they dropped it in their game.
So Saturday came, and both were rather the worse for so much
idleness, since daily duties and studies are the wholesome bread
which feeds the mind better than the dyspeptic plum-cake of
sensational reading, or the unsubstantial bon-bons of frivolous
amusement.
It was a stormy day, so they had few callers, and devoted
themselves to arranging the album; for these books were all the
rage just then, and boys met to compare, discuss, buy, sell, and
“swap” stamps with as much interest as men on ‘Change gamble in
stocks. Jack had a nice little collection, and had been saving up
pocket-money to buy a book in which to preserve his treasures.
Now, thanks to Jill’s timely suggestion, Frank had given him a fine
one, and several friends had contributed a number of rare stamps
to grace the large, inviting pages. Jill wielded the gum-brush and
fitted on the little flaps, as her fingers were skilful at this nice
work, and Jack put each stamp in its proper place with great
rustling of leaves and comparing of marks. Returning, after a brief