Read Ebook: Heedless Hetty by Lyster Annette
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Ebook has 733 lines and 30338 words, and 15 pages
"Hetty," began Mrs. Hardy, "you are in luck for once, and I hope you're aware of it. Mrs. Eyre ain't rich, but a lady down to her very shoes, and she'll be kind to you. If you lose this chance, I think you'd better emigrate to some savage place where folk won't mind your wild ways; only mind they're no cannibals, for you're plump and young, and if they found you of no use, they might think it better to eat you."
"Mother! how can you?" cried Hetty.
"Take off that dress now, and give it a good patching. Matty, look up all her things; we must mend and wash them. And then I'll go and buy her some neat aprons. Oh, dear, look at her Sunday frock! Did you sleep in it, Hetty? Here, Matty--your fingers are cleverer than mine; mend this, like a good girl. Even if we get her back in a week, let us send her out decent."
LITTLE FLO.
IF Hetty had been allowed to follow her own way, she would have gone to Adelaide Terrace at six o'clock in the morning, to show her zeal, but her mother would not hear of it.
"You'd find her in bed, most likely, and some one would have to get up to let you in. No; at nine Mr. Eyre goes off to his business, and you be there soon after nine. Try and keep out of mischief till then--if you can."
As the clock struck nine, Matty and Hetty set out together, carrying between them the small wooden, paper-covered box which contained Hetty's very modest outfit. She could easily have carried it alone, but Matty thought it looked better between them, and perhaps was not sorry to make sure that Heedless Hetty went at once to her new home, and reached it in a presentable state. Hetty had cried, of course, when saying good-bye to her mother and brothers, but for all that she was in fine spirits, and full to the lips of the most excellent resolutions.
"Matty," said she, "you tell Dan that he may leave off calling me Heedless Hetty. I mean to learn to be a good servant, as Annie did; and when I come home, it's Handy Hetty that Dan will be calling me."
"Look where you're going! There now! You've stepped into that puddle--the only one in the road--and dirted your shoe, that Dan blacked so lovely for you!"
"Oh, so I have! Wait! I must rub it off," cried Hetty, and setting down her end of the box into the puddle which had already soiled her shoe, she ran to the side of the road, where she had espied some grass.
"Well, of all the girls!" said Matty to herself, as she tried to see if the box was very wet. "Heedless Hetty will suit well enough yet a bit. Come along; there'll be a scraper and a mat at Mrs. Eyre's, and if I could see you safe there, I'd be glad."
Hetty came back, looking a little ashamed of herself. She did not refer to her message to Dan, and in a few moments they reached No. 1, Adelaide Terrace.
"Set the box down on the step. Give me a kiss, Hetty. Dear heart! Do try to do well here. Mind, if you don't, even I must allow that it is your own fault, and you'll never be worth anything if you don't take hold now and mind what you're about. You've got all your senses like other girls, and it is high time you began to use them."
"I do try, Matty. I never mean to do wrong. But somehow I do forget things so easily."
"Because you don't try to keep your mind fixed on what you're doing, and so you're at the mercy of every little thing that happens. Just heedless--that's about it, Hetty dear. Do you ever pray to be made heedful?"
"Oh, Matty! I'd never think of asking such a thing. I pray to be made good, and holy, and kept from saying bad words, like Emma Simmons, or stealing, like--"
"Now listen, Hetty. You've no temptations to do those things, thanks to your good, careful mother. It's just as if a railway man in the station down yonder should pray that he might not be drowned, when there is not so much as a pond in the place big enough to hold him, and never give a thought to the real dangers he lives among. You pray for what you really want, Hetty. That kind of prayer is only words. Promise me you will, dear--quick! For I must ring now."
"I'll try. Oh, Matty, whatever shall I do without you? I wish--"
But the door opened, and the figure of an ancient dame, who spent her mornings in doing Mrs. Eyre's rough work, appeared before them.
"So here's our new nursemaid," said she, laughing at Hetty's dolorous face. "Which of you is coming here?"
"This is Hetty," said the elder sister.
"Ah, I wish it was you," was the reply.
Hetty would have felt less abashed had she known that the speaker would have made the same remark if Matty had been the new maid.
"Good-bye, Hetty. I'll try to see you some evening; but you know we'll be very busy, wanting your help."
Matty lifted the box into the hall, pushed her sister in very gently, and went quickly away. Hetty felt and looked very forlorn; and, but for the amused smile on Mrs. Goodenough's wrinkled face, she would have begun to cry again. But now a door opened, and Mrs. Eyre, with her baby in her arms, came into the narrow hall.
"Hetty, how nice and early you have come! Leave your box there for the present, and come here to Miss Flo; she is very anxious to see you."
She led Hetty into the parlour, where all her children were assembled. There were four--two little girls, a boy of about three, and the baby, who was a boy also.
The eldest girl, whom they called Lina, was a pretty, active, healthy-looking little maiden, about six years old, very good-tempered, and very fond of her own way--which, after all, is not a very uncommon liking. Then came Flora, who was five, but such a tiny creature that it was hard to believe that she was so old. Little Edgar, the eldest boy, was quite as big and far heavier than this poor wee fairy. She lay on a sofa near the window, and her small face, which was usually very grave and pathetic in its sad patience, was all alive now with anxiety and curiosity. She had lovely dark eyes and pretty brown curls, but her face was too white and pinched to be called pretty, though she had been a lovely baby. She fixed her eyes on Hetty's face, and a little shy, timid smile crept over her own; then she said, in a soft, clear little voice,--
"Is this Hetty? Oh, mamma, she looks kind. I shall not be afraid of Hetty."
She spoke quite plainly and distinctly, much more so than did Lina, who often gabbled so fast that it was hard to understand her.
"This is Hetty, who will carry my little Flo so safely that there will be nothing to be afraid of. My little Flo--she likes Hetty, I think."
"I like Hetty. Her eyes look kind. Please, Hetty, stoop and kiss me. Will you be kind, Hetty, and patient with me? I'm sometimes peevish, I'm afraid."
"Kind? Oh, Miss Flora, that I will!" said Hetty earnestly.
"But don't cry, Hetty. Why should you cry?"
"Well, miss, you see I've just said good-bye to my sister. But I won't cry," Hetty answered, with a choke in her voice. The sight of the child had touched her soft heart.
"Now, Hetty, before you take off your hat, please take Miss Lina to school. It is close by, and she knows the way. Make haste back, for Miss Flo is longing to be out in the sunshine."
"So you see, Flo," cried Lina, "after all your saying that Hetty is to be yours, I am to have her first." And Lina nodded her curly head at the little one.
"She belongs to me," Flo calmly replied. "But I will not be selfish. You can have her now."
Lina laughed, and ran off for her hat. All the way to school she chattered unceasingly, but Hetty had no idea what it was all about. She had left the child at her school, and was on her way back, when she met her brother Ned, who was on his way to the shop where he was errand boy.
"Hilloa, Hetty! Is this you?"
"I've been leaving Miss Lina at school. Oh, Ned, if you only saw Miss Flo! she's such a little darling."
"I'm glad I met you. Look here; I'm going to give you this sixpence. I can do without it, and I find that mother gave you no money. It's not respectable not to have a penny in your pocket. Here; don't buy sweeties with it."
"Thank you, Ned. I'll pay it back when I get wages. You know I'm to get none till I'm here three months."
"I know. That's why I give you that sixpence. I think mother's much mistaken," added this wise youth, aged twelve, "making little of you like that. I say! I shall be late; good-bye."
Hetty put the sixpence in her pocket, and walked on very slowly; for she was wondering what she would buy with that handsome sum of money. She found her mistress on the steps, looking out rather anxiously for her.
"Oh, here you are, Hetty. I began to be afraid that you had lost your way."
"I met our Ned, ma'am, and stopped to talk with him."
"Your brother? Well, there was no harm in that, but when I send you with a message, you must always come back as quickly as possible. You'll remember this, Hetty."
"Yes, ma'am," replied Hetty; and Mrs. Eyre rejoiced to see that she could "take a word" without looking sulky. Perhaps she would have been less pleased had she known that Hetty forgot all about the word in two minutes, or less, being still mentally engaged in spending that sixpence.
"I have dressed the children; help me down the step with the perambulator. But before we go out, bring your box up here to the nursery. That is your bed; put the box beside it. That is right. Now come along, for I want to get out as soon as possible. It is good for the children to be out in the air."
They entered the parlour. Little Flora was ready to go out; she had on a shady hat, and was wrapped up in a soft woollen shawl.
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