Loveday's history : $b A tale of many changesGuernsey, Lucy Ellen
History
Loveday's history : $b A tale of many changes
Guernsey, Lucy Ellen
Great Britain -- History -- Tudors, 1485-1603 -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Reformation -- Fiction
"No, sister; my cousin," and then, in answer to her questions, I began,
nothing loth, to tell her of my home in Somersetshire.
Presently she dropped the silk, and I saw she was weeping bitterly.
"Never mind, little maiden—you have done me good," she said at last, as
I stood by her side, dismayed at her sorrow, yet feeling by instinct
that it was better to let her have her cry out, without calling any
one. She made a great effort to check her sobs, and presently, kissing
me, she added:
"I know Latin, and I will teach you, if the mother is willing."
"I am sure she will be willing!" I answered. "She said herself it was a
pity I should lose what I had gained."
And the mother passing at the moment, I preferred my petition to her. I
think she was unfeignedly pleased to see poor Sister Denys interested
in any thing. She did not go through the usual form of referring to the
prioress, as indeed, she was not obliged to do, she having the whole
care of the novices and pupils, but bade me fetch my books, which had
been sent me from London, and take a lesson on the spot.
For a while these lessons went on very prosperously. Sister Denys was
a good Latin scholar, and finding that I was diligent, reasonably
quick, and liked learning for its own sake, she began also to teach
me French. All that winter I studied hard, and between Sister Denys,
Sister Cicely, with her music lessons, and Sister Theresa, with her
embroidery, I had my hands full. I did no more work than was good for
me, and had plenty of play and sleep, and, on the whole, I was very
well content with my new home, though I used, now and then, to have
fits of longing after my Aunt Joyce and my cousins.
One day in spring, I was called to the parlor. Supposing I was
wanted to do some errand—I was errand-boy, or rather girl, for the
establishment—I went carelessly enough. The prioress was there, with
her attendant sisters and mother assistant, and as I came forward to
the wide grating that divided the room, I found myself face to face
with my aunt and cousins.
What a meeting it was! Aunt Joyce had grown older and looked careworn,
and the twins were a head taller, but that was all the change. The
mother assistant whispered to the prioress, who assented.
"There, you may go outside the grating and speak to your aunt and
cousins, child!" said she. "You are not professed; so it can do no
harm."
In another minute I was in my aunt's arms, smothered with kisses, and
turning from one to the other in a very bewilderment of joy. I could
not help hoping for a moment that they had come to take me away, but my
hopes were quickly dashed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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