Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

that she possessed them, and blessed the hand which had bestowed such treasures.

The lot of Alice may not resemble yours; but that is no reason why you should not cultivate habits of active usefulness; and beware of imagining, because you can yet do little in the service of your fellow-creatures, that you are therefore justified in doing nothing. We none of us know when the evil days may come.

Το you who are in the higher stations of life, your talents are as valuable as to you who are in a less exalted sphere; and to the Almighty, the account you will have to give will be the same. Whether your portion of talents is liberal or scanty, the obligation to cultivate that portion is precisely equal; and the same awful consequences must arise from their neglect or perversion.

CHAPTER X.

ALICE, in her different walks from the several houses of her pupils, had frequently met an old gentleman who attracted her attention from the extraordinary manner in which he observed her, as well as from her having some recollection of his figure, though she could not recall where she had before seen him." Absorbed, as her mind generally was, in the business with which she was about to be engaged, she could not avoid being both embarrassed and distressed by his earnest gaze; sometimes she almost felt afraid, as he appeared to watch her movements and often followed her.

She did not mention the circumstance

to her mother, from the fear of alarming her; but it made her almost dread the time when she was obliged to leave the house.

One day, as she was giving a lesson to a young lady, he entered the room. Alice felt an involuntary shudder, and concealed herself as much as possible behind her pupil and the harp. But this did not shield her from the observation of her tormentor, who walked up to her, and said in a most abrupt manner, " “Well, which do you think the most agreeable -teaching or being a fine lady ?"

The

Alice trembled, and was silent. unfeeling man then proceeded to say, "How is your mother?"

Alice answered, in a low voice, that she was pretty well.

"You need not answer me as if you thought I was going to eat you up," he said, most harshly. "You ought to be much obliged to me for troubling myself your mother."

about

The indignant feelings of Alice were now roused. The slightest disrespect offered to her mother produced sparks of anger, which nothing else could have ignited. She coloured, but did not reply; although her beautiful and expressive eyes flashed with a moment's fire, which was, however, almost immediately extinguished by a flood of tears..

She felt that she was for the first time in her life subjected to the insults of strangers, and that her unprotected situation exposed her to such an indignity.

The lady, in whose house she was teaching, looked surprised and angry, and said, "I believe, Sir, your business is with me, and I shall esteem it a favour if you will not interrupt my daughter's lesson;" and then taking him into an adjoining room, she gave a slight outline of the his tory of Alice, finishing by speaking highly in her praise, and mentioned with much admiration her devoted attention and beautiful behaviour towards her sick mo

ther. The strange man listened with attention, and when the lady had finished speaking, walked abruptly out of the

room.

Mrs. M then went to Alice, and taking her kindly by the hand, said, "My dear Miss Seymour, I hope you have not been distressed by that eccentric being. No one minds his coarse speeches; and the only way to manage him is not to appear to feel his disagreeable manner.

وو

Notwithstanding the kindness of her friends, Alice prepared to return home. with spirits much depressed. This was her first lesson, poor child, in humility. Her heart was not accustomed to the frowns of the world, for hitherto she had but met the smile of encouragement.

"Wealth is power," and fortune had secured for her every thing that it produces; therefore, perhaps without knowing it, Alice may have been a little spoilt by its deluding influence. There might have been a small portion of pride-of

« AnteriorContinuar »