"You are old enough to wait upon yourself and will soon find that I am not a waiting-maid for you," and, giving an angry jerk to a refractory hook, the dress was loosened and other garments removed, and the little girl crept into the cot, which Miss Flint designated as her resting place.
"Won't you hear me say my prayers?" she asked timidly as her care-taker was leaving the room.
"You have great need to say them. I wonder you are not afraid to go to sleep after telling such a wicked story," and, taking the lamp, she went out, shutting the door after her.
Miss Flint sat down to her sewing in the clean and pleasant room, but she was not happy. She at last had a home of her own, but considered the incumbrance that went with it overbalanced the benefit.
She had not thought that her patrons would object to her taking Hilda to their homes in her dressmaking visits, but realized that she was mistaken, as she saw with her sister-in-law's eyes that there would come rainy days when Hilda could not go; and if clear the child could not stand the walks she would be compelled to take if she accompanied Jerusha, nor could she be left alone in the cottage.
Weary and sad, she leaned back in her chair and reflected; and her glance happening to rest upon the curtain of the lounge, she saw it move. Jerusha was not frightened, although she was wise enough to know that there could not be an effect without a cause.
The motion was repeated; the head of a mouse peeped out and was quickly withdrawn, and she recognized one of the black fingers that had alarmed Hilda.
"Enjoy yourself all you can to-night, my lively friend," she said to herself. "If a trap can catch you this will be the last chance you will have to frighten anybody."
She took care, however, not to enlighten Hilda as to her discovery and for many days the child avoided the lounge, fearing the "black fingers."
CHAPTER VI--HILDA A LITERAL FOLLOWER OF BUNYAN
"Fair Meadow," the home of the Merryman family for generations, was a large old-time farmhouse, built of gray stone, with dormer windows in the roof, broad window and door sills, and within and without gave the assurance of genuine home comfort, peace and good-will.
It lay between "My Lady's Manor" and "Friedenheim," within a short distance of each, and save for a wide lane and a meadow, would have been opposite the cottage of Jerusha Flint, on the other side of the road. It was a true Christian home, and its influence, like that of the Courtneys, was felt throughout the neighborhood.