It was a disappointment to Miss Benson's kind and hospitable
expectation when Jemima, as hungry as a hound, confined herself
to one piece of the cake which her hostess had had such pleasure
in making. And Jemima wished she had not a prophetic feeling all
tea-time of the manner in which her father would inquire into the
particulars of the meal, elevating his eyebrows at every viand
named beyond plain bread-and-butter, and winding up with some
such sentence as this:
"Well, I marvel how, with Benson's salary, he can afford to keep
such a table."
Sally could have told of self-denial when no one was by, when the
left hand did not know what the right hand did, on the part of
both her master and mistress, practised without thinking even to
themselves that it was either a sacrifice or a virtue, in order
to enable them to help those who were in need, or even to gratify
Miss Benson's kind, old-fashioned feelings on such occasions as
the present, when a stranger came to the house. Her homely,
affectionate pleasure in making others comfortable, might have
shown that such little occasional extravagances were not waste,
but a good work; and were not to be gauged by the standard of
money-spending. This evening her spirits were damped by Jemima's
refusal to eat! Poor Jemima! the cakes were so good, and she was
so hungry; but still she refused.
While Sally was clearing away the tea-things, Miss Benson and
Jemima accompanied Ruth upstairs, when she went to put little
Leonard to bed.
Pages:
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253