"Norman has cut his finger," she said, "but Mrs Norton does not think it is very bad, and I want you not to ask me how he did it; pray do this, I shall be so much happier, if you will."

They said "yes."

"Thank you, dear granny; thank you, mamma," exclaimed f.a.n.n.y, kissing them both.

I think f.a.n.n.y Vallery had pleasanter dreams than her brother Norman that night.

CHAPTER FOUR.

HARD TO ENDURE.

Mrs Vallery went upstairs to see Norman. She found him still seated in the chair looking very sulky.

"Mrs Norton and Susan and everybody have been scolding at me," he muttered; "I wish you would send them all away. And f.a.n.n.y is as bad as any of them, and n.o.body cares for me, and f.a.n.n.y has slapped my face, and I will slap hers another time, though she is a girl," and Norman began to cry.

"My dear child, we all care very much for you," said his mamma, not knowing of course how he had cut his finger, and as she had promised f.a.n.n.y not to do so, she did not ask him. "I am very sorry that f.a.n.n.y should have slapped your face, but I am afraid you must have done something to provoke her, I must ask her why she did it. I cannot help thinking that you must have been naughty, or Mrs Norton and Susan would not have scolded you. Come down with me into the garden, we will have a game of battledore and shuttlec.o.c.k on the lawn, the fresh air will do you good."

"I cannot play, my hand hurts me so much," answered Norman.

Mrs Vallery, seeing from the small size of the finger-stall Mrs Norton had put on, that the injury could not be very severe, insisted that Norman should accompany her.

"You will soon, I hope, Norman, go to school, where you will have other boys to play with," observed Mrs Vallery, as she led him downstairs.

She felt that the child was left too much alone by himself, and that if placed with companions of his own age, they would a.s.sist to correct some of his many faults. "If his papa consents to send him to school, he will at all events not be permitted there to have his own way, as he has. .h.i.therto been," she said to herself, and she determined to try and get Captain Vallery to select a school as soon as possible, knowing well that Mrs Leslie would support her.

As it was Norman's left hand which had been hurt, he was very well able to hold a battledore, and after playing with his mamma a short time, he recovered his usual spirits, and appeared totally to forget how naughty he had been. He wondered that n.o.body had asked him how he had cut his finger, or spoke to him about Miss Lucy, not understanding the forgiving spirit which had induced f.a.n.n.y to refrain from speaking of his conduct.

"Perhaps she is afraid of saying anything about it, because she slapped my face," he thought.

At last, Mrs Vallery went in to get ready for dinner.

f.a.n.n.y found Norman who had been sent into the drawing-room to put the battledores and shuttlec.o.c.k away.

"How is your finger?" she asked, in a pitying tone.

"Oh, it smarts very much," he answered, "though I do not think you care much about it."

"Indeed, I do, dear Norman," she said; "you do not know how sorry I am that I slapped your face, and granny has given me some salve and some soft linen to bind up your finger again, and if you will come here, I will try and do it very gently, and not hurt you."

f.a.n.n.y sat down in her granny's chair. Taking off the wrapping which Mrs Norton had put on, and which was somewhat stained with blood, she replaced it with a nice soft piece covered with salve, which felt very cool, and soon took away all the pain.

Having done this f.a.n.n.y affectionately kissed him.

"You will forgive me for slapping your face, won't you, dear brother?"

she said, "you know I could not help feeling angry, when I saw that you had spoilt my beautiful doll; but I do not want you to be punished, and so I have not told anybody except Mrs Norton, and she found it out of herself."

"You are afraid of being punished for slapping my face," answered the ungrateful little boy.

"Oh, how can you say that, Norman?" exclaimed f.a.n.n.y, ready to burst into tears at the unfeeling observation. "I would have told mamma that I slapped you, but then I knew that that would have shown what you had done; but I did tell Mrs Norton, and she said I was wrong, and I knew I was, and I want you to forgive me for that."

"I do not know what you mean by 'forgive,'" said Norman.

"That you do not feel angry or vexed, or wish to slap my face, or do me any harm, and that you love me as much as you did before, and will try to forget all about it," answered f.a.n.n.y. "That is what I think is the meaning of forgiving, and that is what I know I ought to do about the way you treated Miss Lucy. I wish there would not be the ugly mark on her neck, which I am afraid she always will have, even when Mrs Norton gets her head put on, as she has promised to do; but I must try and make her a high frock with a frill, which will come under her chin, and hide it, and then I shall not see the mark, and so I hope I shall soon forget what you did to her."

Norman opened his large eyes, and fixed them on his sister.

"I think I know better than I did before what to forgive means," he observed; "I wish, f.a.n.n.y, I was more like you."

Just then Susan, who had been looking for the children to get them ready for tea, came in, and led off Norman. Unfortunately she had discovered how he had treated Miss Lucy, and she thought fit to give him another scolding. This made him angry, and he entirely forgot all that f.a.n.n.y in her gentle way had told him about forgiveness. Once more he hardened his heart and thought that now he was equal with f.a.n.n.y, as he had lost his football, and her doll had lost its head.

Captain Vallery returned home later than usual. Norman, who heard his ring at the door, ran down to meet him, and was much disappointed to find that he had not brought a new football.

"I thought, papa, that you would have remembered that my football is spoilt," he exclaimed, "and would have brought another."

"But who spoilt it, let me ask?" said Captain Vallery. "As you spoilt the football, you should be the person to mend it, and you should not expect me to bring you a new one."

"But I cannot mend it, papa," said Norman.

"People often find that they cannot remedy the harm they have done,"

observed his papa.

Norman, who was afraid that his papa might hear of the way he had treated his sister's doll, did not ask any further questions.

All the next day he behaved much better. His finger hurt him, and morning and evening he went humbly to f.a.n.n.y to get it dressed, because he found she did it so gently and carefully.

No one said anything about the doll, and he wondered what had become of it. Once or twice he thought that if he could find it he would put it out of the way altogether, for he was dreadfully afraid lest his granny or papa should discover that its head had been cut off. At last he thought he would dig a hole in the garden and put it into it, and cover it up, and then no one would be able to find it.

"f.a.n.n.y has not told about it," he thought, "she and Mrs Norton are the only people who know what I did, and as they have said nothing as yet, I hope that they will not."

Norman did not consider that although neither his papa or mamma or granny might discover what he proposed doing, G.o.d would not only see him, but knew already the evil in his heart, and that should he continue to indulge his bad feelings, they would grow with his growth, and when he became a man they would too probably make him do things too terrible to mention.

As soon as he had made up his mind what to do, while f.a.n.n.y was at her lessons, he stole into her room, expecting to find the doll. He saw that it was not in the doll's house, and so he looked into her bed, and then he opened all her drawers, but no doll was to be found. He had seen her one day going in with it to granny's room, so he thought it might be there. Mrs Leslie was downstairs, he therefore hoped that he might be able to creep in and search for the doll without being discovered. He listened, the drawing-room door was closed, and he knew that Susan was not in that part of the house, so, walking on tiptoes, in he stole. He looked about in every part of the room where he thought the doll might be placed.

"Perhaps f.a.n.n.y puts it in one of the drawers," he said to himself, "but then what would granny say if she found out that I had looked into them."

At last he put his hands to the handle, and opened a drawer just wide enough to peep in, but the doll was not there. He opened the next, but using greater force, he pulled it much wider open than he had intended: no doll was within. He tried to close it, but found he could not succeed, he pushed and pushed, still the drawer would not close; at last, putting his shoulder to it, he lifted it up, and the drawer shut, but in doing so it made much more noise than he had expected. There was still another drawer below it--he thought he would just peep in, and then run away as fast as possible. He took hold of the handle, and pulled and pulled, but the drawer would not open, for a good reason, because it was locked. This he did not discover, but thought he would pull once more, and if he did not succeed, he would give it up. He took hold of the handles, and exerted all his strength, suddenly he found, though the handles were in his hands, they had come out of the drawer, and over he rolled backwards. In falling he made a loud thump on the floor. Just then, before he had time to jump up, the door opened, and there stood his granny. She looked at him with astonishment.

"What! have you been trying to open my drawers?" she asked gravely, "it is very wrong in you if you have," but she felt too much grieved at such a thing to speak angrily.

"I came to look--to look--to look for f.a.n.n.y's doll," blurted out Norman.

"To look for f.a.n.n.y's doll!" said Mrs Leslie, "I thought you did not care for dolls? Did f.a.n.n.y send you for hers?"

"No," answered Norman, "but I wanted her."

"f.a.n.n.y has not brought her doll to me for some time, and perhaps she has a good reason for not doing so," said Mrs Leslie, looking at Norman.