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第6章 恶魔

　　'And you stayed there eight years: you are now, then, eighteen?'

　　A chapter having been read through twice, the books were closed andthe girls examined. The lesson had comprised part of the reign ofCharles I, and there were sundry questions about tonnage andpoundage and ship-money, which most of them appeared unable to answer;still, every little difficulty was solved instantly when it reachedBurns: her memory seemed to have retained the substance of the wholelesson, and she was ready with answers on every point. I keptexpecting that Miss Scatcherd would praise her attention; but, insteadof that, she suddenly cried out-

　　'Yes; he did not stay many minutes in the house: Missis was veryhigh with him; she called him afterwards a "sneaking tradesman." MyRobert believes he was a wine-merchant.'

　　From this window were visible the porter's lodge and thecarriage-road, and just as I had dissolved so much of the silver-whitefoliage veiling the panes as left room to look out, I saw the gatesthrown open and a carriage roll through. I watched it ascending thedrive with indifference; carriages often came to Gateshead, but noneever brought visitors in whom I was interested; it stopped in front ofthe house, the door-bell rang loudly, the new-comer was admitted.All this being nothing to me, my vacant attention soon foundlivelier attraction in the spectacle of a little hungry robin, whichcame and chirruped on the twigs of the leafless cherry-tree nailedagainst the wall near the casement. The remains of my breakfast ofbread and milk stood on the table, and having crumbled a morsel ofroll, I was tugging at the sash to put out the crumbs on thewindow-sill, when Bessie came running upstairs into the nursery.

　　'Oh fie, Miss!' said Bessie.

　　When Mrs. Fairfax had bidden me a kind good-night, and I hadfastened my door, gazed leisurely round, and in some measure effacedthe eerie impression made by that wide hall, that dark and spaciousstaircase, and that long, cold gallery, by the livelier aspect of mylittle room, I remembered that, after a day of bodily fatigue andmental anxiety, I was now at last in safe haven. The impulse ofgratitude swelled my heart, and I knelt down at the bedside, andoffered up thanks where thanks were due; not forgetting, ere I rose,to implore aid on my further path, and the power of meriting thekindness which seemed so frankly offered me before it was earned. Mycouch had no thorns in it that night; my solitary room no fears. Atonce weary and content, I slept soon and soundly: when I awoke itwas broad day.

　　Watch o'er the steps of a poor orphan child.

　　'How? I know nothing about advertising.'

　　'Jane, you don't understand these things: children must becorrected for their faults.'