Kitty Trenire | Page 4

wound

washed and dressed upset him far more than did the wound itself. Betty
and Anthony were sitting on two of the stiffest and most
uncomfortable-looking chairs in the room, with very grave expressions
on their pale but not too clean faces. Dan was standing by the window
looking intensely nervous and uncomfortable. He glanced frequently
from Jabez to his father, and back again, and Kitty could see he was
longing to say something, but did not know how to. She was very sorry
that it had been Dan who had dealt the fatal blow. She almost wished
that it had been she herself who had done it, for their father was never
quite so severe with her or Betty as with the boys.
With the feeling still on her that trouble was coming, she fried to make
herself as useful as possible; but as she knew little or nothing as to
where anything was kept, she was more of a hindrance than a help, and
her hopes were blighted by her father's order to them all to leave the
room.
"I will see you presently," he said sternly. "I will either come to you or
send for you when I am ready;" and, feeling very crushed, they made
their way to the old nursery, now called "the schoolroom," and there
waited with curiously mingled feelings for what was to happen next.
They did not expect it to be anything very serious; but they hated to vex
their father, and they felt that now they really had vexed him.
Oh how slowly the minutes passed, and what a lot of them there were!
It seemed to them that time enough had elapsed in which to have set
every limb that Jabez possessed, and to hear the recital of every wrong
he had ever received at their hands; and by the time they heard their
father's footstep coming their hopes and fears had gone up and down
again many times, and they had pictured themselves sentenced to every
possible and impossible punishment that their minds could imagine.
CHAPTER II.
THE NEWS, AND HOW THEY RECEIVED IT.
When the door opened and Dr. Trenire came in with the heavy tread of
a very weary man, and the face of a very worried one, another and a

larger wave of shame and remorse rushed over them all.
Dan stepped forward at once to put his feelings into words. "I am
fearfully sorry, father," he said impetuously. "I--I was a brute to throw
the things at Jabez; but I--I never meant to hurt him. Is it very bad?"
"It is not a serious wound by any means," said the doctor slowly; "but,
of course, the wood was old and dirty, and the nail rusty, and there is
always danger of blood-poisoning."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," said Dan, looking alarmed.
"No, that is just it," sighed the doctor; "you don't think. No one in the
house thinks, it seems to me. I suppose, though, it isn't your fault; you
have no one to teach you," and he sighed a heavy, harassed sigh.
The children's mother had died nearly five years earlier, when Kitty
was nine, and Anthony but a year old. For a time a housekeeper had
been employed to manage both children and servants; but so
uncomfortable had been her rule, so un-homelike the house, so curbed
and dreary the children's lives, that when Kitty reached the mature age
of thirteen her father, only too glad to banish the stranger from their
midst, had given in to her pleading, and with high hopes of a home
which would be happy and homelike once more, allowed her to become
housekeeper and mistress of the house.
Unfortunately, though, Kitty had had no training. Her mother had been
an excellent manager; but Kitty was only a little thing when she lost her,
and her life had mostly been spent, happily enough, in nursery and
schoolroom. Mrs. Trenire's wish had been that her children should have
a happy childhood, so all family troubles, all anxieties, domestic
worries and details, were kept from them, and the result was that,
beyond the nursery and schoolroom life, they knew nothing. Kitty had
not the least idea how rooms were cleaned, or meals provided, or
anything. Then had come the housekeeper, who for other reasons had
kept the children to their own quarters. She resented any interference or
questioning, and objected to any trouble they might give her, but as
long as they amused themselves and kept out of her way, they were free

to do pretty much as they wished.
Under the circumstances it was not greatly to be wondered at that when
Kitty took up the reins of management, life at Dr. Trenire's was not
well-ordered and free from muddle, and