Margery | Page 6

dead, and the
master had not long after brought home another mother to his little ones,
a stepmother, Susan, who was my maid, was wont to call her; and such
a mother was no more a real mother than our good cousin--I knew that
much from the fairy tales to which I was ever ready to hearken. But I
saw this very stepmother wash and dress little Elsie, her husband's
youngest babe and not her own, and lull her till she fell asleep; and she

did it right tenderly, and quite as she ought. And then, when the child
was asleep she kissed it, too, on its brow and cheeks.
And yet Mistress Stromer, of the Golden-Rose House, did differently;
for when she took little Clare that was her own babe out of the water,
and laid it on warm clouts on the swaddling board, she buried her face
in the sweet, soft flesh, and kissed the whole of its little body all over,
before and behind, from head to foot, as if it were all one sweet, rosy
mouth; and they both laughed with hearty, loving merriment, as the
mother pressed her lips against the babe's white, clean skin and
trumpeted till the room rang, or clasped it, wrapped in napkins to her
warm breast, as if she could hug it to death. And she broke into a loud,
strange laugh, and cried as she fondled it: "My treasure, my darling, my
God-sent jewel! My own, my own--I could eat thee!"
No, Mistress Muffel never behaved so to Elsie, her husband's babe.
Notwithstanding I knew right well that Cousin Maud had been just as
fond of me as Dame Stromer of her own babes, and so far our cousin
was no way different from a real mother. And I said as much to myself,
when I laid me down to sleep in my little white bed at night, and my
cousin came and folded her hands as I folded mine and, after we had
said the prayers for the Angelus together, as we did every evening, she
laid her head by the side of mine, and pressed my baby face to her own
big face. I liked this well enough, and I whispered in her ear: "Tell me,
Cousin Maud, are you not my real, true mother?"
And she hastily replied, "In my heart I am, most truly; and you are a
very lucky maid, my Margery, for instead of only one mother you have
two: me, here below, to care for you and foster you, and the other up
among the angels above, looking down on you and beseeching the
all-gracious Virgin who is so nigh to her, to keep your little heart pure,
and to preserve you from all ill; nay, perhaps she herself is wearing a
glory and a heavenly crown. Look at her face." And Cousin Maud held
up the lamp so that the light fell on a large picture. My eyes beheld the
lovely portrait in front of me, and meseemed it looked at me with a
deep gaze and stretched out loving arms to me. I sat up in my bed; the
feelings which filled my little heart overflowed my lips, and I said in a

whisper: "Oh, Cousin Maud! Surely my mammy might kiss me for
once, and fondle me as Mistress Stromer does her little Clare."
Cousin Maud set the lamp on the table, and without a word she lifted
me out of bed and held me up quite close to the face of the picture; and
I understood. My lips softly touched the red lips on the canvas; and, as
I was all the happier, I fancied that my mother in Heaven must be glad
too.
Then my cousin sighed: "Well, well!" and murmured other words to
herself; she laid me in the bed again, tucked the coverlet tightly round
me as I loved to have it, gave me another kiss, waited till I had settled
my head on the pillow, and whispered: "Now go to sleep and dream of
your sainted mother."
She quitted the room; but she had left the lamp, and as soon as I was
alone I looked once more at the picture, which showed me my mother
in right goodly array. She had a rose on her breast, her golden fillet
looked like the crown of the Queen of Heaven, and in her robe of rich,
stiff brocade she was like some great Saint. But what seemed to me
more heavenly than all the rest was her rose and white young face, and
the sweet mouth which I had touched with my lips. Oh if I had but once
had the happiness of kissing that mouth in life! A sudden feeling
glowed in my heart, and an