The Bracelets | Page 4

Cecilia turned her head aside and burst into tears.
"Oh no, indeed, she has not a bad heart," cried Louisa, running up to
her, and throwing her arms round her neck; "she's very sorry!--are not
you, Cecilia? But don't cry any more, for I forgive you with all my
heart; and I love you now, though I said I did not when I was in a
passion."
"O, you sweet-tempered girl! how I love you," said Cecilia, kissing her.
"Well then, if you do, come along with me, and dry your eyes, for they
are so red."
"Go, my dear, and I'll come presently."
"Then I will keep a place for you next to me; but you must make haste,
or you will have to come in when we have all set down to supper, and
then you will be so stared at! So don't stay now."

Cecilia followed Louisa with her eyes till she was out of sight. "And is
Louisa," said she to herself, "the only one who would stop to pity me?
Mrs. Villars told me that this day should be mine; she little thought
how it would end!" Saying these words, Cecilia threw herself down
upon the ground; her arm leaned upon a heap of turf which she had
raised in the morning, and which in the pride and gayety of her heart,
she had called her throne.
At this instant, Mrs. Villars came out to enjoy the serenity of the
evening, and passing by the arbour where Cecilia lay, she started;
Cecilia rose hastily.
"Who is there?" said Mrs. Villars. "It is I, madam." "And who is I?"
"Cecilia." "Why, what keeps you here, my dear--where are your
companions? this is, perhaps, one of the happiest days of your life."
"O no, madam!" said Cecilia, hardly able to repress her tears.
"Why, my dear, what is the matter?"
Cecilia hesitated.
"Speak, my dear. You know that when I ask you to tell me any thing as
your friend, I never punish you as your governess; therefore you need
not be afraid to tell me what is the matter."
"No, madam, I am not afraid, but ashamed. You asked me why I was
not with my companions. Why, madam, because they have all left me,
and----" "And what, my dear?" "And I see that they all dislike me. And
yet I don't know why they should, for I take as much pains to please as
any of them. All my masters seem satisfied with me; and you yourself,
ma'am, were pleased this very morning to give me this bracelet; and I
am sure you would not have given it to any one who did not deserve it."
"Certainly not. You did deserve it for your application--for your
successful application. The prize was for the most assiduous, not for
the most amiable." "Then if it had been for the most amiable it would
not have been for me?"

Mrs. Villars, smiling--"Why, what do you think yourself, Cecilia? You
are better able to judge than I am. I can determine whether or no you
apply to what I give you to learn; whether you attend to what I desire
you to do, and avoid what I desire you not to do. I know that I like you
as a pupil, but I cannot know that I should like you as a companion,
unless I were your companion; therefore I must judge of what I should
do by seeing what others do in the same circumstances."
"O, pray don't, ma'am; for then you would not love me neither. And yet
I think you would love me; for I hope that I am as ready to oblige, and
as good-natured, as----" "Yes, Cecilia, I don't doubt but that you would
be very good-natured to me, but I am afraid that I should not like you
unless you were good-tempered too." "But, ma'am, by good-natured I
mean good-tempered--it's all the same thing." "No, indeed, I understand
by them two very different things. You are good-natured, Cecilia, for
you are desirous to oblige and serve your companions, to gain them
praise and save them from blame, to give them pleasure, and to relieve
them from pain; but Leonora is good-tempered, for she can bear with
their foibles, and acknowledge her own. Without disputing about the
right, she sometimes yields to those who are in the wrong. In short, her
temper is perfectly good, for it can bear and forbear."
"I wish that mine could," said Cecilia, sighing.
"It may," replied Mrs. Villars; "but it is not wishes alone which can
improve us in any thing. Turn the same exertion and perseverance
which have won you the prize to-day to this object, and you will meet
with the same success; perhaps not on the first,