Part 3

Amity had been in the great hotel only two or three days, but she had made several acquaintances among the little girls, and to two or three of these she was now talking.

"Did you hear Johnny Hamilton cry last night?" said one of the girls, Emma Fairchild by name. "Poor little fellow, how he did scream!"

"Johnny Hamilton!" repeated Amity. She was trying to remember where she had heard the name.

"Hear him? I should think I did," said another girl, very much "dressed up" with a sash and scarlet stockings. "I never heard such a noise. Ma says it is a shame to have such a wretched object about the house, and she means to speak to Mr. H. about it."

"Who is he?"

"Oh, he is a miserable little idiot! He doesn't know anything at all."

"My mother says it is wrong to call 'an idiot,'" said Emma Fairchild. "He can talk plain, and sensibly too, only he is so very slow, and can't seem to think of what he wants to say. He likes to be read to, and you never saw any one so fond of music. Mrs. Franklin told mother that was one reason she staid here—because Johnny liked to hear the band and see the people. He has very bad attacks of pain sometimes, and then he cries as he did last night; but generally he is very good and pleasant."

"He hasn't sense enough to be anything else," said Maud, with the usual toss of her head.

"It takes very little sense to be disagreeable," remarked Emma, demurely. "See, there he comes! Let's go and speak to him. He always likes that."

Amity looked at the pale lame little boy, whom a kind-looking lady was carefully placing in an arm chair by the window. Yes, it was the same little boy she had seen in New York.

"Just see him!" said Maud, in a loud whisper. "Now doesn't he look like an idiot?"

"No, I don't think he does; and anyway, Maud, we ought not to stare at him. Aunt Julia says it is very rude to stare at a person who has anything odd or unfortunate about him. I have seen this little boy before. I wonder if he will know me!"

"Of course he won't. Come, let us go out on the veranda."

"I am going to speak to Johnny first," said Emma. "Come, Amity."

"She just wants to show how good she is, and that Amity is just such another," said Maud to her companions, as they went out of the room. "She knows she is homely, and she means to try the good dodge."

To do Maud justice, this spiteful speech was not original with her. She had heard it from her mother, who did not much believe in goodness, except for the sake of display. Mrs. Wickford was an unhappy woman. She loved the world dearly, and the world did not like her at all.

Johnny smiled as the girls spoke to him, and answered Emma's kind "How do you do to-day, Johnny?" slowly but distinctly.

Then, as he looked at Amity, his dull eyes brightened.

"I know you," he said quite eagerly; "I know your name: I say it in my prayers every night. Amity Bogardus," he repeated slowly. "I remember your eyebrows like a bridge."

"Why, where did you see Amity?" asked Emma.

"She picked up my marbles for me," answered Johnny. "It was in a place where you go to have lunch."

"In a restaurant in New York," said Amity. "I did not think you would know me again, Johnny. You have a good memory."

Johnny looked pleased.

"I can remember some things," said he. "You picked up my marbles and made a fence for them, and you spoke pleasantly to me. What is 'an idiot,' Emma?"

"An idiot is a person who does not know anything—not even his own name, or the days of the week," answered Emma. "Why do you ask, Johnny?"

"A lady said I was 'an idiot,'" replied Johnny, with a quivering lip: "I heard her just now; and she said I ought not to be here, because people did not like to see me, and it made it unpleasant. It was that girl's mother who wears the red stockings."

"Just like her!" said Emma, who was a kindhearted little thing, but rather too hasty and outspoken. "My mother says she is a horrid, vulgar woman. Never mind, Johnny; you are not an idiot at all, and I am sure you know lots of things."

"And you like to stay here, don't you?" said Amity.

"Yes; I like to see the pretty ladies, and to hear the music, and watch the water come out of the ground over there," and he pointed toward the park. "It acts as if it was glad to come out into the light. Do you think it is?"

"Perhaps so," said Amity. "And what else do you like?"

"I like to hear stories, and verses, and hymns," said Johnny, "and to go to church, only I can't understand what the minister says very well. I used to like to knit, but I forgot how when I was so sick. Mrs. Franklin says she will get some one to teach me again when we get home."

"I don't think you are one bit like 'an idiot,'" said Emma. "Amity, I must go now: I have to take my bath at eleven."

"I will sit with Johnny a little while, till his nurse comes back," said Amity, who was considering whether it would be possible for her to teach Johnny to knit again. "It would be 'doing something for the Lord Jesus,' as Mrs. Paget says," she thought.

"Talk to me," said Johnny; "I like to hear you."

"What shall I talk about?" asked Amity.

"Oh, tell me something that happened at your home."

"Well, I will tell that happened: I will tell you how Pug fell into the water."

And so she did, making a long story about the matter.

Johnny listened with great interest for a while, but presently grew sleepy and began to nod.

Amity was just considering what she had better do when Mrs. Franklin came in. Johnny roused up a little.

"Did I go to sleep? That wasn't—wasn't—"

"Polite, you mean," said Mrs. Franklin, as Johnny stammered and tried to think of the word he wanted. "Never mind, my dear: the young lady will excuse you when she knows how little sleep you had last night. You shall lie down on this sofa and have a good nap, and I will sit by you. Poor little man! I am very glad to see him sleep," she added, as Johnny laid his head down and dropped off again. "I am very much obliged to you, Miss—"

"My name is Amity Bogardus," said Amity, as Mrs. Franklin paused. "I saw Johnny only once, in New York, but he knew me again directly."

"Yes, he has a good memory for those people who are kind to him. He has often spoken of you."

"Has he always been as he is now?" Amity ventured to ask.

"He has always been a little peculiar, but he has been much worse since his mother died. He was very sick with the same fever that killed her, and since then, his mind has failed a great deal."

"He told me he used to know how to knit," said Amity.

"Yes, and I mean to try to have him taught again, but I am not a knitter myself, I am sorry to say."

"Perhaps I could teach him," said Amity. "I know how to knit pretty well, and I have taught two or three children. I would not mind trying, if you liked."

"You are very kind," said Mrs. Franklin, looking much pleased, "but I am afraid you would find it a great deal of trouble."

"I don't mind trouble, if only I could do it," said Amity; "but there would be no harm in trying—would there, do you think?"

"None at all, if your parents are willing; but you must ask them first."

"My father and mother are dead, but I will ask my grandfather," said Amity, "and if he is willing, I will begin after breakfast to-morrow. Grandpapa reads his papers then, and does not want me."

CHAPTER FOURTH.

KNITTING.

"I HAVE no objections," said Judge Bogardus, when Amity spoke to him about her plans; "only you know, my little girl, if you begin, you must keep on. It won't do to disappoint the poor little fellow because you get tired sometimes and want to do something else."

"I don't think I am apt to get tired of what I try to do," said Amity, thinking at the same time, "I am sure grandpapa need not have said that to me."

"You do not always have as many temptations as you do here," said her grandfather; "and let me tell you one thing, Amity: it is a very good way of getting ready for a failure to think too much of yourself. If you begin or try to go on in your own strength, you will never succeed."

Judge Bogardus did not often speak in this way, and Amity was all the more struck with his words. They seemed to bring her down somehow from a little pinnacle of self-conceit she had been standing on, and she answered quite humbly:

"I know, grandpapa. That was what mother was always saying."

"Your mother was a good woman, my dear, and I hope you will be another. Teach the poor little boy by all means if you can, but don't expect too much of him; and now go and get your hat. I want you to ride with me."

The next morning the knitting lessons began. Poor Johnny was very slow, and it was two or three days before he could catch the motions so as to go on by himself; but at last he did so, and could make out to knit a row without dropping more than half the stitches. Amity used to knit every other row (a very good way to do when one is teaching any child to knit).

"Shall I ever learn, do you think?" asked Johnny.

"Oh yes! You are doing a little better every day. Pretty soon you can begin to knit sponge-towel, and when it is done, you can give it to Mrs. Franklin for a present."

"Won't that be nice? When I go where my mamma is, Amity, I shall tell her how good you have been to her poor little boy, And you, too," he added, turning to Mrs. Franklin, who sat by as if afraid she might be hurt; "I shall tell her you were almost the same as my own mother; not quite the same, you know—nobody could be that."

"You are my dear little boy," said Mrs. Franklin, kissing the poor little thin hand Johnny held out to her; "but your hands are hot, Johnny; does your side ache again?"

"A little," said Johnny.

"Where have you been, and where do you keep yourself all the mornings?" asked Emma Fairchild, as she met Amity on the veranda when the lesson was done. "Why don't you come out after breakfast when it is cool and pleasant?"

"I am busy then," said Amity.

"Why, surely you don't do lessons now you are here!" said Emma.

"Not my own lessons," returned Amity.

"I know what she does: she is teaching that idiot boy to knit," said Maud. "Mrs. Franklin told mamma so."

"Are you really?" asked Emma.

Amity nodded.

"And can he learn?"

"Oh yes! He can knit quite a good deal, and he is so pleased, poor little fellow! But, Maud, you shouldn't call him 'an idiot.' He is not that, though he is backward, and oh, so slow!"

"And he really likes it?"

"Oh yes! And I have taught him some other things, too."

"What things?"

"Little hymns and verses and such things. He can learn almost anything with a rhyme to it."

"Well, anyhow, I think you are real good to teach him," said Emma; "isn't she, Maud?"

"Yes, I suppose so, but I shouldn't like it," said Maud; "and it isn't so very much to do, either. Mamma knows a lady that founded a hospital for poor children—paid for it all herself, and her name is on the front of it. That would be something worth while—something that every one would know."

"But we ought not to do good things just to have people know them, I suppose; should we?" asked Emma, doubtfully. "I should not think that was right."

"Of course it isn't right. It is just like the Pharisees sounding a trumpet before them," answered Amity, with decision.

"Everybody does, anyhow," persisted Maud. "My mother gave ten dollars and some clothes to the Old Woman's Home, and because it was not put in the paper with the other donations, she said she would never give them anything again. * But, Amity, you are very rich, ain't you?"

* A fact, I am sorry to say.

"I shall be some time, I suppose," said Amity.

"Then I should think you would like to do some grand thing—like building a hospital or an asylum. Just think! You might have a beautiful building on one of the avenues, with your name on it for every one to read when you are dead."

"And what good would that do you?" asked Emma.

"Oh, I don't say I should do it. That is quite another thing," answered Maud, arranging her sash as she spoke. "I believe in using your money for yourself and having a good time. People are never grateful for being helped—ma says so. She said, after Mrs. Franklin went away: 'Well, I only hope they will be grateful, that's all; but I don't expect it;' and she said it was a shame for Mrs. Franklin to impose on you so."

"She doesn't impose on me," said Amity, rather vexed.

"Oh, well! It's all right so long as you don't think so," said Maud, with a disagreeable little laugh. "I should think it a good deal of an imposition if any one was to get all that out of me. Ma says, 'Mrs. Franklin knows which side her bread is buttered.'"

"It wasn't a very pretty speech if ma did say it," said Emma, imitating Maud's affected pronunciation. "Come, Amity, let's go and get some Columbia water."

The girls took their glasses of the clear, sparkling water, and then walked away through the grounds. Emma chattered away in her usual off-hand fashion, which, to do her justice, was usually a very pleasant and good-natured one. Amity was so silent that Emma presently broke off her prattle, and asked her what she was thinking about.

"About Maud," answered Amity. "I don't think you need have been so sharp with her, Emma. I am afraid she was offended."

"Well, I dare say you are right," replied Emma. "I don't think I am apt to be sharp," (which was quite true), "but, somehow, Maud does always rub me the wrong way—she and her mother. Well, I don't know how to say what I mean, but they somehow seem to me to care only for the outside—not for what things really are, but only what people will say about them."

"You needn't have mimicked her, or spoken so about her mother any way," said Amity. "You wouldn't like it yourself, and I think you ought to be more careful. People will think you are very inconsistent."

Now all this was true enough, and if Amity had hinted it or even spoken it out to Emma in a more gentle and humble manner, I have no doubt that the little girl would have taken it kindly, for she was really trying hard to be a good Christian child. But Amity spoke sharply, and with a tone of superiority which "rubbed Emma the wrong way," as she said directly.

"Well, you needn't lecture me if I did," said she, sharply, in her turn. "You talk just like that horrid girl in the book we were reading, who scolded her grandmother for wasting her time knitting a bed-quilt." *

* I cannot now remember in what book I met this young lady, but she is no creation of mine.

Amity drew herself up. "If you are going to talk like that, I think we had better drop the subject," said she, trying, without much success, to look and speak like Aunt Julia. But the air which may be quite imposing in a tall, handsome grown-up lady has quite the contrary effect in a dumpy, tow-headed little girl.

And Emma only laughed.

"Dear me, how grand!" said she. "But it isn't a bit of use, Amity: you can't look tall if you try."

Amity did not condescend to say another word. She turned and walked back as quickly as possible by the way she had come.

"Oh don't, Amity!" called Emma, sorry in a moment, as she always was if she hurt any one's feelings. "I didn't mean to make you angry; I was only in fun."

But Amity would not look around.

"Oh dear!" said Emma to herself. "How sorry I am! And she was right, too: I ought not to have spoken so to Maud. To be sure, she need not have put on such airs, but then I need not have laughed. I mean to find both the girls after dinner, and make it up."

And Emma, who, as I have said, was really trying to serve her Master, folded her hands and said a little silent prayer for forgiveness and help to do better another time.

It would have been well for Amity if she had done the same. But she did not. She only thought how unkind Emma had been, and how careless and thoughtless she was. And then she began to think about what Maud had said, and to wonder whether Mrs. Franklin and Johnny were really as grateful as they ought to be for her kindness to them.

In fact, Amity had for some days been getting into a bad way. She had been thinking how much better it was to be good and useful (as she was) than to be handsome like Emma, or splendidly dressed like Maud, or to play the piano and sing like Jenny Barnard! How good it was in her to stay a whole hour with Johnny every morning, instead of running out to play! There is no more sure and certain way of becoming worse than other people than this of thinking how much better we are than other people.

Then it was such a grand idea, this of founding an institution like the lady Maud had spoken of. What should it be—an orphan asylum, or a hospital for children, or a school for idiots like Johnny? All that money would be hers when she was twenty-five, and the great place at Rockside, and the two grand houses in Fifth Avenue that Aunt Julia had shown her. Perhaps she might turn Rockside itself into an asylum, to be called "The Bogardus Institute"; or should she call it "Amity Park"? Yes, that would be the best; then, when people asked the meaning of the name, they would be told that it was the name of the young lady who had given all her fortune to found this noble charity. The last phrase pleased Amity very much, for it sounded like something she had read.

The same evening Amity and Maud were standing together on the veranda. Amity had not seen Emma since their little tiff in the morning, but she had sought out Maud as soon as she returned from her afternoon ride with her grandfather.

"Perhaps I can do her some good," she had said to herself. "At any rate, I ought to show her that I don't mean to insult her, like Emma."

If any one had told Amity that she wanted to show how much better she was than Emma, Amity would have denied with scorn that she ever thought of such a thing.

As Maud and Amity were standing together, Emma came up to them, her cheeks very pink and her eyes looking brighter than usual, and a little as if the tears might be pretty near them.

"Maud," said she, winking rather hard, "I am sorry I mimicked you this morning, and spoke so about your mother. Please forgive me."

Maud stared a moment, as if she did not quite understand Emma's meaning. Then she laughed, not mockingly, but quite good-humoredly.

"My! That wasn't anything," said she. "I had forgotten all about it, and I didn't care anyway. I say a great deal worse things than that myself, very often. I couldn't think what you meant at first."

"Then you are not angry?" said Emma.

"No, not a bit. I am not so silly as that, I hope. I did not mind it at all and if I had, I should have got all over it by this time. I never can keep mad, if I try ever so hard. But anyhow, it is real sweet in you to come and say you are sorry—isn't it, Amity?"

"It is better to take care and not say things one has to be sorry for," said Amity. Somehow she did not feel pleased at all with the turn things had taken.

Her remark did not make Emma's task any easier, but she had come to do her duty, and she did it.

"And, Amity, I am sorry I laughed at you, and said you were like that horrid girl in the book. It was all true what you said, and I have been thinking about it ever since."

"If you are sorry, of course that is all about it," answered Amity, coldly; "only, another time I hope you won't be so ready to snap one up, that's all."

"Well now, Amity, I call that mean," said Maud, as Emma went slowly away, and entered the house.

"What is mean?"

"Taking Emma up that way, when she said she was sorry. I am sure it is more than I would have done, after what you said, and I don't set myself up to be pious either. I sha'n't forget it in a hurry. How lovely she looked, didn't she?"

"Handsome is that handsome does," replied Amity, quoting her grandfather's proverb. "She just wanted to make a scene."

"Amity, for shame!" said Maud, who had a good disposition, and might have been a good girl if she had been taught. "I don't believe she ever thought of such a thing."

"Of course you know all about it," said Amity, tartly.

"I don't know anything about it, nor you either," returned Maud. "You can't see inside of Emma's heart any more than I can. You know what we had in the Bible lesson only last Sunday—'Judge not, that ye be not judged' (Matt. 7:1)."

"It doesn't mean such things," said Amity.

"What does it mean then? I don't pretend to be pious—sometimes I think I should like to be."

"Then why don't you?" asked Amity, contemplating her, and thinking that here was a nice opening for the "talk" she had prepared to give Maud.

"Well, for several reasons. I wasn't brought up that way, for one thing; but if I were going to be pious, I would rather have Emma's kind than yours."

The "talk" did not seem possible after this very outspoken remark.

And when Maud said, "I am going to find Emma," Amity did not try to keep her.

CHAPTER FIFTH.

THE KNITTING FINISHED.