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.Often, too, he would un- for the contents had luckily been abstracted.These shells theyexpectedly pop his head into the schoolroom while the young had broken up and were pounding into small fragments, topeople were at meals, and find them spilling their milk over what end I could not imagine; but so long as they were quietthe table and themselves, plunging their fingers into their and not in positive mischief, I did not care; and, with a feel-own or each other s mugs, or quarrelling over their victuals ing of unusual repose, I sat by the fire, putting the finishinglike a set of tiger s cubs.If I were quiet at the moment, I was stitches to a frock for Mary Ann s doll; intending, when thatconniving at their disorderly conduct; if (as was frequently was done, to begin a letter to my mother.Suddenly the doorthe case) I happened to be exalting my voice to enforce order, opened, and the dingy head of Mr.Bloomfield looked in.I was using undue violence, and setting the girls a bad ex-  All very quiet here! What are you doing? said he. Noample by such ungentleness of tone and language.harm TO- DAY, at least, thought I.But he was of a differentI remember one afternoon in spring, when, owing to the opinion.Advancing to the window, and seeing the children srain, they could not go out; but, by some amazing good for- occupations, he testily exclaimed  What in the world aretune, they had all finished their lessons, and yet abstained you about?from running down to tease their parents a trick that an-  We re grinding egg-shells, papa! cried Tom.noyed me greatly, but which, on rainy days, I seldom could  How DARE you make such a mess, you little devils? Don tprevent their doing; because, below, they found novelty and you see what confounded work you re making of the carpet?ContentsPurchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD atAnne Bronte.Agnes Grey.http://collegebookshelf.net56 57(the carpet was a plain brown drugget). Miss Grey, did you knees upon the floor, in painsfully reducing things to order.know what they were doing? Once I told them that they should not taste their supper till Yes, sir. they had picked up everything from the carpet; Fanny might You knew it? have hers when she had taken up a certain quantity, Mary Yes. Ann when she had gathered twice as many, and Tom was to You knew it! and you actually sat there and permitted clear away the rest.Wonderful to state, the girls did theirthem to go on without a word of reproof! part; but Tom was in such a fury that he flew upon the table, I didn t think they were doing any harm. scattered the bread and milk about the floor, struck his sisters, Any harm! Why, look there! Just look at that carpet, and kicked the coals out of the coal-pan, attempted to overthrowsee was there ever anything like it in a Christian house the table and chairs, and seemed inclined to make a Douglas-before? No wonder your room is not fit for a pigsty no larder of the whole contents of the room: but I seized uponwonder your pupils are worse than a litter of pigs! no won- him, and, sending Mary Ann to call her mamma, held him,der oh! I declare, it puts me quite past my patience and he in spite of kicks, blows, yells, and execrations, till Mrs.departed, shutting the door after him with a bang that made Bloomfield made her appearance.the children laugh. What is the matter with my boy? said she. It puts me quite past my patience too! muttered I, get- And when the matter was explained to her, all she did wasting up; and, seizing the poker, I dashed it repeatedly into the to send for the nursery-maid to put the room in order, andcinders, and stirred them up with unwonted energy; thus eas- bring Master Bloomfield his supper.ing my irritation under pretence of mending the fire. There now, cried Tom, triumphantly, looking up fromAfter this, Mr.Bloomfield was continually looking in to his viands with his mouth almost too full for speech. Theresee if the schoolroom was in order; and, as the children were now, Miss Grey! you see I ve got my supper in spite of you:continually littering the floor with fragments of toys, sticks, and I haven t picked up a single thing!stones, stubble, leaves, and other rubbish, which I could not The only person in the house who had any real sympathyprevent their bringing, or oblige them to gather up, and which for me was the nurse; for she had suffered like afflictions,the servants refused to  clean after them, I had to spend a though in a smaller degree; as she had not the task of teach-considerable portion of my valuable leisure moments on my ing, nor was she so responsible for the conduct of her charge.ContentsPurchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD atAnne Bronte.Agnes Grey.http://collegebookshelf.net58 59 Oh, Miss Grey! she would say,  you have some troublewith them childer! I have, indeed, Betty; and I daresay you know what it is. Ay, I do so! But I don t vex myself o er  em as you do.And then, you see, I hit  em a slap sometimes: and themlittle  uns I gives  em a good whipping now and then: there snothing else will do for  em, as what they say.Howsoever, I velost my place for it. Have you, Betty? I heard you were going to leave. Eh, bless you, yes! Missis gave me warning a three wikChapter 5.sin.She told me afore Christmas how it mud be, if I hit  emagain; but I couldn t hold my hand off  em at nothing.I knowThe uncle.not how YOU do, for Miss Mary Ann s worse by the half norher sisters!Besides the old lady, there was another relative of the fam-ily, whose visits were a great annoyance to me this was  UncleRobson, Mrs.Bloomfield s brother; a tall, self-sufficient fel-low, with dark hair and sallow complexion like his sister, anose that seemed to disdain the earth, and little grey eyes,frequently half-closed, with a mixture of real stupidity andaffected contempt of all surrounding objects.He was a thick-set, strongly-built man, but he had found some means of com-pressing his waist into a remarkably small compass; and that,together with the unnatural stillness of his form, showed thatthe lofty-minded, manly Mr.Robson, the scorner of the fe-male sex, was not above the foppery of stays.He seldomdeigned to notice me; and, when he did, it was with a certainContentsPurchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD atAnne Bronte.Agnes Grey.http://collegebookshelf [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]