Working in the Shade | Page 7

and on her lips;
for his sister was too old to undertake such a work. His thoughts turned
to Mary Stansfield. He would go and have a talk with the old lady her
aunt about it.
CHAPTER FOUR.

WHAT IS UNSELFISHNESS?
Colonel Dawson took a deep interest both in Miss Stansfield and her
niece. He understood them both, and pitied them both, but for very
different reasons. He pitied the old lady because she was throwing
away her own happiness and crippling her own usefulness. He pitied
her because she was not what she might so easily have been; because
she was storing up vinegar where she might have gathered honey; and
was one of those of whom Dr South says that "they tell the truth, but
tell it with the tongue of a viper." He pitied Mary Stansfield, but with a
pity mingled with profound respect and admiration. He pitied her that
she should have to bear those daily raspings of the spirit which her aunt,
half unconsciously, perpetually inflicted on her. And yet he could not
altogether regret the discipline, when he marked how the trial was daily
burnishing the fine gold of her character. Still, he pitied both, and was a
frequent visitor at Morewood Court, partly because he marked how few
were the friends who cared to stay at the house, and, more still, because
he hoped to be of use in lightening the burden of both aunt and niece.
Colonel Dawson was one of those who love "working in the shade."
Not that he was ashamed or afraid of working in the light, but he was
content to pursue the less attractive and less ornamental paths of
usefulness, which few comparatively cared to follow. And so he had set
himself resolutely and prayerfully to the task of rearranging the
character of one who, he was persuaded, was capable and desirous of
doing good and great things, could she only be got to hold herself at
arm's-length from herself for a little while, and see herself in the glass
of God's Word, and as others saw her. He felt sure that there was good,
practical sense enough in her mind, and grace enough in her heart, to
make her yield to conviction when he should draw her on to see and
acknowledge a better way; and then he knew that, when she should
have been drawn out of the old self into a better self, she would duly
appreciate and love her long-suffering niece. But he was well aware
that the old self would not surrender its throne without a severe struggle,
and he was therefore not surprised to find the old lady's bitterness
rather increase than diminish as through their conversations she was
learning to become more and more dissatisfied with herself.

Her poor niece had to bear in consequence the burden of an increased
irritability in her aunt's addresses to her. But she was greatly cheered
when the colonel took an opportunity of seeing her alone, and assuring
her that, spite of appearances to the contrary, the clouds were beginning
to break, and that light and peace would shortly follow.
It was now the month of June; the school and reading-room at
Bridgepath had got fairly established; the growlers and grumblers had
nearly all of them subsided; and many long-benighted souls were
receiving light with gladness.
"Pray excuse my calling so early," said the colonel, as he took his seat
beside the elder Miss Stansfield, on a bright sunny morning. The
drawing-room window was open, and the ladies were seated on either
side of it--the aunt half reclining on an easy-chair, the other occupying
a low stool, with the open Bible from which she had been reading aloud
on her lap.
Miss Stansfield received her visitor very cordially, but it was plain that
the reading of the Holy Book had not imparted any sunshine to her
spirit, and there were traces of recent tears in her niece's eyes.
The colonel saw this, but made no remark on it. For a few moments he
gazed on the lovely garden, visible through the open window, without
speaking; then he said abruptly, "I was thinking how selfish we
naturally are; those beautiful flowers reminded me of it, and seemed to
reproach me. God gives us such a profusion of colour, and harmonises
it so marvellously to delight us; and yet how ready we are to pick out,
as it were, the sombrest tints in his dealings with us, and to keep our
eyes fixed on them."
Miss Stansfield coloured slightly, and then said, after a pause, during
which her niece did not look up, but nervously moved the leaves of her
Bible, "Yes, I quite agree with you, Colonel Dawson; there is
abundance of selfishness in our days, especially