Aunt Lucinda
still seemed rather to distrust me and, although she said nothing,
I was too sharp-sighted to be ignorant of the scrutinizing watch she
maintained over my conduct. I did not, as many boys of my age would have
done, allow myself to cherish any resentment toward my aunt, on the
contrary I did every thing in my power to gain her goodwill; I never
allowed the water-pails to become empty; I split the kindlings for the
morning fire; and, by the time I had been a few weeks in the family, my
busy aunt found herself freed from many household tasks to which she had
been accustomed for years, and, more than this, I invariably treated her
with the utmost kindness and respect. It happened one evening that my
aunt was suffering from one of the severe headaches to which she was
often subject. After supper she was almost incapable of any exertion
whatever. When it was nearly dark she suddenly remembered that the large
weekly wash had not been brought in from the clothes' yard, and there
was every appearance of approaching rain.
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