Since Janet's last marriage Maude had taken the entire management of

affairs, and without her there would have been but little comfort or

order in a household whose only servant was old and lazy, and whose

eldest daughter was far too proud to work. This Maude knew, and with

a flush of indignation upon her cheek she replied to her stepfather:

"Very well, sir, I can pay for my board, if you like; but boarders,

you know, never trouble themselves with the affairs of the kitchen."

The doctor was confounded. He knew he could not well dispense with

Maude's services, and it had not before occurred to him that a

housekeeper and boarder were two different persons.

"Ah--yes--just so," said he, "I see I'm laboring under a mistake;

you prefer working for your board--all right," and feeling a good

deal more disconcerted than he ever supposed it possible for him to

feel, he gave up the contest.

Maude was at this time nearly sixteen years of age, and during the

next year she was to all intents and purposes the housekeeper,

discharging faithfully every duty and still finding time to pursue

her own studies and superintend the education of little Louis, to

whom she was indeed a second mother. She was very fond of books, and

while Janet was with them she had with Nellie attended the seminary

at Laurel Hill, where she stood high in all her classes, for

learning was with her a delight, and when at last it seemed

necessary for her to remain at home, she still devoted a portion of

each day to her studies, reciting to a teacher who came regularly to

the house and whom she paid with her own money. By this means she

was at the age of seventeen a far better scholar than Nellie, who

left every care to her stepsister, saying she was just suited to the

kitchen work and the tiresome old books with which she kept her

chamber littered. This chamber to which Nellie referred was Maude's

particular province. Here she reigned joint sovereign with Louis,

who thus early evinced a degree of intellectuality wonderful in one

so young, and who in some things excelled even Maude herself.

Drawing and painting seemed to be his ruling taste, and as Dr.

Kennedy still cherished for his crippled boy a love almost

idolatrous, he spared neither money nor pains to procure for him

everything necessary for his favorite pursuit. Almost the entire day

did Louis pass in what he termed Maude's library, where, poring over

books or busy with his pencil, he whiled the hours away without a

sigh for the green fields and shadowy woods, through which he could

never hope to ramble. And Maude was very proud of her artist

brother--proud of the beautiful boy whose face seemed not to be of

earth, so calm, so angel-like was its expression. All the softer,

gentler virtues of the mother, and all the intellectual qualities of

the father were blended together in the child, who presented a

combination of goodness, talent, beauty, and deformity such as this

is seldom seen. For his sister Maude, Louis possessed a deep,

undying love which neither time nor misfortune could in any way

abate. She was part and portion of himself--his life--his light--his

all, in all--and to his childlike imagination a purer, nobler being

had never been created than his darling sister Maude. And well might

Louis Kennedy love the self-sacrificing girl who devoted herself so

wholly to him, and who well fulfilled her mother's charge, "Care for

my little boy."




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