Yet I got through all very well, till my mother fell sick, and
then I nursed and dressed her, as she lay helpless on the pallet. But if
I live with you, I will learn all your employments, for I am never happy
when I am idle, and my only wish is to be useful."
"There is sterling worth in this rustic hoyden," thought Mrs. Mellicent,
who, in contriving some occupation for so active a mind, recollected
that Mrs. Beaumont's dressing-plate had not been cleaned lately, and
undertook to make Isabel expert in furbishing the delicate filigree. She
called on Constantia to give up the key, it being considered as her
property, who blushed, hesitated, begged not to be questioned on the
subject, and at last owned it was gone.
"Gone! to whom?" "Dear aunt," returned Constantia, stealing a look at
the approving eye of Eustace, "I sent it to the King at York, as the
only contribution in my power. You must not be angry. My father and you
set the example, by parting with all the money and valuables you could
collect, and I thought it a bad excuse that, because I was under age, I
might not send my mite to assist him, so I packed it up with my mother's
jewels, and I am happy to say they got safe to His Majesty.
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