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Chapter 08 – Structuring Organizations for Today’s Challenges
8-1
chapter.
Structuring Organizations
for Today’s Challenges
what’s new in this edition 8.3
brief chapter outline and learning objectives 8.5
lecture outline and lecture notes 8.7
PowerPoint slide notes 8.51
lecture enhancers 8.76
lecture enhancer 8-1: SMITH’S FOLLY 8.76
lecture enhancer 8-2: STARBUCKS REINVENTS TO STAY RELEVANT 8.77
lecture enhancer 8-3: INCREASING COLLABORATION WITH BOSSLESS OFFICES 8.77
lecture enhancer 8-4: CHOOSING THE RIGHT SPAN OF CONTROL 8.78
lecture enhancer 8-5: THE MANHATTAN PROJECT 8.79
lecture enhancer 8-6: GREATER EFFICIENCY, FEWER JOBS 8.79
lecture enhancer 8-7: A NEW KIND OF OUTSOURCING 8.80
lecture enhancer 8-8: PIVOTING FROM ONE BUSINESS PLAN TO ANOTHER 8.81
lecture enhancer 8-9: SETTING UP SHOP ON FACEBOOK 8.81
lecture enhancer 8-10: EMPLOYER ICEBREAKING RITUALS 8.82
8

8-2
critical thinking exercises 8.83
critical thinking exercise 8-1: BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION CHART 8.83
critical thinking exercise 8-2: HOW DO ORGANIZATIONS GROUP 8.86
ACTIVITIES?
bonus cases 8.88
bonus case 8-1: STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE: RESPONSIBILITY AND 8.88
ACCOUNTABILITY
bonus case 8-2: CREATING CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS 8.90
bonus case 8-3: OFFICE ALUMNI 8.92

8-3
what’s new in
this edition
additions to the 11th
edition:
 Getting to Know Jenna Lyons of J. Crew
 Name That Company: UPS
 Spotlight on Small Business: Cutting Back While Cutting Costs
 Adapting to Change: When Open Communication is Should Not Be So Open
 Video Case: Whole Foods
revisions to the 11th
edition:
 Making Ethical Decisions: Would You Sacrifice Safety for Profits?
 Statistical data and examples throughout the chapter were updated to reflect current information.
deletions from the 10th
edition:
 Getting to Know Ursula Burns
 Name That Company: K2 Skis
 Spotlight on Small Business
 Social Media in Business

8-4

8-5
brief chapter outline
and learning objectives
CHAPTER 8
STRUCTURING ORGANIZATIONS FOR TODAY’S CHAL-
LENGES
 Getting to Know JENNA LYONS, of J. Crew
 LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1
Outline the basic principles of organization management.
I. EVERYONE’S REORGANIZING
A. Building an Organization from the Bottom Up
Compare the organizational theories of Fayol and Weber.
II. THE CHANGING ORGANIZATION
A. The Development of Organization Design
B. Turning Principles into Organization Design
Evaluate the choices managers make in structuring organizations.
III. DECISIONS TO MAKE IN STRUCTURING ORGANIZATIONS
A. Choosing Centralized or Decentralized Authority
B. Choosing the Appropriate Span of Control
C. Choosing between Tall and Flat Organization Structures
D. Weighing the Advantages and Disadvantages of Departmentalization

8-6
Contrast the various organizational models.
IV. ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS
A. Line Organizations
B. Line-and-Staff Organizations
C. Matrix-Style Organizations
D. Cross-Functional Self-Managed Teams
E. Going Beyond Organizational Boundaries
Identify the benefits of interfirm cooperation and coordination.
V. MANAGING THE INTERACTIONS AMONG FIRMS
A. Transparency and Virtual Organizations
B. Benchmarking and Core Competencies
VI. ADAPTING TO CHANGE
A. Restructuring for Empowerment
Explain how organizational culture can help businesses adapt to
change.
VII. CREATING A CHANGE-ORIENTED ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
A. Managing the Informal Organization
VIII. SUMMARY

8-7
Getting to Know JENNA LYONS of J. CREW
Jenna Lyons combined her fierce fashion sense and compassionate management
style to transform J. Crew into a chic clothing company.
 learning objective 1
Outline the basic principles of organization management.
I. EVERYONE’S REORGANIZING
A. MANY COMPANIES ARE REORGANIZING.
1. The text discusses how Procter & Gamble has
reorganized to become an innovation leader.
2. Other firms are declining—banks, automobile
companies, and home-building companies.
3. ADJUSTING TO CHANGING MARKETS is a
normal function in a capitalist economy.
4. The key to success is to REMAIN FLEXIBLE and
to adapt to the changing times.
5. The text uses the example of Starbucks expand-
ing its menu, then reducing it when customers
were unhappy with the smell.
B. BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION FROM THE BOT-
TOM UP
1. ORGANIZING THE BUSINESS
a. The text uses the example of starting a lawn-
This company maintains strict written rules and decision guidelines. Those rules enable the
firm to deliver packages quickly because employees don't have to pause to make decisions –
procedures are clearly spelled out for them. Name that company.
(Students should read the chapter before guessing the company’s name: UPS.)

8-8
PPT 8-1
Chapter Title
Copyright © 2015 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Structuring
Organizations for
Today’s
Challenges
CHAPTER 8
PPT 8-2
Learning Objectives
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
8-2
1. Outline the basic principles of organization management.
2. Compare the organizational theories of Fayol and Weber.
3. Evaluate the choices managers make in structuring
organizations.
4. Contrast the various organizational models.
5. Identify the benefits of inter-firm cooperation and
coordination.
6. Explain how organizational culture can help businesses
adapt to change.
PPT 8-3
Jenna Lyons
JENNA LYONS
J. Crew
8-3
• Joined J. Crew in 1990 as a junior
designer.
• Worked her way up the ladder by
emphasizing her commitment to
quality.
• Her management style is
compassionate and understanding.
PPT 8-4
Name That Company
NAME that COMPANY
8-4
This company maintains strict written rules and
decision guidelines. Those rules enable the firm
to deliver packages quickly because employees
don’t have to pause to make decisions –
procedures are clearly spelled out for them.
Name that company!
(See complete PowerPoint slide notes on page 8.51.)
PPT 8-5
Reorganization Is for Everyone
REORGANIZATION is for
EVERYONE
8-5
• Adjusting to changing markets is normal in capitalist
economies.
• Companies must go back to basic organizational
principles and firm up the foundation.
LO 8-1
• Many companies are reorganizing, especially those
in decline. Including:
- Auto makers
- Homebuilders
- Banks
lecture enhancer 8-1
SMITH’S FOLLY
A lesson in accountability from Kenneth Olsen, founder of Digi-
tal Equipment Corporation (now part of Hewlett-Packard). (See
the complete lecture enhancer on page 8.76 of this manual.)
STARBUCKS REINVENTS TO STAY
RELEVANT
Some of Starbucks’ recent actions caused some to wonder if it’s
a dying company. (See the complete lecture enhancer on page
8.77 of this manual.)

8-9
mowing business.
b. A first step is ORGANIZING (or STRUC-
TURING), deciding what work needs to be
done and then dividing up tasks (called DI-
VISION OF LABOR).
c. Dividing tasks into smaller jobs is called JOB
SPECIALIZATION.
2. As the business grows, the entrepreneur will hire
more workers and will need to organize them in-
to teams or departments.
a. The process of setting up departments to do
specialized tasks is called DEPARTMEN-
TALIZATION.
b. Finally, you need to ASSIGN AUTHORITY
AND RESPONSIBILITY to people so you
can control the process.
3. STRUCTURING AN ORGANIZATION consists
of:
a. Devising a division of labor
b. Setting up teams or departments to do spe-
cific tasks
c. Assigning responsibility and authority to
people
4. An ORGANIZATION CHART shows relation-
ships—who is accountable for tasks and who
reports to whom.
5. The entrepreneur must monitor the environment
to see what competitors are doing and what cus-

8-10
INCREASING COLLABORATION
WITH BOSSLESS OFFICES
In this company, tasks are determined and divided by the em-
ployees. (See the complete lecture enhancer on page 8.77 of
this manual.)
bonus case 8-1
STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE:
RESPONSIBILITY AND
ACCOUNTABILITY
Because of engineering errors and poor planning, the skywalks
of a newly constructed hotel collapsed, killing over 100 peo-
ple. (See the complete case, discussion questions, and suggest-
ed answers beginning on page 8.88 of this manual.)
PPT 8-6
Structuring an Organization
STRUCTURING an ORGANIZATION
8-6
LO 8-1
• Create a division of labor
• Set up teams or departments
• Allocate resources
• Assign tasks
• Establish procedures
• Adjust to new realities
critical thinking
exercise 8-1
BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION
CHART
This exercise gives a list of employees and asks students to
create an organization chart showing a possible chain of com-
mand. (See the complete exercise on page 8.83 of this manu-
al.)
MAKING
ethical
decisions
PPT 8-7
Would You
Sacrifice Safety
for Profits?
WOULD YOU SACRIFICE
SAFETY for PROFITS?
• What do you do?
• Save money with less
safety precautions?
• What are the
consequences?
8-7
You own a lawn-mowing business and are aware of
the hazards in the job. But you’ve seen other
companies save money by eliminating safety
equipment. You’d also like to make more money.

8-11
tomers are demanding.
Compare the organizational theories of Fayol and Weber.
II. THE CHANGING ORGANIZATION
A. Never before has business changed so quickly, in-
cluding major changes in the business environment.
1. Managing change has become a critical mana-
gerial function.
2. In the past, organizations were designed to
make management easier rather than to please
the customer.
3. This reliance on rules is called BUREAUCRA-
CY.
B. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZATION DE-
SIGN
1. Until the 20th century, organizations were small
and organized simply.
a. After the introduction of MASS PRODUC-
TION, business organizations grew complex
and difficult to manage.
b. The bigger the plant, the more efficient pro-
duction became.
c. ECONOMIES OF SCALE describes the sit-
uation in which companies can reduce their
production costs if they can purchase raw
materials in bulk; the average cost of goods

8-12
PPT 8-8
The Changing Organization
THE CHANGING ORGANIZATION
8-8
LO 8-2
• Often change in organizations is due to evolving
business environments:
- More global competition
- Declining economy
- Faster technological change
- Pressure to protect the environment
• Customer expectations have also changed --
Consumers today want high-quality products with
fast, friendly service and all at low cost.
PPT 8-9
How Much Changes in a Decade?
HOW MUCH CHANGES
in a DECADE?
8-9
What? 2000 2010
Amount of cell phone use 34% 89%
Number of active blogs 12,000 141,000,000
Amount of reality shows 4 320
Daily emails sent 12 billion 247 billion
Number of hours spent online per week 2.7 18
Number of daily newspapers 1,480 1,302
Number of daily letters mailed 207 billion 175 billion
Amount of books published 282,242 1,052,803
iTunes downloads 0 10 billion
Percentage of obese Americans 26% 34%
LO 8-2
Source: Fast Company, www.fastcompany.com, accessed March 2014.
PPT 8-10
Production Changed Organization
Design
• Mass production of goods led to complexities in
organizing businesses.
PRODUCTION CHANGED
ORGANZIATION DESIGN
8-10
LO 8-2
• Economies of Scale --
Companies can reduce
their production costs by
purchasing raw materials
in bulk.
• The average cost of
goods decreases as
production levels rise.

8-13
goes down as production levels increase.
2. The text discusses two major ORGANIZATION
THEORISTS and their publications.
a. HENRI FAYOL (Administration Industrielle
et Generale in France in 1919)
b. MAX WEBER (The Theory of Social and
Economic Organizations in Germany about
the same time)
3. FAYOL’S PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION
a. Fayol introduced principles such as:
i. UNITY OF COMMAND: Each worker is
to report to only one boss.
ii. HIERARCHY OF AUTHORITY: One
should know to whom to report.
iii. DIVISION OF LABOR: Functions should
be divided into areas of specialization.
iv. SUBORDINATION OF INDIVIDUAL IN-
TERESTS TO THE GENERAL INTER-
ESTS: Goals of the organization should
be considered more important than per-
sonal goals.
v. AUTHORITY: Managers should give or-
ders and expect them to be carried out.
vi. DEGREE OF CENTRALIZATION: The
amount of decision-making power vested
in top management should vary by cir-
cumstances.

8-14
PPT 8-11
Fayol’s Principles
FAYOL’S PRINCIPLES
• Degree of
centralization
• Clear communication
channels
• Order
• Equity
• Esprit de corps
8-11
LO 8-2
• Unity of command
• Hierarchy of authority
• Division of labor
• Subordination of
individual interests to
the general interest
• Authority

8-15
vii. CLEAR COMMUNICATION CHAN-
NELS
viii. ORDER: Materials and people should be
placed in the proper location.
ix. EQUITY: A manager should treat em-
ployees and peers with respect and jus-
tice.
x. ESPRIT DE CORPS: A spirit of pride
and loyalty should be created.
b. For years, these principles have been linked
to management.
c. This led to RIGID ORGANIZATIONS.
d. The text uses the example of consumer dis-
satisfaction with government-run DMVs.
4. MAX WEBER AND ORGANIZATIONAL THE-
ORY
a. Max Weber’s book The Theory of Social and
Economic Organizations appeared in the
U.S. in the 1940s.
b. Weber promoted the PYRAMID-SHAPED
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE.
i. Weber put great trust in managers and
felt the less decision making employees
had to do, the better.
ii. This approach makes sense when deal-
ing with uneducated and untrained
workers.

8-16
PPT 8-12
Organizations Based on Fayol’s
Principles
ORGANIZATIONS BASED on
FAYOL’S PRINCIPLES
8-12
LO 8-2
• Organizations in which
employees have no more
than one boss; lines of
authority are clear.
• Rigid organizations that often
don’t respond to customers
quickly.
PPT 8-13
Weber’s Principles
WEBER’S PRINCIPLES
8-13
LO 8-2
• Employees just need to do what
they’re told.
• In addition to Fayol’s principles,
Weber emphasized:
- Job descriptions
- Written rules, decision guidelines
and detailed records
- Consistent procedures,
regulations and policies
- Stafﬁng and promotion based on
qualiﬁcations

8-17
c. WEBER’S PRINCIPLES were similar to
Fayol’s with the addition of:
i. Job descriptions
ii. Written rules, decision guidelines, and
detailed records
iii. Consistent procedures, regulations, and
policies
iv. Staffing and promotions based on quali-
fications
d. Weber believed large organizations need
clearly established rules and guidelines, or
BUREAUCRACY.
e. Weber’s emphasis on bureaucracy eventual-
ly led to RIGID POLICIES AND PROCE-
DURES.
f. Some organizations today, such as UPS, still
thrive on rules and guidelines.
g. In other organizations, bureaucracy has not
been effective.
C. TURNING PRINCIPLES INTO ORGANIZATION
DESIGN
1. Managers used the concepts of Fayol and We-
ber to design organizations so that managers
could CONTROL WORKERS.
a. A HIERARCHY is a system in which one
person is at the top of the organization and
there is a ranked or sequential ordering from
the top down of managers who are respon-
sible to that person.

8-18
PPT 8-14
Hierarchies and Command
HIERARCHIES and COMMAND
8-14
LO 8-2
• When following Fayol and Weber, managers
control workers.
• Hierarchy -- A system in which one person is at the
top of an organization and there is a ranked or
sequential ordering from the top down.
• Chain of Command -- The line of authority that
moves from the top of the hierarchy to the lowest
level.

8-19
b. The CHAIN OF COMMAND is the line of au-
thority that moves from the top of a hierarchy
to the lowest level.
c. The ORGANIZATION CHART is a visual
device that shows relationships among peo-
ple and divides work.
d. Some organizations have a dozen LAYERS
OF MANAGEMENT between the chief ex-
ecutive officer and the lowest-level employ-
ee.
2. BUREAUCRACY is an organization with many
layers of managers who set rules and regula-
tions and oversee all decisions.
3. In a bureaucracy, decision making may take too
long to satisfy customers.
4. To make customers happy, firms are reorganiz-
ing to give employees more power to make de-
cisions on their own, known as EMPOWER-
MENT.
Evaluate the choices managers make in structuring organizations.
III. DECISIONS TO MAKE IN STRUCTURING OR-
GANIZATIONS
A. CHOOSING CENTRALIZED OR DECENTRALIZED
AUTHORITY
1. CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY is an organizing
structure in which decision-making authority is

8-20
PPT 8-15
Organizational Charts
ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS
7-15
LO 8-2
• Organization Chart --
A visual device that
shows relationships
among people and
divides the organization’s
work; it shows who
reports to whom.
PPT 8-16
Typical Organization Chart
TEXT FIGURE 8.1
Typical Organization Chart
TYPICAL ORGANIZATION CHART
8-16
LO 8-2
PPT 8-17
Bureaucratic Organizations
BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS
8-17
LO 8-2
• Bureaucracy -- An organization with many layers of
managers who set rules and regulations and oversee
all decisions.
• It can take weeks or months to have information
passed down to lower-level employees.
• Bureaucracies can annoy customers.
test
prep
PPT 8-18
Progress Assessment
TEST PREP
8-18
• What do the terms division of labor and job
specialization mean?
• What are the principles of management outlined
by Fayol?
• What did Weber add to the principles of Fayol?

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The dance was ended, and the room nearly deserted, before my
partner left me. As the door closed on the last guest, Josephine
threw herself into an easy-chair, exclaiming:
"I'm tired to death! I thought they would never go."
"Tired! I could dance till noon," I cried. "It's a positive punishment to
go to bed. Good night," and I ran upstairs.
It was one thing to go to bed, and another thing to go to sleep—one
thing to shut my eyes, but quite another thing to shut out the
pageantry of fancy that the darkness did not quench. Conjecture,
hope, anticipation, longing, made wild work in my brain that night.
Everything was too new, and strange, and dazzling, to yield at once
to the control of reason. The curtain had risen upon too brilliant a
scene to fade from my imagination, even after it had fallen. New
faces, snatches of music, conversations, danced through my mind;
but above all other sensations, a new sense of injustice and
resentment made itself felt, and defiance took the place of the
unquestioning submission I had rendered before. This was the thorn
in my new crown of roses that took away from it its simplicity, its
unalloyed beauty, and, perhaps, its innocence.
CHAPTER XXI.
"Who pleasure follows pleasure slays;
God's wrath upon himself he wreaks;
But all delights rejoice his days
Who takes with thanks, yet never seeks."
COVENTRY PATMORE.

Two days after this, I was surprised by the appearance on my plate,
at breakfast, of two notes. The first proved to be an invitation for a
party from a Mrs. Humphrey, cards for which Mrs. and Miss Churchill
had received a week ago.
"Well!" exclaimed Josephine, unceremoniously, "I wonder what
inspired Mrs. Humphrey to send you an invitation."
"It would be difficult to say," I returned, taking up the second.
"Certainly no suggestion from you."
"Alps on Alps!" exclaimed Grace, looking over my shoulder. "Tickets
for the Charity Ball! What next?"
"What, indeed," I said. "John, some more sugar in my coffee, if you
please."
"Really, you don't seem much excited by your invitations. I suppose
you don't intend to accept them?"
"Accept them!" echoed Josephine. "What an idea! It would be
perfectly absurd to think of it, when it's understood that she's not
out yet."
"I think I'll risk that," I answered, decidedly. "If Aunt Edith has no
objection, I will avail myself of any invitations that I may receive for
the next ten days. After that, Lent, you know, will decide the matter
for us all."
"You must follow the dictates of your own judgment," returned my
aunt, coldly. "Staying at home was your own choice, going out is at
your own option."
"I know, dear aunt," I replied, with unaltered sang froid, "that you
would do anything to indulge me in anything reasonable, and as I
have quite set my heart upon this, I am sure you will not make any
objection to it. You are the last person to put anything in the way of
my pleasure and advantage."

"Pleasure and advantage are not always synonymous terms, my
dear. What you might be pleased to consider pleasure, I might look
upon as anything but advantageous, you know."
"Oh! we shall not differ as to that, I fancy. You cannot be more
careful of me than of Josephine, and she has certainly tested pretty
thoroughly the merits of the question. I should not think of going
out as she does, to two or three parties of an evening, and spending
the intervening hours of daylight in bed; but just three or four balls
before the season closes, to see what it's all like, I really must enjoy,
with your permission."
"Or without it," muttered Josephine. "You have enough aplomb to
sustain you in that or any other impertinence you might undertake."
"Josephine," said her mother, sternly, "you forget yourself. My dear,"
to me, "you know I shall put no obstacle in the way of your
enjoyment. You have my full permission to do as you think best."
"Thank you," I answered; "and I have the greatest desire to go to
one of these mammoth charity balls. How lucky that it comes to-
night, and that Mrs. Humphrey's is to-morrow, so that I can go to
both."
"In what, if I may ask," said Grace, "do you propose appearing?"
"That's a question, I fancy, that has not occurred to our young
friend," remarked Josephine.
"It's easily enough settled," I answered. "White muslin, 'with
variations,' will be a sufficient toilette for me, you know."
"You'll excuse me for saying, that I think it is a matter of very little
moment to any one but yourself," said she, with a laugh, as she rose
from the table.
"Don't be spiteful, Joseph," said Grace, the only error of whose
tactics was, that she could not confine herself to any one side in an
encounter, and could not resist administering a blow on any exposed
cranium, indiscriminately of friend or foe—"don't be spiteful, Joseph.

She couldn't help taking off Victor, you know. It was trying, to be
sure, but then it left you more time for 'the substantials.'"
Josephine, pressing her lips together, darted a threatening look at
her sister, who, with a pleasant little nod, slipped through the folding
doors and vanished.
"May I speak to you a moment?" I said, following Mrs. Churchill into
the butler's pantry.
"Certainly," she answered, in a tone that did not invite confidence.
I had followed my aunt to say two things to her: the first was about
myself, the second was about Esther. I had meant to say that if she
really thought I was doing an unwise thing in going to these balls, I
was willing to give them up. Conscience had made a suggestion or
two that morning, and I was not yet careless about its admonitions.
A kind word of advice, a look of motherly reluctance to deny me
pleasure, and yet of motherly solicitude for my good, would have
settled the doubt, and put me in the right way. But the tone in which
she said "certainly," and proceeded to fit the key into the wine-
closet, without so much as a look toward me, roused all the evil in
my heart.
"You will never be troubled with any of my repentances," I thought,
angrily; and then, in a tone that I suppose took its color from my
thoughts, I said:
"I came to say, Aunt Edith, that perhaps you are not aware how
much it irritates Essie to have Félicie take care of her. Félicie doesn't
seem to have a pleasant way with her, and now she is confined to
the nursery, she is continually fretted and unhappy. I find her more
feverish every time I go upstairs, and I thought perhaps if you were
willing to let Frances sit up there instead, she would amuse and
keep her quiet better. She seems to like Frances."
Mrs. Churchill turned around and regarded me attentively for a
moment, then said:

"I am sorry that your own good sense did not teach you the
impropriety of such an interference as this, and that I am obliged to
remind you of our relative positions, before you can understand how
much such a thing as this offends me. The management of the
household is my province, and any interference or advice concerning
it I reject decidedly. If Esther is peevish and ill-tempered, I certainly
hope Félicie will be strict with her. I have no intention of humoring
her caprices, or disarranging the family to suit her whims. You may
dismiss the subject from your mind entirely."
I bowed and left the room, with what bitter and resentful feelings it
is easy to imagine. When Essie came crying to the door of my room,
half an hour after, I sent her away; I was busy, she must not come
in, and though her miserable face haunted me, I stubbornly put back
the counsel that it gave me. I had been told not to interfere, and I
would obey. All day I did not interfere—all day the evil spirit ruled,
and I heard, without a remonstrance, the storm from the nursery,
which, however, gradually subsided as the day advanced. I had
enough employment, meantime, to keep down conscience; there
was a flounce of my white dress to be repaired, and the blue bows
to be made before evening. Mr. Waschlager did not come; Mr.
Olman, poor man, had been ill for a week, and to-morrow was Miss
Berteau's day, so there was nothing of duty to fill up the hours that
would have hung heavily if it had not been for the anticipations of,
and preparations for, the evening,
I turned the key of my door on Grace, and the key of my heart on
poor little Essie, and toward evening threw myself into a chair by the
fire, and read the latest number of "The Newcomes." And who ever
read Thackeray without feeling the greatest longing to see the world
which he decries? Who ever laid down a volume of his without a
more eager thirst for the pomps and vanities than they had ever felt
before? Who wouldn't have been Ethel, "with all swelldom at her
feet," even if she did cheat herself of her happiness, and stored up
sorrow for the heavy years to come? Who could have the heart to
say that Pen, in his zenith, wasn't to be envied? or that George
Osborne wasn't a good fellow? I, for one, never felt any less

attracted toward them because Mr. Thackeray, after spending on
them the finest colors on his pallet, tells us they are not to be
approved after all, and that they are not in the right way, and that
they have any amount of discipline to go through before they are
perfected. I always felt inclined to "skip" the discipline; the natural
man was the genuine one—the improvement wasn't spicy. So, on
this occasion, I read on, fascinated, till twilight's gradual fingers stole
between me and the page, and I reluctantly gave it up, and
dreamed on about the story till the dinner bell rang.
Then I started up, struck with a feeling of remorse that Essie had
missed her accustomed twilight story for the first time this winter. I
smoothed my hair and hurried into the nursery. Silence reigned
there; Félicie sat by the dim light, quietly pursuing her work. I asked
for Essie, and she rather sullenly pointed to the bed. It was unusual
for her to sleep at this hour; indeed at all hours she was a light
sleeper, and I had never before known her to be willing to lie down
even in the daytime, so it was with some surprise that, on stooping
down, I saw she was sleeping, and sleeping heavily.
"Why does she sleep so soundly, Félicie?" I said, looking up.
"Because she's sleepy, I suppose, mademoiselle," she answered,
rather shortly.
It was not worth while being angry with the woman, and indeed I
did not feel like resenting any impertinence to myself, as I looked
down at the quiet face of the little girl. Asleep, and free from the
haggard, restless expression that her features ordinarily wore, she
was almost pretty, almost child-like, but even in sleep there was a
weary look about her that was pitiful. "Poor little mite," I murmured,
"I've been unkind to you all day. Why won't you wake up and kiss
me?"
But she did not wake; and when, in the selfishness of my self-
reproach, I lifted her up and kissed her, in the hope that it would
rouse her, the little arms fell down, limp and lifeless, and the little
head sunk heavily back on the pillow, and she slept on unmoved. My

interference in the morning had not been without its effect; as I left
by one door, my aunt entered by another. She had been up twice
since morning, and I could see she was uneasy; but, looking down
at the child, I heard her say, in a tone of relief:
"Ah! she's sleeping nicely now!" and the voice of Félicie responded
blandly. I think it was a load off her mind, for at dinner she was
unusually affable.
Phil and Captain McGuffy were dining with us, and were to
accompany us in the evening. The captain was extremely gracious to
me; and as on former occasions he had appeared as nearly
unconscious of my presence as was possible, I simply concluded that
the sagacious captain was like the rest of the world, and was better
satisfied to trust looking through his neighbors' glasses than through
his own.
"Ever so many people," he said to me, as the soup was being
removed (the captain rarely conversed much while there was
anything engrossing on the table), "ever so many people have asked
me about sending you invitations, and I've told 'em by all means; for
you certainly were going out."
"Why didn't you remind them of Grace and Esther, and let them have
the whole of the nursery, while they were about it?" asked
Josephine, scornfully.
"Grace can speak for herself," said that young person, tartly. "You
may tell them, if they ask anything about me," she continued,
turning to the captain, "that they needn't look for my début till
Josephine is disposed of, and I am, par excellence, Miss Churchill."
"Then," said the captain, gallantly, "you will not have a long time to
wait, if what they say is true. I hear it hinted, Miss Josephine, that
since Mr. Rutledge came from abroad this last time, he is quite
changed, softened, you know, and made rather a society man; and
they do say that his friends in Gramercy Square have something to
do with it."
"I can't imagine how," said Josephine, all smiles and blushes.

"If Joseph knew when she was well off," interposed Grace, who
loved to damp her sister's triumphs, "she wouldn't blush; she doesn't
look well; she grows mahogany color, doesn't she Phil. Why, you're
blushing too! What's the matter with everybody?"
"Everybody is blushing at your rudeness," said Mrs. Churchill,
gravely. "I am sorry to be obliged to reprove you at the table; but I
assure you, if you are not more careful"——
"Oh, mamma! you've always said it wasn't polite to deliver a
reprimand in company; don't break through your rule. I won't say
another word about blushing. Let's talk of something pleasanter. So,"
she continued, turning to the captain, "they really say Mr. Rutledge
wants to marry Josephine?"
"Grace, leave the table," said her mother, concisely, but in a tone
there was no mistaking, and which fell on the ears of the startled
company with uncomfortable clearness, and on none more
unexpectedly than on those of the young delinquent herself, who
had never been so unequivocally disgraced before. She had trusted
greatly to her mother's partiality and her own acuteness in warding
off reproof, and this took her quite by surprise. She had not
calculated the dangerous nature of the ground she was treading on,
nor the decision of her mother's character when once roused, and so
this edict came upon her like a clap of thunder. She was
constitutionally incapable of blushing, or of looking confused, but
she approached on this occasion more nearly to a state of
embarrassment than I had ever supposed she could; but recovering
herself in a moment, she deliberately folded her napkin and put it on
the table, pushed back her chair, made a low courtesy, and saying,
"Bon soir, mesdames; bon soir, messieurs," retreated in good order.
Rather an awkward pause ensued upon her exit; but it was soon
broken by Mrs. Churchill's half laughing apology for her pertness,
and Josephine was too much delighted with her adversary's
discomfiture to be long silent. And she almost forgot to be spiteful to
me, too, in the triumph of her acknowledged conquest. Even the
dreaded task of dressing and preparing for the ball was

accomplished without half of its accustomed drawbacks. Grace
wisely kept out of sight, and Frances was less fluttering and timid
than usual, so that at nine o'clock we all mustered in the parlor with
comparatively undisturbed tempers.
I had left Esther still asleep when I came down. Félicie had
undressed her and put her back in bed without arousing her. "You'd
hardly let me go so quietly if you were awake, I think," I said to
myself, as I bent down to kiss her.
I found myself much more excited than I meant to be, as the
carriage drew near the Academy of Music. My excitement, however,
had time enough to cool, for carriages choked the streets on every
hand, and it was the work of half an hour to effect an entrance. The
steps were crowded, the lobbies were crowded, the cloak-room was
a hopeless crush, but the full sense of bewilderment did not
overcome me, till following the captain and Mrs. Churchill, we
ascended another pair of stairs, and passing through a side door,
stood looking down upon the magnificent scene below. The captain
said he had never seen anything finer in this country, so I felt at
liberty to be enchanted with it. The decorations and lights were
brilliant, the music delightful, and the sight of so many thousands of
gaily-dressed people crowding the boxes, the passages, the floor,
could not fail to excite the enthusiasm of one so new to such scenes
as I was. To Josephine, on the other hand, the ball seemed by no
means a wholly rapturous affair. A ruthless foot had trodden on her
dress, and torn the lowest flounce; Phil was out of humor, and
refused to be devoted; the captain had his hands full with mamma,
and Josephine searched in vain among the crowd for the one or
ones she wanted. We were in a private box, and too far from the
floor to recognize the dancers easily, and by some neglect, the
opera-glasses had been left in the carriage. Josephine was
unspeakably annoyed. They might as well be looking out of the
third-story window at home, she declared. For me, the scene was
enough for the present, without any nearer interest in it. If I could
have been further forward, it would have been pleasure enough to

me to have looked on, but my aunt and cousin occupying the front
of the box, left me no view of the house, but over their heads.
By and by, however, the door of the box opened, and Mr. Rutledge
entered. He had exchanged a few words with me before Josephine
saw him; her face lighted up instantly, and after a cordial welcome
from mamma, a place was made for him in front. This, however, he
declined to occupy, as the captain had been on the ground before
him, and was better entitled to the position. He had an opera-glass,
which he handed to Josephine, and good humor was partially
restored. The captain availed himself of the front seat, and criticised
the dancers for madame's benefit; Phil stood behind his cousin's
chair, and Mr. Rutledge was left to me. I knew this arrangement did
not suit; I knew my aunt was hearing very little of the captain's
commentary; I knew that Josephine, but for Phil's jealous
watchfulness, would have paid much more heed to Mr. Rutledge's
low conversation with me, than to her desired opera-glass. I
remembered, but too vividly, the conversation at dinner; and though
I struggled hard with my pride and my timidity, the words died on
my lips, my answers were hesitating and reserved, and for the most
part, insincere; I said the very things that, the next moment, I would
have given worlds to have unsaid; I felt that every word was
estranging us more hopelessly, and yet there seemed a spell upon us
—I could not be myself. The questions I had meant to ask him, if I
should ever have a chance, the sentences of which I had said to
myself a hundred times, I could now no more have uttered than if
they had been in an unknown tongue.
When he spoke of Rutledge, the blood that always flashed into my
face at the name, now rushed to my heart, and left me paler and
more listless than before. If my manner wore any change while he
talked of his return there in a few days, and of my friends, Kitty and
Stephen, Madge and Tigre, it was an increased indifference and
coldness. I said no more than "yes" when he asked me if I still
remembered them with interest, and "I don't know exactly," when
he asked what message he should take to them from me. Then he
changed the subject, and with his accustomed way of reading my

face while he talked, he asked me about my impressions of society.
Which was most to my taste now, city or country?
"I don't know exactly," I said, hesitatingly.
"I think I know," he said, with a laugh that nettled me, low and
pleasant as it was. "I think there is small doubt about your
preferences just now. You acknowledge my wisdom at last, do you
not? You see it was best for you to come to the city?"
"Yes," I said, lifting my eyes for a moment. "You were very right. I
ought to thank you very much for your advice."
"My dear," said my aunt, leaning toward us, "you cannot see at all
there. You must take my place for a little while, I insist upon it."
The captain rose with great empressement, and insisted upon my
accepting his seat, and in the midst of the confusion consequent
upon this change, the door of the box opened again, and Mr. Viennet
entered. Mr. Rutledge was placing a chair for me as I looked up and
recognized the new comer. The chilled and frightened blood that had
crept fluttering round my heart, at this moment rushed into my face,
and burned guiltily in my cheeks, as I caught Mr. Rutledge's eye. Mr.
Viennet, after a moment devoted to salutation, inquiry and
compliment, entered a protest against our remaining any longer in
such a detestable corner, pronouncing it detestable, in his charming
little French way. No one could get at us; he had only found us by
the merest chance. We must come downstairs—everybody was on
the floor—everybody was dancing. He assured madame it was
perfectly convenable; it was spoiling the pleasure of too many to
hide ourselves any longer.
This met Josephine's views exactly, and she importuned "mamma"
very prettily to yield. "Mamma" looked doubtingly for a moment at
Mr. Rutledge, who responded to the look by saying that he really
thought her strict ideas of propriety might allow this liberty without
suffering any outrage. It was something new for New York, but
these balls had taken very well, and the best people attended them,
not only as spectators, but as participators. As for dancing, he said,

with a slight shrug, he rather wondered at any lady's liking such an
exhibition; but a promenade on the floor for half an hour or so, he
really should think we would find more entertaining than remaining
in our box.
This partly settled the wavering in Mrs. Churchill's mind, and with a
dainty sort of reluctance, she gave her consent to our going on the
floor for a little while.
"Cheek by jowl with Tom, Dick and Harry," muttered Phil, giving his
arm to Josephine, who took it with but indifferent grace, and bit her
lip in annoyance, as, standing nearest the door, Mr. Rutledge and Mr.
Viennet at the same moment offered me an arm. Can any girl
understand the impulse that made me accept Mr. Viennet's? No man
possibly can; my only hope of comprehension is from my own
incomprehensible, perverse, self-torturing sex.
Once on the floor, it was hardly to be expected that we could obey
my aunt's injunction to keep together, and within sight of her. In five
minutes her ermine and diamonds, and the captain's moustache and
epaulettes, were, though very dear, of course, to memory, utterly
lost to sight, and Paul and Virginia were not more romantically alone
than were we, in that vast human wilderness. It was a very amusing
and nice thing to be lost. For half an hour we searched for our party,
though not, it must be confessed, as if our whole happiness in life
depended on our success, but no trace of them could be discovered.
"We must amuse ourselves alors, mademoiselle, and let them look
for us," said my companion. "Was there ever such a waltz before?
You cannot resist it any longer, I know you cannot."
Perhaps I might have resisted it, as well as his eloquent pleading, if,
raising my eyes at this moment to the boxes we had occupied, I had
not caught sight of Josephine and Mr. Rutledge, who had returned
there, evidently much more interested in each other than in anything
below them.
"I'll dance once," I said, and in a moment his arm was on my waist,
and we were floating along the elastic floor to such music as the

fairies dance to, on soft summer nights, with the blue vault of
heaven above their heads, and the green sward beneath their feet,
and all wild ecstatic and untamed rapture thrilling in their elfin
bosoms.
Conscience was drugged that night; self-will and pride, self-
appointed regents, were holding sway as only usurpers can; and the
glowing hours fled away without record or remorse.
"N'importe," murmured my companion, when I suggested a doubt,
and n'importe I allowed it to be, as, whirling giddily from end to end
of the vast area, or sauntering slowly through the gradually
lessening crowd, we let the minutes slip away into hours. It was
rather a startling recall to stern reality, when, at one end of the hall,
suddenly encountering Phil, he laid a heavy hand on my partner's
arm, exclaiming:
"Victor, my boy, if you've any mercy on that unlucky girl, come this
way. There is such a scolding in store for her as she never had
before. The carriage has been waiting an hour, and the captain and
I, being detailed for the detective service, have pursued you
faithfully, but you have eluded us most skillfully, I'll do you the
justice to say! And Mr. Rutledge and the ladies have watched you
from upstairs, and said—well, we won't say what pretty things."
"Extraordinary!" exclaimed Victor. "Why, we have been hunting for
you till we were entirely discouraged, disheartened, in despair!"
"Ah, well!" exclaimed Phil, with a laugh, leading the way. "I only
hope you'll be able to make Mrs. Churchill believe it. It's my duty to
prepare you for the worst, however."
"And our duty to be brave," said my comrade. "And fortune favors
such, they tell us, mademoiselle."
Certainly I could not feel otherwise than grateful to my protector for
his ingenious and powerful defence, as we appeared before the
offended group at the door of the cloakroom. Though my aunt
received it politely, I well knew the wrath that her knit brow
portended, and Josephine's look of contempt was unmistakable. Mr.

Rutledge had his visor down; no earthly intelligence could discover
anything of his emotions through that impassive exterior. Even the
captain was irritated; Phil was neutral, but Victor was my only friend.
"Good night," he whispered, as he put me into the carriage. "We'll
finish that redowa at Mrs. Humphrey's to-morrow night."
I wished, with all my heart, it was to-morrow night, and all that I
foresaw must intervene, safely past. The scolding was not to come
before morning, I saw at once, and when my aunt, on our arrival at
home, dismissed me to my room, it was with a cold, "I wish to have
a few minutes' conversation with you after breakfast to-morrow."
With that dread before me—with a guilty sense of wrong-doing, and
a bitter sense of shame, a humbled condemnation of myself, and an
angry resentment toward others, the restless hours of that night
offered anything but repose, anything but pleasant retrospect or
anticipation.
CHAPTER XXII.
"And if some tones be false or low,
What are all prayers beneath
But cries of babes, that cannot know
Half the deep thought they breathe?"
KEBLE.
Mrs. Churchill understood, if ever any did, the art of reprimand.
Without the least appearance of agitation herself, with a perfectly
unmoved and stony composure, she managed to overawe and
disarm the prisoner at the bar, whatever might be his or her offence,
or shade or degree of guilt. Defence died on my lips at the dreaded
interview, and I bore my sentence in silence, which was, a total
seclusion from society after to-night—a return to the oblivion of the

nursery and study. This ball at Mrs. Humphrey's was to be my last
appearance in public till I should have learned how to behave myself.
As I had accepted, it was proper I should go to-night, otherwise she
would no means have allowed it.
"Nous verrons," I said to myself, as I went upstairs. "If I continue to
want to go to parties, no doubt she will have to let me go. I am a
fraction too old to be put in a dark closet, or sent to bed for being
naughty, and Aunt Edith knows it."
That Wednesday was a very busy day to Mrs. Churchill and
Josephine. A wedding reception took up the morning, from which
they returned but to dress for a dinner at the Wynkars, and thence
returning, made a hurried toilette for the ball. It seemed making
rather a toil of pleasure, if one might judge from my aunt's haggard
looks, and Josephine's impatient complaints.
There was an anxious contraction on Mrs. Churchill's brow as she
came down from the nursery after breakfast, and apparently a
struggle in her mind between home duties and social duties, when it
became necessary for her to decide about going out. That she
sincerely believed in the stringent nature of both, no one could
doubt who watched her closely. It was not pleasure that took her
away from little Essie that morning; it was a mistaken sense of duty.
She had set up for her worship an idol, in whose hard service she
had unconsciously come to sacrifice time, ease, and affection, as
stoically as many have suffered in a cause whose reward is not
altogether seen and ended in this world.
So it was, that, trying to make up for her absence by many
injunctions and cautions to those left in charge, she turned her back
upon the child for the greater part of the day.
"I hoped," said she, as she paused at the nursery door, in her
rustling silk and heavy India shawl, "I hoped that the doctor would
have come before I went out, but I really do not see but what you
can do as well as I can, Félicie. Pay particular attention to his
directions, and send John out immediately for any prescription he

may leave for her. And be sure you tell him just how she was
yesterday, and how well she slept last night. I don't like," she
continued, taking off one glove to feel again of the child's hot
forehead, "her having fever again this morning. I thought yesterday
she was so much better."
"Oh, madam is too anxious. It is nothing but a little excitement that
has brought it on again," said the nurse. "If madam would tell
Mademoiselle Esther how very naughty it is for her to cry to go into
her cousin's room, and fret and strike me when I try to keep her
quiet, perhaps she might mind better. It is that that brings her fever
on, madam, I am afraid."
"Now, Esther," said her mother, with authority, "I shall have to
punish you if you do so any more. I shall be very angry if you do not
mind Félicie to-day, and if you hurt or strike her, remember I shall
punish you when I come back—do you hear?"
Esther heard, yes. She sat bolt upright in her little bed, and looked
at the speaker with her parched lips parted, and a strange,
bewildered expression in her eyes, and a restless movement of her
tiny hands. Before the interview was over, however, the startled look
had settled into a vacant, listless stare; and a peevish moan, after
her mother left the room, was all the evidence she gave of being
impressed or alarmed by the injunctions laid upon her. I heard the
miserable little complainer unmoved as long as I could; after a while,
putting down my book, I went into the nursery. She stretched out
her arms, and cried:
"Take me to your room."
"If you will stop crying," I said, taking her up in my arms, and
wrapping her dressing-gown about her.
Félicie looked up quickly, and said, "Madame a dit que non."
Félicie always lied in her native tongue, and this was but an
additional proof to me that madame had said no such thing, and I
told her so, rather strongly. Grace came in just then, and Félicie
appealed to her for confirmation.

"Certainly," said Grace, promptly, "mamma's last charge was that
Esther should not go out of the nursery; so, missy, you may just
make yourself easy where you are. Don't suppose everybody is
going to spoil you like your precious cousin there."
Essie still clung tightly round my neck; much, however, as my pride
rebelled, there was no way but to submit to the orders they
promulged. So, carrying her back to the bed, and loosening her arms
from my neck, I put her down with,
"No matter, sweetheart; if Mahomet brings his work, and sits down
by the mountain, that will do as well, will it not?"
"I don't know what you mean," said the child, uneasily.
"She means to plague you, Esther; she's been scolded this morning,
and she's in bad humor," said Grace.
"Don't throw stones, Miss Grace," I retorted. "I wasn't sent away
from the table, if I was scolded."
"Mamma'll never forget your performance last night, the longest day
she lives," continued Grace. "I never saw her half so angry before.
In fact, from all accounts, you must have got it from all quarters, but
what Mr. Rutledge said was the worst."
"What did he say, pray?"
"Wouldn't you like to know!" she cried, in her teasing, school-girl
fashion.
"I don't believe you could tell me, if I did."
"I could if I wanted to," she exclaimed. "I heard mamma and
Josephine talking it over this morning. The door of the dressing-
room was open a crack, and I heard every word. Now, honey, don't
you wish I'd tell you?"
"I don't want to hear half as much as you want to tell me," I
returned, trying to be unmoved.

"Oh! don't be uneasy on my account," she said. "I haven't the least
idea of telling you. Only, I didn't suppose Mr. Rutledge could be so
severe, and on 'his little friend,' too!"
"That—for Mr. Rutledge!" I exclaimed, with a disdainful snap of my
fingers. "I don't care the fraction of a pin for his opinion!"
"I'll tell him," cried Grace, with delighted eyes.
"Do," I answered; and hiding my burning face on the pillow with
Esther, I said:
"What shall we do to amuse ourselves this morning, Essie? Shall I
tell you a story?"
"Yes," said Esther, looking pleased.
"Ask her to tell you about the ball last night, and Mr. Victor Viennet,"
said Grace, as she went out of the door.
"No," said the little girl, "I'd rather have her tell me about the little
dog Tigre at Rutledge, and how he used to stand outside of her
door, and whine to come in. Won't you now?"
"Oh, that's tiresome, Essie," I said, "I'll tell you something else."
"Then tell me about the boys that stole the chestnuts, and about the
lake, and the great trees, and the artemisias and the grapevines in
the garden. Tell me, won't you now?" she went on, coaxingly.
"You'd rather hear a fairy story, Esther," I said; "or something out of
your pretty Christmas book, I am sure."
"No," said Esther, "I want to hear about the country, I wish they'd
take me to the country," she continued, wearily; then, raising herself
on her elbow, and looking at me earnestly, she said, "do you believe
they ever will? Do you believe I'll be made to always stay in this
nursery, without any flowers or birds, or anything I like? If I should
die in it, would I stay in it always, or would they take me out? Tell
me, would they?"

"Of course, Essie," I said, half impatiently, uncomfortable under her
earnest eyes. "I do not like to hear you talk so. You know, I've told
you often, that there's a home for us where we shall go after we die,
better than any home here, where good children are, and holy men
and women; and it's all a great deal brighter and happier than
anything we can imagine; so don't trouble yourself to think about it;
only be good."
"But I am not good," she said, with a sort of agony in her voice;
"you know I am not."
"Essie," I said, soothingly, drawing her toward me, "nobody is good.
I am not, and you are not, and nobody is; but if we are sorry when
we're wrong, and ask God to forgive us, and help us, He will, you
may be sure. Why, Essie, He loves you, little foolish girl as you are,
more than you can possibly tell. He loves you, and he would not let
you perish for anything."
"Are you sure of that?" she said, eagerly.
"Perfectly sure," I answered.
"Madame ordered," said Félicie, "that Miss Esther should be kept
perfectly quiet. She's talking too much, and exciting herself. It would
be better to have the room darkened, and let her go to sleep."
"I can't go to sleep, and she shan't go away," exclaimed the child.
"I haven't the least idea of going, Essie; so lie down, and I'll tell you
about the country."
And, till my own heart ached as hers did, in its narrow city bounds, I
told her of the country, and how soon the first warm spring days
would loose the ice-bound brooks, and let the pines see themselves
once more in the lake. And in the lots, the violets would be springing
up thickly in the moist sod, and the faint green would be coloring
the meadows and lawns, and the skies would be soft and blue, and
the slow, warm wind would waft along the fleecy clouds, and stir the
budding trees, and linger over the soft, wet earth, and creep into

cold and wintry houses, and into cold and wintry hearts, and stir all
things with a sense of warmth and ecstasy.
Throughout the day I hardly left my little cousin; she was feverish
and restless, and never closed her eyes or rested a moment. About
four o'clock, however, I went down to practise for an hour, and when
I came upstairs again, she had fallen asleep. Her mother, coming up
at the same time, was much relieved to find her sleeping, and Félicie
gave a very satisfactory account of her; so that she dressed for the
dinner in comparative comfort. The doctor's visit had occurred while
I was downstairs, and had been a very hurried one. Grace and I
dined alone, very sociably and cheerfully, Grace reading a French
novel, and I "the Newcomes," in all the pauses of the meal.
I went upstairs as soon as it was over, and found Esther still asleep.
It was a wet, miserable evening. The rain was dripping slowly and
heavily from the roof to the window-sill, and from the window-sill to
the piazza below. A thick, suffocating fog, possessed the earth,
through which the distant lights blinked drearily; even the noises of
the streets sounded muffled and subdued. It was so warm, that the
low soft-coal fire in the grate seemed oppressive; yet, when I
opened the window, there was a damp, choking heaviness in the air
that was worse, even, than the dry heat of the room. It seemed as if
the spirit of the fog was sitting a night-mare on my breast, and
pressing down with a hand like lead the beating of my heart, and
stopping my very breath. There was no shaking off the weight, nor
driving away the gloomy fancies that the hour bred. It was in vain
that I lit the gas, and closed the blinds, and laying my ball-dress on
the bed, tried to interest myself in my preparations for the evening.
Between me and all pleasant anticipation, there hung a black pall of
presentiment, and no effort of my will could put it aside. The very
struggle to free myself from it, seemed to make the gloom close
thicker around me. The house was so still; the servants were all
downstairs; the ticking of the clock on the nursery mantelpiece was
all the sound that broke the stillness, and that, so regular, so
monotonous, was worse than silence. It was a time

"For thought to do her part,"
for conscience and reason to be heard. Should I go into the world
and try to forget it? Should I leave the little helpless child asleep
there, in charge of a woman I distrusted and disliked, and go where
music and pleasure would drown the dread for her that was gnawing
at my heart? What, that was good for hours of trial, had I learned in
my short experience of pleasure? What, that I could remember with
satisfaction, had occurred in the two nights of gaiety that I had just
passed through? What, in the flatteries of Victor Viennet, in the
admiring eyes of strangers, in the envy of my cousin, that I could
dare to remember in church—on Sunday—under a quiet evening sky
—or on a fresh, pure early summer morning? Alas! it was out of tune
with all of these; there was utterly a fault about it—it turned to
ashes as I grasped it. It was not true pleasure. It was not a worthy
pursuit. As far as I had followed it already, it had led me into sin,
into pride, insincerity and anger. It had done me no good. I felt that.
Had I the courage to put it away from me now? Could I say, without
an effort, I will keep myself out of the way of seeing Victor Viennet
again? I will never remember but to condemn the hours that I have
spent with him? Could I return to the dull routine I had formerly
marked out for myself, without an effort that would cost me many
tears? But if I could not do this, what was my religion worth? If this
self-denial was so hard, did it not prove that the world had got a
very tight hold of my heart, and that the sooner I wrenched myself
from its grasp the better?
On the other hand, there was no definite reason why I should not
go, there was only this vague feeling of uneasiness about Essie that
tormented me and kept me back, and this unsettled question about
the profitableness of going into the world. How should I decide? My
affection for my little cousin tugged strongly at my heart. Pride and
inclination pulled as fiercely the other way. A feeling that I did not
give a name to, but which was stronger than either, prompted me to
follow my own desires, and leave Essie to her fate. What business
was it of mine? If other people neglected their children, and left

their duties for their pleasures, why need I concern myself? Why
need I take upon myself their discarded responsibilities?
At last I stole on tiptoe to the bed again, to see if she still slept. Not
much sleep in those frightened eyes.
"Why! Essie, my pet, when did you wake up?"
With a sigh of relief, and a little relaxing of the look of terror, she
raised herself up, and saying hurriedly, "how still it is! I thought you
had gone away," she twined both small hands tightly round my
wrist.
"Oh, no!" I said, sitting down by her, "it isn't time yet. I shall not go
for an hour or two."
"Don't go at all, please don't go," whispered the child, panting for
breath, and clinging to me in an agony. "If you knew how awful it
was to be alone, and how still the room was, you wouldn't leave me,
indeed you wouldn't. Besides," she went on hurriedly, "how can you
tell what'll become of me while you're gone? Nobody else loves me,
nobody else is good to me. I am troublesome and wicked—only God
and you care anything about me."
It was useless to soothe or reason with her now. I knew little of
illness, but I saw in a moment that the wild delirium of fever was
burning in my little companion's veins, and raging in her brain. I was
frightened at the strength of the little hands that fastened
themselves on mine, and the hurry and wildness of the broken
sentences she uttered. All I could do, was to promise that I would
not go, and assure her that there were no "ugly shadows" on the
wall—that nobody was coming to take her away—that it was all
because her head ached so. But when Félicie appeared, it was a less
easy matter to control her. She screamed, and hid her face, and
cried to me to send her away—she hated her—she gave her horrid
stuff—she made her angry, and a thousand other vehement
exclamations in alternate French and English. The nurse, with a
subdued glare of anger in her eyes, would fain have soothed her, for
her voice, shrill with the strength of fever, could easily have been

heard downstairs, and Mrs. Churchill had come home and was now
in her dressing-room. My alarm had overcome my pride by this time,
and loosing my hands from the child's grasp, I gave her into Félicie's
charge, and ran downstairs.
The door of the dressing-room was locked, and it was some minutes
before I was admitted, and during those minutes, my alarm had
time to cool, and when at last I entered the room, it was with a full
recollection of the last rebuff I had received when I pleaded Esther's
cause, and a cold determination to do my duty and no more.
"Why are you not dressed, if you intend accompanying us?" she
said.
"I do not intend going this evening," I answered; "and I came, Aunt
Edith, to say that I think you had better see Esther before you go
out; she has a great deal of fever, and is very much excited."
I never before had realized how dangerous a thing it was to touch
with even the daintiest hand, the festering wound that both pride
and remorse conspire to hide from the sight even of the sufferer's
self. I could not have done anything worse for poor Essie's cause,
than just what I did do, and she shared with me in the feeling of
vexation and resentment that my words awakened in her mother's
breast.
I soon forgot the severity of the rebuff I had received, however,
when coming into the nursery, I took the struggling child from
Félicie, and watched with anxiety the gradual subsiding of the fit of
passion that had convulsed her. From whatever cause it might be,
she was evidently growing quieter, and in less than half an hour, the
little head on my arm had relaxed its tossings, and sunk into repose,
while a dreamy languor dulled the wildness of her eyes, and save
when the slightest movement woke an alarm that I would leave her,
she lay quite motionless.
"She is better now," said Félicie, in a low tone, who was watching
her with her basilisk eyes as she lay apparently sleeping. A nervous

tightening of the slight fingers on my wrist at the sound of her voice,
showed me that it was only apparently.
When Mrs. Churchill had completed her toilette, she came upstairs.
Esther, with her long eyelashes sweeping her crimsoned cheeks, lay
so quiet that there seemed some reason in her mother's cutting
rebuke for the unnecessary alarm I had given her. I began to feel
heartily ashamed of it myself, and wondered that I had been so
easily frightened. Félicie, with a wicked look of exultation, said, that
if Miss Esther hadn't been in a passion, she wouldn't have brought
the fever on again. She had been better all day, the doctor had said
she had scarcely any fever, when he was here.
Mrs. Churchill hoped, with a withering look, that I would get used to
ill temper in time, and not think it necessary to disturb the
household whenever Esther had a fit of crying. Then feeling the
child's pulse, and giving many and minute directions for the care of
her during the night, she went away. As, a moment after, the hall
door closed with a heavy sound, a momentary tremor passed over
the child's frame, and opening her eyes, a strange light fluttered for
an instant in them, as she murmured, "you will not go away?" then
closed them again, and she seemed to sleep. I watched beside her
for an hour; then releasing myself from her unresisting hands, and
kissing her lightly, I went into my own room.
I returned several times to look at her again, before I put the light
out and lay down to sleep. How many times the monotonous
nursery-clock struck the half hour before I slept, I cannot tell; the
heavy air was broken by no other sound; there was nothing in the
silent house, shrouded by the close fog without and the dead silence
within, to keep me awake, yet it was long before I slept. But sleep,
when it came, was heavy and dreamless—a sort of dull stifling of
consciousness, in keeping with the night.
Hours of this sleep had passed over me, when a fierce grasp upon
my arm, and a hissing voice in my ear, woke me with a terrified
start, and chilled me with horror, as struggling to collect my senses,

I tried to comprehend Félicie's frantic words. In a moment, they
made their way to my brain, and burned themselves there.
"I've given her too much—I cannot wake her! O mon Dieu! Je l'ai
tuée! Je l'ai tuée!"
A horrible sickening faintness for an instant rushed over me, then a
keen sense of agony like an electric flash thrilled through me, and
without a look, a thought, a word, I was kneeling at the little bed in
the nursery. But, as my eager eyes searched the whitened face on
the pillow there, and as my aching ears listened for the almost
inaudible breathing, and my hand touched the cold arms that lay
outside the covers, such a cry burst from my lips as might have
waked the dead, if dead were indeed before me. But there was no
voice nor answer; there was an awful stillness when I listened for
response; when I raised my eyes in wild appeal from the white face
of the child, there was but a horrible face above me, whereon was
all the pallor of death, without its calm repose; such a face as the
lost and damned may wear when their sentence is new in their ears
—when endless perdition is but just begun, and life and hope but
just cut off.
Another moment, and all the house was roused. Putting back, with
one strong effort, the agony and hopelessness that welled up from
my heart, I mastered myself enough to direct the terrified and
helpless servants. Dispatching different ones to the nearest doctors I
could think of, another for my aunt, another for all the restoratives
that occurred to me, the next few minutes of suspense passed.
But before the doctor could arrive, I knew there was no need of his
coming. There had been a little flutter of the drooping eyelid, ever
so slight a quiver of the parted lip, and bending down, I had
listened, with agonized suspense, for the low breathing, and called
her name with the tenderness that never finds perfect expression till
death warns us it shall be the last. Then a little arm crept round my
neck, the soft eye opened for a moment, a sigh stirred the bosom
that my forehead touched, and, as the arm relaxed its faint clasp, I
knew that Essie was a stranger and an alien no longer, but was

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