Phyllis never dreamt that she could be happy while standing still and
learning, till Miss Weston began to teach at the Sunday school.
Obedience at school taught her to acquire habits of reverent
attention, which gradually conquered the idleness and weariness which
had once possessed her at church. First, she learnt to be interested
in the Historical Lessons, then never to lose her place in the
Psalms, then to think about and follow some of the Prayers; by this
time she was far from feeling any fatigue at all on week-days; she
had succeeded in restraining any contortions to relieve herself from
the irksomeness of sitting still, and had her thoughts in tolerable
order through the greater part of the Sunday service, and now it was
her great wish, unknown to any one, to abstain from a single yawn
through the whole service, including the sermon!
Her place (chosen for her by Eleanor when first she had begun to go
to Church, as far as possible from Reginald) was at the end of the
seat, between her papa and the wall. This morning, as she put her
arm on the book-board, while rising from kneeling, she felt a sudden
thrill of sharp pain smear her left elbow, which made her start
violently, and would have caused a scream, had she not been in
church.
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