On going in one Sunday morning, very late, she
found Alethea teaching her class as well as her own. With a look of
vexation she inquired, as she took her place, if it was so very late,
and on the way to church she said again, 'I thought I was quite in
time; I do not like to hurry the children--the distant ones have not
time to come. It was only half-past nine.'
'Oh, Lilias,' said Marianne, 'it was twenty minutes to ten, I know,
for I had just looked at the clock.'
'That clock is always too fast,' said Lily.
The next Sunday was very cold, and Lilias did not feel at all
disposed to leave the fire when the others prepared to go to the
afternoon school.
'Is it time?' said she. 'I was chilled at church, and my feet are
still like ice; I will follow you in five minutes.'
Alethea went, and Lilias lingered by the fire. Mrs. Weston once
asked her if she knew how late it was; but still she waited, until
she was startled by the sound of the bell for evening service. As
she went to church with Mrs. Weston and Emily she met Jane, who told
her that her class had been unemployed all the afternoon.
'I would have taken them,' said she, 'but that Robert does not like
me to teach the great girls, and I do think Alethea might have heard
them.
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