Elsie's Motherhood

Mr. Allison had fully kept his promise to Sophie, and Ashlands was again the fine old place it hadbeen prior to the war. The family, consisting of the elder Mrs. Carrington, a young man, namedGeorge Boyd, a nephew of hers who had taken charge of the plantation, Sophie and her fourchildren, had now been in possession for over a year.Sophie, still an almost inconsolable mourner for the husband of her youth, lived a very retired life, devoting herself to his mother and his orphaned little ones.Mrs. Ross, expecting to spend the fall and winter with them, had brought all her children and agoverness, Miss Fisk, who undertook the tuition of the little Carringtons also during her stay atAshlands, thus leaving the mothers more at liberty for the enjoyment of each other's society.It was in the midst of school-hours that the Ion carriage came driving up the avenue, and PhilipRoss, lifting his head from the slate over which he had been bending for the last half hour, rosehastily, threw down his pencil and hurried from the room, paying no attention to Miss Fisk's query,"Where are you going, Philip?" or her command, "Come back instantly: it is quite contrary to rulesfor pupils to leave the school-room during the hours of recitation, without permission." Indeed hehad reached the foot of the staircase before the last word had left her lips; she being very slow andprecise in speech and action, while his movements were of the quickest."What now is to be done in this emergency?" soliloquized the governess, unconsciously thinkingaloud. "Miss Gertrude Ross," turning to a girl of nine whose merry blue eyes were twinkling withfun, "follow your brother at once and inform him that I cannot permit any such act ofinsubordination; and he must return instantly to the performance of his duties.