Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/274

 be actuated by caprice, she feared that some misfortune had befallen them; but though every day added to her anxiety, she had no means of relieving it, all hands being now engaged in getting in the harvest, and she was too wise to torment herself by shaping the form of uncertain evils. She had indeed no leisure for such unprofitable work: every moment of her time being fully occupied in managing the business of the family, or in attendance on the invalids, who though now recovering rapidly, were still so weak as to require her constant care.

The business of the family had never been so well conducted as since its mistress had been incapacitated from attending to it. By the effects of forethought, order, and regularity, the labour was so much diminished to the servant, that she willingly resigned herself to Mrs Mason's directions, and entered into all her plans. The girls, though at first refractory, and often inclined to rebel, were gradually