12. The Other Side of the Wall
When one lives in a row of houses, it is iing to think of the things which are being done and said oher side of the wall of the very rooms one is living in. Sara was fond of amusing herself by trying to imagihe things hidden by the wall which divided the Select Seminary from the Indialemans house. She khat the schoolroom was o the Indialemans study, and she hoped that the wall was thick so that the noise made sometimes after lesson hours would not disturb him.
"I am growing quite fond of him," she said tarde; "I should not like him to be disturbed. I have adopted him for a friend. You do that with people you never speak to at all. You just watch them, and think about them and be sorry for them, until they seem almost like relations. Im quite anxious sometimes when I see the doctor call twice a day."
"I have very few relations," said Ermengarde, reflectively, "and Im very glad of it. I dont like those I have. My two aunts are always saying, `Dear me, Ermengarde! You are very fat. You should sweets, and my uncle is always askihings like, `When did Edward the Third asd the throne? and, `Who died of a surfeit of lampreys?"
Sara laughed.
"People you never speak to t ask you questions like that," she said; "and Im sure the Indialeman wouldnt even if he was quite intimate with you. I am fond of him."
She had bee fond of the Large Family because they looked happy; but she had bee fond of the Indialeman because he looked unhappy. He had evidently not fully recovered from some very severe illness. I--where, of course, the servants, through some mysterious means, knew everything--there was much discussion of his case. He was not an Indialeman really, but an Englishman who had lived in India. He had met with great misfortunes which had for a time so imperilled his whole fortuhat he had thought himself ruined and disgraced forever. The shock had been so great that he had almost died of brain fever; and ever since he had been shattered ih, though his fortunes had ged and all his possessions had beeored to him. His trouble and peril had been ected with mines.
"And mines with diamonds in em!" said the cook. "No savins of mine never goes into no mines--particular diamond ones"-- with a side gla Sara. "We all know somethin of them." "He felt as my papa felt," Sara thought. "He was ill as my papa was; but he did not die."
So her heart was more drawn to him than before. When she was sent out at night she used sometimes to feel quite glad, because there was always a ce that the curtains of the house dht not yet be closed and she could look into the warm room and see her adopted friend. When no one was about she used sometimes to stop, and, holding to the iron railings, wish him good night as if he could hear her.
"Perhaps you feel if you t hear," was her fancy. "Perhaps kind thoughts reach people somehow, even through windows and doors and walls. Perhaps you feel a little warm and forted, and dont know why, when I am standing here in the cold and hoping you will get well and happy again. I am so sorry for you," she would whisper in an intetle voice. "I wish you had a `Little Missus who could pet you as I used to pet papa when he had a headache. I should like to be your `Little Missus myself, poor dear! Good night--good night. God bless you!"
She would go away, feeling quite forted and a little warmer herself. Her sympathy was s that it seemed as if it must rea