The Calling of Emily Evans Read Online Free PDF Page B

puzzled.
    Emily’s face felt hot.“I—I would put the light out when I heard the stair step squeak,” she admitted.
    There was a moment of silence.
    “I see,” said the preceptress slowly.
    “And—and on occasion, I—I got back up and put the light on again—after all was quiet, so I could study some more,” Emily admitted.“I—I even laid my rolled-up.”
    More silence. Then Miss Herrington commented, “I have watched your grades. You have been doing well.”
    “But I wouldn’t have—without studying,” Emily assured her, her words tumbling over each other.“I have always found learning more—more difficult than some. Even in grade school I had to work harder than Ina or even Annabelle—my sisters. I—”
    “Miss Evans,” the preceptress interrupted softly, “do you understand why we have the ‘lights out’ rule?”
    “Yes.” Emily’s voice trembled.
    “Why?”
    “So that we get the proper rest.”
    “Correct. Lights out is not some casually contrived policy. Lights out is for your benefit. But that is not all. It is for the benefit of the total student body—so that you do not pass on an illness to the rest. You are cheating yourself when you break the rules. And perhaps endangering your fellow students.”
    Emily had not considered that before.
    “You have been remarkably free of sickness this winter—but your faculty has been praying for you week by week.”
    Emily’s eyes widened. She had no idea that her health was the subject of faculty prayers.
    “Perhaps God has seen fit to answer those prayers in spite of your disobedience.” Miss Herrington’s gentle tone took some of the sting out of the words.“Because—because,” she went on, “He saw a girl who wanted to get all she could from her studies.”
    Emily blinked.
    “But,” continued the preceptress, “one should not press, or be presumptuous, with God.”
    Emily wondered if the preceptress had been on the verge of saying “press one’s luck.” In spite of her mortification over the interview, she found it hard to suppress a smile.
    “From now on, I shall expect you to be in bed at the proper hour.”
    “Yes, Miss Herrington,” agreed Emily in a subdued tone.
    “If you need to have more study time, we will try to find some other way for you to manage it.”
    The kindness and consideration of the older woman surprised Emily. She had not expected such understanding.
    Emily’s eyes brimmed again. She felt more chastised than if she had been assigned further kitchen duty or soundly scolded for her crime.
    “I am sorry—truly, I am,” she sobbed. The woman offered her a clean handkerchief and Emily murmured her thanks.
    “Miss Evans,” the preceptress said, “you realize that if you had not come to me about your disobedience and I had discovered it another way, I could not have avoided disciplinary action.”
    Emily nodded and wiped her eyes, greatly relieved that she had been moved to seek forgiveness.
    Miss Herrington reached out and patted her hand.
    “Let’s hear nothing more about it,” she stated matter-of-factly, and Emily knew she had been dismissed. Dismissed and forgiven. Feeling a load had been lifted from her heart, she slipped from the room. She had not been condemned. She had not been removed from the list for future service. With great relief, Emily went back to her room to wash her face.
    “Now if only Father will understand about my call …” she said under her breath and reached for her towel and washcloth.

Chapter Five
    Sharing the News
    Spring was knocking at the back door of winter when Emily stepped off the train at Jamestown station for her weekend at home. Here and there a bird twittered in expectation of warmer days. Bits of hardy green showed in small patches against the southern side of buildings where the snow had been forced to give way by warm sunshine. Emily took a deep breath and smiled her anticipation of milder weather, which she yearned for. Her health was always much