CHAPTER IV 36
and doll ' s house furniture scattered there ; an abrupt command from Georgiana to let her playthings alone ( for the tiny chairs and mirrors , the fairy plates and cups , were her property ) stopped my proceedings ; and then , for lack of other occupation , I fell to breathing on the frost-flowers with which the window was fretted , and thus clearing a space in the glass through which I might look out on the grounds , where all was still and petrified under the influence of a hard frost .
From this window were visible the porter ' s lodge and the carriage- road , and just as I had dissolved so much of the silver-white foliage veiling the panes as left room to look out , I saw the gates thrown open and a carriage roll through . I watched it ascending the drive with indifference ; carriages often came to Gateshead , but none ever brought visitors in whom I was interested ; it stopped in front of the house , the door-bell rang loudly , the new-comer was admitted . All this being nothing to me , my vacant attention soon found livelier attraction in the spectacle of a little hungry robin , which came and chirruped on the twigs of the leafless cherry-tree nailed against the wall near the casement . The remains of my breakfast of bread and milk stood on the table , and having crumbled a morsel of roll , I was tugging at the sash to put out the crumbs on the window- sill , when Bessie came running upstairs into the nursery .
" Miss Jane , take off your pinafore ; what are you doing there ? Have you washed your hands and face this morning ?" I gave another tug before I answered , for I wanted the bird to be secure of its bread : the sash yielded ; I scattered the crumbs , some on the stone sill , some on the cherry-tree bough , then , closing the window , I replied -
" No , Bessie ; I have only just finished dusting ."
" Troublesome , careless child ! and what are you doing now ? You look quite red , as if you had been about some mischief : what were you opening the window for ?"
I was spared the trouble of answering , for Bessie seemed in too great a hurry to listen to explanations ; she hauled me to the washstand , inflicted a