It would be too tedious to enumerate all the subsequent ephemeral undertakings which filled up the remainder of the six weeks.  At the expiration of that time Mrs. Dawson returned.  On the next morning after her arrival she reminded her daughters of the account she expected of their employments during her absence, and desired them to set out on two tables in the schoolroom everything they had done that could be exhibited, together with the books they had been reading.  Charlotte would gladly have been excused her part of the exhibition; but this was not permitted; and she reluctantly followed her sister to make the preparation.

When the two tables were spread, their mother was summoned to attend.  Caroline’s, which was first examined, contained, first, her various exercises in the different branches of study, regularly executed the same as usual.  And there were papers placed in the books she was reading in school hours, to show how far she had proceeded in them.  Besides these, she had read in her leisure time, in French, Florian’s “Numa Pompilius,” and in English, Mrs. More’s “Practical Piety,” and some part of Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets.”  All the needlework which had been left to do or not, at her option, was neatly finished; and her parcel of linen for the poor was also completely and well done.  The only instance in which Caroline had availed herself of her mother’s license, was that she had prolonged her drawing lessons a little every day, in order to present her mother with a pretty pair of screens, with flowers copied from nature.  These were, last of all, placed on the table with an affectionate note, requesting her acceptance of them.

Mrs. Dawson, having carefully examined this table, proceeded to the other, which was quite piled up with different articles.  Here, amid the heap, were Charlotte’s three pages of shorthand; several scraps of paper containing fragments of her poetical history; the piece (not large enough for a doll’s cradle) of her patchwork counterpane; her botanical specimens; together with the large unfinished pile out of the Dorcas bag, many of the articles of which were begun, but not one quite finished.  There was a baby’s cap with no border, a frock body without sleeves, and the skirt only half hemmed at the bottom; and slides, tapes, and buttonholes were all, without exception, omitted.  After these, followed a great variety of thirds, halves, and quarters of undertakings, each perhaps good in itself, but quite useless in its unfinished state.

The examination being at length ended, Mrs. Dawson retired, without a single comment, to her dressing-room; where, in about an hour afterwards, she summoned the girls to attend her.  Here also were two tables laid out, with several articles on each.  Their mother then leading Caroline to the first, told her that, as the reward of her industry and perseverance, the contents of the table were her own.  Here, with joyful surprise, she beheld, first, a little gold