A Girl in Spring-Time.
by Jessie Mansergh.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE DAY BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS.
It was the day before the midsummer holidays, and the girls of the first form were sitting together in the upstairs school-room at Milvern House, discussing the events of the term, and the prospective pleasures of the next few weeks. Lessons had been finished in the morning, the afternoon had been given up to packing, and now they were enjoying a delightfully unsupervised hour of rest.
A tall, slim girl was standing by the table, turning out the contents of a desk, and filling the waste-paper basket with fragments of paper. The other pupils watched the movements of the small hands, and the sleek, dark head with unconscious fascination. There was something delightfully trim and dainty about Bertha Faucit. Her hair was always neat, her actions deliberate and graceful; she reminded one irresistibly of a sleek, well-nurtured pigeon pluming its wings in the sunshine, with a very happy sense of its own importance.
By the window stood another girl, who was evidently a sister, for she wore a dress of the same pattern, and held herself with a like air of dignified composure. Bertha and Lois Faucit were the daughters of a dean who lived in an old cathedral town, and their school-fellows were accustomed to account for every peculiarity on this score. "Dean"s daughters, you know!" It was ridiculous to expect that the children of such a dignitary would indulge in pillow-fights, and bedroom supper, like ordinary frivolous mortals.
Bertha was talking all the while she worked, dropping out her words with the same delicate distinctness which characterised her actions.
"Picnics? Oh, dear me, yes! We have a picnic almost every week. We take the pony carriage and carry our own provisions, and make a fire of sticks. Have you ever tried to boil a kettle in the open air? It is a terrible experience. First of all the wood is so damp that it won"t light, and you get all smoked and dirty; then when it does begin to burn, and you put the kettle on the top, the whole thing collapses to the ground, and you have to begin again from the beginning. You prop it up with stones, and get everything started for the second time, and then the others come back from laying the table and say, "What! isn"t the water boiling yet? Oh, you don"t know how to light a fire! It is not properly laid. Let me show you!" and down comes the whole thing again.
At the end of an hour the kettle boils, and the water is smoked! We always use it to wash our hands, and drink milk instead. This year I intend to use fire-lighters."
"We have a proper tea-basket for taking about with us," said one of the other girls. "The kettle hangs over a lamp which is protected from the draught, and you can have boiling water in ten minutes without any trouble. We always take it when we go on the river. I like boating picnics best of any."
"We go to the sea-side for the whole of the holidays," said Ella Bennet, a big girl with rosy cheeks and long, brown hair; "Mother thinks the bathing does us so much good. I learnt to swim last year. An old fisherman rowed out in a boat. I had a strap fastened round my waist, and he held me up with a pole while I went puffing round and round. He tried to teach me to dive as well, but I was too nervous. One day I vowed I really would try. I climbed on to the edge of the boat six times over, while he held me, and showed me how to put out my hands, and each time I began to squeal, and jumped down again at the last moment.
It was band day, so there were hundreds of people sitting on the sh.o.r.e, and they roared with laughter. I was ashamed to come out of the van."
"I don"t care about the sea-side. I like the country," said another girl. "Last year we stayed at an old farmhouse in Derbyshire. The walls are of oak, and there are secret cupboards on the stairs. There is a legend that on moonlight nights one of the rooms is haunted by a lady in white, who comes and sits by an old spinning-wheel. One evening I dressed up in a sheet, powdered my hair, and blacked my eyebrows, then I got the landlady to suggest to the others that they should go upstairs and look for the ghost. They came up in a rush, and there I was spinning away with my head bent down as solemn as a judge. They were awfully quiet, but the boys crept nearer and nearer, and then pretended to faint, and toppled right over me. Horrid things! It turned out that the silly old woman thought they might be frightened, so she told them who it was before they came up. I was so cross!"
"But they might really have been frightened. I wouldn"t go upstairs to see a ghost for a million pounds--not by myself, at least," said Nellie Grey, the youngest girl in the form. "Of course it wouldn"t be so bad if you had your brothers with you. Brothers are great teases, but they never get frightened themselves, so it is a comfort to have them sometimes. My eldest brother is awfully brave. He wanted to be a sailor, but Father wouldn"t let him, so at Christmas he confided in us one night that he was going to run away. He said good-bye, and divided his things among us. I got the paint-box, and Minnie the desk, and Phil the books and tool-chest. Next morning when we came down to breakfast, there he was just the same as usual. He hadn"t run away at all. He said it was too cold. But we wouldn"t give the things back. It"s an awfully nice paint-box, with a lovely big palette in a drawer underneath. Mildred! how quiet you are! What are you going to do in the holidays?"
The speaker turned to look at a girl who was seated on the edge of the table itself, and everyone in the room followed her example with an alacrity which showed how pleasant the sight was in their eyes.
Mildred Moore had just pa.s.sed her fourteenth birthday, but she was so big and strong that she looked older than her age. Her long legs nearly reached the floor, her hands were folded in her lap, and she stared through the window, lost in happy day-dreams. Mildred was the beauty of the school, and as the love of all that is sweet, and bright, and lovely is natural to girlhood, her companions placed her on a pedestal on that account, and treated her with special marks of favour. Eva Murray, who was sentimental, was accustomed to declare that Mildred was exactly like a Norse princess, and when Blanche Green, who was practical, asked what a Norse princess was like, she replied that she had never met one in real life, but had seen many in picture galleries, that they always had grey eyes and golden hair, and looked strong and kind and fearless, but also as if they could be awfully disagreeable if they liked,--which settled the question once for all, for everyone agreed that the description suited Mildred to a T.
"What am I going to do?" repeated the Norse princess cheerily. "Why, nothing at all in the way you mean. We never go away, either to the country or the sea-side, or have picnics, or parties, or any excitements of that kind. We just stay quietly at home and go on with the usual work, but I am with Mother, you know--that"s my holiday! You have never seen her, you girls; I wish you had, for she is quite different to other peoples" mothers. She is only twenty years older than I am, to begin with, and she is awfully pretty. She is a tiny little thing, with dark eyes, and soft brown hair. She comes to meet me at the station in a sailor hat, and a little blue jacket, looking like a big school-girl herself. I"m so proud of her! Last time I went home I took her up in my arms and carried her across the room. She kicked like anything and said, "You disrespectful child! How dare you! Put me down this instant!" but she wasn"t really angry a bit, and we both tumbled over on to the sofa, and laughed till we cried. We do enjoy ourselves so much when we get together--Mother and I. She is lonely when I am away, poor dear, with no one to speak to but the children, so we make up for it in the holidays. I sit up to supper every night, and we have coffee, and hot b.u.t.tered toast, and all sorts of good things that are bad for us, and in the daytime we bribe the elder children with pennies to amuse the younger ones, so that we may have the room to ourselves, and talk of the good times we shall have when my schooling is over, and I go home to stay!"
The girls gazed at Mildred as she spoke, with a mingling of envy and compa.s.sion. Envy,--because her intense delight in the mere prospect of being at home made them conscious of their own selfishness in regarding the holidays as a period when parents should occupy themselves in providing amus.e.m.e.nt for their families;--compa.s.sion,--because it was well known that Mrs Moore was a widow, and so poor that she could not afford to leave the country house where she lived with her half-dozen noisy youngsters. Mildred had been sent to a good boarding-school so that she might be able to teach her little brother and sisters in due time, and the other girls were specially pitiful over this prospect.
Mary Nicoll referred to the subject now with questionable taste.
"But it won"t be much fun, Mildred, if you have to teach all day long.
You won"t be able to go about as you like, or have any time free except in the evenings. And fancy having to go over all the wretched old lessons again, and to drill tables and dates, and lat.i.tudes and longitudes into the brains of a lot of stupid children. It will be worse than being at school."
"Our children are not stupid. They are as sharp as needles, and I don"t think it will be dull at all. It will be fun to have the positions reversed, and to do none of the work and all the fault-finding. I shall bully them fearfully. Can"t you imagine me--very proper and stiff, hair done up--sitting at the head of the table tapping with a lead pencil...
"At-tention to the board! ... Shoulders back, young ladies, if you please! Your deportment leaves much to be desired! ... My dear, good child, how can you be so stupid! You try my patience to the uttermost!""
Mildred accompanied these remarks with contortions of the face and body in imitation of the different teachers at Milvern House, and the bursts of laughter with which they were greeted showed how real were her powers of mimicry. She joined in the laughter herself, then suddenly breaking off, clasped her hands together, and rocked to and fro in an ecstasy of antic.i.p.ation.
"This time to-morrow--oh! I shall be driving home from the station. We shall have pa.s.sed the village cross, and the almshouses, and turned the corner by the farm. The children will be swarming out of the gate--the table will be laid for tea, with a bowl of roses in the middle--oh!--and strawberries--oh!--and real, true, thick, country cream. To-morrow! I can"t believe it. I don"t think I ever wanted to go home so badly before. The term from Christmas to midsummer seems so awfully long when you don"t go away for Easter. I shan"t sleep a wink to-night, I am so excited. I don"t think I can lie down at all."
The girls were so absorbed in their conversation that they had not heard the door open during Mildred"s last speech, and the new comer had thus an opportunity of listening undisturbed. She was a tall, slight young lady, with dark hair, and the sweetest brown eyes that were ever seen.
She wore a black dress, and white collar and cuffs, and looked as if she were trying her best to appear old and dignified, and not succeeding so well as she would have wished. This was Miss Margaret, the younger of the two lady princ.i.p.als, familiarly known among the girls as "Mardie", because she was "such a darling" that it was impossible to address her by an ordinary, stiff, school-mistressy t.i.tle. This afternoon, however, Mardie"s eyes were not so serene as usual, and her face clouded over in a noticeable manner as she listened to Mildred"s rhapsodies.
"Mildred, dear," she said, coming forward and laying her hand on the girl"s shoulder. "I want you in my room for a few minutes. I won"t keep you long. There is something--"
"You want to say to me! Oh, Mardie, I can guess. I have left my slippers in the middle of the floor, and thrown my clothes all over the room. I know--I know quite well, but it"s the last day--I can"t be prim and tidy on the last day. It"s not in human nature!" Mildred took hold of Miss Margaret by the arm, and rubbed her curly head against her shoulder in a pretty, kitten-like manner. "To-morrow morning you will be rid of us altogether, and then--"
"But it is not about your room, Mildred. Come dear--come with me. I really want you."
"I"m ready then!" The girl slipped lightly to the ground, and turned to follow Miss Margaret from the room. "You make me quite curious, Mardie.
Whatever can it be?"
CHAPTER TWO.
A GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT.
Miss Margaret"s room was on the third floor, and did service both as a bedroom and as a sanctum to which its owner could retire in rare moments of leisure. The bed stood in a corner, curtained off from the rest of the room; pictures hung on the walls; little bookcases fitted into the angles; while before the window was an upholstered seat, so long and wide, and luxuriously cushioned, as to make an ideal sofa. In the girls" estimation Mardie"s room was a paradise, and it seemed almost worth while having a headache, when one could be tucked up warm and cosy on that delightful seat, shaded from the sun by the linen blind outside the window, yet catching delicious peeps at the garden beneath its shelter.
Mildred made straight for the coveted position and leant back against the cushions, her hands clasped round her knees in an att.i.tude rather comfortable than elegant. For once, however, Miss Margaret had no reproof to offer. She had nothing to say about the awful consequences of curving the back and contracting the chest; she did not even inquire, with a lifting of the eyebrows, "My dear Mildred, is that the way in which a young lady ought to sit?" She only gazed at the girl"s face and wrinkled her brows, as if puzzled how to open the conversation.
"Go on, Mardie, dear?" said her pupil, encouragingly. "What is it--have I done anything wrong? I don"t know what it is, but I"m awfully sorry, and I"ll never do it any more. Don"t scold me on the last day! I"ll promise faithfully--"
"Don"t, dear! It isn"t anything like that." Miss Margaret straightened herself with an expression of resolution and went boldly forward.
"Mildred, are you brave? Can you bear a great disappointment?"
Mildred raised her eyes with a start of apprehension. There was a moment"s silence, during which a curious change came over the girlish face. The colour faded from the cheeks, the eyes hardened, the lips set themselves in a thin, straight line.
"No," she said sharply, "I can"t!" and Miss Margaret looked at her with gentle remonstrance.
"Oh, Mildred, don"t take it like that! I have had to bring other girls into this room, dear, and tell them of troubles compared to which this disappointment of yours is as nothing--nothing! Poor little Effie Browning, looking forward to her parents" return from abroad, and counting the hours to their arrival--I had to show her the telegram announcing her mother"s death. And Mabel, and f.a.n.n.y--But your mother is well, quite well and safe. Doesn"t that make you feel thankful to bear any lesser trouble?"
"No!" said Mildred again, more obstinately than before; "No!" She stared at Miss Margaret with unflinching eyes. "If Mother is well, there is only one other trouble which I could feel just now. If--if it is anything to prevent me going home, I can"t bear it--it will kill me!
I shall break my heart!"
"Nonsense! You are far too strong, and brave, and sensible to break your heart over a disappointment of a few weeks, however hard it may be to face. Come, Mildred, you know I rely upon you to be my helper in difficulties; you must not quarrel with me, for we shall have to keep each other company. Your little brother Robbie has taken scarlet fever, and you will not be able--"
She did not finish the sentence, for her pupil interrupted with a cry of bitter grief, and buried her face in her hands. It was one thing to imagine a thing, and another to know that it was true in solemn earnest.
Mildred had spoken of the possibility of not being able to go home as of some appalling imaginary calamity, but she had never, never thought it could be true. Not go home! Stay at school all through the holidays!--the prospect was so terrible that it was impossible to realise all that it meant. Nevertheless some of the first miserable consequences were clear enough to poor Mildred"s mind:--to unpack all her boxes, to put her clothes back in drawers and cupboards; to sleep by herself in the deserted dormitory; to spend the days lounging about empty school-rooms, feeling doubly lonely because of the remembrance of the friends who had been by her side but a few days before, and who had now dispersed to their own happy homes. Effie Browning had spent the holidays at school once or twice, and Mildred had pitied her so much that she had sent weekly letters and boxes of country flowers and mosses, to cheer her solitude. And now she herself was to undergo this awful experience! To-morrow morning the other girls would fasten their boxes and drive off to the station, but for her there would be no excitement of farewell, no railway journey, with the delightful sense of importance in travelling by herself all the way from the junction, no dear little mother waiting to greet her in sailor hat and blue serge suit! Her heart swelled with pa.s.sionate longing, but she could not cry; the blow was too sudden, too severe. Miss Margaret"s eyes were wet, however, as she looked down at the curly, golden head. She did not speak for a few minutes, then she laid her hand on the girl"s arm and pressed it to attract attention.
"I am so sorry for you--so sorry, my poor girl. See, dear, here is a letter which came inclosed in one to my sister. Your mother wished us to break the news--"
Mildred seized the letter in an almost savage grasp. It was in her mother"s handwriting, and ran as follows:--
My darling Mildred,
When you get this letter, Miss Chilton will have told you of the trouble at home. Poor little Robbie has been very poorly for two days, and this morning the doctor p.r.o.nounces it to be scarlet fever.
I could not help crying when he told me, for so many things came rushing into my head, and it all seemed so dark and difficult. I was anxious about Robbie, and couldn"t think what to do with the rest of the children; and you, my darling, with your holidays just beginning!
It broke my heart to think of you. I seem to have lived a month in the last few hours, but everyone has been so kind, and help has come from all directions. Mrs Bewley and Mrs Ross are to take the children to stay with them, as they have no little ones of their own, and are not afraid of infection. I will nurse Robbie, and if any of the others fall ill, they will be sent home at once, and we will make a hospital of the top floor. I suppose, even if all goes well, and Robbie is the only patient, it will be six weeks before we are out of quarantine. Oh, my dearest child, I am so grieved for your disappointment, coming upon you in the midst of your preparations; but there is no help for it, you must stay on at school, for there is no other place to which I can send you. I can"t ask either Mrs Bewley or Mrs Ross to take you in addition to the other children, and even if you were here we could not see or speak to each other, and it would be dreadful to know that you were so near, and not be able to be together.