"Oh, yes-- yes! that would be much the best thing to do."
"You are to go home, remember."
"Yes, I will certainly go home. But, Maggie, I have no money-- I have literally no money."
"I will ask Priscilla Peel to go with you to the railway station, and I will give her sufficient money to pay your fare to London-- you live in London, don"t you?"
"Yes, at Bayswater."
"What is your address"
"19 Queen Street, Bayswater."
"Priscilla shall telegraph to your mother, when you start, and ask her to meet you at King"s Cross."
Rosalind"s face grew paler and paler. "What excuse am I to give to mother?" she asked.
"That is your own affair; I have no doubt you will find something to say. I should advise you, Rosalind, to tell your poor mother the truth, for she is certain to hear all about it from Miss Heath the following morning."
"Oh, what a miserable, miserable girl I am, Maggie!"
"You are a very miserable and sinful girl; It was a wretched day for St. Benet"s when a girl such as you are came to live here. But I don"t want to speak of that now, Rosalind; there is something you must do before you leave."
"What is that?"
"You must go to Priscilla Peel and humbly beg her pardon."
"Oh, I cannot, I cannot! You have no idea how I hate Priscilla."
"I am not surprised; the children of darkness generally hate those who walk in the light."
"Maggie, I can"t beg her pardon."
"You can please yourself about that: I certainly shall not force you; but, unless you beg Priscilla"s pardon and confess to her the wicked deed you have done, I shall lend you no money to go home. You can go to your room now, Rosalind; I am tired and wish to go to bed. You will be able to let me know your decision in the morning."
Rosalind turned slowly away. She reached her room before the other girls had arrived home, and tossing the coral ornaments on her dressing-table, she flung herself across her bed and gave way to the most pa.s.sionate, heart-broken sobs that had ever rent her baby frame.
She was still sobbing, but more quietly, for the force of her pa.s.sion had exhausted her, when a very light touch on her shoulder caused her to raise herself and look up wildly. Prissie was bending over her.
"I knocked several times," she said, "but you did not hear me, so I came in. You will be sick if you cry like this, Rose. Let me help you go to bed."
"No, no; please don"t touch me. I don"t want you, of all people, to do anything for me."
"I wish you would let me undress you. I have often helped Aunt Raby to go to bed when she was very tired. Come, Rose, don"t turn away from me. Why should you?"
"Priscilla, you are the last person in the world who ought to be kind to me just now; you don"t know, you can never, never guess, what I did to you."
"Yes, I can partly guess, but I don"t want to think of it."
"Listen, Prissie: when I stole that money, I hoped people would accuse you of the theft."
Prissie"s eyes filled with tears. "It was a dreadful thing to do," she said faintly.
"Oh, I knew you could never forgive me."
"I do forgive you."
"What! aren"t you angry? Aren"t you frantic with rage and pa.s.sion?"
"I don"t wish to think of myself at all: I want to think of you. You are the one to be pitied."
"I? Who could pity me?"
"Well, Rosalind, I do," answered Priscilla in a slow voice; "you have sunk so low, you have done such a dreadful thing, the kind of thing that the angels in heaven would grieve over."
"Oh, please don"t talk to me of them."
"And then, Rosalind," continued Prissie, "you look so unlike a girl who would do this sort of thing. I have a little sister at home-- a dear, little innocent sister, and her eyes are blue like yours, and she is fair, too, as you are fair. I love her, and I think all good things of her. Rosalind, I fancy that your mother thinks good things of you. I imagine that she is proud of you, and that she loves to look at your pretty face."
"Oh, don"t-- don"t!" sobbed Rosalind. "Oh, poor mother, poor mother!"
she burst into softened and sorrowful weeping. The hardness of her heart had melted for the time under the influence of Priscilla"s tender words.
"I wish I had known you sooner," whispered Rose when Prissie bent down and kissed her before leaving her for the night. "Perhaps I might have been a good girl if I had really known you sooner, Priscilla Peel."
CHAPTER x.x.xI
A MESSAGE
EARLY the next morning Rosalind Merton left St. Benet"s College never to come back. She took all her possessions with her, even the pink coral, which, to their credit be it spoken, not a girl in the college would have accepted at her hands. Annie Day and Lucy Marsh were not the sort of people to keep their secret long, and before the day of her departure had expired nearly everyone at Heath Hall knew of Rosalind"s crime. Miss Heath was made acquainted with the whole story at an early hour that morning.
"I may have done very wrong to let her go without obtaining your permission, Miss Heath," said Maggie, when the story was finished. "If so, please forgive me, and also allow me to say that, were the same thing to occur again, I fear I should act in the same way. I think my primary object in giving Rosalind money to go home this morning was to save the college from any open slur being cast upon it."
Miss Heath"s face had grown very pale while Maggie was speaking. She was quite silent for a moment or two after the story was finished; then, going up to Miss Oliphant, she took her hand and kissed her.
"On the whole, my dear," she said, "I am obliged to you. Had this story been told me while Miss Merton, was in the house I should have been obliged to detain her until all the facts of this disgraceful case were laid before the college authorities, and then, of course, there would have been no course open but to publicly expel her. This, at least, you have spared St. Benet"s, and I am relieved from the terrible responsibility. I"ll say nothing now about the rule you have broken, for, of course, you had no right to a.s.sist Rosalind to go home without permission. It lies within my discretion to forgive you, Maggie, however, so take my kiss, dear."
The vice-princ.i.p.al and Miss Oliphant talked for some little time longer over Rosalind"s terrible fall, and, as Miss Heath felt confident that the story would get abroad in the college, she said she would be forced to mention the circ.u.mstances to their princ.i.p.al, Miss Vincent, and also to say something in public to the girls of Heath Hall on the subject.
"And now we will turn to something else," she said. "I am concerned at those pale cheeks, Maggie. My dear," as the young girl colored brightly, "your low spirits weigh on my heart."
"Oh, don"t mind me," said Maggie hastily.
"It is scarcely kind to say this to one who loves you. I have been many years vice-princ.i.p.al of this hall, and no girl, except Annabel Lee, has come so close to my heart as you have, Maggie. Some girls come here, spend the required three years and go away again without making much impression on any one. In your case this will not be so. I have not the least doubt that you will pa.s.s your tripos examination with credit in the summer; you will then leave us, but not to be forgotten. I, for one, Maggie can never forget you."
"How good you are!" said Maggie.
Tears trembled in the eyes which were far too proud to weep except in private.
Miss Heath looked attentively at the young student, for whom she felt so strong an interest. Priscilla"s words had scarcely been absent from her night or day since they were spoken.