Come forward, my dear, and shake hands with your new mistress."
"How old are you?" asked Mrs. Haddo.
"I was sixteen my last birthday, and that was six months ago, and one fortnight and three days," replied Betty in a very distinct voice, holding herself bolt upright, and looking with those strange eyes full into Mrs. Haddo"s face. She spoke with extreme defiance. But she suddenly met a rebuff--a kind of rebuff that she did not expect; for Mrs. Haddo"s eyes looked back at her with such a world of love, sympathy, and understanding that the girl felt that choking in her throat and that bursting sensation in her heart which she dreaded more than anything else. She instantly lowered her brilliant eyes and stood back, waiting for her sisters to speak.
Sylvia came up a little pertly. "Hetty and I are twins," she said, "and we"ll be fifteen our next birthday; but that"s not for a long time yet."
"Well, my dears, I am glad to welcome you all three, and I hope you will have a happy time in my school. I will not trouble you with rules or anything irksome of that sort to-day. You will like to see your cousin, f.a.n.n.y Crawford. She is busy at lessons now; so I would first of all suggest that you go to your room, and change your dress, and get tidy after your journey. You have come here nice and early; and in honor of your arrival I will give, what is my invariable custom, a half-holiday to the upper school, so that you may get to know your companions."
"Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here," said Betty, but Betty would not raise her eyes. She was standing very still, her hands locked tightly together. Mrs. Haddo walked to the bell and rang it. A servant appeared.
"Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here," said Mrs. Haddo.
The English governess with the charming, n.o.ble face presently appeared.
"Miss Symes," said Mrs. Haddo, "may I introduce you to Sir John Crawford?"
Sir John bowed, and the governess bent her head gracefully.
"And these are your new pupils, the Vivians. This is Betty, and this little girl is Sylvia. Am I not right, dear?"
"No; I am Hester," said the girl addressed as Sylvia.
"This is Hetty, then; and this is Sylvia. Will you take them to their room and do what you can for their comfort? If they like to stay there for a little they can do so. I will speak to you presently, if you will come to me here."
The girls and Miss Symes left the presence of the head mistress. The moment they had done so Mrs. Haddo gave a quick sigh. "My dear Sir John," she said, "what remarkable, and interesting, and difficult, and almost impossible girls you have intrusted to my care!"
"I own they are not like others," said Sir John; "but you have admitted they are interesting."
"Yes," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking slowly. "I shall manage them yet. The eldest girl, Betty, is wonderful. What a heart! what a soul! but, oh, very hard to get at!"
"I thought, perhaps," said Sir John, fidgeting slightly, "that you would object to the rough way they are clothed. I really don"t like it myself; at least, I don"t think it"s quite the fashion."
"Their clothes do not matter at all, Sir John."
"But the less remarkable they look the better they will get on in the school," persisted Sir John; "so, of course, you will get what is necessary."
"Naturally, Miss Symes and I will see to that."
"They led a very rough life in the country," continued Sir John, "and yet it was a pure and healthy life--out all day long on those great moors, and with no one to keep them company except a faithful old servant of Miss Vivian"s and his wife. They made pets of dogs and horses, and were happy after their fashion. You will do what you can for them, will you not, Mrs. Haddo?"
"Having accepted them into my school, I will do my utmost. I do not mind simple manners, for the n.o.blest natures are to be found among such people; nor do I mind rough, ungainly clothing, for that, indeed, only belongs to the outward girl and can quickly be remedied. I will keep these girls, and do all that woman can for them, provided I see no deceit in any of them; but that, you will clearly understand, Sir John, is in my opinion an unpardonable sin."
"Do they look like girls who would deceive any one?" was Sir John"s rejoinder.
"I grant you they do not. Now, you must be very busy, so you must cast the girls from your mind. You would like to see f.a.n.n.y. I know she is dying to have a talk with you."
Meanwhile Miss Symes had conducted the girls upstairs. The room they entered was much grander than any room they had ever seen before. It was large--one of the largest bedrooms in the great house. It had three n.o.ble windows which reached from floor to ceiling, and were of French style, so that they could be opened wide in summer weather to admit the soft, warm air. There was a great balcony outside the windows, where the girls could sit when they chose. The room itself was called the blue room; the reason of this was that the color on the walls was pale blue, whereas the paint was white. The three little beds stood in a row, side by side. There was a very large wardrobe exactly facing the beds, also a chest of large drawers for each girl, while the carpet was blue to match the walls. A bright fire was burning in the cheerful, new-fashioned grate. Altogether, it would have been difficult to find a more charming apartment than the blue room at Haddo Court.
"Are we to sleep here?" asked Betty.
"Yes, my dear child. These are your little beds; and Anderson, the schoolroom maid, will unpack your trunks presently. I see they have been brought up."
Miss Symes slightly started, for the six wooden trunks, fastened by their coa.r.s.e ropes, were standing side by side in another part of the room.
"Why do you look at our trunks like that?" asked Sylvia, who was not specially shy, and was quick to express her feelings.
But Betty came to the rescue. "Never mind how she looks," remarked Betty; "she can look as she likes. What does it matter to us?"
This speech was so very different from the ordinary speech of the ordinary girl who came to Haddo Court that Miss Symes was nonplussed for a moment. She quickly, however, recovered her equanimity.
"Now, my dears, you must make yourselves quite at home. You must not be shy, or lonely, or unhappy. You must enter--which I hope you will do very quick--into the life of this most delightful house. We are all willing and anxious to make you happy. As to your trunks, they will be unpacked and put away in one of the attics."
"I wish we could sleep in an attic," said Betty then in a fierce voice.
"I hate company-rooms."
"There is no attic available, my dear; and this, you must admit, is a nice room."
"I admit nothing," said Betty.
"I think it"s a nice room," said Hester; "only, of course, we are not accustomed to it, and that great fire is so chokingly hot. May we open all the windows?"
"Certainly, dears, provided you don"t catch cold."
"Catch cold!" said Sylvia in a voice of scorn. "If you had ever lived on a Scotch moor you wouldn"t talk of catching cold in a stuffy little hole of a place like this."
Miss Symes had an excellent temper, but she found it a trifle difficult to keep it under control at that moment. "I must ask you for the keys of your trunks," she said; "for while we are at dinner, which will be in about an hour"s time, Anderson will unpack them."
"Thanks," said Betty, "but we"d much rather unpack our own trunks."
Miss Symes was silent for a minute. "In this house, dear, it is not the custom," she said then. She spoke very gently. She was puzzled at the general appearance, speech, and get-up of the new girls.
"And we can, of course, keep our own keys," continued Betty, speaking rapidly, her very pale face glowing with a faint tinge of color; "because Mrs.----What is the name of the mistress?"
"Mrs. Haddo," said Miss Symes in a tone of great respect.
"Well, whatever her name is, she said we were to be restricted by no rules to-day. She said so, didn"t she, Sylvia? Didn"t she, Hetty?"
"She certainly did," replied the twins.
"Then, if it"s a rule for the trunks to be unpacked by some one else, it doesn"t apply to us to-day," said Betty. "If you will be so very kind, Miss----"
"Symes is my name."
"So very kind, Miss Symes, as to go away and leave us, we"ll begin to unpack our own trunks and put everything away by dinner-time."
"Very well," said Miss Symes quite meekly. "Is there anything else I can do for your comfort?"
"Yes," remarked Sylvia in a pert tone; "you can go away."