At last it occurred to Mrs. Small that the best thing for Phoebe would be to grant her wish.
"I know that she will be homesick before she"s been away a week," she said to her husband, "but she cannot be convinced, and perhaps if we allow her to try it, she will get all and more than she wants of it, and come home with a mind to be contented."
So one bright morning Phoebe was driven to the station on her way to a school for girls which was under the direction of two ladies who were friends of Mrs. Small. Immediately upon her arrival she sent a note to her mother in which she told in glowing words of the pleasure of her ride in the cars, and her reception by the two elderly ladies who presided over the school.
Then, after a week had pa.s.sed another letter came the general tone of which was less cheerful. Then a fortnight slipped by, and a brief letter told only of her studies, and said not a word of the delights of boarding school life. Then, as time pa.s.sed and the mail brought no letter from Phoebe, her mother became anxious.
"I do hope she"s well, and I must say I wish I"d never consented when she begged to go," said Mrs. Small a dozen times a day, to which her husband would reply,
"Oh, she"s all right. If she was sick they"d let us know. Most likely she"s had "nough of it, and hates ter say so."
"Well, all the same, if I don"t get a letter from her to-day, I"ll go after her to-morrow." Mrs. Small answered, as the wind whistled around the corner and down the chimney.
While this conversation was in progress at the Small homestead, the same subject was being discussed at the village school. Because of the intense cold, Miss Gilman permitted the scholars to enjoy the recess indoors and they formed little groups about the great stove, eating their lunch and discussing those topics which lay nearest their hearts.
"I guess my Randy knows "most everything now," Prue was saying. "She has such long lessons, and studies late, and she"s seen the big stores, and she"s been to a concert full of fiddles where she saw a great big Primmy Dommy!"
"Why, what"s that?" asked little Hitty Buffum. "Wasn"t she "fraid when she saw the Primny what yer call it comin"?"
"I do"no," said Prue, "she didn"t say, but whatever "twas, I guess "twas pretty big, my Randy said so."
Evidently the children considered that in Boston one might see strange creatures of every type, and Randy Weston had been privileged to see one of the largest. Just at this moment Hi Babson joined the little group.
"Want ter know what I done Sat.u.r.day?" he asked, his black eyes gleaming with mischief.
"I hadn"t learnt my lessons fer Monday, and ma said I must stay up in the spare room "til I knew "em all by heart. I didn"t like ter stay up there alone, but when I found I got ter, I set down on the mat an" "twan"t long before I"d learnt half of "em. Just "bout that time I heard a awful scratching an" then I "membered that Uncle Joshua set a mouse trap down by the beaury. When I looked, there was a little mouse in it, an" all to once I knew what I"d like ter do.
"The bedclothes was pulled down over the foot-board, an" I could see the slit in the tick where they poke in their hands to stir up the straw. I put the trap with the mouse in it, in there among the straw, an" then I went down just as quiet as I could, an" got old Tom an" tugged him upstairs.
"When I put him on the bed an" held his head over the hole in the tick, you"d oughter seen his tail switch! The mouse was a runnin" "round in the cage, an" Tom dove into the slit a scatterin" the straw all over the bed.
My! Didn"t it fly?"
"Why you naughty, bad boy," said little Hitty Buffum.
"What _did_ they say to you," asked Prue.
"Ma didn"t say much," said Hi. "I laid down on the floor and rolled over an" over, a laughin" like anything "til ma come in, an" she jest looked at that bed, drove Tom out"n the room an" then she took hold er me, an" I,--I had ter stop laughin" ter cry "n Grandma Babson said, "That boy"ll yet come to the gallus.""
A group of the larger girls were comparing the letters which Randy had sent with those which they had received from Phoebe Small.
"Randy says that she misses the folks at home, and her friends here at school, but aside from that her letters are cheerful, and she feels that she is getting on so rapidly that it makes her contented," said Molly Wilson, "and she must enjoy the pleasant things which Miss Dayton plans for her Sat.u.r.days."
"We miss Randy," said Belinda Babson, "but of course we"re glad that she is having such a lovely winter."
"She writes just as she talks, and when we get one of her letters it seems as if she were with us," said Jemima.
"I didn"t know what to make of Phoebe Small"s last letter," said Dot Marvin. "She commenced by saying that she could never do as she wished, that she didn"t like her roommate and that the two ladies who kept the school watched them so closely that the girls could hardly breathe without asking permission. Then she wrote, "I don"t want to say that I"m homesick but,--" and then she signed her name. She didn"t finish the sentence, but there were two blistered places just above the name, as if the paper had been wet, and I am sure that she was crying while she wrote."
Miss Gilman touched the bell, and the pupils took their places. Recess was ended, and for the remainder of the forenoon, recitations occupied their minds in place of the much discussed letters.
By the great fireplace heaped with blazing logs sat old Sandy McLeod energetically tugging at the straps of his great "arctics."
"It"s a cauld day, la.s.s," he was saying to little Janie.
"Will it be too cauld to venture out an" meet the music maester?"
His eyes twinkled, for he well knew that Janie was wild to sing for this man who would say if her voice were indeed worth training.
The teacher of whom Sandy spoke was a man well known in musical circles, whose instruction was eagerly sought, and upon whose judgment one could safely rely. He had been chosen director of a flourishing musical society in a large town some miles distant from Sandy"s home, and on those days when he was present to direct rehearsals, he also tried the voices of those who asked permission to join the vocal club. Sandy had one day asked if he might bring little Janie to him, saying quietly,
"It"s worth yer while, mon, ye ne"er heard sae blithe a voice as Janie"s."
Half doubting, yet amused at the old Scotchman"s manner, he had made an appointment for hearing Janie, and afterward wondered why he had done so, as he felt sure that he was to listen to the vocal efforts of a child whose singing chanced to please an old man whose knowledge of music was probably meagre.
Janie submitted to all the wrappings with which Margaret McLeod saw fit to envelop her, and when in his great fur coat, Sandy stood in the doorway and called to Janie that the sleigh was ready, she hurried toward him, an animated bundle of dry goods.
It was a long, cold ride, but Janie and her enthusiasm were both warm, and when they reached the building and mounted the long flight of stairs to the hall, her cheeks were glowing, and her eyes brilliant with excitement.
She was granted a few moments for a hearing before the hour for the club rehearsal.
The teacher was seated at the piano when they entered, and as he arose to greet them he found it a task to refrain from laughing at the odd little figure wound so snugly in shawls and scarfs. When, however, her wraps removed, Janie stood before him, a typical little Scotch la.s.s, with bright blue eyes and flaxen braids, he was aware of a charm about the pretty child which compelled him to believe that it was barely possible that she could sing.
"What are some of your songs, child?" he asked kindly.
"I"ll sing, "Comin" thro" the rye," if it please you," answered Janie, simply.
"Very well," was the reply, and he played a brilliant little prelude. The music inspired Janie, and never had she sung as she sang that day. At the end of the first verse, the man paused, with his hands resting upon the keys, and surveyed the tiny figure as it stood before him, the little chin lifted, and the sweet eyes looking into his so eagerly, as if asking for a word of approval.
"Come nearer," he said, "and sing another verse."
"Willingly," said Janie, and again the fresh voice rang out,
"If a body meet a body Comin" frae the town If a body kiss a body Need a body frown."
At the last sweet note the man at the piano turned, and lifting her in his strong arms he exclaimed,
"Child, you have the voice of an angel! Mr. McLeod, I ask your pardon for doubting your statement that this little girl could sing."
"Oh, it"s of no account whatever," answered Sandy, stoutly, "since ye"re weel convinced."
The members of the club were beginning to arrive, and standing Janie upon a chair, the director stooped, and looking into the little face he asked.
"Would you be willing to sing once for these ladies and gentlemen, Janie?"
"Oh, I could na refuse if it was to gie them pleasure," she replied.
The director in a few words told those present that he had been listening to the child"s singing, and that she had consented to sing for them. Some of the faces wore a look of curiosity, some of skepticism, others of genuine interest, but when turning toward them Janie commenced to sing, she held them spellbound, and when she stepped down from the chair they crowded around her and petted and praised her until Sandy was afraid that she would be completely spoiled.