"I never had to work," said the young lady, drawing herself up, "and I ain"t a-going to begin now for anybody. I don"t believe in work at all, and I don"t think it proper, no way."
In vain Miss Jerusha expostulated; her little ladyship heard her with the most provoking indifference. Then the old lady began to scold, whereupon Georgia flew into one of her "tantrums," as Miss Jerusha called them, and, springing to her feet, exclaimed:
"I _won"t_, then, not if I die for it! I"ve always done just whatever I liked, and I"m going to keep on doing it--I just _am_! And I ain"t going to be an old pot-wiper for anybody--I just _ain"t_, old taffy candy!"
And then the sprite bounced out, banging the door after her until the house shook, leaving Miss Jerusha to stand transfixed with horror and indignation at this last "most unkindest cut of all," which referred to the candy Miss Jerusha was in the habit of making and selling in Burnfield.
And thus the wild, fearless child kept the old lady in a constant series of tremors and palpitations by the dangers she ran into headlong. Not a tree in the forest she would not climb like a squirrel, and often the dry frozen branches breaking with her, she would find it impossible to get down again, and have to remain there until Miss Jerusha would get a ladder and take her down. And on these occasions, while the old lady scolded and ranted down below, the young lady up in her lofty perch would be in convulsions of laughter at her look of terror and dismay.
Not a rock on the beach, slippery and icy as they were, she had not clambered innumerable times, to the manifest danger of breaking her neck.
It was well for her she could climb and cling to them like a cat, or she would most a.s.suredly have been killed; as it was, she tumbled off two or three times, thereby raising more b.u.mps on her head than Nature ever placed there. Then she made a point of visiting Burnfield every day, and making herself acquainted generally with the inhabitants of that little "one-horse town," astonishing the natives to such a degree by the facility with which she stood on her head, or made a hoop of herself by catching her feet in her hands and rolling over and over, that some of them had serious doubts whether she was real, or only an optical delusion. And then her dancing! The first time Miss Jerusha saw her she came nearer fainting than she had ever done before in her life.
"Oh, my gracious!" said Miss Jerusha, in tones of horror, when afterward relating the occurrence, "I never see sich onchristian actions before in all my born days. There she was a-flinging of her legs about as if they belonged to somebody else, and a-twistin" of her arms about over her head, and a-jigging back and forward, and a-standin" onto one blessed toe and spinnin" round like a top, with the other leg a stickin"
straight out like a toastin"-fork. I "clare it gave me sich a turn as I hain"t got over yit, and never expects to. Oh, my conscience! It was railly orful to look at the onnatural shapes that there little limb could twist herself into. And to think of her, when she got done, a-kneelin" down on one knee as if she was sayin" of her prayers, as she ought for to do, and then take and blow me up for not applaudin", as she called it. A sa.s.sy little wiper!"
Georgia"s daily visits to Burnfield were a serious annoyance to Miss Jerusha; for there were some who delighted in her wild antics, just as they would in the mischievous pranks of a monkey, encouraged her in her willfulness, and exhorted her to defy the "Old Dragon," as Miss Jerusha was incorrectly styled. And such a hold did these counsels take on the mind of the young girl, that she really began to look upon Miss Jerusha in the light of a domestic tyrant--a sort of female Bluebeard, whom it would not only be right and just to defy and put down, but morally wrong _not_ to do it. But though this was Georgia"s inward belief, yet, to her credit be it spoken, a sort of chivalrous feeling led her always to defend Miss Jerusha on these occasions; and if any one went too far in sneering at her, Georgia"s little brown fist was doubled up, and the offender, unless warned by some prudent friend to "look out for squalls," stood in considerable danger.
Then, too, the chief delight of the Burnfieldians was in watching her dance; and Georgia, nothing loth, would mount an extempore platform, and whirl, and pirouette, and flash hither and thither, amid thunders of applause from the astonished and delighted audience. Her singing, too--for Georgia had really a beautiful voice, and knew every song that ever was heard of, from Casta Diva to Jim Crow--was a source of never-failing delight to the townfolks, who were troubled with very few amus.e.m.e.nts in winter; and Georgia was never really in her element save when dancing, or singing, or showing off before an audience.
And so the little explosive grenade became a well known character in Burnfield, and Miss Jerusha"s injunctions to stay from it went the way of all good advice--that is, in one ear and out of the other. No sort of weather could keep the sprite in the house. The fiercer the wind blew, Georgia"s high spirit only rose the higher; the keener the cold, the more piercing the blast, it only flashed a deeper crimson to her glowing cheeks and lips, and kindled a clearer light in her bright black eyes, and she bounded like a young antelope over the frozen ground, shouting with irrepressible life. Out amid the wildest winter storms you might see that small dark figure flying along with streaming hair, bending and dipping to the shrieking blast that could have whirled her light form away like a feather, flying over the icy ground that her feet hardly seemed to touch.
Georgia, wild, fervid child, vowed she _loved_ the storms; and on tempestuous nights, when the wind howled, and raved, and shook the cottage, and roared through the pines, she would clap her hands in glee, and run down through it all toward the high rocks near the sh.o.r.e, and bend over them to feel the salt spray from the white-crested waves dash in her face. Then, coming back, she would scandalize Miss Jerusha, and terrify Fly nearly into fits, by protesting that the white caps of the waves were the bleached faces of drowned men holding a revel with the demons of the storm, and that whenever _she_ died, she was determined to be buried in the sand, for that no grave or coffin could ever hold her, and she knew she would have splendid times with the mermaids, and mermen, and old Father Neptune, and Mrs. Amphitrite, and the rest of them, in their coral grottoes down below.
Now, Miss Jerusha was by no means strait-laced in spiritual matters herself, but such an unG.o.dly belief as this would shock even her, and, with a deeply horrified look, she would lay down her knitting and begin:
"Oh, my stars and garters! sich talk! Don"t you know, you wicked child, that there ain"t no sich place as that under the sun? There"s nothing but mud, and fish-bones, and nasty sharks like what swallered Joner down there. No, you misfortunate little limb, folks allers goes to heaven or t"other place when they die, and it"s my belief you"ll take a trip downward, and sarve you right, too, you wicked little heathen you!"
"See here, Miss Jerusha," said Georgia, curiously, "Emily Murray says there"s another place--sort of half-way house, you know, with a hard name; let"s see--pug--pug--no, _purgatory_, that"s it--where people that ain"t been horrid bad nor yet horrid good goes to, and after being scorched for awhile to take the badness out of them, they go up to heaven and settle down there for good. Is that so, Miss Jerusha?"
"There!" said Miss Jerusha, dropping her knitting in consternation, "I allers said no good would come of her going to Burnfield and taking up with unbelievers and other wagrants. Oh, you wicked, drefful little gal!
_No_; there ain"t no sich place; in course there ain"t. If you had read that pretty chapter I gave you in the Bible last Sunday instead of tying Betsey Periwinkle"s tail to her hind leg and nearly setting of her crazy, you wouldn"t be such a benighted little heathen as you are."
"Well, I didn"t like it--there! All about two ugly great bears eating a lot of children for calling somebody names. I don"t like things like that. There ain"t no fun in reading about them, and I"d a heap sooner read Robinson Crusoe; _he_ was a nice old man, I know he was. And when I grow up to be a big woman, I"m going to find out his island and live there myself--you see if I don"t."
Miss Jerusha gave a contemptuous snort.
"_You_ grow up, indeed! As if the Lord would let a wicked little wretch like you, that believes in G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses and purgatory and such abominations grow up. No; if you ain"t carried off in a flash of fire and brimstone, like King Solomon or some of them, you may think yourself safe, my lady."
"Well, I don"t care if I am," said Georgia. "I _do_ believe in mermaids, because I"ve seen them often and often, and I know they live in beautiful coral grottoes under the sea, because I"ve read all about it.
And I know there are witches, and ghosts and fairies, because I"ve read all about _them_ in the "Legends of the Hartz Mountains," the nicest book that ever was, and some Hallow Eve I"m going to try some tricks--you see if I don"t."
The little girl"s eyes were sparkling, and she was gesticulating with eager earnestness. Miss Jerusha held up her hands in horror.
"My-y conscience! only hear her! Oh, what _ever_ will become of that there young gal? Why, you wicked child, where do you expect to go when you die?"
"To heaven," said Georgia, decidedly.
"Humph!" said Miss Jerusha, contemptuously. "A nice angel _you"d_ make, wouldn"t you? More likely the other place. I shill hev to speak to Mr.
Barebones to take you into his Bible cla.s.s, for I believe in my soul it ain"t safe to sleep in the house with such an unbeliever."
"Well, you may speak to him as fast as you like, but I sha"n"t go. A sour, black old ogre, all skin and bones, like a consumptive red herring! I"m going with Emily Murray to that nice church where they have all the pretty pictures, and that nice old man, Em"s uncle, with no hair on his head, and all dressed up so beautifully. And old Father Murray is just the dearest old man ever was, and hasn"t got a long, solemn face like Mr. Barebones. Come, Bets, let you and I have a waltz."
And seizing Betsey Periwinkle by the two fore-paws, she went whirling with her round the room, to the great astonishment, not to say indignation, of that amiable animal, who decidedly disapproved of waltzing in her own proper person, and began to expostulate in sundry indignant mews quite unheeded by her partner, until Miss Jerusha angrily s.n.a.t.c.hed her away, and would have favored Georgia with a box on the ear, only the recollection of the theatre manager returned to her memory, and her uplifted hand dropped. And Georgia, laughing her shrill, peculiar laugh, danced out of the room, singing a s.n.a.t.c.h from some elegant ditty.
"Was there ever such a aggravating young "un?" exclaimed Miss Jerusha, relapsing into her chair. "I sartinly _shill_ hev to speak to Mr.
Barebones about her. Gracious! what a thing it is to be afflicted with children!"
True to her word, Miss Jerusha did speak to Mr. Barebones, and that zealous Christian promised to take Georgia in hand; but the young lady not only flatly refused to listen to a word, but told him her views of matters and things in general, and of himself in particular, so plainly and decidedly, that, in high dudgeon, the minister got up, put on his hat, and took himself off.
And so Miss Georgia was left to her own devices, and stood in a fair way of becoming a veritable savage, when an event occurred that gave a new spring to her energies, and turned the current of her existence in another direction.
CHAPTER IV.
GEORGIA MAKES SOME NEW ACQUAINTANCES.
"His boyish form was middle size, For feat of strength or exercise Shaped in proportion fair; And hazel was his eagle eye, And auburn of the darkest dye His short and curling hair.
Light was his footstep in the dance, And firm his stirrup in the lists-- And, oh, he had that merry glance That seldom lady"s heart resists."--SCOTT.
Miss Jerusha"s memorable "house-cleaning" was over, and the cottage having been polished till it shone, and everything inside and outside reduced to the frightfully clean state that characterized everything belonging to that worthy lady, she was prepared to sit down and enjoy the reward of her labors, and the pleasure of an approving conscience.
Fly and Betsey Periwinkle, who had been in an excessively damp and limber state for the last few days, and whom Miss Jerusha had kept tearing in and out and up and down like a couple of comets, were at last permitted to dry out, and might now safely venture to call their souls their own again.
Georgia, who rather liked a fuss than otherwise, quite enjoyed the house-cleaning, and spent an unusually large portion of her valuable time at the cottage while that domestic revolution was in full blast; now that it was over, she began to resume her slightly vagabondish habit of roaming round the country, always up to her eyes in business, yet never bringing about any particular result excepting that of mischief. When Georgia wished to enjoy the pleasures of solitude, which was not often, she strolled off to the beach, where, perched on top of a high rock, she meditated on the affairs of the State, or whatever other subject happened to weigh on her mind at the moment.
One morning she started off for her favorite seat in order to have a quite read, having inveigled Miss Jerusha out of the "Pilgrim"s Progress" for that purpose, in lieu of something more entertaining. Now this beach being so far removed from Burnfield, its solitude was rarely, if ever, disturbed; therefore, great was Georgia"s surprise upon reaching it, to find a shady spot under her own favorite rock already occupied.
Miss Georgia came to a sudden halt, and, standing on tiptoe, gravely surveyed the new-comer, herself unseen.
Under the shadow of the overhanging rock, on the warm sands, lay a tall, slight, fashionably dressed youth, of sixteen or thereabouts, with handsome, regular features, a complexion of feminine fairness, a profusion of brown, curling hair, a high forehead, and unusually and aristocratically small hands and feet, the former as white as a lady"s.
The predominating expression of his face was a mixture of indolence and drollery; and as he lay there, with his half closed eyes, he looked the very picture of the _dolce far niente_.
"Well, now," thought Georgia, "I wonder who _you_ are, and where you came from. I"ll just go and ask him, though I do believe he"s asleep.
If he is, I reckon I"ll wake him in double-quick time."
And Georgia, not being in the slightest degree troubled with that disease incident to youth, previous to the days of Young America, yclept bashfulness, marched up to the intruder, and planting herself before him, put her arms akimbo, and a.s.suming a look of stern investigation, began:
"Ahem! See here, _you_, where did you come from?"
The young gentleman thus addressed leisurely opened a pair of large, dark eyes, and quietly surveyed his interrogator from head to foot, without disturbing himself in the slightest degree, or betraying the smallest intention of moving.
Very properly provoked at this aggravating conduct, Georgia"s voice rose an octave higher, as she said, authoritatively:
"Can"t you speak? Haven"t you a tongue? I suppose it"s the last improvement in politeness not to answer when you"re spoken to."
This speech seemed to bring the young gentleman to a proper sense of his errors. Getting up on his elbow, he took off his hat and began: