"You are to go away with me," the school-mistress proceeded, "and to be taught to make yourself useful under my roof."
Syd seemed to be incapable of understanding the fate that was in store for her. She sheltered herself behind her merciless mother. "I"m going away with you, mamma," she said--"with you and Rick."
Her mother took her by the shoulders, and pushed her across the room to her aunt.
The child looked at the formidable female creature with the man"s voice and the green spectacles.
"You belong to me," said Miss Wigger, by way of encouragement, "and I have come to take you away." At those dreadful words, terror shook little Syd from head to foot. She fell on her knees with a cry of misery that might have melted the heart of a savage. "Oh, mamma, mamma, don"t leave me behind! What have I done to deserve it? Oh, pray, pray, pray have some pity on me!"
Her mother was as selfish and as cruel a woman as ever lived. But even her hard heart felt faintly the influence of the most intimate and most sacred of all human relationships. Her florid cheeks turned pale. She hesitated.
Miss Wigger marked (through her own green medium) that moment of maternal indecision--and saw that it was time to a.s.sert her experience as an instructress of youth.
"Leave it to me," she said to her sister. "You never did know, and you never will know, how to manage children."
She advanced. The child threw herself shrieking on the floor. Miss Wigger"s long arms caught her up--held her--shook her. "Be quiet, you imp!" It was needless to tell her to be quiet. Syd"s little curly head sank on the schoolmistress"s shoulder. She was carried into exile without a word or a cry--she had fainted.
10.--The School.
Time"s march moves slowly, where weary lives languish in dull places.
Dating from one unkempt and unacknowledged birthday to another, Sydney Westerfield had attained the sixth year of her martyrdom at School. In that long interval no news of her mother, her brother, or her stepfather had reached England; she had received no letter, she had not even heard a report. Without friends, and without prospects, Roderick Westerfield"s daughter was, in the saddest sense of the word, alone in the world.
The hands of the ugly old clock in the school-room were approaching the time when the studies of the morning would come to an end. Wearily waiting for their release, the scholars saw an event happen which was a novelty in their domestic experience. The maid-of-all-work audaciously put her head in at the door, and interrupted Miss Wigger conducting the education of the first-cla.s.s.
"If you please, miss, there"s a gentleman--"
Having uttered these introductory words, she was reduced to silence by the tremendous voice of her mistress.
"Haven"t I forbidden you to come here in school hours? Go away directly!"
Hardened by a life of drudgery, under conditions of perpetual scolding, the servant stood her ground, and recovered the use of her tongue.
"There"s a gentleman in the drawing-room," she persisted. Miss Wigger tried to interrupt her again. "And here"s his card!" she shouted, in a voice that was the louder of the two.
Being a mortal creature, the schoolmistress was accessible to the promptings of curiosity. She s.n.a.t.c.hed the card out of the girl"s hand.
_Mr. Herbert Linley, Mount Morven, Perthshire._ "I don"t know this person," Miss Wigger declared. "You wretch, have you let a thief into the house?"
"A gentleman, if ever I see one yet," the servant a.s.serted.
"Hold your tongue! Did he ask for me? Do you hear?"
"You told me to hold my tongue. No; he didn"t ask for you."
"Then who did he want to see?"
"It"s on his card."
Miss Wigger referred to the card again, and discovered (faintly traced in pencil) these words: "To see Miss S.W."
The schoolmistress instantly looked at Miss Westerfield. Miss Westerfield rose from her place at the head of her cla.s.s.
The pupils, astonished at this daring act, all looked at the teacher--their natural enemy, appointed to supply them with undesired information derived from hated books. They saw one of Mother Nature"s favorite daughters; designed to be the darling of her family, and the conqueror of hearts among men of all tastes and ages. But Sydney Westerfield had lived for six weary years in the place of earthly torment, kept by Miss Wigger under the name of a school. Every budding beauty, except the una.s.sailable beauty of her eyes and her hair, had been nipped under the frosty superintendence of her maternal aunt. Her cheeks were hollow, her delicate lips were pale; her shabby dress lay flat over her bosom. Observant people, meeting her when she was out walking with the girls, were struck by her darkly gentle eyes, and by the patient sadness of her expression. "What a pity!" they said to each other. "She would be a pretty girl, if she didn"t look so wretched and so thin."
At a loss to understand the audacity of her teacher in rising before the cla.s.s was dismissed, Miss Wigger began by a.s.serting her authority. She did in two words: "Sit down!"
"I wish to explain, ma"am."
"Sit down."
"I beg, Miss Wigger, that you will allow me to explain."
"Sydney Westerfield, you are setting the worst possible example to your cla.s.s. I shall see this man myself. _Will_ you sit down?"
Pale already, Sydney turned paler still. She obeyed the word of command--to the delight of the girls of her cla.s.s. It was then within ten minutes of the half hour after twelve--when the pupils were dismissed to the playground while the cloth was laid for dinner. What use would the teacher make of that half hour of freedom?
In the meanwhile Miss Wigger had entered her drawing-room. With the slightest possible inclination of her head, she eyed the stranger through her green spectacles. Even under that disadvantage his appearance spoke for itself. The servant"s estimate of him was beyond dispute. Mr. Herbert Linley"s good breeding was even capable of suppressing all outward expression of the dismay that he felt, on finding himself face to face with the formidable person who had received him.
"What is your business, if you please?" Miss Wigger began.
Men, animals, and buildings wear out with years, and submit to their hard lot. Time only meets with flat contradiction when he ventures to tell a woman that she is growing old. Herbert Linley had rashly antic.i.p.ated that the "young lady," whom it was the object of his visit to see, would prove to be young in the literal sense of the word. When he and Miss Wigger stood face to face, if the door had been set open for him, he would have left the house with the greatest pleasure.
"I have taken the liberty of calling," he said, "in answer to an advertis.e.m.e.nt. May I ask"--he paused, and took out a newspaper from the pocket of his overcoat--"If I have the honor of speaking to the lady who is mentioned here?"
He opened the newspaper, and pointed to the advertis.e.m.e.nt.
Miss Wigger"s eyes rested--not on the pa.s.sage indicated, but on the visitor"s glove. It fitted him to such perfection that it suggested the enviable position in life which has gloves made to order. He politely pointed again. Still inaccessible to the newspaper, Miss Wigger turned her spectacles next to the front window of the room, and discovered a handsome carriage waiting at the door. (Money evidently in the pockets of those beautiful trousers, worthy of the gloves!) As patiently as ever, Linley pointed for the third time, and drew Miss Wigger"s attention in the right direction at last. She read the advertis.e.m.e.nt.
"A Young Lady wishes to be employed in the education of a little girl.
Possessing but few accomplishments, and having been only a junior teacher at a school, she offers her services on trial, leaving it to her employer to pay whatever salary she may be considered to deserve, if she obtains a permanent engagement. Apply by letter, to S.W., 14, Delta Gardens, N.E."
"Most impertinent," said Miss Wigger.
Mr. Linley looked astonished.
"I say, most impertinent!" Miss Wigger repeated.
Mr. Linley attempted to pacify this terrible woman. "It"s very stupid of me," he said; "I am afraid I don"t quite understand you."
"One of my teachers has issued an advertis.e.m.e.nt, and has referred to My address, without first consulting Me. Have I made myself understood, sir?" She looked at the carriage again, when she called him "sir."
Not even Linley"s capacity for self-restraint could repress the expression of relief, visible in his brightening face, when he discovered that the lady of the advertis.e.m.e.nt and the lady who terrified him were two different persons.
"Have I made myself understood?" Miss Wigger repeated.