"It is because of the girleen I"m fretting," he said. "Listen, you two, I feel fit to die sometimes when I think the coat is lost, and it is all on account of the girleen herself. Why, it was she put in the last patch and a bit of gold was hidden in it; yes, and she sewed it round with her own pretty hands, the darling."
"We"ll get back the coat some day, see if we don"t," said Laurie. "And meanwhile Paddy, you are safe to have your money on Sat.u.r.day."
"All right if I do," said Paddy; "if not it is all wrong. I go to Squire Malone. Yes, I go to Squire Malone; but I"ll wait until Sat.u.r.day. I promise that much, and I"ll keep my word."
"You"ll keep your word for Kitty"s sake?" said Laurie.
The man nodded; again his eyes softened and changed in expression, the next moment he had turned on his heel and was out of sight.
"I do believe the only person he cares for in the world is Kitty," said Laurie. "Do you remember when he was so ill he would only allow Kitty to visit him? I say, Pat, we must get back that coat somehow; but in the meantime the ten pounds will keep matters quiet."
CHAPTER XVII.
"WE ARE BOTH IN THE SAME BOAT."
Gwin had explained all her points, and Miss Sherrard had listened to her with indulgence, sympathy, and comprehension. They were seated together in Miss Sherrard"s charming little sitting-room.
"I am glad you take such an interest in Kitty," she said when the girl had stopped speaking.
"I do. She is uncommon; she is unlike anybody else," said Gwin Harley.
"I hope," she added, looking anxiously at the head-mistress, "that you will feel it right so far to mitigate her punishment as to allow the Tug-of-war girls to talk to her. This seems just the time for a society of this sort to help its members.
"There"s a great deal in what you say, Gwin; but all the same, to my regret, I am obliged distinctly to refuse your request."
Gwin"s face, which had been slightly flushed, now turned pale. She rose to her feet.
"Don"t be hurt with me, dear," said the mistress in a gentle voice. "I admire you for your kindness, Gwin, and I can also see the thing from your point of view; but all the same Middleton School is a very important one; there are from six to seven hundred girls here. Most of these girls have got parents; all have got guardians and friends. It would not do for them to know that such a wild and reckless act as Kitty Malone has perpetrated should be pa.s.sed over without a severe punishment. Kitty will live through this week of isolation and be all the better for it. At the end of that time you Tug-of-war girls can do all in your power to help her. For this one week I must insist on her living in Coventry. She will do her lessons, of course, for it would not be at all wise to give her a holiday; but no girl belonging to the school with the exception of Alice must speak to her."
"I am sorry; and you will forgive me for saying, without any disrespect to you, that I think you are wrong," answered Gwin. She now held out her hand to Miss Sherrard. Miss Sherrard took it and pressed it gently.
"You are a very good girl, Gwin; and I wish with all my heart and soul that I could grant your request."
Meanwhile Kitty had returned to the Denvers" house in a whirl of pa.s.sionate protest and indignation. She could not understand why she had been punished. The sin she had committed did not seem to be any sin at all to her. What did it matter how she dressed or when she went out? The fact that she had broken a very strict rule of Middleton School did not affect her. She was now seriously unhappy--the fetters with which she was surrounded tortured her. How could she live through the terrible week of isolation? And what made her more wretched than anything else was the fact that she could not see Elma in order to get the money from her to send to Laurie.
Kitty and Laurie had always been more than ordinary friends. The thoughts of each were known to the heart of the other. If there was one person in the wide world whom Kitty loved with pa.s.sion, almost with idolatry, it was her handsome brother Laurie. The bare idea that Laurie should plead to Kitty to help him, and that Kitty would be obliged to turn a deaf ear to his entreaties was enough to madden the reckless girl.
The whole of that afternoon she spent in her bedroom, pacing up and down like a young caged tiger. Mrs. Denvers went to talk to her, but Kitty would not speak. She would pour out her troubles to no one. Her proud Irish heart felt as if it would burst from misery; but she would not stoop to the sympathy of those who, she felt, could not possibly understand her.
Of all the Denver family, she liked Fred the best; and when he ventured to knock at her door in the course of the evening she did not refuse to open it to him.
"Come along downstairs at once, Kitty," said Fred, holding out his hand to her.
"I would rather stay where I am, Fred, asth.o.r.e."
"I say it"s a beastly shame to have you treated like this."
"Oh, don"t begin to sympathize with me," said Kitty; "if you do, I"ll cry the ocean full of tears. I am holding them back hard now. You don"t know what a thing it is when an Irish girl fairly gives way."
"Well, they"re beastly hard on you; but I"m sure I would not cry if I were you," said Fred. I"d just be too proud. But come downstairs to my den, Kitty; I have made it awfully comfortable."
"Your den?" said Kitty, her eyes lighting up; "have you got one?"
"Yes; it"s not in the house; it"s in the garden, at the further end.
It"s a shed; but I have made it waterproof, and I have got a little lamp, an oil one; and we can sit there and have a jolly talk."
For a moment Kitty"s eyes sparkled with renewed hope. "And I have still got some chocolates in my drawer," she exclaimed. "We might eat them together and have a real good time. But oh, that money! it"s the money that"s bothering me entirely. Oh dear! dear! I"ll let the whole thing out if I talk any more to you Fred. Fred, it"s the true comfort you are to me, and I"ll never forget it to the longest day I live; but I can"t go to that shed with you, gossoon asth.o.r.e, for if I did I"d let out everything."
"But why shouldn"t you let out everything?" said Fred. "There"s something bothering you, and you"re keeping it all to yourself."
"But I promised I wouldn"t tell, and I don"t want to break my word. I said when she asked me, "No; I can"t keep secrets;" but then it was put in such a way that I must keep it. I can"t go with you Fred; pray don"t ask me again. Good-by to you, and thank you, thank you."
Kitty ran into her room, shut the door, locked it, and retreated to the window, to be as far as possible from Fred"s insinuating voice and ways.
Mr. and Mrs. Denvers were out again that night, and the time dragged terribly. Kitty wondered how she was to live through a whole week of this torture.
"I promised Elma that I would not tell about her asking me for that money," she said to herself. "I wish I hadn"t said so now; but she seemed so earnest, and I really thought nothing of it at the time. Oh dear, dear! I wonder she does not bring it to me. She must be the meanest of the mean. I never liked her; but now I hate her. Poor, poor, dear old Wheel-about! Don"t I know what he is feeling, and what Laurie is feeling, my broth of a boy, my Laurie, asth.o.r.e! Oh, to think that he is in trouble, and I can"t help him! How I wish I was back in Ireland now! This will break my heart--it will break my heart."
Tears filled her eyes; but she was too proud to let them roll over.
"I will keep them back if I die for it," she said to herself. "I am Kitty Malone, and they will break my heart if this goes on; but I won"t cry. No, that I won"t."
While these thoughts were coursing through the poor girl"s brain, there came another knock at the door; an insistent and somewhat fierce one this time. The handle was sharply turned, and the clear voice of Alice was heard.
"Open the door at once, please, Kitty," she said.
Kitty crossed the room, turned the key in the lock, and allowed Alice to enter.
"I must beg of you, Kitty," said Alice, "not to lock the door again."
"And why not, pray? You locked it last night. It was on account of that I am now in all this trouble."
"Really, Kitty, you are quite too ridiculous; as if I were the cause of your trouble. You are in trouble because you disobeyed a strict rule; and my locking the door or not had nothing whatever to do with it. You are quite the most tiresome, inconsistent girl I ever came across."
"Well, it is nothing to you what I am," said Kitty. She sank down on a chair by the side of her little bed as she spoke; her expression was so woe-begone, her face so pale, the droop of her eyes so pathetic, that Alice was slightly touched in spite of herself.
"I am going to see Bessie Challoner," she said. "If you were different I would not leave you."
"Oh, never mind me, pray."
"All the same, I would not leave you, Kitty; for remember I am the only girl belonging to the school who may speak to you for the next week; but, really, your ways are so unpleasant----"
"And I so infinitely prefer your absence to your company," retorted Kitty. "So you may go with quite an easy mind."
"Thanks awfully," replied Alice, with a sneer. Her momentary good-nature had dried up like the dew. She put on her hat, wrapped a shawl round her shoulders and left the room.